I was thinking about how in this game there are no hexes and no (direct) interrupts. So the only things that affect the flow of the battle are:
- Damage output
- Crowd Control
- Conditions
- Boons (=buffs)
And of course stats/attributes/traits etc, but let's leave that out for now. With crowd control I don't mean snares because to me that's just a condition. For CC I mean stuff like lines that you can't cross because of Guardian's skills, knockdowns, stun etc.
Let's take a look at the conditions currently in the game:
Conditions were fairly important in GW1, in that in PvP a general purpose build always had some form of condition removal.Bleed: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
Poison: Inflicts X damage per second. Reduces outgoing heals by 33%. (Stacks duration now.)
Burning: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks duration now.)
Cripple: 50% movement-speed reduction.
Chill: 66% movement-speed reduction. 66% skill cooldown increase.
Immobilize: 100% movement-speed reduction.
Weakness: Attacks result in a glancing blow 50% of the time and endurance regeneration is slowed.
Vulnerable: Lowered the amount of armor it reduces, but allowed it to stack so that it creates moments of super-high vulnerability for damage spiking.
Blind: Your next hit misses.
Fear: You flee from your opponent.
Confusion: Inflicts X damage each time a foe attacks. (New condition; stacks intensity.)
If you look at GW2 professions, and look at how many condition removal skills they have (using current, probably incomplete, wiki information):
Guardian: 10 skills
Ele: 7 skills
Necro: 6 skills
Engineer: 5 skills
Ranger: 3 skills
Mesmer: 2 skills
Warrior: 2 skills
Thief: 0 skills
I think the numbers kinda speak for themselves. Some professions are better at it than others. I think this gives some professions a slight advantage, because almost all professions are excellent at applying conditions. And (knowing Arenanet a bit) in PvE the harder mobs will probably dish out a fair amount of conditions too.
Of course, this includes maybe some downed skills and I didn't look at possible traits that may perhaps remove conditions automatically. Also, it's possible that conditions aren't as bad as in GW1. For example, blind seems seriously nerfed here (makes you miss only the next attack instead of a set duration, still useful if it's AoE). But a 66% movement snare still looks pretty nasty if you have no way of removing it (in case of the thief). Same for DoTs.
Am I missing something with regards to the thief? Does stealth perhaps remove conditions? The thief may have more mobility but that doesn't help much if you have 3 stacked conditions on you, right?
Guess I'll have to play one to see how it goes...