Guild Wars 2

So I was in a Rated match where the enemy team and my own where at a stalemate of ~400 points. I placed a portal entré at our home base and aided those at the centre (graveyard). A little into the fight I see an enemy Warrior and Engineer running to home base so I complete the portal and instantly port back to home base. I realized that no one was entering the portal to aid me in my struggle and before long the portal decayed, the Warrior and Engineer get the upperhand and the loss of the home base loses the game. When I /Team ranted the response was ’I’m not gonna take random port dude.’

Please. By all that is right, create two icons on the minimap to show Firstly, where the Portal Entré was placed and Secondly, the exit portal.

I don’t see this as a buff, I see this as a hotfix. Thank you.

Tbh, it would be more helpful if enemy and friendly portal had different colors :/

Things that would be amazing for portal: This, range indicator either on the mini map or on the Portal Exeunt icon, different colored portals for different teams/red rings around enemy portals, and maybe a tick/timer to show you how long until the connected portals fade. All would be quality of life changes honestly, but would make it much more user friendly.

fundamentally agree with both comments. It’s an improvement to the UI as opposed to game mechanics so I hope it’s something they’ll look at before or with the new expansion, please!

I wouldn’t put the duration of the portal as a buff/debuff on a player, but instead make it a ring that completes (or drains) on the portal itself, similar to capturing points. Sure, the enemy can see it, but so can your teammates… and easily.

I’ve stopped using portal in pug PvP cause I was the only one using it :p
I use mirror image for a free shatter instead!

I think there are several quality of life changes that could be made to Portal. That being said, I honestly think Portal is one of the strongest pvp utilities in the entire game. Having to use a little communication isn’t that high of a cost imo.

I typically always tell my teammates when I drop a port. Sometimes I tell them specifically who should take the port, but if I can’t type, I pray to Kormir that they use common sense.

The only thing I’d like to see is a red ring around enemy portals. I’ve noticed that other Mesmers are getting friskier with using portal in pug matches like myself. It’s a good thing though.

It is strong, but it is only really impactful when used properly, and if people don’t know where they’re going, don’t know how far away they are from the Entrance Portal, or don’t even know if the Portal is friendly, it kind of limits it’s usefulness outside of organized teams. Hopefully one day Anet will add game supported chat macros too so that I can say “Portal to home/far/mid” or “Mass Invis Coming” without having to type it because IIRC, they don’t want people using 3rd party programs to accomplish this.

I totally understand that viewpoint, but I see nothing wrong with certain mechanics of an MMO giving players an incentive to play in organized teams. I think it’s totally healthy overall for the game with very few drawbacks. More communication typically leads to better results which leads to more fun.

By chat macro, do you mean by speaking into a mic and it typing into your chat? I have very thick skin, but I know a lot of people who would be very uncomfortable with essentially in-game team speak. The potential for verbal abuse would be absolutely horrific for some…

I just mean like programmable macros that would automatically type something in the current chat quickly. For example, I go to options and type out what I want to say and set it it something like the F4 or F5 key. Now when I press that key, it repeats that message in the current chat.

I’ve been playing with portal more and more in SPvP matches. Even in Yolo Q. The ability to rotate quickly between points is so crucial. Especially now that people just want to slug it out on the roads. Lately I’ve been winning 500-450 matches, and I think it’s because I’ve been holding the two points for our teams.

There are some things that can change, QoL-wise with portal. The fact that the CD was reduced to 72 seconds is superb though. Makes it way more “viable” for solo play. (and great for kiting 3 people around.)

My basic rule of thumb is that portal works at the range of two adjacent nodes. Mine to Keep, or Henge to Keep. Mansion to Clocktower. Bear to Raven. A to B. Temple to Gate.

Some other tips I’ve noticed the past few days: Place the opening portal JUST out of 1200 range of a point. This way, if you noticed it’s being assaulted and you port, you won’t be under fire right away. I’ve also noticed that you can place the portal entrance in puddles (like around chieftan) and it’s not visible. On Legacy, placing it on the ledges above the graveyard (the ones on the same ‘plane’ as Quarry/Waterfall) is a great move too. Especially if it’s behind the rock walls. You get to avoid range dps from LoS.

Also stomping. When my shatters are down, and I have no blinds/invulns, there is nothing more satisfactory than a portal stomp. I got my first one this weekend.

Range Indicator for portal, Yes. Please.

Also a visible 60 seconds timer countdown on portal would help, so we know when it expires would be helpful. I hate it when my portal just dies on me since I get wrapped up in other things.