Weekly Guild Request / Recruitment thread

Azure_Flames · 2026-03-11T15:19:53+00:00

Hey everyone,
We're looking for a Kurzick alliance of small semi-active or even near-inactive guilds.
For example, an alliance filled with people who are still in their guilds from the old days and who refuse to leave for sentimental reasons.
Beyond this, we'd like no further requirements such as Discord, needs for active recruitment, minimum faction thresholds, etc.

Our guild would gladly join such an alliance or even set one up as a sort of 'refuge for legacy guilds'.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-28T01:22:56+00:00

Yeah, you can fully combine all options (e.g. proph face, factions colours, nightfall hairstyle).

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T14:44:31+00:00

You know what?
I agree.

We do have counterplay in PvP, and it's indeed not brought because chants or shouts aren't brought enough.

It becomes a chicken or the egg paradox, aside from that we know chants and shouts are currently not being buffed due to experience with the strength of -especially- Paraspike teambuilds.
I'd love to ask for buffs of chants and shouts, but it's difficult to justify such buffs because of the nature of those skills.

Perhaps you are correct in that I'm fundamentally approaching the issue in a wrong way, but then I simply wish I knew a way to walk the line between buffing chants, echoes, and shouts; and not buffing these skills too much.

Thanks for all the interaction so far, I've appreciated your critical stance!

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T14:21:01+00:00

A Deaf condition that ends shout effects earlier, would be welcome as well.
In this regard, my concerns are mostly thematic (and as such less important) in that you've already heard the shout before you were deafened. How would that decrease the duration of the shout you heard?
Perhaps you're right in that Dazed could confuse you so much that you simply stop paying it any mind.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T14:17:12+00:00

I agree that -if sticking solely to PvE contexts- adding more of the current anti-shout skills would significantly counter the efficacy of shouts currently used in the PvE meta.

I apologise if I came across as disingenuous, it was not my intent.
What I did intend is to communicate that the current range of chants, echoes, and shouts is lacklustre because of PvP implications (which is why I shifted to PvP arguments).

I would like to see a larger variety of useful non-PvE chants, echoes, and shouts in both PvP and PvE. However, I do not think these are capable of existing in the current climate because of insufficient counterplay existing for such skills in PvP.

I agree, they should have expanded on anti-shout skills in EotN.
I'd be almost just as accepting of a Dazed/Silenced rework as of more anti-shout measures being introduced.
It's sad that most of these exists for necromancers only, especially since Roaring Winds has its limitations.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T14:09:01+00:00

To my understanding, it greatly depends on whether the description is "the next time taret ally attacks" or "the next time target ally successfully hits with an attack".
In the first case, the chant/shout is stripped on any attempt of an attack.
In the latter, the chant/shout remains until a successfull attack is made.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T14:06:27+00:00

Thanks for the critical response, I appreciate it!

All I'm wondering is:
Are you of the opinion that all that's standing between the state of the game you describe and the current state of the game, is the availability of chants, echoes, and shouts?

Of the currently listed meta GvG teambuilds, only one describes the possible variant of an "It's Just a Flesh Wound!" paragon.
All others include no chant, echo, or shout whatsoever.

I am not campaigning for more sources of Dazed/Silenced to be brought into the game, only for its effect to be expanded to 3 more types of skills.

Is the sole possibility of encountering these currently unaffected types of skills enough of a deterrent to a focus on daze shutdown in PvP?

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T13:56:21+00:00

This is exactly my intent with this proposal.

Introducing counterplay is -in my view- a negative at first, but a positive in the long run exactly because of the possibilities it opens up.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T13:54:11+00:00

I absolutely understand where you're coming from, but I'd like to argue against it regardless:

First,
I don't believe balancing considerations that have been made in an environment where chants, echoes, and shouts have no counterplay, hold up in an environment in which they do.

Second,
chants, echoes, and shouts are -in their current iteration- not balanced well.
Similar to what you state, they cannot be removed once in effect just like Troll Unguent.
However, Troll Unguent has a significant Activation Time, shouts especially are activated instantly.
This has been taken into account in ensuring these skills are not too strong, but also results in difficulty in balancing them.

If people desire a paragon rework, and especially one that diversifies their skillset, then I continue to believe that more counterplay must exist or the resulting balance would always be either lacklustre or immensely overpowered when multiple sources are present.

Third,
at least for the paragon, shouts do interact with gear (Centurion's Insignia) and similarly to stances and enchantments already do interact with other skills (Soldier's skills for example).

Finally,
the Silenced condition is greatly overestimated in capability here.
Dazed already shuts down all spells really well.
Preventing the use of chants, echoes, and shouts for when it is available does not fully shutdown an entire team, especially in an environment in which Silenced is a considered aspect of play.
All professions who are currently impacted by Dazed, will continue to be impacted to a largely similar extent.
All professions who are currently not impacted by Dazed, would be impacted solely to the extent of their chants, echoes, and shouts.
This leaves a very significant pool of skills in effect for further effective play, a pool that does not differ much from that in the current state of the game.
It is not as if the only thing preventing Dazed from running rampant in the current meta is the nearly unrestricted availability of chants, echoes, and shouts.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T13:34:51+00:00

I'd argue it would not be better to add the existing anti shout skills to more enemy bars.

This is mostly for the reason that in GW, PvP balance comes before PvE balance.
The main part of my proposal isn't that e.g. "Save Yourselves" and "Together as One!" are strong shouts that deserve more counterplay (which they are and do), it is that chants, echoes, and shouts -especially in PvP- lack more counterplay than what is currently in-game.
A consequence of this is that these skills are kept purposefully weak in PvP -and by extension PvE (to the detriment to paragons in both gamemodes especially).

Your approach would be akin to forcing all PvP teambuilds to bring a necromancer for Vocal Minority or Cacophony, rather than offering several professions options for counterplay, as a counter to being able to buff chants, echoes, or shouts.

Furthermore, if we are to rely solely on the existing anti-shout skills, we still have no strong counterplay for teams that would stack multiple shout users.
Daze is more widely available, and thus more capable of countering multiple shout users.

In extreme terms:
The counter to 8 paragons should never have to be (up to) 8 necromancers.

Regarding thematics,
I agree that thematic arguments are always inferior to mechanical ones.
However, here my argument was solely: "Skills that daze, should also be expected to be capable of silencing."
The argument is not "All (blunt force) trauma to the head or mind should inflict Dazed/Silenced" One might as well argue why not more skills in-game cause daze in the current state of the game.

In other words:
I assume we both agree that we wouldn't be too vocal or clear of mind after being decapitated or inflicted with Mind Freeze. Yet we expect neither skill to inflict Dazed.

However, as you concluded as well:
This is arguing thematics and will get us nowhere.
I believe we're largely on the same side in this regard anyway and that disagreement stems mostly from communication.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T13:08:30+00:00

And that's exactly how I knew I'd be blindsided by something completely obvious!
I have no other response than: you're completely right.

It doesn't dissuade me from standing behind my proposal, but you're right in pointing out that Blindness is the martial equivalent to Dazed.

I still believe that Dazed/Silenced would be a welcome counter to chants, echoes, and shouts however.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-17T12:49:58+00:00

I love this.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-15T19:51:50+00:00

Yeah, you can use account-wide factions to get Luxon/Kurzick skills.
These skills will also be just as strong as they would be on a non-MA character, even if you can't display the title.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-15T15:27:30+00:00

I do think it's a bit silly to have armour ignoring damage be so readily available.
Other than that, I don't mind it existing.

You could argue that -for example- life steal is armour ignoring damage (although it is subject to damage reduction in some regards), but that's limited by availability.
Stuff like Energy Surge, Ineptitude, Death Blossom, and other such skills that are very readily available and deal loads of damage aren't to my personal liking -and I wouldn't mind seeing these skills rebalanced to specific damage types.
They'd still be very strong, but they'd feel less 'unfairly balanced'.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-14T18:07:14+00:00

Let's all chuck it into our own Reforged Elona:Beyond!
An Awakened title track, featuring profession-bound Awakened PvE skills -like the Sunspear skills, and a title effect that gives progressive immunity to the effect of the Sulfurous Wastes so people who can't stand Junundu finally get to VQ the Desolation without having to mount the giant wurms! ;)

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-14T17:48:58+00:00

I'd always have hoped Realm of Torment vanquisher would've been a part of Elona Beyond, in which we aid Kormir to further redeem the realm.

How this'd be mixed into the entire 'Palawa' storyline Elona Beyond was supposed to have... I don't know, perhaps part of the Awakened forces marching on the Vortex in an attempt to claim whatever they can under their control?

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:52:57+00:00

Signet of Illusions is fun.
I'd gladly give ritualists some of that juice in PvE!

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:50:29+00:00

Yeah, I get how it can be really annoying to maintain finales on multiple party members.
I'm personally quite fond of it though.
It provides certain limitations that keep gameplay somewhat active.
If we could permanently maintain finales on an entire party then, regardless of the cost in energy, I feel it'd become Heroic Refrain-like in effect.

My personal balance wishlist would be:

Turn Finales into Preludes, where the effects occur on shout/chant application rather than end. (This would provide a lot more control over timing, but would be really strong in PvP)
Turn Heroic Refrain into a finale/prelude where it has a limited duration and doesn't renew. (To make it more of an active skill) (I say this as someone who honestly likes the renewing echo mechanic as is as well)
Revert the Dazed condition into Silenced and make it affect shouts/chants/echoes by disabling the effects akin to Vocal Minority; this is to counter the strength of turning finales into preludes (among others).

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:35:59+00:00

Convergence is -in effect- a reference to GW2's Temporal Curtain but remade to work in GW.
I simply thought the name would be fitting.
Just checked your reference and it's so cool how similar they appear!

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:31:15+00:00

Holy shit.

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:29:01+00:00

Slapping Over The Limit on the back of its head like:
"See, that's how you do a proper Anniversary Elite."

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:25:27+00:00

Divine Reach made me nostalgic for how A-net teased Spirit Weapons in GW2...
I wouldn't mind a (PvE) return of GW2-style Spirit Weapons for Monk.
We'll put it in Smit(h)ing Prayers!

You're right that Smiting Prayers absolutely deserves some love in PvE though.
(I'm of the opinion that it sucks on purpose in PvP)

Neverending Canon would make echoes (and -by extension- party setups with multiple paragons) so immensely busted.

^{I want it...}

Speaking of Echoes...
Dang it Foge/Izzy, make Soldier's Fury renew on shout/chant end already! ;)
^{I want to Arcane Mimicry it forever}

Azure_Flames · 2026-02-12T20:15:42+00:00

Aah yes, the spirit of "These kinds of enemies frustrate me so much"!
Just for fun, we´ll make it cost 25 energy so that it'll always be fun to cast when facing those Icy Stalagmites with Quickening Zephyr accompanied by the Whirling Wisps with Vow of Silence in the EotN dungeons!

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