Guild Wars 2

so i have just hit level 40. i will say that i do like the fact in this game that you totally need to be on the move at all times. so far it is a difficult adjustment for me, i am used to wow and for pve questing you really did not have to move like you do in this game.

but sometimes i think it is a bit overboard, too much. i feel that lately i just go up against mob after mob that has some knockback or knockdown ability. the knockback i find the most irritating because i often get knocked into some geometry and cannot see, then after jumping and spinning some i can get out of it, and then i am knocked back again into some other geometry i cannot see out of. so maybe i am just lazy or unadjusted to it. i like the challenge, but sometimes i am just thinking inside my head, ‘ok, enough already’.

so should i just learn to dodge better etc? put all skills and traits into things that can give me stability? i have already started to do this some, but seems a lot of my stability stuff all goes off cooldown real quick and then i become a soccer ball for the mobs.

so what do all of you think? knockback stuff is good where it is at? a bit excessive or not?

Save the dodges for the knockback, typically speaking it’s the one ability they have that does the most damage or leads to a lot of unmitigated damage while you’re downed.

Knockdowns you can’t avoid because they’re instant, is sort of lame. Otherwise, the concept I like. The fact the not all classes have access to them is a bit unfair.

I played ranged for my first toon (necro) and didn’t had troubles with knockback much I still had to move a lot due my low health/defense, then I switched to a warrior and I thought well this class is freaking easy to play Tons of health + armor + regen (signet) move in spam abilities, done…. for the first 20 levels then knockback came into play…

Point being the reason for knockback/daze/etc is to counterbalance phys centric builds. I’m learning how to avoid some. It is frustrating though, but with time I´m sure we will find workarounds.

ya, i am kind of unsure of what to think about it. i like it that things are more challenging, but sometimes i am just kind of going nuts after fighting through a group of mobs with knockback

Knockback isn’t that bad.

Just learn to use dodge with the right timing. I may get knocked down/back maybe 2/10 times now? Most mobs have an animation that will signal their big attacks. Once you get to know these, it’ll get much easier.

Yes, and 3.5-4 seconds of knockdown is excessive. Pullbacks are what’s especially bad, though those can be dodged but the game needs further camera zooming so we can see what’s coming from behind.

I have a love/hate relationship with knockback. I like it as an immersive element of combat. I don’t like how often it happens though. That said, I am not trained to watch animations of mobs in game, other than “bosses” whose animations are a sign of a new phase of encounter.

GW2 brings this concept to every fight. Animations are different and will indicate in many cases an impending smash like attack. I’ve found that by moving alot, using the dodge mechanic and watching the mob, I can avoid many knockbacks. It’s new, and it’s hard, but like with other games, will be learned with repeated use.

There are a variety of ways to avoid knockdowns, dodging being only one of them. Many skills grant evasion, blocking, stability, and other effects that allow you to completely ignore those types of attacks. The trick is knowing when to use them.

This is why button spamming in this game is a recipe for fail (despite what the detractors try to tell everyone). If you blow those skills that give you a defensive component, just because they are off cooldown and do some damage, then you have nothing to protect yourself with.

Learn your skills and learn your opponents. Play patiently and come to understand when you should keep certain skills at the ready, and when you should use them. When you get that, you’ll be spending a lot less time on your back or being slammed, kitten over teakettle, into the terrain.

Sometimes it’s the timing for me… I’ll be in mid-dodge or initiate the dodge just as the object leave the enemy (assuming it’s fast, for slower things I let it get about midway or closer) yet the mob ability still makes contact somehow.

Agemnon.4608:

Yes, and 3.5-4 seconds of knockdown is excessive. Pullbacks are what’s especially bad, though those can be dodged but the game needs further camera zooming so we can see what’s coming from behind.

CoF is particularly bad for this as many times I’ve been knocked down and “laying down” for like 10 seconds or so and end up dying :/
And even when I dodge they hit me mid roll…..

So far, I’ve had just two issues with knockback being severely problematic.

One, with a group of centaurs attacking the Earthworks in Kessex Hills, I had a nice chain of being on the ground. Get up, get knocked down again immediately. Get up, get knocked down immediately. Not very fun for melee classes (I ended up switching to my longbow on my warrior, but if there hadn’t been other players killing the centaurs too, I would have easily died).

And two, in the human personal story with the “I always wanted to join the circus” option. One of the golems had a knockback skill which threw me against the wall, then continued to do huge damage and throw me into the wall over and over and over and over again.

I don’t mind the interrupt once in a while, but the chained interrupts that you can’t do anything about are something that I’d consider to be excessive. Knocked down once, zero chance to do anything until the game decides to stop stomping on your head.

DandySlayer.7019:

And even when I dodge they hit me mid roll…..

Good call. I thought ANet meant dodging to make you avoid all negative effects and damage, yet when something like an Abomination or certain dungeon mobs lunge at you, dodge won’t help you. I wonder if that’s intentional and if so, why they choose to allow dodging to be interrupted.

That said, I don’t think KDs are a big problem. A good number of professions have abilities that work even in a knocked down state, and people are still figuring out the full capabilities of each profession. Some professions are more susceptible to KDs than others, but in general, KDs are far less powerful than in GW1.

I don’t think KDs are unbalanced at the moment, however, if anything was to be looked over regarding this particular disable, I would say the fact that suffering from a knock down while already on the floor will reset the timer, in essence knock locking you for a good amount of time. Depending on your profession, the severity of knock locks might cause you some real problems, while others can just blink away.

ya know what though, i have to add this now. i am in gendarren fields at the skillpoint just south of nebo. you need to kill 2 veteran saplings. so yes maybe i need to learn some more, but it is a knockdown type mob. so i kite it, stall it, use abilities etc. but i get out of range of skillpoint and it resets. so i think ok i cant back up. so i stand face to face with it, it knocks me back, chases me, gets out of its zone, and then has to run back, and then fully heals itself. ummmmm, come on? seriously? so then what i finally ahd to do was to make sure my back was pointed to the skillpoint hub as best i can so when it knocks me back it does not knock me back out of its zone and reset. i finally finished it, but really? i mean really?

Yes, but there are ways to deal such as laying down an AoE field when he commits to his knockdown animation. For risen downward swing means knockdown.

ah well ty for the hint about the risen. much appreciated

Coming from Age of Conan, the combat here is a breeze. Learn to dodge.

Kd is fine. Spam immobilize… That I cannot stand…

Perhaps we could use some DR on CC moves.

knockdown lasts sooo long

I love it. Sure it’s annoying to be knocked down by an NPC, but I get up again…. In PvP there is so much fun to be had from using “Death From Above” and jumping down off the walls of a keep into a crowd of enemies… Seeing their bodies flying in all directions is… exquisite…

CC is excessive in this game. Still ok during the leveling (although Kraits have a very nasty tendency to chain CC you) but horrid at 80.

I don’t know how some people are getting by fighting multiple mobs in Orr when even as a guardian who has so many CC break skills, I don’t have enough to counter even 1 encounter. Certainly Anet can’t expect me to fill my whole bar completely with CC break abilities; that really defeats the purpose of giving us more than 1 ability.

On my guardian, If I’m fighting mobs in Orr, it’s just a chain of various types of CC that I will break when I can but something else will be applied or they’ll just pull me back when I try to kite them. Also, you can’t kite certain mobs (melee mobs mind you). they have permaspeed that is faster than your strafe/kite+speed. I’m pretty sure they can match my 33% speed in a straight line run. Not that they even need the speed because they can just pull you or root/stun you at will when more than 1 is present.