Guild Wars 2

I have 4 months playing guild wars 2 and I think I can make an opinion of it.

I’ll be honest, I never had an experience in MMO like Guild Wars 2 (PVE Content – Living World), is just beautiful.

But there are other things that upset me a lot, including WvW & PVP. I will not talk about it, everyone knows whats poppin.

All I want to talk here is about the Specializations. In this game you’re forced to use 1 meta build in different modes, YOU don’t have the freedom to create your own BUILD, They’re gonna scold you if you don’t have that " Bored Meta Build " unlike the Guild Wars (Original & others MMO’s) you could run soooo many crazy build’s and be successful but in Guild Wars 2 you have (1 class = 1 build) and then a massive amount of useless traits and skills.

You can have 3 specializations available in your build and then only 5 skills on your bar, really? is that enough for you?.. is just boring to use the same 3 traitlines on a class and the same weapon for 4+ MONTHS. You can’t customize your primary weapon skills with your secondary, or vice versa. You can’t edit your traits and skills as you want. Everything is like in “automatic” just click here & click there, there you got, done.

I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

No need to be sorry. If that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel.

I can agree on the simplicity. Though it came with some benefits, it lost a lot of the quirks, customization, and amount of builds that could be had with the old trait system.

I wish they would at least go back to that format of being able to select Adept traits in the Master tier, and Adept and Master traits in the Grandmaster tier like before.

Granted, with a bit of tweaking to the traits again. Man, builds were a bit more unique and diverse back then. Ah, that was a good ’ole time before (at least for me).

I don’t know which meta build you are reading but in most cases these “meta”/boring builds have loads of variations to adapt to different situations. For example, the “meta/fixed/boring” build for the Guardian has all the utility slots open to choose which one is the best depending on the encounter.

A lot of the traits/skills are indeed useless though. But they under perform so badly compared to the alternatives that there is no point taking them

I don’t feel forced to play a meta build. Some builds are meta because they work especially well in certain situations, but there are plenty of competing builds that work really well (just not “as well”).

Well after reading your post I can say that your title is wrong. It’s not the game that’s disgusting, it’s the player mentality when it come to group content. What disgust you is the fact that players desperatly seek efficiency through known build. The game itself does not force you to follow this trend.

Players are at the center of most of the great issues of the game. Things like meta build hurt group content, thing like “want to win no matter what” kill WvW because player stacks on winning server and leave losing server… etc. It’s always the competitive mentality of the player that hurt your experience, not the game itself.

I’m not saying that the community is bad but the community is responsible for a lot of issue that hurt the gameplay experience of most of the player. There are even player that complain about issue that they seek for (WvW queue).

I don’t, and have never played meta builds. I just hang out with people who don’t care if I play meta builds or not.

I’ve never used a meta-build in my life. Never seen one, and frankly, I don’t care to.

If you feel pressured to use some cookie-cutter build, perhaps you could create your own party/team/squad for whatever content, and use any build you desire.

Good luck.

If it makes you feel any better, the gameplay was much more balanced and fun 2 years ago. When they changed the trait system and released HoT they destroyed build variety.

You just came a little late to the party.

Xillllix.3485:

If it makes you feel any better, the gameplay was much more balanced and fun 2 years ago. When they changed the trait system and released HoT they destroyed build variety.

You just came a little late to the party.

IF we had like 6-8 traits to choose and 3 elites, for sure we could have that builds diversity, it will be a very slow process to regain a bit of it.

Meanwhile, every class will be a bit of others, every class gains traps, stealth, etc, Anet needs to stop focusing on add weapons that other classes have and makes traits that will change the actuall skills of the existent weapons.. after we get a Spear on guardian and warrior XD.
Some classes gain weapon other dont, but new traitline would change the skills on some existent weapons.

Xillllix.3485:

If it makes you feel any better, the gameplay was much more balanced and fun 2 years ago. When they changed the trait system and released HoT they destroyed build variety.

You just came a little late to the party.

The number of potential builds were reduced with the new trait system (simply because of a lack of potential combinations) but there have always been meta builds that players shifted to.

I’ve never even been asked for a meta build and I’m not sure where anyone would be asked, except for raiding. My guess is the OP tried to join an established raid group, not a “whoever can join may join” pug and the established raid group wanted certain builds and wouldn’t take him. If that’s it, make your own pug group and use whatever build you like and go raiding.

Perhaps the OP could clarify who was asking for specific builds when.

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

Ayrilana.1396:

Xillllix.3485:

If it makes you feel any better, the gameplay was much more balanced and fun 2 years ago. When they changed the trait system and released HoT they destroyed build variety.

You just came a little late to the party.

The number of potential builds were reduced with the new trait system (simply because of a lack of potential combinations) but there have always been meta builds that players shifted to.

Exactly Ayrilana, Meta build really start to appear 3 month after the release of the game. It took a bit more time for players to rely heavily on them but the issue didn’t came from the specialization system.

In raiding there is a healthy build and composition variety in my opinion, while certain builds and comps might not be prefered by pugs, there are a bunch if viable builds for almost every class, and some wacky builds that aren’t terible, just definitely not optimal compared to what is meta.

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

Not every build contributes to the win condition, much as having only quarterbacks on the field for a professional football game does not contribute to a win condition over a more appropriately built team.

When in competition against a top built team, played by those who know how, a non top built character is actually detracting from the likelihood of victory for his team. He might not detract aw much as not having anyone in his spot but detracting less than other possibilities is not a real contribution to the victory condition.

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

I have 4 months playing guild wars 2 and I think I can make an opinion of it.
I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

Game has literally endless possible builds at disposal, some better some worse. There is even few meta builds per profession.You meantion other MMOs… but let me remind you that other MMOs are mostly limited by the type of armor you must use (in WoW for example if you are warrior you get strength plate items and that’s it. Zero customisation in that regard), and you’re also limited by the attacks you get (you pick Protection talents and that’s it. Attacks are always same, you have no control over anything and your talent build is either PvP or PvE. One single build with minor variations). GW gives you option to make a healer, tank, support, dps out of anything (some better, some worse). Seriously, combinations are unlimited. Meta builds will always exist everywhere. They aren’t necessarily best in damage, they are just well optimised and balanced when it comes to dealing damage and surviving.

You can’t expect a build that is randomly picked traits with non-fitting armor to be equal to build that has carefully picked and tested combination of traits, armor, runes, weapons and playstyle.

Ashen.2907:

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

Not every build contributes to the win condition, much as having only quarterbacks on the field for a professional football game does not contribute to a win condition over a more appropriately built team.

When in competition against a top built team, played by those who know how, a non top built character is actually detracting from the likelihood of victory for his team. He might not detract aw much as not having anyone in his spot but detracting less than other possibilities is not a real contribution to the victory condition.

No more than non-meta build pre HoT does compared to a non meta build post HoT. I think the effectiveness of builds when compared against players in highly competiveeconpetitive play is a poor way to measure builds among regular players.

Ayrilana.1396:

Ashen.2907:

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

Not every build contributes to the win condition, much as having only quarterbacks on the field for a professional football game does not contribute to a win condition over a more appropriately built team.

When in competition against a top built team, played by those who know how, a non top built character is actually detracting from the likelihood of victory for his team. He might not detract aw much as not having anyone in his spot but detracting less than other possibilities is not a real contribution to the victory condition.

No more than non-meta build pre HoT does compared to a non meta build post HoT. I think the effectiveness of builds when compared against players in highly competiveeconpetitive play is a poor way to measure builds among regular players.

I agree that using competitive play as a yardstick for measuring builds for non-competitive play among, “regular,” players is not the best idea…but the person you quoted when you claimed that every build contributes was specifically speaking of competitive play. In competitive play not every build contributes to the win condition, though some do detract less than others.

Ashen.2907:

Ayrilana.1396:

Ashen.2907:

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

Not every build contributes to the win condition, much as having only quarterbacks on the field for a professional football game does not contribute to a win condition over a more appropriately built team.

When in competition against a top built team, played by those who know how, a non top built character is actually detracting from the likelihood of victory for his team. He might not detract aw much as not having anyone in his spot but detracting less than other possibilities is not a real contribution to the victory condition.

No more than non-meta build pre HoT does compared to a non meta build post HoT. I think the effectiveness of builds when compared against players in highly competiveeconpetitive play is a poor way to measure builds among regular players.

I agree that using competitive play as a yardstick for measuring builds for non-competitive play among, “regular,” players is not the best idea…but the person you quoted when you claimed that every build contributes was specifically speaking of competitive play. In competitive play not every build contributes to the win condition, though some do detract less than others.

They were referring to WvW/PvP under the competitive play blanket when it would only be applicable for players in highly competive play when skill level is more or less equal. There are builds that can contribute which are not meta.

You are chosing a dificulty level. If you want to play on easy, your options are limited. If you want to play on hard, there are no restrictions. GW2 is a community game. So if you choose a higher difficulty, the gameplay becomes harder but many other things as well.

The decision is yours.

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

That is the biggest load of garbage I have ever heard said about this games PvP, I hesitate to even call it an opinion, because that implies subjectivity, whereas what you just stated is just flat out incorrect by any and every measurable variable. It’s as much an opinion as any claim of the world being flat.

The objective in this games PvP is ridiculously specific, you get the point, and you stay there. Few things contribute to that outside the meta builds save occasional cases of dumb luck or poor play on the part of an opponent. And no, I’m not claiming this because I like it, in fact it’s pushed me out of PvP, I’m saying that’s the way it is because that is the way it is.

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

Conncept.7638:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re not forced to play a specific build. if others are requiring you to play a specific build in their groups then create your own.

PvP and WvW are competitions, they don’t require those builds because they are just snobs like the old dungeons or new raid groups, they require them because the objective is to win, and so few builds contribute to the win condition.

Every build contributes. You’re stuck with the mentality that only the meta builds are viable when that is far from the truth.

That is the biggest load of garbage I have ever heard said about this games PvP, I hesitate to even call it an opinion, because that implies subjectivity, whereas what you just stated is just flat out incorrect by any and every measurable variable. It’s as much an opinion as any claim of the world being flat.

The objective in this games PvP is ridiculously specific, you get the point, and you stay there. Few things contribute to that outside the meta builds save occasional cases of dumb luck or poor play on the part of an opponent. And no, I’m not claiming this because I like it, in fact it’s pushed me out of PvP, I’m saying that’s the way it is because that is the way it is.

Meta is not the only build that a player must use in order to contribute to their team. You can choose to disbelieve that but it won’t make it any less true.

Actually, so what you’re saying is that those players without HoT are not contributing to their team and thus must be a wasted slot.

i think time is what will fix this issue for ppl that look for more depth and by that i mean at some point there will be multiple elite specs and a bigger variety of play styles to chose from given that they will not nerf each current elite spec into oblivion to make the new ones look better

also you dont just have 5 skills… you got 5 skills for each hand of weapons u use 5 utilities and the class specific skills some classes have even more making them more complex to play and from what i know gw 1 had also a small number of skills you can put in your bar and use
i also find the 1 only build statement a complete lie you can have many builds in each class lets take ranger for example you have condi ranger power buffer druid healer druid etc etc on mesmer you have chronotank power mesmer and condi mesmer etc etc some classes has less build variety some moght have even more thenthing is its not the games fault its the mentality of the players for thinking that the meta builds are the best which is kinda incorrect meta builds are the best when following meta strategies in meta comps you can drift off of that and still have success.

martin.1653:

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

I have 4 months playing guild wars 2 and I think I can make an opinion of it.
I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

Game has literally endless possible builds at disposal

That’s not just his opinion. If there’s one thing missing from GW1 then it’s build variety. Now you’ve got 5 skills on a weapon which can’t be changed (not every class can use every weapon) + 1 healing skill.
What’s left is 3 utility skills you can freely choose from + 1 elite skill.
Try to get a few useful, unique builds with that.

What I see here is someone trying to do end-game things in GW2 while never touching anything similar in GW1. Spoiler alert: there was as much “play meta” in GW1 as there is in GW2 ESPECIALLY in PVP.

If you say you could play YOUR build in GW1 PVP then you haven’t ever played PVP in GW1 outside random arenas. And you can always play in custom arenas or hotjoins in GW2, nobody will ever scold you for not playing the meta build there.

Another “GW1 was so awesome” post without any substance or even truth in it.

Tekey.7946:

martin.1653:

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

I have 4 months playing guild wars 2 and I think I can make an opinion of it.
I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

Game has literally endless possible builds at disposal

That’s not just his opinion. If there’s one thing missing from GW1 then it’s build variety. Now you’ve got 5 skills on a weapon which can’t be changed (not every class can use every weapon) + 1 healing skill.
What’s left is 3 utility skills you can freely choose from + 1 elite skill.
Try to get a few useful, unique builds with that.

Every profession has multiple weapons that can be switched in many cases, you pick any combination of 3 from the given traitlines, and then on top of all that there is very large gear/rune customisation. Just because something carries label ‘meta’ doesn’t mean that everything else is bad. Nobody will ever put ‘meta’ label on some obscure build, but that build might be perfect for a certain tasks in WvW for example.

The whole talk about meta builds is really pointless. Not all meta builds are equally effective. Some are op and other are very situational. So where does one actually draw the line what qualifies as meta and what doesn’t?

As someone who does not play “meta” builds in both WvW, PvE, etc I’m going to say I completely disagree.

Meta builds are generally good at what they are supposed to do. Meta means that someone made a build and at least one sub-community in game has said “this is a good build.” Newer players benefit from meta because they aren’t familiar enough with all the cost-benefit analysis that, maybe, went into the build. This doesn’t actually make the meta builds the “best” builds.

Best is subjective, and many people who make strong builds don’t like sharing them with others. Competitiveness and uniqueness are both reasons why they don’t. I like to win and I like it when my build is different from other players. This makes it harder for WvW enemies to understand what I’m doing and in turn that makes it easier to beat them.

If you think about your play style—I usually start with the weapons I want and then build from there—the likelihood that you can make a build at least as strong as the meta is high. Traits and utilities enhance the strengths and solve the weaknesses of the weapon set(s) you choose.

Contributing in a PvP context does mean winning fights and holding points. But there are many ways to hold points and many ways to kill players. Doing something unexpected may be more effective than running a meta build everyone is used to fighting against.

martin.1653:

Tekey.7946:

martin.1653:

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

I have 4 months playing guild wars 2 and I think I can make an opinion of it.
I’m sorry, but I think this game is very simple to me.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

Game has literally endless possible builds at disposal

That’s not just his opinion. If there’s one thing missing from GW1 then it’s build variety. Now you’ve got 5 skills on a weapon which can’t be changed (not every class can use every weapon) + 1 healing skill.
What’s left is 3 utility skills you can freely choose from + 1 elite skill.
Try to get a few useful, unique builds with that.

Every profession has multiple weapons that can be switched in many cases, you pick any combination of 3 from the given traitlines, and then on top of all that there is very large gear/rune customisation. Just because something carries label ‘meta’ doesn’t mean that everything else is bad. Nobody will ever put ‘meta’ label on some obscure build, but that build might be perfect for a certain tasks in WvW for example.

The whole talk about meta builds is really pointless. Not all meta builds are equally effective. Some are op and other are very situational. So where does one actually draw the line what qualifies as meta and what doesn’t?

Runes don’t add anything to a build but increasing your stats. You don’t have a new build just because you changed runes. Traitlines are complementing your build which is in fact a form of customization.

But I’m talking plainly about the skills you’ve got in your skillbar. There are several skills which no class ever uses because they’re completely useless. The same with weapons. Some are just extremely slow or don’t have any use at all – you won’t use them either because it’s not fun to play.
Put everything else aside and do this:

• Pick a game mode (WvW, PvP, PvE)
• Create multiple unique (useful!) builds
• Compare them to the meta builds
• Look if they’re still unique

4 months is not a lot of time to fully introduce yourself to the game let alone WvW and PvP communities!

This thread makes me sad.

• You can play and beat any content in the game using any build you want. (Including even raids)
• The ‘meta’ is decided by what minimizes risks and maximizes efficiency while still doing as much damage as possible, and varies wildly for different content.
• If you play with a guild group, you can play whatever you want wherever you want so long as they’re aware and cool with it (and if you find casual groups, they will be).
• This exact same thing happened in GW1 (DwG / Trenchway / Ursanway / etc) and happens in every other team game. People want to be efficient.

I have never, once been forced to change my build since head start. I may change a skill here and there based on what’s needed at the time (reflects, boon strip), but never been told what I have isn’t good enough. And I run some pretty obscure crap. Power necro, power engineer. It’s what I love, I still beat the content

Rising Dusk.2408:

This thread makes me sad.

• You can play and beat any content in the game using any build you want. (Including even raids)
• The ‘meta’ is decided by what minimizes risks and maximizes efficiency while still doing as much damage as possible, and varies wildly for different content.
• If you play with a guild group, you can play whatever you want wherever you want so long as they’re aware and cool with it (and if you find casual groups, they will be).
• This exact same thing happened in GW1 (DwG / Trenchway / Ursanway / etc) and happens in every other team game. People want to be efficient.

This post is only applicable to PvE. The OP speaks for sPvP and WvW.

There are some builds which mathematically cannot kill others in the PvP formats unless the target literally just doesn’t use abilities.

The difference in efficacy between builds is so ridiculous that GW2’s PvP environments are a running joke in a large segment of the MMO community.

The game was absolutely excellent around two years ago, aside from the D/D bunker ele issue. As Xil said, he’s late to the fun, because to be competitive, you’re not playing much straying off the meta, and some classes are more fortunate than others.

DeceiverX.8361:

This post is only applicable to PvE. The OP speaks for sPvP and WvW.

Their post is applicable in all areas with perhaps the exception of pro league.

DeceiverX.8361:

There are some builds which mathematically cannot kill others in the PvP formats unless the target literally just doesn’t use abilities.

There are some meta builds which mathematically cannot kill some builds in the PvP formats. Also, just because someone can make a terrible build, doesn’t not mean that excludes all other potential non-meta builds from contributing or being nearly effective.

DeceiverX.8361:

The difference in efficacy between builds is so ridiculous that GW2’s PvP environments are a running joke in a large segment of the MMO community.

As far as I’m aware, there’s no platform that encompasses all MMO players so the bolded part is far from being a fact but more of your opinion.

Some builds are more efficient than others. This doesn’t mean that the gap between some non-meta builds is that large between meta builds. Some non-meta builds could be more effective given the enemies team composition and your own team’s.

DeceiverX.8361:

The game was absolutely excellent around two years ago, aside from the D/D bunker ele issue. As Xil said, he’s late to the fun, because to be competitive, you’re not playing much straying off the meta, and some classes are more fortunate than others.

There was a meta two years ago just as there is today. Those on here claiming that anyone who doesn’t use a meta build now isn’t contributing to their team would be saying the same back then too. Players are stuck with the meta mentality and are blinded to other potential builds. It’s their own fault for relying solely on meta builds.

I have been making my own builds and they are very very efficient i am telling you my builds are great , amazing because they suit my game-play style – Trump 2016

The problem is that every one /most creates their builds by the site Meta Battle -
which cripples them to some exprienced players in pvp
i know what the other Necro is running or the Warrior or the Guardian i know for sure
which makes it easier for me to create a build that will counter it

if players would of made their own builds and not focus on one meta build
think how challenging it would be to face one !
because you have no idea what he has made that way is way more fun
telling your self "hmm i wonder what he used "

DeceiverX.8361:

Rising Dusk.2408:

This thread makes me sad.

• You can play and beat any content in the game using any build you want. (Including even raids)
• The ‘meta’ is decided by what minimizes risks and maximizes efficiency while still doing as much damage as possible, and varies wildly for different content.
• If you play with a guild group, you can play whatever you want wherever you want so long as they’re aware and cool with it (and if you find casual groups, they will be).
• This exact same thing happened in GW1 (DwG / Trenchway / Ursanway / etc) and happens in every other team game. People want to be efficient.

This post is only applicable to PvE. The OP speaks for sPvP and WvW.

There are some builds which mathematically cannot kill others in the PvP formats unless the target literally just doesn’t use abilities.

The difference in efficacy between builds is so ridiculous that GW2’s PvP environments are a running joke in a large segment of the MMO community.

The game was absolutely excellent around two years ago, aside from the D/D bunker ele issue. As Xil said, he’s late to the fun, because to be competitive, you’re not playing much straying off the meta, and some classes are more fortunate than others.

From what I understand, most tournament teams don’t use metas, so I’m not sure why people would insist you need the meta to succeed.

Meta is all about solo play. It means you can team up with anyone and know what they’re doing because everyone is on the same page. But I can’t but help think people who are serious about PvP who have a team, who use voice chat are probably able to do a lot of things that the meta can’t. Seems to work that way anyway.

If you’re looking for complexity and variety then play an Elementalist or
Engineer.

Vayne.8563:

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

I know this is anecdotal but it sure seems quiet to me but then I might just be the weirdo that every one ignores when I type in Guild chat perhaps.

Take it from me buddy.. I hate the Meta standards in MMO.. in fact I actively rebel against the Meta by refusing to use the builds others claim are the best..

When people were running Necro Meta builds in PvP I was running my own custom Minion Master and slaughtering players left and right like Dhuum on happy pills.

Meta Builds are nothing but the opinions of groups on what’s the best way to play and I for one will play how I like with whatever builds I like..
The only exception to this is raiding where your build is important to the success of a group..

For Fractals.. dungeons.. pvp.. wvw.. Pve play whatever the fire island chain you want to..
I’m still running my Minion Master in a lot of Gw2 content and for the most part I don’t even need other players to beat dungeons and reasonably high level fractals etc I can do it alone.. other people just make it faster.

If you don’t want to play the Meta builds then don’t… 2 of my main characters slaughtered their way through the entire HoT content without even bothering with their Elite Specialization.. there are still plenty of great builds available without the elite spec traitline..

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Vayne.8563:

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

I know this is anecdotal but it sure seems quiet to me but then I might just be the weirdo that every one ignores when I type in Guild chat perhaps.

Couple of simple questions? Do you play during the prime time of your guild? Do you participate in guild events? Do you log into your guild’s voice chat program?

There are certainly times when my guild isn’t busy. Right now it’s 7:41 am EST and there’s only four people online repping the guild. and one person online repping a different guild. I certainly wouldn’t judge how active a guild is if I logged in right now, because how would I know? Most people would be sleeping or getting ready for work. In fact the only reason we have five people online is because two of them are in Australia.

Guilds all have times at which they have traffic and times at which fewer people play. But you can at least look at how many people log in every day in the guild panel and get some idea if your guild is active.

You can show up to scheduled events and see how many people participate.

Vayne.8563:

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Vayne.8563:

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

I know this is anecdotal but it sure seems quiet to me but then I might just be the weirdo that every one ignores when I type in Guild chat perhaps.

Couple of simple questions? Do you play during the prime time of your guild? Do you participate in guild events? Do you log into your guild’s voice chat program?

There are certainly times when my guild isn’t busy. Right now it’s 7:41 am EST and there’s only four people online repping the guild. and one person online repping a different guild. I certainly wouldn’t judge how active a guild is if I logged in right now, because how would I know? Most people would be sleeping or getting ready for work. In fact the only reason we have five people online is because two of them are in Australia.

Guilds all have times at which they have traffic and times at which fewer people play. But you can at least look at how many people log in every day in the guild panel and get some idea if your guild is active.

You can show up to scheduled events and see how many people participate.

Ah I see so most of The socialization might be occurring on a 3rd party chat server, during prime time.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Vayne.8563:

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Vayne.8563:

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

I know this is anecdotal but it sure seems quiet to me but then I might just be the weirdo that every one ignores when I type in Guild chat perhaps.

Couple of simple questions? Do you play during the prime time of your guild? Do you participate in guild events? Do you log into your guild’s voice chat program?

There are certainly times when my guild isn’t busy. Right now it’s 7:41 am EST and there’s only four people online repping the guild. and one person online repping a different guild. I certainly wouldn’t judge how active a guild is if I logged in right now, because how would I know? Most people would be sleeping or getting ready for work. In fact the only reason we have five people online is because two of them are in Australia.

Guilds all have times at which they have traffic and times at which fewer people play. But you can at least look at how many people log in every day in the guild panel and get some idea if your guild is active.

You can show up to scheduled events and see how many people participate.

Ah I see so most of The socialization might be occurring on a 3rd party chat server, during prime time.

Sure. For one thing, some people are running fractals, and not likely to chat in guild chat during that, or doing PvP or WvW, or a dragon stand run, or even an AB meta. During those times, I almost never chat in guild chat. I talk to the people on mumble, because I don’t have to read and fight at the same time.

This is a dastardly game for typing while fighting. It’s very hard to type and dodge at the same time.

Yeah… I agree with OP. No matter how much white knights try to wave the freedom flag, you will fall behind by playing your very squishy builds. Differently from Guild Wars 1, where you could play several builds and be asked to customize and then be successful with them, in GW2 you have cookie cutter builds. There isn’t a sense of usefulness like GW1, no matter how people try to fool themselves – or yourself – you will be limited to a hard max of 2 builds, and ANet simply won’t try to change it.

All they want is PvP. PvE equals flashy effects and tiring cutscenes, the gameplay falls behind a looooong way.

The formula they’ve come up thus far:
PvP = Quite a few useful builds around weapons useless in PvE.
PvE = The leftover weapons to make a role in PvE as to say you have interesting (flashy) weapons, and those many stat equipment useless when you have Viper/Zerker. Even if you use other combos, they’re less than 10% the game has to offer, but the problem is that itemization vs. combat in this game is so poorly-made it’s a joke. No matter how free you feel when playing, the “all-class-can-heal” and the prevailing “downed state will save me anyways” thoughts hold this game from being successful in PvE.

It will take a lot from them to properly bury these stupid ideas and come up with real challenging mechanics, because they’re so caught up in their perfect fantasy world that they seem unable to see what a real PvE looks like.

So yeah, I’m sort of tired from typing this all over, but there are a plethora of aspects (including others not mentioned) which play a significant role in the boredom feeling. And no, it is not your fault to feel tired/bored/disgusted. They should’ve known better than this when creating the PvE.

Valento.9852:

Yeah… I agree with OP. No matter how much white knights try to wave the freedom flag, you will fall behind by playing your very squishy builds. Differently from Guild Wars 1, where you could play several builds and be asked to customize and then be successful with them, in GW2 you have cookie cutter builds. There isn’t a sense of usefulness like GW1, no matter how people try to fool themselves – or yourself – you will be limited to a hard max of 2 builds, and ANet simply won’t try to change it.

All they want is PvP. PvE equals flashy effects and tiring cutscenes, the gameplay falls behind a looooong way.

The formula they’ve come up thus far:
PvP = Quite a few useful builds around weapons useless in PvE.
PvE = The leftover weapons to make a role in PvE as to say you have interesting (flashy) weapons, and those many stat equipment useless when you have Viper/Zerker. Even if you use other combos, they’re less than 10% the game has to offer, but the problem is that itemization vs. combat in this game is so poorly-made it’s a joke. No matter how free you feel when playing, the “all-class-can-heal” and the prevailing “downed state will save me anyways” thoughts hold this game from being successful in PvE.

It will take a lot from them to properly bury these stupid ideas and come up with real challenging mechanics, because they’re so caught up in their perfect fantasy world that they seem unable to see what a real PvE looks like.

So yeah, I’m sort of tired from typing this all over, but there are a plethora of aspects (including others not mentioned) which play a significant role in the boredom feeling. And no, it is not your fault to feel tired/bored/disgusted. They should’ve known better than this when creating the PvE.

Limited to a hard max of two builds? Source?

Players can choose from many builds if they wish. They may not be as effective as the meta, assuming the meta build is applicable for their situation, but they can come close. Sometimes they can outperform the meta build.

Ayrilana.1396:

Limited to a hard max of two builds? Source?

Players can choose from many builds if they wish. They may not be as effective as the meta, assuming the meta build is applicable for their situation, but they can come close. Sometimes they can outperform the meta build.

Again, just take a look at the whole system which limits your build variety. 5 of your skills are bound to a specific type of weapon. Every class has a limited amount of weapons they can use. Plus there are weapons no one will ever use. Does your guardian run around with a staff in PvE or PvP?

Then there’s one dedicated healing skill and everything else you can choose from is 3 utility skills + 1 elite skill.

Is that a great way to allow a large build variety? You should be able to choose the skills you can use with your weapon (like in gw1). Plus, there should be way more skills to choose from in general.

Tekey.7946:

Ayrilana.1396:

Limited to a hard max of two builds? Source?

Players can choose from many builds if they wish. They may not be as effective as the meta, assuming the meta build is applicable for their situation, but they can come close. Sometimes they can outperform the meta build.

Again, just take a look at the whole system which limits your build variety. 5 of your skills are bound to a specific type of weapon. Every class has a limited amount of weapons they can use. Plus there are weapons no one will ever use. Does your guardian run around with a staff in PvE or PvP?

Then there’s one dedicated healing skill and everything else you can choose from is 3 utility skills + 1 elite skill.

Is that a great way to allow a large build variety? You should be able to choose the skills you can use with your weapon (like in gw1). Plus, there should be way more skills to choose from in general.

And if players could use all weapons then they’d be limited by the number of weapon types. There will always be a limitation. That said, the existing system provides numerous possibilities for builds with some being better than others.

The healing/elite skills are just one skill. Hardly build breaking.

None of what you mentioned hinders build variety to a degree that a player cannot have multiple build options. There is no reason why GW2 must do what was done in GW1 for the build system. I also seem to remember there being certain meta builds that people felt required for specific content. Sounds kind of familiar…

Ayrilana.1396:

And if players could use all weapons then they’d be limited by the number of weapon types. There will always be a limitation. That said, the existing system provides numerous possibilities for builds with some being better than others.

The healing/elite skills are just one skill. Hardly build breaking.

None of what you mentioned hinders build variety to a degree that a player cannot have multiple build options. There is no reason why GW2 must do what was done in GW1 for the build system. I also seem to remember there being certain meta builds that people felt required for specific content. Sounds kind of familiar…

You’re just defending the point that it should stay as it is right now. But you can’t deny that there could be more. More variety. Is there any reason why they shouldn’t change it?