Guild Wars 2

I’m one of the people who is looking forward to playing an auramancing Tempest and this part of today’s update is a welcome and much needed change:

Powerful Aura: Increased the effective radius of this trait from 360 to 600.

However I believe this is a change is the wrong direction:

Frost Aura: This aura now replaces itself as other auras do instead of stacking duration.

For auramancers to have a place, auras need to stack, otherwise there is little point to it. And tempests have questionable benefits as it is.

The lack of new auras makes me really uninterested in Tempest and skeptical about buying the expansion. Seems there is little new for the elementalist beside recycled stuff.

Anyway Warhorn still remains the biggest problem. Until they decide to make it range it will never really be good.

I agree. I was excited to see the range buff, though I personally feel at this point the sharing functionality it better just merged with the GM on Tempest. It’s a bit out of place as it stand or needs some additional benefit.

That said, auras not stacking is doing no favors for an already useless mechanic. Auras needed buffs not nerfs to the only semi-decent one.

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

So because auras are bad, people should not ask if auras can stop being bad?

Diovid.9506:

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

So because auras are bad, people should not ask if auras can stop being bad?

The premise of auras is such that they can never be properly balanced. They are skills the require you to get hit, in a game where active defense is king, and your goal is to avoid taking hits as much as possible. In addition, auras are relatively passive in nature. Magnetic Aura is arguably the only meaningful active effect, although Frost Aura’s Protection Jr. effect is something, I suppose.

Make Auras good, and they’re too good. Pop them and nobody will touch you, because the payout if too strong, which means you never see the resulting effects (such as condition or boon application) from the effects. Because they’re relatively mindless skills, making them good provides the dread “easy button” to the class. Spamming auras to avoid damage and/or punish foes would take a lot of the skill out of the class.

They are conceptually very flawed, and should be completely redesigned.

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

That’s the most stupid thing you could say. Scepter sucks and is not competitive with Dagger. Lets just nerf to the ground, right? (sarcasm)

Tomiyou.3790:

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

That’s the most stupid thing you could say. Scepter sucks and is not competitive with Dagger. Lets just nerf to the ground, right? (sarcasm)

My argument is “stupid,” you say? Well, we can’t have much of a debate if that’s your counter.

My point is that people need to stop asking for Tempest Auramancer, because if Karl listens to you and changes traits to suit that role, we’ll be left with another useless spec, because auras are bad. The worse auras are, the less likely people will keep begging for an Auramancer role. Auras, as they are currently designed, cannot be appropriately balanced (see my post above).

Short of a complete redesign of the aura mechanism, which will not happen in 2015, people need to stop asking for an Auramancer Ele, because you are going to seriously damage the potential of the class by focusing on a bad mechanic.

irrumatio.4893:

Tomiyou.3790:

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

That’s the most stupid thing you could say. Scepter sucks and is not competitive with Dagger. Lets just nerf to the ground, right? (sarcasm)

My argument is “stupid,” you say? Well, we can’t have much of a debate if that’s your counter.

My point is that people need to stop asking for Tempest Auramancer, because if Karl listens to you and changes traits to suit that role, we’ll be left with another useless spec, because auras are bad. The worse auras are, the less likely people will keep begging for an Auramancer role. Auras, as they are currently designed, cannot be appropriately balanced (see my post above).

Short of a complete redesign of the aura mechanism, which will not happen in 2015, people need to stop asking for an Auramancer Ele, because you are going to seriously damage the potential of the class by focusing on a bad mechanic.

I was talking about stopping to ask developers for better Tempest aura integration, I agree, auras are insanely bad for anything beside WvW frontline. More you beg, more developers listen (eventually).

Xillllix.3485:

The lack of new auras makes me really uninterested in Tempest and skeptical about buying the expansion. Seems there is little new for the elementalist beside recycled stuff.

Anyway Warhorn still remains the biggest problem. Until they decide to make it range it will never really be good.

This. Eles are the ONLY class that gets absolutely nothing new from their elite spec. All other classes get something special (different dodge rolls, chill that does damage, condition for guardians, etc.)

irrumatio.4893:

The premise of auras is such that they can never be properly balanced. They are skills the require you to get hit, in a game where active defense is king, and your goal is to avoid taking hits as much as possible. In addition, auras are relatively passive in nature. Magnetic Aura is arguably the only meaningful active effect, although Frost Aura’s Protection Jr. effect is something, I suppose.

Make Auras good, and they’re too good. Pop them and nobody will touch you, because the payout if too strong, which means you never see the resulting effects (such as condition or boon application) from the effects. Because they’re relatively mindless skills, making them good provides the dread “easy button” to the class. Spamming auras to avoid damage and/or punish foes would take a lot of the skill out of the class.

They are conceptually very flawed, and should be completely redesigned.

I actually disagree with you. Auras are very effective tools for a brawler playstyle. Shocking aura is excellent anti-melee, frost aura is great against all focus (slows down an enemy while also decreasing damage), and magnetic aura is great as anti-projectiles. The only aura that is terrible is fire aura (and part of this is due to how many people have access to fire auras).

Yes, auras are only effective when you are taking hits, so you need to have good defense/sustain to make them effective. They do, however, offer a good tool for such a build. They also are interesting because they improve your survivability in a non-boon way.

So yes, auramancer is just another alternative to cele water/arcana/x ele as a brawler role, but at least it performs that role (back when you had signet auras for instance) in a very different way (moreso than tempest does). It also is a great choice to provide buffs when you already have someone pumping out boons, as they stack ontop of them. The play-style was different because you had to choose the best time to use any aura as opposed to spamming skills on-rotation (mostly). Using shocking aura when no enemies are closer than 600 range is stupid, but it really messes up people fighting in melee if they don’t have stab.

I will say, auras are pretty useless in pve (because there damage is kinda strange: either so low you don’t care, or nearly 1-shot).

Ele’s can never move a step forward without going two steps backward. In other words, we cannot get buffs and call it a day. Something has to be nerfed, and usually it starts with a nerf, before picking some random thing to buff, that barely makes any difference at all.

irrumatio.4893:

Tomiyou.3790:

irrumatio.4893:

I’m okay with auras getting nerfed if that means people stop asking Karl to make Auramancer Tempest into a viable build. Auras are not good, stop fetishizing them, forum Eles.

That’s the most stupid thing you could say. Scepter sucks and is not competitive with Dagger. Lets just nerf to the ground, right? (sarcasm)

My argument is “stupid,” you say? Well, we can’t have much of a debate if that’s your counter.

My point is that people need to stop asking for Tempest Auramancer, because if Karl listens to you and changes traits to suit that role, we’ll be left with another useless spec, because auras are bad. The worse auras are, the less likely people will keep begging for an Auramancer role. Auras, as they are currently designed, cannot be appropriately balanced (see my post above).

Short of a complete redesign of the aura mechanism, which will not happen in 2015, people need to stop asking for an Auramancer Ele, because you are going to seriously damage the potential of the class by focusing on a bad mechanic.

He or she is right. Stop the aura fetish. Only good thing that is truly valuable on auras is the healing portion of Elemental Bastion. Auras are very average at best. Static Aura is unfun for both opponent and you, Fire Aura does so little, Magnetic Aura is just a reflect and can’t be handed over like candies, Frost Aura is the only interesting one, but does not fit all build.

Do you guys actually know what happens when someone cleaves into 5 people with Fire Aura on? Answer: enemy receives 1 stack of burn; not even from the one with the highest condition damage, it is random. All get the 1 might though.

600 ranges fits well with tempest as an support and it dose help d/d ele builds but the forst aura changes is going to be more annoying if it dose not work right. I have not tested this but if new aruas cover over the old aura then the lower duration version of the aura for frost it was getting crit gives you a 3 sec frost aura on a 20 sec cd meaning it an uncontrollable aura that can cover a 7 sec dagger off hand aura. It becomes self defeating and now a unless effect for ele to take.
This is a major over sight to the changes and will need to be fixed or you have truly pushed d/d ele or even d/x tempest away from getting a “free aure” from a line that has only 1 aura effect and 1 aure generation putting it on par with fire line and making air maybe the best aura line to run other then tempest.

What they should of done is cap auras duration to 10 sec and every time you reapply an aura it will add its time to what you have on you up to 10 sec.

Jski.6180:

What they should of done is cap auras duration to 10 sec and every time you reapply an aura it will add its time to what you have on you up to 10 sec.

I completly agree here.

It was inconsistent for forst aura to stack where others didn’t. But why remove another playstyle with aura stacking when there is might, heal and invis stacking everywhere else? I see that the way frostaura used to work was brocken; 30 sec of frost aura combined with 90% uptime of protection and ~ 120% duration of swiftness and fury were to strong. (see the build here: [url] http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWnMICdOgFOAuMAsSghHAjGCBhWwcCyAvQJAcAeAA-TFSBABov/QjKBvSpRlq/UmyME1BswFCAgHAAA-w [/url])
Sadly now 3 sec frost aura on blast are just not worth it. Cap it to 10-12 sec and everything is fine.
Stacking auras would also benefit the mesmers chaos armor, which gives them a viable combofield.
Arenanet talked the last days a lot about getting away from the ’zerker meta. How to do it? Give the ppl some good options to combo other than migth, heal, blindness.

Maybe in the future you could add a new “earth field” exclusive to 1-2 specifications with blast/leap combo giving magnet aura, projectile/whirl combo giving torment, but thats something to be considered in an exclusive thread i guess.

Let me know what you think about my concern with more use of other combofields and the general idea of stacking and capping auras.

Come on guys, dont let this thread vanish into oblivion. There are even more auras comming to us with tempest and the shouts. I don’t like the idea of giving just frost aura to allies by pressing a shout with 20+ sec CD.

thats why CD reduction will help. And also shouts as instants. Stacking auras is dangerous and harder to balance.

Wolfric.9380:

thats why CD reduction will help. And also shouts as instants. Stacking auras is dangerous and harder to balance.

I do not think CDR on shouts would help much in that most of the shouts are already on low cd all but the earth and maybe eye of the storm. As for instants cast the heal will never be instant nor would the elite but i guess the ice and earth one can.

I do not think you should try to buff the shouts but buff the auras them self and the applied / when under an aura effects in the game. Shouts only cover tempest but auras cover both the ele and tempest (ele the more light auras and tempest the high aura user).

I still think a rune set that removing condition on aura application or even better condition converted into an boon would fit very well. That an a rune set that gives you more effects when you have an aura up so you can have other classes build for having an aura ele/tempest in there pt or even just aim to have there own aura up times like say gurd can with light fields and leaps.

It’s weird because light aura is allowed to stack.

Hey there is still a 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% Chance that the Tempest Rune will be about Auras and the Final effect being Auras you apply stack in Duration

But i guess it would never happen.

well auras remove a condition would be great. And the rune being a condition rune :-). I expect a defensive rune. But this woudl be grim. Tempest is already defensive and needs damage. Condition is somethign eles are weak so this might help while not pushing to much.
A dream Rune would be: Condi rune + aura duration +, remove condition, stack duration.
But i feel the duration stacking on auras can get out of hands to easy stacking eles again for all auras permanently on the team.

Two versions i find fitting.
Superior rune of the apothecary:

1.) +25 healing power
2.) +35 condition damage
3.) +50 healing power
4.) + 65 condition damage
5.) +100 healing power
6.) Auras you apply remove a condition.

Superior rune of the witch:

1.) +25 condition damage
2.) +10%condition duration
3.) +50 condition damage
4.) + 20% Aura duration
5.) +100 condition damage
6.) Auras aplied to you remove a condition.

The second one is more selfish and a strong condition supporting rune. Maybe it can help to make a viable condition build. With such a rune an baseline speed i would immidiateley play tempest.

Diovid.9506:

I’m one of the people who is looking forward to playing an auramancing Tempest and this part of today’s update is a welcome and much needed change:

Powerful Aura: Increased the effective radius of this trait from 360 to 600.

However I believe this is a change is the wrong direction:

Frost Aura: This aura now replaces itself as other auras do instead of stacking duration.

For auramancers to have a place, auras need to stack, otherwise there is little point to it. And tempests have questionable benefits as it is.

I think it’s the right choice, since the much bigger radius makes auras much easier to use without good positioning, add stacking durations to that, and it simply becomes another spammable dumbed down AoE-skill.

Without stacking, it at least requires a bit of skill to keep your automatic procs in mind to not cast an aura when you would get one automatically. Also, it requires some communication when there are more than 1 ele with auras for other players.

Wolfric.9380:

well auras remove a condition would be great. And the rune being a condition rune :-). I expect a defensive rune. But this woudl be grim. Tempest is already defensive and needs damage. Condition is somethign eles are weak so this might help while not pushing to much.
A dream Rune would be: Condi rune + aura duration +, remove condition, stack duration.
But i feel the duration stacking on auras can get out of hands to easy stacking eles again for all auras permanently on the team.

Two versions i find fitting.
Superior rune of the apothecary:

1.) +25 healing power
2.) +35 condition damage
3.) +50 healing power
4.) + 65 condition damage
5.) +100 healing power
6.) Auras you apply remove a condition.

Superior rune of the witch:

1.) +25 condition damage
2.) +10%condition duration
3.) +50 condition damage
4.) + 20% Aura duration
5.) +100 condition damage
6.) Auras aplied to you remove a condition.

The second one is more selfish and a strong condition supporting rune. Maybe it can help to make a viable condition build. With such a rune an baseline speed i would immidiateley play tempest.

Personally I’d want something like:

1.) +25 Healing Power
2.) +5% Boon Duration
3.) +50 Healing Power
4.) +10% Boon Duration, +10% aura duration
5.) +100 Healing Power
6.) Auras you apply remove a condition, +10% aura duration

But that is because I’m looking forward to playing a healing auramancer.

indeed for an pure support auramancer the healing/boon rúne will be a perfect match. But i feel such a build won´t get a viable status since “Healer” is generally shun. Maybe raids change it a bit but thats PvE.

I like to see an rune set that works more on the power side but has effects at 2, 4, and 6 that only work when you have an aura on you but these effects are much stronger then most runes.

1)25 power
2)-5% dmg taken when under the effect of aura (an level 4 for most rune set)
3)50 power
4)-20% condtion duration when under the effect of aura (an level 6 for most rune set)
5)100 power
6)125 power +125 precision +125 ferocity +125 condition dmg when under the effect of aura (a very powerful dmg buff for self when you have an aura)

May be a bit over doing it i realy have no ideal what is fair just keep in mind the 2 set needs to be as strong as a 4 the 4 needs to be as strong as a 6 and the 6 needs to be kind of crazy. All off the ideal that they do not work if you do not have an aura up. But you can have other ppl in your group run these becuse they have an tempest or an ele giving them aura so an rune set build for what type of pt your in.

Yes, it makes no sense to run shouts that give you auras, and Powerful Aura when they overwrite each other, its just stupid