Holosmith
- Scrapper was a dirty tech. Holosmith is more of a clean tech. Scrapper was more charr tech based, Holosmith is more asuran based.
- Each vertical trait line in the Holosmith is a theme. Originally it was a build your own lightsaber theme but now it is a forge theme with parts in each vertical trait line.
- You go into Photon Forge mode, fight for a while. Their skills increase heat but you don’t want to stay in it too long or you will blow up. Your then switch out of that mode and all your non Photon Forge skills gains bonus damage with the heat.
- We designed this specialization with a trait that allow you to specifically blow up and deal damage to other players. This trait will reduce the damage you take from the explosion (explosion will only take away 50% of the base HP).
- Tomes replaces Virtues, and the Guardian gain access to a whole new set of skills with the Tomes. All of the Tome #1 skills target in a cone, #2 skills in an AoE, #3 skills in an AoE, #4 skills leave a field etc. So all the tome skills play similarly.
- We tried to make the Firebrand Mantras to feel differently from the Mesmer Mantras which many players are familiar with. Guardian Mantras cast in a cone in front of yourself where Mesmer Mantras are more AoE around yourself or the enemy. These Mantras have long cast times and very long cooldown if you use the last charge. However, they are all instant cast once charged up and recharge up quickly. Additionally Guardian Mantras have 3 charges as opposed to 2 with the mesmer.
- Ammo system was built partly due to the mantras. With the old mantra system it was kind of bad as once you used a mantra charge, you can waste the next charge and wait for it to be off cooldown or you can go into the fight with one less mantra charge.
- As opposed to the Berserker, Spellbreaker is a more calm and collected theme. It is more of a blademaster that has studied their arts all their life. It is a mesmer through the lens of a warrior. Basically how a warrior would do a mesmer. Instead of creating illusions, the warrior is able to see through deception.
- Their entire top line traits focus on removing enemy boons. The middle line is more a counter line while the last line is more a catch all line designed for slippery opponents like thieves and mesmers.
- We went with Dagger/Dagger for Warrior because Warrior is a weapon master and one dagger was just not enough. It also allowed us to pull off some combos.
- We expect to see Spellbreaker in WvW a lot. Their elite skill is really good against zergs and can deny a large area from the enemy.
- Scourge allow Necros to become battlefield commanders and command areas of the fight. It is a specialization that allow necro to give more support to allies. Necros was more of a selfish class previously.
- With the Barrier mechanic, you can give shrouds to other players.
- Scourge utility skills used to consume life force but we felt it wasn’t cohesive thematically since life force was consumed mostly by shroud skills.
- If you place down multiple sand shades at the same place, the enemy will take damage from only one sand shade to avoid players putting down 3 sand shades in the same place and just standing there. There is a grandmaster trait that allow you to summon a much larger sand shade for a much area of control. The controlling component of sand shades will see action in PvP and WvW.
- Scourge gain access to a portal skill that is a bit different from the mesmer portal and act more as a incombat portal due to its quicker access (you leap to an area and it drops portals immediately). It is used to move your allies across more quickly.
- Thief doesn’t really have a good ranged option. Deadeye is a very long range class that sacrifice some of the mobility. Usually ranged attacks deal less damage than melee damages but it is an exception here. The rifle #5 skill will put you in a combat stance that prevent you from moving (you can still dodge).
- You gain malice through your attacks. This is a timegated way of preventing you from unloading a large amount of damage right away for balance purposes.
- Deadeye works better on large single target enemies. For large zerg of enemies, Deadeye isn’t as effective and that is where Daredevil shines. If you have high APM and can switch targets quickly, Deadeye can be effective against large number of targets.
- Legend is a badass female charr who united the legions in the fight against Flame Legion. She was an ambush commander and we bought that fighting style to the Revenant. She can fire into the mists and have portals appear in various places. She favors flanking and dealing critical hits.
- Renegades’ shortbow #5 skill is a cascading knockdown that allow it to keep enemies at ranged.
- The Charr Warband can be killed and they are like ranger spirits that are summoned to do a specific thing. Warbands are more of an offensive support for your allies. Positioning them correctly is crucial to get the most out of them.
- Trait lines are based on Ash Legion (disabling), Blood Legion (upfront beat them up), and Iron Legion (more defensive, supportive). Each of the Renegade Grandmaster traits upgrade the F2/F3/F4 skills you get as a Renegade. If you have a legendary weapon and use the Citadel Strike profession skill, it will change its projectiles to the legendary ones (i.e. raining down ravens or tigers instead of arrows).
- Mirage is the first elite specialization we fleshed out for PoF. The name drove the development of the specialization.
- A lot of the specialization mechanics were built around the mirror, which can shatter.
- Mirage should frustrate a lot of enemy players. You can retarget your illusions with Mirage and when this happens, you become untargetable briefly and enemy players lose you as a target.
- Mirages get ambush skills for all mainhand weapons. It allows them to avoid an attack and do a counter attack.
- You lose a lot of mobility as Mirage since you don’t dodge anymore but what you lose in mobility you gain in flexibility. It allow you to cast skills while dodging and dodge when you are incapacitated (i.e. knocked down). However it makes it harder to get out of large AoEs.
- Back in Heart of Thorns we didn’t have the tech to hide your pets. Tech wise Soulbeast was the most difficult. Getting a lot of visual effects for pet fusing was very challenging from a tech perspective.
- When you absorb your pet, you get two things. You get access to the pet skills from that pet that you previously didn’t have access to. You also gain a stat bonus based on the pet archetype. The stat bonus is to help you regain some of the damage you lose from not having your pet.
- Soulbeast mode is not to be camped. You are suppose to weave in and out of soulbeast mode and swap pets as using the absorbed pet abilities does not put your pet’s abilities on cooldown.
- The elite skill for Soulbeast was originally a spellbreaker ability but we ended up putting it on the Soulbeast as it made more sense for Soulbeast to double strike once they merged with their beast.
- Weaver has been in the works forever. It is a concept that we started development pre-HoT. It was a contender for an elite specialization for HoT but the tech wasn’t quite there yet.
- Weaver’s core mechanic is two elements with mainhand using one element and the offhand using the other element. Every two combination of elements have their own unique #3 weapon skill (the order of elements doesn’t matter). Your core utility skills like summoning elementals will be based on your mainhand element.
- When you swap elements with Weaver, there is a cooldown on all the elements. You kinda have to know what skills you want and plan ahead.
- They recommend people to use Unravel when they try to get familiar with the Weaver mechanics.
- The elite skill reward players that can weave through all four attunements instead of sticking with two.
- Weaver is a true melee character with the sword skills. Players will need to beware of how squishy they are as they can get spiked quickly if not careful.
- The #2 sword skill is a movement ability that allow you to gap close or retreat depending on the attunement. Fire/Lightning are more offensive gap closers while Water/Earth are more defensive retreats.
