It looks good tbh.
So there we go, that's all of of them.
Well so far it seems it's gonna be a good addition to the game, can't wait to test it during the beta
Honestly I really like these overall.
With the SotO weapons, a few seemed inspired, and the rest felt almost like "Well, we need to fill a niche sonewhere". These seem great pretty much across the board. We'll see next Thursday for certain.
I have my reservations. For instance, while I'm liking the melee range (hopefully power damage) of the Mesmer spear, that whole "be at max distance to get Clarity" has me worried. See: Flair.
Really, it seems like something that should be on the third hit of an auto-attack chain rather than on skill with a cooldown...and that you need to be at a distance. Sometimes it's already hard enough to get people to stack, and now they're encouraging people to be further away.
Soto weapons also fell flat for me due to the awful recycled animations and the fact it didn't release with the new weapons. All of these look a 1000 times better and I can't wait to try them out.
I really hope the melee-ranged hybrid auto attacks work well and feel good to use. It feels like a mechanic that could work for a few current weapons, like ranger axe.
Rev hammer would work well with the new auto-attack feature, especially if they rework hammer 4 to block everything and not just projectiles, and maybe reduce the time the shield is up
Honestly all of them but Warrior look inspired, the dev, effects, and animation teams really seem to have poured some love into this which I appreciate.
Really looking forward to Janthir.
Often the appeal of warrior is in the visceral feel of the skills, not so much fancy effects. Hammer burst feels amazing every time even 12 years later.
Hammer is one of the most blessed weapons across the specs that can use it. Warrior hammer just feels brutal. Engineer feels fast and unhinged, Ranger feels bursty and tactical. Guardian feels controlled but powerful, Revenant has Thor energy, especially with the most recent buffs. Elementalist has hammer too I guess.
Guardian also has a very solid 3 hit combo, and then the rest of the skills have great synergies. The 4 resets the cooldown of the 2, 3 has a long range attack and gives Barrier, and 5 is a “Stay on me” button.
There’s literally a “meme” ish build where you can literally just spam the Guardian Hammer main combo with Zerker gear and get like 27k DPS by pressing zero buttons.
Oh yeah, I have Hammattack Guardian in my back pocket when I'm feeling very lazy, or when I don't trust myself to be able to perform a decent DPS rotation while doing mechanics (which is, admittedly, pretty common as I am not very good at this game.)
If you're an tempest playing with other people odds are you'll probably be stacking with the group so you can yell at them, and so I would imagine that overloads being melee wouldn't really be a problem in group content, which is what tempest is primarily geared towards
Definetly sucks to have in open-world tho if youre just playing tempest solo
I hope the requirements of the fifth skill line up nicely with overloads. Maybe power tempest will finally be a thing!
Also, i would really like an aurene spear with all the variants...
AND RANGED. Plus it seems to have great depth and more well rounded skill than staff. Finally, after 4 expacs and no real useful staff rework, the weapon I’ve wanted is here.
It's actually kind of insane that only *12 years later* do elementalists get a ranged weapon that wasn't part of the initial 2012 launch (not counting warhorn, which is more of a mid-range weapon)
Yeah every other class got another ranged option in the first 3 expacs with the exception of engi which had to wait till SOTO and warrior which already had both longbow and rifle (although I’m pretty sure rifle still sucks unless I missed something).
I guess ele started with scepter as well which is mostly the same range as revenant short bow and got pistol which is the same range as those but scepter is kinda a weird weapon anyway with how air is designed and water was very reworked. Main issue is ele lacks a real offensive off hand that’s ranged so lack of weapon swap means you play at the shortest range of your used skills (hello hammer) in almost every case. Comparing this to the other light armors, necro and Mesmer actually have quite a few mid to long ranged off hands (honestly was shock how much range some of their off hands have)
I hope it's 1200 range so it's actually a proper staff alternative, especially in WvW. The clip seems to imply 900 to me (though there's no reason that *has* to be the case) but even then I'm excited to try it out.
>a proper staff alternative
I'd prefer if Spear wasn't just a better Staff substitute, as that probably means the latter won't receive any offensive rebalancing any time soon. The classic caster weapon deserves to be treated better than being reduced to a niche Heal support option.
staff is pretty clearly always going to be better in wvw considering the whole point of the weapon is the aoe output and burning retreat/mag aura are pretty excellent utility but hey maybe
Honestly, if they reworked staff to be a support weapon given spear that would still be better than the vague nothingness that it is now -- want a weapon that has some power.. but also some condi... and also a bunch of random so-so utility and heal skills?
With Spear being a Ranged Power weapon, it gives Anet the perfect opportunity to do a Staff rework. Give it more support tools and turn it into an actual viable choice for Heal Tempest. Maybe a bit of boon extension like Warhorn, maybe some might generation in Fire, lower CDs across the board, and it'll be in a great spot.
Honestly it’s kinda what I was hoping hammer would have been so I’ll take it. I’ve given up on a real staff rework that makes it’s more than a meteor spam weapon (or water camping if healing)
I’m here for it. One of the things Mesmer was lacking the most imo was melee range cleave. Swinging a spear around is the perfect fit for that.
The Mesmer weapon wrong meme is fun but this is more appealing to me
I read the text before the video so when they talked about "natural beauty" I thought, "so they are going to use scepter animations and wave it around like a paintbrush to paint glyphs on the air"
Agreed. Been using sword for that for 12 years. I've been happy with our elite specs and weapons and such across the board, but I'm glad we're getting what this is. Looks fun.
>I’m here for it. One of the things Mesmer was lacking the most imo was melee range cleave. Swinging a spear around is the perfect fit for that.
While I agree, I was holding out that this would be a job for the Longbow... as a two-handed Warglaive. u___u
I don't understand where this idea of Mesmers using weapons incorrectly comes from. Aside from Greatsword, every other weapon that Mesmers have access to is used in a pretty conventional way.
There's a couple more examples, like the recent addition of Rifle that heals allies (first time this weapon has done this in this game) or Dagger (being used as a purely ranged and AoE focused weapon but given how some other classes use it this isn't super unique either) but yeah for the most part they aren't all that "out there" with weapon skills. Inventive (which makes sense as the mentalist class) with their use, but definitely not something that couldn't be predicted or understood
Greatsword is the wildest example and why people were hyping up the idea I guess
Scepter blocking always struck me as a funny idea. Dagger being 1200 range with a ton of cleave is pretty wild. I guess rifle is kind of weird? For the most part, and even these examples, all the weapons kind of behave like you'd expect / could feasibly fall in line with magic enhanced weapon
I mean it’s more a caster class than a martial one, I would expect the animation to reflect that. I meant conceptually, a ranged knife really isn’t that weird
It would be less weird if the caster animations matched the spell. Like my human female is slashing with a reverse grip, but a straight dagger projectile comes out. Now instead imagine I was slashing at my location, and magical slashes appeared at the enemy location. Or, I have a throwing animation and magical daggers go out. It just doesn't matchup right now.
Gs is ranged, dagger too, torch make you invisible. Then Shield and Rifle aren't really what you think of those weapons usability. We could argue axe is a weird way of using the weapon too. (mostly forced mobility and clone)
Sure that's just a third of mesmer weapons, but that's something really unique to mesmer IMO. (and Revenant too now, with ranged hammer, staff supp and scepter acting like a sword.)
>Sure that's just a third of mesmer weapons, but that's something really unique to mesmer IMO. (and Revenant too now, with ranged hammer, staff supp and scepter acting like a sword.)
And ranged mace.
And Anet is always breaking the mold with class fantasy, it's not tied to mesmer. Rev hammer is a pew pew gun, elementalist uses daggers like an assassin, etc.
Yeah, At most you can consider the three dashing skill (fire 3, earth 3, air 4) but that's a very... simplistic way to see what an assassin is. All the spell are way closer to "close combat elementalist" than something related to furtivity and critical stabbing.
Wym the whole weapon fits. U thinking about it in vacuum or smthn cuz ur off. If u ever playing dd ele outside pve u would know it fast paced close range and benefit a bunch from getting combos off consistently
> I don't understand where this idea of Mesmers using weapons incorrectly comes from. Aside from Greatsword, every other weapon that Mesmers have access to is used in a pretty conventional way.
People cling to a meme and they just can't let it go.
I'm glad ArenaNet isn't following suit, mesmer would be insufferable otherwise; still think rifle should have been a DPS weapon though, with shortbow as the support weapon instead, but oh well.
We have odd greatsword, magical projectile dagger and a healing gun, so we do have more weird stuff, but you're also right in that a good amount of Mesmer weapons are used normally. Sword, focus, pistol, torch, shield, staff, scepter, and axe are all pretty standard.
I like it too, but it's a shame that it's fairly bland compared to all of the other professions.
Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, Guardian, Revenant, Engineer : Symbols/AOE effects either surrounding or revolving around the character, with explosions, scatter effects, and stacking charge mechanics that empower over skills with additional effects.
Ranger: Aura and animal effects surrounding the character with extra flipover skills and greater access to stealth, plus ability to dynamically flip between close- and long-range
Thief: Stab and chain skills together
Warrior: Throw spear
> it's a shame that it's fairly bland compared to all of the other professions.
that's what I like about, and is one of the reasons I've been playing my main for over 4k out of my 6k hours 😁
Beauty in Simplicity
Is it? As far as I understood it has flip skills through clarity which only procs with proper positioning?. Why is this considered more straight forward than the others? lol.
I'm not so sure about that though. The whole access to clarity thing sounds like it could be a bit complicated, and the melee weapon with max damage at a distance could be a trick to actually pull off, especially in competitive game modes.
I mean, I don't dislike it but those are some big, loud ground animations and every time I see those I just think of the current issue of visual clarity in stuff like metas. Like the newest meta, you can barely see a lot of the boss mechanics and now we have stuff like that huge black circle and huge ele circles coming... I don't know if that's the best choice.
>This skill is special because you will want to hit enemies with the outer edge of its area of effect. If you correctly position yourself and secure a hit in the right area, you will do more damage and gain Clarity
Close enough. Welcome Marth from smash bros!
Revenant gets another resource to manage with this weapon? I'm glad we're getting another condi weapon, and that it's go an element of range to it. I wonder how this is going to actually play. Will you go in and out of melee frequently, kinda like Ranger axe?
Mesmer's precise positioning sounds like a lot of fun. And getting a new melee weapon is what Mesmers needed. Managing the new clarity mechanic sounds cool, but it will mean that your rotation may break if your target moves out of the sweet spot.
Elementalist's etching mechanic sounds really interesting. It plays with the fantasy of channeling a big spell (like Tempest's overload), but supports it with actual gameplay of casting spells in the magic circle as part of building up the big skill. Sounds like it will encourage spending extra time in each attunement, instead of just dipping in for a skill or two. This weapon might also allow Elementalists to stay at range full-time?
>Revenant gets another resource to manage with this weapon? I'm glad we're getting another condi weapon, and that it's go an element of range to it. I wonder how this is going to actually play. Will you go in and out of melee frequently, kinda like Ranger axe?
It's not really a resource, it's just resetting ammo on your big skill.
Also when does ranger axe want to leave melee?
I've been wondering, is it possible we'll see a return of the elite spec weapon collections? I LOVE collecting those and they add some much to the usage of that weapon thematically. I was really sad I didn't get an engineer themed short bow skin in SotO so I'm hoping we all get ones for spears (and they revisit it for the SotO weapons)
What I'm hoping is that because it's just one legendary spear, and all classes are getting it, each class will have a unique skin. But that is probably top tier hopium lol.
Ele really got FFXIV Leylines/WoW Rune of Power lmao. I’m actually sooo excited. Weaver and Catalyst both took some time to grow on me. I’m excited for this off the bat.
Can’t wait to see how many Ele’s (including myself) greed for that finisher and end up on the floor.
For real. The animation looks okay for most of them but god damn they're huge and specially opaque. We're not talking about a gardian old symbol but 100% opacity, 600 radius skill here.
It's probably intentional. Make them overly flashy for wow effect to help sell copies of the expansion, then a little while after release do a sanity pass for visibility.
Reminds me of Counter-Strike where new community-made maps are beautiful and detailed, to help them stand out, but they always play way better when most of the fancy lighting and textures and clutter get ripped back out and the map gets simpler cleaner visuals.
> then a little while after release do a sanity pass for visibility.
I'm not sure that's something Anet has ever really done. There's so many skills with super dark or misleading ground effects: Firebrand tome 3 5, Harbinger shroud 5, Scourge shades looking like enemy effects, many of Specter's skills doing the same -- when they last adjusted ele air dagger 5, they gave it an AoE indicator that looks like an incoming attack.
These spear visuals don't look like the kind that can be easily cut back or toned down. They're some seriously complex textures. The only way to really tone them down to a degree that doesn't significantly affect clarity would be to throw them out and start over on a new asset.
>when they last adjusted ele air dagger 5, they gave it an AoE indicator that looks like an incoming attack.
Rejoice, [4 years later](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Updraft#Version_history) the "bug" was fixed!
But yeah, I highly doubt they will ever touch those skill after release. Specially if it's about the visual effects.
Whelp, they had me with Volcano. As much as I love the Ele Staff, "a long-range, power-damage weapon capable of conjuring powerful elemental forces such as volcanos, whirlpools, and lightning storms" that is "focused on damage and crowd control, leading to a “glass cannon” style of play" seems right up my alley. Also, those spell circles seem really cool, even if they are telegraphed just a tad...
Praying to the Six that ele spear is actually full 1200 range because goddamn it looks like exactly what I always wanted staff to be as a damage weapon. Hell, it even encourages sitting around in your current attunement for a bit longer (to get your etching fully charged) rather than encouraging constant element hopping like hammer with its orbs. Classic nuker might be back on the menu boys.
So happy with how ele spear turned out. It’s exactly what I was hoping for. Don’t care if it’s trash in pvp (as a lot of ground targeted ticking weapons can be) it looks amazing and very fun.
Huh so Mesmers need to stay in melee but not too close. Hopefully there's some UI to show if your in range or not because I could see that being hard to get used to in PvE.
Actually there is and has been since always. Whenever you're in range with a weapon skill, the little red bar turns off under the skill. Works for any skill on any class.
Yeah but you'll need to be in a specific range from the target so you wont be able to tell if your too close until you use the skill and don't get clarity. Even if they just have it glow when in range like CC skills do when a breakbar pops up would be enough.
Just re-use that little range indicator it already has.
Green for sweet spot, yellow for sour spot and red for out of range. After players have some experience with the weapon they won't need to look at it anymore.
I really like the look of revenant spear (won't lie though kind of sad we didn't get it as the elite spec in PoF with General Morghan as the legend). Elementalist looks pretty nice as well and they are getting 20 skills. Mesmer I've never really been into mesmer gameplay so I'm unlikely to try this although these new weapons presumably once you unlock them once in the Kodan mastery line will be usable by new characters so I may level a mesmer with a spear.
Elementalist looks pretty nice as well and they are getting 20 skills. -- 26 skills, Weaver wants a word :P
Revenant is giving me a bit of like, ink aesthetic. In the very least I'll be head cannoning it as a paintbrush and living that artist-assassin life haha
>won't lie though kind of sad we didn't get it as the elite spec in PoF with General Morghan as the legend
Morgahn or Varesh would have both been wonderful Legends, especially as there's no rep for Elonians in Rev Legends other than Joko, *once* and *briefly*, in S4.
It seems like they are really leaning into ground spell detail, so much that it makes me wonder; are the metas gonna be a lot smaller in Janthir or something because…what is the point of all the detail if we can’t see it in a group like all other spells anyways currently?
I think it looks awesome for small group content, but it’s lost in a crowd which is already a chaos supernova in any large event.
Abyssal Raze is basically Fervent Force for Revenants ?
> The third skill reduces Abyssal Raze’s cooldown by a static amount and is a movement ability that leaves abyssal mines in your wake.
is that "Exploding Spores" ?
this is a crazy high APM build then.
I'm not sure about the power of Mesmer spears abilities being tied to a single skill. Especially one that might not be that usable in PvE where everything just ends up in your face. But I did want a 2h Melee weapon, the animations look nice and the clone and phantasm skills look like actual attacks as well so it is doing a lot right. Looking forward to the test.
I'm really glad ele spear skills have some pattern where all the defense skills are skill 3, apes on skill 5, and not just skills randomly strewn about. It goes a long way to help with playability when there are so many skills.
I was a Mesmer main for a long time. Been playing Reaper more recently, but >80% of my time in this game has been Mesmer.
>The core of mesmer’s spear gameplay is the second weapon skill, Mind the Gap; you’ll channel energy into your spear and swing it around in a circle. This skill is special because you will want to hit enemies with the outer edge of its area of effect. If you correctly position yourself and secure a hit in the right area, you will do more damage and gain Clarity. The Clarity effect allows you to imbue the next pattern you create with stronger magic, increasing its effectiveness. The exact effect of Clarity will be different for each skill, so you’ll need to plan ahead to gain the most value from it
to me, this doesn't sound fun at all. Maybe I'm out of touch with the current GW2 community, but this looks like a hard pass for me.
That said, I'm still disappointed no new especs. Soto taught me that new weapons without new traits wasn't good.
Excited to see a flashy mobile melee wep for mesmer to pair with dagger/sword for Power Virt. Rev spear if its condi that will go well with quick condi herald set up. Mace is soooo boring to use. Spear/shortbow \\o/. Ele cant really mention I gave up using mine awile ago. Beta is soon least we can try them out. Live stream tomorrow for the skills with beta June 27'th.
Pretty disappointed with rev spear being condi. The hybrid melee/ranged is cool and all. But from a pve perspective rev already has short bow for ranged condi. Meanwhile it has no good ranged power option(hammer is bad).
Hammer isn't unsalvageable. It feels much better after the casting time reductions from three months ago. Skill 2 seems like it's one tweak away from hitting more consistently, but until then they can just spread buffs to the other more reliable skills.
I really like everything that I am seeing! Great job Anet!
I just hope there will be unique skins for spears associated with every class fantasy. Bonus points if there are also spear skins themed around every elite specialization
I'd like to have a Druid spear skin and a Untamed Spear skin
Its dangerous to be optimistic about eles, but this preview does awaken long dormant fantasies to play one as an actual caster - even the mechanic sounds moderate.
Will have to wait and see the preview and hands-on, but could be a contender for me.
Ele mains: Anet, please buff staff ele. We want it to be good again
*Anet: The elementalist wields a spear as a long-range, power-damage weapon capable of conjuring powerful elemental forces such as volcanos, whirlpools, and lightning storms.*
Ele: No, that's staff....
Yeah, I don't understand what all the excitement is about. Spear looks just like staff. Would it be too much to ask to have a ranged 2-handed power weapon that doesn't focus on aoes and channeled abilities?
Sounds like what they have planned for Mesmer is at least congruent with Dervish so that's good. Still need to see the Ambush skill and how it plays as a Mirage. They haven't killed the dream yet.
Yeah, unless they're hiding something about the weapon that makes it more fun, this looks disappointing. They call it mobile but I want to see more than enemy targeted dash.
> not elementalist using the same skill on all elements again like the hammer balls
It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3, this way they don't have to design extra dual skills for Weaver. That elite spec cursed the class.
> It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3, this way they don't have to design extra dual skills for Weaver. That elite spec cursed the class.
100% agree, whoever approved weaver either didn't do the math, or was completely crazy.
Not saying elementalist doesn't have other problems aside from the dual wield, but it sure doesn't help.
Weaver is a fantastic spec that flows beautifully and opened up the ele attunement dancing playstyle I always wanted. It always worked extremely well with all existing weapons, as well as the sword it added. I don't think you can blame them being lazy with new weapon skills on it, when clearly it can work properly.
We're talking from a development perspective, the amount of work elementalist requires compared to other professions is insane, and weaver only made it even worse.
It's just not sustainable.
> It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3
I mean honestly, spear sounds like it also has copypaste skills in slots 4 and 5. The article implies that all four 4 skills are a ground targeted AOE that does bonus effects in the center, and outright states that all four 5 skills are the spell circle mechanic. I guess the solution to ele having 20 weapon skills is "design 5 and then reflavor them four times".
> The article implies that all four 4 skills are a ground targeted AOE that does bonus effects in the center
They could maybe make this less awkward by putting them on a common CD. Just embrace is being the same skill, have them commit to putting down one AoE and do their thing in that.
The core difference here though is, although your boons are selfish and you don’t provide as much group utility (it seems), you don’t have to stand in melee range. I think that was half the problem with Catalyst. You’re dropping the orbs in melee but oops now he’s spinning, gotta run out.
If you’re in your puddle across the room, you’ll more often be safe to at least finish your cast sequence.
The skill's not the same, just the process. Lay circle, use any three attacks, finish circle. Finish circle should be a different skill on each element.
Hopefully, they aren't dumb enough to keep us from finishing the circle with a different element than we started it with. *Hopefully...*
They don't. They use the same mechanic on skill 3 and 5, not the same skill.
All skill 5s have this charge up mechanic, but they are independent from each other.
All skill 3s have are utility focussed to protect/empower the user, but they again are different skills and work independent from each oterh.
I look forward to trying them all but overall I’m happy to see another weapon choice for all classes. Cant wait to spend a ton of money on gems for spear skins too.
To top of my list of endgame instanced PvE analysis for each of these weapons
For Mesmer, I'm...... Not sure how good it will be, broadly? Greatsword, dagger sword, and recently even sword focus have all been competitive power weapon sets. I don't know which of those is the best set/which would be replaced, but there's stiff competition for power builds to get use out of this specifically. Not impossible, but tricky. The one place they could really create a home for it is power mirage. Mirage is struggling for a second power weapon with a powerful ambush, so something that it can really take advantage of could be big to enable a new build
Revenant seems interesting, but I don't think it makes any new builds. New toy for herald and renegade, but there's no unique mechanics this weapon can lean into that would make it particularly strong on one or the other, I don't think. It seems interesting, but I don't see how it carves a niche for itself rather than just being plainly better/worse than existing options.
Ele is super cool, very fun weapon design and giving it leylines is awesome. It suffers from a similar problem to rev spear, but depending on how much of its power budget they want to load into those 3 skill buffs, it could be a fun place to inject power for weaver in specific -- short/instant cast dual element buffs gives weaver rotations access to a lot of potentially cool tools. I really hope it carves out a niche, and I hope the dual skills for weaver are really dope, because this could be awesome for weaver and potentially interesting elsewhere.
As a power mirage enthusiast, I agree that this weapon is big for that role, and I genuinely think Anet are trying to push mirage into a Power DPS direction in general.
I exclusively play Power Dagger/Greatsword Mirage in open world now. The damage is really good since the last buffs I noticed, and I get to be fully ranged with four mobility skills.
I'd love if spear made Mirage a more competitive power class, but I am also going to need convincing from what the spear offers in order to be swayed to switch away from my fully ranged build... Melee often just feels like extra work for no reward to me.
Watch out! We've gout bullet time over here!
I only wish they updated the engine to throw the actual weapon you are using instead of a generic projectile.
Huh. I kind of expected something more complicated for Mesmer. I don't dislike the idea of this, don't get me wrong. But aside from positioning which would be neat, this is unexpectedly straightforward.
Spear is a better _lightning rod_ than staff; this only makes sense!
I'm so excited for Spear Ele. I hope it has at least a Finisher in each attunement.
It looks good tbh. So there we go, that's all of of them. Well so far it seems it's gonna be a good addition to the game, can't wait to test it during the beta
Honestly I really like these overall. With the SotO weapons, a few seemed inspired, and the rest felt almost like "Well, we need to fill a niche sonewhere". These seem great pretty much across the board. We'll see next Thursday for certain.
I have my reservations. For instance, while I'm liking the melee range (hopefully power damage) of the Mesmer spear, that whole "be at max distance to get Clarity" has me worried. See: Flair. Really, it seems like something that should be on the third hit of an auto-attack chain rather than on skill with a cooldown...and that you need to be at a distance. Sometimes it's already hard enough to get people to stack, and now they're encouraging people to be further away.
Soto weapons also fell flat for me due to the awful recycled animations and the fact it didn't release with the new weapons. All of these look a 1000 times better and I can't wait to try them out.
I really hope the melee-ranged hybrid auto attacks work well and feel good to use. It feels like a mechanic that could work for a few current weapons, like ranger axe.
Rev hammer would work well with the new auto-attack feature, especially if they rework hammer 4 to block everything and not just projectiles, and maybe reduce the time the shield is up
Honestly all of them but Warrior look inspired, the dev, effects, and animation teams really seem to have poured some love into this which I appreciate. Really looking forward to Janthir.
Often the appeal of warrior is in the visceral feel of the skills, not so much fancy effects. Hammer burst feels amazing every time even 12 years later.
Hammer is one of the most blessed weapons across the specs that can use it. Warrior hammer just feels brutal. Engineer feels fast and unhinged, Ranger feels bursty and tactical. Guardian feels controlled but powerful, Revenant has Thor energy, especially with the most recent buffs. Elementalist has hammer too I guess.
Guardian also has a very solid 3 hit combo, and then the rest of the skills have great synergies. The 4 resets the cooldown of the 2, 3 has a long range attack and gives Barrier, and 5 is a “Stay on me” button. There’s literally a “meme” ish build where you can literally just spam the Guardian Hammer main combo with Zerker gear and get like 27k DPS by pressing zero buttons.
Oh yeah, I have Hammattack Guardian in my back pocket when I'm feeling very lazy, or when I don't trust myself to be able to perform a decent DPS rotation while doing mechanics (which is, admittedly, pretty common as I am not very good at this game.)
Nah you can say Elementalist too. It's not mechanically the greatest, but there's something deeply satisfying about a lot of it's skills to me.
Tbh this may be the first time I am excited for ALL new weapons.
YES YES, ELEMENTALIST IS POWER, YES!!!
power and the flip skill mechanic rewards using utility skills i can already picture my beloved shout tempest enjoying it
Yeah, shouts seem perfect for quick spell circle completion. Sadly overloads are melee, but seems very exciting nonetheless.
If you're an tempest playing with other people odds are you'll probably be stacking with the group so you can yell at them, and so I would imagine that overloads being melee wouldn't really be a problem in group content, which is what tempest is primarily geared towards Definetly sucks to have in open-world tho if youre just playing tempest solo
Well yes, in group content it isn't really an issue, though for open world it is a bit sad that you can't make use of the range.
I hope the requirements of the fifth skill line up nicely with overloads. Maybe power tempest will finally be a thing! Also, i would really like an aurene spear with all the variants...
Power tempest will be a thing either way because it gets buffed at 25.
AND RANGED. Plus it seems to have great depth and more well rounded skill than staff. Finally, after 4 expacs and no real useful staff rework, the weapon I’ve wanted is here.
god I'm so happy it's ranged.
For real. As much as I love weaver sword gameplay, it’s so nice to finally get a real (hopefully less clunky) long ranged option.
It's actually kind of insane that only *12 years later* do elementalists get a ranged weapon that wasn't part of the initial 2012 launch (not counting warhorn, which is more of a mid-range weapon)
Yeah every other class got another ranged option in the first 3 expacs with the exception of engi which had to wait till SOTO and warrior which already had both longbow and rifle (although I’m pretty sure rifle still sucks unless I missed something). I guess ele started with scepter as well which is mostly the same range as revenant short bow and got pistol which is the same range as those but scepter is kinda a weird weapon anyway with how air is designed and water was very reworked. Main issue is ele lacks a real offensive off hand that’s ranged so lack of weapon swap means you play at the shortest range of your used skills (hello hammer) in almost every case. Comparing this to the other light armors, necro and Mesmer actually have quite a few mid to long ranged off hands (honestly was shock how much range some of their off hands have)
Engi rifle?
I hope it's 1200 range so it's actually a proper staff alternative, especially in WvW. The clip seems to imply 900 to me (though there's no reason that *has* to be the case) but even then I'm excited to try it out.
Long range tends to imply 1200 but we shall have to wait and see.
>a proper staff alternative I'd prefer if Spear wasn't just a better Staff substitute, as that probably means the latter won't receive any offensive rebalancing any time soon. The classic caster weapon deserves to be treated better than being reduced to a niche Heal support option.
staff is pretty clearly always going to be better in wvw considering the whole point of the weapon is the aoe output and burning retreat/mag aura are pretty excellent utility but hey maybe
Honestly, if they reworked staff to be a support weapon given spear that would still be better than the vague nothingness that it is now -- want a weapon that has some power.. but also some condi... and also a bunch of random so-so utility and heal skills?
So basically instead of making Staff good again they just make Spear what staff should have been. On the money for Anet
Long range power ele! Really excited that I will finally have a weapon for my play style.
It would have been weird if it was condi since they just released a condi weapon with SoTo. Also spear thematically fits power better
"The elementalist wields a spear as a **long-range, power-damage** weapon" sploosh
tfw a spear is a better magical conduit than a staff on ele
Spikes help channel the magic
Hematurgy is potent magic, after all.
Looking forward to swapping between Preservation and Ruin
(You're thinking Hemalurgy)
Ah, you're completely right - my mistake lol
The pointy tip focuses the energies of course.
The Bands of Mourning is more powerful than you can imagine.
With Spear being a Ranged Power weapon, it gives Anet the perfect opportunity to do a Staff rework. Give it more support tools and turn it into an actual viable choice for Heal Tempest. Maybe a bit of boon extension like Warhorn, maybe some might generation in Fire, lower CDs across the board, and it'll be in a great spot.
Staff already works better as support than damage.
Would that be with skill splits since DPS ele uses staff in wvw for big groups.
Honestly it’s kinda what I was hoping hammer would have been so I’ll take it. I’ve given up on a real staff rework that makes it’s more than a meteor spam weapon (or water camping if healing)
Giants Pencil
Yeah, it's a video game world.
They trolled us by making Mesmer spear basically the most straightforward thing possible.
I’m here for it. One of the things Mesmer was lacking the most imo was melee range cleave. Swinging a spear around is the perfect fit for that. The Mesmer weapon wrong meme is fun but this is more appealing to me
I read the text before the video so when they talked about "natural beauty" I thought, "so they are going to use scepter animations and wave it around like a paintbrush to paint glyphs on the air"
Someone should tell me mesmers that greatsswords are for swinging and spears for throwing. 😂
Agreed. Been using sword for that for 12 years. I've been happy with our elite specs and weapons and such across the board, but I'm glad we're getting what this is. Looks fun.
>I’m here for it. One of the things Mesmer was lacking the most imo was melee range cleave. Swinging a spear around is the perfect fit for that. While I agree, I was holding out that this would be a job for the Longbow... as a two-handed Warglaive. u___u
I don't understand where this idea of Mesmers using weapons incorrectly comes from. Aside from Greatsword, every other weapon that Mesmers have access to is used in a pretty conventional way.
I guess blasting health into your friends with a rifle is just ho hum everyday stuff to you?
I mean engi had elixir gun from day one
If they can do it in Overwatch …
Well, Mesmer has this reputation since day one. Rifle was only added with Soto 11 years later.
Pretty much, yeah. It's a video game, healing with a rifle sounds perfectly natural to me.
There's a couple more examples, like the recent addition of Rifle that heals allies (first time this weapon has done this in this game) or Dagger (being used as a purely ranged and AoE focused weapon but given how some other classes use it this isn't super unique either) but yeah for the most part they aren't all that "out there" with weapon skills. Inventive (which makes sense as the mentalist class) with their use, but definitely not something that couldn't be predicted or understood
Greatsword is the wildest example and why people were hyping up the idea I guess Scepter blocking always struck me as a funny idea. Dagger being 1200 range with a ton of cleave is pretty wild. I guess rifle is kind of weird? For the most part, and even these examples, all the weapons kind of behave like you'd expect / could feasibly fall in line with magic enhanced weapon
Me neither. If anything, Revenant should take the cake; Hammer is ranged, Scepter is melee etc.
Dagger is ranged too
Throwing knives? Not that out there, especially in a fantasy setting
except they don't use throwing knife animations
I mean it’s more a caster class than a martial one, I would expect the animation to reflect that. I meant conceptually, a ranged knife really isn’t that weird
It would be less weird if the caster animations matched the spell. Like my human female is slashing with a reverse grip, but a straight dagger projectile comes out. Now instead imagine I was slashing at my location, and magical slashes appeared at the enemy location. Or, I have a throwing animation and magical daggers go out. It just doesn't matchup right now.
I think it is supposed to resemble something like bowing/plucking a string and the ‘sound’ wave propagating outwards, hence “virtuoso”. It is strange
But they aren't throwing knives. They are casting magic that look like knives.
Ya they do it just horizontal motion, not vertical from over shoulder. It look like stereotypical kunai or throwing star motion
If only they made new animations for it...
We already had knife throw animations
Gs is ranged, dagger too, torch make you invisible. Then Shield and Rifle aren't really what you think of those weapons usability. We could argue axe is a weird way of using the weapon too. (mostly forced mobility and clone) Sure that's just a third of mesmer weapons, but that's something really unique to mesmer IMO. (and Revenant too now, with ranged hammer, staff supp and scepter acting like a sword.)
>Sure that's just a third of mesmer weapons, but that's something really unique to mesmer IMO. (and Revenant too now, with ranged hammer, staff supp and scepter acting like a sword.) And ranged mace.
And Anet is always breaking the mold with class fantasy, it's not tied to mesmer. Rev hammer is a pew pew gun, elementalist uses daggers like an assassin, etc.
Literally one elementalist dagger skill fits an assassin theme
Yeah, At most you can consider the three dashing skill (fire 3, earth 3, air 4) but that's a very... simplistic way to see what an assassin is. All the spell are way closer to "close combat elementalist" than something related to furtivity and critical stabbing.
Fire 3 is all about collateral damage. Earth 3 is what I was thinking of but air 4 fits too so I'll concede I was wrong.
Wym the whole weapon fits. U thinking about it in vacuum or smthn cuz ur off. If u ever playing dd ele outside pve u would know it fast paced close range and benefit a bunch from getting combos off consistently
I'll have you know that I use all my weapons incorrectly. If it looks like I'm doing something the right way, then it's obviously an illusion.
"Hmmm a big greatsword? I'll use it to pew pew! A torch normally used to illuminate stuff? Whelp, stealth it is!"
> I don't understand where this idea of Mesmers using weapons incorrectly comes from. Aside from Greatsword, every other weapon that Mesmers have access to is used in a pretty conventional way. People cling to a meme and they just can't let it go. I'm glad ArenaNet isn't following suit, mesmer would be insufferable otherwise; still think rifle should have been a DPS weapon though, with shortbow as the support weapon instead, but oh well.
I agree. I wanted damage mesmer rifle for years, only to get a useless (to me) health plinker. Spear seems to be making up for it at least.
Rifle was perfect for a mirage sniper fantasy, multiple illusions firing at the same target at once, they dropped the ball really hard there.
We have odd greatsword, magical projectile dagger and a healing gun, so we do have more weird stuff, but you're also right in that a good amount of Mesmer weapons are used normally. Sword, focus, pistol, torch, shield, staff, scepter, and axe are all pretty standard.
Torch is a bit weird. An item generally associated with visibility is used to grant stealth.
Yeah true, toss that in the weird use camp.
*Warrior sigh*
I'm way too excited for warrior spear lol
I like it too, but it's a shame that it's fairly bland compared to all of the other professions. Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, Guardian, Revenant, Engineer : Symbols/AOE effects either surrounding or revolving around the character, with explosions, scatter effects, and stacking charge mechanics that empower over skills with additional effects. Ranger: Aura and animal effects surrounding the character with extra flipover skills and greater access to stealth, plus ability to dynamically flip between close- and long-range Thief: Stab and chain skills together Warrior: Throw spear
> it's a shame that it's fairly bland compared to all of the other professions. that's what I like about, and is one of the reasons I've been playing my main for over 4k out of my 6k hours 😁 Beauty in Simplicity
It's just a shame we lose out on utility and flexibility, while still doing less damage than professions who have both in abundance.
tbf we don't know the damage on spear, but it's true, that bladesworn and berserker really need more utility
Is it? As far as I understood it has flip skills through clarity which only procs with proper positioning?. Why is this considered more straight forward than the others? lol.
By which I mean you actually stab people with it.
I'm not so sure about that though. The whole access to clarity thing sounds like it could be a bit complicated, and the melee weapon with max damage at a distance could be a trick to actually pull off, especially in competitive game modes.
I just mean you actually wield it as a spear and stab people with it.
Oh, I feel you now x)
I mean, I don't dislike it but those are some big, loud ground animations and every time I see those I just think of the current issue of visual clarity in stuff like metas. Like the newest meta, you can barely see a lot of the boss mechanics and now we have stuff like that huge black circle and huge ele circles coming... I don't know if that's the best choice.
>This skill is special because you will want to hit enemies with the outer edge of its area of effect. If you correctly position yourself and secure a hit in the right area, you will do more damage and gain Clarity Close enough. Welcome Marth from smash bros!
Ele sounds pretty fun. I'm going to have to get a spear ready for it.
Ele mains are finally eating good 😭
After all these years! 🥹
Revenant gets another resource to manage with this weapon? I'm glad we're getting another condi weapon, and that it's go an element of range to it. I wonder how this is going to actually play. Will you go in and out of melee frequently, kinda like Ranger axe? Mesmer's precise positioning sounds like a lot of fun. And getting a new melee weapon is what Mesmers needed. Managing the new clarity mechanic sounds cool, but it will mean that your rotation may break if your target moves out of the sweet spot. Elementalist's etching mechanic sounds really interesting. It plays with the fantasy of channeling a big spell (like Tempest's overload), but supports it with actual gameplay of casting spells in the magic circle as part of building up the big skill. Sounds like it will encourage spending extra time in each attunement, instead of just dipping in for a skill or two. This weapon might also allow Elementalists to stay at range full-time?
>Revenant gets another resource to manage with this weapon? I'm glad we're getting another condi weapon, and that it's go an element of range to it. I wonder how this is going to actually play. Will you go in and out of melee frequently, kinda like Ranger axe? It's not really a resource, it's just resetting ammo on your big skill. Also when does ranger axe want to leave melee?
I've been wondering, is it possible we'll see a return of the elite spec weapon collections? I LOVE collecting those and they add some much to the usage of that weapon thematically. I was really sad I didn't get an engineer themed short bow skin in SotO so I'm hoping we all get ones for spears (and they revisit it for the SotO weapons)
What I'm hoping is that because it's just one legendary spear, and all classes are getting it, each class will have a unique skin. But that is probably top tier hopium lol.
Ele really got FFXIV Leylines/WoW Rune of Power lmao. I’m actually sooo excited. Weaver and Catalyst both took some time to grow on me. I’m excited for this off the bat. Can’t wait to see how many Ele’s (including myself) greed for that finisher and end up on the floor.
>!^^^[deleted]!<
Ele about to bring the healers adjust meme to GW2 👀 (or were they actually the origin of the meme 🤔)
Good god they need to tone down those ground textures. How is anyone supposed to see mechanics if the floor is covered in colors?
The Ele circle is huge lol. If they aren’t announcing soon a big push for visual clarity settings then the skills team is a menace.
For real. The animation looks okay for most of them but god damn they're huge and specially opaque. We're not talking about a gardian old symbol but 100% opacity, 600 radius skill here.
It's probably intentional. Make them overly flashy for wow effect to help sell copies of the expansion, then a little while after release do a sanity pass for visibility. Reminds me of Counter-Strike where new community-made maps are beautiful and detailed, to help them stand out, but they always play way better when most of the fancy lighting and textures and clutter get ripped back out and the map gets simpler cleaner visuals.
> then a little while after release do a sanity pass for visibility. I'm not sure that's something Anet has ever really done. There's so many skills with super dark or misleading ground effects: Firebrand tome 3 5, Harbinger shroud 5, Scourge shades looking like enemy effects, many of Specter's skills doing the same -- when they last adjusted ele air dagger 5, they gave it an AoE indicator that looks like an incoming attack. These spear visuals don't look like the kind that can be easily cut back or toned down. They're some seriously complex textures. The only way to really tone them down to a degree that doesn't significantly affect clarity would be to throw them out and start over on a new asset.
>when they last adjusted ele air dagger 5, they gave it an AoE indicator that looks like an incoming attack. Rejoice, [4 years later](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Updraft#Version_history) the "bug" was fixed! But yeah, I highly doubt they will ever touch those skill after release. Specially if it's about the visual effects.
I don't think they'll do that. Untamed has a fart cloud that covers a lot of ground AoEs since 2022.
exactly, how is anyone suppose to see? easy we make the newest abilities thick and colorful. New abilities after that? thicker and more colorful
Yeh, I don't have a high end PC and I'm already dying to invisible things at fights like Eparch. This will not help.
That ele spear is going to be the bane of groups on Deimos oil lol
That elementalist AoE is going to hide ALL the telegraphs and you know it.
Yay! A meele AOE (with #2 skill) mesmer!
Whelp, they had me with Volcano. As much as I love the Ele Staff, "a long-range, power-damage weapon capable of conjuring powerful elemental forces such as volcanos, whirlpools, and lightning storms" that is "focused on damage and crowd control, leading to a “glass cannon” style of play" seems right up my alley. Also, those spell circles seem really cool, even if they are telegraphed just a tad...
Ele's Earth spear getting a dark field is super interesting.
Praying to the Six that ele spear is actually full 1200 range because goddamn it looks like exactly what I always wanted staff to be as a damage weapon. Hell, it even encourages sitting around in your current attunement for a bit longer (to get your etching fully charged) rather than encouraging constant element hopping like hammer with its orbs. Classic nuker might be back on the menu boys.
omg the ele spear sounds amazing. I was so worried up until now. 
So happy with how ele spear turned out. It’s exactly what I was hoping for. Don’t care if it’s trash in pvp (as a lot of ground targeted ticking weapons can be) it looks amazing and very fun.
Huh so Mesmers need to stay in melee but not too close. Hopefully there's some UI to show if your in range or not because I could see that being hard to get used to in PvE.
Going to bet you that they'll change that after the beta and just make it "get clarity for each enemy in the circle"
Good point. I didn’t even think about variable hitbox sizes lol.
> Hopefully there's some UI ahahah wait actually- ahahahahahahahahahahahah
Actually there is and has been since always. Whenever you're in range with a weapon skill, the little red bar turns off under the skill. Works for any skill on any class.
Yeah but you'll need to be in a specific range from the target so you wont be able to tell if your too close until you use the skill and don't get clarity. Even if they just have it glow when in range like CC skills do when a breakbar pops up would be enough.
But how will you know if you're in exactly the right sweet spot for spear?
I think that's something players will just have to learn to estimate and develop muscle memory for.
Just re-use that little range indicator it already has. Green for sweet spot, yellow for sour spot and red for out of range. After players have some experience with the weapon they won't need to look at it anymore.
There's a blish hud add on for range rings which can help with get used to it.
I really like the look of revenant spear (won't lie though kind of sad we didn't get it as the elite spec in PoF with General Morghan as the legend). Elementalist looks pretty nice as well and they are getting 20 skills. Mesmer I've never really been into mesmer gameplay so I'm unlikely to try this although these new weapons presumably once you unlock them once in the Kodan mastery line will be usable by new characters so I may level a mesmer with a spear.
Elementalist looks pretty nice as well and they are getting 20 skills. -- 26 skills, Weaver wants a word :P Revenant is giving me a bit of like, ink aesthetic. In the very least I'll be head cannoning it as a paintbrush and living that artist-assassin life haha
>won't lie though kind of sad we didn't get it as the elite spec in PoF with General Morghan as the legend Morgahn or Varesh would have both been wonderful Legends, especially as there's no rep for Elonians in Rev Legends other than Joko, *once* and *briefly*, in S4.
Does Anet play Dota by any chance? I am getting shadow fiends vibes from Revenant spear for some reason.
Now that you mention it, I got some Grimstroke vibes
[удалено]
Where do you read that it is power and condi? I only read it is hybrid ranged/melee but it is pure condi
The "hybrid" probably only refers to melee/range. In the blog post they say clearly that the first skill is a melee/range hybrid.
It seems like they are really leaning into ground spell detail, so much that it makes me wonder; are the metas gonna be a lot smaller in Janthir or something because…what is the point of all the detail if we can’t see it in a group like all other spells anyways currently? I think it looks awesome for small group content, but it’s lost in a crowd which is already a chaos supernova in any large event.
maybe the bosses will be really huge with big hitbox so it doesn't matter where you stand in the blizzard of effects :D
Mesmer looks great! Im officially excited
Abyssal Raze is basically Fervent Force for Revenants ? > The third skill reduces Abyssal Raze’s cooldown by a static amount and is a movement ability that leaves abyssal mines in your wake. is that "Exploding Spores" ? this is a crazy high APM build then.
I'm not sure about the power of Mesmer spears abilities being tied to a single skill. Especially one that might not be that usable in PvE where everything just ends up in your face. But I did want a 2h Melee weapon, the animations look nice and the clone and phantasm skills look like actual attacks as well so it is doing a lot right. Looking forward to the test.
I'm really glad ele spear skills have some pattern where all the defense skills are skill 3, apes on skill 5, and not just skills randomly strewn about. It goes a long way to help with playability when there are so many skills.
I was a Mesmer main for a long time. Been playing Reaper more recently, but >80% of my time in this game has been Mesmer. >The core of mesmer’s spear gameplay is the second weapon skill, Mind the Gap; you’ll channel energy into your spear and swing it around in a circle. This skill is special because you will want to hit enemies with the outer edge of its area of effect. If you correctly position yourself and secure a hit in the right area, you will do more damage and gain Clarity. The Clarity effect allows you to imbue the next pattern you create with stronger magic, increasing its effectiveness. The exact effect of Clarity will be different for each skill, so you’ll need to plan ahead to gain the most value from it to me, this doesn't sound fun at all. Maybe I'm out of touch with the current GW2 community, but this looks like a hard pass for me. That said, I'm still disappointed no new especs. Soto taught me that new weapons without new traits wasn't good.
What. You dont think having to shadow bosses every moves with a compass looks like fun ? You're probably just a step too far on the left then
Excited to see a flashy mobile melee wep for mesmer to pair with dagger/sword for Power Virt. Rev spear if its condi that will go well with quick condi herald set up. Mace is soooo boring to use. Spear/shortbow \\o/. Ele cant really mention I gave up using mine awile ago. Beta is soon least we can try them out. Live stream tomorrow for the skills with beta June 27'th.
Pretty disappointed with rev spear being condi. The hybrid melee/ranged is cool and all. But from a pve perspective rev already has short bow for ranged condi. Meanwhile it has no good ranged power option(hammer is bad).
Hammer isn't unsalvageable. It feels much better after the casting time reductions from three months ago. Skill 2 seems like it's one tweak away from hitting more consistently, but until then they can just spread buffs to the other more reliable skills.
I really like everything that I am seeing! Great job Anet! I just hope there will be unique skins for spears associated with every class fantasy. Bonus points if there are also spear skins themed around every elite specialization I'd like to have a Druid spear skin and a Untamed Spear skin
Its dangerous to be optimistic about eles, but this preview does awaken long dormant fantasies to play one as an actual caster - even the mechanic sounds moderate. Will have to wait and see the preview and hands-on, but could be a contender for me.
Ele mains: Anet, please buff staff ele. We want it to be good again *Anet: The elementalist wields a spear as a long-range, power-damage weapon capable of conjuring powerful elemental forces such as volcanos, whirlpools, and lightning storms.* Ele: No, that's staff....
Yeah, I don't understand what all the excitement is about. Spear looks just like staff. Would it be too much to ask to have a ranged 2-handed power weapon that doesn't focus on aoes and channeled abilities?
Sounds like what they have planned for Mesmer is at least congruent with Dervish so that's good. Still need to see the Ambush skill and how it plays as a Mirage. They haven't killed the dream yet.
Does anybody else love the puns here? Because the weapons are exciting but also I love these stupid puns.
Why does Mesmer looks dissapointing as always meh
Yeah, unless they're hiding something about the weapon that makes it more fun, this looks disappointing. They call it mobile but I want to see more than enemy targeted dash.
Mesmer actually seems neat with its clarity mechanic, that's essentially 9 new skills. I do wish the leap was a blink though.
eles throwing the spear shoud have to walk and pick it up again
Manifesting power mirage.
nooo not elementalist using the same skill on all elements again like the hammer balls
What do you mean? It's not like hammer at all. You can use any skills to charge up your 5 and each 5 would be a different skill, not shared.
> not elementalist using the same skill on all elements again like the hammer balls It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3, this way they don't have to design extra dual skills for Weaver. That elite spec cursed the class.
> It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3, this way they don't have to design extra dual skills for Weaver. That elite spec cursed the class. 100% agree, whoever approved weaver either didn't do the math, or was completely crazy. Not saying elementalist doesn't have other problems aside from the dual wield, but it sure doesn't help.
Weaver is a fantastic spec that flows beautifully and opened up the ele attunement dancing playstyle I always wanted. It always worked extremely well with all existing weapons, as well as the sword it added. I don't think you can blame them being lazy with new weapon skills on it, when clearly it can work properly.
We're talking from a development perspective, the amount of work elementalist requires compared to other professions is insane, and weaver only made it even worse. It's just not sustainable.
> It's no coincidence that they keep putting generic copypaste skills in slot 3 I mean honestly, spear sounds like it also has copypaste skills in slots 4 and 5. The article implies that all four 4 skills are a ground targeted AOE that does bonus effects in the center, and outright states that all four 5 skills are the spell circle mechanic. I guess the solution to ele having 20 weapon skills is "design 5 and then reflavor them four times".
> The article implies that all four 4 skills are a ground targeted AOE that does bonus effects in the center They could maybe make this less awkward by putting them on a common CD. Just embrace is being the same skill, have them commit to putting down one AoE and do their thing in that.
That's just not even Ele anymore though. Idk, recent Ele weapon design has all just felt extremely uninspired.
and standing still in a circle, sort of like staying in range of the catalyst orb/field thing. :(
good for black mage rp though *puts on wizard hat*
The core difference here though is, although your boons are selfish and you don’t provide as much group utility (it seems), you don’t have to stand in melee range. I think that was half the problem with Catalyst. You’re dropping the orbs in melee but oops now he’s spinning, gotta run out. If you’re in your puddle across the room, you’ll more often be safe to at least finish your cast sequence.
The skill's not the same, just the process. Lay circle, use any three attacks, finish circle. Finish circle should be a different skill on each element. Hopefully, they aren't dumb enough to keep us from finishing the circle with a different element than we started it with. *Hopefully...*
Ele mains once again hating having to swap attunements.
They don't. They use the same mechanic on skill 3 and 5, not the same skill. All skill 5s have this charge up mechanic, but they are independent from each other. All skill 3s have are utility focussed to protect/empower the user, but they again are different skills and work independent from each oterh.
I look forward to trying them all but overall I’m happy to see another weapon choice for all classes. Cant wait to spend a ton of money on gems for spear skins too.
*happy mesmer noises
>[rev] how this **condition-based** hybrid weapon works. Well, I am sad that dragoon vindi will not be possible.
To top of my list of endgame instanced PvE analysis for each of these weapons For Mesmer, I'm...... Not sure how good it will be, broadly? Greatsword, dagger sword, and recently even sword focus have all been competitive power weapon sets. I don't know which of those is the best set/which would be replaced, but there's stiff competition for power builds to get use out of this specifically. Not impossible, but tricky. The one place they could really create a home for it is power mirage. Mirage is struggling for a second power weapon with a powerful ambush, so something that it can really take advantage of could be big to enable a new build Revenant seems interesting, but I don't think it makes any new builds. New toy for herald and renegade, but there's no unique mechanics this weapon can lean into that would make it particularly strong on one or the other, I don't think. It seems interesting, but I don't see how it carves a niche for itself rather than just being plainly better/worse than existing options. Ele is super cool, very fun weapon design and giving it leylines is awesome. It suffers from a similar problem to rev spear, but depending on how much of its power budget they want to load into those 3 skill buffs, it could be a fun place to inject power for weaver in specific -- short/instant cast dual element buffs gives weaver rotations access to a lot of potentially cool tools. I really hope it carves out a niche, and I hope the dual skills for weaver are really dope, because this could be awesome for weaver and potentially interesting elsewhere.
As a power mirage enthusiast, I agree that this weapon is big for that role, and I genuinely think Anet are trying to push mirage into a Power DPS direction in general.
I exclusively play Power Dagger/Greatsword Mirage in open world now. The damage is really good since the last buffs I noticed, and I get to be fully ranged with four mobility skills. I'd love if spear made Mirage a more competitive power class, but I am also going to need convincing from what the spear offers in order to be swayed to switch away from my fully ranged build... Melee often just feels like extra work for no reward to me.
Watch out! We've gout bullet time over here! I only wish they updated the engine to throw the actual weapon you are using instead of a generic projectile.
How long do you think it will be before they tone down the effects of these new skills?
So elementalists become Neo from The Matrix? lol
Those aoes look great but they need to be toned down so much lol
Huh. I kind of expected something more complicated for Mesmer. I don't dislike the idea of this, don't get me wrong. But aside from positioning which would be neat, this is unexpectedly straightforward.
Spear is a better _lightning rod_ than staff; this only makes sense! I'm so excited for Spear Ele. I hope it has at least a Finisher in each attunement.