Make Scythe Mastery attack skills require....

A Scythe to use.

Currently, there are 15 skills in the Scythe Mastery attribute. Of those 15 skills, only 6 require the use of a Scythe.

[skill]Chilling Victory[/skill][skill]Crippling Sweep[/skill][skill]Lyssa's Assault[/skill][skill]Reaper's Sweep[/skill][skill]Wearying Strike[/skill][skill]Wounding Strike[/skill]

Although to be fully effective, you would need to invest points into the Scythe Mastery attribute, the other 9 skills can be used with a Sword, Axe, Hammer, or Daggers. And except for Pious Assault, all the skill icons show a scythe in the picture.

D/W or W/D can invest in Scythe Mastery, Tactics, and Strength/Mysticism and use the Scythe attacks and a Candy Cane Sword/Axe+Shield. Not only does it not make sense, but it can cause some balance issues in PvP I would expect. *Note - I'm not a PvP player, so I don't know how/what balance issues this may cause*

Me/D running IW can use some of the skills with no attribute points into Scythe Mastery to get the benefits. [skill]Twin Moon Sweep[/skill] can be used effectively by an IW Me/D to double the damage output for an attack, and get a health boost.

Make Scythe Mastery Skills require a Scythe!

I dont think that running 12 SM on a Derv secondary is anywhere near as good using your primary weapon skills at all.

If there was any imbalance over this, it would have been complained about over on the PVP side, but I havnt seen a single complaint regarding this as being imbalanced so its unsigned from me.

And attack skills dont really do much use through IW as they all miss. In the case of twin moon, you run a chance of removing IW off yourself if you have no cover enchants which is just silly.

There is definately no imbalance in this in PvP, so I wouldn't complain about it.
And as bhavv pointed out, twin moon would strip IW. Bad...

The only time I've seen a W/D using a scythe mastery skill was once in a gvg I saw a guy using Rending Sweep. http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Rending_Sweep

It was inovative, but not exactly game breaking.

I didn't say it was game breaking. I didn't say it was over used.

It is, however, illogical.

Wild Blow is a melee attack. It can be used with any weapon type. It is, however, under No Attribute.

If Scythe Mastery skills can be used with any weapon type, then make the following changes to stay consistant.

Cyclone Axe - melee attack
Riposte - usable with axe, hammer, scythe, and daggers
Deadly Riposte - see Riposte
Backbreaker - melee attack
Falling Spider - melee attack
Savage Slash - melee attack

Not one skill in Axe Mastery is a melee attack.
Not one skill in Hammer Mastery is a melee attack.
Not one skill in Swordsmanship is a melee attack.
Not one skill in Dagger Mastery is a melee attack.
9/15 skills in Scythe Mastery are melee attacks.

Over one half of the Scythe Mastery skills do not require a scythe.... so why are they Scythe Mastery skills? Yes, modifiers in the skill are varied by the Scythe Mastery attribute, but the skill does not require a Scythe. Why does Dervish get this special treatment, but not Warrior or Assassin?

Question is, why does this matter so much? Is flexibility a bad thing?

Flexibility is not bad. However, logic states that a skill under Scythe Mastery would require a scythe. It isn't game breaking, it isn't overused... I know this. However, it is illogical, and makes me wonder why it works as it does.

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Vital Boon[/skill][skill]Mystic Regeneration[/skill][skill]Twin Moon Sweep[/skill][skill]Illusion Of Weakness[/skill][skill]Sympathetic Visage[/skill][skill]Conviction[/skill][skill]Aura Of Thorns[/skill]

I don't claim this to be an uber leet build. But you will notice it has 6 enchants, 1 stance, and 1 attack. Attribute points could be 16 Illusion (12+1+3), 12 Earth Prayers, and 3 Scythe Mastery. Aura of Thorns and Vital Boon are both good skills to lose with Twin Moon.

But, that is not the main reason I brought this issue up. IW is only one possible use of the 'melee' attacks from Scythe Mastery. If the Attribute has Scythe in the name, the skills should require a Scythe. Why would the skills NOT need a Scythe?

By this logic, they should make apply poison only work on bows as well.

I'm not sure why it's illogical in the first place. From a roleplaying perspective? I would assume that it's not a coincidence some skills require a scythe and some don't. I doubt they just put all the scythe mastery attacks through a random generator which decided if they needed a scythe or not. They are deliberate decisions to make builds with dervish secondary more flexible.

There are W/D steady stance users. But I'm pretty sure all the attack skills are working as intended..Nothing to change.

You want to limit something no-one cares about for no real reason? Riiiiight.

Apply Poison is not a bow attack. It is a "preparation", and it applies to other all physical attack because it doesn't have "Arrow" in its name and isnt illogical to use with other weapons. Well, maybe hammers. Maybe.

The "Scythe" attacks are a different story. If its a scythe attack it should use a scythe. Its like using a hammer attack in bow mastery. It just illogical.