Guild Wars 2

So, the preview of the new status effect Taunt is very interesting. We of course have no idea how prevalent it will be, which class specializations will get it (though Mesmer with its trickery and knowing they are getting shield seems suggestive lol).

In PVE, I can’t really think of a bad side to this. Gives group defenders a way to potentially pull a mob off a friend (we’ll see how this works on bosses and defiance), and gives dungeon designers some more options to counter boring stack tactics.

In PVP and WvW however, I am pretty worried. GW2 combat is very movement centric, we all know how deadly a short Immobilize can be. Between knockdown, knockback, stun, immobilize, cripple, chill, fear, pulls and indirectly Torment, do we need yet another movement impeding skill?

I like control, don’t get me wrong. But there is a line between playing control/debuff/debilitator and outright lockdown “lol killed you before you could do anything.” The former adds tactical options and counterplay, the latter makes for painfully boring and frustrating combat.

There is of course Stability, but not every class can pop that on demand, without cast times. And as far as counter play goes, “pop this boon before the lock down train hits you or die” isn’t really all that interesting either.

I don’t want to sound alarm bells or start hysterics about how this will ruin the game. We don’t know much more than Taunt will exist in some form. But I do want to see what other players think about this, and perhaps put up a large and cautionary:

ANet really needs to be careful in which builds get Taunt and how prevalent it is to avoid even more lock-down.

it’s not like you’ll have a profession built as a swiss army knife of CC and they’ll have taunt on top of everything they already have. GW2 has a very limited skill bar for that reason. i wouldn’t worry about them adding another type of CC, since to use it, you’ll have to give up on something else (another CC, your damage option, you name it).

I don’t think it’s bad, or anywhere near as dangerous as you are thinking. Taunt is just an inverted fear, and you can still auto attack in it.

However, while adding more CC to the game has potential to be troublesome, you are also forgetting they’re adding a new boon to the game, resistance, which negates all conditions while it is up. The fact they referenced fear during its explanation makes me believe taunt is also a condition like fear, and resistance will negate its effect.

In short, we have a new CC added to the game, but we also have a new condition added to the game that directly negates its effect.

Simply seems something like a reverse fear in my opinion.

Good idea: Taunting a Necro who is using axe.

Bad idea: taunting a Necro who has Locust Swarm going and is using daggers.

These are all good points. It’s why I wanted to post and say there needs to be care taken, but not start waving my arms manically to declare the sky is falling.

If they add a taunt to something like Warrior Hammer (just for one easy example), this could get problematic fast. This is a build that doesn’t need more hard CC, no matter how traditional Warriors and taunts are. In sPvP it would still be manageable, but in WvW Zergs hammer Warr already has a strong presence because of it’s low cooldown AOE stun. We don’t need more reasons to spam this build.

Another potential problematic example is Necro. Lots of fear already and if a taunt or two gets thrown in Necro’s could Yo-yo people using both.

On the other hand, Taunt could add some nice depth of play too. As Dranor mentioned, not every enemy will be a good candidate for Taunt. In addition, some classes could make some very interesting uses of it beyond just “lol you can’t control your toon while my stun/fear/knockdown is on CD.” Thieves using it as a “distraction” then stealthing, Ranger pulling someone into their GS Block or trap line, Guards pulling people into their block + retaliation – this sort of thing could bring really thoughtful play.

In the end, all I’m saying is any mechanic which completely removes control of a player’s character needs to be treated very carefully. Cooldowns and where Taunts are available will all play into how well or how badly it fits into the game.

New suicide killing: in sky hammer, taunt and jump off a cliff

Moo.3408:

New suicide killing: in sky hammer, taunt and jump off a cliff

not like you need taunt for that…

Loki.8793:

However, while adding more CC to the game has potential to be troublesome, you are also forgetting they’re adding a new boon to the game, resistance, which negates all conditions while it is up. The fact they referenced fear during its explanation makes me believe taunt is also a condition like fear, and resistance will negate its effect.

It is marked as a status effect, not as condition, so no, resistance will not protect against it.

What’s bugging me about taunt is this line:
“For example, when used on players, it will force the taunted player to run at their target with their skill bar locked.”

1) So, does this their target means, that taunt do not actually cause the target-switch?

2) When you are feared, you still can throw an anti-cc skill and stop fear. If you have your skill bar locked, does it mean, you can’t break out from taunt by yourself no matter what?

3) Is it going to be this http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Taunt taunt?

For the 2nd question: yeah, seems like the words “minus stunbreakers” answer it

I imagined the following funny scenerio: You cast taunt on them at the same time as they cast fear on you.

Rin.1046:

I imagined the following funny scenerio: You cast taunt on them at the same time as they cast fear on you.

Impromptu Benny Hill chase?

Reaper’s Protection on Necros would probably cause this situation a fair amount.

Lol, yeah Taunt and fear cast at the same moment would be hilarious.

As a “control effect” I get the impression that stun breaks should work against taunt. There’s just a lot of things to try and save those stun breaks for already. Again, this totally depends on who gets Taunt and how, and what the Taunt durations are.

As is Stun Breaks are definitely very useful, but against certain builds/teams/zergs even having 3 of them on the bar doesn’t make much difference from the sheer spam of Stun, Knockdown, Knockback, Pull, Fear and so on. So again, I just hope ANet really thinks through who gets Taunt and with what skills.