Hey Izzy, long time GuildWars player here, I think the last time I had the pleasure of speaking with you was back when you needed some people to test out the new MAT system, and we (PnH) happened to be playing at the time. I can still remember the thrill of having an actual Dev on our vent back then. That said I guess most of my questions are not entirely Ele-specific, but here goes:
Did you anticipate the staff to become a weapon that somehow leads to bad gameplay?
At least in PvE most staff eles are lazy, slow and don’t bother to use their arsenal correctly. Have you considered to allow ele players a weapon swap in PvE, to get those players to experiment more?
With all your experience from balancing GW1, what keeps you from balancing more ruthlessly for the different environments?
Especially considering dungeons vs. wubwub vs. tPvP, some changes to utility skills and apparent uselessness of certain utility groups in certain environments (signets in tPvP to name one example) would greatly benefit from more expansive changes.
I guess what I really want to know is this: With such a radically different, new, courageous approach to MMO as GW2, why do these patches not follow the same path? Why do they still feel as if you don’t want another Ether Renewal to happen? Changes can be reversed!
Do you consider the average elementalist to be any good at actually understanding combat and/or the dynamic between weapon set, trait specc and play mode? This is not about insulting people or being elitist, but in recent years game devs have to deal with an insane amount of kittening from their own player base, without having the chance to call most of the people out on their understanding of the game. Considering how much thought actually went into designing the combat system and how many different mechanics interact at any given moment – most of them not apparent to even routine players – I am willing to bet that the majority of ele players complain about stuff without even coming close to the limits of their class.
With the dominating importance of the Arcana trait line, how can you expect ele players to experiment with playstyles by changing only top tier traits? You are stretching the rubber band that is our class even further. I suggest giving trait lines past 20 points a passive recharge bonus on that specific trait line. It would emphasize the feeling of being a master of that element and make players more likely to sacrifice some points in Arcana.
Have you considered at any stage to swap the secondary trait line bonus of fire and earth? Giving the fire line condition dmg and adding condition duration to earth might encourage more players to try and integrate more condition damage into their skill usage and gear choices.
What’s your opinion on elite skills? Greatsword means not casting other stuff and hurling yourself into midst of combat – as a clothie. Tornado has been nerfed and is the elite equivalent of sticking a KICK ME sign to your back yourself. Elementals are good in 2 attunements – fire and water – but cannot be controlled. Any chance you could revisit those skills or swap them out for different skills?
Will attunements ever deliver an additional stat boost during combat? It would add another customisation option for experienced players and add another element to gameplay. By giving additional points to main stats during combat players could diversify their utility slots.
Can we please make Fire Grab a targetable cone?
Are improvements to the UI, mainly the size/placement of boons/attunements, in planning? Seriously, that stuff needs to be draggable and resizable. What happened to the modular system of GW1?
Could tooltips please be more informative? I have to consult the wiki to learn how long the Vulnerability from Weak Spot lasts. Yeh I know, who cares, but forcing your players to leave the game and rely on crowdsourced information is not the best way of dealing with these things.
That’s just some questions off of the top of my head, I’m currently at work and all this multitasking is wrecking me. While I may come off as whiny I want you to know that I think the combat system in GW2 is really awesome, and that – given changes to map pools and features – tPvP could be an absolute killer. If you would dare balance for it exclusively for once. Keep up the good work, there are people out there who appreciate what you do.