Guild wars has been a game on maintenance mode for the past five years. With the september 2012 update and the release of GW2, ArenaNet pulled the proverbial plug from the update team, and all upcoming balance updates were put on indefinite hold. This is sad since the game's balance is far from finished, with professions like the necromancer barely seeing the light of day aside from using ritualist healing skills fueled by their soul reaping primary attribute, or the paragon who is all-but-obsolete thanks to Soul Twisting ritualist abundance and the ease with which dagger spammers can spam save yourselves, or how mediocre the warrior is compared to the assassin and the dervish. Or any damage casters compared to mesmers.
In these five years, the most effective tactics (Mesmer damage, Dagger spam, ST rit, N/Rt healers) have been discovered, and nowadays not only there are very few builds in the "meta", but even the different ones look the same: Aside from 1-2 optional skills, there is exactly one Illusion magic bar, one domination magic bar, one dagger spam bar, one ST, SoS, or SoGM bar, etc. I think it goes without saying that this leads to a very same-y gameplay, and one that isn't much fun in a game that's got hundreds of skills for a reason. Furthermore, most tactics involve exploiting the AI in some fashion, or exploiting game balance loopholes that were left in with the unfinished state of the game. Be it through the way AI doesn't react to Mistrust and Panic, or how they attack themselves to death with Ineptitude, or how dagger spam carries enough +damage effects from other buffs AND generates so much adrenaline that makes it superior to every other martial weapon, or even every other dagger skill combo.
In light of this, I propose the variant known as the Honorable Code.
There is one rule: Don't exploit the game.
To clarify:
Don't exploit the skill imbalances.
Don't exploit the AI with your build.
There. Now that the game breaking stuff is off the platter, you'll find that you have a LOT more options in tackling the game's challenges.
List of exploits, or forbidden tactics:
-Dagger spam: Using Jagged Strike, Fox Fangs, Wild Strike, and Death Blossom in your build. You can have only ONE of these. Two or more (ex: Jagged-Fox, Jagged-DB, Fox-DB) are exploitative and are forbidden.
-Mesmer Power: The following mesmer skills are banned from the Honorable Code: Energy Surge, Mistrust, Panic, Visions of Regret, Empathy, Wandering Eye, and Ineptitude.
-PvE skills: Your bar may not include any PvE only skills. Exceptions may be made for certain classes (E.g. Warriors may be allowed to use Whirlwind attack OR I am Unstoppable, while Necromancers can make good use of Necrosis.) to allow ONE pve skill from a limited set for that class.
-SoS, SoGM, Soul Twisting: these skills are expressly forbidden from the Honorable Code.
-Hundred Blades and Vow of Strength are forbidden in any teams that use Mark of Pain or Barbs.
-Splinter Weapon is expressly forbidden above Channeling Magic of 9 or higher, after rune bonuses have been applied.
-Vow of Silence, Shadow Form and Spell Breaker are dishonorable, and as such forbidden.
Other restrictions:
-Elementalists with Ether Renewal may not include any other enchantments on their skill bar.
In these five years, the most effective tactics (Mesmer damage, Dagger spam, ST rit, N/Rt healers) have been discovered, and nowadays not only there are very few builds in the "meta", but even the different ones look the same: Aside from 1-2 optional skills, there is exactly one Illusion magic bar, one domination magic bar, one dagger spam bar, one ST, SoS, or SoGM bar, etc. I think it goes without saying that this leads to a very same-y gameplay, and one that isn't much fun in a game that's got hundreds of skills for a reason. Furthermore, most tactics involve exploiting the AI in some fashion, or exploiting game balance loopholes that were left in with the unfinished state of the game. Be it through the way AI doesn't react to Mistrust and Panic, or how they attack themselves to death with Ineptitude, or how dagger spam carries enough +damage effects from other buffs AND generates so much adrenaline that makes it superior to every other martial weapon, or even every other dagger skill combo.
In light of this, I propose the variant known as the Honorable Code.
There is one rule: Don't exploit the game.
To clarify:
Don't exploit the skill imbalances.
Don't exploit the AI with your build.
There. Now that the game breaking stuff is off the platter, you'll find that you have a LOT more options in tackling the game's challenges.
List of exploits, or forbidden tactics:
-Dagger spam: Using Jagged Strike, Fox Fangs, Wild Strike, and Death Blossom in your build. You can have only ONE of these. Two or more (ex: Jagged-Fox, Jagged-DB, Fox-DB) are exploitative and are forbidden.
-Mesmer Power: The following mesmer skills are banned from the Honorable Code: Energy Surge, Mistrust, Panic, Visions of Regret, Empathy, Wandering Eye, and Ineptitude.
-PvE skills: Your bar may not include any PvE only skills. Exceptions may be made for certain classes (E.g. Warriors may be allowed to use Whirlwind attack OR I am Unstoppable, while Necromancers can make good use of Necrosis.) to allow ONE pve skill from a limited set for that class.
-SoS, SoGM, Soul Twisting: these skills are expressly forbidden from the Honorable Code.
-Hundred Blades and Vow of Strength are forbidden in any teams that use Mark of Pain or Barbs.
-Splinter Weapon is expressly forbidden above Channeling Magic of 9 or higher, after rune bonuses have been applied.
-Vow of Silence, Shadow Form and Spell Breaker are dishonorable, and as such forbidden.
Other restrictions:
-Elementalists with Ether Renewal may not include any other enchantments on their skill bar.