Guild Wars 2

I’ve posted about how the orb bonus combined with the robust bonus from winning is a bit over the top. Thought I would include some screenshots below. Note that the real problem is that with three orbs and the 8%+ health bonus from robust, I can build completely glass cannon and still get a whopping 4k+ HP from the bonuses alone. Not to mention the 150 toughness doesn’t hurt in survivability.

It’s just not fun to have such an advantage over other players. Winning a fight just doesn’t feel as rewarding, especially not a small scale one. And I’m certainly not about to play sPvP, as it is complete garbage. I love WvWvW, but the stat inflation is a little much. These bonuses can’t really be compared to Relics in DAoC. Not only does the AOE limit and downed state make the side with numbers much stronger than in DAoC, but the non-persistant state (read one or two weeks) is an issue for the losing side. It makes it more difficult to organize with the other losing server, as matchups switch rather frequently.

Anyway, for now I’m on the winning side — but it doesn’t feel good. I would transfer off if I didn’t have friends on this server. Unfortunately, I play games to play with friends. Wouldn’t be near as much fun to be on a server without people I have played with in the past.

http://imageshack.us/a/img607/9791/critpresstats.jpg
Stats with a Crit/Precision build and zerker gear. Not the usual skills I run, but I do run them sometimes to goof off and steal in for fury and 20 stacks of might -> Daggerstorm In this picture I actually have 91% crit rate (10% crit signits) and 110% crit damage. That’s not the issue though. The issue is that Orbs + the robust bonus allow me to go full glass cannon and still have 17k HP.

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/3816/statmaxdps.jpg
More of a meaningless picture, but this is the same build if I pop steal and signets before hitting daggerstorm. Over 100% crit rate (again, signets), power is absurd.

http://imageshack.us/a/img833/8107/tankydpscnd.jpg
Here is a build I actually use. Condition damage thief with carrion set, speccing into heal into toughness and vit lines, with the last 10 in the steal line. Certainly not a burst spec, but it’s fun to apply bleeds and go back into the shadows while the enemy runs around. Orbs not only inflate survivability to a crazy level, but also help increase dmg output.

Edit: just wanted to point out that I always get 25 stacks on sigils before PvP. As a thief it is easy to survive with stealth, and it helps pay for gear/repairs/siege. Thankfully, the losing servers have the option of doing this as well.

Nice post. Gives some concrete info, instead of just “orbs are too much” or “orbs don’t matter!”

I was hoping to take screenshots of the same character on a server with no orbs, but I wouldn’t be able to transfer back because my server was full at the time.

If anyone with a full exotic crit/precision thief on a server without orbs could take a screenshot of stats with the same runes and 30/30/0/0/10 I would appreciate it. That could provide a comparison to the first picture. Consumables are the superior sharpening stone and the 100 power/70 prec food.

I havn’t noticed a whole lot of difference in bursting down glass cannons from the dominating server with increased stats (I’m Maguuma, and Dragonbrand is dominating). That 4k health and 150 toughness helps, sure, but in my experiences that 3-4k health is basically one more auto attack from me if you have such low toughness.

3400 Attack? Wow, all of a sudden my Ranger feels … inadequate …

Lohengrin.3284:

3400 Attack? Wow, all of a sudden my Ranger feels … inadequate …

Sadly, that’s only for about 5 seconds with signets. Enough to get most of a daggerstorm off, but still short. If I were using Venoms I can maintain 10 stacks of might for 20 seconds between dodge and venoms. Still, it’s not 20 >.<

Get rid of the orbs then. Plain and simple. But the problem is that there is a team of game developers who have thought long and hard about the orbs, and they think they are appropriate. In all the calculations they have made, they must have arrived at the most enjoyable experience for the majority of players, otherwise nobody would want to play WvW. And my name is santa.

I would like to see them make the wvw bonuses come from PVE events it would take up forces of teams for an over all gain.So like maybe a strat could be instead of overall zerg could be D and PVE till you get 10% buff then to mount your assult. This would go really well with higher hp walls and doors.

EDIT: you could also add a huge monster that would spawn in the middle of the lake on the borderlands that has a huge wvw buff exp bonus enough that teams would rush over to it and fight over it while killing each other.Also with enough hp so opposing forces could gather and try to time there assult on the creature in order to try and steal the kill