The Guild Wars 2 Thread

[Shiki]

So, who's still playing this game on the gaydex ? and on what server ?

 

[Stokowski]

Awfully quiet in here, isn't it?

My playtime has been in terminal decline since the clusterfuck of the November patch. Kept hoping the December patch would put things right again but, no, Arenasoft seem determined to send what was such a promising title straight down the shitter. Most of my friends have left, and activity on the gaydex guild channel is pretty nonexistant.

Such a shame.

Now what MMOG shall I waste spend my hard-earned money on?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Awfully quiet in here, isn't it?

My playtime has been in terminal decline since the clusterfuck of the November patch. Kept hoping the December patch would put things right again but, no, Arenasoft seem determined to send what was such a promising title straight down the shitter. Most of my friends have left, and activity on the gaydex guild channel is pretty nonexistant.

Such a shame.

Now what MMOG shall I waste spend my hard-earned money on?

Also stopped playing around that time. Just got tired of the endless grind, i would go so far as to claim that GW2 is probably the most grind heavy western mmorpg in the last few years.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Now what MMOG shall I waste spend my hard-earned money on?

Enlist in Starfleet.

 

[Excidium]

Awfully quiet in here, isn't it?

My playtime has been in terminal decline since the clusterfuck of the November patch. Kept hoping the December patch would put things right again but, no, Arenasoft seem determined to send what was such a promising title straight down the shitter. Most of my friends have left, and activity on the gaydex guild channel is pretty nonexistant.

Such a shame.

Now what MMOG shall I waste spend my hard-earned money on?

Also stopped playing around that time. Just got tired of the endless grind, i would go so far as to claim that GW2 is probably the most grind heavy western mmorpg in the last few years.

The fuck? I got a full exotic gear in the time it took for me to get an epic ring on wow.

I swear to god people here are too retarded to play MMOs.

 

[Kem0sabe]

The fuck? I got a full exotic gear in the time it took for me to get an epic ring on wow.

I swear to god people here are too retarded to play MMOs.

Do you think run of the mill exotic crap is any kind of achievement?

Wan´t a Karma set from Orr? Grind like the good little monkey that you are.

Wan´t the CoF or any other dungeon set? Grind, grind, grind dozens and dozens of dungeon runs.

Wan´t ascended gear? remember that gear threadmill that they said they would not implement? yeah, go run fractals till you drop dead.

PVE in this game as it stands is reduced to running fractals, thats all everyone does. Sit in LA and spam chat for a group or hope your guild mates are not so far advanced as to run you through the low level ones if you haven´t done those already.

Yes, i maintain what i said... it´s a grind fest... of epic proportions. So no... your exotic set bought off the auction house is not all that special.

 

[Excidium]

My exotic set and weapons I got from HoW and CoE, in less than a week. Rings I crafted with my profession and one gun was from mystic forge. Also karma gear is piss easy to get nowadays, this month alone you can get 8k karma everyday by just doing the pve daily and christmas jump puzzle.

Yeah, there's ascended gear but the progression is still nothing compared to most MMOs out there, the BoI for every slot except ring and backpiece are extremely easy to get.

Consider stuffing a smiley face up your asshole.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I don't look good in form-fitting clothes.

Don't worry Norfleet and Jarpie have captain's guts as well.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Consider stuffing a smiley face up your asshole.

Chalenge acepted.

 

[Zardoz]

I been playing more casually lately so my impressions might be outdated a bit...

That ascended gear/fractal deal reeks of powercreep and they keep adding beta content without even fixing the class bugs. I'm used to playing the underdog classes (main's a necro) but that reanimator trait's crappy undead spawn/free rez thing's fucking useless/ridiculous. If siphoning health was a viable option I would enjoy more playing the reverse guardian bit a lot more instead of being limited to the epidemic combo in pvp.

Pve's a breeze but wells/aoes are pretty useless in zerg vs zerg unless I get a lucky shot with spectral grasp. Since I specced heavily in death shroud/spectral skills I'm somewhat good at leading charges at least and softening up the enemies before the other guys stop crapping their pants and start unloading with their dps glass cannons.

I do get a kick by pretending I'm a squishy elementalist with my necro and bait a thief/ranger every once in a while. My longbow warrior was also surprisingly effective so far.

 

[Excidium]

It must be extra aggravating to have your necro mourn the death of his useless minion.

But yeah...it's really poor design to have a 5-point trait that only benefits a specific build.

And you should change your avatar, the wyrm taint is stinking up the place.

 

[RK47]

WTS 150 Gold for $50 worth of Steam Game

Class balance philosophies
We normally try to employ metered and controlled balance changes with each pass, rather than huge reductions or improvements to classes. We want to get all classes on the same playing field, and we want to avoid “whack-a-mole” style balance. HUGH increases and HUGE decreases lead to meta instability, and thusly, we try to make multiple small tweaks rather than putting in massive changes that we have to later correct. (reword this section)
When designing and balancing the classes, we try to make sure that class roles and identities stay intact. So, in doing so, we make sure that there are rules and boundaries outlining the capabilities and weaknesses of each class.

• Warrior
  • We want the Warrior to be capable of good melee damage in a sturdy body. They can still do some decent damage at range, but they aren’t as good at it as the Ranger (with their pet). They have a hard time taking enemy boons down, and instead, have to just go through them with raw force. They may have a hard time with enemy conditions, and may need to ask for ally help in order to keep themselves free of hampering conditions.
• Guardian
  • The Guardian is a heavy armor class who relies on boons to make up for their low levels of innate health. They focus on area control and punishing enemies for the position on the battlefield. We want them to feel very powerful when their boons are active, but if those boons are removed, they will start to feel pressure. They can remove conditions more easily than the Warrior, but share the Warrior’s need to be in melee range to dole out maximum damage.
• Ranger
  • The ranger class combines its own innate abilities with the skills of their pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you always have a pet with you to aid in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their pets in ways that most impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have some of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is able to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.
• Engineer
  • The Engineer is a highly versatile class. While it doesn’t have the long range capabilities of the Ranger, or the melee capabilities of the Warrior or Guardian, they are comfortable at medium ranges in most fights. They have a lot of control, and use their boons to keep themselves (and allies) alive in a fight. They can use different kits based on the situation, but this extreme versatility comes at a cost in damage on their main hand weapons.
• Thief
  • Thieves are the masters of mobility, stealth and high single target damage. They can be very fragile if you counter their stealth with area of effects or large stacks of conditions, but they trade this fragility in order to have some of the highest burst damage in the game. They are able to help allies through traps, venoms and the mobility to flank most encounters.
• Mesmer
  • Mesmers rely on illusions in order to accomplish their goals. They need illusions to accomplish some of their highest damage and control, and without the illusions, they become fairly fragile. They can deal with enemy boons better than most classes, but enemy conditions can often be a problem. They share some of the stealth and mobility that the Thief enjoys, but suffer from a low health pool if you get past all their tricks.
• Ele
  • We see the elementalist as the king of versatility. The skill ceiling for the Ele is exceptional, as the ability to leverage all four attunements at the right time is crucial for understanding the elemetnalist. The Ele boasts some of the best team support and control abilities in the game, as well as some great area of effect damage.
• Necro
  • The necro boasts the highest natural health of all the caster classes, and also has death shroud to extend that life total even higher. While they don’t have some of the escape or damage reduction capabilities that other classes boast, they do have a lot of ways to win attrition fights. They have access to poison on multiple weapons, they are able to combine condition damage with raw damage, and they have multiple disables to interrupt enemy skills. Necomancers also have multiple movement disabling abilities, while allows them to chase down enemies who are low on health.

Going forward

• Tank vs spike vs physical DPS vs condie DPS. We want to keep making balance changes that allow all classes to have various builds they can use. We don’t want tanks dominating the game, and we don’t want spike builds dominating. It’s healthy to have multiple types of builds in the meta, so we’ll be improving the balance to facilitate a healthy meta.
• AOE balance. We feel that in PvP some AOE builds are too strong for the opportunity cost, and we’ll be bringing those in line in the next few patches.

 

[Excidium]

What they fail to understand is that some classes really need a HUGE overhaul. Meta instability? Who gives a fuck?

 

[RK47]

We normally try to employ metered and controlled balance changes with each pass, rather than huge reductions or improvements to classes.

“Grenade” skill now does 30% less damage to balance against using sigils.

 

[Excidium]

Don't the sigils make up for it? How much does your grenade hit for?

It sure is p. retarded to nerf the damage of a skill that is already somewhat hard to hit, I guess this was the turn of pvp being nerfed because of pve.

 

[RK47]

PhDs in Engineers said it best. The Meta optimization testing starts again.
People theorized that Engineers now has to wield dual pistol for maximum effectiveness of their grenades.
What dual pistols give is dual Sigils.
One school of thought went 5% dmg increase with On-Crit sigil.
But the On-Swaps Sigil do have major usage since Kits effectively have 1 sec swap cooldown... you can always gain this On-Swap effect. That means Engineers can utilize it at 100% uptime with no timing of swaps. On-Swap Hit Give Lifesteal , On-Swap 3 stacks of Might are prime candidates.

But overall, A.net says the 30% reduction is also keeping in mind of future implementation of 'Mainhand weapon granting stat bonus when Kit is wielded as well' so the dmg reduction isn't going to be THAT big when all is said and done.

Well, guess what - if people find a way to get back that 30% BEFORE you even give them Mainhand bonuses - then you're back to square 1 - Grenadier is STILL the best dps kit that Engineer has. PVE AND PVP - the rest of the Engineer's kit is shit for DPS purpose. Bomb Kit? Flamethrower is another elephant in the room. Elixir Gun isn't an offensive weapon. Turrets are still poor investments.

Engineer is still a beta profession.
Stay the fuck away.

 

[Excidium]

Dual pistols? Isn't shield generally better? I guess for pve the pistol is allright.

But the On-Swaps Sigil do have major usage since Kits effectively have 1 sec swap cooldown... you can always gain this On-Swap effect. That means Engineers can utilize it at 100% uptime with no timing of swaps. On-Swap Hit Give Lifesteal , On-Swap 3 stacks of Might are prime candidates.

Those swap sigils have an internal cooldown, by the way. You won't be able to steal 975 health every 2 seconds because that would be p. broken.

Well, guess what - if people find a way to get back that 30% BEFORE you even give them Mainhand bonuses - then you're back to square 1 - Grenadier is STILL the best dps kit that Engineer has. PVE AND PVP - the rest of the Engineer's kit is shit for DPS purpose. Bomb Kit? Flamethrower is another elephant in the room. Elixir Gun isn't an offensive weapon.

And that is bad why? Isn't Grenade kit meant to be THE dps kit? Bomb and Flame have the CC and what not.

 

[RK47]

Perhaps I was not clear.
100% uptime meant every time the cooldown is reset - he can utilize the Swap Effect without any weapon swap CD limitation.

For the DPS kit, they're doing it wrong if they wanted to lower the grenade to the rest of the kit's level of 'awesomeness'.
If anything, the rest should be brought up into a more acceptable level of the grenade.

 

[Excidium]

Ah yes.

For the DPS kit, they're doing it wrong if they wanted to lower the grenade to the rest of the kit's level of 'awesomeness'.
If anything, the rest should be brought up into a more acceptable level of the grenade.

That is true. But the main problem with grenade kit has always been that the traits make it too powerful. They should rework the traits instead of nerfing the kit into a state where it's useless unless you spec 30 points in a line.

 

[RK47]

Now the Engineer bitching was done (Seriously, for him to bear my online handle and suck so much is possibly the most rage inducing factor of why I'm butthurt), we move on to the Guardian gradual nerfing conspiracy.

Guardian

• Refraction: This skill is now a light field.
• Purifying Blast: This skill is now a blast finisher.
• Light of Judgment: Damage increased by 25%.
• Spear Wall: This skill is now a light field.
• Wrathful Grasp: This skill is now a projectile finisher.
• Spear of Light: Velocity has been increased by 50%.

Blue changes are to the underwater skill set. Lord knows how shitty aquatic combat is. What I wanted when I'm underwater is to gtfo. And guardian has none of that movement skill from their aqua weapon.

• Empower: Skill fact has been updated to display the proper amount and duration of might.
• Spear of Light: This skill is now a small projectile finisher.
• Brilliance: This skill is now a whirl finisher.
• Purifying Blast: Added a radius skill fact.
• Unscathed Contender: Increased damage from 10% to 20%.
  Retreat and Courage Virtue Activation as Burst DPS Options? Uhmm.... I suppose dropping 20% dmg boosted Smite might do wonders for Ranged DPS...but that's just what it is... burst dps.
• Resolute Healer: This shield of absorption now causes knockback, but can only trigger once every 60 seconds.
  While I do agree the Knockback is nice, but 60 seconds for a situational trait is a bit much.
• Vigorous Precision: Increased vigor duration to five seconds. This effect can now only trigger once every five seconds.
  This is an indirect nerf to Altruistic Healing triggers - 70 HP every 5 second is not gonna cut it anymore for the 30 Radiance synergy. No more AH + Right Hand Strength for that sweet 15% Crit Bonus on One hand and Heal on Crit.
• Strength in Numbers: Now activates more quickly when entering combat, and scales from 0-70 defense instead of being capped at 30.
  I'm still not convinced that 70 DEFENSE is worth more than 70 POWER because Attack is magnified by Critical chance and Critical Damage Bonus. You cannot pull off a Critical Defense right?
• Blind Exposure: Increased to three stacks of vulnerability.
  Much better, but still not a good trait... OK, I can see the Sword + Focus combo having 9 stacks of Vulnerability at start of engagement - still~ I don't use Radiance 30 builds, preferring to Valor & Honor 30 with 5 Rad & 5 Virtue.
• Shimmering Defense: Increased burn duration from three seconds to seven seconds.
  That's amazing. You burn people MOAR when you're near death!
• Binding Jeopardy: Increased vulnerability from three stacks at five seconds to five stacks at eight seconds.
  They really want people to love the Zeal trait huh? Problem is, there's only two immobilize skill - Scepter #3 and Hammer #3, though the latter is AoE.
• Added a radius skill fact to Purifying Blast.

Sounds iffy, but maybe 30 Zeal 10 Radiance and 30 Valor could make for a decent Vulnerability stacker and Melee DPS role. GS / Sword + Focus setup could really lay in the hurt with Symbol Vulnerability trait.

Flash Blade - 3 Stacks every 10 seconds
Justice Activation - 3 Stacks every 30 seconds
Scepter Ray - 3 stacks every 25 seconds
GS Symbol - 5 stacks - 1 stack per hit every 20 seconds

14 Stacks in opening of the fight. Not bad.

 

[Excidium]

Everyone got underwater buffs, lots of new skills with combos and what not. I'm predicting an update with a lot of underwater content.

 

[RK47]

They fixed HotW, bro.


These guys are selling broken shit if they really think underwater combat is what people want to play.
I regretted getting the CoF exotic trident for my guardian, but yeah, what are you going to do? Meleeing stuff underwater without lock-on attack move is a bitch.

 

[Zardoz]

It must be extra aggravating to have your necro mourn the death of his useless minion.

But yeah...it's really poor design to have a 5-point trait that only benefits a specific build.

And you should change your avatar, the wyrm taint is stinking up the place.

The necro's minions are kind of useless to begin with since they often just run around aggroing stuff without attacking effectively but that one's really aggravating indeed. I understand that in guild wars 1 that it was overpowered but there's a limit to overnerfing. At least there's a few apparently useful traits that are not build/weapon specific.

I figured that the stink would be welcomed here

 

[Excidium]

They fixed HotW, bro.


These guys are selling broken shit if they really think underwater combat is what people want to play.
I regretted getting the CoF exotic trident for my guardian, but yeah, what are you going to do? Meleeing stuff underwater without lock-on attack move is a bitch.

Yeah, I swear to God Anet has a hard on for underwater combat and plataforming.

 

[Average Manatee]

Guys, you really don't what to know what happens if you cause a meta instability event.

Trust me on this. Stay the fuck away and let Anet do their job*


*By job I mean weekend hobby to be performed after drinking.