Chaos.7614

> @"lare.5129" said:

> > @"Svarty.8019" said:

> > The whales are trading in legendary weapons.

> ?? m coins needed ONLY for T2 leg weapons, but T2 is acc bound weapons ..

They trade in gen1 legendaries obviously... MCs are used for clovers, so they are linked in price.

> On T1 you not need any m coins, only 77 m clover that we get enough from wvw/pvp tracks and dayli logins.

Maybe for you. You need to wait almost a year for logins alone for 77 clovers, and playing PvE only means you either craft clovers directly or farm Drizzlewood for a long time. That means plenty of players use MCs for clover creation.

> > The mystic coin price is also affected because it's a store of value. Why hold gold? It's a garbage currency.

> "hold"? for that purpose? People who play not hold, they spend for many items.

We are entering a inflationary economy in which the value of materials is increasing with no comparable gold farms. That's why he says gold is garbage.

> > Supply of mystic coins is limited

> Supply of mystic coins is unlimited. Each day we have wave of dayli logins and drops from cms fractals ..

Extremely wrong. If we go by your logic, every material in the game is unlimited because you can farm it in some way over time. Supply is determined by how much is being provided on the TP; if it all gets bought out and everyone hoards, supply shrinks. Login rewards and CMs (which very few players do compared to total playerbase) are insufficient to meet demand. This is why that wall hasn't been taken down - the playerbase isn't generating enough MCs to offset demand and the barons aren't willing to sell because their store of value is propped up by that wall.

I wish I had more optimism, but this probably won't be fixed before EoD...

> @"SexyMofo.8923" said:

> 1 second to buy orders. Next question.

Technically correct, but extremely dumb to do. OP, don't do this.

Could we get the Fallen Balthazar outfit back into the statuettes within the next few rotations?

It'll probably get added to the vendor in EotN for defense seals once the event ends - you'll pay more, but it's a guaranteed way at least.

> @"Smoosh.2718" said:

> Another forum topic that is once again asking for the wrong weapon for warrior. Concept for the cannon would be kinda cool. But lets get real now.. Staff?! really now? As ive said in the many posts ive made about this. What will staff do that Greatsword, Longbow and Rifle doesnt already do?

>

> Ask yourself what is the warrior missing? Only one thing should come to mind, one handed ranged weapons! Low and behold, the pistol.

Or make dual focus and have them practice martial arts so strong their punches manipulate air, ez. kek

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said:

> A important thing I think we need to consider is the order of the upcoming missions. Assuming there is maybe only 3 new missions, it is possible the first two focus on Primordus minions and the last one is when Jormag minions attack.

>

> If I have to guess Mission 1 to 5 (the first 3 missions we have now + first 2 missions of the upcoming update) are probably the focus on Primordus army and once we defeat the Destroyer Wyvern boss in Mission 5 then mission 6 happens with Jormag attacking. She may see that both the Commander/Pact/Alliance and Primordus have been weakened from their conflict just enough for Jormag to now consider taking them all out at once during their weakened state.

I think you're on to something here, especially since Ryland's been described as an effective strategist. Would play into the theme Jormag has with deception too.

> Heck the fake Truce negotiations may have been Jormag's plan to set soldiers within major locations of each Kingdom where Destroyers have been sighted which could be the reason why the Son of Svanir got so close to Divinity's Reach. Trust was not needed to make this possible, only the threat of Destroyers and appearing as diplomats there to aid them against the Destroyers may have been enough for them to be allowed to get close to these locations. We should probably expect one of the upcoming missions in Part 3 to focus on the Frost Legion attack from within Rata Sum as well since Ryland already place agents within Rata Sum under the pretense of helping with protecting the City from Destroyers.

>

> If this is the case then Ryland may have been smart enough to sabotage key locations within Rata Sum. Worst case, Ryland's possible attack in Rata Sum may end up successful in killing alot of people and Taimi being among them considering how Taimi and many Asura are willing to let Ryland and his Frost Legion up close.

Another thing I've been thinking about is exactly how much of Primordus' strength he's using right now. These little skirmishes that he's been sending are little more than vanguards and I'm not sure how we'd deal with the might of his entire army, even if Jormag roused all its forces. It's also possible that he's got destroyers far stronger than the ones he's made recently; according to the wiki, destroyers are corrupted versions of living creatures - so what if he has inactive destroyers that mimic powerful creatures from ages past like the giants?

> @"Tsakhi.8124" said:

> I often read threads regarding people's personal grievances about Guild Wars 2. To me, it's kind of a 50/50 ratio as to what's really constructive and what is construed hyperbole. That being said, it really doesn't matter what I think about people's opinions; that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about the following questions:

>

> What would you do differently?

>

> So often I see threads about the game being too dark, not dark enough, poor storytelling, rushed content, and all things in between. My question is this. Where is the happy medium? Where is that balance of good storytelling and being able to keep the story in line with what MMORPG's entail? If you could rewrite the story, in what direction would you take it? What are your thoughts on _realistically_ personalizing the Guild Wars 2 experience?

It's a bit late, but I never liked the idea of having our character be the Pact commander and have such an instrumental piece to play in every single major event of the game. I think the story would've been much better if we were relegated to a lesser rank or assigned to a special team (like Dragon's Watch) BUT under a major character. Just my opinion, but having the story surround what we do makes the world smaller - I'd much rather tag along for the ride and watch major characters develop in more depth than ArenaNet has made them so far. It'd give us opportunities to make more meaningful connections with a small group - I really don't feel anything for the members of Dragon's Watch, but a squadmate that's been with me since the beginning of the personal story would be a great relationship.

> On the subject of "explicit" (for lack of a better word) content: Speaking from personal experience, I've played games that got into some deep, disturbing, subjects (children being sold into slavery for all kinds of reasons, sexual assault, suicide, genocide, and almost constant swearing) from the same game (I'm looking at you Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, thank you for being a game that made me pause and shut down for an hour because I didn't want to fight a broken person). Is that the kind of content that people seek? If so, chances are they won't see it here; what with the game being rated Teen here in the US. Well, at least in the first three instances, the genocide thing sort of was touched on. If this _isn't_ what people are looking for. Then how _dark_ do you want it, again, speaking in _realistic terms_.

Lots of carebears in the game wouldn't be able to handle it. We did see a literal nuke get dropped in one of the recent episodes, but there's really no need for excessive violence just for the sake of having it. If it adds to the story, sure - but if not, no need.

> How would you budget it?

> This game isn't made for free. With this in mind, how would you work within the creative confines? What changes would you make to the existing code _within realistic means_? How would you delegate tasks? If people were not performing well in their appointed department, would you change their station?

If EoD flops massively, either hand off GW2 to a studio that knows what they're doing or get rid of their current "leadership" - ArenaNet has talent but it's being mismanaged because they have no sense of direction with weak leadership. Allocate more resources to developers working on meaningful endgame content and allow players to "create" their own content. We've seen players deck out their guild halls with racing tracks, so something like this on a larger scale would provide more engagement than an entire season of Living World. If people can't perform, fire them. This is a business and if the entire ship goes down, everyone on board does - there's no need to sacrifice the entire game if a person can't pull their own weight.

> How would you handle Public Relations?

Hire a CM who's competent and not afraid to speak their mind. No need to have a carebear that asks meaningless drivel like "what's your favorite quaggan?"; stuff like that doesn't make games last. If ArenaNet wants to keep GW2 going, they need to listen to constructive criticism and communicate some approaches they can take to it.

> I think this speaks for itself. If not, let me know, because I've been known to be vague. (I'm working on it.)

>

> Finally, would you feel comfortable to be in the position to _make_ these decisions?

Well, we're all armchair warriors here who all believe that we'd do a better job. We have no idea of the inner workings of the company. The Game Director needs to be someone with strong organizational leadership skills, passion to see the game succeed, and the willingness to make hard decisions. If ArenaNet doesn't have anyone with those qualities willing to stand up, they need to find someone in the industry that does.

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said:

> The new Trailer is released and we a glimps into a bit of the reasons and mind set of Jormag's minions and beliefs. Along with a glimps of this war turning into a three way war.

>Jormag's minions are following the belief of preserving the world in Ice so it remains protected as was suspected in past discussions and ingame dialogue. It will preserve everything exactly the way they are forever in Ice but nothing will ever change for eternity. It is Jormag's ideal world where everything is protected and everything remains the same forever just like being frozen in Ice.

I never really bought into this being a three-way war; Jormag was never really on our side since it's idea of preserving the world is covering it in ice and having everything stagnate. Primordus is the polar opposite extreme of plunging everything into chaos and destroying everything until it consumes enough magic to sleep again. Obviously, neither are good endpoints for Tyria and we're just caught in the crossfire - they're both enemies in the end.

> What do you think about recent upcoming developments, where it may go, and why it may happen?

The "truce" we have with Jormag really only applies to when we engage in the more powerful and immediate threat of destroyers, so it's not a permanent peace - this means we're on a timer for figuring out how to stabilize the balance of magic when a dragon is destroyed. The nature of this fight means that one dragon or the other is going to die, or at least weaken and release large amounts of magic back into the world. I think that our journey to Cantha is going to be about finding a way to harness dragon energy and recirculate it, essentially finding replacements for the dragons. The EoD trailer said that "[mortals] built new lives upon the very thing that sought to end theirs", which I think is a reference to the Deep Sea Dragon.

It's a bit far-fetched, but I think that the Empire of the Dragon has found a way to control the Deep Sea Dragon/harness its energy/make it benevolent, and the reason they've been so isolationist aside from Zhaitan's rise is because they were waiting for the right time to take over the rest of Tyria and Elona. The rest of the world has had to deal with dragons rising and thus expend their energy opposing them, while the Empire of the Dragon continues to use the DSD's power to strengthen its military. This would hold a bit more weight if the rulers of Cantha have upheld Emperor Usoku's isolationist and Canthan supremacy philosophy.

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw our arrival in Cantha begin with a massive destroyer assault on the southern aspect of Cantha, using the chaos to infiltrate our way into Kaineng City and finding the exact mechanism of how the Empire is harnessing dragon energy so we could apply that to making beings capable of circulating magic on a large-scale.

> @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> Also i hope new expansion bring some decente legendary "flame" greatsword, its was should be balthazar one with big effects like Exordium(i have one), the Ascalonian Halowwen one and fallen Balthazar one are the coolest til now, the others are just a "big stick" designed for childs i guess.

Ha, you must've missed the latest [Vermillion Blaze Greatsword](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vermilion_Blaze_Greatsword_Skin)! It's pretty neat and almost legendary quality! Too bad it was locked behind BLC drops and now a time-gate until we can get it for statuettes...

The Torghast like content sounds like fun, but all developer made content will eventually dry up and become stale over time; if Anet really wants to introduce long-term content and give this game more longevity, they'll give players the ability to make content on their own by implementing a few new systems that enable player-driven content. Can you imagine if Cantha introduced some areas like mines that consistently produced materials and guilds could claim temporary rights over that mine if their repped guild members completed a certain number of events/tasks in the region? Wouldn't have to necessarily be this since they'd have to do some economic balancing in this scenario, but it'd give some more meaning to be in an active guild and make things a bit more interesting. I always loved the building aspect of guild halls, so expanding on that idea of player-generated content would be awesome.

> @"Yasai.3549" said:

> Too immobile.

> At least 1 mobility skill on Greatsword would be nice.

>

> Change GS 3 to be a gap closer instead.

> It's definitely gonna be wonky vs bosses which cannot be displaced any how, so either the skill is entirely borked when used against a Boss, or yu have to be in melee range anyway so a gap closer would be a much better option.

Not gonna lie, my intent with the design wasn't for it to be all that mobile outside of the aura skill granting swiftness. Instead of it being a class to easily gap-close, it's more of a class that won't let you live after making it to you, which I think allows gs 3 to fit the theme of the class. I drew on the idea for greatsword 3 from the old offhand sword 5 skill that pulled an enemy with you after being in melee range, although the greatsword skill wouldn't have a minimum range requirement. It obviously won't work on anything with a breakbar or something you can't normally CC, but it can still pull players in competitive to beat them down.

> @"draxynnic.3719" said:

First off, thanks for the post - lots of good points in here.

> First response: Oh, it's another "find an excuse for greatsword" proposal.

People keep thinking this but it's not a matter of wanting greatsword and building a spec around it; it's building a spec geared toward the pDPS niche we lack and finding an appropriate weapon which I believe is the greatsword for reasons given above.

> Second response: Inspired by berserker? Isn't half the point of revenant to find concepts that don't fit nicely into other professions?

There's a few things we can discuss here - the first being lore. When I was thinking about an appropriate figure for the next legend, Usoku seemed like a good choice since he was an influencial figure in Canthan history and Canthan revenants (if they exist canonically) would probably draw power from something in Canthan history. From what I pieced together from the wiki, he was the one that waged war against the Luxons and Kurzicks to bring them back into a united Cantha, so definitely not someone who'd derive power from a scepter or his heritage as previous comments in this thread suggested.

Elite specs don't have to completely re-invent the wheel, only patch up weaknesses and find new niches. The part of the berserker theme I like most is that it offers a clear trade off of dealing more damage for taking increased damage: "killing the enemy at all costs". Gameplay-wise, the support bannerslave seems to dominate in endgame over DPS berserker, but the theme still feels nice. Applying that to revenant while reducing the supportive potential would be great - which I noticed you addressed.

> Third response: I'm really not fond of the "locked into one legend" concept. The whole point of revenant is legendswapping, just like elementalists have their attunements (and you'll note that while elementalist elites modify how attunement works, the base system remains intact). I'm presuming that part of the idea is that you still choose two 'conquered' legends and can swap between them, but even so, you're giving up the main advantage of the revenant (having two utility skillbars to draw from) while retaining one of the main drawbacks of revenant (having to choose your utilities in blocks of five, rather than being able to pick the ones that are going to give you the most benefit for the situation you expect to go into). From a balance perspective, it'd make the specialisation very predictable - as soon as you see that an enemy player is running this in PvP, you'd have a pretty good idea of what you're going to be facing. On a personal level... if this was introduced, the only way I could see myself playing this is if it was so ridiculously overpowered that I felt like I _had_ to, and I don't think that's a balance state that would persist for very long. If I wanted to play a revenant without legend swapping, I'd play Guardian.

I'll admit I didn't have a legend-swapping aspect built into the conquered mechanic, but having one would be better than just swapping out of combat. Legend-swapping is definitely important for all prior specs but this would offer a different playstyle where you're not concerned with legend-swapping to regain energy and use different skills; instead, you'll use skills as they come up and using Conqueror's Legacy off-CD so you can keep that DPS going. The lack of skills is more of an issue for competitive, which is why I didn't flesh it out as much as I should've. I think a good compromise would be to alter the skills to change their functionality even more than what I have here e.g. for the auto chain, there's not really much difference except for boons. A more drastic change could be to alter damage coefficients, base animation speed, or have drastically diverging skill differences e.g. Emperor's Dominion would summon 6 greatswords to impale an enemy while in Shiro, but would call forth temporary demonic summons while in Mallyx. That would be a LOT of work for Anet though; however, I'd like to justify the effort given that our last spec's 6-10 skills were just having 5 summons that probably took less than a month to come up with the idea for...

> Which segways somewhat into my fourth response on looking at the actual skills:

> There's certainly a valid point that revenant could use a selfish DPS-oriented specialisation. Dragon Stance is effectively a support stance that has generally become accepted as being underwhelming support, and gained a second life as a self-buffing tanky DPS stance, but that's not a stance suitable for high-end PvE. Renegade Stance is a second take at a support stance that actually _worked,_ mostly because of alacrity, the lifesteal spirit, and having the potential to bring in additional support effects from a core legend.

Yep, no disagreements here. I've mentioned many times that once we finally have 3 specs per profession, it's long overdue for Anet to go back and rebalance prior specs on a drastic scale. Power creep has made support herald irrelevant and I'd love to have other specs besides chronomancer and renegade to reliably provide alacrity so I'm not stuck on it all the time in groups.

> What you've made, though... would likely be treated as another support stance by the balance team, after a few passes if not at release. I'm not going to call out the numbers since you're not trying to finely balance it here, but Emperor's Command is two of the strongest anti-disruption boons in the game, not just to you but to your allies. That's a pretty strong support before we even consider the other two boons or the conquered legend effect. Emperor's Divide is essentially a short-duration Shelter. The balance team is probably not going to allow you to have top-tier DPS while packing that sort of support on your bar. Granted, for high-end PvE purposes, it's not quickness, alacrity, or stacking 25 might on a raid squad on your own, but you'd probably end up being balanced as being closer to a renegade or a non-quickness firebrand than a pure DPS build.

I sure hope they wouldn't! Let's break it down though and I'll run through each skill:

6. Emperor's Resolve - Pretty sure the heal is ok as is, nothing game-breaking about it. Maybe offer it some more offensive potential e.g. give it something akin to Guardian's Litany of Wrath as a base skill and modify that according to conquered legend.

7. Emperor's Command - I can see how it would be busted in a competitive environment. We could definitely remove at least one of those anti-disruption boons, maybe a few others, and give it a base functionality of increasing self+ally damage by a percentage. Looking at it from a PvE endgame scenario, unique buffs are a strong draw for people to pick up those specs for encounters.

8. Emperor's Resourcefulness - I don't think there's much issue with having a toggle skill that empowers oneself, seeing as every single stance has one upkeep skill. Numbers and functionality depending on conquered legend can change, but at a fundamental level it should be something that a Tyrant almost always has on for some extra DPS.

9. Emperor's Divide - This idea came from a lore standpoint with Usoku closing off Cantha and I did draw on some inspiration from Sanctuary for it. To make it a more selfish spec, I think a good alternative would be to limit the reflect to oneself through a magnetic aura and an AoE knockback.

10. Emperor's Dominion - Reading a few other forum threads made me realize how some elite skills don't really feel like game-changing abilities, especially for revenant in a PvE standpoint. The only reason I'd use elites on Shiro or Jalis is to spend energy for a swap when I have too much energy. These skills shouldn't be spammed or tossed away for energy, which is why I designed this skill to be a high CD and high impact one. Can always change the functionality based on what I described earlier with Shiro vs Mallyx and just apply that to the rest of the legends. It could even be changed to an AoE skill rather than a targeted one, since my new ideas for a targeted Ventari/Jalis-conquered version don't seem that good in my head.

> This'd be even more the case in competitive environments, where stability, resistance, projectile block, and area denial are all powerful capabilities.

Again, I'm not a competitive player so I'll defer to people who main those game modes. Really good points though - I enjoyed writing this up.

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> I'm definitely a PvE player.

Ok, that makes things a bit clearer. Do you dabble in any endgame or just open world? My focus is more PvE endgame than anything else, since you can get by on anything with OW.

> Greatswords simply look stupid on any profession that has it so far.

>The Mists theme of Revenant will do nothing but add to the silliness of that weapon type.

Respectfully gonna disagree and discount this portion of the argument since it's just a fashion opinion and not a gameplay one. I think shortbow looks dumb, but at least it added to the control/condi niche of the class.

> That aside, I don't see what a Greatsword could possibly bring to Revenant, that already exists:

Well sure, you can argue that all classes have at least one support and at least one DPS spec, but that doesn't mean they do it well. The point of elite specs is to round out a class and patch up weaknesses in the core class.

> For a melee ~~ranged~~ power-based weapons we already have Swords, which also hit multiple enemies.

Either spec is low pDPS, especially in a raid/fractal setting. The burst damage is pretty bad and the sustained benchmark just barely hits 34k.

> For condi, we already have Mace/Axe.

Yep. No complaints with the condi we have.

> For a defense/support hybrid weapon, we already have Staff.

Staff's not really good for anything other than the 5 skill for CC in PvE. I'd argue it's more of a CC weapon at this point.

> For ranged power-based AoE damage, Hammer is available. For the condition variant, we have Shortbow.

Yep.

> All that's missing are a long range single-target weapon or a CC-heavy weapon.

Hammer is a long range weapon that has decent single-target. The autos + skill 2 do decent damage if you're sitting in range, but the game is balanced around melee - especially in instanced content. Kalla is a heavy CC spec - Darkrazor and shortbow 4/5 are pretty good for breakbars, but you see staff used since it's even better.

> I doubt that Arenanet will add another ranged Greatsword, as that'd remove the uniqueness of Mesmer's Greatsword.

Agreed, not too fond of a traditionally-melee ranged weapon. Gameplay-wise, long range weapons aren't needed in endgame.

> And unless Revenants that slapping enemies with the flat side of the Greatsword, which would add even more to the silliness of that weapon type, a Greatsword would be fit for CC.

I posted in another thread, but the weapon largely dictates the intent of the spec. We've seen nothing except pDPS berserker based builds work with greatswords since the weapon is associated with DPS. The niche that revenant is missing IS a pDPS spec. Every single spec released so far does not give a good number of skills or modifiers for pDPS to actually contribute in a fractal/raid setting over other classes. Even Shiro, which was intended for us to use a pDPS, has skills that are irrelevant in a PvE setting. No need to teleport to enemies when they're already in front of you; no need to dodge backwards with a massive energy cost if you know how to use your regular dodge button, and no need for the elite unless your supports and bannerslave have no idea what they're doing.

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > @"Loules.8601" said:

> > We need greatsword more than anything

>

> Who is "we"?

> Define "need"

> Clearly not the entire Revenant player base.

>

> As a Revenant main, Greatsword is the **last** weapon I want.

>

> > soldier class without one of the most loved weapon-types...

> Not all soldiers need the unwieldy Greatchunk.

I think we're not approaching the spec with the same idea in mind - I'm going to assume Loules is primarily a PvE player as am I, but it appears you are more of a PvP player? I'm not too well versed in the PvP aspect of rev, but I imagine a lack of a medium range pDPS is your concern? Or is it just the overall flavor of gs that you dislike?

> @"Kichwas.7152" said:

> > @"Vasdamas Anklast.1607" said:

> > > @"Justine.6351" said:

> > > Rofl another greatsword thread !

> > >

> > > >! Knighthonor would be proud.

> >

> > I don't like Knighthonor guy but is wishing GS as new power weapon for revenant a bad thing? We got shortbow last time local hipster revenant society begged for ranged condi weapon.

> > Any VIABLE VARIETY would be really good.

> >

>

> If the game gets YET ANOTHER greatsword... because you know, that's such a rare weapon option... it should be condition or support structured. At present there is really no use for any greatsword that doesn't have berserker stats in pretty much any gameplay... At the most you could instead go soldiers for a 'training wheels still required' new player... but... really...

> - For a weapon that is so overused, it seriously lacks variety...

>

> Give me Greatsword as a support offhand designed to work best with harrier gear. Then I won't roll my eyes at yet another greatsword...

You're right that greatswords have pretty much the same niche in all classes in being a berserker power dps weapon, but I think that's the niche that needs to be filled with the revenant right now. Elite specs are designed to offer a different type of playstyle that prior specs/core do not explore adequately. Revenant already has enough support built into the two elite specs we have.

They're probably going to save it for the expansion in all honesty. Really hope that they recognize herald needs love in PvE as a support and renegade should just be relegated to condi and control.

inb4 they haven't started on designing them and are just waiting for people to post their ideas on the forums so they can use them B)

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> If we were channel the Mists' memories of a ruling monarch, wouldn't make Sceptre more sense than Greatchunk?

>

> It's more in depth than most other Revenant Greatchunk threads (that I've read), but it still feels like nothing more than _a spec for the sake of the Greatchunk._

Maybe, but the idea of a scepter holding royal authority is too passive for a figure like Usoku. I'm also not the biggest fan of giving a class starved for skills a weapon that would only give 3 compared to 5. The only way I can see scepter working is if they introduce legend-specific effects on a scepter mainhand skills and retroactively apply that to offhands, since we only have 2 offhand weapons.

The way I see it, greatsword is really the most favorable weapon to add not only in terms of practicality but in terms of popularity. From what I've seen, everyone who wants scepter for our next spec also wants a Ritualist spec, which is already done with Kalla.

> 1- What do you expect from EoD, in general?

I've learned to keep expectations low so I can never be disappointed, but I do think ArenaNet will knock this expansion out of the park and it'll be the best one yet.

> 2- What date do you think EoD will be launched? and why do you think that?

Anytime from September 24th, 2021 to October 29th, 2021. It puts the release timeframe in Q4 and most likely on a Friday seeing as both HoT and PoF were released on a Friday.

> 3- What kind of content or PvP or MvM system do you think they will add or what you would like to see?

Probably some new PvP maps and a WvW map. Would be cool to get a WvW update with alliances and a GvG arena as well.

> 4- Do you think there are water fights? (It depends if your answer is yes or no comment why you think that)

Like underwater combat? Probably, considering that the DSD is most likely the dragon we're going to encounter in Cantha. I can't see it being well received unless it's a small amount of underwater combat or they do an underwater combat overhaul though.

> 5- Will there be new kinds of mounts?

I doubt it; that was a PoF and LS4 thing. I'd rather they introduce some new gimmick instead.

> 6- Will there be new functions of the mounts that already exist? (example: what they added to dive with the stingray, but in this case with the others)

Also doubt it - what more really needs to be done with them? They're versatile enough with the skills they have.

> 7- Will there be new specializations? (answer because you believe that)

Yes, absolutely. New classes would be too much work for not enough reward and no elite specs would generate a huge shit storm.

> 8- What kind of specializations would you like to see?

I really only play revenant so I don't care what other classes get and I'm not going to comment on those classes. Only thing I can say is that ArenaNet should round out the damage/control/support trinity they've made with elite specs. In this case, rev needs a strong power DPS spec. During/after this expansion launches, the devs can start rebalancing the other classes to reduce power creep or bring underperforming specs (like herald support) up to par.

> 9- Will there be clan halls?

Definitely a new guild hall, yeah.

> 10- Will there be new improvements for the room? (It depends on your answer, comment why and if positive, comment which ones)

Not sure what you mean by this, but if you mean guild halls then it'd be a nice addition. They probably don't want GHs replacing hubs like mistlock though.

> 11- New crafts? (It depends on your answer, comment why and if positive, comment which ones)

No new crafting professions, but they might bring the remaining ones up to 500.

> 12- Do you think they add or improve the crafts we have? (comment why)

See 11.

> 13- What kind of armor sets would you like or think you can see? (be it for crafts, karma, even new cultures or etc.)

GW1 armor sets from Cantha would be great. Tbh though, I'd rather they go back in and retexture some of the old armor sets before adding too many new ones in. You can see that a lot of them haven't aged well.

> 14- Will there be new raids, fractals, attack missions or dungeons?

Raids no, fractals no (only Sunqua Peak next week), strikes unlikely, and dungeons probably not.

> 15- What kind of events would you like to see? (example Tequatl, the Shatter, similar to that)

Taking control of parts of Kaineng City or storming the Deep would be cool. I'd hope they add in something more interesting than more metas though. Elite specs can only keep the game new for so long. A long-term new type of instanced content like what WoW is getting with Torghast would be amazing. They'd have to introduce some really nice rewards to keep people incentivized though.

> 16- How do you think the story will turn?

I think we'll actually be dealing with both the DSD and Jormag. As of now, Jormag doesn't seem bent on mindlessly controlling everything or destroying Tyria, so I'm guessing that we're gearing up for a different approach to the magic/dragon problem. We might actually work with the DSD and Jormag to face a different threat or solve the magic problem on our own. Killing dragons over and over is a bit cliche since we've already done it three times over. Something involving the Empire of Dragons would be more interesting imo. Maybe Canthan royalty are dragon minions?

> 17- What would you expect from Cantha?

Broad question...

> 18- If we go to Cantha, do you think we will pass or see the War Islands? or are they mentioned?

The Battle Isles? They sunk iirc.

> 19- Who do you think was the voice of the trailer with whom Kuunavang spoke?

We know it was a new character and their tone doesn't seem hostile to mortals - even some of the words imply that she/it is not an Elder Dragon: "those who face eternity easily forget...". But, it could be anyone. DSD, new replacement for Balthazar, some minor NPC, etc.

> 20- What role do you suppose Kuunavang plays in the story?

Just a guiding role. Don't think she'll be a fighter until maybe towards the end.

> 21- What places would you like to visit or see again in Cantha? and because?

Didn't finish Factions but Kaineng City, Shing Jea Island, Echovald Forest, and the Jade Sea are the big 4 we'll probably see again. Would be interesting to explore the bottom part of Cantha too, since it's uncharted territory.

> 22- Do you think we will see the Jade Sea and the Ecvoland Forest in their natural state? (before the Jade Wind)

That would imply we go into the past or manipulate the Mists somehow, so probably not.

> 23- Will there be new races and species? (I do NOT mean playable races, I mean new races or species such as the Longs or quaggans)

Ones that we haven't seen in GW2? Yeah, the ones we found in GW1. Probably nothing new though.

> 24- If your answer to the previous question is YES, what kind of race or species would you like to see? (be creative)

See above.

> 25- What do you think happened to the Nagas, Yetis, Guardians and other species that inhabited Cantha?

Usoku might have purged them too, so 50/50 if they're still there or not.

> 24- What new function or new thing do you think it would be possible to add that is not in GW2? (example: mounts as in PoF, or gliders in HoT)

Both new gimmicks helped navigate their respective expansion, so something along those lines.

> 25- Do you think that in EoD we will fight with the Sea Dragon or what kind of threat we could face?

See 16.

> 26- Will we see a Lunar New Year in Cantha or do you think it will not happen? (comment why)

They had it in GW1 didn't they? I see no reason for this to change.

> 27- Do you think there are new main characters? (apart from Braham, Kasmeer and the others)

Yeah, but we won't meet them until we hit Cantha or they come to us first.

> 28- If your previous answer was yes, what kind of character or main would you like to see?

Depends on the story. I'm not interested in adding more characters who serve no purpose.

> 29- Will we see the Tengu and their city?

Tengu were expelled from the empire, so not many.

Edit: Made some changes that some commenters below suggested and then fleshed out the skills a bit! New skill stuff and commentary is bolded. Feel free to comment on those changes too.

Hi all, I know there’s a lot of discussion about our next elite spec but I wanted to make a separate thread for what I believe is a unique twist on an already existing profession gimmick. Moving forward we should have a bit of context – elite specs were meant to provide alternative ways of playing classes with clear advantages over other specs. We’ve seen core specs largely become outclassed by their elite specs which is unfortunate but practical seeing as ArenaNet has to sell expansions and elite specs are a big draw of that. Additionally, elite specs generally fall into one of three categories: support, control, and damage. I think you can make a strong argument that herald was meant to be our support spec and renegade our control spec (whether or not they do their job well is a whole different story), leaving a damage spec open. With a new dps spec, ArenaNet could go back and rebalance the other elite specs, making them more relevant to the current meta and reducing power creep. The following elite spec idea I’ve put together is largely one built on making revenants feel like an unstoppable force, focused on keeping the bulk of their power focused on themselves as opposed to the herald and renegade. I drew heavily on berserker for inspiration, since it feels like a more physical contrast to the spirit-based spec we got with renegade. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

**Revenant Elite Spec: Tyrant**

Legendary Ruler Stance - Emperor Usoku

Weapon: Greatsword

Description: The 32nd emperor of Cantha, Usoku, returns to influence the kingdom he restored through fierce warfare and unyielding policy. Tyrants fight with a greatsword, cleaving down enemies with mist-imbued strikes.

Profession mechanic: Tyranny

Tyrants are locked to exclusive use of the Legendary Ruler stance. However, players may choose two core stances to conquer, influencing Legendary Ruler skills and greatsword skills. Ancient Echo persists into the elite spec as Conqueror's Legacy, now granting 50 energy but giving no legend-specific effects. **Legend-swap will not restore energy and is on a 10-second cooldown.**

UI color scheme: Dark gray/black. Animated flames/mist above the skill bar tinged with conquered legend's color scheme (e.g. green for Shiro, purple for Mallyx, blue for Jalis, yellow for Ventari)

General theme: This spec should evoke the image of an unyielding and indomitable figure, relentlessly crushing all in their way. Legend skills are restricted to Legendary Ruler skills, but choices are still meaningful by choosing a situationally-dependent conquered legend. ~~Conquered Shiro is the aggressive pDPS option, Conquered Jalis the defensive tank, Conquered Mallyx a pseudosupport cDPS (though the original intent is for this class to primarily be a pDPS), and Conquered Ventari a support (same intent, but if people can make it work, the option should be there for them).~~ **To remove some of the more supportive aspects of the specialization, things have changed to be much more selfish and designed almost exclusively to be damage-oriented with only slight twists based on legend. For example, Ventari is no longer a pure support theme and is replaced with more self-healing/lifesteal based on skill usage.** The spec is designed mainly for PvE to be melee, high pDPS with active involvement and careful skill usage, but with utility for PvP/WvW players. Numbers all around can be tweaked and I didn’t put in any base damage since I’m not an expert in game balance. I decided to make skills contain different effects based on the conquered legend since the trident was well received as being unique with different effects based on the channeled legend. Names can also be changed.

**Greatsword skills:**

1. Swift Arc (0.5s) - Chain. Slash your foe. *3 foes.*

1a. Side Slice (0.5s) - Chain. Slash your foe again. *3 foes.*

1b. Deadly Sunder (0.5s) - Strike your foe with a heavy transverse slash. *3 foes.*

Conquered Shiro: Auto chain ~~grants might~~**completes 50% faster**.

Conquered Jalis: Auto chain ~~grants stability~~**deals 5% more damage if you've taken damage within the past 3 seconds**.

Conquered Mallyx: Auto chain ~~grants resistance~~**deals 5% more damage if foe is afflicted by a condition**.

Conquered Ventari: Auto chain ~~grants regeneration~~**grants 50hp/attack**.

2. Mist Divider (1s, 6s cd, 10 energy) - Raise your blade overhead and bring it down, rending enemies in front of you with mist energy. *5 foes.*

Conquered Shiro: ~~Deals more damage to foes with <50% hp.~~**Skill completes 50% faster**.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Deals more damage to foes with >50% hp.~~**Skill reduces target's toughness by 10% for 5 seconds**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Deals more damage to foes with 3+ conditions.~~**Skill creates a rift echo that closes after 1 second for extra damage**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Deals more damage to foes that have recently cast skills.~~**Skill heals for 50% of the damage done**.

3. Forceful Impale (0.5s, 12s cd, 15 energy) - Command mist energy to teleport your enemy to you, impaling their body upon your blade. Inflicts 3s cripple and weakness. *1 foe.*

Conquered Shiro: ~~Increase damage of skill.~~ **Skill marks the target for 5% additional damage for 5s**.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Increase range of skill.~~ **Skill marks the target to deal 5% less damage to you for 5s**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Additionally inflict 3s torment and burning.~~ **Skill also applies 3s torment, 3s burning, and 1s of chill.**

Conquered Ventari: ~~Lower energy cost to 5 energy.~~ **Skill marks the target for additional lifesteal on autoattacks for 5s**.

4. Deathly Waves (2s, 15s, 10 energy) - Send four waves of mist energy at your enemy, each dealing increased damage for number of projectiles hit. *5 foes.*

Conquered Shiro: ~~Lifesteal 50% of damage dealt by this skill.~~ **Skill sends six waves of mist energy and completes 50% faster**.

Conquered Jalis: Gain 5% damage reduction for each target hit.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Increase number of targets to 10.~~ **Skill damage increases by 50%**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Enemies hit by at least 2 projectiles cannot cast skills for 2 seconds.~~ **Lifesteal 50% of the damage dealt by this skill.**

5. Painful Passage (1.5s, 20s, 20 energy) - Create a portal to the mists lasting 5 seconds, damaging enemies caught in the AoE. *5 foes.*

Conquered Shiro: ~~Damage is increased if only one foe is inside.~~ **Skill increases damage by 100% if enemy is <50% health**.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Inflict weakness on all foes hit.~~ **Foes are slowed if crossing the edge of the portal**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Also inflict enemies with torment, burning, and bleeding.~~ **Increase the size of the AoE and increase number of targets to 10 foes**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Gain barrier for each enemy hit.~~ **Lifesteal 50% of the damage dealt by this skill.**

**Legendary Ruler skills:**

6. Emperor's Resolve (1s, 15s cd, 10 energy) - Heal.

Conquered Shiro: ~~Your next three auto attacks are 50% faster.~~ **Your damage increases by 10% for the next 5 seconds**.

Conquered Jalis: Gain 15% damage reduction for 5 seconds.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Transfer 3 conditions to a nearby foe.~~ **Gain 15% increased damage for the next 5 seconds if afflicted by 3 or more conditions**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Heal nearby allies for a lesser amount.~~ **You recover an additional 50% of the damage you deal as hp for the next 5 seconds**.

7. ~~Emperor's Command (instant, 20s cd, 20 energy) - Gain a mobile AoE around yourself that pulses stability, swiftness, regeneration, and resistance for 5 seconds. *5 allies.*~~

**Emperor's Contempt (instant, 15s cd, 15 energy) - Lash out and hit nearby foes within a nearby radius, gaining stability, resistance, and fury for each enemy struck. *5 foes.***

Conquered Shiro: ~~Instead of swiftness, grant superspeed.~~ **Skill cannot be blocked**.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Also grant 10% damage reduction to allies.~~ **Skill restores 50 endurance and grants vigor**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Absorb conditions from your allies.~~ **Skill steals 1 random boon and 1 random condition from each target**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Heal allies after skill ends.~~ **Skill self-heals and grants regeneration**.

8. Emperor's **Cunning** (instant, 5s cd, -10 energy/second) - Imbue yourself with mist energy. *Toggle.* **Skill does not untoggle when swapping stances.**

Conquered Shiro: ~~Gain 20% increased physical damage.~~ **Gain 20% increased damage.**

Conquered Jalis: ~~Gain 10% damage reduction.~~ **Gain 20% reduced damage from projectiles and 15% reduced damage from melee attacks**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Gain 10% increased condition damage.~~ **Intensify the effect of conditions on all targets within an AoE: 20% for self and 40% for enemies**. *5 foes*.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Gain 20% increased healing power.~~ **Health gained over the cap from Tyrant and greatsword skills is converted to barrier**.

8a. Emperor's Fatigue (instant) - Untoggle Emperor's **Cunning**.

9. Emperor's Divide (instant, 20s cd, 20 energy) - ~~Create an unpassable sphere around yourself that blocks all projectiles for 3 seconds.~~ **Knockback foes around yourself**. *5 foes.*

Conquered Shiro: ~~Projectiles are now reflected to enemies.~~ **Damage all foes hit**.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Enemies inside the sphere are pushed outside of it.~~ **Grant magnetic aura for 3s**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Enemies inside the sphere are blinded.~~ **Enemies hit are blinded for 2s**.

Conquered Ventari: ~~Heal yourself and nearby allies for each projectile blocked.~~ **Heal yourself for each enemy hit**.

10. Emperor's Dominion (1.5s, **45**s cd, **50** energy) - Mark an area with mist energy, ~~summoning 4 greatswords of mist energy to impale them after 1.5s. Foe takes 20% increased damage from all sources for the next 10 seconds.~~ bending the conquered legend's power to the will of Usoku.

Conquered Shiro: ~~Summon 6 greatswords instead of 4.~~ **Skill summons six greatswords to impale the area after channeling for massive damage. Target cannot block this skill; blocks decrease this skill's damage by 50%**. *5 foes*.

Conquered Jalis: ~~Also take 20% reduced damage from targeted foe for the next 10 seconds.~~ **A massive hammer descends on the area, damaging enemies and granting you 20% damage reduction for the next 5 seconds**.

Conquered Mallyx: ~~Target also deals 10% reduced damage for the next 10 seconds.~~ **Skill summons two demonic servants to attack for 10 seconds, prioritizing the Tyrant's current target.** *1 foe each.*

Conquered Ventari: ~~Damaging the target grants allies healing and barrier.~~ **A hail of arrows rains down on the area for 5s, crippling enemies and applying lifesteal while healing you and applying regeneration**.

**Traitline skills:**

Minor Proficiency: Greatsword Proficiency - You can wield greatswords.

Minor Adept: Tyranny - Gain access to Legendary Ruler stance, losing the ability to channel core legends but allowing them to be conquered. Ancient Echo is replaced by Conqueror's Legacy, restoring 50 energy but losing legend-specific effects.

Major adept 1: Mist Restoration - Conqueror's Legacy restores 75 energy.

Major adept 2: Unchained Fighter - Conqueror's Legacy breaks stun and grants stability.

Major adept 3: Invigorating Carnage - Killing an enemy restores 10 energy (ICD: 5s).

Minor master: Simple Strikes - Basic attacks from weapons grant 5 energy upon successful hit.

Major master 1: On the Warpath - Gain 10% increased damage while energy is above 25.

Major master 2: Emperor's Calculation - ~~Convert 10% of your lowest stat power into your highest stat ferocity.~~ **Grant 10% of your power as ferocity.**

Major master 3: Sharpened Blade - Every 7 seconds your next ~~attack~~**skill** deals 50% increased damage.

Minor grandmaster: Tithe of the Conquered - Conqueror's Legacy grants ~~a stat bonus for 10 seconds depending on which secondary legend is conquered (Shiro - 200 power, Jalis - 200 vitality, Mallyx - 200 condition damage, Ventari - 200 healing power)~~ **200 power for 10 seconds when used**.

Major grandmaster 1: Bloody Victor - Deal 20% increased damage with greatsword skills.

Major grandmaster 2: Into the Fray - Increase your damage by 5% for every nearby enemy (caps at 30%).

Major grandmaster 3: Unyielding - Gain all boons, cleanse all conditions, and heal for 50% hp when your health falls below 10% (ICD: 60s).

I know ArenaNet probably won’t see this, but I thought it would be a unique idea that provides a new way to play the class. I chose Usoku over Togo since I see spirits as way too similar to Kalla. You could make an argument for another aggressive non-Canthan legend to have a setup like this, but Usoku seemed a prime candidate for the Cantha expansion and tyrannical theme. As for greatsword, one big issue with revenant is that we do not have many weapons and skills to choose from, which is why I’m skeptical for a scepter. It also seems like a large portion of revenant players are hoping for greatsword, which would definitely promote popularity for our class and the expansion as a whole. Apologies if something like this has already popped up on the forum, but I couldn’t see any from what I looked at. Any feedback is welcome!

> @"aimz.6287" said:

> > @"Chaos.7614" said:

> > > @"aimz.6287" said:

> > > > @"Chaos.7614" said:

> > > > > @"aimz.6287" said:

> > > > > > @"Ertrak.9506" said:

> > > > > > @OP what's your rotation on golem? Are you using the new glint skills?

> > > > >

> > > > > A qt guy got like 34k supposedly and for me personally I’ve gotten 33 the rotation is ez you use facet of nature and impossible odds and auto attack it’s the easier of the builds we play in rev and you use the third trait in herald grand master. Very very strong strongest power build rev ever had

> > > >

> > > > Do you have a link to a vid for the benchmark?

> > >

> > > This is what I heard from people who know qt members so I can’t help you

> >

> > Ah, I see; are you testing on small with full berserker asc+realistic buffs+food/util+infusions? I assume the build is something like Devastation 2-3-1, Retribution 2-1-3, Herald 1-3-3?

>

> Retribution kitten? Lol naaaaah. Use invo. And use 2-1-2. And ummm yea the rest is correct

Oops, I meant invocation; wasn't all that focused xd

> @"aimz.6287" said:

> > @"Chaos.7614" said:

> > > @"aimz.6287" said:

> > > > @"Ertrak.9506" said:

> > > > @OP what's your rotation on golem? Are you using the new glint skills?

> > >

> > > A qt guy got like 34k supposedly and for me personally I’ve gotten 33 the rotation is ez you use facet of nature and impossible odds and auto attack it’s the easier of the builds we play in rev and you use the third trait in herald grand master. Very very strong strongest power build rev ever had

> >

> > Do you have a link to a vid for the benchmark?

>

> This is what I heard from people who know qt members so I can’t help you

Ah, I see; are you testing on small with full berserker asc+realistic buffs+food/util+infusions? I assume the build is something like Devastation 2-3-1, Retribution 2-1-3, Herald 1-3-3?

> @"aimz.6287" said:

> > @"Ertrak.9506" said:

> > @OP what's your rotation on golem? Are you using the new glint skills?

>

> A qt guy got like 34k supposedly and for me personally I’ve gotten 33 the rotation is ez you use facet of nature and impossible odds and auto attack it’s the easier of the builds we play in rev and you use the third trait in herald grand master. Very very strong strongest power build rev ever had

Do you have a link to a vid for the benchmark?