Guild Wars 2

Assuming that “Deathly Chill” turns chill into a condition that deals damage per tick, what will happen if several Reapers running this trait apply chill to the same target?

Will it work like burning does currently when several players apply it to the same target, or will it work similarly to Poison after the changes, where the damage modifier stacks but not the condition’s “effect”? (Except possibly with each player only being able to apply one ‘stack’ of the damage effect.)

Just a little concerned about how this may work on certain boss fights with multiple reapers trying to use chill as a method of dealing damage… We end up right back at the current problem conditions are having, which is what I hoped they were trying to fix. :-/

Thanks! >: 3

I don’t ever think that they ever outright said that the druid specialization would be support focused… I think it’s a conclusion people jumped to based on the lore of the GW druid and “plant based” attacks they mentioned. I think it’s a logical assumption based on the fact that ranger weapons so far have had little group utility outside of warhorn5, but it certainly isn’t a necessity.

They did outright say though that staffs would involve “plant based attacks”, which I don’t think leaves much room for melee there unless it’s the auto-attack or something.

I have to say though, there are a few staves that look like they’d be pretty painful to be hit with in melee… The primitive pillar, for example. (I honestly don’t understand why it has those spikes pointing towards your head while you have it stowed… o_o )

Would be cool if rangers did get melee staff, but I think especially with the spec name ‘druid’ this is one of ANets few opportunities to explore the magical side of the class. The medium armor melee staff archtype will probably fall to the thief instead, if they ever go that route.

Fluffball.8307:

I don’t think they’ll ever make a melee staff, only because many of the staff skins would look weird being used as a martial weapon. It seems like they’ve made a bunch of skins with a casting staff in mind. Most of them look ceremonial, even.

Isn’t the revenant staff speculated to be a melee weapon, though? At least from what we saw in the trailer. (I don’t think ranger staff will be, however. Just revenant for now.)

I don’t disagree that most staff skins would look silly being flailed around as a martial weapon, though. There’s quite a few that are sleek enough and even ‘spear’ looking, but they tend to be the most visually unimpressive ones.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Slalom.3174:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Something pinkish.. too bad there aren’t many skins like that from what I’ve seen. been considering this one, but it might be a bit too… gnarled?

Maybe this one? Nice pinkish light effect, though still, err, rustic.
http://dulfy.net/2012/11/13/gw2-staff-skin-gallery/#37

I dunno.. it seems more brown/red if you ask me..

For reference, I’m trying to match it with this character, so i might be better off explaining a theme rather than a color, which would be bright and girly I suppose :P

I have my eyes currently on Kasmeer’s, Lovestruck, and Tormented right now, mainly.

I think the Ascended staff would look rather pretty, too (the Wup Wup version ), but that’s a lot of work just for one skin. XD It’s also a little more purple-y than pink, but the chromatic effect on might compliment the pale greens on your character, too. It’s a suggestion, at any rate. ^^

My guesses: a barrier of some kind, something with an interrupt and/or blind, something that on hit gives our pets protection, an AoE slow, a heal, a single target immob… Perhaps something that summons bee swarms or fire ants or other tiny annoying creatures.

Ideally? A water field, a blast finisher, roots that drag people underground to suffocate them or hang them upside down from trees, and a short cool down ability that gives has a bonus effect of giving pets aegis. >_>

Was thinking of trying a MM/NM/BM build for perma boon hijinks, but probably just as a fun build for open world stuff. But I’d also like to try a WS/BM build with Barkskin and Beastly Warden, plus skirmishing possibly focused on traps/condition damage. Improved condi dmg plus a taunting pet could make shortbow so much more viable… I really hope. Q.Q

Doubt my main DPS build for dungeons will change much though unless greatsword is definitely better than sword, now.

Not gonna lie, if druid’s “thing” was shapeshifting abilities that worked like engineer’s kits, I would be in heaven. (Bonus points if they were mirrors of our pets, letting us confuse enemies like mesmer’s clones! Which animal is the druid?!)

… Buuuuttt, it’s very improbable. Much as I miss my WoW druid’s ability to be a tank one moment, a DPS cat the next, then swoop away as a bird, I’ve never really had hope GW2 would ever have anything similar.

I do have some hope that it’ll be something with interesting mechanics—possibly mesmer glamours, that use natural ‘mirage’ magic to confuse foes.

Now that it’s confirmed guardians are getting traps, the “musical chairs” game of ability types makes me fairly certain we’ll get something from one of the light armor classes, though, as I find it really hard to believe warriors, thieves, or engineers would get an ability type involving magic.

I like the more subtle colors, too—I’ve always either gone with ‘natural’ colors for my ranger, just seems a bit more fitting. I don’t really like sticking out, anyways. ^^

Having a hard time figuring out what staff skin I would use, though—the current look I’m kind of going for is sort of “amazon woman” (kinda hard with the distinct lack of anything with furs or pelts it’s kinda tough—almost wish she was a norn >_< ), something with skulls like Deathwish or Ogre Warstaff might match but I’m not really a fan. Maybe the pirate staff?

Odd as it is, I actually really love the ambrite staff so I may go with that, or even the Royal Ascalonian staff so the blue glow matches my Jormag’s Breath. In the end I’m a sucker for glowy things, but there is no way I could ever get Bifrost to match any of my ranger’s gear so hopefully they’re adding a new legendary staff that’s a bit less… yeah. XD

Luckily, both of rangers melee options (sword/greatsword) have plenty of evades that allow you to stay up close without taking a lot of damage as long as you position yourself well, especially if your pet has aggro. Greatsword has evade every few AAs + block on 4, stun on 5; sword has an evade on 3, and another evade/backwards jump on 2 if you need to get out of dodge quick.

I personally run sword/warhorn; pop 5 and 2 on longbow, then swap and cast warhorn 5, warhorn 4, then jump in and autoattack with sword, and use my evades when I need them. Coupled with quickening zephyr, you can take things out pretty fast; if it’s a nastier mob, I use Lightning Reflexes or Sword 2 to get out after I start taking heavy damage. I don’t generally need to, as using leap+blast finishers inside of Healing Spring will keep me alive through the damage I can’t avoid.

(If you aren’t used to melee on ranger though, I recommend starting with greatsword first; less damage but a lot more defense.)

This strategy works pretty well in 99% of the open world; some spots in Silverwastes it can be to your advantage to stay at range if there’s way too many mobs charging around, but generally camping Longbow is not only boring but will really lower your damage potential and abilities.

Man, this change would be so fantastic. The only reason I don’t really ever change my pet up (except when I NEED to in dungeons/sPvP) is because I can’t stand “Juvenile X” following me around, but I can’t be bothered to rename it every darn time. T__T

So for the most part, I run around with a Black Bear named “Pickles”, purely for aesthetic reasons. (Black bears look like total kitten s.) He is our guild mascot, and has become so infamous that if anything goes wrong my friends instantly scream “PICKLES, NO. BAD PICKLES!” over voice chat.

Only other pet I’ve bothered to name is an eagle named “America Eff Yeah”. ^^

velhavn.7694:

Dex.7092:

Pifil.5193:

All together now…

Yub nub, eee chop yub nub, toe meet toe pee chee keene, g’noop dock fling oh ah.

C’mon you know the words!

Hahahahah… Too fitting. XDD

I’ll admit, I didn’t mind the hobo sacks while levelling, but after hitting max they just clashed with everything. My techno-charr thanks you, Devs! Thank you for listening. <3

And for those few people who loved them—at least the starter back skin that you can pick for engi resembles them pretty closely. On an Asura I hardly think you could tell the difference…

your techno charr will holding garlics and holding bucket on crotch.

But at least the only people who have to see it are the people in front of me. I don’t often see the front of my character while wielding a kit… The backside though, staring at the sack was an eyesore. This is a VAST improvement.

Pifil.5193:

All together now…

Yub nub, eee chop yub nub, toe meet toe pee chee keene, g’noop dock fling oh ah.

C’mon you know the words!

Hahahahah… Too fitting. XDD

I’ll admit, I didn’t mind the hobo sacks while levelling, but after hitting max they just clashed with everything. My techno-charr thanks you, Devs! Thank you for listening. <3

And for those few people who loved them—at least the starter back skin that you can pick for engi resembles them pretty closely. On an Asura I hardly think you could tell the difference…

insanemaniac.2456:

cant wait to have a water field (with decent duration) that isnt attached to my heal

I was so excited during the stream so I missed catching some tool tips—what’s the new water field coming from?

Urdhgag.2450:

snip

Thanks for this—I’ve been running with the normal meta zerk build and have been a bit bored with it, not to mention I have no intention of ever doing speed running (and rarely do dungeons to begin with) so having the “best, optimal” build isn’t really important. This looks like fun and a good change of pace; I like the look of both builds but this one seems a bit stronger.

The first couple of days back to playing the game, I got a Black Lion Claim Ticket, a Carapace Coat Box from VW every single time I ran it (I think I got 5 in one day), went on ONE chest train and got 3 Boot/Glove boxes each, kept getting lots of exotics dropping left and right—nothing good, but my guildies started to get really frustrated at me…

… but one of them stopped when his lack of luck on getting a Coat Box for a couple of weeks resulted in him getting Dusk from the VW boss chest. FML.

Anyways, I have notoriously bad luck so even though all that stuff isn’t really “amazing”, it was kinda nice to come back to the game and be welcomed like that. XD

Aaah, thanks for the correction, HC. The Apostle set actually makes more sense, since it’s on the same visual quality level—they’re both relatively lackluster but unique, which makes adding them as PS rewards make sense. PS rewards shouldn’t be exceptional, but at least have a reason to obtain.

While I do agree that there’s very little chance they’ll actually get around to adding the skins back in, politely offering the suggestion at least feels like it will have more of an effect than sitting on my hands. (Might be a bit like trying to win the lottery by only buying one ticket, but you know. It can happen!)

It is rather unfortunate how many problems exist with the current armors in the game (tail clipping, anyone?) but I still have slim hope that the “easy” fixes may happen eventually… I am a powerful force of optimism and no one can stop me! ;D

Arantheal.7396:

Further I suspect us to get a moving reflector-bubble as skill 5.

I hope we get this, definitely. My hope for the engi+hammer is that it will be a bit similar to the Engineer in Torchlight II, that has a ‘forcefield’ ability (that also gives smaller, lesser forcefields to party members), a “charge” mechanic that has some abilities having better effects the more charges you have, summoning mini-robots that do lots of explosion damage. It was such a satisfying class to play, if it’s anything like that in GW2 I will lose my noodles.

On the same vein, I just really want some hammers that fit with the engineer theme (as well as medium armor with some ‘plating’); gargantuan wrench, please? ^^

Teniz.5249:

@ TE

I dont know what you mean the armor exist in game. I don’t know how but I have all parts of the armor expect the headpiece.

As Rose said, it was only available through PvP previously. Once the implemented the wardrobe changes, there was no way to obtain the set anymore, but if you had earned them previously through PvPing then you’ll be able to use them in PvE as well, now, since everything was morphed together into one collection. (Kind of like how I managed to unlock a bunch of dungeon weapon skins for PvE without ever having set foot in any of them, just by having played a few PvP matches before the change.)

heartless.6803:

It’s all trenchcoats/dusters and a wide brimmed hat or a bandit mask..

I don’t disagree that most of the set is pretty ‘meh’, but the fact is that it already exists in the game, that the chestpiece is ALREADY a story reward, and you can view it all in the wardrobe, means that it’s odd that there’s no way to actually get it anymore, regardless of it’s quality or originality.

However, the shoulders are very unique compared to everything else currently in the game; sure, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but right now medium armor lacks in much other than big shoulder baubles, so it would be nice to have access to it. That plus, I know the light armor version of this set has a very necro appearance the game doesn’t have much of, so it would definitely add in some variety.

I definitely am all for them adding in new, improved armors—that would be great. I’m sure there will be several with HoT, and I’m excited to see. But in the meantime, transferring these skins onto some of the personal story rewards seems like an easy fix to making them accessible. They could add them in a variety of ways—karma vendors, gemstore, w/e—but since one piece is already part of the PS, it’s what I’d suggest.

Better keybindings may help if you feel like you’re playing ‘twister’—it’s sort of just an innate “problem” with the class (one I personally love, even though I’m in the learning stages myself right now). I have utilities on QER, heal on T, elite on G, toolbelt on ZXCV. Just rebind strafe to A and D and do all your turning+movement with the mouse. Just hold down LB and RB to move so your left hand is free to play Chase the Cooldowns. I admit this setup works well for me because I have a Naga mouse, but I don’t see why it also couldn’t without. Find what works best for you, though.

Grenades are all about timing, which is just something you have to learn with practice. Further you are from the target, further in front of it’s path you have to target the grenades to account for travel time. I do find I miss a lot, but mostly just because mob’s aggro is totally bonkers in the SWs.

As for surviving, you just need to position better and have good situational awareness, and learn the tells on different mobs for when they charge, when they life leach, etc. On those pack bull events, just toss a freeze grenade, then blind when it wears off, and kite around in circles to avoid getting hit. (Elixir Gun 2 is actually pretty good for those annoying charging teragriffs, too.) I also always run Rocket Boots, partly for mobility but also to break immob and cripple.

You’ll figure it all out, it just takes practice. I actually 100% enjoy running around SWs on my engineer more than ranger because of how versatile it is dealing with the variety of annoying mobs there—its a strong class for it, it just has a slightly higher learning curve. That’s just engi in general, though.

I know I’m not the only one who’s longingly eyed the Stalwart Armor set for a long time wishing there was a way to actually obtain it in the game. Now that the Personal Story is getting yet more tweaks, I was thinking this may be a perfect time to squeak it in, since the chestpiece is already obtainable this way; it would make sense for the rest of it to be, as well.

(That goes for the light/heavy versions as well, which unfortunately I can’t remember the name of right now but I know they exist.)

As someone playing a charr with few options beyond gigantic, magically floating, or silly looking medium shoulders, I would eat my own left foot to be able to have access to that armor. Even if it has to be thrown in via the gemstore—I still would pay money for it. The art team already went to all the trouble to design and implement these armor sets, it would be a shame to let that effort go wasted.

Sincerely,
A Very Very Desperate Engineer