Guild Wars 2

I pre purchased the ultimate version, thus I received a character slot. I’m not mad at all about this. A free character slot is a free character slot. Why would people complain about getting even more free stuff? I do agree that some people may feel a bit upset that they bought the deluxe version just because it added a character slot, and wouldn’t have bought it otherwise, and so are feeling a bit milked. But still. It’s kinda hard to get angry about this, “GOD kitten IT ANET, STOP COMPENSATING US AND LISTENING TO OUR PLEAS!” A net can’t really do too much better. They made a mistake and this is how they’re resolving it. I think we can forgive Anet for any side blunders that stemmed off of their sincere attempt to make us happy again.

I’m kind of late to the party, but what I want to talk about right now is the healing mantra. A while ago now mantras became aoe, well, except for the heal. That’s pretty much it. Why shouldn’t mantra of recovery provide at least a little healing to nearby allies? Without Harmonious Mantras it’s not really a strong heal anyways. I think it would be a reasonable buff to give it a tiny, player based aoe heal for maybe half of the value it heals you for. It’d go very well with a Restorative Mantras and Healing Prism!

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Ravezaar is right though, the hype is pretty much dead and the expansion fiasco didn’t help much.

Other games give you an exciting homepage to explore if they are announcing an expansion, with Heart of Thorns we get a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there, and if you are not interested much in one of the tiny bits, you have to wait at least a week to maybe get some more information on the stuff you want.

They did something similar with the first “feature patch” and it just felt awkward to have a daily announcement for trivial stuff like taking away the costs for repairs.

This weekly schedule just feels like butter scraped over too much bread. It feels like ANet is trying to make the little stuff we get in the expansion look like something really big.

They should have called the expansion “Blowfish of Thorns”…

I’m thinking that they’re taking their sweet time releasing info because the X-pack won’t be available for a while. Anet have kind of trapped themselves. Working on HoT I think is the reason there haven’t been any updates in a long time. They announce HoT too early due to lots of players getting bored and leaving and now they have a long ways to go before they’re done and are just trying to keep our interest with weekly updates and pre purchase. Anet seems to be making a lot of unfortunate mistakes, I just hope it doesn’t result in the premature death of the game.

I’ve read quite a bit of complaining about how $50 isn’t worth one new map and class. Basically I’m thinking that some people are a bit confused about the content of HoT. Maybe because pre purchase is available they think that the thing’s almost done? I dunno. This is just to say that – for one thing – we still have probably only seen about a third MAXIMUM of what was announced to be in the expansion pack, we aren’t off this hype train yet! Secondly, if you don’t think that the price tag is worth what we’ve seen so far, just wait a while until they announce more or don’t pre purchase / buy the x pack at all. Anyways, there’s my rant. Just a reminder that there’s more HoT stuff to come.

PorceleinEve.2973:

Treetoptrickster.4205:

Guys, the community is more toxic than it’s ever been. The cause is the price tag for HoT being more expensive than we would have originally thought and more expensive than some can afford. But please, can’t we stop with all of this threatening and hate? If you can’t afford the expansion pack, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be mean or unsympathetic but things cost money. Gw2 has no subscription fee and this expansion pack has no doubt been a huge drain of resources for Anet. They have to get their worth out of it. Just wait until it goes on sale or save up if you really need to get it. If you don’t think 50$ is worth whatever the expansion pack contains then just wait until it goes on sale or don’t buy it. Anet has been busting their kitten to offer all of this new content to us. Can’t we all please return some respect for their providing us with years of free and enjoyable content and what will no doubt be an extremely awesome expansion pack?

Oh please the tears, the drama…

if you don’t like the “toxic” atmosphere just stay away from the “toxic” threads, and don’t click ‘em. There problem solved. But you just gotta take a peak don’t you? eh? and then you don’t like it, but you still do it…

I don’t get some people, it’s not enough that they have the option to not get involved or pay attention to something, no no, they don’t even want others to do it. if you’re happy nobody else gets to complain cause it upsets you or something?

Not really, I just don’t want everybody to end up leaving the game and then having tons of hours going to waste because gw2 just ceases to exsist.

Guys, the community is more toxic than it’s ever been. The cause is the price tag for HoT being more expensive than we would have originally thought and more expensive than some can afford. But please, can’t we stop with all of this threatening and hate? If you can’t afford the expansion pack, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be mean or unsympathetic but things cost money. Gw2 has no subscription fee and this expansion pack has no doubt been a huge drain of resources for Anet. They have to get their worth out of it. Just wait until it goes on sale or save up if you really need to get it. If you don’t think 50$ is worth whatever the expansion pack contains then just wait until it goes on sale or don’t buy it. Anet has been busting their kitten to offer all of this new content to us. Can’t we all please return some respect for their providing us with years of free and enjoyable content and what will no doubt be an extremely awesome expansion pack?

Edit: Just to make sure everyone knows, HoT itself costs $50, the free base game was just a bonus for new players. I agree that this isn’t quite fair but I don’t find it offensive. Consider that we got season two for free just for playing while anyone else will have to buy it for about 1600 gems. Also, if you’re going to get mad at Anet get mad about the fact that the game’s cost has basically been reduced by 75% and is comfortably sitting there. I feel like it’d be the best move to offer a special option where players who already own the game get some compensation for pre purchasing such as a new character slot and a few hundred gems while the new players just get the base game. The fact that the base game can be picked up for free and that the base game is getting dirt cheap anyways should be seen as a cry for help. Gw2’s been losing a lot of players. People have left for a number of reasons that mostly justifiable. What I mean is that I think we need to accept the situation if we want Gw2 to continue being a game at all. To those who are offended by this scheme, please don’t go nuts and encourage boycotting Anet and mass petitions to stop playing the game like some have. The people who are the most angry about this are those who have owned the game for a long time, myself included. What if the game does go bankrupt? Do you think it will have been worth it when the hours you have put into the game go completely to waste just so you can get back at Anet? I know this applies to a very small portion of the player base though, most are just kittened and I get it. I just hope that things will cool down.

I have a question/concern about these two traits. So generally, If I were to daze someone I would stun them instead. Does that mean I wouldn’t get the vulnerability from dazzling? That would suck! Should dazzling also proc on stuns?

Windwalker.7421:

Hmm although I see what you’re saying, I think you’re selling Chronomancers a little short. It’s not “just” alacrity, which is pretty major in and of itself, but the playstyle is centered around the manipulation of time. Lots of Quickness, Slow, and of course Alacrity and Continuum Split.

The F5 skill will be a significant change in how Mesmers are played IMO, and overall Anet has solidified Shatters as a core profession mechanic for Mesmers that most builds will make at least some use of.

All of that leaves out Wells and the Shield, both of which bring major game-changing abilities to the Mesmer and their role in a team or zerg as well.

Alacrity can also not be underestimated. I mean it’s basically a significant new Boon that no one else has access. That’s pretty major, and could potentially provide a whole new role for Mesmers in organized PvP. Being able to lower CDs for your team has the potential to change battles. (If you can manage enough Alacrity uptime to achieve a 20% CD reduction for most of your teammates, this would be a pretty big deal.)

I agree with MailMail that aside from the Well trait, there isn’t much of anything I’d want to touch in the Chronomancy line as presented.

The thing is, quickness and slow just speed up what you already do. Although you could consider the goal of keeping yourself faster than your opponents in every respect a new way to play, I don’t think faster and slower is really new.

The new shatter is definatley a strong, cool new mechanic to play with. Although I personally wouldn’t change this or replace it, you have to admit that it is just kind of a reset button.

I’ve said in some replies that I’m completely fine with the shield and the wells. The shield offers defensive skills and a cooler way of affecting skill recharge than just increasing recharge rate. I wouldn’t mind them adding more ways to lower the cooldowns of your skills by interracting with your skills. For example, “All’s Well That Ends Well” could be changed to still have its condi removal, but also add a recharge effect. Maybe something along the lines of, ‘gaining alacrity reduces well recharges by x%’ or ‘being inside of your wells when they expire reduces well recharge by x%.’

nearlight.3064:

The traits for chronomancer are more than fine because it opens up the chance for viability of established playstyles that were heavily flawed.

Right now, the mesmer has 1 top tier viable pvp build, and its hardly ever run these days because it has its own problems, and it takes too much work to play compared to other meta builds. Builds that are good in theory, but never seen at all at the tournament level, include lockdown, phantasm, and condition shatter. Looking specifically at lockdown, we see that the reason its not viable now is because it lacks both damage on its own, and low cooldowns for burst spikes (from the current illusions cooldowns for phantasms and shatters) that really make it a poor choice. Chronomancy gives it the ability to manage cooldowns with alacrity, and the incentive to use shatters to gain that alacrity, as well as access to slow, quickness, or whatever, so it will have the spike damage and cooldown management to be a viable build.

So really, I guess the chronomancer doesn’t truly open up grand new playstyles for the mesmer, it just fixes the ones that were sub-par before as well as bringing the more effective ones up to new heights. And I can guarantee that the time travel mechanic will be a difficult concept to master that will push the skill cap of the mesmer to new heights.

Finally, wells, and the shield even are essentially the wet dream of the WvW veilbots. Now they too can have AoE damage and lootbags to their hearts content. While the mesmer has a lot of competition for util slots, the wells could also be really effective in conquest, the same way that it is for power necro wells right now.

I’m kind of hoping that the chronomancer could be both. It could fill in the mesmer’s gaps in strengths, and through that, offer a new way to play that revolves around those strengths. Just as the necromancer lacked a decent melee cleaving weapon and the guardian lacked soft cc and a good, long ranged weapon, the shield could fill in the role of a mid ranged aoe/multi target cc and defencive weapon. I think the traits could still offer a way to strenghen existing builds, but through a way that’s completely unique to the chronomancer. For instance how it helps out phantasm builds by allowing them to be shattered and respawning them. It also adds a strong trait for interrupt builds. The issue I have is that both of those traits simply make exsisting mechanics better rather than different and better. Giving the guardian bleed and knockbacks on auto attacks is different. Giving the necromancer resistance to slowing effects and a melee death shroud is different. Another condition on interrupt? Another buff on shatter? Eehhhh.

I’m completely fine with wells, actually. They offer a new type of aoe damage/support skill that the mesmer kind of lacks and the idea of planning and timing your wells. They do have kind of a whole different idea of doing as much as you can with your given time. Crack down on foes while your attacks are unblockabke, try to interrupt and abuse your target while they’re slowed then do as much as you can while you have quickness and won’t get punished for, say, chanelling mantras, or try to be evasive while waiting for the big heal at the end. Wells aren’t simple ’ stand in the circle’ skills.

Most of what the chronomancer is is good. I just wish it could also be a bit more distinguished from the normal mesmer. To be completely honest, the only thing that I think truely needs a bit of work are the traits. A lot of them just kind of seem uninspired to me.

skcamow.3527:

Treetoptrickster.4205:

TLDR: the chronomancer doesn’t really change the way you play the profession like the other elite specs do.

I’m having a hard time understanding your perspective given you haven’t played chronomancer yet, much less the other profession elite specializations.

I for one feel that alacrity is a brilliant mechanic that introduces even more complex gameplay building on what mesmer already possesses, but certainly can’t pass judgement on it (good or bad) until I’ve played it.

Alacrity definatley is a cool new mechanic, but even it doesn’t open up a new playstyle so much as increase the rate you can do things in your current playstyle. With continuum split/shift you’ll also just be using your abilities more often instead of gaining new ones.

TLDR: the chronomancer doesn’t really change the way you play the profession like the other elite specs do. Maybe something defensive to match the shield or something revolving around periods of time that you need to work hard while they last to get the most out of like continuum split.

Elite specializations were advertised as a way to add a new way to play an existing class. A new weapon, new mechanics, new utilities, and a new trait line all designed around this theme and playstyle. We can see this in the slow, but unstoppable reaper with his cleaving melee attacks and use of chill as well as the Dragonhunter, who’s proficient at attacking from range, offering utility, support and damage while keeping enemies off of him and his allies. With the chronomancer, though, I feel like this wasn’t quite achieved. Don’t get me wrong; I like what I’m seeing, and I’ll definitely be making a chronomancer cuz they look cool, but I still feel as if they should have explored new mechanics besides cooldown reduction and adding another way to spawn clones and keep phantasms.

The Dragonhunter got the bow, and so naturally has ranged attacks as well as traits and utilities that benefit from range or at least can be used at range. Even the virtues were changed.

The Reaper’s Greatsword/Reaper’s Shroud skills allow him to be a destructive force on the front lines. His traits and shouts are made for being around as many enemies as you can.

Then there’s the Chronomancer. They got another shatter, which is understandable because the existing ones are kind of hard to completely change. This new shatter does somewhat offer a new playstyle that revolves around spamming all of your skills before you revert and then spamming them all again. The shield offers a defensive playstyle with two blocks and a projectile barrier, but neither the traits nor the wells really reflect either of those themes. The traits are essentially just a lot of existing mesmer mechanics with a timey twist. I like the wells the way they are, though.

I think it would be cool that if Anet altered the traits to reflect a role that offers strong defence through utility to match the shield. I know that some people would say “If I wanted to play a tank I would just role a guardian!” and that’s the sign that Anet have achieved what they originally wanted elite specs to be. People complain about how they never wanted a ranged Guardian, and some say they don’t like the idea of a melee necromancer; these complaints show that these elite specs actually have a new playstyle for people to dislike. I currently just feel like if I were to take the step and shift my mesmer to a chronomancer I wouldn’t be playing much differently from a regular mesmer. Interrupts are a base mesmer thing, shattering is a base mesmer thing, clone and phantasm generation is a base mesmer thing. Maybe some traits focused around periods of high action with a payoffs afterwards, like continuum split. A combat style revolving around windows of time when you need to work to achieve as much as possible, thus making quickness an even stronger, and still thematic aspect of the Chronomancer. “Danger Time” offers a great example of this. You want to hit an enemy as many times as possible while they’re slowed because you’ll be doing more damage to them. Another example of a possible chronomancer trait would be to heal and gain short duration stability every time you hit an enemy while under the effects of quickness. All about making the most of windows of opportunity.

I’m expecting maybe one person to actually agree with me here, but I do personally think that Anet should take a little time to play around more with the idea of a playstyle for the time mage.

Ferocious Signets this is a build for after the core specs update drops. I’m going off of the list of core specialization traits. Hoping that there’ll just be some number changes to the new traits and no actual changes to how they work, I’m too in love with this build to have to change it all over again. Basically either an off-tanky brawler or a hard critting bursty guy if you want to sacrifice your signets. Depends on how long the fight’s going to be, I guess.

Skills

>Troll Unguent

>Signet of Renewal

>Signet of the Wild

>Signet of the Hunt

>Rampage as One

Traits

>Marksmanship:

Opening Strike – inflict vulnerability with your first attack.

Enlargement – cast signet of the wild when you fall below 25% health.

Alpha Training – pets have opening strike.

Beastmaster’s Might – regain opening strike when you activate a signet and grant might to you and your pet. Signets recharge faster.

Precise Strike – opening strike will always critically hit.

Remorseless – regain opening strike when you gain fury and opening strike does more damage.

>Skirmishing:

Tail Wind – gain swiftness on weapon swap.

Most Dangerous Game – gain power while below 50% health.

Furious Grip – gain fury when you swap weapons while in combat.

Primal Reflexes – gain vigor when you evade an attack.

Hunter’s Tactics – deal more damage when flanking.

Quick Draw – your first skill after swapping weapons has a reduced cool-down.

>Beastmastery:

Instinctual Bond – when you are downed your pet gains quickness.

Companion’s Might – grant might to your pet when you crit.

Loud Whistle – reduced recharge on pet skills and swapping.

Two – Handed Training – Greatsword and Spear damage increased by 5% and recharges reduced by 20%. Greatsword and Spear attacks have a chance to grant fury.

Pet’s Prowess – pets move faster and crit harder.

Honed Axes – gain ferocity while wielding an axe and winter’s bite is aoe. Axe skills recharge faster.

Gear

>Weapons
Greatsword – Power, vitality, ferocity (Valkyrie)
Sigils of strength and purity

Axes mh/oh – Power, precision, ferocity (Berserker)
Sigils of strength and purity

>Pets
raven & jungle stalker
High precision as well as blind/might granting

>Armor – Power, vitality, ferocity (Valkyrie)
With Runes of the Pack

>Trinkets

Amulet and Rings – Toughness, power, precision (Knight)

Accessories and Back – Power, vitality, ferocity (Valkyrie)

All with Emerald – Precision, toughness, power

So with all of these new changes to condition stacking I’ve been thinking about some stuff. Stuff such as torment being converted into might but not vice versa. Currently skills such as well of corruption change torment and weakness into might, but might is only converted into weakness. That’s wierd. Will the new resistance boon take the place of torment’s counterpart? Also I was thinking about how poison and regeneration are supposedly counterparts. One does dot and has heal reduction, the other just gives hot. Why not buff regeneration so that it actually counters poison completely? It’s obvious that Anet is considering making the role of a healer in gw2 a bit more viable with the Ventari legend, but the healing boon is kinda crappy. It’s just a tiny ticking heal that scales with the healing power of whomever it’s applied to and not with that of the one who applies it. That generally means it’s even weaker than normal because..well..who actually goes for healing power? One suggestion to help make regeneration a desirable boon to healing builds would be to make the healing scale with the healing power of the guy who gave it to you instead of yours. Another possible change would be to add a kind of altered benevolence deal that increases incoming healing from sources other than you by a small percentage (5-10% ?). Then it would seem more like the opposite of poison and be very useful for anyone trying to be a healer. You would actually want to keep regen on people as a means of increasing any real healing you deal out.

Tim.6450:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

You are thinking of damaging traits that give damage per second. These are not treated as conditions by the game and suffer from some unique situations and problems such as no partial ticks.

So you think that traited chill and terror will do damage through resistance?

Almost certainly not. Resistance causes you to straight up ignore conditions so it’ll just behave like you aren’t chilled at all. No damage and no snare/recharge slow.

If an ability was up when I shattered, and I used it while split, it’d be up again when I shift back. I know this. But what about with skills like Echo of Memory, Illusionary Leap, or even just basic attacks? If I had déjà vu up instead of EoM when I split and I block while split, will I regain EoM or just get Déjà Vu again when I shift back? What if I threw out an Illusionary Leap and then split while Swap was active? When I revert back will I be able to swap again with my first clone or will Illusionary Leap be up again on my bar? Mantras…if I’ve already prepared them am I getting both stacks back? Will I still get two stacks back, even if I’ve already used one? Will I just have to channel them again when I come back? Continuum Shift/Split must have been a real pain to code and it’s giving me some head pain thinking about the inner workings of it.

With the new elite specializations coming into the game with all their new effects and themes, wouldn’t it be cool to add in more unique combo fields? The game could do with some new fields to play with and elite specs are probably the game’s best chance to add in something fresh to create some deeper sense of uniqueness for the new specs. For instance, maybe some chronomancer wells could be ‘chrono’ combo fields that could act something like this…

Blast = aoe 2s quickness
Leap = 2s quickness
Projectile = 3s slow
Whirl = 1s slow

Anyone know anything about when we’re going to be seeing the next set of elite specs? I was expecting a teaser today…

Rym.1469:

As it stands now, Ventari just heals. It doesn’t bring many boons at all.

Last time we saw build oriented around raw healing with no boons was Healing Necromancer.

Know any?

With runes of Altruism and the healing skill on a 2 second cool-down you can keep near permanent uptime on 3 stacks of might and fury. With the traits you get from Salvation you can get a bit of regen and swiftness. Through Jalis you can grant a bit of stab. Right now the Revenant just doesn’t seem like a very boon-heavy role but we haven’t seen Shiro or glint yet. Glint might have some boon application.

I’m imagining you’re thinking about the Ventari legend right now. Anyways, the answer is no. When it says to allies it means to other allies, not you. I’m not sure about what it means when it just says outgoing healing. I suppose your healing skill is technically coming from you so I’d think so, but who can tell.

Petition for Anet to clarify this.

Arioso.8519:

Kraljevo.2801:

Reading/researching is hard. /s

Short answer. No.

I dunno though, I can see how it could be taken that way. Any heal skill you use is “outgoing” in a sense, even if it’s bouncing back to you.

As opposed to Someone else using something like wave of healing or blasting a water field and it heals you.

I was assuming it wouldn’t myself, but taken one way “Outgoing heal” could be “Any heal you use” Though I suppose in that case, wouldn’t it be simpler just to make the skill an increase to healing power?

Not really. Just increasing healing power wouldn’t be as good. If an ability has a high base heal but bad scaling (like most healing abilities do) a percentage increase would be better. That way if you also stacked healing power it would be even stronger. That and any trait that grants you bonuses from your healing power would come into play when A net doesn’t want them to.

Kraljevo.2801:

Reading/researching is hard. /s

Short answer. No.

Then why the heck do they some things say “outgoing healing” while others say “healing to allies” if they both mean that the bonus doesn’t affect you?

Jekkt.6045:

it’s to prevent you from spamming the globes, the second minor still “destroys” them but this time you actually profit from it because you pull them in to get the heal.

without the 2nd minor (which you will have all the time anyway because you will have full traitlines all the time) you would just have to walk through the globes to get the heal.

Why would the first minor be something that makes you weaker?

Faux.1937:

Please let melee staff be the “High” DPS weapon…

Its my dream to use a Martial Staff in GW2, but I only play Zerk (B.c I love that style, I play DPS in WoW, I max out DPS in all RPGs, I hate support rolls).

Aww, joke’s on you. Staff isn’t DPS and is super supporty. Even worse is they said it used to be the DPS weapon. Sorry about that. Don’t be too discouraged though, you’ll probably love the sword and Shiro, but you’ll have to wait a long time to see it… so that sucks.

Achrisos.1360:

As with any profession certain trait lines matches up with certain weaps. Right now we have seen a Defensive stance, a Support stance and Condi stance with at least 2 more to go if not a 3rd elite stance. The other 2 may very well be another another condi, dps, offensive support and so on.

Cant wait to find out more!

You’re also correct about how weapon/trait interaction currently works. It’s just that with the Revenant it’s a lot more tunnel-visioned so to speak. Most of the salvation line deals strictly with the tablet and healing to such an extent that if you didn’t have either the staff or Ventari equipped about half of the traits wouldn’t effect you.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

This is a less of a Revenant issue than it is a power vs. condition damage issue. The two tend to be so mutually exclusive, and weapons that attempt to be viable at both are rarely viable at either.

I believe, however, that you are mistaken in your analysis. Of the three legends, it is true that Mallyx and Jalis have little synergy, but Ventari makes a solid secondary legend to either. Mallyx tends to be self-harming, so swapping to a heal-centric support can be a nice form of recovery or tactical adaptation. Jalis complements Ventari with durability, further support, and an offensive option.

I would say that Jalis would actually work splendidly with either Staff or Hammer (or any other power weapons that come out). Mallyx is clearly exclusive to the Mace/Axe, given that they are the only condition damage options currently available to the Revenant. Ventari, however, rounds out any weapon set with added support and defense. Mace/Axe could easily be a strong support supplement because of its crowd control, and Hammer, coupled with Ventari, gives an excellent projectile defense uptime – which is critically important in much high end PvE content.

Oh yeah, you’re totally right about that. Legends’ skills can combo together well and the roles of legends can compliment the way a certain weapon plays even if it isn’t specifically designed for that legend. The problem I was trying to address is that with only one weapon you’ll have limited options if you want to strengthen the role of your weapon instead of simply complimenting it. The way Anet designed the Revenant, there’s a weapon/legend/core spec combo for every role. The problem with the focus on role is that you probably would be taking the three matching elements as they all receive the greatest benefit from each other. I realize that that’s not definite though. I mean you could use mace/axe, take Ventari and Jalis and go down Invocation, Retribution and whatever trait line influences direct damage and you’d probably still do well. But you have to admit that you’re losing out on a lot of potential strength for your weapon set if you don’t pick what goes with it. The lack of diversity through utility skills still stands, though, and that was my main concern. You still don’t have too much choice over what you see at the bottom of the screen and those other elements of what-matches-what just kind of add to having less choice.

Does outgoing healing effectiveness count self healing? So if I took monk runes would my heal skill give me 10% more health back or is it only healing done to allies that is increased?

Revenants have access to one weapon set. This makes sense, I mean one non-switcher per armor tier. They do get two sets of utilities to compensate, right? The problem with having one weapon is that each weapon is associated with one legend. This means that if I’m wielding a staff while channeling Ventari and Mallyx, with Mallyx active, I won’t really have access to damaging conditions through my weapon skills. So I guess I just don’t swap to Mallyx at all then. At any moment my chosen weapon will only really synergize with one of my legends. Legends have a somewhat forced pairing with a weapon, if you don’t pick mace/axe or staff while channeling Mallyx and Ventari you aren’t getting as much of an oomph as you would if you did.

Trait lines are also kind of forced upon you based on your choice of weapon/legends. If I’m rolling a staff I’ll likely be rolling Ventari which means I’ll feel obligated to go into Salvation as well. The ties between weapon, legend and trait line are so strong that when you pick one you’ll almost always be taking the other two that match it. This can severely limit diversity in Revenant builds. Sure, you don’t have to pick Salvation while wielding a staff but there isn’t any other trait line that compliments the play style so perfectly. Diversity does come in with your choices in traits, though .There are still plenty of ways to fill up the same line, and who can tell what you’ve picked for your other two core specs and how you filled them up?

Another issue with diversity is that legends dictate your healing, utility and elite skills. Every two Revenants that are channeling Jalis will have the exact same 5 skills. If they’re also wielding the hammer, which they likely will be, they also have those in common. The only differentiating factor is your second legend, traits, and gear. You essentially get to choose three predetermined sets of skills with the only exception being that you’re able to choose between main hand/off hand combos if you go that way. All other professions a get access to one or two weapon sets that can be main hand/off hand combos and 5 optional skills. Other professions, however, can’t choose their class mechanics.

I’m not saying the revenant isn’t as strong as other classes. In fact I’d say that if the Revenant combos their weapon with its legend and trait line they’d probably be near the best at that role out of any other class in the game. I find the profession pretty awesome, actually, and I’ll definitely be rolling one , but in my opinion, your first choice when you begin playing the profession will dictate how you pick for every other choice you face. I feel that something should be done to add a bit more diversity to the Revenant or else it may continue to be ridiculed.

In the Invocation line for the Revenant the first minor states

“Summon an orbiting globe of mist when you spend energy. The globe is destroyed upon legend swap.”

The next is called “Revitalizing Breath” and it says…

“Pull in and absorb all replenishing globes when you invoke a legend. The healing from the globes has increased effectiveness.”

So what do these globes do? Do they not heal you until you get the second trait? But the second minor says that it increased the heal from the orbs so do they base heal you or not? Then why does the first minor just say that they’re destroyed on legend swap? Anyone know what’s up with this mechanic?

Windwalker.7421:

Sorry, no offense, but I like Anets better.

Thanks for being honest. What don’t you like about them? Help me improve! Most of the current chronomancer traits are mixed in there with a bit of added something something. Chronophantasma is still there and works the same as before but it also has a way to make phantasms very quick to cast. Danger time is still in there with Paradox. Slow on cripple to add a chrono-vibe to the mh sword, greatsword and staff but also still gives crit chance when you’re attacking slowed enemies. Illusionary reversion and time catches up were just rolled into one.

When I first heard about the chronomancer I got super excited. I love that archetype, ya know? I love the shield skills, wells are awesome, and continuum split/shift is crazy cool. However, even though I love all of these aspects of the chronomancer, I won’t be switching my Mesmer over to one. Why? Le traits. It might just be me, but I find the chronomancer traits to be kinda lacklustre in comparison to, say, the Reaper. Traits such as Chronophantasma are cool sounding but the majority of them just seem to be straightforward ways to apply slow or quickness. I’m no dev, but I’ve tried to make a trait line that could be a little more fun, to me at least, and I was hoping you guys could provide some feedback!

Minors:

Time Splitter -
You are now able to equip the shield and have unlocked well skills and are now able to use Continuum Split/Shift to return to an earlier point in time.

Flow of Time -
Gain Alacrity when you shatter. (unchanged)

Time Marches On -
Incoming movement-impending conditions have their durations reduced by 20%. Increases to 40% while under the effects of Swiftness or Quickness.

Adepts:

Paradox -
Apply 2s of slow and gain 2s of fury when you cripple an enemy.

Time Slip -
Successfully evading an attack grants Quickness for 1.5s. Grant 2s of Vigor to allies whenever you apply Quickness. (2s cool-down)

Improved Alacrity -
Alacrity applied to you lasts 33% longer. Alacrity effects you apply also reduce incoming damage by 5%.

Masters:

All’s Well that Ends Well -
Wells remove a condition and grant 6s of Swiftness to allies when they expire.

Illusionary Reversion -
Shattering grants your illusions super speed and summons a clone.

Aging Aggression -
Striking an enemy that is Slowed will also apply 10s of Vulnerability. Deal 5% more damage to slowed enemies.

Grandmasters:

Chronophantasma -
Phantasms reappear the first time they are shattered. Gain 2s of Quickness when you begin summoning a Phantasm (15s cool-down)

Anomaly -
Stunning or interrupting an enemy will damage and cripple adjacent enemies for 3 seconds. Using Continuum Shift will also create this effect around you when you return to your time line. (3s cool-down)

Second Chances -
All of your weapon skills are recharged when you rally. Gain 3 of Quickness when you begin channeling Bandage. (20s cool-down)

So what legends do we know of?

Mallyx = Condition stance
Jalis Ironhammer = Tanky stance

what others will there be?

Link : http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2z9ygs/datamining_new_legendary_stances_for_the_revenant/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

That Shaman put in some work data mining these legends so we can fill in a few more blanks here.

Shiro = x
Glint = x
Ventari = x

I’m pretty sure that Shiro and Glint will be your direct offense choices. One will likely be critical damage and the other will likely be up front damage. I’m solely basing this off of the stats we currently get from trait lines. One condition damage line, one power line, one precision line, one toughness line and one vitality line. That makes 5 niche lines and what do we have here? 5 possible legends. That being said, trait lines no longer give free stats, so what will these Legends do? Take the inspiration core specialization line for the mesmer, very supporty, right? The roles of lines are still filled pretty well even though you don’t get the obvious stats to show their roles. One direct damage line, one crit damage line, one condi damage line, one tanky line and one supporty line.

We have two roles ticked off with Jallis and Mallyx and what do we have left to cover?
Support, crit and power.

Earlier we got leaked an image of a centaur with a quote from the Ventari Tablet. Almost 100% sure this means we’re getting a new legend this week. I don’t think that’s all we’re getting though. So far the Revenant trait lines pair with a certain legend. Currently there’s nothing referencing legendary centaur skills while also being terribly supporty so my expectation is that we’ll also be getting a new trait line. No doubt we’ll also get a glimpse of Ventari’s utility skills. Out of all the remaining role options I’m thinking the pacifist horse man will likely fill that of support.

Link : http://i.imgur.com/wP1UXvH.jpg

Above is a list of the datamined staff weapon skills for the Revenant thanks to Knighhonor’s post. Take a look at the staff. Heals? Blinds? Weakness? Knock backs? Condition removal? Sounds pretty supporty to me. What weapon do we usually see Ventari wielding? A staff! I think it’s also safe to say that we’ll be getting a new weapon as well to go along with the playstyle of Ventari. We do already have Mace/Axe which works well with Mallyx and Hammer which goes with Jallis.

I think Woodenpotatoes was correct in his video regarding this post…

Link : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G95lFJoSxQU

I agree with his speculated pattern – three elite spec reveals, a break for general content, a new Revenant legend, repeat. That way by the time all of the elite specs are out of the way we’ll have the last two legends and trait lines and likely a few new weapons. Anyways, stay hyped! Cool stuff’s probably on the way! Unless I’m completely wrong in which case I’ve wasted and hour of my life.

TLDR: This week we’re likely getting the supportive legend for the Revenant – Ventari.
Probably also going to see the staff revealed as well as a new trait line.

I’m thinking it might be two things. It’s definitely something to do with Ventari, what with the quote and all. I’m 99% sure that we’re learning about the Great Centaur stance for the Revenant this week but we might also get the Druid. Ventari and the whole Druid theme go hand in hand and also Gw2 said “Who said anything about Druid?” in the comments WITH A WINKY FACE AFTERWARDS. WOAH. If they wanted to rule out Druid they’d probably just say no but the winky face after might mean Druid later this week or if not, soon. Maybe Druid will be a surprise reveal on Thursday. If we got to see a teaser image we’d know right away what it is. It’s a possibility that they’ll just drop Druid on us or have a proper reveal next week. I dunno though, 1 healing skill, 3 utility skills and one elite plus possibly a new trait line for the Revenant won’t make for much of a reveal by itself.

Looks like the sword skill that grants might and hits 7 targets might be that one skill we saw Rytlock using in the trailer, the one where he teleported in between targets.

Lethal Njection.8741:

I feel that spirit balance needs to be based on large area effects especially due to them no longer moving with you. 360 just wont cut it, but there are some interesting concepts here that I wouldn’t mind seeing if done correctly.

360 is the size of Barrage. I actually think any higher range would be too strong. The changes were meant to make spirits powerful, long lasting moderately sized area affects. Their limitation is that they have a set range and can’t move. Consider this… Imagine 50% retaliation uptime and 40% chill uptime for 1 minute with the current spirit aoe size. The size is meant to help with counter play. You can zone enemies out of it by dropping a meteor shower or a barrage on top of it or just stay out of it yourself. It would be very hard to deprive opponents of the boons or avoid the conditions with a huge area say the size of Warrior banners. However I do agree that there needs to be some way of moving the area. Hmmm.

How about this, NEW TRAIT!

Spirit actives are ground targeted and teleport your spirit to the selected zone. Spirit effects are unblockable.

Maybe that could be baseline.

I also want to say that spirits would be quite obvious. The pulse would be a visible wave and you could see the spirit charging it up. So like, the pulse animation would begin about one and a half seconds before the effect and spirits would raise their fist and smash it down. That way you would know to run into the effect or get out of it. The same kind of thing would happen before they use the active effects.

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback!

Spirit rework idea

This was just for fun so don’t bash me for anything OP or UP XD
If you liked or hated something please let me know! Which of these spirits would you use, if any?

Spirits now emit a pulse every 5 seconds in a radius of 360. The pulse can effect allies, enemies, or both. Spirits can no longer move by any means and are still targetable and fairly fragile if focused however spirits now gain 70% aoe damage reduction.
Spirits still have active effects which can be used twice over the spirits lifespan. The actual actives only have a cool-down of 5s but once you’ve used it twice that’s it until you summon another.

Spirits actually have to be focused now and have noticeable and frequent effects however in order to see them both you, your allies, and your enemies have to be near your spirits.

Water Spirit

Pulse: Heals nearby allies and grants 5s of regeneration.

Active: Heals nearby allies for a chunk and slows enemies for 3s.

Frost Spirit

Pulse: Chills nearby enemies for 2s and grants allies 2.5s of retaliation.

Active: Damages nearby enemies and inflicts 3s of chill and 10x vulnerability for 5s.

Sun Spirit

Pulse: Inflicts 3s of burning and grants allies 3x might for 10s.

Active: Blinds enemies for 10s and creates a fire field for 5s that burns foes.

Stone Spirit

Pulse: Cripples enemies for 2 seconds and grants allies 1.5s of protection.

Active: Grants spirit 5s of protection and taunts nearby enemies for 1.5s. Grants allies 2x stability for 3s.

Storm Spirit

Pulse: Inflicts 2s of weakness and grants 4s of fury to allies.

Active: Dazes foes for 1s and strips 2 boons. Grants allies 5s of swiftness.

Nature Spirit

Pulse: Grants 5s of vigor and removes 2 conditions. Destroys enemy projectiles.

Active: Heals allies (including downed allies) and removes up to 5 conditions, granting 2s of resistance per condition removed.

Possible traits:

Spirits have retaliation and regeneration.

Spirits pulse every 4s instead of 5 and recharge 20% faster.

Gain 5% boon duration and 5% condition duration for each spirit you have active.

Defender’s Dogma – Blocking an attack causes virtue of Justice to reach its full charge.

Changed – While spear of Justice is recharging, blocking an attack reduces its recharge by 20%. When Spear of Justice is off cool-down blocking an attack grants you 3s of swiftness. 3s cool-down for both effects.

Piercing Light – trap hits bleed enemies.

Changed – trap hits bleed enemies. 20% reduced recharge on trap skills.

Zealot’s Aggression – deal 10% extra damage to crippled enemies.

Changed – deal 10% extra damage to crippled enemies. Hitting a crippled enemy with True Shot recharges all other longbow skills by 10%. 3s recharge on bow skill reduction.

Big Game Hunter – hits against enemies tethered with Spear of Justice deal 15% more damage and apply vulnerability.

This trait is kind of strange in my eyes. Like, you already apply 15 imaginary stacks of vulnerability when you spear them and then continue applying more. This trait doesn’t really need to be changed but here’s my best shot.

Changed – deal 15% more damage to enemies tethered by Spear of Justice. Striking a tethered enemy grants you 10 seconds of might – 1s cooldown.

Hello! I’ve been playing around with the specialization calculator by that shaman on dulfy (http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgcB9ASUBeQ~) trying to come up with a post-update build for my thief. I’m stuck between two choices. Currently I have one very fun sounding utility choice and one more offensive choice. I’m thinking of either taking mug for the damage and heal on steal or trappers respite for the needle trap when I use my heal. Let’s go over what’s up with both of these options.

Option 1 – mug and runes of the thief

Mug is great for easy damage and a little bit more survivability’ but I already have withdraw on a 12 second cooldown and passive sustain through assassin’s reward. Thief runes work well with my build though. The stats precision and condition damage they give benefit me greatly and the 5% bonus damage from the side or behind works well with backstabbing and the haste I get from flanking strikes.

Option 2 – trappers repspite and runes of the trapper.

Needle Traps are pretty awesome. Lots of DoTs and a sexy 3 second immobilize. The trait has an internal cooldown of 10 seconds but my heal is on a 12 second cooldown so it’ll be proccing whenever I use it. Runes of the trapper give much appreciated condition damage and condition duration but the passives are just too good. With the way I’ve traited, my heal skill restores initiative, grants vigor and cures a condition. Why not also have it drop a trap, grant me super speed and grant me stealth which synergizes well with revealed training?

Anyways, I’m stumped. I like both options so could you guys just pick for me?

evilapprentice.6379:

Treetoptrickster.4205:

Currently the only weapon that gives sure-fire stealth is offhand dagger and we have Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge and Blinding Powder for stealth granting utilities.
If, after the update, you don’t take one of those options or spec in Shadow Arts then you will have no direct access to stealth. Hidden Thief is a trait that grants you three seconds of stealth when you steal and – when the new trait system comes around – it won’t be an option anymore so I suggest making it baseline. Stealth is a large part of the Thief’s identity and we even have an entire mechanic build around it. Not having access to stealth robs a Thief of that. It won’t break the game if it isn’t added back in but I really think that adding a two second stealth to base steal would be a good change when the changes come.

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

Hidden thief has been rolled into Descent of Shadows. You now release a Blinding powder when taking falling damage or when you steal, with an 8s ICD.

Let’s also note that “Sure fire stealth” is actually available with Pistol offhand – D/P has guaranteed stealth (unless HS is interrupted) by leaping through BP’s smoke field.

Currently the only weapon that gives sure-fire stealth is offhand dagger and we have Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge and Blinding Powder for stealth granting utilities.
If, after the update, you don’t take one of those options or spec in Shadow Arts then you will have no direct access to stealth. Hidden Thief is a trait that grants you three seconds of stealth when you steal and – when the new trait system comes around – it won’t be an option anymore so I suggest making it baseline. Stealth is a large part of the Thief’s identity and we even have an entire mechanic build around it. Not having access to stealth robs a Thief of that. It won’t break the game if it isn’t added back in but I really think that adding a two second stealth to base steal would be a good change when the changes come.

Mikkel.8427:

It’s memorial day. I think we can all safely assume that most (if not all) of the staff had the day off.

Ah right, sorry, I’m Canadian c:

So I haven’t seen a teaser image yet today. Does that mean that we’re going another week without a new elite specialization? Or does that mean that the next elite spec is already confirmed so a teaser image would be pointless? Does A-Net just not have one that’s complete enough to release this week? I just wanna know Dx should I be looking forwards to anything or naw?

Maybe something like death shroud where you can become your pet and gain access to new skills. I don’t mean inheriting your pet’s basic abilities and f2 skill but instead gaining a more advanced version. The idea is that you’d gain your pet’s stats (imagine being a bear with 50,000 health) and you’d use its health as your own while the real you is just kinda gone for a while. Maybe you’d also get some cool passives based on what class of pet you swap with ex. as a bird you gain super speed and as a feline you gain 100% crit chance on your first attack from stealth.

I’m 100% sure that this isn’t happening but I think it would be a cool way to implement shape shifting.

They could make a new type of ghost or wraith type minion that applies torment on auto attacks to add some conditions other than chill, vuln and poison to the reaper. Torment specifically compliments their playstyle, punish your enemies for running from you! Reapers don’t really seem like the type to raise fleshy, rotten zombies anyway. Besides, if there’s a skill that can summon 5 of one type of minion and another that summons 1 or 2 which would you take?

Out of the ones revealed so far…

1. Reaper
Changes to death shroud look spectacular!
Greatsword skills seem fun and synergize well with themselves and the new traits.
Shouts seem useful, I’ll definitely be using a few.
I love the traits, they look useful and have a number of strong and fun combos.

2. Dragonhunter
New virtues seem a lot more fun to use and stronger in some scenarios.
Longbow skills seem pretty interesting and the weapon has great utility.
Traps are alright but I probably won’t be using more than two.
Traits are ok. They definitely could be better though.
The name though, bleh.

3. Chronomancer
Continuum shift seems epic but it’s only one new ability.
Shield skills seem alright but there are only two and I don’t think there’s enough oomph to make me less sad about not getting a two handed weapon with 5 new skills.
Wells seem ok to me but I wouldn’t use them
The traits are where I get thrown off. They basically all just have to deal with making you move faster and your enemies moving slower. I just wish they played a bit more into what a time mage could do with more traits like chronophantasma. But they are working on them.

Hoping for Druid next!

Silv.9207:

I eiter don’t want to play a necro supporter. But there’s a difference between give a little support (expecially with might, stability or blast finishers) and can’t give a single one because you’ve not a single blast finisher to help to stack might from a firefield.

Well, the second Reaper’s shroud ability says that it ends in an explosive poison cloud, so that’s a possible blast finisher at least. Shouts may be blast finishers too, who knows? Anet’s already given us the melee cleaving option for the necro that we’ve asked for, maybe they’ve heard our cries for a bit of group support. You already have a pull on the Greatsword (the black claw thing) and a bunch of chill, apparently, so at least you can help out a bit in that way. We’ll see tomorrow I guess.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Treetoptrickster.4205:

Defender’s Dogma vs Defender’s Flame

We already have a trait that deals with burning enemies when you block and I don’t think we need another one. Maybe change it to something like “Remove a condition when you block an attack” or “Blocking an attack reduces the recharge of Spear of Justice by 10% with a short cool-down.” Personally I would change it to something completely new that encourages performing projectile finishers. Maybe projectile finishers grant you resistance for a short duration or projectile finishers have a 100% chance to burn enemies.

I also think that Hunter’s determination should either have a cool-down of something like 6 seconds or have a maximum cap. Recharge reduction for the longbow could be included with this trait if the stability application gets nerfed a bit. I just think there needs to be longbow recharge reduction on some trait, really.

Love the idea in your first paragraph. Mind if I add it to the list ?

The second one I can kinda agree with however the only reason the bow would really need a CD reduction trait is because the last skill has such a long CD. The others are fairly short..

Sure! Go right ahead. I also had the idea that instead of vigor the longbow symbol should apply something else. Vigor doesn’t work well with symbols. If you’re trying to be evasive you aren’t going to want to stay in the symbol and dodging will just roll you right out of the aoe. Maybe the symbol should grant resistance and you could get something else for executing a projectile finisher. You’re right, the bow has pretty short cool downs. But I do think that there needs to be a trait that reduces trap recharge, maybe they should add that to piercing light to make it a less boring trait.

Defender’s Dogma vs Defender’s Flame

We already have a trait that deals with burning enemies when you block and I don’t think we need another one. Maybe change it to something like “Remove a condition when you block an attack” or “Blocking an attack reduces the recharge of Spear of Justice by 10% with a short cool-down.” Personally I would change it to something completely new that encourages performing projectile finishers. Maybe projectile finishers grant you resistance for a short duration or projectile finishers have a 100% chance to burn enemies.

I also think that Hunter’s determination should either have a cool-down of something like 6 seconds or have a maximum cap. Recharge reduction for the longbow could be included with this trait if the stability application gets nerfed a bit. I just think there needs to be longbow recharge reduction on some trait, really.

Warden or Arbiter could be cool.

I’ve read my way around the web and have seen that many of us aren’t satisfied with the name “Dragon Hunter”. It seems to stray a bit too far from the core Guardian theme of a holy warrior. I’ve come across a few names I really Iilke, for instance, Warden and Arbiter. The theme of “Big-game hunter” also seems very out of place. Personally, I think that instead of a big-game hunter the theme could be just a general hunter of evil things. Imagine Van Helsing but a bit less dark. Other than those two things I’m happy with getting the longbow and Virtues with a higher skill cap. I haven’t seen what Guardian traps do yet but I don’t hate the idea of getting them do long as they pack a unique punch.

TL;DR – Dragon Hunter isn’t a very good name. What do you think the Guardian elite spec should be called?

So to those of you with a bright idea for a better name for the Guardian elite specialization, post away!

This is my full support/healer/tank mesmer. Warning, this is looooong.

Weapons and Gear:

Nomad’s Staff ( Vitality, Toughness, Healing Power) with Sigil of Water and sigil of Strength. This provides me with an aoe heal about once every 5 seconds as I’m pretty sure Illusions can proc it, I also gain a stack of might on crits to help with dealing some damage and to add to the might stacking of the staff auto.

I use Giver’s Armor with Runes of theWater for self condition removal and a party wide heal when I use mine, also more boon duration and healing power. I take Soldier stats for one earring and my back piece and leave the rest as Giver’s with sapphire jewels on all of them.

For Utility Skills I take Mantra of Recovery, Mantra of Pain, Mantra of Resolve, Phantasmal Defender for added tankiness and Time Warp for a nice group DPS buff and to help with Mantra charging in the middle of fights

Stats:

1094 Power (Without the constant might stacking) , 3116 Armor, 20022 Health, 9% Crit chance (29% most of the time) 1177 Healing Power, 60% boon duration, 220 Condition Damage

Traits:

2 in Duelling with VI for lower cool-downs on Mantras and the possibility of 80% Vigor uptime.
6 in Chaos with IV, X and XIII for 16 seconds of regen when I drop to 75%, Protection along with that, 9% less damage with my Illusions up, better staff, and boons when I use shatters…and also the condition damage thing.
6 in Inspiration with V, X and XI for some help with phantasms and constant party regeneration of 277 health a second. I also heal my party for 2835 whenever I use a mantra and remove up to three conditions when I shatter.

This means that when I use my heal skill, it procs the heal from restorative mantras and the Water Runes on me along with the two charges that heal me up for 3091 health each. Constant regeneration if you’re near my phantasms (277 per sec). Water Sigil proc once per 5 seconds if I’m lucky (572). Water Rune Proc once every ten seconds (1278). Restorative Mantra heal basically whenever you want to sit and channel Mantra of Pain (2835) plus the heal from Mantra of recovery every 8 seconds (6182). Those numbers seem sexy? Real Heals. Taking Signet of Inspiration instead of Mantra of Resolve or Phantasmal Defender makes for some nice boon transfers from sigil of strength, bountiful disillusionment and chaos armor too!