Dadnir.5038

> @"uberkingkong.8041" said: > Other professions, have a healer role, tank role, etc. > Except thieves. That's not true. The build options are there, they only wait for players to use them. - If you want to be a healer, shadow art give you the opportunity to either capitalize on the abundant teleportation of the thief or simply use the venoms. Merciful ambush to revive and hide allies... etc. - If you want to be a boon support DE can do quite the work providing boons (might, fury and whatever boon you get from stolen skill) to up to 10 allies, while trickery allow you to grant fury, might, swiftness, vigor and whatever boon you manage to steal to up to 5 allies. It's actually not that hard to provide perma 25 might, fury, swiftness and vigor to a 5 man group as a DE all while providing utilities (portal/projectile destruction), stealth, applying vulnerability, weakness, poison... etc. - If you want to tank, you can reach respectably high amount of damage reduction (33% when revealed + perma weakness + either 3 traits with 10% damage reduction on DD or protection on DE), high amount of active defense (dodge, blind, hard CC and even block on DD) and high amount of self sustain (regen, signet of malice, invigorating precision, leeching venom, shadow siphoning, cloacked in shadow... etc.). If thief players already limit themself into the mindset that they can only be dps with what they got, there is no amount of change or new e-specs that will make them change those limits.

> @"scorekeeper.6524" said: > Sorry, Necro doesn’t deserve nerfs, but don’t claim that it’s rotation is harder than the engineer. Necro is a face roll class compared to engineer. But it still is a great class to play with. It depend a lot of the build you use. I trust that playing the average holosmith joe isn't any harder than playing a necromancer. Reaching optimal performance is challenging for every professions and build but no profession in this game is forced to rely on challenging rotation to reach a playable amount of result (not even elementalist). People in this game are blinded by "meta build" that seek optimal results when less challenging build options, while not optimal, offer results that are good enough to complete the content.

> @"DaFishBob.6518" said: > Who needs no downstate week? Let's root for a no cliff week.

> @"Nimon.7840" said: > you guys noticed the date, the original post was created right? I feel you, must be thrilling to see a post you made may 2018 being alive in 2020. That said, the skill used to be more impactful before 2018.

Are you looking for "meta" flexibility or general flexibility? And in which gamemode? Objectively, half, if not all, the professions are played rigidly by the playerbase ignoring large part of their potential in favor of builds that are in line with what have been determined to be the "most effective tactic available" (or meta) and gameplay prejudice. The truth is that all professions can build themselve into a large variety of roles but not all are equally effective (or answer properly to the need defined by the players).

> @"Yasai.3549" said: > What can a Support Thief bring to the table that others can't already do, and better? > If the Espec can't bring as much as the others, it's automatically dumpster tier because Core Thief has very very few supportive capabilities. > > One can't just rely on Espec to "add" a role to the existing archetype. > DD fitted well because Thief could already dodge around, avoiding damage, and hit and run. > DD enhanced that playstyle. > > DE fits because Thief could already pop in and out of Stealth, hit and run, deal burst damage. > DE enhances that playstyle. You've got an incomplete view of the DE. DE fit because thief could already steal boons and spread those stealed boons to their allies (which in essence is a form of support). _If you didn't know, DE is able to spread it's stolen skill effects to up to 10 allies as well as giving those allies fury and might. Which is in line with the trickery line that allow you to share fury, might, swiftness, vigor and up to 3 stolen boons to up to 5 allies._ > > Thief at its core has few if no Supportive capabilities. Thief at it's core is so full of support that it could explode at any moment. If ANet really want to make a support e-spec for the thief, the thief offer plenty of material to expand on. Objectively, using shadow to shield it's allies (just like the scourge use life force to shield it's allies) wouldn't be a surprising addition. Just imagine a trait that grant regen to 5 allies on steal + a trait that grant barrier when you grant stealth, coupled with _shadow savior_ or _leeching venom_ within the shadow traitline, you'd probably end up with a strong healer with a bit of boon support and plenty of utilities options (projectile defense, portal, stealth, Hard CC share). And that's just a rushed idea just to point out that saying "few if no supportive capabilities" is totally wrong. Personally, I do think DE was enough of a support e-spec but if ANet choose to add healing support (instead of the boon support from DE) onto another e-spec, I don't think it would be wrong or out of the thief's capability. The thief is not an "assassin", it's before anything else a profession that "steal". The e-specs are defined by how and what the choose to steal before anything else. DD focus on stealing endurance to support an accrobatic gameplay while DE steal boons to enhance himself or spread to it's allies. The core thief steal life (litterally), light (blind), boons, mouvement (cripple, chill, immob), endurance (weakness), defense (vulnerability), focus (daze)... etc. That's how one need to look at the "thief". I wouldn't be suprised to see the thief able to steal barrier (litterally), "shadows" (reveal) or steal momentum (slow) because, yes, it would fit with it's main thematic: stealing.

> @"Woltarion.6829" said: > > @"Dadnir.5038" said: > > If mesmer without _glamor_ trait is a joke what is necromancer without _spectral_ and _well_ trait? > > This a battle we should fight together Except that I'd rather see less traits for utility skills than to many (like necromancer's 3-4 minion traits). I think it's "ok" not to have a trait dedicated to an utility skill, it leave some room for traits that affect the profession as a whole instead.

If mesmer without _glamor_ trait is a joke what is necromancer without _spectral_ and _well_ trait?

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > Yep the PBS thing was a real pain back in the day (pre defiance bars) and Rangers got blasted for that a lot! > Half the time from my experience it wasn't even them doing the knockback but it was so common for PBS to get blamed anyway for it. > > Missing the boons due to not stacking was a thing as well, an unfortunate problem that Anet could have easily fixed by allowing the Ranger to benefit from boons cast on the pet but unfortunately this wasn't a thing. > Best you could do with LB was a Barrage, RF combo and then swap into a melee set. I've had a case where we accepted a ranger in our group that sweared he wouldn't use PBS and none of the other professions present had a knockback. He was using PBS unconsciously, it was a nightmare to play with him since as soon as we were close to deal our burst the boss was kicked away. On another hand, at the worst of the ranger's hate, I had a friend that was stuck with it's group at the end of the submarine path of CoE and asked for help. I just proved to this group that a ranger wasn't "bad" if played properly. It's something that I wouldn't even have start to think to do with a necromancer at that time, it would have simply been impossible to achieve.

My opinion: - Question of the title: I don't "want" a (dedicated) healer/support spec simply because DE provide such thing yet it nobody seem to feel drawn to this support. - Shadowcast: Feel like steal with healing buff on top, probably need more comprehensive work. - Scepter: skill#3 is supposed to change with each offhand weapon. Granted how the healing support of the core thief work I think focus would be a better weapon choice (at least we could make use of sword#2). - Glyph: This utility category is interesting due to it's ability to be "attuned", it feel like a work half done as it is presented here. NB.: Personally, I think thief need an e-spec with trait like weaver, giving him some easy vitality and barrier access.

> @"Sobx.1758" said: > Why do people like to pretend *their class* is somehow especially targetted with the nerfs? In 2 words: Tunnel vision.

> @"Lily.1935" said: > People make the assumption that ranger was the worst class but this was never the case. Ranger was just the most egregiously annoying. That's so true... The funniest point is that at that time rangers believed that their lack of popularity was a lack of support alongside mediocre dps. The dps sure was mediocre (not worse than the necromancer thought) but the support was already there (it's just that PvE encounters weren't designed to let this support be felt, most boss fight being ended in a few seconds). The true reason why the rangers were unpopular in PvE pre-HoT is that rangers had the bad habit to use the longbow at range and _Point blank shot_ on CD, messing heavily with the party teamwork which asked for a tight melee group and a boss that don't run around (Rangers probably have to thank ANet for the defiance mechanism that corrected their PBS issue).

> @"xEtherx.6127" said: > Why is there so much hate for necro in the community for both pve and pvp and yet anet always hits us with the nerf bat. The nerf bat part is just not true. If you were to compare the necromancer in PvE at release to the necromancer nowaday, you'd see that he deal close to twice as much damage, more than doubled it's survivability and have a lot more group support. While PvE design changed to reduce the obvious flaws that made the necromancer even less attractive. As for the reason of the hate, it's because: - General: The common prejudice is that the necromancer is "easy" to play thanks to a forgiving gameplay. (Truth being that it's not any easier than 6 out of 8 other professions, but anyway, it's the image it carry) - sPvP/WvW: The necromancer have an "unique" niche in these gamemodes that make him always an interesting pick, however it used to be a free kill while now that the TTK have been increased, he is a lot harder to take down. Scourge also used to be so busted in WvW environment that it became the dominant profession for quite a bit of time and he is far from being forgiven for it. What does not help is that the necromancer naturally have a lot of HP giving him the illusion that he is tanky and he naturally lean toward applying conditions while the PvP playerbase is especially loud against tanky builds and condition damage builds. - PvE: The environment in GW2 is especially inadapted to the necromancer. To put it simply, the environment hard nerf him. ANet took 8 years to sooth thing for him with both change to the encounters and change to the profession. However, while he is now either a reliable support or a reliable power dps, the necromancer still isn't able to contend for the top spots. This make him a sub-meta profession while the end game tend to be dominated by the pro meta players. So you got your answer, in most case the hate come from hard to kill prejudices and the nerfs are there to reduce discontent within the sPvP/WvW community (mostly sPvP, that got to be the only subforum the balance team look at anyway).

> @"Cynz.9437" said: > I do not have high hopes for next xpac but one can dream. Can we please get support spec (bard!!??) for thief? I think it would make interaction between thief players and rest of the community more healthy. > Pve: we would have alternative to straight dps, BT and kick from raid/fractal group. > WvW: spot in zergs -> less roamers -> less hate generated by getting killed by some sneaky one hit kamikaze. > PvP: hey, we can teamfight, thief is not mandatory as decapper!? > > Don't get me wrong, i love thief, i love assassin like classes, always did and i am sure i am not the only one but it is also a fact that GW2 community hates assassins, with passion. We need alternatives outside of "rerolling". Mesmers got it, why not us? It's good and all but what do you expect as support? I mean, the thief is full of support: - It got quite a few utility (portal, group stealth, area projectile block). - Venoms for life leeching, quite a few debuff and group stun. - Quite a lot of heal through shadow art. - Boons (and even 10 man boons through deadeye). I can hardly see anything "more" to add apart using shadows to cover allies with barrier. And I'm pretty sure few would want that. I don't think support is the way to go for the next e-spec, I'd rather bet on a spec with range/mid range damaging aoe or a focus on CC, but, who know, ANet might surprise us...

The CD is important for balance's purpose. There would be to many way to thoroughly abuse a 1 second CD on shroud.

> @"Goldilock.2584" said: > I think it’s me. I went and asked everyone in my house and even my whole street and they also agreed with me. I also went to my local supermarket and opened a stool to get more data around this and everyone I asked also agreed with me when I told them. > So this means it has been fact checked! > > Where do I get my reward? Here, I gave you a thumb up. You deserve it.

> @"VocalThought.9835" said: > Since Warrior's already use daggers for an elite, and already uses a Shield offensively in thier offhand, they could just give them another shield to be used in their main hand with an new shield skin that more suited to what Kratos would use in "God of War". Heck they could make a glass shield skin or an energy skin. I don't care about the skin personally, but they could do it because any Shield would do. I'm not suggesting other professions use the shield in the main hand, and with warrior basically already using most weapons, the shield in his main hand, I feel, is fitting to, especially since he already has skills with off hand Shield that would compliment a fisticuffs style of fighting that I'm suggesting with a main hand Shield. It's probably a misunderstanding, I think what's important related to "shield mainhand" is that there exist traits that work based on whether the weapon in off-hand can be used as a main hand weapon or not (Arms's traitline: _dual wielding_). Which mean that there is an existing list of weapons (shield/focus/torch/warhorn) that is coded to only be used as off-hand weapon. ANet trying to put those weapons on main hand might break the game architecture.

> @"VocalThought.9835" said: > There is only one weapon I can see a Warrior not using, which is Scepter. I would perfer that they also keep Warriors away from using Short Bows, but every other weapon should be on the table. I think with Focus, they should have had SpellBreakers use that instead of Daggers, but I'm hoping they give each elite an extra weapon to use. If they had focus they could have one skill that buffs themselves and another skill that may cause enemies to have conditions, almost like how their Meditations skills are. I think everything could be a weapon in a warrior's hands, even the scepter.

> @"Grand Marshal.4098" said: > Anyway, how would you change adrenaline for a new spec? The only interesting change I've come up with is 3 different bursts (animation and effects) that if carried out as a combo give some reward to the player. And with such a weapon, it would make sense. Personally, I'd like the next e-spec to not affect the base burst mechanic. I'd like it to sacrifice the ability to chose the secondary weaponset, replacing it with a banner/standard having it's own set of skills and burst. With the staff and banner this would mean 10 new weapon skills and 2 new bursts added with this e-spec.

> @"Grand Marshal.4098" said: > So Staff used as a spear in land just so Anet doesnt have to code the actual spear as a land weapon? Sounds like something cheap they can pull. But not martial arts staff. Revenant and Daredevil already give off that vibe with how they swing the staff. If they are able to create effect on the necro staff that make it look like a scythe when using a skill, they can create effects on warrior staff to make it look like whatever they want. Imo, it could even be interesting visually, the warrior shaping the tip of it's staff with each skill (A sword edge for a slash, a spear tip for a thrust, a hammer head for a bash... etc.), it would certainly give a different vibe than revenant and dardevil's staff.

> @"Grand Marshal.4098" said: > > @"phokus.8934" said: > > Off-hand weapons won’t be main-hand and two-handed weapons won’t be dual wielded. > > > > What are peoples fascination with this ridiculous concept? > > I agree. When I see people requesting double hammer warrior, or double gs etc, I get dissapointed cause it is utterly stupid and as a warrior main I would never touch the spec. > > But I'm also not fond of 'pistolier' warrior or 'staff' warrior. Where's peoples' creativity? That's Thief and Daredevil already... But i respect everyone's opinion in the end. The issue with warrior is that he already got a lot of weapons. Apart from shortbow, focus, scepter, pistol and staff there is no option left. Focus and scepter feel unlikely and it seem that subcousciously nobody want shortbow. Staff is a way for players that root for polearm to get a substitute while pistol just feel "right" (which is probably charr's propaganda since their army heavily invest into technology).

> @"BetweenHeadphones.6954" said: > What necro is still lacking is some kind of ranged spec. Therefore my guess is the new weapon being the longbow. > It could be the espec resulting out of an affair between our beloved core necromancer with the ranger class. > > Class mechanic suggestion: your own, personal jes-... ehm... minion. > Shroud is replaced by an "animal companion" like Minion, who's there to protect you and getting in the middle of the fight. The life force mechanic is there to fuel your Minion, making it stronger the more life force you gather. By controlling your Minion you spend said life force. F1-F5 skills could be the attack/come back order, one trait-influenced big hitter and some nifty skills to protect the necromancer. > Bow skills could be long ranged dps (either raw power or maybe condi/hybrid damage with condition like torment and bleeding, some CC and one "oh kitten, lemme get outta here"-button. > Utility skills could be commando skills inspired by the ranger utilities, giving you further options to control your minion(s) for offensive or defensive purposes. That's a valid possibility and personally, I wouldn't mind ANet giving this, or something close, to the necromancer. (WvW player wouldn't like it thought, but it's not like the necromancer don't already have plenty of options for this gamemode)

> @"KrHome.1920" said: > Additionally to that: people do often confuse "player, who produces a lot of cherrypicked video content" with skill. Both things have nothing to do with each other. True, sometime you take a look at those so called "best players" and the truth is that they just throw the match after a minute because team comp isn't to their liking while when they actually play they do nothing that really impact their match, trying more to look good than actually being good.

With the thematic of cantha I believe ANet will give us a spirit like thing that we will be able to send interact with objects that we can or can't reach. - World wide, that will be another mean to gather ressource (potentially we would have to equip gathering tools on the spirit so this would help sell TP gathering tools). - Easy skins (from racial to outfits and maybe even haircut/makeover). _Another godsend for the TP._ - You can even imagine some spirits dedicated to different things like music (more music instruments, song or even dance to sell via TP). No actual combat value, just story, puzzle and ressource gathering value. The perfect thing to introduce in the game.

> @"Stand The Wall.6987" said: > what do you guys think? I don't think there is only 2 trade off. Personally even after 3 years I'm still not over the fact that dual attunment skills aren't affected by CD reduction. Some traits don't even trigger while attuning to the same attunment while other do (who know why?).