GW2 HoT beta initial thoughts

[tanithryudo]

The Classes:

Revenant - Improved a lot from the last preview, and that is just the Hammer/Jalis + Swords/Shiro combos. Still, I'm not too sure the double swords is the end all and be all of Revenant damage that people were thinking it is. My impression of it doesn't compare to the likes of Warrior/Guardian GS, Thief/Mez sword, or Ele dagger. Especially, it feels like there's not enough utility and defense baked in, unlike any other class' melee weapon. I might go back and do some further testing with non-sword weapon + Shiro legend, or sword/sword + Ventari maybe. Also, I want to check the other weapons again and see how they are doing since their buffs.

Guardian - Disappointment. Pretty much everything was an disappointment. I was so hyped on the Dragon Hunter, but it was quite meh. Longbow damage is lackluster, nor does its utility do much in PvE. Ditto traps. Both the weapon and utility skills I can see more useful for PvP than for PvE, honestly. The altered virtues...eh, too gimmicky. Plus F1 doesn't do enough damage to make up for the loss of regular F1 + Radiance + Virtues (aka everything is on fire all the time).

Mesmer - The shield is ok; not really my play style but not bad either. The wells I think are more suited for either PvE group play (dungeons/fractals) or PvP. The trait line I really like though, and will probably become my mesmer's 3rd traitline (along with inspiration and dueling) when HoT is released. Clones & phantasms everywhere! Shatter shatter everywhere MWAHAHAHA!!! *cough* Also, yay for 25% movement passive. Makes life easier everywhere else too. Have not had a chance to test the new F5; still not sure how that thing works.

Elementalist - The warhorn is decent, but seems to be very group focused and thus has its numbers balance around that. Trait line is... bland, I guess. Not great but not sucky either. The attunement overloads... ok, those were something of a disappointment, compared to what the ele is giving up (considering attunement swapping is what the rest of the whole profession is built up around). I can see x/horn + shout + aura-share builds work ok in group play (casual dungeons, WvW, maybe PvP), but arcane is still better for solo (and icebow is still king in "pro" dungeons and world bosses)


Verdant Brink: (pic)

This area gives me the impression that it's a place you need a group (or at least a partner) to move around in. A lot of places where trying to run past the enemy mobs to get somewhere will just get you dead. (Well, maybe a thief or mez specializing in stealth could do it...) I'm not sure if they meant the design to be anti-skipping. Makes it annoying to navigate solo though.

A lot of narrow paths, where a misstep is to fall to you doom. I'm of two minds on this design. It does make things tougher on people who have lag or bad keyboard/twitch response. Also, a lot of narrow passageways makes many places either confusing to navigate, or claustrophobic to to experience.

Events... all of the events on the map I was in were bugged, so I can't judge any of it.


Masteries:

Was only able to get Gliding 1. Feels a bit clunky. Maybe getting further levels in gliding will make it better, I dunno. Tried to do the mushroom mastery but it's not going anywhere. I think the slow progress is probably due to the events in VB being broken and thus not able to get xp from there. Ah well.

Comments

[tanithryudo]

Not sure running pure condi for revenant is workable...

I had full zerker getup using all the beta exotics (except for the backpiece which I used a ascended zerker and of course the gems inside the beta trinkets can't be changed from celestial). Then I swapped the amulet/rings/earrings out for ascended sinister ones.

I felt like there was a noticeable decrease in the damage I did with hammer afterwards. Not enough to be unable to kill things readily...but still, noticeable.

Might be an issue with how the hammer scales with the power stat, I dunno. Needs to test more in the mists with zerker vs carrion vs rampager, I guess.

(As it is I foresee my revenant fighting my engi over the sinister trinkets when HoT actually comes out...)

[cashew]

Why do they need to fight for the trinkets? You've already got them unlocked. Just buy 'em from the vendor. What else are you going to spend your thousands and thousands of badges on?

Hm. Well, hammer is a power weapon, so not surprising the damage comes down. Also, I feel like the new region is definitely more condi favorable, what with all the positioning and stuff. Condi ignores position/armor/etc. and you can just drag mobs to run into your aoe fields then wait it out in a safe corner. Fast? No. Effective? Yes.

ETA:
Oh right, I tried out the ele tempest. Warhorn less than impressive. New shouts are meh. Overcharge is a nice boost. But other than that, yeah, kinda underwhelmed. So far the best change I liked was the mez-chronomancer. Everyone else is just eh.

[tanithryudo]

I'd also have to spend 10g per trinket, blergh... Honestly I'd rather split the ascended trinkets among them and craft exotic sinister trinkets to fill up the rest of the slots.

The new Tempest warhorn and shout skills I feel are decent for group play. And I think they're really balanced around that role which is why solo play is so lackluster with them.

The elite shout (rebound) is pretty unreal for an organized dungeon, especially if they stack it on top of an chronomancer. Perma icebows icebow4 everywhere! There'd be like no need to use any other skills. XD

Fire warhorn 4 is the lazy might stack/boon share skill for zergs on the go in WvW. No need to get all fancy rotation with staff or scepter/dagger/focus. Add shouts/trated overloads onto an aurashare build and key parts of your zerg could have near-perma aura of your choice.