Noodle Ant.1605

> @"ChampionMasquerade.5283" said:

> > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said:

> > This is from pre-patch and is outdated, but how I like to describe it:

> > - Take a condi (viper) weaver build: 60% burning, 20% bleed, 20% power (just super rough figures)

> > - Hybrid (grieving) does *almost* the same dps as condi but replaces bleeding with power dmg. Has less condi dmg which is compensated a bit by extra power dmg, so you get a nice 50/50 split between burning and power

> >

> > So (at pre-patch) you had hybrid > power and roughly the same as condi (benchwise). However, *in practice,* hybrid appears to inherit *a lot of the negative attributes* from both:

> > - Hybrid attempts to use a Weave Self opener, meaning it has a condi ramp-up. It turns out its burst is actually worse than condi (which in turn is worse than power)

> > - Hybrid uses Fresh Air in conjunction with Weave Self, which creates an incredibly awkward opening rotation that probably beats condi in terms of ‘the hardest rotation’

> > - Hybrid doesn’t take Earth (and doesn’t normally rotate into it outside of Weave Self) unlike condi, leaving it to be extremely group reliant for survivability, same as power

> > - 50/50 split means that hybrid is lackluster on any pure power/condi fight, no point when you can easily switch to the corresponding build

> > - Zerker/viper stats are much more interchangeable across other classes; the only other spec that uses grieving is condi/hybrid FB (i.e. waste of an investment)

> >

> > With an inferior burst and nothing special to hold over the condi build, hybrid is only sought out by special snowflakes or masochists and therefore rarely recommended. With the most recent changes, I doubt its position vs power/condi has gotten any better.

> >

> > **tl;dr: grieving is basically the ‘in between’ of zerker/viper, but it practically holds no advantage over either option.**

>

> Do Beserker and Viper still work for an Tempest who has issues staying alive (I either don’t get knocked down or I get knocked down really fast)

Zerk/viper (and in special circumstances grieving/sinister/rampager) are all ‘glass’ gear. They do not actually increase survivability at all; instead, it is used to kill enemies before they do too much harm to the user.

That being said, tempest has valid builds for both zerk and viper. Power (zerk) tempest is a popular choice for its ability to deal dmg outside of melee range, and bursty skills that effectively delete mobs without the need to press 5 different buttons. Condi (viper) tempest is more melee-oriented and less bursty, but is innately tankier than power, having access to more active mitigation skills and can self-generate a lot of useful boons (namely 25 might and protection).

Most players prefer power, but specifically for elementalist, I find myself playing condi more often.

‘Less glassy’ gear alternatives are marauders for power (extra hp safety net), and trailblazers for condi (turns you into a tank). Other, less effective but functional (and possibly strange) options also exist, such as carrion/rabid/dire/marshals, or even celestial.

P.S. In GW2, a significant portion of survivabilty comes a lot from knowing each of the encounters.

This is from pre-patch and is outdated, but how I like to describe it:

- Take a condi (viper) weaver build: 60% burning, 20% bleed, 20% power (just super rough figures)

- Hybrid (grieving) does *almost* the same dps as condi but replaces bleeding with power dmg. Has less condi dmg which is compensated a bit by extra power dmg, so you get a nice 50/50 split between burning and power

So (at pre-patch) you had hybrid > power and roughly the same as condi (benchwise). However, *in practice,* hybrid appears to inherit *a lot of the negative attributes* from both:

- Hybrid attempts to use a Weave Self opener, meaning it has a condi ramp-up. It turns out its burst is actually worse than condi (which in turn is worse than power)

- Hybrid uses Fresh Air in conjunction with Weave Self, which creates an incredibly awkward opening rotation that probably beats condi in terms of ‘the hardest rotation’

- Hybrid doesn’t take Earth (and doesn’t normally rotate into it outside of Weave Self) unlike condi, leaving it to be extremely group reliant for survivability, same as power

- 50/50 split means that hybrid is lackluster on any pure power/condi fight, no point when you can easily switch to the corresponding build

- Zerker/viper stats are much more interchangeable across other classes; the only other spec that uses grieving is condi/hybrid FB (i.e. waste of an investment)

With an inferior burst and nothing special to hold over the condi build, hybrid is only sought out by special snowflakes or masochists and therefore rarely recommended. With the most recent changes, I doubt its position vs power/condi has gotten any better.

**tl;dr: grieving is basically the ‘in between’ of zerker/viper, but it practically holds no advantage over either option.**

Especs are not defined by roles, roles are defined by the theme of the espec, at least ever since PoF (especs will have at least 2 or more defining and different roles).

I doubt they will release a ‘healer’ espec ever again (e.g. druid), with the amount of options flying around, being restricted to such a role would make the espec way too niche to ever be played, unless the espec was planned to be completely useless from the start. It would be appropriate if said espec had a option for some alternate dps/bruiser/dueler role so it would see some use elsewhere. Switching to an espec which plays vastly differently from what is preferred just to play a very general role (e.g. usually ‘dps’) isn’t really a good argument either.

My only hope is that they’ve learned from their mishaps and actually design especs that achieve what they were supposedly intended to do (create new options, take away some, have distinct playstyle and different mechanics from core, not have to continually nerf the espec because the concept is broken, etc.).

For PvE, before anyone pressures you into playing either chrono/mirage, this *shouldn’t* matter until you get into T4 CMs (fractals) and raids. Even so, both chrono/mirage aren’t very strong in fractals if it did matter, and either option has its own niche in raids anyway. So for this specific case, what you choose to invest into first is very much what you enjoy playing more.

Ascended pieces to aim for is berserker’s for chrono and viper’s for mirage. Due to the runes used for each spec, berserker’s is more interchangeable across other classes if you decide to commit to another class. Note: gear used specifically for open world (knights, rabid, trailblazer etc.) should be kept exotic if possible, or achieved only after you have proper gear for instanced content (and have excess money), or if you don’t plan to get into instanced content.

The reason why condi staff appears at the top is because it’s a easy build to use with low risk/high reward rating. More experienced or daring players opt for more offensive builds (usually derived from builds used in instanced content so they don’t have to change) because they are more familiar with having an increased amount of risk in their playstyle.

The ‘dual sword chrono’ build you’re talking about ‘solos’ by being a *whole lot more offensive* than what your build/playstyle suggests(?). It runs full dps gear and so its best defence is just killing things before it gets killed. Compared to other similar builds (including those across other classes), the kit is fairly versatile, with in-built active defense, self-buffing (important), some range potential, strong kiting ability, etc. It may be that this playstyle is not what you’re used to, hence why you find it ineffective compared to staff for example.

Also for instanced PvE content (e.g. fracs) players will want you to deal as much dps as possible, and afaik ‘dual sword chrono’ > any staff mesmer variant. But if you’re still in t1/t2 where no one’s healing, then you may play whatever you need to survive (but possibly at the cost of how long the frac will run, one level should take no more than 20 mins).

Put together, ‘dual sword chrono’ is an appealing build simply because it allows you to use an approved build for instanced content as well as staying (mostly) effective in open world PvE at the same time.

I see you’ve been looking at my other thread. However, like Armen said, those are golem benchmarks (i.e. for raids) and don’t apply to fractals (despite having such high numbers, chrono is nowhere near meta for fracs). Even pMirage/pCore, with supposedly <30k, perform better than they appear, simply due to the bursty nature of fractals.

In the same thread, I said I *personally* don’t find slow worthwhile. If you find that that it is worthwhile, then by all means use it. However, I find that I have moa signet slotted most of the time for cc because that works better *for me*/my group.

I may also need to mention that DT chrono and IA chrono have slightly different rotations - if you’re simply using the DT rotation with IA, you may end up doing less dmg than expected.

> @"Stavros.8249" said:

> > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said:

> > New build? Afaik, not much changed from patch maybe besides this build gaining another ~1-2k dps; it always existed ever since STM was introduced.

> >

> > It would be wise to pay attention to how the build uses DT to reach 32k, and 100% slow isn't always guaranteed, especially in fractals with all the phasing and other stuff that happens. Therefore the actual dmg would be somewhat lower and functions similarly to pre-patch condi quickbrand (not sure if it still works after nerfs but w/e), but only with quickness and w/o the extra fb goodies.

> >

> > Another thing to pay attention to is how chrono, despite being a power spec, will very commonly 'miss' the stun window with its burst when breakbar is initially broken in any competent group. There's not much to precast vs. what some of what the other classes get to bring, and number of OWP procs it gets using its burst isn't very high. So the dmg department here may not be as strong as it seems, but it will seemingly perform better the worse your group is (just like dps pchrono).

> >

> > Regardless, whilst I don't think it will replace the meta just yet (definitely not for low-end pugs who cannot exist w/o hb, who *should* provide quickness anyway), it is a good alternative if ppl really want to play mesmer in fracs, since our specs seem to function so poorly in this type of content.

>

> It's not the same build cause now u can use all the shatters inside cs for extra quickness. Or u can also prestack quickness at mistlock. F4 then all shatters, cs ends, you use all the shatters again and take mistlock to refresh.

How is it a different build when it’s the basically same build but buffed?

Outside what you mentioned (the IP revert, i.e. *buffs*) it plays and does exactly the same thing, it already existed in fracs beforehand thanks to free +15% boon dura, and it only looks new because it’s now considered viable and not a meme for raids (i.e. it even existed in raids pre-patch so it’s definitely not new).

It was useable in fracs beforehand, I don’t see how it would be any different now, besides people accepting it as a valid build just because it now exists on a website for raids.

**Is (power) mesmer viable in raids?**

Yes, but use Domi DT chrono. Thanks to countless buffs, you could honestly play any Domi chrono variant w/o slow and not drag down your team too much. Strikes are the same deal.

**Is (power) mesmer viable in fractals?**

It is as viable as using any other condi dps - if you think condi is OK to use in fracs, then power mesmer is OK to use. Otherwise it isn't.

**(Fractals) What should I run?**

Preferably some chrono variant. A guide to what you should run is dependent on your team comp:

- **No dedicated source of slow:** don't bother using any of the DT varaints. You *could* try to supply it yourself, but I don't find it worthwhile.

- **No quickness:** decide whether or not 20% of your dps is more worthwhile than your team having quickness. If not - run Seize the Moment instead of Chronophantasma and Time Warp (cast only in Csplit). If so - don't bother.

- **No alacrity:** drop MoP (Mantra of Pain) for Well of Recall, aim to double cast it using Csplit (you may need to perform a 3-clone Csplit). Some alacrity (12s chained) for the entire group is better than none, especially when you're dropping only 4% of your dps.

- **No quickness and alacrity:** just cover quickness. You *could* attempt to do both, but at that point there might be something wrong with your team.

- **Lack of CC:** run Moa Signet for fast CC or Well of Gravity otherwise. If more CC is required, drop MoP for Domination Signet for fast CC, or alternatively Mantra of Distraction (but unlike MoP, you should not 'keep' charges). Asura players may choose to use Technobabble instead, to avoid looking like a noob with domi signet on their bar when playing a power spec.

Learn and perform skips whenever possible; you have double blink (using mimic) + portal, use it. Alternatively, you could just ignore all of this and pretend that you're a dps that can only dps.

**What is DT/IA/IR?**

DT = Danger Time

IA = Improved Alacrity

IR = Illusionary Reversion

It is important to differentiate these, as DT variants are based on 100% slow uptime and will suffer some penalty w/o slow, whereas non-DT variants suffer no penalty.

**What is the difference between (power) chrono/core/mirage?**

Tbh, not much. They all currently play the same atm (i.e. all focus, pretty much the same rotation minus Csplit, also dodging on pMirage is a dps loss). This is more of a jab at anet's espec design - are especs actually a sidegrade of core/each other? Why is only chrono being buffed to infinity?

And then despite all these buffs, chrono continues to suffer from having to rely on Csplit (massive 100s CD) and DT (reliance on a rare condition); these buffs aren't doing much other than making chrono look extremely bloated in terms of dps.

Otherwise:

Chrono = has 'chronoburst' and chronophantaspam.

Core = has 'PvPburst' which deletes trash mobs instantly (like afk players). Follows the same phants > autoattack formula as chrono; does more autos and is more faceroll than chrono.

Mirage = downgrade copy of core. Better to run GS ambush spam for tagging mobs.

> @"MidJuly.1839" said:

> I'm very surprised by this benchmark. Does the Focus phant add that much dps really?

All the benches listed are using focus atm. The only reason I put (focus) was because there was a slightly weaker GS variant before that now seemingly doesn't exist, which is honestly very sad.

Updated initial post for the July 7 2020 patch.

**All pChrono variants:**

Split Second got buffed and dryshattering is now a thing again. Shattering less than 3 clones is less punishing than before.

**Everything else:**

Nothing changed.

Deleted FAQ section and will *eventually* (haha) repost them in a more detailed post(s) somewhere below.

New build? Afaik, not much changed from patch maybe besides this build gaining another ~1-2k dps; it always existed ever since STM was introduced.

It would be wise to pay attention to how the build uses DT to reach 32k, and 100% slow isn't always guaranteed, especially in fractals with all the phasing and other stuff that happens. Therefore the actual dmg would be somewhat lower and functions similarly to pre-patch condi quickbrand (not sure if it still works after nerfs but w/e), but only with quickness and w/o the extra fb goodies.

Another thing to pay attention to is how chrono, despite being a power spec, will very commonly 'miss' the stun window with its burst when breakbar is initially broken in any competent group. There's not much to precast vs. what some of what the other classes get to bring, and number of OWP procs it gets using its burst isn't very high. So the dmg department here may not be as strong as it seems, but it will seemingly perform better the worse your group is (just like dps pchrono).

Regardless, whilst I don't think it will replace the meta just yet (definitely not for low-end pugs who cannot exist w/o hb, who *should* provide quickness anyway), it is a good alternative if ppl really want to play mesmer in fracs, since our specs seem to function so poorly in this type of content.

Condi weaver already takes persisting flames meaning after patch it will also get the 10% power dmg boost (thru flame uprising & flamewall). Keeping in mind condi weaver has a power dmg component vs a purer condi spec, the duration nerfs were probably mainly made to completely offset this buff. How much of nerf it actually is with all things considered remains to be seen.

On another topic: what is balance? Over in fractals, you have slb stanceshare, guard signetshare (vs every other classes’ signet trait *and for some special reason is allowed to stack*) and some other wacky broken stuff trivialising anet’s ‘hard 5man content’ but they obviously think it’s fine... then you have weaver who’s just there to abuse things from other classes (because it has the most dmg bonuses or something), otherwise it wouldn’t really be there at all.

And then necro pve balance :trollface:

I wonder when they’re going to address:

- Illusion survivability, pathing, etc. and general shatter mechanics (refer to illusion/shatter rework threads)

- Group support: support options for core that were gutted because of chrono, and wells for chrono. Glamours.

- Broken chrono interactions: csplit, chronophantasma and/or slow

- Mirage-specific shatters (provides another venue for balance without axing core/core aspects like dodge all the time). Having non-core shatters be something other than a minor alteration of core shatters (post-patch chrono F1-F3 shatters could quite easily be changed back into core shatters, why have them be different at all?)

So, another 4 months? :lol:

Each espec should probably have its own unique interaction with its illusions & shatters (the profession mechanic). E.g:

- Core retains current mechanics.

- Espec1 has a unique set of shatter skills, and shatters occur through projectiles as described by OP. Shatters could be weaker because spec retains profession resource even when illusions are killed (‘missing clones’ could be shot out from mesmer).

- Espec2 has a unique shatter interaction where it is locked to lv1 core shatters (no higher), maybe with some range increase because it is unable to create any illusions. Profession resource contributes to charging some unique f5 shatter skill.

- Espec3 has a unique set of shatter skills because clones are completely untargetable, support allies instead of attacking, and leave lingering AoE when shattered.

- Espec4 has a unique set of shatter skills, where ‘shatters’ are cast by and do not expend clones, because they hold a more substantial portion of the spec’s offensive power.

- Non-shatter-related illusion mechanics (e.g. chronophantasma, IH clone dodge) are added later to appropriate especs for further balance and/or theme.

Current illusion-shatter mechanics are flawed, which was shown by recycling the same mechanic across the entire profession. The same could be said for any rework. A possible solution would be to enforce unique reworks to individual especs instead.

It’s probably something like the armour of the mob with the highest armour in ~~pre-expac~~ core PvE, so then you never did less dmg than your tooltip (in PvE ofc) barring protection.

Edit: most mobs have average armor in the 2000-2500 range, setting it to 1000 would make little sense cuz if you took no dmg% mods and not crit you’d end up doing less than half the dmg shown. Wouldn’t that be more confusing?

Edit2: most dmg% mods (plus crit dmg) don’t even appear on your tooltip anyway, you wouldn’t be able gauge max dmg from them in the first place.

Just a wild guess, I think because of the speed and homing property of the rocket, you have what you described:

> I see the missile shoot right past them without hitting, often around the back of them.

At this point, there is an object/obstruction between you and your rocket. Your rocket will now miss supposedly because you don’t have LoS (line of sight) with it.

(The choppers, at least in the Cold War strike, are solids - you can place AoEs on them)

There is some correlation in that you tend to miss choppers flying towards you, but then rarely miss when they are flying away from you. This might not be true though, I haven’t seen what happens if the rocket wraps around a cliff (and gets LoS by the cliff).

> @"Kulvar.1239" said:

> I wonder which class build is less impacted by network lag.

There’s no definite answer afaik, but I assume it’s classes that rely the least on:

- combination(s) of different low cast time skills pressed in quick succession. In between each cast, I assume there is a minuscule delay from lag, which adds up to massive amounts of time wasted and hence why benchers with optimal latency can fit x more auto chains in a rotation/finishes rotation in x amount of time

- skills with abnormally long aftercasts (or just ‘aftercast management’). I have a feeling that high latency goes into more of the aftercast vs optimal latency even when queuing skills. Or the skill gets cancelled and completely wasted if you queue the next skill too quickly. This is probably why it’s difficult to determine a lag-friendly class at first glance even if its rotation is ‘simple’/‘simpler’

Sometimes the rotation needs to be altered to get higher numbers.

Power staff weaver (when it used to be meta) and pre-rework condi (banner?) berserker at some point of time used to be lag-friendly specs (or at least ppl w/ ~300 ping managed to get within 1-2k difference). Mainly just power staff weaver tho.

I’m under the impression that WoC < a sword auto chain + MoP (no cast time), so it’s not used on focus (i.e. non-gs) builds. On the other hand, WoC >>> a gs auto, so it’s used there.

> @"Obtena.7952" said:

> Anet has basically already answered that question by how they implement the game. Clearly DPS differences between classes are acceptable to them, in the ranges that we have historically seen them.

We don't know that. Unless Anet straight up declares that they hate necro and will forever keep them at the 'bottom', forum posters will continue to make argue about it until it reaches a level they deem reasonable (not even near meta, I'd put figures just at 34-35k, even though the 'standard' is 36-40k). Might as well provoke Anet to state their intentions now so everyone knows whether to switch classes and leave their hopes in necro to die.

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> (hint: the dps now is not a case of massive buffs that will be eventually reverted back to normal levels. It _is_ a normal level, to which many classes just returned after a wave of massive nerfs that for a short while brought class dps way below usual values.)

I tried answering this in an edit in my last comment, but I'll answer it properly here: some of the specs that have successfully reached the 'normalised' 36-40k standard are currently reliant on situational conditions that dictate ~20% of the given spec's dps (without them, they bench closer to reaper values). Some conditions require more organisation than others. And then there's specs whose effectiveness massively depends on the boss and not the player/comp. And then there's specs that require little to no additional conditions at all.

Although dps is 'balanced', the conditions of use is definitely not. Using similar principles, necro dps should reach these normal values through Dread (which it already does, but the game requires far more sources of fear). But it doesn't seem like a very popular idea, compared to say, Siphoned Power being turned into a ~10% dmg trait (with reasonable conditions).

> (Edit: and, looking more closely, and finding among the threads i have looked through, one in which _you_ are tracking the dps history of mesmers, i'm surprised you seem to be unaware of this).

Funny you should bring this up. If you understood why I made that thread, you'd also understand that I'm averse to balancing using said janky traits/conditions (although that thread has other priorities). Just the same as how I'm averse to Anet to balance necro in the same manner (i.e. Dread). You are correct that Anet has only been buffing things recently - but to a normal level? Who can truly say what that value is?

Everything else - like Obtena, you're suggesting that Anet hates necros and all that we should really do is abandon ship. Continually restating that necro has been at the 'bottom' does not contribute anything to the discussion other than 'just give up'. Unless that was your intention.

@"Obtena.7952"

I posed the questions so that these complaints would maybe become slightly more constructive (or at least reduce the back-and-forth spam). You are correct in that *these can’t be properly answered* (by us, at least). But that doesn’t stop players from trying - hence the persistence of these threads.

Regardless, the fact that the questions I posted are unanswerable is... irrelevant. If these players truly want to buff/‘balance’ necro, their suggestions could come off as better constructed if they actually answered aspects of these questions.

@"Astralporing.1957"

It’s great that you went for *3 years ago* (potentially highest avg dps) instead of the time with the *lowest avg dps* (something somewhere post meteor shower & banner nerfs). Whatever, I found a nice friend who you can argue with, their name is the top of this comment and you probably already know why I think you should argue with them on this matter.

Edit: the ‘standard’ right now is 36-40k. The first list you posted has rough avg of 29-35k?

Edit2 (after seeing your edit): if normalising dps requires the use of janky traits, then I’m not so sure about this ‘balance’ because the required conditions for each class is technically not balanced.

I can just remove the ‘used to be’ part if you want, everything else still stays intact.

*There is* a gap between necro’s top performing dps spec relative to other classes. Arguing back and forth about its existence doesn’t change how the difference used to be smaller, and there were generally less complaints about dps discrepancy, if any at all. Nor will it do anything constructive for necro either.

So to fix this gap, why don’t we try discussing these instead:

**Is necro’s dmg too low, or are the other professions too high?**

Dmg used to be lower overall but content was still completable. Is higher dmg the new standard for future content, or just unnecessary powercreep? Additionally, it’s only been ~two balance patches since the massive buffs, so maybe they just haven’t done a pass for necro yet? Alternatively, the massive buffs could just be reverted, or the broken traits that are defining these specs shot down for PvE.

**If necro requires buffing, where/how would you even buff it?**

Power: skill coefficients already bonkers. Trait %s as high as they can be without being relatively broken. Lower CDs/cast times, or trash & replace which skills/traits w/o destroying PvP? Maybe necro (reaper) is stuck here, *not in sustain.*

Condi is a bit less problematic: just add more stacks/duration (PvE only). Whether epi/utility needs to be considered is covered in the following point:

**Are balancing factors actually relevant?**

Having necro doing anything near power weaver dps is instant bs. Where it is right now is acceptable (32k vs 36k). But there’s already specs with more utility/sustain/*playability* already benching higher than those with less. Are balancing factors really at play here and/or should they be?

Let’s also try to at least acknowledge the more demanding conditions required by some of the specs.

**What about other ‘necro-tier’ dps specs?**

Hypothetical: reaper got buffed somehow. So what about condi scg? Dps spb, dps herald, condi DD, dps scrapper etc? Don’t they count as ‘dps specs’ too? Or do we have to go on a nerfing spree for existing ‘dps specs’ that shouldn’t exist (and COMMIT to keeping it that way for future specs/balance)?

[Part 1](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/92833/can-pve-not-have-retal)

So far, Anet did a good job of avoiding this in ls5e2 (shadow in the ice) and again in ls5e3 (visions of the past). But only after 2 episode releases, it’s back again.

No, I’m not talking about the new strike - that’s an intended mechanic in instanced content (also has an icd). No, what I’m talking about is Toss Elixir B which every engi enemy can use on the new map (also some of the champs during cache train).

This time, it’s rng (25% chance), can be applied to 4 other mobs, lasts for 10s seconds and hits for ~450 per tick, higher if upscaled/higher rank (very common). Again, this can be easily translated into 10s of ‘don’t hit me or die’, which discriminately applies to some classes/builds more than others (tempest being the prime example) and sometimes, cheap instant death for anyone who puts down dmging fields *prior to its application*. The mobs actually have range capability this time, so simply kiting until it falls off (10s again) is a no-go.

As I said before, *the boon* allows passive play from the AI while they continue to harass you with their active play. It’s basically 25% random chance of instant defeat if playing certain classes/builds and unjustified punishment for those who play them. Given how **disproportionately it functions from PvP, and furthermore across different classes,** retal isn’t a boon that can be slapped on *any* PvE mob **without a corresponding mechanic,** period. Or, the duration and the damage output of retal should be completely axed for PvE enemies; or worse - never appear at all, so that this doesn’t happen again.

> @"Friday.7864" said:

> Myb having some bosses that are more vulnerable to condi while others have a resistance against it, in the same fractal.

> otherwise you just run through everything with one class all the time.

Content can encourage taking different professions, but it shouldn’t turn what you choose to play into a deadweight. Current fractal content is already limited in that condi is such a poor choice most of the time. But to make condi viable, you can’t just make power completely unviable. Some ppl have 0 interest in making and learning alts/alt sets, or swapping thru them, or would rather prefer to stay on their ‘main’ (including setup) for said content, because that’s what they’re actually good at/want to play.

For some professions, their condi counterpart is trash/impractical. Some power counterparts are trash/impractical.

Some professions lack tp skills; others, reflects.

This class is broken so everyone must play it.

This other class is trash so anyone who plays it immediately gets kicked.

All of this already apply to regular fracs, where certain class/builds/comps get an significant edge over others, why would we need to make this even more distinct (and then slap more rewards on to it, if it already saves time - also, difficulty)?

There’s also the option of just nerfing the things/strats/exploits that are making the content too ‘easy’, but I suspect backlash from the community as a result.

Ran thru map on reaper = faceroll

Ran thru map on mesmer (core btw): single enemies = faceroll, groups = slightly less faceroll but still kinda

Ran thru map on weaver = dying to retal and 0 telegraph detonate turrets (which randomly does more dmg than everything else which hit like wet noodles)

Upscale enemies = same deal except they got 3-4x more hp, leeroying into groups aren’t so worth anymore (but lol @ ele who already struggles on non-upscales)

dw, I already question why I take my ele into OW in the first place, so if you think it’s not hard enough, I’ll just stop running it at all :smile:

edit: retal is actually rare (but it exists somewhere) but also add in 0 telegraph whirlwind attack + turrets that hit harder than the mobs themselves