Guild Wars 2

I didn’t use to see so much power creeping in wvw 6 months ago. but now all I mostly see are classes using corruption/Bloodlust with the top tier guard oriented wvw masteries. I honestly didn’t see as many people using these back in the day Guard leech and applied were rarely seen because you needed alot of points obviously). Is it the new meta, whether roaming alone/ with a group or with a zerg to be as bursty as possible? honestly most of the thieves I’ve seen are one-shot mug thieves who can crit 8-9k on heavy classes. They drop like stones of course, but that’s only if you can keep them out of stealth long enough and that’s near impossible.

Most fights I’ve had were ones I’ve lost because the opposing pressure was near instant whether it was condition or power. When I fought an enemy with little to no stacks, fights were longer than could go either way based on sheer luck. I just feel like if I don’t hop on this train I’ll be left behind but on the other hand I don’t feel it’s needed because I’ve been able to kill people just fine without the sigils. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

fyi not just thieves, but Elementalist, Warriors, Necros, Engineers, and even guardians using all these together.

What you stated is called a maturing group of player characters and is natural progression. With the 3 new masteries being released you will see even more rank based bonuses. All quality MMOs have player progression and Anet is doing them bit by bit.

Power is not the problem. The problem is how condition damage is calculated.

Also a re-work of the way damage is done requires a re-work of the entire system.

Try to get atleast rank 115 and get fortitude first. It is very beneficial in WvW

Yeah, most people who WvW on a regular basis will have both Guard Leech and Applied Fortitude. It’s just natural progression.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of these stacking mechanics either, especially if you include the Sigil stacking. It’s just a hugely contrived system that rewards those who prepare for PvP by doing PvE. It hasn’t really made the game any better.

Stacking Sigils are also a no-brainer. They’re the best in terms of DPS, so everyone has them. But they don’t have any interesting procs or effects, it’s just more passive damage.

I would prefer if ANet god rid of stacking Sigils all together and replaced them with something more interesting and engaging.

Guard Leech and Applied Fortitude could use a reworks too and become more active, rather than the passive increases they are now.

For example Guard Leech could heal you for 20% of your HP every time you kill a Guard or Fortitude could increase your damage after killing one. When used creatively they could be a real asset, rather than just being a stat-stick.

I don’t stick with the zerg often enough for the guard masteries. And I’d rather not have to farm mobs for stacks every time I die, which since I’m only slightly above average and because of bursty classes/getting smacked by a zerg, falling damage, etc. is quite often. I guess there is no use moping about it and I’ll continue to play the way I’ve been playing for the past 2 years.

Yes, burst builds with Macro are a meta. Not really new, just more powerful due to power creep. Adding Ascended gear and Applied Strength boosted burst builds a bit too high. The dev’s know it that’s why the crit nerf is incoming.

Mepheles.2087:

I don’t stick with the zerg often enough for the guard masteries. And I’d rather not have to farm mobs for stacks every time I die, which since I’m only slightly above average and because of bursty classes/getting smacked by a zerg, falling damage, etc. is quite often. I guess there is no use moping about it and I’ll continue to play the way I’ve been playing for the past 2 years.

If youd been playing WvW consistently for the past 2 years (games only been out 1 1/2 years) just solo roaming, with some dungeons and other stuff mixed in, playing 3 hours a day youd at least have one of the guard bonuses. Youd also know the coyote/wolf locations where you can get 10/15 sigil stacks in under a minute

Carpboy.7145:

Mepheles.2087:

I don’t stick with the zerg often enough for the guard masteries. And I’d rather not have to farm mobs for stacks every time I die, which since I’m only slightly above average and because of bursty classes/getting smacked by a zerg, falling damage, etc. is quite often. I guess there is no use moping about it and I’ll continue to play the way I’ve been playing for the past 2 years.

If youd been playing WvW consistently for the past 2 years (games only been out 1 1/2 years) just solo roaming, with some dungeons and other stuff mixed in, playing 3 hours a day youd at least have one of the guard bonuses. Youd also know the coyote/wolf locations where you can get 10/15 sigil stacks in under a minute

I have a bad sense of time. Game came out in 2012 right? I count from then till now as 2 years for some odd reason. I know about the wolves and coyotes who summon other wolves and coyotes, but my point still stands.

Yea I just build my stacks on what every objective I am going for at the time. Waiting to take a camp with full stacks is a waste of time. My stack come from my kills/objectives.

Wxp came out march 26 so in 24days a year would have pasted with wxp. Also, A-net has buff wxp twice since it came out. I did not expect it to be possible but at this rate someone will be able to hit diamond legend within 2years.

Dee Jay.2460:

prepare for PvP by doing PvE.

That’s so true.

EDIT: Agree with sigil stacks too. It promotes a type of game play that I’m not particularly fond of. People actively getting/protecting their stacks sometimes at the detriment of others.

Fuzzion.2504:

What you stated is called a maturing group of player characters and is natural progression. With the 3 new masteries being released you will see even more rank based bonuses. All quality MMOs have player progression and Anet is doing them bit by bit.

Power is not the problem. The problem is how condition damage is calculated.

Also a re-work of the way damage is done requires a re-work of the entire system.

Try to get atleast rank 115 and get fortitude first. It is very beneficial in WvW

You should be able to do PvP without grinding to be on par with current players. These buffs are plain power creep and I wouldn’t defend it by calling them character progression. It’s just lame because an enemy with +250 vitality and +100 power has a clear advantage. But yes, Wvw is PvE right, so grind is justified

Yes, it is more common, basically if you have the rank to get applied fortitude and strength and do not get it you will put yourself at a severe disadvantage against players who have it, just as it is with consumabeles. Anything outside running with the zerg basically requires both these days because you will face players with those.

Together with the stat increase on ascended gear over exotic gear this has led to a situation where “old” charakters have a significant advatage over “new” charakters, it is not so bad that you can not overcome that advatage (atleast with most professions) but the advantage is very noticable.

The one shot builds you entcounter these days are the logical answer to stuff like healing signet and high defensive sustain while maintaining relatively high damage on warriors and to a lesser extend guardians. The only efficacious way of dealing with those is to get it over with fast, win fast or lose fast because in the long run you will lose anyway.

That’s the way it is now, no point denying it, GW" has gone the way of all other mmos in this regard, though it could be much worse it was and is worse in other games.

The individuals whom run such roaming builds are usually playing to grieve by nature. They would have whichever build puts the highest numbers on the screen.

What’s interesting is that Anet chose to reward and empower roamers by creating Fortitude and Leech. Yet, World/Group players would more than likely put their first 100 or so ranks into functional/utility bonuses. Putting world players and especially defenders/builders at a disadvantage when running to camps or trying to regroup, etc. It simply pushes the wedge between the play styles further.

My biggest issue is still how alt and new player unfriendly WvW has become. WvW was supposed to be a balanced area with level scaling. These character empowerment’s created a huge disparity between old and new characters. Take a twink in and see what kind of damage you can do compared to what fully ascended and ranked characters can do. There’s no contest or challenge between them.

DeWolfe.2174:

The individuals whom run such roaming builds are usually playing to grieve by nature. They would have whichever build puts the highest numbers on the screen.

What’s interesting is that Anet chose to reward and empower roamers by creating Fortitude and Leech. Yet, World/Group players would more than likely put their first 100 or so ranks into functional/utility bonuses. Putting world players and especially defenders/builders at a disadvantage when running to camps or trying to regroup, etc. It simply pushes the wedge between the play styles further.

My biggest issue is still how alt and new player unfriendly WvW has become. WvW was supposed to be a balanced area with level scaling. These character empowerment’s created a huge disparity between old and new characters. Take a twink in and see what kind of damage you can do compared to what fully ascended and ranked characters can do. There’s no contest or challenge between them.

I dunno if the highest WvW ranks belong to roamers… but agree with everything else.

The camp buffs aren’t interesting, they’re not a choice, they’re something everyone automatically gets eventually. They don’t add anything ‘cept a grind to make people who play longer feel better about themselves. It’s petty and the game would be better for not having it.

I’ve actually been wondering for a while if they’re holding back on accountbound wxp because they’ve realized it would lead to an overnight jump in how prevalent these are.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

I’ve actually been wondering for a while if they’re holding back on accountbound wxp because they’ve realized it would lead to an overnight jump in how prevalent these are.

that or taking in uplevels and getting the stats scaled too

DeWolfe.2174:

Yes, burst builds with Macro are a meta. Not really new, just more powerful due to power creep. Adding Ascended gear and Applied Strength boosted burst builds a bit too high. The dev’s know it that’s why the crit nerf is incoming.

So all us without power creeped gear/stacks are pretty much devoid of roaming till the proper nerfs are here… meh

Mepheles.2087:

I didn’t use to see so much power creeping in wvw 6 months ago. but now all I mostly see are classes using corruption/Bloodlust with the top tier guard oriented wvw masteries. I honestly didn’t see as many people using these back in the day Guard leech and applied were rarely seen because you needed alot of points obviously). Is it the new meta, whether roaming alone/ with a group or with a zerg to be as bursty as possible? honestly most of the thieves I’ve seen are one-shot mug thieves who can crit 8-9k on heavy classes. They drop like stones of course, but that’s only if you can keep them out of stealth long enough and that’s near impossible.

Most fights I’ve had were ones I’ve lost because the opposing pressure was near instant whether it was condition or power. When I fought an enemy with little to no stacks, fights were longer than could go either way based on sheer luck. I just feel like if I don’t hop on this train I’ll be left behind but on the other hand I don’t feel it’s needed because I’ve been able to kill people just fine without the sigils. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

fyi not just thieves, but Elementalist, Warriors, Necros, Engineers, and even guardians using all these together.

I’ve never see anyone 1 shot anyone in this game. You’d have better luck with a good conversation if you didn’t say things so false. The closest skill to a 1 shot is a fully charged kill shot, but even that is a stretch.

Supreme.4051:

So all us without power creeped gear/stacks are pretty much devoid of roaming till the proper nerfs are here… meh

Not at all.

if you roam you’re much more likely to simply be outnumbered than you are of squaring off 1v1 against someone with maxed out stacks/gear. add in bloodlust, consumables, etc.. to the mix and you’re never going to have a perfectly fair fight anyway.

ie: roaming is all about asymmetric fights.

style.6173:

Mepheles.2087:

I didn’t use to see so much power creeping in wvw 6 months ago. but now all I mostly see are classes using corruption/Bloodlust with the top tier guard oriented wvw masteries. I honestly didn’t see as many people using these back in the day Guard leech and applied were rarely seen because you needed alot of points obviously). Is it the new meta, whether roaming alone/ with a group or with a zerg to be as bursty as possible? honestly most of the thieves I’ve seen are one-shot mug thieves who can crit 8-9k on heavy classes. They drop like stones of course, but that’s only if you can keep them out of stealth long enough and that’s near impossible.

Most fights I’ve had were ones I’ve lost because the opposing pressure was near instant whether it was condition or power. When I fought an enemy with little to no stacks, fights were longer than could go either way based on sheer luck. I just feel like if I don’t hop on this train I’ll be left behind but on the other hand I don’t feel it’s needed because I’ve been able to kill people just fine without the sigils. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

fyi not just thieves, but Elementalist, Warriors, Necros, Engineers, and even guardians using all these together.

I’ve never see anyone 1 shot anyone in this game. You’d have better luck with a good conversation if you didn’t say things so false. The closest skill to a 1 shot is a fully charged kill shot, but even that is a stretch.

I’ve seen a few 1 shot wonders, even created a rifle war for lolz to see what sorta damage I could do, all exotic gear btw but I normally hit for 17-22k killshots…
(1 hit a bronze footman for 19,300 damage)

Thats without guard leech too and without scholar runes so I know I can get higher but ruby orbs worked fine at the time

They are really the only trait most roamers have any use for…I know a few people that put some points in ram mastery for that off-time you actually take a tower…I have yet to put any trait points in anything else besides guard stacks.

Most roamers avoid siege like a plague (most), so siege traits are pretty worthless to us.

SoPP.7034:

EDIT: Agree with sigil stacks too. It promotes a type of game play that I’m not particularly fond of. People actively getting/protecting their stacks sometimes at the detriment of others.

Which is contrary to the intended goal of GW2, which is cooperative play without selfish advantages. Personally, I hate any sort of buff that I have to maintain, whether it’s stacks, food, potions, and so on. It’s about as fun as if the game forced your character to take periodic bathroom breaks, made them clean and maintain their weapons after combat, or eat food and drink water or start dying. There is a reason why few games do that (unless it’s the point of the game, like a survival game). Routine maintenance is not fun.

Supreme.4051:

DeWolfe.2174:

Yes, burst builds with Macro are a meta. Not really new, just more powerful due to power creep. Adding Ascended gear and Applied Strength boosted burst builds a bit too high. The dev’s know it that’s why the crit nerf is incoming.

So all us without power creeped gear/stacks are pretty much devoid of roaming till the proper nerfs are here… meh

In essence this is exactly the case now and will be even after the “nerf” the changes to crit damage will have next to no impact since crit damage atm is overkill anyway.

The real problem is that you can get a significant advantage with nothing but time investment. “New” characters are at a disadvantage, acount bound wexp will only displace that problem, it will become “new” players will have a disadvantage, since every “old” player will then have the stacks on all their characters.

In my opinion as someone who has the best available gear and a very high rank for someone doing only small group and solo stuff 90% of the time, this has gone so far that any group of "new"players will hit a brick wall if encountering a group of “old” players.
A lot of the “class balance” issues people complain about are actually gear, rank and consumable related.