so i came up with an obnoxiously powerful elite spec they won't use

[Kaizersan.6581]

called "destroyer"

way back in the day my friend and i played a game called baldur's gate dark alliance two. it let you dual wield two handed weapons as the barbarian. he mentioned after i got him into gw2 recently that he wished that great axes were an option, and that he could dual wield two handed weapons in gw2. that will tell you absolutely everything you need to know about the viability of this idea as a balanced specialization. the idea tickled me too much to just stew in forever so i'm venting this garbage on this particular forum. i hope this is amusing if nothing else.

 

idea: destroyers beseech spirits to help them in combat.

 

they lose burst skills. they gain a new ability: the ability to have a second weapon skill bar mapped to the f keys for a limited time, a duplicate of the skills they currently have on their weapon bar.

 

beseeching spirits sounds more like a guardian or necromancer thing than a warrior thing, so why have you chosen warriors to get this? because warriors have probably the best weapon skills in the game, imo.

 

pros: holy crap, this is the best worst idea I've ever had. with great-sword alone a warrior would be mobile as all hell and have exceptional dps against stationary targets, bows would give them aoe par excellence, and hammers and maces would make them cc monsters. a second skill bar would give them a higher skill ceiling too.

 

cons: the downsides to this would have to be absolutely catastrophic. they'd have to make you lose something a lot more important than burst skills to balance this in any meaningful way, a second skill bar isn't going to make it difficult enough.

 

traits: honestly i'd make traits force you to have specific downsides. offerings to the spirits in the form of their health, durability, their damage, their cool downs being lengthened, in exchange for having the adrenaline cost not take several full minutes of fighting. this would make players choose their own downsides, but would make balancing this ridiculous beast even more complex.

 

ideas for downsides:

longer weapon cooldowns, even when not in dual bar mode.

a reduction to health (warriors have a lot of regeneration and armor as well as being tied with necromancers for having the most health, and would make playing this spec harder)

special debuffs activate at the end of dual bar mode, anything from pulsing weakness and vulnerability to just straight up irresistible damage over time

losing access to some types of weapon equipping while this spec is active, even when not in dual bar mode

just straight up reducing types of stats

 

is it even possible to make this balanced in any meaningful way? I'm thinking "not likely"

 

i hope this amused you. please keep in mind this is not a serious suggestion before making a response.

[Dadnir.5038]

The most important thing is how you see this work with core trait that are specific to "burst", because it's not very clear from what you say.

[Kaizersan.6581]

talked it over with others. if we were to change it so that you have 5 burst points (or bars or whatever) and made it so that you had access to five totally new burst skills with their own variable cooldowns, it could be a lot more easily balanced, as you'd just be changing the new skill rather than worrying about a warrior escaping from battle easier than thieves thanks to having double greatsword mobility, or that dps issue i mentioned.

 

maybe the big downside could be losing your other weapon. you could only get one spirit of warriors past to help out, he only knows one type of fighting style, greatsword. or mace and shield. or whatever. you're losing versatility. goodbye axe and offhand in your other slot.

 

hey, the warrior could have studied ritualist magic! it kind of works with lore!

 

_shoot, i guess this is serious now._