Guild Wars 2

+1 Brilliant.

ANet HIRE THIS MAN.

style.6173:

@OP or you could just stop caring about a title no one from your own server sees.

This was another confusing decision.

I mean, not seeing your enemies name was one thing. But not being able to show off your rank to your allies? I just don’t see what good was intended to come from that idea.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Anet prevented the use of fireworks in WvW (the ones from the dragon festival) because they were afraid of people spamming them and lowering DPS. Signal flares, though an awesome idea, will probably have the same issues.

I’m going assume you meant FPS. And they’ll just have to set a cooldown in place to ensure it can’t be spammed. 10 – 15 minutes would do.

I don’t think the visual effect is even that important anyway. What’s more important is that it shows up on the WvW map.

Well to be completely fair a lot of games use Knight as a rank rather than a title of nobility like WoW with Knight → Knight-Lieutenant → Knight-Commander and Fire Emblem with Knight → General

But that said I do agree with Obscure One’s sentiment. This rank system is a completely randomized mess.

I’m genuinely curious as to who honestly thought Legend → Bronze kittenbucket was a promotion.

PvErs would scream bloody murder.

If you ever wanted the entire PvE community to suffer simultaneous panic attacks, this is how you would do it.

Or make it a WXP reward, for example rewarded upon reaching Gold Legend.

Either way; really nice idea.

lmaogg.7325:

ArenaNet please.. seriously please limit the number of players per borderland/eternal battlefield….

Its ridiculous when the opposing server is able to rally up to more then 4 times our numbers…

Imagine if they dropped the cap to match your servers WvW population. 4 times as many players than that of your server abandon the game because they get completely sick of having to wait for hours in queue.

Didn’t think this one through did you?

Handin.4032:

scootshoot.6583:

If Anet was really concerned about the impact of throwaway level 1 trolls on their 2nd account or trial period all they need to do is up the level requirement required to zone into WvW.

I don’t think this would be very good, because then there will be a huge debate about what level it should be, etc…I know several people who leveled entire characters from 5-80 using only WvW.

This. Raising the level cap for entering WvW is a terrible idea. Personally; if it weren’t for queues and having to hunt for skill points I would probably never leave WvW.

Edit:

Achilles.3128:

Achilles.3128:

WHO ARE YOU WHERE DO YOU COME FROM

The creepy part is that I’m from Jade Quarry as well.

Fomby.4295:

Achilles.3128:

WXP is still a fairly new addition if I’m not mistaken. Most likely it’s on their to-do list.

I’m 98% sure they’ve said that this is how they like it and they aren’t changing it. kitten the players.

Or maybe I’m just confusing that with other reasonable player ideas.

Sorry, was mistaken. I’m just getting back to the game after half a year so I’m a bit behind on the news.

I guess they figure since you will eventually get all the abilities available there really isn’t any need to reset points. They’re probably trying to avoid world abilities becoming a system where you just swap your points depending on what situation you’re in.

But even so wouldn’t it just make more sense to implement a weekly or monthly limit on how many times you’re allowed to reset your points? So Idk.

WXP is still a fairly new addition if I’m not mistaken. Most likely it’s on their to-do list.

Zulubeast.8519:

Contiguous.1345:

Mark my words. It won’t stop there. This is just a test to see if the idea of a free trial nets any fish.

There’s a strong possibility of Anet repeating the offer periodically.

They already have done trials before.

If trolls are going to do it for a weekend every three months, report the account and move on.

This.

If two days of people trolling WvW every few months gets you bent out of shape then I really suggest you get some fresh air. This isn’t a big deal and it’s not like there aren’t people that already have multiple accounts for exactly this purpose.

Elementalist Owner.7802:

Achilles.3128:

Ranks such as Raider, Veteran, Champion just seem like stereotypical MMO words tacked on that don’t have actual meaning or weight.

Stereotypical is not a bad thing. You seem to have a hipster approach to rankings, allow me to explain why being different is unimportant:

cham·pi·on [cham-pee-uhn] 1. a person who has defeated all opponents in a competition or series of competitions, so as to hold first place:

ser·geant [sahr-juhnt] 1. a noncommissioned army officer of a rank above that of corporal.

Champion is a fit title for somebody who WvW’s a lot, sergeant sounds more like a casual player.

I don’t see how I’m taking a hipster approach when this clearly has absolutely nothing to do with being different. It’s about carrying weight or meaning. Simply put Champion is a title that is so overused in MMOs it isn’t a word that holds weight or even carries meaning anymore. Sort of like when someone types lol. Everyone uses it even in situations where they don’t actually laugh out loud.

Whereas actual Military Ranks such as a General continue to hold weight because they hold weight IRL.

Shoe.5821:

well, i wasn’t suggesting specific names so much as the approach.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. What I was getting is that your proposition would require a lot more unique titles than we currently have resulting in that much more menial or out of place ranks. Though I do understand you point about Feudal/Fantasy vs Military ranks. I suppose that much would simply be a difference of preference.

Shoe.5821:

the problem with that system is that probably the majority of characters in wvw are below rank 40 and would never be anything other than a recruit.

taking forever to be anything other than a recruit would kinda suck

personally i would go with a slightly nonlinear system. Non-metallic and metallic ranks would have their own completely different title sets. Also we can do away entirely with chump names like Recruit.

0 Aspirant
5 Raider
10 Skirmisher
15 Invader
20 Footman
30 Warrior
40 Assaulter
50 Sergeant
60 Bronze Knight

etcetc

Bronze Champion

etcetc

Bronze Legend

This is a really interesting approach. The one problem I see is that even in the current system we have more than a few menial or meaningless titles just seemingly tacked on.

Which I think is really one of the biggest problem with the current ranks. When you see a title like Sergeant, Corporal, Colonel or even a lower ranked Private you know it means something, it holds weight. Ranks such as Raider, Veteran, Champion just seem like stereotypical MMO words tacked on that don’t have actual meaning or weight.

Malloway.7382:

Changed it up a little bit given everyone’s feedback (and keep the feedback coming! the more Anet see’s this, the more likely they are to change it)

Excellent imo. Still, I’m interested to see what other posters think. To know if we’re just being a vocal minority.

That said I’m more than fairly certain most everyone can at least agree that your Invader → Bronze Invader system is a lot more appropriate than the current Legend → Bronze Invader setup.

Genev.2450:

Assaulters are a stop above Invaders because they don’t just invade, they’re active combatants, attacking people and settlements.
For example, settlers could be invaders, but they’re not going to be assaulters.

Raiders are beyond that even, they don’t jsut attack, they actively work towards resource sabotage, and since they’re generally mobile they’re harder to deal with than simple assaulters. They’re a pretty nasty drain.
To me, raiders imply more effectiveness and harder to work against.

While I do see your point it just seems to me like these really are just technical differences. That is to say even if a Raider is technically more dangerous than an Invader, when it gets right down to it, they’re all just peon brutes. Whereas there is a very clear dividing line in authority between a Colonel and a Major for example.

Genev.2450:

Scout > Invader

Scouts need to be trusted to provide information, and do so correctly, and be able to take care of themselves.
Invaders are people who go into a land uninvited, and not welcome, and then refuse to leave… Don’t need anything special for that :p

I’d put scout right before raider actually.

That’s actually a pretty good point. Invaders, Assaulters and Raiders could pretty much be anyone so I suppose they do belong at the front.

But I don’t get why the first 3 titles are pretty much synonymous with each other. I mean; how is an Assaulter or Raider any more prestigious than an Invader?

Malloway.7382:

So after reading a bunch of forums posts, and talking to people in WvW, its obvious that the ranking system needs to be fixed/adjusted. I took the liberty to create a document that showcases how, personally, I feel the ranks should be changed up.

Major Change:
- Ranks I arranged in a way where type, means less then the actual title. Getting to the rank of Legend, only to be bumped town to a Bronze Invader, seems like a downgrade. I feel like once you earn the rank of, say a Soldier, you should only move up from there, not back down in rank.

Some of the minor changes:
- Recruit is the newbie rank (as it probably should be)
- Squire I put after as I feel squires are seen as an “apprentice” title
- Most can agree that Footman should be MUCH lower in rank
- Scout I feel would be a lower rank then someone who is trusted to Invade a different land?
- I moved Veteran down as I feel like its definitely a lower rank then Major, but higher then a Soldier.

Feedback would be amazing! =)

As I stated earlier in response to Aphix’s post, I complete agree. Going from Legend to Bronze Invader is unquestionably a downgrade.

With regards to your placement; I like it personally. A lot actually. The only thing I would change personally is I would move Champion back so it would be the promotion that precedes Knight. By definition a Champion really is just a glorified Knight. The only difference between the two is that a Knight is more of an actual rank whereas “Champion” is more of a formality.

Other than that, I’d say it’s perfect. To say the least; it’s significantly more appropriate than what is in place at the moment which, as meep so elegantly put it, seems to have been put in order by randomly throwing darts.

sostronk.8167:

I thought some of the earlier ones were more underwhelming. I feel like Id rather be called an assualter, raider or soldier rather than a squire. Yet squire is higher than these. The same with footman.

I noticed this as well. The thing about the Squire title is that you can sort of understand its placement since a lot of games use Squire as a precursor to a Knight. Footman definitely was place too high though.

meep.2601:

its like they printed out a big list of the rank names they came up with, taped it onto a wall, and then put on blindfolds and threw darts at it to determine the order they are achieved

Exactly this. The first and final 3 titles especially just felt like they were randomly chosen from the Stereotypical MMO Handbook.

Aphix.9846:

The fact that you promote from Legend to Bronze Invader is the problem.

I see this problem as well. A more appropriate approach would have been:

…Mithril Invader → Diamond Invader → Assaulter → Bronze Assaulter

Is it just me or are the titles of each rank bracket a bit underwhelming. It just seems to me that Colonel and General hold a lot more prestige due to being actual ranks of high prestige in the Military.

The titles “Veteran”, “Champion” (especially Champion) and “Legend” are grossly overused in MMOs and as such don’t feel like they have any real have any real meaning or significance anymore.

Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

Thanks for all the feedback. Your post was very informative Loco, it did make sense and was easy enough to understand so thanks. Since both you and RapidSausage seem to agree that illusions are lacking in WvW then I’ll take Somna’s advice and swap in Blink in place of the signet. @Somna I actually was actually considering blink for the reason you mentioned as well as for covering ground. I’ll keep in mind your pointer about looking at the perks rather than the stat bonuses.

I think for a scout my illusions still would be of some use as while scouting you tend to be out of the way of the zergs so AoE isn’t quite as rampant. I imagine there’s a chance I’ll end up having to swap out my Illusion traits as you recommended RS but for the moment they’ve been helpful for making quick getaways when I do inevitably end up under fire which is all I need them for really. Though that was a very interesting point about the cooldowns stacking. A pleasant surprise and a factor I’m going to take into consideration.

I’m going to rethink this build with a bit less focus on illusions in favour of Dueling since that seems to be the consensus here. I’ll post an update when I settle on a new build, thanks again to all of you.

Edit: @RapidSausage I saw on your build you took the Illusionary Persona perk. I’m assuming that perk makes it so that for example mind wrack casts its AoE of the player character as well but what does it do in the case of distortion? Does it give you 1 additional second for yourself as well?

The goal I’m trying to accomplish with this build is to make a Mesmer that is capable of holding its own or long enough to manage an escape in WvW. What I’ve come up with so far is;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAW8dlwzKq3UzhGbNJhJF9G5nZE9ljWApCqG

I’m uncertain if picking up “Warden’s Feedback” was a smart move given that only one ability (Temporal Curtain) actually gains any benefit from it as, to the best of my knowledge, cooldown reductions don’t stack and “Phantasmal Warden” already benefits from “Illusionist’s Celerity”. Though that said, it should be considered that “Temporal Curtain” is one of the most vital abilities in your arsenal while scouting; both for covering ground and for making quick getaways.

As for the last 10 points; I’ve been considering “Phantasmal Fury” from Dueling, “Blade Training” from Dueling, “Crippling Dissipation” from Domination (just for sake of having more Power as well) or a combination of “Restorative Illusions” from Inspiration and “Compounding Power” from Illusions as they both require only 5 points to reach.

Edit: Also would it have been a better idea to avoid putting points in Domination and instead just maximize on survivability by going 30 into Chaos and Inspiration for the additional Toughness and Vitality?

Advice, thoughts and criticisms all welcome, encouraged and appreciated.

Eochaidh.4106:

Zanjarah.9731:

Katanas are two-handed swords.

They can be used with one hand, from what I’ve seen.

I’m not sure what you’ve been watching but the only type of “katana” that can be used in one hand is a defensive weapon just less than the size of a short sword. They don’t call it a katana however, it’s called a kodachi.

Oh. Well this was embarrassing.

Phantasmal Haste is suppose to reduce the cooldown on all Phantasm abilities by 20% however by the time you’re able to unlock this perk you would have already unlocked Illusionist’s clarity 15 points ago which reduces the cooldown on ALL illusions by 20%. If the reductions stacked then this perk would have been quite interesting, however they don’t.

Am I missing something here? Does the cooldown reduction affect something else that I’m not aware of or is this really the single most useless perk in the game?

Am I the only person that thinks that the game’s clothing is better without capes? This game has probably the classiest clothing I’ve ever seen in available in a RPG. With the exception of some heavy armor the addition of capes would make most clothing look incredibly tacky imo.

I mean I completely get that it will probably optional which is absolutely fine, but I guess I just don’t understand what the big demand for capes is I guess. Cloaks I could understand a bit, but I really just don’t see what the big deal is about capes.

So because you don’t like WvW, it should be removed from the game despite the fact that WvW was exactly what sold the game for a sizable amount of this game’s population.

I have to believe that this is a troll topic, my faith in humanity depends on it.

I’m sure it is common knowledge by now that unless you’re heavily specced into Earth and/or Water while geared for toughness/vitality the Elementalist class is essentially the definition of glass canon with just a slightly smaller boom.

Now some may have been suggesting that our burst damage needs a boost to compensate for this while others have suggested that our surviability needs to be adjusted.

I understand the concerns with both these options, the first being that if our damage was scaled Elementalist combat would essentially be reduced to a Burst for Burst melee where whoever bursts first wins. ie. Our combat would be reduced to a “faceroll” class. While the second option defeats the Elementalist’s placement as a scholar class.

That’s why I’m suggesting the third option; allow elementalists the option of taking up a trait perk that allows a reduction on the cooldown of our “control” abilities such as “Gust”, “Frozen Ground” and another trait in a separate tree that lowers the cooldown on our “defensive” abilities such as “Magnetic Aura” and “Burning Retreat”.

In a nutshell; if we are the class that can be nuked off the map in 5 seconds flat, then give us the option to make it as hard as possible for any one enemy to land those 5 seconds.

I’m pretty sure ANet already thought of this but it’s not as easy to implement as some would like to assume. I mean WoW’s Armory was in beta for a number of years before it was actually finished.

Agreed. I love this game but the day/night cycle is among the worst I’ve ever seen. At the very least give us a clock that tracks the games day/night cycle.

Personally though; I say set the cycle to 24 Hours. In WoW usually just before I log out for the night (or if me and my girl were bored since we had to suffer through long distance at times) I/we would go to my favourite city and just wonder about and enjoy the city at night for about 15-30 minutes.

A 24 Hour cycle adds a major and relaxing immersion factor that really turns a game world from just another virtual space, to a home away from home.

Tried it out, it really didn’t work too well for me. Again perhaps someone with more experience with an Elementalist should review it but from my experience, possibly it is good for PvE, but in PvP there’s virtually no uptime on it.

Quintal.6594:

Achilles.3128:

Quintal.6594:

I disagree with stopping at 15 in water. if you spend an extra 5 and get 20 you can have both cleansing wave and vital striking. Getting 10% more dps for 5 points is fairly nice.

Edit: especially in wvw where you’re often on a wall at full hp

And I’m going to have to disagree in return as that bonus can be picked up from from just about any attunement tree including ones with a much higher damage output than Water. The damage output on Water Attunement is absurdly low, 10% damage on an already menial figure could be considered borderline useless comparative to the mobility, survivability or even damage out put you can get through investing in other trees.

It sounds like you do not understand vital striking. This is 10% for all attunements(when you have 90%+ hp), and stacks with the other 10% traits.

Oh, that’s my mistake. I confused the traits you were referring to. But even so Yukishiro covered my take on that trait. In both SPvP and WvW the amount of time you spend at 90% from my personal experience really isn’t more than a few seconds once you’re against any from of opposition. Again that could just be our server though, I’m on Jade Quarry as well.

Edit: Thinking about it the trait could be worthwhile on a high mobility concentrated build where you focus on staying on the borderlines of the fray. There are a ton of of speed bonuses you can pick up through Air and an extra 15% you can pick up if you’re a dagger user in Arcana. It’s an interesting twist on a healing build, I’m actually going to try to make a build around this concept later.

Quintal.6594:

I disagree with stopping at 15 in water. if you spend an extra 5 and get 20 you can have both cleansing wave and vital striking. Getting 10% more dps for 5 points is fairly nice.

Edit: especially in wvw where you’re often on a wall at full hp

And I’m going to have to disagree in return as that bonus can be picked up from from just about any attunement tree including ones with a much higher damage output than Water. The damage output on Water Attunement is absurdly low, 10% damage on an already menial figure could be considered borderline useless comparative to the mobility, survivability or even damage output you can get through investing those 5 points in other trees.

symke.3105:

I didn’t use words like “most” or “majority” for a reason. Because I don’t know what most players think. No one does. “So many” is simply because the amount of posts about this on several different GW2 forums is high enough to allow this phrase.
And for your to attack my use of this phrase and then use words “everyone knew” at the end of your post is a definite “LoL” moment. I guess you allow yourself more freedom with words than you do to others, ha. Furthermore, only those that were following the development of GW2 knew this “no Trinity” fact. But of course according to you, that means all players of GW2 at the moment. Unbelievable, really.

Roles in GW2 are (imo) blurred and not that well defined, not non existent. It’s also my opinion that with time, you will be expected to use certain weapons and skills for combo effects and similar. Which is not very different than expecting to use certain build.
It’s the samekitten It just smells and looks differently (a joke).

And I am not demanding anything, just expressing my opinion.

Ugh, I can’t believe I trolled myself like that -_- Touche, my choice of words were indeed hypocritical and poor. What I should have said is removal of the Holy Trinity was the Guild Wars 2 initiative from the start, not everyone knew.

As to the rest of your post given; that it is your opinion. My previous most should have made it clear that mine differs from yours and exactly why. I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this matter.

Just an update; I took Pinker’s advice and tried a 5 Air 30 Earth 15 Water 20 Arcana Build. I’m not sure if it was the extra toughness from investing all the way into earth or the passive from the signet but the survivability was inspiring. Typically my first response when I’m pitted against a Mesmer is took make an opportunity then run for the hills.

The first mesmer I got pitted against in Capricorn I would have won through attrition (the fight went on for a while) if his backup didn’t arrive. The second I won through a reverse of the first scenario.

If any of you haven’t yet I really do suggest you try that build out.

The perks I used were; Armor of Earth, Signet Cooldown reduction and Written in Stone from Earth, Water Cooldown reduction from Water and finally Boons on Attunement and Blast Radius from Arcana.

symke.3105:

Good intentions on your part, but why then did you make a combat where I can see almost nothing that is happening around me, if I am in melee range? Or are you trying to tell us that GW2 actually favors range over melee?
Roles in a fight are natural, they are part of us, humans. Maybe that is the reason so many players don’t like this “we are all the same” mantra, that GW2 promotes so heavily.
In my opinion not having trinity is more liked by people that see themselves primarily as part of a group, while having some sort of trinity is more liked by those that want more personal satisfactions and accomplishments.

I’d like to see your statistics on the notion that “so many players” dislike the trinity removal. My main problem with what you said is that you claim there are no roles when this has repeatedly been said to not be the case. As far as I know just about every class has a support, damage and control trait line. The only difference is that in GW2 these roles are mobile and proactive rather than stationary and reactive.

And also that you’re not required to take a specific amount of roles into battle with you which, in my opinion, makes those specific roles all the more immersive and worthwhile. In WoW when you play a specific role players expect you to do specific things. I’m sure there’s not a single tank or healer that has played WoW that is unfamiliar with both barks of orders and yells of disappointment. Here you’re not required to take a specific role for any specified reason other than your own prerogative. Here if someone were to actually chose to take up a support or control role in a fight; players are actually more inclined to be grateful for that person’s role rather demanding they perform in a specific way.

But above all; everyone knew from the start that Guild Wars 2’s initiative was to break the Holy Trinity. You bought the game knowing this so don’t expect the developers to rework their concept just because you paid for it. You won’t go walking into a lemonade stall, pay for a glass of lemonade and then demand that they give you orange juice so don’t do the same thing here.

I completely agree this game needs an Arena. But I see absolutely no reason that it should have a gear grind. I mean isn’t is just obvious that an Arena has even more reason to have standardized armor than SPvP?

Freakiie.8940:

At least 10 in Earth. Like Yukishiro said that Armor of Earth trait is a must have.

Well since 3 people have recommended it so far I guess that’s pretty much mandatory. And I’ll put the remaining 15 in Air and Arcana which means the final build is; 20 Air 10 Earth 15 Water 25 Arcana.

Thanks for all the responses, you were all a huge help. I’ve solidly decided that I’m going 15 in Water and at least 20 in Arcana with 10 in Air for the speed boost. I’m currently trying to decide how I’ll spend the rest of those points but my question was more than answered so thank you all.

Hi everyone. First the question here should be considered with regards to WvW and SPvP.

I have heard some mixed opinions on the Healing Stat, some have said that your healing power is minimal at best and thus the stat is a waste while others have said Healing is the most unappreciated stat in the game. Personally I have a leniency towards taking support roles so naturally I’m considering putting 30 points in Water to maximize my healing output.

However given what I heard; I’m curious to whether putting points in Water a waste when compared to the bonuses from the other trees.

My second gripe with water is that a lot of the perks, personally speaking, seem a tad bit boring and somewhat lackluster compared to the perks from other trees.

If anyone has any insight they would like to offer, what are your thoughts on Healing as a Stat comparative to the bonuses of other trees, is it comparatively underpowered as some say or just under appreciated? And secondly what do you consider the most worthwhile stat(s)/tree(s) for an Elementalist to invest in.