Arolandis.8360

I'm really liking hammer in WvW. These are the changes I really want though: As someone that actually likes the augments, I think the effect of reducing the cooldown by using it by a specific type of jade sphere field is nice, but the requirement of having to match to a specific field makes it clunky. If I drop a water sphere, I'm gonna be using water combos to heal, but the Augment heal requires using it in your water sphere to get the cooldown reduction. In those moments it's really kind of overkill to heal combo then use your heal skill for the CD reduction. I'd rather the augment skills have their CD reduction work just by using it in a jade sphere over having it have to match the type, too. The autoattacks on Fire and Air should be 900 range over 600. I'm so easily kited on hammer in this game mode. Shock Blast (Air 5) is slow. Can we make it faster like scrapper's similar stun skill? I'm fine with the Fire and Earth combo finishers still being slow, I can work quickness into those. Quickness doesn't help this skill. Whirling Stones (Earth 2) should also be a Whirl finisher. Rain of Blows (Water 2) should inflict a short duration chill per strike, rather than requiring all blows to land in order to inflict chill. Bump Grand Finale's range from 800 to 900 and make it faster maybe. Maybe also give a few more Fire and Air skills 900 range. Really just Triple Sear and Hurricane of pain would be fine. I'm still dealing with a lot of CC even with Staunch Auras. Could use a longer base duration of stability on that trait. We gotta build that up with combos with Elemental Epitome. Daggers can build it up easier than Hammer users can. And there is TONS of CC in WvW. It feels lacking with Hammer. As slow-casted combo finishers, the 5-skills should have a bit lower cooldown. Surging Flames (Fire 2) should be a 3-hit skill to match the animation/effect (3 Fireballs), and then have it's damage adjusted so that it stays the same as it is now if all 3 hits land. I really freaking love Hammer but it needs that little bit extra to compete with daggers. Oh and add bleed to earth auto. Oh and also, the Augment skill Shattering Ice is pretty lame. You get that sort of effect and more from Glyph of Elemental Power.

No no no no no NO. Do NOT nerf Firebrand's elite mantra in WvW. That is just so freakin' unnecessary. You guys have GOT to stop with nerfs. These classes are performing great, and that's a GOOD thing. The problem is that other classes have basically NO stability. So the answer here isn't to nerf Firebrand kitten, it's to give other classes more stability. Why should a Firebrand player be punished, here? It doesn't even need to be on every class. Just add more of it to Elementalist's earth abilities/traits. Druid's Glyphs (like you did here, but only for PVE?...and yet you're nerfing FB in WvW in a PVE patch?), and a couple other classes that the boon would make sense on. I can see how your philosophy as devs, looking at every class as a whole, can think "oh well it'll make more sense to remove a little here and add a little there", but all that does is create more problems. DON'T nerf things that perform well. As someone here mentioned earlier that makes the class a success. So you're trying to make them fail more so that other classes can compete, WHICH DOESN'T WORK BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GIVING THE OTHER CLASSES THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO ALSO BE A SUCCESS. When you're an actual player being punished all the time with unnecessary nerfs it makes situations like the june 28th patch. So STOP it already. Imagine yourself as a player that logs on and hops into WvW. There's not a huge group of people on yet but there's some good 15 vs 15ish fights in some places. Someone tags up, and the squad starts forming. Since people are going to play what they want to play, you have a squad with just one or two firebrands, maybe a tempest, a druid (I guess), and say, a support vindicator. The rest are ranged dps'es. What good is nerfing Firebrand's elite mantra do here, practically? Did it somehow make the druid, tempest, and vindicator more useful? NO. Is the firebrand player going to be annoyed with nerfs and play something else? PROBABLY. So just leave firebrands and scrappers and other good builds alone and start giving other classes what they need SO THEY CAN ALSO BE GOOD.

Thread was necro'd but still relevant. Come on, Anet.

Finally somebody understands.

Except some of us are over bladesworn and try the other specs and go "wtf" and quit. They need to get on the ball with Warrior already. It's been too kitten long. If they want more money they shouldn't just assume all anybody is going to want to play is the new elite specs and nothing else. Anytime I try to make other builds on Warrior I just end up pissed off anymore.

Me too for the past few nights. I added it to my allowed apps in my firewall and it didn't help.

I'm comparing it to thief, yes, to show that if they're almost as good as a thief, or on par, then why does Willbender need nerfs? The damage numbers are on par with what other classes can achieve with similar stats. And their kit is fair, It relies on attacking to even trigger. As a longtime Thief main, Thief has more mobility than Willbender. So yes BY DESIGN they need the tools to stick around and brawl. Especially on power builds, which most Thieves can get away with running Berserker gear with. My Thief hits like a truck. Thieves don't just have stealth, they can kite with dashes and superspeed, dagger leaps and sword shadowsteps, even specter wells now, they have blinds, they have a lot of interrupt access, they have boon steal, they have good sustain, most of their utilities are also a stunbreak. You don't even NEED stealth on thief. I played mine without it, focusing on dodges, and evades on weapon skills along with the rest of their tools. Their options aren't just "disengage or stay and die". Willbenders are similar to thieves, but they're not "better", just designed differently. This class and the people that play it don't need to be punished for it with nerfs. If classes just have their kits nerfed, then we end up with less counterplay to enjoy fights with. You end up with large gaps where you can't fight and simply die. That sounds worse than getting 1 Up'd by a random roamer. I don't want ANY classes nerfed, even if they're annoying. (*cough* Soulbeast, which Willbender is below)

Fair point, but what makes a class A-tier and what makes another one B-tier? Every class has a strong build available to them that can beat a Willbender. Is no class ever allowed to burst and run? Should thieves be deleted? Do you remember that building glassy makes you easy prey the moment you're CC'd? If a Willbender runs away because you're kicking it's kitten is it really any different than a thief? Why so much focus on Willbenders? If they're built for power, they're basically dead without their mobility, like thieves, but without stealth access on top. Even Engineers have superspeed and stealth access, with ranged grenade spam, and rocket boots/rifle leap. If they're built for celestial...eh, other classes do it better. My point is basicially that I still don't think Willbenders need nerfs in WvW, regardless of what "tier" it is. (A-tier)

It's not handicapping, it's strategizing. 😛 No one build is going to be able to handle everything. That's why you make multiple builds and swap to them as you need them (like dealing with a griefer). I DO think Harbs need tuning though.

There's also the sigil of nullification. Revs in particular get a trait that strip stability. I'm not suggesting this fixes everything. I'm just trying to show that there are different ways you could build for people you're struggling to beat. Once you know what a person's build is weak to you can build for it, and swap to it with a hotkey if they're constantly giving you trouble.

It's fun to steal with Absorbtion Sigil.

I still don't agree that Willbender is broken, when there are far more oppressive classes in WvW. Why shouldn't Celestial/Trailblazer be in competitive? Trailblazer in particular is designed the way that it is because conditions take time to tick, and are countered by cleanses, so you need the extra toughness/vitality to buy you time. Celestial is only good if you build for might stacking. Without might, it's pretty weak. A more focused build is still better. And WvW is more of a sandbox than a competitive mode. People can experiment with what they want and if it works, why spoil their fun? Why not make your own builds that counter theirs and have your own fun? Either way this is a player vs. player game mode, there's a lot of lrn2play involved, and people complaining need to realize that with all the options available in WvW there are ways to counter classes you're struggling with. Hotkey seperate builds so if you spot one you're struggling with you can swap to it. Get creative. Other classes need buffs regardless, they do, and composition still matters, but WvW is way more balanced than people realize. In other games you don't get nearly as many options to deal with "broken" classes. Edit: There's also way too much running in WvW for people to not have some survivability and sustain.

How so? What are they doing that thieves, holosmiths, fresh air weavers (the good ones anyway), heralds, rangers (even untamed), etc. aren't doing?

Yep exactly. This is why I don't think this game needs anymore nerfs. They tend to nerf other classes at the same time as buffing others, and it tips the scale in the other direction rather than making everyone viable and allowing them to enjoy their class choices to the fullest.

Something something ping pong and bowling.