Guild Wars 2

Isn’t the new IC just a combination of the old one and Shielded Mind? I think the stun break does count for everyone.

Overall I can’t quite tell if you’re pessimistic or not. Maybe just somewhere in between. I think PvE has only been buffed by these changes and we may even see viable builds for less often seen weapons. The wild card in the whole thing of course is the encounter design that we will get in HoT and beyond.

I imagine the damage will be made up elsewhere with a few more trait points to spend and some nice buffs to damage traits. The big change is that Mallet now debuffs basically everything except movement (outside of movement skills), which was kind of the point of GH. VM seems like more of a sustain ability than catch.

I think it’s probably new toy syndrome as much as anything given the skills they’ve shown off. It’s not like most or even many of their skills are built around some entirely new paradigm of skill design, they’re just some different mixtures of what we have. Balance is always tough to get right out of the box so I’m sure they’ll be broken some way or another then quickly fixed.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

I like the idea of legend skills being locked, personally. Legends should in theory be iconic for some reason or another; it’d be weird to have some of Jalis mixed with some of Mallyx or whoever else is introduced. Asking ANet to make too many utilities per legend is probably just not reasonable from a design standpoint.

And I don’t even know if they’ll be less flexible in the end – in the two example legends today you can go from tanky and supportive to what I assume is a higher DPS condition class with just a legend swap. That’s more than many classes can say. What they might be is hard to gear around and maybe people will just run celestial to be decent at everything.

The problem is that theorycrafting and buildmaking is severely stripped down if all you can really choose are the legends. I honestly don’t know how they would adapt the current system to allow for more in-build flexibility (i.e. adding your personal touch or variation to a typical build), but I hope they can find a solution, or else revenant will get really stagnant really fast.

They still have traits and the Revenant’s specialization to play with some of that. Worst case I think they end up being perhaps less flexible overall but maybe much more flexible in any given encounter since they can change so much of how the class works on the fly. Not sure which is better but both have high points.

traits are modifiers, not whole new skills. traits are meant to complement your main choice (i.e. weapons and utilities). unless those traits wildly affect the playstyle of a legend to the point it’s hardly recognizable, they won’t be enough.

and you have to keep in mind that you’ll probably want to pick two complementary legends, not suddenly going from DPS to support, as the revenant playstyle will be much more centered on swapping legends frequently (not as frequently as an ele swaps, but the push and pull of energy with swapping legends giving you a fresh energy bar are still there), and you don’t want to be bursting a guy down, run out of energy, and then swap to some support dude or AA the guy to hell. similarly, you don’t want to be a sitting duck once your support skills are done, because you have the DPS of a wet noodle.

Is this really much different than other classes, though? If you’re running an “optimal” meta build it’s usually one utility at most that can really be switched out, and even that usually comes back to traits. If I’m running med on my guard my utility, heal and elite are basically set in stone. Even if I’m going for more of a WvW-style build it’ll probably be one skill at most that I change out.

I’m not saying they’ll be the most flexible class, but I don’t think they’ll be that much different than a decent few already in the game.

that’s the thing, though. you can change your heals, elite, and utilities. most people will run the prebaked variation, but some people might want to use the other heals (i like using the meditation heal on my medi guard, but shelter is still an extremely strong option for any builds), or swap a utility (replace one of your meditations with a stability source, or maybe wall of reflection or sanctuary), and so on.

there is no “personal touch” to revenant skills. every single hammer jalis build will look and play exactly the same. there’s no “let me use shadow trap instead of infiltrator signet”, no “do i go for withdraw or hide in shadows”, no “triple signet or do i bring lightning reflexes, and if so, which signet do i sacrifice”, etc. no element of surprise, no room for the meta to evolve without balance changes.

But running stability instead of another med is a big deal and your effectiveness is changing pretty dramatically by making that choice. Similarly, if legends aren’t balanced to be “this is the one with crazy DPS, this is the crazy tanky one with no DPS and this is the one that’s super mobile” then someone can run Jalis/whatever #1 instead of Jalis/whatever #2 if they want to make personal changes. The amount of change will be larger since you’re dealing with larger distinct blocks of abilities, but I’m not sure that means it’s noticeably less flexible than some other classes.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

I like the idea of legend skills being locked, personally. Legends should in theory be iconic for some reason or another; it’d be weird to have some of Jalis mixed with some of Mallyx or whoever else is introduced. Asking ANet to make too many utilities per legend is probably just not reasonable from a design standpoint.

And I don’t even know if they’ll be less flexible in the end – in the two example legends today you can go from tanky and supportive to what I assume is a higher DPS condition class with just a legend swap. That’s more than many classes can say. What they might be is hard to gear around and maybe people will just run celestial to be decent at everything.

The problem is that theorycrafting and buildmaking is severely stripped down if all you can really choose are the legends. I honestly don’t know how they would adapt the current system to allow for more in-build flexibility (i.e. adding your personal touch or variation to a typical build), but I hope they can find a solution, or else revenant will get really stagnant really fast.

They still have traits and the Revenant’s specialization to play with some of that. Worst case I think they end up being perhaps less flexible overall but maybe much more flexible in any given encounter since they can change so much of how the class works on the fly. Not sure which is better but both have high points.

traits are modifiers, not whole new skills. traits are meant to complement your main choice (i.e. weapons and utilities). unless those traits wildly affect the playstyle of a legend to the point it’s hardly recognizable, they won’t be enough.

and you have to keep in mind that you’ll probably want to pick two complementary legends, not suddenly going from DPS to support, as the revenant playstyle will be much more centered on swapping legends frequently (not as frequently as an ele swaps, but the push and pull of energy with swapping legends giving you a fresh energy bar are still there), and you don’t want to be bursting a guy down, run out of energy, and then swap to some support dude or AA the guy to hell. similarly, you don’t want to be a sitting duck once your support skills are done, because you have the DPS of a wet noodle.

Is this really much different than other classes, though? If you’re running an “optimal” meta build it’s usually one utility at most that can really be switched out, and even that usually comes back to traits. If I’m running med on my guard my utility, heal and elite are basically set in stone. Even if I’m going for more of a WvW-style build it’ll probably be one skill at most that I change out.

I’m not saying they’ll be the most flexible class, but I don’t think they’ll be that much different than a decent few already in the game.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Breckmoney.6387:

I like the idea of legend skills being locked, personally. Legends should in theory be iconic for some reason or another; it’d be weird to have some of Jalis mixed with some of Mallyx or whoever else is introduced. Asking ANet to make too many utilities per legend is probably just not reasonable from a design standpoint.

And I don’t even know if they’ll be less flexible in the end – in the two example legends today you can go from tanky and supportive to what I assume is a higher DPS condition class with just a legend swap. That’s more than many classes can say. What they might be is hard to gear around and maybe people will just run celestial to be decent at everything.

The problem is that theorycrafting and buildmaking is severely stripped down if all you can really choose are the legends. I honestly don’t know how they would adapt the current system to allow for more in-build flexibility (i.e. adding your personal touch or variation to a typical build), but I hope they can find a solution, or else revenant will get really stagnant really fast.

They still have traits and the Revenant’s specialization to play with some of that. Worst case I think they end up being perhaps less flexible overall but maybe much more flexible in any given encounter since they can change so much of how the class works on the fly. Not sure which is better but both have high points.

I like the idea of legend skills being locked, personally. Legends should in theory be iconic for some reason or another; it’d be weird to have some of Jalis mixed with some of Mallyx or whoever else is introduced. Asking ANet to make too many utilities per legend is probably just not reasonable from a design standpoint.

And I don’t even know if they’ll be less flexible in the end – in the two example legends today you can go from tanky and supportive to what I assume is a higher DPS condition class with just a legend swap. That’s more than many classes can say. What they might be is hard to gear around and maybe people will just run celestial to be decent at everything.

Looks neat. Post it over on GW2Style.

If you’re on Windows can’t you just enable Mousekeys to essentially do the same thing in much less time?

Colin said “complete new maps,” so I assume there will be more than one. But maybe that’s like one underground/ground/aboveground or something.

So long as no additional vertical progress is introduced, additional horizontal progress IS introduced and they don’t do anything to somehow fragment the community I’m good with whatever.

I actually really like the fight and thought it was a good balance difficulty wise. Some people might need to load one or two different skills, change their traits a bit or put on gear that isn’t just full zerker, but is that really so bad? I mean this is the final boss of S2 and the champion of an elder dragon, surely the fight shouldn’t be just the difficulty of some random terragriff.

Hopefully they realize that separate guild instances do nothing but break people up and make large towns irrelevant. My vote would be for nothing at all, at worst have them with no amenities. Guild chat, message boards and some improvements to the guild system are more than enough to arrange guild stuff.

Mystic.5934:

I haven’t been able to play yet. I hear the zone is small, but is it obvious that it get bigger like how dry top did?

There are a few areas that are blocked off by vines, so maybe?

I’ll second this. More focus placed on keeping your teammates alive and more of a sense of worry when you’re on the far-flung corners of the map and get jumped by a pack of plant monsters. I don’t know that I want it for every map but it seems very appropriate for this one.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Breckmoney.6387:

Looks like a nice revamp, especially having the withdrawal box available anywhere. Performance improvements are very welcome as well. Rounds out a solid list of new and improved stuff for this pack, especially with the short turnaround from the first one. Thanks ANet!

I don’t think you can pick up your TP items anywhere. The ‘box’ just shows what is waiting for you at a Trader to be picked up, and is visible anywhere on the Trading Post UI.

Poorly worded, perhaps. I meant anywhere within the interface. I assume that this part means I don’t have to go to a separate screen to take out items and gold.

“We’ve built a brand-new way to retrieve your coins and items, the Delivery Box. Best of all, it’s always available no matter where you are on the Trading Post”

Looks like a nice revamp, especially having the withdrawal box available anywhere in the Post UI. Performance improvements are very welcome as well. Rounds out a solid list of new and improved stuff for this pack, especially with the short turnaround from the first one. Thanks ANet!

I really like this idea. Hopefully it’ll be used to promote exploration and more non-combat opportunities that are all over the place out there. Two days in a row now with solid new features.

Hofulu.7325:

so the actual story that is happening with the living story is what you have to unlock, but the actual world itself, and the map, and the places and all that stuff, is permanent and all that?

Both are permanent. You have two weeks to just log into the game and press a button to “unlock” an episode of the story. If you don’t then you can buy it for 200 gems. Once unlocked you can (re)play it anytime anywhere forever through the new journal.

They’re usually at least somewhat out of the way. Anyone gotten anything rare from these yet aside from Nomad recipes?

The new flexibility of traits makes all of these fights much more fun. Easy just to try a few things then change them up if it doesn’t work.

I really like Hoelbrak. Good -condi and uptime on Might stacks. Throw on a battle rune or two, empower when you can and it’s pretty easy to keep up 20+ through most battles.

As laid out I think the support build suffers a bit from not having a real focus in WvW. You have some shout traits but only one shout, a consecration trait but only one of those too and then some signets. They’re all fine skills, I just think it would behoove you to move towards something more focus on one subset of skills – almost definitely shouts for WvW if you want to support.

I also think you’re better running clerics than magi. You have a decent crit chance but so little crit damage to go with it running a traditional Healwayish build that power is going to scale better. HP looks good, but you could probably sacrifice some armor in there for some extra power if you want.

Just my thoughts, would be curious to hear yours.

Right now it has Master of Consecrations for adept Virtues – I assume that’s just a mistake? I assume you want that to be Vengeful to maximize retal damage.

Harbinger.8637:

Anyways about the build. Generally people don’t use Honor in a med build, but if you want to. I suggest going 10/0/30/25/5..

I assume the 10 in Zeal would go towards Fiery Wrath?

I’m in Honor just because I like playing with hammer/greatsword, so 2h mastery is basically required at that point. I could switch it up though – what is a more conventional med build? Down Radiance for RHS?

Also don’t get celestial trinkets they are bad. Celestial chest, legging, helm, and maybe weapon are fine. However everything else you can mix to get better stats.

Yeah unfortunately I got all those back when I was a newb. I’ve since replaced one, just need to keep farming laurels to eventually replace all of them.

Coming back to the game after a couple months to catch up on other stuff and I’ve instantly fallen in love with the new meditation changes. Unfortunately I think most of my gear is held over from when I was 1) specced more towards Healway and 2) was a total newb and didn’t know any better (see my trinkets). So I’m here to beseech you wise forum-goers for help. All I know for sure is that I want to run triple-med using GS and Hammer, and here’s the build and gear I have. I’m trying to craft up to 500 for ascended gear, so that will be coming eventually. I have plenty of gold to shift around all of my armor and weapons within exotics for the time being, My first longer-term goal is replacing my trinkets and ring with better ascended stuff. Throughout all of this I want to gravitate towards higher damage and mitigation at the expenses of health with the frequent med heals doing most of the survivability work.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1j.h4.0.0.0|2.1k.h1j.0.0.0|1c.79.1c.79.1n.79.1c.79.1n.79.1c.79|41l.0.2u.0.311.0.311.0.211.0.1c.67|0.5.u1ac.u697.5|15.1|v.15.13.14.1i|e

I’m open to any guidance or critique. Know that this is almost entirely geared at WvW; I roam by myself or with a couple friends maybe 33% of the time with the rest spent running in bigger groups, though I might gravitate more towards roaming with this build.

Thanks for the basic idea, Amins. I took the 20 out of Zeal and put 10 into Honor and Virtues. I feel the damage isn’t drastically different (more sustained than, burst, though) and I get a little more survivability. Overall I’m having a lot of fun with the general idea, though.

Curios what everyone thinks of this build I’ve tried the last couple days versus a standard Healway build specifically for WvW in a 15-30 person group: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V8;4RFV50J3RGF90;9;6JTJ;446-19B18-cw01;2UydbT9fg50Fe-Hk7;2Vl-sWv1-Z5_Ba750DN3H0A;9;9;9;9;9;9V3-6A

ITM doesn’t have Traveler runes updated yet so add 10% boon duration and some minor stats. In practice I find it more survivable but I have to pay really close attention where I drop symbols to not overwrite water blasts. I also miss the extra stability from IC and not having a hammer on hand to blast and CC. Neither one really seems better, just different.

GS/Staff for large scale PvE (guild events, meta events etc)
GS/Sw+Fo for small scale WvW and PvE
Hammer/staff for large scale/zerg WvW
Scepter/focus for tower/keep/SM assaults and the few PvE fights that require range

Most favorite is the hammer, though. Just the best feeling weapon out there.

I hope so, maybe acquired in a different manner. I’d love a massive, lore-filled quest that ended in a legendary, maybe something specific to your class or race. The GW2 version of an Everquest epic quest.

Because eventually the Molten Alliance will be defeated and their lair will go away, after which we’ll move to something else presumably. It’s obvious that ANet wants to do grander things in the future, and I for one and more than happy to give them time. Meanwhile there’s a lot of other fun stuff to do. I entirely remember the one time my guild and I fought the Ancient Karka; I barely remember what happens every time I run the Maw.

After hitting 80 I’ve mostly just done the rest of the game. The scaling isn’t perfect, as I still feel way too powerful, but it’s still interesting. With all the new content coming on a monthly basis I’m happy there’s no true “end game”. Also, alts.

We run a number of them every week, both T3 for maximum guild points and T1 to catch up commendations. I think we even made a special tier of guild member to temporarily recruit people to help with them if they so wish.

I think so, but that’s probably because I come from a line of necromancer’s dating back to Everquest, where fire was a very prominent condition. Maybe it doesn’t fit in perfectly with the GW2 Necro, but I think it should be an option.

There’s certainly plenty of room for which it to expand. ANet seems to pretty committed to slowly evolving the game, so I don’t see why it won’t. This is actually one of the reasons I don’t want Guild Halls – I’d rather just have people around town.