Guild Wars 2

While I think three weapon slots is a very interesting idea, the question becomes how do you swap weapons with three slots?

This opens to:

1. Rotation – Same keybind as usual, however it goes on a set pattern:
Example: Sword/Torch → Sword/Axe → Longbow → Sword/Torch
Least favorite of the options, makes it so to go from set 1 to set 3, you have effectively double the length of a normal weapon swap cooldown.

2. Individual bindings – I would imagine tricky to code (unless they set it to F3 or something), but have it where each slot was assigned a button, and pressing the corresponding button switches to that slot (pressing the button to the slot you are on does nothing)

3. Mix of the two above – Results in two buttons, one rotates weapons one way, the other rotates another. Would mean you would have to memorize where your weapons are slot wise, but turns 3 buttons into 2.
-So button one goes Sword/Torch → Sword/Axe → Longbow → Sword/Torch
-Button two goes Sword/Torch → Longbow → Sword/Axe → Sword/Torch

I’m not certain if ANet were ever to introduce three weapon slots, but there’s some ideas on how it could work mechanically.

Imagines it on charr

Right to left swing.
Right… somehow the blade got back on the right side… downward strike with hilt.
Left to right swing…. wait when did the blade get back on the left…?

I agree that the current auto is a bit wonky, but the proposed changes arn’t quite the right answer, as given the above example

Hello GW2 community and ArenaNet.

First of all, I want to thank ArenaNet and the community for creating such a wonderful game. Now before the rage posts start, yes, I personally consider HoT a step backwards in a lot of things. I’m not here to talk about that right now.

I’m going to address this post appropriately.

ArenaNet and especially the Storytellers sitting down and reading this, I’ve a simple request:

We need to know more about the new profession: The Revenant

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Ailment, and I am currently an Officer in the guild known as Chains of Duty Roleplay Guild [RPcd]. I have over a dozen characters, of which a good all by 2 or so of them are in a position where I play them off and on and can roleplay any of them. This is across genders/races/professions. My main character I play is Ailment Riftblade/Foulmoon, and was the first I started roleplaying with in an MMO setting. Having been with my guild for approximately a year, I’ve seen a lot of different forms and styles to roleplay, and I’ve been impressed, grossed out, and excited by what the community and the lore of the game has offered.

I’ll start from the beginning.

Back when HoT was first given as an idea, we were introduced to the concept of the Revenant. First we saw Rytlock with Sohothin reclaimed in the in-game trailer for HoT, then later trailers gave us a bit more sight to what the Revenant looked like. We also got a snazzy splash image akin to the other classes when they were announced way back at launch.

However, what was the lore behind the abilities that seperated the Revenant from the other classes?

Basically, Revenants… somehow, were able to channel the mists themselves (proto-reality, effectively) to aid allies, harm foes, and traverse the landscapes.

Okay.

Any explanation as to how we channel this power? …okay we summon legends that allow us to have certain utility skills. Fine and dandy, pretty cool concept. Now how do we summon those legends?

…to my knowledge, that has never been answered. Except only vaguely.

Specifically I can recall that in terms of the profession, the Revenant has ‘ties’ to the Canthan Ritualist back in GW1, where the ritualist was summoning spirits of their ancestors, the Revenant is tapping into ‘echoes’ of the mists that resonate with certain legends. Again, no explanation as to how the Revenant does this.

Now I might interpret this one incorrectly, don’t kill me if I do. But the second hint we got to the Revenant is that in order to channel the legends, the Revenant has to keep an open mind.

That didn’t answer a lot of questions I personally had.

So. Currently we have a class with very cool and possibly RP wise very game-breaking abilities (keep in mind, Revenants have access to things like Jade Winds and Impossible Odds, or turning your allies to stone with Rite of the Great Dwarf). And we don’t have a clear explanation also of where this magic was introduced.

Oh wait. They did say how it was introduced. How silly of me! So who introduced it?

Rytlock.

Okay. Currently at this time he’s… in the mists. Somewhere. And next we see him he appears out of the blue (almost literally), summons Glint to knock off a champion while quoting a one-liner.

Okay that’s fine. So long as Rytlock actually explains how to…

“Later Cub.”

…okay. We’ll just wait til later then right?

…right?

Guess not, as Rytlock never explains where he got his new magic. In fact… I’d argue and say that I prefered Warrior Rytlock over Revenant Rytlock. Before he turned into a Revenant, he had a lot more of a personality than he does now. Basically: He shows up, does stuff, then does a few other stuff. That’s Revenant Rytlock.

It’s even more awkward when you are doing the story with a Revenant yourself.

Let’s move away from Rytlock for now. So we don’t have an explanation for how Rytlock brought this magic into the world because we don’t see him actually sitting down and explaining how it works. If it happened at some point following the events of the Story, that implies that if you play a Revenant during this story, it’s effectively non-canon, as if you go under the impression that your character learned how to be a Revenant from Rytlock, then the story already happened.

So let’s focus on the magic itself, and not it’s introduction.

Our explanation for what a Revenant is able to do is basically, they can channel the mists and legends of the past to attack and aid allies. I personally view it in the case where a Revenant is only able to summon these proto-reality magic effects for brief periods of time, before the mist dissipates as they lose form. It’s why Shield 5 and Jade Winds don’t last forever when they, potentially, could.

Imagine if you will every single Revenant out there had access to the permanence of the original Jade Winds. Scary thought, huh?

So how they channel it… well, I wish I could tell. Again, our only clues are that Revenants are loosely tied to Ritualists, and that they keep an open mind (to which that open mind part really answers nothing).

You may be asking at this point why this is important.

Let me paint you this picture: My main character decides to become a Revenant. I have a whole backstory as to how my character achieves this because until there is proof as to how Rytlock spread his teaches across Tyria, I’m not using that as for the origin of Revenant magic within my character.

Now, say my character gets pretty good with this stuff. I start developing more abilities within an RP standpoint, things are looking pretty cool.

Then the inevitable happens. People ask how my character is able to do all this Revenant stuff.

And I have no answer.

Why? Because I honestly don’t know. I can answer how my Necromancer is able to summon the dead, feast off souls, and manipulate Blood Magic. I can explain how my Asura Mesmer uses a mix of Psycho energy and Mesmer Illusions to combat her foes. I can even explain the silly nature that is my Engineer with her crazy ideas and dangerous experiments.

I can’t explain how my main character is able to conjure the magic he wields beyond making my own story for it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love making stories and theories behind how each of my character achieves the profession magic/tactics/technology. It’s just that when a class doesn’t even have a true explanation behind it’s own core mechanic beyond fluff that answers nothing beyond being a description of the magic, you’re kinda wanting to reach for more.

I know that the devs are working hard and the general community is in a very polarizing state, with the majority (vocal one, that is) isn’t exactly happy with how HoT has been going.

Here’s my suggestions to get the ball rolling.

1. Likely already in progress, but have some means of in-game explaning where we got this magic from, show us proof that the person/thing has shown us how to use this magic, and explain a bit more into how we conjure and control this magic.

2. This is the choice I would prefer of the two, while also somewhat addressing #1.

Remember those short stories? Like Rox when she went to Rytlock’s office? Or Marjory when she became a detective? Or even way back when a convoy was going through the Shiverpeaks and they get stopped by Jotun, who lets the convey keep going? An asura, who sacrifices their golem named “Mr. Sparkles”. No it’s not Zojja. This was before she got Mr. Sparkles.

Give us another of those. Give us a short story of either Rytlock, or another unnamed Revenant (who knows, maybe the one we see in the Retribution splash art), and tell a tale. Make it as engaging as the stories before, and explain things. I feel like that would grab all those who want to RP as a Revenant but don’t know how to get their feet wet.

Would this sacrifice from precious Dev time? Yup.
Would it promote sales? Possibly no.

Would it help us connect with your new profession in a more meaningful way and let us promote GW2 further through it’s lore? Oh yes.

I’ll leave this as it is for now. I know, I wrote a lot and basically ranted half the time, but it matters to me. As someone that got attached to this game’s lore and story, I want desperately to see more of it. I want to be able to connect more with my characters, and I feel like there’s a big wall between me and my Revenant because we lack the information we so dearly need to properly immerse ourselves into the profession.

No tl:dr’s, it’s the lore section of the forums.

Thank you again ArenaNet, and I hope you at the very least take time to look at the Revenant and think to yourself; “How can we make this profession even more immersive?”

Because I’ll be honest, taking a Hammer and shockwaving enemies to death is a little… passive, with little ‘oomph’ behind it

Now, from the community of GW2. How would you make the Revenant a better, more immersive profession from a story and lore standpoint? How would you tie the loose threads left by HoT’s story in regards to the profession? And I want to hear from you how you Roleplay the Revenant, because I’m sure some people need some ideas around here as to how we do what we do.

Still waiting for Kodan Bartender (Bear-tender).

Last night I played some random LoL matches with a friend of mine. He actually had fun for the first time in weeks, it seemed like. And so was I.

And after that I played a bit of Starbound to prep myself for when I play it with others.

Guess I have to wait for another pull into GW2 beyond working on Specialization weapons. And being a fashionaholic.

Sad. Before HoT, I couldn’t get enough of PvP. Now, at rank 77, I’m having trouble finding the drive to get those last three ranks.

Much as I want to support ANet and all they do, they have been blindly pursuing E-Sports when they should have been focused on making the game fun.

I would rather them take a hit, realize the blind sight that pursuing E-Sports is, than them being successful and thinking that this current model is working.

Sometimes it takes losing money financially before businesses start thinking about the right ways to move forward as a company.

I like the idea of an effect unique to each weapon on activation upon triggering Berserk.

Some things I would like to note:

1) While you have started the Offhand section, notably you are missing some of them. For example, no Offhand Sword/Axe/Mace has been listed. For the matter, the weapon Unique to Berserker, /Torch/, is missing. I can understand not listing the offhand Sword/Axe/Mace, but if you could share your thoughts on a ‘Burst’ for torch, that would be nice.

Now onto thoughts on the bursts themselves.

Greatsword:

Activation:
The only thing that seems a bit excessive is Projectile Reflect. Perhaps if it was simply destruction (akin to Elementalist Earth Dagger 2), that would be the most it should have. Also, given that Greatsword isn’t a condition weapon, confusion seems a bit out of place. That’s just me though.
Burst:
Sounds like a good idea, however an idea of the length/width of the scorched earth would be a good indication of how powerful this ability actually is.

Hammer:

Activation:
Might + Stability sounds good, I’m less critical about the confusion on this one given the synergy it can have with Distracting Strikes.
Burst:
I LOVE the concept of this ability. Slightly weaker Earthshaker up close, but afar? This ability would be kinda similar to a Thief’s Impact Strike elite, in where it would serve as another means of killing a foe in PvP.

Rifle:

Activation:
Not bad, however it seems rather generic compared to some of your other ideas.
Burst:
While this would be a very effective tool… it also feels like it’s intruding into Thief territory. Perhaps another idea could be used instead. Gunflame is already a pretty nifty Burst.

Longbow:

Activation:
Good idea, keeps with the AoE theme of Warrior Longbow. However…
Burst:
The novalty is noteworthy, but it doesn’t sync well with the activation, or the AoE theme of the weapon. Sticking with an AoE theme for the weapon would work best, as well as something to sync with the rest of the weapon. Keep in mind Longbow 3 is a blast, and 4 and 5 count as projectile finishers. I’d stick with the Firefield concept, but make it unique in some way.

Axe:

Activation:
So… Signet of Rage active, then? Also… I have to ask. Do you have a thing for Confusion? It’s an honest question, it’s appearing in a lot of places.
Burst:
I like the pull chain concept, however I’m trying to think of what you can combo it into. Then again, the pull itself might be worth it alone. It’s just Axe doesn’t have a high damage attack beyond it’s normal burst.

Mace:

Activation:
Pretty decent, this is where I’m okay with there being confusion given the synergy (again, with Distracting Strikes). This could lead to a high Confusion burst with Axe 5, which is a very interesting concept…
Burst:
Very interesting concept, not sure if the game mechanics would allow this but if so, it could create a very interesting Condition/Power based build.

Sword:

Activation:
This one seems weird. The AoE blind is cool, but the kick following thus is… well, all your previous Activations have been AoE based, or self buff based. Perhaps following the AoE blind, the Sword is set aflame? (all attacks inflict 1-2 seconds of burning)
Burst:
Cool concept, but how does it translate? How long does it last?
Does it remove the first three weapon skills for X seconds? What about Two-handed weapons? Does it force a weapon-swap?
A little more elaboration would help a lot.

Shield:

Activation:
Seems like a weaker version of Engineer Shield 5. An ‘offensive-defensive’ activation would be better fitting, such as… “The next 3-5 attacks made at you hit your shield, and if the attack was melee, rebound the attack and knockback the attacker.”
Burst:
This is effectively the active of Flesh Golem, huh? Not bad, just it could be something unique. Not sure what could make it effective and unique, perhaps something you can think of.

Warhorn:

Activation:
Uhm…

Idea is cool, but /how/ would this be implemented? If it only effected movement (WASD), that’s okay. This feels more like it should be the burst though.
Burst:
Cool concept, but for a better burst I would rather have a massive influx of buffs/debuffs, as is the nature of Warrior Warhorn.

Some really good ideas here, however with some tuning these ideas can be a lot more unique and balanced. Also if the random confusion could be tuned back, it would make it a lot more appropriate.

Keep in mind, confusion is ‘supposed’ to be Mesmer’s main condition. Warrior has good access to it, but only with interrupts which is focused upon Mace/Hammer/Shield.

Keep up the brainstorming though! Keep ideas rarely show themselves on a first draft.

OP raises some good points.

I’m a huge support to GW2 in many forms of the game. Lately though I haven’t even touched PvP due to just how… toxic ankitteny it can make me feel when I’m playing it. I’ve some friends that are in the same boat.

I like PvP, it’s fun and engaging at it’s best. But for it to be an e-sport? No… that’s not going to get ANet nearly the attention they may believe they will get.

This topic is really good and needs to keep going, I want to see ANet at least let us know their thoughts on the points brought up in this thread. Would help the relationship with their customers.

My personal opinion:

They need to either tune down the glossiness of some of the newer armor, or ‘normalize’ it a bit.

It’s headache inducing trying to mix and match pieces of armor sets when one piece is notably ‘shinier’ than another.

As a good example, look at the Heavy Carapace set. Bits and pieces can look really good, however the glossiness of the armor makes it very difficult to match with something that existed beforehand.

Some of the new armor falls into this category as well (pieces of Bladed, Guild, Mistward).

Coming from someone who has easily spent weeks worth messing around with both dyes and armor pieces to create cohesive and unique appearances, it bugs me when I see something so… clashing.

As someone that’s played Revenant a bit competitively, here’s some of the main weaknesses I can point out of the class in terms of it’s most common iteration, Shiro/Glint.

- UA is not as powerful as you may think it is damage wise. Yes, it does a lot of damage, but that’s not what I use it for. I use it to stay on an enemy that moves a lot, or to avoid an attack with a heavy telegraph.

- Do NOT underestimate Sword AA. I’ve downed a bunch of people by getting in a position where I could just get close and use AA. The cleave on the attack is no joke either. The only thing about the attack that is to an attacker’s benefit is that when moving, the first strike is a bit hard to hit with. After that strike though, the rest of the chain is a lot easier to hit with.

- As with most classes, pay attention to the buffs on the target. /Especially/ when the revenant is in Glint. Even if the revenant doesn’t have the heal upkeep on, they can bring it up extremely fast, even mid stun.

- More an addendum to the above, don’t think the Revenant doesn’t have access to Glint’s heal when they are in Shiro. It takes about half a second for them to switch to Glint and activate it, should their cooldown allow it.

- Hammer.. yes, it hits like a truck. Easiest way to counter it? If available, slopes. Slopes are a hammer’s biggest headache. Furthermore, you /can/ range pressure a hammer revenant, just remember what projectiles are actually projectiles. Don’t use those. Use things like Necromancer Scepter or any ranged attack that doesn’t have a travel time.

- Last one. If you haven’t played a Revenant yet… play one. Why? Simple. The best way to know how to defeat a Revenant is to play one and understand their weaknesses. It’s hard to anticipate a Revenant’s energy meter when you haven’t played the class yourself. Knowledge of how the system works helps a ton in knowing when the Revenant may be preparing to unleash a swarm of abilities.

That being said, here’s some tips I found that can help when /you/ are a revenant, and are looking for small nuances to help a fight.

- Facet of Chaos, the Elite on Glint? It does more than launch enemies. It grants Superspeed to allies in the cone. Guess what class benefits the most from Superspeed? Yup, Scrapper. If you have a Scrapper as an ally, try to use Facet of Chaos with them in the sights as well as the enemy, it helps their sustain a lot.

- Of a similar note, you can use Facet of Chaos like Engineer’s Overcharged Shot to get downed enemies off points. Your’s is of a much higher cooldown but guess what, it hits LOTS of enemies. If you can get away with it, Chaotic Release is one of the best ways to help stop an enemy revive/decap a point.

- Shiro’s 7 ability (The Dodge) is often ignored. Don’t forget about how useful that dodge is, because not only is it basically a Thief’s Withdraw (minus the healing), but it GIVES 50 endurance (AKA one full dodge).

-Speaking of team synergy, Reapers that focus on physical damage will love you for using the active on Facet of Strength. For a reaper, 20 Vuln stacks within a second helps a lot.

-If you think you can get away with Jade Winds and actually truly hit people with it (I.E., no stability, lack of dodges) it is worth the cost. In teams fights. Generally when you are alone… not really worth it.

- If you are sneaking towards a point, and are on the same elevation as the point, using Hammer 3 can be a ‘stealthy’ way to get a free burst of damage + chill, which makes your next attacks easier to hit (kinda think of it like with Engi grenades, if you hit with Chill, the rest are that much easier to hit with).

That’s all I have for now… that post went on a lot longer than I thought it would. Hopefully some of these ideas help on the struggle against/with Revenants, and if not it at least opens up some thoughts on how to approach/play the class.

Ah.. I wish for the days before BWE3. Mallyx was a good choice back then.

Mallyx was what inspired me to play Revenant.

Then they decided it didn’t ‘mesh’ with condition cleansing classes.

Bleh.

Shield is a good side choice for Rev in terms of the DPS spectrum. In terms of if you have Healing Power, yes, take shield.

The difference between the two is Axe gives you a shorter range Phase travel, for cheaper with a bit more upfront damage (while phase gives more ‘potential damage’ through unblockables). Axe 4 also chills, which is nice. Axe 5 can serve as a nice group juke. Send it into a team fight, any enemy not with stability or dodging get pulled out of position. Perfect setup into a Jade Wind if you have the energy/mentality.

Shield on the other hand gives personal survival. Only unblockable attacks can go through the shield, such as a traited Necromancer Staff 5. The 4 ability is… there. Both abilities become much better when Healing Power is brought to the table.

There’s one more Offhand you don’t see much often but shouldn’t be ignored. Sword Offhand. The 4 ability serves akin to Warrior’s Riposte, however you control when the counter comes, and the counter is a ~2 second immobilize. The real treat is the 5 ability. You can use it to pull enemies out of a team fight and into the open. Try it, coordinate with your team. You can mess with an enemy if you pull out their squishiest away from the Druid/Support.

Between the bunch I use Axe the most, gives the most reliable options as well as serve as a nice damage weapon. They are all pretty equal in use, with the only time one goes above the other is when Healing Power is introduced (Shield).

I wanted to play Warrior following the release of HoT. Really did.

I managed about halfway into Maguuma, all the way to finish the traitline and… I couldn’t do it.

I toyed with the other classes. And you know what… Warrior just doesn’t match them. I feel like I have to try so hard just to be where the other classes are when I don’t have to try nearly as hard.

I moved almost all my gear over to Revenant, with the soulbound stuff remaining on the Warrior.

Until Warrior feels more like it can compare to the other classes, I won’t be touching it except for crafting purposes.

This is reflected throughout my guild for the most part. I only see a couple of people who remain with the Warrior class, and it’s for varying reasons.

Personally, I’m on haitus from the class until it’s brought more in line. Perhaps if ANet sees how few people play the Warrior, they will realize how much they need to fix it.

I’ll address two things at once here:

Yes, name wise, Grenth would be the most fitting choice given the backstory of what Revenant means in the context of RL, as a Revenant is tied to a ghost or ‘being’ back from the dead.

Inside GW2 however it’s been established that Revenants don’t have to die to become a revenant, nor sacrifice their eyes* to become a revenant. I personally have a bit of disdain towards the obvious ‘oh this character died so I’m bringing them back as a revenant’, but it’s not entirely out of touch, just overused.

Personally my Revenant is effectively the same as my Warrior, just that the Warrior undertook training into the new profession’s magic, and voila.

*The whole blindfold thing is basically how they ‘focus’ their energies. For example, imagine a Necromancer that was blind, the Necromancer could theoretically ‘see’ using their ability to sense life

I’ve been running something similar with my thief, but focused more towards Dash instead of bound. I’ll have to try out your combo though, sounds potentially spiky in damage which sparks my interests a bit.

Signet of Agility is an interesting choice, not at all flawed but something I usually wouldn’t take. I’ll try it out a bit myself and see if I like it.

Main thing this build lacks compared to a dash variant is speed, you have to rely on steal to give you movement speed. However in terms of chasing this build can do that just fine.

I’d personally use Air/Fire on D/P just to get a higher burst on that backstab, which on that topic makes me wonder if Assassin’s Signet would aid in this build.

Lots of questions which I shall be delving into as I try it out with your flavor.

I originally thought this bug was related to discovering new zones/switching from one ‘area’ to the next. But as others have pointed out, definitely seems to be related to level scaling.

It’s mildly annoying at best and frustrating at it’s worst in central Tyria when you notice it happening though, especially in the middle of a conflict.

Truthfully I find the facet ambient sounds nice and relaxing to listen to.

For those who don’t know, it’s a simplified version of the Crystal Desert theme from GW1 (to which we have heard snippets of in GW2 through the Living World Season 2 (Glint’s Lair, biggest example)).

That being said.

I do agree that the visuals on the facets could be better. It makes it slightly trickier to do platforming when you have a big circle on the ground that makes the terrain have no shading.

Knox.8462:

I don’t normally hear the sounds tbh, but visually the facets are lacking. I’d prefer if facets were represented as crystals that floats around you (It is Glint stance after all)

This person has the right idea about what the stance could have as visuals. After all, back in GW1 each ‘facet’ was in a crystalized domain that had a color to match each facet (for example, orange for Strength (Warrior), or Green for Nature).

Easy to see, thematic with the legend, and reduces ground clutter. Plus any PvPer would know that the important thing about seeing what buffs are on a person isn’t based entirely on visuals, but the actual buffs/condies on their portrait.

EDIT: As an RPer I also want to point out that I’ve noticed myself turning out of Glint or activating all my upkeeps to remove the ground visual. Just looks out of place when RPing with others. So, for an RP standpoint as well it’s a little… intrusive.

kash.9213:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Math stuff, fun read.

I really enjoy the staff and I think it will overtake Sword/dagger as my main weapon set but I find it a bit funny that our dullest weapon with no edge is on paper our best dps weapon.

Bludgeoning weapons are not exactly bad at dealing damage. It’s more or less dependent on the force/area struck. After all, Mace/hammer can do a lot of damage (Warrior does a fair amount of physical damage with it, Guardian through the symbol, Rev through it’s… mistness). And hammer has a lot of weight to it, something not exactly easy to stop.

As for staffs themselves, remember that not all staff skins in the game are just fancy sticks. Take the new skin ‘Reclaimed Staff’, which is… more or less not exactly a staff but more a double bladed pole-arm.

Another option, of course, is always the scythe style staves