Guild Wars 2

Osculim.2983:

I have to disagree completely except maby when it come to fractals past lvl10. I have seen first hand how low level players finish dungeons much faster than some of those level80 groups that whipe constantly with their exotics. I do see how exotic gear might help but skill still play the major role.

Wow, this fairy tale agin.
Gear does play quite a heavy role in GW2 and the difference between a opt-in-slot-equipt 80 and some green/blue/yellow/chaos-gear-equipt 80 is miles.
Yes, skill does still play quite a role, but so does (and did always) the quality of your gear. Exotic doesn`t just help, it makes it easy especialy 1-10..you can steamroll most of the encounters or lessen the difficulty of some encounters amazingly…cause kitten just dies faster. This is imho fine..cause there are plenty of rather easy ways to aquire exotic gear.
But this whole discussion bout the new gear-grind will solve itself..the rate at which pop is declining is astonishing. Now people not only realize that most initial problems are not just “whining”, they also realize that it get`s freaking hard to get PuGs or even other groups together…go figure with 50diffrent dungeons in one place..where all need to be on the same level.
Nah, this is been perhaps the worst patch i`ve seen in MMO-History..they not just killed of 50% of the already existing content with this dungeon, they also invented artificial content-blockers (instead of stickin to their own design-philosophy) and segregated the player-community between 50-diffrent levels of grinding.
It feels like SWTOR three months after release..and that`s no hating, that`s just what i see ingame.

Well i`m sure Anet is already aware of the problems this update caused.
Server-pop-decline is not only takin place on US-servers, you can watch in with europe-servers aswell.
This update did not only scare the GW1-crowd, the people who wanted what GW2 promised (no gear-treadmill), all the people who can`t/don`t want to spend all the time in one dungeon, it also made the rest of the GW2 gameworld obselete : events, explo-modes ..well guess what..there`s much going on there anymore.

If accepted the fact that GW2 is now like everyother MMO, i will play it as long as it is fun..and it still is. The feeling of this update beeing the worst possible design-choice for GW2 still remains. There are just to many games like this, i doubt GW2 will be relevant if they just choose to swim with the crowd….it`s shame honestly, there was/is so much potential here.

How does this make sense? The gameplay has changed.
What was a game where you could hit max-stats (PvE) with ease, without much effort, without the average-mmo-i-have-to-spend-x-hours-or-i`m-drasticaly-behind-thingy, has become a WoW-clone.
Before this new carrot-on-stick-mechanic, everyone could get the max-gear in the way he wanted and since it was max, the player wasn`t forced to do it with/in x amount of time.
Now it has become what every other MMO is out there, do dungeon x, x times, x amount of time to get max stats, with new updates → the same thing all over again.
The only reason to grind dungeons before was cosmetic, it had no impact on the way you could play the game or go trough content.
The argument that your not forced to get max stats is invalid aswell, cause you have to get there if you want to get all content..it`s the core essence of the carrot-on-stick-average-WoW-clone-MMO.
So a game which you could just play if you wanted to, hop in and out without gettin “behind” has turned into a gear-check-grind-fest-again.

So yes Roven, the gameplay has changed. Instead of beeing a skill/build-game it`s now a WoW-geargrind-make-dates-in-your-calender-to-get-x-gear-in-x-time-game.
This is not a subjective feeling, this is literaly what`s all over Anet`s-Statements.
The dissapointment many GW1-players and players in general (myself included) vocalize around forums might come from the fact that there are already 100000 WoW-clones out there.
And don`t argue bout the combat-system, every WoW-clone has a diffrent little tweak and that`s it.
I bet half my salary that most people who complain bout this crazy new change in design-philosophy have already played games like this. They are not complaining cause they are not “leed”, not “skilled” enough or fear to get behind in e-pen-size…they complain cause they don`t want the same boring game all over again.

I had high hopes for GW2, beeing a) a big fan of GW1 and b) fed up with WoW-Clones.
Played them all: WAR, AoC, SWTOR, etc. and stoped playing them after a month or so…cause it`s the same game, with diffrent looks and some little tweak here and there.
The only difference between GW2 and the average WoW-Clone is the combat-system…and there was the fact that you don`t have to spend x-amount of time to be able to compete in WvW, PvP and PvE.
Yes, i too had to grow myself into getting along with the fact of not improving my char-stats..cause every kitteny semi-RPG depends on that.
Well, now there`s just the combat-system left..and no one, literaly no one needs another boring WoW-Clone.
There was a market for this, but there`s no market for another WoW-Clone..and Anet will perhaps realize this aswell..every single WoW-Clone failed hard the last years…the very same moment a developer starts listening to the locust-poser-swarm, you can bet that the game will crush sooner than later…that`s just what the market has shown the last years to be true.
Instead of offering what GW1 offered, a contrast to the boring, average, old as kitten MMO-Formula, they turned GW2 into another miserable WoW-Clone.
Even when you take the cash-shop into account….maybe follow the Riot-formula…skins, boosts, etc. , worked for them, didn`t it.

Will there never be a big MMO-release with some fresh air?
This is gettin frustrating like hell.
Scratch the fact that`s always fantasy, sci-fi seems to be destiened to fail,
scratch the fact that it`s always roaming+dungeons+pvp,
scratch the fact that it`s always hotkey+cd-based,
we`ve now learned that it will always be carrot-on-stick in big realeses…chances of gettin a MMO which you can play without beeing “forced” to play it → gone…and it felt so kitten good..a real shame.

Zefiris.8297:

why you don`t need any of this.

After doing runs without engineers in Arah, it’s obvious to anyone with a clue that having an engineer along always improves a run a LOT and makes it much faster.

You do not NEED this, yes. Just like you need no guardians. My smoothest and fastest Arah explorable runs had 0 guardians.

See, you don’t actually need guardians, either :>

No you don`t need a guard..all you need is the 6-heal, a regenerationeffect and that`s it..the whole rest can go simply to dps….that`s what i`m talking about.

Istarien.3147:

Kalas.4537:

When i look at this…well it looks good…then i run a explo-mode-insertrandomdungeonname and the party is like 3warris1guard1mesmer or 4warrs1nec..and i do get reminded why you don`t need any of this.
As mentioned : regeneration doesn`t count, it doesn`t stack, you will never get the reg of an ele or guard, etc. ..their effects count, yours just up the duration.
What do you need fire for? To apply a burning or get fire-aura? Water?
Poison is great no doubt and smoke is awesome too, then a mesmer hops along and you see chaosarmor. AoE immboilize..i don`t know bout your explo-runs, but most runs i see is just everyone smacking mobs at point-plank-range (some bosses excluded) and nasty ranged mobs are bubbled, if it`s realy neccesary. AoE-blind? Well there`s the blind spamming thief…AoE-confuse is useless, AoE-bleed is just a little damage up..and again stacks end at 25.

But well i`m still trying to find a useful expo-build…it just feels so kitten useless in comparsion to my guard, mesmer or my warri.
After reading through this thread i just get the feeling many here don`t know how others classes work at 80…or what they can/do offer.
Haven`t tried the knockdown-build someone mentioned here, perhaps that has some use against trash…will try.
I`m not talking pvp or wvw, just explo-modes (the whole rest of pve-content is a faceroll anyway).

And here, there’s evidence of people not understanding the full potential of GW2’s combat system. Have you ever taken deliberate advantage of combo fields and finishers? Put down a fire field. Apply a blast finisher. You get a stack of might. Apply 25 blast finishers, and you get 25 stacks of might. That’s a tall order for a small group, but if you have an Engineer specced 30 points in Alchemy with HGH traited, you can get really close to max might stacks with some intelligent play. And water? AoE heals of various descriptions. Additional finishers either magnify the effect or lengthen it. Or how about vulnerability? An engineer can put up 25 stacks of vulnerability on a single target all by themselves with the right setup.

Some of the easiest dungeons you’ll ever run are groups that take serious advantage of these mechanics. My guild runs a Panzer force for WvW, and it’s just as effective in PvE – 4 support-specced heavies and an engi/ele/mesmer/thief for utility. Build those might stacks and it’s like the dungeon suddenly became a game of Candyland.

Or don’t, if your group isn’t coordinated enough or has enough of that utility elsewhere. Most people in my guild have the sense to spec for utility, so I most often get asked to spec rifle DD/grenades for reliable ST and AoE damage that’s good at range, good in the water, and good against architecture elements whose hit boxes are currently wonky (I’m looking at you, graveling burrows).

Oh, i do know bout combo-mechanics, but i have never seen an engie beeing that useful…gotta admit those where random-engies most of the time. That`s one of the reasons i started gettin (now) one as my 4th alt.
And i must admit i was wrong..like completly wrong. Took me a while, but after running quite alot PvE lately i`ve seen the amazing number of diffrent fields you can put out with ease..even thinking of maining the engie now. Chaosarmor is still srong as hell imho, but the mass of fields on the engie just owns the class of chaosarmor.
I tried a pure shotty-dps-spec as well, changed some gear around and utility-talents..and it plain rocks.
I never questioned the dps of nades, i was just wondering bout the “great support”, but well learned something new there
So as mentioned, i was totaly wrong. You still don`t need any of this support …most of the time we are running 4warris one guard/mesmer, but it`s kinda fun to play atleast.
But i do get why so many people are complaining bout the class, or sucking with it..it`s kinda complicated to see the golden-land here…but when you`ve been there…you just don`t wanna come back anymore.

Istarien.3147:

Kalas.4537:

hmm where exactly is the engi a better supporter (or even close to) an ele, a guardian or a nec? healing? well, then you actualy never played a guardian…heck even a warri can do more healing and better support with his banners/shout….combo fields? mesmer, guardian, ele…then perhaps engi…so where exactly is the great suppport commin from? blind?->thief…. this is an honest question, cause i`m leveling an engi-alt right now..and i just don`t see any great support compared to my other chars….yes nades are funny..but aside from aoe-effects it`s still not that amazing.

What makes engineers amazing is their versatility. We are not scalpels – we are swiss army knives. One particular build I like provides fully traited grenades, fully traited bombheals, 4 combo fields (water, fire, smoke, and poison), 8 finishers (6 blast, 1 leap, 1 projectile), single target and AoE knockback, single target and AoE immobilize, AoE Chill, 2 AoE blinds, AoE Confuse, and AoE bleed. That’s on top of the AoE health regen, and the gear for it is tanky enough that I can stand with the melee and not get instantly vaporized.

And if I don’t feel like being a support and utility powerhouse, I can just as easily spec and gear for rifle burst damage and be right up there with the rest of you glass cannons.

Granted, the Engineer has a fairly high skill requirement. This is not a class where you can expect to mash 2-3 buttons and win the game. A well-played engineer is a beast, though, able to take care of herself and her group besides.

When i look at this…well it looks good…then i run a explo-mode-insertrandomdungeonname and the party is like 3warris1guard1mesmer or 4warrs1nec..and i do get reminded why you don`t need any of this.
As mentioned : regeneration doesn`t count, it doesn`t stack, you will never get the reg of an ele or guard, etc. ..their effects count, yours just up the duration.
What do you need fire for? To apply a burning or get fire-aura? Water?
Poison is great no doubt and smoke is awesome too, then a mesmer hops along and you see chaosarmor. AoE immboilize..i don`t know bout your explo-runs, but most runs i see is just everyone smacking mobs at point-plank-range (some bosses excluded) and nasty ranged mobs are bubbled, if it`s realy neccesary. AoE-blind? Well there`s the blind spamming thief…AoE-confuse is useless, AoE-bleed is just a little damage up..and again stacks end at 25.

But well i`m still trying to find a useful expo-build…it just feels so kitten useless in comparsion to my guard, mesmer or my warri.
After reading through this thread i just get the feeling many here don`t know how others classes work at 80…or what they can/do offer.
Haven`t tried the knockdown-build someone mentioned here, perhaps that has some use against trash…will try.
I`m not talking pvp or wvw, just explo-modes (the whole rest of pve-content is a faceroll anyway).

what? healing turret..surely not…regenaration does not stack, the strongest regeneration effect counts first..so as soon as there`s an ele or guard/banner warri the turret and the waterfield are useless. bubbles? all other classes, blindspam..other classes.
as mentioned i don`t wanna hate on the engi, but i just don`t see the support-greatness…regeneration and water-field are completly uninteresting.
i get the condition-removing combofield, that`s one thing…but what else is there? Nofo is right, yes the combofields are nice to have, but honestly i would always favour aether-fields…chaosarmor is just way to strong atm. .

hmm where exactly is the engi a better supporter (or even close to) an ele, a guardian or a nec? healing? well, then you actualy never played a guardian…heck even a warri can do more healing and better support with his banners/shout….combo fields? mesmer, guardian, ele…then perhaps engi…so where exactly is the great suppport commin from? blind?→thief…. this is an honest question, cause i`m leveling an engi-alt right now..and i just don`t see any great support compared to my other chars….yes nades are funny..but aside from aoe-effects it`s still not that amazing.