Guild Wars 2

Knighthonor.4061:

that vine attack we saw looks like a close range attack.

I think you need to watch the trailer again, those vines travel very far.

Using Glacial Teal to go with all the new chill abilities:

Regarding Confusion and Slow, isn’t Confusion being reworked to have most of its damage tick with additional damage on skill usage?

Good-bye beloved Axe, you weren’t particularly powerful, but at least you looked cool when I used you.

If I wanted bad animations I’d stick with scepter anyways.

With LA finally getting the TLC it deserves, I’d like to hear your opinions on the past, present and future iterations of the city .

Layout – How did you find the original layout of the city? Was the bank, trading post, crafting areas convenient? Did you prefer everyone focused on the one area or more spread out as it is currently? What’s the best approach for New LA?

Aesthetic – New LA will be more modern. Did you prefer the old nautical theme, and want some old areas retained? How should the new architecture look, more Pact-themed or still adhering to the nautical aesthetic?

Size – Old LA felt smaller than the other major cities, with large rural areas within the city limits. Should New LA expand out and become more urban, or are the beaches and greenery part of LA’s charm?

Future events – LA has seen its fair share of threats and destruction, and it seems that a future Karka attack is possible. Do you think LA deserves a break from large scale events in favour of other cities?

spoj.9672:

Necromancers were all about turning enemy attacks against them and punishing them for attacking you in GW1. Reflect fits perfectly with that idea. Its an aggressive form of defensive. And aggressive debuffing and magic is the very essence of the necro.

Necro punishment was very different to Mesmer punishment. Necros specifically used curses to cause pain and body failure when attacking, whereas Mesmers actually caused enemy spells to fail and take damage. They caused enemy attacks to backfire.

A Necro corroding a projectile makes sense, but actually manipulating their trajectorys does not fit.

spoj.9672:

Thats not really true.

“Use lifeforce to create a reflective barrier that returns hostile projectiles.”

Yeah that’s a bit of stretch to make that fit the Necro theme.

Robert Gee made a point regarding Support that they don’t want to just give us what other classes have.

Eles/Engis reflect with magnetic fields, Guardians are all about barriers and Mesmers turn their enemies attacks against them.

Thematically reflect doesn’t make much sense on a necro. I’d be fine with projectile blocking though.

My Norn Necromancer, Valka Yronheart, with two of her looks:

- Great animations and theme
- Slow attacking speed is concerning
- Shouts!
- Your soul is mine! Hopefully that’s the elite shout
- No direct support? Unless traits address that.
- Looks like we’re getting a reaper’s hood for our unique skin

Yesterday Mesmers were moaning about Dragonhunter being superior, and now today we’ve went full circle lol.

We’re free from speed runes forever!

I’m hoping for Orders, either as Shouts or perhaps Auras (that can be shared with allies). For names, I like the sound of Harbinger (someone who acts as a forewarning, an omen for the future).

Ugh a melee weapon is used in hand to hand combat, Mesmer staff is not. Irrelevant pedantry.

Anyways I’m actually kind of amused by the idea of the Revenant bludgeoning people with fancy ascended staffs.

macon.4065:

Jaken.6801:

Timemagic was always part of the Mesmer (timewarp for example) and it is described as manipulating the mind of the enemy.
For all we know the new chrono magic is still mind manipulation on a higher level and subsequently still part of the Mesmers abilities. Just a mesmer who focuses more on that part.

Okay Jaken I need to respond to this. Memser were never about Timemagic to begin with. If you look back at the original Memser’s (Guildwars 1) they were designed to trick people with illusions, control minds with Domination and Inspire their allies with abilities to help buff them. Time magic really isn’t something for the memser. I would think it would fall more on the Arcane if anything. When Gw2 first came out they were attempting this with the memser and its never really fit the class. I still don’t’ think it fits the class.

Not necessarily time magic, but Mesmers always had the ability to manipulate reality, so it’s not a stretch to think they can do the same with time.

Eric Flannum:
“For the record the GW1 Mesmer has never been just about illusions and messing with peoples minds. They have always had the ability to manipulate raw magical energy as embodied by the skill chaos storm. Arcane thievery is not the mesmer tricking someones mind but rather them manipulating magical energies. The same goes for some of their interrupts such as cry of frustration. This has always been the intent behind the mesmer.”
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/21429-does-the-new-mesmer-fit-the-old-mesmer-lore/page__st__90

Windwalker.7421:

Mostly a lot of stuff being said here is simply “grass is greener” spam, that sadly always happens when another class’ goodies are revealed.

This couldn’t be emphasised any more. It happened during the original class reveals, and it’s happening again. It happened during the Chrono reveal too. It’s as if these people don’t even look at the other sub-forums.

Lily.1935:

They don’t break the rule. I said simple UI. Condition and boons are simple UI. And Pets moving to a location to do something doesn’t break this either as its easy for someone to see.

I’m fallowing the evidence. And the evidence suggest spirits. It gives no clues for shouts. This claim comes from a complaint from on older thread about arena net not caring about the necromancer at all that they’d be lazy enough to just slap on shouts for us. And people have been running with the idea for some strange reason I can’t fathom.

I think you’re just coming up with non-existent technical limitations in order to justify your argument.

No shouts came from Necro players wanting more support options and Anet mentioning that they’d mix skill types between classes in order to make certain skill-type boosting runes more viable.

You just don’t want shouts because you don’t think they fit the Necromancer theme. Did traps fit the Guardian theme?

So basically Lily your argument is not about effectiveness, it’s about thematics.

Your criticism of shouts makes no sense btw, Warrior shouts can affect enemies, Guardian shouts are heavily defensive and Ranger shouts completely break the so-called “golden rules”

I don’t really get the argument that spirits are somehow more complex than shouts. Because they have more limitations? Your criticism of shouts is focused on current in-game functionalities, when it’s clear from the specs we’ve seen that they are keen on adding new layers to the different skill types.

For a class hamstrung by long cast times and a lack of stability, a set of instant cast abilities look very desirable to me.

Lily.1935:

Knox.8462:

Long-casting, stationary, and vulnerable AI. No thank you.

play a warrior then.

Honestly, Spirits were amazing in GW1. Translating them to GW2 would only be more powerful. Plus, if we look at them like engi turrets, we’d be able to bring them out rather quickly. And with amazing actives like, oh I don’t know, party wide invariability, shouts got nothing on spirits.

Spirits were great in GW1 yes, but in a game dominated by AoE and reactive positioning they’re doomed to be subpar along with the rest of the summon skills. You’ve mentioned turrets which were only considered strong in spvp (and soon to be nerfed).

Considering that we already have a subset of summons, I find it highly unlikely that we’ll get another.

Now I can understand that shouts may sound boring on paper, but I believe there is great potential to give a unique spin with nice animations to boot. Many people were disappointed when it was announced that Guardians were getting traps, but seeing them in action in the demo quickly changed their minds.

Long-casting, stationary, and vulnerable AI. No thank you.

dood.7526:

Giving necros an entire elite spec based on fixing their problems is just bad design. They’re not supposed to be something we should feel like we have to take. Just an alternative spin on the profession itself. .

Both the Chronomancer and Dragonhunter have addressed weaknesses of their base classes (AoE fields and range). So it would make sense that there will be a similar approach towards the Necro spec.

Curunen.8729:

heh, actually i’m more interested in Mistrust come the patch.

Yeah, I can see great synergy with Tides of Time. It just depends on how strong the confusion rework is.

Maybe the Chrono traits are still being developed? Dragonhunter’s traits seemed fairly finalised, apart from one grandmaster.

Lily.1935:

you seem to think that clone generation is synonymous with shatter. And its not… They mean completely different things and I’ve been trying to explain that to you in the last several posts.

You seem to think that a trait that replaces your illusions once when you shatter somehow increases your output of clones.

It doesn’t, it essentially gives you an extra charge for you to use. A shatter mesmer can now chain together shatters, or a phantasm mesmer can shatter once without worrying about losing their phantasms. However neither of them are generating clones any faster than they were before and certainly not faster than with Deceptive Evasion.

It does not generate a clone, it replaces one you shattered once.

Lily.1935:

Either your language is off and we are arguing past each other, or you just want to be right and refuse to admit it. Either way, I’m done trying to convince you.

It lets you shatter an illusion twice. They specifically stated this as their intent to encourage phantasm mesmers to shatter. This is not hard to follow, your clone output will remain the same, it is your shatter output that is increased.

And given how the trait was presented in the demo I doubt IPersona would proc.

The Phantasm also gives alacrity and #5 gives quickness. #5 has good possible synergy with the new Dueling trait Mistrust that gives AoE confusion on interrupts.

Lily.1935:

Knox.8462:

It’s essentially a free shatter, it doesn’t actually increase clone production.

You have that reversed. But I’m not going to continue to argue with you. You want to run a mesmer and never use its core mechanic, have at it.

I’m not sure where you’ve reached that conclusion, I shatter on a regular basis.

They actually designed those traits to encourage more shattering, not increase clone generation. If I equip said trait, create a clone and then shatter it, I’m still left with one clone. If someone kills that clone then I need to find another means to create one without dodge, either by waiting for cooldowns or equipping Mirror Images.

It’s essentially a free shatter, it doesn’t actually increase clone production.

You’re fine with them getting more AI fodder but will walk out of they give them more support?

Lily.1935:

You will also get the Chronomancer’s trait line which has a trait that gives you a clone when you shatter skills as well as lets your phantasms shatter twice. So you won’t need deceptive evasion at all if you feel so inclined. Which you will need to run the Chronomancer elite trait line to make this conversation relevant, so you’ll already have access to clone generation with out dueling.

Not necessarily because I have to choose those traits over others, and they don’t actually increase my clone generation, they just incentivise shattering. It doesn’t create a new clone when you shatter, it replaces one you’ve previously created (once).

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

You’re forgetting that Grandmasters take no more investment than an Adept trait anymore.

Not every build will have room to take Dueling though, and Deceptive Evasion is up against two other strong traits. I’ll be running Mistrust over it personally.

Tim.6450:

Continuum shift split/ shift is an improved ripp-off from spectral walk/recall.

Thematically, having a rewind skill on a time mage makes more sense than on a necromancer. It’s reminds me of Chronos in Smite.

Lily.1935:

Knox.8462:

The destructable CS node will melt just as fast as DS, if not faster. The real strength of CS is the skill duplication, not added survivability.

I think you’re looking at it too one sided. This Does give you quite a bit more Survivability, its just high skill required to get it. Also, I don’t think it’ll go down super easy because of the need for it to be good. Death shroud can be knocked out in a couple hits, depending on who is attack and with what. I imagine the node will be the same way but rather then having the node attached to you it forces your opponent to divide their attention with can be back breaking to allot of players.

Having the node attached to you means that you are vulnerable if its destroyed. Opponents can quickly lay some AoE or CC as a nice welcome back present. Imagine snapping back into a dozen AoE fields in WvW. CS also requires clones to shatter, and with Deceptive evasion now a grandmaster not every Mesmer is going to have constant clone output.

While I agree with your position on the weaknesses of DS, I think you’ve been somewhat downplaying the disadvantages of CS.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Knox.8462:

Staff with a mix of AoE and support. The Thief stolen skill “Healing Seed” could be good, another water field with a nice animation.

You mean the healing spring that we have had ever since I can remember?
We already have the best water field uptime thanks to this.
It already does everything the Healing Seed does, but better. Not to mention you can get Healing Seeds from a vendor.

That is a horrible idea.

I only want a bonus blast finisher. Other things – I’ll wait to be surprised.

Good things come in twos, just ask the Staff Ele with its two water fields.

It doesn’t have to be an exact copy, I just like the animation and the idea of an additional water field.

Staff with a mix of AoE and support. The Thief stolen skill “Healing Seed” could be good, another water field with a nice animation.

The destructable CS node will melt just as fast as DS, if not faster. The real strength of CS is the skill duplication, not added survivability.

^Very nice. I feel like the price of shields is going to skyrocket now that a fashion-conscious class with viable shield skills has access to it :P

I’m still working on dyes and I really want my Heritage Leggings back, but I’m happy with the results so far.

Yeah there is a severe lack of in-game profession lore, which is a shame because there’s a lot of wasted potential there.

Imagine Asuran Krewes experimenting with chronomancy and causing all sorts of chaos. Or a Sylvari demonstrating necromancy to a group of fascinated newborns in the Grove. Or a human academy with lore books describing the creation of spells, kind of like: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Research_Journal

There’s no reason why Necro shouts couldn’t have an extra twist, like how Mesmer wells have their effects backended.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

It’s counter is its long recharge, and the fact that there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to make effective use of the reset. There was absolutely no need to create yet another point of failure. Anet has never learned from the mistakes of GW1, where being able to AoE down player created entities, like spirits or minions, made them useless in PvP. Having one of those randomly and pointlessly attached to Continuum Shift will make it completely unviable.

A recharge is absolutely not a counter. This skill is easily one of the most powerful in the game. Even managing to get one skill insta-recharged before the node is destroyed is not to be sniffed at.

Ramiel.4931:

Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse, ANet manages to surprise me. What a disaster. I hope the Druid specialization is a nature spellcaster with plant pets, mesmer got shafted hard.

Giving a powerful skill a counter is being shafted? What? It lets you use your elite skill twice, what more can you ask for?

My post is also in reference to the Trait reworking.

Actually the first reveal is usually intended to be impressive (as ele was in its reveal). The rest of your post can be disregarded as inane negativity typical of these forums. You didn’t get your MH pistol, get over it.

Mesmers appear to have developed considerably over the past 200 years. The most noticeable improvement is an increased focus on manipulating reality, via Glamours, and even time with Time Warp and Temporal Curtain.

Chronomancers appear to have focused their studies on further developing reality-warping magic.

I’m guessing he’s aware of that.

Well of Eternity being delayed and having a visual cue will give us time to drop DS and get the heal, while most other allied heals are instant or not bursty.

I’m thinking:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hero%27s_Shield

Though this would work for a Sylvari:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shield_of_the_Moon

Basically it has to be small and rounded.

Atherakhia.4086:

Another concern I have with the idea that since Necromancers are lacking group utility and shouts would open this up is that the class should be useful without needing the elite specialization.

That’s the point of specialisations though, to open new playstyle options.

Mesmers lacked consistent AoE that meant that I couldn’t run mine in WvW unless I just wanted to be a veilbot with limited tagging capability. Chronomancer offers more more access to AoE.

Necros lack party support, so surely it makes sense for its spec to change that?

Because people would choose the most garish colors and make the game look like rainbow vomit.

Every time a new class/specialisation is unveiled, there is always the inevitable whiny posts about how OP it is, or how it makes xyz obsolete.

It happened with every class reveal prior to release, it happened when the Revenant was revealed and now it is happening with the Chronomancer.

Seriously, just get over yourself and wait for the Necro specialisation.

Knighthonor.4061:

I can rock some cool models, but still needs some interesting support abilities to make this a fun class to play..

Strange, because the thing that really stood out about the Chronomancer was it’s interesting support abilities:

“Alacrity functions as the inverse of chill by speeding up skill recharges rather than slowing them down. Chronomancy is the only specialization allowed access to this powerful effect, and chronomancers can share alacrity with allies in limited situations, making them an incredibly powerful ally to have in any party.”

“Well Of Precognition will make allies’s skill become unblockable and cause them to evade attacks for a short duration after the well ends.”

“Chronomancer using the new weapon shield will gain access to Tides of Time, a skill that release a wall of energy moving forth. It will stop projectiles and freeze foes in time (stun) if it passes through them. Allies hit by it will gain quickness. When the wall reaches its maximum distance, it will turn around and go back, hitting everything in its path again.”

Really, what more could you ask for?