Guild Wars 2

Nix Vixen.1604:

So, would this “block” be some general skill regardless the weapon? (I can’t imagine blocking with a short bow, longbow or dagger.)

I’m curious about how the mechanics would work for a mesmer’s and elementalist’s block.

yes it would be a general ability just like the dodge move. Different weapons would of course get a different block “stance”, i could imagine staffs and scepters getting some kind of force-field to keep the magic aspect for example.

Its just something i think would give combat some more depth as of now players options are just move, dodge and attack which is rather limited when compared to “real” action combat you see in other games (yes Im simplifying but thats what it comes down to once you got used to the skills available).

So ive been generally thinking about combat and why i feel its lacking and not very fun in the long term. The major problem i see is that there is barely any requirement from the player to react to anything aside from using the heal skill and the dodge button every now and then (mostly to kite and sometimes to dodge a telegraphed attack). I think one way to improve this would be to include a block ability for all classes and change certain attacks so they can only be blocked and not dodged and vice versa (logically AOE attacks shouldnt be blockable for example). Blocking would use the dodge button without directional movement commands (now does a backwards dodge), root the player in place and use up endurance for every hit the player would take making blocking impossible after its used up (or make blocks less effective maybe?).

All in all i think this would make PVE more interesting, make tanking more viable and give the dungeon designers more possibilities to make interesting boss-fights.

Aside from that idea i just wanna express my dissatisfaction with combat in general, I think there should at least be a lot more telegraphed hard-hitting attacks in PVE to keep players on their toes. Ideally i would even suggest taking the whole system back to the drawing board and start from scratch. Making a MMO with fun challenging combat would be some kind of holy grail by now.

firebreathz.7692:

Zane.8471:

firebreathz.7692:

Zane.8471:

nearly all skills have cast-times and cooldowns, i dont see why this shouldnt be intended.

because he is saying that the cast time is slightly longer than intended due to animations.. thus lowering overall dps..

Its not just animations its cast-time and why the hell wouldnt it be intended?

well from what the op was saying..

Long Range Shot has an activation speed of .75 seconds but an actual fire rate of about 1 shot/ 1.25 seconds.

so the cast time is .75 secs

but the fire rate is 1.25 secs

thats a whole .5secs longer per shot..

can you see how that might add up?

so it has a longer cooldown, still no reason to suspect it not being intended.

Daemon.4295:

Note that it is clearly a damage “penalty” and not a damage “bonus”, as even at max range the longbow does less damage than other ranger weapons.

i really would love hearing how you came to that conclusion.

firebreathz.7692:

Zane.8471:

nearly all skills have cast-times and cooldowns, i dont see why this shouldnt be intended.

because he is saying that the cast time is slightly longer than intended due to animations.. thus lowering overall dps..

Its not just animations its cast-time and why the hell wouldnt it be intended?

nearly all skills have cast-times and cooldowns, i dont see why this shouldnt be intended.

capuchinseven.8395:

Zane.8471:

low chance to hit? Yes. Low DPS? I cant see how 3000+ crits count as low DPS. What ranged weapon does higher DPS on Auto-attack?

But that is low DPS really. The low chance to hit keeps the DPS down, DPS is damage per second. 3000+ criticals is great but the DPS is let down by the low chance to hit.

well there has to be a downside to auto-attack damage this high. So Longbow is a situational weapon. Really nothing wrong with that except the fact that there are no secondary weapons to get some synergy with. Thats the REAL problem of this weapon.

low chance to hit? Yes. Low DPS? I cant see how 3000+ crits count as low DPS. What ranged weapon does higher DPS on Auto-attack?

Rangers really have 2 builds that work and work rather well. First is of course the trapper-build for PVP. It doesnt really matter how much condition remove anybody has if traps apply conditions per pulse and weapons+pet+traits apply additional conditions with every hit. Its basicly the GW1 condition overload. This build has the huge advantage of only needing the condition damage stat which leaves you with tons of HP and toughness.

Second is longbow glass-cannon. comparing rapid-fire to 100 blades is of course pointless as its a ranged skill that also doesnt root you while getting tons of damage in melee. getting a constant supply of those 10k+ crits and 12k+ damage+snares with huge AOE through barrage is very beneficial for every team in pve and its pretty effective in small teams in wvw. 2 Rangers can burst everyone but the tankiest of builds to death in rather short time. Sadly this really requires power+precision+crit damage to work so really nothing left for hp/toughness and since the longbow is the only ranger-weapon that doesnt use condition damage (seriously why?) this also means less effective secondary weapon-set.

Without a doubt ranger needs a lot of work (its basicly half-finished, most traits/trait-lines make no sense, pets are usually dead, a lot of skills do stupid things like applying 1 stack of might or 1 stack of vulnerability) but they arent complete trash.

to the people calling GS a defensive weapon: Random evades dont really mean much when 80% of all damage are AOE and conditions. 1-hand Sword is a way better defensive weapon.