Guild Wars 2

Taken from the interview: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/10104/Guild-Wars-2-Its-Hammer-Time-The-Scrapper-Engineers-Elite-Specialization.html

MMORPG: One thing we’ve seen people cry out when the drones were shown is that “we hope they’re more than just copies of the Guardian’s spirit weapons”. Well, are they?

ICH: They are actually fairly different from spirit weapons. In addition to each coming with its own toolbelt skill (more on those later), depending on the gyro they will try to remain close to you, strike out at a targeted enemy or seek to aid allies based on a number of factors.
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^ There is more discussion about how drones work in the interview

But Im annoyed that everyone compared spirit weapons (that interview wasnt the first time, it has happened on several occasions) to the new engi drones so much to the point where Anet has to reassure the community they wont be useless spirit weapons.

Why do they need to get rid of traps to make spirit weapons better?

Greek.4396:

Can Guardians get some sort of intervention with Spirit Weapons plssssss? How about Anet gets rid of traps and turns spirit weapons into engi kits for more active game play : D

nope.

Kits thematically do not fit the guardians at all. Engie have it for very good reasons (they have no weapon swap, and they have limited weapon options).

Unknown.3976:

Greek.4396:

Can Guardians get some sort of intervention with Spirit Weapons plssssss? How about Anet gets rid of traps and turns spirit weapons into engi kits for more active game play : D

nope.

Kits thematically do not fit the guardians at all. Engie have it for very good reasons (they have no weapon swap, and they have limited weapon options).

Kits are coming in our second elite spec so get use to it.

Spirit Weapons desperately need help. They have been broken since game launch and the devs have failed to even acknowledge there’s a problem.

Shield, Spirit Weapons and now Traps. The Guardian is the trash can of professions.

Arnath.2319:

Kits are coming in our second elite spec so get use to it.

Spirit Weapons desperately need help. They have been broken since game launch and the devs have failed to even acknowledge there’s a problem.

Shield, Spirit Weapons and now Traps. The Guardian is the trash can of professions.

Engie turrets need help as well, they lack mobility and they die way too easily; Gyros are probably designed to address the community’s complaints about engie’s lackluster turrets (turrets are basically immobile minions). I don’t see how gyros are even related to spirit weapons in the first place. Spirit weapons do need a rework but this thread is jumping the gun, too many assumptions.

Unknown.3976:

Arnath.2319:

Kits are coming in our second elite spec so get use to it.

Spirit Weapons desperately need help. They have been broken since game launch and the devs have failed to even acknowledge there’s a problem.

Shield, Spirit Weapons and now Traps. The Guardian is the trash can of professions.

Engie turrets need help as well, they lack mobility and they die way too easily; Gyros are probably designed to address the community’s complaints about engie’s lackluster turrets (turrets are basically immobile minions). I don’t see how gyros are even related to spirit weapons in the first place. Spirit weapons do need a rework but this thread is jumping the gun, too many assumptions.

Relating the drones with spirit weapons based off the interview with the comparison between the two and how everyone is happy that they are not spirit weapons and the Dev went out of his way to say they will perform better.

Thursday and Friday we will definitely see how good the drones actually are and what spirit weapons should have been.

I will remove my suggestion about spirit weapons and my remark about traps so people can stay on Topic in this thread.

Greek.4396:

Relating the drones with spirit weapons based off the interview with the comparison between the two and how everyone is happy that they are not spirit weapons and the Dev went out of his way to say they will perform better.

Thursday and Friday we will definitely see how good the drones actually are and what spirit weapons should have been.

I will remove my suggestion about spirit weapons and my remark about traps so people can stay on Topic in this thread.

He used the word “different”, not “better”; For all we know, gyros could have an awfully long cooldown, prohibiting their use. Probably have to wait till the next BWE to get an accurate assessment.

If Drones end up being similar to Spirit Weapons I’d be quite happy, actually. I cannot foresee the devs being keen to release a new AI unless they were confident that it was an improvement over the issues that limit those currently in the game. I also think perhaps improvements to AI are (hopefully) the reason for Ranger being the last Elite spec to be fully revealed.

If Drones end up functioning similar to Spirit Weapons but more effectively, than we stand to gain more from that. Should Drones be more effective than Spirit Weapons, I don’t see the devs being unwilling to update the SWs with what they’ve learned/developed.

i used to be mad at Spirit Weapons being useless, but i have come to the point where i don’t care anymore. Sure we will do the weekly post to inform the developers that Spirit Weapons are worthless and barely used. But i can say that i do not feel any emotion neither one way or the other anymore, they have successfully destroyed the fun idea i had about spirit weapons and how “cool” they were.

I agree, it is sad that a lot of people use “Spirit weapons” as a good idea gone terrible wrong. But i think people are jumping slightly to fast at what was said, let us wait and see how Drones are and hopefully they will be terrible, not because i don’t want Engineers to get something cool and good. But so the developers can either give ideas to each other or maybe even outsource something they have failed to fix for 3 years.

I will end this by saying some fast words about our announcements.

Once i used to be overjoyed about any announcement given about our class, i used to imagine all the things they could redo and make us more interesting and yet.

This is how i feel every time when we get a new Guardian announcement.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/962/640/658.png

I have to laugh that ANet specified Drones aren’t like SW"s … but they are … they have health, they last a fixed duration, they follow you around, you can command some of them.

Can anyone explain the part that doesn’t make them like SW"s? I don’t see it.

Obtena.7952:

I have to laugh that ANet specified Drones aren’t like SW"s … but they are … they have health, they last a fixed duration, they follow you around, you can command some of them.

Can anyone explain the part that doesn’t make them like SW"s? I don’t see it.

they have a chance of being useful.

if they aren’t useful, devs will try to make them better

i just gave u 2 raisins

Obtena.7952:

I have to laugh that ANet specified Drones aren’t like SW"s … but they are … they have health, they last a fixed duration, they follow you around, you can command some of them.

Can anyone explain the part that doesn’t make them like SW"s? I don’t see it.

They each fulfill a niche role, most do not have any offensive capabilities ( with the exception of Blast and Shredder Gyro). And gryos have an entire trait line dedicated to them (gryos secondary function is to apply superspeed and daze, and there’s a fair chunk of scrapper traits that enhances dazes and superspeed).

If SW is to match up with gryos, SW will need an elite spec of its’ own, with traits that play to its’ strength.

While those are differences, they are pretty academic:

1. SW"s have traits too, decent ones at that. They don’t need a trait line dedicated to them to work as well as Drones do.
2. SW’s also fill niche roles and fill defensive and offensive roles

I’m not trying to be argumentative here but this illustrates a pretty good point. SW’s and drones have more in common than Anet wants us to believe and the reason … because they don’t want to admit SW’s are pretty fail when they shouldn’t be.

Gryos share many of the SW weakness as well, they have health pools and the cooldown only starts upon their destruction (which will limit their use in PvE). Medic Gryo is inferior to healing turret and Blast Gryo is a single use knockback. So in short, without the proper traits, most gryos are kinda meh? They are not quite the powerhouse Guardians are hyping them up to be.

Um, no one is hyping them here … at least I wasn’t. Let me put it another way:

Anet is downplaying the resemblance between the two because they know SW’s are not good and they want people to think drones will be good.

Arnath.2319:

Kits are coming in our second elite spec so get use to it.

You are so reading too much into “tomes as kits could be interesting”. It’s on their minds but acting like its a done deal at this stage is just asking for disappointment come wave 2.

Spirit Weapons desperately need help. They have been broken since game launch and the devs have failed to even acknowledge there’s a problem.

If by ‘broken’ you mean grossly overpowered at launch and then grossly underpowered when they became targetable, sure.

Jaxom.7310:

Obtena.7952:

I have to laugh that ANet specified Drones aren’t like SW"s … but they are … they have health, they last a fixed duration, they follow you around, you can command some of them.

Can anyone explain the part that doesn’t make them like SW"s? I don’t see it.

they have a chance of being useful.

if they aren’t useful, devs will try to make them better

i just gave u 2 raisins

Lol. you gave one dried out grape — they aren’t out yet.

Spirit weapons were useful… and they got nerfed into the ground. Still waiting to see if the Dev’s will “will try to make them better”.

Am I seriously the only person who thinks Spirit weapons are just fine as they are? I use them all the time in PvE and WvW and PvP with burn condi traits. The sword does respectable damage, especially with its burning, and it’s skill inflicts 5 stacks of Vuln for 10 seconds…On a ten second recharge that can be brought down to 8 seconds with Expleditious Spirit. The hammer, especially when paired with the sword, is good for pressuring enemies as well as knocking them down in order to give a little breathing room, plus the skill is a blast finisher (I would agree that it’s damage could use a buff, however). The shield is pretty versatile with projectile reflection and its skill that can give aegis and weakness, which makes it a staple against ranged enemies for me, and it’s skill also makes it a stun breaker. The bow is wonderful for fights against condi opponents and enemies, as well as any fight that can drag on, since it’s skill gives a regen-like healing surge over 9 seconds, and you can use it three times when trained for Expeditious Spirit.

These are very good and useful effects.

Drones have a single function, unless you count the tool belt skills accompanying them. Spirit weapons have two. On top of that, Gyro durations won’t last even close to as long as Spirit Weapons (you can easily make a high speed/damage build based around having them self-destruct, for example).

Are Spirit Weapons as good as Necro Minions? Not for straight DPS, and they probably never will be. They don’t NEED to be. Most of the “fixes” I see for spirit weapons essentially make them into Necro minions or invincible. Necro minions for Guardians would mean rebalancing the entire class for them, which is dumb because then you could just roll a Necro and save the devs the trouble, and making them invincible would both make them overpowered and eliminate their usefulness as a soak for enemy damage in PvP while you get free shots in.

Love what you have. Seriously.

@Mercurias.1826 at spvp when i find a sw guardian it is a dammn joke, SW wont hit 1 one time, they die with 2 hits, bad ai, on wvw they are even more useless and easier to kill/ ignore.
On WvW all it is needed is 1 AOE / red cirle skill and 3 SW are down, by the time ur trying to cast a SW it is a perfect time to get bursted and killed (at least is what i do).

Even if SW get back to how they worked, by not being damaged, it is easy to kite avoid/ignore those skills while fighting it, they are slow, they tend to run out of combat, and any player with speed trait will outrnun a SW.

SW are to weak overall,they can burst hard but only works against AFK players and mobs.

Only decent skills is SoA, but even that i know a way where dome will not be proced and guardian will be in trouble, it is a skill easy to make it dormant (this behavior never got fixed and as being talked in forum also).

Mercurias.1826, sorry Merc but players getting in trouble by SW are even worse than a player using them, they will not work if fighting against a mediocre player (i iam a mediocre lvl player, against better players a guard with SW gets obliterated).

Mercurias.1826:

Am I seriously the only person who thinks Spirit weapons are just fine as they are?

Nope, I use them too occasionally in modes that aren’t particularly demanding. But that doesn’t mean they are potent enough to be competitive choices. “Making them into minion” just means increasing their up time and making it more worthwhile to specifically single out and destroy them. I promise a small improvement to a hugely underused skill line is NOT going to require they “rebalance the whole class” .

Well, the Shield is alright in pve, but that’s about it. They just die too fast. I fear the same with drones.