ZeftheWicked.3076

> @"melodyca.8921" said:

> **Crystal Desert** appealed to one type of fan and those fans seem to think they are the ones that matter. People need to learn that not everybody enjoys those sort of maps and there are many types of people who play this game and there has to be a reasonable compromise.

See what i did there? (evil grin).

I'm fine with you guys getting your flat maps, as long as guys like me (even if minority) get a bone thrown at us too. But recent times you guys are being catered to 100% while fans of true vertifcal map design are being left in the wind each damn release starting core PoF...

> @"Etria.3642" said:

> I will take sandswept isles over tangled depths ANY day.

I'll take Tangled Depths over enitre PoF **any** day. With it's depth and complexity that map had me coming back and having fun for a looooooong time. Infact i'm still coming back to it, not only for materials but because i like it.

I disagree, the ending was horrible. It's almost on pair with true Lazarus encounter.

Joko was an epic villain. Charismatic, witty, and very intelligent. The last fight was fun, big thumbs up.

Cue the scaled wonder-dog (Aurene) and there goes one of the best things that happened to LS4. Does a-net seriously expect me to care about this runaway overgrown lizard over Joko that has actual....lines, worldview and **personality**?

First Lazarus - huge mystery character from GW1 holding key to a lost civilization. Yup, let's summon him in a dark damp cave in middle of nowhere and kill him, cause some old hag has an axe to grind with him. Never mind his worldviews, possible secrets he might share or plans for the world (even if they were to fail).

Now Joko - epic dictator that turned the concept of being undead on it's head - making his awakened retain their intelligence and personality, becoming a structured part of society and an alterenative, unnatural yet functional path to take after one's death. Then aurene goes to get her "Aurene Snack" and we're stuck with ...i guess another elder dragon with personality of a stump and our "champion" with personality of half rabid dog. Wow, I just can't wait for all the quips and trash-talk the dragons are gonna serve...

Aurene: Raaaawr!

Elder Dragon: "You can't even speak yet...welp born of a welp that got executed in seconds by Kraalkatorrik"

Aurene: "RAAAAAAWRRRRR!!!"

Elder Dragon: "And here I was hoping for signs of intelligent life among enemy ranks.."

Aurena: "ROOOOOARRR!"

Elder Dragon: "Oh, scathing. Ok my turn. ROAAAR, AWRROOOO, GRAAAAR!"

*Fight after epic dragon trashtalk commences*...

guys if you agree with OP thumb man's post up. That's how it gets seen.

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> Then I look at Kourna and see a map that wasn't very interesting from a story or gameplay perspective and was always going to have an uphill struggle given GW1 Kourna >was fairly bland too.

Well said. **This** is one thing i forgot to mention. Not all of us are GW1 players, not all of us are riding nostalgia trains. I for one couldn't care less about Elona, or Cantha. Corrention: I care. **TO NOT SEE THEM IN GW 2**. Because as you well said yourself, it'll drag the map design down to previous gen game, due to consistency with legacy topography.

This is another reason i love HoT - because it's simply wild jungle they could go crazy with it and they did. Huge breath of fresh air and completely new experience instead of "legacy content +" that i would call downgrade from what could be..

One does not have to exclude the other. I agree that story - wise it PoF **was** looking good

But that doesn't mean we can't have maps closer to HoT, you know...with more vegetation? Bigger event density? More crazy hard to find secret spots? New and fun map unique mechanics? (like Bloodstone Fen glider masteries or Draconis Mons spider-man mode).

I will praise this episode's map though - there's a nice underwater zone - that I like. A much needed break from desert and overall "dry" approach to recent maps. Also loved the puzzles leading to Joko and Joko fight itself. I have no problem with fun during the story part. I have issues with the regular map, considering what post-HoT ones offered.

I play condi herald nearly all the time, so my 3 cents on making condi viable:

**Staff** - give it some condi options. It's great for healers, great for tanks, and has respectable power damage coefficients. Long story short - it looks like a strong, build agnostic support weapon. Unless you're condi. Then you get nothing. It would be great to be able to pump out some condi damage with staff, so the "supporting your build type while providing heals/blocks/cc" is real for condi users as well.

**Unyielding Anguish** - energy cost is too high. This isn't just a aoe condi field, it's also our mobility skill for chasing or making a retreat. Shaving off some duration in exchange for proportional energy cost reduction would be great. Would also help with wasting field's potential as ppl get out of it. Shorter duration but lesser cost = better ability to chase and land greater % of the field's damage.

Let's say field lasts 3 seconds instead of 4 and eats up 20 energy.

**Banish enchantment** - love the skill, it's problem is - it is **alone**. 20 energy means you can't spam it, and it's damage is not gonna pull the dps train alone. But other skills just cost too much and it's hard enough to wave in one banish enchatment just to strip boons.

Put it on a recharge system like guardian's mantras. Cheap to use, can be stacked, but is recharge dependant. Time the recharge so that it's not too overkill but adequate to the lower energy cost and forseeable boon ripping power that revenant should have. Add a recharge reduction reward depending on amount of boons you strip with it.

**Demonic defiance** - If you want stability outside jalis legend there is a trait for that (wonky, but it exists). Meanwhile if it's resistance you need this trait leaves you high and dry unless you're channeling Mallyx. I say add "On heal skill use" in addition to "on legendary demon stance skill use" to it. So any legend can get at least a bit of resistance with it's healing skill if you trait for it.

**Planar protection** - agreed with earlier suggestion to make it 15s cd and not 20. To compensate, duration can be reduced to 6s (PvE), 3s (pvp modes).

If such system were to happen, engi woulld get destroyed in pvp. Imagine you taking 2s rooted to reload. Obviously enemy will drop all the cc and then dps they can.

It could work if both systems were to be merged - slow, auto recharge of your "magazine" with option to use manual reload when there's a window of opportunity.

Give Engineer a ....shot.

He has solid ranged options (grenade and mortar kits), but can also be very good at closer range and if it's melee aoe then bomb kit and holosmith specialization will both deliver.

use legend swap - it'll trigger the sigil but not brutality. then weapon swap.

"Weak to condi" ends once you embrace mallyx. There's tons of resistance in there. Also Jalis has nice condi (and regular) damage reductions.

Now how to play herald? Your own way, that's how!

He will definitely survive more then renegade. Herald's defenses are rock-solid.

Don't underestimate the "buff bot" part - you can get 49% boon duration for 2 energy cost upkeep and then span those boons on allies. Protection for party be it wvw or PvE is no joke, and you don't have to use up glint elite to end it, costing you huge cooldown. Just swap legend and after 10s you'll be able to share it again.

One thing I can say as a **Bad herald** - weapon skills are dirt cheap in energy costs, utilities aren't (unless we're talking glint). Keep that in mind when planning your offense and defense.

Unlike other professions successfully defending against enemy burst is not just losing your defensive skill, it's losing your energy. Even if you did excellent job of mitigating/blocking enemy burst you may find you just blew your energy bank and lack steam to proceed to counter-burst, at least without swapping a legend.

This guy is very deep and complex to play, give him time and love, he'll grow on you. He did on me.

Dunno but i hope it'll be more HoT like - more verticality, mazes, fun adventures, crazy good living story maps. If i see another inch of desert i'm gonna start puking sand..

Scourge this, scourge that.

I see plaguedoctor shining for revenant, both condi ventari as well as healer renegade.

It's definitely better then seraph, since precision is almost useless for condi setup (few more ticks of torment from passive trait), while vitality provides some genuine survival, coupled with healing power. Combine that with revanant's strong passive damage reductions and active defenses (staff, shield etc), and you got really good combo for support revs that also wanna do damage.

Also this set is a good reason to grab rune of scavenging, with all that vitality and condi theme in it.

In no way or form do these maps hold a candle to HoT living story maps.

They feel like just more of core PoF maps without new feel and new map mechanics.

HoT living maps **dared** to have their own identity and new fun mechanics!

Draconis Mons Spider-man mode will not be soon forgotten! And others have fun stuff too!

None of them felt like extra square miles of HoT core map terrain. Each had their own **identity**

Also they weren't afraid to have real verticality with lotsa hidden spots or at least places to explore.

So far this map feels like i could cut out a hefty portion of it, place it outside Amnoon instead of original content, and none would be the wiser...

Necromancer. Because he doesn't have absolute defenses like evades invulnies etc, i had to learn about stat system more and using various condies and boons for defenses. Also, obviously he's the first class that gets you working on boon to condi and condi to boon conversion table knowledge.

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"ZeftheWicked.3076" said:

> > If you're gonna try to play diversity card on a warr vs a revenant, you already lost before it started.

> > Few hard facts:

> >

> > * Revenant can be a healer, both main and off (Ventari & Kalla). Warr can't.

> > * Revenant can share boons warr can't (alacrity, resistance, protection, stability)

> > * Revenant has very varied playstyles (glint's facets, Ventari's tablet mechanic, Kalla's summons, Shiro mobility). Warr has the same feel no matter what he's doing.

> > * Inflexible utility skills? Warr has it far worse! He will always have to slot stances when alone, and rest of skills is just there for show, never to be picked.

> > * Rev was a monster underwater before he was given access to jalis and a new weapon. I can imagine now he's even more of one ;]

> >

> > Hell, it was the revenant that brought a 4th role in raid - the kiter.

> >

> > As for hammer, swords, gettting obliterated by condies - that's **one** build that people are too hung up on. If you go mallyx that condi weakness will be a loooot less, and in WvW many do go mallyx if only for resistance share. That's the beauty of Rev - you can be full power, run mallyx and it still has sense (15% stats from ult, sharing resistance, boonstrip with banish enchantment).

> >

> > One thing i won't argue about is that ranged play sucks on rev. 900 range shortbow is a joke in WvW, and hammer is a defensive power weapon, so the damage is abysmal, albeit i would not call it boring (i get a blast from proper use of it's defensive skillset).

>

> Except the warrior builds are fairly strong while rev? PvE wise, Power build is only viable for open and low level PvE stuff. Support build is mostly not used due to being out performed by other classes. Condi Rev is serviceable in end game PvE, but sucks every where else.

>

> SPvP, power herald, s/s and staff. Do not even bother doing anything else. WvW backliner hammer and that is it.

>

> Warrior? Top tier power, condi and none substitutable support in PvE. It also lack diversity in sPvP but SB is much better than anything rev offers. Wvw decent roamer and desert bubble is significant in zergs.

>

> Rev has more theoretical roles, but functional roles? Warrior is much better. Go open metabattle and see how many warrior builds are out there compared to rev. Rev is without any doubt the class with least functional builds in the game by a large margin.

My condi herald is doing just fine in open PvE and i find it much more servicable then power build. Also you missed OP's point. He's **not** looking for meta. He's looking for **fun & interesting**. If ranger bored them outta their skull, you think warrior of all things is gonna deliver? I doubt that.

In WvW, sure. In PvE it's just abysmall compared to other options. When you gotta go hammer due to range...the numbers just make a pure cringefest.

If you're gonna try to play diversity card on a warr vs a revenant, you already lost before it started.

Few hard facts:

* Revenant can be a healer, both main and off (Ventari & Kalla). Warr can't.

* Revenant can share boons warr can't (alacrity, resistance, protection, stability)

* Revenant has very varied playstyles (glint's facets, Ventari's tablet mechanic, Kalla's summons, Shiro mobility). Warr has the same feel no matter what he's doing.

* Inflexible utility skills? Warr has it far worse! He will always have to slot stances when alone, and rest of skills is just there for show, never to be picked.

* Rev was a monster underwater before he was given access to jalis and a new weapon. I can imagine now he's even more of one ;]

Hell, it was the revenant that brought a 4th role in raid - the kiter.

As for hammer, swords, gettting obliterated by condies - that's **one** build that people are too hung up on. If you go mallyx that condi weakness will be a loooot less, and in WvW many do go mallyx if only for resistance share. That's the beauty of Rev - you can be full power, run mallyx and it still has sense (15% stats from ult, sharing resistance, boonstrip with banish enchantment).

One thing i won't argue about is that ranged play sucks on rev. 900 range shortbow is a joke in WvW, and hammer is a defensive power weapon, so the damage is abysmal, albeit i would not call it boring (i get a blast from proper use of it's defensive skillset).

Traveller runes are nice, cheap and very effective

I'll recommend Revenant. He's the jack of all trades for soldier professions and very fun to play.

While warrior and guardian are much more meta, they can be both very boring to play.

Warrior is just plain boring by default - simplistic gameplay, few builds, nothing flashy in skillset.

Guardian is less simple...but still darn simple and inflexible in it's theme and execution.

Revenant on the other hand offers far more depth, far more varied approach to most of it's roles (like defense achieved through multiple means, not just block-block-blind-more block), and very varied visuals (each legend has completely different theme and visusal style).

Let's be honest. Guild Wars 2 pvp is about as close to e-sport standards as North Pole is to Kongo. But that doesn't mean it can't take a page from games that succeeded and strive to improve. First thing would be **clarity**.

League of Legends has a concept that I can get behind when it comes to their champion skin design:

"No matter the skin, the mere outline of a champ should be immediately distinguishable and identify the champ".

Same should happen here in spvp. I get ppl wanna look cool playing their hero. Ok.

But in "normalized looks mode" how about you ditch the similar looking, **non-informative** models and introduce **sharply distinct** standarized models for each profession.

When a teamfight breaks out at mid, i **should not be wasting time identifying which guy is who**. That should be self apparent the moment i cast my gaze on the screen. In fast paced team combat every split second matters and it should be spent on "what do i do and on whom" and not "so...who is that guy over there?"

Seriously. Please. I beg you.

**Extremely distinct models for each profession in spvp in standarized enemy looks mode**.

Looool, seeems you run into League of Legends kid, that doesn't realize here there is no level/gold advantage and getting a kill doesn't mean that you'll snowball at his expense... also the toxicity.

Ignore the little troll and move on, most ppl here aren't that toxic.

Got a few months break from the game and heard sand savant got nerfed which fixed scourge cancer in spvp.

So how is it looking now? How is the viability of each spec (core/reaper/scourge) in ranked these days?

Longbow. Araenae skin is destined for necro! :3

Mesmer - he is probably a very fun and definitely a very desired profession. But it's the "pink" profession and i just can't get near it no matter what:/