Guild Wars 2

I wrote this on my tumblr. It pretty much summarizes why Warhorn doesn’t fit as either an offhand OR a mainhand.

Comparing it to offhands:
Dagger and Focus offhands are both fantastic. They cover a wide range of abilities and roles without ever feeling remotely redundant. Both are also best in close range (focus can be decent in mid-range). So, Warhorn in order to compete might have to go long range. And here’s the problem with that: Scepter and Dagger main hands are…best in close range. So any range advantage Warhorn has is pretty much useless as the mainhands need to be in melee to be fully effective.

Comparing it to mainhands:
So, the idea that Warhorn as a main hand is intriguing. However, again we have the same problem. Dagger is best at close range. Scepter is best at close to mid range. So Warhorn COULD be long range. Except none of our current offhands work well at long range. Thus the weapon would have to hold up mostly on its own at long range. Then it would compete with staff….and lose. I can’t foresee any way for a mainhand alone to beat staff at long range.

Why we wanted sword:
Elementalists are lacking two things right now: A burst weapon and a true melee weapon. Now, one might say scepter fills burst. It doesn’t. Two skills can burst. And one you can’t even properly aim. So, no, scepter isn’t burst. One might add that Dagger fills melee. It doesn’t. Dagger is PBAoE close ranged weapon. Only ONE ability can actually cleave. Sword had skills built in already to use a full autoattack chain and cleave.

Again, Warhorn could be great for Eles, but it’s not what we need at the moment and doesn’t bring anything new to the table as we HAVE to remember that the old weapons will be used with it.

Awwwww… with sword skills being removed from the data files this basically makes it a 99.999% chance that we’ll get warhorn.

So unless we will get a MINDBLOWINGLY awesome new mechanic from our elite spec (which I honestly doubt) this will probably be the nail in the coffin that makes me switch to a mesmer main for HoT. They already got so much new awesome traits and changed utilities from this patch (compared to all the untouched ele utilities and elites) and chronomancer is really awesome, plus there are a lot of really great looking shield skins.

Warhorn? Not so much, all the skins look pretty underwhelming and honestly there’s only so much you can do with it’s animations even with 8 skills: blow it, blow it some more, some swirly things, some other swirly things from it’s mouth.

Looking flashy aside though my biggest problem with warhorn is what other posters like Fade already explained here: We already have a great long range aoe/support weapon, a great melee/skirmish/aoe main hand and 2 great offhands, both melee-ish range for different situations.

Scepter is our only single-ish target long-ish range mainhand and it’s pretty lacking overall. It has some burst but no sustain and even it’s burst pales compared to what other classes now put out.

Sword would have been the perfect weapon for us, no matter if it would have been used in true melee or long range like mesmers use greatswords, it would really give us something new to do and a new playstyle that we’ve been thoroughly lacking since 3 years.

Even if warhorn skills can be good they won’t add anything new I fear. Can’t make it 1200 range because we have no 1200 range mainhand. So it’s gonna be a 900-600 range weapon. Which is already what we have in focus and dagger offhands

Edit: AFAIK We’re also the only class without any weapon that has autoattack-chains. Engineers don’t have one too right now technically (toolkit autoattack is a chain) but they are getting hammer and I guess that will have an autoattack chain to give them a bit more melee options.

I just want to point out (again) that the argument about Swords similarities to Dagger is totally totally unfair, as Warhorn is even more similar to Focus. Warhorn is the dumbest weapon in the game, and I think Arenanet want to conveniently forget that. I know there’s the odd Warhorn lover out there, but we have to look at it realistically. A Focus is basically an object that is not a traditional weapon, but can be used as the FOCUS of magical power to perform some sort of offensive or defensive magical spell. If you look at the Focus skills on Elementalist now it even already has a clearly stormy reflect zone. Consider thematically what a Warhorn is once you put it into the hands of an Elementalist – it literally IS a Focus. Sure, maybe Arenanet think they’re being real crafty by making a Warhorn call storms rather that a Sword, because if they don’t take that chance it’s unlikely Warhorn will ever thematically fit a future Ele Elite Spec, but is the thematic link between storms and warhorn really worth continuing to endorse the ugliest weapon in the game by giving it to the class that will likely get the least out of it in terms of actual playstyle, ie. what every Ele I’ve met cares most about? Based on every discussion I’ve been a part of, the response from players to the concept of a Warhorn Elementalist is dramatically negative, and considerably more so than the response to any other elite spec thus far. There’s really no burst damage Elementalist build worth speaking of in Conquest, and a main hand weapon would make significantly more sense to fulfill that role. In PvE, there’s really no reasonable tanky role for an Elementalist, and the potential for Sword or Warhorn to fulfill that role is pretty equal (although focus already has 2 reflects and an amazing total invulnerablity skill that fit that role fine). The problem is that ultimately we know so little about the way either would work that to say that one weapon would have a bigger impact on playstyle changes than another isn’t really fair. There is only one true speculation we can make, and that is that it has very clearly always been the intent of Arenanet that your main hand weapon choice has a heavier impact on playstyle than your offhand weapon choice, particularly when we consider that most of the damage a player does comes from the main hand, and off hand choice doesn’t effect the Ele’s 3rd skill. If they want to really make any difference to the way Ele plays, it HAS to be a main hand weapon or a two handed weapon, as Elementalist has 1 less option for main or two handed weapon than any other class in the game with the exception of Engineer, and Engi can take 5 kits and not have to plan nearly as much to use them as we do to use our conjures, all of which pretty much suck in sPvP.

Alurazle.5430:

I don’t know why people are so excited about the idea of elementalist getting a one-handed sword.

FIRST OF ALL, Nearly every class can use sword and all those sword skills (guard, warrior, ranger, thief, mesmer, and possibly revenant) are just standard melee skills (cuts, slashes, blinks, dodge, etc) which are things dagger kinda already does. -.-

Sword if you think about it may look good, but it’s such a boring weapon that 5/8 classes already use!!! While only 3 classes (warrior, ranger, and necromancer) use warhorn and if you think about the Hunter’ Call the ranger has and the Locus Swarm necromancers get the idea of warhorn sounds hell of lot more fun. Summoning storms around you like Locus swarm and instant aoes at an enemies location like Hunter’s call without having to ground target would make me more excited, then just using a longer dagger….cause that what a sword is.

This argument again? Warhorn and Focus are exactly the same. A focus is just an object that isn’t a traditional weapon used as the FOCUS of magical power – a warhorn is just a type of focus. Look at the Focus skills now – they fulfill everything a Warhorn could. There is no logical reason why Warhorn is a more diverse weapon choice than Sword.

Yeah, some people are telling that they don’t want sword because it’s the same as dagger, but it’s not. Dagger on ele isn’t pure melee weapon. Also warhorn is just a nonmagical version of focus. If Anet wants to give us something that will change our playstyle, they will not add new OH (the ones we currently have are perfect) and certainly not warhorn.

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

I just want to point out (again) that the argument about Swords similarities to Dagger is totally totally unfair, as Warhorn is even more similar to Focus. Warhorn is the dumbest weapon in the game, and I think Arenanet want to conveniently forget that. I know there’s the odd Warhorn lover out there, but we have to look at it realistically. A Focus is basically an object that is not a traditional weapon, but can be used as the FOCUS of magical power to perform some sort of offensive or defensive magical spell. If you look at the Focus skills on Elementalist now it even already has a clearly stormy reflect zone. Consider thematically what a Warhorn is once you put it into the hands of an Elementalist – it literally IS a Focus. Sure, maybe Arenanet think they’re being real crafty by making a Warhorn call storms rather that a Sword, because if they don’t take that chance it’s unlikely Warhorn will ever thematically fit a future Ele Elite Spec, but is the thematic link between storms and warhorn really worth continuing to endorse the ugliest weapon in the game by giving it to the class that will likely get the least out of it in terms of actual playstyle, ie. what every Ele I’ve met cares most about? Based on every discussion I’ve been a part of, the response from players to the concept of a Warhorn Elementalist is dramatically negative, and considerably more so than the response to any other elite spec thus far. There’s really no burst damage Elementalist build worth speaking of in Conquest, and a main hand weapon would make significantly more sense to fulfill that role. In PvE, there’s really no reasonable tanky role for an Elementalist, and the potential for Sword or Warhorn to fulfill that role is pretty equal (although focus already has 2 reflects and an amazing total invulnerablity skill that fit that role fine). The problem is that ultimately we know so little about the way either would work that to say that one weapon would have a bigger impact on playstyle changes than another isn’t really fair. There is only one true speculation we can make, and that is that it has very clearly always been the intent of Arenanet that your main hand weapon choice has a heavier impact on playstyle than your offhand weapon choice, particularly when we consider that most of the damage a player does comes from the main hand, and off hand choice doesn’t effect the Ele’s 3rd skill. If they want to really make any difference to the way Ele plays, it HAS to be a main hand weapon or a two handed weapon, as Elementalist has 1 less option for main or two handed weapon than any other class in the game with the exception of Engineer, and Engi can take 5 kits and not have to plan nearly as much to use them as we do to use our conjures, all of which pretty much suck in sPvP.

TLDR

It’s impressive someone can write so many words about a spec we don’t know anything about.

Retsuko.2035:

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

I just want to point out (again) that the argument about Swords similarities to Dagger is totally totally unfair, as Warhorn is even more similar to Focus. Warhorn is the dumbest weapon in the game, and I think Arenanet want to conveniently forget that. I know there’s the odd Warhorn lover out there, but we have to look at it realistically. A Focus is basically an object that is not a traditional weapon, but can be used as the FOCUS of magical power to perform some sort of offensive or defensive magical spell. If you look at the Focus skills on Elementalist now it even already has a clearly stormy reflect zone. Consider thematically what a Warhorn is once you put it into the hands of an Elementalist – it literally IS a Focus. Sure, maybe Arenanet think they’re being real crafty by making a Warhorn call storms rather that a Sword, because if they don’t take that chance it’s unlikely Warhorn will ever thematically fit a future Ele Elite Spec, but is the thematic link between storms and warhorn really worth continuing to endorse the ugliest weapon in the game by giving it to the class that will likely get the least out of it in terms of actual playstyle, ie. what every Ele I’ve met cares most about? Based on every discussion I’ve been a part of, the response from players to the concept of a Warhorn Elementalist is dramatically negative, and considerably more so than the response to any other elite spec thus far. There’s really no burst damage Elementalist build worth speaking of in Conquest, and a main hand weapon would make significantly more sense to fulfill that role. In PvE, there’s really no reasonable tanky role for an Elementalist, and the potential for Sword or Warhorn to fulfill that role is pretty equal (although focus already has 2 reflects and an amazing total invulnerablity skill that fit that role fine). The problem is that ultimately we know so little about the way either would work that to say that one weapon would have a bigger impact on playstyle changes than another isn’t really fair. There is only one true speculation we can make, and that is that it has very clearly always been the intent of Arenanet that your main hand weapon choice has a heavier impact on playstyle than your offhand weapon choice, particularly when we consider that most of the damage a player does comes from the main hand, and off hand choice doesn’t effect the Ele’s 3rd skill. If they want to really make any difference to the way Ele plays, it HAS to be a main hand weapon or a two handed weapon, as Elementalist has 1 less option for main or two handed weapon than any other class in the game with the exception of Engineer, and Engi can take 5 kits and not have to plan nearly as much to use them as we do to use our conjures, all of which pretty much suck in sPvP.

TLDR

It’s impressive someone can write so many words about a spec we don’t know anything about.

Maybe you should read it before you comment.

Just putting this out there as i havent seen this put before. A two-handed warhorn.. Yeah who’d of thought of that one

Mini Crinny.6190:

Just putting this out there as i havent seen this put before. A two-handed warhorn.. Yeah who’d of thought of that one

Lol. Imagine lugging that around on your back.

I’d probably uninstall. :p

Why does everyone keep assuming an Ele sword will just be a standard melee hack ‘n’ slash? Has no one seen the Revenant staff? Many new weapons are being designed as the opposite of their traditional roles, so why do people assume ANet is going to break this trend with the Ele?

Personally I don’t like the idea of warhorn. I don’t like the idea of only getting two new skills, I don’t like the looks of warhorns in general, I don’t like the idea of having to replace the focus in PvE or the OH dagger in PvP, and in general I just want a new primary weapon. But that’s just my two cents.

ITT:
‘I like warhorns!’
‘I like swords!’
‘I like warhorns!’
‘I like swords!’
‘I like warhorns!’
‘I like swords!’

@Prism before they got removed, the datamined sword skills were just standard melee hack and slash.

Only the auto attacks were datamined, which are usually hack n slash for any weapon. Skills 2 and 3 are where you get your nifty tricks, but those datamined skills were just copies of dagger.

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

Alurazle.5430:

I don’t know why people are so excited about the idea of elementalist getting a one-handed sword.

FIRST OF ALL, Nearly every class can use sword and all those sword skills (guard, warrior, ranger, thief, mesmer, and possibly revenant) are just standard melee skills (cuts, slashes, blinks, dodge, etc) which are things dagger kinda already does. -.-

Sword if you think about it may look good, but it’s such a boring weapon that 5/8 classes already use!!! While only 3 classes (warrior, ranger, and necromancer) use warhorn and if you think about the Hunter’ Call the ranger has and the Locus Swarm necromancers get the idea of warhorn sounds hell of lot more fun. Summoning storms around you like Locus swarm and instant aoes at an enemies location like Hunter’s call without having to ground target would make me more excited, then just using a longer dagger….cause that what a sword is.

This argument again? Warhorn and Focus are exactly the same. A focus is just an object that isn’t a traditional weapon used as the FOCUS of magical power – a warhorn is just a type of focus. Look at the Focus skills now – they fulfill everything a Warhorn could. There is no logical reason why Warhorn is a more diverse weapon choice than Sword.

One particular point I’d point out comparing Focus and Warhorn: each can only have 2 skills/attunement (so 8 skills). There’s a lot one can do with the concept of either a focus or instrument of power but, again, limited to just 8 skills.

And just because a focus could do what a warhorn can regarding skill use doesn’t mean it will do what the other does and vise versa. Actually, I would go so far as to say they most definitely will not do the same thing if we do happen to get a warhorn.

Laraley.7695:

Retsuko.2035:

The reactions here is proof how much people in general care so much about appearance over mechanics and skill workings. You want to swing a sword as an ele? well… too bad.

There’s absolutely no information available about how the warhorn would work or what kind of skills it will have. So why are people QQ’ing already?

I don’t dislike the idea of a warhorn.

it’s been sad several times that ele needs a mainhand or twohand weapon rather than offhand, it brings very little diversity to the class. How is that connected with looks? Warhorn is usually a support weapon and ele doesn’t need that either. Would be cool if there was actually a viable dps spec for ele for once, but that’s not going to happen with a warhorn. And people actually care about the mechanics, that’s why they don’t want warhorn. The reason people would like warhorn were usually like ‘’It would be so cool’’ and ‘’I can use my Howler’’, so please restrain yourself from statements like this.

HEY EVERYBODY! This guy says Ele can’t do damage!

He’s saying you’re at best mediocre and not viable to deal damage! Can we confirm this now, that Elementalist is at most a pity spot in group content and can’t solo anything within a reasonable amount of time nor get decent kill ratio in PvP?

http://i.imgur.com/AoGISvd.png This picture of the tempest only makes me guess what kind of abilities a elementalist would get from it(Wind like skills with attunements, fire tornado, rising tide, so on). If it is a warhorn what skills would be possible with it? All warhorns give swiftness so we can expect that in air. Think the warhorn could be for more boons focused elementalist. That is why I expected elementalist to get sword for their specialization or something that add to eles condition playstyle. Still curious to see what we get.

Leo G.4501:

Laraley.7695:

Retsuko.2035:

The reactions here is proof how much people in general care so much about appearance over mechanics and skill workings. You want to swing a sword as an ele? well… too bad.

There’s absolutely no information available about how the warhorn would work or what kind of skills it will have. So why are people QQ’ing already?

I don’t dislike the idea of a warhorn.

it’s been sad several times that ele needs a mainhand or twohand weapon rather than offhand, it brings very little diversity to the class. How is that connected with looks? Warhorn is usually a support weapon and ele doesn’t need that either. Would be cool if there was actually a viable dps spec for ele for once, but that’s not going to happen with a warhorn. And people actually care about the mechanics, that’s why they don’t want warhorn. The reason people would like warhorn were usually like ‘’It would be so cool’’ and ‘’I can use my Howler’’, so please restrain yourself from statements like this.

HEY EVERYBODY! This guy says Ele can’t do damage!

He’s saying you’re at best mediocre and not viable to deal damage! Can we confirm this now, that Elementalist is at most a pity spot in group content and can’t solo anything within a reasonable amount of time nor get decent kill ratio in PvP?

This post only shows you have no clue about the ele viability of dps ele in high tier pvp.

Leo G.4501:

Laraley.7695:

Retsuko.2035:

The reactions here is proof how much people in general care so much about appearance over mechanics and skill workings. You want to swing a sword as an ele? well… too bad.

There’s absolutely no information available about how the warhorn would work or what kind of skills it will have. So why are people QQ’ing already?

I don’t dislike the idea of a warhorn.

it’s been sad several times that ele needs a mainhand or twohand weapon rather than offhand, it brings very little diversity to the class. How is that connected with looks? Warhorn is usually a support weapon and ele doesn’t need that either. Would be cool if there was actually a viable dps spec for ele for once, but that’s not going to happen with a warhorn. And people actually care about the mechanics, that’s why they don’t want warhorn. The reason people would like warhorn were usually like ‘’It would be so cool’’ and ‘’I can use my Howler’’, so please restrain yourself from statements like this.

HEY EVERYBODY! This guy says Ele can’t do damage!

He’s saying you’re at best mediocre and not viable to deal damage! Can we confirm this now, that Elementalist is at most a pity spot in group content and can’t solo anything within a reasonable amount of time nor get decent kill ratio in PvP?

While there is a bit of hyperbole in that previous message, there is a modicum of truth.

Dagger (MH) is meant to be a brawler type of a weapon, built more for sustain and a little bit of damage.

Scepter is just…all kinds of wrong. The only damage it puts out are in Fire 2 and 3…and the former can’t even be properly aimed.

Staff is very good, but doesn’t have any bursting potential for damage. It’s all consistent.

So yes, Ele’s do lack a strong burst weapon.

Prism.5649:

Why does everyone keep assuming an Ele sword will just be a standard melee hack ‘n’ slash? Has no one seen the Revenant staff? Many new weapons are being designed as the opposite of their traditional roles, so why do people assume ANet is going to break this trend with the Ele?

Personally I don’t like the idea of warhorn. I don’t like the idea of only getting two new skills, I don’t like the looks of warhorns in general, I don’t like the idea of having to replace the focus in PvE or the OH dagger in PvP, and in general I just want a new primary weapon. But that’s just my two cents.

Because only revenant gets unorthodox weapons. So far, all specs had weapons with standard functionality.

Leo G.4501:

And just because a focus could do what a warhorn can regarding skill use doesn’t mean it will do what the other does and vise versa. Actually, I would go so far as to say they most definitely will not do the same thing if we do happen to get a warhorn.

Obviously, you are right. Focus doesn’t give swiftness.

Leo G.4501:

HEY EVERYBODY! This guy says Ele can’t do damage!

He’s saying you’re at best mediocre and not viable to deal damage! Can we confirm this now, that Elementalist is at most a pity spot in group content and can’t solo anything within a reasonable amount of time nor get decent kill ratio in PvP?

I’m not sure how you get no burst spec → can’t do damage. I’m literally flabbergasted.

I hope this is just a bad dream and that one day I’ll wake up and see an awesome picture of ele spec wielding a sword (or at least mainhand weapon )

Let’s quickly breakdown what everyone here is saying

1) You want sword(s) instead of warhorn for reasons.
Alright, let’s take this apart. For starters, there is a widely accepted assumption that the sword will fulfill a bursty skillset.
Why is this the assumption? On many other classes, the sword is used as a gap closer/dps weapon set.
We have some examples already with the specializations of weapons breaking tradition and it could be possible for the sword to do the same.

I’ve read claims here that say we have Scepter for mid-range burst and Dagger for close-range dps. What would sword add that we don’t have already? We have a dps set as well as a burst set (admittedly, the scepter has abhorrent autoattacks)

2) Warhorn would be a bad choice because it typically fills a support role.
It is assumed that the warhorn on Elementalist will fulfill this role as well. While the warhorn generally is not used for direct damage or the likes, there are few skills (like on Ranger) where it will. Perhaps we could get a skillset full of condi’s, maybe even some AoE’s as it has to do with storms.

If you assume that the sword will fulfill a bursty skillset without any confirmed skills available to us, why do you instantly detest the idea of a warhorn if you’re not sure what the skills are. Sure, there are datamined skills for the sword (which have been removed), but they appear to be extremely close to dagger skills and, even then, fairly ordinary for a swordset. Who knows, the Warhorn could turn out to even be a dps or even a bursty type of skillset— there’s nothing to prove it right or wrong at this point.

It is also assumed that we will have the one single animation for using warhorn abilities and, while we haven’t seen any other animations for them, that doesn’t have to be the case. Having a warhorn on the Elementalist (what with their 4 attunements) would give us 8 new abilities. 8 Abilities using the same animation is not going to be visually balanced in PvP as the mechanics of the game rely on observing what your opponent is doing and reacting to that. If an Ele brings a horn to their mouth, you should not have a 1/8 chance to get the prediction right.

For all we know, we could have something akin to a small channel where the horn starts smoking or becomes surrounded in fire/lava and, upon blowing into it, releases a linear ball of fire that leaves a burning trail or some such.

Once you break away from all the assumptions made on each weapon, there are a lot of possibilities that can actually happen with the warhorn. Whether or not they will is a different question though.

3) Thematically, does it fit?
This isn’t really a debated topic much, but it’s brought up so I might as well cover it too. The Tempest is all about calling the storms and dealing with the wind. Calling the storms is definitely a Warhorn trait, there’s no doubt about that. However, dealing with wind could be fulfilled with a mechanic (in compensation for the warhorn).

I should clarify though that, while I like the idea of a sword or, even, a two-handed weapon; I am, just as well, excited to see how the devs implement whichever weapon we end up with.

Question for some as well: Why are you searching for a new main when HoT releases— after all, the spec and new weapon is only an option to use, not a meta.

TL;DR: Try not to assume anything and think fresh^^’

Archangel.5942:

Question for some as well: Why are you searching for a new main when HoT releases— after all, the spec and new weapon is only an option to use, not a meta.

TL;DR: Try not to assume anything and think fresh^^’

I’ll ignore the rest and answer this: because I want something fresh. Calling storms, AoE, support is all something we already have. I highly highly doubt that any offhand can bring something new that the focus or dagger doesn’t do already. Just like this patch where nothing new, exciting or different has happened for elementalist, so too is the idea (to me and what I can envision happening with Warhorn) of warhorn boring and just keeping the status quo of us being AoE and support oriented.

Sword had me excited because it can be something like the thief playstyle. Single target, no real cleave, assassinate in melee with blinks and evades to get in and out using elemental magic with elemental themed finishers (like running through your enemy with a blade made of lightning or exploding the sword blade in the enemy). Farting more AoE’s and support is the same old same old, just a different name. Might as well stick to staff as nothing will dethrone that king of AoE’s.

Raif.9507:

Might as well stick to staff as nothing will dethrone that king of AoE’s.

This is a good point. None of the offhands will be used as long as staff is so far from dagger and scepter.

It doesn’t matter if multiple classes are getting the same weapon because more elite specs are coming out in the future.

Just as a food for thought:

The only reason why we now suddenly believe we’ll get warhorn is because of the warhorn skin that looks tempest-y right?

There’s already a focus skin in the game called TEMPEST focus which looks exactly like the datamined warhorn (obviously in the shape of a focus) and is for all classes.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Just as a food for thought:

The only reason why we now suddenly believe we’ll get warhorn is because of the warhorn skin that looks tempest-y right?

There’s already a focus skin in the game called TEMPEST focus which looks exactly like the datamined warhorn (obviously in the shape of a focus) and is for all classes.

No, that’s not the only reason… You must not have been reading much of what anyone said. o.O

ronpierce.2760:

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Just as a food for thought:

The only reason why we now suddenly believe we’ll get warhorn is because of the warhorn skin that looks tempest-y right?

There’s already a focus skin in the game called TEMPEST focus which looks exactly like the datamined warhorn (obviously in the shape of a focus) and is for all classes.

No, that’s not the only reason… You must not have been reading much of what anyone said. o.O

Look at OPs post. It all started with the datamined warhorn skin.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

ronpierce.2760:

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Just as a food for thought:

The only reason why we now suddenly believe we’ll get warhorn is because of the warhorn skin that looks tempest-y right?

There’s already a focus skin in the game called TEMPEST focus which looks exactly like the datamined warhorn (obviously in the shape of a focus) and is for all classes.

No, that’s not the only reason… You must not have been reading much of what anyone said. o.O

Look at OPs post. It all started with the datamined warhorn skin.

I am the OP. I didn’t spell it all out in this particular thread, but.

- Datamined Sword skills were nothing but modified dagger skills and have since been removed entirely.
- All of the weapons in this last datamine session that were tied to Elite Specializations had a normal and an ascended link, as the warhorn did. (Including next to Glint, Dragon Hunter, and Reaper)
- Warhorn is Tempest-looking, and makes sense to use a weapon that requires blowing air to function as a specialization based around air and storms.
- We know all of the other class weapons, except warrior, who already has Warhorn.

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

I never said anything close to that and I don’t enjoy people putting words into my mouth either.

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Laraley.7695:

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Honest mistake, most people in denial of Warhorn are headstrong because they were so sure of sword. Would you like to answer instead?

ronpierce.2760:

Laraley.7695:

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Honest mistake, most people in denial of Warhorn are headstrong because they were so sure of sword. Would you like to answer instead?

I don’t think people are in denial that Warhorn is coming, it’s becoming a stronger possibility that it is. People are expressing their displeasure at the fact that it may be warhorn over sword.

We know jack all about what’s really coming, every one of us.

ronpierce.2760:

Laraley.7695:

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Honest mistake, most people in denial of Warhorn are headstrong because they were so sure of sword. Would you like to answer instead?

I’m not quite sure why I should be answering the question since I wasn’t the one you were replying to in the first place. But if it will make you happy I can tell you that nothing is sure, neither sword nor warhorn. Just for the sake of the class, I hope it’s anything but warhorn.

ronpierce.2760:

Laraley.7695:

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Honest mistake, most people in denial of Warhorn are headstrong because they were so sure of sword. Would you like to answer instead?

A more reasonable argument could be made that there is no real evidence of the warhorn being the elementalist weapon. I mean at one point people were declaring the sword to be the next weapon, it might be a good idea not to be so certain.

PlatinumMember.5274:

ronpierce.2760:

Laraley.7695:

ronpierce.2760:

So what’s your full argument in why you think, without a doubt, we’re getting sword?

It’s funny you come up with this argument when you’ve been acting like it’s for sure ele is getting a warhorn. Also, pretty sure he didn’t mean that at all, he was just stating there might be not enough evidence to claim a warhorn as a sure thing.

Honest mistake, most people in denial of Warhorn are headstrong because they were so sure of sword. Would you like to answer instead?

A more reasonable argument could be made that there is no real evidence of the warhorn being the elementalist weapon. I mean at one point people were declaring the sword to be the next weapon, it might be a good idea not to be so certain.

I’m not certain, on fact, due to lash back, they have all the power in the world to stop right now and change their plans from whatever it may be, and we’d never even know. However, there is significant evidence that suggests Warhorn is incredibly likely and that is my point.

Remedy.3429:

It doesn’t matter if multiple classes are getting the same weapon because more elite specs are coming out in the future.

Ye, you see, anet mentioned “foundations” a lot of times. Up until today, all of those “foundations” lie fallow. They took the ideology of iterating to the extreme and simply introduce more and more mechanics which makes the previous ones obsolete.

ronpierce.2760:

I’m not certain, on fact, due to lash back, they have all the power in the world to stop right now and change their plans from whatever it may be, and we’d never even know.

inb4speargun

Retsuko.2035:

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

I just want to point out (again) that the argument about Swords similarities to Dagger is totally totally unfair, as Warhorn is even more similar to Focus. Warhorn is the dumbest weapon in the game, and I think Arenanet want to conveniently forget that. I know there’s the odd Warhorn lover out there, but we have to look at it realistically. A Focus is basically an object that is not a traditional weapon, but can be used as the FOCUS of magical power to perform some sort of offensive or defensive magical spell. If you look at the Focus skills on Elementalist now it even already has a clearly stormy reflect zone. Consider thematically what a Warhorn is once you put it into the hands of an Elementalist – it literally IS a Focus. Sure, maybe Arenanet think they’re being real crafty by making a Warhorn call storms rather that a Sword, because if they don’t take that chance it’s unlikely Warhorn will ever thematically fit a future Ele Elite Spec, but is the thematic link between storms and warhorn really worth continuing to endorse the ugliest weapon in the game by giving it to the class that will likely get the least out of it in terms of actual playstyle, ie. what every Ele I’ve met cares most about? Based on every discussion I’ve been a part of, the response from players to the concept of a Warhorn Elementalist is dramatically negative, and considerably more so than the response to any other elite spec thus far. There’s really no burst damage Elementalist build worth speaking of in Conquest, and a main hand weapon would make significantly more sense to fulfill that role. In PvE, there’s really no reasonable tanky role for an Elementalist, and the potential for Sword or Warhorn to fulfill that role is pretty equal (although focus already has 2 reflects and an amazing total invulnerablity skill that fit that role fine). The problem is that ultimately we know so little about the way either would work that to say that one weapon would have a bigger impact on playstyle changes than another isn’t really fair. There is only one true speculation we can make, and that is that it has very clearly always been the intent of Arenanet that your main hand weapon choice has a heavier impact on playstyle than your offhand weapon choice, particularly when we consider that most of the damage a player does comes from the main hand, and off hand choice doesn’t effect the Ele’s 3rd skill. If they want to really make any difference to the way Ele plays, it HAS to be a main hand weapon or a two handed weapon, as Elementalist has 1 less option for main or two handed weapon than any other class in the game with the exception of Engineer, and Engi can take 5 kits and not have to plan nearly as much to use them as we do to use our conjures, all of which pretty much suck in sPvP.

TLDR

It’s impressive someone can write so many words about a spec we don’t know anything about.

Actually I wrote so many words about exactly that – that we don’t know enough about the spec to make any more speculation than simply this – Most people don’t like warhorn thematically, and most people would rather have a main hand. If you’re not interested in having discussions about this, why are you on the forums in the first place?

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

Retsuko.2035:

TLDR

It’s impressive someone can write so many words about a spec we don’t know anything about.

Actually I wrote so many words about exactly that – that we don’t know enough about the spec to make any more speculation than simply this – Most people don’t like warhorn thematically, and most people would rather have a main hand. If you’re not interested in having discussions about this, why are you on the forums in the first place?

I think that people may just be too attached to the idea of sword, especially after believing it for so long, that they don’t want to accept Warhorn as the current bandwagon and/or are tricking themself into thinking that it doesn’t fit thematically. Or, y’know, they could just be greedy and want more skills = more diversity.

If we had no proof either way and simply looked at which weapon, Sword or Warhorn, would best fit a specialization named “Tempest,” I think the warhorn would come out on top.

Archangel.5942:

Lauriewonnacott.9841:

Retsuko.2035:

TLDR

It’s impressive someone can write so many words about a spec we don’t know anything about.

Actually I wrote so many words about exactly that – that we don’t know enough about the spec to make any more speculation than simply this – Most people don’t like warhorn thematically, and most people would rather have a main hand. If you’re not interested in having discussions about this, why are you on the forums in the first place?

I think that people may just be too attached to the idea of sword, especially after believing it for so long, that they don’t want to accept Warhorn as the current bandwagon and/or are tricking themself into thinking that it doesn’t fit thematically. Or, y’know, they could just be greedy and want more skills = more diversity.

If we had no proof either way and simply looked at which weapon, Sword or Warhorn, would best fit a specialization named “Tempest,” I think the warhorn would come out on top.

Or people care more about the functionality of the weapon and what new playstyles it could open up for ele. I guess it’s a crime to want a good weapon, not a weapon that could fit a bit more thematically these days.

Unless we’re going to beat people over the heads with a warhorn, I pretty much explained why it’s a lesser option than a real melee weapon. We need real melee cleave as dagger only gives it in one ability. We need an auto-attack chain. I don’t count LH for it because you have to give up 21 skills to gain 5.

Would I like a sword? HELL YEAH! I want to actually be a battle-mage and they FINALLY have a sword skin (Gallant) that’s perfect for my Ele.

Will I stop playing Ele if Warhorn comes out? Not forever. Mostly at the start. I want to play new things in an expansion, not the exact same build that I’d be playing. If it’s an off-hand weapon, then I just don’t care unlekittenanges the main-hand abilities in some way. Otherwise, the playstyle still revolve around the same tricks and gimmicks.

Alurazle.5430:

I don’t know why people are so excited about the idea of elementalist getting a one-handed sword.

Because Bolt lightning aura looks awesome, while Bifrost and Incinerator looks awful.

Archangel.5942:

If we had no proof either way and simply looked at which weapon, Sword or Warhorn, would best fit a specialization named “Tempest,” I think the warhorn would come out on top.

I think that’s subjective. I highly disagree with that assumption.

Rednik.3809:

Alurazle.5430:

I don’t know why people are so excited about the idea of elementalist getting a one-handed sword.

Because Bolt lightning aura looks awesome, while Bifrost and Incinerator looks awful.

This is not the reason why people were glad it’s a sword…

I have a feeling that if tempest gets a sword its going to be more thf like but with out a stealth system to hide in. If tempest gets a warhorn its going to be more mages like with slower yet bigger effects.
That realy what it comes down to do you want tempest to be a melee class or a mages class. Though after every thing said and done we are going to get more then one new class like this over time this is just the first of many. At one point ele will be able to use a sword in one build and a warhorn in another.

I already bought the sword i wanted, so no. Staff MH and sword OH is the only compromise i’d make if it’s a matter of number of skills.

staff main sword off would be jsut stylish. But i can live with warhorn too :-)

Warhorn 5 is elemental storm (like glyph for each element)
Warhorn 4: Fire: team Retaliation, Earth team resistance, air a blowout cone, water chill cone).

that will fit the theme and horn.

Wolfric.9380:

staff main sword off would be jsut stylish. But i can live with warhorn too :-)

Warhorn 5 is elemental storm (like glyph for each element)
Warhorn 4: Fire: team Retaliation, Earth team resistance, air a blowout cone, water chill cone).

that will fit the theme and horn.

So basically warhorn would be a reworked glyph + some dagger like skills. Yes, that’s exactly what ele need. And people still cannot realize why this would be bad.

Thematically I’d just rather have swords.