Guild Wars 2

What are you all getting hyped for, slow down

These are just a bunch of empty PR promises – the same ones they made pre-HoT. Until they actually show us traits, skills, and numbers, these write-ups really don’t tell us kitten.

Good PR, bad transparency. Now would have been the time to talk to the community about proposed balance changes so that we can do this together properly. But I get it, Anet knows what’s best. Sure.

You’ll excuse my negativity, but given their track record of class balance and me getting swindled for $50 makes me a little salty.

Haven’t logged on to this mess they call PvP since early December. After reading through the changes I have something quick to say.

I find it a little disrespectful that they continue to neglect mentioning any plans in addressing queue times, splitting team q and solo q, and queuing outside the mists. I mean, they could at least say SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Is there anything in the works behind the scenes? Is it even actively discussed? Or have they already discussed it and reached a decision? Is it final?

Stop ignoring the elephant in the room.

See you in a month. And in the meantime, I’ll be sure not to recommend this game to anyone.

I actually did happen to catch some of this tournament (about 10 minutes worth) on my spare time as I was browsing through twitch. I can’t quite recall who was playing as I don’t follow or play this game anymore for reasons I choose not to go into. But I was, rather unsurprisingly, disappointed to see a team running 3 revenants against a team running 2. I was left with a very dull presentation as to the state of GW2 PvP and the experience confirmed my initial impressions from just a few of my own forays of PvP at HoT release: the skill ceiling of this game has completely collapsed.

The biggest offenders: immunities, blocks, and evades on low cooldowns – a consequence of ANet’s necessity to balance out the preponderance of damage in this game. Hence the resistance boon – it is an attempt to help classes deal with one of the most problematic areas of the game since as long as I can remember: conditions.

It is unfortunate that the game has come to this. I played and enjoyed this game for a good long while but I personally see very little in its future. I hope I’m wrong.

I would be embarrassed if I ever designed something that strayed so far from being functional. This is and has always been a glaring issue with spectating Guild Wars 2 PvP. The designers have fallen in love with their special effects college degrees that they failed to implement functionality.

But to be fair, this isn’t exactly particular to the Anet designers. I’ve noticed that a lot of game developers these days fall victim to prettying up their games through the use of superfluous particle effects, excessive post-production, and unrealistically extravagant lighting. This game, I think to myself as I spectate a PvP match, is definitely no exception. See, I’m appreciative of games like CS:GO or Starcaft 2 that have such deep layers of spectator-friendly options. I tune in to watch a match or two on my spare time and my mind can instantly acclimate with ease. But with Guild Wars 2, I struggle to notice pivotal moments of any given fight.

(For the record I’ve played GW2 PvP off and on since release, but the time invested in a game should be irrelevant when evaluating how easy it is to spectate it.)

And so, as a famous architect by the name of Louis Sullivan taught us: form follows function. Perhaps today’s game designers should read up on some of Sullivan’s theory? :>

Crashing in all new zones during events. Always. Without fail. Every kitten time.

if you preorder.

I think league play should be strictly solo. This ensures as close to a level playing field as possible for everyone. I would even argue that duo queue’s would be permissible (just like solo/duo queue in LoL) as even 2 people can’t 100-0 any class out of stealth in an instant. Once you start adding these squads of 3 and higher, the playing field becomes extremely distorted for both sides. They should keep non-league play for full teams and groups wanting to test their coordination and team synergy.

Honestly if there’s no solo queue with leagues I won’t even bother purchasing HoT. It will just be too much of a headache to put up with full rat squads running fotm builds that they copy off metabattles. Even the top streamers call for solo queue and how essential they will be to league play.

Time will tell, but either way I won’t be too upset if they decide not to use solo queue again as I’m currently not playing this game much. Ultimately it’s their decision and I’m fully prepared to give other mmo’s my money should they decide against what the community wants.

::shrug::

We’ll just have to wait and see.

I personally saw it as a huge slap in the face and frankly a little disrespectful to their pvp community as I read the patch notes. I got pretty salty tbh.

Still nothing done to tone down ele and that joke of a skill spamming class. To me my main problem with them is that they are too influential in the outcome of matches.

Oh but instead lets nerf mesmer and warrior dps which were by far the best way to eliminate the D/D ele threat. So now warrior is forced to go back to cele given that they didn’t buff anything else for them and while mesmer is still quite good I fear they will continue to roll out the DPS nerfs on mesmer to the point where it will be cele meta all over again. Mesmer will once again be bottom tier along with ranger.

Still nothing done to long q times.
Still nothing done to separate teams and solos.
Still boring as a kitten to queue in the mists.

There are times where I am completely dissuaded from even logging in due to the above issues (it just happened now, only this time I made it as far as the mists lobby, then logged right out). I dread so very much the long wait times between matches. Jesus what a waste of time.

Queue times and separate queues for solo and premades

I don’t exactly see what this video is trying to prove. I see a pretty balanced matchup here.

I saw a pretty balanced matchup.

Mesmer gets facerolled by conditions, he swaps damage for sustain and unsurprisingly wins. It even seemed that towards the end the fights were pretty close so maybe some more theorycrafting on the guard’s part or a different weapon set and he might win.

Also want to mention that everyone complaining about illusion damage are the same ones that don’t save their dodges for them. All phantasm attacks are extremely telegraphed and easy to dodge so it’s definitely an l2p issue on their part. Even the illusionary mage’s attack is easy to spot seeing as how it’s projectile travels extremely slowly.

I really really hope Anet doesn’t listen to all of you complaining about damage being too high.

Celestial builds were too tanky and did so much damage that the old zerk builds couldn’t kill them. In fact, old mesmer would die to any cele build any day of the week unless you played completely flawlessly.

Current zerk amulet is finally high risk high reward. You’re extremely squishy but at least now you know you can take down a full cele or bunker build. The old cele builds should never have killed a zerk mesmer but due to abuses with doom sigil and burning procs it was kitten impossible for mesmers to fit in that meta.

You all wanted the celestial meta to go away. Well here it is right before your very eyes. Anet just laid it all out in front of you and some people still fail to see the obvious or are too frustrated that their celestial builds don’t faceroll mesmers anymore.

I played mesmer a lot during cele meta and it was a real struggle but now I can finally say with supreme confidence that Anet has done the right thing. Mesmers are in a perfect place right now and there may be a few traits that need minor adjusting but it is good to see mesmers being a ferocious presence in the PvP arena once again.

Adapt to mesmers just like how mesmers had to adapt to the cele meta.

Yea this topic again so what

I’m bringing attention to it because there is just so much waiting in between matches that it’s actually quite frustrating. Expedite the process or allow people to queue from PvEland again.

I want to play, not wait.

sigh

This topic is from like 6 months ago.

Whatever, the issue I’m having stands.

Still doesn’t work for me.

Phantaram.4816:

Hey. Just thought I’d throw some nerfs/changes/ideas and stuff out there. Make your own short list!

Warrior:
Call to Arms – Vigor Duration reduced to 6 seconds base
Charge – Cooldown increased to 20 seconds base
Reason: This ability currently cures cripple, immobilize, chill + converts 1 more condition to a boon and removes 1 more condition on a 12s cooldown in a 1200 aoe, just absolutely crazy powerful.

Absolutely not. Not unless they look at all the slow and immob spamming across the board.

So basically they’ve made no progress after 5 months time. It’s still all about farming wins. Just wow.

Well done Anet, I see you’re still going at Anet pace.

What? What game are you playing that leads you to believe that a thief hard counters a shoutbow celestial warrior? Is this real life right now?

Help my game is haunted too.

From what I’ve seen, I’m very disappointed. I hope I see less Skyhammer tomfoolery and more areas that allow for free movement. Time will tell.

If you know you have a bad PC and anticipate your queue popping while loading, then load in first, then queue. Done.

It’s like anet thinks we’re incapable of getting around a problem with such a simple solution. Thinking hurts.

The daily achievement farmers you see in PvP are the devs’ way to introduce more casuals into the PvP community. You can’t deny that the success of a game is directly related to a healthy “pro” scene and a healthy “casual” scene. I think what Anet did with the dailies was a good move, but what I don’t agree with is that they allow these farmers to play in ranked queue – something that should have been solved given class-based MMR. But given that matchmaking is still shoddy they should restrict low-MMR players to practice mode while they tweak their matchmaking system.

That said Anet should definitely push for more incentives for casuals to get involved with PvP.
- a temporary MF/Karma boost
- small boost to PvE XP gain
- achievement points for watching PvP events
- more titles (difficulty or grind on par with the PvE ones)
- MORE SKINS!

The list could go on. Anet should definitely continue on the path they’re headed and should experiment more with incentives.

There’s nothing wrong with seeing completely new players in PvP. They’re increasing our numbers. That’s a good thing. So next time you all see a scrub dying to Svanir or capping a point with you, be grateful that he’s taking the time from farming for his 10th legendary to try PvP out.

I can’t believe they merged premades with solos. I’m still in a state of disbelief – they actually took two steps back for the first time in a while, maybe ever. After all this time I would expect that Anet would actually listen to their community, especially their PvP base that has stuck with them through thick and thin. Did Anet forget what everyone was asking 2 years ago, when every other thread was about dividing solo queue and team queue? Because of this I have, among others, lost interest in PvP’ing. I was an active PvPer prior to this patch and it is indeed unfortunate and quite sad that they have chosen to do this without even asking the community’s input on it (did they?). I will also make sure to not recommend this game to anyone who happens to ask me about the PvP.

I feel very distraught over this and almost feel bad for all the PvPers who were excited about this patch but were instead slapped in the face with a blast from the past.

It’s no biggie for me though. I don’t hold grudges. I have plenty of other games I can throw my money at. For once in 2 years, it won’t be yours, Anet.

I just read this new article which talked about the new pvp overhaul and it hinted at how team and solo arenas have been combined again. I thought, “surely they misinterpreted the release notes.” So I check the official notes and it seems to confirm the article’s claims. I… just can’t believe it. I just need confirmation. Did they merge the modes into a single queue? Why would they do that?

I’m honestly starting to wonder whether or not anyone at Anet has ever heard of Occam’s razor

Try to pop all stances at once I hear it gives you the ability to play with one hand.

Good vid true skill on display right here.

The map is ok.
The skyhammer is not.

Keep the map, but do one or a combination of the following:

- lower the damage
- make evades, dodges, and blocks work against it
- remove the CC
- reduce the radius of the blast
- increase the radius of the points

I disagree. All matches were fun to watch, especially the last one. Why?
Because it truly came down to player skill and team synergy. Both teams were running nearly identical team comps.

The 1v1’s at the side points were interesting to watch.
The team fights were great. They presented to the audience the effectiveness of playing unselfish builds. With the longer, more sustained fights, it should prove to the PvP community how important it is to be a team player.

I would have liked to see a team running 1-2 necros make it to the finals. Oh well, we’ll have to wait for now

These are exactly the kinds of runes we need to counter the condi spam meta. Because of these runes, power builds are being looked at again as a means to neutralize the favor towards condi builds. You now see more GS warrirors, power engis, and power necros. It’s not the perfect solution, but it is a step.

I disagree entirely with your post.

This reward popup won’t go away after clicking accept. I don’t know what to do here. I tried logging out, porting maps, going to Heart of the Mists, WvW. I’m at a loss.

I’ll just form a squad of level 70 fractal dungeon masters and show these pvp’ers who’s boss. Pfft, this will be easy.

Will a formal, in-game GvG feature ever be implemented?

I know this has been posted before. But I am posting it again in hopes that you fine gents at Anet will note the gravity of how difficult this bug is for ranged classes.

pls :<

I’m glad warriors are wrecking your faces. Maybe it will usher in the end of this stupid condi spam that you necros keep running. Run stun breaks or change your build. I can confirm that MM necros are effective against warriors.

I think this is Anet’s way to deal with all the massive amounts of spam going around. Maybe this will start to limit the spam and focus more attention on player skill. I’m a bit puzzled as to why you gave warrior another immune ability though (and by the way, I main warrior). Perhaps warrior can now start giving up healing signet + berserker stance and would thus encourage experimentation with other weapon sets. Perhaps we’ll finally see the end of the hambow warr. We’ll have to see how it pans out, but generally I think the new heals would make good additions to pvp.

I don’t like MOBAs nor do I wish to play them again. It is just something that does not sit well with me but I think that if the devs find ways to make it a Guild Wars 2 MOBA-style pvp mode, instead of a MOBA Guild Wars 2-style mode, I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad. Just be careful not to stray too much from what makes Guild Wars 2 what it is, which can really be said for any mode that is decided on really. I think the flow and intensity of the GW2 combat system is really what makes this game unique and I would hate to suddenly be thrust into a pvp mode where the combat suddenly becomes secondary to some overarching objective.

Either way I have confidence in the devs and I can’t wait for whatever it is you guys decide to release! Yay for pvp!

lol why did they give guardians fury

I don’t think I ever read anywhere of guardians complaining that they had no access to fury so that they can instagib people

Might as well give warriors protection and retal while you’re at it.

just lol

Yep I just 100% confirmed it. Got on my mesmer, equipped my greatsword, and sure enough that annoying sound occurs. How sad. :<

I took note of this issue a few days ago but was unable to find why it happens or what causes it. The sound is a rather high frequency mix of static and crackling and it is beyond tolerable. It happens most noticeably in large PvE boss battles, almost as the sound amplifies itself.

Well, after being a bit more vigilant it seems that I’ve narrowed this issue to the greatsword mesmer #1 skill. Every time it connects to its target, this loud static, crackling noise replaces the usual greatsword sound. It almost seems the typical mesmer attack sound file has been corrupted. The noise is unbearable to the point that I have to completely mute my game after a few minutes. I value very much the sound design of this game, and I would like to have it back. What happened to the old sound?

I’ve tried fiddling with the in-game settings, resetting my own sound card settings to factory default, and adjusting my equalizer. So here I am in hopes that someone else has experienced this issue or knows some way around it.

Your points have already been mentioned dozens of times by dozens of other users and everyone agrees that’s what pvp needs to be revitalized. That said I suppose it doesn’t hurt to bring up these issues over and over as it generates more attention to them.

I don’t like any of your class “balances,” if that’s what you wish to call them. Too many buffs going around that will inevitably encourage the mindless skill spam to an even greater degree. Moving Lung Capacity to Tier 1 is a blatant example. Giving all classes greater support abilities is not the way to control the condition spam that is so prevalent in PvP.

You are approaching class balance by giving all classes support abilities across the board, when in fact you should have prioritized toning down the AoE and the skill spam, and made your game more reliant on player skill. I suppose you took the easier and faster solution, but giving classes more support abilities results in lowering the skill ceiling in team fights and, what is worse, further diverting the user’s attention from carefully and tactically planning an engagement.

Stop with the insta-cast abilities
Stop with the reworking of trait lines
Stop with the buffs

Look at the current state of Spvp in your game and you will see how greatly exacerbated the spam is. The PvP forums have been telling you guys how to fix your game and yet once again you choose to ignore your player base and incorporate the Anet solution.

Still no attention being given to clearly visible animations
Still nothing being done about normalizing models
Still nothing being done about pet size, or the abundance of AIs
STILL NOTHING BEING DONE ABOUT AOE/SKILL SPAM

(sorry, I really had to make sure people read that last bit)

Two very insightful posts from the very community that wants to see this game’s competitive side go far and yet you failed, for the most part, to address any of it. It was absolutely painful to have read the OP. However, if I were a PvE all-star, I’m fairly certain my sentiments would have been the exact opposite. So in that regard, you did a great job.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Simple-but-high-impact-gameplay-fixes/first
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Mechanics-that-are-too-forgiving

It is really very frustrating to see the direction you are taking your game. If you ever want GW2 to be competitive it would probably be a good idea to start taking notes from posts such as the ones above. But it seems to me you have already made up your minds. You want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to play your game. And so long as you continue to neglect PvP you will have yourself a marvelous PvE game, and nothing more.

P.S.
I laughed at the possibility of giving engi’s guaranteed stability and rangers support abilities.

Giving rangers support abilities.
Rangers and their petting zoo.
Support abilities.
Okay then!

A staff mesmer w/ the reduced weapon cooldown + decoy + blink counters CC pretty well
Guardian does well against CC what with regular access to blocks and blinds
Necro has access to stability and protection. If you don’t want to invest 30 in soul reaping or spectral skills then so be it. This is known as a trade-off. You can’t have it all.
Engi can spec for protection on stun + less damage when stunned in addition to slotting stunbreaks. Same deal as necro, you can’t have it all.
Thief has plenty of shadowsteps and evades, no need to go further
Ele has plenty of access to boons, healing, and some stability
Warriors have access to plenty of stability (probably the most in the game)
And rangers… yea screw them.

1. Spam 2 win gameplay
2. AIs
3. the meta

After hitting rank 45 I decided to stop playing PvP and enjoy PvE+WvW instead. I’ll check back in about a month to see if it’s improved. If not the oh well, back to PvE/WvW where at least I get to enjoy fresher and more updated content.

More skill and less spam

Jesus, the 4th pic is disgusting. So many bandwagoners.

It worries me that it took you this long to come up with what you have now. It worries me greatly.

It just seems that you just can’t win with people. They’ll always cry for nerf against builds they don’t want to adapt to or builds they don’t know how to counter. I just really hope ANet doesn’t change ANYTHING within the next months so that they will give players the opportunity to adapt. If they keep changing classes, it will be right back to the nerf QQ this community loves to delve in. In a sense, ANet has sort of encouraged this behavior indirectly given how apt they are at listening to the community. Bit of a Catch 22, innit?

In the opinion of this humble warrior, I strongly feel there shouldn’t any balance changes for a good, long while.

1. If you’re wasting a full burst on a death shroud then L2P.
2. Necro has protection, L2P.
3. L2P.

QtHman.6502:

RockSteady Once you start playing the game at high lvl spvp you will understand what he’s talking about.

High level
Guild Wars 2

Nope.

When an entire team can go to a point under shadow refuge and instagib an unaware defender, it is not high level.
When you win battles by simply out DPSing your opponent instead of outsmarting your opponent, it is not high level.
AoE spam is not high level.
Condi spam is not high level.

When, nay, IF you ever play a competitive game at high level you will understand what high level means.

Kind of seems like the OP is frustrated over something, not quite sure why but his post seems disrespectful to ANet and contains mildly childish overtones. My guess is he mains a mesmer or a thief. Or runs some build that he is too stubborn to change because of the recent patches. I main a warrior and I had to change from a high DPS longbow+axe/shield build to a condi removal+CC build, and I have to tell you, owning necros has never been so easy. They’re cake. They’re a minus to the group from my perspective, whereas I suddenly become the plus in mine. Shocking, I know.

So maybe it’s time to adjust to conditions?
Maybe it’s time to start slotting condition removal?
Maybe it’s time to start looking for ways to CC necros, instead of DPSing them?
Maybe it’s time to adapt?

Necros may be OP they may not be, let’s give it some time! Start incorporating us warriors into your groups and see how it pans out!

Also I may concede that it is POSSIBLE that condi spam may be a bit much. And if that’s the case then it is not necros that are op, but conditions in general. Condis may need to be looked at again and possibly nerfed. Now how will you go about nerfing condis across the board? Well, I don’t get paid to think that stuff up. Good luck to you, ANet!