Guild Wars 2

BREAKING NEWS: PROFESSIONS ARE *POWERED

Discussion - to use the term loosely - is thick within each and every profession subforum as board members argue loudly, aggressively, and often with less than exemplary English skills, that professions are *powered. The majority opinion, according to our observation of current posting trends and completely nonexistent polling, seems to be that every single profession in the game is simultaneously “totally kittened” and “freekin h@x” at the same time. Countervailing arguments stating that professions are currently in a rough state of balance and need only minor tweaks and revisions following release-craze data collection, rather than sweeping, ground-up total redesigns, are so scarce as to be considered a nonfactor by the average forum-goer. Further arguments that profession balancing is not ArenaNet’s only job and that a priority, at the current time, should be given to bug fixes and game service optimization in the wake of the crushing instabilities launch-day concurrency induced is typically met with open hostility and a resounding cry of “go back to PvE, you n00b!”

Fully fifty-three percent of any profession subforum’s front-page threads will have been started with a topic directly related to this most pressing of game issues, most of the general format (note that spelling and syntax have been corrected and that gratuitous hyperbole, excessive foul language, and negative references to Jon Peters’ mother have all been removed from the general standard presented and will all be present within an actual sample post): “(Profession X) is totally broken. Here’s the only thing ArenaNet can possibly do to fix it, and if they don’t do it in the very next update I’m (choose between) [A.) never playing this game again], [B.) switching to (Profession Y) because obviously that’s the only one ArenaNet cares about].”

In a further alarming development, thirty-seven percent of additional forum threads started with a subject not directly related to the overwhelming problem of all professions’ current state of *poweredness, or made with subjects not related to this problem at all, will be forcibly dragged into such discussions by trolls, baiters, and other such tomfoolers seeking to force (further) attention onto their singular choice of issue. Useful threads such as build guides/ideas, in-combat tips and tricks, and honest attempts to seek further information about the nuances or specific numbers of a given profession’s mechanics, skills, or traits are often derailed with such replies as “This question is useless because (Profession X) is broken anyways,” or “ Lol ur so bad, (Profession X) is so overpowered, only failsawse players cant win with (Profession X).” This harsh and unfounded criticism of perfectly legitimate threads, especially in the face of so many negative and fruitless threads castigating ArenaNet’s profession design, has driven many players off the boards entirely and induced others to writing bitingly sarcastic faux-news posts mocking the entire issue out of irritation at being largely unable to find ANYTHING GOD-KITTENED USEFUL AMIDST THE BLATHERING MASSES.

A panel of imaginary experts has presented a shocking alternative to ranting on forums in “Profession X is *powered!” threads. Their advice is to simply play the game, use what feels right to you, the reader, and ignore the frothing frenzy claiming the game to be unplayably broken in between farming dungeons. Simple first-hand experience shows that all professions have something going for them and that simply finding the right one for you, learning how it works, and making it dance will result in a staggering two hundred and twenty-three percent increase in personal enjoyment. An additional seventy-eight percent increase in personal enjoyment can be gained by rigorously adhering to a policy of Not Giving A Kitten what other players say about you, your playstyle, your choice of profession, or your probable ancestry, and thirty-one percent again can be had by making some variation of a *pets all the kittens* joke whenever someone new who hasn’t yet encountered the forum’s profanity filter goes on an angry rant concerning profession balancing.

In closing, this reporter would like to say that profession balancing is one of those thankless, never-ending jobs nobody is ever happy with anyways, that railing about it’s never gotten the players much of anywhere before, and that the dev team’s had five years to work out the current state of rough balance - which takes into account depth and nuances to professions that are difficult to pick up in a short time period. Perhaps it would be wise to give the game and its player base at least five months before calling for executions?

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Tactics is worthless for damage but very good for Paragon-esque frontline supporter builds. Focusing on either Banners or Shouts lets you apply fairly steady team-wide healing at level 60+, as well as rotating through a fairly diverse set of AoE bonuses depending on whether you spec for healing Shouts or regen-granting Banners.

The problem, as previously stated, is that Tactics is absolutely worthless for damage and requires a thirty-point investment to be worth any investment. This cuts deeply into your ability to help your allies by killing their enemies, which is another specialty of the Warrior. You can at least partially work around it, but there’s no getting around the fact that Tactics minor traits blow all the chunks and that you can’t skimp a single point in the line if you want what it has to offer.

Still…go X/Warhorn, pick up Quick Breathing and Vigorous Shouts, grab FGJ!, OMM!, and SIY!, and realize that the spirit of the Paragon is alive and well. If that’s what you played back in the day, here ye go.

Provoke not the charr, for thy shrimpy gremlin self is crunchy and tastes good with Pitmaster Genus Portersmoke’s Famous Hot Sauce.

Then again, so does everything. All you ever taste is the sauce anyways.

Are we playing the same class?

I’ve been playing an Elementalist in PvE for the last week or so, and it has been enormously destructive. Scepter/dagger spec focusing on rapid attunement switches and a gob-smackingly high number of intraclass combos, and I have never killed things faster. Sure, it requires attunement switching and the use of more skills than my Warrior does (against a single foe – the Elementalist is indisputably more powerful and efficient against groups), but ye know what? Even counting the Warrior’s second weapon swap, I’ve got double their weapon skills on my Elementalist bar. I’ve got the skills to spare, and skills are there to be used.

Yeah, you’re going to struggle with an Elementalist if you A.) use a staff, or B.) try to sit in one ‘main’ attunement and don’t properly utilize the others. In any given fight I’ll be on my third attunement inside of five or six seconds…but everything around me will be t3h d34d, and thus I won’t really care.

Really, I fail to see how you can be doing poorly with an Elementalist damage-wise without Doing It Wrong.

I’ve been transitioning to a similar-ish sort of playstyle on my new Elementalist, save with a different weapon set/focus. In my experience, finishers are more important to have than initiators – a single initiator can service as many finishers as folks can get off in its uptime, but any given finisher can only get off on one initiator no matter how many you stack up. Scepter/Dagger only has one field of its own, but I get five blasts to your one (counting Arcane Wave and discounting Evasive Arcana), and can typically offload four of them in a single Ring of Fire activation. That is a lot of Might, and also a lot of damage. It also works better for the frenetic attunement-dancing I enjoy running on the Elementalist.

That isn’t to say it’s a better idea than your Staff-based build. I deal significantly more damage than your Staff and can chain out combos a lot faster, more in line with the old E/A Starbursters or the gnarlier Assassin burst builds, but your Staff build has a great deal more flexibility built into it via different field types and additional support skills. All I’ve got are Fire and Lightning fields via dagger and Conjures (or Poison, if I decide to switch to Asura), and that can take a lot of wind out of a combo build’s sails. Still…I just can’t help but grimace when I see that the only blast finisher you’ve got is Arcane Wave, as awesome as Arcane Wave is.

Again, just from my own experience, I can typically count on random event allies a lot more for initiators than I can finishers, with the exception of Projectile. Staff may be a lot more versatile, but I wouldn’t discount the raw firepower of scepter/dagger, nor its ability to swiftly magnify your allies’ firepower. Heh, allies don’t need quite so much support if everything’s dead.

I’d also not be quite so quick to dismiss Elemental Attunement. Certainly Arcane Mastery is fantastic – I’ll take Arcane Wave as often as you want to give it to me, Earl – but while a single stack of Might for switching into Fire is indeed a little underwhelming, switching into PBAoE Protection right before a big boss smacker, or into AoE Regeneration in tougher fights, can be huge. That and just the mere act of switching into Air can help your team get from place to place faster, or give your guys the edge they need to get away from a bad fight, whether or not you’ve got Updraft up. Or if you’re running Staff.

It really comes down to want your emphasis is. There’s nothing better than a Staffmentalist for backing up your squad – I’d go so far as to say that a well-played Staff Elementalist is better team support than a Guardian – but there’s also nothing quite as satisfying for old Assassin players like me than Riding the Lightning into a group of enemies before pwnooblerating them in the spectacularly destructive style to which GW1 had accustomed me. Same concept at the core, though – abuse those combo effects like they’ve never been abused before.

I haven’t encountered a pet this isn’t a problem for. My current favorites are Moas, especially reds, and let’s face it – Furious Screech is about as forgiving of timing as a skill can get.

I STILL CAN’T GET IT TO WORK.

Four out of five attempts lead into the practically inevitable Mash Cancel, depriving me of my AoE Fury entirely. I’m not even trying to time it precisely – I don’t care if it queues up first, I just need to get it. And yet, I never do. I can-t get a fifteen-second Fury to work when I need it to.

What. The. Kittens.

I’m actually a fan of the more defensive feel of the Ranger’s greatsword. It’s different than everyone else’s greatsword and feels like a uniquely Rangery sort of use of such a large, cumbersome, generally un-Rangery weapon.

I like the evasion built into the autoattack chain – it’s harder to time it properly to deal with single large hits a’la boss whacks, but that’s not really its purpose. I use Counter and Hilt bash for those. The AA evasion, on the other hand, makes itself felt when I’m hip-deep in meanie-kittens and getting attacked on all sides.

That said, while I like it, I agree that it needs help. Swoop has some funky targeting issues that could use resolving, Counter is just weird and frankly kinda contradicts the weapon’s function – why, exactly, does a greatsword ranger want to kick his enemy out of his weapon’s reach? – and Hilt Bash has way too much cooldown for not really doing much. You can’t usually time it sufficiently to catch your pet’s big attacks anyways. The fact that said interaction is the only pet interaction bothers me.

I’d work the greatsword a little differently myself, though. Up the AA damage for the thing and keep its evasion. Swoop works – it’s a little boring, but it’s a nice long-range lunge with solid-if-unexceptional damage. Maul could use an extra stack of bleeding or two – it’s where the greatsword’s damage is supposed to be, so why is it so…meh? Still, mechanically fine if numerically a little blah.

What I’d like is for Counter’s knockback to flush itself. Instead, a successful counterattack gives the Ranger Protection for, say…five seconds. That’d give it a lot more flexibility – use it strategically to counter single large attacks, or hit it in a scrum, counter whatever pokes you first and get the Protection to help blunt the onslaught. I’d also like to see Crippling Throw either cut Counter’s recharge in half, as has been suggested, or do a good bit more damage. Right now about all it’s good for is finishing a running whatsit you don’t feel like chasing down or getting a bit of damage from a whiffed Counter. Neither of those is a task that should be encouraged.

As for Hilt Bash, if they insist on keeping the flanking thing, then I’d much prefer for it to be a stun in general and a knockdown when flanking. A 30s recharge for a one-second Daze that deals no real damage is steep, and it’s not honestly that much better as a stun. A knock, on the other hand, is absolutely worth trying for the flank to get, and at the same time getting the stun if you whiff it or don’t have time to flank isn’t too bad. The pet interact on that could, perhaps, change to Protection or Regen, to help emphasize the more defensive/controller-y aspects of the thing. personally, I’d like to see a Blind on it for the same reason – would let you exercise a lot of control for your 30s, effectively null-damage control skill, and make the playerwant to actually learn to use it well instead of just A.) throwing it out there because it’s a skill and why not, or B.) forgetting it exists.

If I recall correctly, the ‘Combat’ chat tab keeps track of damage numbers and timing. Not, perhaps, with the same degree of exhaustive anal-retentiveness of a third-party mod, but it also works without breaking the EULA and/or infuriating players.

Also, great fuzzy kittens no. We do not need GW2 turning into a WoW-style mod party where the game is literally incomplete without a dozen ‘must-have!’ Third-party functions bolted onto it like some twisted Mr. Potato head mock-up. That junk can stay firmly in Blizzard’s camp, thank you very much.