Guild Wars 2

The Revenant. Fun to play. Too many issues. Other professions outperform and outdamage with simplicity. Compare to other professions and skills. Where are the logistics? I will not cover traits nor bugs.

I will cover Shiro. This logic should apply to other legends. Poor energy management and forced to invoke legends which makes no sense; should stay in a legend because the situation calls for it, not because I need energy. High risk low reward. Poor synergy. One combo finisher but no combo field. Poor condition removal. Healing is silly. Lots of negatives. Cost and cool down…ouch, sure ok but ya need to fix the sloppy mechanics to compensate. On a positive note, Shiro siphons life is his jam (“Need Shiro Revs for event! Boss takes no damage below 25% health!”). Improve that so Revs have a niche. I address these issues below that add to the respective skill:

SHIRO SWORD/SWORD

Preparation Thrust: Gain +1 energy on first hit, gain +1 energy on second hit, gain +3 energy on third hit. Hits have 33% chance on crit to life siphon.

Precision Strike: Gain Fury (5s). Removed Chill. Each dagger has 33% chance on crit to Taunt (1s). Each dagger that hits gives +5 energy. Spend 5 to get 15 = +10 energy profit.

Unrelenting Assault: Applies 10Vulnerability on 5th hit. 5th hit is a Combo Finisher: Blast. Gain +5 energy for each hit. 66% chance on crit to life steal on each hit. If your health is below 50%, recharge is reduced by 50%. Spend 15 to get 25 = +10 energy profit.

Duelist’s Preparation: Gain +5 energy for each block. Shackling Wave is replaced by Leeching Mist, which gives +25 energy and a stackable Shiro leech icon (max 25) that gives a Leeching Aura (radius 250) for 5 seconds and is a tiny mobile Combo Field: Dark (5s). Leeching Mist siphons life from your target. Initializing (flipping the skill with 0 cost) gives +25 energy and 1 leech stack. Blocking, crits, and evading increases the stack. Each block increases stack by 1, each critical hit increases stack by 3, and each evaded attack increases stack by 5. At 25 stacks, F3 activates Leeching Mist but you must have both swords equipped and Shiro legend active to activate it. Emits a jaded shadowy glow when activated and says “Fear my power!” (Shiro quote from GW1 Factions). Spend 10 to get 25 = +15 energy profit.

Grasping Shadow: Reduced cast time (¼s). Increased attack range to 180. Replaced Chill with Immobilize (2s). Pull is upgraded to Yank. The opposite of Launch, Yank can also pull downed enemies (oooh maybe also yank downed/defeated allies, similar to Rebirth in GW1 but this requires melee range to execute. “Rev, yank him out of that aoe so we can rez”).

LEGENDARY ASSASSIN STANCE

Enchanted Daggers: Instant cast. Replaced base heal with siphon life from nearby foes. Add a dagger for total 7. Daggers are Combo Finishers: Projectile. Initial cast sets Combo Field: Dark (5s). Siphon damage/heal is increased. Initial cast gives +20 energy, each dagger attack that hits gives +5 energy. If this skill doesn’t siphon upon initial activation, recharge is reduced by 50%. Spend 5 to get 55 = +50 energy profit. A lot of problems with this skill: small base heal, requires a target, prevented by stealth, block, evade, invuln, reduced, reflect…say what? If reflected, the daggers heal your target…wtf? So yeah, these issues make the heal useless. Other professions heal upon cast without senseless restrictions. My fix provides energy plus I added life steal in other skills to balance Shiro’s healing. I removed base heal which means you need foes to heal. High risk/high reward.

Riposting Shadows: This skill can now evade forward if moving forward. Any other direction and it evades backward. Each evaded attack gives +10 energy and Retaliation (1s).

Phase Traversal: Stuns (½s). Unblockable is increased to 3. Gain 5Might (3s), Fury (3s), Quickness (3s). This costs too much. By the time I reach my target, I’m out of energy. Defeats the purpose. Again, the risk/reward thing.

Impossible Odds: Attacks are double strikes. Transfer a condition on critical hits. Adds Fury (1s/s). Jade Winds can’t hit same target twice.

Jade Winds: Increased range (750). Gain +10 energy for each strike. Inflicts Reveal (3s). Siphons life. Combo Finisher: Blast. Spend 50 to get 50 = 0 energy profit. This costs a whopping 50! Slow cast, can run out of range, interrupted, can be blocked, evaded, stability, etc. You are useless after casting. Too risky. This is the highest risk with little reward of all the skills. This is an elite and needs to act like one. Synergizes with Impossible Odds with a possible profit of +50 energy if hits 10 foes; if hits1 foe, you’re almost broke with 10 energy. Risk/reward!

Synergy, risk/reward, energy return, etc. My approach is to spend energy to get extra energy via skills instead of increasing pip regen rate to +7 via traits. Maybe the fix is not enough, too much, or just right. Gets Anet to say, “Ah ok, I see where you’re going with this. We’ll test and make tweaks. Gj! :)”

Yeah I encountered a ghost thief too and it is unbalanced. One ghost thief (yes it was one), killed 9 of us then he revealed himself and started jumping lol. I don’t mean one of us came along one at a time, there were 9 of us bobbing and weaving yet the ghost thief 1v9 us… and he won lol. Say whaaaaaat? The ghost thief appeared again later picking off zerg tail. Zerg was capping a control point and the ghost thief was jumping a tad out of range, taunting us. Pretty sad when a zerg’s only option is to ignore him. FYI, I was a mythril Herald and actually said no way he’s gonna kill me. I got this…wrong! lol Only one reveal but it was useless since it has short range. No, I shouldn’t need the help of a purchasable WVW stealth reveal to be useful. No doubt that biased thieves will respond with, “Maybe don’t get hit. Maybe get gud at running away. Maybe hit skill 1 to land a lucky hit. Maybe just ignore him in a game that is designed for combat. Maybe ask the zerg for help. Maybe wait it out and the thief will maybe hit you. Maybe switch toons and hope for the best. Maybe just hit me ‘cause I’m fragile…even though I just soloed your squad and you can’t hit me back…um, ok, forget I just said that. Maybe give all classes stealth, um, wait, no don’t do that ‘cause then I won’t be able to target you. Where was I? Maybe…” Yeah yeah ’cause all that makes sense…

Great game but unbalanced. Ghost thief trapper wasn’t the craziest I’ve seen. A ghost thief pistol kills you almost instantly. Shoot twice and you should be dead. Shoot > Shoot > Stealth if foe isn’t dead > Shoot. Can’t fight back if you can’t target even though reflects help, not all classes have reflect. There are some videos that show it and it’s been around a while but still used in WVW for instakills. Same goes for the ghost mesmer greatsword that does an instakill. I have 25k health and I was like wtf just killed me and the auto crystal hibernation at low health didn’t activate. I don’t get how Anet doesn’t have a problem nerfing some things but allows stuff like this to continue. What was the response for nerfing the Dragonhunter trapper, we nerfed it because it was very difficult to counter. Hmm, interesting…

For the Revenant >

Vizier Khilbron

Weapon: Scepter (Scepter of Orr, duh) or a Focus (Lost Scrolls, duh)

Legendary Lich Stance gives you access to the Eye of Janthir which allows you to see and target stealthy enemies (e.g., Nuhoch Stealth Detection). Life steal and condition duration is increased.

Trait(s): Hunger of the Lich [10 cooldown]
Your attacks steal 1 enchantment; steal 1000 health; gain 10 energy.

Heal: Life Vortex
Heal for XXXX. Steal 1 enchantment then steal 2000 health from target foe.

Elite: Soul Vortex [10 cost/.25 cast/10 recharge]
Shadowstep your target to your location and steal 4000 health. If successful, target is immobilized for 3 seconds. This skill is unblockable. Range 1500.

Don’t get caught up in the numbers. It is just a generalization that helps spark ideas for the devs.

Rodgort would be nice too and obviously the weapon is a torch and lots of burning.

Bolt III

Solved…but still bugged. What I did worked for me.

Regarding the Illuminated Charged Quartz and Strangely Charged Quartz bug, yes it is bugged but I somehow bypassed it and was able to craft Bolt. This bypass happened on March 21, before the update.

Without going into a lot of detail and not sure what I did, I believe you need at least 25 charged quartz crystals when at the illuminated place of power. First time I had 7 charged on me + 250 quartz (which I attempted was a few days prior). This time I had 96 charged on me + 200 quartz. The place of power took 5 charged quartz from me instead of 1 that is required. Maybe it was seeing if I had 25 charged quartz instead of 25 normal quartz hence the bug. After that, I went for the strange place of power and it worked. Crafted Bolt a few days ago. Woot!

I got this aha moment when the Bottle of Frizz’s Energy didn’t go in my inventory but still got credit. Then I did Bottle of Aetherblade Cannon Energy (which was the last I needed except the two bugs), then back to Illuminated with lots more charged quartz. Hopefully this info is enough for Anet to fix it.

Precision Strike
Solution: Strike nearby foes with precision, sending out blades which damage and taunt them.

Damage Damage: 367 (1.0)?
Taunt (1s): Involuntarily attack foes.
Number of Targets: 3
Combo Combo Finisher: Whirl
Range: 600

Functionality is same except replaced chill with taunt. Reduced duration from 1.5 to 1. Chill has nothing to do with a sword Rev. Taunt makes more sense. Taunt also synchs with other unused Rev traits like Dismantle Fortifications and Improved Aggression so those can be more viable options.

Duelists Preparation > Shackling Wave
Solution: Slice through the air sending a wave of energy from the mists and pull your foe to you.

Damage: 275 (1.275)?
Combo Finisher: Projectile
Pull: 1200
Range: 1200

The block (Duelists Preparation) is fine but the effect after a block (Shackling Wave) is very lacking. It should be a single target long range pull after blocking, not multi target short range immobilize. That pull should be 1200 to help close a gap with ranged toons that always fight on their terms. It is still dependent on energy and blocking first so bump the damage a tad and add a combo finisher. This change now synchs with Grasping Shadow and Dismantle Fortifications.

Grasping Shadow
Solution: Stab your foe, connecting them to you. Shadowstep backward and pull your foe towards you.

Damage Damage: 468 (1.275)?
Pull: 600
Attack Range: 300
Shadowstep Range: 600

Yup, this skill is virtually impossible to execute because of the silly 130 attack range. Even if the foe is under Chill, they still move out of range, lol. Don’t forget about aftercast and precast which made executing this impossible on a moving target. Easy to execute on an npcs since they aren’t moving. Increase the attack range to 300.

Enhanced Bulwark
Solution: Renamed to Sliver Armor. New functionality: When blocking attacks, siphon life from nearby foes.

Range: 300
Damage Life Siphon Damage: 243 (0.084)?
Healing Life Siphon Healing: 306 (0.1)?

I reworked this to add more survivability to a dual sword Rev but is dependent on blocking and a foe(s) being nearby. Synchs well with Duelist’s Preparation. Obviously it is for any block like aegis which is why I made it for a grandmaster trait and removed the unused bulwark effect. Enchanted Daggers is very conditional (needs to hit, time limit, 30 sec recharge) as opposed to other healing skills that simply heal upon execution with short recharge. This rework is conditional too but helps with the conditional of Enchanted Daggers. Hopefully this can make sword offhand a great option. Just like Sliver Armor in GW1, one on one it is not very efficient but mass foes targeting you can make this trait useful and deadly. Very Shiro-esque. This gives Glint shielders another option too by choosing this over the popular boon/heal/anti spike Soothing Bastion or the widely used damage output Elder’s Force. Who used Enhanced Bulwark? lol

• Gates can burn.

• SMC lord is determined by the commander profession when capped. This means when a zerg caps SMC and the commander is say a Mesmer, the lord will be a Mesmer. If a Guardian, the lord is a Guardian. Maybe the towers too. This helps with variety and always gives something new. Breaks up the monotony. Each lords profession will have at least 3 builds for variance. It randomly spawns with 1 build (if an Engineer, maybe it spawns using firearms, next it could use a turret build, etc).

• Lords deal double damage and have an elite skill. They need something cause they drop quick. Make an upgrade option to turn veteran guards into elite.

• A legendary character randomly spawns to disturb the flow. Maybe Rodgort suddenly appears and attacks everyone in a location for a bit before disappearing. Maybe Dwayna suddenly appears and casts Pacifism in a location for a bit before disappearing. Maybe one of the dragons.

Axe skill Frigid Blitz needs longer range and velocity to close the gap. Make it 1500. 900 is subpar when you have other classes hitting you from 1200 plus a 300 blast area. When was the last time you saw a Warrior out-mobile every class? All the time! Go to WvW and watch it, lol. You would think the Thief or Mesmer would be more mobile…nope, lol. You are not catching that Warrior, haha. He moved half the screen by the time you decided to chase him. Let the Revenant put some pressure on that mobility.

Same thing for Unyielding Anguish. It is worse since it is at 600. Make it 1500 and bump radius to 300. For 30 energy cost, it needs it. This should be the class to shadowstep in a mob to break up their stacking but puts the Rev at risk since it displaces 5 targets. I like where Anet is going with this but needs the range to make it happen.

Searing Fissure needs to be longer (960 should be right) so Echoing Eruption can hit 3x in the combo field instead of 1×. Obviously it is meant to combo with each other but misses the two pulses since Searing Fissure is too short.

There are more but other people already posted good suggestions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Revenant and will be my main. Has some play style similar to the Dervish in GW1. Sorry Guardian, you move to second place. We still haven’t seen the other two legends (I assume Glint and Shiro) and I’m stoked. For weapons, the mace/axe is condition heavy so it fits with the Mallyx legend but not Jarlis nor Ventari. For Jarlis, I used Hammer. For Ventari, I used staff. I rarely swapped legends because of it. Not saying anything is wrong with that, just not enough time to test if it would benefit the Rev to switch different legend types while using one weapon set which is clearly set for each legend—which leads to my issue…

My only issue is the “no-save progress” this weekend. I don’t mean character progress, I mean account progress. Whether I use my Mesmer, Necro, or Revenant, WvW progress is the same. It doesn’t make sense to not save progress that way. In 8 hours Friday, I lost 262 WvW player kills, 12 WvW levels, 7 gold, slew of bags, etc. When I saw that loss, time to quit beta testing the Revenant and get back on my normal toons.

This is the reason why I stopped playing Rev since Friday night. It is counter productive. I hardly see anyone playing the Rev this weekend because of it. I only saw 2 Saturday in WvW and 1 Sunday (it is still early) but he thought he was able to save account progress too. Once the map told him his beta account is just a copy and nothing is saved, he quit the Rev.

Anet, do what you have to do to make saving account progress happen whether it is not allowing bank access or whatever. It is unfortunate that the Rev did not see enough of this amazing game. A toast – “To the Revenant!”