User:I Am Jebus/Rants

''This rant is a stub. That means it is probably not as lengthly as GoD's or as good as The Gates Assassin's rants, but it is a work in progress. Do not modify without permission or I will send a rabid Mudkip to eat your cookies. I am holding Godliest hostage and I will order FireTock to finish the job. You have been warned.''

Prepare for ranting.

Rant 1: Bad Elites
Here I will rant about my opinion on elites that I see sometimes on either PvX or Arenas. These rants are focused on PvP.

Rant 1.1: Virulence
I had a teammate in RA who ran this the other day:

His attribute spread, I believe, was 10+3+1 Death Magic, 9 Inspiration Magic, 9 Domination Magic, 7 Illusion Magic, and 5+2 Soul Reaping. I ragequitted.

Virulence can be a terrific skill if used in the right circumstances; the A/N Virulence Spiker and the Me/E Frag Ganker used together are great. However, it is clearly inferior in other circumstances.

What Virulence Accomplishes
 * 1) -8 degeneration and Weakness for a while

You have basically 1 thing it does. Now look at the disadvantages.


 * 1) Conditional, requires a condition. Necromancers have basically 2 good viable options. The first is using Weaken Armor to make Cracked Armor, the other is to go secondary Elementalist and bring Glyph of Immolation. Option 1 requires a less decent attribute spread, although it's not bad, and Option 2 eliminates other secondary professions, although secondary Elementalist is decent.
 * 2) -8 degeneration can easily be outdone by Corrupt Enchantment, a far better skill with more utility from a better attribute line.
 * 3) It causes 3 conditions, which is begging for RC bait. Against a good HA team, all you're doing is allowing them a 180-point heal or so.
 * 4) Against the current FF+Plague Signet meta or FF+Plague Sending, it can backfire easily.
 * 5) It causes Disease, which can spread easily to your own teammates.
 * 6) Rangers have Antidote Signet/Mending Touch, Paragons have Remedy Signet, Necros have Plague Sending, Monks have shitloads, the most devastating being RC. Some of these are self-targeted, but note that conditions are easily counterable.
 * 7) Even used in conjunction with a Mesmer with Signet of Humility, Virulence is outdone quite easily.
 * 8) Poison:Apply Poison from Rangers is all too common and far more effective.
 * 9) Disease:Use a Tainter.
 * 10) Weakness:Enfeeble/Enfeebling Blood are far superior.

Overall, Virulence is typically bad.

Rant 1.2: Mind Burn/Freeze
Commonly seen in Arenas from Prophecies noobs who think that their new Elementalist Elite is awesome. Let me tell you something. It's not.

Mind Burn will be shown in red and Mind Freeze will be shown in blue. Things common to all three will be shown in black.

Pros:
 * 1) Deals around 65-100 damage if condition is met.
 * 2) Condition is met quite easily, Elementalists have large reserviors of energy.
 * 3) Burns for a long time
 * 4) Provides a huge, reliable snare
 * 5) Not a projectile
 * 6) Low energy, quick recharge.

Cons:
 * 1) Near useless on any other primary profession, as they will have limited stores of energy.
 * 2) Causes Exhaustion
 * 3) Therefore, spamming is near useless.
 * 4) Damage and length of Burning is inferior to Searing Flames
 * 5) Icy Shackles is far and away the better option for snaring
 * 6) Have I mentioned it causes Exhaustion?
 * 7) Last and most, it causes Exhaustion.

While they do seem to have a lot of good sides, the Exhaustion is not worth it and the damage is so-so at best. There are clearly superior options out there.

Rant 1.3: Feast of Corruption
Saw a few times in Arenas and a few attemps at builds. It actually looked decent until I tested it.

Pros:
 * 1) AoE armor-ignoring damage
 * 2) AoE lifesteal

You have 2.

Cons:
 * 1) 15 energy, very expensive.
 * 2) 2 casting time, begging for a magebane.
 * 3) 20 recharge, not spammable at all.
 * 4) Very conditional on the lifesteal.
 * 5) If you AoE hex, some will probably have been removed by the time FoC is finished casting.

Although it may not seem like many counters, these are all so common in PvP that it makes Feast of Corruption horrible.

Rant 1.3: Decapitate
Actually not a bad skill, I'm angry about the circumstances that I see people using them. One of my teammates in TA, before we zoned into the battle but while we were gathering party members, pinged his bar the other day. He was a W/N, so I assumed a headbutt+plague touch or a quivering+plague touch build but what i got was this:

I asked him why he had those two necro skills, he said "Cause this way i can deal with other warriors and against condition causing people." Booted. Right there.

Although Decapitate can be a decent skill in the right scenarios, you have to know how to use it. Decapitate =/= HA IM RUNNIN IN WIF MY AXE BASHBASHBASH DECAPITATE OCRAP I GOT NO ENERGY RUNRUNRUN *dies* *ragequit*. Decapitate=Careful weapon switching, get energy as low as possible, spike, weapon swap, keep pressuring.

Personally, I prefer Eviscerate. It deals maybe 30 less damage but is much cheaper and also causes DW. The fact that you retain your adrenaline and energy makes it superior to Decapitate in most places, but decapitate still has its uses.

Rant 2.1: Originality
I'm sorta pissed at all the times that I see a great build popping up and its basically a build with a standard bar with a great elite thrown on. Examples:Eviscerate, Wail of Doom, Soul Bind, Icy Veins, and most especially, Wounding Strike. I understand that these are the current metas but it sorta pisses me off that some PvXers have no originality but do observe other people's builds and the growing meta. What if one of us could cause the new meta? etcetcetc. It's probably an illogical piss-offedness, but I'm pissed nonetheless.

Rant 2.2: Attachment
Goddamn sick of new players to PvX who hold on too long to a trash build. Let me tell you something: '''GUILD WARS IS A GODDAMN GAME. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?''' People get attached to things way too easily now, getting angry, violating NPA, you know what I'm talking about. I'm tired of saying this, but just learn from the experience and go on to make better builds. Which is more probable:You're wrong and the community is right, or you're right and the entire community is wrong?

Rant 2.3: Anet
I've been pisses off at them for a while but the recent update takes the cake.

Before: Smiter's Boon:5e 1/4c 10rech For 30 seconds, your Smiting Prayers have double the Divine Favor bonus.

After: Smiter's Boon:Twenty-fucking-five energy, 1/4c, nine-fucking-ty recharge For 5 seconds, that's right, 5, your Smiting Prayers have double the Divine Favor bonus.

I don't care if it turns out to be a joke, it was made real in game and it pisses me off.