Guild Wars 2

That is the Witch’s Outfit. It is generally available for purchase during the Halloween event.

Yea I had Terror as a Trait and Reaper’s Protection Trait for the fear on stuns and also Fear of Death in the Soul Reaper trait tree. Then the Runes, Staff for #5 and Spectral Wall. Also Well of Corruption for the possibility of converting stability to fear.

LastDay… we thought that too. Maybe we were going against another necro with a similar build. But like I said, it happened when fighting a guardian once definitely. This was all small group fights… no more than 4 to 5 per side. All open field right near Durios.

Later, after I switched back to Power Wells, we went back to that area and fought in the same location and no fears present. Course, maybe the people I was fighting had changed… I can’t say for certain.

But when I was running that Terrormancer build it was like fears all over the place for both sides. It was kinda nuts.

So last night I pulled out some Dire Armor that I had equipped with my Superior Runes of the Nightmare that had been sitting in my bank since last year. Back in the day before they nerfed the Terror trait, I used to run a Terrormancer build and had a lot of fun with it in WvW. But after the nerf and with the growing demands for Wellomancer Necros in my guild and server, I switched… first to Condi Wells and then to Power Wells which I have had since.

I was hoping, post patch, with the changes to the Nightmare Runes that running a Terrormancer in havok or other small group situations in WvW would be fun.

I found an unexpected side effect and I wanted to see if others had experienced this. Some guildies and I went into EBG last night looking for a fight and I was all Terrormancered out with Fear on down, stuns, staff, spectral wall, converting stability and the runes of course. Yea I was fearing the enemy, but I found that the fears were being cast back on me and my guildies. I mean, I would fear an enemy, but it would also fear us. I got downed once and I feared the enemies, my guildies, and myself (though I was down and couldn’t actually run away).

We couldn’t tell if may be one of the enemies had a Terrormancer spec running or if there was something else going on. Somebody said that a Mesmer might have some sort of condition reflecting ability, but it happened once on a Guardian, with no Mesmer in sight.

Also, Fear changed slightly in the patch with this line from the patch notes: Fear: This condition now functions as an interrupt and will trigger on interrupt functionalities. and I am wondering if there is a side effect from how fear is processed now.

Anybody play around with a Terrormancer spec yet post patch and experience this same issue? I still think power wells is the best spec for zerg fighting, but I was hoping that may be Terrormancer might make a comeback. But if I am fearing my team along with theirs it kinda defeats the purpose.

Your thoughts?

I am from SBI.

All of this back and forth about why SBI isn’t in the lead or what “could be” IF this or that were happening, in my view, is fruitless.

Straight up Yak’s Bend is beating us this week. It is what it is. And kudos to YB for holding it together.

Of course the reports of spy griefing and hacking set aside as people who engage in that kind of behavior are just pathetic cry babies without a thumb to suck on… no matter what server they are on… I have seen some organization from YB, quick responses to threats, and… yes… numbers.

As for double-teaming… it is a legitimate tactic and one that any server needs to have a response to if they are double teamed. Improvise, adapt and overcome… don’t whine about it. Course, when you team up with another server to attack a third, you run the risk of coming out in last place like Ehmry Bay is seeing right now. Didn’t quite work out for them like they were hoping, did it? May make them think better next time of allowing another server to get the upper hand in an alliance.

I think all achievements in WvW should be removed entirely from the three BLs and EB. (reserve them only for the Edge of the Mists Map if they need to exist at all). I think instead of achievements a static reward system should be implemented for each server based on their season performance in PPT scoring.

As you mention, achievements run counter productive to strategic gameplay. They junk up the server population with loot hounds and achievement junkies that would rather help themselves than help the server team.

I just thought of this in the other thread about Golem Griefing, but wanted to post it in its own thread for the WvW team.

Currently guild siege has the advantage of being cheaper, supplywise, to make than other siege. Some of the blueprints for guild siege can only be made through guild crafting… but here is my idea that might help give guild siege a bit more focus and help with some of this griefing stuff we are hearing about.

Retask guild siege (and add blueprints for all kinds that can be purchased or guild crafted) to be specific to the guild that drops it. You can keep it supply cheap or not I don’t care, but really the advantage in using it becomes that only the guild dropping it can use it. Since most WvW and half time WvW guilds tend to run together and use siege in a coordinated way when they do (in TS or some other voice system), this would allow them to have golems in their spawn (for example) to ensure that only people they know that are going to work with them can use the siege.

Same with strategically located ACs or RAMs. Also, I think it is important that this guild siege look different when dropped and are set to be built. So instead of looking like the stone base with some planks sticking up, it might be a steal base with light colored wood planks sticking up making with an aura or something so that it visibly looks different than the regular or superior siege. That would help prevent siege griefing (like throwing down a ballista at door when people are trying to build rams).

So in summation, a) add blueprints for all siege, b) make guild seige only usable by the guild that throws it, c) make “siege-to-be-built” visibly different when thrown from regular and superior siege.

These seem like easily implemented ideas that won’t take too much extra programming and can be easily tested.

Thoughts?

For as much as I am happy to see buffs for the MM builds out there, sadly, minion AI is still crap and this is the biggest problem with MM builds. Especially in WvW. sPvP has enjoyed better use of MM builds, but really the AI has to change before MM builds are on par with condition builds or even power builds. Glad to hear, though, that ppl are getting better results with the minions.

I really think we should have an attack button for the minions, but NO stop attacking button. Attack button for directing them, but they are mindless undead things. When a zombie starts eating brains it doesn’t want to stop. So why should my minions not enjoy juicy brains?

Please don’t change this to water. I like that it gives retaliation on blasting. Needs to stay that way.

Give us a utility blast finisher instead. Like Signet of the Locust “active” skill steals health and blast finishes (locusts burst forth from the necro to steal health and finish a combo field… it can fit lorewise).

Oh and I agree CC is the best heal skill. But Well of Blood is something you could equip depending on the situation you are facing (like choke point in WvW or certain boss mechanics).

DONT buff your Minions Health. Buff your ability to cast them faster and make sure you have death nova. Death Nova can be blasted as a poison field. Plus, Putrid Explosion and Necrotic Traversal are blast finishers (so that is 3 blast finishers dropping 3 death novas when they kill the minions).

Thus, Get bone minions, flesh wurm and corrosive poison cloud (well of suffering or corruption is good too, but it is just blindness they blast) as your utilities (Blood fiend and golem for your other skills). Run to a group of mobs in a dungeon, don’t range. Have your staff up with #4 ready to go. Drop the Wurm first, then Corrosive poison cloud, Necrotic Traversal to blast the cloud, staff 4 to blast it again, and by that time your bone minions should have caught up to you so blast them once and then twice. It does damage for the four blasts plus stacks the poison duration on the mobs. Have your flesh golem knock the mobs down and then back off and range finish them.

Alternatively you can take well of blood for your healy skill and that blast finishes for retaliation. So let them hit you and kill themselves as you blast 4 times to stack your retaliation and also drop death novas as well. The only problem with that is a death nova might supercede the well of blood blast when you drop it the first time, so might not work out like you might hope. I need to test that on my MM.

I remember last year all of the countless threads about the Clock Tower JP people complaining it was too hard and kitten you Anet for tying achievements to it.

But as I said last year, I have never had so much fun on a JP as I did on that Clock Tower. And since then I have done all of the JPs (save one) in the game and still, the Clock Tower is the most fun I have had trying to learn and complete a JP in this game.

It was nice this time to go back to it and see if I could remember how to complete it. Took me 6 hours the first time to figure it all out (didn’t want to look at videos to help me) and 30 minutes this time to remember it. And in both instances I laughed and had a great time.

It is kinda cool to be in a place where I am reminiscing about something I had fun with a year ago. Thanks Anet for putting out a great game!

Listen… I know you guys are working kitten the Living Story and I think that is great. It is nice to see the world changing and cool stuff getting added and it is all quality material showing off your talent… kudos.

But honestly, there is one over arching lack of closure in this game’s story for me and that is which of the dragons is next. Or at least, when should be expect to know.

I know that might not seem like much and you are wringing your hands with anticipation at the release of this information at a time when you can maximize the drama of it. But honestly, it is just starting to get old.

For a second, don’t think that I am going to just wait with baited breath on your every word and every thing you release every 2 weeks is going to draw me into the game more and more… cause it isn’t. The speed of the updates isn’t making me want to be involved in the game more, it is making me numb to new content.

I think that if I at least understood the basic timetable for when we can expect the new epic “whatever” against dragon 2/5 then these paths into Scarlet or dungeon updates or whatever is next won’t seem so pointless to me.

Honestly, I am starting not to care. You promised us 5 dragons… after a year in this game at least give us some idea when we can expect the next one.

Sincerely,

Everyman

Yes I have the same issue. What is the deal?

The Swiftness Veterans for Truth are not affliated with Evon Gnashblade or the Black Lion Trading Company. We are here to shine a light on Ellen Kiel and her questionable leadership. People have been talking about these issues and we wanted people to know the truth!

Awesome I love both videos. (course I am a Gnashblade supporter so the first one was my favorite)

The “Swiftness Veterans for Truth” are here to support the Evon Gnashblade campaign. Though we are not affliated with Gnashblade or the Black Lion Trading company, we cannot allow a person of questionable motives and ambitions like Kiel to be elected to the Council in Lion’s Arch.

Vote out Ellen Kiel! Vote for Gnashblade!!!

Swiftness Veterans for Truth!!!!!

With the coming election the Swiftness Veterans for Truth are here to separate lies from fiction from politics and slander. We are here to get the word out that Ellen Kiel is WRONG FOR LION’S ARCH! Don’t be fooled but slick propaganda about Kiel. The Truth will be known. Vote Evon Gnashblade and send a message to the ruling Council of Lion’s Arch that it is the People that are really in charge!

(I love Machinima. And have wanted to do a GW2 Machinima. So with this coming election Living Story chapter I got an idea to do this video. I hope you enjoy it. The Charr was the hardest to get the mouth to move on and make it look presentable. Also the Sylvari in Southsun was a bit difficult but in the end it kinda looks like his words are being incorrectly represented by the slanderous political video [which is the point] so I kept it that way).

With the coming election the Swiftness Veterans for Truth are here to separate lies from fiction from politics and slander. We are here to get the word out that Ellen Kiel is WRONG FOR LION’S ARCH! Don’t be fooled but slick propaganda about Kiel. The Truth will be known. Vote Evon Gnashblade and send a message to the ruling Council of Lion’s Arch that it is the People that are really in charge!

http://youtu.be/KDx6EcE7OjU

(I got inspired when I saw we were going to have an election and had been looking for a machinima project to sink my teeth in. I hope you enjoy this and find it entertaining. It is Tongue in Cheek, of course.) VOTE GNASHBLADE!!!

Seventh Abyss presents… “STAMPEDE!!!!”

Enjoy.

Yea this is the dumbest thing. Why would you put something like this in place where guild members get locked (not left) behind the rest of their guild. Literally on the Angvar’s Trove… I was on the cannons trying to help my guildies get through the frozen walls, and they got through, and I was trapped behind and didn’t get to complete the challenge. How dumb. When they get beyond that point they should have the ability to open a door for me so I can get through to the next area.

In honor of ANet expanding instrument selection in GW2, and because most of the GW2 sheet music out there is tailored to bells, wanted to post something truly horn based.

Taps

225-257-257-257-257~-57²-752-225~

legend:
“-” indicates a rest of a beat
“[]” indicates higher octave (hit 0 to get to higher octave)
“~” indicates a sustain (hold down the key for an extra beat)

Good to play when you enter WvW with your guild and are getting ready to pwn.

:)

I didn’t really have time to read all of these posts and I apologize for that. I am sure there are a lot of great ideas as the community is infinitely creative. I did want to share my idea and if somebody has already thought of this, then they get the credit, certainly.

I was thinking of a Necro related condition that we might add and I thought of “nausea”. As necros are dealing with dead things, nothing is more disgusting than the rotting dead and that would induce “nausea” in the opponent, be it npc or pvp.

Nausea can also be a condition of Warriors in a “gut punch” or in rangers with maybe a skill based on releasing spores or possibly in creating sickness from noxious fumes from certain pets. I am sure with a little thought, there are other classes where “nausea” fits.

As for the actual effect that Nausea might create, I think there is room for a condition that drops the vitality of the affected person for the duration of the condition. That is to say, it doesn’t do actual damage to the afflicted, but reduces their maximum vitality (sort of like Deep Wounds did in GW1). So the health pool has a silver percentage at the top that appears when Nausea is on the enemy. Be they Npc or player. During the duration of that condition, if a player or npc tries to heal, they can’t heal above the percentage that is afflicted by Nausea.

For example, Lets say I have 100% of my health pool. That is 20000 health. Then I am afflicted with Nausea for 10 seconds and that condition does 10% (arbitrary figure) health reduction to me. My health suddenly drops to 18000 and my health orb has a silver area at the top that represents 2000 health I no longer have access to. Now if I take another 5000 damage from, whatever else, and then I try to heal while I am still afflicted with Nausea, my health doesn’t go above 18000 health.

Other condition options might be:

-Stacks in intensity
-Untraited the condition allows the user to recover the missing health when the condition ends and traited it doesn’t
-If purged or consumed, the missing health is restored (along with whatever other heals apply there) but if it expires the health is not restored.

I hope you get the idea. Just a thought off of the top of my head. I hope you will consider it.

Open on Darkhaven.

Hey had a suggestion for the legendary, Meteorlogicus. A graphics suggestion.

It is kinda the red-headed step child of legendaries cause it has no foot prints or other secondary animations. It is a scepter that is an Orrey where the planets revolve around the scepter as its primary animation.

My suggestion is, what if when you wield it, a couple of planets or a cloud or two revolve around the player as they move around? Small and unobtrusive, but still visible and cool. Sorta like the player with Meteorlogicus is the center of their own personal universe.

I don’t know why you didn’t put footsteps or another secondary animation, except maybe you didn’t want to overuse that effect. But here is a suggestion for an alternative that can kick this legendary up a notch on the coolness scale while not conforming to all of the footsteppers.

Thanks.

My feeling is that ANet will make sinks for things like Candy Corn, Butter, Black Lion Chest… things that are flooding the market and not work jack right now. I think they understand the issue and will definitely take some steps in the future. They have been pretty good about that in my view.

Yea this is consistent with borderline shady marketing practices imho. Please remember this, ANet, when it comes to your gem store… it is not a game. Yea the items are for a game, but you are dealing with people’s pocket books and playing marketing word games will only make customers mad… not appreciative. It was still a discount on the keys… but not nearly what you indicated.

Well done to the community posters that pointed this out and is keeping ANet honest.

As for the story in the launch event, I am sad to say that it didn’t live up to the hype. So I mention it last. Phase 1 I will score a “C” because although it did have cutscenes to mark the beginning and ending, which was good so that players know what was going on, the middle piece (not talking about the lag) was kinda lame. Players just zerged one event of mobs on the south side of LA and then the event was over. You hyped the event as “Defend Lion’s Arch” and “Retake Lion’s Arch” so, though I am not saying you directly indicated that Lion’s Arch would be overrun with Karka for a day… it should have been. That would have been fun, in my view. Then phase 2 could have been really retaking LA from the Karka. I think an opportunity as something awesome was missed there, so that is why I score phase 1 as a “C”. Also, the light house being destroyed was not, emotionally, a big enough change to LA to make me remotely care that the Karka invaded. You should have destroyed the bridge and the Asura gates as well. That would have gotten my attention. Could have temporarily moved the gate system to those unbuilt gates that they are working on.

Phase 2 gets a “D” unfortunately. It was extremely confusing, the start of the event. We should have had a cutscene showing the boat enter the harbor. The building of the Trebuchet took entirely too long. I started on my server wondering when it would start and then suddenly we had a repeat of the karka invasion. It was very brief. I guess a testament to the new acid that we coated our weapons with, but in less than 15 minutes the whole thing was over and the Ancient Karka was gone. One of my guildies was on an overflow telling me the invasion hadn’t started there so I went there and was able to see the boat coming into the harbor and watch them build the Treb… but again… that was very long and drawn out and then on the overflow… the invasion event never happened. Eventually we just went to Southsun Cove and didn’t care anymore. Now following the events on Southsun as the Lionsguard moved across the island setting up outposts and stuff… that was pretty cool. I like the trees being chopped down.. that was neat. So it wasn’t a total failure, phase 2. Credit for that.

Finally phase 3 I will give a “B+”. It was really long but action packed so that was appreciated. The loot at the end was also very nice and I felt like the effort had payed off. But again, we had people reporting problems with lag and disconnects. I had a client crash and though I started on my server I ended the event on an overflow. But I did end the event, some other unfortunates didn’t get that. And I know you are working on a fix for that so kudos. The cutscene at the end was cool. Especially the “horror” movie ending where the bad guy seems to come back for one last stab. Had a laugh on that one. The only other negative thing I have to say is that there is a problem with how you render mobs and players together in these large events. The common problem I dealt with as we went through the different phases of the event were that mobs weren’t showing up on my screen. They were there cause a) people were shooting at something and b) I was dying for no apparent reason, but I just wasn’t seeing them. I have a high end ATI card, and I tried different quality graphics levels but mostly it made no difference. Rendering mobs needs to be the priority over other players. I know it is a social game but in a big zerg group like that, it really doesn’t matter if you don’t see your other people AS MUCH as seeing the mob that is killing you. I’d say on a priority rendering scale, it should be group members first, NPCs, mobs, downed or dead players, other players. Yea it might look like only 4 other people are fighting the mobs with you, but that is preferrable to not seeing the dangers around you in my view.

So overall, the event gets a C+ from me and the new content gets an A. Just wanted to shared my humble opinion on the Lost Shores weekend to help improve future events. Hope you appreciate and recieve this in the spirit in which it was given. Thanks.

This is my humble opinion thread on the Lost Shores event. I gave the same elsewhere for the halloween event.

The Halloween event turned out to be a huge success in my opinion so I was pumped up for the Lost Shores weekend. Since this event was a kick off for the new, permanent content in the game (Fractals of the Mists and Southsun Cove), I’ll talk about each part separately.

Fractals of the Mists dungeon is really cool. “A+” from me. I got to play the first round of Fractals during the weekend and I was really impressed with the level of detail and thought that went into each of the Fractals I played. Very cool. And I think you are on to something with how a dungeon run can go. Couple it with a group finder and you might change the way we play dungeons in an MMO. Looking forward to playing more.

Southsun Cove, though I haven’t played it yet post launch event, is another beautiful zone up to par with the quality standard that we have come to expect from GW2. My score is an “A”. The jumping puzzles are fun and challenging, looking forward to completing them. The challenge of the mobs (since it is geared for level 80) appears to be just a slight step up from Cursed Shore which is good as there is new ascended gear in the game and we need that challenge. I am looking forward to what you will do with that zone post event.

So again, the new content that sticks in the game was and is awesome. A real credit to your design team for rolling something like this out, so quickly after launch, which in other MMOs would mean an expansion purchase or other money making scheme. Yet it was free and paying for anything during the event was optional. Another “A” in my view.

The kickoff had its issues, as you know. There were many bugs with the NPCs on the two investigation mission lines (Noll, Fabid, Canach) and then there was the lag. Credit to the live team for taking steps to fix this stuff during the event, but quality checks should have routed out these issues before hand. Always assume that player will be doing each of these things is mass numbers AND if there is any fight events associated with NPCs, they will zerg them into oblivion. Seemed to me like that should have been apparent. I will give you a pass on the lag as I don’t think you have ever had a full test of putting massive numbers of people in the same area AND having them fight mobs simultaneously on all worlds. I know you try to replicate such a situation in BETA but you don’t really get the numbers that you have now that the game is launched. AND you made an adjustment and later, similar world events with fighting going on did not have the lag we saw during phase 1 in Lion’s Arch. So well done on fixing that. Scoring the quality of the event push I would give you a “B-” cause though it was buggy, you stepped up and fixed it as quickly as possible.

I don’t think a single thing needs to be changed. It was fun and thrilling and I never got angry at it or upset. Took me 4 hours to complete and it was enjoyable the whole time. If I had watched the youtube video first it probably wouldn’t have taken me so long.

Best thing in the game thus far with a close second being WvW.

Sorry I disagree. The Clock Tower was a blast. I had such fun. Best time I have had in this game… honestly. Not all of the audience agrees with this. I think it is only the people that don’t get how to complete it that are complaining the most. People that enjoyed it have gone on to other things and aren’t voicing their enjoyment about it.

But I wanted to come back and congratulate ANet on a really awesome addition to the game and an exciting experience. Thanks.

It took me a while but I beat it. And for all of the people that have been complaining saying it is too hard or kittening at ANet for putting something like this in the game… honestly… you are dead wrong on this one.

That was probably the most fun I have ever had in a game. Second only to maybe the first time I played WvW and won. I was shouting with excitement… laughing when I fell… and… now that it is over… I am nostalgic enough to want to go back and run it again.

It did take a while. Almost 4 hours for me to figure it out and complete it. Then once you figure it out you have to “get into the rhythm” of it. So that can take maybe 30 minutes.

Suggestions for people that are struggling: first, be patient. If you go to the Clock Tower expecting to complete it in a single stroke then you will be frustrated very quickly. Guess what? You aren’t the uber so be like the rest of us and be patient and take your time.

Second, perserverance. You gotta keep at it. If you get frustrated and start yelling (unless it is for joy) every time you fall you will only become your own worst enemy. Just realize you are going to fall a million times before you complete it.

Third, take hope as you get higher. Everytime you make it to the next block up from where you fell the last time (or in one case down to where you have to jump to the chest platform) you are proving to yourself that you WILL complete it. People have a tendency to want to defeat themselves and subconsciously say to themselves “I am never going to complete this”. Baby steps, man… baby steps.

Fourth, save some time and go watch a YouTube video of somebody else completing it. Seriously, if you are getting frustrated, watch somebody else finish it. Doesn’t mean you are elite… just means you are smart enough to stand on somebody else’s shoulders and learn from them.

Lastly, and this is a practical suggestion, but try to find an instance where there is no Norn or Charr trying to run it in the group you are in. And if you are Norn or Charr… well then you have nothing to worry about. But also look at the group you are in as part of the challenge. Trying to run to the top with that big old Charr butt in your face is just part of the baby steps you must make.

To ArenaNet… Don’t change a thing. You hit it out of the park on this one. Well done. Thanks for the thrilling adventure and laughs.

yea this was a bit of a neglect. but I am just glad they gave us the token so we can get a nice weapon from finishing the class quest. So I am wait a sec.

yep this is happening to me too. about every 30 to 40 minutes here. Says it lost connection with the server and then disconnects.

I have been running around the Iron Marches on Darkhaven this morning and marveling at just how much is bugged in that zone. Almost every Dynamic event is hung up right now. There are even some Renown Hearts that cant be completed as a result of hung dynamic events (Bria). Also, I noted when I was in Lion’s Arch how NPCs seem to have gotten scattered from their original static locations. And we know how many skill point challenges are bugged in the various zones. Just look at the other threads about them.

I would like to recommend an immediate reboot of all servers. And I would also like to recommend that ArenaNet schedule nightly reboots of all servers (rolling for ease) until these hang ups can be solved by your development team permanently.

There should be an automatic reset in all events or skill points or NPCs for that matter built into their code. I heard a rumor that players are starting to figure out how to bug these skill points and dynamic events through ingame actions and if that is true, then AN needs to take steps to make such actions moot.

But again, in the short term… an immediate server reboot needs to happen on all servers and then daily rolling reboots need to take place to solve these issues temporarily. Thank you.

In the Plains of Ashford near the Ashford Waypoint and near the Greysteel Armory Waypoint both skill challenges are bugged. The NPC that fights you isn’t currently showing up. In the case of the Ashford Waypoint, the NPC is named Centurion Mika Thickblood and if you stand where he is supposed to be standing you can hear him taunting people in the area. But he is not visible.

Is there no way to just put an hourly reset on these NPCs? Even if somebody, at the time of the reset has to start over the fight that is better than never getting to fight them at all.

Darkhaven btw.

In the Plains of Ashford near the Ashford Waypoint and near the Greysteel Armory Waypoint both skill challenges are bugged. The NPC that fights you isn’t currently showing up. In the case of the Ashford Waypoint, the NPC is named Centurion Mika Thickblood and if you stand where he is supposed to be standing you can hear him taunting people in the area. But he is not visible.

Is there no way to just put an hourly reset on these NPCs? Even if somebody, at the time of the reset has to start over the fight that is better than never getting to fight them at all.

Darkhaven btw.

yea I am in the same boat. This has continuously been broken. I have submitted ingame bug reports about it after each update and still… nada.

ah I see in the other thread that anything we got pre-patch is still not yet fixed, but will be in a week or so. Ok carry on.

they say they are account bound, but only my toon that actually got them can put them into his inventory. My alts cannot. So that would be a bug since they say they are account bound but aren’t.

Still bugged after the 9/25 update.