Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone. I’m Sikari, known for long posts in the PvP and Necromancer section with not enough TL;DRs. I’ve come to take a liking of Revenant recently and wanted to weigh in some opinions, suggestions and things of that nature. To cut down on space and fluff, I’m just going to jump in and go down the lists hitting weapons, utilities and traits. I’ll try to generalize each point, I’ll separate more in-depth/specific notes I wish to make. Feel free to discuss, criticize or add to the discussion in any way you see fit. Keep it civil and constructive, please!

Two-Handed
Hammer: Hammer overall is in a good spot, and still fills a strong slow but hard-hitting niche.

• Hammer bolt – I actually mostly wanted to point out, I dislike the animation. Throwing a Hammer seems a lot less epic than it could have been, but that’s just me. More importantly, though this is not revenant specific, bolts do hit far past their distance cap, a projectile issue within the game.

• Coalescence of Ruin – I believe this damage could be shifted to be a ‘little’ less hindered in close combat. Currently it looks like the weapon has coefficients of 1, 1.5 and 2. Something closer to 1.20, 1.60, 2 would be a bit better, as a 40% damage reduction is still significant. Being that a strong portion of hammer’s damage is in this ability, it’d be nice if it was a bit more impactful in close range. Also, the damage area does not completely match up with the animation, leading to moments where you would think you hit your target, but actually have not (Especially at high range).

• Drop the Hammer – Drop the hammer is an interesting beast. In chaotic situations, it isn’t bad. However in more realistic scenarios and smaller scale fights, the 1.75 cast time, on top of being ground-targeted makes for a really hard to land skill. That said, it being a low cooldown aoe CC, it makes it risky to make too powerful. I suggest either a 1.25 cast time, or an even shorter cast time (3/4), and having it work similarly to Dragon’s Tooth, where it’s still delayed significantly, in this case 1 second after the cast (to keep it about the same, but less time spent casting), so that it can be more easily comboed with, and locks your character for less time on a skill that is very easily dodgeable. Either route taken, the cooldown could go up to 20 seconds. Personally, I feel a more reliable ability is better than a short cooldown ability that is less reliable and less impactful. I understand this might be controversial though.

Staff: Overall, I actually think staff is fine, so I won’t add huge text walls. I think the Weakness on #2 is a bit too short, though. 4 second and I’d just settle with that. Surge of the Mists might be a touch too strong.

One-Handed
Mace: Mace isn’t bad, but I do find it sometimes hard to be reliable. Torment would be better given the suggested trait enhancement of Torment, that Roy suggested, which is boosting the base damage of Torment for still targets. I think that would go a long way, alone. Wish it had a soft cc (cripple), but it’s not a big concern. Lastly, something I had mentioned before, the power damage could go up a bit to support hybrid builds (Sinister/Rampager/Celestial). I think this is important due to a lack of a ranged condition weapon.

• Searing Fissure – I find this to be a decent move. It’s one of the few burn skills I don’t hate because it appropriately only stacks a single burn per tick. I do feel, however, it is maybe a LITTLE too easily side-stepped. A minor width boost would go a long way for me to make this weapon more beneficial. Wouldn’t mind hearing opinions on this.

Sword: Sword is strong, but I’m still having a hard time accepting the projectile on auto. Perhaps increasing the width of the projectile could reduce some issues, but I think without a projectile at all would be a better, though, less interesting, solution.

Off-Hands
Axe: Axe feels pretty good, overall. Temporal Rift has some ground issues that need to be worked out to increase reliability, but design wise, I have no real issues.

Sword: Sword is fine. Pull issues exist still sometimes. Again, this isn’t a problem with the weapon. The flip cost of the block, “Shackling Wave” could possibly be reduced, as I feel the 20 (total) cost is a bit steep to utilize the block-counter.

Shield: I love shield. If anyone doesn’t like shield they’re wrong! No but really, it has good sustain, but while being strong, it has a big draw-back of a decent energy cost (as far as weapon skills go) and a self-root. The risk/reward seems nice, it’s strong and impactful, but with consideration. I enjoy it.

Jalis: I feel Jalis got hit pretty hard with the stability nerf, and still doesn’t quite do enough to justify its uses.

• Inspiring Reinforcement – Got hit too hard. At least the stability could last 2 seconds per pulse. I think that would help make it a bit more useful.

• Forced Engagement – Unfortunately, it isn’t safe to have a CC too spammable. That said, it’s still pretty easy to botch, meaning you really lose out. Too much risk for not enough reward would sum this skill up. “Unblockable” might give it a niche use, knowing it will land, and using it to fish out people in defensive modes.

• Vengeful Hammers – I’m still not real sure about. Cost might be kind of high to justify using too much, as it doesn’t feel quite there yet. If I’m not mistaken, hammers themselves still have issues. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)

• Rite of the Great Dwarf – Super high cost, long cast for basically a glorified protection… I’d really, for the sake of the stun break and clutch plays, like to see this moved toward being near instant cast. I’d venture to say some people would even accept a nerf from 5 to 4 seconds if it were more useful on the fly. Again, feel free to discuss, because I’m just not sure it’s in a good spot, and long cast time stun breaks just feel awful to me.

Mallyx: Mallyx is in an okay spot. It suffers from a lack of stun break and energy wasted on interrupted skills.

• Pain Absorption – I personally feel like, as a defensive, non-target skill, this would be the prime area for a stun break, even with the cast time.

• Unyielding Anguish – It feels okay, it’s certainly better than it was in terms of being a practical skill. Though you gain some distance, I’m not sure I completely agree with losing all of the energy spent if interrupted, since the skill doesn’t go real far, the cost should honestly be incurred only if it lands and places a field. Losing 30 energy when getting interrupted just feels too harsh. (I’m sure it’s not the only skill that suffers from this, but it’s the most immediately noticeable.) Bug: This skill sometimes take a LONG time to even start leaping when under the effects of slow, to the point sometimes I wonder if it has even registered.

• Embrace the Darkness – The cost still seems high. Anything with negative pips signify huge opportunity costs, and overall, I feel like it ends up making Mallyx feel a bit clunky. I tend to avoid it when I can. The effect isn’t terrible. If it was instant cast (like all other toggles?), and maybe just one less Pip since it has a front-cost, maybe. Or keep the cost and add a pulsing 1 second cripple pulse so I can keep up on people with mace!

Ventari: I’m skipping Ventari. It’s not that I don’t love or care about Ventari, but I feel like any help I could give it would be pretend-developer thinking. Drastic changes are needed to make it more useful and less clunky to play with. There are a thousand ways this could go, and I’d rather wait and See what Roy has in consideration before going crazy in dream-land.

Shiro: Shiro is strong and, generally, in a good place. Riposting Shadows and Phase Traversal needs consideration to reducing mobility. Surely, no one wants to hear that, but it definitely can get out of hand as it stands, and something has to give. I’m not sure how to handle it without going back to the previous version, which clearly wasn’t a better alternative (required range).

Glint: Glint seems to be in a great spot. It’s amazing at what it does. I’m not actually sure if it’s too good, or just perceived as too good due to the nature of Revenant as a whole, being new to players. So far, coupled with Jalis or Ventari it seems okay, Mallyx it seems strong but not too overly strong, but might be a bit too good with Shiro/Power builds. The heal is strong, but feels necessary at times to not get completely melted by conditions.

• Facet of Chaos – Leaving the rest alone, because I’m unsure, I feel Facet of Chaos (Chaotic Release) could be a bit better. It’s a bit slow for what it does, and the super speed doesn’t really seem necessary. The cooldown is long as well. The pips are high, so I rarely ever “sit” with it, the 3 seconds of protection are really not worth the 15 energy worth of opportunity costs. It is one of those, however, where it could easily be out of hand, so I think its fine. Chaotic Release could be better though. Bug: For some Chaotic Release causes huge lag spikes.

Note: Traits are starting to take shape. There are several that still feel too weak, especially several Grand Master traits.

Corruption: If anything could be done to make Demonic defiance more global in use, it would be amazing, and switched with Opportune Extraction. Resistance is everything about this line, but only Mallyx can enjoy it. Any way to make it more universal without shredding it would be great for the line and the class. If that isn’t possible without destroying it, though, just leave it alone.

• Venom Enhancement – Cooldown seems to be a bit much with such limited Poison access. 10 seconds would be fine. (Reduce base to 4 seconds.) This would make it a better anti-healing utility if a non-mallyx build takes this line (not real likely, since Demonic Defiance sort of has a monopoly, and the line is too focused on torment).

• Frigid Precision – Seems like a weaker version of the reaper’s Adept trait, which even that isn’t very powerful, of course without the prior chill requirement, but RNG instead. Perhaps just make it AOE so it’s on the same level as the Reaper adept, or add a decent spike damage to it, similar to Glacial Heart.

• Diabolic Inferno – Could see maybe an increase in duration or one more stack. It’s basically a weak Ring of Fire proc at the moment, but overall the trait is pretty cool. If it was a bit stronger, and if EtD was instant, I could really see it get get some use. (Suggestions: 2 stacks for 5 seconds, or 3 stacks for 3 seconds).

Retribution: This line has needed some work but is coming together. The Grand Masters need some serious love though. I’ll skip hammers, since he’s already changing it, but really, the GMs need to be looked at quickly before launch. I’m going to get a bit “pretend designer” here and suggest some more drastic changes to make the overall feel of the line a bit better.

• Planar Protection – Take the Protection from Eye for an Eye, and move it here. Change the skill to: “When taking fall damage or you are inflicted with a CC effect, gain 3 seconds of protection and create a field of mist, pulsing weakness. 4 second duration field (down from 8 seconds). 10 second cooldown” Bam, suddenly you have a fall trait and a good anti-CC trait. (Note: Similar to the Engineer trait, but adds a field in place of twice the cooldown, just so you know where my numbers came from.)

• Eye for an Eye – Merge the effects of Improved Aggression to here. Reduce the duration increase to 50%, but allow it to work on players. Reduce the base taunt to 2 seconds, so that it remains 3 seconds, but works with Forced Engagement. Add a new Adept.

• Empowering Vengeance – Merge retaliatory Evasion into this trait. Create a new Major trait.

• Steadfast Rejuvenation – Everything about this is terrible for a GM. To put in perspective, Engineer often has perma swiftness and heals for more with the new Master trait. It is increased in the gap with Super Speed. Backpack Regenerator is even more useful. Level 2 “Adrenal Health”, a minor Master is barely weaker, but likely just as good due to the proc chance and the nature of ICDs never being right on time, and level 3 completely outshines it. Rough suggestion: Increase healing by 10%, remove the pointless proc chance (the trait should be based around simply being aggressive in combat), and add “Remove 1 condition.” End result would be something like 430 and 1 condition removed when hit, 4 sec icd. This would be about 2.2 conditions removed per 10 seconds, which is still much weaker than most condition removal traits (Empathetic Bond, Cleansing Ire, Cleansing Water) but still made up for with some healing (equating to about 100 hps), putting this trait closer in line with things like Rapid Regeneration in terms of usefulness.

Salvation: I’m opting out of this for similar reasons to Ventari. I need to see a bigger picture/goal to make proper feedback.

Devastation: I don’t have any major complains with Devastation. It seems to be a popular line, and has its uses. Some minor tuning issues could be picked on, but nothing too striking, overall.

Glint: The minors are great. There are some tuning issues and bugs to be worked out but the specialization is in a solid spot.

• Radiant Revival – Cooldown is too long and the effect is too short to be useful. Increasing it to 3 seconds on a 30 or 40 second cooldown and increasing revival speed by 10% would be a good way to make it more impactful.

• Bolster Fortifications – It just doesn’t seem very good. It seems quite clear it’s “balanced” around Ventari’s unique low-cooldown heal. I’m not sure how I feel about that. This may be a case where a cooldown is necessary to make it more useful all around.

• Soothing Bastion – This trait is super buggy right now. When this procs, using the shield 5 skill will still play its animation, root you, and go on cooldown, but does not block or heal, which is a HUGE problem. I’ve heard the boon duration extension also doesn’t work. I did not personally test this, though.

Thanks for reading, and I welcome all feedback! I’m sure not everyone read every last bit, but thanks for letting me get it all out, and hopefully there is something here as a base for discussion, and getting some creative juices flowing. Sorry it’s so long. :P

Edit: I tried to make it easier to read and keep place, it just took me a minute.

ronpierce.2760:

• Swearing Fissure – I find this to be a decent move.

Skill that BMs opponents for you? That’s awesome!

Rym.1469:

ronpierce.2760:

• Swearing Fissure – I find this to be a decent move.

Skill that BMs opponents for you? That’s awesome!

Yes, but it just needs to be a tiny bit louder to be a bit more reflective of my true feelings.

Edit: Also, thanks for the feedback, Rym. :P

I agree with basically all your points. And that’s some tight kitten formatting there

I agree with everything you’ve said. +1

All projectile base attacks can hit further away than the description and for a good reason. Of course I can’t say it for certain but I’m fairly sure that projectiles range is determined by its speed and duration. Since projectiles are affected by gravity their range increases the higher you’re in relation to your target. The range in the the tooltip is the range the projectile should have if you are in the same plane as your target.

Having projectiles do that is good since smart positioning can increase your range or decrease your opponents range.

Varezenem.2813:

All projectile base attacks can hit further away than the description and for a good reason. Of course I can’t say it for certain but I’m fairly sure that projectiles range is determined by its speed and duration. Since projectiles are affected by gravity their range increases the higher you’re in relation to your target. The range in the the tooltip is the range the projectile should have if you are in the same plane as your target.

Having projectiles do that is good since smart positioning can increase your range or decrease your opponents range.

It isn’t quite the terrain argument I’ve seen around. A person shows it in a video, they are on a fairly flat surface and the projectiles glide pretty far past the 1200 range. I realize it has to do with terrain consideration and it’s a bit of a complex issue, but at the end of the day, it still makes projectiles go further than intended, while there is no consideration for ground target ranged attacks or ground-impact skills (like CoR).

ronpierce.2760:

Varezenem.2813:

All projectile base attacks can hit further away than the description and for a good reason. Of course I can’t say it for certain but I’m fairly sure that projectiles range is determined by its speed and duration. Since projectiles are affected by gravity their range increases the higher you’re in relation to your target. The range in the the tooltip is the range the projectile should have if you are in the same plane as your target.

Having projectiles do that is good since smart positioning can increase your range or decrease your opponents range.

It isn’t quite the terrain argument I’ve seen around. A person shows it in a video, they are on a fairly flat surface and the projectiles glide pretty far past the 1200 range. I realize it has to do with terrain consideration and it’s a bit of a complex issue, but at the end of the day, it still makes projectiles go further than intended, while there is no consideration for ground target ranged attacks or ground-impact skills (like CoR).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1zZgMWhfVw

Did a comparison with LB/SB and rifle on warrior and ranger LB on warrior has the exact same effective range on that position (about 1380) rifle has a short her reach (1200) and all that I’m the end was found out is that arcing projectiles have a further range. =p

Setting animation to low fixes glint’s elite graphic lag

Pretty much agree with this post, have faith in good changes coming. Really hoping Ventari gets the love it desperately needs.

ronpierce.2760:

Rym.1469:

ronpierce.2760:

• Swearing Fissure – I find this to be a decent move.

Skill that BMs opponents for you? That’s awesome!

Yes, but it just needs to be a tiny bit louder to be a bit more reflective of my true feelings.

Edit: Also, thanks for the feedback, Rym. :P

Np, m8

Majority of your points share similar ideas to mine, written in here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/Feedback-Suggestions-Rym-s-Megathread/first#post5525223 , so instead I pointed out the typo :P

karulegend.4960:

Pretty much agree with this post, have faith in good changes coming. Really hoping Ventari gets the love it desperately needs.

Me too. I’m not sure what to suggest with it though. Functionally, I actually believe it could work, especially in PVE content (raids). My biggest problem is feeling like it is clunky to use and even then, sometimes a bit unrewarding. It’s for that reason, I’m just not sure what to suggest, because I’m sure its a bit too late for massive overhauls. It will likely just be the type of thing I’ll avoid due to a clash in playstyles.