Doesn’t matter what the players consider them as, they were still standalone games. You weren’t required to have Prophecies to play Factions or Nightfall. So either way you look at it, they are still standalone campaigns.
If you treated them as expansions, that’s your personal opinion. But fact is, they weren’t expansions, they were standalone games that didn’t require the original to play.
HoT requires GW2 to play it, thus making it an expansion. Just like Eye of the North required Prophecies to play it. It was an expansion. If HoT was standalone and didn’t require GW2 to play, then you could compare it to Factions or Nightfall as they are also standalone games. But since it requires GW2, it is considered an expansion. Not standalone.
Sounds like a game of semantics. So Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall are all campaigns as they can be played separately but they can also interface with each other so that you can port a character between Campaigns, just like an Expansion.
Now that the distinction has been made, what exactly is the argument? That Heart of Thorns could have had more content if Anet treated it more like a Campaign than an Expansion. That if players want more then we should be asking for Campaigns that can also act like Expansions rather than just Expansions?
Of course not, because an Expansion or a Campaign by itself doesn’t mean anything more than just a slightly different distribution model. They can be as big or as small as the scope of development allows.
The real question should be what do we want from future content? Do we want new systems that set the stage for future stuff or do we want systems to stay relatively the same but just more lore and more areas included with each expansion. It’s clear that HoT heavily invested development into building the internal architecture for the future but does that really mean that the next Expansion will instead swing the other way and deliver double, maybe triple the lore/new regions that HoT did? Is there even a consensus of what the community wants from an expansion?
Maybe HoT got the balance wrong? Maybe they could have delayed a system or two for a future expansion while shifting those resources to more regions or more lore? Or Maybe LS3 will complete HoT by expanding the map further like LS2 did, hope it comes within 6 months if that is the case.
And will your mount res you when you’re dead or is you character gone afterwards? IF your mount dies as well what wouldhappen to you?
Well we have gemstore mounts which are inanimate objects and are summoned out of nowhere. So if an actual useful mount like I mentioned was created then it would probably work the same way or like the Junundu worms from Nightfall.
But if the mount of a non-living object like a ocean faring vessel or golem, then death is no problem. I could even imagine some Asura coming up with a summoning system like the Asuran Beacons that summoned Golems to your location.
So you come to a large stretch of ocean that is boring to swim through or some sort of quick sand river. Simply set off a beacon and some Asuran mount comes for you ride across with. It’s a bit niche but I could see it being handy if a underwater expansion comes out where traveling on the surface might be needed.
The June 23rd 2015 update was great when it categorized previously unaffiliated skills into new skill types. Around 18 skills were given skill types for the first time. I believe the job needs to be finished with the 3 skills without skill types and even taken up a notch.
With the new Elite Specializations they made sure they’d be 6 new slot skills. However with the old core specializations there are gaps, where some skill types having only 4 or 5 slot skills available. Each skill type should have a 1 healing, 4 utility and 1 elite, just like how the Elite Specializations were done.
For example,
- Warriors don’t have an Elite Stance or Shout and no Healing Banner or Physical skill.
- Guardians don’t have a Elite Consecration or Spirit Weapon and no Healing Consecration or Spirit Weapon skill.
- Rangers don’t have an Elite Trap or Elite Signet and no Healing Signet skill.
- Thieves don’t have an Elite Signet or Trap and no Healing Trap skill.
- Elementalists don’t have an Elite Arcane or Signet and no Healing Conjure Weapon skill.
- Mesmers don’t have an Elite Phantasm/Clone and no Healing Phantasm/Clone or Healing Glamour skill.
- Necromancers don’t have an Elite Signet or Well and no Healing Spectral skill.
- Engineers are special cases since they really only have 4 (instead of 5) skill types but they don’t have an Elite Gadget skill
So this would require creating around three new skills per profession (minus Revenant) and changing three non-types into a new type. So 21 new skills in total which is alot of work but could definitely be spread out through multiple updates.
The motivation isn’t just so you can play a pure build of one skill type but that there are more options for healing and elite slots. For example if you want to sacrifice a slot for something like a Consecration or a Spirit Weapon, then you can only pick from sacrificing an utility slot. While Meditation, Signets or Shouts have many options. Even though it might suck, I would like the option to play a Consecration/Spirit Weapon build without having to take Meditations or Shouts.
Not sure how feasible it would be but in a future expansion it would be cool if we had to use mounts to get to different places just like how we use Gliding in Heart of Thorns. It’s safe to say that waypoints render mounts useless but surely there could be a region of the world where leylines are scarce and therefore waypoints are extremely rare.
I could see a Kralkatorrik expansion where we have to ride a mount to get over uninhabitable regions of Dragonbrand corruption, maybe a breed of minor dragon immune to its’ effects. Or maybe a Seadragon expansion where you can traverse the surface of the ocean Windwaker style in a vessel, as a quick way of getting to the region you want to dive into.
But I can’t see mounts being introduce elsewhere in Tyria without some sort of restrictions like the ones placed on Gliders.
I kinda wish the different Guild Halls were designed around different Guild sizes. So you’d have a massive one for a 300-500 people, a medium one for 100-300 and a small one for 1-100. With each of the different sized Guild Halls catering for the needs of the different kinds of Guilds.
It’s not the amount of content that matters but the longevity of it. We won’t know if HoT passes that test until at least two maybe three months after release.
I think that part of the problem is that we’ve been given everything (except for raids, etc…) at once. When compared to LS2, chapters were spread out fortnightly to monthly. So despite LS2 having a fraction of the content it managed to take up the months of June to January.
When it came to HoT, people have shot through the story chapters in a matter of days. Makes me wonder if opinions would be different if the chapters were released weekly or fortnightly, allowing people to level up their masteries and span out the story for a longer period of time.
I’m not sure if the $50 expansion price tag model is a good fit for GW2. I think a mix between MMORPG expansions and the Living Story would have worked better. Where HoT would have been everything minus the story chapters and the story chapters would be purchased in a Living Story type bundle. So HoT would cost $30 and the HoT LS would be something like $20 in total if you buy all the chapters at once.
But that’s just me. I hope that HoT will be enough to last until whenever they release the next expansion.
The HP cost should have remained, the only thing that should have changed was the unlocking order. I would have had the traits unlocked right after each other leaving stuff like the skins & upgrade components at the very end. So you’d only have to spend 200 HP or so on unlocking the traits but if you want the bonus stuff you’d have to stick it out for the full 400 HP.
Good move with applying boons to traps. Gives continuity with Symbols and gives needed distance from being too similar to Ranger traps. I can now see the DH being related to a core specialization of the Guardian (Zeal).
I honestly don’t mind the DH lacking access to a +25% Movement Speed trait, because everything should have an Achilles’ heel. But I do think that it should have a trait that gives it short bursts of swiftness when applying cripple. So the DH gets time to quickly move into long range distance but only when an enemy sets off a crippling trap or with something like their LB’s auto attack. Could even be applied with other movement hampering conditions. That way the DH has some needed movement but only granted strategically.
The Druid actually makes sense in the context of the Ranger. It’s pretty much an extension of the Nature Magic traitline, the one based on boons and spirits.
When the Druid enters the Celestial Avatar form they become a player controlled Water Spirit/Stone Spirit/Spirit of Nature hybrid, and are as limited as such. In Nature Magic, there are some traits that hint towards a healing support Ranger, namely the two regeneration traits, the increased reviving speed, and the f2 pet based area healing (of which is explored further with the Druid being able to heal via its’ pet).
It just may seem a little jarring from what the GW1 Ranger was because the Nature Magic traitline (attribute) didn’t exist outside of the Nature Ritual spell type and even then the summon did all work. So you could argue that this kind of Ranger is new to GW2 and wouldn’t fit in with GW1, but it has been a core part of it from GW2’s release and therefore is justified. If it was the Warrior or Thief getting the Druid treatment then that would be completely ridiculous.
There is a general feeling of a support class within Nature Magic, it just gets drowned out by the other 4 core specializations. But that is why the Druid exists, so that the potential within Nature Magic can be explored further. If Nature Magic didn’t exist then I would agree that the Druid has no real basis as a Ranger specialization outside of maybe the flashy nature based spells that take a page from Lightning Reflexes.
That said, the Druid’s Celestial Avatar mechanic would be a worthy fit for the Guardian. I just don’t think it’s really stepping over boundaries into Guardian territory as much as the Dragonhunter steps over into Marksmanship and Skirmishing. The Guardian will probably get a Monk flavoured specialization in the future, its’ just not the time with the Herald and Druid filling that space at the moment. Since the Dragonhunter seems to reference the Zeal end of the spectrum, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next specialization was a healing/support based one with inspiration from Valor and/or Honor.
1. Druid
2. Chronomancer
3. Daredevil
4. Herald
5. Reaper
6. Scrapper
7. Berserker
8. Tempest
9. Dragonhunter
What I see is the problem with the Dragonhunter is the lack of connection to a core Guardian traitline, while the other elite specializations heavily reference a core traitline of their own. For example:
The Berserker is linked to the Strength traitline, their rage skills are expanded physical skills.
The Scrapper is linked to the Inventions traitline, their gyros are mobile turrets.
The Druid is linked to the Nature Magic traitline, they turn themselves and to a lesser extent their pets into Spirits.
The Daredevil is linked to the Acrobatics traitline, they gain enhanced mobility.
The Tempest is linked to the Arcane traitline, they gain a new way to use & swap attunements.
The Chronomancer is linked to something like the Inspiration traitline, their wells act like Glamours
The Reaper is linked to the Soul Reaping line, they gain a new death shroud.
While the Dragonhunter has more similarities with the Ranger traitline of Skirmishing or Marksmanship than it does to their core specializations. So while the other elite specializations are expansions on pre-existing core specializations, the Dragonhunter does a sideways progression into another professsion.
If you had to pick a core Guardian specialization that the Dragonhunter is the closest fit to, you’d pick Zeal. But the links aren’t as clear as the links with the other elite specializations. That said, the Guardian could be slightly tweaked to reference Zeal and thus avoid Ranger similarities.
The two aspects of the Dragonhunter that could be tweaked to reference Zeal are the new Virtues and Traps. Zeal is based on mastery of Spirit Weapons and Symbols, and you can draw comparisons between the Dragonhunter Virtues to Spirit Weapons, and Traps to Symbols.
Dragonhunter Virtues & Spirit Weapons:
An iconic element of the Guardian is their ability to summon up weapons from nothing, the Dragonhunter follows this by summoning up a spear of light or a defensive shield through their virtues. Wings aren’t weapons, so there is that exception. So there is a thematic connection between the new Virtues and Spirit Weapons. I propose that this taken further.
The new Virtues should each be linked to a Spirit Weapon. So that their passive effect emanates from the Spirit Weapon like how a Druid can heal other using their pet as a conduit. So each of the four Spirit Weapons would either be linked to an individual virtue (thus warranting the creation of a fourth Dragonhunter virtue) or each Spirit Weapons would generate all three Virtue passives, thus expanding the Virtue’s reach and would allow the Dragonhunter to use the Active Virtue without worrying about losing the passive, since it would be generated through a Spirit Weapon.
Personally I favour linking a single Spirit Weapon to a Virtue.
-Bow of Truth could improve its’ healing by being linked to Virtue of Resolve.
-Sword of Justice could be linked to Virtue of Justice, so it gains the burn effect to its’ attacks.
-Shield of the Avenger could be linked to Virtue of Courage, so it gains the Aegis effect on top of its’ absorbing of projectiles.
-Hammer of Wisdom would then have to be linked to a new Virtue that compliments its’ knockback effect.
By doing this, you help alleviate the problem with the Dragonhunter Virtue cooldowns but you give added reason to take a Spirit Weapon. The Dragonhunter could be in two places at once; they could choose to engage in melee while still having a presence on the backline with their spirit weapon or they could be ranged while having a spirit weapon generating virtues among melee allies.
Traps & Symbols:
I’m against turning Traps into Symbols but I do think that Traps should distance themselves from Ranger Traps and should reference an aspect of Symbols. For example the Chronomancer takes the Well skill type from Necromancers but they treat them more like Glamours in their resulting effect than the condition heavy effects wells have been previously known for. Dragonhunter traps should operate differently like how Ranger & Thief traps have at least a different AoE shape and trigger.
So why can’t Dragonhunter traps be more like Symbols without actually becoming Symbols? Dragohunter traps should have an offensive and defensive effect like Symbols. The only thing that should differentiate the two is how they are triggered. Fragments of Faith is more in line with what they should be like, since you have an offensive effect but you have the opportunity to support allies with the fragments.
So you could either add a boon to each Dragonhunter trap that is given automatically to those in the trap’s AoE when it detonates, or you can add “Fragments” to each trap. Just something so there is a reference to how Symbols help and harm. I personally prefer an option to prematurely detonate a trap so it grants a boon effect on allies. So if you lay a trap and the enemy somehow completely avoids it, you could then detonate it granting boons so it wouldn’t be a complete waste. Or you could use Traps purely for their support potential.
For example Test of Faith currently is used to apply damage and cripple. But it could also be used to remove Cripple, Immobilize, Stun & Daze from allies. So the Dragonhunter could use it to turn the tables on an enemy immobilizing your allies by freeing them and crippling the enemy.
Or Procession of Blades could still be triggered by enemies launching that whirlwind attack. Or it could be remotely detonated granting a whirlwind of swiftness to allies.
Traps would then be like Symbols but you’d have to have an enemy trigger it thus it is still a Trap.
By drawing explicit links between the Dragonhunter and the Zeal traitline’s Spirit Weapons and Symbols, you then avoid immediate comparisons to the Ranger. Not only would this be more in line with what the Guardian is at its’ core but you expand the use of the Dragonhunter.
I could see the creation of a boon support Dragonhunter if Traps have positive effects like Symbols. And I could see the creation of a Spirit Weapon Dragonhunter that exploits the ability to be in two places at once.
Apologies for the double thread. First time posting a thread, didn’t realize deleting didn’t actually remove the thread from the forum.
You could say Dragonhunter has some synergy with Zeal but it is not a conceptual extension of that traitline. The Dragonhunter is a sideways progression of the Guardian to the Ranger’s traitlines of Marksmanship and Skirmishing. It then tried to turn it into something of a Guardian by throwing in random elements from across the Guardian’s traitlines but the central concept is still borrowed from the Ranger. Which would be fine if all elite specializations were treated like dual-professions, but that’s not the case.
If it was a conceptual extension of the Zeal traitline, then it would take inspiration from Symbols or Spirit Weapons. But at the moment the only trap that resembles somewhat a symbol is Fragments of Faith since it harms enemies and helps allies, the others have more in common with the traps from the Skirmishing traitline.
The problem is that there is no clear link to a Guardian traitline, like the clear links between the other elite specializations and a core specialization of their profession.
I can see a slight thematic link between the new active virtues and that of the Spirit Weapon. In that the virtue’s active ability acts kinda like a Spirit Weapon’s command ability. I just wish they had a stronger link. Like maybe create a forth virtue and have each virtue link to a specific spirit weapon. So the passive of Shield of Courage would also activate around the spirit weapon Shield of the Avenger, or the passive of Spear of Justice would activate around the spirit weapon Bow of Truth. Then have two other virtues connected to Hammer of Wisdom and Sword of Justice.
It would be like how the Druid’s traited abilities emanate from their pets, just instead the virtues would emanate from the spirit weapons. Not to mention that if you summon a Spirit Weapon but also have a Virtue on a cooldown, then you won’t lose your passive Virtue effect because it is still generating from the Spirit Weapon, then you’d have a way of using Virtues without worrying about losing your passive when it is on cooldown. Plus if a virtue is emanating from a Spirit Weapon, then you are expanding upon the AoE of your virtues. You could then have a Dragonhunter build that utilises on Spirit Weapons and Virtues, instead of just Traps.
Then it would help to change the behaviour of the traps to act more like Guardian Symbols and less like Ranger traps, so at least they each gave a benefit for allies.
Then upon doing something like those two changes, you’d have a clear conceptual extension of the Zeal traitline. And the similarities with Marksmanship and Skirmishing would disappear.
It is a little funny how Rangers and Guardians have done a complete swap with their elite specializations. It’s just I would love to have the Druid on my Guardian but I don’t think I would like to have the Dragonhunter on my Ranger.
It all goes back to the conceptual stage of the Dragonhunter. The name was a big red flag, but it went deeper than that. It embraced the idea of going thematically sideways with the elite specializations, while all the other elite specializations went forwards by building on the core of their professions.
The Druid takes the Nature Magic traitline and enhances it in every way, you pretty much transform into one of their Spirits.
The Reaper builds on the Necromancer’s Soul Reaping traitline.
The Daredevil builds on the Thief’s Acrobatics traitline.
The Scrapper builds on the Engineer’s Inventions traitline.
The Tempest builds on the Elementalist’s Arcane traitline giving a new approach to attunements.
The Berserker builds on the Warrior’s Strength traitline.
The Chronomancer builds on the Chaos trailine and the wells are an extension of Glamour skills.
The Dragonhunter models itself after the Ranger while throwing in little hints of the Guardian by keeping the Virtues and throwing in Guardian specific conditions and boons in with traps and traits. However if you look at a core traitline, there is no clear link with them to the Dragonhunter.
Zeal, Radiance, Valor, Honor and Virtues represents the Guardian, and for the Dragonhunter to be representative of another Profession is conceptually flawed when you take into account the other elite specializations. If all the elite specializations took on the same approach as the Dragonhunter, then it would be a different situation. Then the Dragonhunter would be rather vindicated but at the moment it sticks out as an abnormality.
And this is one of the few elite specializations that had the benefit of all Beta testing events.
I think the tomes should be a hybrid between Kits and GW’s Item Spells. So for the duration of holding a tome, you also generate a passive Virtue effect unique to that tome. But when you drop it, you activate the active Virtue effect of that tome. So a 4th Virtue would be available when using a tome.
However carrying the tome around like an Item Spell would mean that the Guardian would be unavailable to fight, so I would link each tome to a Ghost. There is something visually similar to the Ascalonian Ghosts and the attacks of a Guardian. Each of the 6 tomes would be linked to 6 ghosts, one for each of the original GW professions. So you’d have a Healer (Monk), Mage (Elementalist), Enchanter (Mesmer), Cultist (Necromancer), Archer (Ranger) and Captain (Warrior). Also each tome/ghost would visually reference a Henchman from GW.
Upon equipping a tome, a ghost is summoned of which you command and the tome skills are performed from. The ghost isn’t considered an active target, so it has no health. It would be relatively stationary like Ventari’s Tablet.
So the tome skill bar would be like this:
- Auto Attack: The Ghost fights with its’ own weapon.
#2: Secondary Attack: Commands the ghost to do a more powerful single target attack.
#3: Guard: Commands the ghost to be in a passive stance.
#4: Ground Target attack: This flags the Ghost to a ground targeted location, upon traveling there you can press it again to command it to perform a AoE attack.
#5: Retreat to Guardian: This flags the Ghost to your location, upon traveling there you can press it again to command do the same AoE as #4.
- Healing Skill:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Monk with no weapon equipped
Carry Effect: Increase Healing Power to those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Activates a powerful AoE heal
#1: Strikes the enemy at close range with fists, will chase after the target if it move towards the Guardian.
#2: Sends out of a 3 bounce orb of light that grants aegis to the Guardian and subsequent allies.
#3: Commands the ghost to cease attacking and generates a healing aura
#4-5: Draws conditions from player & allies in the AoE of the ghost.
- Utility 1:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Mage (Elementalist) with a Staff
Carry Effect: Grants Fury to those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Activates a large AoE burn attack that cleanses conditions
#1: Sends out a fireball of blue flame
#2: Summons a firestorm of blue flame
#3: When the ghost is placed in the AoE of an enemies’ attack, it retaliates by launching a AoE burning attack.
#4-5: Summons up a Ward Against Foes
- Utility 2:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Enchanter (Mesmer) with a Scepter and Chalice Focus
Carry Effect: Reduces duration of Daze and Stun to those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Activates an AoE Stun
- Utility 3:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Cultist (Necromancer) with a Skull Focus
Carry Effect: Drains health of those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Drains a larger portion of health
- Utility 4:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Archer (Ranger) with a short bow
Carry Effect: Increases precision to those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Summons a storm of ghostly arrows that randomly strikes enemies causing vulnerability
- Elite Skill:
Ghost: Summons a Ascalonian Captain (Warrior) with a hammer
Carry Effect: Grants Protection to those near Guardian
Drop Effect: Turns the ghost corporeal and sends it into a frenzy, drawing aggro
This is just a rough idea, I don’t know what to call the spec. But I think the weapon would be a warhorn that launches out a ghost.
Originally I was a bit annoyed because I had a Mesmer build designed purely to grant perma swiftness to allies. Done by stacking boon duration and centaur runes, then using SoI and the focus. I pretty much trade off dps and other support for this, so it’s not that viable and honestly is an extremely niche build. But doing this with the Herald is so much easier. Still, I’m content to have this purely as my travel build.
But it doesn’t make much sense to have the Herald, a heavy armor class be better at granting allies swiftness than the Chronomancer which should be the master of swiftness. Even thematically, the Thief would be a better candidate for granting perma swiftness. But I see why it was done, since there are 5 facet utility skills and each one is tied to a specific boon. If Swiftness was replaced, the only other candidate would be Stability or Vigor. My preference would be that the Facet of Elements would pulse +25% movement speed rather than Swiftness. Since it pulses 3 seconds worth of a boon, there is no reason why they could create a unique boon or a modified one for a facet.
Elites are supposed to transform the class into something new. under this aspect the DH works better then most of the other elites so far.
All of the Elite Specializations have transformed their professions into something new by virtue of adding something new. The problem with the Dragonhunter is that it lacks the synergy that the other elites have because it has very little ties to the core profession of which it represents.
Maybe early in development all the Elite Specializations were going to take the professions into dual-class territory. But it clearly hasn’t worked out like that. Instead pretty much all the elite specializations have just expanded upon their core professions. The Chronomancer, Reaper, Daredevil, Berserker, Tempest, etc… have set the standard of what Elite Specializations should be, it’s now the Dragonhunter which is the outlier to the trend.
You can no longer hold the Dragonhunter up as the standard of what elite specializations should be. That argument may have worked when the Dragonhunter was first revealed, but we now have seven elites that point in an entirely different direction.
The one thing that I think needs to be tweaked are the traps. They need to have the option to be detonated by the player. So if a trap is triggered by an enemy it sets off a enemy harming effect but if the trap is triggered prematurely by the player it only sets off a boon effect for allies.
For example:
Purification if triggered by the player only activates the AoE heal, but if an enemy triggers it then the ally AoE heal, enemy damage and blind occurs.
Fragments of Faith if triggered by the player grants only Aegis, but if an enemy triggers it then the ally Aegis, enemy Cripple and damage occurs.
Light’s Judgement if triggered by the player grants ally Protection, but if an enemy triggers it then they receive damage, reveal and vulnerability.
Test of Faith if triggered by the player grants ally Resistance or Retaliation, but if an enemy triggers it then they receive Weakness and damage
Procession of Blades if triggered by the player grants ally Vigor, but if an enemy triggers it then they receive damage and bleeding.
Above was just a quick example, but it would be better if every trap was based around a condition and their opposite boon. So the enemy triggered effect would be the condition + boon, but the player triggered effect would only be the boon. It would also be nice if they renamed the traps to be a different skill type, I’ve seen the name “wards” suggested and I think that’s an apt name. Afterall Necromancers have Marks and they are slightly tweaked versions of Traps. Dragonhunters need their own unique take on Traps that combines the knowledge of the Guardian.
That way you can choose to play the Dragonhunter as the big game witchhunter concept or you can play a supportive role by using Traps like Symbols. It would turn what is a situational skill type into something with more versatility. I admit such a change would water down the Dragonhunter concept but I think it would be in keeping with what the Guardian is all about.
I just remembered the interview Jon Peters gave about new profession icons for each elite specialization. If the DH gets a little dragon head icon, then that’ll be there to remind me of the name…
I agree that they should have kept the core Profession names instead of trying to make sub-professions with the elite specializations.
However they will be releasing new profession icons for each new elite specialization. So when you pick the Druid specialization, you will no longer appear as a Ranger but as a Druid.
Jon Peters gave an interview with TenTonHammer 3 months ago saying this:
“Also, the more stuff you add to an existing profession, the harder it is when you see that profession to know what it is they do. We haven’t revealed this yet, but with elite specializations, each one is going to have its own unique profession icon and to help call it out as different from the existing profession. We really are treating them as something different. So when you make your ranger a druid, you are a druid, you have a druid profession icon and players can know that’s a druid and they have a good idea of what a druid does and what the druid profession mechanics are. That means as we continually add more and more of these elite specs, there’s a sense of when you see them in the world, you have a pretty good idea of what they do.”
At the moment the naming seems a bit random, but when the icons are released. We’ll stop seeing the elite specializations on par with the core ones but as “new” professions. That is if they are still planning on releasing new icons. I hope so.
But my personal preference would have been to keep a Mesmer as a Mesmer, no matter which elite specialization they pick. It’ll just get confusing with more profession icons than letters of the Alphabet.
Daredevil = someone fearless, extremely fearless
So I get they named it like that because what? They expect him to Dash/Leap/Roll into battle head first like being…fearless? :P
That’s exactly how I play my Charr Thief.
I’ve even named him Jeopard which means “to put in jeopardy; hazard; risk; imperil”. Just in this case, he ends up putting himself in more danger than the enemy… but that’s his quirk.
Sometimes the gamble of leaping head first pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. I guess that is what it means for someone to embody a Daredevil state of mind.
The Daredevil’s use of “physical” skills just makes even more sense for me to dive blindly into the fray.
I would be very pleased if it was called the Avenger. But personally the ship has sailed, I do no longer care for the Guardian as a profession. The elite specialization name was a big red flag, but now that we see the vision of the DH in action, I’ve come to the realisation that it is not for me. I’m now using my Guardian’s name for when the Herald is released. I love defensive gameplay and wielding a shield, so it was a no brainer for me.
As for the Paragon, I’ve said this before but there is strong lore justification for a Longbow wielding Paragon. Kieran Thackery started out as a Ranger but eventually became a Paragon, yet he still was linked with Ranger’s longbow. So one could theorise that when the Paragon profession came to Tyria, they swapped out the exotic javelin styled spears of the Elonian Sunspears for the longbow of which Kieran and the rest of the Ebon Vanguard are proficient in.
Rename the DH as the Paragon, keep the new virtues with the Paragon wings and thrown spear plus the Ranger inspired traps and you have the spiritual successor to Kieran Thackery, without having to do heavy edits to the specialization. Just rename it the Paragon. Funnily enough his ancestor Logan, who is a Guardian could have been taught the ways of the Paragon from those Kieran taught. Therefore Logan Thackery could take on the Elite Specialisation if it was named the Paragon, and become the true second coming of Kieran Thackery.
(edited by Mordeus.1234)
I wasn’t impressed with the Revenant until the Herald was revealed. It gives me everything I’ve wanted from a Guardian and justifies it’s place among my 4 mains. I’m now ignoring my Guardian for my future Revenant.
1. Fighter Archetype = Charr Daredevil
2. Thief Archetype = Sylvari Mesmer
3. Priest Archetype = Asura Herald
4. Mage Archetype = Norn Necromancer
Maybe if I wanted to play the Revenant as a more offensive profession I would be less satisfied but I’m going to have a lot of fun in PvE or WvW as a support character. Even though support is pretty useless I admit.
The dictionary definition of the Daredevil is pretty much how I play my Thief, so the name is actually quite fitting.
Sure they could have gone with “Assassin” or “Acrobat” but they are overused these days. With Daredevil they are going for something new but without stepping over the “High Concept” line, where things are convoluted and needs extraneous explanation. Daredevil says exactly what the specialization does and that is all you can really ask for.
They did great with this specialization.
I am incredibly pleased with the Chronomancer and Necromancer elite specializations. In my eyes they are as near to perfect as can be expected during the beta phase. I also think the Tempest is decent and a worthy progression of the Elementalist thematically.
While my scrutiny lies with the Dragonhunter as I think it is flawed conceptually. They’ve done a decent job of translating the concept to gameplay but I don’t like what it represents for the new Guardian direction. Its forever going to be a disappointment since the problems are in its’ DNA. But I’m psyched for the Herald, that captures what I’ve always wanted from the Guardian. Wish the Guardian got the Herald spec instead of the Dragonhunter as it just makes sense. But I can deal with abandoning the Guardian for the Revenant.
So overall I am actually quite pleased, it’s an 80% success rate for me.
I want a cyclops Sylvari face so I can make a one eyed mushroom avatar. Or better yet a Sylvari face with multiple eyes like a spider. Or a Sylvari with no eyes.
If not… then I could also accept a Sylvari face with no mouth.
I don’t want a villain, I want several villains of equal stature. The problem is that Tyria has some villains that should be seen as iconic antagonists but are never developed further than a personal story entry or dungeon. Scarlet has been our only supervillain but because she stands alone she is expected to fill everyone’s expectations of what a supervillain should be.
The thing that I don’t understand is that for all the disruption that the Dragons bring to the status quo, that there aren’t supervillains exploit dire situations. The Dragons are certainly apocalyptic but their motives are unknowable. We need villainous figures that can operate as counterbalances to the game’s protagonists. We have Destiny’s Edge and Destiny’s Edge 2.0, but don’t have a group of villains who have the charisma and motivations to be their foils.
The world of Tyria is pretty much split into racial zones. So I fear with HoT, that the Sylvari will be expanded on while the other 4 zones are relatively left untouched until their expansions. There is no reason why the lore of the villains could not be expanded at the same time.
Afterall the perfect time for villains to launch an assault is when there is chaos. Scarlet taught us that much. So while Mordremoth is out poisoning the heart of the Grove, decimating the Pact and sowing general destruction out west… does that mean everything stands still out east? Or what is preventing one area’s villains from migrating to another area, say a rogue Inquest villain enslaving the Dredge in Norn territory, or a Flame Legion villain trying to conquer Sylvari lands. The Molten Alliance, Aetherblades and Toxic Alliance were an attempt to bridge such divides but they disappeared from view.
Who succeeded Gaheron Baelfire in the Flame Legion?
Who succeeded Mai Trin in the Aetherblades?
Who succeeded Caudecus with the Separatists?
Who succeeded Kudu in the Inquest?
What’s to come of the villainous groups featured in heart events like the Sinister Triad, the Renegades, etc…?
Who are the faces of the evil organizations we know are out there? There’s no doubt to who leads the good side, but the evil side lacks clear leadership. There haven’t been any new faces to take over the many mantles left post-Dungeons and season 1.
Funnily enough, the Herald sounds like it would have been a good alternative to the Dragonhunter name. Not to mention it sounds like it would have made a fitting Guardian elite specialization too.
It also eats away at the argument that you can’t call an elite specialization after something already existing in the game. In this instance, we had the Heralds who are members of the Order of Whispers and are also town NPCs. So names like Seraph, Warden, etc… are now open for consideration thanks to the rev’s elite specialization conflicting with other “heralds”.
Easily the Chronomancer.
Although I don’t mind the Reaper and the Tempest. I have no use for the Dragonhunter since that’s not why I play a Guardian.
Racial specializations would be nice and give some identity to your choice of race. Not to mention that existing racial skills could be reworked to fit the specializations. For example all the Asura racial skills could easily fit the above Golemancer theme.
But the racial specializations should be weaker than all profession specializations, just like how racial skills are generally weaker than profession skills. If only to disincentivize picking a race for “power”.
I’d suggest these 5 Racial Specializations, so to reflect your character’s “rank” within their racial society. They would be unlocked after completing the racial portion of the personal story.
- Savant (Asura)
- Shaman (Norn)
- Valiant (Sylvari)
- Seraph (Human)
- Centurion (Charr)
I also like the idea of non-profession specialisation. Maybe something tied to the Order you chose in the personal story. Upon reaching the rank from your mentor or liberating Claw Island, you get the specialization.
- Lightbringer (Whispers)
- Magister (Priory)
- Warmaster (Vigil)
It would give the player a purpose and a proper reward for playing their personal story.
If there were any doubts over gameplay balance, then these specializations could be disabled in WvW and PvP. Just like how they disabled the Antitoxin Spray skill for structured PvP. They could be purely there purely for the roleplaying aspect.
I actually would have preferred it if Elite Specializations had names that weren’t pseudo professions but in line with the way the core ones were named.
- Chronomancer would be “Chronomancy” or something simple like “Time” to go alongside Inspiration, Duelling, Domination, Chaos & Illusions.
- Dragonhunter would be something like “Justice” to go alongside Zeal, Radiance, Honor, Valor & Virtues.
- Tempest works either way.
It only becomes a problem with the Druid and the Reaper. Since the Druid would be Nature Magic and the Reaper would be Soul Reaping which already exists. Maybe instead of Druid it would be “Spirit” and Reaper would be something like “Darkness”.
Makes things a whole lot easier than trying to create names that sound like they could be new professions but still be related to the actual 9 professions. I get that the whole pseudo profession naming makes for interesting press releases but not only is it jarring to the core specialisations, its’ just so much more conceptual work for little gain. Especially despite taking the Dragonhunter specialisation, you’re still two thirds Guardian with maybe a fancy exclusive skin or two. Skins that I doubt will replace legendaries. Sure there is also a changed profession mechanic but they all rely on the base profession. The Reaper’s Shroud is a Death Shroud, the new Virtues are still Virtues and the Mesmer’s new f5 doesn’t replace anything since Mesmer didn’t have a f5. When you take away the Dragonhunter name, you’re pretty much got a Guardian slightly tweaked.
The distinction between a Chronomancer and a Mesmer, or a Reaper and Necromancer won’t be that big when we’re on the third elite for each profession. So it doesn’t make sense to me to put so much effort in coming up with a high concept name for is just another specialization. I rather the Specialization’s name to be a word that sums up its’ concept and nothing more complicated than that. But too late for that.
It’s also going to be easier to come up with names for some professions over others. Just look at the four d&d archetypes of Fighter/Warrior, Thief/Rogue, Mage/Wizard & Cleric/Priest. Over the past 4 decades, the Thief has had so many great kits, while the Fighter has really struggled to innovate without sounding ridiculous. It’s interesting to go through the history of RPG classes to see the disparity between classes in terms of kit names. I’ve seen some real stretches in logic or context when it comes to Fighter kits. It’s difficult for GW2 because the Warrior and Guardian share two sides of the Fighter archetype, so they are going to draw from a pool of ideas which overlap, while the profession Thief is going to have a very easy time coming up with new specialisations.
I wonder if they have planned ahead a list of potential future specializations for each profession, like at least 6 each. You can write yourself into a corner where certain classes require progressively more obtuse explanations while others just write themselves. I hope we don’t get to the point where the need to justify a name influences other aspects of the specializations. I guess that is part of the reason why the elite specialization skins exist, so to bridge the name with the actual profession.
I don’t even know what the Revenant is going to have to come up with in the years to the come. Especially since the Revenant is incredibly niche and a combination of all class archetypes.
I finished all Living Story season 2 missions with a Scepter wielding Glamour Support Mesmer using only karma armor/weapons and a fps of under 10. So it is definitely possible.
Snip
There really isn’t many interpretations of the Tempest, not to mention ones that are particularly strong. There’s a whole lot of context to the Tempest being a massive storm than it being someone who can swing a sword around fast. The only sword wielding Tempest precedent I’ve heard mentioned is from Dungeons & Dragons and that was a fighter class.
Saying that the Tempest is a melee swordsman is as crazy an explanation as the Dragonhunter being a medieval Witch Hunter who hunts big game. It tries to be clever but it just doesn’t work as well as the obvious.
Elite Specialisations are not the equivalent of the GW1 dual class system. It is much closer to the RPG standard of class kits where you tweak the base profession/class without changing the core of what makes the class. Hence why the Chronomancer despite using Wells is nothing like the Necromancer, or how the Reaper despite using a Greatsword is still very much a Necromancer. It only gets a little murky with the Dragonhunter using Traps, although they have some relation to Consecrations but it is still very much a Guardian in every other respect. The Chronomancer, Reaper and Dragonhunter are not new classes and will still be very similar to their core professions.
At its’ most basic, the elite specialisation offer a new weapon, traits, skills and an altered profession mechanic. The play style they offer is hardly revolutionary. Look at the Chronomancer which gives more AoE disabling potential while adding a new shatter. It’s pretty much the Mesmer extended. So as long as they add a weapon like the Warhorn, give new traits and skills and do something with attunements, then it is still an elite specialization. There’s nothing saying they have to do change the Elementalist profession into the mould of something else.
I don’t really understand how turning the Elementalist into something it is not, will make up for whatever “destruction” they have done to the profession. If any profession deserves to have a magical sword wielding assassin elite specialisation, it is the Mesmer because that would be a specialisation of something they currently dabble in.
I doubt the Druid, or the rumoured Berserker and Forge will be all that different from their core professions. If you want a fast paced magical sword wielding melee profession, then the Elementalist is very bad profession to pick. Maybe the Elementalist will get a sword specialisation but I really wouldn’t expect it to a sure thing. You’re making a huge gamble thinking it should or will happen.
(edited by Mordeus.1234)
One of the Thief traitlines is acrobatics and many acrobats use a staff in their manoeuvres.
I like how some of the already revealed elite specializations expand on the class rather than filling in the gaps. For example the Chronomancer is an extension of the manipulation/glamour skills of the Mesmer. Or how the Reaper expands upon the already strong melee potential of the Necromancer, despite the apparent lack of a support role that many wanted and the soul reaping concept of the profession. If every elite specialization went against the innate character of the profession, then we wouldn’t have the Chronomancer or the Reaper.
The only elite specialization we know that comes out of left field is the Dragonhunter due to its’ use of traps. And it is the least popular of the three.
If the Tempest contributes greater AoE damage or support then that is cool because it is true to the profession. Every profession has a role, and the Elite Specialization can only shift it slightly. If you wanted a magical melee assassin then you are playing the wrong profession, that would be the Mesmer.
Despite the Tempest literally meaning a violent storm, you also have the Shakespeare play The Tempest. Where the sorcerer Prospero conjures up a tempest to down a large ship and he has an air elemental under his command. So when people say that the Tempest sounds like a weather mage who conjures up AoE effects, there is some historical basis to it. Unlike your greatsword example which I agree is ridiculous.
Not to mention that the great horn “Stormcaller” was used to summon a tempest to counter the Elementalist Bonfaaz Burntfur’s fiery assault. So Elementalists, Tempests and Horns have a big lore connection.
Besides there are somethings that the Warrior clearly should not be able to do. You wouldn’t want them being able to chill, burn, etc… in an AoE scale would you? No, because even though it is a gap in that profession, it is one that shouldn’t be filled. Even with an elite specialization. The Elementalist should have limitations just like the rest of the professions.
(edited by Mordeus.1234)
Speculation: Don't let ele spec be warhorn!
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Mordeus.1234
I wonder if the Tempest was given a mainhand like the Axe or Mace but not the sword, if that would have satisfied. I pretty much doubt it.
It would be nice if portal owners got access to at least one Weekend Beta Event. Assuming that there will be more than one. But I’m happy enough to keep mine as a collector’s item.
Sounds like a fun pvp mode. I could see it where the player picks up a ‘bundle’ that changes their avatar and grants new skills, but it drops when the player is defeated. So whoever picks it up gets transformed, gains 10 seconds of invincibility while everyone else is crippled and must defend themselves from being killed.
So there are two kinds of players, the ‘Dragon’ who gains points based on how long they survive in combat, while the ‘Slayers’ are players who gain points based on the damage they inflict against the ‘Dragon’ player. At the end of the game, there are two winners, the Slayer who gets the most points and the Dragon who survived the longest.
Getting Mistfire Wolf with a new copy of HOT?
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Mordeus.1234
You can still get the original Deluxe items like the Mistfire Wolf and Rytlock Mini. There is an item called the “Digital Deluxe Upgrade” in the gemstore under the “Upgrades” tab for 2000 gems which will give any account Deluxe status.
That image of the 3.5 dnd Tempest is incredibly misleading, since the elemental magic aspect of it actually comes from the Genasi race than the actual prestige class. The dnd Tempest class is actually a melee fighter with no magical abilities. So if you really wanted to make a authentic dnd Tempest character then you would opt for a s/d Thief or a s/s Warrior, maybe a s/s Mesmer. It has absolutely no link to the Elementalist.
Besides the 3.5 or 4th edition Tempest is really a ripoff of the 2nd edition Blade kit for Bards. So by that standard it isn’t original, if anything it is a watered down Blade. It’s a coincidence that the Tempest name is shared.
You should be lucky that your Elementalist spec has some original thought put into it.
Would be a shame to kill off any of the original Destiny’s Edge when they have yet to avenge Snaff and Glint. Logan, Rytlock, Caithe, Zojja and Eir all need to be present when we get to the Kralkatorrik expansion.
I’d rather it be included in the Deluxe upgrade. I can deal with missing out on a title or beta weekends by not pre-ordering. But to have missed out on an item because I didn’t buy before I saw all the details of what I’m purchasing is a little unfair.
It fits the pattern of the fifth core traitline being linked to the profession mechanic. Just like how the first four Elementalist traitlines are linked to the four elements, but a fifth is linked to attunement mechanic itself. Or like how the Necromancer has a fifth core traitline based on the death shroud while the other four are based around utility skill types.
Makes sense that the Revenant will have a fifth core traitline that is different from the legends. You can only switch between two legends during battle, which makes taking a third legend traitline kinda redundant. I like the idea of picking two legend traitlines for battle but picking a universal traitline that remains active all the time and gives the Revenant some stability or cohesion while switching between legendary stances.
I hope that this non-legend traitline will have universal utility skills that can be swapped in place of a legend’s utility skill, so there will be some further build variation. If the weapon skills aren’t linked to the legends and revolve around drawing from mist energy, it would be nice to have some utility skills that do the same. Kinda like how the Elementalist can have Arcane Utility skills which aren’t linked to an element.
I don’t really see the Kodan being all that versatile when it comes to the professions. Can you imagine an acrobatic d/d thief Kodan? If they do add a new race, the Tengu has the best shot. They have a starter city, their character model has many similarities with the Charr and have a long history with Guild Wars.
I’m more intrigued by an Ele using a Warhorn than one using a Sword. Swords are a crowd pleaser but they are fairly generic. There are so many other weapon types other than the Sword which often get overlooked, that I’m glad that they are looking elsewhere. I actually hope that we don’t get to the point where every profession has a spec that uses the sword or greatsword.
At the end of the day it really should be about the skills, so although the Warhorn doesn’t have all that many flashy skins, it might just be really useful. Another plus is that they might start making some nice Warhorn skins due to the new demand.
Pre-Purchase grants two things. So I'll wait.
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Mordeus.1234
At first I was a bit annoyed with the pricing, not outraged just annoyed enough to take a break from the game. But now I’ve come to terms with how I’m going to approach this whole thing. Simply I’m not going to pre-purchase the game at all.
This is because pre-purchasing only gives two things; Weekend Beta access and a title.
1. Beta Access: This is the only reason to pre-order because you get to experience Weekend Beta which is a whole lot better than the Portal beta event. Which sucked for me since it clashed with sleep and work (Australia based player who got 5 minutes of beta at 6:00am before leaving for the train). I had a bad experience with HoT beta so far, so although weekend events are so much better, I’m cool with skipping them because it means very little in the grand scheme if I eventually end up playing the final product. Besides whatever time you spend in the beta is eventually erased when your beta character is deleted.
2. Maguuma Trailblazer title: Way too regionally specific and actually doesn’t mean a whole lot. Especially since you can only equip one title and there are dozens of others that actually set you apart in terms of achievement.
So I’m going to do the following:
1. Wait for an actual release date and more details of content.
2. Continue to play but casually and without buying anymore gems.
3. Purchase the expansion when I feel the need to. There are still some base game things I need to do like level some characters to lv80 and do some world completion stuff. I can live with missing out on a couple of weeks of HoT since I did miss out on LS Season 1.
I mean who knows what other price shenanigans they’ll pull in the future with HoT, they might even do a small Holiday sale.
As things are right now, there isn’t a whole lot that has actually changed aside from the price inequity (which has been covered extensively). HoT hasn’t even gone live or close to it. I could frame this as a protest but it’s just me stepping back and looking at this objectively. The things I actually care about is what HoT will deliver, we need to ensure it is first worth the money. So I’ll wait and watch what unfolds.
Ult HoT has no savings if the slot was includ
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Mordeus.1234
The inclusion of an Ultimate edition is pretty ridiculous. They should have done the following:
1. Reduce the price further of the base game down to $5 from $10/20 but remove the base from sale.
2. Buying the game from a local game store or the webpage would include HoT with the base game priced at $50 for the standard edition and $80 for the digital edition.
3. However existing users could upgrade their account from inside the game for $45 for the standard HoT upgrade and $75 for the digital edition. Saving $5 and the need of purchasing the base game again.
4. In the upgrade tab of the gemstore there would be a HoT Digital Upgrade option for accounts that only purchased the standard edition if they originally chose not to get the Digital edition, that would be priced at $30.
5. Instead of an Ultimate Edition that adds nothing but Gems, just have a special gemstore page only open to accounts that have upgraded to HoT that sells gems at a discounted price. But that would only be available for a couple of days in celebration of the pre-order and would eventually go away.
This way you’d have a simple option between two versions of the game, giving a great deal to new players while giving kitten discount to existing players. Plus you’d have people frantically buying gems and the pre-order during a short term sale.
At the moment there is no in-game evidence of an actual Dragonhunter faction of NPC Guardians. The only mention of a faction comes from Jon Peters and it was part of his personal justification for the Dragonhunter name. His use of “faction” could very well be synonymous with “elite specialization”.
Anything related to this faction idea is speculation at this point, while Braham being the originator of the Dragonhunter profession now has an important piece of evidence backing it up. Before Jon Peters posted about a Dragonhunter faction, no-one was talking about the possibility of a Dragonhunter faction. While the original Dragonhunter Braham theory has been talked about from the beginning of the Dragonhunter reveal and now we have proof.
Besides if the faction does have an in-game basis, it could be created by Braham and led by Braham, which would enforce the other side’s criticism despite there being a “faction”.
HoT Price Feedback + Base game included [merged]
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Mordeus.1234
I’m already installing another game while I wait out things out.
They are going to stay behind to form Destiny’s Edge 3.0 while everyone else is lost somewhere in the Maguuma Jungle. With the powers of Lord Faren, Mr Sparkles, Garm, Chauncey von Snuffles III & a talking pot plant combined the world will be in safe hands.
Seriously though, no-one knows at this point. But it’s reasonable to think that Garm will act like a search and rescue dog to find Eir or that Mr Sparkles has some way of detecting Zojja.