User:Raine Valen/Musings/Anet Luvs Casters

Let's Talk About Caster Damage
Remember Lightning Orb? Remember when air eles had this expensive, slow, relatively unreliable spike skill and it was a beast? Well, imagine cutting off half the casting time, making it always land, and letting it hit 3 people, as long as they're standing anywhere near one another. Oh, and then to balance it, we'll make it elite.

We already talked about this shit, guys.

I mean, I can't really believe that you nerf Chain Lightning back in prophs days because mesmers were rocking shit with airspike... then you come back and build Fast Casting into a harder-hitting skill. Guess what, guys? Airspike is back!

But, look. I know we love buffing stuff, so how about this: we make every anti-caster prot AoE? That way, everyone can have their fun toys. It won't even affect bad PvEers, either: they already have Mirror of Disenchantment with no real cast time or energy cost, so they'll be able to deal with it. In fact, it'll promote mesmers even more!

Sarcasm aside, though.

This is just disappointing.

Let's Talk About A Balanced Skill

 * What does it do? Punish attackers.
 * Damage proportional to attack damage? Yes.
 * Universal counters? Tab and wanding both work.
 * Specific counters? Enchantment removal (these come 2 per bar, generally).
 * Counters to counters? You might have one cover for it.
 * Cap on total damage dealt? Yes: you can hit through it and it goes away.
 * Maintainable? Not if it's actually doing anything.
 * Maintainable? Not if it's actually doing anything.


 * What does it do? Punish attackers.
 * Damage proportional to attack damage? No.
 * Universal counters? Stop attacking (this means "stop existing" if you are a physical) for  seconds.
 * Specific counters? Hex Removal (but it's on recharge all the time).
 * Counters to counters? Enchantment removal (you probably have twice as many as the monk has Veils), cover hexes (these have no activation time or cost).
 * Cap on total damage dealt? No: you hit through it and... well, you take damage.
 * Maintainable? On a person and a half.
 * Maintainable? On a person and a half.

You changed Holy Wrath into a balanced skill because it was too good at what it did. You also gave Empathy a slap on the wrist. Guess what? It's still ridiculous.