Hey guys!
Just finished playing my 3 main classes and their elites, so I just wanted to share my opinions about each of them!
Note: As usual, these are my opinions. I respect all of yours, but this is just a quick write up on what I’ve seen over a good 50-100 games.
1. Reaper! (Wowie Zowie Kaplowee!)
Yay! I get to play my Necro more. As most of you know this hasn’t been a very played class for me until about 4 months ago. Now I pretty much sit on my Necro unless my team is on. Their Self Sustain, AOE Damage, Survival, Bunker, and 1vX capability is unmatched in the current game. So does Reaper live up to its un-evolved form? HELL YES!
Reaper gives Necro’s access to Greatsword, which ends up meaning I hit even harder. The new Reaper form also gives you access to new skills, and a new ulti….and oh ya….chill….lots and lots of chill….
It’s overall a boost to Necro’s Damage, Melee capability, Survival, and Aesthetics…..yes that is a category…..we look awesome!
I have mainly stuck to the 3 classes that will be listed here. But between those 3, Reaper stands miles above the rest. From what I hear Scrapper is really strong, maybe Reaper has some competition after all?
Balance Review: I love playing on my reaper….but something’s got to give…..
I’m not saying they need to be nerfed hard, or all aspects of them need to be kitten. But right now the amount of damage I’m putting out, with the amount of self sustain and survival I have, makes us monsters. I think we should keep our survival and maybe just have a few number tweaks on our damage?
2. Druid! (I thought there wasn’t a Trinity? >.>)
So for my very first character, my Ranger, I got Druid. I thought it was going to give me some cool CC skills and some extra damage….since Ranger is really a DPS class…..but it didn’t….it made me a healer >.>…..whaaa?
Druid gives access to several abilities that are, for more or less, support. We have skills that rip conditions off allies, moves that stun break for allies, and a lot….A LOT of heals.
With these heals come a new form, Celestial. This replaces all of our skills, and our new utility moves with pretty much ALL healing and support effects. Now, I was a little disappointed when I heard our new form was a healer. But after playing it in PvP…and getting used to positioning myself behind a wall like a scared child, this class shines! I think rangers are in a better spot than ever before! We are NOT the damage dealers we really wanted to be….but we are the deciding factor in team fights. An unnoticed Druid in Celestial Form will guarantee which side wins the team fight. Their heals and Condi cleanses are INSANE. Ive literally been jumped on by 4 people, and just stood there, (Healing Power/Toughness/Power), spamming heals, and they COULD NOT kill me. I was healing so much that even through interrupt I could keep myself up. Also, as long as you’re in the fight, your celestial form recharges VERY fast….usually only resulting in 5-10 second dead time between celestial.
I for one think this is a huge step in PvP, and gives Ranger a role on any team. Not only that, but I feel like it will be very useful in the new PvE content.
Balance Review: Adds a whole new aspect to the game, and I LOVE IT!
I love being able to support my teammates: Heal them, push stompers off of them, rip condis off of them, Break them out of stuns…ect. Now…that’s not to say it’s balanced. I do think the heal amount is a little over the top. My 1 was healing for 2k AOE on a 0 second CD, my 3 for 4k on a 6 second CD….stacking that with my plants exploding and my 4 I found myself wisping into team fights, blowing celestial form, and healing for around 20k AOE every 10 seconds. If I Ult while in celestial form it binds me to my allies, making all heals i receive effect them as well….resulting in me healing about 40k AOE every 10 seconds on each target. If I’m in a 5v5 teamfight that’s 200k healing/10 seconds……….wow!
I love the class, love the changes, and love the skills….I really do think it’s just a number tweak that’s needed.
P.S. No….we dont’s give Boons….but there’s already a class for that….Guardian. Why get something that another class already has when you can get something brand new?
3. Dare Devil! (Who needs to fight when I can run? :P)
Finally, my main on my team…..Thief!
Now, I have to start by saying: OMG WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT FROM LAST BWE.
They cleaned up our dodges, fixed some animation, and changed around our Traits a bit.
Now, with that out of the way, Thief has been made into what I knew it was going to be made into 4 months ago….a runner.
If you look at my post history about 3 weeks ago I said “If ANet want’s thiefs to be a non combative class that’s whole point is to sneak around and take points really fast, then they need to give us the ability to specialize in that”…..and….they did!
DareDevil will not win you a fight……at all! DareDevil going up against a Reaper, Scrapper, Zerker….ect…will get flattened into a Thief Pancake. Daredevil provides us very little in the way of actual combat. What we have now is pretty much the damage we have in DareDevil. What DareDevil DOES excel in is making us BY FAR the fastest moving cappers on the map…..and oh man does it do that well.
With the ability to have 3 dodges that have 150% dodge range, removes movement impairing conditions, AND gives 10 Seconds of swiftness, paired with SB #5 and Shadow Step…I was FLYING around the map. I actually spent a good 5 games in a row NOT FIGHTING! I would go to a point, decap it from the enemy really quick, and if no one was in sight I would take it….if I saw someone coming….I would run…and HOLY COW can we run! I can make it from Point A to Point C on FoeF in about 8 Seconds….so I did….and would decap that point….oh here comes someone else….fly back to A and decap that point…..they have done what I said they needed to. They have made us weaker in Combat than the other classes, but we now excel even further at what our role already was.
Now….alot of people are mad about this. They want thief to be tons of damage and super combative like Rogues in WoW or Scouts in Everquest. But honestly….I really like the changes here in GW2. If you want to be a heavy damage dealer, there are plenty of classes for that now. Scrapper, Reaper, Zerker….DD has unrivaled mobility….giving it something that thief hasn’t had in a long time…..a Trump Card.
Balance Review: I’m like the flash…..just….with fur and a tail >.>
Now as much as I like the changes, and love the mobility, some of the complaints are valid. Thief is very VERY weak in combat compared to the other Elites. I think Distracting Daggers needs to have a Que/Cast of it’s own…making it so I can cast them even while in another animation. I also feel like certain existing skills need to be adjusted. Namely Signet of Agility needs to give 150 Endurance, not 100. And some of the heals needs to be fixed: Hide in Shadows needs to be a .5 second cast, Withdraw needs to have its healing upped a bit, and our new heal needs something…..more. It just felt like it took WAY too long to cast and was usually interrupted.
Staff: A big improvement from last BW…but #5 needs evasion frames. No matter how much I tried to build around staff and make it work it just couldn’t compare to the utility of D/P and D/D or the damage of P/P. I would try and 5 into a fight just to be blown up while gracefully flying through the air just to flop on the ground dead instead of slamming the ground with an attack.
Final thoughts: I think all three of these classes I play are getting stuff they need. Some may be stronger than others….some people may not like that they got heals, or their elite spec is weaker in combat…or they got a GreatSw-….actually….I don’t think there are any Reapers complaining :P. But in the end, I think they are adding lots of new aspects to the game that are going to make PvP and PvE feel fresh. With a few more tweaks, mainly in numbers, I think everything is looking great!
What are your guys’ thoughts?
