Facet of Nature, True Nature, and Core Value

[Za Shaloc.3908]

Now that the dust has had ample time to settle and we've all been able to experiment with Herald 2.0, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Facet of Nature, True Nature, and Core Value. Do you feel like they are in a good spot? Underperforming or overperforming in any way?

 

I'll share my personal thoughts to start this off.

 

**FACET OF NATURE**

_VENTARI_: Amazing. It was extremely underwhelming before it got buffed, but now it is really really nice. It makes me feel much more valuable in groups because of the radius, and it significantly decreases the need to spam Natural Harmony. I just love it so much. Honestly a pretty big game-changer for the legend.

_MALLYX_: Cool and interesting. I find it odd that it is the only one that does nothing for you if you are playing solo. Perhaps it could reduce your (and only your) incoming condition duration? I'm not sure. Regardless though, in group play it is pretty good. My biggest thing is that it doesn't work with Runes of the Antitoxin. Pretty please ANet, make self-condition transfers (including Pain Absorption) proc these runes!

_JALIS_: Overall a nice effect. Boring and straightforward, but fits the theme for Jalis and has an appropriate impact for the upkeep cost. I don't run Jalis a ton so I don't have too much to say about it.

_SHIRO_: Honestly since it got buffed I haven't really tried using it. I usually just run Shiro on core, so I don't really know how it feels.

_GLINT_: Not what it used to be, but not terrible. I use it a lot when running healer herald, but mostly because it doesn't instantly deactivate when swapping legends. Would be nice to have it returned to 33%, but with Draconic Echo being an option now, I could see how they wouldn't want the spec to offer that much boon duration to 10 people. At the same time, it is only available now when in Glint, which if swapping legends every 10s would reduce its uptime by 50%, resulting in much less overall boon duration.

_GENERAL_: I think overall FoN is in a decent spot. I cant emphasize how good Ventari's facet feels now. Thank you so much, ANet. I still stand by a previous request I have made: **please automatically deactivate the facet when swapping legends.** Also, please improve the tooltips to include actual numerical values. They are very uninformative in their current state. I do also think that 3 upkeep in PvP is too punishing.

 

**TRUE NATURE**

_IN GENERAL_: The core legends feel fine I suppose. I find them nice, but a bit underwhelming if I am being honest. I personally think the numbers should all be raised from 2 to 3 baseline. This is a big part of the elite spec mechanic and should feel impactful. At 2, they feel like a bit lacking. This would be the sweet spot in my opinion. Besides that, I think they are nice, and the recent buffs to Ventari's was a nice addition. However, I don't feel the same about Glint's...

_GLINT_: Honestly this feels like such a dud. It is _okay_ in certain situations, but as far as synergy with the legend itself, it is rather unimpactful to extend the duration of Glint's boons by 2 seconds. It is inferior to Signet of Inspiration's active effect, and Mesmers are able to do interesting stuff like use Mimic and Continuum Split to maximize its effects. Not that I particularly envy what has happened to SoI, but Glint's True Nature just feels pretty bad. Using "2" as the number for all of the TN effects is a really lazy approach in my opinion, and was a convenient way to make Core Value a clean trait. If its effect were to change, I'm not really sure what it could change to. Maybe converts conditions into boons? Now that Ventari's heals per condition cleansed, it now has enough differentiation in effect.

 

**CORE VALUE**

_IN GENERAL_: I honestly resent this trait. I find it to be very lazy, thoughtless, and rather weak. To me it feels like a last minute trait and it lacks both flavor and impact. I personally believe that this trait needs to be implemented baseline and replaced by something more impactful. Some ideas are to implement two of the following:

-Reduce the upkeep cost of Facet of Nature by 1

-Reduce the cooldown of True Nature by 20%

-Have True Nature affect 10 targets

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

I have yet to do proper testing but i agree about glint's true nature being gutter trash. The reason you want to pop this thing is to extend the really valuable boons, like resistance, alacrity, or quickness. But you can't, because legend swap = true nature change. It's biggest potential was butchered but this change.

 

The changes i propose to make this work and generally more interesting:

 

**1. Once activated, both Facet's of Nature and True Nature's effects persist throughout legend swaps**. Changing a legend does not change effect of already activated Facet of Nature or it's True Nature follow up.

 

Example: I'm running Glint/Mallyx, currently in Glint. I invoke Facet of Nature, then swap to Mallyx. Facet of Nature stays in Glint mode - providing boon duration and extending duration of existing boons when i activate True Nature.

 

**2. Facet of Nature has separate cooldown for each legend you use.**

 

Example: Following previous example: After activating Glint's Facet of Nature, switching to mallyx and now using True Nature (which is still Glint's version), you can immediately cast Mallyx's Facet of nature and his True Nature. Because it has a separate cooldown and was not used yet.

Glint's version however is on cooldown and if you try to swap to Glint to use that you still have to wait.

 

A slight increase in cooldown would be justified to compensate for that feature.

[DonArkanio.6419]

Maybe an Ammo system could work.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

> @"ZeftheWicked.3076" said:

> I have yet to do proper testing but i agree about glint's true nature being gutter trash. The reason you want to pop this thing is to extend the really valuable boons, like resistance, alacrity, or quickness. But you can't, because legend swap = true nature change. It's biggest potential was butchered but this change.

>

> The changes i propose to make this work and generally more interesting:

>

> **1. Once activated, both Facet's of Nature and True Nature's effects persist throughout legend swaps**. Changing a legend does not change effect of already activated Facet of Nature or it's True Nature follow up.

>

> Example: I'm running Glint/Mallyx, currently in Glint. I invoke Facet of Nature, then swap to Mallyx. Facet of Nature stays in Glint mode - providing boon duration and extending duration of existing boons when i activate True Nature.

>

> **2. Facet of Nature has separate cooldown for each legend you use.**

>

> Example: Following previous example: After activating Glint's Facet of Nature, switching to mallyx and now using True Nature (which is still Glint's version), you can immediately cast Mallyx's Facet of nature and his True Nature. Because it has a separate cooldown and was not used yet.

> Glint's version however is on cooldown and if you try to swap to Glint to use that you still have to wait.

>

> A slight increase in cooldown would be justified to compensate for that feature.

 

That's actually an interesting idea. For the way I would use it, your suggestions appeal to me, but I could see why others could be opposed to it. The fact that Facet of Nature changes based on the legend is part of what makes it awkward for me because the functionalities of each one is so different. It's usually not too much of an issue unless you have it active and swap to Mallyx and get an uninvited condiload, but regardless, your ideas allow for more precise and thoughtful use.

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

> @"Pterikdactyl.7630" said:

 

> That's actually an interesting idea. For the way I would use it, your suggestions appeal to me, but I could see why others could be opposed to it. The fact that Facet of Nature changes based on the legend is part of what makes it awkward for me because the functionalities of each one is so different. It's usually not too much of an issue unless you have it active and swap to Mallyx and get an uninvited condiload, but regardless, your ideas allow for more precise and thoughtful use.q

 

Thanks bro:)

I like the idea of facet being different based on legend, but not inability to carry over one legend's facet into other's gameplay. Herald is generally the "glue" spec that is supposed to have good synergy with all the other legends and compliment them. My changes would offer legends some degree of "communication" with one another and allow for much more varied and fun gameplay:) Here are few scenarios that could be possible with those changes:

 

1. Glint/Ventari healer - with ability to carry over Ventari's facet of nature into Glint stance, you could periodically heal your party and not flat out murder them in a raid, because Glint can't heal sufficiently well before you swap back to Ventari.

 

2. Jalis/Mallyx - the anti condi tank wombo-combo. Mallyx can enjoy damage reduction and stability from Jalis's facet of nature - which with retribution line slotted means even more damage reduction. Condies aren't a problem for Mallyx so you're good on both ends. Jalis can become nasty mass condi removal legend with his heal (5 condies cleansed) coupled with Mallyx's true nature (3 condies transferred to enemies).

 

3. Jalis/Shiro - Shiro is generally about maxing dps and burst, and Jalis' Facet of Nature + True nature can help see it through, especially that stabilty on demand part. Jalis is not in great need of shiro's rather weak and limited life steal, but the ability to rip boons is useful in certain places and it's nice to be able to rip them when frontlining as Jalis, rather then being forced into squishy shiro if you want to have any semblance of a boon rip.

 

4. Glint/Mallyx - in certain situations Mallyx is a great supporter (party resistance). Glint's facet of nature + true nature would let support mallyx get nice long party resistance uptime, not only protecting your team, but giving you ample time to go into glint and share her boons with your team, before resistance goes off.

 

There are more combos, but those are the ones i can think of atm :)

 

 

[Shroud.2307]

I haven't put much thought in to it personally, but I do agree with Glint's True Nature ability being underwhelming. I don't feel it having much of any impact regardless of how I use it.

 

Shiro's however is quite strong. 600 radius is _massive._ Meteor Shower is only 360! And I've seen Shiro's True Nature skill hit as hard as 8k on players. This isn't far off from Necromancers Deathly Chill in damage and effect but instead being a radial attack and not applying Chill. With that said, you also don't need to take Core Value for it to do this kind of damage.

 

So my final verdict is that I feel neutral about it but would like to see some changes for Glint. I'm not finding problems with under or overperformance with the rest of them and I've experimented with most of them.

[meri.9187]

Will comment on Glint and Shiro since I play mainly power herald.

 

Glint:

 

Glint's passive being 20% is just fine and I think it's reasonable especially with the addition of Diviner's gear. Glint's active is just an extremely watered down version of Signet of Inspiration and I'm not a big fan of it. I would rather change it to apply one instance of every Glint facet's boon. That would come out to (baseline) 4s regen, 3s fury, 3s swiftness, 12s of one stack of might, and 3s of protection. This would of course be affected by boon duration for a minimum of 28% boon duration added to those boons.

 

I understand that Anet wants to make Glint's Facet of Nature more like the new Signet of Inspiration in its function; however, you have the CHOICE to take or not take Signet of Inspiration. Glint's Facet of Nature is not a build choice, if you take Glint, you must have this on your skillbar. It needs to be more flexible to be useful in a wider range of scenarios.

 

My suggestion would improve the plug-and-play aspect of this skill; however, it would take away slightly from heralds who have already stacked the maximum instances of these boons. The current way it works is simply adding 2 (or 3, if traited) seconds to every boon you have, without counting as a new instance.

 

Shiro:

 

My initial thought on Shiro's passive is that I'd want to normalize its power and lifesteal coefficient with Assassin's Annihilation but that would truthfully be an absolutely massive buff, especially in PvE where you can reliably have 100% uptime on the facet while you're in Shiro. However, it needs something else to make it worth keeping the passive up.

 

My suggestion for this would be to add a stack of vulnerability to each hit you successfully connect while this passive is up. It would make up for the horrible trait that is Expose Defenses and help the herald get some synergy with vulnerability (both master minor and GM minor devastation traits rely on vulnerability).

 

Shiro's active is fine- actually, I think it could use an increase in its cast time or a decrease in damage. It's extremely fast, attacks in an absolutely huge radius by revenant's standards, deals heavy damage, is unblockable, and strips boons. I understand the outrage behind increasing cast time of something once again after the sword 4 fiasco but this is a massive AoE skill that you don't need to aim, is unblockable, and gives a large payout to the herald and his/her group. Unless you specifically are anticipating it, it's going to be hard to dodge a 1/4 second cast time skill that can hit you from 600 range away and that you can't even block.

 

I won't comment on the other stances' facets as I don't think I'm sufficiently qualified to do so. Basically my verdict is:

 

* Improve the usability of the Glint Active and make it more like the old Facet of Nature everyone knows and loves.

* Buff the Shiro passive, whether it is just numbers or the addition of something simple like a stack of vuln.

* Shave the Shiro active slightly whether it be cast time, radius, or damage.

 

As for the Core Value trait, I really don't know what I'd like to see done. Perhaps adding a CD reduction by 20% as OP said (making the CD 16s) would work in addition to deactivating the facet when you swap legends. I am, however, a fan of the True Nature cooldowns being universal and the herald having to make a tradeoff as to what legend he wants to activate the skill in.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

> @"ventusthunder.5067" said:

> Will comment on Glint and Shiro since I play mainly power herald.

>

> Glint:

>

> Glint's passive being 20% is just fine and I think it's reasonable especially with the addition of Diviner's gear. Glint's active is just an extremely watered down version of Signet of Inspiration and I'm not a big fan of it. I would rather change it to apply one instance of every Glint facet's boon. That would come out to (baseline) 4s regen, 3s fury, 3s swiftness, 12s of one stack of might, and 3s of protection. This would of course be affected by boon duration for a minimum of 28% boon duration added to those boons.

>

 

Yeah this is one of the reasons I dislike the Core Value trait. With the way it is structured now, it restricts Glint's True Nature to function as a "2" so it is consistent with the rest of the legend's effects and can simply upgrade them to a "3". I would like an idea like yours as it is very similar to what it used to be, but they'd have to alter the function of the trait a bit alongside such a change.

 

 

Thanks for your responses, people. I will respond more when I am not using my phone. @"SpellOfIniquity.1780" I didn't realize the Shiro True Nature could hit for that hard.

[LucianDK.8615]

Interesting, didnt realize that the Shiro true nature did heavy damage. Since the facet of nature is worthless for a power dps herald in Glint, you should then pop it before switching Glint?

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

> @"ventusthunder.5067" said:

>

> Unless you specifically are anticipating it, it's going to be hard to dodge a 1/4 second cast time skill that can hit you from 600 range away and that you can't even block.

>

 

I mean If we’re going to use this logic then every damaging skill in the game should have a 3/4ths cast time or greater to appropriately allow for the average human reaction time. This is certainly no more powerful than dozens of other abilities across all 9 classes and it is honestly nice compensation for the removed equilibrium/nerfed sword 4 and all the other nerfs over the years.

 

[Infusion.7149]

@ Ventus thunder, that is more or less how Glint F2 used to work, you popped it and it had protection and the other boons.

 

You didn't specify game mode but the way I use glint f2 now in WvW is in conjunction with runes (durability) or other classes boons (guardian stability for example).

 

The other way I use it is after stunbreaking from switching to jalis, then I pop f2 for stability.

[meri.9187]

> @"Infusion.7149" said:

> @ Ventus thunder, that is more or less how Glint F2 used to work, you popped it and it had protection and the other boons.

>

> You didn't specify game mode but the way I use glint f2 now in WvW is in conjunction with runes (durability) or other classes boons (guardian stability for example).

>

> The other way I use it is after stunbreaking from switching to jalis, then I pop f2 for stability.

 

Yes, that was definitely my intention, to return it somewhat to its old functionality. Having played herald since it came out that's what I miss most, the old Glint F2. I do use Glint F2 to extend uptime on critical boons like protection whenever using Shiro F2 wouldn't benefit me. It works alright but still prefer the old one.

 

> @"LucianTheAngelic.7054" said:

> > @"ventusthunder.5067" said:

> >

> > Unless you specifically are anticipating it, it's going to be hard to dodge a 1/4 second cast time skill that can hit you from 600 range away and that you can't even block.

> >

>

> I mean If we’re going to use this logic then every damaging skill in the game should have a 3/4ths cast time or greater to appropriately allow for the average human reaction time. This is certainly no more powerful than dozens of other abilities across all 9 classes and it is honestly nice compensation for the removed equilibrium/nerfed sword 4 and all the other nerfs over the years.

>

 

Sure, I mean, I'm not complaining that we have access to it. I'm just tired of seeing other people complain about herald and unprectability (*cough* that one delusional condi mirage on the pvp forums), when herald imo is already one of the most fair classes in the game.

 

For Shiro F2 the damage is heavy, cast time fast, and the radius might be what I'd want to reduce just a tad since for EQ/sword 4 you have to at least be in melee range. Just something I figure you could reasonably hit herald with without its usability suffering, since after all, I don't think the class needs any net buff.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

Before the rework to Herald I used the F2 on Glint whenever it was off cooldown.

Currently I use it whenever the squad commander says "empower" over comms; other than that I don't bother.

[Shroud.2307]

> @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> Before the rework to Herald I used the F2 on Glint whenever it was off cooldown.

> Currently I use it whenever the squad commander says "empower" over comms; other than that I don't bother.

 

Though it really doesn't make much of an impact, I try to use Glint's F2 when ever I see high value boons on me. Alacrity, Stability, Protection, etc. When I'm traveling, I always have Facet Of Elements and True Nature active to stack Swiftness. If you leave it active, Swiftness will stack longer every time it refreshes so you can swap out of Glint and still have a lengthy duration. The same can be done with any of the other Facets of course.

 

Although it's functionality isn't very impressive, it does a good job of lengthening boon durations if you leave it active for a while before entering combat. Consume it when your boons are no longer gaining an increase in their stack and reactivate immediately as it comes off cooldown.

[narcx.3570]

> @"Pterikdactyl.7630" said:

> _SHIRO_: Honestly since it got buffed I haven't really tried using it. I usually just run Shiro on core, so I don't really know how it feels.

 

Shiro's is 100% amazing in pvp/small wvw skirmishes... It's radius is huge, it does surprising damage, it rips boons, it's unblockable, it hits everyone, , and it costs zero energy.

 

The passive portion is okay in PvE too for the damage boost/Forceful Persistence synergy--but I'm not 100% sure the lifesteal+4% FP modifier balances out the upkeep loss in pure DPS. But, it's an option or whatever.