Showing Posts For Father Grimm.8467:
I have 5 level 80’s, a level 40, and two level 30’s, and I’ve been playing for about 9 months. I hate the trait changes.
As a glance at my character count demonstrates, I like alts. I enjoy all the work Anet has put into the different zones, and appreciate the vast amount of content there. My play experience is largely enjoyed through the leveling process across all zones.
The trait change just takes a big steaming dump on that style of play. It backloads all the traits; the push-off of Grandmaster traits to level 80 in particular was a horrible disincentive. A great part of progression is customization; this used to be a combination of traits, weapons, and utilities. Gear has a backseat until all the triple-stat options open up in the late levels.
The trait changes are a huge disincentive to starting new characters — it boggles the mind why Anet thought it was a good idea. The excuse that “players weren’t efficiently allocating their points” to get the 5-point traits is BS. A tooltip solves that.
The old system was superior to the new. The new system offers absolutely nothing except new traits. It wasn’t broken, it hurt no one. Please undo this garbage.
Yes: once, on the, first run in the top level LS instance of the Tower of Nightmares. I duoed it with my best buddy; I ran a 60 warrior in rares/masterwork gear, my friend was a 50ish Elementalist in masterwork/fine gear. We zerged to get there (as everyone had to), so we had limited experience with endless lasers, toxic mobs requiring finishing moves, molten protectors, confusion spam, and endless hallucinations. The scaling for a duo seemed pretty bad. We both ended up doing naked doing suicide runs in the last room, getting vaporized after a few hits each time on the boss, as there were multiple adds and toxic stalks everywhere.
I ran the thing solo later with multiple characters after learning the instance’s spawn patterns and the mobs in general. My friend, on the other hand, soured on Elementalists, LS, and GW2 in general after seeing his character explode time after time with the horrible survivability of his character. He’s left the game.
Since you folks at Anet are now getting your hands dirty with dye and wardrobe changes, how about addressing one issue that’s long overdue: linking accessory color to the dye color for the helmet slot.
My Norn characters have headbands and bandannas that cannot change to match the colors of my armor; this makes no sense. In the case of the female Norns in particular, these accessories are as prominent as a helmet.
The makeover kits for changing hair are a bit much of a requirement to purchase every time I want my accessory to match my armor color.
In my PvE experience, survivability is the key issue, period. It may be imbalancing to have Elementalist damage much higher, but the current trade off in sub par survivability is absurd.
1) Get rid of the duration on both Glyphs of Elementals, but only allow one up at a time. Also, give them on-demand abilities in addition to their regular abilities. Use the Necro pets as a reference for cooldowns.
- Don’t think Elementalists should be more pet-heavy? Well, just compare their survivability to Necros and Mesmers, both of whom have all kinds of pet options. The Escape from LA event has highlighted how squishy my Elementalist is in the face of multiple fast repops, which are all too common in this game. My other light armor class characters do much, much better.
2) Elemental Attunement should be slightly buffed from its former status, not nerfed. As others suggest, make it a base ability for self; but, applying it to party members as an AE should merely require its former cost – an Adept trait. There was no valid justification offered for the nerf by Anet, just that it seemed too good. No, it’s not that good – Elementalists were otherwise just that bad.
3) Increase base health to Mesmer levels. The base survivability cannot be cured through weapons or utilities; the fundamentals are flawed.
Even if all three were implemented, it probably wouldn’t be enough. To be honest, the class is so bad my buddy, who loves playing traditional mages, has left the game in disgust. All the pretty graphics mean nothing when you have to frantically button mash just to stay alive and do the same damage as other classes who have a more relaxing time. Risk/Effort > < Reward.
Proposal Overview
Scaling Fractals for Number of Players.
Goal of Proposal
Open up game content that is currently unmanageable for small groups of friends who like to game together. Applies to fractals, dungeons, or any instanced GW2 content.
I game with two friends whom I know in RL outside MMOs; they have effectively left the game due to being locked out of party-oriented PvE content. The game currently allows for simple single-player roaming, 5-person dungeons, or zerg events. Groups of RL friends less than the magic number of 5 need not apply.
Proposal Functionality
Similar to the instances in the Tower event and other NC Soft games (e.g., late great City of Heroes), the fractal (or dungeon) would scale depending on the size of the party when the instance is generated. Rewards would also scale, as required.
Associated Risks
Some players may try to game the system to optimize party size vs. rewards.
Some party sizes may not balance well. This is true now with the scaling in the Escape from Lion’s Arch event, and was also true in the Tower.
Actually, my friend has taken her ranger to the Marionette since level 34, used ranged pets and the revive utility, and has done very well several times in W2.
Another example of not learning from the Tequatl revamp (or the feedback) is they put events built and tuned to “push” dozens of competent lvl 80s in a lvl 25-40 zone (in the case of the mari) and 45 – 55 (tri-wurm)! Even lower lvl zones than Tequatl.
If you’re putting in content designed to “push” lvl 80s to the brink, and you don’t want to risk the elitism and exclusionary attitudes that certain other games have with raids and raiding guilds, then put the event in a lvl 80 zone! Just getting to the event or the wp near it would be at least a cursory skill and gear check.
It’ll prevent underleveled, underinformed or undergeared people from stumbling into the event. Messing things up for ~100 players and getting flamed so hard they contemplate dropping the game.
Cursed Shore or Southsun Cove preferably. Although anywhere in Orr or even north Frostgorge Sound would make much more sense than Lornar’s Pass, Bloodtide Coast or Sparkfly Fen.
I think this a very bad idea. Accessibility of Living World events should not be so segregated. Whatever way future events are constructed to prevent frustration, cutting out lower level players from that type of content just cuts them out of the community and treats them like second class citizens. I thought the inclusiveness of the Tower and the latest event were spot on. Zones and instances have enough gate-keeping – events should be inclusive.
Question – are all participants & npcs on the platforms upleveled to level 80? If not, that is definitely an issue, and I would qualify my response above based upon that issue.
Agree with OP; although individual players make a huge contribution, one inexperienced player won’t necessarily cause the whole event to fail (can make it much harder, though…).
I think the Tower was also a good stab at open world content, though it was very different. I’m impressed by the variation between the two events. (However, the Tower’s scaling had some issues).
The wurm… not so much.
- Re: Marionette:
I’m happy with the Marionette event fight, as it’s a genuine MMO encounter that allows no free riders. I’ve won the bulk of my platform fights, including a few nailbiters, but suffered a few tough losses, too.
Whether it’s a low dps or low survivability group, the groups that failed were quite varied. This is what I expect in an MMO. Challenge is a good thing. Open world, community-building fights are the hallmark of a great MMO. GW2 has plenty of instanced content for groups already, so events like this are welcome.
I know some are hung up on winning the achievements, but I think they need to face that in an MMO, some achievements simply must rely on the cooperation of others. That’s what a community game is all about. Besides, the meta achievement is ultimately achievable without the help of others, anyway.
- Re: Bloodtide wurms:
This really seems to be geared only to very large guilds. Getting 120+ disciplined players together at one time to pace three separate kills appropriately is not going to happen with a pickup zerg.
If 120+ person guilds were the only target audience, fine, but devoting further resources to that audience should be done rarely. The Marionette event was a much better way to fully engage that number of people with some coordination required. Also, temporary events are your only way of ensuring that you can get a random gathering of that size.
(edited by Father Grimm.8467)
Regarding the resource issue – why not change the functionality of the consumables so that they replicate other items that don’t create these system problems?
I’m thinking of pets that spawn from server-side generated procs, e.g., #6 from Superior Rune of the Pirate or the Jagged Horrors from the Necromancer trait “Reanimator.”
The consumables could grant a buff giving a similar effect to the runes, etc., such as “5% chance to spawn Pet X when struck in combat.” The buff could be short or long, depending on how often you want someone to slap it on in combat situations. And, you could limit it to one such buff active at a time, though runes, traits, etc. would still function.
Honestly, there are probably other workarounds like the one above that would 1) serve the purpose of the casual user of these items, and 2) be far less painful than a 30 minute cooldown. As the runes, traits, etc haven’t been described as game-busting, there’s no good reason why a change in mechanics to a proc wouldn’t work. Unless, of course, the resource/server justification that has been put forth is not the only reason …
Thank you Anthony. Two questions:
- Can the cooldown be restricted to open world & PvP/WvW only? There seem to be context-dependent limitations already (PvP/WvW), and my 3-person team really needs every assist we can get in 5-person dungeons.
- Why not add a consumable pet limit of one per person and lower the cooldown?
I don’t fault the developer’s tone, and did not find him rude or condescending. However, as I posted earlier, I do fault him for a disingenuous explanation and not being fully forthcoming.
The fact that most of these items ever existed is just blatantly a bug.
The decision to throw cooldowns on them were for server performance/stability as the patch notes said, not for balance. Period. This was something that was long overdue.
These statements are contradictory, as others have noticed. They make the developer appear very disingenuous. Challenging the consumable’s existence is not a performance/stability issue – it’s a content/balance issue
The ways game developers prevaricate when it comes to nerfs have always boggled my mind.
There’s other ways to address the alleged performance issue. Disable these during group events, use a different cooldown, disable summoning during combat, etc.
I run dungeons with two friends. The pets helped a little, but it’s still very hard to manage 5-person content since we can’t outlevel it, like other games. This nerf makes things even more difficult for us.
At least be straight with us, please.
With the latest installment of the LS, it looks like Anet devs were trying to take players back to pre-WOW days, where dungeons were tough open-world experiences. I know another thread bashed the Tower, and generally I’m not big on the EQ nostalgia like some are, but I think Anet delivered a very complex project that did many good things, some of which harken back to old EQ dungeoning. I give the Tower a solid B as a grade.
The good?
- Community building from challenging open world content, but in a limited, non-essential setting (i.e., not “required” for progression). I’ve met and recognized more non-guild members in this event than in any game I’ve played in recent years. That type of community building is what many old EQ players reminisce about (when they forget the bad parts).
- A good try at dynamic scaling of mobs. This needs work, but I think it was a bold move that can be built upon with more attempts. I think a LOT of the issues it has can be solved with a more vigorous respawn schedule of mobs that have lost aggro (BUT keep a longer respawn schedule if they’re killed) so that small groups aren’t stuck with the mobs that a large group has abandoned.
- A good influx of end goals, rewards, and instanced content to being players in with different incentives. I think this is the big success story of this event. Spawn camp farming is hopefully dead and gone with EQ, so some other incentives were needed to unite players towards a common goal. This part alone I would grade as a solid A.
The bad? Lots of tedious, unfun design decisions that felt much more like abuse than “challenge.”
- Finishers required for toxic nightmare court mobs. Coupled with the rampant AEs and knockdowns, these were horribly, horribly tedious to deal with. Take down the krait first, right? Not if they’re veteran or elite, you aren’t. In all parts of this event, the need to subject yourself to conditions, knockdowns and multiple attacks while trying to finish a single kill was nothing but painful, stupid torture. It also ruined a key game mechanic that the game was designed around – player revives. Whoever came up with this at Anet needs a good dose of unpaid leave to teach them a lesson.
- Hallucinations: like the finishers above, these were tedious and disruptive. They combined multiple knockdowns and another mob type that could not be used for reviving (at least, not reliably).
- Scaling inside the instances. This seemed pretty out of whack at times; solo and five man seemed more or less manageable, but in-between had some ridiculous amounts of mobs with a lot of hp to deal with. Keep trying, Anet – I think you can really do a lot of great things in future events if you get this one done right.
- Endless add spawns. The final instance with the Hybrid just loved to pile on adds endlessly, mainly the last two rooms. Many games do this, and I always hate it. The mantra that all the uber-doofs recite in this game is bzrk-or-go-home, and endless add spawns only serve to reward that single-minded approach. You guys can do better than making every fight a dps race.
I run solo or with two friends. I strongly encourage alternative event models, especially with dynamic scaling, since this game is very unforgiving to duos and trios. Keep trying, Anet.
I like the idea of more basic starter colors being added, but I could live without it, as I do with the regular gear, if I could change the color like the itemized gear slots.
This became particularly annoying recently. I like to put up silly holiday-themed colors on my outfits for my characters in every game, every year; purple really doesn’t work with the holiday mix.
I’m completely in agreement with this, but would simplify it further — just have the head accessory use the same dye as the equipped head gear. Ideally that would cut down on any complications from the UI.
If ANet thinks I’m going to shell out $$$ every time I want to change color on something that should be dyed like any other piece of gear, they’re nuts.
Thank you, durend — at least you know how to provide a legitimate, relevant answer.
The condition damage was being applied fine throughout the rest of the dungeon, so I don’t know why it would be bugged in that particular encounter alone. Also, it happened in more than one try on Vassar.
I’ll see if it happens again on another run, but the elevation of the stairs and other parts of the fight area seemed to be much simpler than the encounter with the Ranger, where the conditions were applied without any issues. I’ll give the Direct damage reset a try to see if that does anything.
It seemed odd because in some You Tube videos I’ve seen of the fight with other parties, both Ralena and Vassar took condition damage. In my fight, Vassar never had a bleed or poison icon on him (the only ones I knew were being applied).
Perhaps the “Immune” message popped up coincidentally when there was some odd positioning issue, but honestly, all the attacks were flying pretty much in plain view; I would only LOS to avoid damage, if possible.
Actual answers are appreciated.
My group had a problem with storymode Vassar last night – he was immune to condition damage. I was running my condition-spec Necromancer, and we split Ralena and Vassar up using the door trick. We took out Ralena without too much trouble; however, whenever we took on Vassar, he had an “immune” text float up constantly whenever I’d hit him with a condition damage ability. Nothing on his powers description indicated this immunity.
Given that my gear is all Ravaging, I was screwed, even when switching to direct-damage weapons – I was hitting like a wet noodle. It had nothing to do with his bubble — I fired at him when it was up, and when it was done. Boulders would hit him, but conditions would not. Heck, boulders were my only way of doing any observable damage.
What gives?
I run in MMOs with two friends one or two nights a week, communicating over VOIP. Sometimes one of us can’t make it, so it’s a duo.
We are constantly vexed by game designers rigidly aiming content at either one or five players. We tend to level slowly and with many alts, checking out as many of the maps in the game as possible. Often we’ll try to outlevel 5-man content in other games so that it’s manageable by three.
We haven’t tried dungeons or fractals yet, and our characters are nearing 30. Are either of these types of content viable for three characters leveling up? Is there anything else to explore in the game other than solo quests or jumping into random group events?
Typically, games end for us at max level, when the content is aimed at gear grinding for groups or raids and is very unmanageable for a trio. We’d like to find ways to enjoy GW2 that meets the Goldilocks test for a group of three – not too hard, not too soft.
Honestly, we don’t need a new skill set. I’m betting Anet frowns on this idea because they’ve already considered the number of different weapon abilities each class gets. We’ll likely only get more when everyone else does, too.
Instead, I’d be much more interested in weapon-switching being enabled. I’d like to have the same flexibility to adjust between range, melee, and AE weapon options that other classes have during combat.
Let me toss out an example of a recent play session that was very frustrating: Diessa Plateau, in the area with ghost trebuchets, cannons, and Ascalonians that pop and repop like mad. I tried using D/D in there and was consistently assailed by enemies at range, melee, and AEs from the local machines.
Even when I’d clear a melee mob or two, my health was constantly being burst down by mages, archers, or the local artillery. D/D was no good against those; a summoned frost bow helped, but I could never dps down anything fast enough. LOS and swiftness did best, but running around usually got me wandering into more adds or AEs, and only rare opportunities to break off aggro and heal up.
I’ve yet to try the place with a ranged build (S/D or S/F are my usual soloing weapons) , but I’m doubtful it would go much better. The damage is still too low to eliminate all the threats in time. I tried my Ranger and Necromancer there: no problems. Those classes could switch from melee to ranged distance mobs easily, and took out everything relatively quickly , without complex rotations to get buffs up that were required to be at all useful.
I don’t doubt that I could switch things out to do better as an Elementalist there, but the other two classes were so much stronger that I could pay attention to the environment and the constant addition of new threats. The Elementalist was barely hanging on, and got swarmed by adds many times, constantly hammering at his health. The water heals and buffs from attunement switching were hardly noticeable. I ran a lot, but eventually was blasted down – the briefly-lived defenses were never enough. Sorry, but I find these stories about easy leveling pre-40 hard to believe.
I get most of my joy from MMOs from the leveling process, enjoying the diverse content that devs put hundreds of work years into creating, not repeating the same stuff again and again at max level. So far, the leveling game for Elementalist is nothing but frustrating so far.
TL;DR – The complex rotations should be icing on the cake, not required for basic survival. Buff survivability.
Thanks for the reply. I’m 23, started with Elemental Attunement – 10 pts in Arcane, switched to 10 in Water. Level 20 masterwork gear, mostly custom made for Vitality, all with minor runes. I dodge when I can, and use the evasive powers too. Usually I do S/D or S/F, but I’m trying D/D recently. In groups, I usually use staff.
I’m about a couple of months into GW2, and I generally PvE in MMO’s. I’ve been leveling a Necro, a Warrior, a Ranger, a Guardian and… an Elementalist.
So far, the Elementalist is the weakest of the bunch. I haven’t seen the lack of survivability in any MMO class like this one since the must-have-a-group builds in EQ. I’ve read the various guides that people have kindly written, but they are frequently written to level 80 specs and gear, or full groups, and often recommend abilities that have been since nerfed.
I’ve tried the combo fields and attunement switching and conjuring weapons. I still die a lot versus mobs that every other class can handle. I get to play with friends 1-2 times a week, and go solo mostly. If I fight more than two mobs, it’s likely I’ll be close to death or die. My other characters can handle a veteran and two regular mobs solidly, like some events and skill challenges require. I tried one event last night where all the attunement switching and comboing did jack against the mobs, dragging the event on, while some melee player wandered in and cleared the whole event solo. Story missions are kicking my butt.
I don’t have all the button pushing down cold by any means, but I’m trying. Still, while I’m dancing around and trying to get my buffs up, my health plummets and I’m often Fighting to Survive. Even when I do it right, I don’t see much of a difference between the more complex rotations and just conjuring a weapon and using 1-2 attunements. The amount of effort put into the recommended boon building does not have the payoff when all the Traits that everyone raves about are greater than 10 pts in.
Is this a class meant to be suffered through until 60+? If so, that’s a bad design. I most recently played Rift for a couple of years, and right out of the box, the Mages there could be ultra-survivable or glass cannons, or mix and match various desired abilities.
I really like this game, and I’d like to enjoy a traditional magician class here. Necro is fine, Mesmer looks interesting, but Elementalist, so far, is a disappointment.
After investigation by our programmers, they have determined that the fix to this issue would be too risky and could end up making the situation worse than it is. Unfortunately, this means that we’re not able to make changes to correct the issue. We’re sorry about this and we will be implementing ways to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future.
There is an answer, without a risk.
Grant everyone a “complete” on the Monthly that was just wiped. Fixed. Skip the people that got the award — that isn’t as tough to track as a detailed undo to your screw-up.
Too much of a gift? Well that’s on you, Anet — you made a major screw up. You suck it up, not your customers.
I was one Daily from completion — if the patch had been tomorrow, I would have had it. I grinded all weekend after being 3/4 on last month’s Monthly; now this.
FIX THIS. I just started a month ago and you’re not building good will towards gem purchases if you do *!@# like this.