Racial/Cultural skills rebalance

[LucianDK.8615]

Eye of the North was terrible in terms of those pve skills.

[Cyninja.2954]

> @"Tekoneiric.6817" said:

> I've always thought one thing that would be amusing with the Norn snow wurm became wild attacking anything instead of it dying on it's own if not killed. I know it wouldn't happen because of the trolling that would happen. It's still an amusing thought.

 

Tek, don't misunderstand this. Most veterans have had this discussion or thought process in the past. It's not that most of us dislike the idea (unless it breaks race balance to which I'm sure many would object). It's simply that knowing how much work goes into balance already (and this is not going to get less once the 3rd elite specialization hits with the next expansion) it is unrealistic to assume racial skills could ever be made useful.

 

On top of which Arenanet has always made very sure no racial skill remains in any way relevant. Even the ones which gave minor benefits (I think it was 1-2k dps total or so) like the old Take Root (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Take_Root), which was useful as dps on condi berserker and druid since no other good damage elite was available, were hit HARD.

 

Remember, racial skills are an entire extra layer of skills not separated by class but by actually racial pick. Balancing them to be equal/relevant in every class combination (not to mention elite specialization) is more than just some short term effort even if they were made available to all races.

[Grimheart.2853]

Yeah, nevermind.

[Grimheart.2853]

Was a bad idea.

[derd.6413]

> @"Grimheart.2853" said:

> I got a rather weird idea reading this. It's probably as impractical as OP's but I feel it deserves at least to be seen. Wall of text incomming.

>

> *Personal skills.*

>

> I suggest this as a mastery for the next expansion. It would bring back some racial flavor that I think some players have been craving since personal story, as well as give us an opportunity to feel the awesomeness of shapeshifting/golem piloting/etc without it feeling absolutely arbitrary and even detrimental.

>

> So, personal skills are utility skills independent of your class. They are all identical mechanic-wise across all 5 races, but have their unique racial flavor.

>

> You get introduced to the mastery of personal skills through a race-specific questline. Here are some of my (very rough and unpolished) suggestions:

>

> As the immediate threat of Krallkatorik has been dealth with, you get a moment of reprieve from the whole "Trying to save the world" shtick, until another world-breaking threat is identified. Or so you thought...

>

> *Asura*: (As far as I know, it is canonically illegal to be a stupid asura in Rata Sum. There's even a dimwitted prisoner in their jail) The lack of any research contributions and rather questionable world-saving tactics have raised concerns about commander's intellectual expertise. You are called to Rata Sum in order to disprove the preposterous claims of your incompetence, lest you'll be stripped of your Snaff's Savant title and possibly forbidden entrance to Rata Sum. You task yourself with assembling a krewe and leading a groundbreaking research project in order to prove your mental superiority and assert your intellectual dominance over the degenerates that had the audacity to doubt you.

>

> *Charr*: With the commander no longer being a part of the Pact, which means the assignment by the High Legions is no longer active, you are called to the Citadel to deal with other important matters. You have to take control of your old warband to assist in culling flame legion raids, resolve political intrigues and assist in charr society's new endeavor of researching, developing and incorporating magitech into their tools of war and everyday life.

>

> *Sylvari*: With the old Nightmare Court leader and her disciples gone, the new Court seeks to stray away from Faolin's twisted and corrupt vision that betrayed the concept of freedom and independence and replaced one set of chains with another, but remains cynical towards the world's order and hostile towards Pale Tree's teachings, still believing that the world is a cruel place and that the young have to understand that. They request Pale Tree's attention, expressing their doubts and disagreements on her utopian thinking, as well as advocating for the freedom of all sylvari to be able to choose their own path, free of forced indoctrination. You are called to the Grove in order to secure negotiations between the Pale Tree and Nightmare Court's embassador, possibly assisting with resolving any conflicts that may occur. (Alternatively, just resolve that Malyck's storyline.)

>

> *Human*: With the news of the Gods leaving Tyria and abandoning humankind, the human society in Kryta grows worried. You are called to Divinity's Reach by the queen to help control the situation and calm the crowds, as well as assist with the trouble caused by newly arised religious and anarchic movements.

>

> *Norn*: With the Sons of Svanir mobilizing their forces, spreading their corruption, summoning highly dangerous dragon minions and preparing to turn Shiverpeaks into a warzone, Knut Whitebear asks all the norn to set aside their differences and self-centered attitudes in order to unite in the eyes of a greater threat, lest the warzone will turn into a slaughterhouse. As one of those norn, and a renown hero, you are called to the Hoelbrak to help unite the norn and battle the threat.

>

> Now, that I'm done with the introductions, here are a few small and rough suggestions for those skills:

>

> *Minions*: Used to summon 2 fighters for assistance. Asura calls their Krewe members for some "field testing"; Charr requests backup from their warband; Norn calls for assistance of their hunting party; Human rallies volounteers/Seraph reinforcements/Shining Blade agents; Sylvari calls for Wyld Hunt valiants (or perhaps a Warden and a Courtier, depending on whether my previous suggestions are to be considered).

>

> *Heavy Infantry*: Commander turns into a heavy unit, with rather tame damage, but fair potential for utility, CC and sustain, with no time limit, but a huge 2.5-5 minute cooldown. The unit cannot be healed by any sources other than it's special skill dedicated to self-repair. It also cannot contest points in sPvP. Asura deploys a pilotable golem (a fancy one, like Scruffy, not the old crappy models); Charr enters a mech-like set of power armor, built with cutting edge charr technology and prototype magitech; Human channels the magic of old relics left by the Gods to become an avatar of their power; Norn shapeshifts into an animal; Sylvari summons a small oakheart, or gets enveloped in a formidable armor of bark and leaves (or thorns, again, depending on the Court shtick).

>

> Now, a somewhat weird (perhaps, even slightly controversial) one, *Teleport*: I always found it kind of baffling that in a game focused on versatility of each class, with everyone being able to fill a role they desire with their class, there's a class holding a monopoly on such a unique and irreplaceable utility as group portal. I believe Anet rather agrees with this, considering that we have two portal gizmos in the game already. What I propose is a personal teleport for everyone, on a 5 minutes cooldown, able to teleport 3-5 people in a single skill use. In order to avoid mass teleport clown fiestas, I propose that upon using any teleport (own or other player's), the user gets a "spatial displacement overload" debuff that sets their own teleport on cooldown. That way, a single person can only make way for their small group and will have to wait 5 minutes before making way for more people. Mesmer's portal, meanwhile, I propose to turn into a "recall" ability that they can use only for themselves. Same for scourge, I suppose, although scourge's portal is nowhere near as strong as mesmer's. The white mantle gizmo should remain unchanged. Another portal use without waiting for your own CD seems like a neat thing to have in open world jumping puzzles. Anyway, Asura would deploy a portal device; Human would use, maybe, a "Lyssa's Mirror" sorta relic; Norn would place a Raven Totem; Sylvari would create a burrow or their own type of magic dream gate; Charr would have a service tunnel, or a drop-pod launcher, or a prototype teleportation device, build with the newly developed magitech, but with the good ol' "metal" feel to it.

>

> Oh yeah, I propose those to be useable in all gamemodes, which is why I'm trying to make them so strict, while remainimg functional.

>

> I'd like somebody to tell me whether it sounds like a terrible idea unworthy of being even seen, let alone considered, or if it sounds okay enough to the point where I could create a suggestion thread for it to gain some traction.

 

Sounds like alot of work for something that could have a much simpler solution.

[Oglaf.1074]

> @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> WoW is a good example of how bad it can go with racials.

 

How so? I've not played WoW since back in the day when Shamans and Paladins were exclusive to each side. :D

 

 

[LucianDK.8615]

Theres constant whining over which side that have the best racials.

I saw this simming of the racials in wow

https://i.imgur.com/b2QkohQ.png

 

The races with better racials scales with stats, such as troll berserking giving +15% haste for 10s, 3min cd, or humans gaining a +2% increase to ALL secondary stat values from gear.

Dwarves and Tauren on top with their +2% increase to the damage done by all crits.

 

Orcs and Draenei is among the worst because their racials only adds a set value. Like for draenei, increasing strenght, agility and intellect with 425, which does not scale at all with gear and becomming increasingly weak and underwhelming compared to the scaling racials as you gain better and better gear.

[sorudo.9054]

if they never get useful then they can better be removed, i really don't like to see skills that will never have a use outside fluff.

OR, and you might call me crazy here, balance them in such a way that the are useful enough for normal play but not for raids/META.

[JDub.1530]

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

>

> Everyone who is even the slightest scientifically literate knows that the "human race" is a misnomer of the "human species", so...

 

So? Who says the context must be purely scientific? Language is generally more colloquial than precise. And race is a convenient and understandable term to distinguish between the Sapient species of Tyria rather than all animal (plant/elemental/etc) species.

 

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

>

> Also, what's so offensive with being compared to animals? We are animals in every sense of the word.

 

Animals are uncivilized (unless well trained). Animals are generally not credited as being on the same intellectual level as people. Animals are frequently subservient to people as pets, work animals, or food. Animals do not share an equal social status to people. And people have used animal comparisons to project similar derogatory qualities on people they look down upon.

[Oglaf.1074]

> @"JDub.1530" said:

> > Also, what's so offensive with being compared to animals? We are animals in every sense of the word.

>

> Animals are uncivilized (unless well trained). Animals are generally not credited as being on the same intellectual level as people. Animals are frequently subservient to people as pets, work animals, or food. Animals do not share an equal social status to people. And people have used animal comparisons to project similar derogatory qualities on people they look down upon.

 

Talk about being bigoted towards your fellow earth-dwellers. Wow, holy hell mate...

 

Animals are sometimes far, far more "civilized" than man.