Guild Wars 2

Thank you interested people and GW2 staff for reading the following. I will try to keep it short and relevant:

New Map

For 1/4 of a map it feels like a solid map. There is a lot going on, I like the cycles and the complexity of the terrain. That being said, some events were confusing. I understand there were a fair number of bugs breaking them, but some were… not explained well in the toggles.

Take for example the south vine event. It has two sides. One side, where the mortars are, is fairly easy to get to, but does nothing for the event if nothing is happening on the other side. The side of the vine which is an area control event is harder to get to, which is nice, but since it isn’t marked well, most people didn’t realize it existed and assumed the event broke. Additionally the instructions are not very clear, and the icons do not mark it well. This means it isn’t something players stumble upon regularly enough to be discovered… making the event confusing.

Old and new maps

I am going to say that I adore the map achievement prizes. The ones you earn at the end of each map event that go up the more you do? Love and all the props.

Mobs

Mob balancing is way off. I went adventuring with friends in Central Tyria, the Jungle, dungeons, and Fractals.

The Jungle and Fractals seem to be pretty equally balanced at the 30-40 fractal scale with appropriate AR. Meaning the Mobs felt as powerful as they should to a new specialization (I used the tempest in fractals), and didn’t feel any weaker than the jungle mobs with the same ranks, or weaker than when I play on my lvl 80 Mesmer of similar AR.

That is not the case for Central Tyria or Dungeons. Mobs in these locations felt significantly under-powered compared to the new builds and current classes.

My group played CoF with 2 revenants 2 tempests and 1 chronomancer (me). We melted Story, Path 1 and Path 2. We ran all three faster than we ever have before. We blatantly broke strategic conventions: not skipping junk mobs but instead trying to lengthen play by doing them, Avoiding planning, or tactical positioning for longevity because… we were just that powerful… it honestly didn’t matter.

Mind, its not a very drastic change in power. We did die from time to time when we occasionally yolo’d. So certainly not broken but noticeable.

Skill Content

The Adventures were fun, some were exceptionally (in a good way) challenging. The mastery points were just so barely out of reach to make them annoying (in a good way). I felt like I had things I could work towards and climb to. That’s ultimately what you want to replace leveling and I thought this was enjoyable. I cant wait for the release for other equally thoughtful content.

CONT below

Chronomancer

I thought that I would hate this specialization from when it was explained to us on Points of Interest. I main a Mesmer, and I play a torment shatter build. I was really reluctant to actually try it. Thanks to MMOInks, I actually tried it.

I was happy I enjoyed it. I am scared that’s because it is a smidgen…. strong. I was able to shatter a lot faster, though I noticed (Thank goodness) that the more I tried to rapid burst, the more I was eventually locked out on cool down to dangerous levels. So I do feel that there is a good balance, but again, I’m worried that you will nerf it.

Please don’t. Per my Mobs comments, the strength comes mainly from the fact that Central Tyrian mobs are weaker than Jungle Mobs. In the jungle I felt right I wasn’t OP by any means (I died a lot actually), but in central Tyria I was…. powerful. That’s a game balance thing, not a Chronomancer balance thing.

Dragon Hunter

I made one, I was more excited to play it than Chronomancer initially. I think you have seen this comment before but… it doesn’t live up to its name. The rain of arrows feels… wimpy when we compare it to Ranger’s LB5. The traps are nice, but they feel isolated, and I personally couldn’t see any synergy with current Guardian builds. Then again, I don’t play my guardian much…so take this as you will.

Reaper

I am not as googly as others are about this class. Then again I didn’t really test it as deeply as I wanted. It feels fairly solid from what I have seen. It isn’t as OP as I was worried it might have been. The shroud is fun, and thank goodness it is just fun, and not a “Reaper shroud or bust” type situation. I enjoy that I feel as powerful in Reaper shroud as I do in normal shroud…. but in different ways. I look forward to playing with shouts next session.

Revenant

It no longer feels and acts wimpy. YAY. With the swords and the assassins stance I feel that more synergy among the different legends exists and that there is more build diversity…. although it could seriously be better. Sword/Axe and Sword/Sword play uniquely enough that it gives the class a good DPS feel, to go along with the good Tank and Heal specs it already has.

Tempest

I love tempest. Please read those words to “Wash the pain away” of hearing people upset about warhorn. I am GLAD warhorn is a viable weapon. I was even earning kill achievements using it! I feel the elements have strong use distinctions, and are all equally strong in Tempest.

Tempest is strong but fragile, so the earth and water attunments really matter it feels, and Fire is SO MUCH fun to just stack and burn enemies.

I feel like I’m a force of nature, but not a mini god. Good job!

THANKS