What is your favourite Elite Specialization so far?

[Svifnymr]

I haven't really played Soulbeast much. A friend that is more into the numbers tried it and gave a string of expletives. Seems she finds a lot of faults with it.

I tried it out, but I didn't care for stances, the Soulbeast mechanic seems so-so (and disables when you mount I think) and the dagger didn't add a lot for me.

[PACOX]

MMO players dont fail me. qTs benchmarks are out and prove that players are extremely pessimistic.

Weaver and Scourge do a ton of damage. Scourge is probably going to get nerfed looking at the way anet treats necros.

Firebrand is OP across the board. Melee Renegade does really good dps. Ask map chat about Holosmiths and they say trash...Holos do really good power dps.

All the other specs are good side grades to existing specs, putting out roughly the same amount of dps in raid settings. The only one that didnt find any use in raids/fractals was Spellbreaker, as expected.

[Gray_Matter]

MMO players dont fail me. qTs benchmarks are out and prove that players are extremely pessimistic.

Weaver and Scourge do a ton of damage. Scourge is probably going to get nerfed looking at the way anet treats necros.

Firebrand is OP across the board. Melee Renegade does really good dps. Ask map chat about Holosmiths and they say trash...Holos do really good power dps.

All the other specs are good side grades to existing specs, putting out roughly the same amount of dps in raid settings. The only one that didnt find any use in raids/fractals was Spellbreaker, as expected.

First, the irony of two of your comments made me laugh - "MMO players dont fail me." and "Scourge is probably going to get nerfed looking at the way anet treats necros."

That said, just a couple of comments about Holosmith. It has great burst but there are a couple of glaring flaws:
1) It's the only spec that actually punishes you for making a mistake to the tune of more than half your health along with a knockdown. There is a cooldown when entering holo mode and on a couple of occasions I accidentally double tapped the button to leave and ended up overheating.
2) It offers absolutely no support to groups for when you go for max DPS. Zip, zero, nada. You can't afford to take any of the other skills because it hurts DPS too much.

All that and it's not even on top with it's max DPS spec. It's a few K behind. From a power spec point of view it feels better than engineer has in the past but it's not really a great option.

Edit: I am actually running with Power Holo at the moment and when you are just messing around in the world then it's pretty cool because the burst lines up nicely with most encounters.

[PACOX]

First, the irony of two of your comments made me laugh - "MMO players dont fail me." and "Scourge is probably going to get nerfed looking at the way anet treats necros."

Edit: I am actually running with Power Holo at the moment and when you are just messing around in the world then it's pretty cool because the burst lines up nicely with most encounters.

Its the highest power spec (i think weaver beats it on big hit boxes) but youre right about having to be selfish dps and potentially killing yourself.

Similar but not quite the same can be said about weaver since its the squishiest of the ele raid builds making you question whether or not the risk is worth it.

I also like taking my holo out for open world stuff. I even use sword shield, dont care if its "proper" or not.

I just find it funny in MMOs, games in general that stuff that considered bad could be considered S tier overnight without a single balance patch. I can pull up post on reddit and the gw2 forums claiming that scourge was even though scourge is exactly the same spec it was a week ago...in both pve and pvp...both modes were scourge excels.

Hats off to anyone who actually takes a mirage into a raid, I cant get used to not having dodge. More props convincing a group to let you run something other than Chrono.

[Gray_Matter]

Its the highest power spec (i think weaver beats it on big hit boxes) but youre right about having to be selfish dps and potentially killing yourself.

Similar but not quite the same can be said about weaver since its the squishiest of the ele raid builds making you question whether or not the risk is worth it.

I also like taking my holo out for open world stuff. I even use sword shield, dont care if its "proper" or not.

I just find it funny in MMOs, games in general that stuff that considered bad could be considered S tier overnight without a single balance patch. I can pull up post on reddit and the gw2 forums claiming that scourge was even though scourge is exactly the same spec it was a week ago...in both pve and pvp...both modes were scourge excels.

Hats off to anyone who actually takes a mirage into a raid, I cant get used to not having dodge. More props convincing a group to let you run something other than Chrono.

I agree. People were throwing around figures of 80k DPS and 30K DPS. I think there was a fix for Engineers regarding blue weapon as the damage scaling factor but I don't know of anything else.

That said, I hate these DPS tables. They are not practical at all. They are close to theoretical figures that don't look at how tough the "rotation" is or how forgiving it is. They also assume full ascended gear. I would prefer to have a 35k DPS spec that does 25k DPS in the hands of a casual half geared person than a 44K spec that does 10K DPS in the same situation.

Personally I am glad to have a power option for Engi's. I am so tired of condi everywhere. I want to see some big damage figures now

I must try Sword/Shield. I have been running with Sword/Pistol but I could use a bit of defence because I feel like a glass cannon. One thing I do miss for world roaming is something like the thief healing on critical. I can almost stand still in Zerk gear on my D/D thief and blast away.

[Svifnymr]

I kept my old engineer a Scrapper and made a new one with a level 80 boost to be my Holo since it was easier to grab the base HP for training on a fresh 80 and I wanted an Asura.

So I havent' actually changed her gear yet! She's got Soldiers (Power/ Vitality/ Toughness). Damage is fine for wandering around, and she's no glass cannon as things go. I kept meaning to change gear, but figured I'd see what dropped with PoF, then forgot.

[Lotus Victoria]

Man, I cannot express how much I love my daredevil. Having 3 endurance bars is already a big deal, but having a great spammable AoE that also dodges you is so fucking good! I almost soloed one of the dungeon bosses because his mechanic was all about dodging and timing, and having ~5-6 dodges available is incredibly fun and rewarding when you pull it off!

[Svifnymr]

It's amusing, since I don't miss the 3rd dodge on alts, but do notice the difference on my thief. I do wish Mirage had also gotten a 3rd slot.

[Lotus Victoria]

I've been experimenting with the Holosmith, and I'm honestly surprised! The class is very fun and managing the heat bar is interesting. Glad that they've included the 80 boost.

[Deleted]

Well... unfortunely i haven't gotten many from PoF yet (should get mirage and firebrand soon enough). Actually, i just played Chrono, druid, dragon hunter and soulbeast.

My favorites are souldbeast as it finally gave ranged a decent dps spec and dragon hunter because it feels beefy as a power spec.

Chrono i didn't delve much into tbh. My mesmer is specced minstral chrono, but only with exotics, so no extra buff duration. I am hoping mirage is a bit less gear dependant.

I do like alot of the specializations though, but i only got an 80 ranger, mesmer and guardian. Got a necro and a thief in the works too though.

[Deleted]

Far & away : WEAVER So fun to play & new skills !

[Deleted]

From the PoF elites, Holosmith by far!
Visually it looks just absolutely stunning, and the rotation is very engaging and fun.

[PACOX]

Well... unfortunely i haven't gotten many from PoF yet (should get mirage and firebrand soon enough). Actually, i just played Chrono, druid, dragon hunter and soulbeast.

My favorites are souldbeast as it finally gave ranged a decent dps spec and dragon hunter because it feels beefy as a power spec.

Chrono i didn't delve much into tbh. My mesmer is specced minstral chrono, but only with exotics, so no extra buff duration. I am hoping mirage is a bit less gear dependant.

I do like alot of the specializations though, but i only got an 80 ranger, mesmer and guardian. Got a necro and a thief in the works too though.

Mirage is gear dependent in that it requires that standard viper stats. You can actually get away with the using rampager but you'll want viper in fractals/raids. Mirage does respectable DPS too.

[Lotus Victoria]

I've been playing with Firebrand. It's quite good, to be honest, and the support spells are very fun to use in the Open World PvE. I can't say if it's better or worse than Druid, though.

[-XEN-]

Reaper, Scourge & Souldbeast.

[Deleted]

I love mirage, its the design of mesmers I always wanted A shame is that the axe is not a viable option over scepter in general, I hope they buff it to give it an evade or something for survivalbility (unless they already have? Haven't followed latest balance patches)

[barackopala]

I love mirage, its the design of mesmers I always wanted A shame is that the axe is not a viable option over scepter in general, I hope they buff it to give it an evade or something for survivalbility (unless they already have? Haven't followed latest balance patches)

wait what?! dude axe mirage was top fucking tier dps with around 40k+ dps, wot... mirage has evade, as a matter of fact the meta dps build brings even more evades than any other dps classes.

[Deleted]

wait what?! dude axe mirage was top fucking tier dps with around 40k+ dps, wot... mirage has evade, as a matter of fact the meta dps build brings even more evades than any other dps classes.

Well, I'm thinking pvp :P

[barackopala]

Well, I'm thinking pvp :P

PvP is scourgeheaven boi!

[Deleted]

PvP is scourgeheaven boi!

I know, I know