I’ve said it once but I guess I’ll say it again. Stop hiding behind a clunky mechanic guys, it’s keeping your classes down while making everyone call for nerfs on them all the time. Stealth would still do its intention, but you can go back to fighting when its done doing its intended purpose. If it hurt their survivability too bad they would likely be buffed by REASONABLE means, rather than crutching on a clunky mechanic. Its a better design regardless.
Also, to the person who said “Thief breaks into someone’s house. He can turn off the light and hide. He can punch you in the face then hide again. It is YOUR job to find him after he hid. It is not like you can spam your fists in the air and have a free detection of where the thief is. Use your common sense!”
Lets not bring real life into this, in real life they don’t go invisible, and if you did hit them by swinging in real life you’d likely be able to grapple them and try to take them down, and EVERYONE could hide in this scenario, so give everyone stealth? Logic fighting logic. This is a game, so stop with that silly crap.
Anyways… Also, yes WoW rogues can restealth like once or twice and even that was considered OP… Oh and they were both 3 min cooldowns and broke upon action. Yeah that’s not the same thing…
What has been suggested is not better design. It is a band-aid fix for people who are having trouble selecting the target they want. Tab, left click, and right click targeting is what needs improvements.
You can run into the exact same problem with a minion necromancer. When you initiate combat you might have trouble selecting him as your target because he is surrounded by pets. Once you finally acquire him you can accidentally lose your target because letting up on the right mouse button and holding it back down can sometimes de-select your target.
- Tab targeting can pickup pets.
- Left click targeting can pickup a target in front of what you clicked on.
- Right click targeting de-selects targets when you don’t want to lose them.
You are trying to solve issues that affect more than just stealth. Even decent size group battles is a war of successfully selecting your intended target.
It sounds terrible to me. Why?
1) Stealth is not immunity to damage. I have fought some very good players that continue to chase, attack, and do damage to my while I am in stealth.
2) Rapid attacks continue to damage their target while in stealth. For example a ranger can use their rapid fire arrow attack and hit me with direct damage.
3) Thieves are very squishy. I get focused by the enemy very quickly. Even if I am at range using a shortbow rangers, necros and anyone else with range weapons will immediately switch to me.
What you are suggesting will completely force thieves out of team fights. The thief comes into the fight and everyone targets him. Once stealth fades all of them are immediately back onto him. The only recourse the thief has is to go all glass cannon damage, jump in downing one person, and then running away from the team fight. He won’t even be able to stay on the fringe of the fight because the enemy will just push him away.
You need to create a filter that shows only the 5v5 servers. They will still be listed as x/20 but only 10 slots are active players. The rest are spectators.
(edited by Frellin.6318)
Creating a couple filters helps with filtering for 5v5 and 8v8 servers. I made two filters specifically for those group sizes. Then when you are looking for a 5v5 server and see 9/20 you know there is one spot free. You could try joining a 10/20 or 11/20 server and hope a couple are spectators. They really need to work on how easy it is to spot players vs spectators but the filters do help.
See, that’s sort of what I mean. Fighting a mesmer, guardian, warrior, engineer, necro, ranger… all fun. Some harder than others, but they’re all fun.
Fighting a good thief is no fun at all. You keep having to hit nearest target to lock on, they’re blinking all over the place (the newer builds, I think it’s S/something, especially port-happy it seems) and it’s a chore.
The build is sword/dagger. The buff to the build was with the #3 skill that now steals boons rather than just remove them. The #2 skill is a short teleport that roots you and turns into a second skill that is a stun breaker and teleports the thief away.
It’s just annoying. Constantly fighting the GUI to keep the target locked, constantly having to re-apply conditions thanks to cleanse on stealth/port/whatever it is that’s doing it.
There is one skill that removes 3 conditions on the second teleport. It is the one stun breaker that most thieves run with. The remove one condition on stealth happens once very 3 seconds they are in stealth. The healing skill that stealths the thief also removes conditions.
As for it being fun or not to fight a thief I’m not sure what to tell you. I love the class because it is so mobile. I love timing my avoids. The moment you learn how to catch me is the moment I am dead.
The point is you need the shortbow to roam and to be somehow useful in teamfights.
SB is TOO IMPORTANT for a thief due to how easy is to travel in z-axis.
It also brings huge AoE damage with cluster bomb and AoE poison ( + weakness) with choking gas, great utility for a class that has little to no access to it.
in theory an S/D -D/P thief is the most complete fighter the thief profession could create, but we need shortbow too bad: nerfing trick shot only hampered the thief, and we were already strugglin.
Shortbow being so good is only part of the problem. It’s also about pistol/pistol being a thieves worst weapon set.
- One has great mobility while the other is slow.
- One does moderate AoE damage while the other does moderate single target damage.
- One is a weapon where all 5 skills are useful while the other has a worthless #2 skill and a blind field that doesn’t gain much through projectile finishers.
- One weapon can create some nice combo blast finishers. The other has projectile finishers that either aren’t as effective as a blast finisher or only have a 20% chance of happening.
And none of the above is taking into account that the pistol/pistol #3 skill unload is really not that good or that the only good thing going for pistol/pistol is the #4 skill 1/4 second daze.
This is intentional for performance reasons. We’ve been very clear on the limitations of the in-game spectator mode and how it is not a global observer mode. An observer mode that allows thousands of live viewers is much more difficult and complicated technology. What we have will still go a long way in fostering community building, learning, and shoutcasting.
Firstly, I want to say a quick thank you for the feature. I do like it and enjoyed messing around with it last night.
Secondly, I completely understand the technical limitations. The idea of having thousands of people observing a match instead of going to twitch and watching a stream seems foolish. There would be too many people in one location and it would become unplayable.
Thirdly, why do spectators take up active player slots? I know hotjoin is not the most competitive format but it means matches will never have balanced teams. As long as there is an odd number of spectators than the match itself will be imbalanced.
It seems the next evolution of this feature should be to split active players from spectators and set a cap for both. Even if the cap for spectators is just 10 people it would make the game more enjoyable for those actually playing. Again, thank you for the feature. I like it. I just think some iterations needs happen to smooth out some issues.
I was spectating for a while to try out the feature. It seems spectators count against player cap for that server but are not counted in the list. Which brings up some questions.
Why do spectators count against the cap of those actively playing?
If a server holds 16 players (8 vs 8 ) than why now allow for 16 players + spectators?
Can we put a limit on the number of spectators other than those actively playing? That way not too many show up to lag the server.
If a server is full on players actively playing is no one supposed to be able to spectate?
These are just some of the questions I have. Also, if there is/were a split between active players and spectators it could be setup where spectators can join into the fight once a spot opens up. Also, when the server switches to a new map the active players would have priority and keep their spots. On map transition a spectator would stay a spectator until a spot opened up. I might think of more questions later.
Edit: Just wanted to say that it is a nice feature. I have enjoyed it but I can see people becoming aggravated if 1 person is spectating and keeping teams uneven.
I don’t play mesmer much but thought of something that might help mantra builds.
Idea: Mutiple mantras can charge at the same time.
Pros: The time needed to charge all of your mantras is no longer consecutive. Theoretically it could all be done at once.
Mechanics: You still can’t use any other skills while charging mantras except for mantras.
Cons: One daze/stun/knockdown/pull would interrupt all of the charging mantras.
Charging mantra cast times can be adjusted for the mechanic change and stability could be used to protect the charges. I can’t think of how mesmer’s gain access to stability so not sure if it could be abused.
The few times I’ve tried a mantra build it just feels too clunky. I feel like I’m slowly falling behind and always trying to catch up with charging mantras.
Thoughts? Idiotic idea?
90% of the steals are bad? Stop doing drugs..
Mesmer: All boons, very strong
Warrior: Plain better than the warriors own version of it(axe 5)
Ranger: Very good if you combine it with soem blast finishers¨
Thief: Free stealth without having to use initative/utility/heal and it blinds
Necro: Better fear than any of the necros own fear and it also goes through some/all blocks(bug maybe?)
Engineer: Maybe not super strong but it’s pretty strong if you can immob a target inside of it, or use blast finisher to get chaos armor
Elementalist: Also not stupidly strong but it’s a fantastic snare
Guardian: Good free daze
Mesmer: I agree. I love the boons!
Warrior: I hate this one. It makes me a sitting duck.
Ranger: I like this one and enjoy the heals. It being a combo field is very nice.
Thief: A solid ability. I only wish it was instant cast like Blinding Powder but I can live with it the way it is.
Necro: A solid fear/CC that can hit multiple people.
Engineer: It’s ok. If you aren’t taking advantage of the combo field than it’s pretty worthless. Field size could be bigger.
Elementalist: A solid snare but also difficult to land. It’s also hard to use against Eles since it can be cleared off so quick when they are looking to heal/getaway.
Guardian: At 4 seconds it is a powerful daze. Only downside is it’s hard to land which is probably a good tradeoff.
Lets say I’m a guardian and I’m fighting someone else, I kill them, my skills are on recharge.
A thief shows up when I’m totally defenseless, spams a skill without cooldown when I’m not able to defend myself and kills me before I can even react.Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
That’s why they need cooldowns, because everyone else has them
How is this scenario different from any other class showing up and killing you? Any class that shows up will have everything off cooldown. Why should you survive? If the enemy player had help show up why do you not have help show up?
You can make an evade S/D if you want but it’s only niche is really Foefire where Graveyards huge radius allows you to throw him on there as a sort of temporary off-tank who with a spike. Otherwise you’re generally playing a faux backstab spike with FS, trying to be tanky and flopping with shadow arts, or venom sharing.
The weapon set is still strong enough to deal with most people, that isn’t its issue, it’s why take S/ instead of D/ even if S/ can accomplish something, and generally you’ll be better with D/ outside of niches.
With the upcoming patch its niche seems to be killing bunkers but it won’t be a quick kill. A main-hand dagger thief would be better against everything else.
One thing I’ve noticed this past month is more and more players are stacking boons. They create a balanced build with good damage output with lots of boons to help stay alive. People are really going to hate the new warrior and thief boon hate mechanics. There are so many builds that rely on keeping all boons or certain boons up 100%.
Wow
If this happen they better compensate with increased damage output.
Or make staff viable.
I would not count on them improving staff this patch. Arenanet has a history of bringing down powerful builds and not touching underpowered builds. They like to wait and see and buff an underpowered build a month or so later. The latest examples are warriors pushed away from hundred blades and thieves stuck with dagger mainhand.
One does not simply get hit by a heartseeker 3 times in a row…
If this is the case, it’s some kind of cheat. I would like the opinion of other thieves in this case, or even a dev, to see if the rotation is indeed impossible within 3 seconds.
You need to take some time to learn some of the core basics about thieves. I do not say this to flame you. For example, thieves do not have cooldowns on their weapons skills. They use initiative. Also, from the combat log it looks like he stealthed once when he initiated combat.
What you ran into was a fragile thief in a glass cannon build. He might have been using the haste skill making his attacks a little faster. One more tip, heartseeker is a weak attack when your health is above 50%. If you can keep it up than he will use up all of his initiative.
What others have said about AoE is correct. You can still damage him while he is in stealth. Put wells on the ground, and use AoE to keep him at bay. If you keep him away from you than stealth will run out and he will run away. If he engages you then well timed fears and other crowd control effects will ruin his day. The longer you are able to extend the fight the more likelihood he will either run away or die. You want to outlast him.
I can fly my kite higher than your kite.
The tournament match should not start unless every player voluntarily enters the round: Currently, if you’re AFK you get forced into the tournament round when the timer runs out. This is the #1 reason why we get so many 4v5s. If a player on a randomly grouped team doesn’t click the join button, the team should be re-entered into queue without them rather than starting the round. Easy fix! Just do it Anet.
Why the hell is someone AFK and in the queue for tPvP? That’s just rude and disrespectful to other players.
This is something that could be handled differently if they eventually separate solo queue and team queue. A group of all randoms could be re-queued until everyone accepts the match. In pre-made groups you would need to be concerned about queue dodging to avoid certain teams.
I could enjoy a no respawn deathmatch but I would want a secondary mechanic that forces the action. I am not saying that mechanic should be capturing nodes. One team could defend while another attacks then switch the roles. Some kind of mechanic that worsens over time so the teams are not staring at each other comfortably not doing anything.
The few times I play on my engineer I no longer bother with kit refinement except if I am using only one kit and I find the effect useful for that build. Using it with multiple kits feels like a waste.
Thieves have an essentially infinite access to stealth not just with utilities, but with weapon skills as well.
Maybe in PvE, but you’re on crazy pills if you think you can do this in PvP.
The problem I have with mesmers right now isn’t stealth, its that I’m often unintentionally hitting clones and phantasms with key attack skills because of right click targeting. Trying to close the gap and then suddenly leaping in the almost complete opposite direction just plain sucks. You can at least predict where someone is when they’re in stealth.
Once again that is WHY MESMERS HAVE CLONES… To be meat shields and then blow up in your face… It is intended for you to hit them thinking they are us.
To be fair he is not saying the clone fooled him. It sounds like he knew exactly what he wanted to attack but targeting issues sent him in the other direction. When there is a lot of clutter on the screen at times it can be quite difficult to select the right target. Even when your cursor appears to be on the target you want you can still be given an incorrect target. I’d say it’s an annoyingly legitimate concern.
Right. My only concern with boon hate being a passive trait increase that makes X skills do Y% more damage per boon on the target is it doesn’t really solve anything. It just gives whichever class they decide to focus on this month a bandaid they can change on a whim to increase class A’s damage against class B. This is an awful thing to add to the game and doesn’t really improve the state of the game. It just means when it’s Ranger’s turn to have their class looked at and they decide Rangers don’t do enough damage to Guardians, they’ll simply give them boon hate and up the % until Rangers deal the right amount of damage to guardians. Who cares if boon hate for one class does 1.7% more damage and boon hate on another does 3.6% more damage.
I’d rather just see boon hate remove all boons on the target and put a 5 second debuff on the target so they can’t get new boons. I’m not even sure the skills should do X% more damage per boon removed, or if it does, it should be slight. Then if you find this change is too powerful THEN you can introduce traits for ALL classes that give their boons a XX% chance to resist being destroyed (since most classes have a boon duration trait).
But the ability to remove boons I think would be quite powerful and even if Warriors aren’t competetive in structured PvP still, they’ll still be brough for their ability to remove boons and help focus down bunkers. It will encourage other teams to focus on Warriors giving the opposite team room to focus on non-booned targets etc etc. It just makes the PvP environment have more depth and require more coordination and tactics. Something I feel PvP currently lacks in this game.
I can’t speak for the devs on what their thoughts are for boon hate but I know I imagine it as any creative solution that diminishes the effect of boons. A percent damage increase per boon is just the simplest version. When I mentioned traits I was also trying to think of what traits those could be.
For the thief it could be something like, “Flanking strike removes two additional boons”. A trait like that would make a weapon skill that removes one boon now capable of removing three.
And this is why we desperately need more information on what exactly boon hate will be. Given the absolutely terrible state the majority of classes are in with their trait trees, introducing traits that give boon hate would be the absolute worst thing to do until they’ve fixed the trees themselves.
Take Warrior for example… I would presume boonhate was just a mechanic attached to their burst skills. This way they’re on cooldown, encourage burst use which many warriors ignore (because 99.9% of warriors use greatsword because of how awful the other weapons are and how the class lacks any form of mobility otherwise), and can’t be spammed easily. For thieves you would attach it to steal for example.
True, they could choose to give the boon hate to glass cannon builds and maybe lower burst damage some more. I am unsure which method I would prefer. I was just thinking giving boon hate to balanced builds could be a good way to help bring them up without bring burst and bunker builds down farther.
So I have been reading the forums alot for a while and seeing the mutial issues that people are having in spvp. Thieve,Warrior underated and Ele op-ness. I read one thread with one of the Treads talking about “BoonHate”. This is a nice concept but i could see the result in two ways:
1. Thieves and warrior will trample over Gaurdans and Eles and there will be nothing but Eles and Gaurdians complain on forums.
2. Necros and Mesmers will be come useless since the converting boons ability will be trashed. Not saying that they will not be in groups but saying that this will restrict them to only using Condition builds and not use the converting skill.
I like the concept of this new talked about skill but how it is implemented needs to be consider wisely. Quickness being reduces of speed raised alot of concerns. ( alot to the thieves and warriors and some to rangers and engn. )
What are other thoughs on this “Boon Hate” idea.
I would be surprised if only warriors and thieves had boon hate and not necros. This is just my opinion but I think the devs are talking more about warriors and thieves because of all the talk after the march patch. I am unsure if mesmers would get this boon hate love but it is possible.
Going forward this is how I view a direction GW2 could take:
1) Bunkers – Can live for extended amounts of time and typically require two players to take down. A players/class traited for boon hate can bring them down alone but it will not happen quickly. This will give time for teammates to come back and support.
2) Glass Cannon – Will be able to put quick pressure on a bunker but since the fight will last longer they will ulimately be forced to retreat or die. The glass cannon builds will be best used to fight balanced builds or quickly 2 vs 1 someone down.
3) Boon Hate – This is not a glass cannon build. This is a balanced build that gives players the ability to defeat bunkers 1 vs 1. The fight will not be over quickly and so they must be aware of enemy players returning to support bunkers. The boon hate builds need to be weary of glass cannons as they are at a bigger disadvantage compared to other balanced builds. It is not guaranteed this build will beat bunkers. If the bunker player is a better player than you can still fail to kill them.
4) Other Balanced builds – Will have an advantage over boon hate builds in all respects except for fighting bunkers. Compared to boon hate builds they will have an easier time against glass cannons but will still be put under early pressure and need to fight their way back to win the fight.
As an example of my thinking I will take the thief into account (my most played class). I can see more boon hate being applied to the S/D weapon set either through updates to the weapons or through new traits. The new boon hate traits can even be put deep into Acrobatics and/or Trickery so as to keep them away from pure glass cannon builds. This would mean daggers would be more about glass cannon burst damage and swords could be more about sustained damage and longer fights.
They could still choose to bring down burst damage by lowering the damage on Mug. They can work on stealth changes that eliminate the ability to chain Cloak and Dagger (CnD). At the same time they can help bring sword builds back up for more sustained lasting fights and with some boon hate.
The main logic I am using is that glass cannon builds do not get the boon hate.
I’ve toyed around with a P/P build myself. Tried a number of variations but mostly I end up trolling other players in hotjoin with a P/P trap build. There are certain things it can be effective at but when against quality opponents the set’s weaknesses will be exploited. The P/P build tends to lose to other ranged focused players and it is weak when pressured in melee. You end up using P/P when you are not being focused or an opponent is low on health and you want to pressure them.
It is even more difficult to use for a stealth build. The weapon set lacks reliable methods of re-entering stealth and the pistol #1 stealth sneak attack is a condition damage attack. Focusing on a stealth heavy builds really makes it feel like you are at war with yourself on how you want to play. Believe me, I’ve tried this as well and just never feels like it fits. P/P can’t seem to make up its mind if it wants to be a Power/Crit %/Crit damage set, a Power/Condition damage set, or a Crit %/Condition Damage set.
I do believe P/P is a good complementary weapon set to S/D but S/D will end up being your primary weapon set more often than not. The biggest downside to P/P is the lack of mobility. Yes, giving up AoE can be tough at times but the mobility of the Shortbows #5 skill is just too good. It is very useful for getting around the map on almost every sPvP map.
Hey guys!
The reason writing this is because I have lost faith in Arenanet and GW2. I feel there need to be more content in Spvp to gain my attention again. Nowdays, you can hopefully create a pre-made group and wipe some random pugs but to what end?
- Of course it’s pleasing to increase in ranks of glory but in the end (lvl 80) its not satisfying enough. “Yeah Im lvl 80, so what?” – It doenst affect the game and I dont get any rewards (more than aesthetic) and the Spvp lacks content that changes your character and game-play.
Why invent the wheel twice? Take whats best from WoW and its PVP-system and imploy it into GW2. Today, Spvp is just a treadmill going on and on and on without purpose. For Guildwars2 to keep its current fanbase IT MUST CHANGE. Armour SHOULD (sorry fanboys, this is my thread) make a difference and its SHOULD affect your game-play. Today its just another grind-fest anyway to lvl 80 (pvp-rank) so why doesn’t Arenanet make the effort worth it? I think Gw2 is a great game until.. “end-game”, both PVP and PVE wise. The reason why WoW have been able to stay alive so long is their constant updates on end-game content. Though, I think GW have a huge fan-base witch are very loyal to the game but I see a tragic end for GW in the graveyard with other hyped-lived-not-up-to-the-expectations-since-we-didnt-created-enough-end-game-content-mmo’s.
Finally, do any of you guys have some intell about the Spvp-.situation and upcoming content?`Feel free to share your opinions about the Spvp-situation.
Best regards, Bestan /Gunnars Hold
Gear being equal is one of the few things sPvP/tPvP has going for it. I refuse to go back to WoW, in part, due to gear imbalances in PvP (The trinity is the other). I have actually stopped playing WvW because of ascended gear. The day GW2 does what you suggest is the day I have nothing left to do in this game.
Well, to be honest, I don’t think ele glass cannons are that strong. In fact, their bursts are very unreliable, it just so happens that builds with berzerker amulet have now more room to breath and do their stuff.
I don’t see what is the problem of a profession having two viable builds instead of one. Is that some kind of luxury? I know some professions have been or are at a worse state, but there are also professions that have 2-3 viable pvp builds. This is, what, the first time that players who want an offensive elemental spellcaster in pvp have the chance to use one without being wasting a party’s slot?
In the long run you are right. This has the potential to open up more builds for other classes. The problem is some classes (warrior, thief, and ranger(?)) are now hurting because they have lost options. They will have to suffer through even less choices till the developers start bringing in this boon hate and helping other weapon sets. Thieves now resort to Dagger/X / Shortbow builds as swords are really hurting. A lot of thief weapons made use of haste and now swords is suffering.
Also, be aware that some people will see that you are an elementalist, roll their eyes, and tune you out. No one wants to be told by one of the dominant classes that they are having more fun. It comes across as rubbing salt in a wound.
Back on topic, I think there is real and legitimate concern that bunkers could take over what’s left of team PvP. While you are having fun on your burst elementalist you might run into a 5-team bunker setup that takes all the fun out of the game. I am not convinced that will happen but it is a concern. Warriors and thieves (not sure who else) will hopefully get some of this boon hate love next patch.
If you are looking for ways to bring back 3-round tournaments have you ever thought about a limited window? For example:
- 3 round tournaments happen once every 3 weeks.
- It occurs over a 2 day period: Friday and Saturday. I picked Friday over Sunday to help people who play during the week.
- For those 2 days 2 team tournaments are disabled.
- A new rankings list is created for those who participate in the 3-round tournament.
- After the 2-days the rankings continue to exist till the next 3-round tournament (rinse and repeat). Though keeping records of old tournaments would be nice. See how things and players change over time.
- Offer some unique rewards specific to the 3-round tournaments: skins, titles, whatever.
You could always do a trial period. Give a month notice and pick one day, one Saturday, to have 3-round tournaments. Make GW2 players aware of this day and what the rewards are. Make it clear it is a trial tournament/day to see how it works out.
Trolling the devs helps no one.
Edit: To make it clear what I am referring to.
Thanks Jon, does that mean you’re giving banners another +20 stats?
The biggest issue I see with the stealth change (+1 to reveal) is that it punishes thieves who play the class the way it is intended. Whereas thieves that abuse and chain CnD are unaffected.
Change “gold” into “silver” and we’re being more realistic.
Long term: Yes. Burst and bunkers builds are both too powerful. This tones down burst to where new players have a chance to survive before being insta-killed.
Short term: No. They did not address bunker builds. They also did not address weapon sets that relied on haste.
Take off double tap and assign dodge to an easy to reach button.
This. I moved my backwards key down a level and put my bound dodge key in-between all my movement keys. Then I turned double tap off. Much more fluid for me.
Regardless of how bunkers came about they will not be going away. Even if you tone down the burst builds of several classes bunkers are here to stay. Why? The builds win games in tPvP. Toning down burst builds but keeping bunkers as they are just makes bunkers even more powerful. The problem is balanced builds do not exist because of both burst and bunker builds.
You guys are taking what I say wrong. I’m saying that it needs to be possible to avoid the endless camping. Even by one person. the arena is IMPOSSIBLE to do, even if one mesmer is sitting at the top. It needs to be counterable. A choke point or something would be great.
I absolutely disagree with this statement. It is harder for certain classes to make it around the arena chamber but it is not impossible. It will take effort and time to make it but it is more than possible. The EB JP is like king of the hill. It is supposed to be harder for those climbing vs those already at the top but it is not impossible.
I also want to say that I have found the PvP in the EB JP to be the most fun PvP in this game. I rarely even camped the place. My goal was always to go in, beat the enemy, and claim my reward. While in there I have participated in small random skirmishes, organized party vs party, hide and seek games all the way to the chest, and full blown warfare from all three sides. It is a ruthless place but that is what makes it as fun as it is.
Finally, if they didn’t want the arena chamber camped then they would have designed it differently. In every other part of the puzzle you have room to maneuver and get past your opponent. In the arena you can’t. They even make sure you remove your invisibility before you get to it. They also removed the glow from the halloween back item to force you to drop stealth. The design of the arena chamber screams, “Fight to the top”.
I think I get what you are saying. You want more game types with leader boards. That I can enjoy but I would hate making it what Call of Duty (CoD) has become. I despise all the extra stuff that series has added: Abilities off of kill streaks, helicopters, air strikes, death streaks, etc.
Last time I played was during CoD4 on a server where they took out helicopters and airstrikes. I also played a lot of the deathmatch game mode where you capture point A and B while the other team defends. The right game mode can make a world of difference but all the first person shooters (FPS) these days add too much junk that ruin the game.
The only surprising thing to me is that more ppl want a Ladder than Custom Games, just imagine what Custom Games could entail:
1) Community run Tournaments with Ladders, Prizes
2) Showmatches to hype up the Game
3) Bring back the most competetive Players that could now train on a high level with just a few Top-Teams —> This would also lead to better Streams, more Viewers etc.
4) With 2v2 up to 8v8 already Confirmed (afaik), ppl that have begged for sth. like an Arena would get closer to it and if you could set the Point-gain to only kills giving Points and fiddle around with the Respawn-timer, you’d have a decent Arena.
5) Depending on how customizable they really are (but with structured 2v2 up to 8v8, even this would be beneficial) it could give us insight into how the game plays and the balance looks like when exploring possible future game-modes.
6) With PW-Protection, ppl could even Set up decent 1v1-Tournaments without the fear of others joining and disrupting the game.—> Yes, a lot of work to make Custom Games exciting would fall into the Hands of the Community (make own Tournaments, Ladders etc.), but with the Pace that ANet currently puts out features, I’d rather have the Community in charge of PvP than ANet and Custom Arenas is simply a necessary feature to even give the Community a chance to do so.
The Ladder is just something to make the grinding a bit more rewarding; neat, but not as important as Custom Games. I mean, we already have PvP ranks, stats for how many wins/losses you have in PvP, we had a QP-Ladder etc. Good Players know they are good, does little Timmy with his PvP-Rank 11 really need to know if he’s on rank 5002 or 4998 in the World?…..
All of this would be good but it also assumes there will be people paying for the custom servers. sPvP is at its smallest size, there are no incentives for casual players, and no incentives for competitive players. Why pay for a custom server if your friends are not interested in sPvP or if your team has nothing to play/practice for?
In my opinion, I am not expecting a lot of custom servers. There will probably be a handful that appear and get used by those who are left. If Arenanet continues to develop at their snails pace then you see what few custom servers appear slowly disappear.
As a player focused exclusively on PvP Ascended gear has pushed me away from WvW. I am already behind the gear curve in PvP compared to players that complete PvE dungeons. Also, the amount of time it takes to acquire all my jewelry ascended gear through dailies is crazy. It is way too long. I have only enough time to get one set of gear for one character. It means I can’t create a second set of gear for build variety or gear up my other two level 80 characters.
I am at a point where every couple days I mess around in sPvP for a little bit. I would love to get back into WvW but I refuse to PvP on unequal terms. I was ok with exotics in WvW. The trouble to get them weren’t too bad and you could vary up your play style. The constant grind takes away my focus from just having fun, and so I left.
Maybe things will change with the update at the end of this month, March, but I am seriously not happy about how long it has taken for better rewards in WvW. Ascended gear should finally be acquirable through WvW after many months of PvE players gaining clear advantages. It’s an insult.
That said, I do still have a love for this game, but it appears I will be relegated to sPvP.
You should buy some really cheap alcohol to switch to part-way through SOTG.
True PvP consists of tournaments (competitive PvP), if you want to avoid duels, go in these. Hotjoin is subpar PvP and as you said is mostly used for duels, testing and farming rather than competitive PvP.
I find it silly that people try to define what “true” PvP is. I have heard the argument that Guild Wars 2 will never be true PvP because you can’t gank someone while they are leveling a character in the open world. Hotjoin is a terrible format but it is still PvP.
I typically leave at the start of a new map. I am most likely caught up in a fight when the game ends and I am too engaged to leave till the map rotates. Once it loads I leave but the game starts before I am gone.
I also really despise games that are imbalanced: 4v5, 3v4, etc. Games should never start till the sides are even. Just let people deathmatch and duel. Give people a window to exit when a new map starts.
What are you all talking about? Heart of the Mists is a core feature of this game. It’s free travel to Lion’s Arch.
1. You can play with your friends just fine in everything except WvW (for which you have the option to change worlds anyway, could be worse). Guesting is free, even if it’s way late.
This is a legitimate issue. I completely agree with the original poster’s post. As a member of a guild that focuses on PvP they have all quit with the majority feeling they can’t play with their friends in sPvP. This is just one issue among many that has turned players away from PvP.
Well…
Tournament Browser Create roster “Invite Party”
On top of that Custom Arena’s are coming to replace the current HJ.
I am talking about people that quit long before the current non-paid 1 round tournaments came to be. Before queues were simply too long. If they were still playing the current tournaments might be enough for them to have fun. It is not enough to draw them back. There needs to be more updates.
Also, the current hotjoins turn new players away. Do you really think everyone that goes into sPvP for the first time wants to jump into the most competitive format? They want to get their feet wet, have fun with friends, and gain some experience. Hotjoins do not fulfill this role. Once they feel comfortable then they should hop over to tournaments.
1. You can play with your friends just fine in everything except WvW (for which you have the option to change worlds anyway, could be worse). Guesting is free, even if it’s way late.
This is a legitimate issue. I completely agree with the original poster’s post. As a member of a guild that focuses on PvP they have all quit with the majority feeling they can’t play with their friends in sPvP. This is just one issue among many that has turned players away from PvP.
With more ascended gear coming and how long it can take to acquire ascended gear are you content with characters being restricted to one set of gear? Or would you like to have more variety as is the case with exotics.
Withdraw is incredibly useful the way it is. Making it more like a third dodge is not really needed. The main issue I have is finding non-stealth thief builds that I can enjoy. I mostly do P/D and a little S/D. You are at a disadvantage against bunker builds and condition builds without having the condition removal and healing from Shadow Arts traits and Hide in Shadows.
People can enjoy the game and play it how they choose. Telling them to stop is pretty rude. I know, I know, you’re going to tell me that them dueling and taking up spots is rude. The catch is there is no method for dueling in this game. I have seen only two player created methods for dueling: this, and going to 5vs5 sPvP matches.
Moral of the story? Players are working around game mechanics to create duels. Rather than complain about the players you should work on getting Arenanet to change the core problem. They need to include duels into the game. Clearly there is a part of the population that wants it.
Development time and updates for PvP in this game move at a snails pace. In sPvP every class is still limited to a select few full attack or bunker builds. Balanced builds just get destroyed. There is no incentive to play. You cannot get quick matches with friends against quality opponents. If you queue with friends you end up waiting around. Solo queuing is boring and monotonous.
If you include WvW updates then there still is no ascended gear acquisition through WvW. The dailies/monthly are PvE updates. And ascended gear is actually a turnoff to a lot of PvP players.
While I am looking forward to the March PvP updates I do not believe it will be enough. They will have good changes, needed changes/updates, but they need to do a lot more. People will not come back in droves like I think Arenanet is expecting to happen.
They need to make it easier to play with friends, get matches quicker, give more incentives, and make balance changes that allow for more variety in builds. Tournaments need an overhaul. Expecting people to buy tickets to do daily competitive PvP is silly. You do not have to spend a dime to do the most difficult PvE in the game. Why should PvP players? Monthly and yearly tournaments is a different matter.
They need to focus on making PvP fun for more people. By focusing on money, buying tickets and going for e-sports, they have created a system that is simply not fun to bunch of PvP players I know.
I started this game with 20+ guildies that I have played with long before this game. all of them focus on PvP. All of them have quit simply because they were not having fun. Their reasons vary but it all comes down to having fun with friends. I am now alone, bored out of my mind, and only log in to do the PvE daily. I am dangerously close to quitting before the March update.
My keybind setup should be pretty similar to others but I did a few things differently for my own preferences.
- E = Forward.
- S & F = Strafe left and right.
- X = Backwards.
- D = Dodge. I hate double tapping to dodge so I put that key in the middle of my movement keys. It then becomes easy to use two fingers to dodge in any direction.
- C = Heal.
- Function skills 1-4 were rebound to Q, W, R, T.
- Interact key went from F to G.
- Swap weapons = A.
- The 9 buttons for weapon, utility and elite skills are bound to my mouse.
- As others said, right click and turn with the mouse.
Edit: I decided to flesh out my mouse setup. It is a 12 button razr naga but I am only using 9 of them. Below is the layout I use. Imagine 1-5 as weapon skills, 6-8 as utility and 9 as the elite.
0 0 0 (Top row not used)
8 5 9
2 1 3
6 4 7
The 1-5 skills are a cross with my thumb resting on the 1 key. The utility and elite skills are the corners. Yes, this did take me a while to get used to. I did so by leveling my first character like this. Now it is second nature and I love it. Very smooth and natural for me.
(edited by Frellin.6318)