rampant "god mode" speculation

[foolio]

okay, we all know that the dervish will have a "physical embodiment of a god" skill/form. we all more or less are certain that it wont be invincible mode.

but what do you think it will be?

fo my part, i'd love to see the transformation as an elite skill based on your secondary profession. making them particularly powerful, but only being recharged after killing a boss (much like celestial skills).
i was thinking along the lines of a dervish/war would have a skill like; form of balthazar - for 10-30 seconds, you gain +50 armour, attack 33% faster, and deal critcal hits and conditions with every attack.

or a derv/nec would have form of grenth - for 10-30 seconds, you gain +5 health regen and all enemies in the area suffer from -2 health degen. if an enemy dies while you are in form of grenth, a random minion is automatically raised from their corpse.

obviously that wont be what we get, but why not have some fun speculating until we know?

[Princess eirika]

I think the forms might be avaiable in their own set. Like a lyssa from, balth, new gods maybe, etc.

It would be intresting if they had skills that could only be used in god form, or modified when in one. Like a simple attack skill that does normal damage, but when in god from, does a ramdom condition or something.

Just a thought, still very curious.

[BrotheRofKhaoS]

very interesting....im not as interested in the god mode as i am what anet would make to off balance it - bringing transformations into the game for PvP style would have to wield skills to combat this god mode - will there be weapons and/or armor to better combat such a skill? or even skills themselves like hexes that become even more effective againest a god??? Im very interested to see how it will balance out and work both in PvE and PvP

[Azgalon]

When you transform into a God, your skillbar is replaced with the Dragon-Arena skills for 30 seconds. :D

[Kattox]

I reckon there will be 5 elite skills, 1 for each god, (we don't do demi-gods in my world,) and each of them will make you do increased damage in a certain form like

Aura Of Balthazar (e): 15e, 2sec, 45

For 5...12...15 seconds you are transformed into an avatar of Balthazar.
You gain +3...6...8 health regeneration and your attacks strike for +12...24...30 fire damage.

Aura of Dwayna (e): 15e, 2sec, 45

For 5...12...15 seconds you are transformed into an avatar of Dwayna.
You, and all allies within earshot gain +3...6...8 health regeneration and your attacks strike for holy damage.

Nothing to IMBA I think but something that is unique for each of the gods.

[Leese Blacks]

When you transform into a God, your skillbar is replaced with the Dragon-Arena skills for 30 seconds. :DThats actually an interesting idea. Maybe when you become a god the skill used to become the god is replaced with another one. So you spend say 20 energy/3 sec cast to activate god mode and then temporarily get access to a powerful (overpowered?) skill that can't normally be put on your skillbar.

That, or it could provive buffs to attributes, in the same manner as Awaken The Blood.

[Santax]

5 elites for each god, I think. They temporarily turn you into Avatar of Dwayna, Champion of Balthazar, Melandru's Watcher, Lyssa's Muse and Voice of Grenth. Their skill bars would be temporarily replaced by the Blessings available from Canthan statues, so for example if you were Melandru's Watcher you'd be able to use Strength of the Oak, Favor of the Gods, Ranger of Melandru etc. on your allies.

[Kattox]

I've got skills for the other 3 gods:

Aura Of Lyssa (e): 15e, 2sec, 45

For 5...12...15 seconds you are transformed into an avatar of Lyssa.
You have a 75% chance to evade attacks. Any attacks on you cause the attacker to suffer from dazed for 1...4...6 seconds and take 8...20...30 chaos damage.

Aura Of Grenth (e): 15e, 2sec, 45

For 5...12...15 seconds you are transformed into an avatar of Grenth.
For every creature in the area that dies you steal 15...45...55 health from all nearby enemies. Also, any enemies nearby that die a level 1...14...18 masterless bone horror is summoned.

Aura Of Melandru (e): 15e, 2sec, 45

For 5...12...15 seconds you are transformed into an avatar of Melandru.
Your attacks deal 5...12...15 more earth damage. Also your attacks cause crippling, bleeding and weakness for 1...5...7 seconds

[DarkSpirit]

Not sure if it is a skill or skills but perhaps its unique attribute line. Pumping more points into it would increase the chance of god mode while attacking or make god mode last longer?

If it is a Dervish skill, then any char with a Dervish secondary would be able to achieve god mode. I think this is a Dervish unique ability, so it should be based on their unique attribute.

My speculation of god mode? I think it is effectively similar to the "Mark of Protection" monk elite skill.

"For 10 seconds, whenever target ally would take damage, that ally is healed for that amount instead, maximum 6-49."

[Avatus Culire]

Aura of the Noob (e) 20e, 5 sec, 60 sec

For 5.....20 seconds you can spam any chat, and anyone who tells you to 'STFU!1!!!11!' gets all your ectos and shards.

[Kyshen]

I seriously hope they don't turn us into the statue avatars.. they can do better than that surely? I want some major Floor cracking Horn sproating aura radiating beast of a form..

I'm wondering if perhaps Menzies will get a mention in this game (balth's brother God of destruction)..

but for the skill itself.. I reckon it would a large AOE effect like slower casting on enemies or health degen will be coupled with a stat boost on the Deities attributes.

Question: will it be possible to keep it up indefinately? perhaps if having the essence of a god inside you is slightly.. trying on our mortal frames, then we'll suffer health or energy degen, and the skill will clock out when it reaches 0?

[richo]

and the should not make these skills available to the other classes except dervish else it could get overpowerd:shocked:

i got a other idea for balth aura

instead of health reg you get 33% faster attack speed

[treelong]

when you have like 18 seconds of godmode whith 16 atribute lvls in that atribute you could use a +20% enchanment duration if it where an enchanmentwhat it would be thenou would have 22 seconds of that skill then if you are mesmer second you use arcane echo saying that the auras are elites you could like almost cast it non stop which will meen youll be like invinci

[Rook0792]

when you have like 18 seconds of godmode whith 16 atribute lvls in that atribute you could use a +20% enchanment duration if it where an enchanmentwhat it would be thenou would have 22 seconds of that skill then if you are mesmer second you use arcane echo saying that the auras are elites you could like almost cast it non stop which will meen youll be like invinci

Until someone casts shatter enchants/drain enchantment/inspired enchantment/strip enchantment/rend enchantment/gaze of contempt etc etc etc. and then you're useless again.

[Leese Blacks]

If they make "god mode" a skill you won't be able to Arcane Echo it.
If they make it an elite you won't be able to Echo it.

(well you could if you brought Arcane Mimicry and a friend had Echo. But that might be more bother than it's worth.)

And I think it's quite likely that God Modes will be tied to the Dervish's Primary Attribute. Chances are X/D's won't get much use out of them.

[Lightow]

If there are such skills like the one's mentioned in the first few posts, where's the balance? They're going to prob. have to be 25 nrg skills and/or have some other drawback like long recharge times.

[Bobross]

how about making it work almost exactly like the ashes skills in the ritualist lines, give you some kind of temporary bonus, that's not ridiculously overpowered, or if it requires an enchantment, making it slightly more powerful.

[critical vengeance]

we can all dream it's like the sneak peak thing video lol :)

I'm just excited to see what it will be like personally.

[Erasculio]

I don't really expect to see any big new effect. Remember that it's likely going to be something akin to a stance, so I would expect more or less the same as seen on some of the Ranger and Mesmer stances, with a few changes.

At most, I think it will give you the bonuses given by the gods (to you, not to your party):

Lyssa: +10 energy and hexes end 20% sooner

Grenth: your attacks steal 3 health and conditions end 20% sooner

Melandru: +50 maximum health and extra armor against elemental damage

And so on...I don't expect more than that.

Erasculio

[DarkSpirit]

I doubt it would be an offensive skill but a defensive one. We know that the Dervish is suppose to be in the middle of a battle so he/she should have tanking capability. Probably comparable to a warrior's tanking ability since they both are suppose to be in the middle of a battle.

But if you look at his robes, I doubt it has AL like the warrior's armor. This means it should have some other form of survival skill to compensate for the lack of armor, so that Dervish can do their whirling dances within a mob.

Looking at existing defenses in GW, it can be monk-like skill for protection/hp regen, stances for AL or blocking or evasion. Dervish probably have skills like these in his/her profession.

Since he/she is a holy warrior, I would guess it is a monk-like unique attribute (since having it on a W/D might make the char overpowered), to protect him as he dances through the mob.

[hjrrockies]

My idea for God skills is that there is an elite verson "Greater x of x" and a non elite version "Lesser x of x" The Greater version would be overall more powerful, and maybe have an extra effect. The Lesser version would have worse stats overall. This would allow for lower levels to have acess to the "special" part of the Dervish, without having to wait until you are in elite capping territory.

[soulstryke]

It just seems to me that the "god mode" may be like some other games' shaman or druid, where their form changes and buffs for melee or ranged attacks looking like some sort of animal...

[soulstryke]

Will these be the traditional Guild Wars gods; the characters hailing from Elona and such? I also wonder if they will go with the avatars that show up when you /kneel at altars.

[soulstryke]

I seriously hope they don't turn us into the statue avatars..

Aww see now I thought that would be the case but as I've thought about it more and more; I think we'd have to have something different than the statue ones for character animations, etc.

I'm sooo looking forward to this PvP weekend, especially for the Dervish, and here's why. Each character class has had subsets of skills - for example, eles can specialize in air/water/fire/earth; necros can curse/hex/raise dead/hurt themselves in that sick and twisted damage dealing weird way, warriors can use swords or hammers, rangers bows/pets/spirits you get the picture...

If these two are not just amalgamations of the core classes; as the specializations for Assassin and Ritualist seem to be; then your Paragon may specialize in buffing/supporting ranged or melee depending on skill sets... and your Dervish will have different attack effects and defensive methods depending on the god/dess or gods/esses they chose to represent - or perhaps like old school D&D they suffer bonuses and penalties depending on their choices... I'm just pretty excited even though I won't be getting any sleep because I'm going to be playing in between doing things with my family and going out of town Saturday... *L*

[Lightow]

Re-adjusting my thoughts here... Dervish is going to simply be our "Paladin" even tho Paragons look more like a paragon than Dervishes do. I would expect D/Mo > W/Mo whne Nightfall hits.

[Leese Blacks]

I think as far as appearances go, they'll probably change the armour for the duration of the skill, similar to how your weapon changes when you're under a weapon spell.

[STARSBarry]

hopefully itl be something Devil May Cry style.... only not as stylish :P

[ryivan]

I believe you will become powerful, but at a cost, i think an elite skill is the way to go, regardless of second profession, it should serve as a buff to both health, energy, armour and damage, but somthing like no skills can be used. This means you would rely on the extra damage done purely by your schythe, seems fair.

[Georgie]

An attribute line named "Auspices" or something similar. In effect, enchantment spells similar in name and effect to the Ritualist item spells. "Gods" might not be taken literally in this case, as the names of the skills may refer to champions, heroes, and other entities of considerable powers as well as the gods themselves. Examples of things I sort of expect at this point:

Mursaat's Cruelty (Elite Enchantment Spell) - For X seconds, your attacks cause health degeneration of 3 and inflict a deep wound for X seconds. (The duration for the degeneration and deep wound are the same.)

Victo's Might (Enchantment Spell) - For X seconds, your attacks steal X health.

Grenth's Call (Elite Enchantment Spell) - For X seconds, foes that attack you lose X energy. If you reduce a foe's energy to 0, they take X damage and Grenth's Call ends.

I'm not sure if I'm on the right track, though, because of the huge reliance in Enchantment Spells when that seems like the Paragon's area of expertise. Perhaps they're a new type of skill altogether, and you do indeed "transform" into the entity being called upon. Or it's a different different kind of skill that already exists, if I'm even on the right track.

[VILenin]

You know what it's going to be, right?

Avatar of Balthazar
Stance (yes, stance)
For 5..17 seconds, you have a Blade of Balthazar (which is just a normal sword). You attack 25% faster and deal +3..12 damage.

ZOMG.

Don't get too excited. It'll probably just replace your weapon with something (like an item spell) and give you some small boost, like a stance. Only, not a stance! It's a GOD MODE!

[Lord Deathknight]

I am sure that its gonna be like shadow form, it will make you near invincible, for 15 seconds and then your either waiting 60 second to use it while you run around trying not to die as it ganks you down to nothing in health, or blacks out all your skills, or nurfed into near usslessness

[soulstryke]

You know, you might be right... but some of the big evil skills - what is the one that blacks out a targets skill? don't gank you that bad after you use them, I think.

I am sure that its gonna be like shadow form, it will make you near invincible, for 15 seconds and then your either waiting 60 second to use it while you run around trying not to die as it ganks you down to nothing in health, or blacks out all your skills, or nurfed into near usslessness

[soulstryke]

Whatever the avatar skills are; I tend to go with the idea that they will be a high protection OR high damage; not 'invincible', and may even work like the lead/dual/etc. they set up for the Assassin. I do not think that there will be lesser and greater for these - after all, they really don't have less powerful versions of spells now it's just your attributes that affect how powerful your skills/spells are. I know there are some signets like this; but if you think about it they have different effects not levels of effect.

[Guildoholic]

Well, its a no-brainer that invincibility or near invincibility without drawbacks is clearly out of the question. So IMO, we should relax a little and focus on whats more important...The PvP event thats coming.

[Dreadwing]

Maybe they get passive skills that increase your stat just by putting them in your skill bar....

[Azgalon]

Maybe you will turn into a transparent ghost-like Warrior if you activate the Balthazar-Elite, a levitating sphere if you choose Lyssa, and a spectre-like creature if you choose Grenth, just like when you kneel at a shrine .(with the passive effects that Erasculio already mentioned)

Grenth, i choose YOU! (and you transform into voice of grenth with the passive lifeleech melee-power +quicker recovery from conditions).

[soulstryke]

Oh yeah and after the attributes announcment at the GW site for the PvP event, I can think of all sorts of Dervish love this weekend... though they are looking more and more appropriate as a Derv/Mo - and I can't play a Monk to save my own life let alone others. The Paragon skills list just did not excite me... but Mysticism? THAT is going to be tight; and leads me to all sorts of Mo/Me/Necro teams casting enchantments like crazy. That will complement a Monk combo, maybe even Mesmer but more Monk, all the way.

Well, its a no-brainer that invincibility or near invincibility without drawbacks is clearly out of the question. So IMO, we should relax a little and focus on whats more important...The PvP event thats coming.

[Cruel Angel]

My idea on the "essence of a god" abilities, for whatever its worth. Some of its been mentioned already (they always get here ahead of me ;D).

Basically you become an Avatar of a god (perhaps just a generic Avatar with one form/effects) or of one of the existing gods (seems the better choice). Works something like weapon spells from Ritualist, in that it can't be stripped/shattered/whatever once cast and changes the overall look of the character to reflect each gods characteristics (big shiny armor and a scythe three times your size for Balthazar, anyone? lol). But seriously, some type of armor/robe comination and fiery aura for Balth, wings and blue aura for Dwayna, black smokey tendrils and your face blanks out from your hood for Grenth, etc. And then attributes slanted toward each god: damage for Balth, healing for Dwayna, energy theft for Lyssa, you know the drill.

The Avatar forms would be slightly overpowered during their duration. To solve abuse problems, give them a unique type which couldn't be copied or doubled with skills like Arcane Echo, etc. And the only enhancement to duration would come from the Mysticism line (primary attribute, so non-primaries can't abuse it either... duration/effects would be abyssmal). Also, after the duration of the Avatar form you'd suffer some horrible form of exhaustion for a small period (from the strain of channeling the power of the gods, as mentioned in an earlier post), perhaps a combination of health loss, energy exhaustion, and weakness (to affect damage output), or even temporary DP could accomplish this. This would bring it in line with skills like Shadow Form, where during the duration of the skill the Assassin is all but unstoppable (with a few exceptions, but then this isn't the Assassin's main draw) and afterwards he's one good hit away from joining the gods permanently.

Would definitely make worthwhile elite skills, perhaps one or two for each god (though maybe not because then one attribute would become elite-heavy) to emphasize a particular attribute: Avatar of Merciful Dwayna (healing/prot) or Avatar of Dwayna's Wrath (smiting).

[Kurposkano]

I think the ability to become "a god" will have to be some form of enchantment, going along w/ the effect of the dervish's primary attribute. I also think that when you become a god, no matter which one it is, that you will not be affected by spells, otherwise one could shatter your enchantment like that and what would be the point? Everyone would just carry around something to get rid of enchantments.

But, we must not forget the other part of mysticism, the energy regain. This makes me think that while you are a "god" that you will have some form of energy degeneration on you, and when you hit zero, bye bye god form. That way, you gain back some energy when the god enchantment goes away so your not left with nothing. In terms of what each differrent god enchantment will do, others have come up with their own ideas that seems to fit well.

So I believe, God form = no spells on you, energy degeneration, oh, and since energy degeneration you probably will not be using many skills so most likely all god forms give bonus to weapon and other things to assist in fighting that people have mentioned earlier. We will all see this weekend. I'm so glad I took friday off!!!

[Kjentei]

I'm more excited at what the skill animation is.

[I Orca I]

But, we must not forget the other part of mysticism, the energy regain. This makes me think that while you are a "god" that you will have some form of energy degeneration on you, and when you hit zero, bye bye god form. That way, you gain back some energy when the god enchantment goes away so your not left with nothing. In terms of what each differrent god enchantment will do, others have come up with their own ideas that seems to fit well.


Thats probably the best idea yet, giving the caster an energy degen so large that you constantly lose energy untill you run out and turn back. Kinda like dante's devil trigger in DMC :D.
Only thing that would be annoying is if the dervish had a BiP necro on his team..... Permanant godliness. Edenial mesmers would make dervish cry. :)

[Azgalon]

Well, now we know the god-modes and boy, do they look snazzy! :D

-
Avatar of Balthazar (E): Elite Form. For 1…48 second, you gain +40 armor, you move 33% faster, and your attacks deal holy damage. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds. (5 / 2 / 5)

Avatar of Dwayna (E): Elite Form. For 1…48 second, whenever you use a skill, you gain 5 Health and lose one hex. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds. (10 / 2 / 5)

Avatar of Grenth (E): Elite Form. For 1…48 second, whenever you use an attack skill, you also remove one Enchantment from your target, and your attacks deal cold damage. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds. (10 / 2 / 5)

Avatar of Lyssa (E): Elite Form. For 1…48 seconds, you have +10 maximum Energy and your attacks deal +?…41 damage to foes activating skills. * (15 / 2 / 5)

Avatar of Melandru (E): Elite Form. For 1…48 seconds, you have +200 Health, you are unaffected by Conditions, and your attacks deal earth damage. * (15 / 2 / 5)
-

The Gods look great manifested as well! Highly Impressed by Anet in this aspect!