Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed that the built-in print-screen function for the game produces screenshots with lower quality than the actual graphics displayed. Is there a way to take high resolution/quality screenshots of the game as it is displayed? I remember there was a setting or possibly an external app that allows this – I’d appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this shutterbug’s query.

The biggest change is that Lupi’s bubble attack is no longer summoned on the target – it does not track the target unless outside of a set minimum range (approx the safe zone range in p2 where there is no swipe and you do not get hit by the auto). Before, you would get bubbled if you were not fast enough getting back under him from the rising up AOE. Now it will not trap you at all, it will completely miss or the outer edge will nick you once. There is almost no threat of being bubbled now. You can even trigger it by stepping away from him and the bubble will land exactly at that min distance without trapping you.
I know not if this is intended or perhaps a result of the atk/cleave changes of some atks, either way it certainly feels very unsatisfying as it trivializes threat in the fight but also makes pushing lupi around a non-issue.
Unrelated to this I also noticed the guard sword 3rd auto cone is a bit larger so it will reliably hit when you are forced to make tighter circles max melee kiting. It still suffers at the tip of the cone where not all hits may land.

Linken.6345:

What quirk might that be do tell

Some suggest that I be more aggressive in filtering or I should forfeit my instance. No one is arguing the need for a plan, yours is just stupid and won’t work! I have never abandoned a run no matter how bad; even if I taste color and feel pain in my head and feet. I see it to the end especially if friends are in group.

I try to be fair and not instigate trouble. If you joined my LFG and do not fit requirements, then I tell you that you’re not real, you can’t be here! I do not insult or reply to insults no matter how frustrating because I don’t let the enemy see me bleed – but it seems like they are getting paid by the word to insult me. I feel that if I just ignore and try my best, I will get what’s coming to me and maybe it will zero-sum this whole diabolical affair.

Sometimes if it’s manageable because I have a friend with me or I waited long and do not want trouble. I’ll ask for things like banners/reflects and even if you did not fit the LFG, no questions will be asked if you comply NOW. But a lot of times they had my head for a bowl ’o soup if I did that. Other times I have trouble convincing friends early on or that they see no problems with exploits/they do not want to spend another hr in LFG, I try to let it go and feels like I trained them to be an officer and they stab me in the back.

As for people I have kicked, if you joined my LFG, clearly had no respect for it and refused the chance I gave you, I am sorry but I will take care of the elimination, starting with you. If I wanted excuses, I’d ask you for them. If you take offense when I merely stated something like “why is the ranger(myself) the only one reflecting when we have 2 guards and a mes” then I am sorry, your weakness makes me laugh! I bear no ill will towards anyone, even those who hijacked. I don’t FEEL your rage as you do when you resorted to insults. Pity you weren’t more clever. Perhaps I would have found a better place for you in my ranks.

When I PUG I do not just dive in! I try to be reasonable and filter well but the current system makes it…ugh…a swamp…Those who do not believe it to be that bad. You don’t see this place through my eyes. A few suggested compromises to the system. This looks veeeery interesting! This looks veeeery interesting! This looks veeeery interesting! However, when it comes to PVE, I cannot help but feel like all of us…abandoned. For any mod reading, I simply ask that the issue be re-examined, I need a little of your expertise. I have never been kicked from my own instance when I had dungeon ownership – it did the job just fine.

Purple Miku.7032:

“why the hell do we have a guard, a thief, and two eles including me yet I’m the only person bringing blinds?”

I say things like this too – word for word sometimes. This lvl is as far as I am willing to go to communicate my displeasure. That is usually when I get kicked or receive the kind of attention that goes on the Wall.

I have a difficult time believing things are as OP says. There’s obviously some details we aren’t shown…

Me too! – I started the Wall partly because if told, even myself would have hard time believing. There is not much shown because…there was not much to show…It is one sided in that I do not participate in chat fights once there is a slightest hint of a fight.

Honestly, what’s on the Wall and far worst not on it do not bother me. Traited against it (Adept trait: [Thick-Headed] : Ignore all verbal abuse and take no physical/mental/emotional/spiritual damage from those attacks). Quite the opposite I find it ludicrously amusing.

My luck in PUG was stated by every friend who has ever PUGged with me, they use to joke how they feared my bad luck spreading – and it does….(I exercise even more restraint when friends are around so as to not make things unpleasant or risk them being collateral dmg)

While I do everything I can to cope with PUG – seeking out and learning from pros like Miku, my talented and always caring mentors PP and Iris, I do get some pretty bad PUGs more often than even they believe can happen. But they have also seen it -

War with magi? wth is condi healing toughness stat? wanting to kick my mesmer for ‘clearly’ being the low dps problem because he boasts a 20 k personal dps – I believe Iris has SS of this – (I want it for the Wall btw!)
One time a human guardian joins and dutifully pings his impressive regalia – zerk scholars check! However, only I happened to notice what he pinged out was medium armor with some being sylvari pieces – Ok I am no saint, I did not say anything for it was not my group and even if they posted zerk meta ping gear I trust the owners to be wiser and come on….it was kinda funny (lol I am terrible!)
Or how about that one time – Nevets the engineer and I was in a group for 50 zerk exp etc and we did very well, even managed to save group from wipes a few times 4 manning. When a guardian joins, I swap out my mesmer for my ranger Mini Vili, one PUG says “I will not frac with a ranger” and 3 people instantly ragequit. The one who said that was a PUG I played with many times and he had seen me solo more than a few times – he had also insta kick my ranger before. I know Nevets to be reasonable and skillful so that time it saved me there.

Most find my bad luck with PUG improbably unbelievable – then again many find my lucky drops to be improbable as well. Things were never this bad when I had instance ownership – this is my point – it had its flaws but it was a lesser acceptable evil. I will reiterate that I care not how people treat me in any chat. People might be unfair but the universe tend to be fair ultimately.

Thanks for the tips!

1)Run with a friend/ more friends.

Remember those months – dry, bleak months not long ago where PVE was forsaken and there were no updates….Many names from friends list went gray and never lit up green again…Still recovering…

2)If you’re in a group with 4 other pugs and you see one failing instead of saying " i asked for this " on party chat just whisper some of the other members and inform them that x member is bad and you intend to kick – asking for their support.
Most people will gladly kick someone if they know it’s not them. And if you set up the kick through whispers with other people in the party the person getting kicked will not have the chance to turn against you.
Even if they have friends in the party ( say it’s 2 guildies and 3 pugs) as long as you don’t whisper their guildy you can pretty much surprise kick them fast enough before they can figure out what’s what.

Many times I am the minority or the other PUGs are friends/guilds – instance ownership was enough to convince people back then. It is surprisingly hard to convince a kick these days! (may just be my terrible luck) – sub 80s join, I initiate kick – PUGs who did not even know them: “Just let him stay, 76 is almost same as 80” It just feels like a shady deal to me whispering things behind people’s back. If I am alone – even if it is my instance I feel that the other LFG abiding members deserve to know why that person is getting kicked and not feel pressured into something they are not clear about – makes them feel insecure. When I join a PUG I will not second easily – it is not my instance/run/group (sub 80 in 80 LFG sure insta-kick but experienced/dps/even meta requirements differ from player to player). Yes I realize my own perhaps foolish quirks put me at risk but this fairness is how I certainly would like to be treated myself.

3)Be smart about things – keep talking to pugs to a minimum and if you do try to reason with the most intelligent one.

Swift and merciless got me “rude” at best and more likely: “your social skills are terrible – you deserved to get your instance stolen and worst”
Reasoning usually gets me an addition to the Wall.
There were a few rare times when people who clearly did not fit the LFG joined but did as they were asked to and at the end of the rough but manageable run I have gained a new ally – worth the risk? I should think so.
There is no winning…you either endure or don’t play – some of those now gray names were wise to choose the latter when they heard no more instance ownership…

Give me a fail-safe against the worst but please let me keep on hoping and believing in the best.

DaveGan.8065:

Maybe I needed to spell out Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.)?

Any military professionals can enlighten me if I wrong? M.A.D is a deterrence based military doctrine. If both sides of the conflict has or perceived their opponent to have the capability to utterly annihilate them, then neither will actually employ those capabilities for fear of retaliation leading to destruction of both. How appropriate that you brought this up!

That is somewhat the scenario of instance ownership and reinforces my stance on instance ownership. I have a nuke – I own instance, when I am gone, boom! You have a nuke – you and the others can kick me and it all goes boom! According to M.A.D., neither of us will actually do anything because it does not benefit either of us to blows ourselves both up and thus an uneasy/unspoken understanding is reached. We move on despite bitter mutual disagreement to AVOID the crisis.

If ever I reasonably inferred from you that the probability of me being irrationally kicked by you had upgraded to “probable” levels, I would not have hesitated to end the instance, the same way you should not hesitate to leave as the instance owner if your group was full of incompetence and trolling beyond help.

If you are offering M.A.D as justification when you kick me from my instance even if it means we all lose instance, I do not see how it applies. It sounds more like “hey I perceive this guy to be a threat, lets strap a bomb to myself and 3 other people and blow us all up”….Dangerous grounds to tread….This is not M.A.D it is madness.

I do thank you for your input though, and here I thought posting in the forums would be unpleasant. I will abstain from further correspondence to you here as it is looking more like a personal conversation rather than public discussion. Feel free to catch me in-game or msg if u have more insights or want to discuss military doctrines….I am a fan.

Thanks for your dialogue,

I remind you that what goes on the Wall is mostly stuff that I get when I attempt to filter my own group/instance from the start. There had been little or no exchange prior and its not always a kick, sometimes they leave on their own but decide to throw a ‘Wall -worthy’. If I joined a group and owner is not clear, I defer all decisions to majority and abide by them, or leave if I cannot. Often times in a PUG when asked to second a kick because some other member was bad etc…I always reply – I will not, its not my run/group/instance. If they choose to kick me for whatever reasons, I am fine with it – acceptable risks of being in someone else’s party.

• When you addressed issues (especially low dps) did you address the offender(s) individually or did you just address the whole group (in their eyes, everyone except you)?

Which sounds like the less aggressive and antagonistic option: Directly addressing one person be it their dps/utility/and other contribution OR stating that “we do not have the dps/experience for X strat”. Seems to me like addressing offenders individually is provoking them to perceive a direct attack where there is none.

I guarantee you, that after a certain point in the run, if you attacked the whole group rather than a specific individual, I myself would immediately mark you as incompetent (unable to see the true problem) and/or irrational (scapegoating, bearing excessive grudge), and I would be more than happy to second a kick at that point.

You would mark the only guy who just consistently soloed and carried you and the group forward as incompetent? I know its gray area – no dps meters etc. How can you tell? For some never dying or downing is great contribution – if this is the case I will range with tanky gear or better yet afk naked and never down or die thus justifying my spot on that group. Myself, I defer judgment and let the host/owner/poster decide if I am fitting.

• Did everyone (especially players who joined later) know and acknowledge that it was your group?

You stated my problem exactly, it is not with PUGs, those people who on the Wall or even those who kicked me from my instance – it is a backwards systems that did not take all relevant considerations into account.

Let me remind you that even if it is your run, your impunity only lasts to a certain point (usually first/second boss).

When I had instance ownership, I was never kicked from my instance and the Wall had not existed. Many an happy PUGs there were and I was far stricter. I pressed my advantage sometimes: “we will not be glitching boss – if you are uncomfortable fighting normally, get out of my group pls.” Or when I did address them outright – “you are clearly inexperienced, why join an experienced post?” Decent players left without incidences. The truly discontent ones stayed until the end. There were even a group of 3 friends who really hated me but did not kick nor make troubles – they waited until they received their daily chest and THEN expressed true feelings with colorful language that I shall not repeat here. Forgive me if I sound pessimistic, for all the pretty talk of niceties and pleasantries – most care and look out only for their own interest. If they so strongly believed my behavior was egregious they had the option to kick at the cost of forfeiting their progress – and a free carry. In general, most do not care how nice or even how good you are more than they do attaining their goal. Point being: instance ownership was a VERY strong deterrence/motivator, it worked.

I also guarantee you, even if instance owner was still in place, I would not hesitate to execute the Samson option, if I ever felt that the possibility of you acting irrationally had increased from doubtful to probable.

Indulge me, would you have deliberated with other PUGs aside from the one who seconded to see if they agreed with your assessment AND elect to forfeit their progress? Or do you assume the mantle of Righteous judge, jury and executioner and act of your own volition? May I ask what is there to be gained? If kicking me ends the instance for everyone and forfeit all progress, intolerable as my filthy elitism might be, why would you do it? Spite? I am sorry, this is abominable conduct that I personally abhor to even consider as it accomplishes nothing. If I hated the owner that much, I simply leave – maybe it is justifiable and righteous to you, each to his own I suppose.

Cast your stones and condemnations – for my greatest sin is acting on the notion that some people will behave themselves not because its the right thing to do, but because their own interests are at stake.

Oxidia.8103:

You are kind of leaning towards my theory. There is no way you would get those whisps if you did not;
a) kicked someone
b)called someone names
c) got in some kind of whisp fight after being kicked
d) somebody insulted your gf with who you obviosly play

So i can figure out you team up with your gf and play dungeons with her and usually kick together. Maybe she sucks and can’t play kitten. Maybe you both suck potato salad. Maybe you are elitists who are bad and trash your pug party while max ranging even the ambient creatures (never too much safety!!) Or pro melee elitists who trash those who are not.

We will never know. But i know there is no way you can get this treatment if you weren’t treating them the same or similar and then they backfired.

Edit: to make myself clear, no instance owner is the best thing that happened in lfg. That forces others to be polite even the sacred instance owner. Sounds to me like you got used to be instance owner then be obnoxious to your party and boss them around because you knew they can’t kick you.

Well la di da.

A. Yes I do kick, more often than I ever like to have to. But are you saying I cannot kick a lvl 40 that joins my fotm 50 group insisting he is experienced? Or the sub 80s that many times ‘forced’ their way into my group with their friends when I posted for 80s then tell me something like ‘well too bad you got a 75 and experienced’ when I tell them I only wanted 80?
Are you telling me I am under obligation to carry sub-80s, ungeared inexperienced when I clearly asked for otherwise?
Keep in mind this is NOT a PUG I joined – those I never failed to play by house rules and rarely get kicked at all. This is MY instance, MY run.
I have never kicked simply because a player is ‘bad’. I do not even kick sometimes when he obviously is not experienced or dps or whatever my post was if the player proves they can be worked with. But then you get people who give me stuff like the Wall when simply asked for things like banners or reflects and that is when you know they will not cooperate or be of any use and you might as well try to salvage your run.

B. C. D. : Are you so certain? What of the times when I had my solo instances stolen when i tried to give it away?
You presume that I got into ‘whisper’ fights – show me proof that I did? I do not reply once things begin to look like a ‘fight’ Once in a while a fairly reasonable player or two will whisper and ask why they were dropped from group – you see some of the answers I give on the Wall there – ‘sry experienced only’ inevitably followed by some Wall-worthy reply from them and for my part it ends there. I only replied because they might have been unsure of the requirements and if they asked before throwing insults I deem them to be reasonable folk.

Having no instance owner does not force people to be nice – does that keep you from getting kicked and replaced for their friends/guildies even after you soloed all the way to last boss while everyone else could not even survive skips? Right….the multitudes of sellers and soloers who had theirs stolen at last boss by the now infamous arah hijacker probably deserved it because they instigated it by some grievous insults right? All it does is force players into play styles they did not want. Did not want inexperienced and sub-80 in your run? Too bad its not your instance unless you soloed most of it! (by this logic people cannot sell arah p1, because more than likely they only soloed 80 % of it at most and the instance is not theirs to sell.)

Sure I can leave if I did not like what my group become. Would you have left if you made the instance, pushed yourself hard to carry your group while PUGs ragequit left and right while the newer ones who just joined insist that you play their way even if u posted otherwise 2 hours into what is more like a single player game for you? And what of the times when I refused to glitch/exploit (keep in mind it was my run, my instance) Or perhaps you are telling me that it is perfectly legitimate to force players to glitch/exploit and kick them from their own instance if they do not?
Pronounce judgment on my personal character if you must, but read my words for what they are. (btw I do not game with my gf, those times it is one of my female friends, sis, or most hilariously – my male friends clad in female pixels – but hey you assumed they are just like those people on the Wall so they must be right?). I am glad that you and some live in perfect worlds where bad things only happen to bad people. I have to contend with mine.

Ah, remind me which character you were on Sunset. I vaguely remember this.
Show me pls, produce one shred of proof an instance where I employed foul language against you or any PUG pls. But pls spare me your hurt feelings because you implied insult from what I say. If what I say is wrong, then show me how I was wrong? If you equate your own personal character with game skills and dps and take insult at every little assessment that does not please you, then I do not see how I can be at fault. People can get insulted over pretty much anything – does that mean I must cater to every single whim and quirk?

I get this a lot. I am a straightforward guy, if group lacks dps, I say we lack dps. I ask for things like banners reflects etc (btw the green censor is my name, so it shows u what I said sometimes there on the Wall). The stuff on the Wall is just a small sample of the responses I get. At no time do I curse or insult them (again ..do you count me telling a staff spamming celestial guard he is not dps an insult?) and I do not reply as soon as they throw a verbal insult. Find me an “elitist scum” that will apologize and explain why he has kicked a PUG not fitting his LFG when the PUG asks why. Please tell me a nicer way to say GTFO of my instance than “this group is probably not for you….”

Let me pose these questions to you: if I was the elitist monster you perceive, would I allow you to be in my instance long enough to wipe repeatedly on something that should be quotidian for people who fit my LFG post or long enough for you to get other PUGs to agree to kick me out of my own instance? Especially since I have my buddy with me and can get rid of you at the first sign of trouble. Also may I inquire as to why you and 2 other PUGs waited so long and put up with my ‘bad behavior’ until after I soloed to get the group to 2nd to kick? You always had the option to leave at any time if you found me so unbearable…

I am fully aware of the risks of PUGging. I reiterate that I speak not of the times when I join existing LFGs but of the times when I made my instance and my own group with stated requirements. Is it not the mantra of this MMO to play as you want? So tell me please, why is it “brutally mean” to state what you want and yes sometimes kick 20 PUGs who clearly did not have the decency to read or respect the LFG post before the 5 minute mark from your instance.

To be fair you probably had no idea it was my instance or my run. How can I make myself to look like a victim when the current system makes griefing a victimless crime? The perpetrators continue with impunity and the only relief is when I am lucky enough to reclaim my instance. There is no ownership and I cannot back up the claim that it is my run unless you count making the instance and posting the LFG. This goes back to what I said – instance ownership is necessary. Dc? Cannot be helped. Ragequit? Make your own instances and be safe from …oh wait, instead of rage quitting they can just kick you instead…
I appreciate those of you with helpful tips here. The reality is no matter how ‘nice’ you are, griefers will grief. The only certainty in PUG is that people look out for their own interests above all else and fear of losing their own progress in a run is the best motivation to get along and the best deterrent against a victimless crime.

Sorry if its a bit unclear. On rare occasions when I join a group, I do not usually say anything beyond the formalities and occasional banter and just follow along. If they choose to kick me, that is certainly their right to do so, no complaints here.

What is distressing is that all this happens when I make my own group, and get kicked from my own instance. Often times that means time wasted since I tend to go ahead and solo while waiting. Before the ownership changes, I had a failsafe. It was my instance, people knew and they either cooperated or they left – either way, problem solved. Sometimes I do have a friend with me, but it is hard for me to convince them that its necessary to kick sometimes – they are just very uncomfortable with the whole idea.

Myself, I am close to the meta but I have always made the necessary concessions – it is a PUG after all… When I do opt to JOIN a group for some reason instead of making my own, I am careful to select and in my experience:

“speed run” = how fast can I solo?
“NO RANGERS NO NECRO” : ..yea not gonna even…go near that…love my blue ranger…
“heavy preferred/only” = guard war go facetank for me while I range at 1200 plz with my staff mes, bow ranger etc etc…
“exp zerk” = I am not zerk but you better be so you can carry me kty
“ping gear, zerk, exp AP requirement etc” : Ok, a few things can happen -
1. we are all elite ‘zerk’ 10 k + AP but hey lets glitch mossman, archdiviner, ellen kiel and hell let’s do that JP so we can range mai trin from the top!
2. I am in fully ascended zerk gear, memorized all the pro vids so I gotta be pro right!? lets mindlessly stack up and it will magically negate all dmg and one shot all bosses!

Just a few things I am wary of which is why, again, I opt to make my own group so I can exercise a little quality control. Not having ownership of the instance frustrate my attempt at this. I would love nothing more than the deaf/mute mechanical efficiency groups that get things done.
Even when I say nothing, I have had my instance hijacked. If its not because I could not manage to res 4 downed people while Mai Trin and Horrik on me or during cannon rounds then because I refuse to participate in some glitch – which I make a very clear point to state at START of run. (no lupi skips, no mossman glitch, no wierdazz out of bounds safespot, no bear glitch molten zerker, no wall/elixer/FB/curtain/turrets/smokescreen/banners/spirits….NOTHING on wall plsssss) or a plethora of other reasons. Do you have any idea how sad it is to see a ranger face-tank solo Mossman @ 50 purely on GS evade for an hr while 2 guards and 1 mes lie dead and then have them kick me and replace with a war when I merely said “reflects help a lot” Its…sad.
Give me back instance ownership, I care not how other people play in THEIR groups, but in mine, let me play it MY way.

Hi,
PUGging have become a nightmare since instance ownership was abolished. I make my own groups and I post for what I want as specifically as I can. I am convinced that people do not read or care but I feel it is the proper way to make a group. Every day, it is almost a certainty that I will have my own instances hijacked and I consider it a very good day indeed if it was just once.
At least when ownership existed, I had only been kicked out of my own instance mostly by a certain well-known individual when I sold Arah paths. There were a few times when disgruntled PUGs would do it out of spite but it was rare and a tolerable risk. Those who know me can attest to how many times I have ranted to them after being kicked out of my own instance.
I have no assurances – no means of quality control when I make my own group and no way to enforce the requirements so I can play how I wanted to. When I post for experienced and 80 and dps, I want exactly that… It does not take me long to figure out if a player fits the post. If they do not, I usually ask them to leave as cordially as possible : “If you are not experienced, or do not know what AR is, or if you are not familiar with the dps meta, this group is not for you….drop pls”
This is when I usually find myself staring at a loading screen. It does not end there, but I pay no heed to personal insults, childish remarks and even death threats. Other times when I am feeling well enough, I just do my best to make things work. Even then, trying my best to go with what I have is no guarantee. Countless times I would be kicked at the last boss even after I carried the group that far in my own instance. If I joined a PUG and they kicked me at last boss, that is certainly unpleasant but I understand. Personally, I feel that if you joined a PUG, you agree to play the way that group wants you to and your spot on that group is a granted privilege that they can revoke any time. But if I make my own group, am I not entitled to what I ask for in my post so I can play the way I want with similarly-minded folks?
I think this is a familiar story for many dungeon runners who rely on the LFG. I am told I have THE worst luck with PUG. While that is debatable, the current system have made PUGging an absolute terror. Without instance owners, there is no protection against griefing. Let’s be honest, I have no delusion that reporting works, perhaps only for a few well documented incidences. Is this the intended way I am to PUG? Constantly recording every run, documenting every group with Screenshots? Furthermore I believe that reporting these numerous incidences is detrimental to the community and the game in the long run. Who in the dungeon community would rather investigate, verify and resolve these reports when the same time and resources can go to things like revamping older content, adding new and engaging gameplay and build on the game?
And so fellow PUGgers, I just slog on…but its always a bitter affair. But slog on I shall, and each day I add to my growing project….As thanks for your time, I present you a small portion of it. A picture tells more than the thousand words above… I call it: “Langrim’s Wall of Hate” and it tells my PUG story. Enjoy.