Guild Wars 2

Actual i wish that every skill was like this…
Very Very effective but Very Very tough..

I want to practise in my class and then be able to do something that an unexperience player cant..
I dont want to be facerolled by rank 10 Spirit Rangers….

Dardamaniac.1295:

Actual i wish that every skill was like this…
Very Very effective but Very Very tough..

I want to practise in my class and then be able to do something that an unexperience player cant..
I dont want to be facerolled by rank 10 Spirit Rangers….

This 100%

The new skullcrack displays what every powerful skill should have. A charging, apparent, and risky animation/cast time. When timed well you can devastate your opponent, when timed wrongly you get punished. I’ve come to (almost) master the new skull crack, by timing the charge with the guardians invulnerability elite to stun them right before they can press their virtues. I honestly think every instant cast that deals heavy burst/cc/condi needs this kind of animation.

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Pin says hello…trying to spot that small circle in the arrow path with a metric crap ton of particle effects on the screen is impossible to dodge at close range.

vapor.5390:

To land it properly you need to time the 0,5sec( i did not believe it would actually be such a big change to 0,25) correctly, maintains the super narrow 130range distance while channeling, not to be lucky blinded/blocked/ dodged/ccd, not to be skill blinded/ blocked/ dodged/ ccd and last but not the LEAST to not INTTERUPT it with weapon swap( since SC usually leads to some another weapons selfcombochain).

… try playing Mantras on a Mesmer which have a 2s charge and then complain again about 0.5s. ;-)

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Love you, buddy.

Attack my target! * Calls target on Pin Down, Necro Marks & Scepter *

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Agree BUT where are telegraphed skills on other classes? Don’t want to be sarcastic, but Warrior is a “telegraph” compared to other classes.

Chaith.8256:

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Love you, buddy.

Attack my target! * Calls target on Pin Down, Necro Marks & Scepter *

This post is so full of win.

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

So far warrior is the olny one class that has telegraphed attacks and that abilities getting nerfed.

While i agree that stronger abilities should have a telegraph, its time to add it to other classes as well otherwise were at disadvantage with the hurr hurr earthshakers, evis, final thrusts, selfrooting 3.5 sec hundren blades, killshot (lol seriously at ks+hb ones) as they are really easy to dodge and so on while other classes has insta cast abilities that can be used even when stunned.

Also the nerf was done without any compensation. Mace chain sux. Counterblow sux, pommel bash sux. A slow weapon without a real damage, gap closers or even a single cripple, skull crack was everything that was going for mace and with the latest patch that weapon got destroyed and over few weeks everyone will forget about it just like we forgot about existence of offhand axe.

A buff should give a player reason to take a skill previously unused in their kitten nal. A nerf should make it so a go to skill now has competition for it’s spot.

When a buffed skill causes all players to take because it is too good not to, and nerf leads to skill never being used again..that’s when the buuf/nerf have gone too far.

If i am not wrong, in 4 moths from now you’ll see warrior mace sitting beside mesmer torch and guardian spirit weapons on the discount reduced to clear shelf of wallmart.

After spirit weapon weapon nerf they have never been seen again, and if they do get seen once every 6 months people actually put a ? in chat panel.

Mace is now heading down this path. There is a difference between counter play and just making it easier. It doesn’t help when a lot of thought went into longbow nerf and all the evidence to support the reduction has been habitually proven by players to be non correct. Despite the multiple static’s cited their has been no response given.

There is no doubt an impressive amount of creativity and technical savvy has been employed by the makers/supporters of gw2, and every person gets burn out eventually with a project this size. The nerfs/changes have not really affected hammer and caused players to not “go to it”, the longbow change is esoterically sound, but based off of info that is isn’t really standing up to scrutiny and the core problem with mace was on Asuran forms and mass particle where it’s already suitable animation was getting lost.

Ultimately none of the changes affected the builds I used when i pvp’ed..but i can see how some players are left scratching their head.

The change to mace has created counter play on perhaps the most entry level, but as players advance it has made mace ugly to use in a pvp environment where the pace is already fairly fast for it’s genre.

Idk about you but I think I can see every big hitting spell from an ele 2 miles away.. let alone almost every ability.. buff eles..

The thief cloak and dagger skill has the exact same parameters (.5s cast, 130 range, high cost, telegraphed), must be landed more often and is at least as critical as skull crack for many popular PvP builds.

Skull crack is exactly where it should have been.

Skull crack is fine. Playing top level tpvp with it. Although i main thief i play a pretty beast warrior.Half the time i play warrior to farm people with top tier friends. A three second stun needs to have some sort of animation to be fair. You just need to get a rhythm down and learn to position yourself when using it.
-Magic Toker

it’s pretty easy to setup, barely noticed a diff.

Dustin.2793:

Skull crack is fine. Playing top level tpvp with it. Although i main thief i play a pretty beast warrior.Half the time i play warrior to farm people with top tier friends. A three second stun needs to have some sort of animation to be fair. You just need to get a rhythm down and learn to position yourself when using it.
-Magic Toker

Problem is not that skullcrack is too bad for it,‘s casting time and obvious animation..Problem is mace is baddly designed overall.No cripple, no range, no mobility, extremely slow autoattack.
Another problem most classes have ranged ccs with lower casting time and no animation at all.I really don’t understand why they focused on 130 range single target stun so hard and left out ranged necro fears for example wich are impossible to tell.Nerfing high risk ccs but leaving out zero risk full reward ones untouched on other classes is not balance.

mini.6018:

Dustin.2793:

Skull crack is fine. Playing top level tpvp with it. Although i main thief i play a pretty beast warrior.Half the time i play warrior to farm people with top tier friends. A three second stun needs to have some sort of animation to be fair. You just need to get a rhythm down and learn to position yourself when using it.
-Magic Toker

Problem is not that skullcrack is too bad for it,‘s casting time and obvious animation..Problem is mace is baddly designed overall.No cripple, no range, no mobility, extremely slow autoattack.
Another problem most classes have ranged ccs with lower casting time and no animation at all.I really don’t understand why they focused on 130 range single target stun so hard and left out ranged necro fears for example wich are impossible to tell.Nerfing high risk ccs but leaving out zero risk full reward ones untouched on other classes is not balance.

Maybe its because the warrior is loaded with gap closers/ccs on weapons/utilities already and putting more cc on a cc weapon would be too xzibit for anet?

What is skull crack worked a bit like shield bash/kick?

You move a little bit, so it has a 200 range instead of 130. But keep the 0.5 cast time… That would make it a bit easier to use, right :o? It would still be very much telegraphed. Perhaps even more than now.

Darnis.4056:

mini.6018:

Dustin.2793:

Skull crack is fine. Playing top level tpvp with it. Although i main thief i play a pretty beast warrior.Half the time i play warrior to farm people with top tier friends. A three second stun needs to have some sort of animation to be fair. You just need to get a rhythm down and learn to position yourself when using it.
-Magic Toker

Problem is not that skullcrack is too bad for it,‘s casting time and obvious animation..Problem is mace is baddly designed overall.No cripple, no range, no mobility, extremely slow autoattack.
Another problem most classes have ranged ccs with lower casting time and no animation at all.I really don’t understand why they focused on 130 range single target stun so hard and left out ranged necro fears for example wich are impossible to tell.Nerfing high risk ccs but leaving out zero risk full reward ones untouched on other classes is not balance.

Maybe its because the warrior is loaded with gap closers/ccs on weapons/utilities already and putting more cc on a cc weapon would be too xzibit for anet?

No.Definatly not that since mace lacks in all those camps.

Alissah.9281:

What is skull crack worked a bit like shield bash/kick?

You move a little bit, so it has a 200 range instead of 130. But keep the 0.5 cast time… That would make it a bit easier to use, right :o? It would still be very much telegraphed. Perhaps even more than now.

If it was a little leap similiar to evi/shield bash/kick then it would be completely fine, i agree. Also while were at it please rework the animation to at least look cool.

Aeden.5896:

The thief cloak and dagger skill has the exact same parameters (.5s cast, 130 range, high cost, telegraphed), must be landed more often and is at least as critical as skull crack for many popular PvP builds.

CnD is a perfect example of a skill that has high risk and high reward. Risk being that if you miss, you lose a crap ton of initiative and are left vulnerable. Reward being you deal good damage and stealth.

Josh Davis.6015:

Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

There are a few skills that can be easily telegraphed/improved. I’ll list the ones I think need the tweaking most, as short as possible.

Pin Down
•The problem with Pin Down is the fact that it is (almost) instant, immobs and bleeds. I think the cast time should be moved up to 3/4 a second (like arcing arrow and the auto attack), and should display a charging effect similar to that of kill-shot or the new skullcrack (that “fiery” impactful effect). This would make it easier to tell when a warrior is using it due to the charging effect and would allow enemies to counteract the projectile itself.

Ele scepter #2/electric discharge trait
• I think making these two attacks more apparent is what’s important. Adding a higher cast time would make them almost useless, however adding some sort of react time is needed. If the lightning strikes became projectiles, you would be able to keep it insta-cast but would allow more reaction time making it dodge-able. It would work like the engi’s static discharge trait. Instant cast, but visible and apparent instead of instant cast and direct damage.

Necro Marks
•I believe the animation of casting the marks themselves are fine. When a necro uses them you can see their arm move to the side before he/she places a mark. However, the fact that pulling off marks themselves is so easy (place them in enemies general area, do dmg), I believe some change is in order. There should be a slight delay when a mark is placed before it comes active, say 3/4 a second. This would give people time to react instead of it being placed directly on them and doing damage and would also force the necro to place them correctly when used offensively.

Mantras
• Like the ele’s lightning strikes I believe these also should become projectiles. Keep the instant cast time just take away the instant damage and instead become projected damage. The velocity of the missile should be high of course, similar to Arcane Blast on ele. Meaning the projectile will travel at a fast speed making it dodge-able, but very deadly. Making these instant damage skills projectiles can also mean more combo play in fire fields and such. Although, if mantra of pain is to be dodge-able I think the dmg should be buffed.

There are skills I feel should stay instant damage of course like mesmer auto and ele scepter auto (to name a few), because these are channeled damage. The damage starts out low and then channels upwards giving more reaction time. But I don’t think powerful skills should be instant cast/instant damage, because that makes things too easy to pull off for the user.

Oni Link.4621:

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Agree BUT where are telegraphed skills on other classes? Don’t want to be sarcastic, but Warrior is a “telegraph” compared to other classes.

Mesmer: All greatsword abilities except for the boon removal one are quite telegraphed. In particular mirror blade and phantasmal berserker. Sword #2 is an essential and quite telegraphed ability also.

Ele: Dragon tooth, phoenix (sound), fire grab (extremely telegraphed and has an awfully narrow range), burning speed, dragon breath, ride the lightning…etc

So no, warrior is not the only class out there with telegraphed abilities ^^

mini.6018:

Dustin.2793:

Skull crack is fine. Playing top level tpvp with it. Although i main thief i play a pretty beast warrior.Half the time i play warrior to farm people with top tier friends. A three second stun needs to have some sort of animation to be fair. You just need to get a rhythm down and learn to position yourself when using it.
-Magic Toker

Problem is not that skullcrack is too bad for it,‘s casting time and obvious animation..Problem is mace is baddly designed overall.No cripple, no range, no mobility, extremely slow autoattack.
Another problem most classes have ranged ccs with lower casting time and no animation at all.I really don’t understand why they focused on 130 range single target stun so hard and left out ranged necro fears for example wich are impossible to tell.Nerfing high risk ccs but leaving out zero risk full reward ones untouched on other classes is not balance.

Before you complain about lack of cc in warriors “Havveeee ya met guards?”

Ele scepter 2 and electric discharge trait don’t do a lot of damage. They are definitely not high impact skills. It is scepter 2 electric discharge, double arcane. So 4 skills doing the main damage on their own none of them are super strong. So the question is the investment to instagib balanced? You do take 2 precious utitilty slots so you can attempt instagib.

say hello to cloak and dagger… 0.5 sec cast time, if you don’t land it, GG
easily gets countered by block, blind, invul and such
is not even CC for that matter heh

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Making combat less spammy and putting a greater emphasis on correct skill timing is indeed a step in the right direction.

But you’re in for a whole lot of redesigning to reach that goal. The thief for example is almost entirely based on these spammy attacks. How will that be addressed?

Gunlaugr.2716:

Oni Link.4621:

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Agree BUT where are telegraphed skills on other classes? Don’t want to be sarcastic, but Warrior is a “telegraph” compared to other classes.

Mesmer: All greatsword abilities except for the boon removal one are quite telegraphed. In particular mirror blade and phantasmal berserker. Sword #2 is an essential and quite telegraphed ability also.

Ele: Dragon tooth, phoenix (sound), fire grab (extremely telegraphed and has an awfully narrow range), burning speed, dragon breath, ride the lightning…etc

So no, warrior is not the only class out there with telegraphed abilities ^^

It didn’t mean “the only telegraphed”, but the “most telegraphed”. Obviously all classes have some skills with a typical animation, but Warrior is full of them compared to others.

PS: I’m not against “telegraphy”, the opposite. More skills should have a recognizable animation to enable more counter-play.

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Skullcrack is fine. Healing Signet needs adjustment. It’s way overpowered. I watched a warrior tank 3 people for about 40 seconds doing nothing but attacking.

If a player can /sit and another player does 0 damage to him, then you’ve got something WAYY broken.

I played Rift for over a year and never saw anything this bad.

Thedenofsin.7340:

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Skullcrack is fine. Healing Signet needs adjustment. It’s way overpowered. I watched a warrior tank 3 people for about 40 seconds doing nothing but attacking.

If a player can /sit and another player does 0 damage to him, then you’ve got something WAYY broken.

I played Rift for over a year and never saw anything this bad.

Ive seen a warrior tanking the whole pvp team with chieftain mob in forest map and his hp never went down from full

Scoobaniec.9561:

Ive seen a warrior tanking the whole pvp team with chieftain mob in forest map and his hp never went down from full

Most of the team must have been hitting the mob. I play both shout bunker war (3500ac) and banner bunker war (~4k ac), that much deeps is well beyond the limits of our regen/armor.

Oni Link.4621:

Gunlaugr.2716:

Oni Link.4621:

Josh Davis.6015:

I think Skullcrack is a good place now. Ideally, all of our high impact skills should allow for counter-play via a clearly telegraphed attack animation. It’s something we’re constantly thinking about when we look at existing skills, and doubly so when we brainstorm new ones.

Agree BUT where are telegraphed skills on other classes? Don’t want to be sarcastic, but Warrior is a “telegraph” compared to other classes.

Mesmer: All greatsword abilities except for the boon removal one are quite telegraphed. In particular mirror blade and phantasmal berserker. Sword #2 is an essential and quite telegraphed ability also.

Ele: Dragon tooth, phoenix (sound), fire grab (extremely telegraphed and has an awfully narrow range), burning speed, dragon breath, ride the lightning…etc

So no, warrior is not the only class out there with telegraphed abilities ^^

It didn’t mean “the only telegraphed”, but the “most telegraphed”. Obviously all classes have some skills with a typical animation, but Warrior is full of them compared to others.

PS: I’m not against “telegraphy”, the opposite. More skills should have a recognizable animation to enable more counter-play.

I simply went by what you wrote ^^, but yes, I agree with you on more recognizable animations. I like the new skullcrack change. Hopefully many other skills for all classes will follow suit.

Skullcrack change is totally justified imo. I wouldn’t argue with a slight increase to range though, that would bring it more inline with similar warrior bursts.

For pin down qq though: I would agree it needs cast increase IF we looked at it in a vacuum. If you give it to a condi nade engi, it would be OP. However when you look at warrior as a whole, this is the #1 ability to cleanse. There’s not loads of different types of condi pressure and cover like other classes, so the counterplay is there.

Fighting LB war you should specifically save your condi cleanses for pin down, and with a medium cd that’s not a lot to ask imo.