Showing Posts For Alarox.4590:

Help choosing stats now that HoT is out

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I’ve found that using a mix of Berserker and Knights really does the trick.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Heard Scrapper Bunker Might Become a Thing

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I tried Scrapper as:
-Tanky with Flamethrower might stacking
-Power build w/ explosives
-Power build w/ elixirs
-Tanky build w/ elixirs
-Power build w/ static discharge

I didn’t find the tanky builds to be effective as bunkers. They’re bruisers for sure, but they lacked damage and got kited. The power builds with explosives/elixirs felt like downgrades to the standard Rifle builds. The static discharge build was INSANE though.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Tanky High Damage Scrapper?

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

This is what I’m using.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUhatYnXw+KQ+FL3FFdqH7zOYDGhBQ4EGQZGA-TJBBABVcBAA4BAEeZge2fAA

Utility slots besides Flamethrower are optional.

Idling around 3000 power in combat (20+ stacks of might easily), 3700 toughness (+500 from adaptive armor), 54-94% critical chance from traits and fury (usually 74%).

Plus stability, blocks, evades, invul, blind, stealth, daze, stun, knockdown. Plus resistance to conditions (-20% duration from runes, -20% damage and -33% duration for criple/chill/immobilize from traits).

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Dragonhunter and Guardian

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Seems like it’s fine for map PvE, an alternative for group content, and garbage in PvP.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Beta dragonhunter feedback/thoughts thread:

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Also, Dragon’s Maw is the worst elite skill in the game. Garbage.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Beta dragonhunter feedback/thoughts thread:

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

New Virtues: The cooldowns are just too high.

Bow Skills: The damage and utility are good and it’s a fun weapon. Great for PvE.

The problem is PvP. Kiting is impossible. It just doesn’t work. You end up auto-attacking someone point blank range while they wail on your face, and the immobility of skill 2 doesn’t help. It seems like a secondary weapon at best in PvP.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Engineer in dungeons and fractals

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Engie is good in PvE.

Power Engies have insane burst damage by cycling through kits constantly which translates into solid sustained damage. The vulnerability stacking from explosions is top-tier as well, easily holding 15 stacks individually.

Not to mention all the other utility we have through CC, buffing, condition removal, blast finishers, combo fields and various skill effects.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

PvP Guide + Game play (Static Discharge)

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I really like the Static Discharge playstyle and have tried many versions but they all tend to lack utility and survival compared to other power builds.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

MAGNETS: y don't they work?

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Try jumping right before the pull takes place. It seems to help.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Are turret engi's good?

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

@lorddarkflare
What’s the reason?!

The best way to use the turret is place it (get healed and get regeneration), overcharge it (get healed, remove conditions, gain more regeneration), and then detonate it in the water field created by overcharging it (get an AoE heal) and deal damage to enemies.

The end result is gaining a heft heal for yourself, removing two conditions, giving you and your allies 7s of regeneration, and damaging enemies. All of this on a 20s cooldown.

It has the most utility and most overall healing/sec of our healing skills.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

What happened to Hamguards?

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Because the Hammer is slow and less bursty than GS and the traits that make Hammer good are inconveniently placed.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Engineer Legendary Animations

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

This is like half the reason to go for The Predator in the first place.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Hammer effectiveness spvp post patch

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

The Hammer’s CC is still amazing in sPvP. Perma-protection on an AOE that covers the entire point is pretty good as well. That being said… Hammer has a few issues that, IMO, make it only good as a secondary weapon for CC.

1.) The auto-attack is way too slow.

It deals solid damage over time, but that doesn’t really matter. Getting 3000 damage right away is worth more than dealing 4500 over 5 seconds if your opponent stays in one spot.

2.) Glacial Heart in Virtues…

If you want to make good use of the Hammer then you have to take Virtues, which is worse in most PvP builds except maybe burning/support. Ironically, if you even want to take this trait then you can’t take Supreme Justice (makes Justice burn more frequently). So basically, if you want to use a Hammer build in PvP then you have to take Virtues over something useful just for Glacial Heart.

2.) Writ of Persistence shares the slot with Pure of Voice…

If you’re dedicating yourself to a Hammer build then you’re obviously going to want to buff Symbol size and duration, making your auto-attack’s radius huge and giving you perma-protection. But, you also need to pick between using Shouts and using Meditiations. Problem is, the trait you absolutely need for shout builds shares a grandmaster slot with Writ of Persistence. I prefer Meditations, but it sucks that there’s not much of a choice.


TL;DR Auto-attack is extremely slow and if you want to make a Hammer build effective then your trait choices are heavily restricted.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Just another mesmer burst

in Mesmer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

“You just need to predict and react to the <1s stunlock KO burst from stealth. L2P.”

Why can’t we just have a fun and balanced game? This is like when Engineers tried to defend the insta-kill Grenade Barrage, and I say that as an Engie main.

You should be explaining to Anet how to change the Mesmer so that the build gets toned down without becoming underpowered, not denying that there’s a problem at all and calling everyone else bad.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Static Discharge vs. Condi Engi roaming

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I run SD with full berserkers and the survival isn’t bad. Good mobility, plenty of cripples/immobilizes/CC, multiple invuls (gear shield, Elixir S), plus endurance regen.

Here’s the build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Z;4cPkq0l6cQ-x0;0gSFw0u5;6jkm;0247157037;4IN0;9;2kr0;2N_M

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Static Discharge miss the target?

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

In PvE you can still make it hit your target by manually aiming non-targetable skills at least. Trying to do that in PvP is usually a waste of time, but sometimes it works.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

What are you rifle engineers doing now?

in Engineer

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Static discharge rifle/tool kit build. Ridiculous burst damage, great survival.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Z70;2V2lq0l6cQFx0;9;4jkm;0247157038;4IN0;3JF04JF045O

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Superior Rune of the Pack + "Retreat"

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

One thing that has always frustrated me with the Guardian is how easily you can be kited. Even if you go GS + Sword + Judge’s Intervention, without any CC or Swiftness they can just run.

With 6x Superior Rune of the Pack + “Retreat” + Superior Aria (shout cooldown decrease) you have essentially 100% uptime on Swiftness.

Using that rune is still good for damage too. You get 125 Precision and 175 Power.

Does anyone else use this?

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Unusually Low FPS.. unplayable

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Old player coming back with twice as good of a PC. I seem to have the same issue.

I’m getting 15-17 fps in vacant Lion’s Arch on low settings.

Auto-detect puts me on nearly maximum settings.

What’s going on?

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why am i getting low fps !??!?!?!

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Having the exact same problem as you.

I even have very similar graphics card and CPU as you.

FPS is extremely low on all settings even though the auto-detect wants to put me on high.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Horrible Performance

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Yeah, already looked at that. Nothing there applies to me. Thanks though.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Horrible Performance

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Downloaded this game on a new PC since having last played a year ago. My specs:

Fx-6300 3.5ghz six-core
AMD R7 250
8gb RAM

I’m getting <15fps in vacant Lion’s Arch on the lowest possible settings.

Hitting auto-detect tries to put me on almost all high settings.

A year ago I played this game at 25fps on a potatoe. What’s going on?

Note: I play much more intensive games on higher settings with better fps on this PC. It is only this game that my performance is incredibly low for some reason.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Old player coming back; what's new?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Leveling is now a pain.

What changed?

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Old player coming back; what's new?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Title.

I stopped playing a month or so after Fractals were implemented so its been a while.

I know there’s living story but that never really interested me. I’m wondering what kinds of core gameplay changes there have been.

Also, what’s the new file size? Thanks.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

What does 'no endgame' mean, exactly?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

All MMO’s with an endgame has consisted of raids to grind gear. People honestly do not know what they want and will never be happy. For instance, people wanted more solo content for living story. Anet gave them just that and they complained that they can’t group up. Anet gave them group content and they complain that they have to team up.

Some eople just want something to do that isn’t too annoying and makes them feel like they’re not wasting their time.

Others want challenging content that is fun to complete.

Others want a mix of both, your usual raider. They want something to do that is challenging but rewards them and creates a feeling of progression.

Others want an MMOFS Massively Multiplayer Online Facebook Simulator

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

What This Game Really Is And Its Potential

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Edit: Be warned, long post, good points, worth reading. Leave a comment below so we can get a discussion going.

Retired player here, regaining some interest back into this game. 200 or so hours in beta (literally, every minute of beta), 900 hours after launch. Really tired, didn’t sleep last night, but I feel an insightful rant coming on that should interest a good number of you (if you can make it passed the first part).

I’m just going to talk about what this game really is, and what it can be.

Simply put, it is every themepark MMO you’ve ever played except probably better in most ways, without a lot of the annoying stuff and with a bunch of things you’ve craved for a long time.

This is important to recognize, because there are essentially two types of MMO content. Sandbox and Themepark. Sandbox is where players generally create their own fun or control the game themselves, themepark is where the player enjoys content made by the developer.

Each type of MMO will probably have aspects of both. PvP is almost entirely sandbox in every game. PvE is mostly themepark in MMOs.

The point is, Guild Wars 2 is a game just like most other MMOs. Meaning, it’s going to function in the same way long-term.

In every themepark MMO you’ve played, it’s gone like this:
1.) Level through PvE doing a couple dungeons or instanced content as you level in zones with quests.
2.) Get to maximum level and gear up to the minimum
3.) Choose either instanced PvP, open world/large scale PvP, or raids/dungeons where your gear will usually get better, or you’ll get cosmetics.

Same thing with WoW. Same thing with Guild Wars 2. Etc.

The point is, the future of any themepark MMO resides on your sandbox PvP run by the players, and the themepark PvE continually created by developers.

This is why you see ArenaNet creating Fractals and then the Living World. Fractals creates long-term content that people are still doing, that rewards you with cosmetics and better gear (sound like any other MMOs you’ve played)? Living World applies a concept of continuous content to keep players interested until the next update, and so on. However, Fractals is more toward the hardcore and Living Story toward casual.

In the future you WILL see both in balance.

The bottom line is that Guild Wars 2 DOES have endgame. Just like any other MMO. And like any other MMO, you’ll see the endgame controlled by PvP and content the developers regularly push out.


ArenaNet could do what most themepark MMOs do, but there’s so much potential that would be wasted. There’s half the game ArenaNet is ignoring that they have spent a large amount of effort to turn into endgame later: all of the open world and dynamic events. Their big thing pre-release was that this WAS the endgame. However, they haven’t supported this to pump out a huge variety of events.

I’m not sure if many of you were there, but during the beta weekends ArenaNet shocked everyone with 2 particular events…

1.) Invasion of Plains of Ashford

Literally, the Shatterer flew in, corrupted half the players into minions of Kralkatorrik, and an epic battle ensued with monsters all of the place, giant demonic crystals, Eir and Rytlock, and manhunts for the last of the player survivors.

2.) The Hunger Games

The next weekend, we had The Hunger Games, gw2 style. 4 teams, 8 abilities, your health dropped over time and you had to scavenge for food and ammo, and abilities. Pretty intense.

These kinds of things are what they’re capable of doing with the open world. If ArenaNet focused on the zones themselves since release, we could be seeing huge variations of events in every zone,

In the future, why not focus the Living Story team onto new event chains in a specific zone? Say “This month, we’ve focused on X zone” and everyone will flock there to discover the new events.

Better yet, add new BRANCHES to old events. Make large variations on ones we used to know well. Etc.

I would play that for sure. 1-80 was the best time I’ve had in this game minus some memorable WvW or dungeon moments.


An even better idea: we’ve got all these Elder Dragons. Why not make their minions invade certain zones and require players to push them out? Utilize the dynamic event technology and make push/pull for control of the zones?

Look at the first zone in Orr. Apply that to meta events all across Tyria. You can do this in Harathi Hinterlands with the Centaurs, or Fireheart Rise with the Flame Legion.

What do you guys think?

This is something that plays to the strengths of the game, can interest all types of players, and gives something most games can’t come close to.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

What does 'no endgame' mean, exactly?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Endgame is what you do after you hit maximum level and the game changes because all of your previous content was made to hold you off until you reached maximum level (in addition to making you have fun of course).

You either then give players themepark or sandbox content.

PvP by its very nature is sandbox. PvE is generally themepark.

So “endgame” usually consists of PvP with time consuming, regularly added PvE content usually created to keep players busy enough just until the next set of PvE content.

This applies to most non-sandbox MMOs. Guild Wars 2 is no exception.

To say that your game has no end-game is to say that either:
1.) You literally do the exact same things you did before max level
2.) You have no content for players to do at max level
3.) You don’t have levels or they are not important

Guild Wars 2 has endgame. Actually Guild Wars 2 has the SAME ENDGAME as most MMOs minus raids.

To think anything else is simply delusional. What do most games have? Dungeons, instanced PvP, open world/large scale PvP. What does GW2 have? Dungeons, instanced PvP, large scale PvP.

That is what Guild Wars 2 endgame is. They’ve tried to supplement that with temporary content, but that won’t keep players over.

Instead, they’re going to go the Fractals route. Add permanent content that takes a long time to fully go through and gives cosmetic/ascended rewards.

Make sense?

Guild Wars 2 is like any MMO but with a bunch of bonuses like WvW, active combat, personal story, actual cities, etc.

Really, it’s not that different. If you’re looking for a revolutionary MMO different than anything else, look at a sandbox one like Pathfinder Online.

ESO online and Wildstar are going to be the same. Zones to level you, end game dungeons and PvP with cosmetic and/or stat based rewards.

The only MMOs that will ever be fundamentally different will be sandbox like Planetside 2, EVE Online, or Pathfinder Online. Anything else will be a better or worse version of the MMO you’re used to.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Why aren't there dense forests in Tyria?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Because zones were made nice and neat to fit in the giant rectangles, and forests take up too much space that could be filled with POIs, vistas, hearts, etc.

Sad, but true.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Remove torment

in Suggestions

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Its much to punishing for melee builds; your options are move or don’t move; I could see the addition of another DoT based attack but one that hurts movement doesn’t fit a meta in which movement/dodging is a fundamental.

So, don’t be stupid and only use melee then?

The whole point of it is to force people to decide if it is worth the extra damage from moving, or risking death by not moving.

So everyone should change any builds focusing on one weapon or two combo melee weapons or shut up?

As if builds weren’t cookie cutter and limited enough, now we need to make sure we have these as additional checks:

1.) Have a ranged weapon in your build with traits to make it useful? If not then

2.) Have a build with tons of condition removal that doesn’t have any other kind of strategy that wouldn’t utilize condition removal? If not then

3.) Have a build with tons of Vitality instead of toughness or berserkers? If not then

Oh well.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

What GW2 is missing in my opinion

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

How so…I’m interested.

See, when I started this game, I didn’t like the checklist aspect, so I turned the markers off. It makes for a much more interesting game…particularly if you’re still trying for zone completion.

First, I can’t stand the idea of creating an artificial challenge to myself when I’m trying to be efficient. My personality is logical, but relaxed and lazy. To do something that my primary motivations for doing are rewards, I want to get it done as easily as possible, especially if I don’t enjoy it too much.

But at the same time, I want to enjoy doing what I like doing while I do the stuff for the rewards.

It’s a fundamental contradiction, but if there’s anything I feel more strongly about than doing what I like to do, it’s not spending extra energy doing something I don’t like to do.


But from a design perspective, I have a hard time enjoying the maps because you CAN place everything in terms of markers.

In most MMOs you have zones with a bunch of random crap all over the place that serves no purpose except to create thematic space and emulate the real world. In Guild Wars 2 the map design is INCREDIBLY efficient. In reality, the outside world is NOT nice and neat and perfect. The fact that the Human starter zone has all these conveniently placed hearts all packed together in such a precise arrangement… doesn’t feel ‘real’ at all.

Maybe that’s why I liked Harathi Hinterlands (or however it was named) and Orr. Both felt messy and chaotic, and both were HUGE and spread out. Both had very unique shapes and it didn’t feel like I was caged in a box with 4 mountains around me.

I hope I’ve articulated this all well, it’s mostly a rant.


Note: I finished zone completion way far back.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Remove torment

in Suggestions

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Its much to punishing for melee builds; your options are move or don’t move; I could see the addition of another DoT based attack but one that hurts movement doesn’t fit a meta in which movement/dodging is a fundamental.

Exactly. It’s nothing but a damage increase, there is no real depth.

Not moving is worse than moving, even though moving just helps the enemy.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Remove torment

in Suggestions

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

It makes people think “well, I could move and take a ton of damage, or I could sit still in a mobility focused MMO and let this Thief nuke my face with 100% accuracy while I do absolutely no damage”.

It’s essentially a straight up damage increase to any class that gets it, that punishes melee builds and anyone who doesn’t want to sit still like you’re playing WoW.

It’s simply another mechanic that is no fun to deal with.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

What GW2 is missing in my opinion

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

You sound like exactly the type of person who’d be better off exploring with the map markers off.

I understand exactly what you mean about always being aware you’re playing a game.

No map markers might have helped, but my core problem is the design of the maps themselves I suppose. ArenaNet created a beautiful game with lots of cool parts of their zones, and I would really love it if that’s all I wanted in a game world.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

My opinion about what things should change

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

OP… That crowd who agrees with exactly what you said may have left, but this one just happened to be browsing the forum on his old game.

+1

However, the opposite of that crowd is what mostly remains. Maybe if my Guardian wasn’t so kitten slow and/or Pow/Pre/Tuf was introduced to sPvP, I might still be actively playing and campaigning with you. Or maybe if I could stomach leveling another character and replaying the same old dungeons for gear…

But even if I did, what would I play? Temporary content in a game world that is completely derailed from the serious story I used to enjoy? Dailies/fractals in order to get ascended gear with no challenges and instead time barriers? Solo WvW on a dead server? Grinding gold for 5 months for a Legendary I have nothing enjoyable to use it on?

I still love the combat of this game more than any MMO I’ve played, and I love the story of this game as well. But the PvP is stale solo, I’ve lost a lot of enjoyment on my favorite class from frustrating build restrictions, and the core story hasn’t been touched. My old WvW guild collapsed, my old friends have moved on to other games. It’s such a daunting task just to play this game and try to have fun.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

No... GW2 is Awesome

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

It’s going to shrink to a fraction of the original playerbase and become a niche game though. Not fail.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

What GW2 is missing in my opinion

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

The problem is that when you play Guild Wars 2, you are very aware that you are playing a game, and that’s my problem.

If this makes sense to anyone, I think Guild Wars 2 world PvE is the most themepark of any MMO I’ve ever played.

No matter what I found in GW2 PvE, I always felt like “this is what they wanted me to experience” which bothered the hell out of me.

Even with playing WoW/Rift/Warhammer, I had a MUCH more immersive experience in PvE.

When I play an MMO, I like to explore. Guild Wars 2 is a nightmare for me, because there is no exploration. There is experiencing what they wanted me to.

Exploration is a sandbox activity. Not themepark. What Guild Wars 2 tried to do was turn it into one.

I’m having a hard time expressing what I mean. Maybe this will help. When I go into a zone, I look at the map and the game tells me where every quest, interesting spot, scenic outlook, path, etc is. The zones are square so it’s not like I don’t know exactly where it ends, and each zone is not seamless. It’s like every square inch of each map is a little “activity” for me to look at. When exploring I felt like I was in a box too, the map is always a rectangle and you’re always very aware where the limits are. The zones felt like there was a set path to go on, whereas in other games I might random trek through a forest and over a mountain because I feel like it.

It doesn’t feel organic whatsoever. I always felt like I was playing a game; in other MMOs I felt like I was in a real second world (minus the horrible questing which was only sometimes fun). I could look around and see a huge forest and walk around in it. In Guild Wars 2, a forest is a bunch of trees with a few mobs in it for the heart where a giant troll might pop out every 20 minutes. And after the “forest” would be a mountain for the side/barrier of the zone on one side, two paths, one leading to the NPC heart and the other a tunnel that leads to a skill point and a POI.

Guild Wars 2 PvE exploration wasn’t like I could get into my character and get into the world and the people inside of it, it was just something to do in between personal story and a tool to level up. It looked really, really nice, but that doesn’t make up for what it was.

But then again… I guess it’s what most people want in an MMO now. People want something to DO not something to really experience.

I’ve put 900 hours into the game, just for reference.


For the record, some areas felt less like this, and Orr was pretty cool.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I think the OP is wondering why they changed the knight’s amulet from the regular game to spvp mode. Why didn’t they just leave it the same?

In the regular game it’s power, precision, toughness.

In spvp it’s power, precision, vitality.

I don’t really care what it’s called, just curious why they don’t have that specific combination of stats on any of the gear.

It’s strange that they don’t, they never gave a reason, and nobody ever asks.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I don’t think you are really going to get an official answer here unfortunately.

sPvP is designed in such away that you can only optimize your build around a limited number of amulet choices. I believe the root cause is that the balance team doesn’t want to have too much work to do as they apparently are too short-handed to keep up already. Changing the amulet system would increase the amount of work they’d have to do by a large multiple per amulet or perhaps even exponentially, so it is going to stay as it is for awhile most likely, an perhaps forever.

That’s just going to throw balance between pvp/pve/wvw off. If they just balance for PvP, then a set of builds will become imbalanced in WvW/PvE because they don’t SEE these builds in PvP. The opposite is also true. Just makes their job harder and the game annoying, IMO.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

well with the prevalence of condition damage in PvP right now it’s better to take vitality anyway

Direct damage is also prevalent. Only difference is that you can go pow/pre/vit to counter conditions, but not pow/pre/tuf to counter direct damage.

Besides, it’s just another choice. If you only had options to counter what was most common, then it would be boring for everyone involved.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I think it would completel kill berserkers and knights amulets.

Everybody would take it cz it would give dmg and protection against zerkers. Yes low hp would make u more vulnarable to conditions but they are (even now in a heavy condi meta) being cleansed a lot.

Think about it, we already have bunkers who deal moderate dmg and every build needs its pros and cons.

In WvW people still play condition/bunker/berserkers. It’s not as if pow/pre/tuf blows everything out of the water.

And if that’s the case, then should the current most popular amulet get removed? If berserkers is the most common, then why shouldn’t it also not be an option?

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

You will have to mix and match with a jewel, for what little boost they provide, they still provide something. Knights amulet with Shaman or Soldiers jewel. You will have to think about what stats you’re picking up in your trait lines. This is a silly reason not to play pvp.

Playing an offensive guardian that isn’t glass cannon is impossible without Pow/Pre/Tuf, basically.

Your survival comes from high toughness with healing, your damage comes from power and precision from gear and the 30% critical damage from the Valor line.

If you go low toughness, you basically trade the innate survival Guardians have because your healing is greatly exceeded by the damage you’re taking in. If you go low power and precision with high toughness and vitality, you become just another bunker. I don’t want to play glass cannon or bunker. Pretty obvious reason not to play if I can’t play the way I want to.

Same thing with how I play my Engineer. High toughness, low health, with has constant regen and various sources of healing. He has high power for damage with bombs and precision for traits with a rifle.

Can’t use either in sPvP without going bunker or glass cannon. Precision players a major role in both, but they’re not entirely based on precision. You need power. But without the Toughness they’re just another glass cannon with a survival gimmick that doesn’t work in real battles.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Guild Wars 2 logic

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Spent ridiculous amounts of time and money of developing the personal story. Constantly spend time fixing any and all problems with them every update. Hype it up as one the best features of the game.

Doesn’t let you replay anything you’ve done.

“We really, really want you to enjoy this.”
“I did a lot, so could I p-”
“NO!”

Was a lot of fun, but I finished that within 100 hours. I have 800 on my character…

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Why isn't there Pow/Pre/Tuf gear?

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Just curious.

You have glass cannon (berserkers)
You have bunker (soldiers)
You have pow/pre/vit for damage with survival vs condition users.

But you don’t have pow/pre/tuf for damage with survival vs direct damage.

So you can go burst, bunker, or balanced but the latter gets obliterated by burst builds.

There is an entire build style left out of the equation here, one that is popular in WvW. I just don’t see much of a reason to leave this stat configuration out.

This is the only thing that stops me from playing sPvP.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Something wicked this way comes

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I see nothing wrong with more options. That is all.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Needs more bow.

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

You not wanting to use a bow/not seeing your Guardian using a bow does not mean the Guardian shouldn’t get a bow…

There are many ways to play a Guardian, many ways to “RP” one as well, really.

Not every option in a class has to match what you want to do with it. It’s just an option.

It’s especially weird for you to be against giving Guardians this just because you don’t want to use it. You don’t have to use one…

If it doesn’t negatively affect anyone, and it makes a ton of people happy, why not do it?

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

[Unconfirmed] Guardian Changes

in Guardian

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

If changes like this continue, where our builds will eventually be based mostly on dilemmas between two good alternatives instead of poor trait vs poor trait (or good trait vs poor trait), I might really start playing this game again.

For me, creativity is one of the biggest parts of a game, especially MMOs. Not having the variety is a decision maker for me. If these notes are true, it’s looking good from here on.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

Esports

in PvP

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

I rarely wait in solo-Q more than 2 minutes for a fight. No other game ever gave me that kind of accessibility.

Pretty much every small-scale PvP game I’ve ever played allows me to do this in less than 2 minutes as a solo player.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Elitism is ruining this game

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

Could never enjoy reading this forum. OP isn’t a jerk or idiot, but gets trolled like crazy because someone disagrees with him.

inb4 moderator

He wants more challenging content, so apparently he’s “ruining the game for everyone else” or “you’re just an arrogant jerk who wants to gloat and make me feel bad about you being better” etc.

Apparently casual = hates challenges. I thought all gamers like challenges except hardcore players were just more serious about completing those challenges and/or had more time on their hands to master the game.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

(edited by Alarox.4590)

More updates than MMOs with Subs?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

If any game out there has the best regular updates I’ve seen, then it’s Planetside 2 which is entirely F2P. They have a general update every 2 weeks, the equivalent of the updates GW2 has every other month.

Guild Wars 2 gives updates, but most of it ends up being temporary content, flavor of life changes, and any balancing is at a turtle’s pace.

Quality over quantity.

If you like temporary content to keep you playing, then this model is fine for you. But I think the distinction needs to be made between that and the game actively being improved, not just temporary content to hold you over until the next update.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows

Super box...fun?

in Super Adventure Box

Posted by: Alarox.4590

Alarox.4590

You become a hater when you ask not to make content that alot of people enjoy. Its a retro jumping puzzel and it affects your game in no way. Mine as well ask them to remove wvw because it is taking away frome dungeons right? Don’t ask for something removed because it took dev power. That is just rediculous.

Hey #2.

Alarox – Human Guardian
Rampage Wilson – Charr Engineer
Sea of Sorrows