I've Ranked The Complete Set Of End of Dragons Elite Specialisations 

To illustrate clearly my mindset here, because several in the comments are missing it: I don't care about specific balance and tuning in the beta. If it's weak because of specific number issues, or OP because of specific number issues, that's not what I'm really interested in. We're talking design, fantasy, mechanics, customisation. Balance will come and go, these things are permanent.

Suggestion for the intro to GW2 series: Ranking all the minigames from crab toss to sanctum sprint

From an older player, I wanted to thank you for thinking of us. Yes, we need a lower intensity playstyle like the Mechanist to make the game more accessible.

Would love to see similar tier lists for the previous expacs, kinda like a retrospective as we look forward to the newness of EOD

I have chronic migraines, making it difficult to do much in high-intensity game modes, which means that playstyles with low skill requirements are downright essential for my enjoyment. I consider myself a competent player, but I can't always put a ton of energy into the game because I just don't have the energy to give. As a result, Mechanist has been a godsend. I've been playing it constantly for the past three days, and even with all the clunkiness of the mech's AI it still feels incredible to me. It's even raid viable, with the alacrity/barrier build. I think the thing that needs some work on it is the mace; the mech itself is incredible.

On Mechanist: Every single Holosmith trait only effects Photon Forge as well

I think they have done a great job with the thief specializations. Daredevil, Deadeye, and Specter all have unique use cases and lots of mix and matching within the trait lines. For Specter, I'm quite excited to finally have a class to babysit new players with, and the thief is perfect for that. I can invite friends to the game and focus on making them have a ton of fun. Single target heals and barriers to keep them alive, stealth to help them escape, one-way portal to bring them to fun areas. I don't think there is another spec better for exploring open world with a new player/friend.

Would be really excited about a tier list about old specialization ranking too since they're all well toned and balanced out. We already know the full picture of those classes, and it'd be very beneficial for people who're new or away from GW2 for some time if you make such tier list.

Enjoyed the tier list! Definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more stuff like this

Love the ranger intro

I can't wait for a tierlist of all elite specs, i'd love to hear your take on these new ones compared to the HoT and PoF ones. Other than that i would pretty much agree with this one, except i'd swich Vindicator and Catalyst :P. Keep it up!

I really agree with your thoughts on the mechanist. I have a nerve disorder but I love this game. I play a few hours every day and have since the launch of the game. I have very little progress compared to other long-time players because I have trouble controlling my hands. A way to control the game with a little less clicking would be game-changing for me.

I'd love to see tier lists of the previous expansions elite specs! It would be great to look back on the old specs and reminisce about how we felt when they were new and fresh, and how we expected them to be implemented and how they fell short!

At first I was super excited for the ele spec as it truly seemed like it was adding something new and cool. Sadly it plays so incredibly clunky and just doesn't really do anything over core ele (which in some cases even is arguably better!), especially if you're not using the hammer. I was super disappointed that my inital main, the Mesmer gets something somewhat "boring", but after seeing all the rest of the elite's I genuinely think it looks the most refined

I play games on a regular with couple of guys who are physically handicapped - one with cerebral palsy and one with the after effects of a serious stroke. They are very much RPG players at heart, but the selection of games is very narrow for them because of their limitations on the tasks they can execute. It has to be either extremely simple UI or turn-based/combat-pausing stuff and the latter obviously ain't an option in an MMO. The existence of specs like the minionmancer and now the mechanist makes me very happy, because I know there are people who are locked into that kind of playstyle due to physical limitations.

Would love to see a tierlist for HoT and PoF too. Given how much effort you put into videos like the GW2 vs FF14 review, I think it's only fair you're able to do something "lazy" like a tierlist and I'm never gonna complain about more WP content.

I know that it's personal preferences but for me Cataalyst is "F" tier :) I played virtuoso and that was fun (daggers range was amazing, nice shinyyy skills). I wouldn't put anyone lower then Catalyst. Thx for this raanking :) nice to see your early opinion on Specs.

Compared to EoD, PoF specs brought so much to the game it was insane. The design, traits and overall flavour was simply gorgeous. EoD so far feels underwhelming but this is only beta so it's only fair we wait.

S: Bladesworn, Mechanist, A: Specter B: Vindicator C: Untamed, Willbender D: Virtuoso, Catalyst, Harbinger I think aside from the top 3, this generation of elite specs just feel so unambitious. When I think elite specs, I think of them adding insanely cool new mechanics entirely. Stuff like scourge completely changing how you use Life Force. Or Soulbeast merging you with your pet and giving you your pet's bonuses instead. Or Chronomancer giving you the ability to reset your cooldowns. Or holosmith giving you a kit with an overheating meter you have to watch. Or Deadeye giving you a rifle and giving you a running mode and a stationary sniping mode to manage. Or firebrand having tomes with pages. Or druid giving you insane healing potential the likes of which we had never seen at that point. Too many elite specs are just crowbarring in permanent team quickness and alacrity because apparently everything needs permanent quickness and alacrity now, and too few are actually revolutionizing how you play the game. Catalyst doesn't feel like it truly adds anything new, it just adds a new AoE field but nothing about that AoE field is exciting. Tempest the overcharges are crazy cool all of them. Weaver gave us sword and the fusing of elements was something new and unique. It kind of goes to show that Catalyst didn't get a traditional payoff in terms of how underbaked it feels. Harbinger is lame because they could have gone really deep into the movie monster thing again and this time given us a sort of Jekyll and Hide elite spec for the necromancer. Rather than shroud you drink an elixer that is like a mini transformation like Rampage where you're still you but you're monstrous. Which would be a good way for them to justify a squishier but very fast necromancer. Then have the elixirs swap functionality based on whether you are in monster mode or not, if you aren't you drink them. If you are transformed you throw them as AOE on the ground for debilitating effects on enemies. Almost like Glyphs. The name is also there; the Mortician. I think that would have been incredibly cool. Harbinger shroud doesn't have a really strong unique theme over core shroud. Like reaper just gave you a different shroud but the theme itself as this grim reaper is SO cool and strong thematically. This is the first time a necro elite spec isn't full on S Tier in terms of cool factor. Virtuoso is especially disappointing as my main. I really wanted a cloneless mesmer, something that feels less like a hilariously gaudy magician, and more direct mental and sabotage orientated like GW1 mesmer. I think the blades thing is a good proof of concept that you can remove clones and have them be something else. But at the end of the day it doesn't feel different enough, if anything it just feels like it removed all the flavor of mesmer with no new flavor in return. Clones and blades are ultimately little more than ammo and it doesn't fundamentally change summon clones / blades > shatter. They could have done something where instead of shatters you hex people which marks them, sort of like Deadeye's Mark, and then every time you would have summoned a clone it instead makes the hex stronger and stronger. And then you aren't just thinking about skills that generate clones and how you need 3 for your shatter, you're looking at weapons and utilities and ways to make the most clones possible you could because there's theoretically no end to the benefit of them. Also it'd feel different since you'd open with the F skill and then start casting the skills that used to summon clones after that. That was my write up on the forums years ago called the Psychomancer. Functionality Virtuoso was just unviable in PvP. Dagger just doesn't have the tools to succeed as a ranged weapon. Like compare ranger longbow or deadeye rifle. Both of them have damage skills that are good at any range, they have ways to keep enemies away and they also have answers for when an enemy actually does get in range. Virtuoso dagger is just damage, damage, damage but you have absolutely zero tools outside of that and no offhand choice gets you to the level of well roundedness as ranger longbow or deadeye rifle. It was also hilarious seeing 5 blade bladesongs not even hit close to as hard as 1 clone core mesmer shatters, thanks CMC. Virtuoso also felt especially bad because it just didn't offer anything that already exists on mesmer that doesn't already exist. It could have been an opportunity to give mesmer lots of super speed, or revealed, or chilled (Think of a trait called Brain Freeze), or stability, or poison, or healing, or Fear. Aegis wasn't great because you don't want to be in a position as a squishy caster where people are even targeting you, like fresh air ele. And the quickness on dodge wasn't good because by the time you finish dodging that quickness you gained is half gone anyway. They took the most flavorful caster in the game and turned it into the single most vanilla spellcaster I have ever seen. Bladesworn and Mechanist are without a doubt the coolest elite specs this generation even ignoring any tuning aspect and on par with any of the previous generations best elite specs. Bladesworn does need some stuff worked out, like Dragon Trigger putting Weapon Swap on cooldown. The damage numbers are disappointing in PvP too but that feels far more fixable compared to the Catalyst or Virtuoso. Mechanist is so crazy strong that I think the thing could have held its own during Path of Fire release in PvP. Specter is also super super cool, but I didn't care for the shroud at all. I only used it for the broken AF Consume Shadows trait. I loved condi and support Specter, tho. And then there's the also-rans. Vindicator is okay. Not crazy about it but the Dragoon leap is cool AF. Though to be fair I'm not crazy about rev in general. Untamed should have different Unleashed beast skills based on the kind of pet you have. Giving every pet all new skills is probably asking too much, but I think following Soulbeast's pet classifications of Stout, Deadly, Ferocious, Versatile, and Supportive would be enough. Willbender is just ehhh. I don't really feel how this thing is unique from the power revs we've seen for like half a decade now.

love the idea of the video, I wish you will do more of these. Also maybe making a ranking compared to gw1 professions

I like the idea of future tier lists. The reason I enjoy it so much is I love your thoughts on the 360 view of each spec. I don’t really see utilizing the list for anything but more of a vessel to help guide your discussion when comparing the specs to its piers. Great video!

This is only with open world PVE in mind, I use all 9 classes regularly but ranger main. S Bladesworn, Mechanist, Vindicator A Untamed, Spectre B Virtuoso C Willbender D Harbringer, Catalyst F Bladesworn: Love the ammo synergies if you don't want to go all in on the dragon trigger burst, you don't have to. I was playing a sword/pistol shout build that felt super fun, and the gunblade was there like another new weapon with then the burst on top of that. It all felt really good. Mechanist: I never yearned for the golemancer archetype, but now that it's here I love it. Never liked power engi much but I'm having a blast ping ponging stuff around while golem goes ham, and the traits are super well done IMO. Reminds me of being a GW1 beastmaster Vindicator: GS felt like a mix of reaper and ranger GS, so it felt very good... Loved the dance between offense and defense. Mixed in shiro and sw/sw and I felt unstoppable in pve. Untamed: I LOVE the idea of a beastmaster focused spec. So I give them an A for the idea it's going for...execution at this moment of first beta is not on point. They need to get rid of the 10s cooldown from leashing/unleashing so that you can ACTUALLY go between CC/Defense into pay off for both you and pet. Also, I think the dmg/move speed grandmaster has a different internal CD than what it lists. It needs some tuning but give it some time and it will probably be my favorite ranger eSpec (my main) Spectre: absolutely love the shadow magic lean to it. I'm not a healer so I played it like a condi tank and it feels really good, it feels like there's a lot of aftercast they need to clean up but I think they're def. on the right track and if they put in some keybinds/UI improvements for healers they'll like it too. Virtuoso: Gets a B for the shift away from clones. Drops to B because the rest of the kit and traits feel pretty uninspired for an eSpec. Willbender: Not a fan of the f1 f2 f3 effects, they feel awkward to play around. a claw in the ground? Not a fan of only getting an offhand sword, and it felt very undertuned atm. AM a fan of the physical utility skills. Harbinger: yea it's good right now, but I think they completely dropped the design ball on an elixir using necromancer. Necro is one of my fav classes and I will probably not use this spec at all. What is the point of blight besides a balancing measure? Catalyst: I love the idea of it, love the idea of one of it's traitlines that lends itself to celestial gear (as I run core cele ele scepter/dagger) but overall...bleh. I think if they gave it weapon swap as an eSpec advantage it would solve a lot of hammer and overall issues with it.

I'm so glad that there are still people that don't like the complexity this game's started to have, and just want a casual build which doesn't require you to be a pianist or to have 0 ping or 0 input lag, I'm just sick and tired of it, I just wanna play a more chill game lol

Thank you for voicing that Virtuoso doesn't really have a unique theme compared to core Mesmer. They had a chance to give Virtuoso a musical theme, or a circus blade thrower theme, or a blade dancer theme with ribbons/folding fans/bells... and they didn't take it

I've always felt that the new specializations should synergize with existing trait lines in some way. I didn't feel that any of these new specializations did that : they felt incomplete. Instead I got the impressions they were trying to see if the dual class system of Guild Wars 1 would work with Guild Wars 2 systems, realized it was impossible and went with the next best thing which was blending abilities in to new and surprising combinations. The lack of synergy really makes these new traits sort of float on their own in a way that separates them from the class they're apart of and I think that is something they should look in to. Guild Wars 2 runs like porridge through a coffee filter for me due to bottle neck issues with my pc but I would never want the game AI to be playing for me; I understand your sentiment though - particularly for people with physical limitations. I think pet classes like Necromancer, Ranger and now Mechanist could really do with some tweaking not to the power of the pets or the AI but to the controls so people who rely on their pets due to real life limitations don't have to feel like they aren't using any of their own skills.

For myself, bladesworn was pretty much the only spec that seemed to have solid interactions with other class mechanics. The burst traits were thought out, all the ammo interactions, etc. Once it gets a couple fixes (weapon swap cd) I think it'll be a lot of fun to play! I'm also having a lot of fun with spectre atm, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with thief, so I'm not sure how much that means lol Edit: MORE LISTS! 😀

Staring at the icons for 20 minutes made me realise how much i like them. Probably the best set of icons.

Hey WP! Could you perhaps redo your open world build series after EoD comes out since I'm assuming there will be alot of new options? I'm not very good at the game but those builds helped me understand each class alot better and made it more fun to play on my alts!

This was most excellent and gave me a good overview of how the new specs played out. I would love it if you did additional tier lists for the other expansions’ elite specs. Actually a tier list of core professions would be great too!

I liked the idea of doing a tier list for every expansion.

You done the Specter a bit dirty here. I tested it soloing bandit bounties for a bit and it did just fine. It was not as quick as Mirage or Harbinger, but it worked pretty well in the killing big baddies department.

I really liked the idea of a tier list, and would love to see you continue.

I love playing Ranger so I was excited for the Untamed, I think it has some really interesting moves and had loads of fun teleporting around with the pet, and the hammer was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be 👀 (I use bow 90% so I'm not used to short range) but I do agree it doesn't feel like it really utalised the pet like they said and it needs more tweaking done too it- least this is only the beta with it so far

"It makes me hard to assess it" (11:27) That's ok WP, it's your passion for this franchise that we appreciate you for 😉

Love these!

I feel like elixers for necro could be really cool with them on your belt with colors for each skill and then when you use one it goes away or something. I wish they did more augmenting on top of the boons, like some of the reaper shouts so it really feels like solo usable but also shareable.

This was a pretty good and fun video. I'd love seeing more like it. :)

I wholeheartetly agree with the mechanists asscesment. There are other builds that make it really easy to get going but all of these build require researching outside the game and they might not be intuitive. With the Mech anyone can just unlocked it and has a good kit to start of with. And the modular design of the golem is like a miniature version of a whole build that can make people curious into buildcraft. I love it !

I really appreciate your content WP.

Interesting, when I played the beta I actually had alot of fun with the Virtuoso and a really bad time with the Bladesworn. I really couldnt get into the rhythm with the bladesworn but the virtuoso just worked out of the box for me. And as a longtime engi main Im sad to say that a pet class is basically the one thing I was hoping it wouldnt be :P. I was somehow hoping for like a mech suit or or exoskeleton or something like that^^

But it is very cool to read "Level 80 -- Norn Untamed" in the character select screen.

Keep doing these tierlists! :D

I really enjoyed this and would love to see it for the other specs and all aspects of GW2. Expansion map tier list melee please!

What was the broken trait for the Untamed class? Is it in the current beta?

I'd like to echo the sentiment of wanting to see more tier lists, it's just such an enjoyable format for me. Another thing I'd love to see are community polls to compare and contrast where your viewers rank these specs!

In 4 years playing i never had a lv 80 mesmer and i loved the Virtuoso gameplay.

S - Harbinger, Mechanist A - Specter, Willbender B - Bladesworn, Vindicator C - Catalyst, Untamed D - Virtuoso

Guild Wars 2 Professions are sandboxes and the elite specializations just add more toys to the sandbox. You can create new gameplay experiences just by having a good enough imagination. The Untamed (Ranger Elite Specialization) gave players control over their pets actions, (F1, F2, F3), so I tried different pets out and found that the Moa has a healing skill. Combined with a Beast Mastery trait that allows Pet's beast skill to heal, and Rangers own healing skill, I could heal my Untamed Ranger for about 16k (8k direct healing from Moa + 8K Heal over time from Heal skill "Troll Unguent"), without healing power gear. The full control over the pet creates more build opportunities depending on the pet you choose, no hammer or unleashed skills required. This goes for the other elite specs, at first glance they may seem unimpressive but when combined with other specializations, gear or weapons they can begin to shine. Another example would be creating a Specter (Thief Elite Specialization) Condi build using Scepter, Venoms, and condi damage gear.

In 3 months they'll all be awesome, 3 months it's more than enough to redesign them.

This was a fun video, I would enjoy the other 3 you proposed.

Really looking forward the Mechanist =) really resonated with me!

What's the broken trait on untamed?

The fantasy Virtuoso is filling: No clones, sharp magic knives. It wasn't well implemented in the beta since so many core mesmer traits just didn't work. Presumably that will be fixed before the final beta, along with the other weird clunky bits in the first betas

Thanks for the video ^^ I liked your ranking and globally agree with you ! I'd love to see your take on the specs from the previous expacs but also how your take will change after the 4th beta ! Go on with those ones expecially if they are so much fun for you to make ;) Take care !

I like these. Thank you.

WP definitely do one like this for each xpac... I would very much be interested in seeing how you rank the other elite specs; I think it would actually get me to get out of my comfort zone and try some new classes.

I'm a thief main and I was kinda excited because I love all the previous specs but this new one lacks impact. On paper it should be doing the most Condi Damage of either specs but it felt like I did no damage and I didn't understand the point of shadow shroud as it seemed like my damage dropped even more when switching to it

As someone who exclusively seeks out low intensity builds and eases into higher intensity until I find my middle ground, Mechanist is my favorite spec coming to EoD and I'm glad I can have a cool looking robot companion as well.

Even leaving out efficacy, I can't put Vindicator any higher than C with current design. Greatsword feels good, but everything else about the spec is super clunky and frustrating to use.

Great idea WP on the doing tier lists! I'd love to see how the elite specs stack up from the expansions! Now about the tier list for EOD...I know it's preference but I cannot agree with the rating for Virtuoso. Although I think some tweaks need to happen for the traits and cool downs, I had fun with the spec. Yes, the clones are gone and are a huge part of the mesmer class. However, it would be cool to amp up the skills with different weapons, not just dagger "clones". As for Catalyst, I hate to admit it since I main Ele, you are totally on point with the ranking. This spec was disappointing for me, primarily because of the jade sphere mechanic. Takes way too long to charge and lasts way too short. I can't get any benefit from the elemental fields since they don't last long and are completely stationary. I think the creature animations are great, but why can't they move with me? For me, Catalyst needs to most rework. (Longbow ele would've made more sense...). As for my top pick, it has to go to Mechanist. It was soooo much fun to play. The mace was meh, but the star here is the mech itself and the playstyle.

Enjoyed the video

This is pretty close to my own ranking, although being a guardian main I placed the willbender spec lower since DH and FB are soo amazing and distinct

You ARE Guild Wars 2. Thank you for all your work.

The untamed just felt like a normal ranger too me and the power up was to restricted to hammer.

Yes please do a tier list! All of them. Would be great to see some thought out behind the best pvx (all rounder) I mean class not specs. Pvp and wvw can be spec but really any mix up tier list are fun to watch.

Tbh Specter tingles me the most, some madman pulled a healing thief off and i think its amasingly done, really looking forward to play this:)

Glad it was fun video for you it was fun video for me!!

I'm excited, my favorite and current main is thief, my original was Engi, and my original main when I returned was Revenant. I'm excited to check out the mediums' elite specs this week, and the Revenant's @ release.

What if they changed Catalyst so that hammer was a 1200 ranged caster weapon? And what if the prof mech changed to suit that?

I always enjoy the videos but it's funny how opposite our tastes are in the classes....Virtuoso absolutely nailed it for me, it's been YEARS since I stopped for the night, went to bed, then was ready to go play the next morning thinking of it and just unlocking the spec and playing it did that for me. The mechanics are fun, the overall style is different, and the flow of everything is so different it really is its' own thing.

Would love a BIG tierlist with all elite specs in the game PLUS the core specs! That would be an awesome video. Not just power but gameplay/fantasy feel etc.

I would really love to see more lists on the other specs, although I'm kind of afraid that a big mix of all 27 of them would prove unfair to some of the specs. Especially the Heart of Thorns specs suffer the most from being the first batch, since they are visibly more conservative and not as transformative compared to newer ones. Then again, they also had the most time to be reworked, so maybe that is a point in their favor.

I enjoyed the Tier Lists. I pretty much agreed on everything, but i feel like i have to defend my poor Virtuoso. I ended up trying Viper's Virtuoso and that felt the most fun to me (though the block build was fun too). The self stacking blades - to me felt closer to what i considered the fantasy: A psionic bladesinger. The fantasy does seem a little too spread out but i like the idea of a bard/ bladesinger that conjures up psychic blades as part of their songs. I just wish there was more of an idea of the song/ bard aspect. The F4 felt a little closer to that and so did the utility: Blade Renewal - where they were channels that did stuff over time. Also Catalyst would have been D for me. Love the idea - hate how it was executed.

Really liked your speech on the Mechanist and the value of low intensity playstyles. ^-^

I would like to know WoodenPotatos opinion if this chance would be good or bad and how it would effect on Untamed? Chance Core Ranger to have F1 Attack, F2 to F4 pet's abilities and F5 Pet Swap. Elite Specializations would now replace the Pet Swap with new F5 ability. Or in other words They lose ability to swap pets but they do gain something else in return. Druid would gain staff and Celestial Avatar that allows Druid to heal. Losing a pet would be minor as the pet has no effect on healing as I understand it. The whole Druid is mostly been around Spirits, Staff and Celestial Avatar generating 25 might. Soulbeast would gain Beastmode that allows you to merge with pet. Even if pet dies you can still merge with the pet, so the "pets death" is not that huge of setback. You could chance that when you stop Beastmode you would review dead pet instantly adding the "second life" to the soulbeast. Unleashed would be the only thing suffering from this (everyone would lose pet command keybind F3 "return") We could easily offset by stating that Pet deals 15% more dmg when unleased but would take 15% less dmg when you are unleased. This would give the pet more survivability while losing the "second life" via pet swap. Now you could also power greep the weapons by (thanks to @KROOF's idea) giving all weapons 5 ability that becomes Unleased which chances how it works. Do you think this kind of chance would be good or bad for Ranger? This would make the Core Ranger feel more unique and make the Elite Specialization feel even more special as you replace the pet swap with something new. Or do you think this would be stupid? I would love to everyone's opinion on this idea :D Maybe we can generate enough buzz to get GW2 devs take part on this topic ... No, I'm not going to make Reddit post :^) just steal this idea and run with it.

Wouldn't mind more tier-lists. Thanks for the video. :)

Spot on about that virtuoso reimagining!

Tbh I do like that you emphasize the importance of accessibility wrt the mechanist. I have some disappointments with the spec as it looks rn in terms of limited utility because of all you lose with the tool belt slots but I do agree that having a really strong pet and a low intensity overall spec is good and important. One of the things I like most about the GW2 community is that it does take the time to promote things like LI builds and having like a cool flashy new spec that's really made that way from the ground up, without having to go look up a whole particular build on metabattle or something. Ty for continually mentioning the importance of accessibility!

Would be neat to see your tier list of all the elite specs once EoD actually releases and you've played them all in their more 'final' form.

I love playing hybrid Firebrand and I wonder if Mechanist would be a good fit.

Tier lists for HoT and PoF and combined tier list of all specs NEEDS to happen

I also enthusiastically vote for a tier list on HoT and PoF ! And then a great finale of all three expacs would be icing on the cake. Maybe that one later next year when we had time discovering the EoD's.

Love to see other tier lists see where my chronomancer and druid rank now

My mum already plays GW2, but she is for sure a skill clicker (and having tons of fun!) and I get your point about the Mechanist. I think it is a good idea, too.

Dropping an absolutely massive deuce right now

Wow, it's the very first YT tier list, that I actually 100% agree with. I would arrange them exactly the same.

Do a tierlist!! :D For all of them!

Yeah the bladesworn really sold it for me, since the flow and visuals of the elite spec just hit all the right buttons. Irregardless of how good or bad it may be at release, I can see myself enjoying it for quite some time.

I really enjoyed it! I’d like to see you do it for HoT and PoF elite specs. As for my tier list: F tier: Catalyst - honestly I think that’s really lenient, this is the worst spec in the game and I’d like Anet to scrap it completely. Hammer is the only somewhat ok thing about it but everything else is Z-tier. E tier: None D tier: None C tier: Untamed - I think it just doesn’t feel very fun atm Harbinger - The idea is good but it just needs a lot of tuning. Elixirs are super lazy. B tier: Virtuoso - the concept is really cool I think but it needs a fair bit of tuning and there’s that weird mix of different themes Willbender - again, the idea is good but it just doesn’t feel that good to play atm Vindicator - I love the idea but the new mechanic feels rather clunky to use and I don’t know if Anet will be able to make it feel any better A tier: Specter - it’s not perfect by any stretch but the idea is quite original and the spec feels like a breath of fresh air. Mechanist - really solid spec even though I don’t think I’ll play it because I don’t like to rely on the golem so much S tier: Bladesworn - I don’t even play warrior but that spec felt great to me, the idea is amazing and really original

Hey bruh, cool video. Would you consider making a story recap of what's the state of lore before EoD? I for sure could use one. Cheers ;)

have they done any balancing lately?

I would love to see more like this.

Yes PLEASE DO A TIER LIST for ALL specs available! :)

Specter is currently not fully functional, especially with scepter 3. Especially for Action Camera users, it's completely broken.

I wonder if these particular specs are the first cracks in the "elite specialization" model. It makes me wonder about crunch and planning for the devs. They all but said they dropped everything to work on this expack and I... I don't know what to feel here.

Gonna have to disgaree spectre a strong s for me but thats cause i just got into playing support in wvw and pvp and this was exactly what i wanted

I love these list rankings. I'd watch them for professions, minigame, other elite specs and what about living world chapters/patches?

I think it'd be fun to see your tier lists for the other elite specs and then sort of a competition between them all. Since I view tier lists as personal opinion anyways its fun hearing people explaining their reasoning behind their choices or reasoning things out since it offers another perspective. I'll admit I haven't played much of the betas as it seemed like the prior weeks ended up busy for one reason or another. Second one especially between the trendmicro firewall issue and then having a wedding to attend to. I wanted to see catalyst without the insane cooldown/recharge rates, but I'll just accept people's general disappointments for now since I was already leery of them having buffed abilities while in the field. The concept seemed really cool and I liked the creatures created in the circles. For this beta I made a ranger and engineer so far. I haven't taken the ranger for a spin yet as I wanted to at least read the weapon and utility skills alongside the trait lines. Unleashed feels a little wonky to me in that it feels like you want to focus on pets and utility skills that promote CCing opponents since if you're unleashed with a hammer then the skills gain bonuses for hitting them from what I recall. It feels a little counterintuitive though when, if you're unleashed you gain CC and it seems like the pet does as well. If the pet gained those skills when you're in powered up hammer mode that would be some nice synergy, but instead you'll have to cross check your pet's regular skills. I think it's really neat though that we can finally control those because I do like pets that bring some hard CC, but it makes it hard to count on it entirely for breakbars so I only somewhat count them in that regard. I do really like the idea of enhancing the pet and building upon it since we've seen a spec with the removal of it/boosting self with them (and I did like getting to use their skills personally as well as a unique skill). However since Soulbeast did give us that added customization of a unique skill per type of pet I would've liked to see something like that as well. I also need to take a second look at the pet in an unleashed vs leashed state because the heal isn't my favorite in that you zap health from the pet - definitely not something I'd use on a lower vitality pet and in fact I prefer when my heal can help keep a pet alive longer in case a foe is chunking them faster than the swap can come off cooldown. Engi though. I had only a vague idea of what I was doing, but after giving myself a dragon jade mace and a priory shield, painting them in some gadgeteer outfit in gold and green to match my robot I was off. Only a vague idea of what I was doing, but it was fun. I had to reread some of the traits, but I'm impressed that it seemed like each set wasn't just about the action the robot friend had, but also some other abilities. The first seemed to change it's primary playstyle in general as well as range, the second set seemed focused on stat enhancements, and the third I don't fully remember beyond it adding some neat extra abilities (like playing off the explosive line or adding orbital strikes when stashed, sorry middle trait). As a theme too I really like it and it almost feels like engineer's seen some neat growth from immobile turrets to whirling gizmos to now a whole robot. In some ways its similar to FF14's machinist since they get a robot at 80, but I can't hold it against gw2 engi either because it feels like an eventuality for any mechanically based job in a game and I think they managed a really neat design - PLUS ITS CUSTOMIZABLE. That alone is super cool to me. Mace also felt really fun to me, but I like having a gap closer with a reasonable cooldown on it. I just need to build some stability into it and I think I could see myself running around on it quite a bit. As a whole though it's been kind of fun spawning into LA after making a character and seeing people test skills out - nothing like being healed while I'm reading over utilities or traits XD

For me it is like Anet fired all the talented people when they got rid of workers there. These elite specs, what they bring compared to the older ones, and the rehash of skills feels amateur level. Only one I kinda liked is the Mechanist, the rest feels like a shuffle of other profession skills..😪

In a world where pistol/pistol Deadeye exists, Mechanist is fine.