Warclaw Thoughts

[Kayos Z Amakan.9162]

In lieu of the somewhat negative feedback about the Warclaw abounding on the forums, and after watching today’s Guild Chat, I decided to dust off the forum account and post some positive feedback and offer some ideas of how to make the Warclaw stand out a bit more in pve amongst the other mounts, while still maintaining its wvw exclusive abilities.

 

The last time I had posted on the forums was shortly after GW2 was released, and in that post I had outlined several alternative weapons that could be added to the game (greataxes/pikes/unarmed combat plz), as well as inquired about the possibility of professions gaining use of other weapons (which we now have as elite specializations). The post had garnered the attention of an Anet staff member, who briefly commented on the ideas posed. I hope this post garners the same attention :D

 

For feedback, I think the way the Warclaw has been introduced and it’s unique mechanics are spectacular, though as with all things, it’ll need some refining - both in how players use it, and how Devs Fix the bugs or game breaking glitches it might incur. It is my personal opinion that it revolutionizes defensive and offensive scouting, as it allows for players to navigate swiftly between allied objectives in addition to being able to ping enemy objectives, such as tier 3 keeps with waypoints. It also offers greater strength to zergs, and I foresee zerg back-lines making the most use of the mount in finishing off the fallen foes that front and mid-lines leave in their wake.

 

In watching today’s Guild Chat (I watched it after the live session, so I wasn’t able to pose the questions I had), the devs mentioned that they had difficulty finding a balanced “dash” action, and as it was hotties recently, it’s clear that it might need more adjusting in th future. It was also mentioned that the Warclaw is also difficult to fit into a pve setting due to its unique characteristics being limited to wvw.

 

My question/suggestion is why not take out the Warclaw’s jump and replace it with short bursts of stealth, perhaps with a short increase of movement speed to supplement it as well? I’m talking like 1.5 seconds of stealth at most, thus allowing for disengage from enemies, but also providing a way of allowing the mount to stand out as a more viable option amidst other mounts in pve, given that it offers no utility in pve that is not outshined by other mounts at this time.

 

Most of my other questions about the Warclaw are geared toward its utility aspect within pve and how that might be developed, but I’d like to start here and see if I can hook a staff member into this discussion :3

[Kayos Z Amakan.9162]

I guess to further clarify the question I’m posing: I’m looking for why stealth would or would not work as a viable option instead of the pounce/evade, both in wvw and in pve.

 

To also source my thinking, in enemy heavy pve areas where I’m just trying to get from point a to point b, and I keep getting shot off my mount, I tend to look for higher altitude places to activate stealth gliding from just to avoid getting mobbed by enemies I don’t feel like spending the time in fighting. Having a stealthy mount to provide that hard disengage from enemy targeting (however briefly) rather than simply evade, would be something I’d consider unique and useful, especially considering the Warclaw’s speed deficiency compared to the other mounts.

 

I still consider the Warclaw a fantastic addition to the game, and I appreciate all the work the devs put into it to make sure it was a quality and fun to play one at that!

[DemonSeed.3528]

I think one of the recent issues people have brought up is the mount becoming stealthed from skills like scrapper gyro etc so I'm not sure how they would feel about this. People already complain about stealth in general and take every chance to get it nerfed, so I don't think they will like this idea, but if they do then that would be quite the hypocritical thing XD

[Kayos Z Amakan.9162]

> @"DemonSeed.3528" said:

> I think one of the recent issues people have brought up is the mount becoming stealthed from skills like scrapper gyro etc so I'm not sure how they would feel about this. People already complain about stealth in general and take every chance to get it nerfed, so I don't think they will like this idea, but if they do then that would be quite the hypocritical thing XD

 

I personally think that stealth is a healthy game mechanic, especially in pvp environments like wvw. It can certainly be overwhelming and may need to be toned down a bit (indefinite stealth thief, I'm looking at you >_>), but short bursts of it offer a hard disengage from enemy targeting you don't get otherwise. I'd say it has the same frustration inducing potential that being chain cc'd, condi bombed, or crit spiked has on a person, which is why I don't think it'd be too far out of the way to have a stealth on a mount, albeit a small one. To balance it out, it'd need to lose it's leap forward, and perhaps have a smaller health pool, so it's not quite as overbearing and still have counter play potential through the use of untargeted skills. Still, it's understandable why Anet wouldn't do this, but I'd certainly like to hear it from them why they wouldn't add it :)

 

[DemonSeed.3528]

I mean, technically they could do this like that one transform you have in fire keep, that inferno egg which has skill 3 as smoke form but the cd on that is 20 which might be too low.

[Master Ketsu.4569]

Coming from someone who mostly plays sPvP and just WvWs for fun, I think Warclaw adds some level of fun and ease to the format but also seems OP. It has too much health and ignores CC which makes it way too easy for someone to use it as a get out of jail free card.

 

Anet did the correct thing by purposefully designing Warclaw to have the least mobility of all other mounts and have abilities specific to WvW. But it should be easier to dismount people.

 

 

 

[Trajan.4953]

Honestly it's really not a big deal. I mean if getting back to the action faster is an issue then whatever. Sure some of the skills are a bit Janky and yes the jumps can bypass certain things, all easily fixed. However the actual gameplay with the mount isn't a big deal. I pugmanded tonight for the first time in over a year and it didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, other than a bit faster. Like gliding I think it will be fine.

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

I would have just added a charr tank for sieging.

[DemonSeed.3528]

> @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> I would have just added a charr tank for sieging.

 

I would've preferred this, a medium speed tank but you can only have 1 on the map at a time

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

> @"DemonSeed.3528" said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > I would have just added a charr tank for sieging.

>

> I would've preferred this, a medium speed tank but you can only have 1 on the map at a time

 

well... two to an area. Their speed would make em pretty vulnerable And you can only get em if You control a keep or stonemist.

 

[Aeolus.3615]

> @"DemonSeed.3528" said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > I would have just added a charr tank for sieging.

>

> I would've preferred this, a medium speed tank but you can only have 1 on the map at a time

 

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