Guild Wars 2

Arcaedus.7290:

Booms.3952:

Use it to interrupt blocks like the revs block with the passive knock back since its unblockable.

^This. Pretty brilliant actually. The only problem is that the projectile itself is fairly unreliable once your target is further than 600 unit range from you.

And this is exactly why I would like Heavy Light tied to Deflecting Shot. They have the same CD so there’s no issue there. Players would get control over the knockback making this type of gameplay more reliable without wasting the knockback on a wongly timed LB arrow.

I believe Joel has answered this.

Joel Helmich.7398:

One question, does channeled skill such as Ranger Lb#2 rapid fire continue tracking stealthed enemies using the new camera?

Once the skill starts firing at a target, it will do whatever it does normally; whether or not action camera kicked it off isn’t relevant. With skill retargeting you can switch targets mid-skill, but the skill still acts as it normally would when firing at a target.

My understanding with stealth is that it will still function the way it current does now still tracking if used before they stealth but can be used to retarget. So as long as you don’t retarget it should track the stealthed player.

I feel similar but do agree with a cost for enhancing stat to max possible values. Regarding stats in sPvP I was discussing these in the We want Zealot Amulet for HoT thread. One idea was to rebalance amulet values & total stat values with another to introduce more stat items providing greater stat customisation while still keeping stats bounded within the overall stat set.

Hunter.4783:

Bezagron.7352:

I feel Guardian Virtues design is still a legacy of GW2 release combat that have yet to catch up with GW2’s combat developments over the past years. On a whole part of the traited virtue bonuses need to be made baseline. What I would look at is:

• Inspired Virtue Baseline.
• VoR removes 1 condition Baseline (Absolute Resolution adds 2 additional removals to bring it back up to 3 in total).
• VoR & VoC CDs reduced to VoR 45 sec & VoC 50 sec (Please remove the elite feeling CDs & these will still have longer Cds the DH virtues).

Get the base virtues in a good position & then balance traits around these base virtues. Make them wanted untraited & give them the WOW factor when traited.

No, the current virtue traits need to be made baseline, at least for the user. Virtue traits can expand the guardian virtues to affect other players and add additional functionality.

A guardian virtues should be as important as a mesmer shatters, or warrior/necro F1 skills.

So we want:

• Inspired Virtue
• Virtue of Retribution
• Power of the Virtuous
• Supreme Justice
• Absolute Resolution
• Permeating Wrath
• Indomitable Courage

With what Battle Presence granting virtue bonuses to allies. Isn’t this just a bit to strong. I felt like my above idea enhanced base virtue enough to make them worthwhile for their actives while not making them to powerful with reduced CDs. I feel:

• Virtue of Retribution & Power of the Virtuous still make great minor traits for this specialisation.
• I would prefer to see Supreme Justice turned into a active VoJ enhancement trait & Permeating Wrath turned into the passive VoJ enhancement trait. So PW gains 3 strikes to trigger & SJ active burn increase by 1 sec & add activating VoJ reduces virtues on CD by 1 sec.
• Again partly the same with regarding Absolute Resolution & Battle Presence roll in all the passive enhancements into Battle Presence making that the passive trait enhancement & adjust Absolute Resolution into the active VoR enhancement. Or just merge them into the one trait.
• Indomitable Courage needs no change.
• A new minor that provides a small duration (5 sec) of swiftness on virtue activation.
• Swap Glacial Heart into the Honor specialisation which makes sense with Writ of Persistences & place Honorable Staff in Virtues as it has greater synergy with back line support & what weapon you would typically want when playing consecrations.

Overall I would like to see a slight reduction of just virtue traits & more play style themed traits. eg.

• VoJ’s Virtue offensive game play line - Unscathed Contender, Supreme Justice (VoJ’s active enhancement), Permeating Wrath (VoJ’s passive enhancement).
• VoR’s Virtue support game play line - Retaliatory Subconscious, Absolute Resolution (VoR’s active enhancement), Battle Presence (VoR’s passive enhancement).
• VoC’s Consecration game play themed line - Master of Consecrations, Honorable Staff (Swapped with Glacial Heart from Honor), Indomitable Courage (Stun break option for consecration game play).

Arutha.9874:

I hope we get some nice threads next week where we can make these suggestions, I do like what we made of symbol signet guardian.
A real spec I would be excited to have.

And spirit weapons will get their day sometime soon as we are just here to give potential ideas to devs I think we have done a good job.

I wish everyone good luck with the expansion! It will be amazing I do not doubt!!! Hype train has arrived! :-D

Same, good luck & enjoy all! Train is here were just waiting for the doors to open!

Arutha.9874:

Finally I think you are missing some interactions that will change the skill to something very different.
The skill has a 2 second cast time, with the heal only at the end, so you couldn’t cast other things during it.
If the Block is ground targeted you couldn’t move while casting the heal, and if you mean anyone in the circle gets the Block shield attached to them, then that would be a way overbuff.

Yes I’m looking at turning the block into a targeted ground effect that benefits 5 allies (or you & 4 allies). I’ve changed my mind on allowing ability use & gone back to a channelled skill with the heal occurring after the channel.

The idea is if used at range to help allies the guardian doesn’t need the block. If used over self it basically functions the same as Shelter now & can block for allies close by (very close).

This is quite a large buff as it can now benefit allies but I feel the ability provides many opportunities for counter play:

• Interrupting the channel stops the heal & the blocking effect.
• Using unblockable bypasses the defence this skill provides.
• Small radius mean allies will need to group close together if they want to benefit making them great targets for cleave & AoEs once effect wares off or is interrupted.
• If used to protect allies you will be using you heal skill meaning you will no longer have access to your heal if need while on CD making you now a great target to take down.

I would look at increasing the base CD to 40 sec making it 32 sec with CD reduction & I don’t think a 0.4 sec longer channelled block is to strong. Overall I think it keeps much of it’s current game play while opening up many more options but each option comes at a cost. It would also round off consecration back line support game play extremely nicely. Basically I’m looking at consecrations providing small windows of breathing space for allies which will feel greatly different to the support Shouts provides.

Arutha.9874:

A little greedy imo, we want to go from below power curve to just balanced. I think the 95% reduction on AoE will already make them really powerful without changing anything else about mechanics. (besides the speed and following buffs Gyro got)
And also you list “Targeting noise making it harder to target the guardian.” as an advantage. . . This is the only reason that PvP HATES minion builds, do think about discouraging it more instead of encouraging it. That is the single reason is why I think this is a Bad idea.

I can see the targeting HATE but thought tab targeting was fixed so it always targets players first, only making this an issue for click targeting. I would also be interested to see how action camera mode targeting options plays out. Also the new ground target snap to target setting would most likely mean any ground target at SWs would also hit the guardian.

I also think a lot of the hate came about because of the passive benefits that greatly enhanced spirit rangers allowing 11111s plus the visible screen noise making tells hard to see & that there was next to no point with killing the spirits because they would just summon them straight away (no spirit CD time when build first started unless killed twice).

The thing to remember with the 95% damage reduction that is only for PvE monsters with players still applying full damage to all minions. So this has no change to WvW & sPvP. So I can see the player being able to reposition SWs out of damaging effects & tighter control over command ability placement as a larger benefit. It also means if they are locked down your typically also going to also take out their SWs just from cleave. SW builds have very little innate defences against stun & condition builds (Seen little benefit with currnet Bow of Truth but might be stronger when bound near you. So the objective would be kill the bow first).

For me the noise is both a benefit & a great weakness as any typical cleave or AoE hitting guardian will also hit your SWs & any typical cleave or AoE hitting your SWs will also be hitting the guardian. I also don’t see having typically more then 2 SWs summoned viable game play as without any SWs SW builds would have little survivability.

Lastly the aspect of binding them was to remove part of that NPC interaction feeling which is at the heart of why PvPers HATE minions. As they what to fight the person not some computer AI.

I would like to at least test it but I think we both have different opinions regard the targeting noise. But I’m definitely up for making the GM a benefit for all SWs & looking for improvements to them as Judgement was one of my favour concept image of guardians at release which was also were I came up with the bound idea.

Arutha.9874:

I think this would be similar to the engi traits Streamlined Kits and Gadgeteer which both give unique additions to multiple skills in a utility type, so I think this would give Signets more build variations since different Signets have different purposes, swift, dps, prot, etc.

True, I still lean towards just symbol of swiftness as I really like to idea of all that swiftness access but I would take either option & can see large benefits for both. My original thoughts regarding the addition of symbols & some skill changes are below for signets:

Perfect Inscriptions
Sears a Symbol of swiftness at your location on signet activation. Signets recharge faster & have improved passive effects Original symbol idea.

Signet of Mercy
Signet of Mercy Passive: Increase boon duration by 25%.

Signet of Mercy Active: Grant Regeneration (8 seconds) & resistance (5 seconds) to nearby allies. Cast time 3/4 second, CD 75 seconds.

Signet of Courage
Signet of Courage Passive: Radiate healing to nearby allies every second (about 15% of what it does now every 10 seconds) , (360 radius)

Signet of Courage Active: Grant protection (6 seconds) to nearby allies and heal them (say around 3-4k with moderate-high healing power) . Radius 360, cast time 3/4 second, CD 150 seconds. If ally is in down state they rally (with half health not receiving the heal).

Going with Differing Symbols
I would still like the above changes to Mercy & Courage & if they had these changes & received different symbols I would be looking similar to your idea:

• Signet of Resolve: Symbol of Energy
• Bane Signet: Symbol of Swiftness – Swapped with Symbol of Wrath because they’s little benefit gained with retaliation for knockdowned foes were swiftness should help in closing the gap faster.
• Signet of Wrath: Symbol of Wrath – Swapped with Symbol of Swiftness as immobilise foes can still attack providing greater benefit from retaliation, we do lose some swiftness uptime.
• Signet of Judgement: Symbol of Protection
• Signet of Mercy: Symbol of Judgement – Swapped with Symbol of Faith to provide reviving of allies back to this skill as with skill changes made little sense added to courage.
• Signet of Courage: Symbol of Faith – Swapped with Symbol of Judgement as the active now revives

I feel Guardian Virtues design is still a legacy of GW2 release combat that have yet to catch up with GW2’s combat developments over the past years. On a whole part of the traited virtue bonuses need to be made baseline. What I would look at is:

• Inspired Virtue Baseline.
• VoR removes 1 condition Baseline (Absolute Resolution adds 2 additional removals to bring it back up to 3 in total).
• VoR & VoC CDs reduced to VoR 45 sec & VoC 50 sec (Please remove the elite feeling CDs & these will still have longer Cds the DH virtues).

Get the base virtues in a good position & then balance traits around these base virtues. Make them wanted untraited & give them the WOW factor when traited.

Arutha.9874:

Hello again, trying to keep distracted from total Hype :-)

Yes concepting the time away till HoTs & a look at all the changes incoming. Then it be how can we use want we have, what needs fixing & any improvement that could further enhance.

I like the idea of making signets the go to for symbol builds it would actually give quite a lot of synergy. Then zeal, radiance, honor could be a real guardian signet build.
I will support you on this if they bring up a core suggestion thread.
But how about each symbol is unique to the signet?

Heal -> Symbol of Energy at feet. (Long Bow) Vigor added to heal not game breaking.
Immobilise -> Symbol of Swiftness at feet. (Staff) 12/30s Our movement signet.
Knockdown -> Symbol of Wrath at target. (GS) DPS signet that KD to guarantee DPS.
Dam Reduction -> Symbol of Protection at feet. (Hammer) Lose 10% gain Protection + Add Stun break baseline.
Resurrection -> Symbol of Faith at ground target. (Mace) Regen for health after res.
Elite -> Symbol of Judgement at ground target and at cast time. (Downed)
Worst thing about the full heal is it doesn’t res people but if played right this symbol could res ally then full heal them right as they stand up. And access to this powerful symbol is still restricted because of the cast time.(may need thought on cancel casting…)

I was thinking about differing symbols for each signet but felt the trait started to get to complex. The reason I went for Symbol of Swiftness for all signets was that it actually plays well with most circumstances & instants you would currently be using a signet active skill. Swiftness on knockdown or immobilise would help greatly when chasing helping to close the gap faster. On Heal & Signet of Judgement (Stun Break) it will help in escaping & repositioning. The objective was you sacrifice passive stat bonuses for mobility.

Although I won’t be against each signet having it’s own associated symbol.

Arutha.9874:

Shorter on the other suggestions:
While I am not a big fan of attaching spirit weapons to the guardian, (unless they become untargettable non minion more like aura effects(due to targeting issues)) instead suggest that they bring the PvE invulnerability to AoE to all SW and add Stun break to Bow.
I do agree something should be done about Expeditious Spirit’s burn not working with utility spirit weapons. I like the transfer burn idea, it makes guardian its own counter, which could lead to hilariously high stacks of burn.

I think there’s many advantages to bounded SWs that greatly out weigh the weakness to AoEs.

• Be able to apply symbol boons easier to SWs.
• Targeting noise making it harder to target the guardian.
• SWs count towards AoE target limits mean allies might not receive any damage.
• SWs will act like mobile symbols allowing for better positional control over command ability placement & help focus their damage in one place.

Add in the new changes to minions in PvE with 95% damage reduction if not main target & I think your found a unique gameplay between Necro minions & gyros.

I definitely agree SWs GM trait needs to benefit all SWs including non attacking ones. There’s almost no point to it for Bow of Truth & Shield of the Avenger. I like the idea that a SW condition build has control over burning (to foes & self).

Arutha.9874:

And on consecrations I described previously that I think Sanctuary should be unnerfed and made an elite instead with some other utility taking its spot. (check Spirit Weapon Heal and Other Elites thread) However about Shelter I would recommend not changing much as it is such a core staple of guardian gameplay across all forms of gameplay. Consecrations no longer have a trait related to ground targeting so Shelter is no longer the odd one out, it should remain cast on self. The only problem of making it a consecration now would be giving it a further buff of +20% duration and -20% cd.
So my recommendation is nerfing non traited Shelter(thereby buffing other heals) in a way that leaves traited shelter basically the same. 40s(32s) cooldown and 2s(2.5s) block.

I was actually looking at basically keeping the core function of Shelter & buff it so the blocking part could be used on allies at a distance if needed. I was looking at leaving the heal as a self heal & having the same current heal values. The trick to use it in it’s current form would be the quick self casting. A large buff was that you could now use abilities while blocking attacks. I actually don’t feel this is to strong a heal if adjusted to this & would slot smoothly into consecration back line support gameplay.

Regarding Sanctuary I feel this has been left behind with the development of GW2 combat over the years. Although it was strong near release it is next to useless these days. I would like to see the radius slightly increase so that standing in the centre a player can not be attacked from melee from a foe just standing outside sanctuary. I would also like to see resistance added providing this feeling of being in a sanctuary & also allowing the small heal to have some benefit even if loaded with conditions but doesn’t remove conditions.

The consecration back line support is about providing your allies breathing room. I would like to see current utilities stay as the utilities & shelter become the heal with a new elite that allows the teleportation of allies back to you to help allow those clutch plays. So it can’t be used to troll allies, like portal allies would be required to interact with it (“F”). Not sure what other benefits it could provide if it needs some.

I think the questions we need to answer are;

• What play style do we want with Signets & Radiance?
• What play style do we want with Spirit Weapons & Zeal?
• What play style do we want with Consecrations & Virtues?

If we can come to a common consensus I think this would greatly help Arenanet.

Signets – In Combat Mobility & Symbols
My idea for Signets was a more sustain combat mobility through multiply sources of swiftness making boon strip less effective. It was also looking at adding making signets the utilities of choice for symbol builds. To achieve this I was looking at replacing Perfect Inscription’s Light Aura with creating a Symbol of Swiftness on signet activation. With Writ of Persistence this would provide some extra health sustain.

This would also tie in nicely with knockdown & immobilise providing a speed boost to help close that gap if foes are trying to run. Also if used to set up for a spike this would add extra damage, vulnerability (with Zeal) & give speed to either stick to them or more on to next objective.

Spirit Weapons – Burning & Bounded Minions
First of all this all depends on Cast Time & CD functionality improvements which provide reasonable summon up time & summon ability in melee combat. The largest change is SW are no longer self mobile but bounded to & move with the guardian. The benefits are the player directly controls the mobile position of SWs. Leaving it up to the player to remove them from AoE’s. Another aspect is the bound range would place SW within symbols allowing them to receive full benefit from symbols.

Now as SWs are bounded to the guardian they can only apply their benefit locally around the guardian making them more like a mobile symbol. To enhance SWs as a viable burning build option I would look at adjusting Expeditious Spirit so it has a use with Bow of Truth, Shield of the Avenger & any future SW heal or elite. So:

Expeditious Spirit
Spirit weapons burn foes they strike. When summoned & commanded spirit weapons remove burning from the guardian. If burning is removed the spirit weapon applies burning to nearby foes. Spirit weapon summon and command skills have reduced recharge.

Consecrations – Back Line Support
I feel what’s holding consecrations back are the CDs on Hallowed Ground & Sanctuary which are way to long to be practical. I would be very interested in how these play with a CD reduction. Another confusing fact is for a utility set tied to the Virtue Specialisation they provide very little benefit to boon or virtues game play with actually Shouts being a better fit for this game play.

I also feel Shelter could be a great option as a heal for consecrations. Consecrations & Shelter also feel very close in theme & functional gameplay which I feel could place shelter nicely into this skill category. An idea is a small adjustment to Shelter turning it into a back line support option as well. The idea is to separate the heal & the block.

Shelter (40 sec)
Consecration: Heal self & consecrate the target area blocking all attacks to allies inside.
Healing: 4,545
Number of Targets: 5
Block Duration: 2 sec
Radius: 120
Combo Field: Light
Range: 900

Crapgame.6519:

Most classes got 2 to 3 beta weekends (public anyway) – Druid got one. We all know it isn’t going to be balanced in any way shape or form. The only question is if it will be on the positive side that makes it OP or the negative side which gives Arena Net time to review data and adjust.

My money is on the OP/Busted June 23rd type broke…

In all of the discussion not much has been talked about with regards to the core game. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s not large chances regarding core profession balance wise. It’s not something that would be talked much about as it’s not new coming from HoTs. It’s a large part we’re all interested in & would be great to know but you don’t typically talk about core balance with regard to an expansion.

Guess all that’s left is waiting to see patch notes on release.

Oveall I find it interesting that player quote druid for healing with 0 healing power, when Arenanet has acknowledged that BWE3 druid healing was too powerful needing balancing. I believe druids will now require healing power to heal. So it’s going to be interesting were they end up.

Ezrael.6859:

Confusion is a terrible mechanic, punishing people for using skills and abilities in a game all about using skills and abilities.

The fact that Perplexity has a passive proc to inflict it long duration only adds to the crazyness of the interrupt proc.

And since the condition changes it was buffed! >.< to also inflict damage over time even when the character isn’t using skills, double punishment and a terrible implementation of combat mechanics. It’s literally the worst mechanic in the game in its current iteration.

Playing Perplexity Terrormancer is a hilarious example of these kitten mechanics.

Add playing diamond skin against against a condition build. Wondering about a change to confusion functionality:

Confusion – Deals damage each second & “consumes a single confusion stack when affected target begins to activate a skill causing addition damage.” On Confusion stacks intensity.

I would look at the DoT’s damage stacking with the skill activation damage set to a fixed value that scales with condition damage. Players can now also op to clear confusion through skill activations but at the cost of receiving damage.

This could also be applied to Retaliation allowing it intensity stacking with each retaliation damage consuming a retal stack (punishment for a successful attack). You could also turn retaliation into a inverse of confusion where it pulses some damage in a small AoE (DoT component) centred on the player. This might allow retaliation to actually be a worthwhile boon.

This consuming of a stack on applying damage would allow for further confusion/retaliation interation other then cleanse, boon strip of do nothing.

Agemnon.4608:

Bezagron.7352:

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

there must be an error in those healing back stats

Thanks PaxTheGreatOne spreadsheet edited.

• What are players thoughts on splitting stats from a single item into several?
• Is this something as players you would want?
• Would this help bridge the gap between the 3 modes?

I think it sounds great at first but then you run into balance issues that complicates things. You could be experimental in hotjoins and in PvE roaming I use a mix between berskerker (main hand weapon, chest, gloves, boots, and helmet), zealot (shoulderpads and leggings), and celestial (off-hand weapon and pendent only) for my thief (and warrior and elementalist in the case of the celestial off hand dagger or shield)

I wonder what balancing issues? You should still be bounded within the same mathematical set. WvW/PvE are already balanced around fine passive stat options.
If it’s certain stats would the idea be to adjust max & min possible values as how could anything in between have balance issues. The only negative would be an increase in sub optimal stat builds. But it’s that also part of a players skill to create working builds.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

there must be an error in those healing back stats

Thanks PaxTheGreatOne spreadsheet edited.

• What are players thoughts on splitting stats from a single item into several?
• Is this something as players you would want?
• Would this help bridge the gap between the 3 modes?

Arutha.9874:

For a bit of flavour: Guardian is a class built on working to keep things alive where as Scrappers just want to use their robots for evil like bombs.
So Guardians should get Cooldown on start to reward being able to keep them alive while Scrappers should get cooldown on death to reward using them efficiently then blowing them up.

Thanks for the response & I just love your view point on the differences of SW & Gyros. Even know both at timed mobile summons their reason for existing are totally different giving then unique favours & allowing for both while differentiating.

My main idea regarding bring up movement & SWs function like mobile symbols was I was treating this thread as more discussion around the functionality of SWs then just CD as CDs are a core part of functionality.

Going with your idea of keeping SW alive binding their movement to the guardian’s will most likely improve player control over their survivability. We want & need them up & alive because this is the only time they provide a benefit. We have no control on when the CD starts & they provide no benefit if they die.

It’s not only CD that are a massive issue but Cast Times, again for much the same issues & problems Traps had but at least Traps had more up front benefit them SWs.

Arutha.9874:

Hope you agree and we can together convince the devs.

I look forward to working together to try convincing the devs. I believe other then CD & Cast Times we all need to decide on what type of functionality we want from SWs. For me now I’m looking for more of a mobile symbol play style leaning more to a melee range game play while keeping some commands skills greater range combat options.

If were looking at making this a viable utility set I would also like the Arenanet to look at adding a heal & elite skill to complete the play style.

Exedore.6320:

You really only need to split into 3 items such as 50/25/25% or 40/30/30%. That should be good enough to get most stat combinations. If you’re going to invest into a stat, you’ll probably but at least a few hundred into it.

True, would we look at matching them to emulate WvW/PvE’s component stat distribution. Say:

• sPvP Amulet = WvW/PvE Trinkets & Back item (50% of total stats)
• sPvP Ring = WvW/PvE Armour (32% total stats)
• sPvP Earrings = WvW/PvE Weapons (18% total stats)

I guess it comes down to how fine we want. For me anything below a 10% increase has too small an impact making it an option just to be an option but not really effecting your overall game play until it’s combined with other elements. I would either go with 4 or 3 components. 4 provides just that little extra customisation but not too much & 3 providing the minimum just giving enough options to cover most needs.

If 4 components I would look at total percentage values of:

• sPvP Amulet = 40%
• sPvP Ring = 25%
• sPvP Earrings = 20%
• sPvP Back = 15%

Or 3 components with:

• sPvP Amulet = 50%
• sPvP Ring = 30%
• sPvP Earrings = 20%

Why my guess is with how broken they are with players able to bypass the designed encounters & content. It would most likely take more effect to correct & fix then, then to build new content from the ground up with what they learned from dungeons & how players are bypassing said content. So in future the encounter & content they put so much effort in are actually played & experienced instead of skipped & killed before before the fights just begun otherwise what’s the point of building said content.

My biggest hope is for the the core utility sets that are incomplete to be completed eg:

• Heal skill
• 4 x utility slot skills
• Elite skill

With a rework / redesign to unused sets allowing for a viable playstyle / build option for all sets. Also look at unused or pointless minors (which are forced on you) traits which could be improved & added to these viable options.

Exedore.6320:

Many offensive builds don’t want to go or can’t support full glass. They’d like a little bit of toughness and vitality in addition to higher power, precision, and ferocity values. Those amounts vary by build and profession. For example, guardian and elementalist probably want more vitality than a warrior. The current amulet system doesn’t allow for that simplistic of a customization level, which is a huge shortcoming.

I had the idea of breaking the stats up into four components emulating but as a simplified accessory system which mirrors stat elements from the WvW/PvE stat system. If were looking for more customization & easier translation of play styles & builds between the 3 modes what do players think the system should look like?

Could the below design help or do we only want more fixed stats?

Bezagron.7352:

The Design – Four Components
The objective was to simulate & simplify elements of the WvW/PvE system through use of the accessory design providing familiarity. The elements are:

• Amulet – Designed to reflect stats gained from weapons & armour in WvW/PvE.
• Ring – Designed to reflect stats gained from rings & back item in WvW/PvE.
• Earrings – Designed to reflect stats gained from earrings in WvW/PvE.
• Back – Designed to reflect stats gained from the amulet in WvW/PvE.

Aktium.9506:

Exedore.6320:

Aktium.9506:

Because it’s the very reason Anet themselves gave when they were asked as to why they changed the old stat system of Amulet + Jewel to just Amulet.

The only reason I saw given was that Amulet+Jewel was “too hard for new players to understand”.

They did change the system after vanilla BWE1 to reduce complexity. That beta build had 4 items (amulet, 2 rings, 2 accessories). IMO, 3 items would be enough.

I’m sure they said it also made it easier for the dev team to balance things. 99.9% sure of it.

Wasn’t is simplified. They still need to balance for WvW & PvE which has more components.

And it’s this a problem? Wouldn’t it be easier as a whole if all 3 mode were closer to similar stat wise. I don’t think sPvP needs to be exactly the same but it needs to be closer to how WvW &PvE allocate stats.

There are many WvWers & PvEers that find sPvP stat allocating as a barrier, frustrating & limiting. Balance wise because of this your always going to have major issues balancing for the 3 modes.

Sold Out.7625:

Will the “Snap Ground Target” option receive a proper toggle key instead of a hold-down-to-toggle? That would be 20 times more convenient and less painful to the hand.

I would love to see this as an option for right mouse other then target lock. This would feel just like scope in a FPS but for Ground target skills (GTS). Snap would be like your looking down the scope & unsnapped would be like hip fire providing free placement okitten.

Aktium.9506:

Exedore.6320:

Why does this fallacy keep getting parroted around the forums? More stat customization doesn’t create a balancing nightmare at all. It actually gives developers more freedom in balancing.

Because it’s the very reason Anet themselves gave when they were asked as to why they changed the old stat system of Amulet + Jewel to just Amulet.

Actually I believe it was because they had little impact on your build & that typically their was only 1 right choice with the others having a negative impact, not a balancing issue. It did simplify balance.

It will roll out with HoTs on the 23th of October but believe as it’s a setting it will also roll out for base game. So no need of purchase.

To repost from Scrapper:

Due to a design discussion that arose yesterday the recharge on gyros are going back to starting on the death of the gyro.

To help with the recharge going back to the gyro death the recharge themselves are being dramatically reduced. Below is a before and after to help clarify what is happening.

On Cast Medic Gyro CD: 35s
On Cast Medic Gyro Duration: 14s
CD at full duration: 21s
New Medic Gyro CD on Death: 20s

On Cast Purge/Bulwark CD: 35s
On Cast Duration: 15s
CD at full duration: 20s
New Gyro CD on Death: 20s

On Cast Sneak Gyro CD: 45 seconds
On Cast Duration: 30s
CD at full duration: 15s
New Sneak Gyro CD: 20s

---

This amounts to an overall buff to gyro recharge as the net recharge time is reduced on all gyros except sneak gyro, which is effectively a buff if the sneak gyro would have been destroyed anytime before the final five seconds of its duration.

Blast Gyro’s toolbelt skill, Bypass Coating, is going to be a stunbreak.

Looks like instead of CD starting on summon their going for reduced CD on death/desummon. Overall I believe it achieves the same goal & function as on summon CD’s & maybe even better in some circumstances. Even with on summon CDs you would be looking at longer CDs overall to have over lap guaranteeing downtime so why not just have the over lap as the CD. Overall the objective is to have higher summon time of SWs.

I would still like to pursue adjusting the aspect of SWs to be bounded minions that travel with the guardian. Providing a mobile symbol feeling to the gameplay. This would allow for better positional control & Sword & Shields command abilities of SWs. It would also provide a more unique gameplay compared to Necromancers minions other them the timed aspect.

Bezagron.7352:

Been thinking further about spirit weapons & the Spirit Weapon Judgment image in the OP.

This was one of my favourite images of guardian at release & was why I unlocked each spirit weapon as soon as available. But although visibly very amazing summons with each “Balance Change” they became worse & worse.

But spirit weapons functional (cast time, cooldown, movement, targeting) need massive changes. For any interested I’ve previously posted Spirit Weapons – A Crazy Idea a redesign of SWs. The only thing I want to take from this redesign relates back to the Judgment image with how the spirit weapons seem to be chained to the guardian.

So Melee Functionality design using my redesign of SW’s, DH traps & old mobile Ranger Spirits:

• Cast Time – Reduced 0.5 sec (for the same casting experience BWE3 DH traps provided).
• Recharge – Now changed to massively reduced CD on death matching Scapper’s Gyro funtion. Commences once summoned. This could provide 99% summoned time for some SWs [minus recasting, eg. Sword, Bow] but also guaranteed downtime for the stronger SWs [eg. Hammer, Shield]. (again like how DH traps functioned in BWE3 allowing for pre-combat use without such a harsh punishment for being caught out near the end duration of a summon/s or ).[/i]
  Now changed to massively reduced CD on death matching Scapper’s Gyro funtion
• Movement – No longer move about as their now chained to the guardian & travel where & how the guardian travels. So they teleport when the guardian teleports, leaps when they leap, travel at super speed when they travels at super speed. You could say movement wise they become like the old mobile spirits of Rangers (you no longer have to worry about that random SW wandering off).
• Attacking/Targeting – Only attacking foes nearby the guardian (unlike Ranger spirits they don’t directly buff the guardians auto attack but function similar to a mobile symbol).
• Command abilities – Still function the same way they currently do. This could mean Sword & Shield are more reliable positionally.
• Health – Still have health & can be killed. With increased timed summoned because of reduced cast time & recharge starting on summon this becomes a more important element of spirit weapon counter play.

I feel with this would provide a smoother experiences without SWs running all over the place & allow for easier focusing of SW’s damage applications & better control over SW’s support abilities.

What we loss is the ability for SWs to harass foes at range making this a larger negative change for ranged gameplay in this regard but could provide a positive as a large deterrent for closing into melee range helping keep foes at range while also guaranteeing benefit from SW support as their always near you.

Having SWs chained to the guardian is both a benefit & a weakness with regards to AoEs:

Weakness

• AoEs / Cleaves – First any AoE /Cleave hitting the guardian will also most likely be damaging the SWs as well.

Advantages

• Chained to Guardian – As they travel now with the guardian leaving the AoE should also remove SWs from said AoE. Now leaving in the hand of the player to remove them from AoEs not relying on an AI script.
• AoE / Cleaves Max Targets – In team / group fights SWs are going to counter towards AoE /Cleave target limits spreading the overall AoE damage over the affected targets plus SWs (Which with cast time & CD changes shouldn’t be as punishing if their killed).

This redesign is only looking at the function / gameplay & mechanics of SWs as a minion not their skill effects or benefits. As it’s not the skill effects or benefits I have problems with but how SWs function. Currently their gameplay mechanics are very awkward & clunky. They so bad that it’s too hard to tell if their skills effects & benefits need improving or not because of this.

nacario.9417:

Based on what we saw i can only see action camera as more of a hinderance to true mobility and responsiveness. It can make targetting in pve easier and some pvp. But overall its like ur a bit more locked in forward angle, less able to react to what can happen 180 degrees behind u, which works against true awareness around u for new players.
Other than that its a nice addition to combat and will be loved by many.

Funny isn’t this more like us humans unable to observe what’s 180 degrees behind us without looking. Okay but I think this still has yet to be seen how much of an effect it has & does it’s benefits out weigh it’s disadvantages. At this stage with my game play I see major advantages.

Regarding the 180 degrees behind you I would be interested in how Action Camera Mode interacts with look behind & 180 degree turn. It’s also important to note when in action mode running backwards doesn’t reduce your speed. Meaning you can still look behind yourself without any negative impact to your movement speed in any direction which greatly improves mobility as a whole.

To requote from the sPvP Stat & Rune thread.

Bezagron.7352:

Dire Stats
For me the issues with Dire is not the sustain combat (this is fine) but the ability for condition bursts. Conditions are unique in that for maximum damage for a single stack only require 1 passive stat (Condition Damage) & that they ignore armour. Just these two facts means a direct comparison between Dire & Soldiers is not possible.

If looking at skill bursts Dire applies maximum possible burst condition damage but if your trying to do that with direct damage (White) you would be looking at needing Power, Precision (100% Crit-Chance) & Ferocity.

Dire’s sustain damage is fine it’s how fights should play out with conditions, “The longer it goes the more dangerous the sustain condition player becomes”. Dire’s problem is with the condition stacking change, it now also gives the best condition burst possible while still receiving Vitality & Toughness (Imagine a Burn Guard with Dire).

I fine the idea of condition burst acceptability but not that it only requires a single stat. A solution would be to allow conditions to crit & rebalance them around that. Condition Burst would then require Sinister similar to how Direct (White) requires Berserker. This would turn Dire for conditions into exactly what Soldier’s is for Direct.

If you also want to be able to burst with conditions for me the simple concept idea would be for conditions to now crit. Requiring the same investment as Power builds. I say simple concept because I very much doubt it would be simple to implement. It also would probably greatly increase server load.

Conditions are unique in that they only require 1 stat from maximum damage on a single tick & that they ignore armour. Don’t get me wrong for maximum condition damage players typically still need precision to proc those “On Crit” conditions to provide maximum condition stacks but for a typically burst “On Crit” conditions are a minor consideration. And this is a large balance problem I believe Arenanet have now given themselves with the stacking changes (Which was needed for group play), Burst Condition builds only needing 1 stat.

Stealth
Regarding Rune of the Trapper, for me it’s not that the runes are the problem they add quite an interesting gameplay for Traps. But a problem intrinsic to stealth.

GW2 stealth has little data points for spectators & non stealthed parties for interaction bar the initial stealthed point & point of reveal & the only other counter play is a hard reveal. Having only these 2 data points means stealth battles rely more on luck & bad guesses (Aka. Mind Games) to make decisions on for what action you need to take or for spectators to follow from a non stealthed view point (also if both parties have stealth you still only have the same data).

Now were talking about a visual video game but talking away all data point inputs bar entry & exit for players & spectators to interact with. Mind games can be fun but generally are not a friendly spectator sport or entertainment to watch.

If interested I was looking at the idea of Visible Clues for improving stealth combat. The aim was to provide more data points to make decisions on & provide better spectatoring while still keeping much of the current gameplay & advantages of current GW2 stealth.

Dire Stats
For me the issues with Dire is not the sustain combat (this is fine) but the ability for condition bursts. Conditions are unique in that for maximum damage for a single stack only require 1 passive stat (Condition Damage) & that they ignore armour. Just these two facts means a direct comparison between Dire & Soldiers is not possible.

If looking at skill bursts Dire applies maximum possible burst condition damage but if your trying to do that with direct damage (White) you would be looking at needing Power, Precision (100% Crit-Chance) & Ferocity.

Dire’s sustain damage is fine it’s how fights should play out with conditions, “The longer it goes the more dangerous the sustain condition player becomes”. Dire’s problem is with the condition stacking change, it now also gives the best condition burst possible while still receiving Vitality & Toughness (Imagine a Burn Guard with Dire).

I fine the idea of condition burst acceptability but not that it only requires a single stat. A solution would be to allow conditions to crit & rebalance them around that. Condition Burst would then require Sinister similar to how Direct (White) requires Berserker. This would turn Dire for conditions into exactly what Soldier’s is for Direct.

Rune of Perplexity
Regarding Rune of Perplexity it all comes down the to 4th bonus 25% chance when struck to inflict 3 stacks of confusion for 5 sec. I see 2 options:

1. Reduce the applied duration to 2 or 1 sec.
2. Remove it & replace it with something else (eg. maybe 25% chance when struck to stealth for 3 sec).

Option 1 then becomes a type of burst deterrent which foes would want to remove before applying their burst. But it should expire quickly in general combat making not activating a skill a viable option & not such a punishment through this passive confusion.

Option 2 removes the issues. My idea behind the addition of stealth was in keeping the confusion theme by adding position confusion.

Daniel Handler.4816:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Daniel Handler.4816:

Nokaru.7831:

Josh Davis.6015:

As a note (and to address concerns), we won’t be adding dire stats or perplexity runes to sPvP. We’re vetting and discussing each and every rune/sigil/stat combo as a group before adding them in, with the main goal being improving build diversity.

Is the Dire stat combination not being added because the balance team is afraid it is too powerful? In my opinion, this is a rather “weak” answer to the problem that this stat combination represents, since it is an issue in World vs. World PvP balance.

A stat that does particularly well at roaming has no place in PvP . The reason behind it not being as much an issue in wvw is that you aren’t limited to 5 people. There is also food in wvw to combat the problem.

The food to “counteract the problem” only negates bonuses that aren’t present in PvP, namely other food. It doesn’t actually change how Dire would operate in PvP, since it would effectively be the same in WvW.

So, if it’s not much of a problem in WvW due to food, and that food effectively isn’t actually doing anything, that seems like it would translate to not being much of a problem in PvP.

I knew you would say that.

You have to remember that if condis are a problem to the point they require duration reducing food, then any condi build will require duration increasing food to avoid a deficit. However as a side effect of using a condi duration increase they become 40% more vulnerable to conditions because you can’t take both foods.

Wondering what if Dire in sPvP had Vitality as it’s primary stat would players still have the same issues against it?

This stat combination is basically Soldier’s but for conditions which no one has issues with. The reason they’s an issues for Dire is because conditions ignore armour unlike Soldier’s power damage. Also soldiers power damage is greatly reduced without precision & ferocity but Dire’s conditions are still doing max tick damage per a single tick (Please note without precision you typically won’t be able to apply max stacks).

So to provide the condition specs a Soldier’s stat combination why not use vitality as the primary stat. This would then stop Dire’s conditions from max tick damage per a single tick.

PlatinumMember.5274:

Minerva.1049:

silvermember.8941:

For aoe classes the current system gives you precise control over it. So no , the action cam has adv and disadvantages. Just like the current standard.

There is a toggleable keyboard which can allow you to place your Ground Targetable skills wherever you like in action combat mode.

Not at the same precision and speed of the standard system.

I’m not so sure. I believe it’ll depend on the player, ground targeted skill & combination of settings. So long as Right Mouse can be bounded, I see this as a great option for right click (just like scopes in FPS) with binding the targetting to another position.

mistsim.2748:

isn’t this mode disadvantageous because you cant look behind without turning the character?

Wouldn’t you still be able to use the look behind keybind to cover this so long you still moved in the forward direction. This plus camera position should cover an of these issues. The question is how it would interact with look behind:

• Wanting to only look behind
• And wanting to use look behind to change directions if wanted.

All sounds great Grouch can’t wait for the new toys. Regarding sPvP, WvW, PvE & stats I would love to see the ability for easier translation of play styles & builds between them as this is one of the most frustrating aspects & barriers you come across as a player.

The only way I see this working is the reintroduction of multiply stat components to build your overall stats in sPvP as it would require too large a change to WvW, PvE gear & their reward aspect.

The largest problem I felt with the old sPvP amulet & jewel system was that the overall jewel’s stats had very little noticeable impact on your stat allocation & gameplay. I feel emulating in some way the accessories from WvW/PvE will ground the system making it familiar for players while also greatly enhancing translation of play styles & builds between the 3 game modes.

The Design – Four Components
The objective was to simulate & simplify elements of the WvW/PvE system through use of the accessory design providing familiarity. The elements are:

• Amulet – Designed to reflect stats gained from weapons & armour in WvW/PvE.
• Ring – Designed to reflect stats gained from rings & back item in WvW/PvE.
• Earrings – Designed to reflect stats gained from earrings in WvW/PvE.
• Back – Designed to reflect stats gained from the amulet in WvW/PvE.

Note:
* A large part of this design is to make each items stat’s enhancement impactful to the oveall build.
* Also of note Values used in spreadsheet are my adjusted total stat values, 1400, 980 & 560.

Except for Celestial I returned to only 3 stats on a item emulating WvW/PvE items as your able to combine differing components to provide enhancement to more then 3 stats. One large change was the inclusion of Boon & Condition Duration into the new Amulet slot as a selectable stat choice.

This should improve customisability opening up a larger stat choices for varying builds & roles. Help for smoother transition of builds & play styles between the 3 modes. It will increase the complexity for balance & increase suboptimal stat builds availability but I believe the overall benefits will out weigh these issues.

Edit:
* Also of note Dire has been adjusted as a Vitality Primary Stat Combination.
* Adjusted Celestial Ring & Back stat values in spreadsheet to better balance then against the 3 stat combinations.

NapTooN.6283:

I would prefer a Balance between the 3 different Stat Combinations. Changing the Values to:

• 3 Stats: 1500 + 1000 + 1000 = 3500 (up from 3000)
• 4 Stats: 1250 + 1250 + 500 + 500 = 3500 (up from 3220)
• 7 Stats: 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 = 3500 (down from 3920)

Now to the question what Kind of amulet i would like Primary Ferocity, Secondary Prec/Healing

Hi NapTooN the main reason I avoided 1500 is that with rune set bonus (175) & Fury (+20% Crit-Chance) your wasting 3.76% Crit-Chance. Making it 1400 means with rune set & fury your not wasting any stats. Also having 99% also feel more realistic still providing that slight chance of missing a critical hit.

A also first stayed with 1050 as this was an existing value but now feel 980 is a better fit & has better symmetry all round.

Been working to refining the numbers as I still felt the symmetry just wasn’t there. Numbers have been based around approx. 100% precision’s calculation using Amulet, Rune Set bonus & Fury. The goal this time was to get exactly 20% enhancement between the differing stat value tiers. So new values:

• 1400 (No Change)
• 980 (adjusted to provide 50% crit-chance just from amulet alone)
• 560 (No change)

What this provides is exactly a 20% improvement when looking at precision. Also with regards to outgoing damage & power:

• 560 = 56% increase to base damage.
• 980 = 27% increase compared to 560.
• 1400 = 21% increase compared to 980.
  Note: Values were collected using Guardian Greatsword AA strike for calculations.

Using 1400 & 980 guarantees providing a minimum of 20% enhancement to outgoing white damage compared to:

• 560 = 56% increase to base damage.
• 900= 22% increase compared to 560.
• 1200 = 15% increase compared to 900.

It is important to note regarding outgoing damage the largest improve occurs at 560. Meaning Celestial gets the most bang for it’s buck. What the aim with regards to adjusting sPvP amulets to use 1400, 980 & 560 is to guarantee approx. 20% improvement to performance with regard to it’s corresponding stat. The advantage of guaranteeing 20% improvement is that this is a large enough enhancement that applies a noticeable change to a players gameplay.

Reason for Loss of Overall Stats Points
The main reason I’m still look at keeping the loss of overall stat points per stat not enhanced is to provide this feeling on it requiring more work the high you strength/skill level resulting in less time to improve other attributes. So it’s easy to train to the first attribute strength tier but to improve to the next tier requires more time & effort (less overall strength gained) which also means less time to improve other attributes (Reduction of attributes you can enhance).

Edit: Reconnected correct spreadsheet.

A sPvP Stat Value Balance Pass
With the discussion of new sPvP amulet stat combinations if go me looking at existing stats & stat values. Before the introduction of the 4 stat amulets we had:

• 1200
• 900
• 560 (Celestial Only)

With the introduction of 4 stat combinations we received:

• 1050

One outstanding component which seems slightly out of balance to me is the overall stat point values the different stat combinations provide:

• 7 stats (Celestial) providing 3920 overall stat points.
• 3 stat combinations providing 3000 stat points.
• 4 stat combinations providing 3220 stat points.

Another factor was that 3 stat combinations feel alot weaker for sacrificing enhancement of more stats which was further highlighted for me with the introduction of 4 stat combinations. From this I felt 1200 & 900 were no longer correct stat values for sPvP amulets. So I played alittle bit with some maths which got me looking at Precision & sPvP stat interaction. So some maths:

1. Started with wanting 100% crit-chance.
2. Subtract Furies +20%, leaving 80% as a stat goal

So after some playing around with the numbers I arrived at a value of 1400. This plus rune set & fury provides 99% Crit-Chance. Which I felt worked out quite nicely. Testing 1050 & 560 provided these values without fury or the rune set bonuses:

• 1400 = 70.67% Crit-Chance
• 1050 = 54% Crit-Chance
• 560 = 30.67% Crit-Chance

Which can be seen as almost a 20% enhancement at each step while still have reasonable clean numbers. But it gets even more interesting when you start to look at overall stat point values with the below designed sets:

• 3 Stat Combination = 1400, 1050, 1050
• 5 Stat Combination = 1050, 1050, 560, 560, 560
• 7 Stat Combination = 560, 560, 560, 560, 560, 560, 560 (Celestial)

What you get for total overall stat points are:

• 3 Stat Combination = 3500
• 5 Stat Combination = 3780
• 7 Stat Combination = 3920

What can be seen in sacrificing 2 stats to only have 5 stats is -140 overall points & lose another 2 it becomes another -240 overall points. Creating this an interesting symmetry between these differing stat values. I also feel the overall difference between the different stat combinations are alot more balanced.

I propose changing sPvP amulets to either be 3 stat combinations or 4 stat combination only (with Celestial all 7 & the exception) with the internal stat values to be:

• 3 Stat Combination = 1400, 1050, 1050
• 5 Stat Combination = 1050, 1050, 560, 560, 560

I feel transferring to this design will allow easier translation of PvE & WvW builds & provide greater build diversity while also providing a unique gameplay feel for the difference stat combinations & making each of the stat allocations feel worthwhile .

One of the largest barrier for WvW & PvE players is the all or nothing design of the sPvP amulet. Very few builds can be translated into sPvP. Having more fixed stat combinations would be nice but I feel still very limiting for your WvW & PvE players.

Splitting up the sPvP amulets into an amulet, ring (1) & trinket (1) with then having similar sPvP build impact as their WvW/PvE build counter parts would open up greater build options.

To help beginners make default amulet templates that auto load the ring & trinket spots providing current stat combinations. Making it so players need to manually change the ring & trinket. This would then allow for greater stat customisation working overall better with the different professions as they typically require slightly different stat amounts (eg. Most low health pool professions need some vitality).

Looking back at fixed stats, existing 3 stat combinations turned into 4 stats with the 4th being vitality. Targeted for low health pool professions.

Existing 3 stat combinations turned into 4 stats with the 4th being precision. Targeted for professions without extra access to crit-chance.

Or add it to Signet of Mercy. Healing power scales badly & the active is very situational. But I would prefer a rework of both Signet of Mercy & Signet of Courage with the addition of mobility through the GM trait making signet builds the go to builds if you want this type of mobilty:

Perfect Inscriptions
Sears a Symbol of swiftness at your location on signet activation. Signets recharge faster & have improved passive effects.

Signet of Mercy
Signet of Mercy Passive: Increase boon duration by 25%.

Signet of Mercy Active: Grant Regeneration (8 seconds) & resistance _(5 seconds) to nearby allies. Cast time 3/4 second, CD 50 seconds.

Signet of Courage
Signet of Courage Passive: Radiate healing to nearby allies every second (about 15% of what it does now every 10 seconds) , (360 radius)

Signet of Courage Active: Grant protection (6 seconds) to nearby allies and heal them (say around 3-4k with moderate-high healing power) . Radius 360, cast time 3/4 second, CD 60 seconds. If ally is in down state they rally.

Hopeful too busy working as HoTs release is just around the corner and anytime spend posting takes time away from maybe implementing polish & changes. Although it be nice with the time left I would prefer a post after release pointing out feedback changes (like a thanks & aknownement to players) & hopefully further changes incoming & the future direction of the profession that couldn’t be added or dicussed before release.

Going off topic myself I would love a rework of boons, non damaging conditions, supportive & defensive abilities & skills to be looked at so these ability & skill have scaling associated wuth toughness, vitality & healing power similar to power’s, condition damage, precision & ferocity’s effect on skill damage. Make these passive non offensive stats no longer passive but effects the active use of our skills.

But I’m mostly dreaming here as I don’t see this happening. I’m planning to enjoy HoTs but feel after going through the new content this aspect if these stat still mean nothing for our skills & are to be only training wheels will again make rewards have a unsatisfactory feeling & that control & support are the lesser role because stat’s are meaningless as an improvement for them unlike the interaction between stats & DPS. Now this is just my feeling that builds over time. I’ll enjoy the newness but after that I’ll again start looking elsewhere.

GW2 has such an interesting combat system it’s just sad to see 2 of their 3 pillars have less active gameplay enhancement option compared to DPS.

Why can’t passive stats improve a channelled blocks dutation but can improve a skill out going damage?

Why is a support focued build’s boons have the same boon strength as a DPS build? But sacrifice the strength of their outgoing DPS.

Okay enough ranting, for any that finished the read thanks one of my largest frustrations with GW2’s direction.

Feels like were starting get further off topic but I guess with what’s be discussed & the gyro change announced which could benefit SW. It’s more of wait & see how this function change works out & see if further work & more is needed after we has the time to test.

Regard the healing & healing power as this seems to be an area there actively looking at & working on I would hope core builds that partly were fulfilling this play style also receive the same attention so it’s not only the new builds that are able to do this. Get Druid &Ventari to were they want then look at the existing option & are these also viable choices. If not hopeful work on improvements is implemented.

Well i for like to hope, overall as a game I’ve been very happy with GW2 & when getting bored or looking for something more I load up other games.

If GW2 is that depressing, that frustrating for you it might be time to move onto something different & you can always join back in later if you ever want. Hey you never know with 3th expansion just like core GW2 you might get HoTs free.

You could say I’ve been having breaks & am no longer burn out actually looking forward to HoTs coming for a influx of new content & a era that’s going to provide instability across the whole game. Bring back part of that time following release.

So have I been always happy no I moved on to play other games, most of close friends left along time before me for burn out. HoTs brings the new back what game time I get out of it I plan to enjoy.

Lol, we so need a poster or something:

“Guardian’s WE ARE IN A GOOD SPOT”.

It’s like our poster phase.

I still believe Zealot’s Aggression should at least be a DH minor with maybe Dulled Sense too. These as minors sync better with all DH builds we could design & also would work fantastic with other trait lines.

It also goes “Hey selecting DH provides access to Cripple, enjoy guys & gals”.

I also don’t think we would be having this discussion if Sw#2 teleport moved the full distance without a target & Merciful Intervention also had untargeted teleport (treat it like Ride the lightning halves recharge if it heals an ally).

Thanks Ghotistyx for the maths. So to adjust Retreat to provide 75% base with would match a passive 25% MS we would need Retreat to supply 30 sec of swiftness with the current 40 sec CD.

Or lowering of Retreat’s CD to 30 sec would provide 66.6% base & with traited or +30% swiftness duration exceeding the 25% MS passive benefits.

The question them becomes is they a chance Arenanet could adjust Retreat so it could provide the same benefit as a 25% MS passive. I would love this but don’t feel it will happen as this not only solves this for guardian but any 4 extra players travelling with you. But maybe with the increase to boon counter play as this only benefits out of combat.

The other option for a selfish 75% target uptime of swiftness could be the increase to Save Yourselves if retreat is off the board. Doing any of this & we no longer require a passive 25% MS to fulfill players major wants. 25% MS will still have it’s place as a stat as unlike swiftness uptime it can’t be removed by boon strip.

phys.7689:

insanemaniac.2456:

Eight Samurai.6840:

With a static island per level they essentially made it almost impossible to add new maps without also changing the entire rotation.

no they didnt. all they have to do is make a new map, give us 10 instabilities to chew on (maybe even recycled!), and call that levels 101-110. the actual difficulty prolly wont scale much from 51-100, thats prolly why that daily tier will encompass so much… cuz the difficulty of fractals is actually in a pretty good place — its already difficult enough in the current state that kitten y builds kitten over the group and someone needs to explain to newbs how to not be in the way (at a minimum) so they dont cause wipes. were just getting variety out of the daily since itll take 50 days before we see repeats, assuming anet constructs the daily schedule such that all fractal levels get hit.

its possible that they do this, but would represent a pretty strong paradigm shift, putting new content 100 levels deep into fractals. (unavailable for all but the top players with a large previous investment.
The advantage for them is it would definately be hot only by that point since masteries would pobably be needed

Ill be honest even that way thats pretty ungainly. You literally have the same level for 10 in a row? I think they arent planning on adding fractals till they do another whole restructuring of the system. which is probably a long ways out, if they intend to do it all, and not just remix levels with new instabilities and mastery reqs

In truth I wouldn’t be surprised if with the rework 1 or 2 new maps appeared. And hoping at least like raids / raid wings maps to be added regularly (Some temporary LS or historical content).

Okay this could feed the fire or provide some understanding. The way I look at it with Dungeons with the recently provided information & historical actions to use a construction as an example is:

Looking at a renovation depending on how many faults a house has it might be quicker & more cost effective to knock it down & rebuild from scratch.

Without the complete knocking down I think this is how Arenanet views dungeons. Although the possibility was there players discovered just how broken dungeons were & have been able to bypass most if no 90% of the designed encounters & content. So instead of reworking & trying to fix said broken content I believe their decided is easier to create new content (Raids) & update a base design that seems to be working (FOTM).

Also to look back on the 3 years Arenanet’s focus was on LS & open world content. With very little directed to instant. If any thing for the instant players their should be rejoicing the coming of HoTs because if anything at all with the announcements of the Raids & the update to FOTM this is say instant gameplay has a place in GW2 endgame. Yes their is history but it looks like their happy & now looking forward to also supporting endgame instant content were before is was more about LS.

So please let me be positive, if in another 3 year time again nothings happen they you all can say you told me so. But as of now I hope.

Last I hope & wish for a competitive PvE scene were players solo & teams can compete. Some past ideas:

• Different dungeon modes (Topics about GW2 combat but dungeon & competitive ideas from this post down)
• Raid Races

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The server should gauage a player’s ping and if it is terrible at the time they que, it shouldn’t allow that player to que.

~ Seriously

But what’s terrible ping. You start talking intercontinental latency & your around 300 – 600 msec sometimes.

Zyrhan.3180:

Bezagron.7352:

A question for thoses wanting a paasive 25% MS trait.

Why are Rune of the Traveller & Rune of Speed not build options for fulfilling this requirement?

The expense. I don’t like or feel like it’s fair to have to maintain one set of world exploration armor with runes dedicated to a passive speed boost, plus another set of armor (6 bag slots and x amount of gold) for running dungeons or serious content, when everyone else can swap out one trait or utility skill to transition between the two (or one trait line, at worst). It’s the least convenient possible way to get a convenience bonus.

Just wondering if Retreat’s provide equivalent MS to a 25% passive. Maybe we coul look at averaging Retreat’s MS so if spammed it provides this maybe it already close. This could be another option a slight increase to Retreat’s swiftness, then it’s a single skill swap easier then other build changes.

Zyrhan.3180:

Bezagron.7352:

A question for thoses wanting a paasive 25% MS trait.

Why are Rune of the Traveller & Rune of Speed not build options for fulfilling this requirement?

The expense. I don’t like or feel like it’s fair to have to maintain one set of world exploration armor with runes dedicated to a passive speed boost, plus another set of armor (6 bag slots and x amount of gold) for running dungeons or serious content, when everyone else can swap out one trait or utility skill to transition between the two (or one trait line, at worst). It’s the least convenient possible way to get a convenience bonus.

Just wondering if Retreat’s provide equivalent MS to a 25% passive. Maybe we coul look at averaging Retreat’s MS so if spammed it provides this maybe it already close. This could be another option a slight increase to Retreat’s swiftness, then it’s a single skill swap easier then other build changes.

If & only if cripple access became a minor trait meaning all DH builds no matter what woul have it I’m not sure I see a need for 25% MS on DHs. Regard rune set better options for a 25% MS I’m all for that. Give us ones with precision or power.

But your right Blackdeath we’ve discussed this enough for the devs to decide.