Guild Wars 2

Another completely unnecessary nerf. Does anyone at Anet actually play hardcore Druid? Every nerf has been a kneejerk reaction from PvP without any thought to how it affects PvE or the content it was designed for: Raids. I’ve advocated over and over again that Anet needs to stop with trying to balance between three incredibly different game modes. It cannot be done, and let’s face it, you only care about eSports revenue anyway.

Nerfing baseline healing values is obviously going to make all off-heal builds become nonviable, namely Viper’s. Where is the build diversity here? Forcing people to run Magi’s gear to be an effective healer is shoehorning Druid into a Raid-only spec. I don’t think I need to go into details why this is a terrible design and direction.

If you are trying to cull the power creep HoT created (which was clearly going to happen from the get-go), then it needs to be across the board. Ranger has had huge problems that needed to be addressed for 3 years before it was “reinvented” into Druid. If you want to make vanilla classes viable again, Ranger was certainly the worst class the start with, since it flat out needs a rework to be viable in today’s meta. Not only does it have poor DPS options, pets are a function the majority of Ranger mains want to become optional or outright gone. The couple of buffs Ranger are forced to build are not enough to carve out any sort of definitive role, which is why the “Healer” band-aid worked at all.

We as a community need some justification and reasoning for drastic changes like this. The company’s transparency became a hard wall of PR when MO took over, and the players have definitely noticed. New management has finally started to deliver, but the relationship and trust still hasn’t been rebuilt almost a full year later.

jheryn.8390:

Ubi.4136:

I don’t see how this is any different than any other raiding requirement. Be thankful they told you in advance.

What other “raiding requirement” is there? None.

Ubi.4136:

If you are not willing to put in the time and effort necessary to clear a raid, don’t raid. (doesn’t that sound familiar?)

I guess you are choosing to ignore that many posters here who say they are being forced to play PvE in order to raid to the end. Even though raids are poorly deemed PvE, many people who don’t PvE love to raid. Now they are forced to PvE in order to play content they wish to play.

It isn’t advancing in level to play in higher level maps or gain crafting ability. It isn’t progressing a story like getting to the end in DS. This is making them play a genre of GW2 they don’t wish to play but are now forced to do so.

For them it isn’t putting in time and effort to do something for them it is more like “You have to play this different/unrelated game before you can play the game you actually want to play.”

First of all, fighting raid bosses in ANY game is the very definition of PvE… trying to argue that raids are not PvE so you shouldn’t have to do preexisting content is beyond silly. You literaly can only earn HoT mastery exp and earn Hot mastery points in HoT maps. It’s very much so “advancing in level to play in higher level maps”. Secondly, Ascended crafting/gear IS a requirement. It may not be a literal requirement, but you will not find a group that will let you join them in exotics and for good reason. +5% damage across 10 people is important when half of the bosses are DPS races.

In no MMORPG are you going to have new end game content that doesn’t require a grind and new qualifications. Masteries are always going to be evolving. That was the entire point of introducing them- to streamline adding new mechanics and abilities in a continuous and concise format. Really, from day one it was officially announced that Masteries will be connected to raids content. Also, you have no idea how Leyline Gliding will be introduced into the game or if there will be mechanics added to it. If they can arbitrarily add bombs and health packs to Shatter while gliding, they can do so much more in raids. Your ignorance here is what would cripple the creativity and intrigue of raids. And again, raids are HARD, ENDGAME content. You know, the stuff that has been demanded by the community for years. It’s not for casuals or even for the entire PvE demographic. People who aren’t willing to put forth effort into preparing for and learning the mechanics of them are not going to complete them. That’s just how endgame works and it makes or breaks an RPG’s longevity, which Anet is clearly looking towards expansion.

Raiding is end-game, hard content. I thought it was assumed that Masteries would be play a big role and be necessary. Why would they even exist otherwise? The Mastery system was put into place so the game can be streamlined to more easily grow and have new added mechanics. To complain that you don’t want to acquire them to do new upcoming content is just silly.

Minstrel’s Character: X-Men’s Storm

Sample Pics:

http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w1000-h500-q90-c1000:500/wp-content/uploads/Xmen-Apocalypse-Storm-Differences.jpg

http://static6.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/14/148344/3409899-tormenta3tb.jpg

What I had in mind for my Storm was the modern short-haired, leather-clad lady of sparking kitten-ery. As pointed out to me, I had envisioned the movie version of our favorite weather-girl.

Race: Sylvari
Sex: Male/Female
Profession: Druid/Chronomancer
Skin: The Raven Staff/Glittering Wings Backpack

Issue: Things that have semi-transparent or glowing effects have weird interactions with any water (and anything with similar distortion effects, like dungeon entrance portals) in the environment. On the actual item, these effects completely disappear when the camera is view them intersecting water/portals. On my example with The Raven Staff, you can see it’s glow disappearing from the staff itself but reflected in the water. I know this problem also happens to the Glittering Wings Backpack, where the semi-transparent dragonfly wings will just get cut off altogether and only the parts overlaid onto water/portals will show.