Guild Wars 2

now that two consecutive elite specs are essentially melee oriented (tempest was frontline support, overloads point blank AoE…. Weaver is definitely melee with the sword) …

MAY WE PLEASE HAVE A REAL BACKLINE DAMAGE SPEC NOW!!!???? or at least something that’s not focused on WvW / PvP…

in b4 but staff fire is a backline damage spec!
response: staff is a backline SUPPORT weapon with 70% of the skills being boons/ cc/ heals/ soft cc.

i redirect you toward the elite spec suggestion thread, using a couple of my own suggestions. there are MANY more:
~Archermage: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestions-Future-Elite-Specializations/page/7#post6171770
~Summoner: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestions-Future-Elite-Specializations/page/4#post5940673

it looks like survivability will be based on proccing Barrier with traited duel skills, and a trait that buffs vitality (120 while wielding a sword, plus 5% conversion from power, and another 5% conversion from condition damage)

PS: i t looks like the best stat combo for sword weaver will be the new POWER, CONDITION DAMAGE, precision, ferocity. or Viper’s if you prefer longer condition duration.

wouldn’t it be great if we had “ammo” mechanic for conjures? so the “charges” would determin when we could summon additional conjures…

with a 1-5 second cooldown per charge, and a whatever cooldown for the recharge, we would be able to summon extra conjures for more allies to be able to use at once!

overall, for season 3… i think that plot points overrode character development, and characters acted out of character. each episode started to feel like a saturday morning cartoon bad guy of the week type of thing. episodes 1-4 felt decent enough, until the “twist” at the end of the final instance. then episode 5 felt out of place, and trying too hard to solve a mystery that was never properly built up. episode 6 would have been better if episode 5 didn’t come out of left field to disrupt the story.

now, episode 6 by itself…

i actually rather enjoyed most of it. i liked the mechanics (though i’m not fond of puzzles, and would have preferred to NOT have to solve puzzles in an MMO, but meh, whatever). in a way, it felt like non humans were shoehorned into a human storyline, but i still enjoyed the extra lore. (Mursaat and Seers, origin of The SHining Blade weapon.)

i also enjoyed the trials. and the idea behind them. i just wish that the writers didn’t try to justify the trials by contriving all the out-of-character drama in Dragon’s Watch.

i like the new map, except for the random updrafts in the west. it took me a good 10 minutes of solid gliding just to get up to the spider den / mastery insight area, because the updrafts i needed kept disappearing. i like the heart NPC’s. very lore appropriate. i kinda wish there was more lore to find in the reliquaries.

i think i went over 75 words. my bad. Bacon Defeciency Disorder sux.

i am at 70, now, as well. but that’s not my vaguely worded question answered. /sigh Bacon Defeciency Disorder sucks, especially when posting when tired. :-/

before HoT, the limit was 64. after HoT launched, the limit was raised to 69 (and a few who were previously capped at HoT launch received an extra, due to the pre-order bonus), and now for RoF… will the cap go up again on Sept 22, 2017? (not including the pre-order slot for those who are already capped)

i are hyped, just need more character slots! i NEEDS them, Precious!

i know this was brought up when HoT was announced, so i presume it’s already been discussed, but not yet announced…. what’s the new character slot limit? it’s obviously going up to accommodate those who’ve already maxxed out their number of characters, as it did with HoT…

they blocked off that entrance into LIon’s Arch (from the southeast corner of Gendarran Fields) a LOOOONGGGG time ago. There used to be 2 entrances into LA from GF, way back at the original launch of the game. But, during Living World Season 1, they blocked it off before Scarlett attacked LA, and then during the attack, they added the portal between LA and Lornar’s Pass. the Living World reason they gave: was that there was rock collapse that blocked the road. I wass personally hoping that they’d build more housing or something over there, but… it is what it is, i guess.

Flesh…. it’s the road in Wayfarer’s Foothills, that goes from Hoelbrak, north through the forts, and then west into Snowden Drifts, then west into Gendarren Fields, then south past the ettin caves into a dead end.

back to the OP: to reach Lion’s Arch once you’ve entered Gendarren Fields, you need to find the LionGuard Haven halfway down the road, and head west on the road through the hills where the dredge are, past the giant pirate house heart onto the bridge, and follow the bridge into the apple orchard, and that road will lead you down to the northern entrance into Lion’s Arch. i know it’s not the same, but at least it’s still using existing roads…

if you entered Gendarren Fields at the northeast corner (at the other lionguard haven in the snowy region of gendarren fields) there is another cave through the mountains near the norn arena, but it’s off the beaten path (no road)

Evan Lesh.3295:

BlackBeard.2873:

These are looking a little bit better, but a few concerns:

/snip

1. For sigils that have longer CD’s, is there any idea on how this will work with engie and ele (or warrior with fast hands), who will be 50% less efficient taking these sigils. For instance, something like a ranger can put escape and revelation on one weapon, then greater nullification and something else on the other weapon, and get 4 procs over a 20s period. Ele and engie, meanwhile, would be stuck with just 2 procs. Likewise, other on-swap effects have less control for these two classes.
   /snip

/snip

1. The longer cooldowns are simply because we like the effect, but are just too strong for classes that have frequent access to ‘swaps’ like engie and warr. You are right in that they have much less control. However, making every sigil viable on every class/build is probably an unrealistic goal.
   /snip

please also take into consideration that ele’s and engi’s only get to equip 2 sigils, while all other classes get to equip 4. there seems to be NO sigils designed specifically with ele and engi in mind, for all game modes. this would be a perfect time to make new sigils balanced around frequent swaps, (yes, fast hands warriors must be taken into consideration, too)

ALL sigils don’t need to be made viable for EVERY class/build out there, but ele’s and engi’s have less than half the variety of viability of the other classes: the on-hit/on-crit, BUT, all the others become less effective when swapping attunements / kits… essentially, a mesmer / warrior /etc swaps weapons and get a new set of sigils that have been better optimized to the new weapons, but an when an ele / engi swap elements / kits, they are stuck with sigils that are not optimized for the new element / kit.

with respect, a few new sigils should be made for ele’s / engi’s

edit: PS: examples could be sigils with weaker effects on swap due to the lower cooldowns, or maybe even sigils that alternate between 2 different effects.

another idea: new sigil SETS could be introduced, like how armour runes have bonuses for equipping multiple of the same rune set. a bacon defecient brainstorm example:

Superior Sigil of Rodgort (80):
1) on hit: apply 5s vulnerability (2s cd)
2) on swap: apply 1s burning (2s cd)

i think that class locking should ALSO come with a change to the daily “class victory” cheevos. the cheevos should be changed to simply “win x matches in PvP” (regardless of classs/es used)

+1

15 slices of bacon

NOW i know what you’ve been up to, DreamyAbaddon. i watched the whole thing this weekend. all i gotta say is.

i should make an Outstanding In Fields of Bacon Award for such dedication. Of course, the bacon would be shared among all the participants, and there would be plenty of bacon for everyone involved. unless of course there are some that don’t like bacon. then there’d also be strawberry rhubarb pie. on second thought, there’d be strawberry rhubarb pie as well, even if everybody does like bacon.

oh geez… i had several matchups yesterday where half (4-6) the players were guards. i strongly agree with those asking to remove the profession specific win daily cheevos, and remove class tacking in matchmaking.

my queue times seem better this season than the last 4… but even then… i still (with a rating around 900 +/- 50 ) end up doubling the average queue times quite regularly.

i gotta be honest here folks… i’m getting really tired of people in bronze, complaining about other bronzers who can’t win a 1v2. it especially grinds my gears when people complain that others can’t win a 1v4 or 1v5. and then rage all over everyone with their bloody cussing in team chat. give it a rest.

the difference between me and them… is that i know i’m bad at PvP… most folks in bronze still think they’re gods who belong in the top 250.

full disclosure here. i’m hangin right around 900 give or take. and unfortunately, i’m kinda stuck playing prime-time because of my work schedule. gotta pay the bills somehow. i’m also a casual PvPer (only rank 53) who is interested in the shinies, but who also wants to improve.

i gotta admit, since i’m still a relative noob, i can’t always see my mistakes. i probably rarely see them. and the worst part is, with all these kittening attitudes coming from other jerks in PvP who are just as bad as me, i’m never going to improve because everybody’s too busy cussing each other out.

cussing me out gives me zero motivation to improve, because i’m then too busy blocking / reporting for verbal abuse instead of analyzing my play for the match.

it looks like the notes got accidentally cutoff in the middle of Thief section.

i say this due to mention of buffing pistol mainhand in the commentary, and suddenly there’s no mention of HOW pistol mainhand is getting buffed…

not to mention there’s no mentions for warrior, ranger, and necro

WOOHOO!!!! VISIBLE SKILL RATING!!!!!

i’m honestly hoping that this would basically be a fancy copy pasta… ‘cept of course they’d have to change an x to a y here, add some cayenne pepper and oregano there. and of course, don’t forget the garlic. can’t forget the garlic when talking pasta. ;-)

of course, i could be be drastically under-estimating the work to be done for something like this. i know it wouldn’t be as easy as adding a glider skin, for example. I’m just hoping that it could be done in someone’s spare time over a few months, instead of having to dedicate a whole team to it for years on end.

speaking of ends, i think i’m out of bacon. D’oh!

PS: Flesh Wound, since you failed to mention bacon in the “fixed” message, i hereby diagnose you with Bacon Defeciency Disorder. i highly recommend taking two strips of bacon before each and every post. just don’t take mine. i’m all out anyway. :/

INTRODUCTION:

many of us really liked Living World Season 1, and would love to see it come back in some form or another. while many would like to see new fractals or dungeons based on LW1 events, others really want to see the Zerg aspect return as well. My guild and i were discussing this one night after Guild Missions in mumble, and we think that combining EotM and Fractal technology and lore could be the answer to give us the zerg aspect.

SUGGESTION:

rifts would open up all over Tyria (like Mad king Labrynthe doors), along with a portal in Lion’s Arch, that would allow players into a a past event (like Battle for LIon’s Arch) on a zerg scale.

RELATED LORE:

Fractals are essentially “echoes” of past events, accessed through a specific doorway provided to us by the Consortium. The deal is, we secure the fractal for the researchers, and they let us keep all the loot we find.

we have asura gates to the Eternal Battleground in the Mists, as well as the borderlands and the Edge of the Mists.

in LW Season 3, small rifts appear in Bloodstone Fen (mainly to port players to other areas of the map), as well as ley line anomalies all over Tyria.

What if these rifts would spawn all over Tyria, give us random temporary access to echoes of the past… say Living World Season 1 events, and the Ley Line Anomaly is the Gate-Keeper?

RELATED TECH AND MECHANICS:

Can be inferred from the lore section. but this could essentially be an additional SUB-PvE game mode.

~ Essentially, a complete copy of the main Tyria Map would be created, but instead of being a direct copy, it would contain the LWS1 versions of maps, especially of the events. (like Tower of Nightmares in Kessex Hills, Marionette in Lornar’s Pass, Scarlett’s Invasions in various maps, Rescue in Lion’s Arch, Assault to take back Lion’s Arch, though the gate events in the surrounding zones in order to gain access to the city would be dropped)

~ This copy would be saved on a different hardware server (like Edge of the Mists), and would spawn new maps the same way EotM does, when needed for growing population

~These maps would be able to handle 150 players, even if they were only instances containing only the event area (like the related lanes for Marianette, but not the rest of Lornar’s Pass)

~ Now, rifts would randomly open up all over Tyria, (like the doors for mad king’s labrynthe) and would give access to ONE LWS1 map/ event for a week (or 2 if it better synergizes with the 2 week update cadence)

~ A Ley Line Anomaly could guard each rift when it spawns, during the initial introduction of this feature… and then, after we prove that we are worthy, the Ley Line Anomaly opens a permanent portal in Lion’s Arch (like the Asura Gates to WvW, PvP, Fractals, etc) this LA portal would always lead to “this week’s” event.

~ Rifts would open up in the respective areas of “this week’s” event… for example:
~~ a rift near the camp on the hill to enter the Tower of Nightmares
~~ a rift near the ruins of the Marionette
~~ a rift outside the gates to LA when the LA events would be active
~~ a rift in southsun cove for the one time legendary karka event
etc…

PROS:

~ devs would not need to rebalance the fights for smaller groups.
~ everyone could re-experience these large scale events
~ could be used for future large scale events
~ one past event would be available per week (or two week) so that player base wouldn’t spread out too thin
~ since one event would be available at a time, it offers additional content to be rotated in the game.
~ one step closer to bringing back LWS1

CONS:

~ takes dev time to adapt the current systems, which might slow down other development
~ maybe need more hardware to dedicate to the rift of the week concept

that reminds me… i actually have another suggestion for bringing back living world stuff….

i think that the origins to the entrances of the Mists would make for an interesting series of fractals.

from the original GW1 owner’s manual.

The Rift

Before there were humans or dwarves, before there were even worlds or the stars that light the night sky, there was but one thing in the universe—the Mists. The Mists touch all things. They are what binds the universe together, past present, and future. They are the source of all good and evil, of all matter and knowledge. It is said that all forms of life, no matter how simple or complex, can trace their origins back to this one place.

In the middle of the Mists is a spot where time moves neither forward nor back. It is a tear in the fabric of the cosmos, the point of perfect balance between all forces of the universe. This place is known as the Rift, and there is nothing to which it does not connect, nothing that cannot be reached from inside it. Those who have the know-how to travel across the universe through the Mists must pass through the Rift on their way to all other places. It is the center of all things.

The Hall of Heroes

In the center of the Rift, deep inside the Mists, stands the imposing walled fortress known across the multiverse as the Hall of Heroes. This structure is the pinnacle of the afterlife. When a hero dies, his spirit goes to one of two places: either it is buried with the deceased body, forever trapped inside the rotting flesh and rancid bones of the corpse, or it is released into the Rift. This latter honor goes to only those few whose deeds in life were legendary enough to be known across multiple worlds, and fewer still earn a place among the souls ensconced inside the Hall itself.

For a long while, the Rift and the Hall of Heroes were accessible only by those who had passed from the mortal world into the immaterial. It was the Land of the Dead, an exclusive club whose membership cost the blood of one’s own life. But within the last century all that has changed.

Lord Odran’s Folly

Using a spell of his own devising and the sacrifice of many souls, Lord Odran, a powerful arcanist who specialized in the study of temporal distortions, opened a portal that offered him access to the Mists and eventually into the Rift itself. The spirits who had given their lives to earn access to the hallowed afterlife were outraged. They turned their fury upon the intruder, attacking Lord Odran with all of their legendary, collective might. But it had been hundreds of years since most of the spirits had interacted with the physical world, and none of them had ever done so in their shadow form. As powerful as they had been in life, they could not harm the physical manifestation of the wizard lord—not yet. He was untouchable here in the land of the dead, and he traveled freely through the Hall of Heroes.

Over the years, Lord Odran learned to use the Rift to travel across the multiverse. He opened portals on nearly all of the different worlds, turning the Rift into his own personal gateway. But though he was clever, the wizard lord was himself only mortal, and eventually the spirits of the Hall discovered a way to interact with the corporeal world. Odran’s last physical journey through the Rift cost him his mortal life. The wizard lord was torn to shreds by hundreds of angry souls seeking retribution for his trespasses.

When Odran’s mortal body died, the wards and enchantments that kept his portals hidden failed, and the gates to the Hall of Heroes were laid open to all who were able to find them. The wizard lord had been canny though; Odran knew that one day he too might be ensconced in the Hall of Heroes, so he hid the portals in the most treacherous locations he could find. The fear of death, he surmised, would keep the meek at bay.

But a long time has passed, and it is clear now that the wizard lord, like the gods before him, underestimated the greed of men. Over time, the whereabouts of the portals have been revealed. Though they remain difficult to get to, there are those with enough skill and enough bravery to reach them, and every day the numbers of intruders to the Hall of Heroes rises.

An unending battle for supremacy rages inside the Hall. The spirit inhabitants have taken to playing groups of mortals against each other for sport, placing bets on which will make it farthest and giving special aid to those they favor. Control of the Hall itself has its rewards—and its costs as well.

most of what i would suggest has already been suggested:

~ dubloons
~ blade shards
~ Miyani’s mystic forge items (like philosophers stones, elonian wine, anthology of heroes, etc)
~ +1 agony infusions
~ tenebrous / shimmering crystals
~ blood rubies / petrified wood / chak eggs / reclaimed metal plates / new map items
~ lumber cores / milling basins

not sue if anyone mentioned these yet, but probably has:
~ zinc ore / other incinerator 1 crafting materials
~ other legendary specific crafting materials (like shards of endeavor) since they need so many

but i do certainly agree with the following:

Daroon.1736:

A simple test will solve this problem now and for all future items – Do the following 2 rules apply? If so, the item in question should be in material storage.

1 – Its description states ’crafting material (profession(level))
2 – It is a first tier crafting material ie It cannot be in itself crafted

though i might add a 3rd:
3- if more than 1 of the item is required for crafting / mystic forging (such as the abundance of shards of endeavor required to craft Eureka!) then it should also go into material storage

EDIT:
i realize that the SHARDS of endeavor are already storable in the material storage. but what about the exotic TRIBUTE that is a crafting material used to create the shard.

it occurs to me that the ores required for crafting incinerator (from the collection 1) are also exotic, so ….

~ may we please have an exotic material sub-category? (like how we have fine material and rare material sub-categories)

as for the Guild Wars (one) Manuscripts…. please note the following excerpts from he very beginning (after the table of contents)

“The following texts have only recently been unearthed and reveal but the barest hint of what adventurers will encounter in Tyria.

Book I: The Lore of Guild Wars
contains a brief summary of Tyrian history, along with an overview of the human kingdoms and a few of humanity’s known enemies. These manuscripts tell the story of the origins of magic, of the Searing and the Cataclysm, and other key events that brought our world to the state in which you find it today.

Book II: The Challenge
introduces adventurers to the basics of life as a hero in Tyria. Here you’ll learn about the Guild Wars professions and their attributes and skills, and how they work together to create a unique gameplay experience for each hero you create.

These manuscripts are incomplete at best, but scribes are busy compiling additional information, which will be made available through other avenues. See the enclosed Quick Reference card for more information."

this is clearly written from two perspectives simultaneously: 1) scribes from within the universe itself, and 2) it is written by humans to other humans outside the universe itself. this was a common practice back in the day for video game manuals. “breaking the fourth wall” so to speak, is even used in movies like Deadpool.

however, its significance to this lore discussion is simply this: it is intended to be counted as in-game archeological research. it was unearthed by archeologists, and incomplete. since it is incomplete, some facts may appear later be found to be incorrect, due to the more complete manuscripts being unearth, and the original context finally found.

these manuscripts were never intended to be the omniscient third person perspective, but rather incomplete in-character perspective. So, anything in them has to be taken with a grain of salt. the archeologists who unearthed these manuscripts may have even tampered with them, or rewritten parts of them due to their incompleteness. whole words in the middle of sentences could have been unreadable. years in the timeline may have been smudged.

furthermore, since these manuscripts are written by humans, we can also speculate whether those humans were trustworthy or not. were they influenced by Abbaddon to change parts of the manuscripts, or to hide parts of it? after all Shiro Tagachi was influenced by Abbaddon, and he died 250 years before Prophecies campaign even started. Vizier Khilbron was also influenced by Abbaddon to cause the Cataclysm, in between the “noob island” pre-searing Ascalon and the start of the campaign proper. It could be argued that the inconsistencies in the GW1 manuscript lore (as compared to GW2 lore) can be attributed to Abbaddon’s corrupt influence. who know’s? maybe these manuscripts were found by Vizier Khilbron himself?

there are actually quite a number of people (especially speedclear runners) who not only have one of each ascended weapon for a single character, but also have multiples of the same weapons, but with different sigils on each one. some people do this this so they can switch weapons based on an extra 5% damage to a specific mob type, or because it’s night time, or because the next encounter is immune to critical hits, or the next encounter goes 10% faster from having longer boon duration, or a specific condition duration lasts longer.

i personally have 3 characters that do not ever downgrade to exotic gear. every single equipment slot is occupied by ascended gear. (even underwater breather and weapons.) my revenant only lacks mace and axe ascended. my ele only lacks dagger ascendeds, and my ranger doesn’t carry all ascended off-hands, but otherwise, all their alternate weapons are ascended, too.

i only have about 11,300 AP, so i presume that players with a lot more AP probably have more ascended gear than me. (or at least, all their ascended gear is for a single character instead of being spread out among lots of alts, and i have at least 3 – 80s for every class)

that’s not what he’s talking about Blipp.

when you equip a new weapon to your equipment slot, your previously equipped weapon goes into your bags. when the weapons are the same number of hands, the old weapon goes into the same slot as the new weapon was in. but if you are equipping a two hander, and unequipping two one-handers, the offhand weapon just goes into whichever first open slot is available, which could be anywhere in any bag.

he wants an ascended equipment bag (like the fractal exotic equipment bag) so that the ascended offhand weapon always automatically goes into the same bag, to make it easier to find to re-equip a few fights later when the need arises.

shared inventory slots don’t allow loot drops or equipment to automatically go into them. you always have to drag an item to the shared loot slots from somewhere else. so the problem still exits: having to search inventory bags for wherever the item gets deposited after being auto-unequipped.

PS: i actually +1 this suggestion

And bacon to you too!

PS: there’s plenty to go around… no need to raid the kitchen… /runs

1) i’ll say it again:

i want to see everyone’s MMR in the post match-up report. instead of their division. just like in Starcraft. seeing actual MMR is the only way i can be satisfied that the system is matchmaking correctly, and the only way i can find out what my skill level actually is. if i’m getting totally carried in blowout victories, or if i actually belong in higher tier matchups; if i’m the reason my team is losing, or if the other team simply focused on shutting me down the entire match.

where is my actual MMR? make it clearly publicly visible!

2) and something new i’ll say (which i haven’t said before, based in part on something an Anet dev said):

leagues are based on pips, and pips are based on win streaks. essentially, pips reward you for win streaks. in other words, pips are a reward track. this reward track determines your MMR, and then you may get stuck in " MMR he’ll " down in amber, (emerald, ruby, whatever), and get stuck in losing streaks that prevent you from winning any rewards in leagues.

basically, pips and MMR are tied to closely together. bad players like me have ZERO motivation to play leagues, because i’ll never get the rewards because of the way MMR works. because when the matchmaking works right… you’re not supposed to be getting massive win streaks and you’re not supposed to be getting massive losing streaks. because, when matchmaking works right, 90% of the matches are close (within 100 points final score) with an actual win rate of around 50% (not 30%, not 70%)

in one respect, i kind of like the idea of a preseason, (or using unranked arenas) to determine player skill and therefore determine division placement before the leagues start. then place everybody in their appropriate division, and then find a different way of rewarding players than through pips. and if someone gets massive win streaks, then it’s clear they were placed in the wrong division, and then get promoted. if a player gets massive losing streaks, then it’s clear they were placed in the wrong division, and should be demoted. however, that might take a lot more programming to implement.

tl;dr for 2) pips are nothing more than a reward track, and should not be tied to matchmaking anymore.

i just want one thing…. visible MMR for every player in the match, displayed in the post-match report… including my change in MMR. until then… im just angry all the time because i’m not the kind of person to PvP every day. just for a few days during each League Season. (Yeah, i just want to earn the backpack, so what?) i just want to see the MMR “skill level” of people i’m playing against. i want to know how my MMR sits against the leaderboard percentiles. (not the top 100 of course… i don’t have enough time to even try to reach that level)

then i’ll know if i’m a 3000 MMR in amber who gets stuck in MMR hell… or if i really deserve the 8 game lose streaks i always seem to get during league seasons…

if this 50% thing is true… then it’s as broken as military acronyms, such Situation Normal: All (Fouled) Up

well now, i feel that i MUST chime in here and say that i experienced something similiar with gorseval. i got into a gorseval group that killed him easily. i got loot, including a gorseval mini and a legendary insight, among other things… and low and behold… Forsaken Thicket Mastery Track did not unlock…

going back and forth with support for a few days basically resulted in the following response:

/we’re submitting a report with everything you’ve told us, and if it’s found there is in fact a bug preventing the mastery track unlock, and if there is a bug fix in the future, only then may you possibly receive retroactive unlocking for the track. keep a look out for future patch notes!/

so, basically, this thread caught my attention in a positive way. because if there is a bug for Mcleod, maybe the fix will inadvertantly also fix my gorseval kill NOT unlocking the mastery…

honestly… i’d like to see a third borderland designed… and then each side would have it’s own unique borderland.

then, each week’s matchup would feel different, even if you’re stuck fighting the same two opponents for 6 weeks in a row, because you’d at least be on a different home borderland from week to week based on what colour your server is assigned.

and to answer your Q… yes. i AM still jaded over the endless TC vs JQ vs BG matchups before the WvW changes…

PS: please also add more towers to the borderlands… in my opinion, there should be at least twice as many towers as keeps per borderland (maintaining the home team advantage of course), because towers are a much smaller objective than a keep.

Xen, you’ve quoted me twice as saying “at least 2 towers per keep” …

I think it’s more than safe to assume that “at least” means at minimum, and that “at least” doesn’t necessarily mean each side has to have the same number of towers.

I never said anything about making each side have equal numbers of towers. Only that there should be “at least two towers per keep”. That leaves plenty of room to allow the home team to have more towers than the other sides… How are you not understanding this?

Basically , you are putting words in my mouth that I never said. I have no idea why you think the way you do concerning my wanting more towers. Can’t you take it at face value that I just want more towers? I never said anything about removing home team advantage. Never. You made that up on your own. And then falsely accused me of it…

Xenesis.6389:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

one of the reasons i hate Alpine so much, is that there’s only one tower per side. towers are a lot smaller than a keep, so there should be at least 2 towers for every keep on a map, in my opinion. i will admit that i was disappointed in DBL for not having more towers as well, but it felt different.

That’s kinda the point of a borderland, where the home team has a slight advantage in having an extra tower closer to their spawn. Which is why every side needs a borderland to keep it fair. EBG is the middle ground map that has equal amount of towers and keeps and camps for each side.

i didn’t say anything about removing home team advantage…. i didn’t ask for the extra tower to be removed from the home team …

i asked for more towers… right now there’s basically 1 tower per keep. i want at least 2 towers per keep to make it more interesting. i’d prefer at least 3 towers per keep on the larger DBL

(and what i mean is… there’s 3 sides, so add 3 more towers. there’s 3 keeps, there should be at least 6 towers. because the tower is a smaller objective than a keep. so there should more towers than keeps: in my opinion, at least twice as many towers as there are keeps. if there’s currently 4 towers and 3 keeps on the map, i want there to be 7 towers and 3 keeps. (4+3=7, after all) )

the home team would still have it’s advantage if each side was given an equal number more towers… especially if they’re placed correctly.

adding towers means more objectives to fight over.

home team advantage is based on position of objectives in relation to starting positions, not total number of objectives.

that’s all i have to say about that. off top the kitchen for more bacon… that i will not share with people who try to explain something to me that’s totally irrelevant to my suggestion, and that i already know. i will however share the bacon with those who freely admit to Bacon Defeciency Disorder striking again. especially since i suffer from it greatly, and sometimes misinterpret posts and respond based on my misinterpretations.

tl;dr adding more towers would not affect home team advantage as long as the towers are strategically placed to maintain the home team advantage without dramatically changing the overall percentage of the advantage. ( i fell i shouldn’t have had to explain this because adding towers =/= removing home team advantage ) i suffer from Bacon Defeciency Disorder and as a result, sometimes grumpiness. my bad

i gotta be honest with you…. my 175 ranks in WvW may not mean much to you… but i got dreadfully bored with Alpine… so much so that i essentially stopped REGULARLY playing the game mode back during the content drought of 2015. i was especially excited to try out DBL… but Alas! i was only able to play on the weekends (maybe only 1 or 2 nights a week) for about 9 months. from before HoT launch til about a month ago. with only 1-2 nights a week to play, and finally new content and masteries and such… i was NOT going to waste all my time in Wv, making no progress on my masteries and HoT story and such. then PvP leagues soaked up more of my play time (still only gave each season 2-3 nights total out of the 8-9 nights available to me for each season), and when i finally achieved my PvE goals, DBL was removed from play. i was so angry that Anet removed the map, that i reinstated my WvW boycott.

now that the poll results are in… i can’t help but feel amused that 65% of the vote wants DBL to stay…

i agree, however, that there should be more objectives with the size of the map. i would have preferred more towers on each side of the triangle.

one of the reasons i hate Alpine so much, is that there’s only one tower per side. towers are a lot smaller than a keep, so there should be at least 2 towers for every keep on a map, in my opinion. i will admit that i was disappointed in DBL for not having more towers as well, but it felt different.

i also personally would rather have 3 different unique borderlands. and all 3 of them would be on the WvW overworld map. it would help make WvW a lot less stale for me. i can only play the same map for so long before getting totally bored, especially when there’s so few objectives, and commanders who end up running around in circles “decoying” while the catapults in the towers pelt away at the keeps for 6 hours… can anything be more boring than that?

and bacon to you too Kraang! welcome to GW2! if you don’t like bacon, no worries… more for me!

as others have said, tarnished coast and piken square are the unofficial RP servers for NA and EU, respectively.

crafting? you can easily craft up to 400 to make exotic level 80 gear, and then the next tier takes you to 500, in order to make ascended gear, which is only required for high level fractal dungeons, and maybe raids. there is also legendary crafting, but that’s a whole nother beast as it’s a long term goal, requiring mastery over many game modes.

end game content? technically, due to downscaling, every area of the game can be considered end-game content. but i know the traditional term refers to raiding and dungeons, usually. those exist here, too… dungeons are 5 players, raids are 10, then there are the open world meta events and boss battles, which typically involve 100+ players at a time. look for the level 80 zones on the map. World bosses can be found in many of the lower level areas, too. there’s also WvWvW (basically server vs server capture castles and such) and structured PvP modes as well.

something of great help: whenever you are having trouble getting a n answer to a question, you can always type “/wiki” followed by a space, followed by the name of anything in the game, and it’ll automatically launch your default web-browser to the wiki page correlating with your search., such as: “/wiki world boss” or “/wiki queensdale” or “/wiki crafting”.

queensdale, for example, is the human starting zone, and going straight to the wiki page for the zone will tell you everything you want to know, including waypoints, points of interest, event chains, bosses, chests, jumping puzzle locations, etc. you may even find interesting trivia or in game lore attached to the page as well.

/fishslap

#15characters

elementalist high DPS doesn’t really come from single target spikes… but more from dropping meteor shower and lava font into the middle of a zerg, and hitting multiple targets with each hit. if you want best single target damage for WvW… ele is NOT it. ele is AoE king, though… or at least, that’s what the internet would have me believe.

don’t expect single hits too much over 9k, even with 25 stacks of might and target suffering 25 stacks vulnerability, in full zerk gear, fully buffed by revs, druids, warriors, boosters and food… (yeah i didn’t mention all the ways you can be buffed in a party of 5, i got bored…)

Ryou, the trouble is… if you unlocked other legends, you don’t have the hero points to unlock shiro and / or mallyx at level 8-10. and there is no indication beforehand that those are the underwater legends. the default heal upon character creation is Jallis Ironhammer’s heal, which cannot be used underwater because Jallis cannot be slotted underwater.

i have to +1 the separate underwater build… WvW and PvP and PvE all have independent build templates, so should underwater combat (it already has separate skill bar, why not traits, too?)

MatthewMedina.5419:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

• Similarly, written and spoken languages – norn are said to have a different language, but we never see nor hear it; charr used ideograms, but did they always speak “common” – and for that matter, is there a name for the language spoke? Some lines in GW1 called it “Tyrian” while in the Ecology of the Charr it is called “human” – and why do so many minor races (grawl, jotun, ogre, harpy, hylek, etc.) know how to speak it?

Hey there! I was reading through Scott’s posts and saw this question come up and figured I would be the best person to answer since I’ve done so much to help construct the alphabets and language in game.

Norn do (or maybe it’s more appropriate to say did) have their own language, but we don’t name it and really all that survives of it tend to be names of places and people, like Hoelbrak. I think it’s unlikely that we would get into any more detail about it than we already have. Even in Eye of the North the runes we saw were few and far between, and so it was a language that was already being edged out in favor of the common tongue.

Charr ideograms weren’t actually designed to be part of a language – they were warband signs, used to leave each other messages only they could understand, like “ambush ahead” or “this territory belongs to the Smoke warband”. If charr ever had a language all their own, they’re being exceedingly secretive about it. I’ll get to when/why they speak common in more detail below.

Asura do have a spoken/written language that is as complicated as the asura are themselves, which is where the word bookah comes from. The alphabet we see on their screens/displays/signs in game is actually based on a small subset of their written language that they converted into a cipher of the common tongue; specifically the letters are derived from how they write mathematics.

Now, as to where the common language came from and why it’s become so ubiquitous in Tyria – that really goes back to ancient history, at the very least to the last cycle of the Elder Dragons awakening. In the cycle just before the one that Tyria is currently experiencing, we know that five races were shepherded by the dragon champion Glint and survived. Those races too, had their own languages, but as they fought and struggled to survive the predations of the Elder Dragons, they also realized that they would need to communicate, not only amongst themselves in the short term, but to convey to future generations whatever information they learned about the Elder Dragons. It’s not clear whether they adopted one of the race’s languages as the common tongue (in the same way that English or Chinese or Spanish have spread to become more widely spoken), whether the common tongue already existed and pre-dates those races or whether they devised a new “common” tongue that all the races learned and passed on to future generations. But whichever explanation is correct has been lost to history and what we are left with is simply the knowledge that it was that first cooperation among the races who survived the last Elder Dragon cycle which gave birth to the widespread use of a common language that all Tyrians are raised to learn. Over the millennia since the Elder Dragons returned to slumber, it became clear that being able to understand one another was vital for survival, trade, and even war and a common language facilitated this nicely. It probably is appropriate for RP’ers to call this language Tyrian, since its usage (if not the language itself) was initially born of that cooperation between all the races that lived in Tyria at that time, but internally we tend to refer to it most often as “Common” – in homage to Jeff Grubb and the original D&D design team who solved this exact problem years before us. :-D

I can’t remember how much of this information (if any) was included in my blog post about the alphabets from years ago that is unfortunately no longer available. I’d always intended to follow up on Villem Caragan’s journal on the languages with this information but time just got away from all of us. :-)

is there any chance of any of this information being written down into new BOOKS with which we, in the game world, can interact and read? <pretty please with bacon?>

such as " Vexx’s Hypothesis of the origins of Common"

i think it can be very well assumed that the LS3 episodes will have meta achievements that grant mastery points…. just like LS2, and HoT story episodes…. but i could be Bacon Defecient again…

first… thanks for your input. especially for bringing up the probable OPness of those traits. i’ll try to reason out my brainstorming and thoughts behind some of what i offered.

i’ll start with steam:
i suppose i didn’t explain the concept of steam very well… i think of it kind of as a reverse of torment. but that’s only the start.

it does more damage if you stand still, less damage if you move. but it works differently.
~it starts with so many stacks. the catch is how the duration works.

if you stand still, you gain a stack (so damage goes up by stacking intensity) every second.

if you move, you lose a stack (so damage goes down, by losing intensity ) every second.

so lets say you get a stack of steam. and you don’t move for 2 seconds, and then you run around for 4 seconds.

second 1: you take the damage tick, from 1 stack, you gain a stack because you didn’t move.
second 2: you take damage from 2 stacks, you gain a stack because you didn’t move.
second 3: you take damage from 3 stacks, then you lose a stack because you moved (down to 2 stacks)
second 4: you take damage from 2 stacks, and lose 1 stack because you moved (down to 1 stack)
second 5: you take damage from 1 stack, and lose a stack (down to 0 stacks) because you moved

as such, the actual damage per stack would have to be low, probably about 2x bleed damage.

steam would synergize well with immobilize, and torment. (run around to reduce steam stacks, and take extra torment damage)

new condi / boon / field / aura

my intention of adding these to the game would be to also allow other classes access to them as well. NOT to limit them to elementalist only. i imagine that other classes who who burn could gain access to steam, and healer classes could learn prevention.

naming

i totally admit to dropping the ball on the naming… my mind drew a blank…

longbow vs shortbow vs staff

i went with longbow for longer range than staff…
conjure icebow really is a shortbow (all it’s skills are 900 range)
staff, while traited fire, fire does great AoE damage… the other elemetns are all filled up with utility skills. and i was going for a weapon more DPS oriented all around, in all elements. i’ll freely admit, it is a guilty pleasure fantasy for a 1500 longbow for elementalist… but i thought i’d toss it out there in case it sparked more creativity among the community after all, there are a lto fo creative minds in our community.

believe or not, most those skills were based partly on GW1 elementalist and ranger skills… either in name, or basic description, or both.

OverPpwered

yeah you make some real good points about how powerful prevention would be because of mesmers, and i do tend to forget how often auras can be shared by non-tempests.

maybe if prevention only had a 1 or 2 second duration…

i honestly was going more for relaying the concept than the balance.

prevention revisions

prevention would convert a percentage of the next incoming damage pulse into healing.

Forgotten Legend.9281:

ELITE SPECIALIZATION: ARCHMAGE

[DESCRIPTION]

the Archmage is a long range damage dealer. Wielding a longbow, the Archmage charges up the “artillery” spells by using all attunements.The Archmage also offers some offensive boons and a few control effects if enemies get to close. The Archmage also provides more conditions than other Elementalist specializations.

Disclaimer: values given are hypothetical example, and would need to fine tuned for balance. I’m not necessarily providing cast times and recharges for weapon skills, but as a general rule cooldowns can be assumed to be roughly in the neighborhood of other elementalist cooldowns, based on skill position, 1) autoattack, 2) 4-8seconds, 3) 8-12 seconds, 4)12-30 seconds. 5) 20-45 seconds

[NEW GAME MECHANICS]

[New Condition: Steam]
each second the condition is active, it adds one more stack of itself if the target doesn’t move, and loses one stack while the target moves. Potency is determined by number of initial stacks.

[New aura: Mist Aura]
apply 1 stack of steam condition to enemies who strike you, cd 2 seconds per attacker

[New Combo Field: Steam field]
projectile: apply 1 stack of steam to foe.
Leap: grants Mist aura
blast: grants 1 stack prevention
whirl:

[New Boon: Prevention]
each stack of this boon will convert one the next incoming attack or condition, into healing

[Conidition-Boon Conversion]
Prevention and Steam are opposites, so one will convert to the other under the appropriate spell use.

[CLASS MECHANIC: ELEMENTAL CHARGE]
~ swapping attunements now grants one charge per attunement swap.
~ similar to the warrior adrenaline bar, the celestial charge can tier up 3 times
~ does not decay out of combat
~ 4 charges grants tier1, 8 charges grants t2, 12 charges grants t3

~ F5 = Celestial Storm
~~ base skill (10 second cooldown) lasts 5 seconds, and drops 5 impacts per attunement type, 1500 range, 250 radius
~~ t1 lasts 10 seconds and drops 10 impacts per attunement type, 300 radius
~~ t2 lasts 15 seconds and drops 15 impacts per attunement type, 350 radius
~~ t3 lasts 20 seconds and drops 20 impacts per attunement type. 400 radius

~~ using f5 consumes all charges
~~ using a utility skill consumes 1 tier of charges (more on this in the utility skill section.)

~ celestial storm is balanced around the idea that it’s available often, but requires many attunement swaps to fully charge up. The base skill is available every 10 seconds, but requires time gated attunement swapping to become more powerful.

~ Since the utility skills also consume a tier of charges, f5 can remain as powerful as it is, due to having to make a choice of using a utility skill or the f5

[UTILITY SKILL CATEGORY: ELEMENTAL]

~~ these skills have 10 second cooldown, and are balanced around the charging mechanic
~~ these skills consume 4 charges when used, to prevent someone from spamming all t3 skills all the time, once fully charged.
~~ each tier stacks with all previous tiers

Heal:
~~ base skill: heal the elementalist for 4k (15 second cooldown)
~~ t1 also grant 4s vigor + 1 stack prevention
~~ t2 also grant 4s protection + 1 stacks prevention
~~ t3 also grant 4s mist aura + 1 stacks prevention

Crystal Wave: send out a wave toward your foes, 900 range, directional targeting
~~ base skill: do AoE (5 targets) damage based on power
~~ t1 daze enemies ¼ seconds
~~ t2 knockback enemies 100 range
~~ t3 knockdown enemies
(synergizes very well with Lightning Rod trait)

Searing Heat
~~ base skill: 300 radius damage (1000 power based damage) to foes in the area, 1500 range, 3 second cast time
~~ t1 second pulse of damage
~~ t2 3rd pulse of damage + applies 3 stacks of burning for 2 second
~~ t3 4th pulse of damage + applies 5 stacks of steam:

Frost Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)
~~ base skill: grant a frost aura
~~ t1 grant 4s protection
~~ t2 grant 3 stacks stability (4 seconds)
~~ t3 grant 3 stacks prevention (5 seconds)

Kinetic Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)
~~ base skill: stun break
~~ t1: gain stability 2 stacks (3 seconds)
~~ t2: gain swiftness (10 seconds)
~~ t3: gain quickness (5 seconds)

Elite: Elemental Lord: channel for five seconds, focusing your power, cooldown 60? seconds
~~ base skill: gain 5 charges per second
~~ t1: grant 3 might per second to yourself nearby allies
~~ t2: grant 2s fury per second to yourself and nearby allies
~~ t3: grant 1stack prevention (5 seconds) per second to yourself and nearby allies

[NEW WEAPON: LONGBOW]

range: generally 1500

Fire attunement:
1) Lava Arrows: (20% projectile) fire three arrows at your foe
2) Incendiary Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage and 2 seconds burning, if blocked, it explodes and causes up to 5 foes to burn (3 stacks, 3 seconds)
3) Burning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire one arrow that does massive damage and burns (5stacks) your foe
4) Starburst: fire an arrow that explodes for AoE damage when it hits its target, and breaks into 3 smaller shards that also explode for AoE damage. Each burst is also a blast finisher
5) Smoking Arrow: fire an arrow that leaves a trail of smoke behind it, creating a smoke field

Air Attunement:
1) Shock Arrow: (20% projectile) damage plus vulnerability
2) Lightning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire an arrow at your target for damage. 1 second later, the target is struck with lightning
3) Lightning Javelin: (50% projectile) pierces foes, for 10 vulnerability, and massive damage
4) Shell Shock: (spell) stun and damage your target (could use the electrocute death animation)
5) Enervating Charge: (spell) strike your foe with lightning, causing AoE damage, AoE weakness to enemies, and apply AoE vigor to allies

Earth Attunement:
1) Glass Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage, that bleeds (2stacks, 5 seconds) your foe if blocked
2) Ash Blast: (spell, ground target AoE)) poison your target with ash they can’t breathe (3 stacks, 8 seconds)
3) Rock Javelin: (50% projectile) throw a rock javelin at your foe, piercing, if blocked it blinds and bleeds (5stacks 10 seconds) foes in AoE
4) Obsidian Flame: (spell) damage your target (no projectile) for unblockable, armour ignoring, critical damage (2000 base damage)
5) Ebon Hawk: (100% projectile, spell) summon a hawk to fly at your foes, fearing (3seconds), and tormenting (3 stacks, 8 seconds) them as it cries and flies through them

Water Attunement:
1) Ice Spear: (50% projectile) throw a spear at your foes, granting regen to allies it passes through
2) Steam: (AOE, ground targeted) blinds target, and applies 3 stacks of steam to target
3) Chilling Winds: fire an arrow that becomes a chilling wind, chilling (4 seconds) and tormenting (2 stacks, 8 seconds) up to 5 foes the wind passes through.
4) Mirror of Ice: (spell) fire an arrow that reflects projectiles it nears, granting prevention (1 stack, 4 seconds) to allies
5) Steam Arrow: fire a rapid arrow that leaves a trail of steam behind it, creating a steam field that pulses for 3 seconds. Each pulse causes damage and 2 stacks of steam to foes.

[TRAITS]

Adept:
~ minor: earn class mechanic
1- conditions last 25% longer
2- prevention also grants retaliation (4 seconds)
3- ??

Master:
~ minor: deal 10% more damage over 600 range
4- apply 1 stack steam condition to targets who block your arrows (cd 10s)
5- 10% power is converted to healing power
6- consuming charges grants might (10 seconds 1 stack might per charge consumed)

Grandmaster:
~ minor: deal 2% more damage per condition on a foe
7- burning causes 2 stacks steam (cd 10s)
8- auras grant 1 stack prevention
9- camping an attunement grants 5 charges every 10 seconds

ELITE SPECIALIZATION: ARCHMAGE

[DESCRIPTION]

the Archmage is a long range damage dealer. Wielding a longbow, the Archmage charges up the “artillery” spells by using all attunements.The Archmage also offers some offensive boons and a few control effects if enemies get to close. The Archmage also provides more conditions than other Elementalist specializations.

(edit)The longbow is more of a single target weapon, with few piercing or AoE attacks. The longbow also introduces a counter to blocks, in that some skills have an “if blocked” effect. i took inspiration from GW1 elementalist and ranger skills such as lava arrows, glass arrow, ice javelin, burning arrow

Disclaimer: values given are hypothetical example, and would need to fine tuned for balance. I’m not necessarily providing cast times and recharges for weapon skills, but as a general rule cooldowns can be assumed to be roughly in the neighborhood of other elementalist cooldowns, based on skill position, 1) autoattack, 2) 4-8seconds, 3) 8-12 seconds, 4)12-30 seconds. 5) 20-45 seconds

[NEW GAME MECHANICS]
these would be game wide mechanics available to other classes as well, not limited to only Elementalist. (like how HoT introduced Alacrity and Slow)

[New Condition: Steam]
each second the condition is active, it adds one more stack of itself if the target doesn’t move, and loses one stack while the target moves. Potency is determined by number of stacks. (more stacks does more damage)

(edit) the basic idea is that steam does more damage when the target is standing still, and less damage when the target is moving. the more complex idea is that standing still causes more stacks, and moving reduces the number of stacks, and by moving, you can remove the condition before it’s normal duration would expire.

i also imagine the base damage when moving, to be more than bleed damage, and less than torment damage per pulse.

the lore reason for steam is that the ArchMage (and other classes) have learned how to combine fire and water magic to produce steam, instead of using fire magic separately to heat water as a non-magical object-target (it’s an attempt to honour the Spellweaver ideas without plagiarizing, but as a much simpler execution.)

New aura: Mist Aura
apply 1 stack of steam condition ( 2 second duration ) to enemies who strike you, cd 2 seconds per attacker

New Combo Field: Steam field
projectile: apply 1 stack of steam to foe. (2 seconds)
Leap: grants Mist aura
blast: grants 1 stack prevention
whirl: projectiles grant 1 stack of steam to target struck (2 seconds)

New Boon: Prevention
each stack prevention would convert a percentage of the next incoming damage pulse into healing. ( edit ) scales based on healing power

(edit) inspiration for this boon is taken from warrior stance heal, which converts incoming damage into healing for a short time.

Condition-Boon Conversion
Prevention and Steam are opposites, so one will convert to the other under the appropriate spell use.

[CLASS MECHANIC: ELEMENTAL CHARGE]
~ swapping attunements in combat now grants one charge per attunement swap.
~ similar to the warrior adrenaline bar, the celestial charge can tier up 3 times
~ does not decay out of combat
~ 4 charges grants tier1, 8 charges grants t2, 12 charges grants t3

~ F5 = Celestial Storm
~~ base skill (10 second cooldown) lasts 5 seconds, and drops 5 impacts per attunement type, 1500 range, 250 radius
~~ t1 lasts 10 seconds and drops 10 impacts per attunement type, 300 radius
~~ t2 lasts 15 seconds and drops 15 impacts per attunement type, 350 radius
~~ t3 lasts 20 seconds and drops 20 impacts per attunement type. 400 radius

~~ using f5 consumes all charges
~~ using a utility skill consumes 1 tier of charges (more on this in the utility skill section.)

~ celestial storm is balanced around the idea that it’s available often, but requires many attunement swaps to fully charge up. The base skill is available every 10 seconds, but requires time gated attunement swapping to become more powerful.

~ Since the utility skills also consume a tier of charges, f5 can remain as powerful as it is, due to having to make a choice of using a utility skill or the f5

[UTILITY SKILL CATEGORY: MAGE]

~~ these skills have 10 second cooldown, and are balanced around the charging mechanic
~~ these skills consume 4 charges when used, to prevent someone from spamming all t3 skills all the time, once fully charged.
~~ each tier stacks with all previous tiers

Ether Prodigy::
~~ base skill: heal the elementalist for 4k (15 second cooldown)
~~ t1 also grant 4s vigor + 1 stack prevention
~~ t2 also grant 4s protection + 1 stacks prevention
~~ t3 also grant 4s water field + 1 stacks prevention

Crystal Wave: send out a wave toward your foes, 900 range, directional targeting
~~ base skill: do AoE (5 targets) damage based on power
~~ t1 daze enemies ¼ seconds
~~ t2 knockback enemies 100 units of measure
~~ t3 knockdown enemies
(synergizes very well with Lightning Rod trait)

Searing Heat
~~ base skill: 300 radius damage (1000 power based damage) to foes in the area, 1500 range, 3 second cast time
~~ t1 second pulse of damage
~~ t2 3rd pulse of damage + applies 3 stacks of burning for 2 second
~~ t3 4th pulse of damage + applies 5 stacks of steam:

Frost Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)
~~ base skill: grant a frost aura
~~ t1 grant 4s protection
~~ t2 grant 3 stacks stability (4 seconds)
~~ t3 grant 3 stacks prevention (5 seconds)

Kinetic Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)
~~ base skill: stun break
~~ t1: gain stability 2 stacks (3 seconds)
~~ t2: gain swiftness (10 seconds)
~~ t3: gain quickness (5 seconds)

Elite: Elemental Lord: channel for five seconds, focusing your power, cooldown 60? seconds
~~ base skill: gain 5 charges per second
~~ t1: grant 3 might per second to yourself and nearby allies
~~ t2: grant 2s fury per second to yourself and nearby allies
~~ t3: grant 1stack prevention (5 seconds) per second to yourself and nearby allies

[NEW WEAPON: LONGBOW]

range: generally 1500

Fire attunement:
1) Lava Arrows: (20% projectile) fire three arrows at your foe
2) Incendiary Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage and 2 seconds burning, if blocked, it explodes and causes up to 5 foes to burn (3 stacks, 3 seconds)
3) Burning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire one arrow that does massive damage and burns (5stacks) your foe
4) Starburst: fire an arrow that explodes for AoE damage when it hits its target, and breaks into 3 smaller shards that also explode for AoE damage. Each burst is also a blast finisher
5) Smoking Arrow: fire an arrow that leaves a trail of smoke behind it, creating a smoke field

Air Attunement:
1) Shock Arrow: (20% projectile) damage plus vulnerability
2) Lightning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire an arrow at your target for damage. 1 second later, the target is struck with lightning
3) Lightning Javelin: (50% projectile) pierces foes, for 10 vulnerability, and massive damage
4) Shell Shock: (spell) stun and damage your target (could use the electrocute death animation)
5) Enervating Charge: (spell) strike your foe with lightning, causing AoE damage, AoE weakness to enemies, and apply AoE vigor to allies

Earth Attunement:
1) Glass Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage, that bleeds (2stacks, 5 seconds) your foe if blocked
2) Ash Blast: (spell, ground target AoE)) poison your target with ash they can’t breathe (3 stacks, 8 seconds)
3) Rock Javelin: (50% projectile) throw a rock javelin at your foe, piercing, if blocked it blinds and bleeds (5stacks 10 seconds) foes in AoE
4) Obsidian Flame: (spell) damage your target (no projectile) for unblockable, armour ignoring, critical damage (2000 base damage)
5) Ebon Hawk: (100% projectile, spell) summon a hawk to fly at your foes, fearing (3seconds), and tormenting (3 stacks, 8 seconds) them as it cries and flies through them

Water Attunement:
1) Ice Spear: (50% projectile) throw a spear at your foes, granting regen to allies it passes through
2) Steam: (AOE, ground targeted) blinds target, and applies 3 stacks of steam to target
3) Chilling Winds: fire an arrow that becomes a chilling wind, chilling (4 seconds) and tormenting (2 stacks, 8 seconds) up to 5 foes the wind passes through.
4) Mirror of Ice: (spell) fire an arrow that reflects projectiles it nears, granting prevention (1 stack, 4 seconds) to allies
5) Steam Arrow: fire a rapid arrow that leaves a trail of steam behind it, creating a steam field that pulses for 3 seconds. Each pulse causes damage and 2 stacks of steam to foes.

[TRAITS]

Adept:
~ minor: earn class mechanic
1- (edit) critical hits have a 33% chance to cause bleeding
2- prevention also grants retaliation (4 seconds)
3- (edit) breaking stun grants 4 elemental charges (30 second cooldown)

Master:
~ minor: deal 10% more damage over 600 range
4- apply 1 stack steam condition to targets who block your arrows (cd 10s)
5- 10% power is converted to healing power
6- consuming charges grants might (10 seconds 1 stack might per charge consumed)

Grandmaster:
~ (edit) minor: deal 1% more damage per condition on a foe
7- burning causes 2 stacks steam (cd 10s)
8- (edit) prevention grants 100 healing power per stack
9- camping an attunement grants 5 charges every 10 seconds

i’m glad i’m not the only one. Thanks for “seconding the motion” on the floor.

and bacon to you too!

the last two regular updates contained vague “hints” at new content, and were very easy to miss. as a truck driver, i don’t have a whole lot of time to be able to “decipher” hints in the patch notes to try to figure out IF new content is added. when i only have 1 night a week to play (being home only 1 night a week), i want to know right away if there is new content.

the patch notes used to have a category with a bolded header stating “NEW CONTENT”, but for some reason, this is no longer being used.

i didn’t even know there was new content until Dulfy made her new content guide for the lodestones and bandit bounties events. and I READ THE PATCH NOTES

i’m not asking for big spoilers. i’m simply asking, whenever there is new content (especially when new content is involved) there should ALWAYS be a NEW CONTENT tag, followed by the cryptic note that needs to be deciphered.

PS in addition to ta NEW CONTENT tag int he patch notes, my friend wants to receive an in-game mail, like it used to be during living world seasons 1 and 2, and all the WvW and PvP tournaments.

That makes good sense about EOTM not being suited as a borderlands map. I had forgotten there’s no garrison, for one.

I was mainly thinking about how stale the BLs are. I mainly hate that all 3 BLs are the same map. It gives me no incentive to visit non-home BL.

However, I’m all for more new maps…

I’d still like to see fireball have a 20% projectile finisher chance.

I’m actually kinda glad that the DPS golems in the raid lobby have essentially proven what I’ve believed all along… That fire staff needs more damage…

Sword offhand now synergizes very well with invocation spec. :-)

I think this is more relevant now after the AMA. This idea could save time on manually changing the overworld map every quarter…

PS sorry for the bump, but the OP was made during the weekend…

of the series 1 legendaries, the only ones i liked were, in order

1) flameseeker prophecies
2) juggernaut
3) bifrost
4) bolt (but mainly for magic wielders, not physical classes)

but my mains are elementalist, revenant, and ranger. only one of which can use a shield, only one of which can use a hammer, and even though all three can use a staff, i really hate the rainbow effects on bifrost. if they were flame effects instead, it would have been my perfect legendary weapon.

then came Nevermore, based on one of my favorite poems (behind Mending Wall), and somehow even fits the lore of GW2, seeing as how Raven Spirit is essentially the god of death for the Norn.

i decided on nevermore. and i’m 210 cystalline ingots, 250 amalgamated gemstones, 100 icy runestones, a few (HoT) map specific ascended mat drops, and collection 4 away from my goal.

If your server controls a keep in WvW, you should have access to a skritt tunnel system designed for that specific keep to allow faster travel to the center of the map.

This would probably result in more large battles in the center of each BL , but would also give an immediate reward for owning a keep, instead of only the delayed waypoint…

There could also be a smaller skritt tunnel system based at each servers starter waypoint in each BL to get servers into the battles more quickly, too

PS; if 2 copies of each BL map are on the WvW overworld map, then every 4 hours can also randomly pick which map to use as the overflow map, to spice things up there, too.