Guild Wars 2

I’m on my Bi-annual Summer OMG-Will-the-Next-Expansion-Pleeeease-Come-Out WoW Break and when that happens I always start sniffing around GW2. However, when I read the forums I get discouraged (which I am asking for, I know). So, before I hop back in I just wanted to ask some questions to see what the community has to say:

1. When people say “the game is heading in the wrong direction”, “…away from their manifesto”, is there a consensus on what that actually refers to?

2. Is combat still strongly melee based, in regards to the best performing builds? Are condition builds still nonviable? For example, there was this Axe/WH and SB Ranger Condition build I enjoyed in open PVE but apparently would have gotten me kicked out of dungeons.

3. While that subject is up, is the dungeon community still as…ahem…unforgiving? One of the reasons I came to GW2 in the first place was in hoping to get away from the Hardcore Raiding mentality of WoW. But in seeing how people talked about dungeons and the community playing them, it was wishful thinking. Any reassurances or opposing experiences?

4. What does “kitten” and “hambow” refer to?

Thanks for your input!

Kitten is the forum’s filter word. Lol.

As to the rest, you may get completely polarized opinions. There is never a consensus on the forums, except for the fact that there is no consensus. =)

I’m not gonna answer all your questions, but I’ve never had a hard time finding nicer/more-casual groups for dungeons.

Hell, before I figured out the whole “DPS IS THE BEST ZERK ZERK ZERK” mindset, I used to run dungeons with my guardian in full magi’s gear. It was terrible, but no one ever complained or hated on me, since I just didn’t join zerk listings.

If you wanna play with the hardcore players, expect to be criticized if you’re not hardcore enough. But there are plenty of more casual players and you shouldn’t have an issue getting into one of their groups with the LFG tool.

1 – It is a matter of opinion most of the time, in the manifesto was understood that we wouldn’t get any grind in the game and every build would be viable, but lets face it, it is an impossible goal and people are complaining about it.

2 – In PvE conditions is still non viable, since there is a hard cap on how many condition a target can have, 2 players causing condition or 20 is the same thing, in dungeons power builds in melee is the meta.

3 – Elitists will exist everywhere in any game, try to join a guild and run dungeons with them.

4 – “kitten” is the work used in the forum word filter, “hambow” is a warrior build that use hammer and bow and focus on CC.

1. this is a matter of personal opinion. I would take such point what a grain of salt. Only one’s own experience matters to him/her.

2. This depends on the environment. In PvE you could even fight naked if u want, as in no armor. I wish there was a way to bash mob with your own bare hands. Nothing is there to stop you from plying the game as you want, in PvE. In WvW or PvP well its a whole different story. You will very soon figure out what is right and not so right about your class/build/setup, and what is downright broken.

3. There are plenty of PUGs out there that do dungeons at a leisurely pace. If you advertised correctly, they will come.

4. ‘kitten’ is forum filter. That alone should show you how anet treats its members. Like childs. kitten filters.

goodcannedsam.9841:

1. When people say “the game is heading in the wrong direction”, “…away from their manifesto”, is there a consensus on what that actually refers to?

The manifesto has not come up a lot lately. When it did, there was no consensus. The game is retooling for season 2 of the Living World initiative, with hints that ANet will deliver something different than they did with LW season 1. Depending on your pessimism/optimism ratio, that is either a good thing or a bad thing. ANet is playing its cards close to the vest, so this is really a wait-and-see issue.

2. Is combat still strongly melee based, in regards to the best performing builds? Are condition builds still nonviable? For example, there was this Axe/WH and SB Ranger Condition build I enjoyed in open PVE but apparently would have gotten me kicked out of dungeons.

Melee is still stronger than ranged. Condition builds are reviled in both PvE and PvP forums, but for different reasons. Condition builds are still not rewarding in large PvE events, but are very effective in sPvP. The ranger dungeon meta build uses 1H sword and WH, plus Spotter and traited Frost Spirit. Some PuG pseudo-meta groups are still kicking rangers on principle, but PuG meta groups are often behind the learning curve.

3. While that subject is up, is the dungeon community still as…ahem…unforgiving? One of the reasons I came to GW2 in the first place was in hoping to get away from the Hardcore Raiding mentality of WoW. But in seeing how people talked about dungeons and the community playing them, it was wishful thinking. Any reassurances or opposing experiences?

“Bring what you want groups” in the LFG fill almost immediately, whereas “zerk only” groups tend to wait around. If you’re looking to just join any group immediately, you may run into kicking kittens, or may not. Random experiences are random, and PuGging is RNG all the way.

4. What does “kitten” and “hambow” refer to?

Kitten is inserted by the forum software in place of words that are filtered out as objectionable. Hambow is a warrior build using longbow and hammer as weapon choices. It is used primarily in PvP or WvW.

Thanks for your input!

Enjoy.

goodcannedsam.9841:

I’m on my Bi-annual Summer OMG-Will-the-Next-Expansion-Pleeeease-Come-Out WoW Break and when that happens I always start sniffing around GW2. However, when I read the forums I get discouraged (which I am asking for, I know). So, before I hop back in I just wanted to ask some questions to see what the community has to say:

1. When people say “the game is heading in the wrong direction”, “…away from their manifesto”, is there a consensus on what that actually refers to?

2. Is combat still strongly melee based, in regards to the best performing builds? Are condition builds still nonviable? For example, there was this Axe/WH and SB Ranger Condition build I enjoyed in open PVE but apparently would have gotten me kicked out of dungeons.

3. While that subject is up, is the dungeon community still as…ahem…unforgiving? One of the reasons I came to GW2 in the first place was in hoping to get away from the Hardcore Raiding mentality of WoW. But in seeing how people talked about dungeons and the community playing them, it was wishful thinking. Any reassurances or opposing experiences?

4. What does “kitten” and “hambow” refer to?

Thanks for your input!

1.People generally refer to the “wrong direction” as all new content is in the gem store, and everything is a grind. The manifesto originally stated that the gem store would be non-invasive and there would be no grinding for gear. Now everything is about grinding for gear and we get multiple gem store updates per WEEK but no content for months on end.

2. Conditions are still useless in PvE and WvW. They can be competitive in PvP, but they have been repeatedly nerfed, so they are not the meta currently. All the high end teams have abandonded conditions for the most part, however you will still find a lot of condition builds in hotjoin PvP.

3. Dungeons are what you make them to be. If you want fast efficient runs to maximize your loot/gold then you will need to be a certain class with a certain build and run with similarly minded people. However there are plenty of groups that don’t care and would be happy to take you regardless of class and spec.

4. hambow is an extremely OP warrior build that pretty much every warrior uses in PvP. It offers 10+ seconds of CC, high DPS, 20 seconds of immunity to damage and CC and large stacks of might and high condition uptime in the form of burns. You’ll know what it looks like because your character will become a ping pong ball that can’t do anything but wait until respawn.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Kitten is the forum’s filter word. Lol.

As to the rest, you may get completely polarized opinions. There is never a consensus on the forums, except for the fact that there is no consensus. =)

I completely disagree. See what I did there?

Don’t trust these forums. 90% of what’s written here doesn’t reflect the true state of the game.

1. Nothing. People that are burnt out after playing this game for too long prefer to invent various fallacies about it instead of just admitting that they played for too long and need a break.

2. Conditions are strong in sPvP and WvW roaming but you should be weary of using them if there is another condition-focused build on your team or if you’re doing a zerg event. These builds are crucial for Triple Trouble though. To be fair unless you’re into hardcore speedrunning it doesn’t matter what you run; you will find a team for any dungeon. I ran Cleric Guard for as long as I’ve been playing the game, never had a problem finding a group or completing anything.

3. Nah, met lots of nice people doing dungeons. I don’t know about hardcore community but your average pug or guild group will mostly have nice people. In general groups that lfg with “100k AP + only War, Guard, Ele FULL ZERK NO NOOBS” tend to be terrible (speaking from experience) so stay away from them.

4. Kitten – forum filter. Hambow – Generic Hammer/Bow Warrior build used in sPvP.

Spirigo.2897:

Don’t trust these forums. 90% of what’s written here doesn’t reflect the true state of the game.

1. Nothing. People that are burnt out after playing this game for too long prefer to invent various fallacies about it instead of just admitting that they played for too long and need a break.

Your opening sentence applies to your own post as well.