Guild Wars 2

Kanto.1659:

Like it was mentioned several times, both sides play as they want. I was reared on ‘traditional’ dungeon runs and this newfangled stacking thing (fortunately reserved for GW2 only, heavens be blessed) does nothing for me. Fortunately I play with other similar thinking individuals.

But then we do not play GW2 like some sort of slot machine with fake rewards instead of just playing it for fun.

P.S. It is amazing how playing a dungeon normally is ‘playing a headless chicken game’ or ‘roleplaying’. 98% of the games out there with dungeons/instances do not do the stacking game. 98% of the game market involving dungeons/instance is a headless chicken game for roleplayers.

Mind, blown.

Bolded for re-emphasis. Play as you want. I know I am. I know I have friends who like to dungeon stack and I don’t play with them. We are still friends, we just don’t PvE since we do not like the playstyles the other uses.

And perhaps you should re-read your buddy’s posts if you found mine the ‘most haughty and elitist’ comment you have ever saw in your life. Called a headless chicken roleplayer because I like playing the dungeon as a dungeon instead of what GW2 degenerated? Well, pardon me.

I don’t care whether you think people can “play how they want” because that’s what we have been saying to begin with (and something that only the silliest people seem to disagree with). I care about how you implied that your way is better and that we are acting like mindless gamblers just rushing through the stuff so we can get virtual objects. That is what I found offensive. Your bolded section means nothing.

“But then we do not play GW2 like some sort of slot machine with fake rewards instead of just playing it for fun.”

This is offensive, and anyone can see the elitism in it.

As for RPing in dungeons, as I’m the only person I know who actually does RP in dungeons, you can bet that I did not appreciate those words, but as the regulars here respect that I play how I want, and that is! looking darn good and making a good story, to boot!

If you want to experience the content as intended. Then you should solo/duo. Purposely handicapping yourself in a group just doesnt make sense.

spoj.9672:

If you want to experience the content as intended. Then you should solo/duo. Purposely handicapping yourself in a group just doesnt make sense.

It’s not handicapping if the intended difficulty target is the standard difficulty of the game. It’s removing some cheat codes (for lack of a better comparison – not to call stacking a form of cheating).

Getting back on topic… Duke, so your guild is basically like a roster for people who like to do dungeons but aren’t concerned about meta builds and prefer to fight rather than skip? If so, mind dropping me an invite? I don’t do dungeons that often, but I do prefer to fight rather than skip, and I’m generally not fussed what builds people bring as long as they do a decent amount of damage and don’t die in one or two hits.

It’s amazing there’s so many people saying they prefer an inferior play style that makes things take longer and be harder than they have to be. Please petition ANet to change the meta, in the meantime I’ll use the most efficient means available.

XacTactX.6709:

It’s amazing there’s so many people saying they prefer an inferior play style that makes things take longer and be harder than they have to be. Please petition ANet to change the meta, in the meantime I’ll use the most efficient means available.

Is it really that hard to believe that some people are more interested in kicking back and enjoying the challenge a dungeon can present with others while trying out their own custom made build, rather than treating it like a job, chasing a carrot on a stick?

Dual.8953:

XacTactX.6709:

It’s amazing there’s so many people saying they prefer an inferior play style that makes things take longer and be harder than they have to be. Please petition ANet to change the meta, in the meantime I’ll use the most efficient means available.

Is it really that hard to believe that some people are more interested in kicking back and enjoying a dungeon with others, rather than treating it like a job, chasing a carrot on a stick?

Let’s keep making assumptions on how the other party feels about their own playstyle, it seems like a really intelligent thing to do.

The Mexican Cookie.3690:

Dual.8953:

XacTactX.6709:

It’s amazing there’s so many people saying they prefer an inferior play style that makes things take longer and be harder than they have to be. Please petition ANet to change the meta, in the meantime I’ll use the most efficient means available.

Is it really that hard to believe that some people are more interested in kicking back and enjoying a dungeon with others, rather than treating it like a job, chasing a carrot on a stick?

Let’s keep making assumptions on how the other party feels about their own playstyle, it seems like a really intelligent thing to do.

I had making a marked group in mind. Cool off.

I’m still waiting for an archdiviner livestream@50 from these “zerk is zo ezy” winners.

Iris Ng.9845:

The reason I always PUSH Dwayna statue to the wall is to bug out all those range-rs’s precious champ chest. Guess what, they are too scared to come closer when their attacks become Obstructed.

Yawn… This is getting old…

I knew people did this on purpose, can I not AFK in peace?

If stacking to prevent Spider Queen from AoEing you is an exploit, then using Ranged attacks to prevent monsters from meleeing you is an exploit.

This is by far one of the best comments I’ve read on these forums, I’ve never thought of it like that :P

Lilith Ajit.6173:

As for RPing in dungeons, as I’m the only person I know who actually does RP in dungeons, you can bet that I did not appreciate those words, but as the regulars here respect that I play how I want, and that is! looking darn good and making a good story, to boot!

Hey Asura lady,

I got a whole guild of people that RP in dungeons…

I tend to do it all. Fast runs, Full clear runs, either way, I enjoy it. I would love to do more “fast/technical” runs. but my timetable for being able to play is slightly off from the rest of the world it seems, Pity.

spoj.9672:

If you want to experience the content as intended. Then you should solo/duo. Purposely handicapping yourself in a group just doesnt make sense.

I did. Duoed HotW P1 with a warrior friend while I changed from grenadier to bombs. Lotsa blinds, both of us fully berserker geared. Had a blast. Only wiped twice too, though I had to save her a bunch of times with stealth rezzes and sometimes finish off the trash on my own. We didn’t even skip a thing other than the wolves before the troll and even that I would have been game to do but she didn’t want to and it is true that their one-shot knockdowns would not be fun to deal with.

But I digress. I do not post much here but I read the forums. The names of you hardcore guys are known to me and I like reading your tales, the sometime wipes and all. It really is not your fault that the game is designed like this. As I mentioned a few pages back it took several games to finally end in GW2 and discover stacking. Incidentally what really saddens me is the limitations this meta has brought. Go melee or go home. As someone who has always eschewed big flashy crits for a more sustained and safe pace from range this is pretty limiting.

After all s it is like you are all saying ‘why do it in any other way than the easy way?’ and it is true. Fun is the answer but apparently it is not a welcome (or believable) answer, except for us headless chicken roleplayers. Why do things purposefully handicapping us? Why do things in any other way than the most efficient one?

Why run the marathon instead of getting into the car and doing the 40 km to the finish line? If there are loopholes in the rules (bad game design) indeed why not?

Anyway, moot point. We all play as we want and we are not convincing each other. In the end it is not much the bad design regarding enemies as the choice of making GW2 a super grindy game despite the promises of otherwise. Why must we run three paths to earn the tokens for a single armor piece? Why must we have legendaries with a three month farm/grind to achieve it? Once we have these in people will have to farm and 6 minutes CoF P1 become the norm.

Ropechef.6192:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

As for RPing in dungeons, as I’m the only person I know who actually does RP in dungeons, you can bet that I did not appreciate those words, but as the regulars here respect that I play how I want, and that is! looking darn good and making a good story, to boot!

Hey Asura lady,

I got a whole guild of people that RP in dungeons…

I tend to do it all. Fast runs, Full clear runs, either way, I enjoy it. I would love to do more “fast/technical” runs. but my timetable for being able to play is slightly off from the rest of the world it seems, Pity.

I don’t get as much playtime as I would like, either, but when I have time, it’s dungeon time. RP walking is fun in cof, as my warrior gives 0 cats because nothing can hurt her.
We stack, and we start out in our town clothes. So since we are all female humans (my normal cof group, anyway) we look great in our hot pants and bunny ears (and quite friendly as well) before knocking the kitties out of bosses.

ubershaun.3649:

Iris Ng.9845:

The reason I always PUSH Dwayna statue to the wall is to bug out all those range-rs’s precious champ chest. Guess what, they are too scared to come closer when their attacks become Obstructed.

Yawn… This is getting old…

I knew people did this on purpose, can I not AFK in peace?

Nope. Can’t. Muwahahahaha….

Nikaido.3457:

I’m still waiting for an archdiviner livestream@50 from these “zerk is zo ezy” winners.

You should do that yourself. >:D

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Ropechef.6192:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

As for RPing in dungeons, as I’m the only person I know who actually does RP in dungeons, you can bet that I did not appreciate those words, but as the regulars here respect that I play how I want, and that is! looking darn good and making a good story, to boot!

Hey Asura lady,

I got a whole guild of people that RP in dungeons…

I tend to do it all. Fast runs, Full clear runs, either way, I enjoy it. I would love to do more “fast/technical” runs. but my timetable for being able to play is slightly off from the rest of the world it seems, Pity.

I don’t get as much playtime as I would like, either, but when I have time, it’s dungeon time. RP walking is fun in cof, as my warrior gives 0 cats because nothing can hurt her.
We stack, and we start out in our town clothes. So since we are all female humans (my normal cof group, anyway) we look great in our hot pants and bunny ears (and quite friendly as well) before knocking the kitties out of bosses.

(note to self)
Self:
Run dungeons with Lilith more…

I’m the other asura in pink in the picture in the discussion thread.

Please, hold your applause.

stacking/skipping/zerker combat system is killing the game. The combat is not appealing. It also goes with class discrimination.

You’re right, a group in full cleric wouldn’t have any reason to stack, only berserker stack. It’s not like everything in this game has very narrow range or anything, or the fact that grouping together for the support, blind, cleave is of any use. No, it’s always zerker who stack. You never see pugs in pvt do stacking. Never.

Seems like my kind of guild

Personal opinion here, but I"m tired of the cheesy stack/skip methods most people use in dungeons, that sometimes even result in more time wasted than just killing stuff (5+ partial/full group wipes trying to run past trash that you as a group are fully capable of killing is plain silly; yes, I’ve personally witnessed this a few times).

Feeling the need to post inhere. WTF is up with stacking?! Sometimes i cant even see anything because of the camera; i get into a dark corner, spam 2 3 4 5 with my eyes closed and stuff dies. People say its good tactics cuz its easy and easy is good …. Well i dont blame them.. i blame the game. It tries to cater to everyone so i guess pretty soon i’ll buy another account and train my dog so he can play it as well

Aloha! I am Victor of Aurora Glade, I love playing without stacks, and I don’t put restrictions on level or on knowledge, or on spec. Every profession has so much variety and we should recognize it, instead of forcing people to use dps. Conditioners are vital I’d say for clearing mobs, tanky/support types buff up players and heal them so they run the dungeon smoothly. Dps do the dirty work and hit hard where it’s needed. Everyone can choose what they want and everyone is involved in the fight equally.

I agree that some boss battles are boring and basically you just dodge sometimes and hit him constantly since it has low dps against players, but a very generous hp pool. Still, stacking in order to exploit should be prohibited as it is no excuse.

Dungeon runs even without stacking and exploiting can be very short if everyone knows what they are doing. Saving time is no excuse for the exploiters.

If anyone wishes to run a dungeon and needs a tanky support, healer, conditioner, please pm me. Of course no stacking and exploiting.

Stop the exploiters, stop the dps Meta to tell people what to do, ANet fix the exploits and give us a challenging game. Change Guild Wars 2 into something even better!

I completely agree. Melee bosses should instantly reset if people exploit them at range.

Nikaido.3457:

You’re right, a group in full cleric wouldn’t have any reason to stack, only berserker stack. It’s not like everything in this game has very narrow range or anything, or the fact that grouping together for the support, blind, cleave is of any use. No, it’s always zerker who stack. You never see pugs in pvt do stacking. Never.

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Will-the-new-update-stop-skipping/first#post1205684

IlMattoCavaliere.4013:

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

WTF does “asking the boss” mean?

draconx.3102:

IlMattoCavaliere.4013:

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

WTF does “asking the boss” mean?

Roleplaying. Some bosses are pretty hot so it’s not completely new thing to ask them out.

Things often get quite heated.

#Wethospuforpresident

I think IlMattoCavaliere wanted to say that he asked the tactics for the first boss. If the person that advertised the party did put in the description that he requests only experienced players, then it’s fine. I doubt that was the case, and this thing it’s sadly taking place very often, kicking first-timers, especially when they ask for information ( they encourage them to not do that, and then they might lead other parties to a wipe).
IlMattoCavaliere is an example of how new people think of this exploiting, stacking and skipping. They make people think that it is boring to play this game. They are ruining Guild Wars 2, isntead of showing them that it’s actually thrilling to play it.

Wanna learn how to do dungeons ? We’ve got a whole guild for this ._.

Wethospu.6437:

draconx.3102:

IlMattoCavaliere.4013:

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

WTF does “asking the boss” mean?

Roleplaying. Some bosses are pretty hot so it’s not completely new thing to ask them out.

Things often get quite heated.

Like giving lupi flowers!

laharl.8435:

Wethospu.6437:

draconx.3102:

IlMattoCavaliere.4013:

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

WTF does “asking the boss” mean?

Roleplaying. Some bosses are pretty hot so it’s not completely new thing to ask them out.

Things often get quite heated.

Like giving lupi flowers!

That puts Lupi’s slaps into a whole new context.

Stacking and LoSing is not an exploit: it is replying to the game design rationally if your purpose is to maximise your dungeon profit Vs time spent.

If you do dungeons for in-game rewards and not for funzies, the current (poor) dungeon design encourages you to stack and/or LoS bosses and to skip mobs. As most people run dungeons for the tokens and gold, they want to get through it as fast as possible.

Too many mobs with too much health, bosses easy to bug out or neutralise by stacking, short-ranged buffs and convenience for resing downed players = skip + stack.

It’s boring as hell and makes for mind-numbing PVE instances.

Those who think they are good players for doing speed clears in Zerk gear fool themselves. I bet they’d have no chance in a proper tact-based PVE instance (thinking a proper Raid or dungeons like in TSW NM mode or WoW).

For those players who enjoy a bit of RP and doing instances slow and fun for the lore and beautiful aesthetics of GW2 at least can go to [PASS] or LFG for similarly-minded people. Not a bad thing and nothing to make fun of.

Zel

Zelu.1692:

Stacking and LoSing is not an exploit: it is replying to the game design rationally if your purpose is to maximise your dungeon profit Vs time spent.

If you do dungeons for in-game rewards and not for funzies, the current (poor) dungeon design encourages you to stack and/or LoS bosses and to skip mobs. As most people run dungeons for the tokens and gold, they want to get through it as fast as possible.

Too many mobs with too much health, bosses easy to bug out or neutralise by stacking, short-ranged buffs and convenience for resing downed players = skip + stack.

It’s boring as hell and makes for mind-numbing PVE instances.

Those who think they are good players for doing speed clears in Zerk gear fool themselves. I bet they’d have no chance in a proper tact-based PVE instance (thinking a proper Raid or dungeons like in TSW NM mode or WoW).

For those players who enjoy a bit of RP and doing instances slow and fun for the lore and beautiful aesthetics of GW2 at least can go to [PASS] or LFG for similarly-minded people. Not a bad thing and nothing to make fun of.

Zel

Sorry, but I think pretty much all of us have done dungeons without skipping/stacking already…

Zelu.1692:

Stacking and LoSing is not an exploit: it is replying to the game design rationally if your purpose is to maximise your dungeon profit Vs time spent.

If you do dungeons for in-game rewards and not for funzies, the current (poor) dungeon design encourages you to stack and/or LoS bosses and to skip mobs. As most people run dungeons for the tokens and gold, they want to get through it as fast as possible.

Too many mobs with too much health, bosses easy to bug out or neutralise by stacking, short-ranged buffs and convenience for resing downed players = skip + stack.

It’s boring as hell and makes for mind-numbing PVE instances.

Those who think they are good players for doing speed clears in Zerk gear fool themselves. I bet they’d have no chance in a proper tact-based PVE instance (thinking a proper Raid or dungeons like in TSW NM mode or WoW).

For those players who enjoy a bit of RP and doing instances slow and fun for the lore and beautiful aesthetics of GW2 at least can go to [PASS] or LFG for similarly-minded people. Not a bad thing and nothing to make fun of.

Zel

It’s not a bad thing in itself, what’s bad is that the same anti-stacking people are, figuratively speaking, yelling at the top of their lungs how stacking is bad and how it’s exploiting and stuff, while failing to supply any hard evidence to back up their case.
Every week one of these anti-stacking threads pops up, it amazes me how another one can appear when the one from last week hasn’t ever gone beyond the front page.

Zelu.1692:

If you do dungeons for in-game rewards and not for funzies, the current (poor) dungeon design encourages you to stack and/or LoS bosses and to skip mobs. As most people run dungeons for the tokens and gold, they want to get through it as fast as possible.

There’s a misconception here. You think that fun is mutually exclusive from fast. This is not true. Some people have fun when they beat record times. (Personal or public.) Additionally, some people actually have Fun when they have a smooth run where everyone stays alive and the mobs all die quickly.

Zelu.1692:

Those who think they are good players for doing speed clears in Zerk gear fool themselves. I bet they’d have no chance in a proper tact-based PVE instance (thinking a proper Raid or dungeons like in TSW NM mode or WoW).

Another misconception. Many people here do what they do because they’re pragmatic and are usually good at what they do.

Personally for myself, I didn’t play TSW or WoW, I came from FFXI. I played main tank or main healer for my dynamis guild depending on what was needed. The choice to use zerk gear merely states “I’m willing to focus on dealing the most amount of damage and rely on player skill and tactics to mitigate damage.” I think Nikaido mentioned this when he said – and I’m paraphrasing here, “Traits and utilities determine the playstyle, your gear simply determines where you are on the spectrum of how much damage you’re comfortable receiving and dealing.”

Zelu.1692:

For those players who enjoy a bit of RP and doing instances slow and fun for the lore and beautiful aesthetics of GW2 at least can go to [PASS] or LFG for similarly-minded people. Not a bad thing and nothing to make fun of.

Zel

So long as people live and let live. The problem is that you can see the snide jabs that people make about players that skip/stack or run the meta. If a person goes and does this, then it shouldn’t be a surprise that the flames would escalate.

So before you say “don’t make fun of people who don’t stack/skip” stop and reread your posts and reword anything that smacks of talking down to others or saying that they’re unskilled. If you want respect, give it first.

Stacking or 5 people meleeing and circling the same mob doesn’t really make a difference.

DigitalKirin.9714:

I think Nikaido mentioned this when he said – and I’m paraphrasing here, “Traits and utilities determine the playstyle, your gear simply determines where you are on the spectrum of how much damage you’re comfortable receiving and dealing.”

That was Nike, although I do agree with the quote. Gear isn’t a playstyle and doesn’t affect (beside runes/giver’s armor) the boons you can give, the duration of your reflect and all the other forms of support this game provides. Gear doesn’t care whether you’re stunning something with a mace or dpsing with hundred blades. Full pvt doesn’t give you more stun duration, does it? All the crying against berserker gear is just plain ignorance of this game mechanics. It’s even more fun when it’s lumped with stacking implying that only berserkers can or should stack. Stacking is just as effective with other builds, in fact it’s the only way to get anything out of an otherwise useless healbot because you can’t heal people at range now can you? I’d like to see you guys try to “support” a bearbow sitting at 1500 range while you’re trying to “heal” as a mace/shield guardian. Headless chicken is so effective! only berserkers stack, other builds can play the game of headless chicken better.. right? right?

laharl.8435:

Wethospu.6437:

draconx.3102:

IlMattoCavaliere.4013:

I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.

WTF does “asking the boss” mean?

Roleplaying. Some bosses are pretty hot so it’s not completely new thing to ask them out.

Things often get quite heated.

Like giving lupi flowers!

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

DigitalKirin.9714:

So before you say “don’t make fun of people who don’t stack/skip” stop and reread your posts and reword anything that smacks of talking down to others or saying that they’re unskilled. If you want respect, give it first.

Haha! True enough…

Let me rephrase slightly: being a speed-runner and partaking in the stacking/Zerk Meta does not mean that you are unskilled. But it does not require you to have much skills either. Skilled players who have tons of MMO PVE experience and can deal with complex tactics probably do it because it is faster and safer. But so do plenty of others, who probably do not have half the skills or experience.

So there is nothing “pro” or “leet” about being a dungeon speed-runner in GW2. There is just a very easy (and boring I might add) Meta that requires close to no tacts execution.

Nikaido.3457:

I’d like to see you guys try to “support” a bearbow sitting at 1500 range while you’re trying to “heal” as a mace/shield guardian. Headless chicken is so effective! only berserkers stack, other builds can play the game of headless chicken better.. right? right?

That is the point…
Its way easier to buff, support, ress, heal a stacked Group than having to actually think about positioning, wich player and where to support, getting fast to downed players etc etc….

And its OK
With an AI like 1980 you play like games of 1980…find the weakpoint in the script and counter it forever….boring and effective.

We just need anet to introduce an AI smarter than “rush blindly towards your target”, and use counter tactics to stacking.

Also reduce defiant from 5 to 3.

P.S: the mistake of many is that since this game is grindy, almost any player just looks for fast runs to get most rewards…..
The few not doing it are either private groups looking for challenges or those with no dungeon experience unfamiliar with common tactics.
From there the idea that stacking is pro.

Victor.8327:

I think IlMattoCavaliere wanted to say that he asked the tactics for the first boss. If the person that advertised the party did put in the description that he requests only experienced players, then it’s fine. I doubt that was the case, and this thing it’s sadly taking place very often, kicking first-timers, especially when they ask for information ( they encourage them to not do that, and then they might lead other parties to a wipe).
IlMattoCavaliere is an example of how new people think of this exploiting, stacking and skipping. They make people think that it is boring to play this game. They are ruining Guild Wars 2, isntead of showing them that it’s actually thrilling to play it.

Orlly. Nobody would’ve guessed what he meant! /pat pat