Guild Wars 2

I wandered into the event at the same point. Matriarch half dead, but I couldn’t locate her.

Greiger.7092:

The skritt, while smarter than other skritt, whether through the skritt community in lions arch or being an unusually smart individual(which seems more likely as there does not appear to be a large skritt presence in LA), is not quite smart enough to gracefully exit the conversation.

I disagree. I think the skritt was just standing around when an obnoxious human struck up an obnoxious conversation, so brusquely responding “No.” to his question IS her graceful exit.

I’m completely delighted by how cold and disengaged she is. She clearly hates this racist jerk, but instead of screeching “kill it!” she freezes him out.

Oranisagu.3706:

the best there is? I wouldn’t have thought so, but now that you say it so confidently, it must be true. why do people always have to use superlative and state opinions as fact?

…you can’t think of any others, can you?

/signed
If I could change one thing about gw2 I would add duels. Idk where some people are getting these absurd ideas about having to wade through oceans of duelers to get to where they want to go, or not being able to use waypoints because they were somehow clogged up with duels.

From the small amount of testing I did, picking up the turret will always give you more heal in the long run because it reduces the cooldown. This becomes more and more true the more +boon duration that you have. So only explode the turret if you need that extra bit of health now, or have teammates around who need heals.

@bard, right now kits do gain weapon stats in sPvP (well not exactly but they basically do) and the engineers kit damage seems fine there. And if anything, sPvP is probably what ANet is mostly balancing the game around. So it’s hard to imagine it being at all balance breaking if they let kits use the weapon stats in the rest of the game as well.

I usually despise when people make posts like I’m making now, but really, how many topics do we need for the same thing? And it’s not like there is anything to discuss, because pretty much everyone agrees that kits should use sigils and weapon stats. Just waiting on ANet to make it happen.

Race choice really doesn’t have that big of an impact on actual gameplay, all the racial skills are pretty weak. Just choose based on which you like best by lore, looks, personal story, how you like to RP, etc. I made an asura just because I was able to make her look like a bunny

Don’t get me wrong, the skill needs some changes to work, I just dont think adding a detonate ability is the right way to do it. If I were the ANet dev changing it here is what I would do:

Give it faster projectile speed for one. Using it directly after air blast should be a good way to land it, but not quite guarenteed. Making it so it moves fast enough that its almost about to explode by the time they recover from the knockback would give them time to dodge it or block it if they wanted, but otherwise it would hit them. Also that would solve the issue where it always misses if your opponent is moving perpendicular from you.

Also, I’d give it a slightly smaller range so that it explodes at about the max range of the #1 flamethrower ability. That kinda gives the FT a “sweet spot” where it’s very strong, about 400 range away, and good engineers would try to stay at that range, and good opponents would try to stay out of that range.

Lastly, I would make it move through most ground terrain so it didn’t get obstructed and just dissapear. Like if it hit a bump on the ground it would keep going until it got to its range and then explode. The exceptions would be stuff like walls and boxes. But if it hit something like that, instead of just dissapearing like it does now, it would explode and do its damage. This would also add another way to land it, if your opponent is up against a wall or obstacle you could use that to your advantage.

As far as ways to get into that sweet spot, there are plenty of skills that help. Immobilizes like net shot or glue shot are good. Knockbacks like the obvious one air blast, but also overcharged shot, personal battering ram, or the shield #4 ability(i forget what it’s called, the one that reflects projectiles and you can hit the button again to knock back). Also positioning skills like jump shot or rocket boots are useful. Jump shot mostly if they are too far away, you could use it to get closer, or even to get right next to them to follow it with a knockback. Trying to work these skills into your flamethower build and using them at the right time makes for interesting gameplay, where as just being able to detonate it makes it way easier to use, because you just use it whenever they are anywhere less than 600 range.

By the way I’m mostly thinking in terms of pvp cuz that’s mostly what I play, it obviously is a lot different trying to use something like this against players that are moving all over in only semi predictable patterns. NPC mobs that just constantly run at you because they are melee, or ones that just mindlessly stand still and shoot at you cuz they are ranged, are going to be a bit different. You seem to be talking more about pve while I’m talking about pvp, and it’s difficult to balance it for both so idk about that aspect.

Pretty much exactly the same as the staff build i’ve been using except for I put the 10 you have in fire into arcane for the spell thats cast at the end of dodge, i think the trait is called evasive arcana. I would suggest trying this just because each of the 4 spells you can get from it gives you a combo blast finisher which works really well with the staffs fire/ice/water/lightning fields and overall lack of combo finishers to use with them (6 combo fields and only one combo finisher in this build, and it takes forever to go off – earth #2 skill) The 3 stacks of might on cantrip is gonna give you at most 9 might in a fight but you can easily get that by dodging into your fire fields a few times. Takes some practice to use to its full extent, I still feel like i suck at it but it is definitely a fun trait so I recommend trying it.

The pistol #1 skill, explosive shot, gives 2 seconds of bleed. So if you increase your bleed duration by say 25%, it increases it to 2.5 seconds. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, nor should you necessarily aim to get it at an even second mark. If you shoot something once with explosive shot and then dont do anything after that, you will do no damage with that extra half second of bleed. If you shoot them twice though, you apply 5 seconds of bleed instead of 4 seconds you would apply without the duration increase. As long as you apply more bleed before it ends you shouldn’t worry about this too much.

With the burn on crit this may be more of a problem since it might happen often that you only get a little burn and then none for a while, but I think it still wont matter if you have other sources of burn including teammates burning the same target as you. Not sure exactly if the last part about the teammates is true though, maybe warrents some testing. I think if two people apply burning the durations will just add together and the damage will be calculated from whomever has the higher condition damage.

edit: just realized i’m an idiot and bleeds dont stack in duration, so nvm that whole first paragraph. i’ll leave it there though since it still applies to burns and poison

Am I the only one who does not want the #2 ability to have a detonate ability? As it is right now its a hard to land but high reward ability. It forces you to be mid range for it to work, which is kinda cool. It’s like rangers longbow #1 attack that does more damage the farther away you are, I think mesmer greatsword is similar but I’m not sure. Trying to stay at the ideal range, not close enough for melee but not too far, adds an interesting mechanic to FT that is somewhat unique to it.

Adding a detonate ability will mean you can use it anywhere between 0-600 range just like any other 600 range skill, and it would be pretty easy to land just annoying cuz you have to click the button twice. The ideal usage would be to just use it every cd cuz it does good damage. Think of how little this adds to gameplay compared to having to get to the right range to use it for big damage, or you can just use it close range for smaller damage as it goes through them.

Obviously the constantly being obstructed by a bump in the terrain is a different issue that needs to be fixed, but after that is fixed it would be nice if it remained something that you have to do some work to be able to land it, but with high damage if you do manage to land it.

CptCosmic.3156:

so many denying and uninformed welps… thoughness is less effective against big hits then it is against many small ones.

Are you sure about this? I always assumed toughness just reduced damage you take by a certain percent.

I never said the damage is weak. It’s the fact that you have to run up in melee range to use it that makes it weak. Although if its only doing 1600 burning damage then ya that is pretty weak. I would expect it to do at least twice that amount if you went for a condition spec.

OH pistol pretty weak imo. The blowtorch is a decent skill but just doesnt fit with the other 4 skills, it wants you to be close to the opponent but all the other skills are about being far. Although its pretty similar to the rifle #4 skill, rifle just synergizes with it a lot better because you have jump shot to close the gap, then blunderbuss for damage, and following up with overcharge shot to put the distance back. The glue shot is ok, but it’s really not any better than just “ok”. All in all OH pistol is decent at best, which makes it hard to take it over the shield. I would say engineers shield is one of the best if not the best offhand in the game. Dont think there are any 2 skills in the game that give you so much versatality as a projectile reflect, a block, a stun, a blast finisher, a projectile finisher, a knockback, and a daze that hits twice.

I guess my problem with OH pistol isnt that its bad so much as shield is just so good.

How ww works is it makes a pulsing aoe around you which constantly ticks for damage, as well as the projectiles. If you stand inside your target and land every single projectile (there are 7 of them I believe) then the projectiles still only count for about 1/3 of the total damage, with the pulsing aoe damage counting for about 2/3. It would be nice if you could move at normal move speed while channeling it, but the projectiles really arent that big of an issue, they are kinda like a bonus

im gonna throw in my completely uneducated guess with andybmcc. this is how it almost always works in games. someone attacks you for 100, then it is reduced by 10% from signet of judgement so its at 90. Then that 90 is reduced by 33% from protection so its at 60. Then that 60 is reduced by your armor which happens to be 67% damage reduction, and the final damge you take is 20. If it was additive then your total damage reduction would be 10% + 33% + 67% = 110% and you would get healed each time someone hit you instead of taking damage

Kazak.8459:

As far as I understand it stops direct physical damage. Someone did a test with different toughness armor and the damage received was decreased with higher Toughness.

So the more Toughness you have, the more physical damage reduction you get from warriors/theives/rangers. Toughness has no affect on Condition or Magic damage (such as fire, burn, bleed, cripple, etc).

So the way I look at it, Toughness is for warriors/theives dmg and Vitality is for dots (damage over time).

toughness reduces damage except for condition damage. So theives and warriors can still do condition damage, and toughness still reduces “magic” damage, just not conditions. so like lightning attacks from elementalist are still reduced. What i was really looking for i guess was a formula that describes how much toughness reduces damage.

On a semi related note, does anyone even know what exactly toughness does? I looked around a bit but couldnt find any details.

Fathominc.2407:

I realize that sure, it would be easier to just leave and find another game, but I care about the community and the game to much to just look the other way. This type of activity compromises the essence and integrity of the game, and makes it less enjoyable for those of us that legitimately play the game the way it was intended. Thanks for your time.

I dont understand why anyone would waste their time farming glory, but I also dont understand how it upsets you so much. Are you worried that there will be people walking around in cool looking pvp gear that dont really deserve to be wearing gear that looks that cool? How does it make the game less enjoyable for those of us who play the game legitimately? I’m saying this as someone who has never farmed glory and don’t care if other people want to do it, it’s their time they are wasting. Unless there are things you can buy with glory that I’m not really aware of, tbh I haven’t spent any glory or even looked at what you can get with it because I assumed it was all cosmetic stuff only.

obviously healing turret is a problem since its the only turret that you get something just for putting it down. other than that i think its a great idea. i dont think it would even be op if picking up a turret at full health put the cooldown to 0 so you could just walk somewhere else and cast it again. maybe give it a semi long cast time so that it feels more like “building it” but then once its set up its stronger then it is right now. Idk but i dont like how turrets are right now. they dont feel like turrets so much as weak immobile summons. and healing turret is really in need of some changes because the worst thing you can do with it is actually use it as a turret. its super strong if you just drop it and grab it right back up but leave it on the ground like an actual turret and it doesnt do anything.

I know you didnt list it as one of the options but like shield best with scepter because scepter is ranged. Since you are in the back a little bit more its easier to hit both teammates and allies with the #4 skill. If you are in melee range you have to either hit the enemies with it or turn around and hit your team. Also the pushback synergizes a lot better with the scepter since you want to keep them at range. Push them off a point with the bubble and then use the immobilize on the scepter to keep them off it for a bit longer

I suggest try swapping carrion amulet with shaman, as it still gives pretty good condition damage but has better survivability. Also, I would definitely suggest the healing signet over shelter. I know the shelter synergizes with your build better, but as it is now the signet just gives you way more healing than the other 2 options. Plus the passive on it is nice too.

Thanks Aseyhe, you are probably right. Btw what is it called that you are doing there? I never took a statistics class so I’d like to look it up but not sure what to search for.

Ok I did some pretty in depth testing on this and the results were rather shocking. It turns out nismoz was on to something. This is gonna be a long rant so if you want to skip to the bottom I’ll put a tl/dr for you lazies out there.

I used male norn max height and male human max height. Passed the tutorial quests and then proceeded to heart of the mists. Cleared traits and picked up a greatsword from the vendor. I got the normal one (not steady). Left the other gear on default (shamans amulet and 6 rune of gaurdian). Went to heavy target dummy with melee assist on, got as close as possible, and cast 30 whirly twirly’s with each character. Recorded detailed data into a spread sheet, including the damage shown on the scrolling combat text as well as the data from the combat log.

First some basic stuff. You always hit 7 times with non projectile attacks when you do this. You hit with between 0 and 3 projectiles. The damage range from the weapon gets RNG’ed only once, so if you get the top of the range then every single tick will be high, and if you get low range every tick will be low.

Like yraen, my human hit with slightly more projectiles than the norn. Norn averaged 1.13 per whirl and human averaged 1.33 per whirl. The difference is an extra 0.2 projectile hits, which is similar to the difference that he got, although both my results were higher than his. The conclusion to draw from this is that humans > norns, and tall males > short females. This seems to stem from how close melee assist will let you get slightly different based on your model. This is rather minor though. Each whirl did a total of about 1000 damage with each projectile hitting for about 50. Getting 0.2 extra projectiles would have added about 10 damage, or a 1% increase in damage.

It only gets weirder though. The damage thats shown in the scrolling combat text over your targets head is different then the damage that you get by totalling all the hits in the combat log… but only for norns. For humans it would add up just as you would expect, the sum of the combat log hits is equal to the big number on top of your targets head. For norns, it sometimes added up right, sometimes the scrolling combat text number was bigger, but the majority of times the combat log number was bigger. This raises a question: when the two numbers disagree, which one is right?

Another thing I came across, crit chance. For both characters the character sheet listed 4%, which is the base crit chance for a level 80 with no +crit chance of any kind. The norn did crit about 4.2%, but the human was closer to 6.7%. I really want to just chalk that up to sample size being too small, but I have doubts. Thats from a total of over 200 hits.

Here is some more data I got: Norn – Human
Average combat text damage per whirl: 1003.6 – 1072.5
Average combat log damage per whirl: 1045.7 – 1072.4
Average projectile hits: 1.13 – 1.33

Please feel free to recreate these tests and/or do more tests, I’m really tired and I may have just made a simple error somehow. Either way, we need more glorious tests for the sake of science and to make GLaDOS proud

TL/DR: model size does have a slight affect on how close you can get if you have melee assist turned on. Norns combat log damage often times differs from the damage shown above your targets head, but for humans it is the same (for whirling wrath at least). Human crit chance also may be slightly higher for this skill at least.

MuteLunatic.9087:

Actually its right. While the duration does increase as you say the damage only tics once a second so it doesn’t matter if it lasts 1.99 seconds. It has to last 2 seconds before it will increase the damage actually done.

Oops, ya it looks like thats right. Thanks.

smoke vent’s melee aoe is really annoying, and it doesnt really synergize with the rest of the skills as all. This should definitely be changed or buffed imo, i cant think of any other skill that does nothing except a blind at melee range (compare to pistol #3 skill or bomb #5 smoke bomb)

i like your idea to make the fireblast a combo blast, it would be interesting because its somewhat difficult to land since you have to be the right distance away from the field. fireblast is a really interesting skill and well designed since it really forces FT to be “mid range” for max damage. it does have some issues though, if they are moving around it misses all the time, just strafing sideways and not even dodging it misses. also, i am an asura and i think i set my character height to the smallest possible, so when i shoot this thing it rolls across the ground like im bowling with a flaming bowling ball. then when there is a small bump in the terrain it hits it and just straight out dissapears (no explosion at all). I think if i was a tall norn this would be way less of a problem (any tall engineers out there want to comment on this?). if so it’s really bad design for your race to have any impact on this kind of stuff. at the very least it should explode when it hits something instead of dissapear.

it depends on how much +boon duration you have. for example if you have 30 in alchemy trait line you get +30% boon duration, so when you equip a kit you get 6.5 seconds of swiftness/vigor instead of 5. you can still recast it after 5 seconds, and then you have another 6.5 seconds on top of the 1.5 left over from the first cast = 8 seconds duration now. if you are really on top of recasting it like that you can get the duration up pretty high after a while.

“To top it off, this major trait is only worth while if you can double your condition duration, because the burn from flame jet lasts 1 second, and burn ticks every 1 second, so unless you can get it up to two seconds it isn’t worth it”

^this is wrong, for example if you have 1 second burn then increase your burn duration by 25% you will see the duration on the tooltip now listed as 1.25 seconds. If you increase burn duration by only 10% instead, the tooltip will still list 1 second duration although I suspect the actual duration will be 1.1 seconds and the rounding is only for tooltips.

also as someone said your vulnerability math was off as well, but imo vulnerability is ridiculously underpowered like 80% of the time that you see it on a skill/trait/rune (in sPvP at least, i guess it’d be a lot better in dungeons or WvW).

its worth noting that super elixir from elixir gun stacks with itself, so if you have kit refinement and switch to it and then cast super elixir you get double healing. you mention that you can have it up 100% of the time which makes it sound like they dont stack.

The speedy kits has always been like that, I’m not sure what you guys are getting upset about. They fixed 2 bugs and made an extremely minor nerf on the vigor trait. You can still have vigor and swiftness up 100% of the time by just equipping a kit every 5 seconds.

I feel like some people just want something to complain about.

TurnipKnight.2096:

Here is the solution: All the glory given is determined by the outcome of the game. 200 glory for a win, 100 glory for a loss. Then people will play to win.

I second this. Awarding players for anything other than winning is silly.