Rodzynald.5897



I don't know if this is intended but I don't think it should be that way. It works with every elevation on every platform and pillar you can jump on. However, I can teleport from near the skyhammer portal up to mid point even though it is also a huge difference in height, same with Kylo mid point.

Because of that it is hard to take down those squishy eles or deadeyes who stay close to those platforms. Well, they can be taken down by ranged shots but many people do not listen to those tips and just melt down in teamfights. If we could teleport to those elevations with target teleports, we could at least have a fair chance to fight back.

> @"NeedCoffee.1402" said:

> Unranked shouldn't betaken so seriously. Especially when 5 people on discord could literally be playing against 5 randoms. There is no measure of "good". So just have fun.

But what If someone's definition of fun is to have a relatively balanced match? PvE, casual players are having fun it's alright, unranked is for that and I like to fool around in unranked too. But still, when you get stomped, can't do anything about it and your fun was to test your skill, find a worthy opponent instead of goofing around, what then? Well we have to face the bitterness that's what, it has to happen from time to time :tired_face:

So this is what PvP community has become, trolls and memes.

In PvP merciful heals for 5% and in PvE it is 20% soo... yeah that shows how much you don't know about firebrands.

It has to be strong so that FB's team doesn't melt to condi and power damage that PoF's power creep introduced. Besides, FB has obvious weaknesses, it is power damage pressure and lack of mobility. If you focus a firebrand well it is not IF are you going to kill it but WHEN are you going to kill it. It's not a druid that will pop ancestral grace, go invisible, heal up and get back into the fight multiple times.

Firebrand doesn't need any changes and before someone claims bias, I don't play firebrand.

> @"JayAction.9056" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > > @"JayAction.9056" said:

> > > > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > > >

> > > > Was season 9 in 2018?

> > >

> > > Since you want to be technical, yeah it lasted all day Jan 1, 2018...

> > >

> > > We have yet to see a season 10 or another balance patch.

> > >

> > > Burn guard went from stupid-hilarious OP to just OP with the condi nerf patch.

> > >

> > > I like it being in game though I'm not complaining. It's fun to play against and with.

> > >

> > >

> >

> > Okay if it was unranked then I could understand that but I recall no significant burn guardians in ranked. Besides, what otto said, pre PoF it was more prominent and that is true. This season? Not really, I am sure that there were no burn guardians, at least not so many relevant burn guardians as everyone just rolled with top tier meta, and burn guard is not in top tier meta. Giving untrue statements is not a good way to prove something.

> > During 9 season ranked I fought with no challenging burn guardians myself, perhaps only bad firebrand variants, and still, it was such a rare sight that it's not even worth mentioning in detail. This is like comparing an ice cube to an iceberg.

>

> Saiyan... A poster in THIS THREAD is top 100. I played with him THIS SEASON ranked on my team, and saw him use burn guard THIS SEASON and it is still more than potent. The damage is enough he can get kills from condi damage in less than <10 seconds against people with clears and even 1v2 other people in legend if they do not notice the damage extremely quick. Like I said, the condi nerf patch took it from stupid-hilarious OP to just OP.

>

> He is not the only one and I saw him multiple times.

>

> It may not be as faceroll as firebrand and have the game breaking op synergy with scourge and that might be why you do not see as many. Or you could just be low rank??? I don't remember seeing your name NA? Or you could just be lucky?

>

> There are more OP builds from HOT that are still around that are not "meta" for reasons I'm guessing the most people playing those classes capable of those builds never even realize it's possible. Thief being a prime example. Most thiefs in this game are absolute garbage.

>

> Even when burn guard was its most OP you still rarely saw people playing it btw. For some reason the WvW crowd had no idea of it and would not even believe me if I told them it was OP. I guess people in this game only pay attention to things after people make a YouTube video years (emphasis on years) after things are discovered.

Firstly

I am not NA but EU, from what I heard and saw NA's skillcap is lower so it's easier to get to top 250 so no wonder you have a burn guard there :D

Secondly

An exception is not an argument, every rule may have an exception. In EU we have no pure burn guards in top 100 and I haven't heard of anyone who really does their job well. One player in ranked seems more like a coin toss rather than a reliable argument. There are many more firebrands in top in contrast and let me tell you that being a mindless FB won't get you to top. Try it and you'll see that facerolling a FB will get your team killed. More likely a burn guard is silly because it requires your enemy to be unaware of burn stacks, which indicates a bad player.

Thirdly

The reason most HoT specs are not used in ranked is because they are inferior compared to PoF. The only HoT specs that are really good and frequently used are druid and d/p daredevil. Anything other than that will get shred to pieces or works only against bad players who happen to loiter in medium to semi-high tiers.

P.S.

The more baddies there are in the game, the easier it is to melt them with condi.

> @"Crab Fear.1624" said:

> All I see in this photo is a troll trying to sneak attack a player in the free for all arena from a relatively safe position. I wish they would remove the ledge and rocks there.

I just used this photo as an example of the issue. I didn't even use the shield of wrath for the 1 shot combo. If you find an issue with that on a free for all arena then what can I say? It's your problem not mine.

Though I agree that running away during combat to that spot is disgraceful and it should be removed or blocked, the same goes for two stone ledges under the edge of the arena.

> @"RabbitUp.8294" said:

> > @"KeoLegend.5132" said:

> > That DH is the best Elite ever we already know that. That DH has one of the best bursts of the game we also already know that.

> >

> > But im curious about going full Valkyrie armor on my DH to get 4k HP as 11k hp is too low. Although i can play fine with 11k i wonder if i could do even better with a bit more HP. What do you guys thinks? (Using Retaliation uptime to maintain 60% + crit chance)

>

> First of all, you can get the whole 100% crit chance with 0 precision, so it's true that under optimal conditions, Valkyrie is strictly better than Berserker. You get 50% from Righteous Instincts, 10% from Radiant Power, 20% from fury and 5% base. The last 15% can either come from Right-Hand Strength, or if you are using a 2-hander, a Berserker weapon with Sigil of Accuracy (so ok, in that case you have some precision). In group content, you can get the last 15% from Spotter and Banner of Discipline.

>

> Of course, the problem is having fury and retaliation. In pvp and open world where burst is more important than dps, a few seconds of these boons are easy enough to get without any sacrifices. Especially if you use the Virtues/Radiance build, opening your fight with F1 and sword 2 (which is usually what I do with my DH regardless of gear) already gives you both boons. Then drop Procession of Blades, swap to GS, and do GS 2 + GS 4 and watch everything melt.

>

> Now, in group content, fury should be already covered, so that leaves only retaliation. DH already relies on retaliation uptime for the bonuses of Retribution, so bad uptime hurts regardless. You already provide retaliation with your GS symbol, so goood stacking and a good chrono can be enough, otherwise you can use an utility slot for Stand your Ground (more reliable) or Hallowed Ground (more retaliation uptime). Test of Faith is a minor dps contributor anyway, which is why SC guides already suggest swapping it out.

>

> Personally, while I believe Valkyrie can absolutely work in pve, I also don't feel like 4k HP is worth all the fuzz. I also don't feel like making another ascended set.

Okay, I've been playing hammer guard even before HoT, during HoT and after PoF, this is the style I played for the longest time and you are right about the precision might.

However, I find valkyrie stats good only when you fight inferior opponents, when you initiate the fight, or there isn't a lot of boon strip/corrupt flying around.

The thing is that with valk you have a high risk high reward so much, that the burst that hammer guard can make is once in a while. You have to stack boons and be at the right time in the right place for it to pull off the best of this build, which happens rarely considering how more capable are other builds, for example Holo. Holo doesn't need that much of a wind up and every single burst skill of theirs is just as punishing as one well placed mighty blow with all effects stacked.

However, two ago I changed to berserker. Yes, it's silly, the precision gives 46,85% crit chance and with fury + retal its 116.8% which sounds like a waste. But believe me, it is not. I've had more problems running valk, it was just some more HP that gave me just 2 or 3 seconds longer to live. During a fight it is hard to keep constant burn as a power guard. Fury and retal gives about 70% crit chance which is oddly underwhelming. With zerker I have my 100% crit chance very easily with fury and retal all the time. The trick is that hammer's auto attack is strong as nails and nobody really dodges auto attacks. Most combatants, even experienced ones, expect you to hit mighty blow at the right time so they can dodge. What I tend to do is just whittle down the opponent with 2k/2,5k strong auto attack hits, and the third auto attack is a mini-mighty blow. Every single hit is no less than 2k and some. Now I win more fights due to this 100% unending crit burst. It's not about surviving yourself, but forcing your enemy to play defensively, so that they have a harder time to get to you. Thus offense is the best defense.

Besides, litanny of wrath heals much better with zerk stats. If I place my blinds from F1 and sword/focus well, I can even soak the damage and heal it in within a second with the burst.

So yeah, with valk it is reliable but you have to build up a lot to make sure that you hit that burst. Too many times it happened to me that I was sure to land a crit mighty blow just to see a whismy, white 2k hit even with fury and retal + burn, it's RNG. With zerk I am sure that every single mighty blow that I land will be at least 4.5/5k if not more. What's even better is that when I manage to close an enemy in ring of warding and pop zealot's defense with quickness, I can pull off even 10k burst.

Disregard this comment (not the thread of course), my mistake

This is rather game mechanic issue but it bugs me a lot in PvP, not so much (not at all actually) in PvE. Back in 2017 I could teleport from that spot on the arena no sweat, now it appears that there is no correct path to the target. But that is just an example, what really makes me wonder are some situations happening in Khylo and Skyhammer the most (but on other maps it also happens as well).


The story I will tell now is based on my own experiences.

Usually when I want to get to mid point on Khylo from side point and judge's int is off cooldown, I take a target and teleport to it from different levels of height, down > up without any problems. There is no line of sight to the target but it works anyway. Now what happens next is an enemy running to cover behind a pillar (there are two of those on mid point FYI). Let's say I have judge's again and it works, teleports me to the guy just right.

BUT!

Here comes the funny part. Mansion, I hide behind the fountain to prepare the burst. I stand behind and when an enemy enters the point. BAM! No valid path to target. But hold up, I stand right behind it and our characters can even physicaly see each other so why can't I teleport?

Next up, the water pipes and wall on Khylo. Someone stands on them, can't teleport up even if we see each other. Another map, same problem on Skyhammer. Someone jumps on a pillar or other platform on one of the 3 points. Can't teleport to them too.

What is intriguing however, some of those issues do not apply to teleportations in which you have to choose where you want to land, like thief on shortbow or ele teleport. They can easily get to some of those locations, but teleports with target do not. I guess this is the part of spaghetti coding so it won't get fixed or changed but what I wish to know is if this is intended to work like that and why some obstacles are not labeled as invalid path but some are.

If you play Twilight Oasis fractal you can fight Amala before she was awakened. She taps into 5 forms of gods but this is not what I want to talk about.

From what I and a bunch of friends in our roleplaying guild came to, even after the gods really left Tyria for good, what humans can do and what dervishes can do is just materialized faith with woven magic into it. It is said that paragons also tap into divine power but they still are alive and kickin' after the gods left. Besides if I am not mistaken, it might have been stated somewhere that after Nightfall their numbers started to dwindle, but I am not 100% sure. But still, in my book it's faith and force of will that just got into a more "physical" state to be used as a tool, perhaps with a little divine mix that the human race might share.

So in the end of the day what Amala did was just mix some magic and faith into her combat skill that worked around imitating avatars' fighting style. I don't think she would be able to use divine powers after being corrupted with awakening, and her mind binded to Joko's will.

> @"JayAction.9056" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> >

> > Was season 9 in 2018?

>

> Since you want to be technical, yeah it lasted all day Jan 1, 2018...

>

> We have yet to see a season 10 or another balance patch.

>

> Burn guard went from stupid-hilarious OP to just OP with the condi nerf patch.

>

> I like it being in game though I'm not complaining. It's fun to play against and with.

>

>

Okay if it was unranked then I could understand that but I recall no significant burn guardians in ranked. Besides, what otto said, pre PoF it was more prominent and that is true. This season? Not really, I am sure that there were no burn guardians, at least not so many relevant burn guardians as everyone just rolled with top tier meta, and burn guard is not in top tier meta. Giving untrue statements is not a good way to prove something.

During 9 season ranked I fought with no challenging burn guardians myself, perhaps only bad firebrand variants, and still, it was such a rare sight that it's not even worth mentioning in detail. This is like comparing an ice cube to an iceberg.

You do realise that it only suceeds when you drop burns if mesmer or necro gives enough cover condis? 1v1 a burn guard is almost a free kill if you have a moderate ammount of condi cleanse. It's not like they can cover this burn so a random condi cleanse can take care of it easily.

> @"JayAction.9056" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > Dying to burn guardians in 2018 xD

> > I had a good laugh!

>

> It was used in season 9 by people in the top 100.

>

> That's funny? It obviously works.

Was season 9 in 2018?

Dying to burn guardians in 2018 xD

I had a good laugh!

> @"Alatar.7364" said:

> > @"whoknocks.4935" said:

> > A skill that is so obvious to dodge that the character almost autododge it tho.

> >

> > People still complain of holosmith kitten, one of the few balanced specs released and they wanna destroy it at any cost.

> >

> > There are bigger problems than a super easy to dodge skill visible even if the holo is stealthed up.

> >

> > Learn to play before complain.

>

> That would be fine if there were not like 4 other Skills that have to be Dodged in order to survive, all with a very repetitive Cooldown. By the time a player will have to dodge Two other insane DMG dealing skills, you'll have like One dodge Up.

> For example If a Thiefs burst is Dodged once, you will have plenty of time and no need to dodge again, while plenty of Holos skills have each potential dmg of Thiefs burst therefore not suffering from missing literally even half of them.

> I wish they were not CCing through walls, stones and basically all other obstructions at least.

You are both right. Holo is actually quite balanced in terms of damage to lasting in a fight ratio. They can melt stuff but they can get shred to pieces as well, no gimmicks and shenanigans beside invuln pots.

But, for example, a core guard has one clear burst skill (mighty blow) with a strong burst every 36 second (shield of wrath + all that other fancy stuff to stack retal), easy to see and counter if you see it coming . However, holo does exactly the same thing minus the wind-up (SoW) and mobility (judge's int), but every single burst skill hits hard like a truck and if you chain then wew boi, you get smashed into a pulp if you don't have any way to mitigate the power damage. It shouldn't be like that, but it has to be like that in current meta.

I would not touch holo if it comes down to their burst chains, this is what they have to do. I would rather smack their tasty passive invulnerability proc out of their hand because it's too cheap, that is the only thing. But even if it won't be changed, I am chill about holo as they are.

P.S.

Tho the radius and dealing damage through thin obstacles might be a tad bit overtuned. But let's remember, it would be hard to code it so that AoE doesn't affect players behind obstacles, I don't think if that is even possible, considering the spaghetti coding the first devs left.

> @"Crinn.7864" said:

> > @Malediktus.9250 said:

> > > @Miaz.8521 said:

> > > ban entire hot and pof from ranked

> > Yes, make ranked games core specs only, leave HoT and PoF specs for hotjoin

>

> So basically you want to ban everything but thief, ele, guardian, and warrior.

>

> There is a much larger imbalance between core specs than there is between elite specs.

>

Seriously? Explain those imbalances please.

Oh okay, that's a rather wide issue in NA. In Europe our pings work aroud the same latency, I believe so at least. Mine is about 90-100 most of the time, though I feel the tiny gap in reaction time between me and less than 50 ping players.

> @"sephiroth.4217" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > Let's not mix everyone with the same issue. Not everyone wintraded into top, some just rerolled to best tier meta and farmed silvers at night. There is no need to be upset. The more wintraders there are the weaker impact their titles have. I would rather respect players in the range of top 50 to top 250 with a very few exception of those below 50. But mind you, I believe that most people who get to the highest rank with wintrading are capable players in terms of combat, but it's rotation, cooperation and decision making that might be their main issues.

>

> I don't think it's about farming Silvers......

>

> I think it's more about 40 ping farming 400 ping players.

I haven't heard of something like that before. Could you explain please?

Let's not mix everyone with the same issue. Not everyone wintraded into top, some just rerolled to best tier meta and farmed silvers at night. There is no need to be upset. The more wintraders there are the weaker impact their titles have. I would rather respect players in the range of top 50 to top 250 with a very few exception of those below 50. But mind you, I believe that most people who get to the highest rank with wintrading are capable players in terms of combat, but it's rotation, cooperation and decision making that might be their main issues.

> @"Guizao.4167" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > > @"Guizao.4167" said:

> > > > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > > > > @"Ithilwen.1529" said:

> > > > > I just waited more than 6 minutes to lose by just under 500 points in ranked.

> > > > >

> > > > > **The funny part is that the skill levels were relatively equal. It was the class mix.** The other team had 2 coordinated **SCOURGES**, Druid, Spellbreaker and Holosmith while our team had a much more random mix, one of whom DC'd when we had 400ish points deficit.

> > > > >

> > > > > Matchmaking WILL NEVER work until the classes are brought to parity.

> > > > >

> > > > > ~edit~ I've said in the past that there needs to be a "beginner" class. I hold to that.. but maybe it needs to be a buff that goes away after, say, you qualify to go to ranked games? A couple of the classes are simply too outlandishly strong.

> > > > >

> > > >

> > > > This is what we get for "creative" lack of dps/tank/heal trinity.

> > >

> > > I say this is what we get for the lack of proper balance between classes. It's been proven already we don't need the "classic trinity".

> >

> > Mhmm... the first wave of power creep (HoT) made most classes do everything that can be done. The lack of trinity is what even further deepens this problem.

> > Before HoT there was also no "trinity" on paper but in reality indeed there were borders between what one classes can and cannot do. This may not be exactly a trinity, but it works as one. The more defined a class is, the easier it is to balance it. Now that these borders are gone, the state of PvP says for itself.

> > Besides, really makes you think why most games with trinity fare more or less better in terms of PvP than GW2. Perhaps the only exception is ArcheAge but they don't have tons of strong as nails passives and actually have to sacrifice stuff in favor of one of three class trees. You can't be good at multiple things at once, which is contrary to what we have here.

>

> It's still balance issues. If I trait an elementalist to deal damage, I shouldn't be able to heal. If I trait an engineer to heal, it should lose all other archetypes. But if I trait a profession to be hybrid, it should be hybrid.

And the trick is that in GW2 hybrids are stronger than they should be. For example:

Spellbreaker - damage, sustain, mobility, CC

Druid - damage, healing (support), mobility, slight CC

Mirage - damage, mobility, CC, escape on demand, total damage mitigation. (be grateful it doesn't have sustain or tanky traits)

All of the above allow rinse and repeat playstyle which is pretty much a faulty design. If you made a mistake, you should lose or at least feel a significant disadvantage, not run away and repeat (this is thief's job) or until you outsustain or force your enemy to make a mistake.

EDIT:

What I forgot to add is that due to right amulets and traits those things are boosted even further (thus the more you have the better you are). Perhaps if we got rid of hybrid amulets for a short period to test around, we could get some interesting results.

Now in top tier meta what is alright:

Bunker firebrand - tons of healing and support, a backbone of a good team. However, they won't go gimmicky on you, turning invisible or teleporting on demand, also they won't even kill you. Even though name suggests "bunker" they are not that tanky as we might think. A well executed power burst goes through them like butter. It's the healing output that makes them appear tanky.

D/P thief DD - mobility and damage but squishy. Has to sacrifice initative to either attack or escape.

Holo - high burst damage but squishy.

(^ This is the trinity right there, and this is good. There is no need to change anything with these three builds. ^)

An exception is scourge. It is masterful at one thing but doesn't have much mobility and can be taken down quickly with a well placed burst, but it is still widely used. Why is that so? People play it so much because current game modes roll around capping points and we know that this is what scourges like. Considering that most of PvP playerbase are PvE casuals then scourge is a perfect farming tool, thus seen as OP by most. I personaly have no issues with scourges (and it comes form a melee lover) save for too much condi application in short intervals, but this also can be countered one way or another. At least I am sure that after opening up a scourge they won't pull out an ancestral grace'y escape just to get back seconds later for an easy fight reset.

Besides, if this still doesn't seem convincing, we didn't have those power creeps before HoT and please recall how PvP flourished back then, how many people played every day.

> @"Guizao.4167" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > > @"Ithilwen.1529" said:

> > > I just waited more than 6 minutes to lose by just under 500 points in ranked.

> > >

> > > **The funny part is that the skill levels were relatively equal. It was the class mix.** The other team had 2 coordinated **SCOURGES**, Druid, Spellbreaker and Holosmith while our team had a much more random mix, one of whom DC'd when we had 400ish points deficit.

> > >

> > > Matchmaking WILL NEVER work until the classes are brought to parity.

> > >

> > > ~edit~ I've said in the past that there needs to be a "beginner" class. I hold to that.. but maybe it needs to be a buff that goes away after, say, you qualify to go to ranked games? A couple of the classes are simply too outlandishly strong.

> > >

> >

> > This is what we get for "creative" lack of dps/tank/heal trinity.

>

> I say this is what we get for the lack of proper balance between classes. It's been proven already we don't need the "classic trinity".

Mhmm... the first wave of power creep (HoT) made most classes do everything that can be done. The lack of trinity is what even further deepens this problem.

Before HoT there was also no "trinity" on paper but in reality indeed there were borders between what one classes can and cannot do. This may not be exactly a trinity, but it works as one. The more defined a class is, the easier it is to balance it. Now that these borders are gone, the state of PvP says for itself.

Besides, really makes you think why most games with trinity fare more or less better in terms of PvP than GW2. Perhaps the only exception is ArcheAge but they don't have tons of strong as nails passives and actually have to sacrifice stuff in favor of one of three class trees. You can't be good at multiple things at once, which is contrary to what we have here.

> @"Ithilwen.1529" said:

> I just waited more than 6 minutes to lose by just under 500 points in ranked.

>

> **The funny part is that the skill levels were relatively equal. It was the class mix.** The other team had 2 coordinated **SCOURGES**, Druid, Spellbreaker and Holosmith while our team had a much more random mix, one of whom DC'd when we had 400ish points deficit.

>

> Matchmaking WILL NEVER work until the classes are brought to parity.

>

> ~edit~ I've said in the past that there needs to be a "beginner" class. I hold to that.. but maybe it needs to be a buff that goes away after, say, you qualify to go to ranked games? A couple of the classes are simply too outlandishly strong.

>

This is what we get for "creative" lack of dps/tank/heal trinity.

> @"reikken.4961" said:

> The main things that are out of line:

>

> scourge's boon corruption. and visual clutter

> firebrand's AoE team support

> druid's immunity to death

> mirage's combination of elusiveness, condi burst, and mobility

>

> Scourge.

> The raw damage output is fine. The AoE size is also fine. What's not fine is the amount of boon corruption combined with half of its attacks literally having no tell. In my opinion, the biggest issue is how it takes a previously balanced trait, Path of Corruption, and through its class mechanics, makes it completely insane. I've posted my suggestions before, and I'll post them here again. Make the damage part of shade skills delayed so that you can see it and maybe try to avoid it, and make path of corruption only function in shroud. **Also tone down the visual clutter.** When a scourge is on a point, you can't actually see what's happening. That combined with shades having no tell is the source of people's frustrations, even moreso than the raw power of the class. It feels like you're just melting to a thousand conditions without the scourge doing much of anything.

>

> Firebrand.

> Way too many buffs and heals. Those tomes and mantas are hilariously strong. I'm not really sure where to hit it, however.

>

> Druid.

> Its combination of having amazing disengage with stealth and mobility, strong face-tanking ability with its buffs and heals and cleanses, and heavy CC and kill pressure (while also being able to provide strong burst defensive party support!) is too much.

>

> Mirage.

> Not only does it have some of the best mobility in the game, rivaled only by thief, but also it has the strongest condition burst in the game and is _by far_ the hardest class to even land a hit on. If it didn't have all three of these things simultaneously it would be fine. I say _greatly_ reduce confusion duration--make avoiding skill use an actual option (punishing skill use over a 7(!) second window doesn't make sense)--and maybe give Elusive Mind some kind of nerf.

Hol up friend. You may be right about most of those but firebrand is actually okay. It was weak and got a good buff. First of all, in current meta FB has to be strong to keep up with healing and cleansing all that happens during a teamfight. First of all, FB is weak to power damage and a well prepared burst will take care of it. Secondly, they have no gimmick mechanics and are not mobile to play the rinse and repeat game like a druid. Thirdly, no firebrand will kill you (if you get killed 1v1 by a FB then you should never step into pvp again) so all they have is strong healing and cleansing, nothing more nothing less. Druid for that instance is just bad design. With pet and overall skill capabilities and the right ammy, they can not only support and heal but also do decent damage and when things turn grim, just ancestral grace out of a fight, heal and repeat until you outsustain the enemy. No wonder so many people play druid if this is such an easy mode.

Yes, I tried it and played it just to prove my point. The fact of not even trying or being "into" a fight made me feel sickened. It's just running around, letting the pet do the job and pew-pew'ing down the opponent, running away to heal when things turn not in your favor or pop stone sig if you fight power. Where is the fun of challange and skill in that? There is nothing hard in playing something that doesn't have to sacrifice anything and still offers so much.

> @"Vagrant.7206" said:

> > @"Rodzynald.5897" said:

> > As a holo it is not always a good idea to rush in with everybody else becasue the initial condi/power spike can melt you down. If you, with two invulnerabilities, died quickly then it was a bad play. However, that FB should have done something too, to clean condis and heal once you were invuln, so he wasn't better and the thrashtalk wasn't needed, especially in the initial fight that actually is meant to give you cruicial information on what the enemy runs and what to do to counter them or prevent them from countering you. Unless the burst happened in like 2 seconds then there was no time to react properly.

>

> I didn't actually rush in. I stayed off to the side, stealthed and was picking a target. Once I uncloaked, however, I got bursted. FB watched me die from bleeding, then called me a noob when he couldn't pick me up while I was down.

>

>

Well if that is the case then you were just unlucky and the enemy team made a good call to focus their main burst on you as soon as possible. Everyone knows that an untamed holo can wreak power burst havoc. So in this case FB was either a baddie, or couldn't react fast enough. Moreover, if you were not getting cleaved and he didn't bother to pick you up, then he made a kinda newb-ish move.

I think that shades should be blind-able. I am not 100% sure but I think that they still work even if necro is blinded. This is the only counter I have for them in melee range and I check if they have blinds on them while I do the thing. Pretty much all the time, despite the blind, I get condi bombed. It works only to condis and skills coming out of the scourge itself thats for sure, but shades? I don't think so.

If they cannot be blinded then it would be quite a good addition and not a nerf, to allow blind condition that touches the scourge to track to its shades so that they will also miss the burst.

EDIT:

As for the cast time, that would be a reasonable addition as well. There is no need to nerf the damage and application, this is what it has to do so I guess that's alright. More indication to upcoming shade abilities, the risk that it can be interrupted. That would put scourges in a spot of thinking more instead of simply dropping a shade(s) on point, pressing all skills on demand and calling it a day.

Just to make sure, I don't have such hard issues with them, they are quite annoying as they are so a trim here and there could be useful. If devs don't nerf stuff to the ground, at least don't power creep it even further.

As a holo it is not always a good idea to rush in with everybody else becasue the initial condi/power spike can melt you down. If you, with two invulnerabilities, died quickly then it was a bad play. However, that FB should have done something too, to clean condis and heal once you were invuln, so he wasn't better and the thrashtalk wasn't needed, especially in the initial fight that actually is meant to give you cruicial information on what the enemy runs and what to do to counter them or prevent them from countering you. Unless the burst happened in like 2 seconds then there was no time to react properly.

So all in all if it happened that you would die to burst later on in the game then his trash talk, although bad in the first place, would be justified. Otherwise he was just a silly little guy.