Reduce the after cast on sword auto attack by .10 seconds and add trait which gives +10% critical damage to sword.
Ranger attacks should be fast and precise as opposed to high damage lumbering blows from meat head warriors and guardians.
And add 3 targets to the 2nd auto chain, it currently only hits 1 target. Additionally, they could add a +15% crit chance (whilst using a sword) to Strider’s Defense. This trait is up against Spotter (which gives 7.1% crit chance to 5 allies) so adding over double the crit bonus would make it a better choice for solo play. That way the 2nd tier traitline would have 3 good choices depending on the situation: Spotter for group play, Strider’s Defense for solo sword play, and Hidden Barbs for solo condition play.
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lel….. indeed, many players want to be carried more than the game already carries alot of players with the actual damage output gimmick + low effort skills.
Well… out staff skills could get a small QoL :P stop to stack speed is idiotic at minimal
After the edition of mobility combo fields, with Heart of Thorns, I always thought Symbol of Swiftness should be a candidate for guardians mobile field. No more having to stop for swiftness stacking.
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retreat is 33% movement speed for 20sec+ … why should we get a passive 25% speed?
we have quite some leaps and teleports to targets as well… we already have alot of run away capable classes, guardian was designed to stay in combat, as much other classes can still have more surviability for that…
But I want to run a full trap DH with a passive 25% speed buff in one of my chosen traitlines and it doesn’t interfere with any of my choices, because chrono got it.
/sarcasm
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I’m with Armenthos on this one. I’ve had so many gloves or shoulder pieces, I’ve liked part of, ruined by asymmetry. The most recent ones being the Glacial Gauntlets.
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The bonus unblockable on binding blade may be a bit much, considering Dragonhunter already has access to the most powerful (edit) unblockable pull in the game. But reduction is cooldown and cast time is a good idea. Maybe increase projectile speed as well?
You said it yourself, Guardians are the kings of blocking and anti-block. Let’s emphasize that, guardians lack mobility and cripples as a whole.
Is spite of all the improvements suggested, the greatsword would only have damage and a pitiful pull, it would still pale in comparision to Sword+anything.
To be honest, the unblockable crown goes to Necromancers. But given anets track record of balancing, they prefer to add up things like this (like boon corruption on necros) rather than properly balance the class.
Aye guardian is pretty messed up when it comes to damage, considering their best dps is a ranged weapon (sceptre).
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It is fool proof, I run Death Magic, Blood, Reaper Power in Valk Gear, Ascended Great Sword, Exotic Axe Dagger, Ascended Non Armor pieces that are Zerker with two that are zerker with Vitality.
My question is whether this is viable in Fractals?
While Viper is still top spot for necros, many parties don’t care what you bring.
I ran a minion master build (spite/blood/reaper) for a while after the lich form nerf and it worked well, absorbing aoe damage and what not.
I ran spite instead of death magic because of the dps increase and death magic is fairly worthless now. Since minions take 95% less non direct damage, they don’t really need more health. The death nova trait only really worked on condi builds with rise and jagged horrors, not basic minions who you want to stay alive. And the minion damage increase is far out dps’d by your own damage increase from spite. The only real reason to take Death magic is for the condi transfer from Necromantic Corruption which is wasted, for the most part, if you’re not running corruptions.
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I rather like how death magic works and your suggestions make the trait line useless to me.
So, what gets cut, exactly? Only change that could possibly make it “useless” is the removal of Reaper’s Protection (since the only other removed item is just stats).
The rest is either preserved or improved upon with better synergy.
He suggests removing deadly strength, which is very painful for my power wvw build since it adds 100 power outside of shroud and 200 within it. We’re talking a 5-10% loss in DPS/spike damage. There isn’t a way to make up that damage with other trait lines.
It’s a very big nerf.
If that trait is the only reason you’re taking death magic I’d suggest dropping death magic for something more useful. Blood, or spite, or even Soul reaping. The power you get from it pales in comparison to the life stealing damage or the might stacks you’d gain from Spite.
This is exactly what I did with my WvW build. I run a soul reaping/blood magic/reaper staff wells build. The overall damage/sustain from blood far outweighs anything death magic offers, as well as quicker cd on wells for spiking and a helpful extra heal/res assist in the form of Ritual of Life.
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Yes to a condi range weapon (Pistol if one handed, Rifle if 2 handed – we don’t have enough professions using them).
No to hybrid weapons. They make me sick.
I’m not sure why. Never mind that they enable hybrid and experimental builds, but they also add a lot more cross-build flexibility to a profession, significantly expanding gameplay options. Bluntly, I don’t like that literally my only choice is Mace/Axe for a condi-focused build or S/x for a power based build on the Revenant, even when only considering melee options.
Because, for the most part (to paraphrase the Mighty Boosh), hybrid weapons combine two damage types to create something not quite as good as either.
As for weapon options, I get where you’re coming from. But from a balancing point of view, its easier to limit the amount of weapons each profession has. Else you get a clusterkitten of useless weapons like Warriors have.
Desperately trying to work out the Mighty Boosh line you’re referencing. Haven’t watched it in ages..
On topic I see where you’re coming from but agree with OP , there is something missing. Engi is the only other class with such a lack of weapons, but they get heavy compensation in the form of Kits. Having two legends doesn’t quite make up that difference.
It was from the Eels song “Elements of the past and the future combining to make something not quite as good as either.”
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Given how Eles had a big nerf one patch, then a big buff the next, I think Necros will get a lot of love next balance. Keep hold of your viper set as it is still the best set a necro can get.
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For general pve, you can run a full zerker dps build (zeal/radiance/dragonhunter) with sword and shield happily. However shield does draw more aggro from enemies, so in high end pve (like t4 fractals) be wary, as many things will 1 shot you. For that you could probably keep the same build but use some tankier gear (Marauders/cavaliers).
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From a PvP point of view, Greatsword is utter trash and has always been.
Suggestions:
Whirling Wrath: Cast time reduced to ¼s. Proyectiles removed, and damage from said proyectiles back to the melee whirl. It no longer slows the Guardian during the animation.
Leap of Faith: CD redudced to 12s base (9.6s traited).
Symbol of Wrath: CD reduced to 15s (12s). It now applies 1.5s of immobilize upon cast.
Binding Blade>Pull: CD reduced to 25s (20s). Cast time reduced to ¼s on both skills. Bonus (optional) A plus to weapon utility: Binding Blade proyectiles are now unblockable.
There, Greatsword is now PvP viable.
I like the immobilise idea on Symbol of Wrath. It fits thematically considering Signet of Wrath also inflicts immobilise. I’d still remove the rooting from it too though. Rooting should be reserved for massive damage skills like Meteor shower.
The bonus unblockable on binding blade may be a bit much, considering Dragonhunter already has access to the most powerful (edit) unblockable pull in the game. But reduction is cooldown and cast time is a good idea. Maybe increase projectile speed as well?
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It’s funny. People always say "greatsword wasn’t designed for pvp " yet the whole design was based upon monster movies; the reaper being the monster, chasing down its victims. Why would this be key to the design if it wasn’t meant for pvp?
Because the monsters always lose in the end in the movies?
Something that so often put me off cinema, I always root for the bad guys. But in all seriousness, Necromancers get held back so often because of a theme Anet has for them. Then they create Reaper purely based on Monsters chasing down helpless victims, but yet it very much sucks at chasing down people. Not cool Anet. Not cool at all.
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Read the trait again. It doesn’t say it increases precision. It says your crit chance will increase per condition on foe. You won’t see any increase on your hero bar as it varies from foe to foe, similar to how Decimate Defenses works.
As for the condition damage, it will show on the hero bar.
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Dragon Facets did work underwater for a time, if you activated them while on land then went underwater.
In other words, mechanically speaking, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be allowed underwater. The only problematic skill would be the swiftness activation, which is ground targeted. However this can easily be resolved like they did with Necro wells and Warrior Banners.
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I wouldn’t mind if they monitored how people voted depending on rank and activity (if this isn’t already happening). For instance there could be a vote where 60% say yes to something, though the vast majority spend little time in wvw and have next to no rank progression. Whereas 40% say no, and the vast majority are active wvw players who have active rank progression. So then Anet decides they won’t implement said change, because of it.
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GS is not a PvP weapon for Necro with this changes but better in PvE and not so slugish.
Anet never said that. And GS definitly has potantial to be a good pvp weapon. Infact making death spiral a mobility skill (like you proposed) would actually be really good for pvp.
It’s funny. People always say "greatsword wasn’t designed for pvp " yet the whole design was based upon monster movies; the reaper being the monster, chasing down its victims. Why would this be key to the design if it wasn’t meant for pvp?
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-Single-use pot to reset all boss kill for week (cost lots of gold and tokens or somthin)
-is white mantle portal can be use outside of raid? If so then perma stealth pot with long cd.. so can stealth past champs and stuff, not exclusive to thief no more
-‘resistance’ to boss.. each time u clear boss per week u get stacking boon or somthin that make u take 0.5% less dmg/ condi dmg from him.. or something idk. Basically it would give more incentive for repeatability. Not every1 who do raids want to farm li or want legend armor. I don’t care for armor rly, don’t even care for drops anymore cos I have enough ascended trinket with new stats.. so what the point idk. But make it so idc abt all this.. help me do it cos there’s some point to clearing all boss all wing in week.. I mean y not chest or somthin if u kill all boss in raid that week? wth
Perma stealth out of combat isn’t exclusive to Thief welcome to 2015 and let me introduce you to Scrapper with Stealth Gyro……..
Did they take away the spy kits from karma vendor?
It can still be bought in the charr starter area. It lasts for 10s and has a 60s cd.
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Also berries aren’t salvaged. You only have to double click them to break down. But yes, Bloodstone Fen has by far the most raw unbound magic, though events in the new map are very easy and quick to do. So because of its current popularity, it may be the best still.
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Currently (before the inevitable nerf it) you can farm ~70 Winter berries per character from just doing the daily nodes and hearts. They in turn can be broken down in Unbound magic at about 30 – 50 per berry.
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Or to be used as an escape tool aswell and get some distance from enemys therefore surviving longer. We already have enough protection and if the trait gave the protection back then it would fair and viable for pve wich seems what u are sugesting.
You also realise increasing the range on #2 would mean an increase on the recharge too? As for adding the symbol to #5, thats a 40second recharge skill. So for 35seconds you’d be without any protection (or symbols) unless you took SY/HTL or used F3 whilst traited with virtues.
You’re basically trying to turn what is a very defensive weapon into a slightly more defensive version of greatsword. I doubt anyone would want to use it.
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Tbh if the other changes i sugested took place it would increase our survival quite a lot. i would sugest chance on crit for symbol when hammmer traited or added on 5 wih 5sec duration.
Well no, considering you’d lose protection by removing the symbol. Your suggestions would only mean it would be easier to use in a pvp situation, to keep up with kiting foes.
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I’d prefer Retaliation. You need to be up close to get the bounces, so Retaliation would at least provide some extra punishment.
I agree. It would be nice to have some more retal outside of axe and spite.
I’d love to see Necros get an Elite Specialization with a focus on Retaliation, similar to how Reaper had a Chill focus. Since we lack active defense, I can see it working out in ways that other professions shouldn’t use.
They’d need to buff or rework Retal first, since it is pretty kitten at the moment.
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It is pretty consistent vuln to be honest. As for dropping dps traits, its 1 trait that gives +5% damage vs a trait that, without, you risk having less than 25 stacks of vuln and therefore overall party dps is dropped significantly. I’d take Bitter Chill every day of the week.
you also drop chill of death.
I roll Bitter Chill and Chill of Death. I only pop into shroud for the #5/#4 combo, then out again, so Rending Shroud isn’t a go to.
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On the flip side, the footprints for the new legendaries last for a tiny amount compared to the old ones. In fact, for many, they might as well not exist due to the incredibly short duration.
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I would love some love for hammer aswell. perhaps a slight increase of auto atacks and removal of symbol on #1 , make 2 a leap like gs and remove the root to cast on 5. simple and very good qol changes.
So basically destroy the reason for taking hammer in the first place? Bringing the cast time of the symbol part of the attack down to 1second would be fine. And allowing movement on #5 is a good idea too.
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Grasping Darkness is full of bugs that have been there since day 1 of HoT. We’ve just gotten used to living with them because:
Grasping Darkness is a very complex skill under the hood and integrates programming and art in a very specific way to work the way it does. As a result, changes that would be simple for another skill (like giving it increased range) are very difficult and require coordination from multiple disciplines. I’ve made a few changes that I believe are safe for this BWE that changes the skill to be enemy targeted instead of using your facing direction. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one to see if it needs further tuning in subsequent beta events.
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i think for power build self maintaining vuln wont be too bad. because power builds tend to go with Spite trait line. With Reaper trait line synergy can apply vuln on freeze very rapidly. Then u also got vuln spreading in shroud trait in Spite that works pretty well on adds. Reaper 5 + whirl finish stacks freeze and vuln pretty quickly. then u got reaper 3 fear that applies freeze taht applies vuln due to trait synergy.
these are just burts of vulnerability. not consistent. apart from that you have to drop dps traits
It is pretty consistent vuln to be honest. As for dropping dps traits, its 1 trait that gives +5% damage vs a trait that, without, you risk having less than 25 stacks of vuln and therefore overall party dps is dropped significantly. I’d take Bitter Chill every day of the week.
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Since HoT I believe more and more hardcore players started to emerge who demand more “difficulty” what game strategists translate incorrectly leading to absurd solutions, like feeding one guy 50 Apples to get a mastery point – ridiculously dull task. It reminds me much of Lineage 2 and other, very old MMOs. Not surprising since NCSoft runs the show here.
You do know that achievement was intentionally put in to mock classic MMO fetch quests?
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First off I want to say I absolutely adore this shield. Everything about its look is fantastic.
The only problem I have is that it is a shield I can’t help but feel this would have been so much better as a backpiece.
But hey, that won’t come to pass so I will just have to enjoy it on shield users.
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The only thing I would really complain about is the aftercast of Reaper’s Touch. Other than that, it is a great starter attack for a fight (stack 12 vuln if you’re fighting 1 foe).
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The only thing I’ve ever wanted as an improvement, is for Anet to allow it underwater in the form of an undead shark (similar to how Ranger spirits become dolphins or a whale).
Other than that, its currently our best elite.
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A sudden chuckle formed in my mouth when I saw her being named “Aurene”. I instantly thought in the Fantasian Auryn necklace given to Bastian to make his wishes reconstruct the world in The Neverending Story.
So a few Fantasian names that could sound great as dragon names:
Edit to add a comment:
I have to add that I don’t specially dislike Aurene’s name. It is “meh” for me, but not in a bad way.
Its not stupid, raucous, nonsensical or childish like… “Dragon Hunter”.
If you actually bothered to look into what Dragon Hunter was based on, you would understand. To quote wiki:
The Dragonhunter name was inspired by medieval witch hunters. Guardians consider themselves protectors of the innocent, and the dragonhunter faction believes justice is the eradication of dragons and their minions.
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All good thoughts & ideas, I would argue that if GS4 roots us, it should apply quickness. this would be a fair trade ~ as it stands retaliation is abundant in most guardian builds to begin with, it could see a more useful boon, like quickness or even might!
When Anet introduced Reaper Greatsword, #4 had the same rooting animation as Guardian gs #4. People complained about the rooting so Anet changed it so you could move. Guardian should get the same treatment (and new animation) in my opinion.
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Nearly every class can build for perma swiftness, yet they all have the passive boost if they want it. Hell, some classes even have the choice between a trait and a skill. At this point it’s honestly just a QoL change, they could easily drop it on some unused signet or little used traitline if they don’t wanna buff guard in a combat scenario. Naysayers here are tbh just being ridiculous about it.
When Necros get the amount of leaps and shadowsteps as Guardians, then we can talk.
Thats not gonna happen ever. and its not even the biggest issue with that class
I know and I don’t particularly want it to happen. I’m just making a point.
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Seems like they have a theme. 1 Serious weapon to 1 silly/cute one.
Dreamer – Chuka
Quip – HOPE
Bifrost – Neveromore
You see the pattern here.
Flameseeker – Shooshado
I think it’s hella cute tho
aside from agreeing that it’s cute, i must object to your theory of a pattern. Bifrost and Nevermore are both serious looking, and so are Astralaria and Frostfang
I am curious to know if you’re serious, or just joking about. Bifrost is in no way serious. It’s been renamed by MANY as the “rainbow d*ldo”
and tho frostfang can be taken a little more serious than others its still a gag gift type of weapon. But if thats the only two you choose to compare from then, you must see some kind of pattern there. If its not anets intentions on making it that way, they’ve done a bad job on trying to prove otherwise. Whether thats the case or not, the fact of the matter is, the legendarys that are out right now are, in fact, silly or serious and if it has a HoT alternative it is the opposite as far as being serious or silly. But i suppose we’ll just have to see, but let me say if the new ledgendary dagger comes out and its a quaggin squirting water out of its bum at lightspeed, i believe i’ll have proven my point.
Well, Bifrost is the rainbow bridge opened by Heimdal in norse mythology there’s no silly about it..
I really have difficulty seeing how people could think that rainbow = humoristic. It fits a certain aesthetic, maybe not yours, but for some people it fits.
What’s next? “Hurr durr Kudzu has flowers, let’s consider it a humoristic weapon”?
Ok, it’s not necessarily humorous. But rather one weapon is more light hearted (Bifrost – shiny with rainbows) and the other is less so (Nevermore – a Raven – creatures of ill repute – bearing the same name as that dark poem by Edgar Allan Poe).
My guess is that Kudzu will be the light hearted of the two legendaries.
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Nearly every class can build for perma swiftness, yet they all have the passive boost if they want it. Hell, some classes even have the choice between a trait and a skill. At this point it’s honestly just a QoL change, they could easily drop it on some unused signet or little used traitline if they don’t wanna buff guard in a combat scenario. Naysayers here are tbh just being ridiculous about it.
When Necros get the amount of leaps and shadowsteps as Guardians, then we can talk.
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So I went to collect the firestone from the Grawl heart, but alas it wasn’t there. I then made another totem, but alas it wasn’t there. And this was after reset, having made the first elixir pre reset.
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where the elite raiders can sit away from the scrub raiders.
I can’t help but feel this would have been so much better as a backpiece.