Guild Wars 2

Signed, was leveling an engineer in hopes of bringing another profession aside from a berserker GS war into dungeons. Now it seems that no other builds can complete against wars for raw dmg.

How disappointing, why need PvE dmg? Where engineers in a position where general PvE content was trivialized by grenades? Same (albeit a bit late) goes for the nerf to Pistol Whip ages ago.

No offense but at least you had the opportunity to fight them on somewhat equal ground. A level 80 vs lv79s. This scenario is just a gross oversight, where being adjusted to level 29 and making you fight level 69s.

Or… instead of having to rely on a class mechanic that only ONE class, (maybe except for Mesmer via Elite) has, that is mass-stealth, then how about we make them approachable

No need to make a work-around if its a known, and acknowledged (Thanks Anthony!) issue.

Working as intended? I’m not sure what ANet has to say about this, as far as implementation is concerned.

I’m just surprised that lv69 mobs are allowed to spawn in such a low level area. Of course theres that exception in The Brisbane Wildlands with all the lv80 Legendary human thugs, but then again, they aren’t guarding a giant present (as far as I’m concerned) and they can’t attack you.

Still makes no sense. As you see, the adjusted level is only 26. How, feasibly, can a person run past all those lv69 skritt, to interact with the present, much less kill the skritt for Presents?

From the wiki:

Mysterious Presents are objects that spawn during Wintersday 2012. Interacting with the present will cause it to explode, releases a group of Skritt and a chance to drop presents. The level of Skritt scales with the area.

Define: “Scale”

Difficulty Level: Over 9000.

kazi.6438:

I use a rifle crit build that does fairly decent damage to single targets and has extremely high survivability. The grenade spam was hurting my hands after awhile so I had to stop using them lol… (I have no idea why they can’t autofire like every other weapon.)

They can’t auto fire because they require ground targetting. Take for example when you go underwater, they can be auto targetted there because they’re no longer ground-targetted.

1) You’ll get plenty of skill points in the game. After you hit 80, instead of levels, you get skill points everytime you “level up”. Don’t worry, when leveling, there really isnt a “wrong” choice.

2) Socketting? You mean sigils and runes? I’d suggest getting a Minor Bloodlust asap, it will give you a stack of “bloodlust” everytime you kill anything with your rifle. BUT IT MUST BE ON YOUR RIFLE, not on a grenade set or anything.

3) It’s my understanding that P/P (Pistol/Pistol) and P/S (Shield) are dominating current meta. There are a few rifle builds out there, but test it and see what you’re most comfortable with.

You also forgot to mention the buff the boss gets after his shield gets broken.

I believe it’s called “Berserk” and it increases his damage quite heavily. Best to avoid taking any damage, especially since you’re probably at melee range after destroying his shield. His attacks can easily one shot if he does his Air-to-ground AOE

Oh this is perfect. I’ve been listening to the FFXI OST from all of the expansions simply because I am so enamored by Naoshi Mizuta and Nobuo Uematsu.

Now I can listen to their music NOT that I don’t like GW2’s music, but lets face it, even the music becomes repetitive.

Yea Sarcasmic has the direct reproduction of the event. If you have people still stuck in the cutscenes after the Warden, and you trigger the cutscenes w/ Magg’s bombs, it bugs. This has been around since release. Just be careful to watch to see if anyone is still in the cutscenes before proceeding

Yea but at least the normal IceBrood Wolves jump in the air, the Champion doesnt.

Here’s a few bosses I can think of that are brutal against melee:

Champion Icebrood Wolf: Starting path for all of CoE, sometimes seen during Claw of Jormag. They have an instant attack that hits for almost 14k+, without any visual indication nor charge up time. They simply just execute the attack and you find out you’re dead.

Dwayna’s Champion in malchor’s leap: She fires out 7 or 9 Vapor Blades that each deal 3k dmg, standing in front of her means you take all of the dmg from each blade. Also, she does it with great frequency that even with permanent Vigor, you don’t have enough dodges to fully mitigate any damage from her.

Legendary Archdiviner: Cliffside Fractal, he has an attack where he draws his hammer back (similar to the Wraithlord’s Crusher in Arah p3) except that it has no visual cue nor cast time. You have to have really good reflexes to otherwise dodge the attack. Oh, and it one-shots. His chaos bolts can be reflected, but at melee range can apply 3+ stacks of confusion if you aren’t careful with dodges.

To a lesser effect: The Grawl Shaman at the end of the Lava Fractal is somewhat difficult to melee, due to the sheer fact that in melee, it is harder to strafe a projectile (his causes agony), he’s constantly laying AOE near him, and often, its hard to move in melee (to avoid the burning) while still staying near the boss, while expending dodges to evade his auto attack (or just reflect it) and his aoes.

TL;DR Some bosses just aren’t designed to go full melee. You certainly can try, my AH guardian made some bosses that used to look difficult in melee a breeze (The Slave Driver in CoF Path 1 comes to mind, also the Seige Commander from Path 3 CoF).

Just want to thank everyone so far for their contributions to this post! Let’s make this a great discussion

With regards to heavy investment towards Earth: I always see it as these two scenarios. One, investing points heavy into earth is a more self-centered build, meaning that it revolves more about personal upkeep rather than supporting the team as a whole. Two, investing points heavy into water is more group-centered, where the extra healing power will contribute rather noticeably towards Staff 3/5, D/D 2/5. I much prefer going 30 into water because I always felt the elementalist was more of a support class as a whole, rather than a DPS class like Berzerker warriors. Powerful Auras allows me to support the group.

Now my dilemma is: Is running signets worth it for extra Aura Upkeep? Or is it much better to run 10 earth for Elemental Shielding, with an additional 10 (for a total of 20) in arcana for boon duration/CDR? I’m leaning towards the latter.

Thanks Ferny, pretty good points. I have also made the same conclusion with the use of Signets, in that they are really taking up all of my utility. I was wondering if D/D’s auras were enough to maintain a decent upkeep of Zephyr’s Boon/Elemental Shielding. I would also love to probably run cantrips with the build since it needs survivability if I’m going to be front lining.

20 points in Arcana, what would my second trait be? I already run V.

Isnt that the point of Auramentalist? To share the aura? I mean with the intent being for dungeon grouping, I’d like to be able to share Fury/Swiftness and maybe even Protection.

So, I should run 4x water 2x monk? What about 2x Forge for extra protection duration if I intend on running points into earth?

So currently, my elementalist is running Carrion gear with Runes of the Undead, Crysocola Accessories. This is recycled gear that I use now because I essentially abandoned my Evasive Arcana Staff build.

I need to re-gear this ele, and I need your thoughts. Currently running an “Auramentalist” spec with 20/10/0/30/10. 20 in Fire for Fire’s Embrace with Signet usage for aura upkeep. 10 in Air for Zephyr’s Boon, 30 in Water for 20% CDR, Cleanse on Water Attune, and Powerful Aura. Last 10 in Arcana for small CDR on attunements and boons when switching.

I’m highly considering taking the 20 points from fire and redistributing them either: 0/10/20/30/10 or 0/10/10/30/20. I need some advice with this. The points in earth would go towards Elemental Shielding and something else (if I go 20 points). The points in arcana could be anything really… maybe Final Shielding? I’m just putting the points there (if I go 20) for increased CDR on attunements.

Also, would love some advice on gear. Seems the general consensus for Auramentalists is P/V/T with 2x Monk, 2x Water and 2x ???. Jewelry as well.

Oh, this is for general PvE/Dungeons/Fractals. Thanks in advance!

And the best part is, it’s still not completely nerfed you can still do it for decent monetary compensation. Least it’s better than some other methods of getting money.

This always happens, people get dissapointed when their method of farm gets some attention.

I think it was a good call. The idea of giving boss loot rewards including money was to make it more competitive with open-world farming. I guess it got to the point where the amount of money being poured into the system was significant enough to warrant a hot fix

Tip of the hat to Mr. Hrouda, it’s a great way of immediately fixing a source of excess money in the game. To those of you complaining, I’m sure in 2 days, you’ll find something else to milk until the cow goes dry.

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t bother using food because the cost doesn’t warrant the 5min duration you get (exaggeration).

In all seriousness, I would like to see a dev or any sort of confirmation that this is indeed unintended.

See but that’s the thing: I don’t want to have to do all of the story modes for every single dungeon again because I have decided to use more than one character for a dungeon. Not to mention, there is no incentive when it comes to down to doing story mode so no one does it.

Why not grant my character access to explorable mode for a dungeon if I’ve gone through the trouble of doing it already on another character?

Granted. This is a minor issue, but certainly it’s something that should at least be given some thought. You can’t tell me you joined a group for explorable mode but found out no one has story done yet. Happens to me on occasion.

You can’t open up the instance for Explorable Mode if you’ve never done Story Mode. This has always been the case since release. I don’t know where/how you’re opening the instance to Explorable without having finished Story Mode.

To elaborate, the idea here is that with the completion of story mode, it allows the same character to open up the instance in Explorable Mode. However, you are unable to open up the instance personally if you have not done Story Mode.

Obviously you can join your group if they’ve already opened the instance, but I like to have control to the instance sometimes, especially if I know that some people in my group have shaky connections and their d/c can cause the instance resetting.

My question is, if you have one character on your account that has already finished Story mode, should the rest of the characters on your account have to redo story mode so that they are able to open up Explorable?

Food for thought.

5th’d, you’d think they know when they’re about to load a patch, they could at least prep the notes ahead of the patch.

Oddly enough, not that it has any sort of relation but, Jarvan IV has the same issue with his last skill.

In all seriousness, I think the skill has a bit more functionality in PvE more than it does in PvP, there are just too many options for players to escape or otherwise avoid the area altogether.

I’d also carry around a staff, just for the purpose of dropping Symbols for Swiftness.

Buy a sigil of minor bloodlust, stick it on your greatsword.

If you want stronger Single Target damage, I’d highly recommend Sword/Torch instead, since the auto attack chain will always proc the passive of Virtue of Justice, and if you don’t want to auto attack, you can use Sword 3, or Torch 5, to proc more burning.

With a decent set of gear, either go power or precision, you’ll do just fine against almost every scenario. If you need more survivability, which I doubt, use a GS and Mace/Focus for almost infinite block

Taken from the Sticky Guardian Glitch thread:

Shield of Absortion
Leaving this skill in auto cast mode will cause the shield to display the dome animation forever until the player inputs a command. The dome itself will not keep negating ranged attacks past its normal intended duration.

Wait until you get to the “Help Ghosts find their bodies and kill Shades that are in the way” quest. LOVE that Heart the most

/sarcasm.

Dye drop rates fixed.

Let’s prevent guilds and parties from talking to one another.

Now, let’s make them invisible.

Anyone else having any issues?

Yep, tried to relog, biggest mistake I made.

Additionally, my party and guild chat were not working.

Since they had split a lot of the skills into PVE and PVP versions, did the PVE version of Pistol Whip really need the 15% damage decrease?

Once again, I know I’m sorta necro-ing this topic but with the new updates being the big topic, I was wondering if they plan on fixing the damage again for PvE.

I guess I’m just that kinda thief that thinks I’m less useful in PvE than I am in PvP, I would like to see more viability for damage-style thiefs in PvE. I didn’t think Pistol Whip needed a damage reduction FOR pve (For PVP, I suppose it was called for).

Just my experience, but telling people what they do wrong, in any tone, never turns out well.

Even without acting elitist, they still perceive it that way, so it aides no one. To the point where, I don’t even bother helping or teaching people dungeons. There are guides online that let them learn the dungeon. Sorry.

I’m sorry but it’s completely your choice if you decide to join one of those groups, be prepared to get the backlash.

However for me, I’m a level 80 that took time to level (Yea, because its REALLY hard), and I also learned the instance prior to entering the instance. I am running a dungeon because I don’t have time to waste teaching people a path that takes 30min and extending it to 2 hours. I want a run with people that know what they’re doing, have the best possible abilities and maximum trait points, and I don’t even care if they’re wearing blues. So long as they’re 80, they are already infinitely better than a level 30 or 35 that may know what they’re doing, but still get one shot or two shot because they failed to dodge an attack.

Then, my team has to waste time rezzing, instead of using that time to contribute more DPS on a target. And the run goes slower. Like I said, I don’t have enough hours in the day to stay in a group for 1 path to take 2 hours when I need to do all 3 paths.

Once again, just my opinion, but if people want to run with only 80s, then thats their choice. Theres no need for an “Report Abuse” function. The game can be played by those who play it however they want. If you want a “Report Abuse” function, then I should be able to “Report Abuse” to people that yell at me because I don’t explain something to them. It’s not my job to teach you how to run a dungeon. There’s plenty of text guides and even youtube videos that teach you the nuances of a fight. I don’t need to babysit you through the dungeon when I barely have time to log onto the game.

Just my two cents.

Try running around while auto attacking, you won’t miss anymore.

Sidenote: I didn’t answer your question, but there are a lot of object “miss” on for example, trebuchets, The Eternal Flame in CoF path 2, so, I don’t know what the issue is, but I hope it gets fixed.

Silly question, but is your warrior lv80?

Hi everyone, I’m rather new to the ele’s role in GW2, I cant seem to put my finger on it. I need advice towards gearing and trait allocation, since I’m now lv79 almost 80.

Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks!

(btw, the purpose is mostly for running around PvE maps and WvWvW)

not buffs, just mostly bug fixes and fine tuning on skills that needed to be fixed (i.e. Fire Grab). Only buff I can think of is the change to Ring of Earth (which now applies cripple).

Thanks guys ! I noticed that there wasn’t an option to do so in the F11 menu, and I love the way the new PVP menu looks, but I would like an option to bind it to some keys XD

Thanks again!

You have to be in combat.

Go Sword/Warhorn and Greatsword, use Signet of Rage and the Trait “Signet Mastery.” Spam “Charge!” and Signet of Rage on recharge to maintain permanent Swiftness. Then use the sword 2, GS 3 and 5, to move around the map faster. Make sure you have auto targetting off.

For dungeons, run anything you like, any build will work so long as you learn how to dodge mobs and their skills. You can run a complete glass cannon for all you want, just learn how to dodge.

Literally ran CoE exp for the first time tonight, path 1 and 2 (We dodged the door). Killed alpha the 3 times on each path. Got downed once.

Learn the timing on his AOE, theres a PBAOE and a distant “Dragon Fang” style AOE. And the AOE timing is so far apart that you always have a dodge up for the PBAOE.

As for the crystals, ball up on the boss so no one has to run out and chase people in crytals. That way people with AOE dps (i.e. Wars with GS, etc) can hit the boss and the crystal.

Hello Mesmer Forum, I’m trying out my mesmer at lv5 and I love it for sPvP, for which it was mainly created. However, I would love to transition it to WvW, and thus I want to get it to level 80.

Do you guys have any advice for leveling quickly or make it the least bit painful? i.e. weapon sets, traits, gear, stats, etc? Also, at what point does it become “easier?”

Thanks in advance!

Anyone, since the recent patch, been experiencing longer than average loading times?

I just got hit for almost 100 packets of individual dmg from the same attack almost instantaneously. I was downed > defeated in almost 2 seconds. Did they give these mobs quickness? LOL Joking obviously, but this is an issue, is it a bug?

My Warrior is lv80 using a warhorn with a sword for mobility’s sake and also hasting NPCs every now and then.

I was wondering if upgrading my warhorn would result in my sword in doing more dmg, because the 4-5 skills for warrior deal no dmg, so it’s hard to say if upgrading the warhorn is worth it.

Thanks in advance.

Also adding myself to this list, do we have to discover what it is? That’d be fun

Makes me feel like there’s hope for the world. haha, especially doing the torch lighting without vent. That was simply well done.

Just finished path 3 with complete pugs on Jade Quarry. Seriously, it was frustrating but amazingly fun.

Love running through a bomb field naked. Just saying.

This is a really good point, and it asks a really great question: If there is no trinity of classes, then why does the armor rating still matter?

I’d posit a few theories: One, a majority of the classes that wear lower armor rating equipment tend to have other viable options for survival through class mechanics (i.e. Necromancer’s Death Shroud) or through careful thought of weapon sets and utility combinations. However, a few of these mechanics don’t transfer well over into PvE.

For example, the Mesmer’s Shatter and Duplication skills (Phantasms/Clones) do not grant additional survivability because mobs in PvE just do not prioritize the fake mesmers. Therefore, the mesmer is left with having to either kill fast enough via glass cannon builds or hope to never take the mobs attention. Either way, it doesn’t solve the issue.

In the case of PvP, I think the armor rating system is far more balanced: We have the idea of two classes (Guardian and Warrior) that are very reliant on approaching melee combat to deal maximum damage (Yes, this may not always be the case, some builds are meant to outlast others, etc. Fine point, but let’s ignore that scenario for now, for the sake of argument). Therefore, it makes more sense to grant them armor so that they may try to accomplish that goal.

However, the overall balance of armor rating in general PvE from leveling to dungeons really shows. I have a lv80 Warrior and a lv65 Thief, I go to Ascalonian Catacombs and the dungeons are two different beasts whenever I play either. Regardless of the level difference, I still am far more tanky than Thief will ever be, even though I’m running Full Prescision/Strength.

Overall, I think this issue is one of the better meta-arguments that will be discussed throughout the course of GW2. Similarly, I see Weapon Choice also being a big issue. Let’s see what happens.