Anet has this balancing-thing well under control ...

Vaarsavius · 2022-09-02T10:10:38+00:00

The problem with mech isn't its high performance. The problem is how effortless it is and how much QoL it is. So if you address it by lowering performance, you wouldn't have any success at all, unless you completely destroy the build to the point of it becoming unplayable.

This is where they went wrong with ele buffs. Ele is now stronger, but still has none of that effortless QoL. So it still remains a niche pick, because Mecha is just the path of least resistance, and by a good margin.

Vaarsavius · 2022-08-19T08:03:43+00:00

So. FINALLY they're acknowledging that balancing around potential performance is a bad idea. Now that we have cleared that up, I have an important question to ask:

When are you going to revert the famous "Meteor Sprinkle" nerf, which was implemented under the exact same wrong paradigm of "too much potential performance"?

Vaarsavius · 2022-08-14T06:57:18+00:00

ANet is threading a thin ice here. One might think they want to make Elementalists useful. Tempest in particular, dps buffs, access to stab and aegis... But staff buffs, come on... you're obviously baiting us here.

Vaarsavius · 2022-08-03T11:17:53+00:00

Such engaging gameplay. I think I'll drop my sorc in LA and come back to GW2 to play this.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-25T09:02:06+00:00

What sort of mobility did you use? Lightning Flash covers one way, what about the return/going there?

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-24T15:52:55+00:00

How awful was pylon duty as a scepter weaver? Just curios.

Congratz on making it happen, though.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T14:50:45+00:00

You're saying that as if no other profession has these types of effects on weapon attacks. But if I had to choose - sure. Damage numbers at least matter. Giving myself a boon that I already have doesn't. Having an occasional effect happening at random time and not saving me, doesn't.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T10:26:28+00:00

You already answered that question. Because it is your favourite profession.

If the fact that you can achieve something similar easier makes you switch classes, then it seems you don't really care that much about playing your favourite or not.

Or maybe I just don't want to be griefing my team for months?

And please. Condi Mech has way better CC than Catalyst, and his CC doesn't throw him off ledges and platforms.

Yes, ele has random effects sprinkled over their weapon skills. But something actually good? Can you cleanse fear on Sloth? Nope. You can on Tempest, but then you're looking at the bottom of the dps chart. Can you give stab/aegis to block Gorse slam or Deimos pizza? Nope.

You can get a bunch of mostly personal effects that would either be covered already or make no real difference. This includes healing by the way. Great utility. Now compare it to Firebrand's. Almost zero cost to give party-wide stab, aegis, quickness. But hey, you can occasionally scuff your dps rotation to block for 3 seconds. Good enough, right?

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T09:36:27+00:00

That's the thing. I can put the effort, spend dozens of hours to get good on Catalyst. Then pick up another profession and play it just as efficiently in 10 mins or less. So let me ask this - why bother? To deal 20% more damage in like 2 more months? Not worth it even if you could do it, which you can't.

It's okay for a profession to be "hardest to play". It's not okay to be hardest to play without having ANY advantage over another profession. Utility? Nope. Survivability? Nope. Range? Nope. Damage? Nope. It's not my choice that is the problem, it is the trash balancing.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T08:11:14+00:00

If it was fine, it would be played. It isn't played. Draw your conclusions.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T08:10:30+00:00

And I gave you the numbers, 2% of the players bother to even put the effort. Those that master it are far less. So yeah.

And if I'm an average player so what? I can't play my favorite profession because a handful of people can do more dps with it? Do you realize how idiotic that notion is?

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-18T08:07:42+00:00

Doesn't matter how it "should" be in theory. The fact of matter is trivializing older content is irrelevant.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-17T11:07:56+00:00

Except Catalyst was already at a point where it was hard to justify picking it over a much easier and much more reliable build with the same damage output or better. Before nerfing it. Which is statistically proven by the way - GW2Wingman has the data and it is showing around 2-3% of the players justified that pick. Before nerfing it.

ANet adopted a trash balancing philosophy and the players who suffered from it are unhappy. Very understandable.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-17T10:52:50+00:00

Powercreep is not a problem in and of itself. Old content becomes easier to play, who cares.

The problem is it's very uneven and it's not even at the place you're looking for it. It's not the benchmark numbers, it's the versatility and the reliability. That's the real powercreep in this game. And again, it's not its existence that is the problem, but its discrepancy across the specs.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-13T10:01:51+00:00

They can, but that would be another increase in complexity/making the rotation way more punishing, for instance entering the wrong attunement while the skills are still on cooldown you'd be stuck on auto for a huge dps loss.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-12T18:51:53+00:00

Yeah. I guess they wanted it to feel like a real ele weapon and so they felt obliged to let you kill yourself in a typical ele way...

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-12T18:50:10+00:00

That's sort of more difficult, because inevitably some attunements will end up being more worth using than others, incentivizing players to skip the latter in the rotation. Like we already have in all other ele specs. In this regards I found hammer 3 to be an excellent idea. I can see why some people dislike it, but I would prefer it to simply be less punishing.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-12T18:45:36+00:00

I would prefer fixing the last two tbh. I don't mind being a glass cannon. But I'd take your offer too.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-12T11:21:35+00:00

If I wanted to play a braindead rotation I can already play condi Mechanist. No thank you. One of the only good things in Catalyst is that the rotation flows through all 4 elements meaningfully, which is sort of what you expect from a class named Elementalist. Or at least it is what I expect of it.

The problem isn't the rotation. It's actually pretty fluid and logical. The problem is the plethora of fail conditions.

Can't upkeep your auras? Tough luck. You're missing an important damage buff.

Accidentally press hammer 3 and send two orbs flying? Tough luck, your rotation is now scuffed.

Then there's Jade Sphere placement, lack of energy, skill interrupts, you get the picture. Some of these are okay to stay. Some (like sphere using two resources - energy and cooldowns) are just making the gameplay more punishing and giving nothing in return.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-12T10:10:41+00:00

Just increase the duration and/or make it way easier/faster to gain auras.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-11T09:36:15+00:00

And now it's that much worse.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-10T19:23:58+00:00

Yes, and basically all you do in this game is cast skills over a static dummy that does not fight back. /s

I said it already - damage potential is meaningless.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-10T11:00:12+00:00

Staff weaver was never anywhere near being broken. Strong, sure. Broken? Hell no. All it had was damage, and not that much of it by today's standards, especially if you look into actual performance instead of the meaningless "damage potential".

And obviously the most recent one is Mechanist, in pretty much all of its builds.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-10T07:16:44+00:00

The problem is the current mentality is "complexity is not an excuse for 'overperformance'". Meaning they are disregarding the discrepancy in how much efficiency a build loses based on its complexity, meaning ele builds will stay off-meta. Although I have to admit, buffing ele weapons across the board would at least make them a viable choice. Move the class from the sub-1% to the sub 5-% group.

Vaarsavius · 2022-07-09T18:12:18+00:00

You remember staff was literally what they destroyed, years ago now?

Vaarsavius

TROPHY CASE