Thoughts on Elite Specializations? (So Far)

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Now that everyone has had a weekend to play around with the new elite specs, what do you all think? Of course, we won't be unlocking the whole thing until well into next week (if you've somehow, someway, obtained the 400 hero points to unlock the entire spec AND all the masteries required to obtain the 400 hero points over the course of a 60 hour period...), so we on'y have a partial taste of the builds. However, I think there's enough to go on to justify a thread discussing them.

Thoughts on Especs so far? Different from what you imagined? Anything noteworthy? Love them?

[Deleted]

As a Daredevil, it looks cool + feels fairly satisfying to hit things with a staff. In terms of PvE, though, its usefulness over a sword + pistol is questionable.

Haven't unlocked the elite dodges yet. Need about 6 more hero challenges before I get my first grandmaster trait.

I am, however, loving the Fist Flurry utility skill. Feels great, relatively low cd, does nice damage + has a good stun on it.

[Rukh]

As a Daredevil, it looks cool + feels fairly satisfying to hit things with a staff. In terms of PvE, though, its usefulness over a sword + pistol is questionable.

Haven't unlocked the elite dodges yet. Need about 6 more hero challenges before I get my first grandmaster trait.

I am, however, loving the Fist Flurry utility skill. Feels great, relatively low cd, does nice damage + has a good stun on it.

They sure upped the graphics with the staff too. No more do you just helicopter it at enemies. It looks like you're a skilled staff user.

[Svifnymr]

I'm running my necro through first, but she's only about 35% unlock. Guess I shoulda done more pre-work. I doubt I'll do much with the Elite's until I get enough points to unlock most of what I want, which will be a long time.

I did get some Mistward gloves, which are nice enough.

After Reaper I'm not sure what I'll try to work on next. The maps are very sporadic and I shudder to think what these group events will be like without the groups...

[zito]

Chronomancer is very satisying. Alacrity is extremely good and with a full well build you can have 100% up time on it. Shield is amazing utility great survival, comes with a double stun and quickness.

Once I get 6pc chrono runes I'll be a power house in pve

[kelevandros]

I have unlocked scrapper to about 2/3 (up to the whirling gyro if I remember correctly). I tried a hammer build with only 1 gyro and failed to keep a proper level of survivabilty in the new map or any decent dps. The gyros can't seem to outperform the healing turret or elixirs/kits functionality. I kept the 2/3 of scrapper traits and combined it with a good old static discharge rifle build and things have improved considerably and are much more fun. I have used the specializations "main feature" the function gyro only a couple of times in the legendary wyvern fight I tried once, most of the other time I don't even remember it exists. So:
Traits ++
Function gyro ---
Gyros ---
Hammer -

[Deleted]

I only tried Dragon Hunter for a bit, but it felt odd to be a heavy armored bowman so i scratched it and went back to my previous build. I might use it when i'm farming elite events; like the wyverns (hell those are simply impossible as melee).

[carnifex2005]

I play Reaper and it's great. I haven't fully unlocked it but I'm hardly gimped by not having the full spec for all the open world PVE or dungeons.

[Karizee]

I fully unlocked Tempest earlier today and got my Tempest Loop shoulder, if you've already got the core Tyria hero points it's pretty easy to max it out. Wasn't really focused on it either, mostly just did exploring and story and guild hall stuff. It will of course take quite a bit longer on a new character like Revenant or if you didn't do the old world.

Haven't played the Tempest yet though, the mobs are much tougher in Heart of Maguuma so I wanted to explore with something I'm familiar with. Been running with zerk staff and a WvW spec for the extra survival.

[Deleted]

I play Reaper and it's great. I haven't fully unlocked it but I'm hardly gimped by not having the full spec for all the open world PVE or dungeons.

Ow how much of it have you unlocked? I so want to play as a reaper but I think I have just about 1/2 of the points. Guess I can just try it out

[Alextros]

Havent gotten enough for Chronomancer yet (Havent had that much time), but my first impressions was very dull when it was announced, but seeing the passives in game and such, I am actually quite interested in the shield. Just need to find the time to farm the masteries and such now

[carnifex2005]

Ow how much of it have you unlocked? I so want to play as a reaper but I think I have just about 1/2 of the points. Guess I can just try it out

I have 255 points unlocked. The thing is that you only really need the first two (greatsword and reaper shroud) unlocked traits to be effective in open world for a very long time. I play a power necro build, so Augury of Death (the first major adept unlocked) was good for me through most of my leveling because I choose "Your Soul Is Mine!" as my heal.

[Deleted]

Tried the dragonhunter mainly on the wyvern events and it's a powerhouse.
Doing approximately the same damage with LB as with GS, but at 1200 range, is quite amazing.
The skillcap is a bit higher though (especially on virtues), but it's quite fun to play now.

[Simulacrum]

Reaper seems really weak to me.

With a normal minion nec I can just roll through pretty much anything without caring, mowing down veterans and champions as I go. I had exactly zero deaths (except for one, being oneshot by some roots that came out of nowhere while on some floating island) since the expansion launched. Meanwhile, as reaper, I could barely take on two of those veteran jumping stealthing frog assholes without getting knocked out.

Greatsword just seems weak compared to daggers, and the new shroud lacking the old shroud's 4 is a pretty big weakness.

I'm probably doing something wrong, but after a short attempt at reapering I felt like it was very weak compared to a normal necro, at least without all its shouts and talents unlocked.

[Rivellana]

I have been running tempest, staff with fire/water/tempest and soldier/celestial gear and berserker jewelry. I personally love it. I've had absolutely no issues staying alive, even though I've seen a ton of people on the official forums complaining. I love the overloads in particular, especially fire. It reminds me of the last living story where you had Caithe's skillset and one of the buttons was a spinny whirlwind thing. Water overload has kept me alive pretty often as well.

[NoClueWhatToDo]

Ranger main here.

Tried the Druid for about an hour before I decided I did not like it. Their number 1 ability (Auto-Attack) fires a beam to the enemy and any allies that are in this beam gets healed. The problem is the beam is so small and only heals about 60 health. It's also hard to hit allies in this beam with them dodging and what not. Number 2 ability is a little wisp you launch at the target and it will heal people around it. The number 3 ability is actually the only fun thing about Druid. You turn into a wisp and teleport and upon reaching your destination, you explode and heal about 1900 health. Number 4 is just a root. And number 5 is simply a wall.

Overall I don't fully understand why Ranger received the healing support specialization. The Druid feels clunky and very weak. Maybe because I haven't unlocked everything yet, but still. I would have loved to see something different for Rangers that utilized their bows.. Maybe they will add more specializations down the road, but who knows.

[Rukh]

I'm really OK with the idea that the elites do take some time investment in to the particular character, but I think that the way they've done it is broken. Its good that the elite specs feel like you achieved something to unlock, but I think they messed up trying to shoehorn a vertical progression unlock in to something you get at 80.

They basically just incorporated it in to the leveling curve. The problem is that when you get to 80, you aren't leveling anymore. Everything is tuned for a fully leveled 80. But, when you unlock and can use one of the elites, it's clearly inferior because it has no traits. Sure, some people are using them anyways because they're new, but they're balanced against other trait lines as if they are fully unlocked and they aren't. For some of the specializations, a few of the low level unlocks make it usable, but for some, they are clearly bad with no traits.

Really, if you are going to use it competitively, you need to go grind ALL the points you need to unlock everything on it and that kind of stinks.

I think what they need to do is that when you unlock it, you have one level of each trait unlocked so its at least as powerful as other trait lines. Then, you can search out hero points to give you the other trait options, the specialization skills etc. 60 hero points is still a time investment and will require either a lot of map progress or some time in the jungle, but I think its high enough to feel like you put in some effort to use the class without being overly restrictive to people.

[Beazy]

I like Reaper Shroud in PvP, but I feel like the great sword is getting me killed more often. Maybe I need more practice.

[Kazgrel]

I'm missing only the last 2 items from Tempest now. I've been clearing through most of the new zones with scepter/warhorn, of all things. Need to get around to trying it with dagger MH, but there are a lot of mobs that are easier to handle when you have some range between you and them. Those stupid hylek ranged mobs, though, are not (and are IMO the most stupidly annoying regular enemy encountered in game).

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Ranger main here.

Tried the Druid for about an hour before I decided I did not like it. Their number 1 ability (Auto-Attack) fires a beam to the enemy and any allies that are in this beam gets healed. The problem is the beam is so small and only heals about 60 health. It's also hard to hit allies in this beam with them dodging and what not. Number 2 ability is a little wisp you launch at the target and it will heal people around it. The number 3 ability is actually the only fun thing about Druid. You turn into a wisp and teleport and upon reaching your destination, you explode and heal about 1900 health. Number 4 is just a root. And number 5 is simply a wall.

Overall I don't fully understand why Ranger received the healing support specialization. The Druid feels clunky and very weak. Maybe because I haven't unlocked everything yet, but still. I would have loved to see something different for Rangers that utilized their bows.. Maybe they will add more specializations down the road, but who knows.

I'm enjoying Druid ATM, but yes they seem relatively underpowered compared to not only all the other elite specializations, but regular Rangers with bows and axes as well. They desperately need a buff to their damage.

The problem is that Druids can't even fulfill the healing/support role Anet designed them to fulfill; against normal mobs you're not going to take enough damage to warrant a healer, and against champions they can't deliver fast enough or powerful enough heals to sustain a fight where you'd even have the role in the first place. They do just fine in parties against veterans, but if you have a party, why are you even hunting veterans in the first place? They desperately need a buff to their healing as well.