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The symbol combo field on hammer 1 should be changed. This would be the single best quality of life upgrade for my guard. Either make it fire so I can blast it for might and get that extra damage, or make blasting the light field give condition removal. Retaliation is such a stupid and useless boon in all aspects of the game. It does trivial damage against pve enemies and against players it only works against the stupid ones.
The issue is most likely related to the Beta Capacitor itself. With the changes to infused items it likely resulted in a change to the item’s coding which now prevents the forge from accepting it as a component. Someone just needs to look at the changes related to that item that occurred between last patch and this one and fix it. I would be severely disappointed if this fix was delayed beyond Dec 10th but when it comes to bug fixes, I never hold my breath.
It will probably be revealed that Scarlett was behind the whole thing….
Sure wish I had known about this before I spent money on ectos. How about a little less of this moronic living story garbage with Scarlet every two weeks and dedicate some programmers to FIXING BUGS. I’m getting tired of a patch that breaks stuff and two weeks spent fixing it only to have the next patch break new stuff….
I have 1 Beta Fractal Capacitor(infused) 1 Gift of Ascension 1 Shard of Crystallized Mists 250 Globs of Ectoplasm. The Mystic Forge refuses to let me put the Beta Capacitor in as an ingredient. Anyone know about this?
I’m not sure ascended armor has any value beyond being a carrot on a stick for OCD players who can’t do math. From what I’ve seen of it, it has NO infusion slots. It’s just regular armor but pink instead of orange.
For those worried about it in WvW: the shoulders, boots, and gloves are 35/25/25 vs the 34/24/24 of exotic gear. The coat is 106/75/75 compared to the 101/72/72 exotic. If a guy with less than +20 more to a stat can beat you, it’s not a gear issue. It looks like a full set of ascended armor will provide less power increase than a single stack of might.
If it’s a chore to get it, I don’t see the point. If it’s agony resist you need for future fractals, I believe they want you to craft infusions with the new drop items.
My experience in dungeons has been that a party consisting of 2 guardians, 2 warriors, and either an elementalist or a Mesmer for utilities is generally a solid group. Both scholar classes offer unique benefits to the group and help round out the team. FGS, especially if a warrior picks it up, just ruins most bosses in seconds. A well placed timewarp does the same.
I am using the 15/25/0/20/10 build with hammer. My gear is almost entirely berserker (just a little Valkyrie for the HP) and full ascended.
I just tested out the hammer change. Still feels like I hit a little light compared to a 10/30/x/x/x s/f + gs build. I’ve seen Zealot’s Defense and WW numbers in the 8-10K range. Never seen hammer tag like that ever. In a dungeon group with boons up (fury 8-15 might average) I see crits in the 2k-2.5k range. Mighty blow 4.5k-5.2k. Pretty sure my symbol is ticking around 1k a pulse.
I guess my point is, hammer is neat and the perma prot support is really good in fractals but I don’t see how hammer is a top dps setup. Can someone better at math elaborate for me? I’d love to see some figures. Thanks!
Wonky targeting system over a year from launch? No problem!
Living story bro. It’s totally worth every programmer and developer’s attention.
Who needs to fix bugs when nothing in the game lasts longer than a month?
If you hired someone to paint your house and when you asked when it will be done, they told you a vague timeframe loaded with qualifiers, you wouldn’t hire them.
If you hired someone to paint your house and they said the job would be done by the end of the week, you’d be pretty upset when 6 months had gone by.
I think what OP is trying to communicate is that it is annoying to have Anet talk up all the goodies they have planned for the year and then miss deadlines and alter the end product. Remember precursor scavenger hunt? Of course you don’t, that idea that they wanted to make sure the “got just right” turned into crafting, which is now pushed back.
I think that they’ve done a great job putting stuff out this year. That said, if the stuff they put out wasn’t the thing you were excited for, it’s understandable you’d be miffed. The need to either manage expectations better or step up their delivery process. That would quell a lot of the forum outrage I’m sure.
Guildies pitched in to help me get my precursor over the weekend! Finally finished my Juggernaut!!! Just gotta repay some gold now…
It seems unlikely that any vigor changes will be made before the end of the year. I think they’d like to limit vigor’s impact on player vs plaver encounters but understand that dodge rolls are essential in PvE and the devs must find a way to satisfy both areas of the game.
I think it is more likely that we will see vigor have its duration reduced in WvW/sPvP much like the other split skills in the game.
I wouldn’t worry about them changing this trait. If they nerf our access to vigor, they will probably do so across the board. Except for warriors.
Class balance in GW2 is like Arenanet trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. But the only side they are working on is warrior and they don’t see how scrambled the other sides keep getting.
The warrior can crit for 30K with his greatsword. I can dodge roll through every single attack. That’s the trade-off. Take away my “unhealthy for the game” perma vigor, you better give me 100 blades level burst.
Why is this even a thread??? Guards have so little that is OP, just don’t talk about it and maybe we can keep it.
Yes, PvE meta is 5 zerkers bursting stuff. This does not mean we cannot have raids. Raids may in fact be the best way to break the zerker meta.
Current dungeon: pull target to a corner/wall and burst it down.
Raid dungeon: multiple objectives that must be accomplished at the same time requiring coordination. Not all of these objectives need to be killing stuff. Maybe a handful of your berserker guys kill waves of things while high vitality/condition removal specs wade through poison mist to disarm traps so the squishy zerkers can pass.
While traditional raid mechanics require the use of trinity to design encounters, that same trinity is what leads to raids being stale and recycled. ArenaNet could absolutely inplement raids, the only limitation is their own creativity.
Concept: Escort Magg and Hodgins as they search for meaningful content.
Event 1: Protect Hodgins as he tries to figure out the Living Story and why we should care about it.
Event 2: Help Magg collect zerker warriors for a speed clear.
More ideas welcome!
The “everything is endgame” pitch isn’t flying here. The big empty world isn’t endgame. Endgame is dungeon speed runs, champ trains, wvw, spvp(lol), and sorta legendaries which is more a testament to farming than it is in any way a legendary accomplishment.
So weird that raids turn people off in this game. I love doing dungeons with my group but it’d be nice to bring more than just 4 other guildies to something. Too bad there isn’t any content for more than 5 players. (wvw and those awful world bosses excluded)
Guild Raids. Hold on before you rage over the R word. Hear me out then flame away.
First, introduce Guild Halls, an instanced area belonging to you guild. This instance can contain all kinds of fun stuff: special craft areas, unique vendors, you name it. All of which is accessible with permissions similar to the guild bank system. The best part of this place: the lobby. The lobby will be a general access area that all players, even those from other guilds can enter. Here comes the good part:
Guild raids – difficult and interesting encounters much like the revamped Tequatl. These special missions must be researched and built just like current missions. However, they are not open world but rather instanced for your guild alone. Completing these raids would give access to unique titles and item skins (for showing off your individual leetness) as well as cool guild trophies to display in the lobby of your guild hall (think Teq’s head on a stake to let other guilds know yours totally rules)
This would create a more defined endgame beyond “go do wvw and make a legendary” without forcing vertical progression on players who have no interest in running the treadmill. If you don’t have a guild, you can still play GW2 like you do now, no changes. If you don’t want to do raids, no worries it doesn’t matter. If you do enjoy a larger-scale coordinated group challenge, this will make you happy. Best of all, it doesn’t change the power balance of the game because they are just skins not better items.
Ok, that’s my idea. Feel free to tell me how GW2 isn’t about whatever it is that you think it’s not about. Teq is fun, gives us more encounters like that but maybe without the mess of open world and overflows.
Gift of Mastery, Gift of Fortune, Gift of the Juggernaut all sitting in bank collecting dust as I grind gold for a precursor. 2500+ hours in this game and nada. Thanks Obama.
I’ve been running 15/25/0/20/10 with hammer. You get vuln on blind and from symbols ticks plus longer lasting symbols. As most boss fights in dungeons are stack n smack this keeps 5-8 stacks vulnerability up solo. For PvE, I can’t see how you don’t run at least 10 virtues for master of consecrations. WoR is useful in nearly every dungeon and Purging Flames gives those zerk warriors the removal they lack. Just my 2 copper
Was the heavy chest from Sorrow’s Embrace changed again? All of a sudden there is this little pipe that runs over the right shoulder from the back to the front. Pretty sure it wasn’t there a day ago. It clips real bad with my shoulders. =(
For several encounters in multiple dungeons, one of the most effective tactics is the Stack and Smack.
By stacking together in certain areas, a party can use line of sight to force all enemies, both ranged and melee into one close group thus allowing damage to hit them all and kill them quickly. Additionally, by staying together, it is easier for allies to revive each other, share agro and maximize blinds, blocks, shields, reflects, etc.
I have noticed that the problem here is the term stack. So for those confused, let me clarify:
A stack is in one spot like a stack of coins. A pile is close together but not necessarily on top of each other. When someone says “Stack here” they don’t mean near here, around here, or way over there. They mean stack here, on this one spot, not any other spot.
I hope this helps.
btw, running 15/25/0/20/10 with that hammer. Can I squeeze more Whammo! out of my build by dropping the 10 into zeal for 10% symbol damage or am I giving up too much utility?
I usually run Purging Flames to blast my own fire field. Honestly, if I see a fire field go down I just pop mighty blow before my symbol drops to blast it. 2 seconds without protection down ain’t gonna hurt nobody. So far no one has complained about blasting fields.
Besides, you need might? Empower on staff swap has got yer might. Ran dungeons earlier with another guard and 3 warriors. Double empower, pull boss, boss melts…profit.
Gonna make that Juggernaut and feel like a boss.
I almost have enough stuff to make the Juggernaut. Before I commit to making it, I was wondering if I shouldn’t be running hammer in PvE. I do mostly dungeons and I find it gives nice support via protection and vulnerability while still hitting pretty hard. (frequent 2k crits + 5k MB)
My question is: am I wrong/bad to use it? Am I better off making a greatsword like everyone else?
Advice appreciated.
Just saw that. Better be a mistake. No reason to change RF, it wasn’t overly powered as it was. Another patch, another two weeks to debate shelving my guard.
Anet, this is the sort of stuff that makes players hate you so much you have to post a thread begging them to be nicer to you. Jeez, it’s like the kid who reminds the teacher the homework is due then wonders why the football team shoves him in a locker…
If HG was 1) instant and 2)broke stun then it would be great. Sanctuary is pretty good as is, maybe the heal could scale better. Purging is getting a nice little fix. WoR needs nothing.
In my bank sits Gift of Mastery, Gift of Fortune, and Gift of the Juggernaut. Every day I slowly accumulate gold so I can buy a precursor that gradually inflates in price to stay outside of my reach. Every day I grow to hate this game just a little bit more. Nothing is fun about saving up hundreds of gold to buy a precursor. Yet somehow, in your infinite wisdom as developers, you have seen fit to push back a solution indefinitely in favor of garbage like SAB and Living Story.
So thank you ArenaNet, for reminding me that other companies besides Blizzard are out there actively wrecking their games.
Sounds like someone is trying too hard…
Glad you like your ascended weapon. Running Champ trains in FGS for dust, lame world bosses for ore, and CoF for empyreals is exactly impressive either. No matter how everyone got their legendaries, they still look cooler than ascended weapons.
I think the change to Purging Flames will make it pretty strong in PvE given the increased removal and duration reduction. However, I am not sure what to think of the other two:
Hallowed Ground – nice long lasting fire field and stability but less useful vs knockbacks than SYG since it cannot be triggered as frequently and it does not cast instant or break stun.
Sanctuary – the heal is decent and the few seconds of hiding place can buy precious time for CDs to finish but the excessively long cooldown on this skill makes it hard to use. It simply isn’t a big enough heal or a long enough effect for the wait.
Obviously WoR is good, no need to discuss it really. Does anyone have an opinion on what consecrations are worth using and when? Can’t decide if it’s better to run shouts, consecrations, meditations.
So, beyond the horrible skins, anyone consider how awful the stats were? 1-5 points to main stats across the set. Considering the time/cash investment to make the weapons, I’d have hoped for more on the armor. Part of the reason that most MMO players stayed on the treadmill was that going up a tier in gear actually made you better. Here we get a marginal increase in stats, with no AR slots mind you, for a ton of effort.
Again Anet fails at balancing work with reward. Don’t give us stuff to do just to keep us busy. Make it rewarding and fun (cuz crafting is awful)
Put 5 points in virtues. F1 = 3 might on demand. F2 = heal + regen F3 = Aegis and protection. When in doubt, pop all three and hit renewed focus. Use immediately after if needed. This makes virtues operate like a second heal with damage reduction. Like having another shout for emergency use.
I agree the condition removal is a bit weak at the moment but the Oct. 15 update should help with that. 15 Zeal with a Hammer is pretty amazing. I consistently put 5-8 stacks of vulnerability on targets. Paired with the GS warriors, it’s another 10% damage for the whole group all the time.
As for my health pool, I think it was partly to help buffer those conditions. I do think 18k might be a bit high though. I’m not awesome enough to roll full zerker and do dungeons with 10k health. Suggestions on a good health pool size? 16k? 17k?
The only reason I run larger symbols is that my usual groups have a pair of zerker warriors and the extra radius makes sure those glass cannons get that protection buff. Does anyone have any opinions on having those symbols heal instead? Is the 150 ish per pulse heal worth it? I have a symbol down all the time so it would be like a free regen…
Hi guys, please tell me what you think of this build. I’d appreciate suggestions/criticisms. Entirely for pve and dungeons no wvw. Deals pretty solid damage while still supporting through symbols ands consecrations. With proposed change to purging flames it sounds even better. So far I notice my biggest weakness is massive conditions (like 4-5 at once) and periods of prolonged incoming damage. (Cof p3 defense)
Thoughts?
… a decent camera engine? Or will we forever play with a cramped FOV and a camera that jumps inside our characters every time you move near an object??? Seriously, this is like MMO 101 guys….
If I was close to a legendary and needed just a few items to finish it off, I’d gladly buy the gems and get the gold. But with the aggressive removal of any and all farming locations in this game, it’s clear that Anet doesn’t want us to have any option besides the gem store. They seem to think they can bully the population into buying gems and it just isn’t going to work. If they wanted guaranteed money they should’ve charged a sub fee. If they want us to buy gems, make the items in the gem store more attractive. Not everyone wants to wear a fuzzy pink quaggan but clearly plenty of folks on these forums are chompin at the bit for some new armor skins or some better looking weapons.
Whoever is in charge of marketing and strategy over there needs to be shown the door. If the devs want us “to play the game” then they should make more of it attractive to play. Bad planning, bad execution all around.
Apparently shorting the supply of t6 mats and letting the price drive endlessly upward is okay but giving out rares let and right and crashing the price of ectos is cool.
I think my original intent has been somewhat misinterpreted so let me clarify:
I do not think that I MUST farm. I just think that there isn’t a whole lot else to do.
I’ve done quite a bit WvW. It’s fun. But can I do it all day? No, it just doesn’t entertain me that much.
Fractals are quite a challenge at times but running the same set of small instances over and over often for random garbage loot: no thanks. At least grinders like WoW had set loot tables and eventually you would see the item you wanted.
GW2’s excessively random loot system ensures that my odds of finding an amazing item are the same whether it’s the first boar in Metrica or the last zombie in Orr: slim to none.
There are a lot of things to do in the game. And I’ve done most of them quite enough. I would like a shiny legendary cuz it seems like a GOAL to work toward but it isn’t really a test of skill or effort but rather an exercise in farming and grind.
When I really think about it my ill will towards the game of late is related to gems, the gem store, and the blatant efforts by ArenaNet or whomever to force the use of it. It seems that more and more the game is telling players to buy gold or learn to live without it.
Got a cool new skin for your armor? Guess what? You’re gonna need a special 80 only item to wear it and that costs gems or gold. Want a shiny weapon skin? Gems or gold.
I respect that someone has to make money on this game. But telling me its free to play then trying to sneak in as much pay to win as possible really chaps my backside.
So I guess you guys are right, I don’t have to have stuff. I CAN just play for the fun of playing. But if aimless, mindless, pointless wandering is the game, and this is game of the year: well…. you get my point
Seriously…there is no way to farm as every farm in the game gets removed. (except CoF) and every item takes an enormously long time to get. This game is so slow and grind driven that I’ve begun to miss gear treadmilling. At least something (even if it’s not great) drops in raids. I can’t understand why 50% of the mobs in the game drop NO loot. What a stupid stupid stupid system.
I’ve heard all this chatter about GW2 being best MMO of the year and such. If THIS is the best game then it’s really more of a commentary on the sad state of MMORPGs in the current market.
I’m all for putting the time and playing the game for rewards but at this point, the carrots (ascended gear, legendary weapon) are so far away that I don’t even find them motivating.
Hopefully ArenaNet can do something to fun up this game a little. Would it really be so hard to make playing a little less grindy and a little more rewarding??
I feel your pain on wanting to do this event, but honestly the farming situation there is ArenaNet’s fault. In an effort to make Cursed Shore and other parts of Orr more “fun and interesting” for players, they have made those areas almost unplayable due to excessive amounts of veterans and champions in events. Now tunnel farmers and Plinx farmers are homeless.
If you chase the farmers out of their farms…they will always find new ones. If they “fix” Lyssa, then another event will just get camped in its place.
In a gear treadmill game, players repeat endgame content to get gear. In a vanity item, mass grind game (GW2) players farm. If we’re not supposed to be farming, then the game needs to be reworked away from accumulation of massive amounts of materials and such.
Sorry you can’t do 1 event in the game. But the real people being punished are those poor fools mindlessly farming.
There is definitely a time-factor relating to grinding and goal completion that impacts the game. If content is too easy, most players whip through it and abandon the game until something new to do comes out. (Seen this plenty in GW2 so far) At the same time, if content is too hard or achieving a goal seems too far out of reach, players give up and move one. Nothing wrong with grinding in MMOs. I played EQ1 where you had to grind beetles and rats forever before you could safely leave a town. But when the grind begins to FEEL like a grind…. most players get burned out.
Since GW2 is generally free of the gear treadmill (ascended stuff kinda confused me but that’s another topic), most of what players are chasing is skins and titles. SO here are some ideas to fun up the grind:
Make some fun achievements and give unique titles and skins for them. Living story as shown this can be done. But seriously, the stuff in SSC was a joke. 90% of my guild were linking that hentai backpack in gchat the first day. It’s not an achievement if everyone can just do it.
How about some titles for things like: speed clearing a dungeon, or beating a boss in a challenging way (didn’t get hit, avoided the hard to dodge attack, etc). Other games figured out creative goals to keep us grinding without feeling ground down.
Instead of trying to get me interested in the Consortium and your “living story”, try and get me back into Tyria itself.
Make the control points in Orr guild claimable like WvW locations. Offer leaderboard or other accolades to guilds that hold these areas. That’d probably get some people back into the cluster**** that Orr has become.
Want to see players all over the world? And see them playing rather than hopping from chest reward to chest reward? How about you actually follow through on that whole “precursor scavenger hunt” that has been shelved indefinitely.
I think it’s be a load of fun if it went something like this:
1) npc at some city sends you to zone X in search of an item. (bring me Ogre chief Bill’s head)
2) you have to scour various DE’s in the zone until Bill spawns. (like a personal guild bounty) then kill the mob and get the head.
3) you return the head to the npc, and they give you another assignment. Each one gets a little tougher to do. Still, all your time and hard work results in a precursor for your legendary weapon!
That sure seems like more fun than the Mystic Toilet. And even if scavenger hunting took as long as grinding gold to buy a precursor off the TP, at least it wouldn’t FEEL like a grind.
Every MMO puts a carrot on a string and expects the players to run on the treadmill for it. ArenaNet just made it too obvious. We all KNOW we’re supposed to buy gems or face the endless grind. That’s no fun. I don’t mind if you trick me into spending my money. Just try for a little more subtlety.
First off, this is not a rant so please try to be constructive. Flamers and fanboys don’t add to conversation, they usually just derail it.
After well over 1000 hours in GW2 and having played since launch, I have seen one problem rear its head over and over: FARMING. It’s just not fun. I don’t even think it is supposed to be. But it exists because of larger underlying flaws in the design of GW2.
So what? People farm. Why is this a problem? Many large changes in content seem to be in response to farmers. And the cycle is slowly ruining every aspect of the game.
Players need gold and item s for things like Legendary Weapons. (I know, you don’t HAVE to build one, but a lot of folks want one so get off your soapbox) Gold/items are not easy to come by. This is intentional as ArenaNet would like us to buy gems with real cash and exchange them for gold. I don’t have a problem with the developer of a game trying to make money from their hard work. But the gold/resource starvation in the economy leads many players to farm.
Farming is slow, and boring, and totally unfun. But it IS profitable. So what do farms do? They look for a method that makes farming faster and easier. They look for areas where farming is most efficient. Every time somebody discovers a clever place to farm, a game update changes the area and the farmers move on.
Way back when, farming in Cursed Shore was the IT thing. Lots of events, lots of mobs, lots of players around. Lots of loot. My first character was making in the realm of 5-7 gold per day farming just a few hours in Orr. My most recent character got to Cursed Shore to find it abandoned. Overrun with events that spawned waves of veterans. Waves of vets vs. me, in my blues/greens.
Currently, the place to farm is Union Waypoint by temple of Lyssa. This creates a problem as people want to do the temple event for the daily chest while others want the Union Seal event to run forever so they can farm. The need to farm has put players in direct competition with each other’s goals.
This is just bad design. For a game that seemed so intent on breaking the mold. Doing away with trinity and blah blah blah…. why did they settle on the traditional “enemies drop coin, coin buys stuff” economy??? A legendary weapon shouldn’t be about who invested the most time in grinding for materials or who bought the most gold. There’s nothing legendary about that. Instead of endless grinding and RNG in special events for skins, players should be rewarded by actually accomplishing things.
Set a list of goals for players to complete, give various rewards for completion, coolness of reward scales with difficulty. Simple.
Climb the mountain: get a small prize.
Climb the mountain, enter the cave: get a bigger prize.
Climb the mountain, enter the cave, slay the dragon: really amazing prize.
This lack of motivation that persists in the game causes players to sit around farming or just doing daily events rather than really playing the game. CoF p1 runs all day are profitable so lets ignore the other zillion dungeons out there.
If there was a goal like: help the Pact defend Orr and you get a reward. People would be out there. If the goal was help the Lionguard battle cavebats, I promise those bats would be dead. Just look at Southsun. An otherwise unliked and abandoned zone is crawling with players because ArenaNet told us to go there and do stuff for a prize.
An achievement based game > a gold driven game.
TL;DR Gold-based economy is old, outdated, and doesn’t work. Achievement based games are fun, set goals for players, keep players engaged.
..more like persistently empty. I took a few months off for RL stuff and came back to find things emptier than ever. I leveled a new character from 1-80 without seeing more than 2 other players in any other zone, and I’ve cleared them all. Cursed shore was once packed with event farmers and now it is just me and the risen. What in the world happened? This is seriously the loneliest feeling MMO I’ve ever played. If I wasn’t certain I was connected to the internet, I’d swear this game was a single player console game. Even Lion’s Arch feels…quieter. /sadpanda
I think you may be on to something with the celestial jewelry Harbinger.
If you change up the armor a bit:
knight helm
knight shoulder
Valk chest
zerk gloves
knight legs
soldier feet
cavalier back
6 divinity runes
zerker weapon
celestial neck, rings, and earrings…. then use bane signet
you end up with 2900+ attack 2900+ armor, 17.5k health and about 600 healing as well as a nice 36% crit chance and over 90 crit damage.
all this is unbuffed so once you add food and such…. It is pretty solid. Nice work
If a player is in stealth and comes out of it, they get a debuff that prevents reentry to stealth for 3s. If they can stealth, come out, restealth instantly…then why bother with the debuff? Culling is a mess in WvW and a mess in PvE. WHO designs an MMO and forgets to check if there is a realistic way for the game to render objects in a timely manner?
I seriously think we’re being trolled by Arenanet at this point. Someone is like “Let’s make em milk cows this month! teeheehee”
Jan patch gave us almost nothing: fine, it’s a new year, we’ll wait for Feb,
Feb patch gave us almost nothing: fine, wait for March….
The immense gating on guild missions makes them barely worth calling content. WvW is still the same pointless, cumbersome, culling disaster it was at launch. Dungeons are still largely unplayed unless they are CoF. Fractals only appeal to a slim population. (Honestly, how many of you care to do fotm 60+??)
Nothing to do, nothing to see in GW2. Just another badly implemented game overhyped before launch and full of promises the devs can’t deliver on.
Please Arenanet, if you’re not gonna give us anything, just be honest and say next patch: nothing! Don’t whiz on us and tell us its raining…
I don’t understand the design behind the distribution of abilities. Like why do thieves, a hard-hitting melee class, get a passive move speed increase in addition to leaping gap closers, while warriors and guardians (arguably not a hard hitting as thieves) rely on gap closers with longish cooldowns? Why do elementalists have more mobility than rangers? Why is the guardian, a protector, not able to gain invulnerability as long as a warrior designed to aggressively initiate? Why does the mesmer get swiftness, clones, and massive conditions on a more effective level than a necromancer? (lookin at you confusion)
I just don’t get the choices. I also don’t see a whole lot being done to actively tune classes or bring them into balance. Other games (WoW, Rift, even SWTOR), are constantly making fine tuning trials and adjustments to classes to work on balance. As much as I am looking forward to new content, can we get the existing content fixed first?
In B4: L2P, working as intended, game is only 6 months old, maybe you should quit, etc…
Nice job on the math. Sorry to tell you that about half your work is already done on the Wiki. Now to address your conclusions:
1) Toughness sucks – this is sort of true in that the raw amount of damage PvE mobs deal in dungeons (open world mobs deal piddly damage even in packs) is so high that toughness can never mitigate to a point where you can face tank an enemy and never dodge. But to be fair, the game’s combat engine WAS built around the dodge functionality… so no surprises here.
2) Vitality sucks – again, you can never have enough health to just eat endless shots from heavy hitters like champions.
3) Pure damage is awesome – this only partially true. While pure damage allows for faster killing, and by way of that less damage taken, the sacrifice to survival by gearing raw damage is pretty heavy. If a group consists of 5 max DPS glass cannons, they will tear through enemies… unless one of the enemies hits them. Then they will all die. Being that we can only dodge so often via endurance, and that sometimes there is no safe spot to reach before the red circles get you, pure DPS means you tank the floor more often than a more balanced build.
If your group is racing through a fairly easy run like CoF or AC, sure a load of dps is nice. However, pure dps in a higher level fractal…well you’re gonna have a bad time.
The biggest flaw in your logic comes from the fact that additional damage stats are far easier to gain through boons than defenses are. Since protection and regeneration only stack in duration but not in intensity, and there is no + vitality boon, the amount of mitigation that can be added by boons is capped much lower than damage.
Conversely, might stacks up to 25 (875 power/condition) times and a well constructed group can easily maintain 15-20 stacks with bursts to 24-25. Additionally, vulnerability can be rapidly stacked potentially adding 25% damage. Not to mention the glory of a group that can keep lots of fury uptime (20% crit = ~400 precision).
So hopefully you see that while pure damage is awesome, even good players make mistakes and toughness/vitality is your wiggle room for mistakes. Compensating for damage stats lost to survival is easier to do than compensating for defenses lost to damage.
TL;DR – Good job on the math, but you’re wrong.
1) Toughness and vitality do not suck.
2) Pure damage comes at a cost.
3) No one is THAT good all the time. (Nobody)
4) Good group composition and mutual supportive builds far outweigh selfish raw dps in the long run.
5) I didn’t need a lot math to do this.
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