Guild Wars 2

Grit.9061:

I think what they are going for is a worst case scenario in that every person from each 3 servers fighting are in one location (Lets say Stonemist). That’s about 500 players all at once in one area which is where they would need to be able to render “everyone on the map”.

They wouldn’t render someone on the other side of the map you don’t have any business seeing.

Habib, thanks for the update and good luck on the optimizations.

Writetyper.1985:

You have a strange definition of broken, friend, and an even stranger definition of unkillable. I’ve done it three times for my gift of forgeman, each time with a pub. Anet add in one section in a dungeon that isn’t a kittening waltz in the park and suddenly it’s “broken”. That’s a hue. That’s definitely a hue.
oon so I can start running fractals safely again.

SE was the dungeon my crew decided to farm since it matched the PVP stats we wanted. This was early on, so I dont know when your “three times running it” transpired.

I’m specifically talking about the first crew of bombadiers that came through in infinite, or seemingly infinite waves. The mobs were so high health and high damaging and came in such frequency that they were pretty much impossible to kill.

Here’s a list of how that specific encounter changed over time with every hotfix:

If you actually killed them the waves would not stop coming, so the way around that was to just hide until the first 2 waves passed.
Hotfix.
You had to hide until 10 waves passed, then they stopped.
Hotfix.
Waves came in infinite numbers, you let 1 person kite the initial wave or trim it down to 1 mob and kite that. The other 4 would continue on to the second boss. Only after that was killed, did the waves stop and the kiter could rejoin the group.
Hotfix.
Same as above, except waves never stopped spawning. Ever. So the guy up front had to run all the way through have the instance with an army of bombadiers on him and hope he survived so they would deaggro. SOL if your group wiped on the third boss.

That’s just 1 explorable path of one of the original dungeons. I’m sure other people who are experts at the other dungeons could write a book about other encounters the same way.

Fast forward, and we have the same story at Cliffside just recently.

Jumping changes that break jumping puzzles?

It makes you wonder “Is anyone actually playing these changes to try them even once to make sure they are working?”

Just got booted out from a partial fractal run to character select.
I am so frustrated with all the constant problems that involve dungeons in GW2.

Every patch, something new breaks in a dungeon. Things like endless unkillable waves of mobs in Sorrows Embrace path 1 that made doing that explorable mode impossible. Then a week later, a fix goes in, and its another take on…endless unkillable waves of mobs coming at you. And that was just SE.

There was the diminishing returns fiasco, where it would randomly be applied to people in different ways, even if you hadn’t run a dungeon for a week. On top of that we were kept in the dark about how it worked and what triggered it.

Now fractals. Not only has it been 1 month of being terrified your time spent would be wasted because someone was unlucky enough to DC, every time a patch comes in some random part of it breaks making it impossible to complete.

And tonight, we’re getting random boots to character selection screen halfway through a run. Sorry if I’m venting. It’s just so unimaginably disappointing and bemusing that this is normal now for GW2 dungeon content and doesn’t at all seem to be improving.

Please please make sure it at a minimum meets the usability that gw2lfg has:

1- Dungeon or Dungeons desired + mode
2- Character Level Desired
3- Party status ie how many people are present or needed
4- Region
5- Generic short comment field

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I design them on paper, present them in a meeting to some other designers, make adjustments to them based on feedback, build/script it, play it, get feedback on it, adjust based on feedback rinse/repeat until it ships.
Other times someone else builds it based on the designs, but we work together on reacting to feedback and hooking it up in the game.

The meeting about the dolphin section garnered a lot of laughs when I presented it. To be honest I came up with the idea at home after a Rum-and-coke. It got people excited in the meeting, which made it a fun design to work on and get feedback for.

haha I always hope to get the Dolphin one, but doing the Piranhas one is pretty fun also, if only for the feeling of relief after you get through it. I haven’t felt affected by darkness in a MMO like that since night time in Kithicor Forest from the original Everquest.

Also, it’s pretty cool each fractal has slightly different paths also. Props to that.

Generally I’m pretty impressed how you guys to make each dungeon run slightly different. Either by design…or intended or unintended bug fixes haha. Some people complain, but it’s nice to have to stay engaged somewhat after running the same instance 20+ times.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

That aside, my boss designs are an area that I would do well to improve upon.

Do you design and script the encounters, or just design?

Do you or the dungeon team have time for a reddit AMA (release dungeons and FOTM)?

Would be awesome to hear things from your side about the dungeons, design, intent, lessons learned, lupicus kill streaks, etc haha.

Fractals is awesome!

Jason, thank you for taking the time to write this out.

I really appreciate this type of communication from the devs, and it is lightyears better than the original Anet explanation about FoV. I hope you guys keep it up!

For Lupi Phase1, its usually best to have 1 or 2 people focus on only Grubs and Locusts. Make sure Lupi gets 0 grub buffs.

For Lupi Phase2, he will usually fixate on whoever did the most damage in P1 or one of the 3 people who were on him in P1. If possible, make sure that person is good at kiting, dodging, and has plenty of extra evade type moves. You generally don’t need to dodge the red circles on the ground, just move out of it. You do need to dodge his shadow step. Sometimes, his single target range attack can down someone if they are unlucky and already low on health.

For Phase3, just keep your distance and kite him, throw out snares and roots. He will usually life drain the same person the rest of the fight, stability/blink can get you out of bubbles if you are trapped.

Also, if you run to the opposite side of the room from lupi and kiss the wall, you will get out of combat and heal up. This is risky, because if no one is in range of lupi and he has no conditions on him, he will reset.

It’s also easy to reset Lupi if you cleared enough space in the prior room.
If you get any grubs, its safer to just reset and try again.

Why does it seem like every MMO release, there is a huge aversion from the developers to allow something like a wide-reaching LFG channel for people to find dungeon groups.

Instead, we get nothing, all while waiting for some mythical unicorn solution to the problem, and generally end up with something that is a colossal failure and unused like Meeting Stones in WoW. It took 5 years after that for Blizzard to introduce the dungeon finder.

For a while, GW2 had cross-server guilds that used guildchat to fill this function. Those have died off a bit, and now there is a website now trying to organize LFG’s outside of the game.

Why do we have to go to such lengths to do something that a simple LFG channel can fill?

Very awesome, thank you for doing this!

Can’t speak for every battle since the match reset, but most of the time I see SoR going after IoJ when they really should be focusing on SoS.

Either way, awesome fights this week. Props to [TW] Tempest Wolves for roof camping IoJ garrison. That is hella fun fighting to push you guys out. Do it every night please.

moar dots! that should prevent resets. he’s usually fixated on one person and if they happen to run out and no dots on him he will reset.

Suggestion for a simple fix to the orb/outmanned buff in the confines of the current system.

1. Move the orb to the garrisons and make it a permanent, non-removable fixture. You can easily do this by making the orb spawn in the garrison, and altar perma invul. Whoever owns the garrison, gains the orb buff.

2. Make it so the orb, if owned by the home team of that BL, gives everyone WvW-wide 5% stats and HP. Enemy teams who own the garrison and orb get a WvW-wide PVE buff (basically 1/2 of the current outmanned buff).

So if you hold all 3 garrisons you will at best have a WvW-wide 5% hp/stats buff and the current Outmanned PVE buff.

3. Make the new outmanned buff give a local map only 5% boost to stats/hp.
Also make a new buff for teams who have less than 150 PPT gain a buff that increase the supply they can carry by +5. It might also help to make supply camps owned by these teams generate supply every 15 seconds instead of every 30.

All of this has incentives to keep your own garrison, incentives to deny your enemies their own garrison, stops hackers from meddling with the orb, should give a boost to people on outmanned maps, and give a boost to teams getting their butts kicked in ppt by helping them build siege.

Just did CoF.2, got 60.

haha. We just did CoF.1

The three of us who got 45 in our previous run, got 45 again (including a guy who switched to an alt). The guys who got 60 tokens in arah got 60 again in CoF1.

My group was finally able to run Arah.3 (after the entrance being bugged all weekend), and 3 of us only got 45 tokens for our first Arah run. 2 other guys got 60.

The only instances we did was the mad king event in LA.

Does that count against your 2 per hour? If so, that really stinks =\

Ghedoriah.4290:

Oh, for the record though, Inter, the vast majority of our NA transfers came from Dragonbrand. We had PRX from HoD and we may have had another couple from HoD or elsewhere that escape me at the moment, but as I say, the vast majority came from DB. Just seems that that combined with our existing strengths makes one heck of a force to be reckoned with.

Ah. All i knew was FoE from ET and PRX and some others from HoD. I kept hearing things about dragonbrand or something but didn’t know it was to SoS.

What confuses me the most is how SoR went toe to toe with you guys but IoJ can’t seem to match that, and if thats due to transfers or something. I don’t think IoJ has fought SoR before.

IoJ is fine. We have always been placed somewhere around #5-7, and will remain so. The only reason we got bumped to T1 was for the ratings-adjustment as HoD and ET trickled down from the spectacular collapse of Titan Alliance and Ascension Alliance.

IoJ filled in as #3 for T1 and everyone involved (JQ/SBI) had a great match. We were glad to see in the last 2 days of the match, SBI coming from a major point deficit and pull off their first T1 victory.

Many of the Titan/Ascension alliance guilds transferred to Blackgate.2 and SoS.2
Those servers will likely take the former positions of HoD and ET, and IoJ will remain where it has always been.

Next weeks matchup hopefully will be awesome. IoJ generally doesn’t do well in 1v1’s or in 3ways with a weak third server. But if SoR.2 (they had x-fers apparently) is as good as we are hearing, a SoS vs SoR vs IoJ should be awesome.

If you’re looking for specific reasons for IoJ not showing up:
-IoJ went all out for T1 and needed a week off.
-Candy Corn LOL. Those Mini-pvp games are fun as hell, seriously.
-IoJ is terrible and should fall down to Tier F. F is for fail.

We’ll find out next week for sure!

Greatsword 2 overwrites my phantasms and creates a clone.
It really sucks because that particular move is pretty good for damage and might stacks.

Adding this kind of clone vs phantasm juggling makes the class more complicated than it already is or needs to be.

Where is the altar??

Where is zadorojny likely to be??

Justine.6351:

This build. Awesome PVE DPS for mesmer.

MeveM.7913:

I’m currently going after MrPromethius’ build of 20/0/30/0/20 with staff as main weapon and Carrion gear. I try a Greatsword and do like 400-700 damage per auto attack, then I watch WvW videos where Greatsword users do 2k-3k or even more damage per auto attack and no guide to go with it to what items and spec they use.

Try a Power/Precision build. Pick traits that increase damage (power/precision/dmg/fury)

20/30/0/10 (if you WvW)/10

PVE-wise (which is the focus of the original post) mobs generally don’t spam abilities enough to be hurt substantive way by condition effects like Confusion. Bleeds are okay, but they also cap to 25 so if someone else is a bleed build then the extra bleeds go to waste.

Sword+Focus/Pistol and Greatsword.

Also you want to be using Feedback (great in projectile heavy dungeons), Time Warp (awesome for group). Other than that you can condition clear with Null Field and the Mantra that clears 2 conditions.

Immediately stopped reading at:
“once you are getting chased by so many mob most of the GS skills are not usable while the enemies are chasing u.”

Terrible post. Would not read again.
1 star.

Depends on the player, the gear they have, and how they are trait specced.

Gurubu.1693:

It’s the difference between the people that have AAA groups with decked out party members using voice claiming bosses are easy vs people who group up with whoever is around.

What were people thinking making a pug party to run a dungeon. Crazy talk I tell you. What were people thinking expecting to run a dungeon in a game without researching it? It’s all crazy talk I tell you.

What happened to all the talk that GW2 isn’t about Raids? Their dungeons seem to be rated at that difficulty level.

If you want 10% of the people to regularly run dungeons so be it. The stuff that drops from dungeons are generally junk anyways and it’s more of a time sink than anything else. Sure the exotics from tokens are great and all, but not much better than karma rewards and you’ll make more money and enjoy your time more through events than dungeons.

Hard doesn’t mean its a raid.
And this especially… having only 5 people in a group should scream in your head NOT A RAID.

Anet said Explorable mode paths weren’t really designed for random pug groups.
It’s generally for serious players looking for challenging content.

Players who successfully finish it don’t get a huge stat advantage over everyone else.
But they do get some cool looking gear, and it shows.

It’d be fun to have Dolyak golems.

Have blueprints that you can buy or have it as a supply camp upgrade similar to canons and mortars where the build site is automatic. It would allow you to build a Dolyak Golem, which is like a siege golem but dolyak form.

When built, someone can jump inside, collect more supply and run the supply to a tower or keep similar to a regular dolyak delivery. This means players and guilds can form and escort their own custom supply caravans with custom routes.

It’d be pretty fun helping to escort these, and also finding and attacking them.

Jestunhi.7429:

The FOV debate is balance vs. preference.

There are actual people who get nausea and headaches from this.

I’m pretty sure they dont prefer it and probably just want to enjoy the game like the rest of us.

Tik.2381:

1. There is a big difference between the odd player doing it and giving every player the tools to do it. They have stated that it puts a strain on the server for each player each client renders. One person with 3 monitors.. not a big deal. A million players with higher FoV and well.. you get the idea.

This would be a valid point except there is enforced “player culling” in the client already. The game client has a maximum number of players it will render, which is a huge problem in WvW.

So, from what we know, the reasoning that FoV will be a drain on server resources due to drawing more players on the client can’t be true since there is already a cap imposed.

Rpgtabbycat.5869:

So I was watching that video comparing the FOV of 100 to 75. I must be the odd one here but the fish eye distortion from the 100 FoV was actually making me dizzy and nauseous and not the FoV 75.

It’s different for different people. Thats the point. It should be adjustable.

If Anet has artistic requirements that demand a specific FoV with a cutscene or boss fight, override it then for those cases. But outside of that, let the people who really want to change it have that option and keep the default for everyone else who is fine with it.

Arson.4189:

Windowed mode or 3 monitor set up….this post really didn’t make any sense.

Jon is stating that the FoV is locked to a specific numer and needs to stay that way for the integrity of the game, either through performance or artistic reasons.

When we say windowed mode or 3 monitor setup, we mean by putting GW2 in windowed mode and resizing it, or playing the game across a multiple monitor setup, it changes the FoV already anyway making his reasons kind of moot in these specific circumstances.

Edit:
Unless this is what you were trying to say already. Your post was vague and can be read different ways haha.

Thanks for addressing the issue Jon, and discussing it with the community. Again, I have a friend who directly quit over this issue, so it means quite a bit to me that this is resolved so he can start playing again.

People seem to be measuring the FoV to be around 65 not 75 (link is proof of measuring, not showing its 65. The 65 comes from the guy in the video of the next link). It doesn’t seem to be a locked thing, as we keep mentioning that it can be changed (with poor results not relating to any reasons you listed) based on window size, resolution, or number of monitors.

Here’s a great video comparing different FoV’s from within GW2.

The reddit post discussing it.

One of my buddies quit GW2 over the nausea issue because he can’t play for longer than 30 minutes. I really hope the camera fix will help him out.

If not, then I don’t quite understand why Anet is so hesitant to allow the option to change the FoV. No one seems to be asking for a new, default FoV that has to be inflicted on every player. Just an option, for people who want or simply need, to make the FoV customizable to some degree.

As other people have said, its already something you can change, although poorly, through window resizing or multiple monitors. It’s confusing to me why the reasons listed against changing it seem to overlook the already available tweaks.

People who want to play support just need to remember to tag some damage in, and as long as the players their team is fighting dies, everyone who tagged in some measure of damage usually gets a chance at loot.

So if you want to be the support person with crazy heals and whatnot, just remember to tag in some damage while you waiting inbetween your 30-45 second cool downs.

Luisedgm.2375:

Nope, if this would be implemented then supply would becomes mostly useless for defending forces and the siegers would be unable to cripple them by taking camps, also a guild could farm emblems one week and then have a indestructible fort on the next one due to almost infinite repairs.

Edited for clarification, sorry about that.

I was talking about gear repair and upgrades, not repairing structures.

Please consider allowing players to repair their armor with badges, and replacing the current money costs of upgrading structures also payable with badges instead.

1 badge = 1 silver (Arrow carts are 6 silver or 6 badges)

So, a supply camp upgrade for extra dolyaks costs 5 silver, or 5 badges.

*Structural repair should still cost supply, sorry for the confusion.

If you zone into a WvW borderland, the distance from the waypoint to the bottom of the first set of steps.

About 18 seconds of non-combat autorun time.

The edge of your minimap when zoomed all the way in, or between you and half the minimap when zoomed 1 or 2 levels out.

Limey.2769:

I’ve not done any testing, but was told both the 15% traits work for phantasms.

Pretty sure they do stack.

He was just saying that it’s better to invest those points into Domination.
That way, the extra power you get goes into both your hits + illusions, instead of a trait that only helps Phants.

You don’t need to get the killing blow to get a badge.

WvW gear and cost are pretty crappy. They also look awful. You’re better off getting gear from Dungeons or Crafting.

Wow very nice build with the regen+protection.

Is it pretty much just constantly up when you’re near an illusion?

Sigil of Battle ( +3 might for 20s on weapon swap )
Sigil of Bloodlust ( +power stacks per kill, up to 25 )

Put Bloodlust in your 1hand, Battle in Pistol/GS.
If you swap on cooldown you’ll have a about 6-9 might on you constantly, plus 3 more from GS2 ability.

It will usually do at least 1 condition/sec or sometimes a whole bunch. Works the same way with boon stripping when used offensively.

The other thing I’ve noticed is it doesn’t seem to work vs Guardians that use their ability which grants them a ton of boons. Not sure if thats a bug or guardian mechanic where its not removable.

*Universal Dungeon Tokens.

*Make dungeon rewards based on the popularity of the dungeon.
Keep a global tally of how often dungeons are completed/boss kills that give chests (in case of partial completions) each day.

The next day, offer bonus/penalties to rewards based on the previous days stats. So more challenging, infrequently run dungeons get bonus tokens or something, and easy mode farmed ones aren’t quite as attractive.

My group just did Destroyer last night.

We did a combo of killing the adds (had about 10-15 seconds of free dps time before the next add), and kiting them around on the scaffolding.

I mostly stayed on the boss and the other 4 guys killed adds.

It took a while, he has a lot of health.

Also, anyone know how to get that last PoI in Explorable3 of SE? It’s by the room with the mole APC car boss. Couldn’t find a way to it, wondering if we missed it from another explorable wing

Oh man I thought this was just an AMD video problem initially

Also have this problem. Happens in PVE at crowded Dynamic Events, or generally in W3 at towers or anytime there is a large number of people. It’s very frustrating since I can’t target people.

Win7 64-bit
12gb Ram
ATI 5870 x2, 12.8 Drivers