Guild Wars: GW:EN Skills Leaked?
Apparently, during testing of the ATs which is going on this weekend - basically, they're using the new Hero Battles to test it since it's the same basic system - a few new heroes from the new campaign were available. And new Heroes means new skills. Caveat lector here. I wasn't involved in the testing and this is second hand information. Also, skills tend to change before release especially since we're so far away here. But, submitted for your approval, a list of what's potentially 30 or the 100 new skills:
ASSASSIN
- Lotus Strike 10en, 12recharge - Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +x damage and you gain x energy. Dagger Mastery.
- Assassin's Thirst 5en, 8recharge - Dual Attack. Must follow an off-hand attack. If this attack hits, you steal x Health. Deadly Arts.
- Misery Signet 1cast, 8recharge - Signet. You gain x health for each Condition on target foe. Deadly Arts.
- Shadow's Embrace 10en, 1/4cast, 45recharge - Hex Spell. Shadow step to target foe. For 10 seconds, this Hex does nothing. When this Hex ends, you return to your original location and that foe suffers a Deep Wound for x seconds. Deadly Arts.
ELEMENTALIST
- Shell Shock. 10en, 1cast, 10recharge - Spell. Target foe takes x damage and has Cracked Armor for x seconds. Air Magic.
- Grasping Flames. 10en, 2cast, 15recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, target foe moves 66% slower while Burning. Earth Magic.
- Ward of Weariness. 10en, 2cast, 20recharge - Ward Spell. You create a Ward of Weariness at your current location. For x seconds, foes within that location become Weakened for x seconds whenever they take elemental damage. Earth Magic
- Glyph of Immolation. 5en, 1cast, 10recharge - Glyph. For 15 seconds, your next 3 spells that target a foe also cause burning for 3 seconds. Fire Magic.
- Winter's Embrace. 5en, 1/4cast, 10recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, you and target touched foe move 66% slower. Water Magic.
- Glyph of Swiftness. 5en, 1cast, 10recharge - Glyph. For 15 seconds, projectiles from your next 2 Spells moves 66% faster.
MESMER
- Aneurysm. 10en, 1cast, 20recharge - Spell. Target foe regains all Energy. For each point of energy gained in this way, that foe takes x damage. Domination Magic.
- Power Lock. 10en, 1/4cast, 15recharge - Spell. If target is casting a Spell, that Spell is interrupted and disabled for an additional 1 second. Domination Magic.
- Signet of Recall. 1cast, 20recharge - Signet. You lose all Energy. For 10 seconds, you have -4 energy regeneration. When this effect ends, you gain x Energy. Inspiration Magic
- Wastrel's Feast. 5en, 1/4cast, 20recharge - Spell. If target foe is not casting a spell or attacking you gain x energy. Inspiration Magic
- Calculated Risk. 10en, 2cast, 10recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, target foe has 50% chance to miss with attacks but does +10 damage. Illusion Magic.
- Inadequacy. 10en, 1cast, 8recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, the next time target foe attacks, that attack is interrupted and all nearby foes take x damage. Illusion Magic.
- Logic Bomb. 10en, 1cast, 10recharge - Hex Spell. For 10 seconds, target foe suffers from -3 health degeneration. When this Hex ends that foe has Cracked Armor for x seconds. Illusion Magic
- Sum of All Fears. 10en, 2cast, 20recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, target foe moves, attacks, and casts Spells 20% slower. Illusion Magic
- Signet of Distraction. 1/4cast, 20recharge - Signet. If target foe is casting a Spell, that Spell is interrupted and disabled for 1 second for each signet you have equipped.
MONK
- Cure Hex. 10en, 1cast, 12recharge - Spell. Remove one Hex from target ally. If a Hex was removed that ally is healed for 102 Health. Healing Prayers.
- Balthazar's Signet. 1cast, 20recharge - Signet. Target foe takes x holy damage. If that foe was attacking you gain x energy. Smiting Prayers.
- Purifying Veil. -1maintain, 5en, 1cast, 8recharge - Enchantment Spell. While you maintain this Enchantment, Conditions expire 25% faster on target ally. When this Enchantment ends, one Condition is removed from that ally. Smiting Prayers.
- Smite Condition. 5en, 1cast, 8recharge - Spell. Remove one Condition from target ally. If a Condition was removed. Foes in the area take 5 damage. Smiting Prayers.
NECROMANCER
- Masochism. 5en, 1cast, 10recharge - Spell. Steal x health from target foe for each Condition you are suffering from (maximum 60). Blood Magic
- Cacophany. 10en, 2cast, 15recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds, whenever target foe uses a shout or Chant, that foe takes x damage. Curses
- Entropy's Grasp. 5en, 1cast, 3recharge - Enchantment Spell. For x seconds, target ally's attacks cause Weakness for x seconds. Death Magic
- Putrid Bile. 10en, 1cast, 12recharge - Hex Spell. For x seconds target foe suffers -1 health degeneration. If that foe dies while under the effect of this Hex, all nearby foes take x damage. Death Magic
RANGER
- Rapid Fire. 10en, 2cast, 12recharge - Preparation. For x seconds, you attack 25% faster. Marksmanship.
RITUALIST
- Pure Was Li Ming. 10en, 1cast, 30recharge - Item Spell. Hold Li Ming's ashes for 5 seconds. Whilst you hold her ashes, Conditions on you expire 10% faster. When you drop her ashes all allies within earshot lose 1 Condition. Restoration Magic.
- Energetic Was Lee Sa. 10en, 2cast, 30recharge - Item Spell. Hold Lee Sa's ashes for 5 seconds. while you hold her ashes, you gain +1 energy regeneration. When you drop her ashes, you gain +1 energy. Spawning Power.
It's a pretty mixed bag, if you ask me. The Mesmer skills are full of crap - I mean, an interrupt that disables a spell for an extra second? Why bother? On the other hand, some of the Elementalist skills look pretty interesting. Grasping Flames, a snare when things are burning could have a lot of uses, as could ImoGlyph - that's adding 42 damage to your next 3 spells for only 5 en, a pretty good deal, if you ask me. And Winter's Embrace could be nice for frontliners.
The most interesting thing, though, is the references to "Cracked Armor" which I can only assume is a new form of condition. Probably something like Weaken Armor. If there are some new conditions to play around with, that could add a lot to the game.
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5 comments:
Don't forget you can't really judge strength till you know the numbers. If that mesmer interrupt you're dismissing says 60 seconds instead of 1, clearly it will be ridiculously good. It's all about the tweakage.
The skills do look pretty meh as of now, but I'm not going to complain if all the PvP skills are unplayably bad. Just makes balance easier for Izzy and co.
Don't forget you can't really judge strength till you know the numbers.
I know the numbers a little better than I'm letting on, I choose to replace them with variables in order to avoid exactly that kind of focus on the numbers instead of the mechanics. Because, as you say, they can change a lot and it's all in the tweaking. The mechanics can change a lot, too, but they give you more of an idea about what the developers intend for the skills.
However, in this case, the 1 second disabling was not a variable but a constant. It's a non-elite version of Power Block but, the version I saw was a pretty lousy non-elite version of an already uninspiring elite. So, yeah, that needs some tweaking because even on a 15 second recharge, that's a pretty bad way to spend 10 energy.
I'm not going to complain if all the PvP skills are unplayably bad. Just makes balance easier for Izzy and co.
I am. With no new professions and just a bunch of storyline missions leading up to a sequel I'm not particularly interested in, the selling point of the expansion is those 100 skills. They'd better damned well be worth it if I'm going to shell out for them.
I know adding more skills makes balance more difficult but, well, they hired Mr. Cartwright to do that job and I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the job description about it being easy. But even just adding 100 crappy skills creates more of a job balancing because of all the hidden combinations and synergies that players are sure to find and exploit. Most people wouldn't have seriously touched I Will Avenge You but someone came up with a wacky build and it became important that skill not overwhelm the meta. You just don't know which skills are going to do what once you hand them to the hordes so I'd rather the developers concentrate on making them good rather than gimping them to make balancing 1000+ skills a slightly easier job.
Of course, I'm not one of those people who thinks the new expansions and skills are automatically a bad thing. I actually kind of like the new skills and how they throw the game for a curve every now and then - I probably wouldn't be playing today if it wasn't for them - because that's partly what I signed up for with this game. Frequent content updates so nothing got stale. You can argue about the size of the new skills or how frequently they've been introduced but, with me, not that the game isn't better for them.
However, in this case, the 1 second disabling was not a variable but a constant.
A "constant" on a skill just means it isn't linked to an attribute. It's still coming out of a spreadsheet or somesuch somewhere. Whatever numbers are there, attribute-linked or not are not final and so you can't tell how good the skill is yet.
Even +20s recharge would make it a dshot on spells, which could be pretty good.
I'm also in the camp where I hope a bunch of the skills are playable without being brokenly good.
I think a lot of the "expansions are bad" crowd come from a more Counterstrike-type (i.e. trad PC PvP) background. Since my gaming background is dominated by Magic, I'm perfectly happy with skill rebalances, new skills etc. shaking up the game since that is the norm for me rather than a static game.
A "constant" on a skill just means it isn't linked to an attribute. It's still coming out of a spreadsheet or somesuch somewhere. Whatever numbers are there, attribute-linked or not are not final and so you can't tell how good the skill is yet.
Yeah. And I'm just saying, as currently constructed, the skill looks like trash. A slight increase on skill recharges isn't really worth it given the opportunity costs involved.
And if the skill is much better - in the 20 second range that would, in fact, make it a D-Shot for Mesmers - I think it gets too scary good. Especially with the buffed up MoR out there. Diversion spam is bad enough but at least you have a chance to cancel out of that.
I think a lot of the "expansions are bad" crowd come from a more Counterstrike-type (i.e. trad PC PvP) background. Since my gaming background is dominated by Magic, I'm perfectly happy with skill rebalances, new skills etc. shaking up the game since that is the norm for me rather than a static game.
My only experiences with M:TG are around when it first came out and I got a starter pack or three as a gift. My background, if anything, is a lot closer to the Counterstrike-type. But, yeah, I think my view of the game is a lot closer to someone who's used to shaking up the environment from time to time. Even without expansions, I'd expect the game to be rebalanced frequently enough that nothing ever ossified.
So, the opposite attitude is a bit puzzling to me. It seems some people think that balance is a goal and not a process, that there's some endpoint where the game will be done and perfect and should never be touched again. But, me, I wouldn't want to play a game where Gale Warriors were rampant or hex pressure was always going to be the order of the day. It's the shifting and turning and adapting and learning that's half the fun for me.
I welcome new skills because, you know, the game's not played the same way it was when it was first released. Not all of the new skills have worked but not all of the original ones did either - Otyugh's anyone? Crazy powerful Energy Drain, perhaps? But the new ones, at least, are designed with how the game is played now in mind and can help players to do the things they want to do. Skills like Spirit Bond or Gift of Health enable us to use certain roles and strategies in ways we couldn't have in the past. They add to the game more than the misses take away from it.
And, as we've seen, the misses can be corrected with just a few changes. Maybe that hasn't happened as well as it should have in the past but the past few months the updates have been accurate and frequent enough. I expect that kind of maintenance for the game, I guess, and assume we'll see it in the future.
What's more problematic are the mechanical mistakes. Things like a spirit shitting class or shadow stepping (Again, Factions is just full of how not to do things.) or soul reaping and all the skills built upon them. Those aren't so easily corrected. But the new expansion doesn't have any new professions to clutter up the game with new twists and turns. Instead, the developers can focus on providing some good skills to broaden and enrich the gameplay. And round out the existing classes.
That's what I'm expecting anyway.
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