The thing all professions share are boons and conditions, and I can see how that would contribute to a feeling of sameness, but hey, it's not like buffs or debuffs in WoW are functionally different, they just have different names. I mean compare Shadow Word: Pain to Corruption; the two are virtually identical. However the fact that you can instantly tell which one belongs to which class does lend a sense of identity to them, whereas a bleed in GW is just a bleed. It's certainly interesting to think about, and I can see the OP's viewpoint to a degree.
I have my gripes about the game, but I don't think the professions being homogenized is one of them. Hell, try playing a sword/dagger or greatsword ranger and compare it to shortbow or longbow. Traits help differentiate specs a lot though, so it helps to play around in the mists rather than level 1-10 to see what a profession is capable of.
You get him early on, back when you had to do the quests to get him I think the requirement was level 6 or 7 (edit: my bad it was level 10).
Last edited by Notos; 2012-10-17 at 08:35 PM.
Q: Where the fuck is Xia Xia, SIU?!?!
A1: She needs to start making eggs for Easter...
A2: Drunk and sleeping somewhere.
I'm not saying only some classes should have dmg/survival, of course every class should. The point is that having self heals for example is not an unique thing in gw2, there's also no room for non-combat spells like portals/conjure food/underwater breathing/path of frost etc and less significant, but fun spells like enslave demon. Because of how the game works.How am I supposed to level without doing damage? How am I supposed to level if I can't stay alive? This statement makes no sense at all. Your sense of uniqueness is completely biased.
---------- Post added 2012-10-17 at 08:00 PM ----------
It's lvl 10 for sure (I recently played a vanilla server)
On live servers, you obtain him at level 8.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=697
http://www.wowpedia.org/Voidwalker_%28warlock_minion%29
Q: Where the fuck is Xia Xia, SIU?!?!
A1: She needs to start making eggs for Easter...
A2: Drunk and sleeping somewhere.
Which you can say about WoW. Every class in WoW has defensive and offensive abilities. I played a Druid and Priest mostly. My Druid could heal, and so could my Priest. My Priest had PW:S, while my Druid had Barkskin to reduce damage. My Priest had Shadow Form, my Druid had Moonkin Form. Also, the illusions as Mesmer uses in GW2 can be used for a variety of things. They can confuse the enemy, do damage, provide immunity to the Mesmer for a short time, ect. No other class can do that.
So we moved from "all classes are equal" to "there's no room for 'fun' spells".The point is that having self heals for example is not an unique thing in gw2, there's also no room for non-combat spells like portals/conjure food/underwater breathing/path of frost etc and less significant, but fun spells like enslave demon. Because of how the game works.
The things you're mentioning are not fun at all. Conjuring food is boring, sitting to eat is boring, walking on the water, c'mon... they might be funny, just like /dance or /train are, but they don't add anything to the gameplay. If you want to cook, walk and swim, no offense, but The Sims might be the right game for you.
Waypoints > Mage portals
Out of combat HP regen > Spirit + Food + Water
Permanent underwater breathing > Refreshing a cooldown every 10 minutes... (seriously, how can that be "fun"?)
After all, the only thing I get from your post is that GW2 is bad because there's no enslave demon skill, which is completely different than say that mesmers and rangers are the same, as you answered to my first post.
Well, it looks to me like you're looking for fluff, not flavor...because gw2 professions have flavor galore, but little/no fluff. Mesmers can summon clones, as has been mentioned, which others can't...plus they can put down portals that others can take! Show me another profession that can do that. Guardians have their virtues, and can "paint" shields/barriers/bubbles to protect their allies or confine their enemies. Elementalists have to manage their attunements, engineers have their weapon kits and tool belt. Necros deal in life force. Warriors can use most weapons, and can use shouts and banners to support their allies, plus manage adrenaline. Thieves can steal, and cloak their allies. Rangers have their pets and traps. I see plenty of things to distinguish them, you just aren't seeing the big picture because you're looking for fluff.
Oh I see you want all those little gimmicky spells WoW has. Those spells you use once in a blue moon. I can't remember the last time someone asked for a portal to anywhere when I was on my mage, I certainly remember people bugging me for a mage table in BG's (or letting it time out THEN bugging me for one - ffs).
I'm not totally against this idea of having fun little unique things your class can do, perhaps they will develop them later.
---------- Post added 2012-10-18 at 10:13 AM ----------
thanks for letting us know what's on your mind. what server are you on? I want my free honor badges.
Last edited by MrSerious; 2012-10-17 at 09:14 PM.
"you can't be serious!!" - yes actually I am.
Sometimes it's the little things. For this guy it's mana food. If the game had mana food, he'd love it. (nevermind that we don't have mana) Without mana food he feels compelled to come here and bash.
Valar morghulis
Whoa... hang on, hang on. Let me just go back to quote the list of why every WoW vanilla class was different from one another.
So let's list them off. DPS, DPS, HPS, DPS/survival, survival, survival.
So what you're saying is that WoW classes are unique because they had different methods of DPS and survival, but GW2 classes that have different methods of DPS and survival are not unique by the same measurement?
I call BS.
THAT is probably the only complaint about GW2 I agree with. I need to level "the more the merrier" alts to be able to farm more for my leggy, however I simply have to FORCE myself to play an alt. I'm more or less fine with my warrior, she's alot of fun, even though pretty underpowered, but just ANY other class is boring me to hell.
I was talking about class identity, each class in wow had their own identity like i said, not so much in gw2. The mesmer clones is just an ability, not really something that gives it a whole different feeling, like mirror image in wow is just an ability, nothing that defines mages.
I don't expect you to understand.
The fact that you could make free food/water, and teleport to any major city at anytime as a mage was a big attraction for a lot of people.
Each class had some spells that allowed you to do fun and useful things that no other class could, outside of combat.
---------- Post added 2012-10-18 at 08:25 AM ----------
If mesmers had high damage spells with long cast times like mages had, that would much more give them an unique feeling imo. Clones are still just an ability.
The clones are not just "an ability", it's the mechanic that the mesmer is built around. In a simile, the clone to the mesmer is like the demon to the warlock. Sure, some abilities can be used that doesn't require the use of clones, but regardless of your play style, weapon, and spec the clones are an integral part of how you play. What is that if not "identity"?