Guild Wars 2

At about the 2 hour 30 minute mark Jon Peters responds to someone in chat suggesting 409 should be the 3rd tier minor trait for the Alchemy line.

From what it sounds like, Jon thought this person’s suggestion was meant for the Tools line. Either way, his reasoning was “it is elixir only and if you dont have any elixirs it doesnt work.”

If that’s the case then why did they put it in as a Grandmaster in the Tools line?

Is this a simple oversight on their part or a credible decision they’ve made? I’m concerned that 409 will waste a Grandmaster option for Tools. 409 as the third minor in Alchemy seems reasonable.

It makes zero sense as a grandmaster trait, unless it’s buffed to cleanse multiple conditions per use (like 3 on a consumed elixer and 2 on thrown) and perhaps grants the new resistance boon for a few seconds. Even then, it should be in the alchemy line anyways.

If they want it opt in, how about it gets baked into the new elixer gun trait. I think we’re losing acidic elixirs too, so let’s merge that in.

New trait: Reduces Elixir gun cooldown (Or if the cd is baseline, boost E-gun damage instead), Elixir skills (Which will now include both consuming and tossing elixirs, as well as the initial impact from the Acid Bomb and Super Elixir skills) will cleanse a condition from affected allies and strip a boon from affected foes. The elixer gun currently has terrible synergy with elixirs and the alchemy line, which is kinda weird, so this trait would fix that.

Arioso.8519:

If they want it opt in, how about it gets baked into the new elixer gun trait. I think we’re losing acidic elixirs too, so let’s merge that in.

New trait: Reduces Elixir gun cooldown (Or if the cd is baseline, boost E-gun damage instead), Elixir skills (Which will now include both consuming and tossing elixirs, as well as the initial impact from the Acid Bomb and Super Elixir skills) will cleanse a condition from affected allies and strip a boon from affected foes. The elixer gun currently has terrible synergy with elixirs and the alchemy line, which is kinda weird, so this trait would fix that.

I like the idea of mixing 409 with Acidic Elixirs because they both utilize the toss elixir mechanic.

I also agree that E-gun has never really meshed with elixirs. That being said E-gun is a very strong kit with a lot of utility. Fumigate already cures conditions on allies but maybe giving it the ability to strip 1 boon per target would give it some more flavor?

Either way, I’m now all for 409 and Acidic Elixirs getting meshed together.

I took note of that, too.

Makes most sense for Cleansing Formula 409 to be kept in Alchemy minor to make most use of the complementary elixir traits. Otherwise it just forces people to go into another traitline they might not want for an elixir build.

I’m hoping it was just a wonky misplacement in the Powerpoint and a dev can confirm.

Xinrut.1743:

Makes most sense for Cleansing Formula 409 to be kept in Alchemy minor to make most use of the complementary elixer traits. Otherwise it just forces people to go into another traitline they might not want for their build.

I’m hoping it was just wonky placement in the Powerpoint and a dev can confirm.

Yeah, I feel like it was a slip up, especially since the new design is meant to keep us focused on specific trait lines for specific builds. 409 as it was previewed doesn’t fit into that design philosophy.

Dev confirmation would be great.

Drideric.6920:

I also agree that E-gun has never really meshed with elixirs. That being said E-gun is a very strong kit with a lot of utility. Fumigate already cures conditions on allies but maybe giving it the ability to strip 1 boon per target would give it some more flavor?

Eh fumigate is already a really strong skill, it already poisons so adding boon strips may be a bit too much, it’s already plenty flavorful, imo. The reason I suggested acid bomb and super elixer in particular is because they’re already labeled as “Elixer” skills but don’t actually benefit from elixir traits. I really think those two skills should count as thrown elixirs to begin with for the purposes of traits. Heck, ACID bomb should have the effect of ACIDic Elixers as baseline, thematically speaking.

Arioso.8519:

Eh fumigate is already a really strong skill, it already poisons so adding boon strips may be a bit too much, it’s already plenty flavorful, imo. The reason I suggested acid bomb and super elixer in particular is because they’re already labeled as “Elixer” skills but don’t actually benefit from elixir traits. I really think those two skills should count as thrown elixirs to begin with for the purposes of traits. Heck, ACID bomb should have the effect of ACIDic Elixers as baseline, thematically speaking.

Since Acid Bomb has a 5 second duration on 5 targets, would that mean it could potentially strip 5 boons x 5 targets = 25 boons? Thats beastly unless it strips with its blast finisher?

Super Elixir on the other hand doesnt have any offensive utility so having it strip boons could make sense. Since its a field, though, it falls on the same issue with Acid Bomb. 5 boons x 5 targets = 25 boons stripped? Again, maybe it strips with the original impact heal.

Getting both might be too much.

That’s why I said “initial impact”

Super Elixer is actually already a cleanse skill, but it’s hidden. The skill doesn’t actualy say it removes a condition, but the initial impact removes one condition from each affected ally. but not on every pulse, just the initial hit.

So I’d like to see acid bomb work the same way, but with a boon strip on the initial impact, but NOT from the pulses. That would definitely be insane, you’re right.

The fate of cleaning formula 409 has me worried. It’s one of the only things that actually makes elixir builds work properly. Having it compete with other critical traits will force everyone into healing turret, unless they provide some other kind of condition cleansing option.

Yamsandjams.3267:

The fate of cleaning formula 409 has me worried. It’s one of the only things that actually makes elixir builds work properly. Having it compete with other critical traits will force everyone into healing turret, unless they provide some other kind of condition cleansing option.

Speaking of condis, if they buffed Automated Response to include all previous condis on the player before it triggered and possibly merge the trait with AMR I’d be ok with that.