Let's talk Elite Specializations.

[zito]

I'm a little shocked that they buffed mirage before release. So somebody is listening.

[Usagi Senshi]

Instead of playing Holosmith (which I will play later as I have everything set up for it) as my main, went with my human warrior with spellbreaker (D/D and GS). Spec is pretty fun and fast tbh.

I also got that awesome hydra staff out of the BLC chest so I'll be playing my asura thief next and going daredevil.

[Lotus Victoria]

Instead of playing Holosmith (which I will play later as I have everything set up for it) as my main, went with my human warrior with spellbreaker (D/D and GS). Spec is pretty fun and fast tbh.

I also got that awesome hydra staff out of the BLC chest so I'll be playing my asura thief next and going daredevil.

No offense, but your character looks like she's going to fight Maximus in the arena in The Gladiator

Glad you're having fun!

[Svifnymr]

I think my main disappointment so far was just how badly traits seem to be integrated with Scourge. So many "when entering shroud" or "in shroud" or whatnot, and none altered with shroud removed.

[Deleted]

my character is very excited about this whole weaver business



on second thought, i'm not sure what emotion is being conveyed

[zito]

I think my main disappointment so far was just how badly traits seem to be integrated with Scourge. So many "when entering shroud" or "in shroud" or whatnot, and none altered with shroud removed.

any trait that says "when entering shroud" or "when shroud is removed" will activate from F5 desert shroud as the F5 works as entering shroud like reaper or necromancer but only for a short time but things like dhumfire activate on all F skills

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I do find it funny though that scourge was nerfed already and ONLY because of WvW. PvE and PvP suffers greatly from the nerf more than WvW. So fucking dumb.

[Svifnymr]

any trait that says "when entering shroud" or "when shroud is removed" will activate from F5 desert shroud as the F5 works as entering shroud like reaper or necromancer but only for a short time but things like dhumfire activate on all F skills

I noticed the one that reduces recharge on shroud skills reduces the F abilities instead, I assume it's intended. There's also a bunch of "shroud skill 1 does blah" or whatever though, and while I didn't test all, the ones I did, didn't seem integrated.

Mirage is what I'm playing with at the moment. GW2 has always had a very bad information flow though. Needing to read tooltips and stuff independently to figure out the basics of the class. I like the idea of evading rather than dodging, but it does remove your "get out of fire quickly" ability with a dodge.

The other spec's I've set up a little bit, but didn't play yet. Do you know why Weaver has a "turn off weaver" skill though?

[DrMcNinja]

Quite happy with the general playstyle of Firebrand. Mantra's could still use more range even after this buff. I feel it's pretty weaksauce in open world compared to DH though, a bit of a shame but no real issue.

[zito]

I noticed the one that reduces recharge on shroud skills reduces the F abilities instead, I assume it's intended. There's also a bunch of "shroud skill 1 does blah" or whatever though, and while I didn't test all, the ones I did, didn't seem integrated.

Mirage is what I'm playing with at the moment. GW2 has always had a very bad information flow though. Needing to read tooltips and stuff independently to figure out the basics of the class. I like the idea of evading rather than dodging, but it does remove your "get out of fire quickly" ability with a dodge.

The other spec's I've set up a little bit, but didn't play yet. Do you know why Weaver has a "turn off weaver" skill though?

All shroud traits work some way or another with scourge. Some for the better and some not. It's a trade off really. Dhumfire works on all F skills instead of just F1 but enter and exit shroud traits only work on f5.

Weaver has a turn off button because you might want a specific skill at certain moments instead of whatever skill is going to be weaved. Like you lose Geyser while in staff if you're a weaver unless you use water attunement twice in a row so if you want geyser for extra healing you can use unravel real quick. It also changes the order of your elements. Like you have fire/water pop unravel and you can switch to air and then when it wears off you now have ____/air instead of what would be ___/fire.

It's either used for convenience sake or adds another layer of fucking complexity nobody asked for lol

as for mirage they upped the evasion duration to 1 second from 3/4 which is longer invul frames than a dodge roll and you get super speed when dodging. The problem with super speed though is that it doesn't work while strifing so you really have to turn the camera if you're running away from something instead of strifing.

[Svifnymr]

It's either used for convenience sake or adds another layer of fucking complexity nobody asked for lol

Yeah, it seems like something that might be convenient maybe, but I can't see folks actually using it for a utility skill.

as for mirage they upped the evasion duration to 1 second from 3/4 which is longer invul frames than a dodge roll and you get super speed when dodging. The problem with super speed though is that it doesn't work while strifing so you really have to turn the camera if you're running away from something instead of strifing.

A big part of it of course is just getting used to moving rather than just dodging. I'm only in the first new zone, learning as I go, but it seems more issues with mobs than my play. Found a cave of spiders, kill the veteran spider, but the regular spiders do half my health in damage and take longer to kill! Axe seems to do decent damage, though it may just be axe2. The mesmer axe is ugly as hell though.

[zito]

Yeah, it seems like something that might be convenient maybe, but I can't see folks actually using it for a utility skill.



A big part of it of course is just getting used to moving rather than just dodging. I'm only in the first new zone, learning as I go, but it seems more issues with mobs than my play. Found a cave of spiders, kill the veteran spider, but the regular spiders do half my health in damage and take longer to kill! Axe seems to do decent damage, though it may just be axe2. The mesmer axe is ugly as hell though.

If you have no defensive stats the second you don't have invul you will get hit hard, that's in general with this game though. You'll probably want a shatter build for solo play since clones won't live long enough to do anything. Staff + axe/__ is always useful.

There's a trait that gives chaos storm upon heal (I can't remember which line atm) so you'll have double chaos storms it's fucking ridiculously good. Oasis got a reduced CD and gives a mirage mirror so that will help with survival. You can dodge during attacks though like axe 2 when you're spinning.

[Svifnymr]

If you have no defensive stats the second you don't have invul you will get hit hard, that's in general with this game though. You'll probably want a shatter build for solo play since clones won't live long enough to do anything. Staff + axe/__ is always useful.

There's a trait that gives chaos storm upon heal (I can't remember which line atm) so you'll have double chaos storms it's fucking ridiculously good. Oasis got a reduced CD and gives a mirage mirror so that will help with survival. You can dodge during attacks though like axe 2 when you're spinning.

You couldn't remember Chaos Storm on fall/heal was in Chaos? :-p

My point was that mob damage seems very random. Tangling with a veteran spider and no issue, but the regular spider that is right after does a lot more damage than the Vet. Otherwise I'm not really having a big problem with actual gameplay. Not sure if I'll keep focusing on my Mirage for story or swap to Scourge to try it out, or one of the other alts to see what's fun.

[zito]

You couldn't remember Chaos Storm on fall/heal was in Chaos? :-p

you know as well as I do the trait lines are fucked lol that common sense usually doesn't apply

[Tekkommo]

I like Deadeye a lot more than Daredevil, so running with a Rifle and Daggers.

I would like more cleave with the Rifle, but single target damage is awesome. However I doubt I'll ever be able to craft a high end Rifle, that's a lot of crafting to level from scratch.

[Keltas]

Quite happy with the general playstyle of Firebrand. Mantra's could still use more range even after this buff. I feel it's pretty weaksauce in open world compared to DH though, a bit of a shame but no real issue.

You must not have viper or griever gear then. DH felt pretty good in open world but as FB I can pull 5+ veteran mobs, pull out tome, and just kill them all in 2 seconds. It's insane how much burst (and even sustained damage) this spec has.

It's squishy as hell and has to stand way too close, but that could easily be solved by giving the mantras a good 3-5x range increase. Right now I have to hug the inside of the mobs hitbox to land them, and Ashes of the Just being applied only to allies hit makes it really annoying to work with.

[zito]

You must not have viper or griever gear then. DH felt pretty good in open world but as FB I can pull 5+ veteran mobs, pull out tome, and just kill them all in 2 seconds. It's insane how much burst (and even sustained damage) this spec has.

It's squishy as hell and has to stand way too close, but that could easily be solved by giving the mantras a good 3-5x range increase. Right now I have to hug the inside of the mobs hitbox to land them, and Ashes of the Just being applied only to allies hit makes it really annoying to work with.

I think FB burst goes into the 80k damage (the norm dps is around 40k apparently) so that is pretty insane. As for mantras they have higher range in a cone in front of you and a small one around you, just focus on keeping mobs infront of you and it'll hit.

[Beazy]

Im not understanding the game play mechanics behind Scourge. Maybe its because my gear/spec sucks. Anyone having difficulty staying alive with scourge spec also? The barriers seem like they go away too quickly. I also feel like I was killing stuff much faster with Staff + GreatSword combo.

[Keltas]

I think FB burst goes into the 80k damage (the norm dps is around 40k apparently) so that is pretty insane. As for mantras they have higher range in a cone in front of you and a small one around you, just focus on keeping mobs infront of you and it'll hit.

The cone in front of you is still really really small. If you have to move out even a little bit it won't hit. You also have a mantra that buffs allies with burning on hit effects (it's a very large chunk of your damage too) and if they aren't all humping you, it won't hit them.

[zito]

The cone in front of you is still really really small. If you have to move out even a little bit it won't hit. You also have a mantra that buffs allies with burning on hit effects (it's a very large chunk of your damage too) and if they aren't all humping you, it won't hit them.

that's the trade off though

technically speaking the only other mantras in the game are from mesmers and those are 100% selfish

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also renegade is the most disappointing spec so far

Elite specs are suppose to offer a new way to play. Renegade doesn't do anything of the sort, it's just a straight damage buff to condition dps. At least they reduced energy costs for it.... by an almost pointless amount, it's still too fucking expensive.

[Valeron]

I've actually enjoyed Renegade the most so *shrug*