GW2 interview on energy and skills - Part 1

Source here.


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Players dedicated to support increase every other player�s duration of active play by running around and rezzing people or focusing on creature control and interrupts rather than damage.






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I had to wedge in a PvP question, especially with regards to 5v5. First, potions are reset to a certain number each fight. Unlike PvE, the players are not really responsible for potions, and each player will have an equal amount. It�s a pretty low number, but it resets on death.





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Good stuff. Still don't like energy potions that much, but it could be worse.|||Interesting.|||I still don't like the idea of my character being a potion junkie, to be honest.
Guess I'll have to resort to using as few as possible.|||this does raises some eyebrows, so in the long run, it's a choice of ether die fighting or die slower without energy.
kinda discouraging too even try playing the defensive/supportive role, it would be more fair if both attack and defense used the same amount of energy.....|||Not a fan of potions still. I dislike managing inventory or any chore that I have to do prior to starting to play the game (such as repairing equipment).
There was some good news in this section though. Sounds like interrupts are in and will be one way to play "support". I'm curious about crowd control - whether it will be more GW1 like (snares and other debilitating effects) or WoW/EQ-like (total shutdown - charm, polymorph, etc). Since we've already been told stuns and fear will have very short durations, I'm hoping for the former.|||Maybe there could be a title for that to encourage the sparse use of potions.|||Why have any potions in PvP whatsoever? This I cannot fathom, especially for the GvG mode...|||Quote:








Why have any potions in PvP whatsoever? This I cannot fathom, especially for the GvG mode...




Amen.
I'd rather have no energy management than potions. Not that my opinion will change a thing, so in the end I'll just see how it works out.|||It sounds like the "monk" roles in GvG would cast 3 spells and then sit around doing nothing. They said energy doesn't refill quickly in combat, so to open up options I imagine they added e-management. The D2 PvP combat system was retarded because it was just 'blast away on offense with no tactics what-so-ever.'|||The problem is that I don't think ArenaNet understands how their playerbase thinks. If potions are used to show how successful a player has been, it means potions may be used to achieve success. In other words, a good player may finish an encounter by dodging all enemy attacks and using carefully timed attack skills while not having a single energy potion, but a bad player could just take all the hits while alternating between self healing spam and attack skill spam and energy potion spam. The bad player would have achieved the same result as the good player, with the only difference that he would have to grind more in order to get potions; and thus, when faced with a choice between becoming better in order to grind less, and continue to suck while having to grind, 99% of players will choose the latter. In the end, potions will become a crutch to players, preventing them from having the need to improve themselves.
Erasculio