Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure where this should go exactly, but since the support staff has been super helpful in returning my account back to me I just wanted to say thank you to all the people that have been helping me.

Big thanks to GM Draghna, GM Little, GM Taroz, and GM Aella. If you guys are ever in Albany, OR I will definitely treat ya’ll to some free drinks.

Thanks very much again!

-Riku Shinobu, Leader of Upper Echelon [Echo]

I posted this in the official thread, but I figured since this was where a lot of the conversation is I should post it here as well.

“This math isn’t complete yet.

From a rough estimate, it takes 106 days of build time AND merit farming time to unlock all 5 guild missions. Throw in the amount of time it will take smaller guilds to earn their influence and that is a long wait time for them.

My guild has 139 members, and we average about 20-30 online every night, and it’s gonna take us a while to earn the influence to purchase the upgrades. I basically told my members to get all their alts through personal story for the influence consumables you get there.

Dynamic guild influence earning would be amazing to see."

This math isn’t complete yet.

From a rough estimate, it takes 106 days of build time AND merit farming time to unlock all 5 guild missions. Throw in the amount of time it will take smaller guilds to earn their influence and that is a long wait time for them.

My guild has 139 members, and we average about 20-30 online every night, and it’s gonna take us a while to earn the influence to purchase the upgrades. I basically told my members to get all their alts through personal story for the influence consumables you get there.

Dynamic guild influence earning would be amazing to see.

Hey guys,

I have my next article all thought out, but in order to pull it off I need some help from you. I am looking for a small selection of Guild Wars 2 players.

When you send in your information to me via private messages please include these specifics, as well as a few sentences about your gaming life.

Age:
Sex:
Characters:
Time Played:
Email (For contact purposes only):
Skype Name (For contact purposes only):

You must also have skype. Skype is where I will hold the actual interviews once the interviewee’s have been chosen.

If you are interested, please send your applications to me in the private messages of the website.

Thank you!

Aleph Naught.9034:

Riku Shinobu

How do you avoid this? You make a deeps build that revolves around toughness.

No. You either make a ‘deeps’ build, or a one that revolves around toughness. If a build revolves around toughness (a defensive stat), it by definition can’t be a DPS build.

Frankly, advocating running with ‘durable’ groups that take forever to kill anything leaves the impression of not being able to adjust to the fact that tanks don’t keep aggro in this game and giving up on finding actual (i.e. not ‘revolving around toughness’) DPS who know how to use skills and utilities at their disposal to avoid taking damage.

Takes forever to kill anything? You come run with us and see for yourself. That’s all I have to say to that.

haviz.1340:

Riku Shinobu.4518:

I use the stuns and burn defiance, and I have no problem doing it. why waste utility slots on skills when you can just burn the defiance and stun the large attacks?

Your logic is pretty flawed to say the least. Why waste utilites on cc skills against bosses when you can take skills that will simple nullify those attacks you want to interrupt.

Why are you taking utilities for cc? I do all my cc on weapon skills, thus freeing my utilities for other uses.

haviz.1340:

Riku Shinobu.4518:

It’s all just preference. 6 stuns aren’t hard to pull off, you should try it. It’s really helpful.

I can get rid of all defiance stack as a mesmer or thief. I’m just saying it’s not worth it. There are already threads and suggestions on how to improve that mechanics because most of the time it’s just not worth to use cc on boss (before last patch necros could reliable interrupt bosses) when you can take other skills that will reliable block all nasty attacks. In other words, using 6 stuns is a waste of time.

I use the stuns and burn defiance, and I have no problem doing it. why waste utility slots on skills when you can just burn the defiance and stun the large attacks?

But to stop the pointless argument, you do dungeons the way you want to do them, and I will do them my way.

haviz.1340:

Riku Shinobu.4518:

Skill in a dungeon group, which is what I say at the end of the guide. Go back and read the side notes part.

You can interrupt kohler and save everyone else in the party from scorpion wire. It’s easier to just shut it down.

Burning 6 skills to interrupt him is easier than using retreat/virtue/SYG/hallowed ground/wall of reflection/shield of avenger/shield of absorption/other blocking and reflection skill from other classes? I keep learning new things every day.

It’s all just preference. 6 stuns aren’t hard to pull off, you should try it. It’s really helpful.

haviz.1340:

Riku Shinobu.4518:

I’ve never wiped on lupi with this team comp.

I’m not downing your other team builds, all I am saying is that guardian support is not bad. I’ve never had a problem in my teams with a guardian running support.

Yes, timing your stuns will let you interrupt any major attack from a boss.

I will film our next CoF 1 run for you to see.

I’ve never wiped on lupi with team of players I know and they all run glass cannon. I’ve also had to finish him with a friend because our pugged tanks died already. You don’t need health&armour there. You need survival skills. One ele can give you perma invulnerability to his mass aoe in p2.

I know you can time stuns to interrupt bosses, I’m saying that rupting kholer is pointless when you can just use one of your fluffer skills to avoid that.

Skill in a dungeon group, which is what I say at the end of the guide. Go back and read the side notes part.

You can interrupt kohler and save everyone else in the party from scorpion wire. It’s easier to just shut it down.

haviz.1340:

Riku Shinobu.4518:

If you think that is all a guardian with a staff can do then I feel sorry for you man. Your last 2 on that list of requirements are just the signs of a bad player. Everyone benefits from might, especially warriors. I run with warriors in parties all the time with a guardian fluffer, and their regular and crit damage is greatly effected by might.

Warriors can get 25 stacks by themselves. They don’t need your fluffer. And I’m doing pretty okay in harder dungeons like arah. In fact I often got people claiming they’re support/tanky/etc yet they die horribly at lupi.

Speccing into more survivability is great. With a guardian fluffer in a party, my might on crit guardian can hold 22 stacks of might during boss fights. That makes my burst combo from sword/torch deal between 20k-24k damage. I also do not have to worry about my health as much as I would without one. Everyone still dodges major attacks, but if someone messes up the party won’t be poorly effected by it.

I get 25 stacks of might on guardian on semi-glass cannon spec. Your point?

When I play on my banner warrior and I fight kohler, my team burns his defiance down and then we wait for the charge up to scorpion wire. Once he charges, I hit him with my F1 stun and the threat from scorpion wire is gone. The same goes for king and colossus. Time your stuns and you don’t have to worry about the large attacks.

You really stun kholer to rupt him? You’re not kidding me?

7 minute CoF 1 and 15-20 minute CoF 2.

I’d like to see 7 minutes run with 1 glass.

I’ve never wiped on lupi with this team comp.

I’m not downing your other team builds, all I am saying is that guardian support is not bad. I’ve never had a problem in my teams with a guardian running support.

Yes, timing your stuns will let you interrupt any major attack from a boss.

I will film our next CoF 1 run for you to see.

climhazzard.5897:

In CoF i’d take a crit/hammer guardian and a couple warriors before i took a fluffer guardian. Its a really easy dungeon so the fluffer isn’t necessary at all just more dps. Harder dungeons my teams usually have both for protection and condition removal/healing. Other 3 members are usually 100b warriors either full zerker or part knights part zerker and possibly a mesmer or auramancer depending on who feels like playing what. Sometimes we even have a necro playing support with aoe blind being helpfull on many fights.

Solid team builds. Necro’s are lucky because they can deep, support, and survive all on one skill bar.

If you have the skill to survive without a fluffer, you don’t need one.

Jade.2954:

Two shout warriors with “for great justice” as auto-cast will give you permanent might even sitting in LA while being afk…. on top of that two of them in melee with AH guardian can 3 man CoF (apart from path 3) and CoE (again not path 3)

Justice gives 3 stacks of might. Empower gives 12, and with the proper gear you will can keep 12 stacks up for a long time.

12 stacks for 80% of the time > 3 stacks 100% of the time.

That also does not include proc might effects either. Like I said in an earlier reply on here, my guardian holds 22-25 stacks of might during a fight.

And I have 2 manned boss fights in CoF with a fluffer guardian. It was not enjoyable, but I did it. Just because you can 3 man CoF doesn’t mean you should.

haviz.1340:

The best team compositions are the ones that include 5 glass cannons. If you facepalm in that situation, I really have no words. I guess it’s because your view about glass cannon is someone who dies every 10 seconds, has only selfish utilites and can’t dodge 3s long animations.

Honestly, staff on guardian is only good for a bit might stacking but only on 3 conditions – 1. you got some might/boon duration, 2. you have AH trait, 3. you don’t run with warriors who frankly don’t need that additional might. And healing gear??

Riku Shinobu.4518:

If you don’t like support guardians in your party, that’s your preference. All I suggest is that you run a couple of dungeon runs with one in your party. You will see the difference.

I’ve seen the difference. 3 times less damage with similiar survivability and support as almost glass cannon guardian. Boss fights are snore fast, they go down so slow. You “fluffer” just gimps himself for nothing.

If you think that is all a guardian with a staff can do then I feel sorry for you man. Your last 2 on that list of requirements are just the signs of a bad player. Everyone benefits from might, especially warriors. I run with warriors in parties all the time with a guardian fluffer, and their regular and crit damage is greatly effected by might.

Speccing into more survivability is great. With a guardian fluffer in a party, my might on crit guardian can hold 22 stacks of might during boss fights. That makes my burst combo from sword/torch deal between 20k-24k damage. I also do not have to worry about my health as much as I would without one. Everyone still dodges major attacks, but if someone messes up the party won’t be poorly effected by it.

This party comp can also survive accidental aggro, and large trash mob situations, with no risk of wiping.

Linguistically Inept.6583:

i run a durable mace/shield+longbow banner warrior, it is awesome… (although ive given up trying to CC some bosses – AC for example; interrupting HK or CR in the middle of a scream/scream wind up sometimes causes them to pull of double screams – i have gotten into the habit of just tanking them in the corner, so their screams are facing away from my team and i can just shield stance them, or kholer because interrupting during his wind up makes him instantly send out the scorpion wires, im not sure whether im interrupting them at the wrong time or whether its just… bad) and im dissappointed that you did not mention the weakness on the third attack on mace chain (which is very helpful to your party; and if combined with a hammer guardian means a lot of damage reduction in melee range) and shield stance/counterblow is a god send against bosses (if the enemy isnt too obstructed by norn/effects for me to see wind ups), so its nice to see mace/banner regen get some attention, it seems terribly underrated (i have only seen 2 banner regeners and no mace warriors), but dislike the rest of the guide.

The weakness is nice, but it doesn’t last long enough to be that effective. That is why I left it out of the guide. The important thing to focus on is chaining your stuns and knocking the bosses defiance down. This requires working with your team on timing the stuns.

When I play on my banner warrior and I fight kohler, my team burns his defiance down and then we wait for the charge up to scorpion wire. Once he charges, I hit him with my F1 stun and the threat from scorpion wire is gone. The same goes for king and colossus. Time your stuns and you don’t have to worry about the large attacks.

Nozdrum.2894:

How long do your cof-runs take with those builds? 30 minutes? How do you kill your opponents – heal them do death?

7 minute CoF 1 and 15-20 minute CoF 2.

Pritst.1469:

guards should never use a staff in PvE i stopped reading the guide after i saw that

If you can explain why staff guardian is bad, then I just might believe you. But until then, all I am reading is dribble from someone who doesn’t know everything about the guardian.

Hellgaunt.1734:

As you could predict I don’t like your inability to accept mash up team compositions. For what it’s worth the difference between light armor classes and heavy armor classes is 300 toughness (which is a lot I would admit). I don’t know what made ANet think it was balanced to grant warriors the profession with highest base health and base toughness while letting them also be one of the highest damage dealing professions!

In any regard warriors don’t bring combo-fields but they have tons of finishers. So what really make your group shine is having 2-3 classes with combo fields and 1-2 heavy finisher classes (like warrior or thief).

I also definitely doesn’t agree with a glass cannon build as needed/required or anything like it that would make your run go more smooth. Depending on the profession they tend to get killed super fast and requires team members to rally them or revive/corpse run. It’s much better to run with a more balanced build that focus on doing and enhancing damage but can also survive and be self-reliant, which your typical glass-cannon can’t.

Like I said in the guide, my preferred team is heavier. If someone wants to run with more clothies, they can go right ahead. When my guild and I run dungeons, we focus on surviving the dungeon, more than we do on dealing the highest amount of damage as possible.

I agree with the combo fields, I am always saying it in the middle of fights “Trigger the combo fields!”. They provide added bonuses to every fight.

I don’t like glass cannon builds, and they definitely aren’t a requirement. We usually end up with 1 glass cannon in are parties because we know who is playing it. I have run groups with a PUG glass cannon and that player is always on the ground because they can’t dodge properly either. I want a well balanced team, that can survive any fight.

But that isn’t to say that you can’t bring a bunch of glass cannons. If they know what they are doing, they can be very effective.

elderan.2638:

“I facepalm every time I see more than 1 glass cannon in a party.”

I guess it’s rather subjective, since some of the fastest and cleanest dungeon/fractal runs that I’ve done were with all glass cannons like myself.  Problem is there are people who don’t know how to play glass cannon and make life a pain for everyone else.  That could be said for any play style though.  I think the “best” combination is simply the one with 5 people who know how to play their particular style well.

This is purely subjective on my part. I have seen so many glass cannons die when they thinking they can just burn something down without dodging. If you have a full group of glass cannons that can smoothly run a dungeon, then you sir are lucky.

Jade.2954:

“I have personally seen one solo the kaboodium part of CoF path 2) and they can keep you up too.”

Are you saying your “fluffing” guardian spec can solo kill everyone in that particular event room? or run away like a crazy chicken? Respectful team of 5 people can do it without running and paying for repair.

Great that people contribute with their guides but your guardian overview is bad, really bad, like you have never played a guardian before. Healing gear and staff? What a waste of a guardian in a dungeon

New players can go ahead and test it out, it’s their choice but i recommend posting opinions for new people in this thread before they will go and run wild in exp dungeons.

A great fluffer guardian can kite the mobs in CoF path 2 while magg places the bomb. I have run with one who did it 100% without dying. That was a rare occurrence though. He normally gets to about 50% and then we throw 2 more guys in the fray to kite them around.

If you don’t like support guardians in your party, that’s your preference. All I suggest is that you run a couple of dungeon runs with one in your party. You will see the difference.

Hey everyone,

I am posting this here to help all those people struggling with their groups in Dungeons. You can also apply guide to Fractals as well!

You can check out the guide here:

http://guildwars.incgamers.com/blog/comments/rushs-guide-to-smoother-dungeons

Good luck out there, and may Dwayna bless you all!

-Rush

So I started playing Bell Choir last night when the patch launched, and when it got to the theme, something felt off about it. The notes just weren’t being played correctly. Thus started my journey to figure out how to play the opening of the Guild Wars 2 theme in Bell choir.

I started in the 1-4 range, then realized I would have to start higher to finish the tune. I am also playing it using the Upper Harmony, but this tune can be played using the other two as well.

Here is the link to the video of me playing it.

Follow the instructions in the description, and you will be able to play along too.

For those of you that know the Guild Wars 2 theme already (you hear it every time you are in character selection) you can just press these buttons to the tune of the opening.

6-7-8-9-8-7-6

6-7-4

4-6-3

Enjoy guys!

Well that is good news Inuko, let us know how your gathering of other EU/Oceanic guilds turns out.

The more the better when it comes to night time players.

Cheers!

Just a quick update, we had a 70 man Japanese guild join Fort Aspenwood.

Well this match-up is showing again that we need more night players. Those of us in NA can take all the towers, but we can’t hold them against Yak’s night time players.

Nothing yesterday or today in regards to recruitment. I hope we can get some more before the reset.

Well FA had 9 Europeans the other day and they have joined GODS. We’re getting our numbers up.

Edit: Fort Kitten. Man, if that doesn’t stick then I will be a sad panda.

2nd Edit: I think Fort Kitten beats Fort kick-aspenwood.

We did good last night in WvW until about 11pm server time. At that point the outmanned buff turned on and dragonbrands night crew came and capped almost everything we had dragonbrand borderlands.

I defended greenvale with 5 guys against a zerg of about 30-40. It was a good death.

This is why Fort Aspenwood needs a night crew. Even against Maguuma and Dragonbrand we lose everything at night.

We’ll have no chance in higher tiers if we can’t even hold our land from Maguuma and Dragonbrand.

Our night numbers right now are pretty low, I don’t think we actually have an Oceanic or European guilds to have a base to build upon.

Still no messages from Eurpean or Oceanic players.

My name is Riku Shinobu and I am hear to ask for your help in Fort Aspenwood.

*Fort Aspenwood is in desperate need of players to defend our lands in WvW during our night hours. If you’re a European or Oceanic guild that is looking for better queue times and a world with a day time force that will defend while you are asleep then Fort Aspenwood is the homeworld for you. *

I am the leader of the guild Upper Echelon [Echo]. We are a smaller WvW guild, 152 members total with 70 of which who are devoted to WvW. We work very closely with the Fort Aspenwood Alliance, which is a collection of guilds that are also devoted to WvW.

To make things concise, I will list the benefits of moving to the Fort Aspenwood homeworld.

-There are no queue times during our night hours.

-Our daytime force is very experienced in WvW, but we lack the numbers at night to hold keeps and towers.

-The commanders in our world work hand in hand with other commanders on the map to succeed. There is very little in-fighting between commanders.

-We follow the belief that zerging from tower to tower isn’t that great of a thing. When we take towers, we leave forces between 5-10 to defend it and upgrade it. With no night players though, empty towers and keeps are easy to take.

-Communication between guilds in WvW is a priority. Information from each WvW map is constantly shared.

If you’re guild is looking for better queue times in WvW, then send me a message on the forums, or send a whisper to any of the following people in-game:

Riku Shinobu ([Echo] Co-leader)

Lillusionniste D ([Echo] WvW Commander)

Derv The Monkinator ([Gods] Leader and [FAA] Leader)

Fort Aspenwood has many players dedicated to winning in WvW, and we need your help to take us to the top!

As a guild leader who lead a very productive guild in Guild Wars, I was saddened to see the lack of information on the guild tab in Guild Wars 2.

I run a guild with 400 members and it is tough to do when I have to keep a checklist of people that haven’t been online for a while, and people who haven’t represented.

Some changes I would like to see on the guild tab:

1)Let me see how long they have been offline

It’s tough running a large and active guild, and it is even tougher when I can’t enforce our “2 week offline without a word” policy. Add this as another tab to sort the members, or let me see when I hover my cursor over their name.

2)Let me see how long it has been since they represented

It would just be a nice feature to have. My guild has a rule about exclusive membership (which means only represent us). It would make things a lot easier if I could see how long it has been since they represented the guild. Maybe add it in to where when I hover over their representation button it shows up.

3)Let me see when they joined the guild

I would like to see when my members joined the guild. The benefits of this is that I can reward members for staying in the guild longer.

4)Move the invited people to the bottom of the guild roster

I like to browse my guild roster by who is online, so it should be that the recently invited members would be on the bottom since they aren’t apart of the guild yet.

Those are my suggestions to the guild tab. I miss having an extensive guild roster, it definitely made things a lot easier on me in Guild Wars (and other games as well).

Hey guys,

I am sharing the leveling build I used here so that everyone who is having a hard time leveling up will have a reference.

You can find the full guide at the following link:

http://guildwars.incgamers.com/blog/comments/greatsword-guardian-leveling-build/

If you have any questions just post them below and I will do my best to reply to them in a timely manner.

Good luck to everyone out there, and I hope you have memorable times playing your guardians!

May Dwayna bless you all!