Guild Wars 2

Let’s be frank, I rolled an engineer simply so I could rock this look. LADIES.

Last time I played was Thursday night. Walked out of Teq with about 12 rares. Had fifteen ectos by the time I was done salvaging. RNGesus just hates you.

Saruman had exploding powders and the men of Bree were industrialized. Reall, we were just one step away from seeing orcs with muskets in Middle-earth. An AR15 would be out of place in epic fantasy, yes.

I salvaged ten rares on Thursday after Teq and got two salvages of 3 from one in a row. Then I went on a drought, got 1 each from the next two, and nothing from the last. End was 9/10, which honestly beats the expected odds.

Triple Trouble was already an extremely difficult encounter before the health buff. I think Tequatl is fine personally (haven’t been in a PUG that’s failed it yet), but TT definitely needs to be tuned downwards.

I solved the z-axis problem by using Spacebar to ascend and Shift+Spacebar to descend. Has worked well for me for at least three years at this point (implemented the bind in Public Beta 2).

I also very much enjoy the ambiance of underwater environs. I wish ANet would expand on the exploration of those areas somehow. On land you have jumping puzzles and mini-dungeons and so forth… underwater doesn’t really have any of that. You’d think it’d be prime for buried treasure and the like.

Nah, let’s not.

I like my Asura chicka’s sweet as hell greatcoat.

Dailies are garbage and I hate them as they are right now. Especially zone event dailies; everything dies or goes off so quickly that you can spend longer than you would on it.

I tried to stay as true to Guild Wars lore and naming conventions as possible.

Keirlann Aurion - I started playing Guild Wars in the year of its release, 2005, which was not long after the release of Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. Kratos was my favorite character, so I ganked his last name to use on Soja Aurion, my Ranger in that game. Keirlann is his descendant, and also takes his first name from one I cobbled together from Anglo-Saxon elements for a Ranger in a Pathfinder game I had back in 2009.

Melandha - Sylvari Necromancer. As in melantha, a name originating from Greek mel and antha, dark and flower respectively. I could have taken the actual name, but the diphthong dh has a softer enunciation to it produced by pressing the tongue against the back of the teeth rather than the edges of them, and I liked that better. Also, it’s the name I created my Necromancer in beta with, and I got attached to it.

Griefer Flintfang - Warband naming conventions. I knew Engineer was going to be a tricksy class, so Griefer seemed appropriate. It was also the name of the lion like GM in Final Fantasy 8, although that was less an influence than the former reason. The surname is typical charr naming: warband + bynomic feature.

Catastrophist Hyppa - I created an asuran elementalist by sheer accident. I was messing with the character creator and I came up with a look I really liked. I went with ele. Her personality just seemed to come out through that. The idea is that she was a lecturer with the College of Dynamics before she was kicked out for her pyroclastic antics. The name “Hyppa” follows asuran female naming conventions, short and snappy and ending on a vowel with a double consonant in the middle, and it is partially inspired by Hypatia, the Greek philosopher and mathematician. ‘Catastrophist’ is a slur impugned on her by her fellow asurans which she took and wrapped around herself like a flag of honor.

That’s about a third of my characters. I might share more later.

I do tire of the complaining about there being no sort of recompense for ‘veterans’ since the base game is included with HoT for new players.

I have a sweet-kitten baseball cap that NO ONE will ever get again, only available on the gem store during the first week or so of release. There was also a wizard hat later in the year.

I’ve been playing the game for three years. I think I’ve gotten my $150’s worth (Collector’s Edition, you see). I think the sighing and pouting about the free game account with purchase is ridiculous. It’s an opportunity cost. We paid more, MUCH more, for admission. But we have also gotten to see more, do more, and influence more the course of this game.

If you don’t want to have to progress on them, maybe the point of character progression has been missed.

I don’t know. I just picked up and dealt with it. I guess not everyone is as resilient as me? Then again, I wouldn’t want to level 40+ characters either…

I had a stack and a half.

Really, even if you HAD spent them your excess Skill Points became spirit shards anyway, so the point is moot.

I do agree that the icon is ugly and bland though. Throw some color on that, ANet. The good ol’ aqua blue or maybe a nice mystical violet.

Or you could just… progress on them.

That is what I am doing with my Engineer and Guardian. Am I being forced to use builds I may or may not have chosen? Yeah, in a way. But I am also getting to play with new ones and discovering parts I may not have dabbled in otherwise. It’s not so bad.

holdenagincourt.8140:

You spout basic Tequatl strategy that applied before Friday’s update as if a mass ignorance of these things is the problem. The problem is not an ignorance of Teq’s mechanics on the part of the tags organizing things on a given map (the fact that any one person remains impotent to control the behavior of scores of others has also remained consistent). The problem is that a boss that already had a fairly tight time limit for the median map had its health doubled with very poor testing of the compensation mechanic or how this bloat affects the mechanics of that fight in particular.

That’s just it, person.

This is the exact same “basic” strategy that my map has used for the past three days and each time has resulted in a dead and roasted Tequatl.

I’m convinced that for many people there is simply a lack of awareness of these basic strategies. Knowing is only half the battle; executing with that knowledge is the other half. If you have the knowledge but don’t use it, it’s as good as not having it at all.

Again.

It’s not hard. Like any team effort, if one unit flags then it brings the entire group down. I’m glad that it’s not faceroll easy anymore, but I’m also glad that bringing the right know-how to the fight still makes it well within doable. On Saturday night’kitten, we even went from burn 2 straight to charge phase 3 and cleared him seconds after burn 3.

And undo that garbage animation.

I use semi-quick targeting, which is you hold the key down to target and release it to cast.

I have had approximately 0 issues with Wells using this setting, I just quickly tap the key with the cursor around my character and it’s done.

For Rangers? Yeah. No trap throwing anymore.

I, too, got a spoon tonight.

Some things never change.

There is less build diversity, but fewer useless builds.

Is it September 2013 again? Everyone seems to think Tequatl is too hard again and needs a nerf. I beg to differ.

Here’s how to beat Tequatl.

First of all, you need manpower. If the map is empty then the fight is going to be unwinnable, full stop. Once you have a good pool of people, organize 30m-1hr before the fight begins.

Defense is a must. Those turrets are key to victory; if one of the batteries falls, then you will lose precious seconds and Tequatl’s scales will pile up.

The turrets are also responsible for cleansing the vanguard and buffing their offensive power with the elixir bombs.

The typical defense points for the turrets are:

North Turrets: Boat wreckage north of it, hills east of the megalaser, and a group close to the turrets to repair damages and kill claws as fast as possible.

South Turrets: Boat wreckage south of battery, hills north of battery, and a group to kill claws as fast as possible. Between the two, I FIND THIS TO BE THE HARDER OF THE DEFENSES. The spawns are more relentless it seems.

The Zerg:

You cannot mindlessly pile on the nearest spot on Tequatl anymore. Introduced in the last patch is a weak point in which you can critically hit Tequatl. This means that PVT gear is now mostly for survivability where as Berserker and Assassin’s is in for doing the big domages during burn phases. In this latest experience, this one gets kind of hectic because now you actually have to get in under Tequatl to hit the critical point. This is also a nexus of where claws can drop poison clouds, so perhaps a new team needs to be assigned to run around the field and shatter claws so they pose less of a hazard to the Zerg.

Defense Phase:

At each quarter of Tequatl’s health bar, you will hit a defense phase called the Charge Phase. There are three batteries you need to defend during a charge phase, plus the Megalaser.

The East Battery spawns Claws and lots of krait hypnoss, usually veteran or elites, and is pretty straightforward: kill claws, kill risen.

The North Battery is lousy with Risen Grubs; their holes will appear and will need to be stomped ASAP or otherwise you will get overwhelmed with their AoE attacks. Woe betide you if a champ spawns; it must die immediately.

The West Battery will have a large number of risen plague bearers and abominations attacking the battery. Use hard CC and knockback to control the abominations until they explode; when they do, they will leave behind a toxic cloud you want to avoid. Deal with other risen as you normally would.

The Megalaser will come under a constant assault of risen, including champions. The biggest threat by far will be the two Champion Hypnoss that spawn near the north boats during the charge phase. Rangers are typically employed to deal with them using Entangle to immobilize it. Entangle no longer has the duration it once did, so two or more Rangers will have to work in tandem. Once the Hypnoss is called out, a moderately sized group of 10 or so heroes should be able to deal with it in summary fashion. Killing the Hypnoss is imperative; the size of the minion group they can summon is overwhelming and will almost certainly destroy the Megalaser.

The Burn:

At :25-20 seconds until Megalaser is fully charged. everyone should head back to the beach and prepare to level all of their might against that weak point mentioned earlier. The only thing required here is to make sure everyone is on the same page before the fight begins. The standard rules apply: res downed allies, dead allies teleport to the nearest Waypoint and swim back. With sufficient manpower, and following these loose guidelines, Tequatl is easy to down.

You do not need all ascended gear, you do not need consumables, you do not need to use any special buffoonery (although if it makes it easier, there’s no reason not to take it). I hope this guide helps someone out there. Good luck, Tyrians.

Full disclosure: I only use exotic equipment with the exception of an ascended chest piece that is primarily defensive because that’s what the RNG determined I should get.

It’s not that hard really.

Just did New!Tequatl, seems fine to me. l2p

Yep, I tried using CC but the blind and the vulnerability essentially balance the healing out to wasted time.

This is bullcrap.

It’s impossible for ArenaNet to steal something that already belongs to them.

In-game gold and other currencies are property of ArenaNet.

When I saw Consume Conditions post-patch, I immediately said, aloud, “What is this garbage?”

ANet, you can’t put an idiotic caveat like that on a skill that’s meant to get us out of trouble. That was essentially our ONLY burst heal and now we are at a severe disadvantage to other professions capable of the same without crippling themselves.

Honestly, I detest both of the wings back items. They are not that great.

I never got the appeal of vestigial wings.

Hell no. Specializations blow the old Trait system out of the water. There are actual tough choices to make between lots of great traits and it really makes you think about the type of role you want to play in a group. I was apprehensive at first about it, but divorcing stats from Traits was probably the best move; I no longer fret about dumping important stats to get at a Trait I consider critical for my build as I would in the old system.

I already pre-purchased HoT because I was never going to get the cheapest option anyway, and I long ago decided that this was something I was going to set aside money for.

Typical price for an expansion really.

Ultimately, you decide whether it’s worth it or not. The way it works is that the vendor sets the price, and the consumer then decides whether it’s worth their shekels or not.

According to this thread, my last post was a year ago.

Basic attire hasn’t changed much, I do quite adore the Sylvari cultural outings, but I’m always playing with Melandha’s color palette. When I created her I based her concept off of rainforest flora, which is lush and exploding with color, but often harboring deadly secrets.

Gave it a week and, nope, still hate this new animation with a passion. It takes too much away from the feel of the class without giving anything in return, it’s slapdash, it is inferior to the former in every way.

http://i.imgur.com/KEdCs.jpg

This is from the second GW2 beta. Sylvari were playable for the first time and I decided to roll with Necro. The class was neither here nor there, but I highly enjoyed the look and feel of axe. I thought it was novel how a spellcaster was using a melee weapon to channel their power and how the skills represented the weapon and the class itself.

I got attached to that axe skin, in fact, such that I sought it out in the release version of the game in spite of its relative obscurity.

Well, I salvaged that axe now because while the weapon’s skills were mediocre in comparison to others in the Necromancer’s repertoire, at least it felt good. Now it doesn’t even do that. Thanks ANet.

I just got to look at it and wow, there is no exaggeration. This new animation is decidedly terrible, weak, and an absolute downgrade from what we had. Change it back, please. Please. PLEASE.

In an update packed with nice things, killing and burying the Queensdale champ train in a shallow grave is one of the best parts of it.

I have no doubt that ArenaNet has the metrics to justify the switch to a simpler system of trait building. After all, after reaching a certain level, people just buy their traitlines five at a time anyway, right? There’s the rub—after reaching a certain level. What about players or characters who are still working their way up? What about players who are trying out new characters? Why should their abilities be impaired in the name of simplicity?

Furthermore, do you not realize that the overworld mobs for the most part have been dumbed down as well? If the game was a cakewalk before, then what is it now that PvE has been adjusted so that its low leveled zones can now be tackled without traits? A mudhole stomp? A steamroll? Forgettable, maybe?

And that thing, where players need to learn the ins and outs of their systems? That is what the early levels were for. What ANet has done was take away one of the central mechanics for character building. So now, instead of clueless level 15s, you have clueless level 40s, because they were never given the chance to play around with the trait system before reaching a point where it might be important.

Lastly, I called no one dumb. Rather, I declared the opposite—MMOs and RPGs in general aren’t for people that don’t like engaging themselves intellectually, be it within the story, lore, or mechanics of the game. Those that don’t soon discover that it is not the game for them, whereas those that do will continue to find things to keep them engaged. What ANet has done is take away one of the chiefest tools they had for engaging new players and old ones with new characters.

Think of it like a book—a novel with a steady pace that hooks you and engages you early is much preferable to one that takes three hundred pages to get to a starting point.

OR From a Hilly Hike to a Climb Up a Sheer Cliff

I have played Guild Wars since Autumn of 2005. I have played Guild Wars 2 since Beta Weekend 2. I have twelve alts, three of which began their lives in the headstart period. Let’s get that out of the way.

Outside of a few of them, I play mostly casually. I like to take my time and enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of Tyria. I have games that I have not yet beaten, DOZENS, because I adore getting immersed and lost in them. GW2 is devilish because it has tickled that fancy of mine.

That said, I came into the patch with a wide open mind. A lot of changes were coming and the fundamentals of the game would be changed for good. I welcomed the wardrobe, the dye consolidation, and the megaserver. If nothing else, towns are a lot livelier now. I adore seeing the world alive with players.

But here is the rub—traits. Before the patch, progression was very gradual, but it was there. Every level you’d have a shiny new trait point to assign to a line of your choosing. You’d incrementally increase your basic stats and work towards minor and major traits as a greater goal. What is missing now is that incremental increase that kept you focused or gave you the idea to try something else.

In my opinion, there was absolutely zero reason to disembowel the trait progression as it was. All it did was turn levels 11-30 into flyover country and greatly inhibited the capabilities of younger characters to make their way through the wilds of Tyria. I was overjoyed when I was finally able to unlock my first major trait on my mesmer, because her burdens became that much easier to shoulder. That was at level 20. Now, at level 32, a single minor trait is all she can afford, and her efficacy is that much reduced. Trash mobs may be cannon fodder now, but taking boss veterans and larger enemies has become a kitten exhausting battle of attrition. I was just starting to love my mesmer, but if the next 48 levels are going to be like this, one can hardly blame me for wanting to just hang up the pink butterflies and make the curtain call.

Life has certainly improved for my veteran characters. But the experience of newer characters has been severely impacted by the removal of gradual progression, the engagement of experimenting with builds in early levels, and the ability to take on challenges in the mid-level ranges.

ANet, you have either inadvertently or by design turned GW2 into one of those games where the endgame (which many argue doesn’t even exist) IS the game. You have turned my hikes into chores, where leveling was previously a joyous little race where little victories gave way to meeting goals and eagerly trying out that combination of traits that you had been eyeing for so long. I implore you, please, please consider reverting to the old 70 point system, at least for PvE. (The new system works extremely well in PvP, kudos to that.)

Your players and new players are not too dumb to comprehend 70 trait points, I promise.

I have to lmao @ anyone convincing themselves that ESO poses any kind of threat to anything in GW2.

The game is a hot mess. It’s not fun. You can have all the endgame content you want but when it plays the way it does—janky, lifeless and unsatisfactory—it is worthless. The systems are derivative and uncreative, magic is a joke, and it’s all the worst parts of Skyrim minus mods, plus a thousand idiots. Aesthetics are nothing to write home about, either the game looks and performs like something out of the bottom shelf in 2006. About the only good thing I have to say about it is its writing was somewhat compelling, though not compelling enough to make me suffer through a bad game to experience it while paying for the privilege on a monthly basis.

ESO is a terrible heap and I wouldn’t pay full price for the box, let alone a recurring $15 subscription plus potential cash shop purchases. Zenimax is in for a rude awakening.

Final Fantasy XIV, on the other hand, is a game that’s gaining steam in spite of its sub fee. While I don’t think it poses a threat to GW2’s demographic either, ANet could certainly take a cue or two about how to write story exposition and dialogue from Yoshida’s team at Square Enix.

gamemaster.7154:

Soja.5918:

Tower of Druaga series, dating from waaaaay back before you were probably born.

Dungeons like this are nothing new.

Also, Sword Art Online is bad.

I was born on the 86 (/^-^(^ ^*)/

Wasn’t talking directly to you, my bad because I see how that could have been perceived as the case. But that’s cool, I was born on the 84.

Tower of Druaga series, dating from waaaaay back before you were probably born.

Dungeons like this are nothing new.

Also, Sword Art Online is bad.

I want to know this, too. I’ve had it very busy since the end of October and haven’t had a chance to pay attention until today, and I can’t get into the instance via the camp NPC (since Marjory is not there anymore).

Honestly, my main concern after seeing those videos as they were coming out was that enemies would be too easy to instagib. After all, I’m a Guild Wars vet—that’s a game where soloing a monster could only happen if it was half your level gutter trash, running one of the myriad 55 type builds, or so on.

I find the voice acting from Tassi’s and the Bloody Prince to be top notch, and the writing to be very natural as well. I also like the subtle Portal homage you guys have going through Tassi’s golem’s communicades. Overall very well presented.

Kinda ran into that last year. There was no invisible wall, I’d just keep falling through the tower. It made me mad and wasted three hours.

Come on, ANet. Fix your game.

tigirius.9014:

Soja.5918:

All the stuff getting one-shot in these vids are trash mobs. You can easily one-shot things with any class in a newbie zone if you are:

1) Level 80
2) Optimized for damage via power and critical strength
3) Fully geared with exotic equipment.

Some skills have different effects in terms of their parameters and on-hits. I really wish they kept Grasping Dead how it was, but I can also easily see how that would be an optimization issue when you have to consider up to twenty necros generating that visual effect at once.

I don’t really find this painful or wistful to look back upon.

directed at the one shot comment — perhaps warrior methinks?

I am a Ranger. I have also done this with my Necro and Ele. So…

All the stuff getting one-shot in these vids are trash mobs. You can easily one-shot things with any class in a newbie zone if you are:

1) Level 80
2) Optimized for damage via power and critical strength
3) Fully geared with exotic equipment.

Some skills have different effects in terms of their parameters and on-hits. I really wish they kept Grasping Dead how it was, but I can also easily see how that would be an optimization issue when you have to consider up to twenty necros generating that visual effect at once.

I don’t really find this painful or wistful to look back upon.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Because I have a busy work schedule, I generally take Living Story content at a slow and steady pace. This past week was absolutely brutal for me, so I was able to do no such thing as a dungeon run. I was counting on getting the meta through an easy daily, and LO AND BEHOLD: Sunday’s was to assemble ONE (1) AETHER KEY. I can do that, right?! I mean, I have seventeen pieces across all characters combined!

So I do it.

Nothing.

I made another one.

Still nothing. What the heck?

Last one.

And still nothing. I was very annoyed, but I figured I’d have the rest of October to do it as I did with all other first-week LS releases.

I should’ve known it was the end when I logged in on Monday night and saw that there was no Twilight Assault daily on the board. Again, I had to retreat soon after that and the whole category was gone when I checked yesterday. ArenaNet, this makes me very upset. I was at 9/10 and I was essentially cheated out of the backpack skin because YOUR stupid system glitched when I needed it to work. Yes, I understand that bugs happen, but why in Abaddon’s name did you pull Twilight Assault after a piddly two weeks?

ARGH I am angry. kitten it.

I’m all for challenge but SAB World 2 leans on a lot of bullkitten mechanics to artifice the impression of difficulty. Zone 1 is ok, Zone 2 is a mountain of bullkitten, and I have no idea how Zone 3 is but I am dreading it.

All in all I gotta say some of the complaints have been fairly justified. SAB was meant to be a fun sort of side distraction. Here I thought tribulation mode was for the hardcore crowd, but it turns out that the normal mode is almost infuriating enough that the average player that enjoyed the first installment probably won’t like this one!

For one, the stages are way, way, WAY, WAAAY too kitten long. Eleven secret rooms? 90 assassins? Hard jump after brutal hard jump amidst instant kill mechanics strewn willy-nilly and insidiously disguised to boot? Oh, and let’s not get into the camera. It’s like it’s attached to a crashing helicopter at the times you need it most.

I am disappointed in World 2. There are some bits of it that I honestly enjoy but the whole package is a pretty bitter deal and the irritating design choices make it more of a chore and battle of attrition than anything with any genuine challenge.

I’m game.

Fifteen characters.

Zerkers can go to turret defense. If they don’t want to, rebuild. Don’t want the expense? Your call but don’t blame others for your decisions. Leave the frontlines to the ones that can take a hit.

This topic is off point, because op needs to realize that if those vast human resources fail to execute their roles on point then the chances of success fall accordingly. It’s not like you can hit 1 and afk, you have to be alert and adaptable to situations as they change. So kindly stop being a haughty buzzkill, op, and let the victors enjoy their win.

A coordinated guild or group effort is exactly what this fight is supposed to be now, so…