That’s not necessairly a good thing. The more you put into a single patch, the more potential root causes you have to problems, and the more senarios you have to juggle.
Let’s say you introduce a small patch with bug fixes A, B, and C, and the fix for A doesn’t work. In this senario, either you forgot the fix, or the fix for B or C is interfeering with A.
Let’s add features D, E, and F, introduced by a seperate group. Let’s say feature D isn’t working. Perhaps feature D relied on bug A to be fixed, but bug A isn’t working because feature E made some base code changes. Perhaps feature E broke feature D, which the fix for bug A relied on. Perhaps feature F and E both made changes that would have been okay by themselves, but has caused a new bug that has the same symptoms as bug A, but has also broken feature D. You get the idea.
What if this patch introduces bug G? With the smaller patch, your questions is, is this bug caused by the fix for A, B, or C, or a combination of them?
With the larger patch, your question is: is this bug caused by bug A, B, C, or feature D, E, F, or a combination of them?
The more moving pieces you change at once, that harder a root cause is to find. Smaller patches more quickly would help minimize potential impact.
Unfortunately, I don’t think GMs are feasible without subscriptions. Being a GM is a full time job. For bare-minimun, unrealistic 24 hour coverage you need 3 people minimum. Let’s be stingy and say 1 GM per server. There are 52 servers right now. 52 * 3 = 156
That’s 156 new employees for each GM on a server. Let’s be horrible greedy corporate types and say they all made $10 an hour. $80 a day. 156 * 80 =
$12,480 per day.
That’s a generously cheap estimate for the daily upkeep of single GM on each server round the clock. And that’s just the upkeep.
I’m going to take a leap of faith and say that since there aren’t any GMs available, there’s no pre-existing mechanism in place FOR a gm to function. So, in addition to that, the developers would need to spend cycles developing a GM interface for our GMs to use. It’s more complicated than it sounds. They need to be able to interact and control many elements of the game that wern’t designed to be manipulated that way. It would take months at the very least, and would likely cause more bugs than the GMs could fix.
On top of THAT, these GMs need to be hired, trained, and managed. That’s more full time staff right there.
I could go on, but I think you see my point. The cash shop would have a lot of trouble bearing the extra upkeep.
I personally have an issue that they are worrying so much about pushing out content that it seems to be taking precedence over so many bugs.
That might be my biggest issue with this game so far. When you add complexity to an already existing complex system, you are almost certainly introducing more bugs. The last thing this game needs is more bugs. I’d much rather have a a few fun activities in a stable game than a million activites I don’t want to do because they’re all a buggy mess.
When I first got the game, I thought ANet wasn’t concerned about keeping players constantly playing. Why should they be? They aren’t losing subs or anything. They were going to make the best game they could and people could play it at their leisure. People could get bored, take breaks for awhile, and come back when they wanted.
But with all these content pushes, it seems like they’re getting frantic trying to keep people playing with the latest shiny activity to distract them. The activities are nice, but I’d rather see them later on in development, when most of the bugs have been ironed out and they have a more stable foundation to build extra content upon.
I guess none of you ever played another on launch MMO? All things told, guildwars 2 launch has been relatively smooth… The serious bugs that did crop up were fixed rather quickly. Compare this to say WoW’s launch, and oh my god the bugs.
I’ve seen most of the bugs i’ve run across fixed within a week or two. The others there are workarounds that work temporarily, and a few that are probably head scratchers.
Neither of you have likely worked on bug fixing code.. it isn’t like patching a wall or sanding out a ding on your car. :\ some bugs can be so illusive as to hide for years on end, cropping up only in weird situations 7.5 days after daylight savings, but only if the day is tuesday. :P
The thing I would like them to do though, is put a lot more information in to the patch notes. Documentation is everything!
Actually, yes I have done debugging. In fact, that’s part of my current job.
I understand bugs can be ELusive (mass effect fan?) and that they can take time to fix. However, some bugs are more complex than others. And some of these bugs just have no excuse.
The cantrip cooldown trait for the ele for instance. This trait decreases the cooldown time for 3 out of the 4 skills it’s supposed to. It works fine for the other 3 skills. Changing a number isn’t terribly complex. And even if the skill has a unikittenfect that is complicating matters, they’ve had three months to fix it now! Are they so understaffed that someone can’t spare a half a day to sort through the problem and straighten this out?
To add insult to injury, they said they fixed it in the patch notes and they didn’t. That’s just sloppy. I know before I patch any piece of software I support, I go through and test the fixes listed in the patch notes to make sure they actually work.
I’ve been going through the forums, reading the threads, seeing the general population reporting all manner of issues from the mundane to the horrifingly game breaking with little or no response. It’s becoming evident that a large percentage of the players of your game are starting to feel abandoned.
Actions speak louder than words. Actions spoke louder than your words when you revolutionized the stale MMO formula. Actions spoke louder than words with your solid communication during the beta. Actions spoke louder than words when you swiftly banned players who excessively exploited the karma bug.
Now, sadly, your inactions are speaking louder than your words. The loading screen bug is plaguing sPvP again, an issue that is gamebreaking for many players (tournaments). Several bugs that were stated as fixed in the last patch notes were not. (cantrip cooldown trait + mistform, still can’t hit objects with melee, blast finisher on Dragon’s Tooth). Bugs that have been around since beta are still here (some skills/traits don’t work as advertised and a few traits don’t work at all, several runes are bugged, wasting gold buying runes only to find out they don’t work is INFURIATING).
You can thank us for our patience and tell us you are looking into it. I believe you, others will believe you as well. However, that’s only works for so long before that feeling of abandonment sinks in. We start to wonder when the next patch is. We remember how long ago the last patch was, and how little it seemed to address. We worry because we know there isn’t going to be too many bugfixes in the next patch. Will it have a fix for the bugs that have been plaguing me? If not, how long will I have to wait?
I understand the scope of what you’re doing, and I don’t envy you the task. But I think the community at large would benefit from seeing you doing SOMETHING. And I don’t mean, “We’re looking into it”. I mean a patching schedule that’s more deadset. Every other week, a patch that contains a few bugfixes, some skill tweaks, maybe a new recipe or a new cashshop item. Slow and steady is better than slow and staggered.
Please don’t let the player’s actions start speaking louder than their words. Start acting, and retain the population of this fantastic game.
They asked about what they could reflect on in the future. At this point, they really can’t take out ascended gear.
The survey was to assess their focuses in the future. For better or worse, ascended gear is here to stay.
To the Guild Wars 2 team,
I love your game. As a gamer who has been playing games for over 20 years, I might go so far as to say this is my favorite. The solid design philosophies this game launched with plus the brillantly calculated tweaks to the old tired MMO formula have added up to an unforgettable gaming experience.
That being said, I’ve seen GW2 take some missteps as of late. You’ve read all of them and then some, I’m sure. I’m not a fan of prioritizing new content over fixing bugs that have been around since beta. I am not a fan of development spending the time working on one time events when they could be improving on more permanent things. Later down the road, one time events could be a great addition to an already great game, but there’s too much work to be done on what we’ve already got. Any developer will tell you that adding features to an existing product can and will produce bugs. You don’t need more bugs right now. Solidify the foundation before you add onto the tower.
That being said, these mistakes are nothing ANet can’t overcome in the future. The survey that was sent out is a great sign that you want to hear our opinions. I’m very happy to see it and I hope you will keep sending out surveys in the future.
We all make mistakes. I’m glad to see ANet taking the first step in learning form them. Reinforce my faith in you, ANet!
Something has to be done about the poor quality of ANet’s post launch performance. I could see this helping a LOT.
I’m getting very frusturated with the bugs involving the runes in this game.
It’s not a big deal in sPvP where you can just grab some more, but people are buying these runes off the auction house, not knowing that their bugged until it’s too late.
The rune of Balthazar in particular. I spent 4 gold for a set of 5. The bug? The Haste that supposed to activate at 20% health drains your endurance without giving you quickness. I’m actually being punished for inserting these runes. I can’t get them out without either destroying them or destroying my exotic armor. I actually feel like I’ve been scammed out of my money through the mechanics of the game.
I suppose I could’ve checked the forums to see if the runes I wanted were bugged, but I really shouldn’t have to. Please do something. At the very very VERY least, put a note in the description that these runes are bugged so people won’t waste thier money on them until they’re fixed.
If you switched from Valkyrie to Berserker, you should be seeing the same damage with more frequent crits.
If you’re seeing less damage, then there’s an outside factor at work. Check your build, the level and rarity of your gear, and the upgrades socketed into your gear. If you still have your old gear, equip it and check your stat totals, then switch to the new gear and compare stat totals.
Beyond that, ensure you’re fighting the same enemies in the same area. You could also see a change in numbers if you had allies stacking vulnerability on your target or might on you.
I run a glass cannon/cantrip build and mist form is the only cantrip I don’t use regularly.
Mist form has it’s place. It’s good in dungeons if there’s a boss attack that’s one shotting you and you need a “backup roll”. Good for stomping and reviving as always.
I like Armor of Earth better because it allows you to keep fighting. Also, with a cantrip build, it provides a whopping 5 boons on activation (stability, protection, vigor, regen, and might) which is a 10% increase in damage output when combined with water’s grandmaster minor trait (2% extra damage for each boon). In other words, it’s both an offensive and defensive utility for me, and since most enemies in pvp open with their hardest burst, it’s an amazing opener to most pvp engagements.
Just becuase you have trouble taking the time to read before posting doesn’t mean I can’t use attunements effectively. It’s an idea. An ADDITION to the class’ options to give everyone the best of both worlds to be considered after the class has been effectively balanced. This isn’t a revamp. I’m not saying take away attunement dancing. I’m talking about adding options.
Try reading next time instead of assuming anything about my playing skill.
Check out the following traits for ones that I completely changed:
- Geomancer’s Freedom (renamed to Earthly Impact)
- Stop Drop and Roll (renamed to Acidic Wash)
- Lingering Elements
- Elemental Surge (renamed Arcane Surge)
I’m particularly interested in how Arcane Surge would work on the field.
(edited by Xriah.5743)
I think a lot of us hope so as well. I play a glass cannon in PvE because I can get away with it, but it’s just not feasible in PvP.
We’re with you.
That’s a valid concern. I think we all know that true balance is strived for, but never obtained. I can’t see limiting your options becoming the superior way to play unless the locking bonuses are way too drastic.
I got bored reading. But here’s what I gathered.
Your qualms about many of the fire traits are a bit exaggerated. 4 seconds over 3? That’s not much of a difference in anything. Other fire traits ideas are just dealing more damage, or another damaging effect, and that’s not creative at all.
I do agree that the speed traits should stack with swiftness, and if they don’t already, they should stack over themselves, even over 25%.
I also think it’s a horrible idea to have “% chance of _ happening on a critical hit”. It should either be 100% or 0%. Critical hits don’t happen all the time. You can put a limiter on it, I wouldn’t mind that.
I got bored reading your response, but here’s what I’m going to assume you were saying based on my admittedly flawed analysis of what I bothered to read.
The 3 to 4 seconds of fire aura is not much of a change because I feel not much of a change was warranted. The fire aura is the weakest aura of the bunch, and the main reason it exists in this trait is for the buffs that other aura traits can provide.
Fire is about damage first and foremost. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough in the games current state. So yes, I boosted the numbers in a lot of areas. I only tried to drastically change a trait if I felt that the concept of a trait was not realistically feasible. I can and did a few creative traits, (guessing you stopped reading before getting to them) but I tried not to make too many drastic changes.
I think it just comes down to where the dev’s effort is best spent…
Right now, Ele works fine as a complex class. Yes, there are issues, but there is no reason to make the class simpler.
If ANet decided to embark upon this mission of satisfying complainers and giving ele a simple “option,” then they would have to choose to not spend their effort on other things. Like…fixing RTL, doing something to make our conjures more appealing, making fire a viable trait line etc…
I just don’t think it’s a good idea for the dev to invest so much effort in making Ele simpler just because that is how some people “want” the profession to be, despite the fact that they have tons of other options to choose from. There are a lot more actual problems that they need to be focusing on.
I personally thought that the recent Ele patch was a great direction for the devs to be going. They are fixing the actual problems with Ele. Like the fact that Ring of Earth was basically no better than your auto-attack, or the fact that getting downed was an immediate death sentence, or the fact that Fire grab was very hard to connect with.
THOSE things needed fixing…overhauling the class just so people will stop whining that they can’t be a fire mage should not be top priority.
If you look at my original post, I’m in agreement. The devs shouldn’t attempt to implement this in the game’s current state. I just wanted reflections on the idea itself.
I don’t see anything wrong with the Ele being complex. I also don’t see anything wrong with having more simplistic options. I always like having more options. What’s wrong with more ways to play? If anything, it’ll make the fact that the more advanced Eles use all of our elements MORE unique.
What I don’t get is why would we want a mechanic that would almost definitely make our class more boring to play?
Right now, I am encouraged to constantly swap attunements and utilize all my skills intelligently. What is wrong with this?
I for one would be VERY bored if just staying in fire attunement almost all the time was the optimal way to play…only shifting into other attunement for “oh crap” skills. I know a bunch of people have a fantasy of being a “fire” or “air” mage or whatever…but it’s just not going to happen, and it really shouldn’t happen. The class is built to utilize ALL of their elements…not just one.
In a balanced world, it wouldn’t be the optimal way to play. It would be an optional way to play.
For you and me, Ele is challenging, engaging, and fun. However, there are plenty of people out there who want it to be more straightforward. You can’t change the way the ele plays now in order to accomidate them. That wouldn’t be fair to us. You could, however, make it a viable option. It wouldn’t harm us as long as the implementation maintained balance. (Balance that we don’t have yet mind you)
Not a bad idea to give an option like that, but I would use the existing system. There is a trait in air for instance that gets better the longer you stay in air, I would do them like that. Like +5% damage and a buff, that gets better every 10 seconds you stay in attunement, up to 25%.
An idea like that could also work. Less commitment to an attunement, but less rewarding as well.
But you can’t ignore that some of our traits lend themselves to using one specific attuement. The One with Fire and One with Air traits espeically indicate this, rewarding players the longer they stay in an attunement (not that they’re good traits, but still). Even if the devs scrapped the idea of an ele that stays in one attunement, evidence would indicate that they intended it to be a type of playstyle at one time.
Just a thought I had that might be a neat idea. Some of the traits we can select as Eles reward you for staying in one attunement, and the majourity of the community has deduced that staying in one attunement limits your potential. I think the intent was to make single attunement builds viable, but they clearly aren’t. Hence, this idea.
Basically, if you hold down one of your attunement buttons for two seconds, it locks you into that attunement for 30 seconds and provides a sizeable increase in skill power. For example, you hold down the fire attunement button for 3 seconds, it locks you out of the other attunements and increases damage by 20%. Hitting the attuenement button again releases the lock, puts the attunements on cooldown, and surrenders the buff. Locking into air gives you 10% more crit chance and 20% more crit damage. Locking into water gets you 10% more vitality and 20% more healing. You get the idea. It would allow the people who say the elementalist is too hard to have a simpler approach, and it would create some interesting new builds.
I will add, that I don’t think this idea is feasible in the game’s current state. There’s already enough balance issues that we don’t need to complicate by adding a new style of play into the mix. However, this could be fun in the future and add more options to the class.
Thoughts?
Look at Nearo’s other messages. He’s spammed a similar message before. Just ignore him. He clearly doesn’t know how to play.
From what I understand, Updraft launches foes, which is a seperate state from knockdown. Unless this was changed, updraft doesn’t trigger the bonus from grounded. This is part of the reason I suggested a change to disabled foes rather than just knocked down and stunned foes.
-Master-
Vigorous Scepter: Endurance recharges faster while wielding a scepter.
Scepters get some mad endurance recharge when they spec for it. Still wish they’d tell you how much though.
Blasting Staff: Area attacks with staff are larger.
Blast away. No problems here.
Windborne Dagger: Move 15% faster when wielding a dagger.
…seriously? This is what we get for Daggers? This is just wrong. Even if this trait actually did anything, why would we care when we have so much swiftness available to us?
Suggestion: Move 15% faster when wielding a dagger. Stacks with swiftness.
It’s the only way to make these speed traits desirable.
Arcane Energy: Arcane and signet skills restore 25% endurance when used.
It’s alright…but I wouldn’t take it even with an arcane build or a signet build.
Suggestion: Arcane and signet skills restore 33% endurance when used.
Now I’m paying attention.
-Grandmaster-
Evasive Arcana: Create an attunement-based spell at the end of your dodge. Each spell can be triggered once every 10 seconds…
This is gonna be my one nerf I think. It’s just too strong as is.
Suggestion: Create an attunement-based spell at the end on your dodge. Can only be triggered once every 8 seconds.
It just stacks way too well when it combos. I can’t see it lasting in its existing form.
Elemental Surge: Based on attunement, arcane skills cause…
In contrast, this one seems weak to me. Let’s see what we can do here.
Suggestion: Arcane Surge: Arcane skills recharge 50% faster. Arcane skills activate immediately upon recharging.
It’s extreme. Perhaps too extreme. But, admit it, you want to try it. (Not meant to stack with Arcane Mastery)
(edited by Xriah.5743)
ARCANA
Arcana. THE trait tree. There’s some powerful traits in here. Let’s see what we have.
—MINOR TRAITS—
Adept – Arcane Fury: Grant yourself fury for 2 seconds on attunement.
Makes your openings when swapping attunements that much stronger. Love it.
Master – Lingering Elements: Attunement bonuses linger for 5 seconds.
…Meh. For one, it’s not clear. Two, it’s kinda lame in my eyes.
Suggestion: Swapping attunements adds an additional second to each active boon on you.
Not too strong, not something to sniff at.
Grandmaster – Arcane Precision: Skills have chance to apply a condition on critical hits.
I wish I knew what the chance was…because that’s probably what I would want to tweak if this trait needed a tweak.
—MAJOR TRAITS—
-Adept-
Arcane Mastery: Arcane skills recharge 20% faster.
If you like your arcane skills, you’ll want this.
Arcane Resurrection: When you revive an ally, you and the revived ally gain an aura based on your attunement.
This one’s tough. It’s nice for an aura build, but it relies on someone being down…I’ll leave it be, but I’d be curious as to what others suggest.
Arcane Retribution: Gain Arcane Power at 75% health.
It’ll be great once they fix Arcane Power.
Final Shielding: Create an Arcane Shield when health reaches 25%.
Some defense when you need it the most. Solid.
Elemental Attunement: When attuning to an element, you and all nearby allies gain…
Everyone loves this, including me. Keeper.
Renewing Stamina: You have a 33% chance to gain vigor on critical hits.
Very very strong for a crit build.
-Master-
Stop Drop and Roll: Dodge rolling removes burning and chilled. (Cooldown: 10 seconds)
I’m uncomfortable with traits that take dodge and make it do something else. In my mind, we as players should be conditioned to roll when we need to dodge something. This should be universal for all of our toons. Having dodge do anything else seems counterproductive to the dodging reflex we should all be striving to obtain. Beyond that belief, this trait still sucks.
Suggestion: Acidic Wash: Geyser, Healing Rain, Water Trident, Cone of Cold, and Cleansing Wave apply poison to enemies.
A little more offense for water to follow up that offensive adept trait. Also I find it interesting. I’d certainly try it.
Icy Mist: Deal damage and inflict chill and vulnerability to nearby foes while in mist or vapor form.
This seems fine to me. Gives you a bit of offense when working with mist.
Cantrip Mastery: Cantrips recharge 20% faster.
Hooray for cantrips!
Soothing Wave: Mist Form, Frost Bow, and Signet of Water grant 6 seconds of regeneration.
Another one that just seems odd to me. We get so much regen elsewhere and you’re unlikely to have two of these skills together, let alone 3.
Suggestion: Regen applied lasts 25% longer.
-Grandmaster-
Cleansing Water: Remove a condition when granting regeneration to yourself or an ally.
Very strong condition removal. Works wonders.
Powerful Aura: Auras are applied to nearby allies.
Powerful indeed. Another keeper for sure.
WATER
Water is pretty solid right now. However, it does have its share of meh traits. Let’s see if we can’t make it harder to choose.
—MINOR TRAITS—
Adept – Soothing Mist: Regenerate health while attuned to water.
A little bonus regen for everyone? Very solid.
Master – Healing Ripple: Heal nearby allies when attuning to water.
A heal just for preparing to heal? Awesome!
Grandmaster – Bountiful Power: Deal 2% more damage for each boon on you.
Considering how many boons you can stack, this is a nice little bonus.
—MAJOR TRAITS—
-Adept-
Aquamancer’s Alacrity: All your water weapon skills recharge 20% faster.
Interesting how this is an adept trait when all the equivalents are master level. Still wouldn’t change it.
Shard of Ice: Arcane and signet skills cause vulnerability when activated.
Now, you’d think this ability is kinda lame, but it’s not bad for a signet or an arcane build. The trait’s description doesn’t mention that it causes 3 stacks of vulnerability. Another example where more descriptive descriptions would help us out a lot.
Soothing Disruption: Cantrips grant you regeneration and vigor.
I never leave home without this trait. It’s incredibly strong.
Piercing Shards: While attuned to water, your spells deal 20% more damage to vulnerable foes.
Umm…I’m not sure about this one. I mean, 20% more damage is a lot, but who the heck uses water to put out damage? Maybe it’s viable if you spec for it?
Suggestion: Your spells deal 10% more damage to vulnerable foes.
That’s the suggestion I would make IF I were to change it. I’m not sure I would though, so take it for what it’s worth.
Cleansing Wave: Remove a condition from you and your allies when attuning to water.
Not bad for an adept trait. Leaving it be.
Vital Striking: Deal extra damage when health is above 90%.
…huh? Deal how much extra damage? Is it fixed or is it a percentage increase? Again, need more help from the trait description.
-Master-
Strength of Stone: Deal 10% more damage while attuned to earth.
Condition builds, go nuts.
Serrated Stones: Bleeds you apply last 20% longer.
Another obvious choice for the bleed build. No issues here either.
Geomancer’s Freedom: You recover from crippled, immobilized, and chilled 33% faster.
Eww…come on. In a game where we’ve been trained to keep our condition cleansers with us…why would anyone want this? I say wipe this thing and give us our fall damage trait here.
Suggestion: Earthly Impact: Create the Churning Earth spell when you take falling damage. Take 50% less damage from falling.
Geomancer’s Alacrity: All your earth weapon skills recharge 20% faster.
Always gotta have one of these traits.
-Grandmaster-
Rock Solid: Grant stability (2s) to nearby allies when attuning to earth.
Two seconds? Laaaaame.
Suggestion: Grant stability and protection (3s) to nearby allies when attuning to earth.
Now that’s a grandmaster trait!
Written in Stone: Maintain the passive effects of signets when you activate them.
The ultimate goal of a signet build. Wouldn’t touch it.
EARTH
Gonna be honest, haven’t done too much in earth. Most of this will be theoretical and I would like the most help here.
—MINOR TRAITS—
Adept – Stone Flesh: Gain 1 toughness per level while attuned to earth.
One toughness per level isn’t very strong. I’d change this to be a little more universal.
Suggestion: Gain 1 toughness per level.
Master – Earthen Blast: Damage foes and cripple them for 3 seconds when attuning to earth.
Gotta love the attunement attacks. Wouldn’t touch.
Grandmaster – Enduring Damage: Deal 10% more damage when your endurance is full.
Wait…we’re being rewarded for NOT dodging? I seriously don’t get these kind of traits.
Suggestion: Deal 10% more condition damage when attuned to Earth.
Just a thought. Would be open to suggestions on this one.
—MAJOR TRAITS—
-Adept-
Obsidian Focus: Gain toughness while using a channeled skill.
This looks ok in my eyes, but I’m out of my domain here.
Signet Mastery: Signets recharge 20% faster.
For a signet build, good trait. Wouldn’t touch.
Earth’s Embrace: Gain Armor of Earth when health reaches 50% (90-second cooldown).
Looks good. I’d still like to see the cooldown lowered.
Suggestion: Gain Armor of Earth when health reaches 50% (60 second cooldown)
90 seconds seems like way too much to me.
Salt Stone: Deal 5% more damage to bleeding foes.
Makes sense to me. Don’t feel like it needs any help.
Elemental Shielding: Gain protection for 3 seconds when applying an aura to yourself or an ally.
This trait can be really powerful for an aura based build. Leave it be.
Stone Splinters: Deal 5% more damage when you are within melee range of your target.
Being within melee range is a lot to ask of most Eles. Also…melee range is kind of a broad term.
Suggestion: Deal 10% more damage when within 300 range of your target.
Still have to be close, but this way you’re more likely to take advantage when using D/D
-Master-
Arcane Lightning: Gain 3% more critical-hit damage for 10 seconds when you use an arcane skill.
I don’t really like this one that much. The bonus just doesn’t justify.
Suggestion: Gain 5% more critical hit damage and critical chance for 10 seconds when you use an arcane skill.
Sounds like a lot, but think about it. If you use up your utility slots with arcane skills, you’re really sacrificing to stack this. The cannon portion of our glass cannon really needs help. I actually still wouldn’t take this, but I’d think about it more for sure.
Inscription: Grants a boon associated with your current attunement when you cast a glyph.
Ok, for the glyph lover. Could be better though.
Suggestion: Grants a boon associated with your current attunement when you cast a glyph and when a glyph recharges.
Not that big of a buff, considering you can’t really plan that far in advance in a fast paced battle, but it’s a nice little buff for the trait that might make a glyph build more attractive.
Aeromancer’s Alacrity: All your air weapon skills recharge 20% faster.
Yay! No problems here.
Air Training: Deal 10% more damage while attuned to air.
It’s okay…but considering we go to fire when we want serious damage, I think it needs a bit more.
Suggestion: Deal 10% more damage and 10% more critical damage when attuned to air.
If you’re speccing air, you probably like crits. It’d probably take it now.
-Grandmaster-
Tempest Defense: Surround yourself with a Shocking Aura when disabled (fear, stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, launch, float, sink.) This effect can only trigger once every 90 seconds.
This is such a good anti-melee trait. The only thing I would change is the cooldown.
Suggestion: Surround yourself with a Shocking Aura when disabled (fear, stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, launch, float, sink.) This effect can only trigger once every 60 seconds.
This way it’ll have a chance to occur every fight. It’s already good, but this is a grandmaster trait here!
Grounded: Deal 20% more damage to knocked down and stunned foes.
Eww…no. Just no. This skill is not that great. 20% isn’t all that much considering just how short of a window you have to capitalize on it. Come on! Maybe, MAYBE as a master trait, it’d be ok, but not here.
Suggestion: Deal 30% more damage to disabled (fear, stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, launch, float, sink) foes.
This makes it feel more like a grandmaster trait. I still wouldn’t take it over Tempest Defense, but now I’d consider it.
AIR
Air is also suffering. Not as much as fire, but air could use a little help too.
—MINOR TRAITS—
Adept – Zephyr’s Speed: Move 10% faster while attuned to air.
Mmm… If this were any other place besides minor adept, I’d be more gung ho about changing it. However, it’s really useless as is. Let’s try this.
Suggestion: Run 6% faster when attuned to air. Stacks with swiftness.
Smaller boost, but I feel like these speed buffs should be stacked. Otherwise, the speed traits are worthless.
Master – Electric Discharge: Strike your target with a bolt of lightning when attuning to air.
Love it. Wouldn’t change it.
Grandmaster – Weak Spot: 60% chance to cause vulnerability on critical hits.
Great idea. But let’s give it a little love. This IS a grandmaster trait.
Suggestion: Cause vulnerability on critical hits.
Not as huge of a buff as you’d think, but it’ll help.
—MAJOR TRAITS—
-Adept-
Zephyr’s Boon: Auras grant fury and swiftness when applied.
So good. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Zephyr’s Focus: Your endurance regenerates 100% faster while channeling skills.
Not really a D/D skill. I can see this being very nice with scepter and vigor. I won’t touch it, but am curious as to what others think.
Quick Glyphs: Glyphs recharge 20% faster.
Not bad. Good for anyone who likes to use 2 or more of our glyphs.
One with Air: You move 5% faster every 10 seconds you are attuned to air. Maximum of 25% bonus movement speed.
The problem with this trait is multifold. Having us stay in Air is a lot to ask, compounding with the fact that it doesn’t stack with swiftness, makes this trait a complete waste. We have plenty of swiftness to go around. Now, as far as my solution to this goes…I dunno. Balance wise, this may be way too much speed. But we need something for staying in air for so long.
Suggestion: You move 5% faster every 10 seconds you are attuned to air. Maximum of 20% bonus movement speed. Stacks with swiftness.
It would have to be something like this. Otherwise, scrap the trait and make something else entirely.
Soothing Winds: 5% of your precision is converted to healing.
Ok. I’ve got around 2000 precision. 5% of 2000 is 100. Not too strong if you ask me. However, 10% is a little too strong. So, I propose this.
Suggestion: 5% of your precision is converted to healing and vitality.
I think this makes it much more considerable without being too much.
Bolt to the Heart: Deal 20% more damage to foes with less than 25% health.
People either love it or hate it. I’m not a fan, but if some people pick it, then it’s doing its job.
-Master-
Pyromancer’s Alacrity: All your fire weapon skills recharge 20% faster.
More recharge for our damage dealing attunement? Yes please!
Conjurer: Conjured weapons have 10 more charges.
Oh dear…conjured weapons. I think conjured weapons are awesome, despite their current lack of usefulness. Hopefully some good trait buffs could get people looking in the conjured weapons direction. I’ll take a crack at it but I’m really curious as to what other people would suggest.
Suggestion: Conjure Armory: Conjured weapon spells summon four weapons instead of two. Conjured weapons have 10 additional charges.
This is a drastic suggestion, but I think it’d be a cool one. Arm the majority of your party with conjured weapons and see how it stacks.
Fire’s Embrace: When you activate a signet, you gain a fire shield for 3 seconds.
I can see this for anyone that has an aura build with signets. It’s a little far in though, and an aura build doesn’t have much reason to go into fire beyond this. I suggest a small tweak.
Suggestion: When you activate a signet, you gain a fire shield for 4 seconds.
One with Fire: Flame Barrier’s chance to burn foes goes up the longer you are attuned to fire.
One of the biggest problems with the trait system is traits like this. It’s impossible to weigh its value since we don’t have any numbers to work with. My first suggestion is to elaborate on this trait’s description…THEN we can even see if it’s worth it or not.
-Grandmaster-
Persisting Flames: Fire fields last 30% longer.
Come on, this is a GRANDMASTER trait…this would be ok for a master trait, but we need something drastic for a grandmaster.
Suggestion: Fire Fields last 50% longer.
NOW I’m listening. Those are long fields. Much more worthy of a grandmaster trait.
Pyromancer’s Puissance: Each fire spell you cast adds might for 5 seconds.
Very good, very tempting…but it’s just not enough to warrant the 30 points in my book. Maybe I’m overdoing it but this is what I’d like to see.
Suggestion: Each spell you cast adds might for 5 seconds.
Straight up might for all. Now we’re hitting harder! I know might with every spell sounds like a lot, but this is a Grandmaster trait. Also, realistically, you can probably stack 5 seconds of might about 4 times, if you’re spamming.
FIRE
I think everyone will agree that fire could use some love. We love the skills, but the traits aren’t as game changing as the others.
—MINOR TRAITS—
Adept – Flame Barrier: You have a 20% chance to cause burning whenever a foe attacks you in melee. Only triggers when attuned to fire.
Even for a minor adept, this feels a bit too weak. I would add 5% to the chance to make it a little more noticeable.
Suggestion: You have a 25% chance to cause burning whenever a foe attacks you in melee. Only triggers when attuned to fire.
Master – Sunspot: Inflict damage at your location when you attune to fire.
As a D/D Ele, I have no complaints personally. However, I wouldn’t argue with changing this to erupt on target so the ranged Eles can make use of it too.
Suggestion: Inflict damage at target’s location when you attune to fire.
Grandmaster – Burning Rage: Deal 5% more damage to burning foes.
Come on guys, we’re at grandmaster here. We can do better than this. Double the damage bonus, and now you’re talkin’!
Suggestion: Deal 10% more damage to burning foes.
—MAJOR TRAITS—
-Adept-
Lava Tomb: Create a Lava Font when downed (can trigger every 30 seconds.)
This one’s rough. It should be made more appealing since taking a trait to enhance your downed state is not something most players would consider, but lava tomb is nice. I would either add a damaging blast (like the sunspot trait) in addition to the lava tomb, or I would remove the cooldown so that falling after using vapor form makes another lava tomb.
Suggestion 1: Inflict damage at your location and create a Lava Font when downed (can trigger every 30 seconds.)
Suggestion 2: Create a Lava Font when downed.
Burning Fire: Cleansing Flame, Signet of Fire, Conjure Flame, and Conjure Fiery Greatsword inflict 3 seconds of burning.
This trait seems silly. Not only do these skills already inflict burning, they’re unlikely to be used together. I suggest something a little more universally useful.
Suggestion: Burning inflicted lasts 25% longer.
Simple, good for an adept trait, and a little boost to any fire user.
Ember’s Might: Deal 5% extra damage to burning foes.
I can’t really argue with this. It’s not a huge boost, but this is an adept trait.
Spell Slinger: Cantrips grant you 3 stacks of might when used.
This trait is a great addition to any cantrip build. Can’t argue with this either.
Burning Precision: 30% chance to cause burning on a critical hit.
A nice bonus for any crit build. Not too overwhelming, but it’s an adept trait. Wouldn’t change.
Internal Fire: Deal 10% more damage while attuned to fire.
A solid boost to fire damage. Always tempting. As an adept trait, I don’t see a need to change this.
I think a lot of people would agree that some of our traits are lackluster and could use some help. I knew something was up when I had a very easy time selecting my traits for the Ele. One choice would just blow all the others out of the water. The problem is, a lot of our traits aren’t very appealing.
So, as a fun exercise, I’m going to go through all of the traits and offer suggestions as to what changes I feel could be made. I’ve tried everything to an extent, but some traits and weapon sets I have more experience with than others. I welcome any and all feedback, and would love to hear what suggestions other players have.
Use this as a reference: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_elementalist_traits
I imagine it’s because this was an intended change, based on the smooth nature of the drop. It’s sucks, but it’s not a huge deal.
I thought that this build would be better for a thief becuase only theives cantrap!
Get it?
ducks thrown tomato
…please tell me the community isn’t this dumb…
It’s a community. Every community has their idiots…
…that post pictures of themselves breaking decorum rules.
Couldn’t resist.
They could always go play thief or something, and they’re probably going to have to. If they buff up the Ele so he’s more powerful than the other classes just because he’s more difficult, that’s an imbalance. I can see ANet helping the Ele a little more, but not to the extent everyone seems to want.
I find the challenge very rewarding.
Just sayin’
Balancing is an ongoing delicate process, not an instantaneous thing. I’m glad we got anything at all considering this halloween event. Our downed state got a huge buff, some of our skills became more useful, and a few bugs got fixed. We will get more in time.
Also, I hope you realize that if you could sprint in and crush a zerg, you would be waaay OP. Right?
Honestly, some of the balance tweaks.
I like the event and all, but I’m so glad balancing the classes didn’t get completely shelved for the event. I was concerned about that.
:D so people noticed….
really hilarious…….it should’ve been a mini. u.uisnt the plastic spider mini from the gem shop the same as the costume?
Indeed it is. And it still makes that great clicking sound when it “walks” back and forth. It was worth every last gem.
Stupid quote buttons vanishing.
Radene, there is statistical gain. I’m still working on getting full exotic gear. It’s a bit slow considering I’m not really a stock market guy so I’m earning them through in game gold. I also didn’t take the rich approach. I haven’t bought any cosmetics, and I’m not going to because they aren’t needed to enjoy the game to it’s fullest. If I want to wear something awesome looking and cosmetic, I can go buy a cosplay outfit.
Cosmetics are not the official main goal. There’s WvW, PvP, dungeons, Keg Brawl (a guilty pleasure of mine), leveling alts, playing with friends on events, hanging around, exploring, or heck…doing whatever the frig I want without feeling chained to a gear grind.
What are you going to do once you have the shiniest outfits in all the land? Parade around yelling to everyone that you have the shiniest outfits in all the land? Who cares? Cosmetics are nice, but basing your whole enjoyment of a game around something like appearance is just a waste of time.
I cannot fathom the ludicrous responses that this thead is getting from people saying that charging for skins makes this game P2W. This is the exact opposite of P2W by definition.
If they can’t charge players money for statistical gain, that leaves cosmetics. That is what the cash shop SHOULD be for. Would you rather they put a system in place that gives everyone access to skins, yet you need to pay cash to get good stats? That’s what players in cash shop MMOs have been battling since the cash shop came to be.
If charging for skins is wrong, than what the heck should they be charging players for? I’d love to hear your ideas, because I can’t think of any reason to spend money at a cash shop besides cool cosmetic items or statistically advantageous items.
Let me clarify,
I think that the impossible-to-kill builds for classes like Guardian, Ele, ect should be nerfed, not just arcane. That could be done statistically rather than taking away what arcana gives us.
In the end, I think ANet will see the problem (eventually) and do SOMETHING to fix it. There are multiple approaches to fixing it.
It has to be nerfed.
No single trait line or trait should be so effective as to outshine all the other choices. It’s not really a choice if it nearly doubles your effectiveness, is it?
I honestly prefer longer fights… no one likes getting 2 or 3 shot. Fast fights just feel like ganks where one side had little they could do instead of a longer fight requiring skill and giving both sides a chance to fight back or even make a mistake and survive. It also feels more epic. Also if I died in a longer fight I feel better because I know I had a chance to do something and the other guy just played better.
That would be if you went too far in the other direction. I’m talking fights should last more like 20-40 seconds. My duels with Prince were 2+ minutes, both of us struggling mightily to kill eachother. At that point, it’s too much about the teamwork and less about the personal skill, because there’s no way you’re going to be left alone in a PvP match for two minutes.
All about balance between the two.
Hey man you put your money where your mouth was, no shame in that. Admitting there are better players out there is a good humbling experience, but it doesn’t make your advice any less worthwhile. Not everyone uses arcana and there is room for players that don’t want to, personally I see too much benefit in using it.
Ps trying to decide on going 30 arcane for evasive arcana 30 water and 10 earth or 20 arcana 30 water 10 earth and 10 air, how big of an impact was evasive arcana? Would you recommend it for dungeons PVE and WvW? (SPVP I’m running a different set up, similar though.)
I just got out of a tournament where I won a straight up 2 vs 1 against a warrior and a necromancer. No allies anywhere near me. It’s mind boggling how game changing it is. It’s a heal every 10 seconds when you need it and you can combo it with ring of fire in order to get a massive amount of might.
You don’t need to spec for offense when you can end up with over 20 stacks of might.
I dunno how I’d feel reccomending it for WvW or PvE. WvW, it will definetely give you more survivability, but whenever I die in WvW it’s usually because I have 20 people trying to kill me all at once. It’s almost as if build is irrelevant in WvW just because of the massive scale of the battles.
In PvE, again it’s more about what you like and what works for you. It’ll definetely help you stack some heals, but it’s so important to have your dodge up during boss fights, rolling for any other reason seems like a bad idea.
Keep in mind, I’m brand new to this trait, so take my advice with a bit of salt.