Guild Wars 2

Have to just chime in and add that I’m a little torn about the hammer. On one hand I completely agree that having a light field on AA is not great, but I would be very sad if the symbol was removed from AA as I like the way it allows me to utilize Zeal or even run with a Perma-Protection build. It certainly could use a speed boost, however.

I guess if I’m being honest, Hammer would lose a lot of appeal (flavor) for me if we lost SoP.

The text you have in bold seems to suggest that you think these things should have warranted its $50 purchase price individually in order to be satisfying. >.> Perhaps rephrasing some of that would help your argument?

Aside from that, given the prices of DLC and other add-on content in most games these days, I’d say HoT and all of the things it contains more than qualifies as an expansion worth $50.

However if you really aren’t having fun anymore than I don’t really think anyone could fault you for not wanting to play. I don’t think anyone wants to spend too much doing something they don’t enjoy, but there are a great many of us that DO still enjoy the game, and (dare I say it?) are enjoying it even more because of the differences in HoT.

I guess ultimately I’m not really sure what the point of this thread (and the others like it) is? If you don’t enjoy the game, don’t play it. If they had overhauled everything in a different way than the situation may just as well have been reversed and those enjoying HoT may have been the ones left unsatisfied. That’s just the way it is, any release like this is going to be somewhat polarizing.

Without crunching numbers or anything (so purely on face value) I think the new quad stat setup is an excellent idea because of the additional flexibility it can offer some builds. I feel that these likely will provide different avenues for theory crafting by being able to at least partially compensate for potential stat weaknesses for more niche or custom builds.

I, for one, am quite curious of the potential of a significant amount of Commander’s gear in combination with a Elixer wielding Scrapper or Dragonhunter rocking its respective runes.

Siegtalon.2801:

I don’t Really like these…

This a little too obvious of a trolling effort since your shoulder armor is still visible and a previous poster already explained how to fake the look.

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone has found a place to acquire Commander stat insignias? Or the recipes with which to craft them, at least?

This connection may be tenuous at best, but the reddit user who spoke to a Dev in game about Nightfury did post images of their conversation. Besides the stuff about How to Train Your Dragon, the the Dev did make a rather direct reference to gliding and I can’t help but notice that Toothless DOES have a glider to replace the broken fin on his tail.

As I said, this is a tenuous connection at best, but perhaps what we’re missing is somehow involved with gliding. I mean, they release Batwings as a glider skin alongside Nightfury which so far seems to require Tattered Bat Wings and Batwing Brew. I’ve heard a few people mention a possible Gift of Gliding? Maybe this is where we should be looking because that’s a lot of flying references!

Or, for that matter, maybe “Toothless” is the real hint since everything we’ve found so far wing related and bats have two pretty iconic features in pop culture – wings and fangs. Maybe that’s what we’re missing.

Food for thought!

I’ll agree that it seems many of the players that are enjoying the expansion are too busy playing and having fun to come to the forums. I know this was the case with me at least and I only bothered to pop in just now during a break at work because I’m not able to access the game here, naturally.

Although I am a very very big fan of the lore of the Guild Wars universe and have sunk hours upon hours outside of the game just reading about it . . . I felt as if the story presentation of GW2 was rather poor, honestly. While on paper the story sounded interesting, it suffered from never achieving any real drama and I never felt like the stakes were high, even at the culmination of the Claw Island chapter. Even the Living Story events were hit and miss, although Season 2 was certianly significantly better than the base game.

That being said, I’ve made it through several story chapters in HoT and have so far been blown away by the difference in storytelling. Not only is the gameplay for the story segments more varied and satisfying, but the writing itself is fantastic. I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that I feel that the storytelling in HoT is significantly better than any other MMO I’ve tried (including the big ones).

In terms of gameplay, I do have one major complaint – I miss my glider every second of every minute of every hour spent outside of Maguuma haha. The Maguuma maps are so vast, intricate and beguiling that I sometimes feel as if I’ve really stepped into a different game, a feeling that is no doubt boosted by the wonderful Action Camera mode (seriously, it’s amazing). I cannot heap enough praise onto the developers right now. I even sit as an outlier in that I LOVE that I took the time to scale to the canopy in Verdant Brink to go after a hero challenge, only to be knocked back to the ground by an unexpected Champion. So far, I’ve managed to solo about 3 of the champion hero challenges between Verdant Brink and Auric Basin and each time it came down to using different skills, mechanics and builds that I would have before – this is exactly what they said to expect.

Honestly, again I know I’m an outlier here, but after almost years of doing map completion and not feeling challenged or fully engaged in the game anymore, HoT has fully brought me back. To me there isn’t even a particularly obnoxious grind, as I really don’t want to be reduced to not having anything to work toward in the coming weeks beyond Legendaries. I would have been concerned if I had been able to fly through my masteries too quickly this weekend.

As for the Elite Specs, I see absolutely no problem with requiring 400 hero points to unlock them because most players should reasonably have completed at least a sizable chunk of map completion in Tyria by now. Granted this doesn’t apply to people who have only picked up the game in the past few months, but I stand by the opinion that rushing to get to Maguuma isn’t the best idea in those situations, anyways.

Suffice it to say, I’m extremely pleased by this expansion so far. As much of a fan as I am of the ANet team and despite my experience with the betas, I never expected the quality of the content to be quite this high. Even certain elite specs I was iffy about are performing admirably on the field. Kudos to the developers and thank you all kindly.

I would say I’m sitting at about a 7-8/10. I would probably bump that up another point or two if Masteries didn’t require quite so much experience and some of the new Hero Challenges were a little less impossible to solo. I would be fine with the Hero Challenges requiring groups if the ones I’m thinking of weren’t in rather difficult and obscure places with very little traffic . . .

With Guardians pretty much being incapable of applying any other damaging conditions, reducing their potential by reworking them instead of actually trying to balance the freakishly high damage of burning seems like nothing but a big middle finger to the profession.
To be honest I still question whether the changes made to Elementalist were a good idea when it seems rather obvious that the real issue is the damage of burning per stack per second. There is nearly no reason to ever focus on bleeding over burning now, regardless of profession. The Devs should have just throttled the damage of burning and bumped bleeding back up slightly instead of taking the time to rework the Ele’s skills. The system feels unbalanced right now.

After some serious thinking I’m a little torn here, to be honest.

Previously, I was in support of no more than 150 HP for Elite Specs, but now I feel that the high number is actually rather welcome so as to ensure that players don’t have the Elite Specs day one with minimal effort.

We need to have things to work toward and the high HP cost of Elite Specs is giving us a reason to keep playing. For our first trip through Maguuma I don’t think this will be grindy. For alts, yes, it will be a grind, but no more so than the current map completion is.

That being said, I am frankly really disappointed that Elite Specs are just hidden behind artificially inflated numbers. It just seems uninspired to me and I feel like the Devs are setting a rather boring precedent for the future. Having us use HP to unlock the Elite Specs is just fine, but couldn’t we at least have had a lower required number (say 200-250?) with a quest/collection/task or some sort that’s relevant to the Elite Spec?

I for one would have preferred a meaningful exploration of the lore and world to a numbers game. :/ Perhaps I’m wrong, and the Hero Challenges in Maguuma will be dripping with lore and excitement, but that would require them to be far more intricately developed than those in the current core game. I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but I’m not sure I have much hope for that.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Ghotistyx.6942:

Blackdeath.2607:

Perfect inscriptions:

the addition of light aura to this trait has failed to make this a proper GM trait , most guards only use this trait to grab the extra 36 power/condi damage increase and CD reduction for signet of resolve. Currently the only signet guards possess that’s actually worth activating is signet of resolve, which makes a on activation effect rather pointless for us.

Idea : instead of light aura on activation make this trait provide 50 precision per signet not currently on cool down (maximum of 3), not sure if such a idea is too strong but something along the lines of this would be alot better then light aura.

All i can say anything other then light aura on activation would help make this trait worthy of its current slot.

It synergizes very well with the master trait that activates Signet of Wrath on VoJ use. I agree though, I’m not a fan of light aura on signets. Light aura should be an on hit effect granted from Radiant Retaliation (in addition to its current effects), while Signet use should have a different bonus.

This ^.

If the signet trait was going to give anything it should be either condi removal or resistance & protection.

As is there is little reason to spec for signets as several of them suck & the loss of sustain hurts allot.

I’m a little late to the party here, but I do feel that Light Aura on Radiant Retaliation is an excellent idea. I think it would certainly need a bit of a duration increase as well, however.

As for Signets, I think the idea of Protection/Resistance and Condi Removal is great, but maybe a little simple? I feel as if the Signets themselves could use a little balancing as their CDs seem generally a little high for the quality of their active effects since they’re also very highly telegraphed. Given the very short duration of Light Aura some of the Signet effect an practically guarantee the enemy won’t get a chance to strike you while its up.

Whatever the decision, I feel like Perfect Inscriptions needs to be gifted an alternative bonus to make Signets less detrimental to our survivability. If they were balanced better I could see some excellent synergy occurring with the Dragonhunter.

Truthfully, I would very lovingly embrace a short quest or small collection as a prerequisite for Elite Specs if that means we don’t have to spend over 100 hero points on them.

I think it’s also relevant to point out that the new warrior Primal Burst for sword is basically an upgraded version of Zealot’s defense that does not root you.

There is of course the whole business with the changes to Gyros being exactly what we’ve been requesting for Spirit Weapons.

It seems the Guardian forum is an excellent place for the Devs to find ideas to fix other professions . . .

Bezagron.7352:

Nike.2631:

Just gonna copy this here and grounds for discussion about Guardian spirit weapons…

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Gyros are going to be affected by a systemic change that should increase their survivability quite a lot. In addition to that several changes to how Gyros follow you and their rate of travel were made – they shouldn’t zig-zag randomly about anymore even if you’re not moving and try to stay pretty close to you while you are moving.
…

• Several Gyros received increased movement speeds to help keep them close to you as you move and some skill changes to make them more effective at their jobs, like increased range on their abilities.

• Gyros now start their cooldown upon summon rather than upon gyro death. … This should encourage players to keep them around to gain their benefits for longer.

Well wishes,
~ Irenio

Looking positive for some spirit weapon improvements.

Indeed! I still refuse to get my hopes up, but I started a direct Q&A thread to the Devs asking about this. I’m not sure I expect to get an answer, but you never know unless you try, haha.

My question is to the Developers:

Will we see the same changes to Spirit Weapons as were recently announced for Gyros?

Specifically the increase to movement speed (a common and well known problem with Spirit Weapons as well) and even more importantly the change to Cooldowns beginning upon summon. The later is one change I know for certain has been requested in these forums for a very, very long time and is desperately needed.

Changes to the Scrapper were just released and the change I quoted below in particular makes me hopeful that Spirit Weapons will finally get an often suggested improvement like the one Gyros will be receiving (especially since this idea was first posed in regards to SW).

“Gyros now start their cooldown upon summon rather than upon gyro death. "

Additionally, Gyros have now received a boost to their movement speed so they no longer fall as far behind the Scrapper. This is also a common issue with Spirit Weapons and absolutely needs to be changed as well.

Needless to say, if Spirit Weapons don’t receive these updates with the launch of HoT or very shortly after, I’ll take it as a clear sign that Guardian is being ignored. Clearly these changes are not beyond the abilities of the development team and could be enacted rather easily, since the Scrapper will see these changes and several more before launch.

If we could see the Spirit Weapons gifted with the effective targeting of the Necromancer Minions along with the above changes, I think we’d find this set of utilities to be in significantly better shape.

I really hope the Devs don’t let me down here. I’d feel pretty darn disheartened if they did.

I certainly hope the Devs can see that with the not infrequent Spirit Weapon threads popping up on this forum, there is most certainly a serious desire to see this utility rectified.

I am absolutely one of those players who first fell in love with the Guardian because of the image posted by the OP. It’s such an evocative piece of art and really hinted at the Guardian being something significantly different than the typical Paladin class featured in many MMOs. It was for this reason I chose the Guardian all the way back in the original GW2 betas and have kept playing it since, blindly hoping for an update that would one day make Spirit Weapons usable again.

If I’m being honest, this is the reason I was so initially bitter about the Dragonhunter; I didn’t feel like the Guardian deserved another underutilized utility type like Traps. I’ve since gotten more on board with the DH (although it’s certainly not perfect), but if there was one hope (and really one main reason) why I keep clinging to this profession (and maybe even GW2 at all) is that I still have a very small, nearly extinguished flicker of hope that they’ll one day give us the Guardian they promised.

Skyline Crash.6254:

im pretty sure he meant that it does 66% of the damage in the beginning as burst damage; the damage from them crossing isnt changed.

I definitely misread that! Thanks for catching it. That makes my opinion quite the opposite!

Karl McLain.5604:

Hi all,
Here’s a list of new stuff we’ve got going as we draw closer to launch. Traps are gaining a functionality and are branching out just a tad bit, granting boons to the guardian when the trap is triggered.
We’ve also been evaluating a secondary ability for Spear of Justice, which will pull all tethered enemies toward you, should you desire. In testing with the interaction of Radiance’s Justice refresh mechanic, we felt like this would blow out in quite a few scenarios. Thus, the cooldown of this secondary is separate from Justice itself, allowing for adjustments more freely. Renewed Focus does recharge this ability.

• New skill: Hunter’s Verdict
• Hunter’s Verdict: Pull all tethered enemies to you, breaking the tether. This ability’s cooldown (40s) is separate to that of Justice.
• Procession of Blades: Increased damage per attack by roughly 20%. This trap now grants Fury for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Fragments of Faith: Fixed this trap striking multiple times. Base damage has been reduced by 40% and is no longer unblockable. This ability is now instant and breaks stuns, as well as granting 3 stacks of stability for 5 seconds when triggered. note: The design of this trap is moving back toward its defensive nature and has much more functionality than before, thus the reduction in overall damage.
• Test of Faith: This ability is now instant and grants protection for 6 seconds when triggered. Additionally, it now strikes enemies for 66% of its full damage when it triggers.
• Light’s Judgment: This trap now grants Swiftness for 10 seconds when triggered. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30.
• Purification: This trap now grants regeneration for 10 seconds when triggered.
• Dragon’s Maw: This trap now grants 10 stacks of might for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Pure of Sight: This trait now grants bonus damage of 7% from 0-600 range, 13% beyond 600 range.

Once again, thanks for the constructive feedback through the beta weekends.

Cheers,
-Karl

These changes are the sort of thing I know some of us were definitely looking for. There are some aspects I’m very unsure about, but overall I’m quite happy.
While they don’t directly address the mechanical issues surrounding Traps, I love that the Dragonhunter is getting a unique relationship to them. It feels appropriate.
Some more detailed thoughts:

Trap Changes – Thank you so much for expanding the functionality of Traps. This makes them feel far more in line with the Guardian’s core essence and boons are always welcome!

Hunter’s Verdict – I like this idea very much and I feel like it goes a very very long way toward improving the Dragonhunter thematically as well. I’m extremely anxious to give this a try!

Procession of Blades – Exactly what I wanted & Fury seems quite appropriate for a rapid strike skill.

Fragments of Faith – While disappointed to see us lose any damage I definitely think it’s justified with the defensive nature of this skill and having it now be a stun break and grant stability is excellent!

Test of Faith – This change sounds worthwhile and coupled with the addition of protection it certainly ensures at least some use from this skill. (Sorry, it seems in my excitement I misread this change as being a reduction of damage for crossing the threshold to 66%, not the addition that this change actually is).

Light’s Judgement – This is pretty underwhelming to be honest. I understand the concept behind this . . . but the Trap itself is pretty weak and I’m not sure the CD reduction or addition of swiftness will make it worthwhile.

*Purification * – I felt like the amount of healing from this skill was fine. The addition of Regeneration is nice, but I know that since there are many people who probably won’t be taking the Hunter’s Fortification grandmaster, it wouldn’t hurt to put at least 1 little condi cleanse on Purification.

Dragon’s Maw – 10 stacks of might is nice, but it definitely does not address the fact that the trap itself doesn’t do very much damage.

Pure of Sight – Well, it’s nice for Melee to no longer be excluded here, but it’s most certainly still a very boring trait! It’s a straight damage increase so it’s a little rudimentary in concept, I think. Still, this is much better than it was!

I still have a few concerns about the longbow and I’m not totally convinced that this will improve Traps enough to compensate for the issues they pose, but I think I can finally say that I feel like the Dragonhunter is in an overall pretty usable place.

Thanks to Karl and all the other Devs for not making us wait too long! You’re doing good work, even if not everyone agrees. What counts is that you’re trying.

Any chance we’ll see more changes before launch or is this about it for now?

EDIT: Because I misread the change to Test of Faith.

Name.9128:

xinkspillx.3914:

Ugh, I’m sorry but the concept of being forced into nearly fulfilling (or half fulfilling) map completion for every character just to unlock Elite specs ruins the entire thing for me. The absolute max I think would be reasonable is 100, otherwise it’s just an artificially inflated way to waste our time.

Or you can use points for 2 trait lines and the elite spec, and the skills you need?

That would certainly be a possibility if I didn’t already have all the characters I intend to make at lvl 80 (except Revenant, of course). As you may recall, it is not possible to reset the points we’ve spent.

Ugh, I’m sorry but the concept of being forced into nearly fulfilling (or half fulfilling) map completion for every character just to unlock Elite specs ruins the entire thing for me. The absolute max I think would be reasonable is 100, otherwise it’s just an artificially inflated way to waste our time.

I have confidence that the reason we’ve yet to hear any responses by the Devs to our most recent feedback is because they’re likely taking time to really think over their decisions. Anything they now do with Dragonhunter will have to be mulled over a bit because of the history of negative reactions to this elite and the looming release date. I’m happy with waiting as long as they’re really thinking things through and not just scanning the feedback. No doubt they have an overwhelming work load right now.

Thanks for posting. I think we need to see more videos like this. I still think traps are a bit underwhelming, but this just helps confirm that the traits, longbow and virtues are in a significantly better place!

Okay, so with Traps as they are now the general consensus so far is that there’s little benefit to Remote Detonation, but what if, as I suggested, remote detonation resulted in an alternate effect (still within the theme of the trap, but not as strong as the Trap’s main focus) with a slightly reduced CD perhaps?

Regardless of the profession, Traps in this game (except for Wiretrap) require a good amount of suspension of disbelief to begin with because they can turn you invisible or were created with magic so I think obsessing over their realism is a bad idea. This is a fantasy game, after all. >.>

Traps have larger areas when activated so being able to remotely detonate them would give Trap users a better shot at hitting enemies who do narrowly avoid them despite out best kiting efforts. Not to mention some Traps provide benefits like stealth, summoning companions, boons, combo fields, aegis, pull or even healing (for Dragonhunter and Ranger, that is) that we could still benefit from.

I’m not saying this would be a miracle fix by any means, but it would be a very small QoL change that would at least give Trap users a little more control.

Perhaps if the activated radius for traps was a bit larger than the standard 240 (like the Mark blast radius of 300) this idea might be more significant. Or perhaps activating them in this way could provide some sort of trade-off or alternative effect (nothing too demanding for the Devs)?

I’m really just looking for any ideas people might have for making them a bit more effective (other than ground targeting). I’m ready to try anything at this point!

Umm . . . what exactly is the difference between a mine and a trap in functionality? They’re designed to work in nearly the same way. As for Grenades and Bombs, they work on a timer . . . they don’t just sit and wait to be activated and will explode regardless UNLESS THEY ARE MINES/TRAP BOMBSso they wouldn’t even need this functionality. Not to mention that Tripwire is literally the only trap in the game that has an issue thematically because the spike traps pop up . . . you don’t fall into a pit filled with them (at least not in any animation I’ve seen). Your reasoning is a bit flawed and it sounds like you’re thinking only about the appearance of the traps instead of what they need mechanically in order to be effective.

As the title suggests, I think Traps would be more useful if we could at least make them less reactionary by remotely detonating them by pressing the skill a second time after placing them. It makes sense for traps to be set off in this manner and could potentially be used to catch enemies who have been narrowly avoiding setting them off. Perhaps activating in this manner could provide some trade-off or alternate effect (nothing too difficult for the Devs) ?

Just food for thought. If you have other ideas (besides ground targeting) post them here!

EDIT: To make this whole topic more worthwhile.

Okay, so this is an idea I posted in the BWE3 feedback thread as well, but it was mixed in with the rest of my feedback and I felt like this deserved a little more recognition.

Having been pretty underwhelmed by the Daze provided by Piercing Light (it was negligible at best), I’m not sure even changing it to a Stun would help. Likewise, Traps remain very easy to dodge/avoid and there was nothing more infuriating in all of the Beta than having an enemy standing just beyond the very edge of my Trap, knowing they would have been caught in the active effect if it would just go off . . .

Traps are TOO reactionary.
We need a way to put control back in our hands and ensure that we have at least a small chance of catching an enemy in our Traps. Kiting alone is not enough.

If ground Targeting and bringing the Traps to the enemy is not going to be allowed, than we need a way to bring the enemies to us reliably. Otherwise, Traps will never be worth taking.

TL;DR: What I propose is this – make the ability to Remote Detonate traps (not ground target, but activate from afar) a baseline functionality by clicking on the skill icon a second time and change Piercing Light to Pull enemies that are within a radius of perhaps 300 when the Traps are activated.

This weekend I spent a significant amount of time with the Dragonhunter, trying a condition build, a power build, a support build, and tanky build and more. After playing it nearly all weekend and trying all DH traits, Traps, etc. these are my current feelings:

Overall – The Dragonhunter that I played this weekend is nothing like the one I played in the two previous betas. This is an elite specialization that may actually have a chance of being useful now. It still leaves a bit to be desired because one of its primary additions is currently nonfunctional (or, rather, painfully difficult to use). I believe with a few changes the Dragonhunter will be worthy of competing when HoT drops at least.

Longbow – Overall, I am much happier with the Longbow this BWE. The changes that have been made make the Longbow a viable option now. I still think damage may be a little low in some areas, but it feels less clunky to use than it did before.

Also, the Longbow should just received a straight up 10% damage increase (at least to AA) and Pure of Sight minor should be merged with Heavy Light for additional damage potential because right now Pure of Sight is just bad. (This would also give us a space for a 25% movement trait!)

Puncture Shot – Certainly better than it was, but I still feel like the bounce should just be to one additional nearby target rather than only an additional target standing behind the primary target.

True Shot – This works fine for me. The damage seems satisfactory. I don’t mind the root at all and the damage/CD seem rather balanced.

Deflecting Shot – I’m also much more satisfied with this skill. It seems to function rather well and the current speed seems appropriate for actually using this as a semi-defensive skill without making it painfully easy to block. I also still feel it’s suitably flashy.

Symbol of Energy – The return of burns to this Symbol is the only reason the Dragonhunter will have a chance of working as a condition build. Overall, I’m also rather happy with this skill.

Hunter’s Ward – I’m a fan of this skill, but to be perfectly honest I don’t believe it to be a powerful enough skill with its current CD. The difficulty of actually trapping a foe makes the CD feel a bit high so if the skill itself isn’t meant to change significantly, than I’d like to just see a bit of a reduction to the CD – say 35 seconds?

Virtues – I’m much happier with these than I once was. Now I feel that they are not only working in a functional manner, but they’re addressing the issues that the basic Guardian Virtues currently have. The Reduced CDs should absolutely be baseline for the Guardian as well and Shield of Courage should not be excluded because 75s CD is laughably bad – cut it WAY down to 45 or 50 seconds. Honestly, Shield of Judgement is a far, far better skill than Shield of Courage now. Other than that, bravo on the virtues! I’ve grown to like them for what they are. Also, Spear of Justice’s active does still feel a touch on the weak side. Could be we see a slight buff please?

Traps – Okay, so here it is . . . please DO NOT listen to the people still saying Traps should be removed and replaced with something else. We will never have diversity in this game unless our weaker offerings are brought up to compete with those that are already in a good place.

Now, I tested Traps more than anything else this weekend because they are my biggest concern with the Dragonhunter (and seem to be the biggest concern for most other players, as well). They are not useless, but the high mobility and emphasis on range that many of the enemies in HoT (and WvW and PvP) exhibit has made Traps ineffective. The addition of a patheticly short daze has not helped.

What I propose is a QoL change to traps that will make them far more functional and no, it’s not ground targeting. While ground targeting would be nice (but never going to happen) what I’d REALLY REALLY REALLY like to see is the ability to remotely detonate traps by pressing the skill a second time in order to catch enemies just outside the trigger range, as many traps have larger areas once activated. Additionally, what I think would make the traps significantly more useful is if instead of a useless Daze on activation, we received a PULL.

I advocate very small changes for the Traps in order to make them functional. These two changes (coupled with a little more balancing of the Traps themselves) would make SO MUCH DIFFERENCE.

Purification – The amount of healing is fine, but without a condition cleanse this trap is still not worth taking over Shelter combined with Hunter’s Fortification. If this trap could be remotely detonated it would actually be quite possible to heal effectively with it, but right now it’s just a death sentence.

Test of Faith – After testing this more, I think the amount of damage this trap produces could be quite fantastic if used appropriately. Like Elementalist’s fire ring, there are always going to be those who don’t know better and cross its exterior repeatedly, but against more skilled players and ranged or immobile enemies, it is beyond useless. A pull on activation would, once again, make this skill MUCH better and force enemies into the center of the ring, guaranteeing at least one strike from it. This could actually make the knockback trait of the Longbow function in a desirable manner, as you could force the enemy over the ring a second time!

Alternatively (additonaly, if we’re being fair), Test of Faith should also have an effect on enemies or allies within the ring. I mentioned once before that perhaps this trap could create a minor field of regeneration for allies inside of it, creating a short duration area to catch their breath against a melee onslaught. Or perhaps it could push enemies out of it on the 4th second and the 8th second, instead.

Fragments of Faith – Still the best Trap, currently. The potential utility of this trait is excellent and I could see it becoming rather useful in Raids. For a patient Guardian/Dragohunter this could create opportunities to decimate enemies without a single scratch. I wouldn’t mind the time the fragments sit on the ground being slightly increased, but I’m happy enough with this skill as it is.

Light’s Judgement – Meh. I’m not a fan of this Trap. The CD seems way too high for the effect it has. Vulnerability is so easily applied by almost every profession in this game that it just seems odd to me here. I would advocate keeping the CD of this Trap the same, but replacing the Vulnerability with Blind. Thematically it would make more sense and would be in line with the strength of Necro’s Well of Darkness. Honestly, this would actually make Dragonhunter have more synergy with Guardian traits and we’d ACTUALLY HAVE A REASON TO TAKE BINDING JEOPARDY.

Procession of Blades – Still far too weak. This is one of the primary reasons I want to see remote detonation and pull with Traps. With a higher CD, lower damage per hit than Whirling Wrath, and no mobility or whirl finisher (which Whirling Wrath ALSO has) it’s an inferior skill in every way. I know that utility skills aren’t typically as powerful as weapon skills but holy crap . . . it’s like this one isn’t even trying.

Either enemies move out of the way with ease, or it does too little damage to even be noticed. PLEASE can we see the damage on this get a little more of an increase? Also, if this is every going to see play it needs to provide at least two whirl finishers (one at the start and one at the finish). Guardian is one of the rare professions that can actually provide combo fields and activate them, don’t limit that with Dragonhunter, please.

Dragon’s Maw – Well, finally, we get to Dragon’s Maw. This skill sounds brilliant in name and even has a nice animation, but next to Light’s Judgement, it is the most underwhelming. For an elite, the damage is no better than Fragments of Faith, a DEFENSIVE Trap. The slow is negligible as far as I’m concerned and the only real redeeming qualities of this Trap are the fact that it already has a Pull and it has a barrier. That being said, I do like the relatively low CD of the Elite.

First, this Trap needs to do MORE DAMAGE. It does not need to do significantly more damage, but enough that enemies actually feel it . . . even the Wild Boars in Verdant Brink shrugged it off. Second, this trap needs to auto-kill 1 downed enemy within its area. If we could have this sort of functionality, this Trap would be significantly more useful. Finally, if this is a DRAGON’s Maw . . . how about burning damage? Otherwise, without Slow, the Pull or the Barrier taking effect on bosses . . . what is this skill even for in PvE!?

Traps don’t need much to actually be viable, but I truly believe that changes like those I’ve suggested would drastically improve them without requiring major overhauls. For the love of all that is Guardian, please, please please, allow us to remote detonate traps and make them Pull on activation!

Traits – Finally, we come to Traits. These have improved significantly over time, but a few of them still certainly leave something to be desired. I’m going to touch on all of them below and outline my general feelings about each.

Defender’s Dogma – This seems unlikely to change any time soon, so could we perhaps ask for an addition to make this trait for more worthwhile? Perhaps in addition to its current effect make it so that when Justice’s passive trigger from this effect, it creates a brief 1s or 2s*fire field* at the target’s location. Otherwise this skill is literally adding nothing of note and adds even less to builds running Virtues specialization.

Pure of Sight – This has got to be the worst trait any of the elite specializations received. It boggles me, completely, that ANYONE would think it was acceptable to make this a minor trait. Having this as a Minor just means that Dragonhunter’s are being robbed of 10% of what should have been their baseline damage when enemies are close. It’s not an addition . . . it functions more as a subtraction as a Minor.

What I suggest is this: give the Dragonhunter a 25% movement speed trait minor in place of Pure of Sight. Now, merge the current effect of Pure of Sight (10% more damage to enemies beyond 360) with Heavy Light. Now Heavy Light is WORTHWHILE.

Piercing Light – If there was one thing I had hoped would make a difference with the Dragonhunter, this was it . . . sadly, the Daze from this Trait was so inconsequential that I actually spent half an hour just testing it to see if it was working AT ALL. Now, at the absolute least, this this Daze should be a Stun or a 2 second Daze minimum. Ideally, however, Piercing Light should allow Guardian’s to remote detonate their traps and pull enemies within a radius slightly larger than the activated trap. We NEED this or Ground Targeting, simple as that.

Dulled Senses – I’m fine with this trait. It gives Guardians a more reliable method of applying vulnerability, but could stand to be a little more exciting.

Soaring Devastation – This is a nice addition and I feel like it goes a long way toward actually making the Dragonhunter feel more aggressive as we were told they should.

Hunter’s Determination – I am generally not a huge fan of these types of traits because they always feel like a bit of a flavorless (although useful) option. That being said, I’m a big fan of this trait! It’s quite powerful even in PvE in HoT.

Zealot’s Aggression – I have no complaints other than the fact that we lose ability to apply cripple on Spear of Justice activation. Still, this is yet another trait to aid the Guardian/Dragonhunter in becoming a master of controlling the area of battle and that makes me rather happy.

Bulwark – This trait would be quite usable and effective if Shield of Courage wasn’t on an overly high CD. Please, once again, reduce the CD of Shield of Courage to 50s!!

Hunter’s Fortification – I know there were many people who had issues with the trait being bugged during the beta, but I actually did manage to see it in action a few times. I can’t be quite sure about its strength in case mine was bugged a bit as well, but I can say that with my Aegis Guardian build, I was very rarely threatened with conditions. Of all the traits this is the one that excites me the most!

Heavy Light – I’m still not sure if I will ever really like the idea of a passive knockback, or see the need for this stability granted by this trait, but if we could see Pure of Sight merged with this trait as I suggested, I would at least feel like there was a substantial reason to take it.

Big Game Hunter – 10% damage increase is nice and makes sense with this skill, however I fail to see what the vulnerability provided by this trait contributes . . . between Light’s Judgement, Dulles Senses, Zealot’s Aggression and even the Longbow Auto . . . this seems a bit redundant as vulnerability is rather easy to stack. Also, this skill doesn’t really work well in combination with Zealot’s Aggression or Dulled Senses as we would LOSE the ability to consistently cripple by activating Spear of Justice. This should not happen. Yes, there are situations that it’s possible to have cripple active alongside this effect, but there’s no benefit to taking this unless it guarantees us the 10% damage on top of the 10% from Zealot’s Aggression.

I propose that the vulnerability provided by this trait be replaced with a new effect such as a boon application on pulse, a short duration weakness on pulse or some other (hopefully creative!) effect to make this trait a bit more desirable.

TL;DR/Closing
Well, there we have it . . . my feeling on the Dragonhunter. Right now Traits, Virtues and Longbow are in a much better place, but Traps are still very lacking and need to be either exceptionally powerful to offset the difficulties imposed by their mechanics, or preferably the ability to remote detonate Traps and pull enemies from just outside the active radius of the Traps.

I haven’t been able to decide how I feel about the Berserker. In concept, I think it’s a great idea, but there are a few issues that don’t quite make it work for me. I think perhaps most of all Berserker still feels very sluggish to me. I don’t feel like a fast-paced attacker by any means. Maybe we need a 10% attack speed increase minor.

Torch – This works just fine for me. I don’t mind not being able to really use this as a power weapon because that doesn’t make much sense to me anyways. xD

Berserker Mode & Primal Bursts – I hate that Berserk is on a CD. This is perhaps one of my absolute least favorite parts of the entire elite specialization. Having to wait to activate Berserk because it’s on CD wreaks havoc with the Berserker’s ability to deal damage. At the very least, cut the CD down significantly. No more than 10 seconds untraited or the Berserker is screwed.

Primal Bursts are fun and serve as the real draw of this elite specialization, but some of them could still use a little fine tuning, perhaps. Overall, though, this is what’s working the best for me, not to mention they are suitably flashy.

Rage Skills – I’m having a hard time really deciding how I feel about these. On the one hand, I am a fan of Physical skills and these have a very similar feel to them, but on the other hand I wonder if they’re effective enough yet.

Blood Reckoning – I think this heal is in a much better place than before. I’m not sure if I, personally, would take it as I tend to use Hammer, but I think it definitely has its uses now.

Wild Blow – I actually like this skill quite well, even if it’s not as flashy in reality as it sounds in theory. The damage is adequate, the knockback is really useful for my build and in general and the CD seems appropriate.

Sundering Leap – I find this skill to be a bit underwhelming. It’s not really BAD, but more boring than anything. I think if perhaps this skill provided a more interesting effect upon landing it would be a different story (an additional condition perhaps?). I understand that this is clearly there to give another Leap finisher option for interacting with fire fields, but this skill just doesn’t really cut it right now.

Outrage – I’m pretty happy with this skill, actually. A stun-break on a 10s CD is pretty nice on its own since similar skills for other professions would be closer to 30 or 40 second CDS, but with the addition of serious Adrenaline generation this is one of the more useful Rage Skills.

Shattering Blow – I don’t see this one being of much use to any Berserker that isn’t running a condi build. It looks pretty cool, but feels rather weak to me right now, but I think that’s more of an issue with the current state of Bleeding, rather than this skill itself.

Head Butt – Completely unremarkable in appearance, but this skill definitely does its job. The stun is nice and gives the Berserker a little more breathing room, but the adrenaline gain from this skill is really where it’s at. I’d be fine with it staying as is.

Traits
Currently I think the traits are generally fine. I think they all have clear jobs that they’re designed to do, although I’m not sure there is a ton of synergy with other specializations. I think like many other parts of the Berserker, they work but don’t really have any frills.

My thoughts:

Hammer
To be totally honest, I really enjoy the Hammer and don’t have any major issues with any of the skills right now. I think they all function well and are fun to use. Balance feels appropriate. That being said, just an opinion on one specific thing:

AA – I know there a some players who are concerned with the damage of the AA, but to me it feels rather balanced because of the ease with which the Scrapper maintains Might.

Gyros
Well, to be honest I expected to underwhelmed by these and I certainly was. From what I can tell, they generally suffer from all of the same issues as the Guardian’s Spirit Weapons. They’re too slow, die too easily, spend most of their time trying just to navigate, etc. As far as I can tell these would be relatively balanced skills if the AI was improved.

I do have to say, however, that to the credit of the Devs, Gyros do feel like a little more of a hybrid between Spirit Weapons and standard active utility skills which does make them feel a bit more unique and likely help keep them from being quite as useless.

The Gyro Toolbelt skills feel appropriate and useful.

Overall I don’t HATE Gyros, but I won’t be running them until some of the issues with their speed, targeting and navigation are addressed.

Minor Traits
Function Gyros seems pretty underwhelming to me. It doesn’t really seem to be worth much outside of PvP. I feel like if it provided some additional effect or mechanic suited to each game mode, it would be a different story.

Decisive Renown – Meh. It could be worse, but it’s a bit boring. 5 stacks of Might doesn’t really seem necessary since this Specialization already has pretty significant Might stacking. I can see the benefit of Super Speed here as well, but it really only helps the Scrapper if they’ve taken the proper Master trait.

Impact Savant – I like this trait, to be honest. It’s not exciting, perhaps, but it’s a pretty nice effect.

My major suggestion with the Minor traits would be to completely toss out Decisive Renown and move Impact Savant to its place. I would then like to see Final Salvo become the new Grandmaster Minor, as that would make Gyros exceptionally more useful without being overpowered.

Adept Traits
Shocking Speed – I’m cool with this as is. I think given the strength of the regeneration effect provided by Rapid Regeneration, this trait is in a good place.

Stabilization Core – Most certainly only for PvP. If I liked the Function Gyro, maybe I would like this trait too . . . I think if this trait at least granted another boon it would be more worthwhile, but right now I don’t see a reason to take it in other game modes.

Recovery Matrix – I’m all for gaining more Protection, but this trait is admittedly rather boring. What I’d really like to see is this trait apply 3 seconds of Protection when the Scrapper is granted Stability, making this ability work rather well with Perfectly Weighted. Yes, perhaps it would lack synergy with Stabilization Core, but I’d be more than willing to live with that.

Master Traits
I actually have no complaints about any of the Master Traits. I think they’re all in great places and genuinely enjoy them. If anything, the healing from Super Speed with Rapid Regeneration is a little too powerful. If it needs a nerf, however, I’d caution against the intensity of it, as I could see this trait becoming useless very easily. >.>

Grandmaster Traits
Adaptive Armor – this is the first trait of this sort that I’ve ever really felt like functioned in a meaningful way. I’m currently running this, in fact.

Final Salvo – as I mentioned already, I feel like this should migrate to the Grandmaster Minor slot and push Impact Savant down to the Master Minor spot. In its place I think we need to see a trait to improve the quality of the Gyros. Perhaps something to increase duration and vitality would be appropriate or some other additional effect.

Perfectly Weighted – I think this trait is pretty straightforward and functions well. It provides a nice option for those really looking to focus on the hammer itself.

Overall I’m very happy with the Scrapper. This elite spec seems rather tight at the moment, barring some issues with the Gyros. I’ll definitely be running this when HoT releases.

I think the slightly weaker AA of Hammer is necessary to offset the amount of might Scrapper can maintain without breaking a sweat. It seems rather balanced to me.

My thoughts presently:

Warhorn – I’m actually really enjoying Warhorn now and generally prefer it over Focus. That being said, however, Tempest overall is very lacking in Condi Cleanses and could really use more either on the Warhorn or as part of one of the shouts.

Shouts – Shouts feel like they’re in a better position, for certain. I still think they’re significantly more useful for players focusing on Auras, however.

Eye of the Storm seems really rather weak to me still.

The new form of Rebound is so much better but the duration of the effect seems too low at 5 seconds. I think increasing it to at least 8s would make this elite more worthwhile.

Wash Away the Pain – if no additional Condi Cleanses are added to the Warhorn, this shout should definitely receive them. I would suggest something like pulse 2 healing 1 condition and pulse 3 healing 2 conditions. If that’s too strong than perhaps just 1 or 2 cleanses on the third pulse or something. Regardless, we need more condi cleanses!

Overloads – Okay . . . so Overloads feel like they’re in a much better place than when I tested them previously (BWE1), but the CD afterward seems like it’s just too much. I would advocate something more like a 15 second recharge. Also . . . for the love of all Tempests . . . please make the Stability on Overload baseline (a minor trait). Right now Harmonius Conduit is basically mandatory.

Traits – This is still truly the weakest area of the Tempest. Some of these traits don’t even make any sense . . .

Minor Traits – Please, please, please remove the Stability from Harmonious Conduit and add it to Hardy Conduit. This change needs to happen so very badly, otherwise Overloads will remain too great of a risk vs their reward at a 20s (or even at a 15s) lockout.

Gale Song – Seems pretty standard for a trait. A little boring.

Latent Stamina – Okay, what? This trait is just terrible . . . Why is this designated specifically to Water? Doesn’t that seem out of place in a specialization not specifically tied to a single element? This trait just makes no sense to me . . . it’s like a bad version of Elemental Attunement . . . At least open this up to provide additional effects for each attunement? Vigor with Water, Retaliation with Fire, maybe brief Quickness for Air and Resistance for Earth? With something like that we’d see some nice synergy with Heat Sync and Sand Squall!

Tempestuous Aria – I like this, it feels like it’s in a good place.

Earthen Proxy – Given the fact that it seems quite possible to build a Tempest with very frequent Protection up-time, I think trait definitely offers something useful and unique, if not a little niche.

Harmonious Conduit – As I said before, please migrate the Stability granted by this trait to Hardy Conduit. I think the additional damage after overloading is a great idea, but perhaps to make this effect standalone it could be a greater damage increase or a longer duration? Perhaps both?

Imbued Melodies – I like this. The concept of reactionary boon-sharing is clever and with my suggested change to Latent Stamina would be even better. For a very heavy boon focused build I can see this having a place, otherwise I’d generally skip it.

Lucid Singularity – I haven’t really tested Tempest in PvP much, but this skill seems like it would be particularly useful in those situations. Unfortunately without baseline stability on overload it doesn’t seem like it would matter much. It seems rather as a grandmaster trait, however.

I would suggest perhaps tuning this down a little bit and swapping it with Harmonious Conduit. I would then increase the damage increase of Harmonious conduit to about 20% and slightly increase the duration of the effect. That would make Overloads so much better!

Elemental Bastion – Great for Auramancers, of course. Healing on Aura application is a great addition and has more synergy than I initially expected.

Overall I like the Tempest, but I don’t love it. I think Shouts and the Warhorn are pretty fun, and I would actually really enjoy Overloads if we could have a few QoL changes made to them (I think 5s until we can use them is fine, as long as we have a reduction of CD to 15s or 12s). Traits are still the biggest problem, but with a few adjustments I think they could be quite a bit better.

I like the suggestions I’m seeing here so far. I really want to love Signets and Consecrations (especially Consecrations lol). Here are my thoughts:

CONSECRATIONS:

Sanctuary – Way too high of a CD, reduce it to 90s. Bump up healing to 333 per pulse, bringing the total healing to about 2k for the skill untraited and about 2.6k traited. I want to love this skill.

Hallowed Ground – I could go either way with this skill, really. Right now I don’t feel like it’s very usable. I would suggest reducing the CD to something more like 60s or perhaps adding an additional effect to the skill itself. Perhaps an application of regeneration, protection or might? The effect of increasing boon duration by 20% just doesn’t seem strong enough in combination with the stability to justify this skill’s CD in any game mode beyond perhaps PvP.

MEDITATIONS:

Merciful Intervention – Bump up scaling with healing power a little bit (only 700 more healing with 1200 Healing Power, really?). Change it to also apply blind to enemies within the effect radius – this skill would also help justify Binding Jeopardy.

SIGNETS:

Signet of Mercy – I agree that cast time should be a little shorter, but the Healing Power is fine (normalized). I think a CD reduction to about 120s would make this skill actually usable.

Honestly I would rather see this skill receive a rework to something like this: Passive effect: 180 Healing Power. Active Effect: Cures 3 Conditions. Cooldown: 40s. Running Signets with this (and the other changes I am suggesting) would actually be potentially viable.

Signet of Courage – Passive effects feel like they’re in a good spot, but the CD on this skill is unbelievably high in comparison to the healing that Druids will be able to do. The CD on this should be no more than 150s untraited and likely should be less, otherwise it will never be worth activating. Cast time also needs either a bit of a reduction or to no longer root.

Perfect Inscriptions – 20% increase to passive effects and 20% reduction to CDs is great, but after testing numerous times, the light aura applied by this trait is beyond useless. Light Aura is not overly strong and should be applied for a duration of 6 to 8 seconds at least. At 3 seconds currently, this means light aura ends before the enemy affected by Bane Signet event gets back up.

SPIRIT WEAPONS

Okay, so I’m not actually going to go into this in detail here . . . but I still would love to see the most evocative skill type of the Guardian actually function. Infinite duration and increased health please and thank you! Oh and could we possibly have a buff to the Bow’s condition cleansing perhaps?

Of course an AI fix and a big increase to the targeting and speed of the weapons is necessary, but that’s not all they need!

TRAITS:

Radiant Retaliation – I think nothing less than a full overhaul is necessary here because this trait brings absolutely nothing to the table for Condition Builds, the clear targets for it. Very few of the skills actually even run by condition builds apply Retaliation in the first place and, perhaps even worse, this would force the Guardian to give up the 15% Burning damage increase of Amplified Wrath. I can see no build currently where this would be worthwhile.

Short of completely reworking this trait, I would suggest a change like this: Keep the current effect of Radiant Retaliation, but give it an additional effect like “Virtues of Justice’s passive effect now applies 1 second of Retaliation.” Alternatively, it could apply Retaliation for 1.5s.

Now keep in mind, I am assuming that burning will eventually be somewhat better balanced and I do not believe this trait suggestion would be overpowered then. Then again, this could just end up being overpowered anyways . . . I don’t believe it would be, but you never know!

Well, those are just a few of my suggestions. I don’t think most of our skills need massive changes and overhauls, but they certainly do need something.

EDIT: Formatting.

Honestly I think what we really need is something like this:

Replace the 180 toughness on Stalwart Defender with the effect of Strength in Numbers, thus merging the two traits. This functionality makes sense as the Shield, unlike the focus, is not a selfish weapon.

Next, the Devs could move Glacial Heart to fill the newly created gap in Valor. Glacial Heart just doesn’t really make sense where it is >.> (oh and can we please have this trait fixed so it doesn’t suck?).

Finally, they could do something like create a 25% movement speed trait to fill the space in Virtues created by moving Glacial Heart. Maybe they could come up with a more appropriate new trait to fill this slot, but I know we need some more mobility and Virtues seems like the appropriate place for it.

Maybe not everyone’s idea of an ideal change, but it would be relatively easy for them to do and wouldn’t cause any real balancing issues!

I think if anything I’d rather just see a CD reduction for the Virtues. I mean . . . they decided it was necessary for a Virtues CD reduction for DH and it’s not like the base Guardian effects are much stronger.

Arcaedus.7290:

In terms of “fixing” shield, I think the next place we should turn our attention to is the trait. It’s honestly not very useful, and is redundant considering shields already provide additional toughness.

I agree. It seems the devs were a bit hesitant to approach Guardian traits with this patch. I think the changes are a step in the right direction (even if the Wrath nerf hurts a little), but it still feels like too little too infrequently.

We’re getting there slowly but surely it seems. Here’s hoping we see some tweaks to our more useless traits (I’m looking at you Binding Jeopardy, pretty much every Retaliation trait outside of Virtues, Glacial Heart, Strength in Numbers and Stalwart Defender).

Requiemcliff.1920:

xinkspillx.3914:

Love of the change to Shield of Judgement! Bravo. This is exactly what I wanted.

As for Shield of Absorption . . . uh . . . I really like that we’re no longer rooted . . . but such a drastic reduction to the channeling time feels like this is more of a nerf. I guess we’ll just see, huh? I hope I’m wrong.

a nerf to channelling time? He said from 1 and 1/2 seconds to 4 seconds. I thought that was a great boon.

Okay, disregard this . . . the information on dulfy.net was typed wrong. I didn’t actually get to see the stream and was following along through notes. I don’t know why I had it in my head that channeling time = duration. This is actually the way of balancing the ability to move with Shield of Absorption now – it takes longer to channel the skill.

Sorry for the confusion! Blame Dulfy’s excitement! It has been corrected now.

Love of the change to Shield of Judgement! Bravo. This is exactly what I wanted.

As for Shield of Absorption . . . uh . . . I really like that we’re no longer rooted . . . but such a drastic reduction to the channeling time feels like this is more of a nerf. I guess we’ll just see, huh? I hope I’m wrong.

EDIT: Okie dokie, so it seems the info I read about the change to Shield of Absorption was initially typed wrong. I had it in my head channeling = duration for some reason. Silly me. What the change actually meant was that the channeling time will be increased to balance the buff effect of being able to move.

Indeed. It’s always bugged me that Smite isn’t a symbol. It’s bothered me even more since they put the Scepter trait in Zeal . . .

Karl McLain.5604:

Oh yeah, I should mention that the auto-targeting stuff has been fixed. We were testing out some new tech with it, but have since pulled that as it wouldn’t allow your character to auto-turn toward your target if they’re behind you. Tech did its job too well.

Glad to hear it! The last post about increase to Wings of Resolve’s range and the damages buffs for Longbow are very welcome.

That being said, I do agree Traps need some work. I think suggesting replacing them is foolish, but right now they are still not worth taking. Ideally I would just like to see Traps have better/more utility effects. Procession of Blades is also still too weak. Purification is likely to just get us killed and is practically useless without a Condi removal. The only Trap that is currently worth taking is Fragments of Faith (which I actually really love).

Alternatively, if ground-targeting is really being considered, please just change them to Marks instead of Traps. A. That would reduce the likelihood of Rangers and Thieves crying foul and B. it would make far more sense for a magic fueled class like the Guardian. Problem solved. Sure Runes of the Trapper wouldn’t work anymore, but stealth doesn’t suit a Guardian in the first place . . .

Oh and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE reduce the CD of Shield of Courage. This skill is NOT powerful enough to warrant such a high CD when compared to the others.

Throwing my voice in with those who oppose the loss of the unique soft-CC effects. This idea seems very counterproductive in regards to “challenging group content” and makes me worry about fights that are inflated with artificial difficulty though bigger numbers, rather than requiring players to recognize when it’s necessary to make use of debuffs and learn mechanics. This concerns me greatly and gives me a very little optimism about what we will be seeing in Raids.

I know it’s not really the best idea to compare the elite specializations, but I still can’t shake the feeling that Traps are a little light on effects compared to what we’ve seen on the the others. I mean, comparing something like Test of Faith to just about any other elite’s utilities makes me feel bad.

If I felt like the traps had significant strength or effects already (like Fragments of Faith) to justify their simplicity, it would be a different story. Right now they’re just lacking.

Give Procession of Blades two whirl finishers and maybe even another small buff to damage and that would be great. This is a straightforward trap and I don’t think it needs frills, but some of the other maybe do.

We just need a reason to want to take Traps despite how difficult they can be to wield; something to balance out the risk vs. reward.

Thought I’d answer your questions in order:

1. I would expect an Elite Spec based on Tomes to provide a significantly more magical feel to the Guardian. I’d want to feel even more like a Mage in heavy armor, rather than a magical knight.

2. As for which weapon it should provide, I’m among those who wouldn’t mind seeing something like a mainhand focus. The idea of wielding two foci spellbooks, skulls, chains, etc. would not only LOOK awesome, but probably feel awesome channeling arcane bolts as an auto attack. If a mainhand focus wasn’t an option, then perhaps a mainhand Axe would be appropriate to give the feeling of a Battlemage.

3. Okay so I’m combining the next two questions for this as my idea encompasses both. First, I am not actually a fan of keeping Tomes as kits. Sure, they’re cool but I just don’t feel it fits the Guardian. I think they’re more shrewd in the way they use magic. The idea of an arcane spellcaster is awesome, for sure, but I have an idea that I think would be awesome.

Now, what I would like is for Tomes to function SIMILAR to Conjured weapons and Kits, but not quite the same. Namely, I wouldn’t want Tomes to replace our weapon skills as they did before.

Hear me out, here. Gaining access to multiple kits and a new weapon is A LOT of work and balancing and I don’t like the idea of an elite that makes me choose between my utility or my weapon – they should work in tandem.

So my grand idea is that activating a Tome should instead alter Virtues. I think an interesting concept has been laid out through the Dragonhunter to see Virtues altered in the future, so why not give the Tomes elite a 4th Virtue (Virtue of Wisdom?) or something and make, as I suggested, make Tomes alter the Virtues.

I could see it functioning like this – Activating one of the Tomes will alter or replace the 3 or 4 Virtues instead of the weapon skills. Perhaps the 4th virtue is a skill that changes more drastically than the other depending on which Tome you have channeled. The channeled Tome could also switch to a skill that can be activated after channeling, but with the trade-off that activating it would reset your Virtues to their defaults or something along those lines.

The framework for this sort of thing is already there – it mixes elements of kits, mantras and so on, but even though I know the idea I’m suggesting is super rough . . . wouldn’t it be nice to have something new and unique instead of just kits or conjured weapons?

4. Naturally if something similar to my suggestion happened, they could use the previous intentions of Wrath and Courage as starting points for some of the utilities.

5. I’d say something like Arcane Warrior, Battlemage or Lorekeeper or Arcanist like Electro suggested.

If Drones end up being similar to Spirit Weapons I’d be quite happy, actually. I cannot foresee the devs being keen to release a new AI unless they were confident that it was an improvement over the issues that limit those currently in the game. I also think perhaps improvements to AI are (hopefully) the reason for Ranger being the last Elite spec to be fully revealed.

If Drones end up functioning similar to Spirit Weapons but more effectively, than we stand to gain more from that. Should Drones be more effective than Spirit Weapons, I don’t see the devs being unwilling to update the SWs with what they’ve learned/developed.

My thoughts on the changes:

Virtues
I can live with cast times. Sure, that sucks for Renewed Focus, but if what the Virtues provides is worthwhile then I don’t mind it.

Spear of Justice: This all sounds good to me. I’m happy to see SoJ becoming unblockable. CD reduction is very welcome.

Wings of Resolve: I can’t help but feel like maybe this should also remove cripple? The CD reduction is VERY welcome! I’d still like to possibly see a increase to the range of this skill, however.

Shield of Courage: These changes sound great. Not being able to use this as a legitimate block before was a bit puzzling! That being said, this skill still desperately needs a CD reduction.

Longbow
Yes please, to all of the velocity increases!

Puncture Shot: I still wonder if maybe this is a bit too weak.

True Shot: A damage increase is welcome, but I still feel this skill should be given a knockback function and Heavy Light replaced.

Deflecting Shot: I’m anxious to try this out, but still can’t help but wonder how this skill would perform without the 100% damage increase effect, but with the ability to REFLECT projectiles instead.

Symbol of Energy: Glad to see the return of burns! The fact that the symbol’s base damage will still be increased is very welcome. This looks like it’s shaping up to be a valuable skill.

Traps
I do not agree with those calling for the trashing of Traps and starting over. It is unreasonable to expect that the Devs would or could do such a thing at this point without the profession being put in a much worse position, not to mention the work the audio and visual end of things would require. What we SHOULD be calling for is tweaks and balances to make the traps worthwhile.

Fighting from range is a valuable and advantageous position for the Dragonhunter, as it is with any range-focused profession. Traps don’t represent a paradoxical design, but a method of punishing enemies that seek to close that gap. The new form of Virtues and the Longbow itself may only partially encompass the aggressive nature intended with the Dragonhunter, but let us not forget that even in reality hunting and trapping go hand in hand. Thematically it makes sense and in theory it does as well.

What we really need to see from the Devs is a commitment to balance traps in a manner that makes the rewards they provide justify the difficulties inherent in them. There’s no reason these skills can’t function in a viable manner with the right changes and I for one welcome the idea that perhaps the experience the Devs will gain from working on the Dragonhunter’s Traps might be something that can be used to make them more substantial for Ranger’s and Thieves.

That being said, IF the developers really decided to change the utility classification of these skills, I support the idea of making them ground-targeted Marks. It would make sense, certainly, and thematically would suit the magical nature of the Guardian more than Traps. Honestly, wouldn’t it just make sense for Traps and Marks to be counterparts for non-magical and magical professions, respectively?

Also, reduction of cast time is very welcome and will likely make them more usable.

Purification: Still don’t feel like this is living up to its name or potential. First, it should absolutely cleanse at least 1-3 conditions. Second, how about reducing the base second heal and giving this healing per condition cleansed?

Test of Faith: Again, this Trap is inadequate. It does not provide a strong enough effect and needs an additional effect for enemies or allies inside its area. Right now this is the weakest of the Traps.

Light’s Judgement: I haven’t tested this as much so I won’t comment on it for now.

Procession of Blades: I don’t have much to say about this. It definitely seems to function as intended, but I really agree that at the very least the starting or finishing blow should count as a Whirl finisher.

Fragments of Faith: As I’ve said elsewhere, I actually really love this trap and would be quite happy seeing it left as is. I wouldn’t mind seeing the duration of the Fragments increased just slightly, though.

Dragon’s Maw: I’m perhaps most disappointed in this Trap. Right now it still feels awfully weak. The duration of Slow feels oddly weak to me (at least on paper), especially in comparison to the 4s Slow available to Daredevil’s every 25s. This should either be increased or replaced with another effect. I think the CD is fine right now. I’ve read somewhere that this trap doesn’t effect 5 enemies? I hope this was a mistake, if not than that needs to be rectified or else this Trap will never be worth taking.

I very strongly agree with Nike’s suggestion that Dragon’s Maw should Kill a downed enemy within its radius at the end. This would make the Trap far more useful.

Traits
Traits are coming along slowly, but surely. The changes that have been made are welcome, but there are still a few issues. The increased support for blocks and cripple have increased the potential of the Dragonhunter significantly.

Piercing Light: I’m happy with this rework. As much a Bleeding would have supported Condition builds, it just didn’t make sense. The duration reduction is welcome and seems reasonably balanced to me, assuming Traps will be getting a bit of a buff soon. What I cannot understand, however, is why on earth we’re being given a daze on trap activation instead of a stun? While daze certainly is welcome, stun makes a great deal more sense because of its effect on movement and would go a very long way toward raising the effectiveness of Traps.

Hunter’s Determination: This sounds good to me! I’m very curious about how this will interact with Retaliatory Subconscious.

Hunter’s Fortification: This is the skill that made me go from hating Dragonhunter to believing it could actually be quite usable! Condition removal on block is a fantastic idea and synergizes so well with core Guardian. The choice to change the additional effect to a damage reduction also feels more in line with the nature of this skill.

It seems the intention of this skill is to provide additional defensive layers against both power and condition builds. Given the high condition removal potential of the entire profession, I think those who keep saying this effect will never be active are maybe overreacting a little. (Aegis doesn’t exactly stay on through the entirety of a fight and Unscathed Contender still has its place.) It will certainly be inactive often, but the strength of the damage reduction could compensate for that. If it turns out to be something like 5% damage reduction than yes, for the amount of time it will be down it’s garbage.

Dulled Senses: This seems fine to me. I feel like I need to test it to really be sure, but I like the direction this is going in.

Zealot’s Aggression: Same as with Dulled Senses, I like this direction but need to test this change to see how it actually feels in practice.

Heavy Light: Nope, still don’t like it. My least favorite aspect of the Dragonhunter is passive knockback. I don’t like the idea of accidentally saving my enemy from Procession of Blades or another trap. Sure, this might work alright with Test of Faith or a fire field, but overall I just don’t like this trait.

How about a knockback effect on True Shot instead?

Perhaps this could be replaced with a trait that makes True Shot a manipulative skill that taunts beyond 600 range and does a knockback within 600? I could see having a short taunt being very very useful for luring enemies into your Traps. That would begin to address many concerns!

Anywho, that’s what I’m thinking right now. I think we’re starting to near the point where extremely dramatic changes aren’t necessary. Smart moderate and small changes are still certainly needed, however. Traps do still need some serious love!

Honestly, I’m okay with shield 5 as it is now. It’s not perfect, but if shield 4 was improved it would make the weapon leaps and bounds better. That being said, I’d be very happy to see them both approved!

As for shield skill 4, I think this skill is in a weird place because it fails to define itself as either offensive or defensive. It feels mediocre in both respects. If protection is to stay, than I’d hope to see a slight duration increase (maybe 5s or 6s) to make this a little more valuable.

Ultimately I’d rather see the protection of shield skill 4 replaced entirely with Aegis. If the CD needs to be slightly increased to balance, I’d be fine with that (assuming the increase is not huge).

Just having the ability to provide another source of Aegis on command would make this skill significantly more usable and we’d see some really wonderful synergy with Dragonhunter as well as all of the traits we already have regarding aegis. This could potentially be another source of burning, damage, healing or condi removal. This would feel so much more in line with what the Guardian should be.

I agree with Arcaedus that the trait is weak right now. My suggestion is one that takes my suggested changes to the skills into account. I’d like to see this trait function more like Focus Mastery, perhaps, by applying a boon on activation of shield skills.

As to which boon it should apply and whether or not it should apply it to allies as well, is something I think deserves discussion (I support the idea of applying the boon to allies). Without altering any other traits I would say regen would be the natural pick. I don’t feel like retaliation fits the nature of the shield and stability and resistance are probably unlikely. Swiftness and Vigor also don’t feel appropriate and given the role the shield is meant to fill I don’t think offensive boons would fit.

Ultimately the shield feels like it’s meant to be a less offensive/less selfish counterpart to the Focus. Maybe changing Stalwart Defender to grant protection and Focus Mastery to grant retaliation would be more appropriate. Regardless, I think a change of this sort (in combination with Aegis instead of Protection on skill 4) would be fantastic and make this a far more useful weapon!

Just a quick note:
I may be in the minority here, but I see tons of potential from Fragments of Faith. This skill has so much synergy with the Guardian’s Aegis and block based traits. With the upcoming change to Hunter’s Fortification, this skill could be a powerhouse.

I’m already really enjoying its use and the CD (when traited) feels quite appropriate to me. If the other traps were as well thought out as this one, Dragonhunter would be excellent (at least with some of the better recent trait changes).

P.S. passive knockback still sucks though . . .

As primed as I might be to tear down the Dragonhunter like many of the posts here, I can’t bring myself to do it knowing that the version available in this most recent BWE is already outdated.

Yeah, right now it doesn’t really work, but with the coming changes we’ll see a much larger amount of trait synergy and overall specialization potential. Given the nature of traps they may indeed not work for some players, but already I can start to see the potential behind using them. Are they better suited to melee builds? Sure, but the cast time and activation time really don’t seem long enough to make them unusable in PvP, especially for keeping a point.

Granted, Heavy Light (and really just the idea of a passive knockback) is still fundamentally terrible. That being said, the new reworked version of Hunter’s Fortification really does promise some great potential for the Dragonhunter.

Does it still need work? Yes, absolutely, but it’s foolishly unrealistic to expect a complete rework or change of skill type at this point. If we could divert just 20% of the q.q here into constructive feedback, we’d at least be a few steps closer to having an elite specialization worth taking.

@Ghotistyx
Thanks for taking the time to read all of that, haha.

I like the idea of a heal per condition removed on Purification. That would be a great way to balance it while still getting what we want. It would also fill a niche the Guardian doesn’t really have anywhere else.

As for Test of Faith, I’m not married to the idea of healing. It was just the example I ran with. I would preferably like to see something a tad bit defensive to gel with the Aegis from Fragments of Faith, but I’d be happy with them adding anything to make it more usable at this point.

I really like your suggestion for a multi-effect trait to give the Longbow some love and it would certainly be a better way to implement the knockback. I worry that adding knockback to Deflecting Shot would go against the intended defensive nature of the skill, though. Perhaps True Shot would be the better candidate for the knockback addition, but one with an ICD so it occurs every other shot to keep it balanced. I figure if this was the case they could more or less keep the Stability on knockback idea.