Guild Wars 2

Let me start this post saying that I love Guild Wars 2 combat. I personally have not encountered any system in an mmo that is as visually appealing and fun. That being said, there are some minor to major flaws that have cast a shadow on the sPvP/tPvP systems. Just to avoid the typical forum rage I want to start by stating that this is not a post about OP abilities, or any mechanic that I have not found a way to counter (I have learned to play :0 ) It is simply a look at certain setups between classes that do not foster a good sense of balance or consistency.

This breakdown is not here to address things you personally like or dislike. This post is aimed at pointing out things that clearly put professions on a different level, contradict themselves, or conflict with Anets design criteria (judged by blogs, forums posts, interviews ect.) Also please format replies based skill categories like weapons skills, utilities, profession specific abilities.

Weapon Skills:
Arenanet has stated before that when in combat many abilities work on the idea of a risk/reward paradigm. The more risk you take, the greater potential for damage you have. Considering this, there are several abilities in game that are inherently very poorly designed. The most obvious example I see is the #1 skill for the mesmer GS and ranger LB. If you are not familiar with these skills, their damage scales based on distance. The farther you are away the more damage they do. This simply is not logical on any level. It promotes the idea, especially in team fights, that a player can remain in a place with very little risk of harm and push out more damage than the classes risking their hide to fight. It would make much more sense if damage was increased based on how close the target is, while maintaining a steady level of fair damage at max range. Seeing as both of these weapons have good damage and a knockback (ironically ranger has a knockback that DOES increase based on how close the target is) this change would not cripple either of the weapons. If anything it just allows them to function more fairly in regards to melee professions.

Utilities:
This wouldn’t be so bad if other classes were not hit so hard by this “concept”. I personally do not play a warrior, but in order for them to use frenzy they must take 50% more damage. Risk = Reward. However a mesmer has access to an elite that has no personal drawbacks, lasts longer, and effects all party members inside of it. Yes, you must remain in the field to gain the buff but with the current conquest game mode this isn’t difficult. You may say that the cd on time warp and its status as elite is the reason for this. I can agree that the cd does help, but mesmer isn’t the only one with quickness that comes with so little cost. Both rangers and thieves (and engineers as long as the RNG gods are on their side) have access to quickness with very little inherent “risk”. Any skilled ranger can time his quickness to avoid the 6 second inability to heal. Not to mention the fact in PvP heals are regularly on cd, taking out all the risk (especially if they are using SB/LB). And while endurance is important for thieves, between the mobility and stealth they have, a well timed quickness won’t in anyway put them at risk. Warrior however must be in the heat of combat 90% of the time to use quickness effectively (rifle being the only decent exception) and the risk he is taking is far greater than that of all other classes (RNG engi’s excluded) who access it.

Profession Specific Skills:
Rangers also fall into this category. While I don’t think they are imbalanced, I do believe Arenanet had a lapse in judgement when they decided to balance rangers on 100% pet up time. Pets comprise a large portion of ranger damage and scale based on their stats. But unlike all other profession specific mechanics, pets function on their own, have abilities that activate without need for player activation, and do not need their owners present (risk) to put out alot of damage (reward). Yes I have been chased all across many hotjoin maps by ranger pets and its unreal how hard some can hit. Once again will state that I do not think this is imbalanced, just that the way it functions isn’t consistent enough to be well designed. At most (unless specifically traited) I don’t see need for ranger pets to comprise more than 25% of their damage (along with a buff to player activated abilities to avoid crippling the ranger) considering they mainly function on their own and take very little player skill to use. Not to mention compared to necro pets, clones, etc. they are much more survivable in aoe and can be switched for a full health alternate.

In conclusion…
Beyond these issues and others like it (Plague signet not only harming necro but in no way supporting the team with the broken “copy/transfer” tooltip-literally a passive risk with 0 reward), I think arenanet could have profession weapon and utility balance within its grasp. Not that it will be easy or quick, but i think it is attainable as long as they choose to focus on reworking/balancing certains traits and placing them in a way that trait lines synergies well for ALL professions. That is where most imbalance is coming from, not specific abilities or utilities which make this game and its professions unique, but a almost half-hazard distribution of major/minor traits. Some professions have it good, others literally are caged in specific trees to keep up with the meta. With my mesmer I can throw almost any trait into any tree (within reason) and come up with a build that at least in hotjoin can fill a role well. Whereas other professions are stuck with1-2 variations of builds that have very limited roles within a group setting. So sPvP forums, are there any other ability designs that you think are just screaming to be reworked?

P.S. Thanks/congratulations to anyone who took the time to read this entire post

Seriously if you want your point heard, either break this up into bullet points or back this up into paragraphs.

It’s just a giant wall of text that people will just walk away from atm.