I couldn’t find a stickied PoF feedback thread so I guess I’ll just post my feedback as a new thread and the mods can combine it later. This feedback is only from 5-6 hours of playing so I could have made some mistakes here.
This is WvW feedback only – does not apply to sPvP and PvE. It is mainly for large group WvW also, not solo/havoc so much. So keep that in mind.
General comments:
- Severe lack of stability and mobility
- DPS in WvW seems low compared to Reaper (in a blob situation with lots of condi clears the reaper seems to build burst better with Deathly Chill+Nova+Reaper runes). I wasn’t running Dhuumfire as I figure that’ll get nerfed into oblivion – plus I need stability in WvW.
- 900 range should be increased to 1200 range across the board
- Sand Shade radius is way too small for the 3-shade version
- Barrier decays too fast
+ Boon hate is good
+ Condition clearing is good
Torch:
- Harrowing Wave (torch 4) is is boring – no utility, just flat damage.
- Oppressive Collapse (torch 5) is not powerful enough – needs to be 5 target knockdown like rev hammer 5.
Mobility/Stability:
- Scourge has the worst mobility the game. With base skills it has no leaps, no superspeed, no blinks.
Asking people to devote one or two utility slots to movement skills (wurm + sand swell) isn’t an appropriate answer.
Sand swell is going to end up being used by the commander offensively in WvW blobbing meaning it won’t be available as a
disengage. Given necros have no stability, we need a way to reposition ourselves quickly in WvW – every other
profession can reposition fairly easily.
- The lack of stability is really poor in WvW. We can’t all play in pro guild groups. Most of us are playing with
pugs guards that save their stability for when they need it, not their party. As a reaper I am constantly stunned in
WvW and actually REQUIRE Foot In The Grave to break stun and get my own stability. I shouldn’t have to trait for stability.
A profession designed for point defence should have the best stun breaking and best stability in the game not the worst.
Mobility and stability should be balanced against each other. ie, Thieves should get no stability or very few stun breaks
because they have so much mobility and necros should get all the stability and stun breaks because they have zero mobility.
tl;dr – We are even more of a ping pong ball in WvW than before.
Profession mechanic:
- Manifest Sand Shade:
– 5 targest is fine but Sand Shade radius isn’t wide enough, needs to be base 240 for WvW and the big one needs to be 360.
– The cast time on this seems much longer than staff marks. Is this an animation delay or is it actually taking longer to cast?
– I would like to see a really fast cast on Manifest because Scourge often needs to put down 3 at once and then be pressing
the F2->F5 keys to make the Shades do something, it’s a lot of casting time in WvW before we actually start buffing our allies. - Nefarious Favor: Good place
- Sand Cascade: 2.1k seems a bit low for something that decays so quickly
- Garish Pillar: Seems OK but a bit expensive.
- Desert Shroud: Good place.
Punishment skills: - Sand flare: Base heal is not strong enough – I will never use this heal.
- Sand swell – Good but needs 1200 range. Cast time is really way too slow for WvW. I’ll be stunned 3 times before it casts. Needs instant cast.
- Dessicate – boring – please scrap it and come up with something new to address above concerns.
I would suggest making it a teleport (20s cooldown) that allows us to blink to any active sandshade. - Trail of Anguish should be an allied support skill given Scourge’s new role. Basically it should be the same
as “Stand Your Ground”. Instead of retaliation we should have superspeed to compensate for our lack of mobility.
Trail of Anguish should give AoE stability stacks as per Stand Your Ground.
- Serpent Siphon: I didn’t play with this much but the serpent seemed to move very slowly. Not sure
if that effected its ability to hit or not.
- Ghastly Breach: Should be a ranged ground targeted AoE not a PBAOE. Red circles in WvW = death, asking scourge to stand in them
to activate their elite isn’t right.
Barrier:
- Too short lived – makes many of the traits and utility skills in Scourge very unappealing.
- Needs probably 5 seconds of zero decay before it starts the normal decay process.
Traits: - The traits seems generally well designed.
- Abraisive gift: Good, would prefer 2 condis and no might – I would consider using it.
- Fell Beacon: Good but I don’t like torch skills so wouldn’t take it
- Nourishing Rot: Good – I will probably use this because Scourge has no sustain skills.
- Sand Soul: Good
- Desert empowerment: Barrer amount is tiny – I would never take this trait – maybe 2.5k I would start considering it
- Sadistic searing: Good but SS radius too low
- Unending corruption: Good but SS radius too low – I will probably use this for sustain.
- Blood as Sand: Good
- Sand Savant: Doesn’t always count as 3 shades. Not good. AoE should be 360 (as per meteor shower) and base shade radius should be 240.
- Demonic Lore: Not sure if the ICD triggers after 5 players are hit or after 1. If it only 1 then I would never take this trait.
- Feed from Corruption: I think this is probably the best for my sustain so I would take this trait.
Ranged counter play:
- I don’t see how Scourge is equipped in any way to deal with a ranged DPS (like deadeye). No reflects, no gap closers, basically a sitting duck if you get caught in the open.
Summary:
- I found better sustain and damage from my reaper in large group WvW play.
(edited by dzeRnumbrd.6129)