Curse

Ensign · May 29, 2009, 11:34 PM // 23:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

The main problem isn't just it takes little to no skill, but instead the fact that the result/effect of that little to no skill builds is way too good for the effort put into it.

E/Mes are a split template. I think that puts them in the top 25% of 'skill' templates in this metagame, by definition.

Some characters have relatively flat performance / result characteristics. Some have disparate performance / result characteristics. I don't see any real problem with this, as long as the gameplay that results is engaging.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

why would anyone waste 2 slots for e management if u can instead take one that even does damage?

Well I wouldn't. No one would. Of course Mind Blasters use 3 slots on energy management, so they don't fit into your model at all. I honestly see little problem with a character using 3 energy management skills being able to power just about anything they want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

E/D's are less of a problem because their blockage is 50% and is an enchantment

Is 50% vs 60% a big deal? Seems like a pretty minor difference to me.

If the enchantment part is easy to deal with, then I suggest that the whole character is easy to deal with, as it falls apart very quickly if you can get the attunement off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

The meta usually consists of 2-3 physicals, making up well over 50% of the damage.

Well it doesn't consist of that at the moment. Why is that a problem?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

With E/Me's in the arenas mindlessly blocking everything, it only bogs down matches.

I'm pretty sure that everyone is running block stances on every character now; it's a necessity to deal with the speed and power of offenses in the game now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Not to mention there's now 3 monk backlines as opposed to the past traditional two. This means there's sever defenseballing going on.

"Defenseballing" is no different now than it has been at any time in the past. When you nerf defense people inevitably run more, as they need less offense to kill opposing defenses. Offense and defense always find their equilibrium and the relative power of each simply determines how much of the other gets run. You could obliterate stances and people would simply respond by running even more defense to maintain the balance. This continues until you hit a wall where defense completely breaks down and everyone runs iWay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Now, all physical attackers have to get used to seeing *block* in yellow text waaaay too much.

Did you just start playing this game a month ago? Long streams of block and miss have been a part of playing Warrior for years.

Regulus X · May 30, 2009, 03:08 AM // 03:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

Text

I'm thrilled by your way to discuss things in such good form and manner. Hence, I will return you the same, gracefully.

The meta is now stance/enchantment-dependent in dealing with full-forced physical attackers; this we all have come to realize.

50 vs 75% (you meant, amirite?) HUGE difference imho. You see block 25% more of the time, which is worse. 75% isn't even the biggest deal (cuz rangers have it most commonly and recharges are much higher). No! It's the recharge!! 5r is WAAAAY OP'd on M.Blast ele's because their energy upkeep is ridiculous! Their damage isn't objectional as many claim either (I personally believe that the incentive of casters is ranged as well as of higher damage amounts); I think the damage should remain solid as is. It'd be okay if distortion had at LEAST 50% (or less) window of opportunity to hit them vs 40-20% they currently have (depending on the spec in Illusion).

Enchantment removal has a larger counterability than the whopping 4 stance removals in-game and can be done by both casters and physical attackers alike.

It's a problem because, well.. seeing *block* in yellow text a couple hundred thousand times a day is just lame that way. Distortion's a mindless OP'd stance that's being abused by all players everywhere (ESPECIALLY TA/RA *Syncs*!!) I've faced E/Me x 3 and Mo/Any I don't know HOW MANY TIMES and get rolled because I'm running a physical attacker and the amount of anti-melee is just sad (and everywhere!). The only counter is hexgay tbh.. Distortion's ruining PvP and needs to meet it's end soon!

Block's been a part of the game for ever, yes, I know this. Been playing since the beginning of GW1. However, look at all the other stances in comparison to Distortion. The rest of the stances have long recharges, hence making stance removals viable. Distortion lasts 3 seconds and recharges at 5; is there any viability in removing a 3-second stance? (NO!) IS there any viability in focusing fire on a single E/Me? (Most cases.. NO!) So what's the alternative? Run all casters? (No one in their right mind would run all caster groups unless it consists of a gimmicky spike of a sort.. i.e.: Rt spike, Smiter Monk Spike, Bloodspike, Kappaspike, etc..) Other than those few options, Balanced is in BIG trouble vs. these block-whoring OP'd E/Me's. It's going to be long, hair-pulling, keyboard-bashing battles vs these mindless mindblaster ele's and that's a promise!

E/Me's are beyond defenseballing.. they're easy to use, hard to break through and.. well, Overpowered! (I keep having to reiterate the truth so many times until guru members' eyes bleed!). What's so hard about understanding that E/Me's are so insanely overwhelming towards physical attackers? I just can't grasp that ya'll fail to understand this fact! The only reason I find ya'll supporting this is that:

a.) Ya'll are (ab)using and using E/Me's in PvP & LOVIN' IT or..

b.) Ya'll have been beaten with the 'conformity' stick and think it's what Anet 'chose', therefore meta, when in reality they did not foresee this E/Me being made and abused to the degree we all see atm. Heck, they probably don't even play GW1 that much at all! I seldom see any of the GMs/Dev's online unless there's an event, update, occasion, etc.. of a sort.

Hope I covered every line item, Ensign. Thanks for your viable deliberations. =)

Zena Starlight · May 30, 2009, 03:45 AM // 03:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

50 vs 75% (you meant, amirite?) HUGE difference imho.

Someone's good at math... (Hint: Think Duration vs. Recharge)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Enchantment removal has a larger counterability than the whopping 4 stance removals in-game and can be done by both casters and physical attackers alike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

5r is WAAAAY OP'd on M.Blast ele's because their energy upkeep is ridiculous!

You say it yourself. Enchantment removal on attunements, and you are are going to worry less about their damage output or the amount of times distortion can be put up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

It's a problem because, well.. seeing *block* in yellow text a couple hundred thousand times a day is just lame that way. Distortion's a mindless OP'd stance that's being abused by all players everywhere (ESPECIALLY TA/RA *Syncs*!!) I've faced E/Me x 3 and Mo/Any I don't know HOW MANY TIMES and get rolled because I'm running a physical attacker and the amount of anti-melee is just sad (and everywhere!). The only counter is hexgay tbh.. Distortion's ruining PvP and needs to meet it's end soon!

Since this seems like its your main grip, why don't you do something about it before this unnecessary crying? Oh look! http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nega...uick_reference Is there something stopping you from bringing any of these skills? Its not like you are only going to be using it against distortion but the plethora of different stances/blocks there are. And maybe if you and everyone else starts bringing some of these skills, instead of being ignorant and stolid, E/Me's will slowly fall out of favor like other builds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

a.) Ya'll are (ab)using and using E/Me's in PvP & LOVIN' IT or..

b.) Ya'll have been beaten with the 'conformity' stick and think it's what Anet 'chose', therefore meta, when in reality they did not foresee this E/Me being made and abused to the degree we all see atm. Heck, they probably don't even play GW1 that much at all! I seldom see any of the GMs/Dev's online unless there's an event, update, occasion, etc.. of a sort.

Just because you are not capable (or good enough) of dealing with this problem doesn't mean other people aren't. Don't generalize other people in statements like this.

Do something about the problem, not cry until it gets nerfed and the next "overpowered" build pops up. But I can't dictate the choices you make. If you want to think they are the most overpowered thing in the world, no amount of reason will ever change your mind.

PS: What did you do when assassins used critical defenses? /resign since you can't touch them or did you bring enchantment removal?

Ensign · May 30, 2009, 04:16 AM // 04:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

50 vs 75% (you meant, amirite?)

The duration is so short that you can effectively treat it as a 60% continuous block stance if you keep attacking into it. Personally I won't swing into it at all unless their enchantments are down, in which case I'll swing into it all day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Enchantment removal has a larger counterability than the whopping 4 stance removals in-game and can be done by both casters and physical attackers alike.

If you remove the enchantments, Distortion fails to matter. The typical Mind Blast / Distortion template goes all-in on you being unable to remove or interrupt the Attunement. If you can't stop it, the character is probably better than yours. If you can stop it, it is unquestionably worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

I've faced E/Me x 3 and Mo/Any I don't know HOW MANY TIMES and get rolled because I'm running a physical attacker and the amount of anti-melee is just sad (and everywhere!).

You've gotten rolled by it how many times without putting a deep strip on your bar? I recommend Expunge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

However, look at all the other stances in comparison to Distortion. The rest of the stances have long recharges, hence making stance removals viable.

Attempting to fight Distortion with stance removal is stupid. Even if stance removal were much more prevalent in Guild Wars, fighting Distortion with stance removal would be stupid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Distortion lasts 3 seconds and recharges at 5; is there any viability in removing a 3-second stance?

Do you fight RoF with enchantment removal? How about Guardian?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

(NO!) IS there any viability in focusing fire on a single E/Me? (Most cases.. NO!)

Why not?

(protip - if the reason it's not viable is because they get covered in Prot, then it's really no different from any other block stance, which gets flashed and only has to last long enough for the prot to land.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

So what's the alternative? Run all casters?

Why not? It sounds like that's what you're losing to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Balanced is in BIG trouble vs. these block-whoring OP'd E/Me's.

Good. "Balanced" having bad matchups makes me happy. "Balanced" was a broken archetype for a long time and it's good that the metagame is starting to open up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

What's so hard about understanding that E/Me's are so insanely overwhelming towards physical attackers? I just can't grasp that ya'll fail to understand this fact!

I understand that perfectly; it is the entire point of the character. What I don't understand is why there is a problem with a character that wrecks a physical hard. Isn't that what balance is? Some templates destroy other templates but lose to others still. Mind Blasters destroy physicals but lose to other casters and deep strips. Isn't that what balance is? Physicals beating everything doesn't sound very balanced to me.

Regulus X · May 30, 2009, 04:29 AM // 04:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zena Starlight

blah

75% block 60-80% of the time and it's five-second recharge is OP'd (pure and simple). Stance removal is nonviable due to 5 second recharge. E/Me's are as mindless as the users using them (1-2-3-4-laugh-rinse-repeat). OP'd is OP'd.

Damage is fine, but their near-invincibility vs physical attackers isn't!

How do you deal with it in 4v4? Or in splits? You can't! YOU CAN"T FFS Y-O-U C-A-N-N-O-T! UNDERSTAND THIS! HOLY F-... *begins counting from 100 to 1 backwards*

*phew!* k.. I think I'm a bit better now..

OK, as far as doing something about it.. well, only option is to sit there and swing on him, landing 1/4 hits, all while he 1-2-3-4-laughs-rinses-repeats you with the greatest of ease! Rend, rip, corrupt, etc.. will only get you so far.. You'll prolly die before you affect the E/Me.. meanwhile (you, YES YOU!.. are just sitting there lol'ing and spamming at everyone, fully aware that you're OP'd and loving it).

What reason do you have that will justify E/Me's 1-2-3-4ing everyone, winning, giving the keyboard to their little brother and instructing him to mash 1-2-3-4 on everyone, grabbing a beer, coming back and seeing *Flawless Victory* and doing it all over again? Tell me?! What's YOUR REASON PERMABLOCK SHOULD EXIST? Shit, I'd rather take Distortion + e-management over Escape now! I'd rather take Distortion E/Me for just about all of PvP cuz it's OP'd and everyone uses it and wins and is OP'd and wins and is OP'd and wins and is OP'd and.. */endsarcasm*

Celeborn10 · May 30, 2009, 05:33 AM // 05:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

75% block 60-80% of the time and it's five-second recharge is OP'd (pure and simple). Stance removal is nonviable due to 5 second recharge. E/Me's are as mindless as the users using them (1-2-3-4-laugh-rinse-repeat). OP'd is OP'd.

Damage is fine, but their near-invincibility vs physical attackers isn't!

My popcorn is growing a bit stale watching this prolonged argument against a wall. If you truly wish to provide a serious argument, then do what Ensign did several years ago and do some research before trying to assume omnipotent knowledge.

How much energy is expended if a melee truly wails on you? IAS and/or daggers? How many pips of energy does the Mindblast template generate? What does each individual skill in the energy engine generate? Compare this to what other energy-management has. The difference is between a subjective personal experience and facts.

Ensign · May 30, 2009, 07:04 AM // 07:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

OK, as far as doing something about it.. well, only option is to sit there and swing on him...

You could try changing your build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

What reason do you have that will justify E/Me's 1-2-3-4ing everyone, winning, giving the keyboard to their little brother and instructing him to mash 1-2-3-4 on everyone, grabbing a beer, coming back and seeing *Flawless Victory* and doing it all over again? Tell me?!

Well since everyone is too stupid to run Necros or Mesmers I can't really find it in myself to feel sorry for them when they lose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

I'd rather take Distortion E/Me for just about all of PvP

It seems that you prefer to keep running physicals into them and getting your face handed to you and whining about it on forums to changing to the build that you feel is clearly overpowered. Which says a lot.

Snow Bunny · May 30, 2009, 07:15 AM // 07:15

If you actually manage to pblock MindBlast you don't have to deal with their damage. ^_^

This isn't a case of "just because it's a counter doesn't mean it's imbalanced". Teams are just trying to overwhelm each other with firepower, and it would seem that a little finesse might be rewarding.

I remember sinsplit meta and dR meta'd the hell out of Mistral Edge with water snares and dwayna dervs.

If you KNOW you're going to be facing the dual hex and dual fire ele build, if it's that dominant, spec it. Hard, dedicated splits with proper division of damage and defense can confidently beat the build.

Again, if you're 4v4, the problem is your monk, not the build.

I actually am really enjoying this meta....I like to think Kaon would agree with me that byob is flourishing like never before!

TironPlyth · May 30, 2009, 07:18 AM // 07:18

Quote:

Stance removal is nonviable due to 5 second recharge.

Have you tried a counter OTHER than stance removal? As Ensign said, Expunge or other deep removals are very effective. On its own Mind Blast cannot maintain 5e/5 seconds for Distortion, especially with the -2e a swing. What about Rigor Morits? Its not as if it lacks utility. If the cast time doesn't suit you there's always Warrior's Cunning.

Quote:

How do you deal with it in 4v4? Or in splits? You can't! YOU CAN"T FFS Y-O-U C-A-N-N-O-T! UNDERSTAND THIS! HOLY F-... *begins counting from 100 to 1 backwards*

In 4v4 TA just train their monk, let your Magebane (no block!) shut down one Mind Blast and have your necro strip down another. They have no anti-melee other than stances so if you do bring Whirling or another removal instead of the above, as you implied, he should go down fast. If you still have trouble make your monk switch secondaries because balanced stance pales in comparison to say, Dark Escape in such matchups. Against RA sync groups, well, they'd crush a normal RA team 99% of the time anyway assuming they aren't horrible.

As for splits, if a war is involved in a 1v1 or 2v2 or similar against one of these you need a new tactics caller. The point of the entire build is its personal immunity versus most physical templates, so why send a physical at it? As said before, the current necro and mesmer templates demolish it.

Ensign · May 30, 2009, 07:56 AM // 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celeborn10

How much energy is expended if a melee truly wails on you?

114 per minute autoattacking with an axe; 60 to pay for the stance on recharge and 27 blocks (plus 18 hits). 141 in Frenzy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celeborn10

How many pips of energy does the Mindblast template generate?

Mind Blast generates about 2.5 pips typically; Aura of Restoration around 1.5. Fire Attunement is the real workhorse, and can provide 4 pips if you let the guy ride the Attunement; if you have to mash on Distortion it drops down to ~1, since you can't afford to cast much other than Mind Blast.

The best thing about Distortion, really, is that you can flash it a couple times and physicals leave you alone. Despite all its drawbacks you never have to use it all that much.

Div · May 30, 2009, 08:40 AM // 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

OK, as far as doing something about it.. well, only option is to sit there and swing on him

Warriors cunning > distortion.

Stance removal isn't the most effective because of the low recharge, but if you get a removal early in the cycle, you basically get to wail on him for at least 3-4 hits on an axe.

Strip enchants and magebane mind blast and the guy will run out of energy in no time even without using distortion.

Stoella · May 30, 2009, 12:57 PM // 12:57

Problem is not distortion. Problem is mind blast, that lets the spam of distortion.

urania · May 30, 2009, 02:40 PM // 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

E/Mes are a split template. I think that puts them in the top 25% of 'skill' templates in this metagame, by definition.

Some characters have relatively flat performance / result characteristics. Some have disparate performance / result characteristics. I don't see any real problem with this, as long as the gameplay that results is engaging.

Well I wouldn't. No one would. Of course Mind Blasters use 3 slots on energy management, so they don't fit into your model at all. I honestly see little problem with a character using 3 energy management skills being able to power just about anything they want.

it might put them there, with the difference its a split template that is obviously greatly in favor of mentally handicapped or plain lazy players~
if it works for you, great, but expecting that from everyone is kind of naive...especially not if u advise (and i hope i missed some sarcasm there) others to take expunge enchantments as a "counter".

as far as e management is concerned, i should first conduct a test, but im convinced a MB ele can keep their energy up without fire attunement - just needs to spam MB even more~
aura is there more for the self heal and attunement cover than energy management, so I don't think its a total of 3 e management skills. to be more exact, its not a total of 3 skills dedicated to e management alone, as the case was with dual attunement eles with aura.

@snowbunny, no its not only the monk who can be blamed if a team loses to MB abuse. Especially not if its coupled with mantra of resolve shutdown mesmer. If the monk's team cant kill the opposing team's monk fast enough, not even balanced stance and fire shields wont save you. You either run out of energy eventually or run around permanently blacked out/shamed/bfed/diversioned.

Why do i have this weird feeling I'm the only one who actually played the template and who actually played a lot against it too? ...

@at Divine, warrior's cunning lasts 10 out of what...60? seconds, so yeah, awesome idea :P

At the end the skill that owns distortion the hardest and doesn't involve any particular (and retarded, no offense) spec'ing, is definitely defile defenses.

But seriously, to everyone who said things like "divert MB", "bring whirling axe", "take expunge" (lol), "take wildblow" - no, u're doing it wrong and missing the point.

Regulus X · May 30, 2009, 03:04 PM // 15:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

it might put them there, with the difference its a split template that is obviously greatly in favor of mentally handicapped or plain lazy players~
if it works for you, great, but expecting that from everyone is kind of naive...especially not if u advise (and i hope i missed some sarcasm there) others to take expunge enchantments as a "counter".

As far as e management is concerned, i should first conduct a test, but im convinced a mb ele can keep their energy up without fire attunement - just needs to spam mb even more~
aura is there more for the self heal and attunement cover than energy management, so i don't think its a total of 3 e management skills. To be more exact, its not a total of 3 skills dedicated to e management alone, as the case was with dual attunement eles with aura.

@snowbunny, no its not only the monk who can be blamed if a team loses to mb abuse. Especially not if its coupled with mantra of resolve shutdown mesmer. If the monk's team cant kill the opposing team's monk fast enough, not even balanced stance and fire shields wont save you. You either run out of energy eventually or run around permanently blacked out/shamed/bfed/diversioned.

Why do i have this weird feeling i'm the only one who actually played the template and who actually played a lot against it too? ... *they did play it and love it cuz it's op'd!*

@at divine, warrior's cunning lasts 10 out of what...60? Seconds, so yeah, awesome idea

at the end the skill that owns distortion the hardest and doesn't involve any particular (and retarded, no offense) spec'ing, is definitely defile defenses.

But seriously, to everyone who said things like "divert mb", "bring whirling axe", "take expunge" (lol), "take wildblow" - no, u're doing it wrong and missing the point.

win 12345678

scruffy · May 30, 2009, 03:15 PM // 15:15

cripshot + warriors cunning = dead ele's

its not the fact that they're insanely hard to beat its just the nature of the bar that is annoying to me kind of like how everybody wanted warriors endurance to get nerfed because you just press power attack prot strike over and over it takes the skill out of when to use your damage because there is no drawback from using it on recharge

Stoella · May 30, 2009, 04:04 PM // 16:04

Warrior endurance was broken because you could spike harder and faster than every other warrior axe build, isnt it enough ?

MB is also broken because it allows broken energy management.

Ensign · May 30, 2009, 05:40 PM // 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

especially not if u advise (and i hope i missed some sarcasm there) others to take expunge enchantments as a "counter".

If you are going to play a Warrior and insist on using it as a split response against Distortion Mind Blast Eles, you should absolutely consider putting Expunge on your bar. It's a silver bullet in skirmish for dealing with high recharge enchantments, and has decent synergy with most melee bars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

as far as e management is concerned, i should first conduct a test, but im convinced a MB ele can keep their energy up without fire attunement - just needs to spam MB even more~

Um...keep their energy up while doing what? Without Attunement, you can keep your energy high using nothing but Mind Blast and Distortion with a Warrior in your face, but you can't use much else (the Meteor if you have it).

But again, in practice, it really doesn't matter, because very few people make you pay for the Distortion. Usually you just show it to them a couple times and they don't even look at you again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

aura is there more for the self heal and attunement cover than energy management

Aura is absolutely there for the energy; without it you wouldn't touch it over Mystic Regeneration or other enchantments. The main value of Aura is that in conjunction with Mind Blast it gives you just enough energy to be functional when your Attunement is ripped. Before Aura, Attunement being down meant your character was basically trash and you couldn't afford to pay for much. Aura recharges quickly and is fairly reliable, and pushes you up enough to let you function at reduced power. The health is a good bonus, and essential in some circumstances (1v1, killing NPCs) but it's not why it got onto the bar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

so I don't think its a total of 3 e management skills. to be more exact, its not a total of 3 skills dedicated to e management alone, as the case was with dual attunement eles with aura.

Of course not, Mind Blast is a hybrid skill that's about half an elite worth of energy but does some damage as well. Unmolested they work very similar to dual attunement guys; the dual attunement guys peak higher actually, as that combination gives a slew more energy.

Mind Blast is preferred over dual attunements for 2 principal reasons:

- Mind Blast is less prone to disruption. The Mind Blast character doesn't completely fall apart if Rended, and the skills used are less vulnerable to interrupts.

- Mind Blast can power non-Elementalist skills reasonably well.

In the absence of disruption the dual attunement guy is generally better. That just isn't realistic against remotely competent teams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

But seriously, to everyone who said things like "divert MB", "bring whirling axe", "take expunge" (lol), "take wildblow" - no, u're doing it wrong and missing the point.

Take Mesmers and Necromancers.

What do you think the point is?

Regulus X · May 30, 2009, 05:42 PM // 17:42

I personally think E/Me builds need attention. Idc what gets done so long as it gets done and is effective! Personally, I'd nerf distortion to all hell (25/90 assasination style). M.Blast is nice to have for other builds, but not for distortionist E/Me's. Tis the only problem, really.. Permablock is fail. It's mindless and unfair; spoils all efforts made by melee and is OP'd.

TironPlyth · May 30, 2009, 06:28 PM // 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

Personally, I'd nerf distortion to all hell (25/90 assasination style). M.Blast is nice to have for other builds, but not for distortionist E/Me's.

That's interesting...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

The problem I see mainly is Distortion being ran with any form of energy management. It easily becomes like the ranger's Elite stance 'Escape'. I think Distortion needs to be tapped by the nerf bat (just not 25/90 assasination-mode).

You might want to be more consistent. It almost seems as if you're getting upset.

If you think that Distortion is really the 'problem', then I ask you this question: why wasn't it seen before the recent Aura of Restoration buff? If this template gets hit it will fade into obscurity again.

lutz · May 30, 2009, 07:09 PM // 19:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regulus X

I personally think E/Me builds need attention. Idc what gets done so long as it gets done and is effective! Personally, I'd nerf distortion to all hell (25/90 assasination style). M.Blast is nice to have for other builds, but not for distortionist E/Me's. Tis the only problem, really.. Permablock is fail. It's mindless and unfair; spoils all efforts made by melee and is OP'd.

This is why you are not a skill balancer.

Balance means that casters and melee are balanced.

It doesn't mean encouraging exactly one specific playstyle (in your case, the traditional two frontline build with 3 midline: 1 toolbox, 1 offensive midline, 1 defensive midline).

Distortion itself is not an imbalanced skill. It counters melee builds by putting a defensive block stance only yourself - it isn't as if you can transfer it to your allies on a 5second recharge for free.

It's a good skill; it's not an imbalanced skill. It's a kind of skill that forces your opponent to do something about it. It makes you bring Rigor, or Defile. It makes you change how you respond to split, and how you push teams or backline teams. Adaptation is perhaps the most desired trait in Guild Wars, but unfortunately nowadays it's almost nonexistant. Everyone wants to play the same thing every time and do the same thing every time, but that just shouldn't happen. You need to switch up your strategies.

You have to spec each opponent. You can't expect to run the same thing every time and magically win.