draxynnic.3719

> @"Brokensunday.4098" said: > > @"draxynnic.3719" said: > > > @"Yggranya.5201" said: > > > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > > > @"Yggranya.5201" said: > > > > > Guardian? How about warrior hammer? By the time you've used all CC abilities on a group of enemies, any other melee weapon would have killed them and the next group, maybe even more. Same for maces. In PvE, they have no purpose except to break the defiance bar. Good? I guess, but i would rather use them exclusively. Besides, warrior has more than enough CC utility. Not like the bar is high enough to require more than that since they are designed for groups, and the cooldown is so long on the bar that you'll have the skills ready again before it can be broken again. > > > > > > > > You havent played fractal 100 cm I see. > > > > > > Yes, i have not, and never will. Still, if it's good in one thing, that doesn't mean it's any better in the other, now does it? > > > > Guardian has the second highest number of weapons after Warrior. It can afford to have one or two that have specialised uses rather than competing for the role of top glass cannon DPS. > > Staff is utility, shileld is utility, focus is combo damage and utility, mace is utility mostly, hammer is supposed to be damage and utily but is lacking the damage excluding the skill 2. > Guarian need a change on gammer because even as an “utility” weappon as is right now is mostly useless outside of some super rare ocassions. > Hammer is tanking and crowd control. With Writ of Persistence, you've got pretty much permanent protection and healing, which makes it very useful for situations when running sword, greatsword, or axe will mean you don't have the durability to remain in melee with whatever it is you're fighting.

To be fair, "fire and conflagration" is basically saying "fire and bigger fire", so I don't think it's exactly a retcon that Primordus has a second domain rather than just having fire and more fire. Destruction was one of the common speculations as to what Primordus' second domain might be.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > This would make it harder (or outright impossible) for destroyers to damage. Primordus, however, should have an easier time of it - same with something made out of a higher quantity of Primordus magic than the current destroyers at least. So something like the primordial fire in Edge of Destiny (which could burn even Destroyers, which in the book were presented as completely immune to Sohothin's fire) would probably be able to do it.

> @"Yggranya.5201" said: > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > @"Yggranya.5201" said: > > > Guardian? How about warrior hammer? By the time you've used all CC abilities on a group of enemies, any other melee weapon would have killed them and the next group, maybe even more. Same for maces. In PvE, they have no purpose except to break the defiance bar. Good? I guess, but i would rather use them exclusively. Besides, warrior has more than enough CC utility. Not like the bar is high enough to require more than that since they are designed for groups, and the cooldown is so long on the bar that you'll have the skills ready again before it can be broken again. > > > > You havent played fractal 100 cm I see. > > Yes, i have not, and never will. Still, if it's good in one thing, that doesn't mean it's any better in the other, now does it? Guardian has the second highest number of weapons after Warrior. It can afford to have one or two that have specialised uses rather than competing for the role of top glass cannon DPS.

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said: > > @"Aaron.1294" said: > > Warrior already have support spec - it's called spellbreaker > > > > More of a control/dps. The support from the meta spellbreaker builds comes from Tactics, boon removal/denial itself is a form of control. Berserker is the Damage spec. There is no true 'support' espec for warrior, though when we get it it would be support with some dps traits. > > The means of the support depends on how they build it and could very well be an enjoyable experience. Something that procs off of your bursts for instance, or something more tactical like laying down fields and blasting them for enhanced effects rather than press utility button grant AoE support. Yeah, there's also a berserker version of the tactics/shout warrior, although it doesn't have the defences that the healbreaker has. The support is definitely coming from core warrior, not the elite spec, spellbreaker is just used for Full Counter and the dagger.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > @"Fueki.4753" said: > > Both Primordus and Jormag are using the resonance magic that strengthened Kralkatorrik and his Branded **and was Kralkatorrik's weakness.** > > I certainly hope Arenanet won't ignore the bolded part for Jormag and Primordus. > > I wouldn't assume that just because they gained abilities from the dead elder dragons that they also gained their weaknesses too. Otherwise, Jormag would get severely weakened from killing Drakkar and The Whisper of Jormag, just like Zhaitan with his specialized minions (I know Drakkar predates Jormag getting Zhaitan magic, but he is indeed a specialized minion like the Eyes and Mouths, and like Bangar; I doubt Jormag would offer such a crucial piece of killing Jormag to Aurene if Jormag adopted Zhaitan's weaknesses as well as strengths). > > I wouldn't even say that Jormag is using resonance magic. At best, it's crystal magic but as pointed out, freezing over people into a hibernative state isn't new, it'd just be new to not be corrupting them in the process (but even that isn't _entirely_ new, per Rox). With Primordus, we can't be certain that this is a new ability of his gained from Kralkatorrik, or an old ability which just got amplified by a boost in magic from Kralkatorrik and Balthazar. In the context of _when_ it happened, though, I suspect Jormag's real motivation is to achieve the cold version of Primordus' "burn things, gain power" effect. Each of the Frozen is probably acting as a power source for Jormag.

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > @"draxynnic.3719" said: > > Personally, I'm wondering if part of the reason why Primordus is being more aggressive is that he's feeling more _threatened._ > > > > Balthazar nearly killed him, after all. Furthermore, he probably senses that Jormag has just had a big power spike, and if the Jormag-Primordus rivalry has been going on for a while (and the two apparently fought during the last Dragonrise, so that does appear to be the case), Primordus sensing a sharp increase in Jormag's power might lead him to desperately grab as much as he could to ensure he gets the upper hand. > > > > Makes me wonder who actually started the rivalry. If Jormag's been actively seeking Primordus' death, and Jormag has a track record of manipulating mortals to try to achieve that, then... well, Primordus's behaviour would be consistent with a being that's been attacked so many times that his instinct is to find a deep hole to hide in and then push any potential threats as far away as possible. > > We never really had much insight into the mind of Primordus from the beginning anyways. Hard to tell if he does this out of personal fear or simply because he just craves destruction for the sake of it. He is probably the one Elder Dragon we encounter that we don't have much understand about in a personality level compared to other Elder Dragons we encountered so far where we get some kind of understanding about them with each encounter. > > -Zhaitan wanted the entire world to be Undead because life between being dead and alive was his ideal world where it is free from the fears of dying and living. > > -Jormag is all about preserving the world in Ice to put it in a eternal stagnation so nothing will ever change and no one can ever harm each other when frozen. > > -Mordremoth was just "My mind is the only one that matters" so his ideal world was one where everything is linked together under one mind and one body being his mind and body. > > -Kralkatorrik was just going crazy because he consumed way too much magical energy to a point his mind split into two personalites being one side is his original personality probably before Elder Dragons became Elder Dragons and the other being a chaotic destruction seeking maniac. Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. By Elder Dragon standards, Jormag is relatively extroverted and downright chatty. Zhaitan and Mordremoth mostly spoke through minions (apart from sylvari). Kralkatorrik and Primordus, on the other hand, have been pretty quiet - our main insights into Kralkatorrik's personality and motivations required someone jumping into his mind, and we haven't had the opportunity to do that with Primordus. Now, don't get me wrong - Primordus' behaviour is _definitely_ also perfectly consistent with just being a monster. But it is common behaviour among animals that feel threatened to lash out at anything nearby, which can become permanent behaviour if they're sufficiently traumatised to push them to permanent paranoia. Humans under these circumstances don't necessarily do so physically, but might push people away through rude and antisocial language and behaviour to stop anyone from getting close enough to hurt them again. The Elder Dragon equivalent of this would likely be sending minions out to attack everything within reach indiscriminately. The interesting thing here is that the second DRM in this release has added additional weight to the 'Braham has some link to Destroyers' theory, so we might get some insight into Primordus' motivations through that vector.

> @"Shao.7236" said: > Hammer skill 2 is; > * Inconsistent, doesn't register hits more often with targets right in the middle of it. > * Hitbox was displaced to the point where it's impossible to hit anything point blank. > * Targeting fails to properly inform the player of possible uses no matter the angle. > * Has no sound. > > It has been broken for a whopping full year now with a really poor quality of life. I estimate it'll happen two minutes after midnight. On [this clock](https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/).

Personally, I'm wondering if part of the reason why Primordus is being more aggressive is that he's feeling more _threatened._ Balthazar nearly killed him, after all. Furthermore, he probably senses that Jormag has just had a big power spike, and if the Jormag-Primordus rivalry has been going on for a while (and the two apparently fought during the last Dragonrise, so that does appear to be the case), Primordus sensing a sharp increase in Jormag's power might lead him to desperately grab as much as he could to ensure he gets the upper hand. Makes me wonder who actually started the rivalry. If Jormag's been actively seeking Primordus' death, and Jormag has a track record of manipulating mortals to try to achieve that, then... well, Primordus's behaviour would be consistent with a being that's been attacked so many times that his instinct is to find a deep hole to hide in and then push any potential threats as far away as possible.

> @"Tyson.5160" said: > > Jormag’s Frozen appear to be a new ability too, as it’s never been mentioned until now. I assumed this is the ice and crystal domain combined. Jormag did have a tendency to freeze things in blocks of ice before, but it was usually possible to thaw or break them out. This time around, the effect appears to be considerably stronger.

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > @"draxynnic.3719" said: > > Mmmn. Of course, any Canthan Assassin-themed elite spec is going to have pistols as long as its based on Thief, and I'd be really surprised if it wasn't. So they'll _have_ them, but they won't be their signature weapon. > > > > Yeah, the lack of guns among Joko's forces was something I noticed as well. I'd guess that if guns had only recently arrived in Elona, the majority of Awakened would have been alive before guns arrived and thus would be more comfortable using the weapons they were used to. Most if not all Awakened also seem to be magically enhanced in one way or another rather than using more 'mundane' attacks, too, so maybe there wasn't much value seen in making the switch from magically enhanced bows. > > > > (It's worth noting that from what we can see ingame the Seraph also seem to prefer bows over rifles, even though rifles are clearly known in Kryta.) > > It is most likely due to how much technology was allowed to advance. > > For Joko, he probably kept technology down to still bows and arrows to prevent creations of technology that may expose him. > > Only the Order of Whispers that remained in Elona manage to use guns as shown by how they created the Deadeye Elite Specialization since they did not restrict themselves to Joko's standards on what is allowed. > > Cantha on the other hand may have allowed their own technology to advance enough to introduce Guns as a common use but that is assuming the Canthan Emperor allowed it to reach that point. I don't think that's accurate - I don't get the impression that the deadeye NPC is Order of Whispers/Shadows, and they took a contract from a village that is loyal to Joko (if not to their local overseers - the villagers are under the belief that Joko would crack down on the overseers if he knew what they were doing, when the truth is that they're probably genuinely following his directives). Nor does she show any signs that deadeyes try to hide what they are. Guns might be uncommon in Elona, but I don't think they were illegal. I suspect it's more likely that, given his own immortality and the augments applied to his Awakened elite, he just didn't see them as a significant advantage to his forces or as a a significant threat.

> @"Heizero.9183" said: > I dont think this poll will get the proper data with those types of polling options > > For example, I DO agree that hammer is only useful in some situations and game modes, however, I always use it since I play in those situations and game modes very often. > > Also, even though I use hammer very often and enjoy it I still think it could use SOME updating such as making ring of warding castable while moving and increasing the attack speed on the auto attack. I DO NOT want to see the skills fundamentally altered or the mechanics of the weapon changed though because I think it is excellent at what it does with its current functionality and for what I use it for: to lock down and deliver a big burst of damage to a target(s). > > This is essentially my thought as well. I don't pull out hammer that often, but when I do, I'm glad to have it. With the right trait setup, it means you can often just sit in melee and outheal incoming damage even while in a glass cannon setup, which means that in some situations where you don't have a dedicated healer, it can outperform weapons that theoretically have higher DPS, but which don't have hammer's capability to just sit there and shrug off incoming damage. If you're running around like a chook with its head cut off to stay alive, you're probably not getting a lot of DPS out of a sword, axe, or greatsword - sometimes, you're better off with a weapon that just lets you sit there and smack away. I have seen it used to good effect in sPvP, although I think it got hit particularly hard by the Writ of Persistence nerfs and I don't think I've seen it used in sPvP since. I could see an argument for QoL improvements, but I don't think I'd want to see a redesign of the weapon.

There are NPCs who'll explain the origins of the elite specialisations. The origin of the [Weaver](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Folarin_Oyekan) is that Sosuke (who was, incidentally, one of the GW1 heroes) learned that djinn split their focus between controlling their element and controlling their physical form, but since humans are more physically grounded than djinn, they don't need to do the latter and can split focus on two elements instead. Now, connecting it to a GW1 character is, IMO, a little dodgy since elementalists didn't switch attunements like GW2 elementalists and could run multiple elements at once if they wanted to, but that's the official explanation. For the [Deadeye](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nakato_Ibori), it's explained that with the open terrain and large monsters of the desert, it's safer to bring targets down from long range rather than trying to get in close and steal from them. Firebrand is actually the most in-your-face about it - the tomes are accounts of Elona's true history, and each tome skill is invoking an aspect of that history. You can see it in the in-game skill descriptions, and like the others, there's an NPC you can talk to for more [information](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Roni_Gehianu).

Mmmn. Of course, any Canthan Assassin-themed elite spec is going to have pistols as long as its based on Thief, and I'd be really surprised if it wasn't. So they'll _have_ them, but they won't be their signature weapon. Yeah, the lack of guns among Joko's forces was something I noticed as well. I'd guess that if guns had only recently arrived in Elona, the majority of Awakened would have been alive before guns arrived and thus would be more comfortable using the weapons they were used to. Most if not all Awakened also seem to be magically enhanced in one way or another rather than using more 'mundane' attacks, too, so maybe there wasn't much value seen in making the switch from magically enhanced bows. (It's worth noting that from what we can see ingame the Seraph also seem to prefer bows over rifles, even though rifles are clearly known in Kryta.)

> @"Legion.4198" said: > In 1571, a ninja sharpshooter attempted to assassinate Oda Nobunaga with with two arquebuses fired in a row. If ninjas used guns in real life, why cant assassins in Guild Wars? Because an arquebus would be classed as a rifle in GW2, and therefore the ninja sharpshooter you refer to would be a Deadeye.

> @"Yasai.3549" said: > > @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > > > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > > I don't get the notion of keeping Almorra alive, just to _force_ her into retirement. Which is also very out of character and disrespectful to charr lore. Which, ironically, is something you say you're trying to do. > > > > > > Specifically, I'm referring to the charr cultural concept of "[the final patrol](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Final_patrol)". As explained [by Rox](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Origins_of_Madness:_A_Moment%27s_Peace#Dialogue) in late Season 1 when talking about [Asagai](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Asagai), when a charr is too old and/or injured and a gladium, they tend to go out on "one final patrol". A patrol to the death, where they can die in battle as a soldier of the Legions. > > > > > > If Almorra was in such a condition she could no longer lead the Vigil on the battlefield, you can bet your kitten that she'd rather go out in a blaze of glory than sitting in some hearth getting older. She's promote Laranthir to be General, and probably Jhavi to Grand Warmarshal, and then go solo into the wilderness in a heavily contested area. Because that's what charr do. > > > > > > Not all deaths are glorious, and this was a fine end for her, especially with Visions of the Past showing how she died and that she did have that "going in a blaze of glory" style deathmatch in the end. > > > > > > And like Greyhawk said, it makes no sense for Rytlock to succumb to Jormag. Hell, it was weird enough that he turned on the Commander in Episode 2. Ryland becoming Jormag's champion fits perfectly well with how they built him up, and honors "the old lore" pretty decently. > > > > > > What _doesn't_ honor the old lore, is (in no particular order) a) Drakkar's appearance, b) Owl's sudden survival just to die the next scene, c) the succession of Imperator-ship, d) arguably Smodur's personality, e) the sudden survival of so many stone dwarves after saying that they've been practically entirely wiped out in EoD novel and Season 2 and Season 3. And possibly more, but small points overall. > > > > Oh, we might need to figure out a way to better differentiate the acronyms of Edge of Destiny and End of Dragons..... > > EoDy and EoDg While I was able to figure out which was which easily enough, EoDe and EoDr might be more consistent.

> @"VocalThought.9835" said: > > @"Morvran.8265" said: > > > @"mindcircus.1506" said: > > > PoF's Legend wasn't from the Desert. What makes you think EoD's needs to be from Cantha? > > > > Every profession had an Elona themed elite spec except Rev. > > > Really? I didn't notice. Some were a bit more obvious about it than others, but yeah, they all had fluff tying them to Elona or the desert in general except for the Renegade.

I have to agree myself that it felt a bit cheap bringing Owl back and then Killing Her Off For Real so soon afterwards. Feels a bit like they just pulled a Status Quo Is God, and makes me suspicious about what's likely to happen to the other lost spirits. > @"Fenella.2634" said: > > @"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said: > > > @"Fenella.2634" said: > > > This part was weird, anyway. Doesn't that make them a Perpetuum mobile? Something seems to be wrong there. > > Not weird to me. Dragon of fire gets more powerful the more fire there is, and if it makes more fire then yeah, its going to get stronger from that. > Physics, though? I know, Tyria has magic, but still, even an Elder Dragon shouldn't be able to practically infinitely grow its own magic from basically nothing. Fire has to have something to burn, otherwise it should go down at some point. That's not what's actually going on, however (and, perhaps, fortunately). The full loop is: *Destroyers burn things *Primordus gets more powerful *Primordus uses that power to create stronger Destroyers *The stronger Destroyers go looking for more things to burn *Repeat The source of additional power is the destruction caused by the, well, Destroyers. He can't just sit idly while a feedback loop gives him more and more power - he has to send the destroyers out to get more fuel. If there was nothing to burn, Primordus would not be able to strengthen himself that way. > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > @"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said: > To assume the 7 Gods are the only Gods that manage to find Tyria from the Mist is a debatable topic in general since we know so little about other civilizations beyond the locations we know about now. I think, however, that there is the factor that the gods _needed_ to move due to some cataclysm that overtook their original world. There may be other sets of equivalents of gods or elder dragons on other worlds, but as long as the worlds they dwell on remain intact, they likely have no incentive to come to Tyria.

Personally, what really disappointed _me_ is that the second 'Confer with Aurene' got interrupted, and the Commander apparently didn't think that people getting frozen in ~~carbonite~~ Jormagicite was worth going back to Aurene over.

> @"HotDelirium.7984" said: > > > > > But again, i wouldn't want that if it means further imbalance to the mesmer and further future nerfs that might eventually happen because of this. Because then anet nerfs one thing that affects all others that never needed nerfs in the first place due to how closely everything on mesmer is tied to the shatters and illusion generation. > > I guess internal software could make it generate other things in their stead like instead of clones and phantasms gain 10 stacks of might/gain 1,000 health etc. but that does lead to balancing issues for other traits. I doubt that clones and phantasms are ever likely to be removed - there are just too many skills that use them. I could, however, see clones becoming something that is just _there,_ rather than a resource needed to fuel additional abilities.

> @"Buran.3796" said: > > @"medivh.4725" said: > > Mine a nord and he is so bored? What I'm saying make the combos stylish and fun to look at... > > The animation in the mace is similar to the human, but in the last hit of the aa with sword instead of a linear thrust paralel to the ground the norn lands a 45º stab aiming to the grounbd, which looks weird. In terms of animations male norn isn't the best choice for a Guardian... Sounds like an animation that would make sense with most thrusts due to the assumption that the norn has a height advantage, but yeah, it's a bit odd with the final guardian sword chain skill...

> @"Salt Mode.3780" said: > No for a very simple reason. Too many mesmer traits revolve and work around shatters if you are asking for a spec that does no shatter that means ALL those shatter related traits would have to have a 2nd effect specifically for a non shatter mesmer spec. With how they balanced mirage by removing a dodge rather then going another route I doubt they will decide to do this. Mirage esp condi mirage is a class that is played more passively having as much clone uptime as possible and only shattering when needed in comparison to Chronos that require to shatter as much as possible to get more alacrity for CD reductions. Like I said earlier, all they need is for the replacements to be something similar enough that the traits still make sense. Like necromancer shroud traits. F1 does power damage. F2 inflicts conditions (specifically, Confusion). F3 is a CC effect. F4 is a defensive effect. As long as they keep to those rules, all the core traits would still apply. Heck, they might not even need to be that fussy about it.

Maybe just turn the energy blade effects back on? Guardian sword used to have what was probably the most striking autoattack sequence in the game at release, but it got toned down due to general complaints about particle effects such that apart from the cone in the final part of the chain, it got reduced down to a generic blue trail. If firebrand axe can generate an entire second axe, I don't see why sword can't have its energy blades.

Pretty sure everyone's going to be raising eyebrows if pistol comes out as melee support. Or shortbow, for that matter. Which... doesn't really leave many options for warrior. Existing support specs seem to be showing that ArenaNet disagrees with your idea that supports should be midrange. Revenant's support weapon is melee. Firebrands want to be fairly close to those they're supporting. Engineer and scrapper support is pretty much all melee or close range. What thief support there is relies on the thief being close to their allies. Tempest _can_ support at range with staff, but wants to be in the middle of the group to get the most out of its abilities. Boon chrono works best sitting in the middle of the group too. Only support builds that I'd say are really oriented towards ranged support are druid and scourge, both of which can be quite fiddly to play in practice, and both of which still benefit from getting closer to those they want to support. This is possibly a deliberate decision on ArenaNet's part - they WANT supports to need to be close to the action in order to properly support, so that they're in a position where the enemy can target them. And I suspect this goes double for professions that have high sustain or high mobility which can make them hard to kill even when they are in close. Expecting a soldier profession to be an exception to that rule seems... unlikely. And a pistol, in context, is unlikely to be presented as a support weapon, beyond allowing warhorn skills to be used from a standoff position. Warhorn skills only have a 600 range, though, so you'd only want to be standing off so far. Now, again, I'm not saying that pistol is bad. I'm fairly neutral here, and think both have things that they could bring to the table. It ultimately depends on what ArenaNet thinks that the game needs more. Support Warrior spec, or more ranged options for Warriors.

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > And Human's.. well a good bunch of them decided to revive the White Mantle.. another bunch decided to follow Balthazar on a suicidal end of the world mission. > I have no doubts what so ever that a human faction of Jormag followers would be extremely likely if Jormag was able to spread it's influence that far south.. which is what I suspect it is trying to do in the upcoming release. > Jormag need only broadcast to Divinity's Reach it's messages of peace, protection and friendship and you'd see a bunch of foolish humans buy it, i'd put good money on that lol I don't think this is quite the same situation, though. The White Mantle had an established insurrection that had been present since their overthrow in GW1, while Balthazar's priesthood was an established institution in Kryta and his living (as opposed to Forged) followers seemed to be fairly few even then. Bangar, similarly, was an established authority figure, and he presented his effort as controlling Jormag rather than serving him. Considering the level of persuasion Jormag has already been shown to do, I wouldn't rule it out, but I don't think the precedents suggest that Jormag is suddenly going to get a significant level of support from the human population. Heck, we might be seeing the first signs of trouble happening in Lake Doric specifically _because_ those humans most susceptible to demagoguery have been weeded out and they refuse to cooperate. I'd also note, in the Dominion's case, there was mention that after what went down at the Frost Citadel, those Dominion who weren't already transformed started going "Hell no!" and surrendering. I will note, though, that I think a large part of the reason for going to Cantha will be to find more friendly dragons so that the burden of regulating magic isn't entirely on Aurene.