Guild Wars 2

I want Cantha. The only expansion I played through in GW1 was the one that had Cantha.

Sylosi.6503:

Have you played LoL or HoN?
…

I also think you left something off enjoyability, the actual feeling of combat, I generally find 3d combat much more engaging to actually play than 2d point and click with a very limited number of skills, the actual combat is dull.

To the question, the answer is no. (Those are Dota-like games, which I’ve never played previously). Given that I’ve watched at least a youtube video for each game (before I even try to play them), I honestly think that Dota2 is easier for getting into (which is elaborated in a previous post).

And, right, the combat design for GW2 evokes a better feeling of being in the action than Dota2. In the context of MMOs and online gaming, I haven’t really cared too much about it lately though; I think I cared much more for it when I was in my teens. Don’t get me wrong though, as I do consider it a plus (albeit not a whole lot in comparison to the other points).

I would like GW2 to get me to consider and think about more things, and one way to do it is as Rieselle says, quoted below:

… And risk-reward, if you perform powerful actions it should leave you more vulnerable to punishment…

Lavexis.5360:

you also forgot that moba games have progression…

You’re right, I totally forgot about character-progression. I’d consider that to be a very important one as it does make Dota 2 more enjoyable.

Follidus.8027:

… Sorry if this is rude, but you are not anywhere near being “skill-capped,” which is the point at which you cannot improve…

Right, I know that. I was hoping words like “feel” or “enough” would hint at that. It’s hard to quantify a precise amount of improvement in order for me to enjoy that aspect (of improving myself). Furthermore, I’m playing hotjoin, so it’s not like I’m meeting super-competitive players who would challenge me to a great extent. However, I should point out that I don’t like the plentiful communication (via a mic) and specific builds that’s required to be competitive in tournaments. I prefer a more casual experience (without ppl constantly harping into a mic and without much pre-planning).

condiments.8043:

How anyone thinks DOTA 2 is more intuitive than GW2 is beyond me unless you’ve been initiated in the format. It, like GW2, requires outside research in order to be ‘competitive’…

After watching a video of DOTA 2, I felt like I could just hop in and know what I’m supposed to do. A couple of reasons for this are 1) I don’t have to learn the different things that are on each of GW2’s maps, and 2) I don’t have to learn GW2’s trait system and 10 abilities (or 15 if we include weapon swap). There’s only 1 map in Dota 2, and the 4 abilities (which is the case for most of the heroes) can be quickly looked over and remembered at the beginning of the match.

— continued —-——

- Changing Environments – In Dota 2, it’s quite interesting with minions and towers, because it changes the advantage for opposing players; for example, if I’m near my minions or towers, then I’d generally have an advantage when fighting another player. The point is that the dynamic environment changes in ways that can favor one side over the other. And because of factors like “minion blocking”, in general, the environment is generally not exactly the same from one skirmish to the next (which the player will need to consider each time).

- Multiple Goals – In Dota 2, it’s about pushing lanes, denying last hits, gaining gold, denying opponents from gaining experience, etc. Guild Wars 2 sort of has multiple goals, but it really only boils down to holding Control Points; getting kills doesn’t give very much points (and ppl come back so fast), and the other ways to earn points generally aren’t always available (e.g., Lord or Svanir). It should also be noted that some goals are more appealing than others; for example, defeating an opponent is generally more satisfying than passively gaining points after capturing a control point. I think the goals in Dota 2 are more appealing.

- Multiple items of Engagement (or things to keep players thinking) – The previous 3 points mentioned above basically falls under this category, but I thought they were interesting enough to mention separately. To further emphasize how much there is to consider during a match in Dota 2, generally a player would need to constantly think about the shop, last hits, location-awareness, positioning, etc. I don’t think there’s as many things to consider in GW2, and hence less items of engagement. (When I was starting to get bored of GW2 pvp, I started to gravitate towards the thief, because their positioning was generally more crucial/important than when playing other classes).

Things I Enjoy in Both:

- PvP – that is, the opponent is generally unpredictable, such that, I need to predict what the opponent is planning to do. It’s more satisfying to defeat such an opponent.

- Cooperation/Teamwork among random groups – I think I get a better sense of cooperation in Guild Wars 2 than Dota 2. However, the bond I feel is even better in Guild Wars 1 (Random Arena matches), where there’s a lot more communication & cooperation and multiple rounds of sticking together.

Final Remarks:
I don’t really think the lack of variety in game modes (in Guild Wars 2) is the real problem with this game, unless the game mode can fix the “real culprits” which impacts fun/enjoyability (for a substantial number of players). For a more concrete example of a “culprit”, consider the satisfaction gained from defeating a player character versus capturing control points (and gaining points) to win; for me, defeating/fighting a player is more satisfying/fun.

What do you guys think are the “real culprits” that make the current pvp unenjoyable? And possible solutions to remedy/fix them?

Any opposing thoughts on what I wrote?

Feel free to compare against other games.

My Background:

Guild Wars 2 – My pvp rank is 40+. I only played the 8v8 matches (never played tournaments). I have a good amount of experience with the elementalist, necromancer, ranger, and thief.

Dota 2 – Only played ~4 private matches with NPCs, and 2 pvp matches so far. Other than that, I’ve never played a Dota-like game before. I’ve tried only 4 heroes so far: Invoker, Visage, Death Prophet, and Anti-Mage. I generally found them boring to play except for Invoker.

Differences in favor of Dota 2:

- Easy to comprehend from watching a match – I just needed to watch basically 1 match (from TotalHalibut on youtube) to understand the jist of Dota 2. It’s not as easy with Guild Wars 2, especially because the player can customize their build beforehand. This point is only important to get new players into the game.

- Still Learning – With regards to Dota 2, I’m still improving my skills, learning how to control Invoker effectively, and learning about the game’s details. With GW2, I think I’ve found some of the most effective builds and generally have already learned how to play properly (which did take me a long time), so I don’t feel like I really learn/improve anything anymore. When there isn’t enough new things to learn/try or ways to improve myself, then I get bored and find something else (in the context of a PvP game). (Note: GW1 pvp lasted a long time for me because there were so many builds to try out, and this would repeat itself each time Anet would re-balance/modify the abilities).

- Changing Roles and Decisions within a match – With Invoker, I have to swap my abilities (and manage my “attunements” which impacts my stats) based on the situation quite often. Sometimes I have to deal more dmg, or be tankier, or run faster. For abilities, sometimes i need to slow the opponent, or stun them, or deal dmg, or etc. For GW2, in contrast, the initial build/class largely determines our role. And, consider my D/D elementalist, which generally uses the same combo (of attunement swaps and abilities) for all sort of situations. Furthermore, the “shock aura” is almost always my answer for defense, since it gives me protection and shocks melee attackers. And, “ride the lightning” is pretty much always the answer for getting away when someone’s chasing me. In other words, there aren’t a whole lot of decisions to consider for many scenarios that often occur.

I think this was a good move on their part. Handling an awkward UI is not fun and probably deters some people from participating in tournaments. (It’s definitely one of the things that deter me).

That said, the serious discussions in this thread is all good. It’ll help them consider putting back some of the good stuff in a balanced and appropriate manner.

The rendering issue regarding invisibility is still there. It takes a couple seconds before the thief shows up after attacking me in sPvP.

P.S. – I’m using a thief too.

Edit: Auto-attacking in stealth also annoys me. Auto-attack is supposed to be disabled when I stealth, but its not… More specifically, when I stealth it momentarily stops my attack. Then I move around, and all of a sudden it shoots my target (I’m holding a bow).

1. Thief – difficult to win or even stay in combat against many other classes/builds. Requires very precise timing in many situations.
2. Necro – can beat any class/builds (and force them to flee). Requires some timing to interrupt opponents (e.g., interrupt their heals).
3. Ranger – I’m not completely sure where to put this class. Doesn’t seem to be able to handle some classes very well (e.g., mesmers).
4. Elementalist – a glass cannon elementalist may be harder to play, but my build uses Soldier’s Amulet and heavily makes use of boons that I can keep up much of the time. As such, this class seems very easy to play with and win. My win/lose ratio in hotjoin is highest with this class among the above classes.
5. Guardian

Ackfu.8407:

Dual.8953:

Yeah, bring back the drawing an map pings. Maybe add some pre-scripted phrases too. Like if you see an enemy and target them, they’ll ping on the map. Maybe add an built in mic system too. Anything that can easy up on the need to stop and type.

You can draw and ping on the map http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Map
you just need to party up to be able to see it.

Oh thanks for that, I was not aware of the drawing capability.

That said, sPvP still needs this functionality since ppl aren’t in parties.

For more team communication I think it would need:
1) a sufficient amount of downtime (which it generally doesn’t have). There’s a very short downtime before the match. During the match, it’s possible that there’s downtime during point capture, but usually in any particularly competitive match the opposing team is there to contest it.
2) and better tools for communication (e.g., drawing lines on the map like in GW1).

Anyways, because of the auto-balance (and ability to join with friends), I don’t think consecutive win rewards are a good idea.

It depends on what class you play. From experience and the design, I think the necro is more fitted to a mostly offensive build.

Toughness doesn’t help a necro as much, because all necros have access to deathshroud which improves with vitality (and note that a fixed amount of life-force is drained per second regardless of the amount of toughness). And realize that the Necro is supposed to be “balanced” with consideration for deathshroud which is reliant on vitality. (Edit: I was assuming a playstyle that utilizes deathshroud for long durations. For very short bursts of popping in and out of deathshroud, maybe toughness is still quite useful. Albeit, note that armor does not improve linearly with toughness.)

In contrast, classes like Guardians and Elementalists can make better use of toughness thanks to their abundance of heals.

Currently enjoying this build (which is posted on page 2 of the “Post Your Build Thread” thread with more info):
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/necromancer#5|0|1201|1196|9243|1199|4693|20|1592|1211|0|0|0|0|0|10|1569|0|0|20|1580|2321|0|20|2338|2401|0|3|17|3|28032|28016|49982|49982|49982|49982|49982|25790|21080|0|0|0|0|

Basically, the staff + marks (and deathshroud) is used to handle builds which are problematic to be in melee against (e.g., hammer warriors) or are good at kiting (e.g., mesmer).
Otherwise, the dagger does very good damage.

I suggest you should just try different builds (e.g., try the 3 sec. stability).

My builds generally have perma-swiftness (or close to it). So, I generally kite. I also use plenty of chill/cc to keep them away from me. And yes, there’s also dodging. (You can dodge the elementalist’s Earthquake if you’re prepared).

For survival, you may want to consider Flesh Wurm and/or Spectral Walk.

If you drop down Flesh Wurm at a good spot, you can use it to teleport away when you’re in trouble. Spectral Walk is great since it gives you swiftness so that you can run away; but you can also use it to tp if necessary when it’s active. These 2 skills are my favorite for getting away (of course I use staff too to help by dropping marks to slow down opponents).

Plagues Signet only works if you have line of sight towards the target. I’m not a big fan of it anymore. I think Blood is Power is overkill given you probably have so many other ways to apply conditions (even though it does amplify your power). I never tried epidemic, I’m not sure how often it’s actually essential to winning the battle.

Other utilities you may want to consider are wells. In your case, if you’re pure condition, then you may want to use well of darkness. I don’t use well of darkness in my builds because I focus more on power, so I use the damaging wells to punish people who comes close to me.

Oh, I forgot. 2 stacks of bleeding + regen. It’s still powerful. And no, it’s not a bug.

If you want a “decent finisher”, how about giving constructive feedback? Possibly a detailed suggestion?

The reason people loved it so much was because it was too overpowered.

In the case of Necros, a 3 sec bleed + regen skill on dodge is already very strong. Adding the blast finisher is over the top. I suppose you could try asking for a trait that gives a blast finisher on dodge but nothing else or not much else (but would you still use it then? If you just liked using the blast finisher then you’d still use it right?)

- Okay, it gives the necro something for opponents to worry about. (I’m not sure if it’d be something to fear, but at least worried about).

- I don’t see how it solves the problem against burst builds (e.g., thief burst, then run)
- I don’t see how it really solve the problem against bunker builds that have plenty of condition removal
- It looks like it punishes certain classes/builds like the Warrior more. Because the warrior has a lot of hp, but usually doesn’t have a ton of ways to remove conditions. So, the builds that rely on lasting long but don’t have many ways to remove conditions will suffer from the higher grade fears.

P.S. – the video does illustrate some good points, but it could have been much, much shorter. (The parts where you’re not playing seriously doesn’t really add anything.) And, I’d much prefer (at least as an addition to the video) concise text that just got to the point, which in this case could’ve been done.

Spectral Wall:

I just tried this skill. The combo field isn’t located at the location that I choose to cast the wall (in other words, not at the wall). Instead, the combo field is invisibly located at my character’s location upon cast.

These are the builds I currently favor in sPvp. I’ve never played tPvp, so my builds don’t reflect any experience from there.

Dagger/Dagger Build – balanced offensive/defensive/support build

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/elementalist#3|3|2771|3983|48|100|4480|0|0|0|0|20|1887|1607|0|10|2255|0|0|30|1684|1680|1687|10|2250|0|0|0|0|0|28043|28017|49981|49981|49981|49981|49981|21025|21080|0|0|0|0|

- This build generally gets me the most wins in sPvp given the ones I’ve tried.
- A common combo is Updraft—>Buring Speed—>Arcane Wave—>Fire Grab—>Ring of Fire—>Earthquake—>Ring of Earth.
- This build also provides a lot of support to teammates when I’m within 300-400 range from them.

Scepter/Dagger Build – signet + aura build

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/elementalist#6|3|2771|630|2817|100|4480|20|917|918|0|15|1887|0|0|10|2255|0|0|15|1684|0|0|10|2250|0|0|0|0|0|28032|28017|49981|49981|49981|49981|49981|21025|21080|0|0|0|0|

- Does decent damage from range
- Given sPvP map design (and goal of taking control points), it can be frustrating fighting builds which can use melee attacks (since melee attacks deal a lot more damage)

It’s not a bug. People complained about the health not regenerating. So, then they added it in for the Flesh Golem. I remember a time when it didn’t regen…

So it was a P/D thief… I wrote my suggestions assuming it was a melee centric thief, but I think some of it is still applicable.

I don’t ever remember seeing one with my necro (although I have met a few of them on my elementalist, and after the first fight, I was able to figure out a way to deal with them, with my D/D elementalist). Or maybe the P/D ones I met were too easy to dispatch to be memorable when using my necro. I mostly see melee centric thieves (e.g., backstab or pistol whip or etc.).

I also want to say that you may want to consider warhorn? I think the interrupt is great. And the AOE cripple from swarm may be able to keep them from using cloak and dagger on you.

P.S. – once they fix the invis render bug with thieves, it’ll probably be easier.

P.S.2 – I’ve never really had much of an issue with them using Cloak and Dagger off my minions though. And one reason I like minions is that if I hide behind them, they take all of the projectile hits for me.

My Condition/Power hybrid build is posted near the end of this thread on page 2: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Post-Your-Build-Thread/page/2#post673964

I’m not a fan of the scepter (and similarly for axe) because it’s generally only good if you can maintain distance while facing your target. That would mean that you would need to rely on some means to slow them down (e.g., your AOE cripple from scepter, or other skills).

In my fights, I often times turn around and run. Sometimes perpendicular to them. Sometimes directly away from them. The point is, I’m running in the direction I’m facing because it’s faster than walking backwards. I also dodge to keep my distance. And during this time, I drop down marks to damage them and protect myself.

And, I generally never unload all of my best skills, because if I do it all at once, they’d only have to remove all of that at once. So I keep some of my better skills for after they do any removal, or to spike them (but the spike is most likely not going to work quite that well with your build since you have the scepter).

With regards to interrupts, once I interrupt them with one of my skills, I may also just start wailing on them with my heavy damage skills (i.e., stack condition or deal physical damage), and continually interrupt them if necessary and if I have any left.

Anyways, looking at your build, I think the biggest concern is that you don’t have the “Greater Marks” trait to make your marks bigger. And you may want to consider using Flesh Golem (but I don’t actually need any minions to defeat a thief, although it makes it easier).

My marks seem to be very good for killing them when using a condition build. In other words, AOEs are great against invisible targets. Melee attacks can work too.

Generally, I don’t go head on with the thief. By that, I mean, I dodge around and keep distance from them. We also have several interrupts that can allow us to start wailing on them.

Anyways, I’m not sure if your problem is related to your build or if you need to get better at using dodges and the necro skills?

Spectral walk normally lasts for 8 seconds. I think the trait increases it to 12 seconds (i.e., 1.5x)?

The boon duration will stay the same.

I’ve only played sPvp and have no experience with tpvp.

For the Necro, I generally prefer relatively Glass Cannon builds, because I seem to do much better with them than defensive builds that use a lot of toughness. However, since toughness does not scale linearly, I do get at least 200 additional toughness via traits.

Condition/Power Hybrid Build – staff, dagger/warhorn

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/necromancer#5|0|1201|1196|1198|1199|4693|30|1215|1211|2242|10|2325|0|0|20|1569|2332|0|10|2321|0|0|0|0|0|0|3|15|5|28043|28017|49960|49960|49960|49960|49960|25903|48790|0|0|0|0|

Use Sigil of Agony for Staff.

General Description
- I try to play defensively most of the time (especially when initiating a fight); however, there are several necro skills (e.g., interrupts) that allows me to reverse the situation so that I become the aggressor. In general, this is actually quite an aggressive build
- With dagger, understand how to weave around opponents so that they miss, especially when they use range weapons. (Note: turn off melee assist in the options, which blocks your movement in melee range if you don’t turn it off)
- staff = conditions, dagger = physical damage
- can do a sort of spike by switching to daggers after laying conditions on the enemy

Power Build – staff, dagger/focus

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/necromancer#5|0|1201|1196|9243|1199|4693|20|1592|1211|0|0|0|0|0|10|1569|0|0|20|1580|2321|0|20|2338|2401|0|3|17|3|28032|28016|49982|49982|49982|49982|49982|25790|48789|0|0|0|0|

Use Sigil of Superior Accuracy for Staff.

Alternative
- For a bit more Deadly Build, remove 10 points from the Blood line and add it to the Spite line

General Description
- Use Staff (and Deathshroud) for handling certain kiting builds (e.g., mesmers)
- Against certain Warrior (e.g., hammer warrior) and Thief builds, staff should also be used quite a bit (albeit not exclusively)

Tip
- If you expect the opponent to heal soon, then stay in deathshroud to interrupt the opponent’s heal
- after downing an opponent, consider attacking him with the dagger (and Focus skill #4) to gain Life Force

1) I’m pretty sure the necromancer isn’t about great healing. Don’t forget we have life force (deathshroud).

2) Thief and Elementalists have a base health of ~10k. I suppose you could ask to lower the Necromancer’s max hp, but why not just play those classes if you want heals? (Note, when their signet is on cool-down, they don’t gain its passive benefit which some of you are insinuating)

3) And if you do basic math, the Vampiric Minor trait is about equivalent to a 5-10% dmg buff for power builds (ignoring criticals). That is, 5% in dmg + 5% in heals. It’s even better depending on the weapons you’re using.

I think there’s some confusion going on.

When we say mesmer portal, we just mean teleport. Because right now, the “teleport” of the wurm is not an actual teleport—it just try to displace you towards the wurm, so if there’s any obstacles in the way (no matter how minor), then you don’t move the full 1200 range. Actually, my explanation isn’t completely true—the wurm’s teleport is more like the Mesmer’s Blink skill or Elementalist’s Lightning Flash or Thief’s Shadow Step.

But, I suppose it could be too powerful if it was like the mesmer’s portal teleport (in certain places such as at several places in Niflheim map).

Anyways, if “teleporting” doesn’t kill it, then it would cause a different issue. Because someone may want to kill it. Certainly this can be done by swapping out the wurm skill for another skill during the match, but it’s not a feature that should be relied on.

Spectral Walk kept bugging out while I was playing in sPvP. That is, it wouldn’t teleport me back to my initial position after using it—instead, I just stayed where I was. There’s a timer on it, so can’t it be implemented to work more like the Mesmer’s portal?

Tried using the wurm today. It would just bug out all the time when I’m trying to use the teleport (i.e., I don’t move at all, even though we’re both on the same ground level). It really should act more like the Mesmer’s portal. If the dev thinks that could be too powerful, then maybe just increase its range, but make the wurm die immediately when the owner is out of range.

Edit: apparently I got my memory mixed up between spectral walk and the wurm. I did use the wurm today, but it wasn’t the skill that was bugging out—spectral walk was bugging out.

I think the real big issue is the design of rewards. The reward (and crafting materials) at low level areas can’t compete with dungeons and lv. 80 areas.

I’m trying to think through it… At this moment, I think I wouldn’t mind it, but I still wonder if there could be more interesting ideas that would require the player to really consider the context of the situation (i.e., positioning, opponent’s build and skills on recharge, etc.).

To comment on the OPs idea though. How long do you imagine it would last? Recharge time? Interval between pulls? (e.g., whirlpool pulls every x sec. which I don’t know the exact detail of). Pull radius?

I just think it could be either too weak or abused depending on the interval of the pulls (and radius of the pulls). (e.g., elementalist pulls them all in constantly and teammate just AOEs them). The reality is that people can escape the whirlpool due to its pull interval. However, since the underwater skills are limited, people can’t punish the whirlpool too much. On land however, this will be different.

I was toying with the idea that tornado would initially suck in surrounding players once (and only once), then it would spit them out in the direction the player is facing (or just spit them out in the direction they came in from if this can be abused too easily). Afterwards, it just acts like the current tornado. I assume we’re still able to continuously bounce people who are at the boundaries/edges right?

The reason I say this is that it would make the tornado situational, but very useful in the right situation. Also, there’s a chance for opposing players to escape, so that this doesn’t become a “I can safely use it, and now I only have to wait until it ends without considering what escape + counter options my opponents may have.”

Guardians are one of the more capable professions at removing conditions. They can get a passive trait to remove 1 condition every 10 sec. They also have several other ways to remove conditions. However, many of the popular builds I see posted don’t seem to have very much self-condition removal.

I don’t think you should be invulnerable, because it’ll be completely lame when one guy can just run into a mob and stay there for awhile without worry (which also isn’t very interesting). However, my thoughts on the skill are as follows.

It’s not worth using right now (because your damage is significantly less after you transform, and you lose the skills that allow you to escape or defend yourself). I’d like to see the recharge time increased to 5 or 6 mins (or maybe even more). In return, I’d like for it to be stronger. That is, take half damage and also possibly pull opponents in or deal somewhat more damage.

My thoughts are that some powerful elite skills should only be used once or at most twice in a match. This way, the moment will be more significant when a person uses such an elite skill to turn around a bad situation, which can additionally facilitate social conversation that is currently very lacking.

I find that my elementalist has the biggest influence on an sPvp match (I’m rank ~35 from 8 v 8 alone). I played a little over 50% of the games on elementalist. The rest is split (from most to least) between Necromancer, Ranger, Thief, Guardian (where less than 2% of my games are w/ the Guardian). And, a great majority of the time, I’m just testing out builds; yet, my win ratio is almost 75%.

What’s great about my elementalist is that is has great support, good defense, good healing, good damage, plenty of AOEs, and great mobility. The build that I favor most for winning right now is the d/d elementalist with traits 0/20/10/30/10.

But since you’re playing a thief. I built my thief for team battles, which uses dagger/pistol (and shortbow). It’s not a condition spec, but I also have Caltrops, because it’s great support that punishes anyone standing on a point. The blind field is also great. I use Soldier’s Amulet (Berzerker’s Jewel). Lyssa Runes (for condition removal and buff after Dagger Storm completes). Traits are 25/30/5/0/10. My other utilities are shadowstep and signet of shadows.

I don’t dislike underwater combat because I’m bad at it. Generally, my elementalist can beat the other classes (except for possibly the engineer that throws down a set of turrets and spam grenades).

Part of my problem with Capricorn is that it’s the only map out of the set with underwater combat. As such, when I enter hot-join I’m looking for land combat (e.g., to test my build or other reasons). Zaroua (post above) mentions other problems with underwater.

I hate the Capricorn map partially because there are so many skills that don’t work underwater (e.g., my necro’s elite minion—flesh golem). Another reason is related to the fact that I consider the land skills to be main and that the underwater skills are secondary.

I also try to avoid the Capricorn map every time I enter hotjoin spvp, and when it switches to the Capricorn map I always consider quitting the match (and many times have left).

I think maps containing underwater areas should be in its category with other (future?) maps with underwater areas; and for right now, the category we play in should just be land maps. Switching between land maps and underwater maps is just awkward and breaks up the flow in my opinion. If my suggestion was followed, I think I would actually consider playing underwater maps when I feel like it, and playing land maps when I feel like it.

I just wanted to chime in (in response to the Devs Philosophy) that the Necro is one of the easiest class to escape from.

In contrast, the classes that you can’t get away from are actually the very same classes that can easily escape any situation—that is, the thief and elementalist (and warrior too if they spec a certain way), because of their great mobility.

One way to resolve the problem with the Necro is to possibly give it a special ability/condition (e.g., a speed boost to catch up to its target, or a special non-removable condition that can be cast on its target to slow them down). As a remark, I think that a “condition” would be more appropriately thematic for the Necro, but may be too powerful if it can be cast too frequently; it should probably be something that the Necro will have to contemplate about using.

More Feedback on Lunatic’s Inquisition:

I mentioned on another thread that one reason I enjoyed this so much was because of the social elements (e.g., downtime to chat/text). I also think this mini-game has some good commonalities with the casual pvp in Guild Wars 1, which sPvP lacks.

Anyways, I think one other reason some of the moments in this game is fun/thrilling is that certain events are only likely to happen at most once per round/match. For example, a villager can only die once or a villager is only likely to escape and lose chasing ghosts once or a couple of times max in a round. As such, it makes these moments more significant and thrilling. It also contributes to social communication, because it gives something to talk about. (Again, sPvp lacks any such elements. Yes, there’s some elements like the FoeFire map with the Lord, but there’s rarely any thrilling moments, because the outcome of the situations are too predictable).

Bugs:
When I jump as a ghost and a villager throws the torch at me, a vast majority of the time the fire animation shows up, but nothing happens to me (i.e., I don’t fall down and roll around screaming for the ~3 sec. that I’m supposed to).

I found the Lunatic Inquisition to be so much more fun than sPvP. (Albeit, I really dislike the way elementalists could cheat with their passive speed boost).

What’s great about Lunatic Inquisition is that there’s plenty of time for socializing and you get multiple rounds to know some of the people on your team. sPvp does not have any of this (whereas Guild Wars 1 did).

As for rewards, the ToT bags didn’t particularly felt worth it in terms of time spent (Note: I played it a lot because it was fun rather than for the reward though). I think getting glory for it would be great, but it wouldn’t really make much sense for this particular activity where our pvp armor doesn’t even show. Instead, maybe you could always increase the rewards.

I got a black lion key like 1 or 2 days before the Halloween event started. When the event started, I used it. I got a scythe skin. It’s the only chest I’ve opened throughout the event. I haven’t farmed at all during the event, because farming is just too boring for me.

Feedback on Lunatic Inquisition:

I enjoyed it. Initially, I only enjoyed playing the Lunatics, but as I understood how to time dodges (and use my skills) when running from a Lunatic, I started to enjoy playing as a villager as well. Below, I will list some of the problems/bugs I’ve come up against.

Problems/Bugs:

- Veteran creatures are very weak (dying in 2 hits)

- Someone was able to climb the wall from the V-shaped crack Northwest of the map, near the Bone-Collector NPC (Note: I’m not very good at it, so I was not able to, but I saw someone do it at least twice)

- The Black Goo is supposed to blind the Lunatic, but it doesn’t have any effect on them. They can still hit while blinded.

- The speed boost (and other passive class benefits, such as the Guardian’s Aegis) that some classes have access to make the game unfair

- I met someone who was able to stealth constantly whenever I used the “Mad King Command” skills. I thought they were using a cheat/bot during the time and reported them. However, after playing today, it seems that the stealth skill recharges instantly under a certain condition (when a Lunatic uses that Mad King Command skill on a villager?), which I’m still unsure of. I think that should be in the description of the skill.

I’m with Eon on this one, because there’s several ways it can be more casual/newbie-friendly.

However, I’m thinking, maybe once Anet puts in the Dota-like game-play mode (they’re supposedly working on) it won’t be too much of a problem. (I’ve never played Dota or any of its variants, but I’ve seen plenty of youtube videos or others playing). The reason I say this is because in Dota, there are NPCs which are easy to kill. This means that people can often feel like they are contributing to the team and accomplishing something by going against the NPCs, which are usually much easier.

1 run. No exotics.

Basically from what you’re saying, it sounds like “the game needs to be more casual friendly”.

I think the builds the game starts you with could be much better and there probably should be some recommendations (or warnings) for starting classes when it comes to pvp (because the elementalist is generally not one of those a new player should start with). Did your friend even manage to defeat the test NPCs? (I think the game should direct new players to defeat the test NPCs first before heading into a pvp match).

Anyways, for new players, I think the Guardian is likely to be the best choice. Depending on how fast they learn, the thief can also be a good choice.

If they want to better match players with equivalently skilled peers, then they’d have to go to a system where ppl can’t choose the rooms.

I finished it, but didn’t particularly like it. What kept me going for the ~1.5 hours to complete it was that I was thinking “if other people can do it, then I want to show that I can too,” and I also thought that I could sell the end reward for a good amount of gold.

During the puzzle jumping, my heart did race (and no, I don’t particularly enjoy that feeling). And I don’t feel like I achieved anything important after completing it.

Anyways, what greatly ruined my enjoyment was the constant complaining and bullying going on (particularly against Norns/Charrs). If there was anything I was going to really enjoy, it would have been about the social aspect of it, but clearly that didn’t happen (considering the way people acted).

P.S. – I did get something out of this though. I learned that many people can be such bullies even in such a context—a holiday game.

I played a human (and did beat the tower in ~1.5 hours or so). And yeah, the constant complaining (and bullying) about Charrs/Norns totally ruined my enjoyment. (If they were going to complain at all, they should have more appropriately directed their anger at Anet, the developers of the game content).

With regards to characters blocking views, it was never a huge issue in my opinion. Furthermore, visual blocking can be done by any of the other players, not just limited to charrs/norns. If charrs/norns didn’t exist, they’d probably still be complaining about other ppl.

Anet should remove the “Join Now” button.

It just frustrates people who uses it. When I started PvP (after the game was released), I used the “Join Now” button. I was dissapointed > 90% of the time, because I’d either be in an empty server, or in a server where the people were trying to do something else (for example, farm glory by taking turns taking over points).

Anyways, I haven’t used it since.

P.S. – I understand OPs sentiment, because people aren’t playing the game like it was designed for. Albeit, I understand the other point of view as well.

If you want to support Anet for this event, there’s always those items in the cash shop that just cost straight up gems (i.e., Mad King Costume and Witch Costume, etc.).

The basic concept behind rare weapon skins is desirable to some people though. I think it’d be ridiculous that everyone can get everything they want, which would make the items less appealing for some people (like me). I suppose they should add some different weapon skins that are straight up purchasable from the gem store too though (for those who feel that they must have a weapon skin for the holiday).