Essence Manipulation Mastery

[Palador.2170]

[Edit: Nope, too negative. Letting stress from work out on the devs isn't fair. Rewriting.]

 

Short version: This sounds, honestly, awful. As if no lessons have been learned from the mistakes of the past. You're going to have to do a LOT of incredible things with it to make it less than a total disappointment in the end. Honestly, my expectations are very low.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

this mastery sounds incredible clunky. Might be nice for faceroll classes, but everyone else now has to keep track of even more annoying information.

[Donari.5237]

> @"Dante.1508" said:

> > @"Jayden Reese.9542" said:

> > Honestly I think that part is to eliminate leeches like hit octo 4 times afk collect loot. I feel like it''ll be 3 lil icons with a counter and maybe goes up to 99 1 for ea mob you kill so you can have 45m of buffs 4 1 area or to loot the chests in that area. The map might be like dragonfall split up into 3 sections and the meta will req ppl to get there early to farm mobs to prep in one section and go kill boss in another but it's all a guess. No one will be able to show up afk hit boss once collect. Well see if it's an entirely new mastery line or if we can use pof extras we got too.

>

> How do you get there early if you aren't American? Sound really not thought out on a world scale.

 

I'm pretty sure that no meta is only once in 24 hours. They either are on timers -- some on long ones, some every two hours -- or an individual map has to put in the effort to move the progress bar, like in Silverwastes. Worst case, on a timer one you get there thirty minutes in advance (Triple Trouble) or five minutes (Dragon Stand) and join the LFGs. Where you are in the world only affects which particular round of the meta you need to show up for.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > But you could solo the first Strike Mission easily...

> Many people can't do that. Not everyone is part of the top 5% of the player base.

 

Then they haven't tried, or they are at the bottom 5%

 

Edit: but you are right, most players would either hit the enrage or fall asleep on their keyboard (whichever comes first) before they manage to kill it, it's sad that the Strike Mission's success rate depends only on a timer. Hopefully the next ones will manage to be a threat, outside that timer and have at least one mechanic worth doing.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"Vince.1695" said:

> I understand this more like 10 player groups will still breeze through it without any hurdles at all and ambitious players have to put self-restrictions on them to experience any challenge comparable to solo/duoing dungeons/fractals with records or low-manning raids. Sorry, but this is a cheap excuse for me and explicitly shows that they gutted resources for said content. That's not content, that's cheap.

>

 

From the wording, it seems like the new Strike Missions will be actual 10-man content (unlike the first one) and you will be able to low-man them if you have the new mastery, meaning it will give you a significant boost in performance. Obviously the best players will be able to low-man it without the mastery, but hopefully the bosses will be balanced around having 10 average players and not 2 or 3. I also hope the mastery isn't going to be a simple dps boost in strikes

[zealex.9410]

> @"Vince.1695" said:

> " Communicating the system to the player is key, because it can be very complex, so you’ll discover information about it through achievements, icons, props, enhancements, open-world dialogue, and NPC conversations."

>

> Seems legit, introducing a complex system although the player base is still unable to cope with buffs, cc bars & dodging and more. I wonder how that'll turn out. According to the past we'll see a brute force by "exp zerker" and/or calling out in map chat with toxicity included. Also: Inb4 "Strike mission - 250 LI/Dhuum KP".

 

Calm your horses i doubt these will be enabled in competitive gamemodes and if the game has taught us anything about all the mechanics you've mentioned above is that the majority of the community doesnt need to understand it, just the 10-20% that regularly pulls all the weight.

[Ronan.9518]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> I’m also a bit concerned about this:

>

> > Gain a 1.5-second skill cooldown reduction when picking up an essence.

>

> So a single essence will remove 1.5 seconds on all of your cooldowns? Any internal cooldown on that?

>

> There’s the potential for this to be a bit overpowered in situations where you fight a ton of enemies. It seems as if it’d be similar to how advantageous firebrands are in fights with a lot of enemies that allow you to reset your tome skills when they die.

 

I honestly hope that this 1.5 seconds cooldown reduction is for the new "blast" skill we get on the special action key.

If not this mastery will be worth less

for revenants, which still are limited by their energy,

and thieves, which will only have their non-weapon skills affected by this, while their weapon skills are still just effected by their initiative system.

That would make this mastery an outlier in a negative way, since up to now, masteries gave the same advantage regardless of the profession.

 

But guess unless we get some clarification only time, or rather the release next week will tell.

[GWMO.4785]

Im really curious what went through their head when they where thinking about this. As far as i have understand, now we're getting multiple mastery tracks... for a single map use? I mean masteries like gliding or mounts are really appealing since they are nice/useful across the entire game. But others that are designed to just use in a single maps, never appealed to me. In fact i find this actually stupid since they mostly function similarly to what we already had. Ill give a few examples:

 

- **Thermal Propulsion, Oakheart's Reach, Nuhoch Wallow**s essentially act like a fast(er) travel system through a map

- **Counter Magic, Forsaken Magic** repels/redirects enemy attacks.

- **Itzel Leadership, Exalted Purification, Nuhoch Proving** allows you to engage special foe's and collect loot.

- **Exalted Gathering, Volatile Magic Resonance** gives you extra resources

 

And the Essence manipulation doesnt feel any different... I guess what i am trying to say is that most of these masteries (especially the ones from LWS's) feels duplicated in just a slight tweaked way. And there for basically unnecessary. I'd really like to get a PoV from a dev on this tbh. (@"Clayton Kisko.5207")?

[Tyncale.1629]

Disappointing. Looks like it is restricted to one map and for me it just feels like complicating combat for this single map. I hope that at least the Raven Mastery is a Mount Mastery.

 

Is this Rock/paper/scissors theme part of honing the plebs for Raid participation? Not exited.

 

And Vince, you made me laugh. A+ for sarcasm. :)

[Crashdown.7419]

All I feel like saying now is but but why? Like it could be nice and all but I feel like this is not a needed feature. Wish they spend their time on more usefull stuff. Like hearing this doesn't make me feel like oh wow awesome I'm coming back to the game now! But hey if there are people out there that like it then good. This is just how I feel.

[Vince.1695]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> Calm your horses i doubt these will be enabled in competitive gamemodes and if the game has taught us anything about all the mechanics you've mentioned above is that the majority of the community doesnt need to understand it, just the 10-20% that regularly pulls all the weight.

 

I'm totally calm, lol.

The thing is: The mastery is either necessary to overcome certain hurdles and then it would be too complex for the majority of the casual player base like cc bars and that stuff or it's useless and we can bypass it due to ignoring. There won't be any "in between".

The 10-20% you mentioned only refers to dps since you don't need anything else in open world btw. And I only mentioned Strikes, not other competitive modes - I don't even know why you came up with that because it makes no sense in this discussion at all.

But the essence system is definitely present in Strike missions - read the announcement again if you haven't noticed it. So, either Strikes stay easy as they are now without the system (and hence we don't need it) or you'll need the new masteries which will then definitely turn to restrictions in the lfg because no matter what random players will screw things up when it comes down to mandatory mechanics in instances.

 

I bet this is going to be similar to Siren's Landing mechanic (Siren of Orr mastery). It wasn't very useful and nowhere near mandatory or of at least little advantage.

[Brandon Uzumaki.1524]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> I’m also a bit concerned about this:

>

> > Gain a 1.5-second skill cooldown reduction when picking up an essence.

>

> So a single essence will remove 1.5 seconds on all of your cooldowns? Any internal cooldown on that?

>

> There’s the potential for this to be a bit overpowered in situations where you fight a ton of enemies. It seems as if it’d be similar to how advantageous firebrands are in fights with a lot of enemies that allow you to reset your tome skills when they die.

 

That's like a worse version of Adrenal Mushrooms in HoT that instantly resets ALL your cooldowns, so if that mechanic did not break anything, this one that is weaker won't break also.

[Vayne.8563]

> @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > > It was an interesting read, and an interesting concept. It's only soured by what I consider a huge red flag : masteries are once again cantoned to maps. Something expansions via glider partially or mounts very specifically did not.

> > > This was one of the point on which I was waiting on them to elaborate for their comment of "Expansion grade content". This isn't.

> >

> > We don’t need more power creep.

>

> I'm not necessarily asking for That particular mastery to be usable in other maps. I'm asking for A mastery that is. I have accumulated countless masteries that see little to no use.

 

It'll probably not be one map. It'll probably be for the whole Saga.

[Pirogen.9561]

Sounds like those power orbs/cookies in Champions Online(CO). When you fight bad guys, some orbs drop. If you pick them up, you get damage boost or defense boost or heal.

 

In CO I didn't have to grind to use power orbs though.

 

From Champions Online you can also copy/paste a nice monetization opportunity. Sell cookies that increase power of those orb and their duration.

 

[Fueki.4753]

> @"Vayne.8563" said:

> It'll probably not be one map. It'll probably be for the whole Saga.

 

The map might be like DryTop and the Silverwastes, that it will be used for multiple episodes or even the entire Saga.

 

 

[Gop.8713]

The whole thing sounds like it could just be a way to try to utilize/incentivize templates, advantaging players who are able and willing to frequently swap builds on the fly depending on the essence they're channeling, or w/e . . .

[Cristalyan.5728]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

>

> We don’t need more power creep.

 

I agree with this.

 

This is what ANet intends for this Mastery: _"Once you’ve trained an essence, you’ll have some fun decisions to make about how you build your character and play in the map. You might decide you have enough stacks of might from resilience and forego might-enhancing traits for something else. With Build and Equipment Templates, this exploration and experimentation is easier. **Players who’ve fully trained Essence Manipulation should be able to take down tough enemies—including champions and Strike Mission bosses—with fewer than the recommended number of allies**."_

 

So, in a time when a lot of players considers that the level of power in this game started to be unhealthy for the game, when ANet almost openly admitted this by the "quest" of the WvW team to tone down some overperforming traits and skill, after (almost) removing some classes from the game because they were too strong in generating/sharing buffs/heals etc, what we have now? A kind of "buff" designed with the idea in mind to make the players **more** powerful. WHAT? A lot of players (and not only the super-elite) complained that the Strike Mission is too easy. And the answer is ..... OK, we will keep it as it is now, but instead we will give to the players **more power**.

 

And NO, with the actual state of the Build/Equipment Templates this will be **NOT FUN**. Hm - I bet the owners of Legendary equipment will be extatic when changing the build once at every 15 min.

 

My only hope is that this experiment will affect only ONE map - and that map will be carefully designed in order to fit this new empowerment, but in the same time to allow the players without this buff to play in that map - at least to be able to do a map completion and to gather the achievements.

 

If this Mastery will be usable in the other maps ... HM. I bet that no changes will be made in the maps and I try to imagine how this buff will amplify the power of the dismount attack in a low level map.

 

At least, the note regarding the Build/Equipment template gives us the real reason for this Mastery. We have now very few builds and far too many free Equipment templates. So, we need something to fill them and, maybe, someone will buy some from Gem Store.

[MokahTGS.7850]

Map Specific Masteries = Useless for long term gameplay.

 

Anet, stop designing masteries that can only be used on specific maps that no one will be playing in a year. It's bad design.

[DirtyDan.4759]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > It was an interesting read, and an interesting concept. It's only soured by what I consider a huge red flag : masteries are once again cantoned to maps. Something expansions via glider partially or mounts very specifically did not.

> > This was one of the point on which I was waiting on them to elaborate for their comment of "Expansion grade content". This isn't.

>

> We don’t need more power creep.

 

You don't, but the lowskilled majority of the playerbase does because people do not bother learning combat mechanics (positioning, cc, boons, conditions, gear and stats) "because it works either way, so why do the work?". HoT got nerfed and PoF was released in baby mode because of the low playerskill and unwillingness to improve. Anet is heavily limited in content they can create because of this. "Play how you want" does not mean be as bad as possible on purpose while still pulling through. If there is ever a slight challenge in the game it is way easier to ask for a nerf than to think about how to overcome it. By shoving down overpowered mechanics down the players throat Anet gives themselves more freedom in things they can create in open world.

[Rose Solane.1027]

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> At least, the note regarding the Build/Equipment template gives us the real reason for this Mastery. We have now very few builds and far too many free Equipment templates. So, we need something to fill them and, maybe, someone will buy some from Gem Store.

That was my impression of this mastery too. Can't say I am too pleased with a mastery only created to sell more gems. I prefer content created for fun. It is off course possible that the mention of Build/Equipment templates was only because the developers think this kind of mastery wasn't possible without a working Build/Equipment template system. Or would only be fun with a working Build/Equipment template system. But in that case this developer has to learn a bit more about communication. What will be a problem working for ArenaNet.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"DirtyDan.4759" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > > It was an interesting read, and an interesting concept. It's only soured by what I consider a huge red flag : masteries are once again cantoned to maps. Something expansions via glider partially or mounts very specifically did not.

> > > This was one of the point on which I was waiting on them to elaborate for their comment of "Expansion grade content". This isn't.

> >

> > We don’t need more power creep.

>

> You don't, but the lowskilled majority of the playerbase does because people do not bother learning combat mechanics (positioning, cc, boons, conditions, gear and stats) "because it works either way, so why do the work?". HoT got nerfed and PoF was released in baby mode because of the low playerskill and unwillingness to improve. Anet is heavily limited in content they can create because of this. "Play how you want" does not mean be as bad as possible on purpose while still pulling through. If there is ever a slight challenge in the game it is way easier to ask for a nerf than to think about how to overcome it. By shoving down overpowered mechanics down the players throat Anet gives themselves more freedom in things they can create in open world.

 

That’s a poor reason to add power creep.

[DirtyDan.4759]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"DirtyDan.4759" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > > > It was an interesting read, and an interesting concept. It's only soured by what I consider a huge red flag : masteries are once again cantoned to maps. Something expansions via glider partially or mounts very specifically did not.

> > > > This was one of the point on which I was waiting on them to elaborate for their comment of "Expansion grade content". This isn't.

> > >

> > > We don’t need more power creep.

> >

> > You don't, but the lowskilled majority of the playerbase does because people do not bother learning combat mechanics (positioning, cc, boons, conditions, gear and stats) "because it works either way, so why do the work?". HoT got nerfed and PoF was released in baby mode because of the low playerskill and unwillingness to improve. Anet is heavily limited in content they can create because of this. "Play how you want" does not mean be as bad as possible on purpose while still pulling through. If there is ever a slight challenge in the game it is way easier to ask for a nerf than to think about how to overcome it. By shoving down overpowered mechanics down the players throat Anet gives themselves more freedom in things they can create in open world.

>

> That’s a poor reason to add power creep.

 

It's a sad but valid reason. If people know how to crit and might cap and to cc Anet wouldn't had feel the need to do this.

[Naxos.2503]

> @"DirtyDan.4759" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Naxos.2503" said:

> > > It was an interesting read, and an interesting concept. It's only soured by what I consider a huge red flag : masteries are once again cantoned to maps. Something expansions via glider partially or mounts very specifically did not.

> > > This was one of the point on which I was waiting on them to elaborate for their comment of "Expansion grade content". This isn't.

> >

> > We don’t need more power creep.

>

> You don't, but the lowskilled majority of the playerbase does because people do not bother learning combat mechanics (positioning, cc, boons, conditions, gear and stats) "because it works either way, so why do the work?". HoT got nerfed and PoF was released in baby mode because of the low playerskill and unwillingness to improve. Anet is heavily limited in content they can create because of this. "Play how you want" does not mean be as bad as possible on purpose while still pulling through. If there is ever a slight challenge in the game it is way easier to ask for a nerf than to think about how to overcome it. By shoving down overpowered mechanics down the players throat Anet gives themselves more freedom in things they can create in open world.

 

I really dont feel this is really the argument for or against. A lot of players dont find the game too hard. It's not a matter of difficulty for people, but mainly of diversity. They dont want things easier, they want things that work differently. Things that take them out of an established routine. After all, why else would New Elite Specs be such a frequent demand ? There are already existing metas that can roll over content when used correctly, adding new ones doesn't so much Increase power creep, as widen it, which is what people want. The power creep is a consequence, rather than a goal. The coolness factor is very much in vogue.

[Fueki.4753]

But, will people actually make builds factoring in the essences?

I'll probably just run my usual PvE build. I hope those essence beams aren't mandatory to fight the coloured enemies.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> But, will people actually make builds factoring in the essences?

> I'll probably just run my usual PvE build. I hope those essence beams aren't mandatory to fight the coloured enemies.

 

Likely the ones who used ARCDPS to micromanage the smallest build change to be its own separate build template. You know, the ones who had 20+ chrono builds for raids.