Bast.7253

Well clearly since Aurene is the elder dragon of light, Holosmiths fall into that. Explains why they're god tier. They've all been enhanced by Aurene!

> @"Stand The Wall.6987" said:

> generally speaking:

>

> power builds counter most bunkers and some condi builds.

> condi builds counter most power builds and some bunker builds.

> bunker builds counter some of everyone but generally exist to stall long enough for a buddy to show up.

> hard cc counters low stun breaks/ stability.

> soft cc counters melee builds with low cleanse.

> high heals counters low average dps (auto attacks).

> blocks/ evades counter burst builds.

> weakness counters power builds.

> high cleanse counters condi builds.

> range with mobility counters melee.

> melee with mobility counters ranged.

>

What this guy says.

So basically just play holo since they do pretty much everything.

Not highly impressed with what I've seen from the map so far but I guess we'll see. I've always found the Ascalon zone texutres to feel a little flat and it doesn't look like they've got the same quality we see from the newer maps. But it's a short clip and it's only been bits and pieces so far.

I am intrigued by the white sculpture in the middle. It almost looks like somekind of frozen/crystalized Titan-esque creature. Not really sure why it's sitting in the middle of the duneroller arena though but I guess we'll find out. The activities so far look interesting at least.

lol but why would I when I could just play it?

> @"Arheundel.6451" said:

> > @"googel.3278" said:

> > Kek, sounds like someone wants ele to not be toppled against having another class that can do better, pretty sure nike eles alon with massive sustain and heals want more out from their bargain. “anet pls give me more runs”

>

> The best option would be to cut by 80% the current sustain of all specs that don't use a healing amulet to have sustain.... like it has always been eles, for example I would cut **Monk's focus ** from base 2k heal to 300 at 0 healing power , I would do so for all specs and also lower the dmg coefficient of all specs that do zerker level of dmg while using amulets like demolisher or paladin...you should go glass cannon with zero sustain to have burst..like eles do.

>

> How that sound like idea?

I'm assuming this is their way of countering the power boost from the elite specs to prevent the "glass cannon" meta where everyone just spikes each other down. But now they've dished all of that sustain into a select few classes giving them low risk high reward builds while the others just get left in the dust.

I don't know. People are going to complain about mirage until they just delete the class completely. They keep making changes to it, Firebrand, and Scourge, and ignoring the other more prominent issues like holo.

I don't even remember the bomb dodge build being this terrible before they nerfed it. It's like by fixing that one build they managed to push one twice as strong.

And I get a match against 3 holos, a scourge, and a firebrand.

Why is this allowed exactly?

And then trying to say that holo is trash in competitive, but then stacking 3 of a "trash" class?

I mean, why do you expect people to engage in this content if you're going to do nothing to prevent class stacking or balance classes that are in desperate need of balance?

I never bother with these tournaments because of crap like this and wouldn't expect to get far either way, but to have a blowout match and spawn camping because they're stacking the flavor of the month class?

I guess it is what it is. Too busy changing the damage coefficients on offhand weapons and traits that nobody uses instead of actually making changes to classes that need reworking.

> @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > > > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > > > > @"Paradoxoglanis.1904" said:

> > > > > > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > > > > > Wait so you are mad at warrior for having basic boi combos that don't even pump out perma quickness. And your double mad because you don't time your stunbreaks when the warrior is trying to all in you so you are saying quickness spam and cc spam????? You do know warrior is a BRUISER class to LOCK a SINGULAR person down correct?

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > Yea, this is definitely a whine thread.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > No i said quickness burst is BS because quickness in general is BS. And being able to throw 3-4 cc's one after the other with dagger, shield, tether, bulls rush, rampage is excessive.

> > > > >

> > > > > No, that's called skill be able to link skills (aka warrior's case CC) together. Combos. And most good, dps warriors play with axe nowadays because nerfed warrior dagger is awful.

> > > > >

> > > > > Again, warrior is literally the most predictable of all of these classes and has to be the most predictable with their cc chains because they are relatively easy to pick up. Again, even with one stun break someone could basically ignore the full chain. Hell, even popping stability will ignore ALL of the chain. Like, what do you want this class to do? Just look at you while you kite them?

> > > > >

> > > > > They need something to make their hits stick since their attacks are large and telegraphed.

> > > >

> > > > I mean, pretty much everything they do cleaves for insane damage. So even if the direct hit didn't make it, they've still got loads of other abilities while taking minimal damage and regenning. I'd say core is a bit stronger at the moment, and berserker just does crazy damage in general, but it's not like they're hitting for miniscule damage. And with the sustain they have between full counter, evades, greatsword 3, blocks, regen, and the frequent cc no matter how telegraphed, it's great they don't have anymore damage than they do. Plus, if you're fighting on a cap, they have an advantage. Kiting doesn't really work when you actually need the point, and frankly, unless you're constantly pulsing out immob or cripple, kiting isn't even really an issue if they're in greatsword. Dagger/Shield maybe, because they have no ranged attacks or gap closers outside of bull's charge, stomp, rampage, or other utilities.

> > > >

> > > > It is pretty amusing though that most of the time I'll think I'm winning and then all of a sudden they pop rampage and I go 100-0. If anything needs to be touched with Warrior it's rampage, whether it be lowering its damage or increasing its cooldown.

> > > >

> > > > BUT, it has the same advantage as Holosmith in that it can run tank/toughness amulets like Demolisher's and take virtually no damage output loss.

> > >

> > > Rampage did get nerfed tho. It's cooldown got upped. What, you want it to be at 180 again?

> >

> > Did it? Is there a trait that reduces it? Sometimes I feel like they pop it 2 or three times during a fight.

> >

> > Then again, it takes forever to kill them anyway with all of the defensives and regen. lol

>

> Yea, with everything traited Rampage is at 105 seconds, so it's up once every per teamfight I'd say? I never liked being trapped in the state of not using my utilities, so I like towards the tail end of a 1v1 or in the middle of a teamfight when someone is low and we need major cleave.

>

> And the defenses, well. At one point in time Warrior did not have strong traits and their utilities were pretty botched from zerker nerfs. They pretty much disappeared from PvP entirely until Anet had to bring them up to scale for PoF. Only at the tail end when core Warrior became the only playable spec of the class, did Warrior become notable again, so eh.

>

> It's a double-edged sword. Warrior is either solid and strong (but not dumb op) or they literally off the face of the planet until they get buffed.

That's true. I've found warriors that way in WoW too. I guess because, thematically, as the class is just a non-magic fighter type, it always has all the cc and high damage to compensate.

> @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > > @"Paradoxoglanis.1904" said:

> > > > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > > > Wait so you are mad at warrior for having basic boi combos that don't even pump out perma quickness. And your double mad because you don't time your stunbreaks when the warrior is trying to all in you so you are saying quickness spam and cc spam????? You do know warrior is a BRUISER class to LOCK a SINGULAR person down correct?

> > > > >

> > > > > Yea, this is definitely a whine thread.

> > > >

> > > > No i said quickness burst is BS because quickness in general is BS. And being able to throw 3-4 cc's one after the other with dagger, shield, tether, bulls rush, rampage is excessive.

> > >

> > > No, that's called skill be able to link skills (aka warrior's case CC) together. Combos. And most good, dps warriors play with axe nowadays because nerfed warrior dagger is awful.

> > >

> > > Again, warrior is literally the most predictable of all of these classes and has to be the most predictable with their cc chains because they are relatively easy to pick up. Again, even with one stun break someone could basically ignore the full chain. Hell, even popping stability will ignore ALL of the chain. Like, what do you want this class to do? Just look at you while you kite them?

> > >

> > > They need something to make their hits stick since their attacks are large and telegraphed.

> >

> > I mean, pretty much everything they do cleaves for insane damage. So even if the direct hit didn't make it, they've still got loads of other abilities while taking minimal damage and regenning. I'd say core is a bit stronger at the moment, and berserker just does crazy damage in general, but it's not like they're hitting for miniscule damage. And with the sustain they have between full counter, evades, greatsword 3, blocks, regen, and the frequent cc no matter how telegraphed, it's great they don't have anymore damage than they do. Plus, if you're fighting on a cap, they have an advantage. Kiting doesn't really work when you actually need the point, and frankly, unless you're constantly pulsing out immob or cripple, kiting isn't even really an issue if they're in greatsword. Dagger/Shield maybe, because they have no ranged attacks or gap closers outside of bull's charge, stomp, rampage, or other utilities.

> >

> > It is pretty amusing though that most of the time I'll think I'm winning and then all of a sudden they pop rampage and I go 100-0. If anything needs to be touched with Warrior it's rampage, whether it be lowering its damage or increasing its cooldown.

> >

> > BUT, it has the same advantage as Holosmith in that it can run tank/toughness amulets like Demolisher's and take virtually no damage output loss.

>

> Rampage did get nerfed tho. It's cooldown got upped. What, you want it to be at 180 again?

Did it? Is there a trait that reduces it? Sometimes I feel like they pop it 2 or three times during a fight.

Then again, it takes forever to kill them anyway with all of the defensives and regen. lol

> @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > @"Paradoxoglanis.1904" said:

> > > @"Lilyanna.9361" said:

> > > Wait so you are mad at warrior for having basic boi combos that don't even pump out perma quickness. And your double mad because you don't time your stunbreaks when the warrior is trying to all in you so you are saying quickness spam and cc spam????? You do know warrior is a BRUISER class to LOCK a SINGULAR person down correct?

> > >

> > > Yea, this is definitely a whine thread.

> >

> > No i said quickness burst is BS because quickness in general is BS. And being able to throw 3-4 cc's one after the other with dagger, shield, tether, bulls rush, rampage is excessive.

>

> No, that's called skill be able to link skills (aka warrior's case CC) together. Combos. And most good, dps warriors play with axe nowadays because nerfed warrior dagger is awful.

>

> Again, warrior is literally the most predictable of all of these classes and has to be the most predictable with their cc chains because they are relatively easy to pick up. Again, even with one stun break someone could basically ignore the full chain. Hell, even popping stability will ignore ALL of the chain. Like, what do you want this class to do? Just look at you while you kite them?

>

> They need something to make their hits stick since their attacks are large and telegraphed.

I mean, pretty much everything they do cleaves for insane damage. So even if the direct hit didn't make it, they've still got loads of other abilities while taking minimal damage and regenning. I'd say core is a bit stronger at the moment, and berserker just does crazy damage in general, but it's not like they're hitting for miniscule damage. And with the sustain they have between full counter, evades, greatsword 3, blocks, regen, and the frequent cc no matter how telegraphed, it's great they don't have anymore damage than they do. Plus, if you're fighting on a cap, they have an advantage. Kiting doesn't really work when you actually need the point, and frankly, unless you're constantly pulsing out immob or cripple, kiting isn't even really an issue if they're in greatsword. Dagger/Shield maybe, because they have no ranged attacks or gap closers outside of bull's charge, stomp, rampage, or other utilities.

It is pretty amusing though that most of the time I'll think I'm winning and then all of a sudden they pop rampage and I go 100-0. If anything needs to be touched with Warrior it's rampage, whether it be lowering its damage or increasing its cooldown.

BUT, it has the same advantage as Holosmith in that it can run tank/toughness amulets like Demolisher's and take virtually no damage output loss.

Dodge.

Stealth occasionally.

Cc spam.

Spam the rest of your forge skills and every toolbelt skill you have.

Congratulations, you're back to full health and everything in the map is dead.

Not enough of a change for holo. Needs major damage nerfs or sustain nerfs.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > It's not a bad point to bring up, though, they at any moment they could say, "WAIT! Glint had ANOTHER part of the prophecy!".. And then pull them back into the story somehow.

>

> They technically already did, back in HoT, as Kossage quoted.

>

> Glint's Legacy did not end with Aurene replacing Kralkatorrik. Glint's Legacy in full is the replacement of all six Elder Dragons. With Vlast's death, there's a major setback in the legacy plans, however.

>

> The legacy in full as we can see it is basically:

>

> Step 1: Protect the eggs until they're ready to hatch.

> Step 2: Raise the scions in Kesho and Tarir until they're ready for combat.

> Step 3: Have the surviving scions replace an equal amount of Elder Dragons.

> Step 4: Find more suitable replacements for remaining Elder Dragons.

> Step 5: Help them sympathize with mortals before helping them replace an Elder Dragon each.

>

> I expect that the Exalted have already left Tarir, and is now searching for other suitable replacements. Whether this will come from purifying dragon minions as Glint was by the Forgotten or something else remains unclear.

Does that even hold true anymore though? I mean, they eluded to Aurene falling victim to the same madness Kralk had from all the magic but that and the origin of the elder dragons hadn't even really been decided from what it sounded on the livestream. With all this emphasis on her being a new kind of elder dragon of light, how do we know they aren't just planning on retconning the whole six needed for balance thing and making Aurene the one prime elder dragon? If nothing else, it feels like they could easily set her up to be somekind of magic bank that has scions of her own someday and grants them each an aspect.

It really doesn't feel like we will see the completion of that plot trajectory during the lifespan of this game at the current rate. Aurene replaced Kralk, but following this logic we still have to replace Zhaitan and Mordremoth. While we have the potential for the Pale Tree to replace Mordremoth, who does that leave for Zhaitan? And it doesn't feel like a plot they're really going to dive into. So at this point, would they follow that pre-existing notion that they all must be replaced for balance, or just retcon the story in a way that only the excess magic is the one true harm.

Of course, I suppose with the emphasis on the Norn spirits this season, perhaps one of them or they all could collectively replace Jormag should we, and I find this unlikely, need to take him down. This would make way for a multitude of other replacements, but would also require some serious lore reworking.

Or, they're keeping it as is and this dilemma of finding replacements is just story they may or may not get to if the game lasts long enough for them to take whatever other directions they want in the meantime.

Personally, I subscribe to the theory that with this season at least, we won't kill Jormag, because Jormag isn't the "Lovecraftian" angle they're taking, so much as the one that offers us a chance to fight the one that is, the deep sea dragon. I mean I know that's off topic, but I hadn't even thought about the symbolism until I watched a theory the other day in terms of deep sea dragon being water and Jormag being ice.

You would think if the exalted had such a high investment in elder dragons and their replacements, we would have seen more bases than just Kesho and Tarir by now. Perhaps we'll find one in Northern Shiverpeaks somewhere if that were the case. Though I'd much rather find some surviving Seer encampment.

And for that matter, I wonder if the Seer could have some kind of correlation to the spirits of the wild, as they're likely the ones that built the Hall of Monuments and thus were already really far North for some reason. Outside of Jormag persuading Norn to serve him, have we seen any other cases of Elder Dragon corrupted Norn? Could the spirits play a role in that?

The only possible case I can think of are Bloated Creepers from Zhaitan's army, but are those just really large bloated humans and random design decisions from the concept artists? Could they potentially be pre-fall Jotun that have bene resurrected? Are they Norn? But if Norn why are there so many of them? I get "Bloated" means larger than normal, but to make them vertically taller and not just horizontally wider? Weird.

Anyway, just a few random thoughts.

The recent magazine eluded that we'll be getting some more insight into the elder dragons and their motives this season, so I imagine that means that at any moment what we think we know is going to change.

Also, with the talk of the Spirit of the Dragon, I guess we could potentially learn about some correlation between a potentially preexisting state of Jormag in which he was more benevolent similar to the spirits of the wild, or a different being all together that they revere as the spirit of the dragon. It's an interesting new story arc, I just wish it wasn't likely another 2 years before we can answer some of these questions, if even then.

Though as I said, I think we are starting off with Jormag and the Charr for the first few episodes, but wouldn't be surprised to find a quick shift towards the deep sea dragon.

It's not a bad point to bring up, though, they at any moment they could say, "WAIT! Glint had ANOTHER part of the prophecy!".. And then pull them back into the story somehow.

But I guess they just protect and support her. I mean, technically, the world isn't free from the threat of elder dragons yet so I imagine they could always serve as caretakers for some new scion at some point, or even Aurene's scions should she have some. Once the thread of elder dragons is gone and the balance restored, I would imagine they would truly no longer have a purpose and would probably want to be freed. Perhaps part of that freedom, although someone above was joking, could involve being "eaten" by Aurene so that their soul or whatever is unbound from the armor. Though I guess they could just have a ceremony and all remove their helmets or something. lol

I hope at some point during this season we get more info on the construction of the Hall of Monuments. I think it's assumed it was the Seers that built it, but it would be interesting to get some story on that.

The fact that I’m almost 30 and just don’t feel like starting over in a new mmo. And there’s still plenty of potential with this game. Just hoping it sees some of that potential eventually. But currently it feels like it’s spiraling downward. And my guildies and the non pvp community make it enjoyable. Lol

Just take it as a no. Even if they were it would be years away. So there’s not really a point in demanding a yes or no. And I think if they had anything planned beyond quality of life improvements and strike missions in terms of features they would have mentioned something by now. The wvw alliance is probably a year away at least. I would be surprised to see anymore fractals or raids to be honest. Maybe they shifted the few people working on those to strike missions. Though that would seem a bit overkill if they only have one strike mission per episode. Maybe part strike missions and part world bosses? So everything open world. To be fair, strike missions could also be dungeon-esque instead of a queable wambam boss fight and done.

Though it would be nice if they had spent any of the 5 pages they spent on merchandise in this latest magazine to talk about like... actual rewards and incentive to do these missions. Is this merchandise what they’re relying on to keep afloat or something? They’ve never pushed it this hard, but the fact that they’re pushing it harder than actual in game content concerns me.

> @"Psycoprophet.8107" said:

> Staying away from them helps lol. The spec is incredibly broken and requires I'd argue the least amount of skill to play in the game, makes garbage player feel like gods so its popular lmao. Than again that's gw2 in a nutshell.

Just fought one, that on anything that even remotely counters could have been over in 10 seconds, but because I'm trying to learn and get better (staff daredevil not spamming vault and naturally has a hard time against holosmiths in general) the fight pretty much resets every 3 seconds. Like, barely do damage because they're running demolisher, they regen and heal, spam knockdowns and knockbacks, have easy access to water fields and blast finishers, and guess what, they stealth and the fight is basically reset. It's just so broken. And I can't even pinpoint one particular thing that would even it out, because they have everything you could ever want in a competitive game mode. Even half of their skills inherently have conditions, and sure it's not the primary damage, but is it really necessary? Like why does a high damage ranged knockback need a built in fire field? It goes with the theme of the ability, sure, but it's just another annoying thing to deal with ontop of the constant cc and cooldown resets.

And why does holo forge 5 need such a large radius to begin with? Isn't it about the same radius as an ele meteor shower? And hits 5 targets? I don't even know how many times I was somehow interrupted or knocked down mid vault or during daggerstorm. I don't even know how that was possible, unless it was skill lag or some weird animation frame issue.

Complain the entire path of fire launch that scourges make caps radioactive, but let's ignore holosmiths entirely. I mean obviously I could have saved my dodges better for this fight, but when every other ability does a third of my health, and my blinds are essentially useless, like, what is the point?

Then we get even more changes to scrapper, for whatever reason, and holo isn't touched. They want to balance things to even out some of the more dominant builds, but then they leave the one dominant build that the majority of the legend and plat players I see, at least in the pvp lobby arena, running.

This has probably been brought up already but the one fix they really need now is to make sure that the seeds aren't consumed until they are planted. I double clicked one when I wasn't even in my home instance not realizing what it was or did, and it just wound up being a loss. Feels unintentional.

> @"Zaklex.6308" said:

> > @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> > About sets i dont understand why anet is so alergic to a complete set/concept. Some fashionist are completionists. Anet is changing this on last years, but most part they hardly do a complete themed armor set+weapon set+backpiece even the $$$ items. Only in LSW4 we had something to a complete themed set(a "dragon" one) with requiem/elegy armor + banner of commander + dragonblood weapons. ....., At least "flame" mounts was launched on first packages(but still spreaded), and i have all of them.

>

> They already stated they were not going to go back and add new mounts to old sets, so if you liked a set that was released for the original 5 mounts, then that's all you're getting, there won't be skins made for the other 3 newer mounts for that set.

>

> Really though, the OP's though process is a little off...buy the whole thing, you'll get what you want...it's not that expensive.

Mmmm, I'm not sure I'm reading this right, but they had a branded mount pack and they've since released a branded skyscale and a branded warclaw. Oh wait, I guess this means adding them for free? I didn't read the original post, but no, obviously they're not going to go back and add them for free. I don't know why anyone would think they would do anything like that for free. I mean, I wouldn't even do that, and I detest many of their gemstore decisions as I previously posted. lol

What I would say to that though, is ensuring that someone can direct purchase the skin belonging to that set, instead of trying to get it out of a random drop from a license. That's fair, and seems like it would be more profitable as people would more willingly pay. I won't even suggest that the item be discounted, I think it's fair that they just have the choice.

I think they would sell a lot more mount skins if they didn't lock them behind rng.

BUT, as to the sets, it boils down to, a player wants a specific aesthetic, like the starbound mount series, but by locking each mount behind 7 or 8 different random drop mount licenses, they're forcing those few that really really want those mount skins to purchase 8 licenses. Whether that makes up for how many they could have sold if they just released the entire collection as a whole, and reeled in the people that were wise enough to see through this sales tactic, who knows.

I'm inclined to think that they would sell more, but we haven't seen any full set mount skins like the branded or awakened in awhile, so perhaps the analyst found that it was more profitable draining the pocket of the ones gullible or gambling addicted enough to shell out the cash.

Honestly, half the gemstore decisions baffle me and I still wonder how much more sales they could get, if they just dropped this rng license and black lion chest design and sold everything outright. And I get that some people like some of these simple minimally different mount skins that are bundled into those licenses, you know, the ones with a stripe 3 centimeters further to the left or a dye pattern that was just slightttly different than the other 4 mount skins, but I feel like the majority of those are just to bloat the license and less chances for people to get what they want. Which is sad, not only for the consumer, but despite who small the changes actually are, that still took an artist's time that could have been spent making more unique and potentially profitable skins.

I think the quality I've seen from the last few have improved slightly in terms of actual variation and detail, but it's still few and far between for me personally. That's why I like these 4 week preparation packages, I get to choose what I want, for several different areas. Sure, they're not always flashy, but this one in particular gave me the option to choose exactly what mount skin I wanted, the arcane dye that I've wanted for months now, and a little more additional value later on. It's a good business model, because, yes, it forces people to pay extra for something they may want, but they get the choice of what they want.. and it has additional goodies that make it feel worth the investment. Minor ones, like a few black lion keys that will most likely be worthless in the end, but I didn't just spend that 1800 or whatever gems on a mount pack with 4 mount skins I'll likely never use.

Admittedly though, I'm glad that a lot of the things I request on the gemstore wind up making it in in some form eventually, ha. Though I was kind of hoping for a Bengal tiger Warclaw without a diving helmet covering its face...

Anyway, I'm just repeatedly intrigued and annoyed by their decisions with gemstore items. I think they could also cycle some of the statuette exchange items more frequently. It's a shame having to wait months and months to hopefully one day be able to purchase the exalted shoulders with statuettes, not knowing if or when that day will even come. Just sell things outright. I see a ton of people with them, and I imagine there are a ton more that would readily buy them if they weren't rng.

But somewhere up the chain, someone has determined this is the best business model, and it's baffling to think that this is actually the best business model. Logic says that this is bad, but perhaps the wallets of the illogical makes up for the loss.

I also don't understand this whole, partial armor sets thing though. I wanted a full exalted set since heart of thorns, then they release two pieces of armor and make one of them locked behind a random drop in a black lion chest? Then they just presumably stop making the rest of the set?

And they've done this with countless other pieces, like the jackal rune set, and I can't even recall all of the others.

Like, what makes them decide, oh, we're going to just make 2 pieces of this armor set, that likely won't match anything else or be hard to match with pre-existing armor skins. Maybe they're relying on the people that want the full armor sets to purchase them piece by piece thinking they'll eventually have a whole set, then yanking the carrot away and being like, "gotchya, suckas! moving on!" And perhaps it's because they only think those themes will look good on those specific armor pieces? But like, why make boots and gloves, but then not make something arguably far more desirable like a shoulder-piece or a helmet, that's arguably one of the most sought after pieces of armor in any mmo.. and the ones that make the largest impact?

Idk. I'm not even going to try to rant even further and rationalize some of these decisions. It clearly makes sense to someone somewhere, but it certainly doesn't to me. I find it hard to believe it's doing them any favor choosing rng over direct purchase. Then again they're selling chairs, when they could be selling infusions, combat tonics, or more mount and armor skins. The inquest chair is awesome, but like, aside from those few moments when you want to impress newbies or role play, why would you pay for a virtual chair? At least that one comes with a glider skin and both are extremely well done. So strange.

I couldn't find the balance changes suggestion thread so I'm just making this separate one, but do any mirages ever run the ability that lets you shadowstep to your enemy and shadowstep back?

Has anyone ever ran it or found it useful? I could understand if it were a bit shorter cast time, or no cast time like shadowstep for thieves, but as it stands now it just feels really clunky. It was somewhat interesting for the old axe/torch condi build running confusion on blind, but even then there were so many better options? And for power, you can't really set up your burst in the time it takes to cast the ability, and currently you either have to stealth and be close to them, or try to blink to them and waste blink. (Mirage Advance/Retreat)

I mean I know any potential buffs to mirage are probably going to be met with pitchforks, but the skill seems pretty clearly meant for competitive game modes as it has no use in pve outside of the pointless blind, but I don't think anyone runs it in competitive modes because it's just... not good. WvW maybe?

Also, and this is really not going to be popular, and the skill is technically used for condi builds in pve, but the skill that creates the aoe confusion (Crystal Sands) has always felt like it should have came with an ethereal combo field, even if just in pve.

I guess this might be better in the mirage specific thread, but wanted to hear feedback from the community specifically in regards to pvp. Of course it will be met with discontent, but it feels like some of the balance changes were meant to target "dominant" builds, but there are so many of these utility skills that are somewhat irrelevant due to their general skill design in nearly any game mode making it pretty much impossible to become part of a viable build. (Crystal Sands excluded as that's more of an aside. Though I don't really see anyone running Sand Through Glass either and it's an extra evade and mirror, so, 2 extra evades, though that could be largely in part because of the long animation putting you in a position disadvantage.)

But, I guess that applies to every class, and for that matter pretty much 80% of the ranger pets are never used either since Smokescale is pretty much superior and has been since Heart of Thorns.

> @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > Condi daredevil, usually. Unless they're actually good and not just playing holo because a 3 month old 1 armed baby could play it semi-successfully.

> >

> > People always say to dodge certain skills. But like, the entire screen is lit up with every other skill, so I never really know what to look for.

> >

> > And if you dodge the knockdown, you have to save some dodges for the two knockbacks. And the holo 2 pistol blast. And the net immob if you don't have los.

> >

> > And if you successfully dodge all those and get 25% health down, surprise, they've used any number of their two leap water combos, or their turret. Oh, now they've stealthed and reset their health and cooldowns. Time to dodge again.

> >

> > It feels like what they've done with mirage, repeatedly nerfed or gutted certain aspects of it but the design in general just has such a major toolkit that there's really no way to even balance it without redesigning the entire spec.

> >

> > It almost feels like they were less of a problem when the dodge bomb kit was meta, because at least then you didn't have all of this passive toolbelt damage and constant quickness and superspeed and everything else to go along with it.

> >

> > Maybe their current toolkit would be fine if their damage was nerfed significantly more, so it was less about spamming and more about chaining combos. Right now it's just too easy to kill stuff without all those skillfully coordinated abilities. I mean it's great for me, because I'm bad, and I can hop on holo in a low ranked or unranked match and feel like I'm just so good at the game, but when half or more of the pvp lobby arena are holos at any given time and they're all legendary or plat, I feel like that's a pretty good indication that something is a bit off.

> >

> >

>

> That's not realistic though : If you have a pistol, you dont have a net. Among a lot of other things.

>

> How to know when to dodge is simple, the big CC of a Holo is Holographic Wave, the Holo will leap upward and slam down. Start your dodge after the leap. The knockdown also have a fairly long cooldown, if you're playing against a highly aggressive Holo, they'll enter holo forge 1 time without CC before using it again (First Holo forge use holographic wave, second holo forge, wave is in cooldown, third holo forge, wave is available again.) The stealth require a utility slot to be specifically assigned to Stealth Elixir, which is a Huge loss in DPS. If you have soft CC on them, such as cripple or slow, a simple area of affect will damage them and break stealth. Also what is that talk of resetting cooldowns ? When have holo been able to reset their cooldowns ?

>

> To wit, the latest patch has made Toolbelt barely useable on Holo as it stands. If you use holoforge, you run the risk of a player CCing you at the end of your forge, and overheat, locking all your toolbelt skills, ontop of the burn and initial damage. That is a Brutal counter. I have to ponder why it isn't used as such

The pistol I meant is holo forge 2. The high damage one. Well, one of them. Lol

Condi daredevil, usually. Unless they're actually good and not just playing holo because a 3 month old 1 armed baby could play it semi-successfully.

People always say to dodge certain skills. But like, the entire screen is lit up with every other skill, so I never really know what to look for.

And if you dodge the knockdown, you have to save some dodges for the two knockbacks. And the holo 2 pistol blast. And the net immob if you don't have los.

And if you successfully dodge all those and get 25% health down, surprise, they've used any number of their two leap water combos, or their turret. Oh, now they've stealthed and reset their health and cooldowns. Time to dodge again.

It feels like what they've done with mirage, repeatedly nerfed or gutted certain aspects of it but the design in general just has such a major toolkit that there's really no way to even balance it without redesigning the entire spec.

It almost feels like they were less of a problem when the dodge bomb kit was meta, because at least then you didn't have all of this passive toolbelt damage and constant quickness and superspeed and everything else to go along with it.

Maybe their current toolkit would be fine if their damage was nerfed significantly more, so it was less about spamming and more about chaining combos. Right now it's just too easy to kill stuff without all those skillfully coordinated abilities. I mean it's great for me, because I'm bad, and I can hop on holo in a low ranked or unranked match and feel like I'm just so good at the game, but when half or more of the pvp lobby arena are holos at any given time and they're all legendary or plat, I feel like that's a pretty good indication that something is a bit off.

I really enjoy combat tonics in general, but...

Can we get the Monkey King tonic as a combat tonic?

It has a really awesome dodge animation and I'd love to be able to play it on my staff daredevil.

LSIS. Living Story Icebrood Saga.

But lowercase so it looks like lsis.

Ice-is?

Is.

Lys.

Lyssa confirmed.

> @"Dragon Priestess.9760" said:

> I'm not heterosexual either but I don't really see why this is a big deal. They have tonnes of more important things in the game to fix than the gay/straight ratio of characters.

>

> It feels really... shallow, to me, to care so much about something so unimportant.

>

> For example: as a Lesbian I'd LOVE to see more sexy lady armour, but it's not really that important, either.

>

> I'd rather they fix the quest and gameplay bugs the have that actually effect the game performance.

And to further this specific point, I can agree that displaying homosexuality in a video game is pretty pointless and does little for the story, but the idea that a video game creates that kind of exposure and dares to be bold enough to provide that representation is something I've always appreciated from this developer. Most wouldn't. And even still, with the predetermined notion that the majority of gamers are heterosexual males, I imagine that's the majority of the reason as to why we've seen prominently lesbian couples during the franchise. It's safer and is more appeasing to heterosexual males.

It's really not that big of an issue either way though, at least in this franchise, because ironically the only times we've been really overwhelmed or bombarded with in-game relationship drama is with the aforementioned lesbian couples, Caithe/Faolin, Majory/Kas. Aside from whatever Logan and Jenna had, I can't even really recall any relationships that gained any spotlight.

It's so amusing to me that the majority of the gamer population is heterosexual males, yet 90% of them play scantily clad female characters with bright colored frilly dresses, bunny ears, or skirts that may as well not exist. I can understand the scantily clad, but some of them genuinely go all out playing dress-up with their female characters. Maybe they all enjoyed barbies as kids but toxic masculinity told them they needed the anonymity of the internet.