Guild Wars 2

So here are my thoughts on the new SW. First, the good:

—Staff 4 seems to consistently trigger Chaos Armor in a more reliable fashion (at least on golems) if placed around the center (either side of center) of the wall. This is awesome. It still seems to have issues if placed around the upper or lower edges and doesn’t trigger it often, if at all.

—The fear is handy. I can see a lot of potential choke points clouded with this will make people more afraid to cross it; literally.

Now.. The bad:

—The duration is short. Really short, compared to it’s predecessor. This means that it’s going to take a lot more work to get 2 protection boons out of it; even when it’s traited I don’t always get it twice. The only way to do it is to be right on top of it and ready to run through as soon as it’s cast and even then you still may not get two protection procs. If you also have any increase in protection duration, you will most likely miss out on it as it doesn’t continuously stack duration by running back and forth through it (same as before).

But Chesire, the fear is great! It CC’s and does damage and can seal choke points and and and…

I understand that, but it also brings me to the next bad points.

—The fear, like the vulnerability, relies on your enemy choosing to pass through it. Now, if the duration were the same as it had been or at least a little longer than it is currently this wouldn’t be an issue. If they didn’t run through it and kept attacking with range or even went around it, you could still stand on a point and dance over it to keep your protection up for a good duration making you a lot better at absorbing that damage. Regardless, it was very useful. Now, to get the full benefit of the utility, you rely more on the enemy running into it. It is MUCH harder to squeeze that protection from it especially when you have points in Death magic (which almost everyone does because of staff).

Now, not only is it really hard to get the second duration of protection, but it doesn’t last as long as before either which means there is more downtime between having protection. Instead of every 16 seconds or so, it’s more like every 23-29 seconds with 29 being the more likely. This makes landing Chaos Armor with Staff 4 more of a must if you really want the extra defense.

I’m sure I could list more goods, or even more bads, but I would like to see what others also think. Personally, I would much rather have the old duration and effects of Spectral Wall. It sounded amazing before the duration was reduced to being so short. I do get why they reduced the duration, but I no longer consider this a buff to the utility. It’s more of a nerf than anything, at least in sPvP.

The wall is hilarious in defensive PVE events. Seeing the melee mobs ping pong off the wall is just lovely.

Chesire.9043:

So here are my thoughts on the new SW. First, the good:
—The fear, like the vulnerability, relies on your enemy choosing to pass through it.

Because you don’t have anything to force people to walk through it…. like another fear.

This actually brings up an issue of having yet another means of stacking fear. Though the duration of the wall is short, when you consider you can now get 3 fears in a row off (reaper’s mark, spectral wall, doom or whatever else). If traited properly, this will result in them taking silly amounts of damage while being feared for upwards of 6 seconds barring any stun breaker. Six seconds is long enough to throw a picnic while the other guy is uncontrollably limping themselves through your marks.

Chesire.9043:

I do get why they reduced the duration, but I no longer consider this a buff to the utility.

This skill is more powerful after the changes. The “utility” you describe is a single use case to cover a choke point defensively. Since a fear has been added, you need to consider using it offensively now too. Think of zergs pushing in on enemies and dropping this behind them to keep them from falling back. I see this as an increase in utility for the skill as it means there are more situations in which it is useful.

5 sec duration is the only qualm i have with it. I took the improved duration as well and counted. It looks like a 50% duration increase (adding 2.5 seconds), which imo is still not enough. I love the fear way more than the vuln that it gave before and I see your point of not getting the second protection out of it. I am seeing it more and more that it wasn’t a buff or nerf. it was a rework. less functional for roaming or spvp but way more function for wvw utility and bottlenecks.

So you sandwich a group of enemies in wvw with your traited spectral walls for duration and fear damage. Won’t it be fun to see them ping pong ing back and forth? Hope to see a video of this.

Wonky.3759:

Chesire.9043:

So here are my thoughts on the new SW. First, the good:
—The fear, like the vulnerability, relies on your enemy choosing to pass through it.

Because you don’t have anything to force people to walk through it…. like another fear.

This actually brings up an issue of having yet another means of stacking fear. Though the duration of the wall is short, when you consider you can now get 3 fears in a row off (reaper’s mark, spectral wall, doom or whatever else). If traited properly, this will result in them taking silly amounts of damage while being feared for upwards of 6 seconds barring any stun breaker. Six seconds is long enough to throw a picnic while the other guy is uncontrollably limping themselves through your marks.

Chesire.9043:

I do get why they reduced the duration, but I no longer consider this a buff to the utility.

This skill is more powerful after the changes. The “utility” you describe is a single use case to cover a choke point defensively. Since a fear has been added, you need to consider using it offensively now too. Think of zergs pushing in on enemies and dropping this behind them to keep them from falling back. I see this as an increase in utility for the skill as it means there are more situations in which it is useful.

Using it offensively is of course a perk since it can now do what you have described in both points. I do understand this and I don’t deny that it has great potential in these situations, but this does come with drawbacks as well.

Used to, you could use it while leading a charge and give protection to a larger amount of people that you can no longer do because of the duration, even when traited. Camp assaults AND defenses also take a hit in WvW (same issue in spvp) because the duration is lower so allies can’t dance on it for the extra protection ticks. I mean, they can but it’s a lot harder and that’s WITH the added duration. Without speccing into it it’s impossible.

Basically this means that in 1v1’s in sPvP and point holding defense is reduced for both you and your teammates.

On the flip side, it is more offensive seeing as you can fear someone through it for added duration. But I much rather have the defensive aspect rather than the offensive. It would also be better for sealing off escape routes if the range had been increased to 1200 instead of being stuck at 900.

Overall, I think if it had just a little more duration it would be perfect. Maybe 8 or 9 seconds instead of 7.5 when traited. But then it may become OP in WvW, and this makes me miss the older version.

Try this. Drop wall behind someone, and then hit DS 3, fear them into the wall, then drop staff five on them. They will be feared for around 7 seconds. If you’re a terrormancer, which I am, they will eat a ton of damage if you have dropped conditions on them. It is quite a feeling. I think i giggled like a schoolgirl when I landed this chain.

Gryph.8237:

Try this. Drop wall behind someone, and then hit DS 3, fear them into the wall, then drop staff five on them. They will be feared for around 7 seconds. If you’re a terrormancer, which I am, they will eat a ton of damage if you have dropped conditions on them. It is quite a feeling. I think i giggled like a schoolgirl when I landed this chain.

Already been doing it. I’ve also been trying to compensate the decrease in protection with Staff 4 seeing as how Chaos Armor is given pretty much 100% of the time when placed in the middle of Wall now. I do seriously miss the old duration of wall though.

I find it’s better to fear them before placing the wall, seeing as how they could use a SB to get out of DS3 fear and then you’ve used both your wall and instant fear for no gain.

yeah, either way it seems very effective and I have been happy with it as a terrormancer. I miss staff mastery traits, but i can deal with it. the increased power brings more things to the table. and being a condition mancer and seeing spinal shivers at 25% health go off, really is nice, because the druation is up there.

atm people in wvw just run into it, but people are going to learn eventually so not sure how useful it will be in the long run

DrMatt.9408:

atm people in wvw just run into it, but people are going to learn eventually so not sure how useful it will be in the long run

I think I will have a good effect for a while. I still see people run into Guardian walls over and over.

I would’ve been happy with a 16 second fixed ethereal combo field spectral wall but this is nice as well, need to get used to it though. That darn terror move screwed up my terror+banshee’s wail combo.=(

Its a shame that zergs with stability just roll through it though, if anything its far more useful 1v1 because you can just dump it straight on top of the enemy player

Iceflame.5024:

I would’ve been happy with a 16 second fixed ethereal combo field spectral wall but this is nice as well, need to get used to it though. That darn terror move screwed up my terror+banshee’s wail combo.=(

Tbh, if you cast Staff 4 around the middle of the wall it’ll give Chaos armor every time as long there isn’t another combo field. So we actually got it fixed, just the duration is kinda “meh” now.

I would trade in this extra fear for the old version tbh. But it isn’t entirely bad.

Have any of you played with it in sPvP and seen the havok it can bring to control points?
SW is bloody awesome right now, you just have to pick the right places to set it.

Turning around a whole zerg when a gate is broken in WvW?
Splitting up mobs for 5+ seconds in PvE?

The only reason I see to complain about it is so it doesn’t get nerfed down by next patch, if that’s what you people are trying to accomplish then by all means carry on.

I’m finding it loads of fun. Thank you Anet for giving us a utility skill that causes fear. Finally!

Interesting find I’ll share with everyone else:

If you can land it at someone’s feet (midway into the wall), it will instantly fear them. So, it’s basically another on-demand 1s fear for interrupts or a wall of pure fearing goodness.

Still, really miss that duration. ._.

I’ve been enjoying fearing, dropping spectral wall on them, and then spectral grasping back through it.

I’ve been finding it situationally useful, not running it all the time. If I’m coming up to a zerg v zerg in WvW, there are all kinds of nifty uses, splitting their charge in half, walling off retreaters, of course basic choke-point. It’s also a nice getaway mechanic, drop it right behind you when being chased and suddenly you gain a big lead. Bit more of a detour than the reaper’s mark even, since it will stay there for a few seconds and they have to go around or hit it again.

I wouldn’t keep it on all the time though, seems easier to combat in small scale fights.

I’ve tried it and I like the older version better. The offensive portion of this is good, but the duration on it cripples this skill badly. It’s major perk in the old version was long upkeep of protection as well as a good combo field. Now trying to get reliable confusion off it is nearly impossible, even when traited. I’d give up the fear on it in a heartbeat for a longer duration.

DrMatt.9408:

atm people in wvw just run into it, but people are going to learn eventually so not sure how useful it will be in the long run

People tunnel vision way too hard in WvW to be able to avoid Spectral Wall.

It will probably stay on my bar a good while honestly because I adore the extra protection and it still works with my build… BUT I may just outright replace it with Spectral Armor even though that has also earned a place on my bar (even though it may not stay there).

I can’t stress enough how kitten the duration on SW is though. I found it way more useful in the older version. I just loved the protection THAT much. Now the up-time of it is just.. sigh..

Anyway, I’ve preached enough about it. I am pleased that we have people that both support the new version and those that also want the old version back. Maybe it’ll get a slight duration increase in the future or maybe it’ll just grow on me.

Yeah the 16 duration was awesome, I kind of feel sad about it as well.

bravoart.5308:

I’ve been enjoying fearing, dropping spectral wall on them, and then spectral grasping back through it.

Yeah I’ve been doing the same!
I dunno how practical it is but it sure is hilarious!
And of course the two skills share traits because both are Spectral, so maybe one could make a build around it.

Spectral Wall, like all walls are extremely good in WvW for closing a choke point. There is actually no max targets for walls, so I think the new SW is a big buff for condition mancers. It shares almost the same cooldown with well of corruption so with focused rituals you can really stop a portion of zerg worm just by your self.

There are so many effects that it is hard to spot one skill from the effect storm.

Gryph.8237:

Try this. Drop wall behind someone, and then hit DS 3, fear them into the wall, then drop staff five on them. They will be feared for around 7 seconds. If you’re a terrormancer, which I am, they will eat a ton of damage if you have dropped conditions on them. It is quite a feeling. I think i giggled like a schoolgirl when I landed this chain.

My hope is that this will teach people to run a few stun breaks or stability to avoid being knocked around so much. I talked to an engy friend about this for quite a while and I was able to keep him CCed for a long time. Then he sloted a stun break, and dodge rolled away from the wall….

Like condition removal, people were able to ignore stability against necros largely before the patch. Now with more and longer fears, they are going to suffer if they still do that.

My hope is that this will teach people to run a few stun breaks or stability to avoid being knocked around so much.

You already see Stability-zergs in WvW as it is. I tried Spectral Wall last night, but even when I dropped it on a choke point and an entire enemy zerg ran into it, all I typically saw was a shower of “Immune!” messages. =/

I’m still partial to the whole, “Throw it down in front of your own zerg and everyone gets protection.” thing moreso than trying to throw it at the opposing zerg.

Spectral wall sticks out more so than it’s equivalents because it has a quarter second cast time.

It’s far more reliable on a moments notice than anything else available.

Not sure if it’s worthwhile in tPvP, but situationally useful in PvE, and can definitely be a primary utility for feardot in WvW.

I used it in WvW and PvP. I don’t see the problem with making people go into it… It’s not as if we were lacking the means to do it. cough doom cough. It’s far more powerful and not as situational and build dependend as it was.

The Wall changes are nothing short of phenomenal. It is a utility with AMAZING offensive use and pretty decent defensive use.

Note: Wall can be a skill shot double proc if you manage placement and your movement extremely well. 1 skill used, 4s fear application is stupid strong. Even power builds can love this skill.

If you want Protection up time go to wells. If you want pimpnasty damage with some solid defense and really heavy CC bursts, then grab onto that wall and don’t ever let go.