Guild Wars 2

A few ideas about how to improve the state of wvw:

Walls and Siege – No longer give participation and xp

The reason behind this is to prevent the current influx of peope that are there only to farm pips for rewards. These people stand around afk until a wall is broken and then repair them to get xp etc. These are also the same people that randomly throw down siege in stupid places and build them for xp.

Free Accounts

At present free accounts can enter WvW at level 60 and dont have full skills, traits etc so already provide an easy kill for level 80 players. These player also are made with the intention of being active on an enemy server to waste supplies etc. These account should not be allowed to enter WvW when in free and should only be allowed once they have purchased the full game. They should however be allowed to enter and play eotm as this would let them have a taster of wvw environment without actually affecting the gameplay.

Server Linkings

If a high placed server is linked to a low placed server then the low placed server transfer cost should be the same as the high placed server to prevent server stacking for that matchup. The same applies if the high server is showing as full then the lower server should also temporarily be placed as full until next linkings.

Outnumbered

Reduce the pips to 3 as 5 is currently to many and if you enter the map with less than 5 mins remaining then you cannot score pips until the next full 5 mins.

Map Hopping

To prevent players moving from map to map in order to get the outnumbered buff benefits the participation level should be reduced back to 0 when you change map. Now I know sometimes you have to jump maps to defend structures, however it is easy to get to level 3 anyways and at the most your only gonna miss 1 lot of rewards.

AFK at Spawn

Now we have all seen people afk at spawn waiting for their pips to run down and taking up space that another player could enter and use or waiting at spawn until they need to go and flip a camp in order to keep their participation level up.

When players are at spawn they have the determined icon placed on them. When this icon is placed on player then they cannot recieve pips. This prevents players afking at spawn. Now those that afk in a structure we cant really prevent, however if that structure is flipped they will be killed and after 5 mins will be ported to spawn anyways at which point the determined kicks in and no pips recieved.

Logging off Pips

Ok, so you decide to call it a day and you can probably squeeze out another 15 mins worth of pips but doing so prevents others from joining, why not simply have an option to consume all and provide pips based on this.

Currently, there are 8 dungeons and 25 explorable paths. My proposal is to not add or buff straight liquid rewards in these paths, but to incorporate an already existing system into dungeons.
Currently, there is a system in place on every non-starting zone or city map that rewards you along a reward track when you complete an event in that zone. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Map_bonus_reward

My proposal is to merge this system with the current dungeon system. Rewards would be given on either a daily or weekly timer. (similar to Raid reset) The changes that would have to happen internally to the dungeons would be the following:
• Dungeon bosses and “bonus event” mobs would all have an event marker attached to them (as has been done to jumping puzzles).
• A set of rewards (preferably dungeon level specific) would have to be created for each dungeon and for various bosses.
• ALTERNATIVE: A map progress bar, similar to the new meta maps, filled by killing mobs and participating in the dungeon.
Clearing bosses and dungeon events would award either (daily or weekly limited) loot for that event, or if using the alternative, would award some dungeon bar progress.
Pros:
• Encourages full clears and discourages skipping bosses.
• Introduces more ways for players to get varied level loot for salvage or lower level mats.
• Bosses and mobs still skippable for the speed runners out there, but now there’s incentive to do more instead of less.
• A way to bring dungeons back for people yet still keep a daily/weekly limit.
• Dungeon runners get some rewards and incentives to play again.
Cons:
• Adding an event progress bar, designing rotating rewards (so one particular boss or dungeon isn’t farmed), or instating event markers for various rooms/bosses in all 25 explorable paths is a ton of work. There’s bound to be bugs and glitches.
• Potential lfg issues with some players wanting to full clear and others wanting speed runs, but that existed in the “golden age”.
• Dungeon path sellers (particularly Arah sellers) will get more loot out of selling, but fewer buyers, as more people will be trying to complete the content on their own for rewards.
There are probably a few other pros and cons but these are the main ones I can think of at the moment. While I don’t honestly expect this system to go anywhere, I’m told it’s always good to get your ideas out there, so at least you did something more than complain.

Achievement reward description :

‘’*Ascended Armor chest : Double-click to choose a box of ascended armor.* ’’

I had to complete that boring HoT story with all my 9 characters to finally complete the achievement. And the saddest part is you only get 1 ascended armor piece. Achievement reward description makes it sound like the reward is full ascended armor set. ANET you should change the wording for this achievement reward immediately.

Example: Double-click to choose an ascended armor piece.

Furthermore, the reward does give you the option to choose one of the old ascended stats, HoT ascended stats not included, and then you get to select any armor piece you want.

There was a time, however brief, in which Fist Flurry + Palm Strike was a viable and powerful technique in the PVE world. However, those days have passed.

After way too long of a time, a realization came to me. The increase in damage from auto attacks on the thief meant that there was in increase in damage from haste. And also, by comparison, the advantage of Fist Flurry + Palm strike had gone down as well. So much so, that fist flurry is basically reduced to a highly conditional 2 second stun. Let me demonstrate:

Standing in the mists on my Daredevil, with absolutely nothing equipped but my skibbies, and no sort of anything that would modify any of my skills, I get the following damage values for the auto attacks of these respective weapons. Note, that these are base values, and as such are modified by effective power.

Staff Auto: (293 + 293 + 688) / 2.14 = 595 DPS
Dagger Auto: (284 + 302 + 391) / 1.68 = 582 DPS + 3.57 poison TPS
Sword Auto: (284 + 284 + 462) / 1.88 = 548 DPS

It doesn’t matter which one is highest right now. Just keep these numbers in mind. Now, lets look at the two “DPS” skills in question: Haste and Fist Flurry + Palm Strike.

What haste does is, for 6 seconds, grants you quickness. This means that you’ll do 1.5x AA damage for 6 seconds. Since the listed values up there are damage per second, this means that Haste will add the additional amount of damage:

Staff: 1,785
Dagger: 1,746 + 10.71 bleeds
Sword: 1,644

And since it will do this every 60 seconds, you can consider this a DPS boost applied every 60 seconds. So, taking how much damage it does and dividing the time between doing it we can get the additional DPS that haste does:

Staff: 29.75
Dagger: 29.1 + 0.18 poison
Sword: 27.4

Keep in mind these are base values, and scale directly with effective power. If you have an effective power of 10k, then these will be 10x higher.

Now, as for our dear, dear Fist Flurry. This is the value that we have now:

Fist Flurry 995
Palm Strike 465
Pulmonary Impact: 872 (365)*

*This is where things get complicated, since Pulmonary Impact cannot crit, it cannot scale with effective power. However, I have a workaround. Standing in full berserker gear at a level 80 zone, while under the effects of fury I have a scaled crit damage of 268.7 (including traits), and a critical chance of 82.3%. No food or outside buffs. Using a very simple formula, this gives me a crit mod of 2.388. Now, you’re probably wondering why I’ve done this. Well, the logic works like this: since Pulmonary impact can’t crit, it is effectively doing damage equal to base damage / crit mod, since all other attacks have the crit mod. Since I get a resting crit mod of 2.388, this means that the scaled damage for Pulmonary Impact will be 365.

With that all out of the way, the total activation time as measured by a stop watch about twenty times or so is 2.5 seconds. This means the skills inflict about 730 DPS.

“But wait!” You say, failing to realize time and again that you should wait for my entire explanation before sounding off like a doofus, “That looks plenty high. What’s the problem, BRA dawg?”. Well, consider that if you weren’t doing Fist flurry, you were probably doing an auto attack. And this means that really, you are only doing an additional damage of

Staff: 135
Dagger: 148 – 3.57 poison
Sword: 182

And since you did this once every 22.5 seconds, then this comes to a total additional DPS of

Staff 6
Dagger: 6.6 – 0.16 bleed
Sword: 8.1

Yep. That’s it. If you have an average DPS of 595 with staff auto attacks, throwing in an extra fist flurry + palm strike nets you a DPS of 601. That’s all it gives you.

“But wait!” you say, forgetting your place again you insolent little… anyway. Yes, you are probably saying that it fulfills the niche of being a “stun” whereas haste just adds damage. Well, that’s where other techniques come in.

Ignoring our high stunning elites, if we were to compete our utilities on a slot for slot basis, there are already utilities that can do what palm strike does, but better.

#1: Haste. If you’re going for damage, haste adds more in any situation in which you do not have guaranteed permanent quickness. Which, I’m sorry to say against those “elitists” who insist that every party has a quickness spamming Mesmer, is not going to happen, because combat is complicated and quickness falls. A lot.

#2: Bandit’s Defense. This is an extremely useful skill. First, it is a block. Second, it is a stun break. Third, if you do block an attack, Reflexive strike is a 2 second knockdown which does just as much breakbar damage as Palm Strike. This skill fills many niches in a build.

#3: Impairing Daggers. The still only has 398 DPS, so over the course of 25 seconds you will lose about 8 points – 0.96 poison ticks off of your DPS. But, it has three advantages. First is that it does 50% more breakbar damage than the other skills. Second, as a combo finisher it comes with other effects. Third is that it is a ranged skill. And as a ranged skill, it is capable of being used while disengaging or chasing an enemy, which are periods where you would normally not be doing any DPS at all, which compensates for the loss that it would provide.

Keep in mind, to come to the defense of Fist Flurry, several things need to happen.

A) Be engaged in melee at all times. No disengaging or chasing.
B) Permanent Quickness
C) Enemy has permanent immobilize and slow
D) Fighting against only a single enemy, as Fist Flurry does not cleave
E) Be requiring no additional utility to the degree where a 1% gain in DPS is preferable to every other utility the Thief has.

And that just plain isn’t going to happen.

“But what” shush. I know you’re talking to talk about crit rates. And again, this is something I’ve worked out. The additional damage that pulmonary impact inflicts becomes more valuable as the crit mod decreases. But, at what point will it become equal to something like haste? There’s a simple formula for that:

0.5 × 6 x AA damage x Crit Mod / 60 = ((584 – AA damage) x Crit Mod + 874 / 2.5) /22.5

Sole for crit mod. First, with Staff auto

29.75 Crit Mod = -0.49 Crit Mod + 15.54
Crit Mod = 0.518

Since the lowest critical damage modifier is 1.02, it is impossible for one to match the damage of another.

With all that, Fist Flurry has found itself out of a job. While the boost to auto damage for thieves was definitely a good update, this has had the unfortunate effect that skills that used to be used for damage before now find themselves not being used at all. Chief among those is Fist Flurry, but also Impact Strike (380 DPS, assuming 3.5 second activation time).

So with this, I will say two things.

#1: Many skills need buffs to their damage to make them worthwhile again. In particular, Impact Strike, Pistol Whip, Fist Flurry/Palm Strike, Flanking Strike/Larcenous Strike, and maybe even Pistol Whip need a buff. If skills do not receive a buff to DPS, then they need to receive a buff to utility of some kind (I.E. Fist flurry causing a 2 second daze).
#2: Until then, I will have to bury Fist Flurry until the day that the devs shine on it.

So, one last uppercut, for memories. I will miss this very fun and thematic skill very much.

Should of been the name for new expansion.

Make Frost Aura’s chill application work only inside 600 range or even 360 of the target.

Thanks.

I am Tempest.

Yes, trains. The choo-choo kind. Steam locomotives. The Charr could easily build them. It would break the Asura’s monopoly on the country’s commuting infrastructure (competition is good) and provide an alternative in case the waypoint system ever breaks down (ahem).

Sure, you can run but what if your legs get tired? Or fall off?
It’s also great for those of us who don’t want to get cancer from excessive use of waypoints.

I propose a train line running in a big loop through all the zones, with two or three stations in each, usually at the big cities or important townships. (Skip Harathi. Nobody wants to see centaurs.) Buy a round-trip ticket and sit back, relax and take in the sights. Have a conversation with other players while watching the scenery go by. (Put a BL delivery agent on the train so players can buy hats while chatting and watching the scenery go by.)

Then there are the gameplay possibilities. Centaurs trying to stop the train (darn centaurs!) Fight bandits on top of the carriages! Listen to NPCs tell you about their dreams in non-stop looping two lines of dialogue. You need tunnels. (The dredge can build those.) When on top of the train, type /sit at the right moment and watch as your enemies get knocked off the train in looney tunes style. Then /laugh.

Overcrowding could be an issue. Perhaps limit the number of passengers per carriage (entry to the train is by buying a ticket at the kiosk) and auto-disembark travellers after a full circuit. Maybe even limit train rides to one per hour. Have a photo booth at the kiosks where you can buy a photo of you riding the train. Sell tee shirts for gems which say “I rode the S-train and all I got was this virtual tee shirt.” (The S in S-train stands for Steam, you pervert.)

Once a day, a world boss should appear on the roof of the train and players would have 12 minutes to defeat him before the train rolls off a cliff, killing everybody because the bridge is out. If they succeed, the boss’s corpse falls across the gap, providing safe passage for the train to continue its journey.

Trains are cool.

I remember watching the HoT press conference and colin talking about WvW. How its an epic experience of ramming gates and taking towers, overthrowing keeps. This made me a little sad because it showed that they still believed that people playing WvW actually cared about those things.

Sieging means PPT and PPT literally means nothing in WvW. About a year or so after launch when the servers population began to diminish, and even before that, its been pretty clear that its impossible to every win or succeed in PPT unless you have a certain population. Its the worst it ever has been now, especially in T2, but we know whose going to win from the beginning of the matchup. From the beginning of the tournaments we know whod win, and thats what made PPT always so hard to take seriously.

Thats why as it stands now, people go for the fights. Whether large scale or small scale, you could gain a lot of fun from these fights, and you could even win if you were outmanned. That could never happen in PPT. Because of 2 reasons. You cant win PPT outmanned, and its incredibly unrewarding. If you could make PPT balanced then you could make it rewarding and then more people would do it, but thats not the way it is.

I feel like Anet still doesnt get this understanding from the community. I mean they are giving us a new map that sounds heavily focused around sieging when thats the last thing we need. Encouraging more sieging, PPT, only means it rewards the higher stacked servers and eliminates more open field fights. Thats THE WORST case scenario for WvW.

If they really wanted to make PPT important and wanted people to embrace it, then they shoulda fixed the PPT problem. Maybe they will in the expansion, I really hope, either a new scoring system or megaservers, we’ll see.

does anyone else like server downtime as much as i do