These posts and arguments need to stop. You cannot equate what is going on to win trading in the scope of other games. GW2 is not GW1. GW2 is GW2, where WvW is not fair and never will be. The fact that Anet in their infinite wisdom continues to run a tournament for a game mode that is inherently unfair is still an extremely questionable decision in my eyes, but the conspiracy theorist in me thinks is probably about gem sales.
Do I agree with servers emailing each other commander lists, communicating on the same TS, and trading wins to seal the deal? Heck no. I think it violates an area of the game where nobody should go. But the path was chosen to make sure a server didn’t win Season 2 and there is no “rule” saying they can’t.
Sadly, I think Season 2 could have been a lot more fun for all players involved if this agreement hadn’t taken place, and natural 2v1s other other organic forms of map politics took place instead. I truly do not believe that it was a guaranteed win for one side. This is my personal opinion though, which is obviously slanted by personal bias to some degree, so take what I say with that in mind. Although I’m a pretty fair minded person overall I think.
Also, since this is match discussion, it will get locked sadly. Sigh. I wonder if Anet has done any data analysis on WvW participation since the match discussion forum was closed down. Although, even if they have, I’m sure the proponents of changing the forum policy would call any reduction in activity as coincidence.
What alternatives has BG tried to get around the DDoS’ing? Besides constantly getting DDoSed and then telling people “We’re sucking because we cant use our TS”. I know it sucks, but if its happening 24/7, it’s not going to magically stop, so you’ll have to adapt. Have you tried changing server host, or even swapping from using TS to Mumble? I know TC’s mumble has been DDoSed, but it rarely fully goes down. Has the guild/person responsible for maintaining the BG community TS spoken with their server host? (Assuming its hosted by a company and not an individuals server box). I could be too that BG’s TS being DDoSed has nothing to do with GW2, but that it’s just being targetted for being a large TS (a possibility), that or some scummy player is just being a really annoying troll. Either way, I hope BG gets it all resolved soon!
All of the above and more. You might actually be surprised by the amount of effort that has already been put forth by several individuals to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this particular situation, it’s not easy.
It would be filled with players from other servers coming in to talk smack, and ultimately turn in to nothing but match discussion, which unfortunately has been disallowed. In short, no chance they’d do this.
GW2 shines as far as combat gameplay goes, and EOTM is currently shining a spotlight on what GW2 does best. Fighting.
Solid point Boulder, and oddly enough, it’s probably why I haven’t played the game in over a month, and may be done for good. I love the combat in this game, but realized that I’m kind of done with it. I may have been done with it for quite some time actually. What kept driving me over the past many months actually had more to do with PPT. Not just for winning and PPT, but the community building and organization process that it takes to get there. Rooting your team on, supporting when things are going bad, getting to know people while having fun in the process, and watching a lot of different egos and personalities put aside their issues and come together for a common goal.
I guess you could call that server pride to an extent. But after you get there, and remain there for a solid period of time, the drive inevitably fades. So it goes back to the fights, and I’ve struggled with motivation on that front. Those that still enjoy the fights now have a new place to do it, and if the encounters are more fun, then that’s where they’re going to be.
My DS focused Power Wells build for large group combat with the exact gear. Going full Ascended on the armor gains a decent chunk of Toughness with the infusions if you have the gold/stomach to craft a full set.
I find 2,700 armor to be just fine, especially running Melandru+Lemongrass and of course proper use of DS and Plague form. This build focuses on 100% crit in DS after dropping WoS, and of course boon/condi management and other forms of stack disruption.
Right now, the Necro class most excels at large group (zerg) WvW. It’s not a terrible roamer, but not the greatest either, due mainly to basically having zero escape options. The Warrior on the other hand excels in both areas, and in sPvP to boot. Warriors are just a more well rounded class, as evidenced by the bazillion of them you see out there nowadays.
My main is a Necro, and I enjoy the class very much, but that’s mostly because large group WvW is just about all I do. If that’s not your cup-o-tea, roll Anet’s favorite class.
I know people who said they had to wait an hour just to log onto the server (not WvW, the server; during Leagues).
Wait. What? You’re saying they were unable to load a character onto the server at all? If that’s what you’re saying, those “people you know” lied to you. I played every week during seasons, never had a spot where I couldn’t log into the server, and while yes there were queues I had no problem getting into WvW reliably and getting my achievements done and gaining plenty of WvW ranks without even trying.
Yes BG has more players actively participating in WvW than the other server right now. But that will change. It always has and always will until they turn the lights off on the game.
Only the 1st place server in the three leagues (gold, silver, bronze) were awarded with dolyak finishers. It was confusing because Devon used some poor wording in the mid season update that he later corrected.
As with everything in this game, it depends on what you’re doing. I mainly play in large group WvW encounters, so I take Axe Training. Not necessarily for the damage, but for the cooldown reduction on Axe #3, which is a great skill in the format I mostly play.
By the way, Ascii does still play this build in large group WvW. A link to the current build can be found on his Twitch stream channel page here http://www.twitch.tv/gw2ascii, along with live streams and GvG highlight footage showing the build in action.
What rings and accessories and Backpiece would you reccomend?
One other question why assassin weapons over zerker? I thought the maths had been conclusively proven about power vs precision. Maybe im crazy, but i thought i read a long thread on that somewhere? Same for sharp stones?
is it for the bleeding procs?
Full Cavalier for Rings and Back. Ascii added in Assassin weapons to be able to go full Cavalier jewelry and still hit 50% crit chance. I’m not sure on the exact significance of the 50% mark, but I’m sure there is some math theory out there somewhere. Anyhoo, the purpose for Precision in his build is to amplify on crit sustain effects from Vampiric, Vampiric Precision and Sigils of Blood. Your mileage may vary though. You can also run this build for more raw damage by going more Power to the loss of crit based siphon procs.
Ascii,
I’ve been playing a full condition necro for quite a while now and with the latest round of nerfs, I’m very seriously considering switching my build. My question is: what is the “play style” of your Well-o-mancer build? Meaning: Can you describe what weapon/utility combos/progressions you use (and why) and under what circumstances you use them?
Ascii often streams during his guild’s primetime, which starts about 5:30pm server time. http://www.twitch.tv/gw2ascii You can get a good look at how he plays the build by watching during this time.
The build basically plays as front/mid line havoc with moderate DPS and very good survivabiliy. It revolves around Wells, Axe 3 (5 boon rips and 20 seconds of Retal) + WH 5 (walking cripple machine) then Plague to disrupt a stack and/or back line and Staff for utility. It also uses high crit chance for a bit of health sustain and a little DPS via siphons (traits and sigils).
That’s a bit of a sky is falling outlook I think, and agree with those here that say it’s a combination of a post-Season 1 hangover, the Winter event, and holidays/finals. Try to think back to a few weeks before Season 1 started, add in the holiday season and there you have it. Those that enjoy WvW for what it is will always be around, with peaks and valleys in participation depending on what it going on. Those that were playing just for Season 1 or the achievements/hope for epic loots we likely won’t see until Season 2 if at all.
It’s because Anet, for some unfathomable reason, still hasn’t tied transfer costs to average WvW participation, something I suggested many months ago. Having it based on total server population is completely meaningless and ineffective.
I’ve yet to see any real math that shows that precision is better than power. People overvalue these last few % of crit they need to reach the cap, when it isn’t worth sacrificing the power.
I haven’t either. Although, this is the best math I’ve seen that details the optimum Power to Prec ratio at various Crit Damage levels …
The #7 Utility is kind of a floater depending on the situation, and I sometimes have Chilling Darkness traited instead of Banshee’s Wail. I also sometimes change some traits for LB focus build when fighting unorganized or non-guild forces.
Since we play in a timezone where only T1 have coverage, that would be a no.
Do you guys really have that much coverage on the other servers at those times? I’m sure it’s better during holidays and summer, but being EU I imagine you don’t see too many organized guild groups anymore do you?
JQ has a SEA guild that plays during EU prime, along with a militia commander that HB, RK and company says they have a fun time fighting. That’s about it right now though from what I understand. With Coin headed back to EU this week the EU slot is sort of back to where things were before IRON came NA side. A French guild may be looking at SoR but I don’t know where that stands.
To answer the OP’s question. Frankly, no. I’ve been on BG since day one and I’m all-in with the community, which is just an incredible group of people and guilds. No queue can overcome that, and with EotM I’ll have something to do while queued.
Fighting the same servers most of the time (can get boring) vs. unbalanced matches (can be frustrating AND boring depending on what side of coin you’re on). Pick your poison. Personally, I’d take less variance, even if it means fighting the same teams week after week.
Yeah, as Jayne pointed out, as of the last patch you can obtain an Ascended Back item without stepping foot in a single Fractal. The mats will run you about 100g assuming you have none on hand, and you should be overflowing with Bloodstone Dust just from running WvW unless all you do is roam and kill other players.
KnT is in the video. In the broader online space, we go by Knight Gaming. Unfortunately due to a typo it was listed as “Knights Gaming” heh. Ah well those things happen.
As far as HC goes, as said above, only guilds who submitted a video and guild information were included in the guild montage. Every guild, large and small played a part in the season though.
Not sure what adversity BuyingbreadGate had when they had ZDS to pvd every night… It could have been fun and close if they didn’t recruit that guild, heh.
Yeah no doubt. One guild can really change everything. 0.o
We realize you are a recent transfer to BG so don’t have the full history of Tier 1 back in the day…
That said, you will have missed what happened when IRON first joined the fray and triggered SOR’s first gold medal victory alongside reeling off another 5++ more weeks of gold medals. BG is so honorable and mature, am sure none of your server mates came to the forum to do da qq back in those days,
Again, no big deal, you are a recent transfer so wasn’t around during this time so you wouldn’t remember what “One guild” playing at a 6 hour window during the other servers off peak can have on duh ppt.
Your sarcasm could use some work. Anyways, here is what I said about that at the time. It was easy to find because it’s on page 1 of my top rated posts.
Not sure what adversity BuyingbreadGate had when they had ZDS to pvd every night… It could have been fun and close if they didn’t recruit that guild, heh.
Yeah no doubt. One guild can really change everything. 0.o
That was changed then, because originally it was the top 3 worlds from each league get gold, silver and bronze respectively.
Actually it wasn’t. It was described incorrectly by Devon in the Mid-Season report, which he later went back and corrected.
A couple notes regarding the finisher:
1) Only the 1st place server in the Gold, Silver and Bronze leagues get the finisher
2) It is not in the chest. It is sent to you in the in-game mail.
3) If you logged into the game on a server after Season 1 started that did not finish in 1st place, then later transferred to a server that did finish in 1st place, your reward will be based on the original server and you will not get a finisher.
@Liquid
I have a homemade damage calculator and according to it, your build does much better damage than Ascii’s (about 4-6% depending on the weapons set). This calculator also shows damage optimality and it indicates you still have a bias toward precision. On Ascii’s build, this imbalance in compensated for by siphon procs but your build has none of these — it is very much a damage-centric build. As such, I’d recommend switching the Sigil of Accuracy for Bloodlust. At 25 stacks, it will increase damage by 10%. The added power also brings your ratios between power, precision and crit damage closer together. I worry a bit about the armor on this build being on the light side but it is very well constructed and achieves nice damage while preserving the passive defense combo of Melandrus and Lemongrass. Additionally, if you ran Reaper’s Might, your damage could jump to obscene levels for a tank.
Impressive work.
Just for clarity sake, myself and Ascii both have swap Warhorns with Bloodlust sigils on them that we equip to 25 stacks, then swap to the weapon with Accuracy.
Regarding Reaper’s Might, I have it traited sometimes, depending on the situation, but what I linked is kind of my general all around zerg set up. Having that extra source of Retal uptime in addition to Axe #3 can add some decent extra damage in a zerg fight with a lot of damage flying around, and it’s pretty rare for me to sit in DS spamming Life Blasts enough to get more than 2 or 3 might stacks.
When I do trait Reaper’s Might, I usually pair it with Unyielding Blasts and Deathly Perception for maximum impact.
“The winning world in each league will unlock a stack of supply dolyak finishers for their use in WvW and PvP. 1st place in the gold league will get a gold dolyak, 1st place in the silver league a silver dolyak, and 1st place in the bronze league a bronze dolyak.”
The post you quoted above was likely just poorly stated, as the tone of the words used definitely slants towards it being unlimited until the next season, without specifically saying “unlimited”.
7th in EU gold league:
2 green
3 liquid world experience (3x 5k)
mini dolyak
100 dragonite ore
100 empyreal fragments
5 scrolls of knowledge
5 tomes of knowledge
essence of luck (legendary)
It looks like “markedly better” equates to:
-2 Liquid WXP
+4 Tome of Knowledge
+4 Green items
+4 Yellow items
or thereabouts depending on the RNG.
I’m not sure how most people define “markedly”, but really?
Well, they accomplished the very opposite, going forward who’s going to give a rip about doing anything in wvw with no permanent decent items for finishing near at the top or near the top. Why stay at a keep and scout for a complete failure of a heavy decent reward, may as well just tag along with the zerg. Pathetic.
The same people that have been giving a rip for the past year.
Somewhere deep down, Anet developers know that if they make WvW rewards more appealing than other areas of the game, particularly areas that are instanced or can overflow, too many reward chasers will swarm WvW and fill maps that can only handle a set number of players. This will place many PvPers who like the game mode into queues (broken queues I should point out) essentially cutting out the reason the game mode exists in the first place.
Yeah as said above, this is how it typically works in tournaments. Just because two teams tie it doesn’t mean the next ranked team automatically moves up a spot. This includes the Olympics by the way. If two competitors receive a gold medal, there is no silver medal awarded, and the 3rd place competitor receives a bronze medal. 4th place gets a set of steak knives.
Devon already said the finisher would be temporary until Season 2. However, I was hoping the “a stack of …” description in the original Season 1 announcement was just poor wording. It should have been permanent until Season 2, then wiped.
I guess Devon should have worded the mid-season report like this …
“On top of that, participating players on the top world in every league will be receiving a special finisher that represents their success. Remind your enemies of your battlefield prowess A WHOPPING 250 TIMES with a gold, silver, or bronze finisher!”
And here come the complaints. Sensible people have been saying they’d be mediocre at best for weeks. Makes you curious about how things would have played out if the chest contents per placement were announced ahead of time.
I’ve noticed you use 1 zerker ring and energy sigils over blood? Reason?
I was playing with Sigils for awhile. I’m currently back to Blood. The zerker ring was used to get me to my goal of 2,000 Power without losing other offensive stats.
Well it was a good season. Some closing insults thoughts.
BG went all out going for first, and succeeded, with a bunch of terrible baddies who got farmed but then bailed out by off hours coverage all the class and style we’ve come to expect from that server!
JQ is the server that never says die except when fighting BlackGate when we get outmanned bonuses during primetime.. Kudos for a hard fought second place finish! We should all be ashamed and drink more heavily than usual.
SoR had some real bad players luck this season. Still, they never stopped trying. to be BG’s Jr. server, haha chumps played for second and came in fourth, beautiful.. Nothing but respect for these brave forum warriors!
Tarnished Coast, the blobbiest server outside of t1 little server that could! The adorable puppy in the eyes of the Gold League community, gosh they try so hard we’re all so proud that JQ gave them they earned third place! Surely their hilariously pathetic chest thumping good spirits are a joke well deserved! Great karma trains fights, guys!
And of course, SoS a server that left no impression and had no impact whatsoever that certainly deserved to be here with the rest of us! They missed the memo to tank for Silver League held their own no doubt!
And last, and least only in the eyes of everyone ppt, Maguuma. Ah what would gold league be without Maguuma? (competitive?) Keep up the ineffective trolling good work!
Well, I think we can all agree that Season 1 Gold League was an embarrassment that highlighted everything wrong with WvW good time for everyone! Here’s to getting so inebriated we forget it happened next week!
LOL! Quoting for epicness. Sloth, with this post and others from you along the way, you’ve now cemented yourself as my favorite forum goer from JQ.
