Guild Wars 2

Hmm, based from what I know now, I reworked my concept in what I belief this spec may end up like:
I’ll try to make changes based on the Icons and now knowing, that it will use Mantras.

Tome Skills

Tome of Courage (thats the 2015er removed version)
Increases Max Health on Activation and grants Stability periodically while its used.
1) Heal Area
2) Purifying Ribbon
3) Protective Spirit
4) Pacifism
5) Light of Deliverance

Tome of Wrath (Justice) (basically the 2015er old version in regard of Skills)
Grants periodically Quickness to nearby Allies and raises your Max Health on Activation
1) Conflagrate
2) Affliction
3) Smiter’s Boon
4) Zealot’s Fervor
5) Judgment

New) Tome of Resolve
Grants Resistance periodically and increases your Max Health on Activation
1) Vigorous Spirit – Grants Vigor to nearby Allies and you get healed when the affected allies cast spells or attack a target.
2) Essense Bond – Bond yourself with a nearby ally to split received damage upon you and your bonded ally. Gain might each other, when your bonded parnter hits a target.
3) Defenders Zeal – Stunbreaks nearby Allies and creates a barrier line that enemies can’t cross for a few seconds
4) Gift of Health – Grants Regeneration and grants for some time Extra Max Health to nearby allies while the effect of this skill works.
5) Martyr – Convert all negative Conditions from nearby allies to you gain for each converted condition stacks of Might
—

Mantras

Heal:
Mantra of Purification > Reversal of Fortune
Heal yourself. Gain 2 Charges of Reversal of Fortune which activate themself automatically on the next 2 incoming hits and reverse the incoming damage and remove a Condition that way as well.

Utility:

Mantra of Zeal > Zealous Benediction
Gain two charges.
Cast Zealot’s Fire on activation upon your armor to enhance it this way, to burn foes that hit you for the next few hits

Mantra of Protection > Shielding Hands
Gain two charges. Grants Protection to you and nearby allies on Activation and temporarely increases your Healing Power making you more effective at reviving allies, lettign downed targets loose slower health while you are revivign them while Shielding Hands is active.

Mantra of Truth > Holy Veil
Gain 2 charges. Send out a revealing magical circular light wave from your position, which makes also Traps visible. Foes affected by this light will be weakened and vulnerable for some time.

Mantra of Life > Rebirth
Gain two charges.
Revive a fallen Ally instantly with 25% of its Health (works only on players, not NPCs)

Elite:

Mantra of Chains > Scourge Sacrifice
Gain two charges.
You lose health, but all nearby foes will get immobilized and will gain damage based on your lost health

Reminder: Effects are just speculated based on Leak Skill Icons.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/25-Movement-Enrichment/first#post6571204

hmm, haven’t seen that leak in details yet, so I didn#t know, if the tome gameplay mechanic was leaked as well.
Howev,er it was just a leak, not the final product.
In regard of this I will change my concept to Tomes being F Skills then

The 3 mentioned Virtue Skill will be then reworked into utility Skills instead.
has that leak also revelead what kind of utility skill type the specialization will use if not Tomes??

Kits?, Glyphs? Stances? anything known about that? Was pretty sure, that if Tomes return, that ANet would turn them into an own Skill Type so that they could be a bit more creative on new Tomes, than just only letting the class have 3

RabbitUp.8294:

Because all Symbols grant boons, regardless of what the weapon does. Sure, they can make a different Symbol for axe, but it would be a first.

The spec is not purely offensive, according to the leak, it’s condition and support.

hmm, good point, clearly an oversight of me.. so hmm in that case I think the Axe Skill Symbol should grant Quickness as an offensive boon to raise briefly your attack speed als also to support that way the DPS of your allies by the help of the increased attack speed while standing in that symbol.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Orpheal.8263:

Localizations are part of any international games. Get used to it.

There are german forums, where this discussion would be relevant.

Discussions there are fruitless and lead to nothing. Here is where the music plays and where you reach the people that you want to reach regardless of which language I speak.

@Rabbit

I see this spec as a more melee oriented offensive Specialization, so why has a Symbol Skill on the Axe have to do in a defensive or supportive way with Boons?
It would fit much better, if it affects offensively Boons, in regard of “purification” by removing enemy boons instead as like conditions as well as a powerful OH Axe skill based on it, if we will be able to wield the axe in both hands, or just only boon removal, if such a symbol skill lands later in the MH only for that Elite Spec.

The guardian class has enough defensive/supportive skills and already enough access to boons easily too.
It would make more sense to me, if the Axe Symbol Skill just purges hit foes from one of their Boons to make clear, that the Axe Symbol Skill is of offensive nature.

based on the leak, I’d love it when it ends up like this concept and will be named in the end Exorcist

Virtues will be changed versions like DH just changed the Core versions of the virtue Skills

Justice: Blade of Justice
Grants your used Weapon an Aura of Justice giving it a magical blade of light that increases the range of the weapon slightly and removes boons and conditions from the hit foes as long its effect is active.
Resolve: Veil of Resolve
Grants you temporarely Stability, Resistance and Protection on activation.
Get healed when those Boons should get removed from you, before their durations ended
Courage: Heart of Courage
Sacrifice yourself to ressurrect up to 2 nearby allies of yours with 33% of their Health.
The ressurrected Allies will have temporarely all Boons for 5 seconds. You summon at your death spot also a “Blade of Retribution” for a minute, a spiritual Greatsword that will attack for some time all foes in its near, which grants periodically nearby allies Retaliation and Might also. If its still there if you got revived in time before its duration ends, then you can command it and let it remove Boons with its Command Attack
—

Axe Skills

Auto: Ethereal Light
Swing your axe and create with the swign a mid ranged crescent light blade that hits up to 5 targets in front of you for a range of 600. If that light touches allies, then they will lose a condition. if they were under 50% Health. Were they over 50% then the light grants Fury to allies that get in contact with your Ethereal Light.

2) Holy Strike
Leap at your target and cause on impact a pillar of light that purges foes. It removes Conditions, except Burning from foes. But for each removed condition deals the pillar of light 10% extra damage and causes at the end of the strike a longer lasting Burning

3) Judge’s Insight
Grants you Retaliation and Might for a some time.
While the Effect of this Skill is active, do you counter melee attacks with Judge’s Intervention automatically.
If Judge’s Intervention has been triggered based on Judge’s Insight then you gain after a successful counterattack also Aegis.

If able to wield both hands, then also

4) Symbol of Purge
Grants Quickness on actibation priodically while standing in the Symbol for you/allies.
Smash the Axe into the ground and create a Symbol of Purge, which damages foes over time and removes also conditions and boons periodically.

5) Reversal of Fortune
Converts the next incoming Damage into a Healing instead.
—

Skill Mechanic added for Utilities, Heal and Elite Skill would be Tomes
Each Tome when activated will replace the Weapon Skills with a Set of Tome Skills and Tomes basically work liek “Kits”, so the Skills are as long as active as like you want to use the Tome with 1 hook. As long as you use the Tomes actively, can’t you perform Dodge Rolls and your Movement Speed is reduced, therefore are the Tome Skilsl more powerful than the Axe Weapon Skills and have more range.

Ghotistyx.6942:

My favorite thing is when we start discussing German translations on an English video game forum.

Localizations are part of any international games. Get used to it.
—

Paladin doesn’t really fit to Tomes.
It would be more a fitting term for an E-Spec that is based on Radiance using Tower Shields for the MH as weapon.

This spec is kind of more the Elite Spec that is based on the Virtue of Justice and Zeal, which is why I can agree with it, that “Zealot” would also be a better term for it that would suit also better for localization works (Eiferer) as a term for a kind of fanatic which “purifies” all evil through zealous flames and punishes/purges evil doers with forbidden zealous spells from ancient tomes, kind of like an “Exorcist” which would be also a class term that I’d prefer much more for the Elite Specialization, than this ridiculous “Firebrand”, because Exorcist is at least a clear trustworthy profession term that stands equal with terms like Guardian, Warrior, Thief & Engineer on a same level.

@Xaylin:

Don’t misunderstand me, personally I wasn’t to begin with from begin on a supporter of the localization “Draufgänger” for Daredevil as well, because of it being no real profession term that is equal with profession terms like Thief, Warrior, Guardian ect.
Sure, an Elite Spec must not be strongly connected to the Base Class, but it should be at least tied to it strong enough, that you can see where the Spec is coming from and I think in regard of this should be the name of the E-Spec same as trustworthy as profession, like the Core Class. It should be coherent to the Core Class. and its Gameplay Mechanics, while being at the same time different enough so that its name fits to the new mechanics, skills and gameplay effects that the E-Spec adds to the Game, without sounding absurd, childish or too high conceptual just for the sake only of making it sound “unique/new”.

Best example is Holosmith, it sounds like a true profession, somethign that you can learn to become, without beign too high conceptual, without sounding absurd or childish and its coherent to the Engineer as an Elite Specialization that has focused its abilities in Technology, so Inventions and Tools to turn Holograms into something, that can be helpful in combat (most likely into a different form of Minions similar to Clones, but different to Gyros

Your point about Clerics is moot, Berserkers are also for the Warrior basically already covered by the Dual Swords, Dual Axes, Dual Maces, Hammer and the Greatsword and still, Anet added Berserkers as a Warrior Elite Spec with a different new Weapon.
So why should make Anet now in front of Clerics a stop for the Guardian. Same could be done for the Cleric, adding with them the Axe, but that doesn’t stop anybody from playing later a Cleric with an other Weapon, like the Mace or the Hammer to play the E-Spec with one of its more traditional Weapons.
An Elite Spoecialization isn’t designed around the Weapon only, Skills, traits and Gameplay Mechanics have also a word to say here too in regard if a name of an Elite Specialization fits to it ,or not.

By the way Stormcaller is Sturmrufer, not Sturmbote, so your literal translation was wrong.
However, if the E-Spec ends up as Eiferer for us, that would make sense at least for us in German, but personally I find it wrong to give other languages different class names, just so that the terms are suiting, while they use for the English Version then terms, that completely mean somethign different.

Thats like calling a Warrior Warrior in English and then calling the Warrior in German “Kämpfer”, which is Fighter in English and a completely different word.
While the translation does make sense for German sure, it doesn’t change the fact, that it would be a completely different word based from the English original that could have been translated closer to the orignal and as such wouldn’t be truly a correct translation

If I had to localize now this weird term of “Soulbeast” into German, because here we have clearly a high conceptual fantasy name than can’t be localized in a 1:1 way to end up with a trustworthy profession term, I’d call them “Biestherr/in”, but that would be retranslated back then “Beastlord” as a class, which will most likely be for the rangr a shapeshifter this time that will be able to transform intself into some kind of “Beast Avatars” instead of using pets or which is able to transform their pets with some kinmd of supernatural powers (animal souls) their pets into more powerful soul beasts.
Beastlord would suit for all languages also much better as term for a ranger e-spec that is based on beast mastery, instead of naming the E-Spec most likely after its gameplay mechanic and lettign it sound like a high conceptual fantasy term and not like a trustworthy profession name that is equal with Ranger, Thief & Co.

I agree with you, Feuerbringer would be same as silly as like Feuerbrand for a localization into German.
I’m just absolutely no friend of any high conceptual terms at all, as they end up in most cases just only a silly, childish or absurd sounding terms that can’t be taken serious, especialyl when the core classes use all except of the magic/fantasy based core classes all trustworthy traditional profession terms and are mostly always used in games only, to make something forcefully sound “unique”, without caringabout it, if those terms may be immersion breaking.

@Xaylin

All 3 of your named options are no professions, not at all anythign what you would compare to anything of the Core professions like Thief, Ranger, Warrior, Guardian, which are all serious sounding class medieval professions and not high conceptual junk like Firebrand, or cliche stuff like DH or again high conceptual junk like tempest, which Anet screwed over in the German localization into Sturmbote (Stormrunner) which is in its word and meaning somethign completely different and is very near in tough with the word “Herald/Herold” which on the other hand has ANet used as first Elite Spec Name for the Revenant >.>

That much messed up ANet with their nonsensical “high concepts” the whole localization. Lets not begin here first even with Daredevil and Scrapper.
Reaper was even a stretch, but at least in this case a deeply LOREBASED stretch that made for Necromancers sense, while DH was just a lorebased for Braham’s Drama invented disaster compared to this.

Unruhestifter, sounds not very much after somethign that is deeply connected to a Guardian (Wächter), it is kind of the completely OPPOSITE of what a guardian stands for.. a guadian makes sure that “Unruhestifter” just land into JAIL cause they are “troublemakers”

A “Hitzkopf” is just a person, who acts without thinking first and that in an overly aggressive manner. What has this please to do with a Guardian? Everybody can be a “Hitzkopf”, completely irrelevant of which class you play. Hitzkopf is just a completely unreliable translation that focuses too much on the aspect of “fire” > hotheaded.

Same goes with Heißsporn, its just a synonym in this case for Hitzkopf, but it a kind of little more positively meant way, when you are very eagerly wanting to do something and theres just somebody or somethign that stops you from doing what you want to do so eagerly, thats the moment when you can say to that person, that he/she is a “Heißsporn” in German which is in this case just one of the many mentioned “double meanings” I mentioned in regard of English where we have in german for specific word for more oftenly own unique words, in Englihs you have for all kinds of various meanings out of different situations (contexts) 1 and the same word that is used for like half a douzen if different meanings.

just make the ENglish to German translation
https://www.dict.cc/?s=firebrand

You see already here, that this simple 6 word has directly 6 different meanings in German. That makes it naturally not easier for localizing especially “high conceptional” names of classes, when there are only vry vague references for a fitting translation, or in worst case, absolutely no, so that you are basically forced to invent for th localization a new word, which fits to the gameplay and class design.

Thats the way how Anet made practically the “Sturmbote” for us, because would anet have localized in a 1:1 manner for us the Tempest, then would be called the E-Spec in german for us just only “Unwetter” , which would be retranslated back to English just “Storm” basically and sicne when is being a Storm a profession?
Being a Guadian is a profession, cause its a job that you can learn to become. You can’t learn to become a weather effect.
Thats what I mean that profession names must be serious. Every name for a class or Elite specialization should reflect a profession, that you can actually learn to become.

If a Class/E-Spec name can’t fulfill this simple criteria, then the class/E-Spec should get renamed.
Can you learn how to become a Firebrand? No Can you learn how to become a Crusader or a Cleric, or a Justicar? Yes, you casn, because that a true profession terms, jobs that you can learn as a person.
It are not titles, it are not high conceptual fantasy terms, it are no word mutations that just sound fancy like “Souldbeast” LOL /facepalm.

No, it are just equal terms, that are on the same standards as liek Thief, Ranger, Guardian or Warrior are, without any high concepts behind it, ect. pp and thatx it, how I think, that all class names and Elite Specs shoudl be like, because that way it becomes also the most easiest for localization of the names for all languages, without that any language later ends up with some kind of alinating translations that are absolutely out of tough with the meaning of the English original word maybe.

PS: I will scream, if the German localization of Firebrand ends up later really as “Feuerbrand” no kidding

Lahmia.2193:

Orpheal.8263:

snip

Crusader would work considering they named the warrior elite spec Berserker, and we now have a stat called Crusaders. Then we just need the new thief espec to be called Assassin!
edit: I was joking btw. Naming specs after already existing gear is a silly idea.
Firebrand or Justiciar (White Mantle vibes ftw) get my vote.

Not right! Not a silly idea – the correct way of naming classes.
After your logic would we have to rename already the Berserker Gear Stat, just because we have an Elite Specialization that is also called Berserker.
for the game it would be just best to get rod of the gear stat terms
(That would free up in certain cases terms for potentially better Elite-Specializations like for example Crusader for the Guardian instead of this Firebrand/Purifier garbage)

The whole nonsense around these gear stat prefix terms wouldn’t even exist in this game, if the game would get finally rid of those obsolete gear stats and would allow our character development to become completely free through just automatic gain of attribute points by leveling up the character followed by individual attribute point distribution by the players – together with the option to reset your attribute point setup anytime out of combat.

The only point which speaks against the huge QoL improvement that would tremendously reduce grind in this game is the fear that people have, that this kind of change woudl destroy the game economy – but thats nonsense as well ,because it just lies in the hands of Anet, how they just would need to change recipes and material requirements to ensure, that those materials that were formerly used for all kinds of gear stat stuff will receive new ways how those materials that were formerly part of the gear stat stuff will be needed by the playe.rs, so that the players still want to buy in masses the materials from other players, so that the demand for the items still stays high enough or eventually will even rise based on the made changes.

Can say it only again – it would just lie in the hands of Anet, but getting rid of obsolete gear stats absolutely DOES NOT have to mean automatically, that the whole game economy iwl lcrash from that change – thats pure hyperbole and predictign things into something, that absolutely nobody can know.
—

Crusader/Cleric/Justicar would make as options for a tome based Specialization just the most sense.

Crusader fits best, if you want the Specialization to follow the flair of the general virtue based specialization that is focused on general improved virtue gameplay

Cleric fits best, if you want the Specialization to follow the flair of the “Purifier”, the kind of guardian which supports the group massively through condition cleanses and punishes enemies for using condition skills.

Justicar fits best , if you want the Specialization to follow the flair of the “Judge” as a specialization which is heavily focused on being the specialization for the Virtue of “Justice” – the rulers of laws – best suited for the Tome Gameplay, while the DH feels more like also being the Spec for basically all Virtues, as in theory if Anet has plans for a Crusader Spec, it could easily also be the one specificly for the Virtue of Courage.

Genesis.8572:

Hopefully the name goes back to the previous leak name of “Purifier,” because “Firebrand” would make the Guardian the consecutive winner of the “Worst E-Spec Name” award.

ANet sucks in general at creativity in regard of naming things lately…

When we look just at what they did to the game with the Specs, its a miracle, that none of the games core classes have received such terrible “names” and received all (except revenant, but thats an HoT abomination in the end still ) kind of normal sounding serious “profession names”, that actually are also existing terms of jobs, with the only exceptions of the clear and obvious fantasy central professions that are based on magic – but then even those are based on mythology and culture somewhere, whereas anet did for some E-Specs with HoT and now for the next expansion as well some kind crazy sounding abominations , which never will end well at all anyhow in the localization works later, wihtout totally twisting around 180° the meaning of either the term, or the concept behind the specialization just to get it localized into something, that sounds in the other language halway trustworthy – but most likely will have lost its connection to the true meaning behind the original english word that anet has taken for the name of the spec.

The way how Anet names their specs may work very well maybe for languages, that are full of synonyms, double meanings everywhere which allow a reader to interpretate into a single word a million different meanings and due to this the freedom in a fantasy came basically to see into the terms whatever you want.

But for languages like German, that are compared to English/American English alot more strict and straight forward in regard of the meanigns of each individual word, where words have not a gazillion different meanings for one and the same thing basically, literally forces the localizes to be extremely creative in coming up with names that satisfy the true meaning on the one hand of the English original word, and on the other hand satisfy same as much the gameplay concept of the specialization and where the name actually does fit also as well to the actions you can do with the specialization later in the game.

Lets take Firebrand here now..

Would Ii try to translate that name now in a 1:1 manner over into German, I would get the idiotic result of “Feuermal” oder “Brandfackel”.
The first one being absolutely no profession at all, would I retranslate the 1st word back into English, would I end up with a port-wine stain >.>“birthmark” instead and what in the hell has a birthmark to do with being a profession??? Nothing.

Do I use the other word, retranslating it back to English I would end up with Firebrand directly, but in German is a “Brandfackel” not a profession, its just a stupid different term for a TORCH.
So if we want to localize such silly words into other languages, in this example now into German, localizers forcefully have to become very creative and change the name most likely into something completely different, just so that the name and the gameplay end up later as somethign, that makes in the end in context of each other SENSE (hopefully)

If that spec ends up as axe wielder ad uses Tomes, then I would rather prefer to call that specializatzion with a serious soundign name that actualy would sound also as well like some kind of serious “profession” in the guild wars universe like “Crusader” (Kreuzfahrer) or “Cleric” (Kleriker), or “Justicar” (Justiziar) based from “Judge” as executors of justice, one of the guardians core virtues! as judges use “tomes” tbhat are full with their “laws” to keep justice and to punish those who violence them.

3 very good much more fitting like real professions sounding terms, than such nonsense like “Firebrand” which isn’#t even a profession term at all, that Anet will want for sure hold us under our noses again with their excuse of this name being too “high concept” for us to grasp, like they defended this way the first round of weird sounding E-Spec names for HoT lol… instea of just admittign it, that they simply weren’t creative enough to come up just upon some names for their concepts, that actually sounded also like professions, like they did do that for all of the core professions to give them names that sound like normal professions that fit into a classical fantasy based medieval world on what you would expect from such a game.

Arden.7480:

This face after Lazarus revealed that he is Balthazar… No one can deny she is not hurting…

priceless trollface material xD pure gold ^^ roflmao

oh, you mean so high concept, as like stuff like “Soulbeast”, “Mirage”, “Scourge”, “Purifier” ect. could only be?? (stuff like that sounds more like “codenames”)

I just don’t want to think about ot, how these will end up later as localized mutated abominations in the game… Most likely not as something, that will sound like a serious “profession” at all.

Can you accept the direct spoiled truth?

@ castle:

The eastern version of a “Warrior”, per se a Samurai which were mounted units fighting with bows from horseback either or with Katanas or Naginatas on foot, until firearms completely took over everything slowly can’t be compared to a western version of Warrior which is more comparable to either vikings or knights that favorized brutal and direct melee combat, because that was their form of having a “honorable battle”

Europe is known for its civil wars much more in its early history, than for its military wars that were done by dictators like Caesar and his Roman Empire at which time people saw bows already not anymore as just a poor mans hunting tool, but where that time people have become under the lead of the roman empire become militarized over the centuries, where before there was just civil wars held by farmers which eventualy used bows, or most likely simple knives, clubs, scythes, pitchforks and the like, stuff that was just affordable by the simple poor peopel at that time.

Europeans at that time saw into Knights of their Kingdoms their “Warriors”, because they were it which fought for their folks and defended it from harm and they fought all with sword and shield mostly, not with bows or rifles, which didn’t even existed at these times.
Thats the reason, why I differentiate between european “Warriors” and Samurais.
The cultures and the history between both forms are just too different to compare them or even go so far to put them on an equal level by saying that they are the same, only because one side of them did use in history for a much longer and earlier time bows already in warfare, than the other side, which saw for a long time in bows nothign else, than a tool to hunt food just used by hunters.

Fact is, Guild Wars (2) is a western stylized game. Tyria’s continent is based on a european setting, not an asian one like Cantha. This includes its profession design and why we have for example now Thieves and not Assassins from begin on.
“Warrior” is a very broad and generic term into which you can interprete alot into if you want.
If this wouldn’t be true, then we wouldn’t have this discussion here now, if everybody would have the same interpretation of what a Warrior is/should be for them.

OMG, I just realized now after some more intense googling, that there was a leak about mounts.

If they are seriously part of the next expansion and are working in itself like “Specializations” with different types of mounts that fulfill various kinds of useful roles, then I’m definetely instantly active again and those leak pictures are just looking as good as like they look being trustworthy and definetely not faked.

(Thats like freaking combining my two most like gameplay elements together and making out of it one merged thing – definetely somethign that would make GW2 truly more unique)

@castle: thats the reason why I focused my comment on european warriors, because I knew, someone would come up wioth the “Samurai” comparison >.>

GW2’s warrior is designed after the classic european warrior, not after asian katana swinging, bow wielding Samurais. Not to mention that we have no Samurais in GW2, nor surely will we ever get to see them in GW2 – not until eventually in XX years we might see perhaps the return of Cantha at which time it will most likely be already time for either GW3 or hopefully a completely new and better game franchise of Anet that surpasses GW2.
You forget the STAFF on Guardian, which was from befin on in the game and is also for guardian a 1200 range weapon – sorry, please get your facts straight!

With Orb of Light, 1200 range, yes its not its Auto Attack, but it had from begin on that range.

And no, its laziness, because what you expect them to do with adding new weapon types is just pure greed and unfair towards the devs to expect from them, that they should implement instantly all skins from 4 years of development time the very moment they would add a new weapon type!!
That this is some kind of childish super unrealistic wishthinking do you realize, or??? Thats something that has time, its more important that they just improve the game with interestign new weapon types, the skin diversity ins by far not THAT important at first, it naturally will come over time after the new weapon type has ben implemented first and this may include also retroactive skins of already existing skin sets to make them complete again.

I did say not only that heavy armors are used for a reason to increase the chances of survival, which is just a fact, but it has also in relativity to the game mechanics its reason. Heavy armors have by design the highes defense values naturally, they are only worn by soldiers, which are all by design focused around melee Combat, be it the Warriro with his Sword, Axe, Hammer, Mace or Greastword, which are all conventional traditional melee weapons and in fact also for the Warrior in the game designed as melee weapons, the only ranged combat has the Warriro from Longbow and Rifle, because there excists basically no alternative to these weapon types to give the Warrior trustworthy ranged weapon skills without involving “magic” as reason to explain why the skill works as it works and for that is already the greatsword skill Bladetrail a a stretch, while all other skills are normal compared to this single one and look like normal physical combat arts that don’t defy physics like Bladetrail does. But thats a different topic now

Guardians have their Sword, Mace and Hammer for Melee Combat while Scepter/Focus and Staff and now with Dh Longbow for Mid to Longrange Combat.

Revs have their Swords, Axe, Mace, Shield and Staff for Melee combat, in this case again most of all their useable weapons by design are melee weapons, just like its the case for Warrior and more or less also the Guardian which is from all of the 3 the more magical based and balanced soldier class in regard of melee and ranged combat now due to DH, but before DH the favor was also here more towards melee combat with either Sword, Mace or Hammer, while the rest is midrange with only 1 single long range skill.

Greataxes are easily useable by multiple possible classes. The bare minimum of two is simply reached with just the Warrior (Berserker, redesign that Torch thing to somethign else and merge what is possible) and the Necromancer (Executioner)
Job done! Possible would be as well the Rev and the Guardian for sure.

However, you can count up a plethora of more arguments now, you won’t convince me here now that longbows and rifles belong to the Warrior. that has also somethign to do with “honor”
A rifle as like a longbow is a honorless weapon for a true Warrior. Warriros with honor fight and die in melee combat from eye to eye with their enemies, weapons crossed, thats the way of the warrior.
Shooting enemies dead from safe range is just the way of modern tactical warfare that came with the modernization of weapons and the invention of firearms, cannons ect.

I laugh at warrior players who fight me only with ranged weapons and never get over to melee combat for what their class is mainly designed for, when you just look at their weapons and their skills.

Sure, everything we say here changes nothing on the point, that we still talk about a fantasy game with magic and high tech stuff and all that supernatural things that look far more advanced than just gun power guns, while shooting still only silly bullets, when you’d expect something like laser beams and the like of them (Asurans eh) that you find in them naturally to explain all kinds of weird unreal things.
But that hasn’t to mean that we must have to agree with just everything, only because we play the game.

Sartharina.3542:

Your insult to warriors is noted, and dismissed.

Warriors have Longbow and Rifles because those are weapons of warriors throughout history and mythology. And if you say warriors shouldn’t have ranged weapons because they’re “Tanks” – A proper tank is equipped with a 120 mm cannon and machine gun while still clad in the best armor.

Where you see in my post any kind of “insult” I dont know.. if you mean that “kitten”, then be assured, that it is just simple a normal word, that the ridiculous filter of this forum mistakes as a bad word and its just a common used synonym word for equipment that sadly sounds and is written with its first four letters like a persons butt what this dumb filter can’t differentiate here.

But maybe you just want to see only in my posting an insult, just because I don’t agree with your “picture” of what a Warrior has to be …>.>

I don’t say Warriors shouldn’t have ranged weapons… I said they should have gotten ranged weapons that fit better their design of being a m mainly melee focused Class, as thats what SOLDIERS back in history were mostly before firearms like Rifles were invented around 1500 and replaced more and more Bows, first in Europe, then later in the rest of the world.

Warriors used heavy armors to survive better in melee confrontations, not to hide themself like turtles in the backline while watching others doing the work for them at the frontline.
Back in history there existed specificly trained and skilled ARCHERS for this job at ranged combat, which wore all no heavy armors, simply because they didn’t need them and if they would have used them, they would have disturbed them only while using their bows because of making them less mobile and easier targets for faster moving enemy units with melee weapons, because as like you can think about – in a real battle is a bow not very efficient in a melee combat, as like a sword in comparison.
It weren’t heavy armored people in plate armors that stood on fortress walls or at the backline to shoot with their longbows at enemies neither, no again it were specific for this task trained and skilled archers that all wore mostly less weighting hard leather armors, stuff that is comparable of what Rangers in GW2 use.

The only real historic “warriors” if you want to call them that, which existed were chariots in the ancient Rome and such at Julius Caesars timeage that used all bows only from HORSEBACK mainly or as unmounted military archer troops.

Its a simple fact that Warriors in GW2 just have Longbows and Rifles, so that they can fight back against Rangers, Elementalists and the like that have 1200er range skills, so that you are with a Warrior not in a permanent disadvantage of being kited around to death. And its very difficult to near impossible to design for a Warrior belieavable longrange skilsl that are based on weapons liek Swords, Axes ect. without making usage of any weird magic effects as reasons for why this skill works liek designed and Warriors are no “magical profession” – so that is out of question, which means automatically the only solution for ranged combat for Anet was to give them Longbows and Rifles, where I just say, a better fitting solution would have been Spears and Axe (Tomahawk Style) as mid ranged Weapons, due to these Weapon fitting better to the Warrior & Hunter Theme that is melee to midrange based.

@ ill:

To answer your question and to say something about the topic…
Yes, there is alot of stuff ANet could do to improve the Enrichment feature with new effects instead of provinding us only those few we have now which become after a certain point in the game obsolete for the player, like the exp one or the Mf one which is pointless for a game with a ridiculous item drop system that is based on like asia grinder RNG mechanics with drops changes like 0,00000001% for something, where a bonus of like 20% is… um like absolutely nothing.

If I had to say right now on the spot 5 Enrichments that I would add to the game, then it woudl be these 5:

• Crafting Enrichment = Increases Crafting Exp by +25% and grants a 10% chance, that the crafted item will cost no materials if the crafted item is of exotic or lesser value

• Gathering Enrichment = Grants a chance of 20% that a bonus of gathered items at the end when the node is empty (Either this or a chance increase for rare materials from gathering)

• Dungeoneer Enrichment = Increases Dungeon Tokens earned by + 20 when successfully doing a Dungeon

• Raider Enrichment = Increases the gained currency reward of Raids

• Trader Enrichment = Increases the gained Map Currencies you gain in Maps that have indidual Map Currencies by 20% from all sources.
  —-

Heck I could come up with even more…

• Achiever Enrichment: Doubles the Point Gain for Number based Achievements (Example Weapon Achievements, Kill Achievements)
  With this Enrichment you would have to kill only 500 Giants for the Achievement instead of 1000. This simple thing could massively reduce the achievement grind for alot of stuff and this way would be really a valuable item to get for anyone who cares about number based Achievements and the grind that comes with them in certain cases.

• Glorious Enrichment: Increases the Laurel Rewards from Login Rewards by +2

• War Enrichment: Increases WvW Exp by +25%

• Battle Enrichment: Increases the Progress on Reward Tracks for PvP/WvW by +15%

• Salvager Enrichment: Increases the amount of regained Materials when salvaging an item based on a percentual part of the amoutn of materials that were required to craft it and increases the chance to regain Upgrades and rare Materials by 15%

• Glider Enrichment: Reduces Fall Damage for you by 50% should you fall and increases your Glider Flight Speed by 25%

That would bring nobody anything, it would just make power creep and imbalances worser than before, if we just add movement speed everywhere by 10%.

Mobility and Movement Speed is a topic for GW2, which needs to get finally excluded completely out of Class Balance.
For PvE is this task much simpler, than for PvP/WvW as long Anet doesn’t become willing to go for a complete splitting of Skill/Trait Balance for the game modes to ensure, that classes that should be by their design and role in the game slower than other classes – where its needed.

Its not needed in PvE, that Guardians must be slower than say a Thief, Warrior or Elementalist.
So there is no good reason to limitate the movement speed by design for all classes in PvE, unlike Anet likes to be sadistic and to frustrate willingly their playerbase by making certain classes slow as snails while others can be as fast as the wind compared to them… simply makes no sense to make such differences in a game mode, where no competitive things happen between players!!

For PvP and WvW is it just bad, if the game overflows the player with too much effects.
The result what happens when the game has too many effects (Boons and Conditions mainly) incombination with upgrades, skills and traits do we see right now since 23rd June of 2015
The game doesn’t need like 4+ different way just to increase a characters movement speed by like 25-50%.

I do agree here with the point, that Warriors should not wield pistols.
Its already a huge streth, that they even wield longbows and rifles, weapons that absolutely don’t fit to a Warriro by design and are in this game just only part of this class, due to Anet wanting, that all classes should be able to fight in melee as like ranged combat distance, so that no class has by design a disadvantage against a ranged fighting class in combat, what would end only in boring kiting battles, if you have no ranged weapon in your weapon kitten nal against such a class that can keep you on distance eventually too with the weapon skills to shoot you down, before you can even reach your enemy. Thats the freakign only reason, why Warriors have Longbows and Rifles.

Would it go after me, then I would have given them other weapons that fit much more to the design of the Warrior while alllowing them to have ranged combat as well by giving them:

- Spears designed as midranged Throwing Weapon (basically Paragon as the paragon was basically nothign else than a midrange Warrior with Shouts)
- Redesing their Axe Skills as ranged Set (Tomahawks) and redesign the Axe Skills of the Ranger instead into Melee Skills.

Warriors are no class, that should have longrange skills, thats the freakign reason why they wear HEAVY ARMOR to be able to survive better and longer in melee to midrange combat, not for the reason so they can fight from the backline with a longrange weapon …

To Warriors belong conventional and traditional melee to midrange weapons.
Due to Anets decision to give them already from begin on access to nearly all weapons makes it now for Elite Specs very difficult for this class to give them somethign new.
So it wasn’t surprising for me, that Net gave the Berserker somethign totally unfitting as like the Torch – because it was one of the very few not by the Warrior useable weapons in the game, that theoreticalyl make sense – because lets face it, a Torch should be useable basically by absolutely all classes, theres no special training, knowledge, skill or anything needed to be able to wield a torch!!)

Wouldn’t Warriors be already able from begin on to wield Greatswords, then this would have been by design the weapon, that an Elite Spec like a Berserker should wieldand should have added to the Warrior.
However, they do, but there would have been a much better alternative, than the Torch – the Greataxe!! But that would have meant, that Anet for once wouldn’t have to go for the lazy solution and instead woudl have gone the way that requires more effort.

However, I can also understand, that ANet wanted to make sure with the first set of Elite Specs, that the worl load of the first set that introduces them as feature for HoT the workload to do wouldn’t bee too big.
So it was easier and safer to gofor Anet for the first set of Specs after only already existing weapons, because then they wouldn’t need to create new weapon animations or retroactively weapon skins for all the already existing skin sets (even if they don’t need to do that instantly and can do this slowly over time, nobody would complain about it, when a new added weapon type begins naturally first with a significantly lesser amount of skins, than weapons,. that already are over 4 years in the game since release day! That is just logical and nobody can expect from anet to add new weapons type instantly with all the weapon skins retroactively from over 4 years, that would be simply unfair and asked too much from them to do)

For further E-Specs should Warriors receive new weapons like Greataxes, Spears, Staff, Dagger and Tower Shields (Paragons in GW1 had them for) for a bigger Shield that is offensively used in the main hand, instead of the smaller defensivelsy used Shields (Bucklers)

In regard of Boon System/Upgrade/Skill Class Rebalance/Rework it would be neccessary to redesign the whole “movement speed desaster of this game” sooner or later anyways.

All Classes should be able to move same as fast (in PvE).
Be it either through Skills, Traits, Upgrades, Boons ect.
The point is, some of these options are potentially obsolete, if ANet would begin to focus themself upon just 2 options to grant characters faster movement speed and that option should be through SKILLS & TRAITS, without that that option.

Anything else is obsolete – Swiftness/Super Speed are in theory obsolete and can be easily reworked into just Skills/Trait Effects, without that this Effect needs to be a Boon. Super Speed already is no Boon.
The Game needs no 2 Effects that increase Movement Speed. One is enough .

Movement Speed increase through Upgrades is obsolete when already all classes can have it either through Skills or Traits in an active or passive way based on how the class should have access to it. And then there are still also Mobility Skills that simply can be improved, stuff like Shadow Steps, Teleportations, Dashs and the like classes use to close gaps on short distance that are also used to move faster from A to B

The game doesn’t need extra Enrichments for another option to get permanent movement speed increase just so you don’t have to use Upgrades, SKilsl, traits ect for that instead, what in fact would cause only mroe power creep/unbalanced combats.

The game has an overflow of too much Boons and Conditions right now, it has absolutely outdated and unbalanced Upgrades from which a lot are also at the same tiem completely obsolete and useless on the other hand and to be redesigned better into Masteries.

people should request more, which Boon, which Condition, which Upgrade really must stay always what it is now, when it would make sense to redesign those “effects” that those game elements are into a simpler form under just a Skill or Trait Effect instead of having these things as Boons, Upgrades or even now like wanted here as now Enrichments.

If they reduce the amount of effects in this game, then it will become also again easier to balance its classes and all of its upcoming elite specializations.

Class Balance has absolutely nothing to do how fast you can move from A to B.
Making Movement Speed access for all classes equal won’t decide ever about it, if you will win or lose a fight with your class against an other player.

That classes have different easy or not so easy access to movement speed increasements plays just only a role for PvP eventually, because of PvP requiring movement speed to switch positions quick enough to make points for your Team and thats the only reason whys for example a class like a Guardian has not same as easy access to movement speed increases like for example a Thief which is by design made to move fast around on PvP maps and in general too.

However, for PvE/WvW all of this plays no role and this idiotic discussion around changing movement speed elements in this game “woudl break game balance” would instantly stop, if this game would just have finally game mode based “class balance” with skills and traits ect. all being individually designed and balanced around the different game modes, instead of using skills, traits and game elements that are for all game modes exactly the same.

A GW2 without Swiftness & Super Speed, without Movement Increases from Runes would be a better balanced GW2.
Instead should be Movement Speed Increasement for PvE a Mastery and in regard of Skills & Traits just rebalanced for the rest of the game modes individually, so that classes are individually balanced around movement speed, where it makes sense and where it is needed instead of overflowing the game with lots of movement speed mechanics from which like half of them are basically obsolete and make class balancing only more complex and difficult, than neccessary.

OriOri.8724:

Do console controllers even have enough buttons to play GW2?

10 buttons needed for skills, 1 for dodging and 1 for jumping means 12 buttons minimum for combat, not to mention class mechanics, and then being able to change target/interact with NPCs and other pretty basic functionality for the game.

Edit – Oh and ofc weapon swap, means 13 buttons minimum just for combat to be on a fair playing field for combat.

PS4:

Left Stick = Character Movement
Left Stick Press = Auto Camera Focus
Right Stick = Camera Movement
Right Stick Press = Zoom/In Out

Press X with no D-Pad = Auto Attack
Press X + D Pad Directs = Skill 2-5
Press O with no D-Pad = Healing Skill
Press O with D-Pad Left, Right, Down = Utility Skills
Press O with D-Pasd Up = Elite Skill
L1 = Weapon Swap
R1 = Dodge Roll
R2 = Jump
Options = Menu
Touchpad = Map
Share= Screenshots/Social Media
L2 + D-Pad = F1-F4
L2 without D-Pad = F5

What was that again with too less buttons? People easily forget, how much buttons for once Controlers these days have today – we don’t play anymore with stoneage controlers like the NES one with its simple 4 buttons + DPad only for 8 different signals you can send out to the console.
Games these days have become ages ago more and more complex, so tghat controlers had to become more complex with alot of more buttons too, to be able to play those games with ints complex gameplay systems that require alot of buttons.

With a Controler the functions of the buttons change between the situatinos in regard what you do in the game – meanign f you are in combat or not.
Thats the difference between a keyboard and a controler only due to a keyboard having alot more “buttons” in total than a controler, this means automatically that the reduced amount of buttons that the controler has must take over the functions in multiple “Settings”

So…

- A Combat Setting for the Button Functions
- A General Setting for the Button Functions (talking with NPCs, interact with environment ect.)

If Anet would have the will, the ressources and the money to do a console version, then we would have it already long ago. if they would even care for this, then we would have at least even an official controller support function in this game, but no, if we want to have that, we are still dependent on using 3rd party programs ect. just to be able to play GW2 with controlers cause Anet doesn’t officially support that by themself as a “Feature of the Game” and that is the real disappointing fact here.

7) Complete rework on the whole WvW Progression System and its rewards, away from the idiotic 10000 Ranks over to a true skill based rank system where rising up in the ranks requires also player skill and not just grinding unendlessly exp points.
If I see a General in WvW, then I want to know, that this player truly also has more player skill, than for example a simple Private together with the Commander Features beign part of that rank system. Beign Commander should not be something, that should be buyable by players, leading others needs to be earned by skill!!
WvW needs to become more “military” – its war, it needs to feel like war between factions and this flair do you receive only, if the whole gameplay feels also more like being in military with true ranks and orders, where ranks are also meaningful and impactful by unlocking features for the player, what the player can do in WvW

8.) Implement the Mastery System into WvW in its own unique version by providing unique class based WvW Masteries which solidify the ROLES, their Strengths and Weaknesses for each class in WvW.
Example for Thief. As a Thief in WvW you should have the Roles of playing them either as Rogues, Infiltrators, Saboteurs or Assassins.
Each of these Roles should completely change the way how you can play out your character in WvW due to different gameplay elements you can do with the class specificly for WvW designed only.

9) Completely rework and rebalance the current WvW Traits as “Basic” Masteries for all Classes and improve them with alot of new ones that make WvW more interesting

10) Rebalance all Skills and Traits of all Classes specificly for WvW to reconsider there, that we are there not limitied on 5v5 battles, but battles of much larger scales where aspects like AoE skills, crowd control ect. needs to be completely different designed to be halfway balanced

11) Completely redesign the game aspect of “Siege Weapons” and make offensive as like defensive game aspects equally worthful for scoring with stronger points for successfulyl defending, because defensing a place is alot harder, than invading a place – especially if you are outnumbered or in a strategetic bad situation where the enemy has the environmental advantage over your side

12) Complete rework of the Supply System, making Supply an alot more tactical important element of the whole WvW gameplay for the factions
Splitting up simple Supply into 4 different types of needed Supply that will be important for all sides
- Food/Water
- Ore
- Oil
- Wood

13) Not all Siege Weapons can be freely deployed anymore everywhere, so bigger the Siege Weapon, so more limited will be the spots where you can actually place them to prevent that siege weapons get placed at total illogical spots in the maps where they completely destroy all immersion.

My version of perfect WvW:

1) Kick out Buff Food first, make Buff Food PvE Only Items so that Buff Food can be there more interestimg and impactful, without that it can turn out to be a danger for WvW Balance

2) Completely redesign all Maps and the WvW Format in itself.
Away from the silly server based format and change it into a “Faction System” which shares its players among all servers.
No more idiotic discussions about “Server Pride”, you can have instead “Faction Pride”

3) Completely rework the World Reward System into a Faction Reward System
Each Faction rewards players with unique things.
You can change the sides if you wan,t but if you change sides, then you count for some time as “Deserteur” and players in PvE that are from the Faction that you were before can attack you in PvE, if you have “Retribution Mode” active for PvE.
Retribution Mode is a risk/reward system for everyone who participates in it, but it is not a forced thing, every player can decide for themself, if they want to be part of this optional “PPK Gameplay”.
To make one thing from begin on clear, if you ppk an Deserteur Palyer in PvE, you don’t steal anything from them, nor do you steal as survivor anything from your Headhunters. Deserteurs and Headhunters gain from successful defends/ kills their own unique reward currency that can be used to get from it rewards that are gainable only this way, like a unique Deserteur/Headhunter Armor Set.

4) Instead of a 3 Way Battle Royale we have now with the redesigned Maps a 4 Way Faction Battle, that will ensure that Battles are more balanced and we won’t see anymore these kinds of boring 2v1 battles where always 1 side can get easily hold down the whole time. Its more unlikely that something like that will happen in a 4 side battle scenario when all four sides are equally strong.

5) No Borderland Maps anymore that are designed around the point, that each side has some kind of “homeland bonus by design”
Instead all the redesigned maps are based on equality, no side starts from some kind of advantageous central place.

6) Each map will be themed after something landscape/gameplay element based.
- One Tropic Island heavy Water Combat Related Map including Naval Battles
- One Desert/Sandstorm based Map that requires alot of tactics and strategetic maneuvers together with environmental gameplay
- One Sky based Gliding Map that is strongly designed aroung the Y-Achsis (like merging EotM with Eternal Battlefield) including Sky Battles with Gliders
- One mystical misty Forrest with lots of underground catacombs (Roots & Tree Crown) based map with less verticality than in the sky map, but more than in the desert map
- One dark postapocalyptic after eternal war screaming map, one that looks like some kind of “nightmare” for all of those that are kind of imprisoned inside of it
- One snowland map with lots of rocky and icy valleys and mountains with blizzards (if you want no sandstorms in the desert instead)

The game is a mess, because its complete combat system has been neglected by Anets balance team for 4 years by now. Making changes there on a single skill for a single class won’t change anything, nor will it turn the class suddenly into a build diversity miracle.

This game needs like half a douzen fundamental changes to its combat system by now to make this game again more fun and not such a mess.
Beginning with the neccessary first two big steps being to redesign and rebalance the games complete condition and boon system.

That will be for all classes, all game modes, skils, traits, upgrades alike alot more important and impactful to change the game’s balance to the good.
Just fundamental changes like that are also able to shake up a game’s meta strong enough positively, that players realy get also the impression, that something has significantly changed in the game.
A change on a single class skill will change nothing in this game anymore!
Its way too late for this and peopel need to realize by now, that just skill and trait changes aren’t enough anymore to save this game to get it out of the by its developers self made imbalance grave which they continously digged deeper and deeper with each false decision they made over the last 4 years and their pure ignorance on all other important combat system relevant mechanics that play also a big role in game balance – not just only skills and traits – but very much also Upgrades, Invidual Class Base Health Values, Attribute Effects and Accessibility through removal of Gear Stats, Boons, Conditions and lastly Buff Food (which has nothing to search in WvW!! It should become finally PvE only items)

When Anet would look over consistently over all these things and not just only Skills and Traits, because it takes lesser time for them and is more convinient to do, then we would have a much better balanced game by now.

we need not free sigil changes..

we need finally ascended upgrade effect account unlocks (this includes naturally sigils) as a door opener change so that the game can finally receive together with this improvement of the game a BUILD TEMPLATE SYSTEM, which requires that all upgrades need to receive a state, in which they are accountbound so that the BTS can work together with legendary equipment to be able to exchange absolutely everythign quicly out of combat as you like just with a very few clicks to decide, which “Build” your legendary equipment should have for the moment.
thats not somethign that will ever work, if there are any ele,ments in the game, that are still for BIS equipment characterbound, while mostly everythign else is already accountbound, except upgrades!!!

With that being said, the last part of the concept – Elemental Control Skills while you are in Shadow Form.
They are always the same 5 Skills for each weapon, regardless of the Weapon you had equipped the moment you activated Shadow Form based in the Element of the last used Seal before you activated Shadow Form that you attached to the Seal before equipping it to the Skill Bar.

Fire Control:

1) Breath of Fire Inhale air to breathe out fire (^^, GW1 skill and aside of the PS game reference so much basically this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2y4RWTkH6c, tipped for small flares, pressed and hold until released for a stronger breath)
2) Incendiary Bonds Hit a foe and burn it, the next 3 foes that get near to the hit target within the skill duration get burned as well and for each burned ally does receive the main target damage from the bond of this skill while you gain Might.
3) Searing Heat- Create a hot area, in which foes receive damage over time that gets stronger so longer they stay in that affected area.
4) Lava Arrows – Shoot out 3 Lava Arrows, that can either hit all one target or up to 3 different targets at once. Each of those Arrows has a chance of removing a Boon.
5) Immolate – Deals a Burning that becomes stronger over time to a single target.

—

Water Control:

1) Steam – Attack your foes with a blast of hot steam that weakens foes briefly
2) Blurred Vision – Create a blurry fog, that lets foes inside of it become blinded and confused. (Get the reference ^^)
3) Swirling Aura – Grants Regeneration and Retaliation to you and nearby allies and creates a Water Shield around you that reflects the next incoming few projectile attacks
4) Slippery Ground – Foes that get into that area can’t move around under full control anymore (like in SAB on slippery ground) and have a chance periodically to get knocked down for a second. Downed Targets that lie on slippery ground won’t be able to be rallied as long the effect is active similar to the old GW1 ranger skill that stopped reviving dead players if that ranger spirit was there)
5) Winter’s Embrace – Causes Chill and Vulnerability to hit targets. Causes foes to freeze (Alternative to Immobility) if the Chill isn’t cured after some time. A frozen enemy can’t move, but can’t receive damage also in that time.

—

Earth Control:

1) Stone Daggers – Shoot out Stone Daggers that will cripple foes briefly
2) Stoneflesh Aura – Grants Protection to you and increased Vitality for you and your allies when to Earth attuned Elementalists are in your near as little Extra Bonus as class based synergy.
3) Ward of Stability – Grants Stability to you and nearby allies over a time period periodically
4) Crystal Wave – Send out a Crystal Wave, that can briefly petrificate hit targets, but it also removes Conditions from foes as allies that are in its range.
5) Iron Mist – Creates a wall of gravity, that blocks all incoming projectiles that works also as Earth Field for Combos and causes Swiftness/Slow based on it if a foe or ally moves through it

—

Wind Control:

1) Shock Arrow – Shoot out a fast Lightning Arrow, that bounces to nearby targets and ignores defense mechanics that usually would absorb damage. Causes Vulnerability.
2) Lightning Bolt – Shoot a Lightning Bolt at a target, that deals extra damage so more movement impairing conditions the foe suffers on. Stuns foes if the foe suffered on such a condition.
3) Glimmering Mark – Set up a Lightning Trap that shocks foes which step upon it, causes Blindness and Weakness.
4) Sonic Boom – Send out a powerful fast gust, that launches foes away
5) Whirlwind Blade – Send out a big Wind Shuriken that deals damage to all fos in line of sight and causes Stacks of Bleedings and an wind implosion on impact with the Main Target, that knocks up to 5 nearby foes in its radius down. (Fuuton )

I admit, I took a great inspiration from Naruto (love that anime simply for its great story, music &characters and interpretation of Ninjas) in my Concept of the Assassin, but only because it greatly fits so much to the inspiration I got from reading Juggles posting about Assassins “controling the Elements” and I’d like to play in GW2 an ssassin that feels by its gameplay like a Hybrid between Thief, Ranger and a little bit Elementalist, due to Seals working essentially like giving Thieves as Utility Skills the Glyphs under a unique own term and a mechanic that is simiar to the druids celestial form that changes the skil leffects beign linked to the Assassin’s Shadow Form as Master of Stealth/the Shadows and Venoms that they use for their Assassinations with their help of Shadow Doppelgangers (Bunshin no Jutsu xD) that is just basically the Rangers Pet Gameplay in this case, but instead workign with just a copy of yourself that uses its own unique utility Skills instead, just like Pets use their very own skills.

I tried to integrate his points all also as well into my concept. if you red through teh concept, you will essentially see that I have basicalyl integrated every single point he has written into my concept!! The basically only part I added from Naruto to this is the gameplay element of “Chakra” as Energy Management Upgrade of Initiative to enter the Shadow Form Mode (Shadow Form was an Elite Skill for Assassins in GW1 for those which don’t know that or havent played GW1, I also tried to add other terms of the former GW1 Assassin’s skilsl as part of Skill/Trait Names, like Crippling Dagger, Palm Strike and the Ways of Perfection, Assassin, Master and Empty Palm as Upgrade to the Palm Strike as the E-Specs martial artistic melee skill that keeps the enemy away from you by sendignit flying from all the chakra based force behind your punch – and if you dotn want to call it Chakra, you could call it Chi instead and make the Skill a Bruce Lee reference instead ^^ wooooaaaaaahhh pow! )

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shadow_Form.

Thieves need some kind of midrange weapon and the most logical midrange weapon that Assassins used were always throwing weapons. Even the Core Thief makes usage of this basically already in a limited way with Dancing Daggers.
For the Assassin, the Elite Specialitation is it therefore clear for me, that their Combat Skill Weapon needs to be an upgrade and the logical upgrade to thrown Daggers (Kunais) is the Throwing Star/Blade, or also called known “Ninja Star” (Shuriken) as the most iconic weapon of the classic japanese known “Ninja” and otherv kinds of interestign throwing weapons that could be implemented as weapon skins like Chakrams, Boomerangs and other forms of interestign looking Ring Blades and the like that could be used as throwing weapon by the Assassin, like the Fuuma Shuriken, a bigger version of the small shurikens with greater wing blades that resemble the wings of “wind spirits” (Fuuma) and where basically the inspiration on Narutos most iconic skill Fuuton Rasen Shuriken (Wind Release: Whirling Throwing Star/Blade)

The awesome interactive battles Naruto did with just that weapon essentially elementally enhanced in the Anime reminds me also personally alot on the Phoenix gameplay of the Elementalist.

(sry for the bad BGM of that video, an other better video didn’t worked here sadly)
Watch this for better comprehension.
Think about it, how cool it would be to handle throwing weapons like this in GW2 combat like some kind of “Jojo” that you throw out and control with it this way the posititioning of your foes while you send it out and while you position yourself for its return to throw it out again just after your foes have evaded it eventually for the first two times what is essentially exactly the same as like an Elementalist using the Phoenix Skill in GW2 just with the difference, that all the things in animes naturally look more epic to make its characters in it look more powerful and heroic, than what we will ever get to see in a game like GW2 compared to this.

Part 2:

- Reimplement gameplay aspects that were fun for alot of people – like the often mentioned Ricochet
Make it a kind of 50% chance, that each bullet of unload can have the effect of ricochet. If you are godly lucky, you have 8 bounced off bullets, if you are absolutely unlucky, you have none. Yes it would be a direct buff to Unload, but one that will make Thief and especialyl P/P gameplay alot more fun and that weapon set was mostly the only build that made the biggest usage of ricochet at all back in the past when it existed.

- Rebalance Thief mechanics so that they become more useful for Raids in regeneral, because Stealth/Venomshare is not good enough, when other classes have way superior group support than the thief and can deald nearly same as much DPS, if not even more at the same time while supportign efficiently the whole team. Thats why Boon Steal/Trap Removal needs to become more important with more enemies and raid design levels making usage of Boons/Traps, so that you actually want to have also someone with you, that can work against these thigns as part of group support to ensure, that the party has an easier tiem in the raid – in fact saves time and can do the raid faster, if they do the raid with a thief in the party, instead of filling up the party with multiple charactrs of the same class just for more/better DPS/Group Support that the Thief can’t provide in the same way, which is why Raid designs need more aspects in all of its Raids (if needed retroactively added to old contment as well) to ensure, that all classes have something in the raids, that makes each class being wanted – and if it is not for directly DPS or group Support, then the class in question should provide somethignj else thats unique for the class that should be equal to just DPS or group Support, like beign able to give the party unique shortcuts – and if there is any class that should know how to find shortcuts in places – then its the Thief! Shortcuts that are hidden or protected by something, that only a thief can either find or remove in the raid.

Example:
If you have no thief in group, then the party has to fight a specific boss in a raid, then this battle is 100% univitable.
Do you have a thief that is able (mastery) to find a shortcut in the raid that is protected by traps that only said thief can deactivate, then the party can avoid that one boss battle and save some time, unless the party wants to do that boss for various reasons like achievements, loot ect.

Unique Class Roles and Gameplay Elements/Mechanics, that only a specific class can do in all of the game are it, which create FUN and give players a reason why they decide to play that specific class. thats is something that Anet has to improve drastically for the whole game and all of its classes.

If I play a thief in WVW, I want to be able to infiltrate my enemies and to sabotage them. All right now not possible, because Anet provides for Thiefs no proper WvW character progression, that gives us some kind of wvw based class specific gameplay elements.
There exists nothing in the game like class based masteries/WvW Rank Skills that provide special talents for each individual class to improve this way their tactical unique gameplay elements that could help in increasing the fun to play each individual class in th various game modes.

GW1 had PvE Only skills basically for this -somethign anet could adept for GW2 to make each class for pvE individualyl more heroic and epic wioth special class based progression in regard of masteries that help in creating more fun to play each individual class – especialyl in this case the thief as this class design heavily lacks in making usage of its full potential that the Thief has to make fun in fear of power creep ect. due to the game sharign its skilsl and traits ect. within all game modes – a problem that could be instantly solved, if Anet would design and balance finally all skills and traits ect. individually for each game mode with split balance teams for each game mode.

How to make Thieves/the Game more fun:

- Delete useless Skills and Traits or when possible, merge them of they are lonestanding useless into other Skills/Traits that are also lonestanding useless to make the new version of those Skills/traits more useful/impactful
- Replace the created gaps in Skills and Traits with new ones that help the Core Thief to gain more Build Diversity
- Merge Daredevil into Core Thief, revive Acrobatics back to its prior better state it had, before Anet killed that Traitline to give the Daredevil traits a reason for existance forcefully this way
- Make Offhand Sword and Staff baselined Weapons of the Core Thief and replace Daredevil with a complete new Elite Spec with a good longrange Weapon > Rogue with Longbow, because thats what Thief is essentially lacking since Anet destroyed the Shortbow with its range reduction to 900.
- Turn Dodge Styles into a baselined Gameplay mechanic of Core Thief under F3 and make it possible to change the Dodge Style while being out of Combat
- Make finally preparedness baseline, so that this single Trait doesn’t reduce the Thief’s Build Diversity anymore, due to this Trait from its Traitline being too mandatory for all Thief Builds to be competitive
- Give Thieves truely improved roles in the gameplay aspects of Trap Control to implement finally a Trap Counterplay Class, especially effectful against Trapper Thieves/Rangers/DH’s, because trap gameplay has currently no counterplay as there is no way to make them either visible to to remove them from the field for you/your allies) Darn it, even in friggin GW1 we were as our characters able to remove traps from the field, despite that being only a PVE mechanic, but Anet makes it look like our characters have degenerated over 250 years so much, that were are now generally too dumb to even remove traps, what even our characters ancestors were able to do, even if they didn’t do that in a pvp related situation …
Thief is the perfect Class Role that shoudl be the main class when it comes to Trap Control and Boon Stealing – add and threnthen these mechanics for the Thief finally Anet! That will ensure that playing a Thief definetely will make more fun again ,if we become able to reveal and remove traps in combat either for us or our allies (cough lacking Group Support cough) and if we become more impactful in indirect group support torhough becoming more effective in weakening our opponents through a more constant Boon Stealing (Denial Role), which will balance the massive Boon reliant builds more and keep them in check more!!

This is very essential as long ANet doesn’t finally make the important next step to completely rework and rebalance the whole games Boon and Condition System!
Boons and Conditions are since a logner time already totally out of control in this game and Elite Specs absolutely didn’t do anythign to make that situation better – no, they made everything about the games chaotic boon and condition system felt 10 times worser than before HoT existed with its E-Specs introduction, because ANet/NCSoft couldn’t wait any longer with the expansions, before giving the game first a serious complete balance overhaul of all its important combat system related game mechanics, what surely wouldn’t have been the case, if the gemstore wouldn’t be too weak for this game to finance it completely alone and people demanding on expansions over a longer time due to them beign unhappy to that point with Anets earlier content patch model as it was obvious, that peole simply like to get large content filled expansions more that are worth their money.

You do realize, that the Daredevil is all about Evasion and just Close Melee Combat, or??

That has all absolutely nothing to do with a “proper ninja”
Especially not my concept, which is not at all about direct in the face melee combat like the Daredevil with his Staff and evasion but instead midrange combat and much stronger focus on stealth & venom sharing with the help of a pet (Doppelgangers).

Thats all far away from having “made another daredevil” lol.

^ too short, didn’t read, there is way too less there than its worth reading…

Now serious – it should’t take the reader much tiem to realize what I did here practically on 1 look at the head of the concept where I listed up in a brief way the concept aspects, where all other follow up posts after that are the more detailed extras (for those that like details and aren’ twitter nerds that are too lazy to read :P)

Traits:

Assassin Traitline

Minor Adept

Way of Perfection
Unlocks the Assassin Elite Specialization, together with it the Throwing Star Weapon, the Seal Skills and the Assassin Traits and the Shadow Form with its Chakra Mechanic thats based on Initiative Usage. Increases Initiative Regeneration Speed.

Major Adepts

Master of Seals = Reduces Seal Cooldowns by 20% and increases the amount of Chakra gained from used Initiative Skills

Feather Steps = Grants you Super Speed when you get near to Water, so that you can run and fight on Water. To dive down then for Underwater Combat you need to press the Jump Button

Explosive Seals = Throw at your nearest Target whenever you use a Seal Skill an Explosive Seal, that will detonate on contact a few seconds later, causing AoE damage and Burnings, turning the hit target with it literally into a moving bomb

Minor Master

Way of the Assassin
Increases the velocity of your Throwing Star by 50% and increases the Charges of your Utility Venoms by +2. Stealth Effects will last for you also 2 seconds longer

Major Masters

Controler of Elements
Increases the Efficiency of your Element Control Skills when going into Shadow Form

Doppelganger Transfusion
If your Doppelganger gets defeated, then you will regain some Health and all the positive Effects of Boons, Venoms ect. that the Doppelganger hat active at that moment and your Doppelgangers will have increased Max Health with this Trait.
Doppelgangers will spawn with Might, Fury and Protection with this Trait when you activate Shadow Form to let a Shadow Doppelganger appear.

Lord of the Shadows
Your Shadow Doppelganger grows stronger in its Attributes with each kill you do until a certain threshold is reached.

Minor Grandmaster

Way of the Empty Palm
Palm Strike ignores now Damage Protection Effects like Aegis & 25% of the Enemies Defense and launches foes even further away from you as the Palm Strike is now more powerful than even before having learned the Way of the Empty Palm

Major Grandmasters

Lightweight
Increases the Range of your Throwing Star Weapon Skills from 750 to 900 and grants you 1 Initiative if the Throwing Star Skills hitted critically.

Toxic Seals
Grants you a random Venom except Basilisk Venom whenever you use a Seal Skill and removes from you Poison, Torment, Bleeding, Weakness and Vulnerability if you suffered on any of those conditions when you activated a Seal and lets your nearest enemy suffer now on your removed conditions.

Way of the Master
Grants you temporarely all Boons and Heals you, whenever you kill an Enemy.

Sabotage

Seal of the Butterfly
Distracts foes with an explosion of butterflies the moment the Shadow Doppelganger gets hit, causing Confusion to nearby foes and shadowsteps the Doppelgange to the position where it were 5 seconds ago.
With Shadow Form active will be the Confusions stronger and the distraction goes off a second time, before the skill has to recharge and the second activation shadow steps the Doppelganger 10 seconds back in time.

Seal of the Chameleon
Lets the Shadow Doppelganger perform a Shadow Step Attack to the Target. Was the Target not a Minion of any sort, then will the enemy be interupted and disarmed (non breakable stun effect) for a few seconds. Was the Target a Minion, then that Target Minion will be taken over by the Shadow Doppelganger and used against its enemies.
So enemy turrets for example will be turned over then and shoot at their prior masters instead now. Undeads for examaple will ose their masters and turn into Minion Bombs that explode and cause damage to foes. Each kind of Minion that has been taken over by Seal of the Chameleon will have different Take Over Effects.

Seal of the Scorpion
While this Skill is active, will cause attacks of the Shadow Doppelganger Poison and Immobilize when they were critical hits.
If used while Shadow Form is active will be the chances bigger that the Doppelganger deals critical hits, as he gains Fury then periodically.
—

Assassination

Seal of the Viper
Leap attack to the Target Enemy like Caithe’s Viper’s Leap, hitting all foes in line of sight and causing Poison. The Range of the Leap will be longer if used while your Shadow Form is active and it grants you and nearby allies then also Skale Venom.

Seal of the Panther
Leap Attack that knocks a hit target down and grants the Shadow Doppelganger then Stealth after the Leap Attack. With Shadow Form active will the Stealth from the Skill last longer for the Shadow Doppelganger and you and your nearby allies gain Devourer Venom

Seal of the Black Widow
Assassinates downed Targets instantly for you. Grants you and nearby allies if used with active Shadow Form Spider Venom

Shadow Doppelganger Utility Skills

Shadow Doppelgangers use the same Heal Skill as like their Original, but it is compared to the Original 20% weaker, in Shadow Form then 40% weaker.
Shadow Doppelgangers have no Elite Skills. Just a Heal Skill and 3 Utilities

Espionage

Seal of the Falcon
Grants the Shadow Doppelganger Swiftness, while making for you and your allies nearby Traps visible. They are also able to see then stealthed enemies and can attack them. If they hit you then successfully, will they reveal stealthed enemies for you.
If you are in Shadow Form then their range to reveal Traps is alot bigger and stealthed enemies on successful hit will get revealed longer.

Seal of the Moonlight
Works like Hide in Shadows for the Shadow Doppelganger, just with an alot longer Stealth. With this Skill they surprise their foes with their Stealth Skill and attack your target first, if you attack it also. But the Shadow Doppelganger will always wait first for the Surprise Moment when the enemy health is under 50% or attacks if you change the mode from Espionage to either Assasination or Sabotage.
If used in Shadow Form, will grant you the Shadow Doppelganger periodically Protection while he is in Stealth.

Seal of the Mantis
When they activate this Skill have Shadow Doppelgangers the chance to steal Boons and if they successfully steal a boon, then a portion of the damage is leeched and given to you as Healing and you lose a Condition.
If used while you are in Shadow Form are the chances for Boon Stealing from the Shadow Doppelgangers attacks bigger.

Seal Skills (Heal, Utility & Elite)

Seal of the Night
Heals you for a larger amount and for a certain time whenever you use an Initiative Skill per spent Initiative Point you get healed as well and if it was a Skill that costed 6 Initiative, then you lose as well a Condition and regain some Endurance
When used with active Shadow Form, then you gain also Stealth for 5 seconds, but the Heal of the Skill will be 20% weaker and you don’t regain Endurance if you use 6 Initiative Skills in that time.

Seal of the Golden Fox
Makes on activation all your Attacks from Weapon Skill that cost Initiative cost 1 initiative lesser for the next 10 seconds and grant you random Boons. if the attacks where critical, then will steal the attacks also Boons from foes in that time.
When activated in Shadow Form will all your Stealth Skills stealth not only you, but also all your nearby 5 next allies for 5 seconds and grant you and your allies a random Venom Effect except Basilisk venom

Seal of the Lotus Blossom
Works as Stun Breaker on activation and renews in a whirl of Lotus Blossoms your Endurance, which blind nearby foes. That Whirl of Lotus Blossoms stays for 10 seconds, so that also Allies can make usage of it to regain Endurance while standing in a space that blinds foes constantly. If used with active Shadow Form is the range of the Skill effect 100% bigger, but the Skill lets then regain Endurance much slower and it lasts only then for 5 seconds, therefore get foes inside of that whirl also Weakened and Poisoned after the effect ends from inhaling all of the poisonous Lotus Pollen in the air

Seal of the Falling Spider
Makes you temporarely for the next 10 seconds immune to Falling Damage and causes in Falling Situations to create an AoE Attack by letting a toxic Spider Web shoot out on the ground brief before landing, which Poisons and Immobilizes catched foes and grants you and your nearby Allies Spider Venom then.
When used in Shadow Form are the Spider Webs bigger and immobilize longer/again even if enemies try to remove the Immobilize

Seal of the Phoenix
Grants on activation your next few attacks to cause Burning and you get healed for a portion of the damage you deal with the Attacks. If you get downed, while the Seal of Phoenix was active, then you get directly a large Heal, that will make it easier for you to rally back. If used with Shadow Form, then the heal when gettign downed will be stronger and you perform when you rally the AoE Attack “Rise of the Phoenix”, which blazes up the area around you, damages closeby enemies and Burns them stronger with more Stacks of Burning than from your few Attacks before.

Elite

Seal of the White Tiger
Grants you and your allies Stealth on activation, works as Stun Breaker for you and your nearby allies. Grants you and your nearby allies asside of Stealth Fury, Swiftness and Vigor while the Skill is active periodically every 3 seconds.
If used in Shadow Form, will the Swiftness be Super Speed instead and your Attacks from Stealth will cause additionally Stacks of Bleedings like Tiger Claws that rip them apart

Weapon Skills of the Throwing Star (other Stuff like Chakrams/Boomerangs are Weapon Skins)
Unique Mechanic: Airbound Attacking – You can attack foes with Throwing Stars also while you are in the air, unless you got launched by the enemy.

Stealth) Shooting Star
Throw the weapon out of stealth from surprise from high above in the sky down to your enemies head like a Shooting Star, causes Damage, Knockdown and Burning.
Grants the Assassin Fury & Might Stacks after landing back to the ground if the Attack hit successfully. Ends Stealth already while you are in the air.

AA) Staccatto
Throw a flurry of small Shurikens that hits a target multiple times and has with each thrown shuriken a chance to cause Bleedings. Range 750

2) Crippling Dagger
Throw a Crippling Dagger which causes Cripple and Torment to your hit Target. Costs 3 Initiative

3) Razor Blade
Throw a bigger version of your Weapon that can hit multiple targets at once in its line of sight. Costs 4 initiative

4) Palm Strike
Strike your nearby foe with your empty palm and send your foe flying as the attack deals damage and launches the foe away from you to keep your foe at distance for your Throwing Weapon. Costs 5 Initiative

5) Flashing Blades
Throw your Weapon extremely fast, the weapon strikes your target fow like a flashing lightning, causing Blindness and Vulnerability and is unblockable, while it hits all targets in line of sight first on the way to your target foe and then they return magically like boomerangs back and hit all foes again on their way back (Phoenix Skill Mechanic) Costs 6 Initiative

Chakra/Shadow Form:
Elementary worksa mixture between Adrenaline & Necromancer Veils based on the usage of Initiative. Whenever you use initiative Skills, you build up Chakra.
Chakra can you use to change over into Shadow Form what changes your Weapon Skills to Element Control Skills, while that mode is using up your Chakra. The Mode automatically ends, once you run out of Chakra either, or when you end it manually, just like the Necros Veil Mechanic. Difference here is, Shadow Form doesn’t protect your Health, but you also don’t lose Chakra, when you receive damage.
In this case the mechanic fullig works like adrenaline, it just gets steadily over time lesser, but it stays also after combat, not like Adrenaline, vanishing when combat ends and needs to get build up again.

Seals
Dual Effect Skills that have different effects based on the situation, if you use them, while either Shadow Form is active, or not. Same mechanic as like the Druids “Celestial Mode” Seals have attached Elements and decide over it, which Elemental Control you can use under Shadow Form as long you have Chakra to keep up the Shadow Form.
Which Element is attached to the Seal can decide the player.
You can manually infuse the Element to your Seal Skills before equipping them, when you equip a Seal Skill as Assassin, then the game asks you every time which Element you want to infuse into the Seal.

Shadow Doppelgangers
They also use Seals, but their Seals are unique from those that the player can use and are based on the Command of either the Espionage, Sabotage or Assasination Mode

My Assassin

Weapon of Choice
Throwing Weapons (Shurikens, Chakrams, Boomerangs)
Concept: Master of Stealth & Venoms, are Group Supporters, specialized in Single Target Assassinations through extreme high Critical Hits (as they know best where to hit the weak spots most efficiently)

Gameplay Mechanic:

• Shadow Doppelgangers (Shadow Clones) which is their unique form of Clones as they work differently than the Illusions of Mesmers. Assassins can have also only maximum 1 Doppelganger, while Mesmers can have 3, but Doppelgangers therefore are stronger than the generic illusionary Clone.
• Shadow Doppelgangers have their very own unique Build, that the player can setup like a kind of “Pet” So you can decide which Weapon(s) they should use, and by that decision which Shadow Weapon Skills they shold use.
• Shadow Doppelgangers can use all the Weapons that the Assassin can use as well.
  Like Pets they have their own Health Pool and Attributes that grow automatically strogner when you level up your Assassin.
• You command your Shadow Doppelganger by following commands to let them prform various “Modes” in which the A.I. lets operate them in the near of enemies differently.
  - Espionage = causes the Doppelganger to focus on Stealth, Trap Control, Boon Stealing and Conditions to weaken all nearby enemies. Espionage helps also the Assassin by Healing & Condition Removal, its basically the Support Command Mode
  - Sabotage = causes the Doppelganger to focus on Crowd Control, Interruptions, Minion Control (taking over Turrets i.E.) and to disarm enemies from their weapons in combat,as its basically the Defense Command Mode
  - Assassination = causes the Doppelganger to focus on Combat, to kill the weakest foes in their near through Burst Attacks from Stealth with the help of Venoms that are shared with the Assassin as well, as its basically the Attack Command Mode
• Which Mode is active, decides over the Shadow Doppelgangers Utility Skills they use in that Mode. So each Mode has its very own unique Shadow Doppelganger Utility Skills

Concept of the Gameplay: Mixture between Thief & Ranger/Druid with a little Touch of Elementalist.

Concept Elements:
- Shadow Doppelgangers – basically the “Pet Mechanic of the Assassin”
- Chakra (Form of Energy created through the usage of Initiative to activate “Shadow Form”)
- Shadow Form, an Assassin Mode that allows the Assassin to use unique Shadow Skills that enable them to control the Elements for a brief time as long they have enough build up Chakra for that. Which Elements are controled is decided by the “Seal” that has been used last.
- Seals are the Utility Skills of the Assassin, it are “Finger Signs” that basically work like “Druid Glyphs” with Dual Effects based on it, if they were used before or after activation of Shadow Form

I’d love it if we could get this way Glint’s Gliding Skills permanently as an upgrade auf Gliding through such a Mastery, unlockung step by step the skills.

and when unlocked all of them, you can get then lastly a new skill, which allows you to attack foes while gliding with some kind of magical ranged Dragon Breath Attack where you receive for the moment a magical glint like-sillouette of a Dragon when you use this

Yes, there are now skills in Bloodstone Fen/lake Doric that are based on Bloodstone Magic.
But there is in the HoT Story also that moment, where you receive through glints egg powers that imprve gliding, those skilsl do I mean which I’d like to see getting permanently through such a mastery to have those gliding skilsl in maps, that have nothign to do with Bloodstones to have there skiills too and a skill with that you can attack foes under you while gliding that lets you briefly look like a dragon breathing massive fireballs of destruction

Id love to see (for PvE) also a mastery, that allows it to enhance our Weapons and Armors with Bloodstone Crystals to make them magical, so that the eqipment gets some PvE unique buffs, like one, which enhances the efficiency of our Boons, or one, which increases our Endurance Regeneration/or increases the Endurance Bar for more Dodges, or which increases the range of our Skills and all such stuff that essentially makes our characters for PvE more epic and heroic, without that such stuff can affect anyhow Pve/WvW to imbalance these game modes.

Thats essentially wherefore Msasteries are there!! They should give us character progression. They should give us the impression, that our characters grow stronger, learn new things that allow them to do new thigns there weren’t able to do before, to reach that way places in Tyria, that were unreachable before.

ANet makes currently soo less usage of the potentail that lies behind the Mastery System, that one can really only hope, that the next expansion will significantly improve and increase the amount of masteries, so that the Mastery System gets away from its lousy state of introduction and gets to grow bigger and bigger, so that you can see as a player, that Anet essentially makes also heavy usage of that new introduced gameplay aspect that has alot of potential to become something truly big and that not only for just new maps and new game content, but also as well for ALL of the old maps and the old game content to revive it and to give players again more reasons to revisit due to masteries also the old maps again more oftenly (at least for a while)

Offhand Sword is something I think should simply become retroactively baseline for the Core Thief.
Its an already existing Weapon – Elite Specializations should be there to give the Core Class access to new weapon categories. That makes more sense and would improve the potential for all Classes more to become more interesting, than to add just MH/OH versions of already useable weapons , when these weapons just could be added also without E-Specs baseline retroactively.

Thatway would be offhand Sword also useable for all kinds of other E-Specs to come in the future and wouldn’t be an exlusive thign to use for just only 1 single E-Spec.

That way would be a possible Rogue, Saboteur, Infiltrator and what not all else is possible-E Spec also able to use Swords offhand for their builds…
With the OP’s proposal we Thieves would be only able to use OH swords, if we run around as Duelists and that basically would totally suck!

OH Sword is no weapon option to me that is worth it to make a Specialization around it.

A complete new weapon category that we have currently not in the game, or an already existing weapon category, which thieves currently can’t use on the other side are worth it to make Specializations for them. Thats how I do see that.

Ya, sounds cool on paper, but so more oftenly I have read through the criticisms, so more I started to think, that there is something essentially missing in the concept.

I need to get on it , what it is exactly. Juggle made some good points there, but thats not everything I think is missing or better said, didn’t got thought over by me.

But my poit stands, Anet needs to break out impo from the thief’s omnipresent initiative System, or we will most likely see with every Elite Spec for the Thief permanently only alterations of the Core Thief, which will play essentially all the same and that will be not only extremely boring, but also same as much as uncreative and in the end not the vision I had for Thiefs, when I brought the concept of Sub Classes back in the past about Character progression in the CDI’s what lead to the present of us havign now Elite Specializations as ANet’s own version of my proposal.

Elite Specializations need to be more, than just only Core Classes 2.0 in my opinion – Thieves included.

Warrior can be basically only improved by anet addign new Weapon Types, because except of the Staff have Warrriors already everything that should fit to their Class Design.

Warriros aren’t about Pistols, nor Shortbows, nor Daggers. Warriors are neither Rangers, nor are their thieves in Heavy Armors. These Weapons are absolute NO GOs for Warriors.

Warriors have with Longbows and Rifles already 2 Longrange Weapons, no need for a 3rd one with either Shortbow or Pistol.
What Warriors need now is access to MIDRANGE Weapons that are original, thats way they need to get Halberds (Spears) and Greataxes as two alternative new Midrange Weapons as both are literally polearms with bigger combat range than any other weapons the Warrior uses now, while having lesser range than a Longbow/Rifle, but in fact do fit better to the Warrior, because it are conventional melee weapons that are used in direct confrontional combat and thus fit alot better to the Warriors Class Design, than a Pistol, Shortbow our small Daggers ever will do

ANet has to show us, that they can deliever also new Weapon Types as new content.
Theres anyways a flaw on the weapon type concept of anet that they should get rid of quickly by merging finally Rifles with Harpoon Guns and Staffs with Tridents to get rid of these two obsolete Weapon Types and make Speaks universally useable everywhere makes Spear as renamed “Halberd” basically obsolete too as weapon type, and the polearms are essentially the best and easiest new weapon type Anet could add to the game nowfor first, to show, that they actually can deliver new interestign weapon types that do enrich the game and make fights more interesting and visually compelling.

next easiest addition would be Chain Whips, the animations already exist and just ned to get expanded a bit.
Then Tower Shields, the next very simple addtion, again animation exist, just this time with bigger/longer shields that are main hand wielded instead – paragons in GW1 already used those.

Cesti also already existed in GW1, but the combat mechanics and animations would be for this weapon type new, as some classes woudl use Cesti for a martial artistical combat style, whiel others would use them more for mystical magic spells whiel performing magic signs with them in the air and having magical spheres float aroudn their hands or having them in their palms while castign spells.

The only real complete new work would be somthign exotic like a throwing weapon as liek the Chakram/Fuuma Shuriken/Boomerang kind of weapon, as that would be somethign totally new for Anet and due to that would require the most work compared to th other suggested new weapon types from which Warriors can easily also use most of them.

And even then I think a Focus wielding Warrior is stll alot more senseful, than giving them a Dagger, Shortbow or Pistol (in that case just only because Rytlock used one, what an arguement /rolleyes, NPCs are unique characters and due to this not bonded to class design limits, but thats now no reason to give Warriros Pistols, just because they nearly use already everything. Then its simply more creative and better for the game and the Warrior Class to make it more appealign and interestign to play, if you just give them with E-Specs new Weapon Types, than forcing upon their throats now weapons, which don’t fit to the class design, because it are the only left overs, that Warriors can’t use from the list of existign weapon types, just so that ANet has lesser effort.

If we begin now to scare back everytime from something, only because this somethign would mean for Anet more effort and requiring more ressources, than to use and recycle some old existign content – then good lord this will never end well for a game developer, nor does it show that devs can be creative, if everythign the do is just only recycling ad nauseum all old weapons to the stupid point, that somewhen all classes can basically use all weapons.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Orpheal.8263:

They returned to the old screen ??? SERIOUS!!! >WHY?

I’d understand it, if they make it a kind of “chooseable option” that everyone can decide for themself what kind of “Theme Screen” they want to use, but just changing the screen back to the first version without any reason just makes no sense!!

Dang, but this really brings back the memories of the aggrieved forum posts every time WoW rotated the login screen with a new xpac or whatever. I still don’t get it, do you really spend /that/ much time looking at the login screen?

i like the Hot songtrack that comes with the theme alot more, than the one of the old Main Game Theme that came with the release day.

Like mentioned.. I wouldn’t be very surprised, if ANet would find with selling more unique “Login Screen Themes” that change not only the design of the theme, but also the background songtrack for the Login Screen with something unique that you can get only through the Account Upgrade from the Gemstore some kind of new target group..

People buy all kinds of stuff from the gemstore, Im pretty sure that would be also alot of people under all of us, who would buy login screen themes from the gemstore, if Anet would do that, if they offer just one, that you like prsonally much more, than the main game Theme and those that we seem to get with each Expansion as some kind of visual update, that shows the game right on login in, that something in the game has progressed in the games story, just by looking at the latest expansion login screen theme (if you chose to activate that for you as primary theme in use)

login Screen themes are just like DESKTOP THEMES… people like to switch them out once in a while if they are just in the mood for havign some kind of “simple visual change”. The audio part with unique songtracks attached to them came just from me, as I see this happening for example on my PS4 every now and then, that game develoeprs bring out unique Themes for the console,s that change not only just the background picture and UI elements of your console, but eventually come in also with background songtracks that you will hear then constantly in a loop if you choose to use that theme.

A very simple but interestign concept Ithink Anet could take over as a simple new way to generate with the gemstore more money and stuff like a new background loging screen theme and a new unique background songtrack for that are surely alot quicer done as new content, than like working on a new set of black lion weapons, or a new glider skin ,or a new minipet ct.

Lahmia.2193:

How about unbinding weapons and utilities from Elite specs? Keep it so you need the expac to use said weapons but allow them to be used without having to use said Elite spec.

Thats that Anet definetely needs to do, to make sure, that Core Classes get closer to Elite Specs in regard of balancing them between each other..

Best would be, like I suggested it to make Elite Specializations a 2 STEP Character Progression System.

1. Step = You learn about the lore from the new Elite Specialization that you want to LEARN ABOUT to become specialized with your Character in your profession.
Unlocks the Elite Specialization with its Weapons, Skills and Traits for your Account and makes them useable for all of your Characters that are of the required Core Class to learn the Elite Specialization you learned about by each individual Character.
To do that, you have to read ingame books about Specializations of your Core Class and its Core Talents, you have to talk to Masters of your Proffession in the hope, that they eventualyl will teach you somethign that will let you progress in specializing your Character towards the Core Talents that are required to LEARN the Elite Specialization.

2. Step. Once you have learned an Elite Specialization, your next and final step of Character progression and part of a better balanced game would be, that you have to MASTER your learned Elite Specialization by succcessfully fulfilling various kinds of Trials for the Elite Specialization’s Core Talents that come from Grandmasters that you have to search and find all over Tyria.
Once you have cleared all of the Trials of the Grandmasters of your Elite Specialization that you want to master, then you have truly mastered your Specialization of your Coure Class to the point, that this will unlock for your Character to use basicalyl everything of the mastered Elite Specialization with the Core Class, with the only exeptions being the Traits naturally and the Elite Skill, which should belong to the build of using said Elite Specialization, thats in the end why it are Elite Skills, they should be only useable by their fitting Elite Specializations.
This meaning, the Core Class should have no Elite Skills, when using a Core Class the player should be able to use instead one Utility Skill more. All current Elite Skills should get then reworked for Elite Specializations.

This would lead then to the point, that if I mastered for example with my Thief the Daredevil Specialization, then I will be able to wield also as Thief the Staff Weapon and use the Daredevil’s Utility Skills, but not their Traits, nor their Elite Skills that are linked to the Daredevil, in that case it would be for example Impact Strike + Dagger Storm which should be only useable as Daredevil.
But do I want to use also their Traits and Elite Skills as well, then I have to activate the Daredevil Traitline to get that way access to their Traits and their linked to the specialization’s Elite Skills too.

That system will bring Core Classes and Elite Specs closer to each other, if Core Classes get at least partwise the access of the E-Spec gameplay once you have mastered with your Character the Specialization. Plus it will create more Build Diversity as it woudl allo then to use the Specialization Weapons with Traitline Combos of the Core Class, that are under the current system impossible to make, like a Staff Build in this example, that plays with 3 Core Class Traitlines as it is currently forced upon us that we need to use the Daredevil traintline just to be able to use the Staff Weapon, which means one Traitline is automatically fix and takes away the option to combine 3 Core Class Traitlines to play them together with the Staff in that case.
My system would solve that and would that way allow all players for more build freedom.

ANet would do best on their game and its state of balance, if they finally would get their heads out of the sand, quit playing ostrich and begin to take a look onto the aspects of the game, that they permanently ignored to keep balanced for the last 4 years.

That are the changes, which are then at the end of the day meaningful and are it, what GW2 needs now the most to bring this game in any kind of way – FORWARD.
Because permanent skill and trait number changes bring this game not forward, they just keep the game STALE and are nothing but an ILLUSION OF BALANCE, if they are the only thing that a game developer does for its game for years and ongoing!!

Monthly or lol ..biweekly (seriously!!??) balance patches bring absolutely NOTHING, nor are they in the absolutelslightest bit REALISTICAL to make them happen.

That will be just only a massive waste of time, ressources, people and money for ANet.

When will people start to realize, that the only way to give this game a better balancing right now is by actualizing, adapting and modernizing the outdated aspects of GW2’s combat system?

Consequent Skill and Trait Changes are no method to balance a game, if thats the only method that you use as developer, while you ignore 95% of all the rest of the games combat system mechanics that play also too an important role and are a part of Game balance as well.
Keeping Skills and Traits consequently updated and balanced in a more frequent manner is just only the way of finetuning the game.
Something, that you need to do mostly only after BIG CHANGES and from that point on it should be enough to overlook those things like every 2-3 months like Naet does right now – thats enough.

But ANet ignored now for over 4 years now all the rest of the game.
The game is in a heavy important need of getting its bigger combat system mechanics FINALLY ADJUSTED to all the tons of Skill and Trait Changes they did over the years, due to the implementation of Elite Specs, the change on the Condition System that brought alot of things ingame out of control, the outdated Upgrades, the outdated Health System that was never designed and balanced around all this Power Creep of the last years.

What Anet does here for 4 years now is changing and addign things into the game constantly and believing, that doing permanently only number changes here and there on Skilsl and Traits is basically their “solution for everything”, either because they are clueless what to do else, inspirationless – or just have not the ressources to do anything else and simple number changes are just the cheapest way of bringing some kind of “alteration” to the stale game in the simple hope, that these alterations are good enough to balance the game, to eventually cause a change strong enough to alterate the Meta Game State perhaps, so that people stop complaining about certain thing,s until people find out the next super ultimate builds that are “best” and become the next Meta.

However – Balance Patches aren’t there just to switch over Meta Playstyles of Gamers in GW2.
The sense behind a Balance Patch is it to equalize Gameplay Mechanics in a game as good as possible in regard of Class Mechanics, the Combat System, Character Progression and other Game Elements that need to get adjustments, so that these mechanics make again more FUN for the majority of the playerbase, than those things did for the majority of players before of the Balance Patch and that in a negetative as much as like positive way – meaning, things can get improved AND nerfed if needed, if those changes are for the greater good of the overall balance for everyone and everythign that is part of the game – players included – but personal interests of players excluded – what means, that players need to be able to accept also, if thigns that they personally like, need to get nerfed, if its for the greater good of the general game balance – because if somethign gets nerfed, this means at the same moment also, that you have increased chances to win over somebody, which tries to use the nerfed mechanic against you in the game, like in PvP or WvW.
theres always two sides of a coin in balance. Not every change must be seen only negative.
There is always also something positive to be seen in a change, that on first view looks like a nerf to your personal most liked skill maybe only.

GW2 needs to get rid of Equipment Stats, that would make alot of things essentially easier to balance for ANet, and would make it easier possible to adjust and rework the Attribute System with Dual Effects, not only to make Attributes more impactful and interesting, but it would give GW2 something back that GW1 already had and that is needed, if GW2 should ever get the quality of life, that comes with a build Template System for quicker access to your Builds with various Attribute Settings for that people need to be able to change anytime they want their Attributes, without that they are bonded to any kind of equipment which you need to carry around with you permanently just so that you can play the builds you want.

In that kind was GW1 so much more advanced over GW2 with its simpler Attribute System that allowed the player to reset the “setting” anytime you wanted outside of combat and distribute your attributes AS YOU LIKE for a small fee of gold, so that the game had also a tiny money sink from this feature as well.

They returned to the old screen ??? SERIOUS!!! >WHY?

I’d understand it, if they make it a kind of “chooseable option” that everyone can decide for themself what kind of “Theme Screen” they want to use, but just changing the screen back to the first version without any reason just makes no sense!!

preparation ofr next expansion makes also no sense, as ANet just suddenly changed from the main game theme over to the HoT Theme from one day after another on HoT Release… so why shouldn’t they do the same just once the next expansion is out??
Theres no need to prepare for anything here ion regard of the theme screen.

Would be just the best option to rework the main game theme and allow all players to decide for themsel,f which kind of theme they want to use for the Login Screen to allow players to personalize their Login Screen.
this would basicalyl allow Anet also another gemstore source for makign money under the Account upgrades by selling in the future there “Login Themes” eventually for some small amount of gems, like 300-500 Gems and I’m pretty sure, ANet would find with this their target group as well as Im sure there would be alot of people who would buy stuff like that as well if anet just provides new optional login screen themes with unique new background songs for them that people like more than the original login screen and those that come automatically with expansions.

Xenon.4537:

Really love the occultist idea, though I would change glyphs to signets. Signets are actually rings imbued with magical power which fits nicely with the whole artifact idea. Also engineers are the only class without signets right now.

You guys have a clue about it, that Occultists have to do with rituals, or ??
They aren’t about technology or anything about relics that would make rifle/pistols wielding Engineers fit for them to be the Core Class…

If any Core Class at all fits for a ritual loving, demon loving, death loving, blood loving occultist, then its the Necromancer and nothing else!