Guild Wars 2

edit: if there is a slight tasted of salt in this post i apologies. i tried to keep it nice and clean but it might shine through that i am frustrated by the situation.
i will be happy to take ideas to circumvent my issues if you got any.

if nothing else this can be taken as feedback after being back for a few weeks trying to get into the game again and my experience of doing so.
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so returning player after a loooong break.

what i’ve found is that Stats is now very prominent in PvP. there is a quite noticible difference from exoctic to ascenden geared (last i played was after the dayli ascended introduced and got full ascended accessories and exoctic gear besides that, which was max stats back then).

it seems like hitting someone max geared even in full berzerk is like hitting with a wet noodle, and getting hit by them is like trying to stop a truck using your head and a plastic bag, hyperboling obvs, but it feels Extremely unfair to see 1-2k hits with meteor etc. and then get hit for 4-6k*X instantly killed when touched (staff elementalist, yes i know we are supposed to be squicy, but that trade should come from heavy damage, which it actually used to and does when hitting people not overgeared in broken meta builds).

So i decided “ok i apparently suck, so i NEED to get full ascended then and check if there is a way to combat these new heavily dmg/tanky/mobile builds with Tons of gab closers” and here comes my issue.

the first thing was meta bruiser builds are still insanely strong, gotten Much stronger than before with the new class choices,which i honestly think are completely broken and OP compared to the old once. so i just have to accept that and deal with being UP since i do not play bruiser builds (its very boring for me).

then to the Gear which is the Real issue:
first i tried to see what it took to craft it “hmm dailies so minimum 1-2 months just waiting time and a very high amount of grind for the mats… i just want to WvW fairly so sigh no”.
then checking fractales (droprate seems unreasonable low, so 3-5 months to gear there… again i got Zero interest in these, imo, very boring and repetitive grind sessions so no).
then checking raids (ok need group to get carried, and it will still take at least 1-2 months with good drops).
then checking WvW/PvP reswards (which just turned out even worse, it would take Months of getting steamrolled by max geared players before i reach max stats, which obviously as a PvP’er isn’t fun and i might as well have stayed in BDO, or any other game which have the Stats >>> everything).

So i am kind of lost here. what i actually enjoyed about GW2 and why i returned was the “none forced Stats grind” that i could simply jump in and play and do the things i wanted without a dark shadow constantly “pushing my addiction” to try and make me play the game as if it was a job (do daylies stuff everyday to max out Stats to then be able to enjoy).

So here is a question: is there No way that i can actually enjoy WvW on equal ground without putting in Months of, imho, “boring and tidious” grind just to get it?
i know SPvP is an equalized stats setup (smartest thing GW2 ever did with pvp, besides the 3 front war which is always awesome). However my playstyle is anything But Bruiser builds and since the PvP in GW2 is heavily favoring Bruiser builds (due to downing system, survive/movability outscaling range/dps heavily) this is not fun for me at all.

so i assume the answer is:
“GW2 is a Stats grinder game on pair with the Worst/Best of them, so if you don’t like mindless stats grind for Months to be competitive then don’t bother”…
which i think is very sad as GW2 starting success came from the exact opposite setup and going to the “easy mode” version of “Time consumption” is pilling on the already large pile of mmorpg’s which does this and removing one of the very few which wasn’t just a mindless Stats grind :/

If you’re grinding for months, you don’t know how to get the gear. First of all, the jewelry gives the most stats, armor the least. You absolutely don’t need ascended armor. Almost all the new living story zones give you some kind of ascended jewelry and back pack. most people can get a piece in a week or if you have multiple characters faster. Ascended amulets can be bought by anyone with laurels. So can ascended rings and earrings.

Fractals drop ascended rings pretty much link candy and high level fractals drop other ascended gear as well.

In fact it’s never been easier to gear up in this game, even with HoT stats.

That said, if you don’t own HOT and can’t get to the new zones, that’s another issue. If you want to stay current with any MMO you need to own the expansions.

you’re first talking about pvp and then about wvw

wich is the problem?

in pvp theres no stat difference it doesn’t use armor stats

in wvw. its a zerg fest

its called world versus world for a reason.
the stat difference is minimal

infrequentia.3465:

you’re first talking about pvp and then about wvw

wich is the problem?

in pvp theres no stat difference it doesn’t use armor stats

in wvw. its a zerg fest

its called world versus world for a reason.
the stat difference is minimal

sry if it was unclear.
as SPvP is equalized stats i assumed it was clear this is WvW, also i thought i made it clear i dislike the SPvP due to the bruiser>>all build setup of the pvp
my apologies if the text was unclear on this for anyone

i do have full ascended accessories as i also wrote. but as i also wrote there is a Huge difference on Damage/Tankiness of full ascended vs. exoctic armour (at least it seems like it when as i stated i am now hitting as a wet noodle vs. getting literally 2 shotted). could be horrific balance changes since i played last time but i assumed it is a Stats difference (or hoped i guessed)
:)

hope that clears up the misunderstandings my text might have coursed ^^

BTW: i would love to hear the math for how to get the full ascended armour+weapon much faster, if there is a way to do that which doesn’t take months to do, please do tell as this should solve the main issue i am running my head into when returning ^^

i do have HoT as well ^^

Ascended armor doesn’t increase DPS all that much so I wouldn’t stress over it if you don’t have it.

Exotic and ascended don’t make that much difference stat-wise. You should also consider that most tanky builds have a means of dealing damage and mitigating it as well. You should consider changing your build a little and you might see some change in the positive direction if you add some defensive utilities or toughness/vitality into the mix.

To get ascended stuff faster, go to one of the living story maps that recently came out to farm unbound magic/whatever map specific currency. Fractals also net a huge load of ascended chests. I’ve had days where I’ve gotten two chests just by doing the tier 4 dailies, so take advantage of those. All in all though, no it’s really not tedious to get ascended gear because they’ve increased accessibility to it in the past few months. That’s just my opinion though. Good luck either way!

Ayrilana.1396:

Ascended armor doesn’t increase DPS all that much so I wouldn’t stress over it if you don’t have it.

so it’s not Def+Dmg from the armour+weap ascended? (anyone got actual % number of difference of full ascended vs. exotic? curious what we are talking about in numbers as it seems a lot to me, but might be low ratio etc. which i don’t know off) but simply builds that have become so extreme in difference?

hmm ok guess it is the “build bruiser, play mes/theif or gtfo” then :P
it is nice to know though, so i know where my focus should lay, just seems kind of insane when looking at dps vs. survive of what i am running into hehe ^^

Armor only adds 2%

Ayrilana.1396:

Armor only adds 2%

thanks mate, it’s nice to know as i’ve assumed the balance of meta builds couldn’t be this “broken/extreme”.
2% seems acceptable as a difference from easy to get to hardest to get (which would be 4% diff if weapons give the same. still acceptable imho)^^

just wierd some people take no dmg and two shots me. many others seems to be reasonably balanced when fighting them…
it truly feels like a P2W game, where when i meet the “P2W’ers” i just explode while doing no dmg and having zero chance to do anything, then when i meet everything else its a fair fight ^^

balance of some meta builds seriously need the nerf bat so hard they bounch of the moon if this is almost purely a build issue ^^

EDIT:
i want to thank you mate for giving me info that i clearly needed which will help me deal with the frustration far better, as i know it is now a question of “play” vs. “needing to grind for 2.000hours to gear”, one is training the other is just sickly boring and “stupid” imho hehe ^^

though still think some balance is highly needed if the difference of builds does such an insane difference ^^
(assuming people are not doing “bad troll builds” ^^)

I would suggest taking a closer look at the type of damage you are taking as there is a VERY good chance that it is conditions that is killing you. Which if that is the case your armour rating wont help you at all.

I’m not sure how long it has been since you have played but they have made conditions OP to the point if ridiculousness. It may be this that you are dealing with without even realizing it.

Paulytnz.7619:

I would suggest taking a closer look at the type of damage you are taking as there is a VERY good chance that it is conditions that is killing you. Which if that is the case your armour rating wont help you at all.

I’m not sure how long it has been since you have played but they have made conditions OP to the point if ridiculousness. It may be this that you are dealing with without even realizing it.

i got planty of condition removal so that isn’t the case, its direct power damage i am taking. also power build so not because they are just good at removing condition dmg ^^

it seems to be mostly necro’s, theifs(but thats to be expected), guardians, rangers which i’ve noticed just instant kitten me. properly others which i haven’t noticed. but these seems to be the once which i notice have insane survive and dmg ^^

but its properly a matter of “build meta’s, learn the classes etc. lack of knowledge things then” (and that i so badly want to play dmg staff ele, like long range nuking, just doesn’t work much when i am tickling people hehe :P ).

For your first set of ascended gear:

- use the new Living World Season 3 maps to get trinkets and backitems. Should take you about 3-4 days tops (maybe a week if you only use 1 character) to get all 6 items.

- for a your first ascended weapon use the HoT collections from class specialisations and the Caladbolg questline since those are quite cheap

- for armor, well honestly you don’t want ascended armor until you are a tad more exprienced in the game and it makes the least amount of difference. Fractals are probably the cheapest but most rng way of getting this. The bioluminescent collection offers a cheap way (but takes 2-3 weeks unless you hardcore grind it in 3-4 days) for 1 piece of gear (take the chest piece since those are the most expensive armor parts)

As far as grind, ascended gear does take a while to aquire (armor mostly) but has remained best in slot for over 4 years now. Compare that to most other MMOs on the market which require you to regrind/collect gear every 3 months and GW2 easily comes out as least grindy MMO.

In addition to the obvious benefits of the Elite Specs introduced in Heart of Thorns, the XPac offered new stat combinations which are objectively more powerful. The combination of these stat combos, the benefits of the Elite Specs and the slight difference between Ascended and Exotic add up. Opportunity costs in these combinations are less than for core-only specs with core-only gear that is no longer BiS except for trinkets.

Meta play in both zerg, solo and small group combat involves beginning with as many offensive and defensive buffs as possible. Players also hit their invulnerability skills early (some professions have access to more than one). With protection/regen, multi-block or outright immunity to direct damage that lasts long enough for them to burst you down, anyone not also using these tactics are going to have experiences similar to yours.

So, yeah, it’s a combination of specs, gear and tactics.

Oh I see so you are a ele staff in zerk gear? Explains it, heck even when my ele was in pvt gear he was still super squishy. I think the problem is you are using staff which has little blocks/invulns etc.

And yes with staff you will tickle. If you are mainly in Fire the Meteor is on the low side because it’s AOE. Also the skill 2 is your main damage besides skill one. And for 2 people will move out of the circle. You might want to go earth mainly and try to condi them down with the aoe skill 2 but that’s boring lol.

Also being that you are ele people will single you out knowing you are squishy. The thing about ele is they are squishy/have low HP pool because they have a lot of blocks etc which sadly it sounds like you are not using.

If you REALLY want to play staff ele it might be best to go more of a tanky build and just except you will tickle them and stick with the zerg. This will mean you are playing more of an outlast/survive mode rather than damage dealer. This is believe it or not what most do (I think) that belong to the zerg anyway.

Not as fun as roaming but that’s how it is. Other classes will just out heal you/block etc if you only have skill 1 and 3 as your main damage from fire staff. With your low HP pool and lack of blocks/invulns from staff you will be – out survived.

thanks you all
it’s nice with some good feedback, helps a lot when you are a bit frustrated and trying to find a good solution ^^

i REALLY want to use staff as long range, nuke/support/supression is where i normally truly shine and really enjoy myself.
i’ve found a few builds which works ok well in GvG type setups(as long as no super-meta-build looks in my direction), the issue i am running into is the Dmg output seems exceedingly weak even in full damage setup, changing a bit on the feats (to be able to use earth to remove crit hits) and using earth shield for invuln+block+movability, and invuln sylvari ult, gives a good amount of survive even when heavily focused (still getting instant kitten when i meet the “P2W” feel players hehe, i know it’s not p2w but it gives the idea of the feel i get when i meet them).
however doing so kitten my Dmg even more, to the point of being laughably weak vs. the super-meta-builds :/ (almost makes me wait for someone to start dancing in my meteor storm :P hehe

i do full damage rotations and i am consistantly rotating the entire skill spectra of the staff (to try and optimize support and dps).

is Staff ele very underpowered right now or is it just the Dmg build which currently suffers?
i really don’t want to go “tank” as the damage is already laughably low just having the minimum survive and removing the ability to lay down any suppression pressure seems like a huge wasted of the staff ^^
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as for ascended gear i had hoped to be able to get it through PvP, just slowly, but the reason mega nerf to that route seems like the devs Really want to punish pvp’ers for just wanting to PvP :/
so i guess pve is the only way. will look into the living story thing, i’ve done most of the new part but the Mastery grind to be able to do it is really pushing my patience so it is kind of hard to get around that :P

IndigoSundown.5419:

In addition to the obvious benefits of the Elite Specs introduced in Heart of Thorns, the XPac offered new stat combinations which are objectively more powerful. The combination of these stat combos, the benefits of the Elite Specs and the slight difference between Ascended and Exotic add up. Opportunity costs in these combinations are less than for core-only specs with core-only gear that is no longer BiS except for trinkets.

Meta play in both zerg, solo and small group combat involves beginning with as many offensive and defensive buffs as possible. Players also hit their invulnerability skills early (some professions have access to more than one). With protection/regen, multi-block or outright immunity to direct damage that lasts long enough for them to burst you down, anyone not also using these tactics are going to have experiences similar to yours.

So, yeah, it’s a combination of specs, gear and tactics.

yer it seemed like the new Specs is too powerful (wish that nerf bat or buff bat would come equalize that soon).
the amount of movability, defensive on top of crazy high medium/close range dps seems pretty overdone compared to the old setups.
but i just Really dislike using an elementalist for close range fighting. was also one of those that refused to use DD when that was in its prime. i just feel it is a “off” playstyle for an elementalist so it turns me off (Always seemed weird to me that close range outclassed long ranged so badly on an elementalist class :P think it is the lack of reliable cc+dmg and gab creators, as everything can be countered so easily by close range setups)

will try some different stuff and hopefully i can make dmg staff ele viable again in some way ^^

thank you all for the nice answers ^^