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Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons Third Elite Specialization Beta is Now Live | MMORPG.com

SystemSystem Member UncommonPosts: 12,599
edited October 2021 in News & Features Discussion

imageGuild Wars 2 End of Dragons Third Elite Specialization Beta is Now Live | MMORPG.com

The third beta for the Guild Wars 2 Elite Specializations is now live. Test out the Specter, Untamed, or Mechanist this week.

Read the full story here


Comments

  • KratierKratier Member RarePosts: 626
    finally i can find out what ranger will be
  • AeanderAeander Member LegendaryPosts: 8,061
    So, here's my thoughts on the whole set of elite specs.

    Favorite

    Specter - this spec is cool as Hell and gives Thieves exactly what they're missing.

    Mechanist - very clearly the best-designed spec of the batch. From the trait design to the class fantasy, this one just works. Might even dust off the only Asura on my account for it.

    Love it but Needs Work

    Vindicator - my favorite one thematically and conceptually. I am hyped for it. But it really is poorly balanced and needs tons of design work. If it's fixed, it'll be one of the coolest specs in the game.

    Interested

    Bladesworn - clearly a bit of a passion project for the devs. The concept doesn't quite resonate with me, but it looks very fun, and the trait synergy with old weapons and utilities is awesome. A good elite spec brings new builds. A great elite spec breathes new life into old ones.

    Meh

    Virtuoso - Mesmer already has everything it could ever need, so this one just feels kind of tacked on. I guess it's solid if you wanted to play the class without clones. But I can't help but feel this will end up being a more generic, less effective version of Guild Wars' most iconic class.

    Bad

    Untamed - I was really looking forward to this one, but there's so much that doesn't click to me. From the nasty green particle on Unleash to the general lack of power and interest in its traits. It also doesn't have any backwards synergy with old weapons - only the hammer gets unleashed skills. It's straight up unfinished.

    Catalyst - I like the concept of ele hammer, but they've done nothing with it. This is easily the least interesting elite spec this entire expansion with bland traits and utilities, and a tacked-on profession mechanic. Oooh, it gets an extra combo field. Next!

    Straight Up Disappointing

    Willbender - I like the theme and the active skills of this profession. But the trait design with mandatory, debilitating tradeoffs everywhere is just irredeemably bad. This spec was clearly designed and balanced entirely around SPvP, and that's not okay. Split the balance to let this shine in PvE.

    Harbinger - I was excited for a Plaguedoctor spec in concept, but the execution screams Wizardry's 2 favorite words - cheap and lazy. Everything that can go wrong went wrong. A profession mechanic that makes you more fragile on the class with the fewest active defenses. Bland utilities with no animations. The entire first tier of traits is uninteresting damage modifiers that should be baseline. Two elixir traits. And an entire tacked-on Power-based traitline option for a spec that neither needs nor wants it. We have Reaper for Power. Let this be the condi/support spec that it is.
    Nepheth
  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 4,045
    Good
    Mechanist - very nice, no issues

    Maybe
    Specter - seems good, maybe too good, will have to see how end game with it is

    Bad
    Everything else - and let's face it, they aren't getting fixed any time soon.

    ArenaNet is quite infamous for their balancing so I expect Mechanist and Specter to be nerfed before the other specs get buffed.
  • AeanderAeander Member LegendaryPosts: 8,061
    Xiaoki said:
    Good
    Mechanist - very nice, no issues

    Maybe
    Specter - seems good, maybe too good, will have to see how end game with it is

    Bad
    Everything else - and let's face it, they aren't getting fixed any time soon.

    ArenaNet is quite infamous for their balancing so I expect Mechanist and Specter to be nerfed before the other specs get buffed.
    Specter is totally getting nerfed. It's wildly toxic and is probably going to become the bane of the PvP scene. Condi supports pretty much always break things.

    Mechanist probably won't get nerfed. It's one of those that is going to be really popular and fun to play because of the class fantasy, but it isn't doing anything crazy from a balance standpoint. It may get buffed if anything. Likely to settle into a niche where it's pretty great for PvE and virtually unused in PvP and WvW.

    Untamed, Vindicator, and Catalyst are unfortunately probably going to fall into the Scrapper territory where they are totally mediocre for years and then get redeemed by a later rework.
  • NephethNepheth Member RarePosts: 473
    edited October 2021
    So far Specter, Mechanist, Vindicator and Bladesworn are my favorites. As a Ranger and Mesmer main I'm kinda disappointed with the specs they announced for these clasess but Thief was my 3rd favorite class in the game. So I'm kind of happy in a way. Gonna main Thief for the next expansion. At least for the beginning of it. I love playing support in Gw2. I played support fb, chrono and healer druid a lot in the last 2 expansions. Can't wait to play a Plaguedoctor Specter with a support build!
  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 4,045
    Aeander said:
    Xiaoki said:
    Good
    Mechanist - very nice, no issues

    Maybe
    Specter - seems good, maybe too good, will have to see how end game with it is

    Bad
    Everything else - and let's face it, they aren't getting fixed any time soon.

    ArenaNet is quite infamous for their balancing so I expect Mechanist and Specter to be nerfed before the other specs get buffed.
    Specter is totally getting nerfed. It's wildly toxic and is probably going to become the bane of the PvP scene. Condi supports pretty much always break things.

    Mechanist probably won't get nerfed. It's one of those that is going to be really popular and fun to play because of the class fantasy, but it isn't doing anything crazy from a balance standpoint. It may get buffed if anything. Likely to settle into a niche where it's pretty great for PvE and virtually unused in PvP and WvW.

    Untamed, Vindicator, and Catalyst are unfortunately probably going to fall into the Scrapper territory where they are totally mediocre for years and then get redeemed by a later rework.

    I don't think Specter as toxic but it's single target barrier and alacrity generation is pretty insane right now. Even with big nerfs it could be the de facto secondary support in PvE.

    My current main is Renegade because everything it does has a nice flow to it and it all comes together. The only DPS I got the same feeling from was Mechanist so maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic. The one DPS spec that seems to have no problems but ArenaNet will find some way to screw it up.

    Some of the other specs weren't too bad, like BladeSworn, but a Warrior that isn't banner spec is a useless Warrior.

    Specs like Vindicator is a good idea handicapped by terrible execution.
  • NephethNepheth Member RarePosts: 473
    Personally my guild is pretty hyped for the new specs as a WvW guild. I think most of these specs desgined WvW in mind by developers. I don't know what's their plan for WvW with this expansion but with the new Alliance system and on top of that with all these WvW focused specs, I can't wait to try them in WvW fully released with the upcoming expansion!
  • AeanderAeander Member LegendaryPosts: 8,061
    edited October 2021
    Xiaoki said:
    Aeander said:
    Xiaoki said:
    Good
    Mechanist - very nice, no issues

    Maybe
    Specter - seems good, maybe too good, will have to see how end game with it is

    Bad
    Everything else - and let's face it, they aren't getting fixed any time soon.

    ArenaNet is quite infamous for their balancing so I expect Mechanist and Specter to be nerfed before the other specs get buffed.
    Specter is totally getting nerfed. It's wildly toxic and is probably going to become the bane of the PvP scene. Condi supports pretty much always break things.

    Mechanist probably won't get nerfed. It's one of those that is going to be really popular and fun to play because of the class fantasy, but it isn't doing anything crazy from a balance standpoint. It may get buffed if anything. Likely to settle into a niche where it's pretty great for PvE and virtually unused in PvP and WvW.

    Untamed, Vindicator, and Catalyst are unfortunately probably going to fall into the Scrapper territory where they are totally mediocre for years and then get redeemed by a later rework.

    I don't think Specter as toxic but it's single target barrier and alacrity generation is pretty insane right now. Even with big nerfs it could be the de facto secondary support in PvE.

    My current main is Renegade because everything it does has a nice flow to it and it all comes together. The only DPS I got the same feeling from was Mechanist so maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic. The one DPS spec that seems to have no problems but ArenaNet will find some way to screw it up.

    Some of the other specs weren't too bad, like BladeSworn, but a Warrior that isn't banner spec is a useless Warrior.

    Specs like Vindicator is a good idea handicapped by terrible execution.
    I absolutely don't think Bladesworn and banners are mutually exclusive. A support dps Bladesworn will likely look like this:

    http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKgAcqlFwuYcsOmLmaX2xeA-e

    Or its rifle variant:

    http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKQAQlFwuYcsOmLmaX1xeA-e
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