Guild Wars 2

So I haven’t played much over the past month. I only logged in to unlock the LS2 chapters but otherwise have been playing other games. Finally, today, I put in some solid play time. I spent almost all my time in the new zones and wow! I hope by random chance one of the environmental design developers reads this thread because I want them to know they did an amazing job designing the new zones. I just built a new gaming rig(old rig was no slouch but was showing age) because lets face it, guild wars 2 deserves to be seen in high detail. I decided to post this after walking into the (spoiler)ley line cave in the second chapter of LS2. kitten it’s beautiful. I’m just standing here looking at the inside of this cave. Good job guys.

I’ll probably catch a lot of flak for this post because it’s a pretty broad request and involves universes that have many rabid fans but… I would love to see the story writing in guild wars 2 take on a tone similar to that of the game of thrones universe. I, like every nerd who enjoys mid evil western fantasy am really digging the tale of a song a ice and fire. The entertainment value of the story seems to come from how uncompromising it is to the reader (or viewer). I think guild wars 2 has the framework for these story elements. I want to see main characters dying or being maimed and some true misfortune befall the residents of Tyria. I almost feel bad asking for it but the truth is as much as I enjoyed some of the living and vanilla story it still has that “the hero will always in the in the end” feel to it. Personally I found the most compelling part of the story to be when SpoilerYour vigil, priory, OoW mentor dies defending claw island. The best was Tybalt because I was truly sad due to him being a great character. Even in the attack on Lion’s Arch it seems like the only real losses were collateral ones. People died but not anyone you were connected to through the main story. I do look forward to living story 2 and what the writers have planned. Keep up the good work arenanet!

-Cheers

Well I decided to update this thread because I did some of my own research and it seemed pretty inline with what most people have said in regard to intel chips handling this game better than amd. Also given how poorly optimized and demanding this game is I have somewhat lowered my expectations of what I can achieve. That said I did go ahead and order a new cpu and motherboard because I do expect better results than I’m currently getting.

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s

I plan going for as high of a stable overclock as I can get and have seen some pretty promising reports from others who have overclocked this chip. I’ll update you guys with details when the parts get here and I install them in place of my current amd set up.

Cheers!

Hello!

I just built a new gaming rig literally last night. I always build on a budget and shoot for best performance per dollar type parts. As is the story for many PC builders I’m sure. That said I don’t mind spending a few extra bucks where it matters most to get the most performance out of my machine. So here Are the specs of the build I just put together.

AMD FX-6350 6-core 3.9 Ghz OC’d to 4.226 (With a beefy aftermarket coolermaster cooler. I’m sure I could get more I’ve only messed around with it a little so far)
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+
HIS Radeon R9 270x 2gig GDDR5 OC’d core clock to 1150
8 Gigs G.Skill DDR3, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz?
WD 250g 10,000 rpm velociraptor hd
Raidmax 730W crossfire rdy modular psu

I packed it all in a nice case with more than adequate cooling for my OC’ing needs. I also thought about future expansion so I got a roomy case so I can easily install another graphics card and cross-fire them. I also got a psu to support this.

So basically I got it all together and was hoping I’d be able to throw ultra settings on everything and never dip below 60 fps XD. My last machine held up very well for 4 something years and played gw2 reasonably well at mid-high settings needing to be turned down quite low for temple runs and really packed world bosses. My new machine was a huge improvement to be sure. The game auto-detected to basically max settings (just no super sampling) and looks way better than it did on my old machine. It’s very pretty.My frame rate varies from good to great in most places (40-60 fps) however it still dips during huge world bosses where lots of people show up and lots of particle effects are going on. It will go down to about 30 fps when a lot of people are just on screen and then when spells and skills start to fly I still saw it dip to 15-20.

Now I’m not in say I’m unhappy with these results but I kept a pretty good budget with this build and wouldn’t mind throwing a few more bucks at a couple parts to eek out a little bit more performance. I was hoping some members of the community that have PCs powerful enough to run this beautiful game in it’s full glory could offer some helpful advice on the best area I could improve upon. Personally I was thinking of 2 main options. Either replacing the video card with something more powerful like a 280×. Or buying another 270x and running a cross-fire set up. Also thought about possibly some more ram like another 4 gigs or maybe go the whole way and toss in 8 more for a total of 16. I really think my cpu is solid and not bottle necking me here especially if I can OC it some more. It wouldn’t be a big deal to order a better video card right now and then return my 270x when the new one gets here for a refund.

Any advice is super appreciated!
Cheers!

-TLDR Skim rig specs at the top. Should I get a slightly better gpu?

So I’m running mostly zerker gear on my ranger with a couple pieces of PvT thrown in to add a little survivability. I don’t like being pure glass cannon as to not burden others by constantly being downed in dungeons and fractals. I try to achieve my survivability by having a dynamic playstyle (using different weapons and skills in different situations). Even though the great sword is usually looked at as a pure damage weapon I believe it is the best defensive weapon in a ranger’s repitore. It has that 1 second evade built into its auto attack and a block on skill #4. Usually whenever I know i’m going to be face to face with melee mobs because of group stacking or whatever I usually find myself reaching for my great sword. It seems understood by the community that the 1handed sword has better damage output than the great sword so I would personally go for zerker stats on a 1handed sword and use that as my go to for pure melee dps. I was thinking about going for PvT stats on my great sword to use as my “survivability” weapon with a high dps weapon ready to go on switch. Does anyone else do something similar to this? Do you guys think any other weapons go well with a defensive mindset on a ranger? As always any feedback is appreciated!
Thanks! Cheers!

Some good lookin rangers on here! I don’t feel like I see many Asuran rangers but I like the way mine turned out. cheers!

Yep, pulls will interrupt! so as long as they are casting something when the first hit on the way back connects they will be interrupted. Then if it hits one more time (2nd return hit) that hit will be boosted by 50%. You can one shot normal mobs this way. Also I find it more reliable to get all three hits if you are near maximum range.

Just wanted to post that there is chance for this combo to do some crazy burst damage. Path of scars hits once on the way out but as many people know it can hit the same mob twice on the way back. So PoS can potentially hit three times in one cast. Not only that but if it hits twice on the return it can both trigger and execute moment of clarity. With a glass zerker build and buffs this can crit for 5k, 5k, and then 7k on the final hit if moment of clarity goes off. 17k damage from one attack isn’t too shabby. Of course a few variables are involved (mob position, ect) but play around with it. It’s awesome!

Hello everyone,
I mainly run pve dungeons and fractals and want to do as much raw damage as possible. I’m pretty much full zerk build with just a little extra toughness and vit. Most of the experienced rangers I’ve talked to claim sword/torch is the best way to go and i’m inclined to believe them. However I’m curious if this is still true even with no investment in condition damage. Currently I like sword/axe because with my build PoS hits like a truck and scales well with zerk stats. WD doesn’t do a ton of damage on it’s own since it’s channeled over 5 seconds but I love the utility! If you combine the direct damage it does with it’s retaliation and reflect damage (and combo whirl) it’s still a pretty great skill.

I have heard that burning as a condition still does good damage even with no +condition damage and that why sword/torch is still good for zerks. Has this been anyone else’s experience as well? I can see how since bonfire isn’t channeled you can lay it down and fight within it to really stack up some damage. Torch #4 only seems like a good opener to get some burning started before you enter melee range.

Any feedback appreciated!
Thanks!

Thanks for the response! That video got me excited about the possibilities out there!

First of all hello guild wars 2 forum community! This is my first post on these forums even though I’ve been trolling around here for over a year lol. I love this game and I think Anet has been doing a great job of continuing to make it better.

My ranger is the third toon that I’ve taken to level 80 and I am loving this class. For the record I don’t believe in broken classes just ineffective play styles and builds. Hopefully won’t get too much hate for that!

I was wondering about some of my fellow rangers’ experience with using GS’s maul in combination with moment of clarity the +150% dmg on the next attack after an opponent is interrupted. I’ve noticed this is easy to achieve by opening with hilt bash before maul. Without actually trying to maximize the effectiveness of this combo I’m seeing it hit for 6-8k damage so I’m guessing 10k+ from a single maul is easily possible.

I’m not trying to argue the effectiveness of any particular skill or build or how much you would kitten your character trying to achieve the highest mauls possible. I simply see the potential to put up pretty awesome single hit numbers using this combo. So please share if you have played around with this and seen some high numbers!

Thank you for any feedback!