Showing Posts For Patty.3268:
Staff is definitely not unviable. But it relies on ground targeted AoE fields and keeping your enemies in them. That is usually no problem in group play, but harder when playing solo, because you have to kite your enemies through your fields. Therefore I prefer D/WH for solo play. Also, D/x provides more auras than Staff, so it has a little more synergy with Tempest.
I agree that staff isnt really viable for PvP or even WvW Roaming, but it still is viable in WvW for any larger group play. Sure, this more due to the utility and support it brings. But for a weapon not meant to be a top dps weapon, it deals fair amount of damage, especially when Ele is also not meant to be #1 dps class. So the damage is far from being pathetic.
Sorry to ruin your rant, but Staff Ele is still the king of AoE damage (and has been for a long time). Not too bad for a class that originally is a “jack of all trades, master of none”, I guess.
My feedback for Weaver: right now, it feels like Tempest is better at damage, support and also survivability – which makes me wonder why to take Weaver at all. Sure, you get dual attunements, but the benefits from that feel lackluster when looking at the fact that Weaver is way more complicated than core Ele or Tempest. Most of the dual attacks feel weaker than the original 3rd skills (including the small barrier).
Also, for core traits, only your main hand attunement will be considered. If your off hand attunement would also be, we would get more synergy with the core lines – something Weaver is also lacking.
Sword should also be buffed, since it feels weaker than dagger. Dagger currently does more damage, and it’s also easier to hit targets due to PBAoE. Sword should make up for the fact that you have to be in close melee range.
With all the condis flying around, I also think that Weaver needs some form of condi cleanse to survive in melee range. Why not make Unraveling Hexes work for all conditions, and let Weaver become a counter to all the condi builds running around? This would also allow Ele to move away from the Water traitline for condi cleansing, opening up new build options.
Also, Barriers in general should be improved. On both Weaver and Scourge, they feel a bit weak and decay way to fast. Why not make them go away completely after certain time instead of decaying over time?
(edited by Patty.3268)
Basically, I agree with what others have already stated regarding Weaver – besides reducing the global cooldown for attunement swapping. From what I‘ve seen, Weaver is about combining two elements to get new effects, not about attunement dancing to the max. I think this was brought up by Wooden Potatoes (and maybe others streamers), but I can’t remember someone at Anet saying so. So I guess the global cooldown ist the Ele’s drawback that most oft he new elite specs have gotten: Necro loses his second healthbar aka shroud, Warrior will only have two bars of addrenaline and access to level 1 bursts, guard loses instant support via virtues and instead gains more but channeled support by tomes, …. Therefore, I think the global cooldown for attunement swapping should stay. But in turn, what we gain for losing instant access to the 4th and 5th skills should make up for that – which it currently doesn’t. So these are my suggestions:
Sword
Sword feels clunky and weak when compared to the other weapons. Some skills could use some more range. Maybe give 1-2 of the autoattacks a small gap closer (like Ranger once had on sword) on the second part of the chain, or increases the range of the closers already there. Also, maybe a second evade would be nice. Sword is a melee weapon, after all. I also think the damage should be increased.
Dual Attacks
These are basically what we get for the increased global cooldown on attunement swap and the resulting drawbacks. Some Dual Attacks make up for up that (Lava Skin, …), but some still need buffs to really shine (pretty much like Overloads did Pre-HoT). Besides increasing damage and/or range, you could also add some finishers, evades, blocks or combo fields.
Barriers
Right now, these feel almost useless due to decaying way to fast and having a relatively low base value (at least for Ele, but I guess it‘s the same for Necro). I understand that Anet wants to prevent players to LoS during a fight, stack up some barriers, re-enter the fight, and repeat as long as needed. So I suggest changing the way barriers decay to being instant instead of slowly, but delaying the decay. For example, if a skill gives you a barrier which lasts 3 seconds and starts decaying after 1 second, you would have 0 barrier after 4 seconds. Instead, I would like to see the barrier last for the full 4 seconds, and then run out instantly. The result would be the same, but none oft he barrier points would be wasted by a slow decay. If the barriers base value is also increased- especially on Dual Attacks – , the Weavers survivability would get a nice and needed boost.
Effects related to attunements
Some of the traits that activate on swapping to a attunement (Healing Ripple, …) will not activate when fully attuning to single element. I think they should to make up for the increased global cooldown on swapping and losing instant access to 4th/5th weapon skills. Additionally, any trait that is active while you’re attuned to a specific element (Empowering Flame, …) will only work for your main hand attunement. I suggest that they also work for the off hand one, giving players more reason to double attune and enhancing the aspect of combining two elements. I understand that changing active skills like Glyphs or Elementals to work with double attunements would be too much, though.
Condi cleanse/Resistance
Some form of condi cleanse would be helpful with surviving in melee range. Right now, Weaver has more or less to rely on Water traits/skills to cleanse condis. Changing Unraveling Hexes to remove every kind of condition would probably be too much (making Frash Air builds pretty much immune to condis), but something like „remove a Condition/gain Resistance when using a Dual Attack / when using a Stance / when gaining a Barrier / when a barrier expires“ might work.
(edited by Patty.3268)
Here’s my feedback for tempest. I mostly tested it in WvW and PvE.
I think they are in good spot right now. I really like the added stun break, giving them more utility. I also think having to stay in an attunement for 5 seconds before you can use the stun breaks keeps them from being too strong.
The overloads’ final effects could be a bit more powerful, so that you really want to finish overloading. I don’t think there’s too much improvement needed here, though.
Wash The Pain Away!:
The amount of healing you get feels right, especially since its an AoE shout, but I agree with others that the range should be bit higher.
Feel The Burn!:
This one is just great as it is.
Flash-Freeze!:
For its 25 seconds CD, 3 seconds of chill feels a bit low. I suggest to increase duration to 5 seconds, or maybe add a short daze (1/4 second) to it. The latter would give it a feeling of being a sudden outburst of cold, fitting its name.
Eye Of The Storm!:
The CD is fine, but I agree with others it should give shock aura, making it more consistent with the other shouts.
Shock And Aftershock!:
Like others already stated, the CD is too high for its effect. Other utility skills that are able to immobilize foes have CDs of 30 seconds or lower (besides Devourer Venom), so I think lowering the shout’s CD to around 35-40 seconds is fine.
Rebound!:
This feels much better than the previous version, adding more support options to the tempest, and being another source for auras. :-) However, like others stated, the healing feels rather low, and only delays going into down state by 1-2 hits. If you are running around in a guild group or zerg, and fight enemy groups of the same size, the low healing doesn’t really help, essentially turning Rebound into just another source for auras with a rather high CD. I would suggest to increase the heal (maybe not be base value, but the scaling), or add a knockback to it, pushing foes away with a gust of wind after being revived. This would also fit the tempest theme.
Heat Sync:
Glad you didn’t remove the boon sharing part, Karl. :-) This is one of the warhorn’s skills that sets it apart from focus and dagger. Looking at the mesmer’s Signet of Inspiration with a similar effect and the same CD, I don’t think Heat Synch is too strong in its current version. If you think it is, I suggest to increase the CD instead of making it only share might.
Wildfire:
I would love to see the boon removal part added back to it. Just like Heat Synch, it brought something to the table focus and dagger don’t bring. If removing 8 boons (1 per pulse, 8 pulses) feels too powerful for a 30 seconds CD, you could reduce the number of pulses to 4 and in turn increase the burning duration to 4 seconds. That way the maximum amount of burning (16 seconds if you just sum it up) would stay the same, but the number of boons removed will be tuned down. If it does remove boons again, increasing the CD to maybe 35 seconds won’t hurt it too much.
Tidal Surge:
Since it is rather slow, maybe increase the knockback distance, making it more rewarding to hit with this skill.
Water Globe:
Since it’s a moving field, I think a bit higher radius would make it more easier for allies to stand or place their finishers in it.
Cyclone:
Fine as it is.
Lightning Orb:
This feels kind of weak right now. Like others suggested, it should either be stationary, and/or give more stacks of vulnerability (2-3). This would make it more useful against groups of enemies, and also add some more area control by making enemies say “Oh no, I don’t want to be near that thing.”
Sand Squall:
Really great skill, though I feel the blast finisher might fit Heat Synch more, due to Sand Squall being a more defensive skill. This leads to situations where you want the protection or aura, but don’t need the finisher, or vice-versa.
Dust Storm:
Feels good. Maybe it should pulse 1 second of blindness every second. Since it builds up rather slowly, this shouldn’t make it too strong.
I would make some adjustments here, giving every slot an aura trait, an overload trait and a more general trait. The minors are fine, though maybe they focus a too bit much on overloading.
Adept
Gale Song (General/Shouts):
Good as it is.
Latent Stamina (Aura):
Gain Vigor when an aura applied by you expires (2-3 seconds, 10 seconds CD). When using Powerful Auras, this also works for allies.
Unstable Conduit (Overload):
I would add Harmonious Conduit’s second effect (10% more damage after succesfully overloading) here. This would make this trait rewarding you for finishing overloads, while my suggested version of Earthen Proxy (see below) will help you doing so.
Master
Tempestuous Aria (General/Shouts):
Like others, I think a 20% CD reduction should be added here.
Replenishing Auras (Auras):
Auras remove a condition when applied. Each type of aura (Fire, Shock, Frost, Magnet, Light) can only remove a condition every 10-15 seconds. or maybe Auras grant Resistance (1 Second) when applied. Both versions work only for yourself when not using Powerful Auras, but also apply to allies when using Powerful Auras. One second of Resistance may not seem much, but looking at the amount of auras tempest can potentially grant, I think it’s a fair amount. Especially when it also applies to allies via Powerful Auras. Both versions of this trait give tempest more options of condition removal/protection. This can of course also be achieved by using Runes of the Trooper, but Replenishing Auras would open up more rune options (e.g. Rune of Radiance) be giving another way to deal with conditions. Since its effect only works for allies when using Powerful Auras, you can’t use Cleansing Water at the same time, thus keeping condition removal on Tempest from becoming too strong.
Earthen Proxy (Overloads):
I would add the stability granted by Harmoniuos Conduit here, turning this into a trait helping you finish your Overloads by further reducing damage and granting protection against CC. Also, it should maybe give 2 stacks of stability. 3 or more stacks might make it too powerful when fighting small groups of enemies or in 1v1 situations, but 2 stacks should be fine.
Grandmaster
Imbues melodies (General/Warhorn):
Feels good, but the ICD should be increased to 30 seconds. I would also lower the health treshold to 75%. Otherwise, the uptime on Magnet Aura will be too high, making you almost immune to ranged damage. I would also love to see the 20% CD reduction for warhorn skills added back to it.
Lucid Singularity (Overloads):
Feels like there should be more to it, but I have no idea how it might look like.
Elemental Bastion (Auras):
Really great trait. :-)
(edited by Patty.3268)