Guild Wars 2

Hey there,

After playing some MM and reading the staff rework thread, I’ve got an idea on which may hopefully spark some good discussion

As current, staff has all the marks – some purely offensive others with a mix of defence; let the marks be unblockable for lich form

If marks or their conditions (ie. Fear etc) were to be shifted to other weapons
This would give the staff a chance to shift into its own identity, just like how scepter is specifically for dots

My thoughts;

Staff is that of a support + condi and that of being the ‘tagging’ weapon for WvW
Staff in its making seems to be that which works side by side with minions and supporting allies

First and foremost, if staff were to get a proper trait with CD and buff to it – Perhaps some synergy with the minions? Gain boon to share boons to minions, or perhaps could that be a buff to flesh of the master?
By introducing such changes to staff, changes to staff mechanics itself likened that of the druid staff or the revanants hammer or mace – such would allow the staff to become a more up to date weapon

Anyhow, the change to combat itself
With the supporting synergy of the death tree itself, using minions are the best route to use

Abilities/skills would be that of suppressing/reducing incoming damage to self and others whilst buffing allies and minions
Ie. Weakness, cripple, slow and blind – such would allow the staff itself to be on its own and have an identity and synergy
Ie. Regen, protection and fury – buffing self and others will give staff more group play

Damage itself would be that of synergy coming from minions or trait buffs to give damage increase % per non damaging trait which would also work in its favor in this design

All up for discussion and debate,

Please be constructive,

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

(i’ve been away with life and other games – been a long while since I’ve posted here)

It does have its own identity, it’s the only AoE weapon necro has.

I don’t love how the “2” and “3” skills work, but I’ve accepted them. I’d rather have Chilblains apply a different field than poison (ice would be nice) or have Mark of Blood either do more damage, have more regeneration, or do more bleed stacks; but they’re not BAD as they are now.

Hesacon.8735:

It does have its own identity, it’s the only AoE weapon necro has.

I don’t love how the “2” and “3” skills work, but I’ve accepted them. I’d rather have Chilblains apply a different field than poison (ice would be nice) or have Mark of Blood either do more damage, have more regeneration, or do more bleed stacks; but they’re not BAD as they are now.

Indeed it is an AOE weapon

There is also too much of a good thing
Just having marks in considering the new technology at hand – expanding aoe’s etc

I certainly agree with a chill field

It can keep to being an aoe weapon, but in its current state – it feels left behind
Much like guardian sword imo

The staff CD trait was made baseline as was the damage trait, then unblockable marks was merged with life force on mark.

Phyrak, you have some original and innovative ideas. Thank you for sharing them.

For many, staff has good value as a utility weapon. Truly, your suggestions imply another weapon, or weapons, will pick up the utility of staff.

If you could design a long range weapon, what would it do?

Anchoku.8142:

Phyrak, you have some original and innovative ideas. Thank you for sharing them.

For many, staff has good value as a utility weapon. Truly, your suggestions imply another weapon, or weapons, will pick up the utility of staff.

If you could design a long range weapon, what would it do?

Actually, I’ve been playing with the idea of a elite spec using a rifle exactly as the staff is changed above
Long range suppression and damage mitigation

The utility skills being that of defensive and supportive for team play

The shoud then becomes an on demand transform something akin to the future predator in primeval tv show – giving that of stealth and high mobility, kinda a stalk and persuit of prey

Therefore allowing two unique but very different play styles
Rifle being suppression along with utility skills (undecided on what to use)
The shroud is that of hyber aggression and patience in play – limiting you to close combat but allow you to persue foes easily and disappear out of sight to deal deathly strikes from stealth

While it’s not necessarily a bad idea to sort of engineer a weapon set with a utility skill group in mind, it also runs the danger of pigeon-holing that weapon into an obviously meta set-up with no other play-style alternative. I had an idea about revamping staff a while ago, and I could drop it here as debate fuel. Basically, the biggest idea is increasing the staff’s staying power as a mainstay/camp weapon rather than it being a gimmick “blob tag” circle spammer from which a player swaps away once the functionally identical 2-5 skills are blown within 2 seconds.

The trick to doing this is making a weapon with low cooldowns, but some sort of risk factor (typically a cast-time or resource consumption) to balance it out. Low cooldowns give the player more consistent options and more presence on the battlefield (given how the player often has more abilities available for use at any given time).

All that said, I actually kind of like the idea of scrapping the garbage staff design, consolidating all of its condi spam onto another weapon set-up and then giving it another combat role entirely that isn’t just the typical babby rotation into an autoattack for 9 seconds.

Erasmus.1624:

While it’s not necessarily a bad idea to sort of engineer a weapon set with a utility skill group in mind, it also runs the danger of pigeon-holing that weapon into an obviously meta set-up with no other play-style alternative. I had an idea about revamping staff a while ago, and I could drop it here as debate fuel. Basically, the biggest idea is increasing the staff’s staying power as a mainstay/camp weapon rather than it being a gimmick “blob tag” circle spammer from which a player swaps away once the functionally identical 2-5 skills are blown within 2 seconds.

The trick to doing this is making a weapon with low cooldowns, but some sort of risk factor (typically a cast-time or resource consumption) to balance it out. Low cooldowns give the player more consistent options and more presence on the battlefield (given how the player often has more abilities available for use at any given time).

Necrotic Grasp

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[Necrotic Grasp] (1)
Activation: 1s

• Send out a necrotic hand which bursts upon impact and strikes multiple foes. Gain life force if this attack hits.
• Number of targets: 3
• Damage: (0.75)
• Life force: 3%
• Blast radius: 150
• Range: 1200
  • Elementalist [Fireball] projectile behavior
  • This skill will only grant Life Force once regardless of the number of unique targets struck.

Mark of Blood

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[Mark of Blood] (2)
Activation: 0 / Recharge: 4s

• Inscribe a pulsing mark that damages and bleeds foes at the target location; heals allies with each pulse.
• Number of targets: 5
• Number of allies: 5
• Pulses|4|: every 1s
• Damage per pulse: (0.55)
• Bleeding|2| (6s) per pulse: [dmg]
• Allied healing per pulse: (0.2)
• Duration: 4s
• Combo Field: Dark
• Radius: 150
• Range: 1200
  • Elementalist [Lava Font] “activation time”
  • Mark features are now a neon-red color; emits bright, red-colored “well mist”
  • Pulses occur at the end of each second.

Chilblains

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[Chilblains] (3)
Activation: ¾s

• Consume life force and unleash a line of blasts that poison and chill foes across the target area.
• Life force cost: 8%
• Number of targets: 5
• Number of impacts: 5
• Impact damage: (0.75)
• Impact chill: 1s
• Impact poison|2| (4s): [dmg]
• Blast radius: 120
• Blast line range: 600
  • Koda’s Hammer [Ice Shock Wave]
  • This skill is now a ground-targeted AoE with a target reticle that matches its rectangle hit-box (600 range length; 120 range width).
  • This skill’s AoE line attack is preceeded by an icy-blue or poison-green version of the [Enfeebling Blood] animation cue complete with that skill’s brief, post-cast delay period.
  • This skill will not activate if the player lacks adequate Life Force to cast it.

Foul Feast

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[Foul Feast] (4a)
Activation: 1¾s / Recharge: 15s

• Channel to first cure damaging conditions on yourself and allies in your area; you bleed but also gain Life Force and temporary vitality for each condition that you cure in this way. This skill’s final pulse inflicts damages and transfers bleeding on you to foes in the area.
• Pulses|3|: every ½s
• Number of allies: 5
• Initial 2 pulses conditions cured per ally: 1
• Self bleeding (6s) per condition cured: [dmg]
• Life force per condition cured: 1%
• Foul Feast (3s) per condition cured: 30 Vitality
• Final pulse damage: (1.75)
• Final pulse conditions transferred: Bleeding
• Range: 600
• Combo Finisher: Blast
  • Condition removal priority: Burning – > Bleeding – > Poison – > Confusion – > Torment

Reaper's Mark

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[Reaper’s Mark] (5)
Cast-time: 1 s; Recharge: 25 s

• Inscribe a pulsing mark in front of you, damaging foes; gain life force for each foe struck. If your Life Force is above the threshold when you activate this skill, the mark’s initial damage fears foes.
• Number of targets: 5
• Pulses|4|: every 2s
• Pulse damage: (0.9)
• Life Force: 4%
• Life Force threshold: 50%
• Threshold fear: 1s
• Duration: 6 seconds
• Combo Field: Dark
• Width: 300
• Range: 600
  • Revenant [Searing Fissure] style attack.
  • First pulse occurs immediately on successful cast and then once every 2 seconds afterward.
  • Each pulse will only grant the state Life Force amount once regardless of the number of unique targets struck.

All that said, I actually kind of like the idea of scrapping the garbage staff design, consolidating all of its condi spam onto another weapon set-up and then giving it another combat role entirely that isn’t just the typical babby rotation into an autoattack for 9 seconds.

It was actually reading your changes that got me thinking on staff tweaking

I really do like the new mechanics involved and I think they would do nicely
All staff needs now is to share boons with minions and maybe be a little bit of a buff share to those surrounding pc/minions

Wouldn’t mind if aa was a little stronger or gave some sort of (non damaging) condition (imo)

Phyrak.7260:

It was actually reading your changes that got me thinking on staff tweaking

I really do like the new mechanics involved and I think they would do nicely
All staff needs now is to share boons with minions and maybe be a little bit of a buff share to those surrounding pc/minions

Wouldn’t mind if aa was a little stronger or gave some sort of (non damaging) condition (imo)

Oh, I’m flattered.

I think that boon sharing (with players and/or minions) would probably fit best as a trait option. Given how it’s best to keep things relatively active, it might even come down to tying such an effect to the autoattack. Since the AA in my spoilered idea is basically fireball (which can be manually aimed to a degree and has a pretty substanial splash AoE) it could easily be the trigger to proc boon sharing properties on allies or minions (not that it has to be the only thing that does it).

It might also be a good way to rework Soul Marks given that that would need to change if necro staff became anything remotely more interesting than AA + 4 circles.

Erasmus.1624:

Phyrak.7260:

It was actually reading your changes that got me thinking on staff tweaking

I really do like the new mechanics involved and I think they would do nicely
All staff needs now is to share boons with minions and maybe be a little bit of a buff share to those surrounding pc/minions

Wouldn’t mind if aa was a little stronger or gave some sort of (non damaging) condition (imo)

Oh, I’m flattered.

I think that boon sharing (with players and/or minions) would probably fit best as a trait option. Given how it’s best to keep things relatively active, it might even come down to tying such an effect to the autoattack. Since the AA in my spoilered idea is basically fireball (which can be manually aimed to a degree and has a pretty substanial splash AoE) it could easily be the trigger to proc boon sharing properties on allies or minions (not that it has to be the only thing that does it).

It might also be a good way to rework Soul Marks given that that would need to change if necro staff became anything remotely more interesting than AA + 4 circles.

Imo staff should be all about buffing self and allies
Minions by definition should receive pc’s boons/stats

Time to square this circle (/pun) and get it to the devs somehow…

#hopeandoptimism