For those who didn't like the way skills work

[nalle]

I do wish we could reorganize the action bar. It's all fine and dandy that Anet decided warrior MH sword should have a charge. But hard binding it to the 2 key position kinda screws me up. If I could just slide that skill over 2 spaces...

Also no import/export per character bindings or macros is pretty frustrating.

Being able to switch the action bar placement of spells would be welcome (that awesome ability in 4th or 5th slot that you'd like to have in 2nd slot).

[Cherrybat]

I think a lot of complaints come from the downtime since most of the time people just go "right click, 2 3 4 5, wait for cooldowns to reset while 1 is auto attacking" and i have noticed this too, BUT, we only got to play the low levels, i bet a lot of people didn't even unlock their elite skill. As i've seen some quote somewhere (cba to look for it) mobs become progressively smarter the higher level zones you go to i.e. they start using more special abilities, more aoe, more stuns and snares, i bet people won't be able to just hit 2345 and just stand there waiting for cooldowns to reset. I personally look at the abilities in a dungeon crawler kind of way instead of the standard mmo way of a 100 keybinds (exaggeration). I like to think that there is that special moment in an encounter when i'm going to need a stun or a knockback and i dont just press all my buttons and then go "wah, need more buttans to press, wat is this". I personally rather take 10 (i know there's more for individual professions) well rounded abilities 5 of which i get to hand pick and choose over 100 (exaggeration) abilities. But that's just me.

[Larynx]

And how much of them were, pets, mounts, hearth stone and other useless stuff?
A Hunter doesnt even have 60 abilities, unless you are talking of TBC and you had ranks of abilities keybinded.

On the other hand having 60 keybinds isnt clever as a normal human cant handle them anyways.

I had a ground and flying mount.

So, two. Also, "pets?" That's like saying "so, how many of your binds were useless abilities like concussive shot or tranquilizing shot?"

[Deleted]

I think a lot of complaints come from the downtime since most of the time people just go "right click, 2 3 4 5, wait for cooldowns to reset while 1 is auto attacking" and i have noticed this too, BUT, we only got to play the low levels, i bet a lot of people didn't even unlock their elite skill. As i've seen some quote somewhere (cba to look for it) mobs become progressively smarter the higher level zones you go to i.e. they start using more special abilities, more aoe, more stuns and snares, i bet people won't be able to just hit 2345 and just stand there waiting for cooldowns to reset. I personally look at the abilities in a dungeon crawler kind of way instead of the standard mmo way of a 100 keybinds (exaggeration). I like to think that there is that special moment in an encounter when i'm going to need a stun or a knockback and i dont just press all my buttons and then go "wah, need more buttans to press, wat is this". I personally rather take 10 (i know there's more for individual professions) well rounded abilities 5 of which i get to hand pick and choose over 100 (exaggeration) abilities. But that's just me.

I encountered this too, and at times it was annoying, however, to compensate I would sometimes chain pull or pull 4/5 mobs at a time to make things harder for myself just to keep it interesting. In PvP the extra abilities that get unlocked are great and while they might not all be usefull whilst levelling I can certainly see them having a use in dungeons.

[Bodygrinder]

-snip- I personally look at the abilities in a dungeon crawler kind of way instead of the standard mmo way of a 100 keybinds (exaggeration). I like to think that there is that special moment in an encounter when i'm going to need a stun or a knockback and i dont just press all my buttons and then go "wah, need more buttans to press, wat is this". I personally rather take 10 (i know there's more for individual professions) well rounded abilities 5 of which i get to hand pick and choose over 100 (exaggeration) abilities. But that's just me.

That's pretty much what you should strive for in ability use.

[Malthurius]

I actually saw mobs moving out of AoE attacks I used frequently. Mobs aren't all the dumb, they just hit like pansies. Normal mobs are usually in groups anyway, unless they are random mobs out in the world, and champions and veterans can be very deadly if you're stupid.

Circle strafing doesn't really work against large packs, veterans, or champions, and even against normal mobs I'd get nicked by their attacks while strafing. It's generally more effective to dodge through your enemy. You can't pass through your target normally, but you can dodge through them, and that's useful.

Honestly, it feels like you have 15 skills (for most classes) because of weapon swapping. Weapon swap only has a 10 second cooldown, by the time you've used all your skills on one weapon the CD on weapon swap if off and you can do the same with your other weapon. I never sat there spamming 1 because I was constantly weapon swapping.

On my Mesmer, I used Sword/Sword and Staff. Using the AE Chaos spell then switching to sword and using illusionary swordsman and leap caused some combos. I would also use chaos armor on my staff and switch to swords to do that flurry, while enemies attacked I got boons and they got conditions while doing no damage to me. I can't sing the praises of weapon swapping enough, it's what makes the combat so much more, it's not there for convenience of swapping a weapon quickly, it's an important mechanic to playing your character well.

[Marthenil]

I do wish we could reorganize the action bar. It's all fine and dandy that Anet decided warrior MH sword should have a charge. But hard binding it to the 2 key position kinda screws me up. If I could just slide that skill over 2 spaces...

Also no import/export per character bindings or macros is pretty frustrating.

This. Very much this. Playing a warrior with dual wield swords made me want to swap the 2 last skills with 2 and 3 but it's ok. You can't swap skills in LoL as well and this is the way I see GW2's combat system.
On the other hand, it will get me a while to get used to dodging etc, during all my playthroughs I got downed in the elemental hands event. Might just be lag and fps though (playing from my laptop as i'm on holidays).
Also slightly offtopic: Goddamnit I'm a pretty indecisive person and GW2 made me mad, i STILL can't decide what class to play :P

[ZerOKami]

Thing is, those situational abilities won't be off cooldown for long after your first leveling area. Stuff really goes up a level and how you approach a situation becomes a lot more important. What utility skills you take for this Veteran mob, what weapons to dive a DE with, etc.

For example, as a Thief, a lot of people forsook Dagger-Pistol combo for Dagger-Dagger becasue of LDB AoE bleed. But I love Dagger-Pistol because of the options it gives me. It doesn't have a lot of AoE, but I have an on-demand shadowstep with a blind, an interrupt+daze which is extremely, EXTREMELY useful when fighting anything as it prevents any kind of attack, a PBAoE blind which I can use if i find myself trapped between many mobs. And all of those skills I used, a lot. I didn't have as much AoE damage as double Daggers but I didn't mind because of all the survivability my combo gave me. And this was just PvE.

[Gámbller]

Thing is, those situational abilities won't be off cooldown for long after your first leveling area. Stuff really goes up a level and how you approach a situation becomes a lot more important. What utility skills you take for this Veteran mob, what weapons to dive a DE with, etc.

I noticed this too. Made a huge difference between me dying to veteran mob or getting my chest at the end of the puzzle. Mobs also became harder and if they continue getting harder after lvl 30, it can get pretty challenging after lvl 70.

[Hellgaunt]

The weapon swapping mechanic to GW2 is amazingly fun and keeps the game diverse and strategic. I just wished that every class worked like the engineer and elementalist and had different spells based on an attunement

I just can't get my head around tossing aside a scepter and orb and instantly have a greatsword in my hands!

PS: I have no trouble imagining a world with dragons and tree people and huge giants that should collapse under their own weight

[Lusitan]

My opinion is that if you have all skills unlocked for a weapon you should be able to place them as you wish in the 1 - 5 slots.

i played all sunday testing my warrior build of GS + Hammer, and having my CC on 4 - 5 keys on my hammer set is just not comfortable at all, mainly because im used to have my CC on 1 - 2 in all other MMO's, i wish i could swap skill places to adapt to my playstyle.

but my biggest grip with Hammer was that 3/4/5 all rooted me in place, i do undurstand why on GS skill 2 we get rooted cause its a very high burst skill, but those 3 skills on hammer are not particularly high damage at all, i don see the point of rooting.

[Thjasse]

Being able to switch the action bar placement of spells would be welcome (that awesome ability in 4th or 5th slot that you'd like to have in 2nd slot).

Not being able to do this is my only complaint with the combat system.

[Larynx]

I actually saw mobs moving out of AoE attacks I used frequently. Mobs aren't all the dumb, they just hit like pansies.

They actually are. Mobs see an aoe, they move out of it for a second and then run back towards you. This is incredibly easy to exploit. For example, scepter elementalist as water attunement. #2 ability is a short CD (like.. 4 second short) aoe. Just spam that and mobs will never get to you due to their AI.

A lot of the time I'd just spam aoes when I was about to die, and get away because of that. Heck, I managed to kill a veteran mob + 2 normal mobs 4 levels higher than me doing this. I'd just spam a choke point.

[Lusitan]

They actually are. Mobs see an aoe, they move out of it for a second and then run back towards you. This is incredibly easy to exploit. For example, scepter elementalist as water attunement. #2 ability is a short CD (like.. 4 second short) aoe. Just spam that and mobs will never get to you due to their AI.

A lot of the time I'd just spam aoes when I was about to die, and get away because of that. Heck, I managed to kill a veteran mob + 2 normal mobs 4 levels higher than me doing this. I'd just spam a choke point.

there was a post in the official forums saying this behaviour was a bug and it was being investigated. but they also said some mobs do indeed run out of AoE as part of their AI

[Deleted]

I kinda felt it where to little abilities as well, so i rolled double dagger elementalist to lvl 25 during bwe3. All i can say is "holy mother of god".
Extremely fast pased action, melee range all the time, 20+5 abilites avaible, 3 gap closers where 1 can be used to gtfo as well, slows, 3 stuns, 1 snare, and one hell of a burst.
I just love the fact that u need to switch between presceneces (cant remember the proper name for it) to line up moves. Gives a shitload of flexibility and felt better than any class ive played in wow. Nearest comparision would be Marauder in swtor when comparing escape, stuns, gap closer & burst abilities

[DrakeWurrum]

Some people mention just circlestrafing around mobs, and letting the autoattack do it's work. Unfortunally, that is a much too viable tactic - but not because lacking skills. The problem is that circle strafing is in general much to useful.

This ofcourse doesn't work on all mobs, anything that has a useful aoe will stop it, but atleast up to level 30, that is quite uncommon among normal enemies.
Don't have any real solution for this though.

Circle-strafing is just your basic fall-back survival skill, not so much the required strat for all mobs. It's extra work, and really something you only do when you don't know the visual tells of your enemy's most dangerous skills.

I stopped circle-strafing against champion mobs when I learned what to dodge and when, whether that meant "move" or actually pushing the dodge button.