Showing Posts For Dirame.8521:

Spellbreaker Bursts

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I was hoping for every weapon having different burst skills since we are forced into level 1 bursts.

I was hoping ranged weapons would have a ranged Full counter instead. Would make things more hilarious.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

I'm pretty happy with Spellbreaker.

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Spellbreaker will be terrible in PVE

Solo PvE? Who cares, you can play anything in solo PvE. But for group PvE? It may be useless against bosses with pure power damage but for bosses who apply condis…. well… let’s just say… you may want to take 4 Spellbreakers.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Spellbreaker Bursts

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The Spellbreaker is all about incentivizing people to play a shutdown build. Rather than just GS/Axe all day every day. Boon stripping is just part of the incentive because there has been and there will still be a ton of stability being spammed in PvP/WvW so giving the Warrior the ability to boon strip, allows him to play the Hammer set-up without worrying about people having a ton of stability. He can just feed off of that to boost his damage.

Interrupts and increased damage on interrupts is where the power is at. Get it right guys, get it right.

Except your cc = boon strip minor trait doesn’t work on targets with stab so… ??

From what I remember, it does. But maybe it’s just my eyes, I might have to get them checked.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

How to Fix the Firebrand

in Guardian

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The attunement suggestion doesn’t fit the virtue traits, which leads to more changes to core guardian. Seems like a lot of work. I think with tome skills CD that page recharge is a good idea. Instant swap between tomes doesn’t seems necessary.

The changes to Core guardian won’t be significant. Just looking at the virtues trait line, if they were to add CDs to traits like Absolute Resolution and Indomitable Courage, it won’t affect core guardian because core guardian F1s already have Cooldowns. Might be a nerf to Renewed Focus users but those guys need a nerf anyway.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

How to Fix the Firebrand

in Guardian

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Removing cooldowns on tomes depends on whether you are comfortable with the alternatives or not.

If you remove the cds then you either have to change the page mechanic or you have to increase individual chapter cds to be larger. If you choose not to change chapter cds aand instead change pages, how do you work with that?

The cds gave you a justification for having your pages refresh instantly when you enter a tome. Without the cd then the devs need new alternatives. If they decide that pages should refresh over time they gotta decide on two things: should the same page resource limitation apply to all tomes or have each individual tome have its own page counter. If each tome has its own page cd, then how do you keep track of how many you have before you activate the tome? if you decide to use a global page mechanic to make it more intuitive, then you run into the problem of having the share the page mechanic between tomes that do very different things.

The original post already answers this question (turns out the original post doesn’t answer this question. I was imagining that I already did, sorry). Giving Tome pages a 10s cooldown and having them share pages across each book would actually do a lot more to make the Firebrand feel more like a Firebrand.

And additionally, should firebrand be able to switch from condi burster to healer to stability and resistance bot all in less than 3 seconds? Is that balanced? The page mechanic would have to be more restrictive in order to keep it from getting out of hand and I’m not sure how many of you are really willing to accept a more restrictive page mechanic if you take tome cds away.

I’ll gladly take a more restrictive mechanic if it actually made me feel like I’m playing a different class. And I assure you, making the Tome switching instant and with no CD would go a long way to make that feeling a reality.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

How to Fix the Firebrand

in Guardian

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Tomes are fine. Cds, cast times and resource limitation allows counterplay.

If you were to remove the cooldowns on entering a Tome, this would happen;

The skills in the tomes would still have cooldowns of their own, are you going to say that doesn’t allow for counter-play? The Pages you consume will have to recharge, are you going to really say that doesn’t allow counter-play?

If that’s what you’re saying then we definitely do not agree AT ALL.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

Spellbreaker Bursts

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The Spellbreaker is all about incentivizing people to play a shutdown build. Rather than just GS/Axe all day every day. Boon stripping is just part of the incentive because there has been and there will still be a ton of stability being spammed in PvP/WvW so giving the Warrior the ability to boon strip, allows him to play the Hammer set-up without worrying about people having a ton of stability. He can just feed off of that to boost his damage.

Interrupts and increased damage on interrupts is where the power is at. Get it right guys, get it right.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

Photon Forge Solution

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I can tell you now that the Holosmith’s damage is not in line with what usually is the base and top line of most professions. It’s exceeding those levels by a large margin. Same thing with the Scourge.

So I doubt they are going to stay the same. In fact I actually think what we got to play was a build that was made 3 months ago and not similar at all to what we would actually get to play in the future.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

How to Fix the Firebrand

in Guardian

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Yea I agree with you regarding Tomes, they are locked behind 4 resources, BIG CD of Tomes, CD of skills, Books and Long Cast times.

Very bad for melee supportive/condi dmg.

Plus very bad mobility.

Yea, without the Tomes being instant, our reaction time to certain things are always going to be 2 seconds too late. We need a faster activation time and more access to the things that make the Firebrand, the Firebrand, which are the Tomes.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Holosmith and Scourge damage.

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

What?

Scourge has less defenses and worse disengage than Reaper, and reaper was already considered a glass cannon.

Also Scourge has enormous trouble dealing with ranged attackers. It’s got a lot of melee hate though.

One Skill. Poison Cloud. What was that about Ranged attacks again?

Also when we learn how to manage Barrier, we could possibly even outlive Reapers.

Because CPC obviously has 100% uptime. CPC is delay mechanic, it doesn’t change the outcome of the matchup, it just buys you 8 seconds. Assuming of course the circumstances of the fight don’t force you to abandon the CPC early.

Also learning how to use Barriers isn’t going to solve Scourge because Barriers are the least of Scourge’s problems. The problem of Scourge is that it lacks the target control, and counterplay options of Reaper. You don’t have the CC options of Reaper, you don’t have the mobility of Reaper, you don’t have the stability of Reaper. Scourge’s counterplay options are limited to the F4 fear, and Path of Corruption. Oh and thanks to scourge’s boonhate being rips rather corrupts, Scourge can’t even use stability conversion for target control as well as reaper can. Scourge’s counterplay options are essentially limited to trying to burst down the opponent before the scourge dies.

Scourge’s design is basically ye olde Procmancer taken to the extreme, and just like Procmancer it’ll only really work with a dedicated support duo, and be trash elsewhere.

I don’t know why you think Scourge can’t convert Stab into fear. You know we still have access to Corruption skills like Corrupt Boon and Well of Corruption right? And I’m actually saying this because I used them in the Preview weekend myself so I know they work and work well.

And 8s is a long time in PvP. That’s enough time to make a Deadeye think he’s got you, only for him to be overloaded with conditions and dropped in 10s flat.

You can watch some gameplay I’ve shown against dragonhunters where I pull a full reversal on Dragonhunters with just Core Necro.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

Holosmith and Scourge damage.

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

What?

Scourge has less defenses and worse disengage than Reaper, and reaper was already considered a glass cannon.

Also Scourge has enormous trouble dealing with ranged attackers. It’s got a lot of melee hate though.

One Skill. Poison Cloud. What was that about Ranged attacks again?

Also when we learn how to manage Barrier, we could possibly even outlive Reapers.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

How to Fix the Firebrand

in Guardian

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

VIDEO EDITION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoFlDPlVH64

I really do feel like the Firebrand is lacking soul. The thing that makes it different to the core profession and even much preferred than the other Elite Spec. It lacks a lot and needs (as one of the most hilarious youtubers would say) shark cartillage pills.

Step 1 – to fixing the Firebrand is to make Tomes like Attunement swaps but they consume pages and the pages have a 10s cooldown to recharge. They activate instantly and release an AoE of some sort when used. You have access to all the skills as you do now, everything is just made faster and snappier.

Step 2 – Mantras are cool but the healing Mantra is a bit naff. How about having a trait that gives mantras passive effects when charged?

Step 3 – The Axe is actually quite fun but the pull is sometimes hilarious to land even when the person is right in front of you. If that could be fixed then we’d be one step closer to a great profession.

What do you guys think will make the Firebrand better? Let’s Discuss!

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

No Rifled Needed - The Cond-eye

in Thief

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

would sound smoother if u called it the cond-eye

OOoh, you gorgeous human you!

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

No Rifled Needed - The Cond-eye

in Thief

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The Deadeye is a Sniper but… who needs to snipe when getting up close and snuggly is more fun?

Meet the COND-EYE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8bCqYgGvYs

This Deadeye condi build makes use of the ability to spam a ton of different condis whilst dancing between the distance from you to your target. Making it harder for them to hit you. It’s a fun build and it would be great for ANet to keep it working even after the expac launches.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

Full Counter Condi Gameplay

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

This spec was fun to play with, especially when fighting against other condi classes. Your wits had to be about you or else, one failure to “FULL COUNTER!!!!” and you’d be dead.

I tested it out with Longbow and I had a bit of success but, not having a block really hurt the build so maybe Lonbow / Dagger-Shield ? The things that need to be tested… 1 more month to go…

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Zero reason to take spellbreaker

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

What does a Warrior bring? Thank you for the perfect reason to use the below image.

Attachments:

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Deadeye condi build

in Thief

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Came here to check if there was already a condi build and this is pretty good but I prefer the more varied version.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I was right about the fact that the traits don’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you pick for the Holosmith traits, it doesn’t affect the build no matter if it’s condi or power.

The skills matter way more than the traits when they should be relatively equal.

I dunno, Ceimash. Holosmith plays very differently depending on which grandmaster trait you take. I agree that there’s a lot of weak traits in the setup overall, and I’m sure numbers will be adjusted to make some of them more attractive, but you can’t seriously tell me that Photonic Blasting Module doesn’t change how you manage your heat; it totally encourages you to brute force the entire mechanic, intentionally overloading to deal massive damage around you.

I really encourage you to try Thermal Release Valve as well, as it actually addresses a longstanding issue with the condi engineer in that it was far too reliant on Blowtorch. With a few tweaks and some longer theorycrafting sessions, I genuinely think Holosmith will make condi engi a legitimate thing again—and not just a one-and-done Kinetic Battery burster with double Incendiary Ammo. Sword/pistol had some genuine strength behind it, and I didn’t even have to run the Flamethrower.

Heck, there is some real possibility that you could even run the rifle with the Carrion build, as High Caliber and Hematic Focus both have real synergy with the Holosmith. 20% crit chance isn’t great, but it’s more than enough to proc No Scope and maintain a great deal of Fury with the help of Hard Light Arena and Reactive Lenses. It’s a bit obtuse, but it does work, and it does help maintain Incendiary Powder procs with a baseline 0% crit build without the use of an Intelligence sigil.

As I said before, I have a lot of issues with the specialization, especially as it pertains to its real lack of WvW utility, but I think you’re being unfair here.

I’m not lying when I say I play every single edition of the builds with the same mind set. I’ll concede that Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit allows you to stay in Photon Forge longer therefore, gameplay change! but it isn’t drastic. I’ve never felt a drastic shift from gameplay to gameplay when it comes to trait choices.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

What traits did you take then? And for reasons can you state if you were running a power condi bruiser bunker or hybrid build.

For Power; You can take anything and it doesn’t change how you play in any drastic way.

For Condi: You can take Solar Focusing Lens and Release Valve, but again, you could take any other things and it wouldn’t feel much different.

For Hybrid: Same same, no difference.

If you guys disagree then, cool.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Why are Deadshot bullets not reflectable?

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Seriously, why is this a thing? Why is it that Deadshots don’t have to play smart in order not to die to their own bullets?

It just screams handholding if you ask me. Note guys: Deadshot bullets can be/ are blocked by projectile destruction skills but they cannot be reflected. I think this is a BIG mistake.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Was I right? or was I right?

Nope, once we get the xpac holosmith will most likely be the highest dps in pve using a hybrid build, so thats 1 down, for wvw it dosent really matter since scrapper has only one viable build and the rest are sub par and you arnt running the viable build and seem to be kicking kitten sub par holosmith builds should be right and for spvp every class has 1 meta build a bunch of viable builds and then a crap ton of but i like it builds just depends on whos playing and who there playing agienst.

Im not sure what your trying to be right about anymore tbh, the play style is new.and refreshing and based on how things look we are going to have viable buildss across the board and theres not much anet can do with the holosmith outside of altering numbers if they want to balance the holosmith so its either we are top tier dps and viable or not top tier dps and not viable.

Is it just the fact you dont like the idea of being forced to use photon forge to make a viable build for holosmith after all these years of being forced to take a kit, because i wouldnt argue with you on that.

I was right about the fact that the traits don’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you pick for the Holosmith traits, it doesn’t affect the build no matter if it’s condi or power.

The skills matter way more than the traits when they should be relatively equal.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Spellbreaker isn't very good in pvp

in Warrior

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Condi Spellbreaker. Hmmm.. delish…

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Was I right? or was I right?

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

first impressions: holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

So far, it does a lot of damage but the Scrapper definitely feels more cohesive.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

After watching the Elite Specialization preview on Guild Chat, it seems they’ve taken into account that they only have Photon Forge traits.

Robert Gee says it’s intentional and feels it’s pretty cool. I guess this is where we disagree.

In actuality though, you could have traits that are all Photon Forge but the traits could also have secondary effects that also play with weapons, skills and the old traits we have. You can see examples of secondary effects on traits on every class.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

So what weapons would work with holosmith?

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The Rifle might actually work better with the Holosmith than the Sword would.

Even turrets could work…. possibly…

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I think we’ve gotten away from what the topic actually is about; THE TRAITS. The skills could be the best thing in the world, but the traits are a disservice to those skills.

All you need to do is take anyone of the builds you’ve apparently theorycrafted and ask yourself whether those builds would really be significantly different depending on the traits you selected in the Holosmith line. The answer I’m predicting would be; no.

What you will end up wishing is that you could use the Holosmith with a different trait line other than the Holosmith’s own trait line.

We’ve talked about this long enough. The preview weekend is on Friday. I will revisit this topic after that.

Literally dont have to take alchemy to deal with conditions anymore unless you really want to overkill it on condition removal

You can do that right now. Holosmith doesn’t need to be in the game for you to do without Alchemy.

lemme guess you doit by taking scrapper and purge gyro and this build still uses alchemy and inventions.

Actually I just run tools with Gadgeteer or Kinetic Battery, gaining superspeed from either Rocket Boots or using toolbelts, combine that with 100% swiftness uptime, and with Adaptive Armour, and Rapid Regeneration and you get good passive regen. The toolbelt skill from your Crate Elite gives you a full condi wipe and voila! you can manage condis relatively well. Also Rocket boots allows you to run away and come back which also helps.

so have you beaten many equally skilled players that are using condis with that build befor?

It’s hard to guage if you’re equally skilled when you’re whooping everyone apart from Dragonhunters who have too much condi cleanse and Necros when you fail to dodge the transfer.

I can say it’s good enough that I put up a good fight against mesmers. Don’t underestimate the power of running away and coming back.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I think we’ve gotten away from what the topic actually is about; THE TRAITS. The skills could be the best thing in the world, but the traits are a disservice to those skills.

All you need to do is take anyone of the builds you’ve apparently theorycrafted and ask yourself whether those builds would really be significantly different depending on the traits you selected in the Holosmith line. The answer I’m predicting would be; no.

What you will end up wishing is that you could use the Holosmith with a different trait line other than the Holosmith’s own trait line.

We’ve talked about this long enough. The preview weekend is on Friday. I will revisit this topic after that.

Literally dont have to take alchemy to deal with conditions anymore unless you really want to overkill it on condition removal

You can do that right now. Holosmith doesn’t need to be in the game for you to do without Alchemy.

lemme guess you doit by taking scrapper and purge gyro and this build still uses alchemy and inventions.

Actually I just run tools with Gadgeteer or Kinetic Battery, gaining superspeed from either Rocket Boots or using toolbelts, combine that with 100% swiftness uptime, and with Adaptive Armour, and Rapid Regeneration and you get good passive regen. The toolbelt skill from your Crate Elite gives you a full condi wipe and voila! you can manage condis relatively well. Also Rocket boots allows you to run away and come back which also helps.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Kinetic Battery - a nerf to condi engineer

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I will say this. I wish the current Kinetic Battery replaced Takedown Round instead of replacing the old kinetic battery because, who cares about Takedown Round?

That being said, Kinetic Battery and Gagdeteer are amazing. And even though you can’t burst people with condis anymore, you can actually survive a lot better depending on what you run.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I think we’ve gotten away from what the topic actually is about; THE TRAITS. The skills could be the best thing in the world, but the traits are a disservice to those skills.

All you need to do is take anyone of the builds you’ve apparently theorycrafted and ask yourself whether those builds would really be significantly different depending on the traits you selected in the Holosmith line. The answer I’m predicting would be; no.

What you will end up wishing is that you could use the Holosmith with a different trait line other than the Holosmith’s own trait line.

We’ve talked about this long enough. The preview weekend is on Friday. I will revisit this topic after that.

Literally dont have to take alchemy to deal with conditions anymore unless you really want to overkill it on condition removal

You can do that right now. Holosmith doesn’t need to be in the game for you to do without Alchemy.

No, originally it was a problem you had with too little interaction between Holosmith and core spec traits. The Holosmith traits are VERY good, you would never hypothetically wish to just have photon forge separate from Holosmith traits in any game mode.

Holosmith builds will play so differently based on trait choices, especially the master and grandmaster choices.

Your original complaint was the one that subjectively had a basis for argument

My original complaint was, the traits are bad because they fail to synergize with the core profession, they only focus on using one mechanic and they don’t add much variety to the specialization it’s focusing on anyway. If the playstyles only focus on using one mechanic and they still manage to vary wildly when you start to go through the minutiae of how to play them, then I’ll gladly eat my words with a bacon sandwich.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I agree with Chaith… Core engi/scrapper loses considerable damage if you choose defensive skills, holosmith doesn’t lose much. Holo will definitely be tankier, stronger, and just better at everything. Look at the arena skill… a few good seconds of fury and protection and on top of that AOE CC toolbelt skill. The burn damage capabilities, the spike damage, the survivability, they’re just too good.

The Photon Forge mode is simply worth 2 offensive kits/skills. And that isn’t something you can just ignore.

I think we’ve gotten away from what the topic actually is about; THE TRAITS. The skills could be the best thing in the world, but the traits are a disservice to those skills.

All you need to do is take anyone of the builds you’ve apparently theorycrafted and ask yourself whether those builds would really be significantly different depending on the traits you selected in the Holosmith line. The answer I’m predicting would be; no.

What you will end up wishing is that you could use the Holosmith with a different trait line other than the Holosmith’s own trait line.

We’ve talked about this long enough. The preview weekend is on Friday. I will revisit this topic after that.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

Necro - Back on the shelf for another year?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

I understand where Zephar is coming from with his thoughts. I echoed those same thoughts in my video about the Holosmith’s traits being subpar.

Of course when it comes to straight up DeePS, the Scourge could be played by anyone, but when it comes to making anything that requires some level of brain power, the Scourge doesn’t offer that. It is built as the easy spec with trait choices that don’t have much depth.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The question ITT is whether Holosmith is poorly designed or not without more integrated traits, and added GvG utility, I didn’t think we’d argue the need for a functioning DPS spec with gap closers among other DPS tools.

Would you agree that a “functioning” DPS spec needs to actually be able to counter one of the other professions in order to be effective as a dps spec in PvP?

Yeah, but I’m sure Holosmith will counter lots of professions – Weaver, Spellbreaker, Scourge, these all look very fragile against power spike

I sincerely doubt we’d be able to take on Spellbreakers and Scourge due to their boon hate and condi hate, of which we are currently packing ALOT of boons and condis. Arguments could be made for Weaver but Holosmith is definitely not a direct counter to it when comparing skills, traits and potential combos one might use on each class.

On the contrary i see the counters to scourge spellbreaker and weaver being pure power with not a reliance on boons and holo can certainly do that

Even if you go pure power, you’re going to need stability to fight any of those professions. Scourge and Spellbreaker will definitely take advantage of that, Scourge especially. Spellbreaker doesn’t even need you to have boons, in fact they thrive both when you have boons AND when you don’t. Not to mention their F2 ability which counters all things and will definitely be something for any melee character to avoid getting hit by.

When it comes to going up against other classes, the Holosmith has no immediately apparent advantage. It has no boon strip, no blocks, just CC and a 2 types of condis, burning and vulnerability. If it had any immediately apparent counters, I would concede that it could take down any of these professions.

You don’t need stability to fight things that hard counter boons, that’s contradictory.

I guess you forgot all the stuns that can come out of a Spellbreaker?

Then again, like Kaizo said, if you run 3 defensive utilities then maybe.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The question ITT is whether Holosmith is poorly designed or not without more integrated traits, and added GvG utility, I didn’t think we’d argue the need for a functioning DPS spec with gap closers among other DPS tools.

Would you agree that a “functioning” DPS spec needs to actually be able to counter one of the other professions in order to be effective as a dps spec in PvP?

Yeah, but I’m sure Holosmith will counter lots of professions – Weaver, Spellbreaker, Scourge, these all look very fragile against power spike

I sincerely doubt we’d be able to take on Spellbreakers and Scourge due to their boon hate and condi hate, of which we are currently packing ALOT of boons and condis. Arguments could be made for Weaver but Holosmith is definitely not a direct counter to it when comparing skills, traits and potential combos one might use on each class.

On the contrary i see the counters to scourge spellbreaker and weaver being pure power with not a reliance on boons and holo can certainly do that

Even if you go pure power, you’re going to need stability to fight any of those professions. Scourge and Spellbreaker will definitely take advantage of that, Scourge especially. Spellbreaker doesn’t even need you to have boons, in fact they thrive both when you have boons AND when you don’t. Not to mention their F2 ability which counters all things and will definitely be something for any melee character to avoid getting hit by.

When it comes to going up against other classes, the Holosmith has no immediately apparent advantage. It has no boon strip, no blocks, just CC and a 2 types of condis, burning and vulnerability. If it had any immediately apparent counters, I would concede that it could take down any of these professions.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The question ITT is whether Holosmith is poorly designed or not without more integrated traits, and added GvG utility, I didn’t think we’d argue the need for a functioning DPS spec with gap closers among other DPS tools.

Would you agree that a “functioning” DPS spec needs to actually be able to counter one of the other professions in order to be effective as a dps spec in PvP?

Yeah, but I’m sure Holosmith will counter lots of professions – Weaver, Spellbreaker, Scourge, these all look very fragile against power spike

I sincerely doubt we’d be able to take on Spellbreakers and Scourge due to their boon hate and condi hate, of which we are currently packing ALOT of boons and condis. Arguments could be made for Weaver but Holosmith is definitely not a direct counter to it when comparing skills, traits and potential combos one might use on each class.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The question ITT is whether Holosmith is poorly designed or not without more integrated traits, and added GvG utility, I didn’t think we’d argue the need for a functioning DPS spec with gap closers among other DPS tools.

Would you agree that a “functioning” DPS spec needs to actually be able to counter one of the other professions in order to be effective as a dps spec in PvP?

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

a few of these traits have to be jokes that your seriously suggesting them. plasma penetration would be useless because you can get vulnerability from pretty much everywhere nowadays.

The vulnerability stacking is mainly for PvP and solo PvE.

blind does not stack so idk how you think that trait is going to work.

I’m sure you remember that Burning also did not stack once upon a time? So blind becoming stackable (only for Holosmith) is not impossible.

if you have 20 stacks of burning it doesn’t matter what kind of skills are automatically triggering cause your going down and that’s not even considering the fact that the chrona burst would have a chance of over heating you

20 stacks of burning never kills anyone instantly. They have a chance to cleanse it, so having conditions that can help protect the 20 stacks or add to it’s damage helps keep the burns ticking and the target’s end comes faster.
And If Corona burst has a chance of overheating you, then that’s the risk you take for choosing that trait. It’s not like there isn’t another trait that allows you to vent heat when you dodge.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

ITT:
People failing to understand that everyone has their favored playstyle(s), therefore imagine others to be stupid for not agreeing with them, and ending at each others throats.
Quit the vitriol and go back on topic, this is not the wvw forum^^

Yes clearly you’re correct in that there are different levels of excitement around Holosmith whether you were looking to GvG vs. PvP or PvE or WvW roam, but the point is slightly deeper than that:

Half ITT believe that Holosmith is a subpar design where the expectation is every elite spec promotes equal inclusiveness and diversity in all environments, and instead in this case, providing new ways of accentuating roles and modes where Engineer is already good at.

The fact is that multiple elite specs accentuate existing roles and already strong presence in certain modes for professions, and Holosmith isn’t crap because it does just that.

No. It’s crap because it does JUST that AND what Arantheal said; Ignoring that the other trait lines even exist.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

Personally I’m happy that Holosmith addresses the problem of lack of gap closers for close range builds and lack of elite spec dps roles. In my view that addresses the engineers current needs equally or better than the daredevil addressed the thief’s lack of down cleave and survivability.

Really Chaith… ‘lack of gap closers’? Really?

And you and I know very well that an Elite Spec can be a dps spec whilst also having a bit of support. Dragonhunter, prime example of that with it’s version Shield of Courage and Wings of Resolve.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

5v5 PvP VODs?

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

You can watch Sindrener or Helseth on youtube. They have pvp vods as well.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

yeah ok, i suppose i could have been more precise. theyre willing to nerf things that warp metas extremely and present bad, boring, cancerous, or conflicting gameplay. taking away functionality doesnt require new animations, as we can see from hammer 3 losing a daze. the animation is the same, but we only get 2 leaps now instead of 3. guardian traps didnt need new animations when they lost dazes.

so i mean if youre calling for huge nerfs already because you genuinely think everything about holosmith will be op and no raid, pvp team, fractal group, and or wvw roamer will want to play without or against holosmiths, please, have fun.

but it seems to me that you just arent happy with what you are getting, and you want something that you came up with instead. and its too late for that kind of change. that was up for discussion months ago when they hadnt yet announced the expansion. try again before they announce the 3rd xpac and already have all the back end work done. (although they prolly already have tons of ideas sitting in a usb drive somewhere that dont give you some kinda awkward legal claim over their IP).

Why are you trying to make me sound stupid? I never said anything about nerfs. Do the suggestions I posted above sound like nerfs to you? When I was talking about the Dragonhunter changes, I wasn’t talking about post-launch nerfs, I was talking about pre-launch changes. I and many others listed the things wrong with the Dragonhunter trait line and the devs agreed and changed it to synergize with the core profession more (the exact same problem I’m having with the Holosmith right now) and they did it in 2 weeks.

Also the Revenant was in pretty weird shape pre-launch. The people who loved that class got Anet to change the traits as well. So you may say or think that I don’t know what I’m doing when I’m complaining but trust me, I’ve done this multiple times already. Just check my post history; I called out the Explosives line for being trash when they previewed the trait revamp which people like you and Chaith (not exactly you but people like you) told me to “wait and see”, I called out the some other crappy Ranger traits that they only just recently changed (Thank God!). So yea, I know who Arenanet is, I know how they think and I know when traits are bad and even when they are good. I don’t just scream bloody murder for the hell of it.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

just do something GREAT with the Holosmith!

if you dont already think its at least passable, well, i hate to break it to you… but its too late for holosmith. animations and programming are done already. because the class is playable on the dev client. if you want changes, you will need to suggest mostly numbers changes at this point, because as weve seen from core and hot, anet doesnt really go back and redo things that arent explicitly broken and unplayable (and not just workable yet bad). i wish you luck and inspiration coming up with ideas along those lines.

Actually, as we’ve seen for HoT (Dragonhunter in particular) they are more than willing to change things, FUNCTIONALITY included. And I was one of the voices complaining like crazy until they changed the DH. So past events prove you wrong.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

If you’re listening Robert Gee and Arenanet, please note that I give you these ideas with full consent and with these message boards as my witness. And even if you don’t take these ideas, just do something GREAT with the Holosmith! That’s all I want.

Crystal Configuration: Zephyr Adept
Holo Leap also launches teammates and grants superspeed.

Holo Path Master
Whilst you have superspeed, leave a light trail behind you that blocks the
Path of projectiles and foes. Deals damage and burns when enemies bump into it. (Guess what I’m referencing here?)

Light Speed Grandmaster
You have 150% max heat. Gaining superspeed grants you a stacking buff called ‘Entering Light Speed’
When you reach 5 stacks, you and all nearby allies enter Light Speed for 5s making all your attacks 50% faster but you build up heat 50% faster for the duration.


Thermal Release Valve Adept
Dodging vents heat and applies Burning. Burning Applies Vulnerability

Photon Harvesting Module Master
Activate a skill when you hit a foe above the burning thresholds:
5 Stacks: Refraction Cutter
10 Stacks: Lazer Disk
15 Stacks: Corona Burst

Heat Management Grandmaster
Maintaining 50-60% Heat gives you 20% more damage


Don’t Look Directly into the Lazer Adept (Can you also guess what I’m referencing here?)
When you apply blind, you apply 2 stacks of it. Passive Heat generation increased.

Photonic Blasting Module Master
Overheating now Blasts damage to nearby foes and no longer deals it’s damage to you. Blind you apply also applies confusion

Holo Expansion module Grandmaster
Spectrum Shield, now applies to 5 nearby allies in 900 radius
Prime Light Beam lasts longer and fire’s farther
Increase the radius of Lazer disk, Photon Wall and Corona Burst
Spectrum Shield and Photon Wall also apply barrier.

And Chaith, the above is an example of what I want from the Holosmith. It’s not far from what it currently is but I can definitely assure you it is a whole lot better for everyone ranging from PvE to all forms of PvP.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

What’s the point of a new specialization if it all it does is re-enforce the use of builds that are or were already popular?

Just to play devil’s advocate here—as I agree with a lot of what you’re saying in here—does every elite specialization have to be a major overhaul of the profession? If what ArenaNet said last year is true and they’re planning on these expansions being annual, I don’t think future elite specializations will be as crazy as the Heart of Thorns specializations—an indication of which, I’m sure, we’ll begin to see in today’s balance patch.

HoT specializations did far too much of everything, and the new specs seem much more mediated by design. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that Holosmith doesn’t massively overturn engineer gameplay? After all, isn’t what we hated about Heart of Thorns is that it changed far too much?

If we’re stuck being a damage-only class in PvE for the next 12 months, and if Holosmith will just be another duelist specialization in PvP, it will at the very least open up some new play styles different from the scrapper (PvP/WvW) and condi engi (PvE); if it at least succeeds in this goal, I’ll play it. But if scrapper continues to be our meta spec for the next 12 months, I’ll concede you probably had the right of it.

That being said, I don’t have faith that it will succeed—at least not in WvW. And as someone that primarily plays WvW these days, I find it really disappointing that Holosmith has zero utility in a raid setting and will likely only be useful as a roamer. I’ll probably be spending most of my time playing war, ele, guard, and necro there … just as I have the past five years.

Sorry for not replying to your post dude. I start replying to one and I get distracted by other things.
Just to clarify, the hope that some of us have is not an overhaul to the engineer but rather just a different playstyle and that does not need to be an overhaul. Deathly chill on the necromancer isn’t an overhaul, Static discharge isn’t an overhaul, none of the suggestions I gave are overhauls to what the original class is! They could just focus on chills like they did for the Reaper or Dodges like they did for the Daredevil, but the main thing they have to do is make sure the traits can be tied back to the base profession or else you might as well just use Holosmith on its own without any of the other trait lines.
And you say “but they are being conservative with all the professions” well let me just tilt my glasses at you at an angle for a second……. Have you seen the Weaver? Have you seen the Mirage? Have you seen the Spellbreaker? Are those classes conservative? I don’t think so. Even if you do think that those classes are conservative, they all have 1 thing in common, they have traits that tie their new mechanics back to their old skills and traits and this is what what we want for the Engie. It isn’t impossible.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

(edited by Dirame.8521)

kinetic battery is trash now

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

But those stack because you can take both, so you don’t want someone running around with >60% quickness uptime. That’s a bit OP. Then factor in boon duration + elixir U .. It’s already pretty strong.

Literally what I’ve been doing. Before the patch, I was already trying some jank that could give me good quickness length and was enjoying Elixir/Scrapper for Elixir U, Applied Force, and Boon duration. I was hurt to see that we lost 4% Boon Dur in Elixirs but then they gave me 5s more of Quickness anyway. Can chain together about 20 seconds of Quickness with it.

As far as the old Kinetic Battery is concerned, I was probably the most excited about it since HoT traits were announced, but it had 2x the ICD, and that 7s window you have to actually utilize the TB ruins timing. The best use for it was definitely 2x Incendiary Powder since the ICD aligned well with it. Outside of that, in never really held up to the value of being a GM.

But you all use Takedown Round right?

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

HoloSmith isn’t as sexy as Weaver on the paper but I think it’s going to do the job just right. And regarding the original post, yes gadgets have been (partially) useless since release, and turrets were useful for a short period of time (an era of boringness I must say) before being nerfed into oblivion, though you still use Overcharged Shot in the Static Discharge build (admittedly a rare sight those days). Which makes half of the engineer skills sort of useless, but that’s an issue for core engineer and specializations have nothing to do with it.

The Holosmith will definitely give some life to gadgets like A.E.D. as many people have pointed out and maybe bombs but I am more than skeptical about the synergy and effectiveness of those traits.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

kinetic battery is trash now

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

This trait was key to some playstyles. You were able to bait skills to dodge and then decide at the last moment which TB-skill would fit the situation. Double burst and double stealth were strong but balanced via high ICD. The fact that devs stated their intention was to make the trait better because we had poor options in the tools line makes me sad cause it shows again that a testing audience just cant be replaced by a dev doing some paperwork. I just dont get it. Nobody complained about that trait. I main engi for 4 years now and im getting more and more frustrated with the uninspired changes that are made giving us less and less options in weapon and playstyle choices.

Exactly, we could have gotten a trait like this in place of takedown round but they instead decide to replace something that is useful. Makes no sense to me.

The trait in itself is good but, it shouldn’t have replaced the original kinetic battery.

I just want to ask the devs who uses Takedown round and if those people outnumber the ones who use Kinetic battery.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

2 Questions that Elite Specs need to answer

in PvP

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

TL:DR VIDEO EDITION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDYj4s0s8AQ

So after being disappointed by both the Scourge and the Holosmith’s trait design (and the new Explosives line /sigh), I decided to take a look at what I liked about the other specializations from HoT and from PoF. What I found is this; there are two questions that are always answered in the good Elite specs (with flying colours) whilst in the not-so-good ones, these questions are answered sparingly.

So what are these two questions? Well the first one is; Does the Elite spec give you new interactions with old mechanics?

Think the Daredevil and how dodges are now seen as active weapons that can be used for burst instead of being saved to actually evade damage or the Reaper allowing you to use chill to apply bleeds.
This type of interaction excites players because they can see new builds from mechanics they were never used to focusing on.

The second question is; Can the Old mechanics enhance the new specialization in cool ways?

An example of this can be seen on the Chronomancer’s Bountiful Disillusionment trait allowing you to gain resistance when you activate the Continuum split F5 skill or how Absolute Resolution still changes how the Wings of Resolve function for the Dragonhunter.

Now let’s note that just because these questions are answered does not mean it’s a guaranteed surefire win for the Elite spec. For example the Scrapper has some traits that interact with old mechanics but it still has only 1 up to par spec. But so far there are more wins than losses when looking at things from this perspective.

I found that the specializations that don’t have various distinct playstyles that can interact with new and old mechanics, tend to fall by the wayside. And right now, I’m predicting that the Holosmith and Scourge are going to be in that list. I hope I’m wrong.
The only way to fix this problem is to repeat what was successful on the Reaper and the Tempest.

This is what I believe makes a successful Elite Spec, but let me know your thoughts on these ideas. Obviously, I concede that there may be an aspect that I’m not paying attention to or I may be wrong entirely.

Let’s discuss!

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

The Hollow traits of the Holosmith

in Engineer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

The traits don’t look bad. I think we have some ideas as to what can be run (Condi, DPS, Hybrid DPS). Question we will have answered soon is if it is competitive DPS. Spreadsheets and optimal skill rotations don’t translate to actual effective DPS in real world scenarios.

The dolls in PvP are nice to throw things at and watch the health bar go down but they don’t fight back or try to avoid anything.

A good build for PvP does not look just at dummy speed but also, how said build can deal with the enemy’s possibilities. If the Holosmith can counter anything that other characters are doing then cool.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Is Scourge worth losing shroud?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Dirame.8521

Dirame.8521

We’ll have to wait and see with the Scourge in my opinion. The damage in PvE/WvW might be great but I’m wondering if the activation of skills will be too slow because of the dependency on the Shades. Therefore leading to lower dps and an easier target in PvP, unless we somehow figure out how to spam Barrier.

I make guides to builds you may not have heard of;
http://www.youtube.com/user/ceimash
http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash