Guild Wars 2

Gwalchgwn.1659:

I can only see 1 use for it atm:
When you missed the first part, you won’t have to waste your time being rooted there while eating damage by certain skills that bypass the evade

I really had not thought of that considering I tend to look on the negatives of what an implementation will cause and not really its positives. Although, allow me to rebuttal that with this:

You can easily break the root with by using A and D, sheathing, healing, Roll of Initiative, or any movement skills. So, even then, the practicality of the skill split seems nonexistent.

However, what you have said did spark the idea that you could potentially bait stun-breaks out of players expecting the inevitable blurred frenzy that will occur, but only to find out you saved it after you immobilized the target. Of course, this really only works against players. Having this affect carry over to PvE seems even more unnecessary as mobs are pretty much brain-dead. I can only see this becoming viable, to a small degree, if they implement major changes to how mobs without defiant or stability can react to players.

During the developer live stream, Anet stated that pistol whip will be separated into two separate components. One of these components will be the stun and the other will be the slash/evade.

I am just wondering what the practical applications would be for an on-demand stun? Sure, the initiative cost would be lower by one point compared to head shot (if flanking strike/larcenous strike’s split is a sign of what is to come) and you will impede the target’s movement for half a second, but sword/pistol already has a one second immobilize for the same initiative cost (assuming the stun will be worth three initiative and the slash/evade will be two just like flanking strike/larcenous strike).

What about interrupting a skill? Well, as of right now the cast time for the stun on pistol whip is 3/4 of a second while head shot’s daze is almost instantaneous and the skill can be used on a target up to 900 range versus pistol whip’s 130 range.

I can see the practical application in flanking strike’s split. I have forgone using the boon steal simply because there was no boon to steal on my target and have just used the evade (even though more likely than not I do end up using the steal boon).

Personally, the stun on pistol whip that automatically follows into the blurred fr- I mean, evade/slash is what makes pistol whip viable. Currently, the stun allows just enough time for the target to take most, if not all, the damage from pistol whip. The split the developers are proposing just seems very… unnecessary and will force players to spam the #3 key in order to have pistol whip flow from the stun into the slash/evade.

What do you guys/gals think? What are some of the practical applications (if there are any) you can think of for having pistol whip become two separate, but chained, skills with their own initiative cost?

Link To Ready Up Cliff-notes: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1vharm/ready_up_livestream_notes/