Kuma.1503

I voted a while back, but I'd have to change my vote to staff. Magic and technology often go hand in hand in the gw2 universe. You see it everywhere in Asuran society. I'd love an elite spec that delves further into this. An obvious choice would be golemancy, but you could do so much more. Engineer's could use their staff to control magnetic waves or even bend and warp space and gravity. For example, for their skill 5, they could use their magic to create a gravitational sphere that collapses into a singularity, violently pulling all enemies in, and **absorbing any of the engineer's combo fields beneath it**. It would then explode, inflicting increased damage for every combo field absorbed, and also inflicting conditions on foes and granting boons to allies based on the combo fields that went into it. Water - Chill | Heals allies Fire- Burning | Might Ethereal - Confusion | Alacrity Dark - torment | Resistance Light - Blindness | Retaliation Poison - Poison ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | Regen Electric - Vulnerability | Fury Smoke - Blindness | Stealth You could have them tap their staff on the ground, creating an anti gravity field that lightens allies, granting them quickness. You could reactivate this skill to launch all enemies within range into the air. Making this an Etheral field would give it combo-ability with their staff 5 skill for huge team support potential. I'm just spitballing ideas here. What I want most for engineer is a true supportive spec with a more magical theme than we've seen with the other elite specs.

> @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > > @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > > > > @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > > > > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > > > > > _For all tests, highest number of poison stacks is recorded even if it only appears for a split second._ > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade (No doom sigil) - 9 stacks > > > > > > > > > > > > _All tests below done with Scavenging Rune and Venom + Doom sigils. Also running thermal vision for +60 expertise_ > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade (Doom sigil) - 10 stacks > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Opponent standing on Poison Gas Shell = 14 stacks > > > > > > > > > > > > **Poison Grenade + Opponent Standing on Poison Gas Shell and Chemical Field = 18 stacks** > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley = 15 stacks > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate = 20 stacks > > > > > > > > > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > > > And just for fun > > > > > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate + Opponent standing on 2 poison fields = 27 stacks of poison > > > > > > > > > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > > > > > > > > > **Verdict: Maybe do not afk in the green circles if you do not want 18 stacks of poison on you.** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Verdict: 9 poison 1 skill throw + field ticking maybe overtune... > > > > > > > > You stated 18 stacks not 9 > > > > > > > > Even then, It's 18 stacks of poison that takes roughly ~5 seconds to kill with no cleanse, and that's on a condi build designed to gain maximum value out of poison. All of this assuming the victim of the poison bomb goes afk in 2 AoEs and gets hit by every grenade. > > > > > > > > Simply utilizing WASD keys should be sufficient to prevent death from happening. Worst case scenario, mistakes are made. 5 seconds is plenty of time to react and cleanse the condi burst. > > > > > > > > In this hypothetical scenario, the player misplayed in 3 different ways and died to an off meta build. Seems like a reasonable outcome. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 18 from 1 skill only btw 9 stacks from 1 attack. Not balanced at all. The only thing that can stack up to that level (9 stacks) is like snake trap if you stand in it. And grenade toss at your feet is instant you cannot avoid 9 immediate stacks. > > > > > > Btw plz stop defending this design you look so biased... Like it was healthy for a game to have this much reward this low skills. > > > > > > > Let me try to understand you better. > > > > You're saying "18 stacks from 1 skill" Are you implying that the engi hit you with 2 poison nades? (9 x 2 = 18). If so the scenario you laid out is impossible. 10.25 seconds of poison with 34% poison duration on a 25 second cooldown. > > > > I made my post in attempt to figure out what the engineer did to you to get 18 stacks of poison on you. Asuming he didn't have help from another player, He would have either had to land several skills on you (one of which involves running an underperforming weapon in the mainhand) or you stood in 2 poison fields and ate the poison nade. > > > > Lets start there. What exactly did the engineer do to you that resulted in 18 poison stacks? > > Thats the beauty if it! I don't know! I got hit by poison grenade point blank and might stayed 1sec max in it! He was not using pistol main hand too! Was this in a 1v1 or in a teamfight? Asuming it was a 1v1, poison nade on its own can only do as much as 10 stacks if running doom sigil. Asuming you were sitting on a mortar shell, that would only go as high as 14. A mortar shell and a chemical field would reach 18 stacks easily... but unless they're playing condi scrapper (not a build you see often if at all) the damage taken will be negligable. I'd argue the scrapper is misplaying by unloading all of their poison at once instead of spreading it out in order to limit incoming healing. Mortar Kit varients of Holo sometimes run Elixir gun, so it could've been poison gas shell, fumigate, and poison grenade that did it, but then you would've noticed the green spray. Fumigate isn't exactly an easy animation to miss... Unless I'm missing something obvious here, I can only conclude either you're remembering the situation incorrectly or the engineer had help.

Immobilize + Cover condis is the single most infuriating thing in this game (to me). If I see a ranger on the enemy team, I will swap to escape runes 100% of the time so I don't get cheesed by Entangle from stealth or an immobilize from the pet. Entangling Roots are also buggy and some weapons flat out cannot hit them. Condi necro gets destroyed by roots because staff can't hit them (autos miss. marks dont trigger), and scepter takes ages to kill them. I wouldn't mind immobilize so much if skills that utilized it had better telegraphs, but instead it tends to either proc from traits, or it gets slapped on skills with tells far too light for how powerful the condition is.

> @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > > @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > > > _For all tests, highest number of poison stacks is recorded even if it only appears for a split second._ > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade (No doom sigil) - 9 stacks > > > > > > > > _All tests below done with Scavenging Rune and Venom + Doom sigils. Also running thermal vision for +60 expertise_ > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade (Doom sigil) - 10 stacks > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Opponent standing on Poison Gas Shell = 14 stacks > > > > > > > > **Poison Grenade + Opponent Standing on Poison Gas Shell and Chemical Field = 18 stacks** > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley = 15 stacks > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate = 20 stacks > > > > > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > And just for fun > > > > > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate + Opponent standing on 2 poison fields = 27 stacks of poison > > > > > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > > > > > **Verdict: Maybe do not afk in the green circles if you do not want 18 stacks of poison on you.** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Verdict: 9 poison 1 skill throw + field ticking maybe overtune... > > > > You stated 18 stacks not 9 > > > > Even then, It's 18 stacks of poison that takes roughly ~5 seconds to kill with no cleanse, and that's on a condi build designed to gain maximum value out of poison. All of this assuming the victim of the poison bomb goes afk in 2 AoEs and gets hit by every grenade. > > > > Simply utilizing WASD keys should be sufficient to prevent death from happening. Worst case scenario, mistakes are made. 5 seconds is plenty of time to react and cleanse the condi burst. > > > > In this hypothetical scenario, the player misplayed in 3 different ways and died to an off meta build. Seems like a reasonable outcome. > > > > > > > > > > > > > 18 from 1 skill only btw 9 stacks from 1 attack. Not balanced at all. The only thing that can stack up to that level (9 stacks) is like snake trap if you stand in it. And grenade toss at your feet is instant you cannot avoid 9 immediate stacks. > > Btw plz stop defending this design you look so biased... Like it was healthy for a game to have this much reward this low skills. > Let me try to understand you better. You're saying "18 stacks from 1 skill" Are you implying that the engi hit you with 2 poison nades? (9 x 2 = 18). If so the scenario you laid out is impossible. 10.25 seconds of poison with 34% poison duration on a 25 second cooldown. I made my post in attempt to figure out what the engineer did to you to get 18 stacks of poison on you. Asuming he didn't have help from another player, He would have either had to land several skills on you (one of which involves running an underperforming weapon in the mainhand) or you stood in 2 poison fields and ate the poison nade. Lets start there. What exactly did the engineer do to you that resulted in 18 poison stacks?

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said: > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > _For all tests, highest number of poison stacks is recorded even if it only appears for a split second._ > > > > Poison Grenade (No doom sigil) - 9 stacks > > > > _All tests below done with Scavenging Rune and Venom + Doom sigils. Also running thermal vision for +60 expertise_ > > > > Poison Grenade (Doom sigil) - 10 stacks > > > > Poison Grenade + Opponent standing on Poison Gas Shell = 14 stacks > > > > **Poison Grenade + Opponent Standing on Poison Gas Shell and Chemical Field = 18 stacks** > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley = 15 stacks > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate = 20 stacks > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > And just for fun > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate + Opponent standing on 2 poison fields = 27 stacks of poison > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > **Verdict: Maybe do not afk in the green circles if you do not want 18 stacks of poison on you.** > > > > > > > > Also projectiles through poison fields. > > The poison stack output could be very high here actually. I thought so too. I was trying to figure out how grenades managed to deal an extra 9 poison stacks and I thought "Maybe if the grenades are projectile finishers and the engi is running doom sigil"? Only to realize that grenades don't have finishers attatched. ~~It could happen with poison dart volley. It's only a 20% chance, but if fortune strikes plus the mortar, that's an extra 4-5 poison stacks.~~ Poison Dart Volley doesn't even have a finisher attatched. Odd. Come to mention it, if Anet were to buff mainhand pistol for engi, giving Poison dart Volley a finisher would be a nice buff. I wouldn't mind seeing more field play encouraged on Engi.

> @"Zinzon.4081" said: > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > _For all tests, highest number of poison stacks is recorded even if it only appears for a split second._ > > > > Poison Grenade (No doom sigil) - 9 stacks > > > > _All tests below done with Scavenging Rune and Venom + Doom sigils. Also running thermal vision for +60 expertise_ > > > > Poison Grenade (Doom sigil) - 10 stacks > > > > Poison Grenade + Opponent standing on Poison Gas Shell = 14 stacks > > > > **Poison Grenade + Opponent Standing on Poison Gas Shell and Chemical Field = 18 stacks** > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley = 15 stacks > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate = 20 stacks > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > And just for fun > > > > Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate + Opponent standing on 2 poison fields = 27 stacks of poison > > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > **Verdict: Maybe do not afk in the green circles if you do not want 18 stacks of poison on you.** > > > > > > > > Verdict: 9 poison 1 skill throw + field ticking maybe overtune... You stated 18 stacks not 9 Even then, It's 18 stacks of poison that takes roughly ~5 seconds to kill with no cleanse, and that's on a condi build designed to gain maximum value out of poison. All of this assuming the victim of the poison bomb goes afk in 2 AoEs and gets hit by every grenade. Simply utilizing WASD keys should be sufficient to prevent death from happening. Worst case scenario, mistakes are made. 5 seconds is plenty of time to react and cleanse the condi burst. In this hypothetical scenario, the player misplayed in 3 different ways and died to an off meta build. Seems like a reasonable outcome.

_For all tests, highest number of poison stacks is recorded even if it only appears for a split second._ Poison Grenade (No doom sigil) - 9 stacks _All tests below done with Scavenging Rune and Venom + Doom sigils. Also running thermal vision for +60 expertise_ Poison Grenade (Doom sigil) - 10 stacks Poison Grenade + Opponent standing on Poison Gas Shell = 14 stacks **Poison Grenade + Opponent Standing on Poison Gas Shell and Chemical Field = 18 stacks** Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley = 15 stacks Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate = 20 stacks - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And just for fun Poison Grenade + Poison Dart Volley + Fumigate + Opponent standing on 2 poison fields = 27 stacks of poison - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **Verdict: Maybe do not afk in the green circles if you do not want 18 stacks of poison on you.**

Mesmers can freely interrupt plasma now. Idk

> @"Leonidrex.5649" said: > > @"JusticeRetroHunter.7684" said: > > >@"Kuma.1503" said: > > > "Is spellbreaker too strong or is everything else too weak"? > > > > So long as the majority fail to understand this^, and the fundamental concepts of balance, we will forever be stuck in this cycle. I've given up on PvP...its only a matter of time before the last build i play, gets the bat, and all we are left with is a bunch of skills with 300 second cooldowns. > > everything is relative, if everything is OP, nothing is OP. If everything is kitten, nothing is kitten. If 1 thing is kitten but everything is super kitten then its too strong compared to the rest. If its fun its another matter, but hey, who needs fun in games anyways lulW In theory, yes. However, a world in which every support is broken and a world in which every support is garbage are two completely different worlds.

> @"CutesySylveon.8290" said: > > @"Kuma.1503" said: > > Hypothetical here. What would a balanced meta support look like? > > > > Have we even taken the time to consider the end goal of these nerfs we'd like to achieve? I've heard vague statements like "Make the game more like core days, but what does that mean? Do we want every class to be a generalist? Do we want more build variety? > > > > What meta class which has existed in the history of guild wars 2 has been considered good and healthy for the game? > > > > I ask these things because I honestly do not see an issue with Heal Spellbreaker from a balance perspective. It does its job. It has tools to keep itself alive, and it has good utility and CC. In exchange it has very little pressure of its own and relies heavily on it's teamates to carry in terms of damage. > > > > It fulfills the archetype of beefy frontline who empowers allies. It has the typical pros and cons that come with it. _ > > > > When a build becomes meta, we don't engage in any constructive discussion about said build. We read off the bullet points and say "X is a tanky support class, therefore **by definition** it supports a lot and it doesn't die when you hit it. It should be nerfed because it supports a lot and it does not die when you hit it". > > > > Why Hspb **feels** broken in this context is because other classes which may try to take up this mantle have been nerfed to the point where they can no longer do so and be effective. > > > > Firebrand had its boons and self sustain neutered to the point where it can no longer empower nor be durable > > Scrapper had it's sustain and tankiness neutered to the point where it can no longer fill the role of tanky support > > Druid recieved several harsh nerfs which neutered it's ability to support its allies at all. > > > > We're comparing Spellbreaker to other builds of the same archetype which can no longer fill that role. Of course it's going to look broken by comparison, but at what point do we take a step back and ask: > > > > "Is spellbreaker too strong or is everything else too weak"? > > The biggest tragedy of all; Ventari is forgotten once more. ? If it's any colsolation, I forgot Scourge too xD

Hypothetical here. What would a balanced meta support look like? Have we even taken the time to consider the end goal of these nerfs we'd like to achieve? I've heard vague statements like "Make the game more like core days, but what does that mean? Do we want every class to be a generalist? Do we want more build variety? What meta class which has existed in the history of guild wars 2 has been considered good and healthy for the game? I ask these things because I honestly do not see an issue with Heal Spellbreaker from a balance perspective. It does its job. It has tools to keep itself alive, and it has good utility and CC. In exchange it has very little pressure of its own and relies heavily on it's teamates to carry in terms of damage. It fulfills the archetype of beefy frontline who empowers allies. It has the typical pros and cons that come with it. _ When a build becomes meta, we don't engage in any constructive discussion about said build. We read off the bullet points and say "X is a tanky support class, therefore **by definition** it supports a lot and it doesn't die when you hit it. It should be nerfed because it supports a lot and it does not die when you hit it". Why Hspb **feels** broken in this context is because other classes which may try to take up this mantle have been nerfed to the point where they can no longer do so and be effective. Firebrand had its boons and self sustain neutered to the point where it can no longer empower nor be durable Scrapper had it's sustain and tankiness neutered to the point where it can no longer fill the role of tanky support Druid recieved several harsh nerfs which neutered it's ability to support its allies at all. We're comparing Spellbreaker to other builds of the same archetype which can no longer fill that role. Of course it's going to look broken by comparison, but at what point do we take a step back and ask: "Is spellbreaker too strong or is everything else too weak"?

It doesn't need one. All other support options except arguably tempest are underperforming after constant rounds of nerfs. Even tempest is underwhelming in the heals department. It's a utility/CC bot. If you nerfed Shocking Aura and/or rez glyph it would fall out of relevance.

GW2 class design is miles above other MMO's I've played. I actually came to Gw2 from WoW because, after the great "pruning" or de-powercreeping of every class. Just about every ounce of depth, difficulty, or fun has been systematically stripped away from every class. WoW Forums cheered it on at first, with the majority of complaints coming from the PvP community, but there hit a point where Blizzard stripped away so much that classes were hardly recognizable anymore... and when people thought they couldn't possibly take anymore away, when rotations for some classes could be simplified down to 1 damage button and a 1-2 dps modifiers to empower that 1 dps button (arcane mage *cough)-- they took more away. I've seen what happens when a game has been de-powercrept to a point where you can hardly think to de-power anyone further. It ends feeling even more imbalanced than when everything was broken. Now many look back and think "gee, the game sure was more fun when classes were strong" I don't think GW2 has fallen into the same pit WoW has yet, but I've seen it heading in that direction for a while, and people continue to cheer Anet on. But who knows, maybe my words are just the salt of an ex-Ele main who's been on a year-long search of a new class to call home.

I'll be honest, I stopped reading when I read "Core rev is overperforming"

Viper amulet should be added back into the game. I also would not mind seeing something like: +1000 power +500 vitality +500 expertise +1000 condition damage +1000 power +500 toughness +500 expertise +500 condition damage Essentially the equivalent of Demo/Marauder amulets for condition builds. Allowing for more aggressive build paths for condition builds with tankiness on par with power builds. Alternatively, if condis are an issue, consider buffing sigil of cleansing to 2 conditions per weapon swap from 1, helping builds with limited access to cleanse find a better middle ground without cleansing sigil being quite as powerful as it is in WvW.