Guild Wars 2

As the title says,
Noticed the sale on heart of thorns,
But i myself am a pure competitive pvper,
And will most likely not pve at all ( except for gear )

Also how the is the population going these days?
Are they doing this sale to get more players because it was going downhill, or is it for other reasons?

Cheers

Ofc it is!
Game is balanced,elite spec are not OP!
Matchmaking work awesome!
New players coming every day!

New PvP map coming tomorrow as well – Revenge of the Capricorn.

Playerbase is getting smaller and smaller so get ready to play with the same 10-15 players all the time, adding new maps takes years, rewards are worse than open world PvE, matchmaking still doesn’t work, elite specs are kittening OP because Anet wants HoT to sell, nobody takes ranked seriously anymore.

Short answer: no.

They have Raid of the Capricorn coming back, but without water…

So they took the best part out of it and tried something new, I have doubts that it will work. Hopefully they will have re-balanced all the skills and traits tomorrow so that the game feels less frustrating.

i still think pvp here could be great. but it isn’t. maybe for 2-3 matches a day (~ 1 hour if queuing) is alright. after that it is just boring.

so, solely for spvp? no. maybe wvw but i can’t speak so much to that, so maybe go ask in that forums

In my opinion, NOPE
Pre-HOT pvp: reaction based pvp
HOT pvp: cool-down based pvp (very spammy), alot of passive

Id have to say if your mixing up your time doing structured pvp (arenas) joining a 1v1 hotjoin match (arena) and also doing world vs world, id say its worth it.

Just keep in mind that the learning curve is quite high. More often then not your gonna keep asking yourself, “How did I just die?” “What in the world is even going on?” Or “Wow, that class is super op!”

Don’t fret, we all had to go through with it. Just know that the balance right now is actually pretty good. Each class brings something worth value into a fight. And once you understand all the ins and outs of pvp you’ll be rekting people left and right.

Dragon.8762:

Just keep in mind that the learning curve is quite high. More often then not your gonna keep asking yourself, “How did I just die?” “What in the world is even going on?” Or “Wow, that class is super op!”

That’s not learning curve, just the spammy, passive proc plagued nature of GW2 which got even worse with HoT.

Just know that the balance right now is actually pretty good.

So HoT specs kittenting on every build that existed before the expansion and having 1 viable build per class that operate on the same level or insanity is “good balance”?

To the OP: don’t even bother with it.

witcher.3197:

Dragon.8762:

Just keep in mind that the learning curve is quite high. More often then not your gonna keep asking yourself, “How did I just die?” “What in the world is even going on?” Or “Wow, that class is super op!”

That’s not learning curve, just the spammy, passive proc plagued nature of GW2 which got even worse with HoT.

Just know that the balance right now is actually pretty good.

So HoT specs kittenting on every build that existed before the expansion and having 1 viable build per class that operate on the same level or insanity is “good balance”?

To the OP: don’t even bother with it.

There is a learning curve. Knowing what the other classes can do, what the different condis are, what kind of boons are most helpful, the different things a class can do to escape or deal damage, etc. Spamming your abilities doesn’t mean your gonna win all the time. Its a bit more situational then that depending on class, build, if its a 1v1, 2v1, a full on team fight, etc.

If someone comes at your spamming all of their abilities, depending on the class and who they are fighting they can be out played. Like if a thief uses unload while a warrior uses his reflect block. Or if your spamming all your attacks on a rev with his glint heal up, or if you attack a mesmer with his shield up and end up giving him another extra block instead of just 1.

Here’s how I look at it.

Currently I’m playing Uncharted PvP on the PS4 as my main “PvP action”. I can play this all day long and be both happy, challenged, and entertained.

I play GW2 PvP once a day for a match or two. I might try out some interesting build to keep it interesting. But after that it feels tedious, boring, unfun, non-challenging. All the little bugs and problems are right there on the surfact to ruin your day.

Also, GW2 is off season, and Unranked is an awful gameplay experience for a competitive PvP’r.

FYI I’ve had HoT since it came out, and I havent done any PvE at all. XD

Well, I can personally say that I enjoy PvP immensely. It’s true that there are a lot of passive procs coming from traits and the like, but the combat still remains very active and intensive.

If you are going to play at a truly competitive level, then purchasing HoT will be pretty much necessary. The Elite specs introduced to each profession really covered up a lot of the weaknesses or highlighted strengths. For now, it may feel like all the professions are being crammed into singular roles due to the one elite spec each has access to atm. However, in the future, all professions will eventually have access to at least three elite specs that should (on paper) be about as viable as each-other.

On the plus side of this, 8 out of 9 professions are currently considered “in the meta,” so balance is more or less at an all-time high. Both condi and power see equal play, and bunkers are valuable but not insta-win.

Probably the most controversial thing right now is the “matchmaking” and how players feel like they are being “cheated” into pre-determined wins/losses based on team-MMR, class stacking, etc…

I haven’t heard confirmation from A-net on how their systems pair people (outside of pip-range), but I find it hard to believe that they intentionally build con-games such as these. Whatever the case, the matchmaking leaves something to be desired right now, so I would just wait a couple weeks for Season 4 to start. Matchmaking should be improved somewhat then.

tl;dr: although controversial through some passives, combat is nicely balanced (if you have HoT). Matchmaking will hopefully be improved in a couple weeks, so try it out then.

No don’t buy hot if your just going to pvp. it is a complete waste of money.

To much power creep, While this game used to be reaction based. Arena net in there effort to lure pve player’s in to pvp completly changed that. Gw2 is pretty much like every single other eastern game out nowadays. an over reliance on Stuns, Aoe, cleaves, Dots/conditions. you can pretty much make it through a whole match without using your brain nowadays…

I usually main a thief, my favorite profession to fight against where other thieves. Not anymore. It’s so boring. it boils down to “Do you have Soh? , B/v? (Which was power creep-ed to stack 2 times and is unblockable” And ID? (impairing disruption)
Let’s put it this way, at launch when other thieves used to hit me for 17k i had a greater chance tocounter vs them then this “Balanced” Meta we have nowaday’s.

They pretty much took the player out of Pvp.

Last season was definitely the most balanced in terms of meta builds. Guardians were a bit underpowered, but that’s about it.

You will need the latest expansion to be competitive, just like most games out there.

Population is down a bit since so many people finished getting their legendary wings. If it weren’t for this, matchmaking would probably be better.

But the balance patch is tomorrow, so everything is subject to change.

Dahkeus.8243:

Last season was definitely the most balanced in terms of meta builds. Guardians were a bit underpowered, but that’s about it.

Just an FYI OP, when you see someone use the term “most balanced season” what they mean is “had the most classes represented at one time in PvP history”. In other definitions of the word “balance” you’d laugh.

XD

Ross Biddle.2367:

Dahkeus.8243:

Last season was definitely the most balanced in terms of meta builds. Guardians were a bit underpowered, but that’s about it.

Just an FYI OP, when you see someone use the term “most balanced season” what they mean is “had the most classes represented at one time in PvP history”. In other definitions of the word “balance” you’d laugh.

XD

Welcome to MMOs.

And yes, this pretty much means that there was no single OP class that teams wanted to stack and that you could build a strong meta team with a number of combinations instead of having to run a very specific team like in seasons past and aside from Dragonhunters, there was no class that you wouldn’t want on a team and even DH weren’t so bad that you couldn’t make them work.

It’s a far cry from thieves and warriors in past seasons.

geekilo.8512:

In my opinion, NOPE
Pre-HOT pvp: reaction based pvp
HOT pvp: cool-down based pvp (very spammy), alot of passive

This is SOOO true!! Prior to HoT, there were only a few BS things that prevented GW2 from being truly reaction-based (like thief stealth burst capability stomping on any other burst build, auto-procs of damage). HoT took all those things, and added all new ways for the game to become less reaction-based!

BlackBeard.2873:

geekilo.8512:

In my opinion, NOPE
Pre-HOT pvp: reaction based pvp
HOT pvp: cool-down based pvp (very spammy), alot of passive

This is SOOO true!! Prior to HoT, there were only a few BS things that prevented GW2 from being truly reaction-based (like thief stealth burst capability stomping on any other burst build, auto-procs of damage). HoT took all those things, and added all new ways for the game to become less reaction-based!

Translation: Thieves ruined the game for everybody.

:D

Ross Biddle.2367:

BlackBeard.2873:

geekilo.8512:

In my opinion, NOPE
Pre-HOT pvp: reaction based pvp
HOT pvp: cool-down based pvp (very spammy), alot of passive

This is SOOO true!! Prior to HoT, there were only a few BS things that prevented GW2 from being truly reaction-based (like thief stealth burst capability stomping on any other burst build, auto-procs of damage). HoT took all those things, and added all new ways for the game to become less reaction-based!

Translation: Thieves ruined the game for everybody.

:D

Literally the only thing thief crapped on was bad zerk build… If you couldn’t handle a zerk thief on a ranger, warrior, cele ele, engi, and over various classes then you weren’t playing properly… Honestly I’ve always felt “Thief? HAH! free kills”… Unless you just built badly you would never be one shot by them, and if you did build that way you knew to be careful… Every class has invulns, blocks, etc to counter…

If anything they are worse NOW to fight than then… Now its that BV> Black powder> Assassin’s Signet > bound > steal > backstab > shadowshot till dead spam… Wait for cooldowns and repeat…

Ross Biddle.2367:

BlackBeard.2873:

geekilo.8512:

In my opinion, NOPE
Pre-HOT pvp: reaction based pvp
HOT pvp: cool-down based pvp (very spammy), alot of passive

This is SOOO true!! Prior to HoT, there were only a few BS things that prevented GW2 from being truly reaction-based (like thief stealth burst capability stomping on any other burst build, auto-procs of damage). HoT took all those things, and added all new ways for the game to become less reaction-based!

Translation: Thieves ruined the game for everybody.

:D

Not really what I said, but take it how you wanted. Prior to HoT, thieves just crapped on any burst-build due to superior burst that lacked any tell. It very much shaped many metas, as many builds that were almost viable were thrown into the trash bin because thieves thoroughly countered them. After HoT, everything has more instant burst and more instant defenses. Its like other classes became as “unfair” or more than thieves were prior to HoT. In a way, this “evened” the playing field, but it did so by moving the game more towards bad mechanics rather than active gameplay.

I am not QQ’ing about thieves either, just stating that objectively their mechanics (stealth burst when reveal is very rare, instant-ports that ignore LOS, high evasion uptime – especially if doing damage during those times) work against a combat system that is based on reaction. Now, everyone has passives that make reaction not very important.

Wait for new patch and then decide.
If you see any nerfs to these: druid, scrapper, tempest, herald, thief – then yes.
But if you see any nerfs to these: dragon hunter, reaper, chronomancer – then probably no.
If you see any buffs to these: druid, scrapper, tempest, herald, thief – then definitely no.
But if you see any buffs to these: dragon hunter, reaper, chronomancer – then probably yes.

Duka.5864:

Ofc it is!
Game is balanced,elite spec are not OP!
Matchmaking work awesome!
New players coming every day!

What you did there. I saw it :^)

But yeah, I don’t think you’ll be too happy if you come back just for PvP. It’s in a messy position. You’d be better off playing all 3 of the game modes.

Regon Phoenix.8215:

Wait for new patch and then decide.
If you see any nerfs to these: druid, scrapper, tempest, herald, thief – then yes.
But if you see any nerfs to these: dragon hunter, reaper, chronomancer – then probably no.
If you see any buffs to these: druid, scrapper, tempest, herald, thief – then definitely no.
But if you see any buffs to these: dragon hunter, reaper, chronomancer – then probably yes.

Should be this:
If you see any nerfs to these: Elite specs – then yes
If you see any nerfs to these: Core specs – then no
If you see any buffs to these: Elite specs – then no
If you see any buffs to these: Core Specs – then yes

Pre-HoT balance was pretty much as good as it got despite the few hiccups it had in my opinion!

penelopehannibal.8947:

New PvP map coming tomorrow as well – Revenge of the Capricorn.

It is going to be called, Rage of the Capricorn, after people rage about the map setup.

Well i play 1-3 matches a day. It´s still good if you get the right team …
And there is a main problem. You are dependend on matchmaking … So hope not to get toxic people, AFK er´s, beginners or someone trolling around … Its rare that all in a match try to fight hard or at least knowing how to do it even if they try something.
And this is not enjoyable for the others that want to have fun and/or realy fight …
A minor thing is that HOT elite are more powerful then base classes but a major drawback is that class balance around HOT reduced diversity (at least on a highly competative level).
I play PvP and WvW and it´s fine for me. Only PvP might not be worth.
Much depends on the patch today. Hope is not dead :-)

iVowal.6159:

As the title says,
Noticed the sale on heart of thorns,
But i myself am a pure competitive pvper,
And will most likely not pve at all ( except for gear )

Also how the is the population going these days?
Are they doing this sale to get more players because it was going downhill, or is it for other reasons?

Cheers

Try it yourself.

Unranked Q 1 minute and a half pop, means population is healthy.

A lot of high level players stop playing the game. A lot of the hardcore mid tier players stop playing the game.

But a whole new spvp generations hero are hatching from the F2P craze of summer 2015.

We have the best META ever (more than 9 builds in there) but the build diversity for one class/specialization is still low.

Come to see yourself with Vanilla Condi Signet Necro or Condi Engi or Trap rangers or Bunker Guard to see by yourself.

Since I payd 50$ for it, 25$ is definately a steal to do spvp for the next months of your life.

Jaxom.7310:

i still think pvp here could be great. but it isn’t. maybe for 2-3 matches a day (~ 1 hour if queuing) is alright. after that it is just boring.

so, solely for spvp? no. maybe wvw but i can’t speak so much to that, so maybe go ask in that forums

As a turned coat WvWer, WvW in T1 is very fun all different types of fights. From your rare 1 v1s to small group fights(3v3 – 6v6) havoc groups(5v5 – 15v15), to your zerg battles(20v20 – 30v30), to whole scaled WvW warfare with battles of beyond in terms of GW2 is concerned “EPIC PROPORTION” Server fights( 40v40 – 80v80v80). Those numbers are only to give you a rough estimate of T1 WvW fights. Highly Unscripted Battles your build and playstyle is to your imagination within the tools of GW2. The WvW community I’m with on Dragonbrand for the most part very friendly players, with a few salty players and trolls.

All and all GW2’s version of RvR is the best in gaming atm ~sadly, but true~. And in my honest opinion it has completely replaced any GW2’s sPvP time outside of that one maybe two sPvP guild mission per week and maybe a few day of completing sPvP dailies in one of the dailies lobbies.

My personal ratings on GW2’s game modes in relation to what currently out on the market.

sPvP 3 out 10

PvE in GW2 9 out of 10

WvW as a player on a current Tier 1 server, 10 out of 10

That you have it