Combat System - New Article

http://www.arena.net/blog/jon-peters-talks-combat
Not too much new stuff, no surprise there.
But there's a new (at least to me) mechanic mentioned: Boons.
EDIT: The note on mobility just made me think of something we haven't heard too much about recently: The way skills change based on what you're doing (jumping, standing still, running, etc.).|||Boons are not exactly news but this is the first time that they give us the whole list.
IE:

Quote:




Regeneration, Might, Fury, Swiftness, Protection, Vigor, and Aegis.




Here's my guess to what they do:
Regeneration - health increases gradually
Might - increased damage
Fury - increased attack speed(if it shortens the animations of the skills it amounts to the same thing)?
Swiftness - increased movement speed
Protection - take less damage/increased armor?
Vigor - increased max health
Aegis - block next attack
Incidentally they also state that:

Quote:




With the exception of the Aegis boon, these are available to different professions on different weapons and skills.




Which implies that only the guardian can create an Aegis boon.
They also mention an Elementalist skill called Swirling Aura which I'm not sure has been mentioned before. Apparently it has a similar effect to Wall of Deflection.|||Quote:




We want to eliminate things that we felt were burdens on the game such as:
- Group LF Healer/Tank…
- Party wipes when you lose the wrong person.
- Watching the interface instead of the world.
- Playing with people because you have to, not because you want to.
- Being stuck in the same combat patterns over and over again.




A very reassuring quote, and the highlight of the article for me.|||<3 it, Bellissima. Nice quote.|||Probably one of the better write-ups so far. I really want to see PvP. I don't think PvE will showcase these changes as well as a good matchup will.|||This article makes it feel like we are actually getting close to Guild Wars 2 now. In the past it always seemed to be a long way off.
Roll on the Mesmer !|||Quote:









Here's my guess to what they do:
Regeneration - health increases gradually
Might - increased damage
Fury - increased attack speed(if it shortens the animations of the skills it amounts to the same thing)?
Swiftness - increased movement speed
Protection - take less damage/increased armor?
Vigor - increased max health
Aegis - block next attack




I am starting to see the charm of the system (at least for balancing), because if there are "boons" there are probably "conditions" that have the opposite affect as well. Lets be creative with the labels from Enenion:
Regeneration => Degeneration (e.g. from bleeding or burning)
Might => Weakness (reduces damage)
Fury => Sloth (reduces attack speed, increases casting time)
Swiftness => Cripple (reduces movement speed)
Protection => Cracked armour (reduces armour levels)
Vigor => Deep wound (reduces the maximum number of health)
Aegis => automatic hit There is a reason why this is special to the Guardian class, as there will be no opposite for that, I suppose.|||Quote:








There is a reason why this is special to the Guardian class, as there will be no opposite for that, I suppose.




maybe that's what the mesmer will be. the opposite to the guardian. the guardian is a party support buffer while the mesmer could be a party de-buffer. so not having hexes won't matter as you could be controlling areas with debuffing attributes.|||Because the mesmer's skill depend so much on influencing what all the other profs do... I think they might introduce that profession last.|||I bloody well hope not.