Guild Wars 2

I want to have a word with whoever decided to change this skill’s functionality.

Proof that spectral walk was working as intended:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Bug-or-the-coolest-escape-move-in-the-game/first

If this was done in connection with removing the abusive aspects of z-axis teleport nerfs, then it’s fair.

It is beyond wrong that teleports can increase movement far beyond their stated range, by abusing pathing.

I read on reddit that a while back players were playing a stronghold beta with this fixed.

If, on the other hand, this was done because anet is going to now sell its gemstore hourglass toy (which has the same functionality as spectral walk), then this nerf is beyond disgusting.

THIS

First they took the “basejumpmancer” off of death shroud where it was understandably too good having the ability to instantly tank any fall just by sacrificing your life force, and instead put it on a utility with a 60 second cooldown. This was fine. Wasting one of only three utility slots on a long cooldown just to tank fall damage is FINE. STOP NERFING NECRO.

nekretaal.6485:

If this was done in connection with removing the abusive aspects of z-axis teleport nerfs, then it’s fair.

It is beyond wrong that teleports can increase movement far beyond their stated range, by abusing pathing.

I read on reddit that a while back players were playing a stronghold beta with this fixed.

It doesn’t function like the standard z-axis teleport. You can’t use it go on top of clocktower. You can’t use it to blink up a cliff that cannot immediately be climbed.

When they nerfed DS fall damage, ArenaNet specifically said that Spectral Walk was a mechanic they didn’t have a problem with.

WHY THE CHANGE NOW?

What I want to know is if the chronomancer f5 will get the same treatment (otherwise RIOT)

I dont think it matters what happens to mesmer if they get fall damage avoidance I’m okay with that.

Dont know what prompted this but it ruins an otherwise cool move. I think theyve fiddling with it already since its been less reliable for “base jumping” for some time for me, so I dont use it this way much anymore. Not the end of the world but still… :\

Bump this thread if you believe in Spectral Walk staying castable in mid-air !

Bumping. It’s not like this will cause problems in Heart of Thorns, since literally everyone will be able to fall from any height and take no damage.

So they make necro faster and give us leap skill or why the kitten they remove our only escape skill? It’s kind of funny that game only fun skills are fun because of bug. Why they don’t hire dudes who actually manage make fun skill that doesn’t need nerf?

Agreed. This is my least favorite change for the necro.

Junkpile.7439:

So they make necro faster and give us leap skill or why the kitten they remove our only escape skill? It’s kind of funny that game only fun skills are fun because of bug. Why they don’t hire dudes who actually manage make fun skill that doesn’t need nerf?

It’s not a bug, though.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Junkpile.7439:

So they make necro faster and give us leap skill or why the kitten they remove our only escape skill? It’s kind of funny that game only fun skills are fun because of bug. Why they don’t hire dudes who actually manage make fun skill that doesn’t need nerf?

It’s not a bug, though.

Exactly. Spectral walk confirmed to have been working as intended.

And we were once told that staff skills being interrupted and going on full CD was working as intended. ANet can change their mind, and they did, it sucks, but whining won’t change it.

Bumping. Only change I think that doesn’t make any sense.

Losing this upsets me more than any other change. I’ve been depressed all morning.

They kill all the fun in Necro. I bought wings, let me pretend that I can fly.

btw I made a thread in the general discussion in hopes of rallying some attention to why changing this skill is a big downer and doesnt seem neccessary.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Please-save-one-of-the-most-fun-skills

A while back, they teased changes to jumping puzzles… Adding things like timers and leaderboards to them.

At first I just thought this was elaborate corporate PR speak for “we’re nerfing players who sit their character at the jumping puzzle chest and never move it.”

But if this is a serious addition, then Spectral walk had to go. OFC, spectral walk is nothing compared to portal guns and rocket books when it comes to abusing jump puzzles.

Not to mention the use of Spectral Walk BASE jumping to “break” the HOT maps.

The real problem is that this class doesn’t do a lot of cool things and they are constantly being nerfed.

nekretaal.6485:

…
But if this is a serious addition, then Spectral walk had to go. OFC, spectral walk is nothing compared to portal guns and rocket books when it comes to abusing jump puzzles.

Not to mention the use of Spectral Walk BASE jumping to “break” the HOT maps.

No. Stop please. Spectral walk does not break HOT maps. What do you think gliders do? jump off of highest level, glide down to the lower levels. Same effective result.

Malchior.1928:

No. Stop please. Spectral walk does not break HOT maps. What do you think gliders do? jump off of highest level, glide down to the lower levels. Same effective result.

You are so right. You can pop a glider and it will work same way as Spectral Walk at the moment. Already did it in closed beta. I am really glad that ANet actually contradicted themselves and it is on “paper”. Sad part of this story is that they don’t care and nobody will see this because of the *storm that was created yesterday. Would be really nice if they reverted the change, but I’m pretty sure it’s all not negotiable. Necro rekt once again.

This is my request to tell stories/thoughts about spectral walk in this thread on the general forum, in hope that it gets attention and maybe even response. I want to do everything I can to save our parachute
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Please-save-one-of-the-most-fun-skills

I’ve never posted on the official forums before. I’m pretty new (got this game as a Christmas gift from some good friends) so I’m not familiar with a lot of the class history.

Anyways, the upcoming trait changes promise to nerf every single non weapon skill that I use regularly (and no, being forced into a particular trait selection to get back what was taken in not balancing, it’s…something that will end up as ‘kitten’ here).

Well, maybe they didn’t nerf Signet of Spite, I honestly couldn’t keep reading after I got to Spectral Walk.

Spectral Walk is just fun. It’s one of the few skills that I really miss if I play an Alt.

If it allows you to skip content, that’s not really a game breaking thing. If there are heart quests or sequence breaks that it would introduce in HoTs, who cares? Stealth does the same thing, but for traps and monsters. So does Portal for everything , and for more than just the Mesmer using it.

The nerf memo has killed any enthusiasm I had for this game, and it sucks. It’s heartbreaking to open /lfg and see 3 groups in Arah, all with ‘No Rangers, No Necros’ in the description. I really hoped the trait update would help. Instead it was like getting impaled.

Cancel the change to Spectral Walk. It is poorly considered, and fun-killing for no reason whatsoever.

In case this is the last post I ever make here, your Art Team is killer ArenaNet. They should be proud.

It would be nice if we could keep it but even Devs are allowed to change their minds once a year; and it is an extreme outlier in terms of functionality.

Abusing spectral walk was a fun gimmick but I’m far more concerned about our new Suicide Heal.

Nice to get clarification. But I’ll admit I’m still sad to see the infinite distance safe-fall go away.

Edit: Pictured below is why forums don’t get staff responses.
Edit2: Post was either edited or removed to be much more civil. Good.

Yeah, I mean, to be fair, Josh doesn’t really control any of the knobs on Necro, all he can do is clerify, so thanks, Josh.

Wouldn’t have minded hearing Robert Gee on Necro through, live… :/

Josh Davis.6015:

Clarification: the only thing that was changed was that you can’t use “Spectral Walk” in air. You can still use “Spectral Recall” which is the skill that returns you to your original location. This means you can still use Spectral Walk, jump off a cliff and teleport back.

What you can’t do is jump off a cliff, double tap Spectral Walk (and then Spectral Recall) just before hitting the ground to nullify falling damage.

Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks dude, that’s good to know.

I’m curious, does this mean Spectral Walk (first activation) won’t be able to break stuns that occur mid-air, so things like knockbacks/launches?

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Well, it is, but for unrelated reasons.

There’s a few issues… but I think the biggest negative impact will be in felt sPvP.

OMG it’s a dev in the Necromancer forum! (Can we haz Consume Conditions revert?)

Anyway, the spectral walk change seems like a worthy bug fix. Was honestly about time. Was fun while it lasted.

Josh Davis.6015:

Bhawb.7408:

Thanks dude, that’s good to know.

I’m curious, does this mean Spectral Walk (first activation) won’t be able to break stuns that occur mid-air, so things like knockbacks/launches?

If you’re knocked-back in air you won’t be able to use Spectral Walk until you touch the ground. If you get knocked back while jumping, as soon as you hit the ground you can break it, just like other stunbreaks. However, if you already used Spectral Walk and then get cc’d in air, you can return back with Spectral Recall.

That said, as long as you’re on the ground you can stunbreak at any time. Hope I understood your question correctly.

then the change sucks, i thought it was 2 years back that you guys specifically changed stun-breakers to break cc mid animation otherwise what’s the point of stun-breakers at all?

Josh Davis.6015:

Bhawb.7408:

Thanks dude, that’s good to know.

I’m curious, does this mean Spectral Walk (first activation) won’t be able to break stuns that occur mid-air, so things like knockbacks/launches?

If you’re knocked-back in air you won’t be able to use Spectral Walk until you touch the ground. If you get knocked back while jumping, as soon as you hit the ground you can break it, just like other stunbreaks. However, if you already used Spectral Walk and then get cc’d in air, you can return back with Spectral Recall.

That said, as long as you’re on the ground you can stunbreak at any time. Hope I understood your question correctly.

I think the question was really more about the effect “launch” or “blowout” (not sure which name is the one ANet is now supporting). It appears to throw you into the air. Are you actually in midair, and thus unable to stunbreak, or is this merely a visual thing and we’ll still be able to stunbreak stuff like updraft/banish normally?

This is unrelated, but while you’re here could you just tell us if you know whether the rest of the spec livestream that got cut off is going to go up on the anet youtube? I’d really love to watch the rest but I don’t know if you guys kept recording or what.

Josh Davis.6015:

If you’re knocked-back in air you won’t be able to use Spectral Walk until you touch the ground. If you get knocked back while jumping, as soon as you hit the ground you can break it, just like other stunbreaks. However, if you already used Spectral Walk and then get cc’d in air, you can return back with Spectral Recall.

That said, as long as you’re on the ground you can stunbreak at any time. Hope I understood your question correctly.

Just making sure, was this change to Spectral Walk brought on by possible exploits on the new WvW map that were only possible/accessible via Necro’s fall damage immunity?

Josh Davis.6015:

Odeezee.7362:

Josh Davis.6015:

Bhawb.7408:

Thanks dude, that’s good to know.

I’m curious, does this mean Spectral Walk (first activation) won’t be able to break stuns that occur mid-air, so things like knockbacks/launches?

If you’re knocked-back in air you won’t be able to use Spectral Walk until you touch the ground. If you get knocked back while jumping, as soon as you hit the ground you can break it, just like other stunbreaks. However, if you already used Spectral Walk and then get cc’d in air, you can return back with Spectral Recall.

That said, as long as you’re on the ground you can stunbreak at any time. Hope I understood your question correctly.

then the change sucks, i thought it was 2 years back that you guys specifically changed stun-breakers to break cc mid animation otherwise what’s the point of stun-breakers at all?

That’s…what it does. Knockbacks and blowouts don’t count you as “in air”. What I’m saying is – if you jump off a cliff, and someone stuns you right as you jump – you can’t stunbreak until your feet touch the ground. However, if your Spectral Recall is ready you can pop it at any time since you’re allowed to use them in air.

Edit: For uber clarity – yes, you can stunbreak launches and knockbacks.

Thanks for the quick response. Was just confusing because when the game launched you couldnt stunbreak launch until you hit the ground so there was some concern this skill might be going back to that behaviour, but it’s all clear now.

Edit: Thanks again, that’s fantastic to hear about the livestream. Can’t wait to see me some karl

Josh Davis.6015:

Odeezee.7362:

Josh Davis.6015:

Bhawb.7408:

Thanks dude, that’s good to know.

I’m curious, does this mean Spectral Walk (first activation) won’t be able to break stuns that occur mid-air, so things like knockbacks/launches?

If you’re knocked-back in air you won’t be able to use Spectral Walk until you touch the ground. If you get knocked back while jumping, as soon as you hit the ground you can break it, just like other stunbreaks. However, if you already used Spectral Walk and then get cc’d in air, you can return back with Spectral Recall.

That said, as long as you’re on the ground you can stunbreak at any time. Hope I understood your question correctly.

then the change sucks, i thought it was 2 years back that you guys specifically changed stun-breakers to break cc mid animation otherwise what’s the point of stun-breakers at all?

That’s…what it does. Knockbacks and blowouts don’t count you as “in air”. What I’m saying is – if you jump off a cliff, and someone stuns you right as you jump – you can’t stunbreak until your feet touch the ground. However, if your Spectral Recall is ready you can pop it at any time since you’re allowed to use them in air.

Edit: For uber clarity – yes, you can stunbreak launches and knockbacks.

ok, appreciate the clarification.

now could you please tell Robert that while some of the changes he made are cool and appreciated, relative to other profession’s changes, they are woefully under-powered with respect to making Necros viable PvX. thanks.

Hello josh

1) omg dev on necro forums, CoCo, plague, lich, u guys went crazy

Actual topic Q

2) is it intended for thief shadowstep to have 2x stunbreak, while the spectral walk has none on the return part?
Ex. You teleport back to the starting location, but youre still laying flat on the ground for the remaining lets say 1.7s from a 2s knockdown

Awesome! Thanks for the clarifications, and its great to know we’ll be seeing the thoughts behind the rest of the changes.

Josh can I please ask why our safe fall is being removed? Necro has such terrible movement abilities compared to every other class. Parachuting has been one of my favorite things about necro since I rolled my first one early last year.

OP of that post here and first, I would like to mention
ahem
OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First post to necro forums got me a dev response and them a post about my post got a dev response WEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ON TOPIC!

Josh Davis.6015:

Clarification: the only thing that was changed was that you can’t use “Spectral Walk” in air. You can still use “Spectral Recall” which is the skill that returns you to your original location. This means you can still use Spectral Walk, jump off a cliff and teleport back.

What you can’t do is jump off a cliff, double tap Spectral Walk (and then Spectral Recall) just before hitting the ground to nullify falling damage.

Thank you for this clarification. As soon as it was mentioned that HoT maps had a more vertical focus and required gliders, I was concerned that this use of spectral walk would make gliding 1/2 useless and just make me look like a cheeky jerk (although I will miss showing off to friends when I lead them down a murder fall only to revive them).

I do however appreciate that I will still be able to use this trick partially to confuse them hammer types who knock me off a murder fall only to come back up and fear them off >:)

Thanks for clarification on this change.

Now we just need a comment on the Consume Conditions change… If that would happen, that would be great.

Joseph.9853:

Thanks for clarification on this change.

Now we just need a comment on the Consume Conditions change… If that would happen, that would be great.

They probably think Necromancers would want it to synergize with condition transfer even though condition transfer really doesn’t work with Corruption skills as well as it seems to on paper.

Still it’d be nice if a developer would respond instead of leaving us all to speculate.

Joseph.9853:

Thanks for clarification on this change.

Now we just need a comment on the Consume Conditions change… If that would happen, that would be great.

Probably something like this.

Josh Davis.6015:

Clarification: the only thing that was changed was that you can’t use “Spectral Walk” in air. You can still use “Spectral Recall” which is the skill that returns you to your original location. This means you can still use Spectral Walk, jump off a cliff and teleport back.

What you can’t do is jump off a cliff, double tap Spectral Walk (and then Spectral Recall) just before hitting the ground to nullify falling damage.

K can you take away all the broken things mesmers do with portal now? It’s not fair to take away our only trick and not touch the most broken class.

Or just let us be immune to fall damage and let the mesmers break everything else.

The game survived this long with these things why change it now?

As much as I want to say that the dev clarification answers my question, it actually contributes nothing that we didn’t already know. It does not give any justifications relating to the intended change.

Maybe you could clarify WHY this change was implemented, Josh Davis?

Was it because ANet thinks necro mobility is “cheesy”? Or was it because it was fun? Or maybe the change is because necromancers were OP and just needed another nerf so that other classes like engi could beat it?

I just want to hear a valid reason. Please.

Malchior.1928:

As much as I want to say that the dev clarification answers my question, it actually contributes nothing that we didn’t already know. It does not give any justifications relating to the intended change.

Maybe you could clarify WHY this change was implemented, Josh Davis?

Was it because ANet thinks necro mobility is “cheesy”? Or was it because it was fun? Or maybe the change is because necromancers were OP and just needed another nerf so that other classes like engi could beat it?

I just want to hear a valid reason. Please.

I’m curious as well, because as long as we have revive orbs map breaking has no meaning.

The fun of this skill is one of the main reasons I’ve stuck with this class, in spite of all the hard times. I hope Anet will reconsider it’s decision.