Guild Wars 2

Evan Lesh.3295:

I would love to find of a solution to this problem. Its a big barrier for new players learning the game.
Brain dump:
How many of your own cooldowns must you know to be effective. Skills? Traits? Sigils? Runes? Attunements? Kits? Transforms? Everything?
How many cooldowns are too many cooldowns / whats the minimum number to know?
Same question for enemies. How much skill is involved with remembering enemy cooldowns?
Would this new piece of UI benefit PvE the same amount?
Where could this UI live?
First thing that pops into my mind would look just like the quick-loot tray on the right side of the screen with a scrolling list of ordered cooldowns showing name/icon. (No loot in PvP)
I can’t think of any way this could work for enemies.

Ummm…you do know that you can just go to curse and download their cd trackers for Wow and copy it right? Someone who, in their spare time, made very effective cd trackers.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

There aren’t enough options to justify paying for custom arenas. The only ones who will do it will be competitive teams or guilds who want to scrimmage each other. That being said, there aren’t enough competitive teams to make it worthwhile for those remaining to rent them.

Oni.5429:

Oni.5429:

@Evan Lesh

Why are you guys ignoring the leaderboards threads? Do we not deserve to know why it’s being delayed and how long that’ll be?

Ok, we don’t deserve to know then, gotta love your customer support.

Leaderboards Release Date=n? ?(?_(k=1)^n-(number of times J. Sharp wears a beanie))=?lim??(b??)*(resources devoted to pvp/Karl’s balance knowledge)

LRD=soon

pedrst.3127:

Pyrial.2917:

Evan Lesh.3295:

The problem is that player customization at the level you’re describing isn’t possible with how our content pipeline is set up. It’s much less work to just make a polished map built specifically for something like death match even if we don’t support the game mode officially.

It’s really not a “custom” arena given the parameters you guys already presented. I’m sorry to say that, but I wouldn’t pay for something that’s basically the same.

I can password it…wohooo
I can set the score….wohooo
I can set the number of people…wohooo

But at the core I cannot change the experience

Oh yeah, why I am not able to customize the damage of mug in my own arena right? Why am I not able to customize the range of rtl for elementalists in my custom arena.. Its totally not a “custom” arena without those possibilities…

Currently, that version of a “custom” arena, where I cannot change the game experience is not something I would pay for. It has nothing to do with changing abilities Bob. It has to do with fundamentally changing the way the map plays. Changing the score doesn’t do that. Changing who can enter doesn’t do that…etc

Evan Lesh.3295:

The problem is that player customization at the level you’re describing isn’t possible with how our content pipeline is set up. It’s much less work to just make a polished map built specifically for something like death match even if we don’t support the game mode officially.

It’s really not a “custom” arena given the parameters you guys already presented. I’m sorry to say that, but I wouldn’t pay for something that’s basically the same.

I can password it…wohooo
I can set the score….wohooo
I can set the number of people…wohooo

But at the core I cannot change the experience

Bacon Please.8407:

Normal thief gameplay is justifiably godmode unfortunetly. They will be nerfed because of how OP they are. Hell, even begginer thieves can be devestating

Wait…what?

Ele
Engi (condi/burst)-Too stronk

Guardian
Mesmer

Necro
Ranger

Thief

Warrior

I bet you all didn’t know that Sharp is biting his hand right now, because he wants to jump in here and say it’s almost done…

Auesis.7301:

As long as an entire trait tree relates to the usage of stealth as a tool for staying power, stealth will remain a Thief mechanic.

If stealth were downplayed, then Shadow Arts would need a TOTAL rework to remain relevant. At the same time, other aspects would need to be seriously buffed for staying power, but on different grounds (being slippery instead of invisible). It would take a LOT of work, but if executed right, I would welcome it. Sadly, I don’t think it would be executed right. It would just be a total blanket nerf with horrendous compensation, and Thieves would be left face-down in the dirt while other professions can do what they do, only better. Such is the life of the rogue/assassin archetype in MMOs.

They already are face down in the dirt and the mechanic holding them back is stealth.

Stealth is a crutch and it’s also the mechanic that always holds thieves back from getting proper changes. It should be a mechanic to help open or escape not one of perpetual existence (as long as you have the initiative for it).

Conversely I shouldn’t be able to accidentally kill a thief by aoe’ing, but that’s also related to stealth and how much burst can be pulled off from it.

Fix stealth and you fix thieves.

Oni.5429:

Davinci.8027:

@Oni
The leaderboards will be taking to account the MMR pre-patch…

That’s the problem.

They reset the mmr in February(without announcement or warning which made all of our mass gaming pointless), when all the teams were playing. We all assumed mmr would come in in march with yet another reset because that makes sense. I mean, who introduces a ladder without a reset right? So during march not a single top tier team was playing seriously except for a few lower tier teams that finally got to win a lot.

Now we find out the next month that there was no reset, which heavily kittens up the initial mmr.

In the end this wont matter, it’ll get fixed. I just hope we don’t have to see those names on the leaderboards for a month c:

Look at it this way, Anet’s history of implementation time suggests you guys would have enough time to group queue and rebuild your MMR before the leaderboards are released.

silvermember.8941:

Adaneshade.2409:

silvermember.8941:

Not only do PvE play the bills and sustain the game and can be monetize. PvPers tend to be less loyal and more likely to easily move from one thing to another faster than a PvEer will do. GW1 had everything PvPers would want, however that did not prevent it’s inevitable decline. So it makes little sense to dedicate a lot of resources to a game mode that is less monetize AND significantly less loyal.

Recently.1043:

I am pretty amazed at the new PvE thing though, it looks interesting. Not interesting enough to get me to log in after 3 months, but amazing nonetheless.

It begs the question why would you bother hanging around a forum of a game you don’t play?

I always found that amazing…in a kind of sad way why people do that.

Not so certain about your loyalty statement. If you want a history lesson, look at DAoC. The people that stuck around and are still around ARE the PvPers, the PvErs left between SI and ToA updates for the most part.

Ya, DAoC came out when they were very few games. I will admit, I could be wrong but my xperience in other MMORPG with PvP tend to be in that manner.

Pyrial.2917:

silvermember.8941:

PowerBottom.5796:

silvermember.8941:

Not only do PvE play the bills and sustain the game and can be monetize. PvPers tend to be less loyal and more likely to easily move from one thing to another faster than a PvEer will do. GW1 had everything PvPers would want, however that did not prevent it’s inevitable decline. So it makes little sense to dedicate a lot of resources to a game mode that is less monetize AND significantly less loyal.

Less loyal?

Ever heard of e-sports?

How many MMORPG have ever become esport? (I should have quantified my statement by specifying MMORPG, you win by default). Or they tend to jump to the next thing, easier than PvEers.

And yes, they are less loyal and react harshly to change.

Clearly you have stats to back that statement up…oh we’re just making stuff up? PVP’res are by far more loyal to a game than pve’ers. So everyone can do it and have fun too!

This isn’t a law class or scientific discussion. If you don’t believe me don’t. But look around, go to other MMORPG with PvP, the first to jump ship are PvPers.

This isn’t a law class or scientific discussion. If you don’t believe me don’t. But look around, go to other MMORPG with PvP, the first to jump ship are PvEers.

silvermember.8941:

PowerBottom.5796:

silvermember.8941:

Not only do PvE play the bills and sustain the game and can be monetize. PvPers tend to be less loyal and more likely to easily move from one thing to another faster than a PvEer will do. GW1 had everything PvPers would want, however that did not prevent it’s inevitable decline. So it makes little sense to dedicate a lot of resources to a game mode that is less monetize AND significantly less loyal.

Less loyal?

Ever heard of e-sports?

How many MMORPG have ever become esport? (I should have quantified my statement by specifying MMORPG, you win by default). Or they tend to jump to the next thing, easier than PvEers.

And yes, they are less loyal and react harshly to change.

Clearly you have stats to back that statement up…oh we’re just making stuff up? PVP’res are by far more loyal to a game than pve’ers. So everyone can do it and have fun too!

Lordrosicky.5813:

Myrmidian Eudoros.4671:

Pyrial.2917:

So it’s not like pvpers DON’T want to spend money, it’s just that there isn’t anything to spend it on with relation to pvp.

There it is. The root of the evil.

Sadly, there are too few PvPers left in the game (due to launching the game under -developed in sPvP) to make a meaningful bottom-line impact, so A-net is now in a “If you build it, they will come.” state of existence, meaning they have to invest a bunch of sunk cost into features before they can get a real PvP commnity back and then turn them profitable. At the moment it doesn’t appear that investment is going to be made in the near future.

I think pvp launched in a good state and a similar state to pve. It has been since that pve additions have been:
1, A full reworking of the daily system
2, A whole new dungeon with constantly scaling difficulty – fractals
3, A whole new gear tier
4, Reworkings to existing dungeons
5, The addition of new events and a reworking of max level area
6, 3 very large holiday events (the current one, haloween and wintersday)
7, Whole new type of content – guild missions with new ones being added all the time

Pvp has gotten:
Nothing – but a flawed matchmaking system which doesnt even separate pugs from premades.

And that isnt exagerating. We have literally got nothing but bad balance changes. There is no features currently in that wasnt in at launch. They added paids and then just removed them (good move but still).

So in 8 months the pvp devs have a body of work which is literally non-existant. The facts speak for themselves. The anet studio should actually review their progress and see that NONE has been made. This shouldnt be acceptable to them and it clearly isnt acceptable to us the players. They can talk all they want about this and that. But at the end of the day they haven’t delivered anything AT ALL to us. The pvp devs (are there any?) might as well of been on holiday for the past 8 months and we literally wouldnt of noticed. Thats a fact not my opinion too. Because the lack of additions speak for themselves.

Edit: sorry we have 2 new maps. 1 of which is a joke because of the imbalances and bugs (rtl with orb at 100% speed) which still havent been fixed.

I would agree, but I don’t think that the developers don’t share in our disgust with the current situation. There is a limitation to what they can do and it isn’t their choice. However since the company has chosen to go in that direction, they’ll have to live with the consequences.

Leadfoot.9071:

daydream.2938:

30/10/0/30/0

Rabid amulet. and something with +20% might on it for runes, i recommended rune of might. sigil of superior battle and corruption.

The trees.
Explosives. v, viii, xi
firearms. vi
alchemy: II, x, xi.

use elixir h, s, b. And grenade kit. Toss exliris cleanses you, as well as consumption. all grant might which gradually builds up. you can easily hit 18+might stacks on any duration fight.

Also yes, this build has been veted for high end spvp play. It is a good build.

Like this right?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalspyXHxSdF17ICoC5loHPGlNZfewWpFEC;ToAAzCpoCyEkIIbQugkBNEZuA

Are there any streams/videos of this build being played? I’m having a hard time conceptualizing how to be effective with this kind of build – are you proactively tossing elixirs to build up might? How does the grenade kit fit in?

I really loved the kit playstyle of 100nades (regardless of its viability – I played it mostly for fun and to learn the engineer playstyle) – is there a p/p condition or power build that still uses kits – especially grenades and tool kit which I really like though I do like medkit a lot too. Love speedy kits – rip KR.

Teldo is fun to watch, but he doesn’t stream much. Check out: http://www.twitch.tv/ostricheggs He streams quite a bit.

ensoriki.5789:

Pyrial.2917:

No, the pvp playerbase complains that there is nothing to play toward. Let me just get ahead of the, “play for fun” comment. Let’s see how much fun the pve playerbase has when we stick them in the same instance and have them kill the same mobs that now drop now loot. Yeah, have fun!

Don’t they do that to themselves already?

No, because every month they get something new…

SteepledHat.1345:

PvE customer base seems to enjoy the content they produce. PvP base just complains about having no one to play with, then complains about having no one good to play with, then complains some more about mesmer. :P

No, the pvp playerbase complains that there is nothing to play toward. Let me just get ahead of the, “play for fun” comment. Let’s see how much fun the pve playerbase has when we stick them in the same instance and have them kill the same mobs that now drop now loot. Yeah, have fun!

Something as simple as team charters with team ratings/rankings along with solo ratings/rankings would do a world of good. Or should I say, would have done a world of good. I don’t think there is any “marketing push” they can do to bring back what they lost, although Jonathan S. states otherwise.

The problem is they don’t see pvp as a money making source, but that’s just perception. It’s not hard to figure out ways to monetize it to make it worthwhile. Simple things like
1. Giving every character 1 free template (to save their build, runes, and sigils) and selling additional templates for gems.
2. The ever obvious weapon or armor skins.
4. Guild Crests that can be used as finishers

And though not pvp specific:

5. A portable bank that can be summoned every x minutes.
6. A portable merchant that can be summoned every x minutes.

There are many more ways to allow people to pay for convenience and it doesn’t take much thought.

As a side note, I only do pvp and I’ve spent more on this game than I have on a subscription based game. So it’s not like pvpers DON’T want to spend money, it’s just that there isn’t anything to spend it on with relation to pvp.

stormrat.9408:

Yo,

Since the last patch I have heard that GS burst builds are really strong in sPvP. I have since tried doing one but the results don’t really please me. I went 30/30/5/0/5 and took Signet of the Wild and Hunt as slot skills. But I don’t know which sigils, runes, and pets I should use to achieve a good balance of burst and survivability.
It would be really nice of you if you would send me some builds

That’s the build I’ve been running. You can easily, without the pet, attain 6-8k burst in one hit. So factor in your pet burst as well and there’s huge potential there.

PowerBottom.5796:

are u really complaining about more ppl playing pvp?

It was pretty obvious that he/she was complaining about not getting laurels as he/she had already completed the monthly by doing pvp.

Follidus.8027:

I’m not saying don’t complain, but there’s no need to make 50 threads where people are throwing insults everywhere.

There’s no need for a lot of things, but if they have the desire to write 50 threads who are we to stand up and say that ours is the only voice of reason.

Archaon.6245:

…so, let’s talk clear here…..are you just trying to fool us? I mean…wtf you know about this since start and still nothing done?

Yo dawg…when it’s ready

Tyler Bearce.3427:

It is a rank based on your matchmaking rating, not your glory rank.

Are you going to eventually add team charters and team rankings?

Oni.5429:

Which, if they stick to their kitten idea of just sneakpatching it makes me furious.

If they were respectable developers they would have talked to us about how things are going. Is it in a state where it’ll be patched in tomorrow? Okay then, why can’t we get a forum post about that? Was there some sort of setback which will delay it by a month? Okay, would be great if they told that BEFORE the tenth of april.

We have no clue, and it’s insulting. It infuriates me that this is the company I talked so insanely high about and got about ten extra sales STRICTLY because I said what a great pvp they would deliver.

Yawn

You’re going to get…a three paragraph blog (consisting of 2 sentences each) with no less than 4 large images (to make the blog seem larger) a day prior to the patch.

Your whole post reeks of the negative atmosphere you are trying to condemn.

daydream.2938:

Karls overview of the classes has been done. In future sotg it need not be repeated. IT can be left at that.

It was ALREADY done in their previous blog, which is why it was confusing to hear it again. I thought the purpose of what Grouch wanted was for a discussion on the vision of the profession (as in what are we doing to bring the profession in line with what your vision is for it) or was the profession where you wanted it to be.

A) Everyone knows this EXCEPT for the people who can change it.

OR

B) Everyone knows it and those who can change it don’t have the resources to do so.

This is why tournaments have become hotjoins.

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Interesting topic you bring up:
-First I would take Ele and Ranger out of the list. Because the dmg from a ranger and his pet is enough on a single player. Removing boons would cause to kill a bunker-guard in a 1v1 easily. And the ele: Well don’t think we need to discuss this thing. He allrdy has enough dmg + survivability.
-What would be good if the warrior had acces to boon removal.

As boons are really important and a big issue for every class (except the warrior mabye ) I would be really careful to give such strong abilites to all classes. Because every class will drop faster in a 1v1. So there would be really fast fights though.

You can easily kill two birds with one stone (for elementalists). Place boon stripping on the focus, staff, or in trait lines not currently used. This diversifies builds without buffing the already strong ones.

rolos.7491:

I would use them more if you could switch back to your weapon skills, and back again to the conjured weapon.

Right now, the only use I give them is frost bow for AC and greatsword for getting away in WvW.

This here, they should function similar to banners where you can drop them and use an ability and pick it back up.

Outline what ACTUAL resources are available to better limit our expectations.

Kryshade.6075:

… and I very rarely lose a stand up fight.

What if he takes you to the ground?

Reinhart.2703:

Xeph.4513:

Hey, firstly I would like to start with saying, that I understand everyone has a lot of questions that they would like to see asked in SOTG, but sadly there is a time restriction which means there is only a certain amount of questions we can get through; so what I am going to purpose to you in this thread, is to put in three questions that you would like to see asked in SOTG, what I am going to do just before the live cast is tally up what topics have the most interest. I promise then that those questions will be asked.

I am going to start with the questions that I would like to ask.

1. Contents of the march patch.
2. Balancing the game for casuals.
3. Solo Que.

Please refrain from writing large walls of text, if you have any additional comments you can leave them after the 3 initial questions, but please make sure that you keep that to a minimum as to make it easier on me when I have to tally those up.

Thank you.

1) Will there be anything else besides Node Capping? 7 months into development and all devs came up with are another 2 node capping maps…
2) class and skill balancing. Game is pretty imbalanced with lots of outliers on each end
3) Arenas – why are they not implemented yet

1) They answered that in the last SoTG. They want to perfect conquest and stretch the limits of conquest by adding other secondary objectives to conquest (no they don’t plan on adding any game modes for the time being)

Speculation has it, that it was because he was going to be tough on the developers. Confirm/Deny Grouch?

I think you should only be able to cap the orb on a point you control. Offers far better play. For instance, someone can push forward and try to neutralize the point before the orb carrier caps.

Michael.3279:

I don’t really understand why they nerfed RTL. I never considered it even slightly OP. Okay, it’s a tad OP in the new Spirit Watch PvP map… but that’s it.

0/20/0/20/30 s/d or d/d with aeromancer’s alacrity if you are playing sustain

Defektive.7283:

this is actually kind of a large, large issue.

l2carry pugs against premades!

If it wasn’t melee (d/f or d/d wells) the only ranged abilities would be lich form or ds (life blast) that could do that type of damage.

With life blast and might stacks you can hit for 4k + on low toughness targets.

Tyler Bearce.3427:

All of the structure PvP maps have a fixed time of day. So some are always day and others are always night. This is why in some maps your weapon will glow, and in some it will not.

What about in HoM? When you preview the weapons they don’t glow.

freaktong.8169:

Grevender.9235:

I am mildly satisfied by the humble boost on our defensive abilities, but the nerf on RTL is too heavy. Now I finish my basic rotation and still have 4 (FOUR!!!) seconds of RTL cooldown.
I could’ve accepted – reluctanctly – one or two seconds nerf, which already compromises our key strategy for survival – which, given our super low hp and paper armor is, guess what, mobility – but not to the point to force you into changing gear or utilities.

I agree to disagree. RTL was way too powerful before (it still is now). The short cd made eles almost unbeatable for many professions as it allowed eles to easily reset fights when things aren’t going their way.

Resetting fights was a trait ONLY unique to eles..rolls eyes

The best part of all this is the silence from the developers…at this point what would it kill them to release a list of items that are being worked on for the “BIG” pvp patch (although I’m certain in the developer live stream they said that February was the BIG pvp patch).

Kellhus.8071:

I don’t personally understand the complaints — I play a warrior/necro/ele, but let me clear up something really quick:

- If I spec and gear to be a bunker, chances are that 1v1 you aren’t going to kill me.. a good player can force me to retreat far faster than a bad one, but to kill me requires some pretty amazing play — he’s got to chill me as I come out of water, and then land that CC when I try to RTL away. They need good burst, but the brains to know when to use it. Admittedly the cards are stacked in my favor OF LIVING, but good players have gotten me before and it’s always, honestly, really cool to watch them just dissect the build like they do and take me apart.

- Chances are I can be really annoying in hotjoin against 2v, 3v, and even 4v1, and tralalala away when things look dire. Note that hotjoin is required, because against those players there is very little coordination and thought, and each player is independently doing his/her 1v1 rotations, and against that sort of play I can be extremely resilient.

- I am not going to kill you, ever, as a bunker. I have literally come across afk players in hotjoins that either come back, or their team sees me attacking, after beating on them for a few seconds. It’s hilarious. People need to understand that damage as a bunker is that bad.

In my opinion, a bunkering ele is no more of a threat than a bunkering necro or guardian in terms of spvp play and the ability to sit on a point and buy time — the real difference is that a bunkered ele is the equal to glass cannon thief or mesmer in that these builds/classes do better than they should in the hands of a bad player, but good players can really work some magic with them.

Do you play in tournaments?

The first patch where the LOADING SCREEN bug wasn’t reintroduced…congrats, you guys have done something right

I tell you one thing this patch confirmed…perma stealth is now a part of this game (has anyone seen the Jonathans?)

I want to just add into this real quick. Power Staff/Conjure build is strong in team team fights and you can wipe a whole group out on the node if you play it like a thief.

HPLT.7132:

You still think this gonna happen ^^
Turn on “Don’t stop believing”

Sarcasm has crit HPLT for DEAD…

It would be nice if we got a comprehensive list of pvp changes a couple of weeks prior to release. This way, you could actually benefit from our opinions and make changes accordingly OR you know a place where you could test changes would be nice (such a novel idea)

Michael.3279:

Staff is inferior to D/D in 1v1. I argued for it, tested it in a true isolated environment, and was proven wrong.

We dueled after D/D vs. D/D and I won 1 out of 3 matches, so while I have to admit Razor is better than me toe-to-toe, I wouldn’t say it was wildly imbalanced skill-wise.

I love staff in WvW, PvE and sPvP where I can avoid focus-fire like that, but it’s crystal clear to me now that it can’t compete 1v1 against a D/D. Time to start reading the 1000x D/D theorycraft posts :-P

This thread can die now. I am shamed.

Don’t be ashamed, there’s still room for staff in team settings.

Six paragraphs to tell us to wait for the next blog…in 3 more months

Michael.3279:

Pyrial.2917:

Michael.3279:

Pyrial.2917:

somsom.5201:

Michael.3279:

Razor.6392:

You serious? Staff is viable and has it’s uses but you cannot defeat any remotely decent D/D users with it.

I’m almost convinced that this is a troll thread because of the PVT / healing accesories mention.

The gear rounds me out, I’m still packing quite a bit of power though and I outheal incoming D/D damage so… yeah, D/D hasn’t been much of a problem for me. Biggest pain in my kitten is perma-stealth thieves.

IMO the only way around that is a good initial block and then having the dmg to burst them down. Beyond that, no amount of healing power is going to help you out. I’ve had good luck with the following combo: arcane shield, lava font, arcane blast(combined with a Fire sigil has a guaranteed 30% proc chance), flame burst, and maybe an auto or two. If the thief is dumb they will stand and tank it, usually resulting in a dead thief. If they are smart, they will still take some dmg, which should allow you enough time to setup an aoe or perhaps regroup with your party. Either way, thieves are probably the least of my worries in WvW(bunker D/D eles or Rangers are probably the most annoying due to mobility/roots respectively).

Anyone who knows how to strafe is going to avoid most of your damage.

On the autos, yes. Which again is why I never rely on autos.

Please tell me then what other abilities you are using that doesn’t have a long cast or a long activation delay?

Cast times and activation delays are intuitively discerned by me at this point. I’ve been rocking staff Ele for months and months. With the exception of a few skills I have complete CONTROL over where my abilities land (unlike auto-attack).

If you can just strafe away from every AOE thrown down at you, the people throwing them should probably reroll. Heck, maybe you are so incredibly field aware that you can just briskly wander out of every attack I unleash… but you sir would be the exception to most, in which case I’d direct you back to my post about player skill to which you infamously replied “What?”.

Two players of equal skill, you are at a disadvantage as per the items I’ve already discussed…so the “what” was justified.

That’s what the PTR is for…oh wait, they don’t have an open PTR. They’ld rather us play the guessing game and fix things AFTER they’ve introduced them into the live environment.