What is the point of having racial elite skills if you never get to use them? (4min cooldown)

[Mellow.7409]

I get it, it's an elite skill but a 4 minute cooldown on norn shapeshifts? What the hell, it would bring so much more diversity if the racial elite skills were on a lower cooldown.

[zealex.9410]

coz balance.

[Mellow.7409]

Balance? Then lower the stats and damage of the shifts and have a 1 minute cooldown instead.

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> coz balance.

 

They could simply deactivate them in Raids, PvP and WvW. Balance is a lame excuse for having useless racial skills that could otherwise be a lot of fun to use.

[derd.6413]

they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

[Mellow.7409]

> @"derd.6413" said:

> they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

 

Then disable them in all game-modes besides open world and lower the cooldown.

[derd.6413]

> @"Mellow.7409" said:

> > @"derd.6413" said:

> > they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

>

> Then disable them in all game-modes besides open world and lower the cooldown.

 

that doesn't sound like a good idea imo. if anet makes them good but open world exclusive ppl would just be angry that they can't use the improved skills in the game modes they play.

 

i'd rather anet just turn racial skills into novelties or something since most racials are just downgrads of other skills

[Vasdamas Anklast.1607]

What the fuck are you all talking about?

 

~Rev main

[aspirine.6852]

Because Elite skills were to complicated for Anet to build around, while it was the staple of every build in GW1. So why not make them useless. :/

[Vancho.8750]

> @"derd.6413" said:

> > @"Mellow.7409" said:

> > > @"derd.6413" said:

> > > they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

> >

> > Then disable them in all game-modes besides open world and lower the cooldown.

>

> that doesn't sound like a good idea imo. if anet makes them good but open world exclusive ppl would just be angry that they can't use the improved skills in the game modes they play.

>

> i'd rather anet just turn racial skills into novelties or something since most racials are just downgrads of other skills

 

> @"Vasdamas Anklast.1607" said:

> What the kitten are you all talking about?

>

> ~Rev main

Yep something turning them cosmetic would be great, maybe applying them to some skills like transformations as a skin for it like rampage, celestial avatar, the malyx elite you know something for everyone so they are not left in the dust.

 

[Lonami.2987]

I hope racial skills are revamped into some kind of racial masteries some day.

 

> @"derd.6413" said:

> they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

 

Classical ArenaNet, they want A and B, so they make it 50/50, even when A and B are incompatible in the first place, leading to a terrible result that satisfies no one.

[zealex.9410]

> @"derd.6413" said:

> > @"Mellow.7409" said:

> > > @"derd.6413" said:

> > > they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

> >

> > Then disable them in all game-modes besides open world and lower the cooldown.

>

> that doesn't sound like a good idea imo. if anet makes them good but open world exclusive ppl would just be angry that they can't use the improved skills in the game modes they play.

>

> i'd rather anet just turn racial skills into novelties or something since most racials are just downgrads of other skills

 

No they wouldnt. Wvw ppl aint mad that they cant have the pve mesmer or any of the pve balanced specs. Its diff balance that serves diff modes.

 

Its better to introduce more option imeven if its one node of the game than not introduce any.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I think of racial skills mostly as something interesting for RP, much as walking is in this game. As a practical matter, no one would ever "walk" when they can run; it's inefficient. Likewise, racial skills are never the ideal choice if the goal is optimized combat.

 

Fortunately, this game has a lot of content that doesn't depend on idealized builds, in which racial skills are perfectly usable. And ANet largely doesn't have to worry about them.

 

In contrast, if racial skills were altered to be competitive options and unusable in limited scenarios, then ANet would have to increase the amount of effort to balance and test: they'd still have to consider balance in open world/personal stories; they'd also have to start testing to make sure disabling in some situations didn't have unintended consequences elsewhere.

 

For what it's worth, I prefer this system. I never want to worry about the impact of race or gender on gameplay. I don't want to feel that I have to play Norn (and be stuck with a voice I hate) in exchange for superior skills, even in niche situations.

[Samuel.4812]

Seriously racial are really neat. I wish they would balance them properly but leave them out of spvp, fractals and raids completely. It won't affect wvw that much.

 

I also wish they would give us a couple extra buttons on the bar that can ONLY slot racial so people don't have to feel like they are wasting a utility slot but still get the racial flavor added.

 

That and rveenants should have access to them):

[Ayakaru.6583]

Because they are racial, anet didn't want them to have any impact on the game. So you wouldn't choose a race based on what skills they have.

But by that logic, i also think every class should have the same skills so people didn't have to choose between classes.

Also, we should put all content on one area so people don't miss out by being in different places.

Scrap that, the entire game should just be about a grey ooze that lives in a circular chamber

[mindcircus.1506]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > coz balance.

>

> They could simply deactivate them in Raids, PvP and WvW. Balance is a lame excuse for having useless racial skills that could otherwise be a lot of fun to use.

 

Actually balance is the best reason possible.

[Edge.8724]

Well.... you could try to run Superior Sigil of Frenzy and gain some nice cooldown reductions.

 

I know this might not be "optimal", but I use it with all my normal skills and I notice I can use skills with long cooldown more often (2 seconds recharged per 10 seconds each time you kill one ennemy).

 

Still just a way of playing I like and a little suggestion concerning the use of that sigil with the racial skills.

 

 

Unfortunately, this won't change and people above have already brought fair points.

[Trise.2865]

> @"Mellow.7409" said:

> > @"derd.6413" said:

> > they wanted them to add flavor to the races but they don't want races to become important to the meta

>

> Then disable them in all game-modes besides open world and lower the cooldown.

 

So all game modes.

[Warlord.9082]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> coz balance.

 

What balance?

[zealex.9410]

> @"Warlord.9082" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > coz balance.

>

> What balance?

 

The existing balance? Its not perfect but honestly, not wanting to mess it up further is a valid arguement.

[godofcows.2451]

that balance

[Knighthonor.4061]

Whats this thing called Racial Skills? Never heard of it.

 

Rev Main

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > coz balance.

> >

> > They could simply deactivate them in Raids, PvP and WvW. Balance is a lame excuse for having useless racial skills that could otherwise be a lot of fun to use.

>

> Actually balance is the best reason possible.

 

Did you read my first sentence?

[mindcircus.1506]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> > > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > > coz balance.

> > >

> > > They could simply deactivate them in Raids, PvP and WvW. Balance is a lame excuse for having useless racial skills that could otherwise be a lot of fun to use.

> >

> > Actually balance is the best reason possible.

>

> Did you read my first sentence?

 

Of course I did.

Part of Arenanet's overall vision for balance states that they don't want one racial option to outperform any other to the point the player feels disadvantaged not taking it.

This includes balancing each racial elites against interactions with **every class and trait in the game**. It is not a worthwhile use of time for what are, essentially "flavor skills".

The solution is to water down all racial elites to the point where they cannot compete with even the worst elite option available for any class. When this was not the case the majority of new elementalists were Sylvari because of the racial elite, no matter what game mode they were being rolled for.

 

Simply waving away three game modes does not address balance.

In the long run the current course of action is to not spend a tun of time tuning these powers against every single class and trait in the game. Decisions like this are good for the game's health.