Showing Posts For Tenrai Senshi.2017:

WARBRINGER (Seriously)

in WvW

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

@OP

To put it plainly, all legendaries involve buying or crafting items that are ultimately useless outside of enabling the creation of the legendary itself. Some are just collection items that you delete afterwards. Others involve crafting tons of useless weapon components that you simply donate to some nameless NPC afterwards. All of them are massive gold sinks.

Do you know what the main difference here is? The commander tag at least has a use outside of simply enabling the legendary to be completed. I’d much rather spend 300 gold on a tag that has other functionality, than spend the same amount crafting components I simply donate to an NPC and never see again, even if I just so happen to rarely if ever use the tag thereafter. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Try to think of it as if you are paying 300 gold to craft a legendary, and getting a free commander tag as a bonus, rather than the other way around, because if the tag cost was not there, they would have incorporated that gold cost in some other way. You would have not avoided it regardless, but at least this way you get something decent out of it.

Hellfire frustration

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Can you imagine one day if you develop this spectacular looking gear that can only be attained at 50k AP, and only one player ever gets to use it? Would you not see that as a waste of resources, where instead you could have developed content that everyone can enjoy?

Well according to this list: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement_rewards
Achievement rewards go up to 60k and you will get the last of pinnacle skins at 56k so they planned ahead for many many years. At a rate of 2.5k AP per year that’s about 8 more years.

At 42k you get the last backguard, we’ll see in a couple of years if they add anything at 45k but I really doubt it, as you said, at that point it would be creating content for a tiny few people and not everyone.

Fun fact: there are not enough achievement chests up to 60k to add a third set like Radiant/Hellfire so it might be something else (if there is anything)

Meanwhile, they could have used the resources that they wasted on the entire system and added more armor sets to HoTS when it was released that everyone could enjoy (as it was sorely lacking new sets). Hell, maybe they would have finished Legendary armor sooner, instead of almost two years after launch. XD

It’s all about priorities.

Hellfire frustration

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Yes, but what is your point? That still doesn’t change my opinion of it.

My point is if they add a way to get more achievement points faster, then the next reward will appear, which will lead to requests about adding even more achievement points, which would lead to even more rewards and so on.
There is no limit or cap on achievement points, so they can increase to infinity, which also means infinite rewards, the faster players can earn achievement points, the more rewards they need to add on that list. More rewards means extra work for the devs, work for the tiny few leaderboard leaders.

PS: I think the major mistake they did is adding those rewards as skins on the wardrobe. Rewards that cannot be obtained (like the backpacks) shouldn’t be on the wardrobe, until they are within reach.

But I wasn’t asking for them to add more achievement points so we could earn it faster. I was simply highlighting the folly of the entire system to begin with. Tying cosmetic rewards to a point system where it can take years to acquire what you need is basically akin to punishing an overwhelming majority of your player base for no real reason.

I’d much prefer skill based rewards than rewards that are simply time gated. That’s not to say I think achievement rewards should be removed altogether, but they should be more generic and less exclusive (like titles, gold, gems or item rewards for things you can already get in game). I also don’t see the point in wasting resources on creating items or rewards that only an insignificant minority of your player base will ever get to use. Creating even more rewards after Radiant and Hellfire would in my eyes be approaching the point of insanity, because the higher you go, the fewer players will ever reach that point, and the more resources you are wasting for no reason.

Can you imagine one day if you develop this spectacular looking gear that can only be attained at 50k AP, and only one player ever gets to use it? Would you not see that as a waste of resources, where instead you could have developed content that everyone can enjoy?

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Hellfire frustration

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

In my opinion, if you create a reward that not even your absolute best or most dedicated players can get after 5 years, then something is seriously wrong. Lol.

You do know that once those players get that reward… the next one will appear right?

Yes, but what is your point? That still doesn’t change my opinion of it.

Tying exclusive rewards to achievements in the first place is something I find a bit distasteful (I say this as someone with a fair share of achievement points).

I’m personally of the opinion that rewards should be given to players for overcoming in-game challenges, and certainly shouldn’t require you to play for years to get. Games are about enjoyment after all, and I don’t think any new player would enjoy the idea of having to wait a couple of years before they can acquire something they’d like for their character. I can understand maybe giving unique titles for achievements, but having entire sets of gear walled off behind them is a bit much.

Hellfire frustration

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be honest, I find the requirements for the Radiant and Hellfire sets to be quite ludicrous to begin with. To complete just a single set (including the back item) you need 39 000 AP. Even for a player who has played since launch, this is a massive undertaking, in fact in the five years since the game has been out, not a single player has yet to reach that milestone.

The top player in Europe currently has 35 016 AP. And the top in the US has 35 026. If we consider the possibility that these players have probably burned through a majority of the achievements and reached their caps for daily/monthly achievements, it means even just getting the last 4 000 AP to finish the set might take quite a significant amount of time.

The other issue is that these players likely already benefited from the significant amounts of AP one could acquire during temporary events, such as most of Living Story Season 1, or other events such as the Queens Gauntlet, Dragon Bash or Zephyrite Sanctum, which are all no longer available. So, it goes without saying that for newer players who might have missed those events, the task would seem even more enormous.

To put it bluntly, you’re looking at a set that could take years to complete, easily well over five years and possibly much more than that for newer players who cannot get AP’s as easily as we could in the past. It’s such a massive, overwhelming feat that I wouldn’t be surprised if even the most hardcore players simply wrote it off completely, and did not even bother to consider it.

In my opinion, if you create a reward that not even your absolute best or most dedicated players can get after 5 years, then something is seriously wrong. Lol.

Suggestion - Chuka & Champawat Effects

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be honest, I wouldn’t want them to overdo the audio. Having a subtle sound while shooting the bow is fine, but I wouldn’t want a constant idle sound while wielding it, because it would be come grating after a while. I like to listen to the nice ambient sounds of the world around me, and idle sounds on a weapon would just drown them out.

If they do tweak the firing sound a bit, I wouldn’t want them to make it as obnoxious as The Dreamer. I ended up turning off unique sounds from other players because of how annoying it was listening to that neighing sound is every time someone with The Dreamer fights in close proximity to me. The sound for C&C might not be perfect now, but at least it’s much more subtle and not so annoying.

For the footfall, I wouldn’t necessarily make it larger. Maybe it just needs to last a little bit longer so as to be more noticeable (right now it disappears so fast you barely get to see it). But this is a matter of preference, as some players may prefer less noticeable footfalls.

All the other effects are fine for me. The bow has a very cool design and a nice trail effect flaming off the back as it is. Anything more than that would be overkill in my opinion. I’m not too fond of some of the overbearing auras that other legendaries have which hide your characters altogether. Some of us craft legendaries simply because we like the design of the weapon, not because we want to become a beacon for guiding lost ships to shore.

Rate New Specializations from 0 to 10

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I do not see how people thing that the weaver is very complicated. The firebrand seems more complex then the weaver atm. The weaver in pvp/wvw is more proactive than reactive. In pve the weaver can get away with only swapping to 2 attunement :P. Still weaver fits the high skill ceiling kind of play that an elementalist has.

Firebrand is definitely more simple than Weaver. You just pop a tome, use the skills you want and pop out again. What’s complicated about that?

The issue with Weaver is that you have to carefully plan the order in which you swap elements, in order to get the combination skills you want. Switching proactively is fine, but in the heat of battle, it feels very clunky having to do up to two element swaps with an internal cooldown in between, just to access one skill you might need. It doesn’t help that you can’t attune the two elements independently, and so might be forced to do an unnecessary cycle through them to get a desired combination.

All-in-all, it makes the skill rotations a lot more complicated and less refined, even more so than base Elementalist.

Rate New Specializations from 0 to 10

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Firebrand: 7/10 – Thematically speaking, I think they really nailed this elite spec compared to Dragon Hunter. With some polish and enhancements it would easily be 9/10, but right now some of the skills are too clunky to use or underwhelming.

Deadeye: 8/10 – This is actually an elite spec I might not even play, because I just find the daredevil so fun. But with that being said, I think it is a great spec that gives thief a new way to play. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but at least it’s not just more of the same.

Mirage: 9/10 – I didn’t try this for very long, but what little time I had with it was an absolute blast! It does feel underwhelming as far as damage goes, but that can be amended with some tweaks. To me, it’s better to get the fun factor of a class right first, above all else, balance can still be fixed after that.

Renegade: 3/10 – Honestly, when I played this I was a bit confused. It felt like a much clunkier version of a Mesmer with the whole warband phantom summoning mechanic. Shortbow also felt quite underwhelming. I just don’t see what place this spec will hold next to the other specs Revenant has already. It’s a pity because I wanted it to be good, and maybe it will be good with some fixes, but right now it isn’t.

Holosmith: 9/10 – Great animations, a unique mechanic, great damage. I can’t think of anything bad to say about it, really. I might have to get into playing an engineer for once.

Soulbeast: 5/10 – I’m a bit split on this one. From what I can tell, this would offer some interesting build ideas and diversity, but it also feels a bit, how do I put it? Odd? I’m not really sure what it is about this spec, but i just couldn’t really get into it. Maybe I need to tinker more. (I really didn’t like the green aura effect).

Weaver: 5/10 – Honestly, it does look like an interesting spec, but it also felt very convoluted when I was playing it. Elementalists were already the most complicated class to play, and now they’re even more complicated, It’s gotten to the point where they’re starting to feel clunky. Maybe if they streamline the element swapping a bit more, it will feel better, but I feel like I have to relearn everything from the ground up again.

Spellbreaker: 8/10 – It looks like a fun class to use in PvP/WvW. I doubt I’d use it in PvE, but it does seem fun regardless.

Scourge: NA – I didn’t really play it yet, so I can’t give a fair opinion, but with that being said I do think it’s quite cool that Necros get a more support focused spec. I can’t speak for how well it has been implemented though.

how to make 1 gold a day?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Dailies aside, even from just playing normal content, you’re pretty much guaranteed to make over a gold within a 45 minute time-frame. The mats and loot you acquire from mobs would already be enough, and depending on which areas you play in, that amount can increase quite a bit.

You can also do a level 40 fractal farm, which is pretty effortless in a good group once you are familiar with it, but it can be a bit mind numbing. With that said, you’d easily exceed your goal of 1 gold a day (some claim up to or over 30 gold an hour).

If your goal is just to have some casual fun, do as you like and you’ll be fine. But if you do want to put a bit more oomph into it, you’d be able to buy your makeover kit in no time at all.

Non-Flashy Character Screenshots

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Excelsior.

As thief, assassin and hopefully will-be sharpshooter, anonymity and being stealthed is a must. No bling bling, no titles, no minis, no mates, no mickey mouse BS.

During combat, it’s the Sneakthief outfit, as it can hide my weapons and leaves enough freedom of movement for any combat and stealing, yet providing defense.

Out of combat and/or in situations when I know what to expect, the Noble set (a.k.a. “The Hitman”) is being worn, because thieves are not necessarily unshaved, bad-smelling thugs from the gossip, but can also be charmin gentlemen.

When I am really in the mood, I am turning into a ghost – quite literally – and blend perfectly with the shadows.

That’s a cool secret agent/spy theme you’ve got going there. But the question is, in a world full of walking humanoid fission reactions, isn’t it the ones without the particle effects that stand out?

In all seriousness though, nice work.

Flashy Gliders and Auras

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

An option to remove visual clutter caused by flashy stuff defeats the purpose of having it , which is primarily “look at me and my flashy stuff.”
If this can be turned off then theres little point in having it.
Im not a real fan either, but the reality is that flashy stuff pays the bills for Anet.

If your only reason to wear flashy stuff is to have other players pay attention to you and not because you actually like it yourself, then I think that’s a pretty bad start to begin with. I make my character look how I want it to look, not how I think others want it to look.

And either way, players can already hide how you look simply by reducing the the amount of players shown, or their level of detail, so the point is rather moot. I think all some people want is a middle ground, where they don’t hide how others look, but just limit the particle effects details (in a similar way you can limit it for skill effects). That way you still get to show off your nice character, and others get to see it without crashing their PC’s or their eyes. XD

I think it’s a fair request.

GIFT OF BATTLE

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I was going to comment on how it’s actually quite easy to get the gift of battle and how in the grand scheme of crafting a legendary, it’s like a drop in the pond that’s hardly worth fretting over, but I also do agree with Faaris’ point to some degree.

At the end of the day, PvE players playing WvW just to get certain items they need for their legendary can seem like an inconvenience to both PvE and WvW players. I do understand why it was done in the past, because legendary weapons were essentially not just a cosmetic item, but also a symbol of your mastery over all game content (you needed to do world completion, dungeons and other game modes to get everything you needed), but now that we have mode specific legendaries like the new legendary back items that show your mastery of PvP or WvW respectively, I think that’s less of a necessity now.

In the end, it wouldn’t bother me if it remained as is, because it’s not really a train smash, but I also wouldn’t disagree with the idea of not needing to play WvW in order to get an item that is not specifically tied to that game mode.

Flashy Gliders and Auras

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I don’t mind having particle effects involved in your look here and there, but I think the problem right now is the sheer amount of particle effects any one given character can stack on themselves at a time. Before, it was mostly just legendary weapons that gave auras, and those were quite flashy as it is. Now you also get auras from infusions, from armor, from unique shoulders that give snowfall effects or bats flying around you, from legendary gear and trinkets and even from consumables.

The result is that now you can have a character that quite literally looks like a walking maelstrom of particle effects. Not only is it unattractive for a lot of people, but I’m going to hazard a safe guess here and say it also has quite an adverse effect on performance as well. The high particle effect gliders can also cause situations where when gliding in a group during events it can be difficult to see properly, but I would say this particular issue is less prominent for me because of the infrequency of such an occurrence where a lot of players are gliding in a large group. I have less problems dealing with over the top gliders that are only used now and then, and often not in large numbers, than I do with players that look like walking fission reactions all the time.

In the end, I’ve done what a lot of people probably have and reduced the amount of players shown on screen so as to diminish visual clutter. I do get that players have tastes and some enjoy standing out, but in my opinion, when your attempts to cater to the tastes of some comes at the cost of performance and visual fidelity for all, then I think it’s a bit of a misstep. I have no issues with flashy, just with the amount of layers of flashy you can stack right now.

Non-Flashy Character Screenshots

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

My guardian. I kinda went for a bit of a Spartan Warrior type theme.

Spartan with a cold ?

You have to be prepared to face cold weather. XD

Non-Flashy Character Screenshots

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

My guardian. I kinda went for a bit of a Spartan Warrior type theme.

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(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Firebrand: Great Potential

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I played during stress test, firebrand felt super clunky and very squishy.

I really don’t understand this. I ran Seraph gear and didn’t feel squishy at all. The only time I died was when I tried to solo a bounty. But I’ve seen other people say it too. It’s weird.

It’s mostly a matter of a lack of recovery and active defense. Surviving short encounters is fine because generally speaking, you don’t take enough damage to notice a lack of recovery, and usually trash mobs are dead before they can kill you, but in longer encounters it becomes much more of an issue.

Giving up DH means giving up a very strong heal in purification (around 8000 life on a 24 second cooldown) and Wings of Resolve (around 4000 life on a 21 second cooldown if traited). What you get in return is a very underwhelming Tome of Resolve which can barely match the healing of Wings of Resole after casting all the skills (and that doesn’t have the added benefit of offering mobility), and a mantra that restores 6000 life after blowing all three charges, after which you have to deal with a reasonable cooldown and a long cast time.

Couple that with the fact that you’re giving up active defenses such as blocks from focus (because you’re probably using torch for burn build) blinds from sword/greatsword (because you are using axe) and shield of courage, and it means that you’re really being hammered down as far as personal survival goes.

Guardians as it is have always had low base health, but they usually make up for it with quality active defenses and recovery. However, firebrand gives up a lot of that and doesn’t offer much in return as far as survival goes. Sure you could go for meditations, or swap for power weapons and use a focus, etc, but if you’re trying to use firebrand for one of the new builds it brings, with more of a focus on pure support or condition builds with mantras, then you’re going to have a much harder time, especially going into high level content such as raids or T4 fractals.

Playing a toon of the opposite gender?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I primarily play a male character in MMO’s mostly because I see my character avatar as a representation of myself in an online world, and seeing as how I am a guy, I like to be represented as such. It has nothing to do with what feels comfortable or whatnot, it’s just a personal preference. There are plenty of guys who play as girls and there’s no issue with that.

That being said, I will often make female characters if there’s a specific idea I have for one, or to follow a certain theme. I do like to theme my characters and some themes are obviously more oriented to a specific gender.

As for players hitting on you, while it might be less common, you’d be surprised how many people do hit on male characters. I’ve had some very bizarre situations. XD

I thought season 1 items weren't coming back

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I wonder why some people care so much about prestige regarding timed exclusivity on items? I mean, I have some items from old events that are no longer available, but I’d have no problem if they became available again so others could acquire them. I get stuff because I like how it looks, not so I can laud it over others and pretend I’m special.

Also, I’m sorry to break it to some, but ultimately, this is a product for consumers, and ANet is running a business where satisfying the most consumers possible is the ideal goal. They’re not going to cater to an insignificantly small minority at the cost of the majority, because from a business perspective, that simply does not make sense. So don’t be surprised if other one time event items become available sporadically again in the future. In fact, I’d be quite happy if they reintroduced Living Story S1 again using the new story journal template they’ve used for the new seasons so those who never got to do it can experience it, with all the rewards and achievements attainable again (I say this as someone who already did every achievement for every historical event in the game).

Also, if you’re holding on items for a long time for their ever increasing value as an investment, do so with the knowledge that all such investments involve some form of risk and that sometimes holding on too long works to your detriment. I was holding onto a number of power cores that were for a long time no longer attainable, and at one point they were selling for as much as 20 gold each. I had the mind to sell them eventually, but one day they were reintroduced and where I once could have made hundreds of gold, the value suddenly dropped to a point of insignificance. Still, I did not complain because I realized it was my mistake for waiting too long, expecting the price to go up more. I got over it and accepted the loss. After all, that’s how it goes in life sometimes, not everything works out how you expect.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Firebrand: Great Potential

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I do agree it has great potential and the mechanics introduced are very interesting, but yes there are flaws.

I won’t touch on tomes because that’s been covered already. But one impression I did get from playing the stress test a bit last night was that their burn build potential is still a bit sub-par. Against low density mobs, you don’t really get enough stacks of burning to do considerable damage, it’s only against high density mobs with Permeating Wrath proc-ing more often that you really get to see higher burn damage numbers and even then it’s still often lower than what other classes can achieve without having to rely on such a situational mechanic.

Now, this could simply be a lack of experience with the build on my part, but I really couldn’t see how I could apply burns more efficiently and bleeds are too few and too short duration to really bother taking note of, to the point where casting symbol of vengeance felt more like a chore than a boon, with its cast time being what it is.

I also felt very glassy while playing with Firebrand. Even after mixing some trailblazer gear in to get some more tankiness, I was dying against normal mobs in the new area pretty fast. A lack of mobility and active defenses, and a very weak heal with Mantra of Solace wasn’t helping the case much (yes I know I could have used another heal but the point was to test the efficiency of firebrand skills).

All-in-all, I’d rather have an interesting/fun class that is a bit under-powered and that can be buffed with some tweaks, than have a very effective class that has boring mechanics (which are much harder to fix thereafter). In that respect, I do think Firebrand has succeeded in many respects from a flavor point of view. That being said, I do think it needs a few tweaks here and there. In particular, if you’re going to introduce a spec that’s meant to allow you to build into conditions, then at least make it comparable to condition builds from other classes. We’re giving up a lot of active defenses and mobility for it, so the returns for those losses need to be worthwhile.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Remove weapon swap from firebrand

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Playing a power FB with only quickness in mind is a lot weaker than DH or even core guard. I tested it. And it should be ovious as this elite specialisation is only about condition damage with some support.
It’s like expecting a better raw damage output with druid which is designed for support or scrapper which is designed for sustain and survivability. Even if the damage output of the druid is reduced by 10-50%, it’ll stay in raids. Surely it’s weaker but still effective in the role it plays. To specialize means to give up something but get or be better at other stuff.
Sure you can play other roles with those classes but you never ever will be as effective as if you use the core builds.

Also giving up class mechanics won’t help you at all in places where you need them the most. sPvP, WvW,( raids or even the highest fractals) need to use the best your class can give or else you loose every time in non casual games.

You want to be good at power dmg. OK. You want to be good at condi dmg. OK. You want to be good at supporting. OK. But than don’t specialize to get best in one of these and stay core.

I didn’t expect it to be stronger though, as far as personal dps is concerned. Rather, I expected it to be a build where you trade some personal dps for more group dps (kinda like phalanx strength warriors). That being said, it doesn’t change the fact that removing weapon swapping for this build would still be a nerf.

Also, you seem to have missed the point of my argument. I’m not saying what the Firebrand will be better or worse at. I think it would be quite clear that it’s geared more towards conditions than power damage. My point was that for those who want to build differently, those options should not be limited for them just to try and funnel them into a more specific play style. Druids for example were clearly intended to be a more support/heal oriented spec, but you see plenty of damage oriented druids who focus much less on healing.

As for your comment on giving up class mechanics, I never said you’d give up tomes or not use them. I just said you shouldn’t feel forced to use them as the primary mechanic. DPS druids in PvP aren’t giving up Celestial Avatar, but they’re also not trying to stay in it all the time or focus on it as their core mechanic. They use it when they feel it is necessary, just the same way you’d use tomes when you feel they’re necessary, not because they’re being incentivized to do so because other toys were taken away from them, but because it is the most sound, logical thing to do at the time.

Again, it’s a matter of choice. The argument of giving people a choice of if or when to use certain tools at their disposal is not the same as saying they shouldn’t use them at all, or should only use or focus on them.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Remove weapon swap from firebrand

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Can guardian not make a decent condi build already without firebrand? And what use would taking a trait line be if you want to ignore a large part of the spec? (15 added skills!)

Guardians could also make decent dps builds without Dragon Hunter, but if a new spec is introduced that can help you improve a build, why not use it?

Also, specializations cause you to ignore 66% of their traits by design. The whole point is to give options. It’s not that you’re ignoring a large part of the spec, it’s that you’re choosing which parts to focus on.

I’ll give an example. Let’s say you have someone who wants to make a dps power/support guardian that focuses mainly on damage and sharing quickness with allies. Because none of the tomes really offer anything that helps power damage builds, chances are this particular player would want to spend as little time using tomes as possible. After all, their optimal damage rotation will come from their two weapon sets, and at most they’d pop into tomes just to get the quickness and then pop out again.

Now imagine you took away their second weapon set. Not only would you be nerfing their damage/utility, but you’d be giving them nothing of value in return. Tome of Justice is mostly focused on burning and popping it for a power build would result in a dps loss, no matter how you look at it. The other two tomes lack damage altogether, so unless the player in question had a specific need for some emergency healing or defensive buffs, they’d see no need to rely on them as an integral part of their build.

But of course, now you’ve messed up a great potential build because you want to nerf it by taking away weapon swap and replacing it with something the build does not need at all. I don’t see why, given this example, the concept of removing weapon swap being a bad idea is difficult to grasp. How much people want to use tomes should be optional, just like every other class mechanic in the game.

Not an accurate analogy. Tomes aren’t really your weapon choice but rather your proffession mechanic. Deadeye can’t use steal or the normal steal abilities, he must use marks and malice. And swapping out steal+shadow step for basically a skill modifier on a single target is a big loss.

The analogy is accurate in the sense that in both cases, you’re forcing a tool that should be optional. But if you want another example, forcing Guardians to focus on tomes more exclusively would be akin to forcing reapers to focus on Death Shroud more exclusively by taking away their weapon swap as well. Or, forcing Druids to focus more on Celestial Avatar. Or forcing Mesmers to go shatter builds. Or forcing rangers to go for pet builds by removing their weapon swap. So on and so forth.

Just because something is introduced as a class mechanic, that doesn’t mean you should be forced to play or build around it. There are plenty of cases with the classes mentioned above where the class mechanic is used more sparingly or as a back-up mechanic rather than the main focus of the build. DPS druids, for example, only use Celestial avatar as a clutch heal. But they don’t build specifically around it. I’d bet you’d kitten them off, however, if the devs suddenly said they were removing ranger weapon swap to buff Celestial Avatar.

The main reason I’d support losing weapon swap in exchange for tomes is because i greatly like the look, feel and strength the current tomes have and i foresee them getting watered down a lot, not only in the initial balance pass but in overall functionality whereas, if something were given in exchange, we might see needed improvements to the tomes.

And again, I’m not arguing against the idea of allowing for more tome focused builds, I even gave an alternative suggestion that it rather involves an optional trait. I only disagree with forcing it as a baseline mechanic for reasons I stated above. Tome focused builds can and should be a thing. But forcing them by removing weapon swap should definitely NOT be a thing. I also think anyone hoping for it should give up on the idea, because I simply cannot see the devs removing weapon swap for guardians. Everyone’s time would be better spent making realistic suggestions on how to improve tome builds, that don’t involve destroying other build potential.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Scepter Auto Attack

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I wouldn’t mind seeing the scepter 1 orbs doing a small splash damage around the target it hits.

lol.. u can only cleave(AOE) with other weapons like… bows(trait that make arrows aoe) ANet trade off’s logic…

1 arrow…5 targets.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lead_the_Wind

1 magical orb does not even cleave

One utilizes a trait to be able to hit extra targets, the other does not.

That being said, Ranger longbow has less dps than scepter. And I’d gladly trade piercing on longbow, where you have to hope that targets conveniently line up for you, for more damage per hit.

Scepter Auto Attack

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

The lack of cleave isn’t the issue, but I don’t like that scepter is actually worse against multiple targets, because the little fists that come with the symbol are not piercing and so the damage is split randomly on multiple foes.

So, while a weapon like mesmer’s greatsword has limited cleave and a single target auto, at least they don’t lose single-target damage when fighting multiple opponents.

In this respect I do agree with you. Our damage should not get worse against more targets and the fist hits could have a small aoe or piercing mechanic implemented to them, even if that has a limited amount of targets per first.

Remove weapon swap from firebrand

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I don’t agree with that, the spec doesn’t have to be the right for everyone, it’s already geared towards conditions over power, so it will not be compatible with all core builds. But we are talking about the main mechanic here, you can’t gear the spec towards the people that are willing to never use it at all.

The spec doesn’t have to be right for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it has to be intentionally limited either. Dragon Hunter was not perfect as an elite spec either, but it at least offered a lot of build variety and synergy with core builds. You could easily use dragon hunter with many of the old utilities or weapons, without feeling limited.

What you’re suggesting is to intentionally force a tome build, when a lot of people might want condition builds without tomes, or want the ability to use tomes more sparingly while still focusing more on weapon skills. I don’t see how that’s a good idea.

With firebrand, adding 15 new skills in place of 3 is a big change. It absolutely should be the focus of the spec. Elite specs are supposed to be designed around a certain playstyle, and if you can ignore it entirely for the sake of picking a couple of traits, then the design failed.

That is not quite accurate. Elite specs are designed to offer new play styles that the core class may not yet have access to, in order to increase diversity. They are not, however, designed to force said play styles exclusively. Firebrand in particular is an elite spec that offers both support based play styles, as well as condition based, but with that being said, the skills and traits it offers could also easily be adopted into core play styles with existing damage or support builds.

Firebrands should no more be forced to use tomes than Deadeyes should be forced to use rifles. Just because a spec gives us a tool, it doesn’t mean we have to use it or focus them.

Then you say you have to use tomes exclusively. I didn’t say remove all weapons, you still have one weapon set to use. You use tomes when you need them, they will still have limited charges and smaller but non-zero cooldowns.

But you just said further above that tomes absolutely should be the focus of the spec. The wording you use makes it sound like tomes must be front and center while weapons become the afterthought. That’s the part I am disagreeing with. I think the players should have the option as to whether or not they want to focus on tomes. I even gave an idea for an optional alternative, where you can pick a trait to give up weapon swapping in order to get shorter tome cooldowns. I don’t see why you’d want to limit player choice when half the fun of a new elite spec being introduced is coming up with new build ideas, or working out ways the new spec can synergize with core traits and skills.

As it is, you already sacrifice a lot simply by activating the tome because of their very focused skill sets (for example using tome of justice means losing access to defensive tools, etc, while using tome of courage of resolve means losing access to damage).

It’s no different than weapon sets. Some weapon sets are pure damage, some have mobility, other have range, defense, etc.

So, if you are using Tome of Justice and want some defenses, equip Tome of Courage. If anything, the problem is more pronounced now, because the high cooldowns of Tome of Resolve and Courage means that you don’t get easy access to those defenses.

Actually no, it’s not quite the same. The one main difference is weapons have unlimited use with no timer or charges limiting them, and tomes have limited use. Forcing me to swap between tomes with charge counts to get more versatility out of a build because I’m now missing a second weapon set is not a good idea, especially if I’m a player who doesn’t like all the tome skills and, for example, only uses them sparingly in key situations.

The other main difference is that tomes cannot be swapped out for alternatives to suit particular builds, but weapons can. So if I happen to not find certain tomes useful for my build, I lose a lot of versatility with your idea. That’s why I think if such a thing was ever implemented, it would need to be optional so people could have a choice. Keep in mind, I’m not wholly disagreeing with the idea of losing a weapon swap to get much shorter tome cooldowns. I’m simply disagreeing with the idea of it being built into Firebrands as a baseline or forced mechanic.

Scepter Auto Attack

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be fair, the guardian scepter is actually one of the highest damage ranged weapons in the game, especially against targets with big hit boxes, and even competes with the damage of our melee weapons. It’s main issues are not damage numbers, but rather the slow projectile speed on auto attacks and the more limited range in comparison to longbow or other long ranged weapons that other classes have. This makes it less useful on moving/distant targets.

Ranged cleaving isn’t really an issue, because there needs to be some downside to using a ranged weapon that has comparable damage to many melee weapons, and you do have the symbol for some aoe.

Remove weapon swap from firebrand

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

i agree with your post that it might be bad forcing people to skip swap.

I find your suggestion interesting that it can be done with a trait but the cd-reduction has to be rather big if its implemented so there can be some interesting cycles in the swapping.

I actually thought of another possible idea with regards to how tomes could be implemented. I don’t necessarily consider this idea to be better than the current implementation, but I do think it is a unique alternative.

The idea is to give all tomes the same low cooldown (maybe 10 seconds). To compensate for this, the page mechanic for tomes would change, and instead of each tome getting its own set of pages every time they activate, all tomes share the same page charges.

Pages themselves would no longer refresh each time you summon a tome, but instead, your total page pool, which is now universally shared, would gradually recharge over time, with 1 page being added every few seconds.

This way, tomes are no longer limited by long cooldowns, but rather by the number of pages you have at any given time (in this sense, it’s similar to the initiative mechanic for thieves). This means you could quickly pop into a tome and activate a single skill if needed, and then go out, or you could stay in it for longer if you want to use a few pages in a row. The skill rotations would certainly become more interesting, and you could also adjust some of the cooldowns for the tome skills themselves to maintain balance. Alternatively, you could maintain the current skill cooldowns, but make it so that more powerful skills require more pages to cast.

The main issues with this suggestion are that you’d need to re-balance traits activated on tome activation to accommodate the much lower cooldowns on tomes, and it would render the elite “Renewed Focus” rather pointless for Firebrands, though this could be amended simply by adding additional functionality to the skill (for example, make it so that Renewed Focus also instantly refreshes your ‘page’ charges for firebrand).

In the end, I do actually understand why the current implementation exists (because it offers a new play style without interrupting or destroying existing traits or skills). Still, I do find this idea rather interesting.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Remove weapon swap from firebrand

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be honest, I don’t agree with the idea of removing weapon swap for Firebrands, and there’s one simple reason for that. Not everyone who takes firebrands wants to build into or use tomes exclusively. Some might want to focus on more core builds but supported by Firebrand traits (for example, I can see quickness focused builds that focus less on tomes being a thing).

One thing we need in this game is more build options, not less, and pigeonholing players into using tomes more exclusively is not the way to go.

That being said, one viable alternative I could see being implemented is a trait that causes you to lose weapon swap, but greatly reduces tome cooldown. That way, those who want to focus more exclusively on tomes can do so, while those who don’t can keep their versatility and simply avoid said trait.

My personal opinion, however, is that tomes should simply get a cooldown reduction, without any sacrifices to accommodate it (nothing too severe, but enough to make Tome of Resolve and Courage more usable). As it is, you already sacrifice a lot simply by activating the tome because of their very focused skill sets (for example using tome of justice means losing access to defensive tools, etc, while using tome of courage of resolve means losing access to damage).

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Warrior got sword 2 leap, greatsword 3 (450) and greatsword 5. Hammer and axe got a leap on their F1skill. Also berserker got one jump and spellbreaker one superspeed skill.

So if you can’t use more than one specialisation or can’t wield more than 2 weapon sets at once, there isn’t really more.

And yet you’ve already listed more than the guardian has. However, the most important thing worth noting here, is that they have options. Most of their melee weapons except mace offer displacement/mobility skills. With guardian, only two of their weapons offer such skills and only one can actually be used to disengage reliably.

Maybe you don’t know but you can use the guardian teleports on a range far more than 1200. So you can disengage with them. You just need to know how.

I’m well aware of that, thanks, but there isn’t always going to be an enemy or target conveniently waiting in the right position for you to teleport to. In some cases, you’d just be landing yourself even deeper in trouble. I still find the idea of trying to justify such an obscure escape mechanic in the first place to be difficult to fathom, especially when other classes have much more consistently reliable options that can be aimed or ground targeted.

Why mobility just for tomes and not for axe? Well you are forced to play with the tomes if you play FB but you the axe doesn’t need to go automatic in your main hand. Playing without the axe is possible. Last week end I never did in pvp. But not using the tomes is just stupid.

Axe got a cripple symbol and a 600 pull. If you know how to combine those two counter mobility is there. My build just had no useage of that.

So you’re justifying a weapon being useless because we have alternatives? Sorry, I just don’t buy it. If people end up not using axe, chances are one of the reasons is because it lacks a proper engage or mobility tool.

As for your cripple and pull argument, here’s my thoughts on it:

The symbol of vengeance has such a long cast time, that actually hitting an enemy with it in PvP would be quite hard. It has a very clear tell and simply dodge rolling out of the aoe would not be difficult at all. In fact, it’s so bad that I actually stopped using it altogether.

The pull is just plainly unreliable. I used axe the entire weekend and I think I can count on one hand how many times I managed to successfully pull an enemy with it. It’s not just because the aim on it is wonky, it’s also because the pull can be negated by dodging, blocking, blinding or having stability. I’ve said this before and I will say it again, but pulls are quite simply not reliable distance closers, certainly nowhere near as reliable as leaps or teleports, and while both can be countered to some degree, it’s far easier to do so against pulls, especially when they are not unblockable.

Now, if the pull was a bit more like the spear of justice for Fragon Hunters, I’d probably feel a bit more optimistic about it, but as it is now, it’s just not that good at all.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

And if you are in meele range you got as much disengage skills as the warrior. A leap and 2 blinks on sword and JI if there are other enemys in a range where you can click on their characters.

I’m sorry, but we have nowhere near as much disengage capabilities as warriors, the mere suggestion that we do is absurd. And what we do have is mostly unreliable. Please don’t compare a targeted teleport skill that must be used on an enemy, to the warrior’s various means of escaping that do not require targets, from dashes, to leaps, to spins. Using sword blink on another target is not disengaging, it’s just reengaging another target and more often than not, won’t do much to save you if you’re already in a tight spot. And it’s already been discussed numerous times how Merciful Intervention is only helpful as a disengage in very niche situations, when you just happen to be lucky enough to have a distant ally to teleport to, who are not themselves already in the thick of battle, or in an compromised position. I don’t believe in the idea of having to rely on the positioning of an ally to disengage, in the first place Merciful Intervention was intended as a “save your ally” tool, not as a “save yourself by using an ally” tool.

The only two real disengages we have are Wings of Resolve and Leap of Faith, the first of which is limited to a single elite spec and the second of which is fairly short ranged.

Also, I’m not sure why you suggest mobility is only needed for tomes and not for Axe. How do we engage with axe in that case? How do we prevent ourselves from being kited to death if we don’t even have a short ranged leap or teleport?

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I wouldn’t say mobility. I’d say they need more range on their abilities and a removal of a lot of cast times and cooldowns.

This. Something that’s supposed to be a caster should actually have range. Mobility would suffice in making it viable, but I think range would be a much better fit thematically and gameplay-wise.

A 25% movement speed trait wouldn’t do anything to make it viable though. This spec is going to need at least a blink to function properly, if mobility is chosen to make it viable.

Yes, when we speak of mobility, we talk about base movement speed and displacement skills (like leaps, teleports, etc). Unfortunately, Firebrand doesn’t bring any of that to the table despite relying on us being at melee or close range to function optimally.

That being said, I don’t think turning firebrand into a ranged caster is the clear solution either. Axe was clearly intended to be used in melee range, and while you might be able to justify tomes having ranged kits, you also have to account for the fact that melee condition builds with axe will be a thing, and so mobility will be required for the spec regardless. Simply giving mobility to the axe itself might alleviate this to a degree, or as suggested above Ezrael, making the axe semi-ranged is not out of the question either.

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

It would be better just to make it a base 25% movement speed, with no requirements. I’d say the same about any other movement speed traits.

DH got F2 jump and is designed to fight in range (bow, 1200 range pull, 14% more damage when far away).
Core guard doesn’t need to be in 130-300 meele range as his virtues have a 600 range.
FB needs to be in meele range or 80% of his tomes spells are useless. Mantras are optional but the tomes can’t be traded in other skills obviously.

I’d really like to have it generally but it wasn’t really that needed until now.

You’re ignoring the fact that most of the guardian’s weapons are either melee or close range. Core guardian is included in that. So unless you’re playing dragon hunter, chances are you want to get into melee range as quickly as possible and you’ll want to be able to stick to your enemies. Even dragon hunters do most of their dps in melee range (that bonus at longer range is not going to help you catch up to the damage you can do with sword, hammer or greatsword).

Also, aside from dragon hunter, guardian has no reliable disengage or displacement tools. Sure, you could point out merciful intervention, but that requires an allied target, and if your ally happens to be in a bad position, or in melee range with you, then that’s useless.

So yes, I do think mobility is needed and always has been needed. It’s been something guardians have asked for for a long time, and I think with firebrand, it’s even more necessary than before considering how close range most of the skills are. But even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still ask for it, because I see no reason why guardians should be the only class in the game to have such poor mobility or displacement options. The fantasy of being the last one in the fight might have worked when the game launched, but it has evolved since then and things that might have looked good on paper four years ago, just don’t hold up by today’s standards anymore.

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I’d more like to have a 25% speed buff when using the tomes as you should spike and support with them.
Having 25% swiftness with axe only would make other meele weapons inferior to axe.

It would be better just to make it a base 25% movement speed, with no requirements. I’d say the same about any other movement speed traits.

Firebrand needs more mobility

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

This is not just a problem with firebrand, but with the Guardian as a whole. While other classes continue to become more mobile with each new iteration, Guardian mobility is continuously neglected. It’s gotten to the point where playing a Firebrand makes you feel like you’re wading through tar, in contrast to the mobility other classes enjoy.

This simply does not make sense, especially for an elite spec whose entire skill set is used either in close or melee range. Enemies will simply kite us. Allies will outrun us. And we can’t disengage when we’re focused down.

Honestly, it would be nice if we had a trait for pulsing stability while we use tomes, and for a movement speed buff (I agree with your idea of a movement speed buff on Swift Scholar, however, I would not limit it to being equipped with an axe). We also need more displacement skills such as teleports or leaps. Why axe has no gap closer is beyond me, and its pull is too unreliable to count on.

Honestly, I’d really love for the developers to offer their insight on this particular topic. I’d like to know why they introduced a close ranged elite spec that completely lacks any form of mobility, and the intention behind that design philosophy. I’d also like to know if they have any intention of improving things in that regard, or if they are adamant that things remain as they are, and if so, why.

Cries in slow motion

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES FIREBRAND??

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be honest, I do have criticisms for firebrand, but with that being said, I was actually very happy overall with this elite spec.

Flavor wise, it’s just perfect. It really feels like an elite spec designed for the guardian, unlike the Dragon Hunter, and the effects and animations for the skills are some of the best I’ve seen in the game.

I also enjoyed the versatility tomes gave us. Adding an extra 15 skills to our toolbar to use between weapon skills is nothing to sneeze at, and allows us to adapt to a variety of situations on the fly. This spec also introduces a lot of potential build variety, from conditions, to support, to dps and I can see ways it would support some of the already existing core builds.

Luckily, what issues there are with it can be tweaked or adjusted, but the foundation we have here is very strong, and can be built upon nicely. These are the suggestions I’d make for changes:

1) Reduce Tome cooldowns: Not by too much, maybe 20, 40 and 60 seconds for ToJ, ToR and ToC respectively.

2) Reduce cast times to activate tomes. This did feel like an annoying limiting factor while in the heat of battle, and often caused me to fail to activate a tome properly.

3) Give a 25% passive speed bonus to the “Swift Scholar” Trait. One of the biggest issues with firebrand is mobility, and this would help alleviate it somewhat. Considering this is mostly a melee/support spec with short range aoe support tools, we need the ability to keep up with both our allies and our enemies.

4) Increase the cast speed animation on symbol of Vengeance: To me it doesn’t make sense for a purely offensive symbol to have such a long cast animation, which makes it super easy to miss with.

5) Improve reliability of Blazing Edge’s pull. Right now it misses very often from my experience. Considering we lack an engage on axe and have lost wings of resolve, this pull is our only real means outside of taking Judges Intervention to close the gap with out enemies, and right now it’s very unreliable for that purpose.

6) Make mantras a 360 degree aoe. If there’s one thing we learned from cleansing flame, it’s that support skills with a cone aoe don’t function well. The mantras are actually very nice as a whole, particularly for the personal utility, but they are very unreliable when it comes to casting on allies, who often step out of the cone aoe. I also feel it doesn’t make sense for a spec that’s obviously designed to be in the front lines on combat to be forced to stand behind his allies or face away from his enemies in order to support them.

7) Make Mantra of flame a short range teleport: This could serve as an engage or escape tool, something Firebrand is sorely lacking. You could have the first two charges have a small range (say 500) and the last one with a longer range (900).

All-in-all, I’d give a thumbs up for this elite spec. I’m quite happy with it. It’s better to get a very cool elite spec that just needs some tweaks to make it perfect, than to get an elite spec that doesn’t make sense at all, and that even if effective, ends up feeling out of place.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Mounts in WvW?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

To be fair. Heart of Thorns caused a massive drop in population. Anet fixed some mistakes… but not everyone came back after this massive exodus. Hell even a big guild in BDO is called ‘’Condi wars 2’’.. Figures…

Yes, but the funny thing is that a lot of the problems that plagued WvW (such as the condition meta that many complain about) originated in changes intended to improve QoL in PvE. Condition stacking made condition builds more viable in PvE, but it had a snowball effect into WvW. That’s more of an issue of ANet not separating the game modes and balancing them individually (which is something they’ve started doing more recently).

Aside from that, the new BL was frowned upon, but it was removed. The removal did not bring people back though. I’d say many of the new, more recent editions have earned more credit for that.

So to put it plainly, I agree that not all ideas implemented are good. But not implementing new ideas because of the fear of failure is not good either. I think the mistake ANet made with HoTS is they made very drastic, sweeping changes, rather than incremental improvements, and so it hit a lot harder and with less remorse when things went wrong. It’s easier to fix or roll back on a series of small but meaningful changes than it is to roll back on significant reworks. I think they’ve learned that now.

Mounts in WvW?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Not everyone’s complaining about stagnation. There’s a reason why people keep playing this mode nearly four years later.

It’s that old adage; if it’s not broke, why fix it?

To be fair, WvW was dying over the years, and the populations in that mode continued to dwindle over time to the point where when going there, I hardly saw as many as I did in the early lifespan of GW2. It’s only because of some of the more recent additions that the mode has been revived, to the point where you’re actually seeing queues for maps again.

So what does that tell us? New content and innovations keep game modes alive. A lack of that leads to its death.

What you’re suggesting is that ANet shouldn’t add new content to WvW, simply because of the fear of breaking it. But if they were to follow that mantra, the game mode would be long dead and we might as well sweep it under the rug. Sorry, but there’s really no excuse not to develop it further, or to add new content. Sure, not all kinds of content are good, but to plainly say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” as if to encourage not adding content at all, is in my opinion a very bad stance to adopt.

Yes, of course it would need to be tested. Yes of course it would need to be implemented well, but the same can be said for any game mechanics, in any game mode, in any game ever created. So then why not do it, if it does all that and still works? XD

How long did the resurge in population last with each new addition? Is it still the same numbers as a month ago?

FOTM only gains short term numbers. You want to aim for longevity. And that won’t happen with gimmicks. Couple that with the fact that the core playerbase goes crazy with any changes and you have to pick and choose wisely.

People have been forecasting the death of WvW since it started. And yet, it’s still chugging along. You’re not the first, you will not be the last.

Gliding was great. I’m not certain mounts would be as good.

And I never said not to add new content, but know your audience.

Funny, but I wasn’t predicting the death of WvW, I just said that a lack of content or innovation in a game mode leads to its death, but I never actually said WvW itself would die (especially not if they continue to develop it). But hey, I’m sure it feels good to make assumptions about others or to put words into their mouths. However, believe it or not, it doesn’t help your argument when you fabricate statements that were simply not said.

What I was doing was simply stating facts. WvW numbers did decline, and that is made horrendously evident by the mere fact that ANet ended up having to merge a lot of serves together (with three servers being joined in some cases) just to keep things more balanced out in match-ups. But even with those mergers, I never saw queues in any borderland, and not even in Eternal Battleground, for quite some time thereafter.

It’s also a fact that since ANet added some quality of life changes and content to WvW, which have gradually increased from legendary items to skirmish rewards, that the server population has drastically increased, to the point where I now regularly see queues for every borderland, and Edge of the Mists is almost perpetually in a state of having a queue of 30+. So if anything, what I have been saying is that WvW is growing now, not that I thought it was going to die (quite the opposite of what you accused me of) and that is thanks to more recent additions.

Now, perhaps some cynical people would call the new additions gimmicks, so be it, but it doesn’t change the fact that they made a difference. You say gimmicks won’t help maintain longevity, but I say regular content updates will. If ANet simply continues to develop WvW and keep it feeling fresh, then people will continue to play it. That much has been proven recently, and all you have to do to keep those numbers up is to keep introducing reasons to play or spice things up a bit, establish long term rewards or simply make the mode itself more rewarding (a lot of which they have done already).

In all honesty, I get tired of naysayers that shoot down every idea with lame reasons such as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Especially when it’s already been proven that innovation, not stagnation, is what has brought WvW player numbers back up to respectable levels again.

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Mounts in WvW?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Not everyone’s complaining about stagnation. There’s a reason why people keep playing this mode nearly four years later.

It’s that old adage; if it’s not broke, why fix it?

To be fair, WvW was dying over the years, and the populations in that mode continued to dwindle over time to the point where when going there, I hardly saw as many as I did in the early lifespan of GW2. It’s only because of some of the more recent additions that the mode has been revived, to the point where you’re actually seeing queues for maps again.

So what does that tell us? New content and innovations keep game modes alive. A lack of that leads to its death.

What you’re suggesting is that ANet shouldn’t add new content to WvW, simply because of the fear of breaking it. But if they were to follow that mantra, the game mode would be long dead and we might as well sweep it under the rug. Sorry, but there’s really no excuse not to develop it further, or to add new content. Sure, not all kinds of content are good, but to plainly say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” as if to encourage not adding content at all, is in my opinion a very bad stance to adopt.

Yes, of course it would need to be tested. Yes of course it would need to be implemented well, but the same can be said for any game mechanics, in any game mode, in any game ever created. So then why not do it, if it does all that and still works? XD

Mounts in WvW?

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Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Sorry, for three messages in a row, but I thought of an interesting idea of how mounts could possibly be implemented.

You could add a new type of objective that can be captured to maps called a stable. They’d function somewhat similarly to camps, but instead of supply, they contain a set number of mounts. If you have a stable under control, you can travel to it and acquire a mount, which depletes the total amount contained by the stable. This pool regenerates over time (just like supply at camps) and as the stable upgrades, it’s rate of regeneration and maximum supply of mounts increases. It can also increase the base stats for mounts such as speed and health.

Once you acquire a mount, it lasts for a set duration (say a few minutes, which can be increased with upgrades), or until killed (you can give them a set amount of damage they take while mounted before dying and that amount does not regenerate). Both these factors would encourage protecting stables in key locations for resupply purposes.

I do think it could add some interesting dynamics to matches. Controlling key locations for mount supply, and denying the enemy their mounts could give a team a mobility/engage advantage. Perhaps my idea isn’t the best idea for how it could be implemented (I’m sure there are some people who would tell me how crazy it is) but it’s just one of many possibilities.

When I think about it like this, it just gets my imagination flowing on how the developers could really add so much more dynamic to WvW and make it more exciting. Even if it’s not with mounts, there are so many possibilities for this game mode.

Mounts in WvW?

in WvW

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

“Fun ideas” tend to spell disaster for WvW.

That said, without actually trying it out in a massive-scale player environment, I’m not sure any of us can comment properly.

My feelings are that it will be used to grief through exploits, or that it will reduce framerate down to zero in bigger fights — I mean mini pets do that now.

I get what you’re saying, but you can’t just leave WvW stagnant and refrain from developing new ideas because they have the “potential to be a disaster”. If that were the case, WvW would simply stay as is for the next few years, and then people will complain about a lack of innovation. How well any idea is implemented, whether it be mounts or something else, would depend on the developers, but I do still believe there’s a difference between a good (or bad) idea, and simply the bad implementation of a good idea. I don’t believe fear of the latter should stop innovation though.

I also don’t see how it could be used to grief through exploits (at least, not if implemented properly). Perhaps you can give an example of what you have in mind in that regard?

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

Mounts in WvW?

in WvW

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

You would have to make WvW maps larger and also account for people making mounted escapes.

It would change a lot, more than what gliding did for sure.

Well, mounted escapes wouldn’t really be a thing, because you cannot mount while in combat. The main benefits would be mobility outside of combat, and an engage tool when charging into combat.

Mounts in WvW?

in WvW

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I’m not sure about what others think, but I think having mounts in WvW could be a very fun idea. It would also essentially add another dimension to battles, in the aspect of cavalry charges, and what fantasy setting battle would be complete without a good old heroic cavalry charge? XD

I could also see it working now, with the introduction of territories. You could make it so mounts can only be used in your own territory, or in neutral territory, to prevent them being used to get over walls and such. Or alternately, you could introduce a new mount (perhaps a dolyak type?) specifically for WvW, that is balanced for it and has its own unique WvW masteries (that way you could control its implementation and overall balance better).

All-in-all, I think it could add nice new dimensions to battles in WvW, such as charges and flanking maneuvers, or even new types of defenses that damage and dismount players (such as spike walls or traps).

Any thoughts?

Firebrand!?!?

in Guardian

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I have a few concerns with firebrand. Flavor wise I actually think it’s quite cool, but aside from that, there’s a lot that doesn’t’ seem very practical.

- The first is the huge cooldown on tomes, which will limit their use quite drastically. Considering this is one of the highlights of the elite spec, it’s a bit sad to see such high cooldowns.

- Next is the fact that if we swap out DH, we basically lose what little mobility we had with wings of resolve, and get nothing to compensate for it. There are still no movement speed traits, and no new forms of mobility offered (I would have been happy if one of our mantras was just a short range teleport). I still see no reason why the devs neglect mobility for guardians, when every other class has much better access to it.

- Lastly, with the loss of DH, we also lose our active shield, which was a key factor in staying alive with Guardian in many situations. Couple this with the above mentioned loss of mobility, the lack of movement speed and the fact that Axe itself offers no forms of mobility or gap closers at all, and it becomes hard to imagine how we’d cope with a melee condition oriented build. (Sure, we get a pull to replace a gap closer, but pulls are less reliable and can be countered by stability, whereas gap closers are much more reliable as engage tools).

All-in-all, I can see Firebrand being great with a few tweaks, but right now it feels like a great idea that has not been 100% implemented well. Perhaps the beta weekend will change my opinion though.

Firebrand's Axe thoughts.

in Guardian

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

The guardian does already have support oriented weapons. What they were lacking was a dedicated condition weapon, and that is what they got. But if you run a support build, no-one’s saying you have to use an axe, you can simply switch out for a staff, mace or hammer, or whatever else you feel is appropriate.

Don’t feel limited to using new weapons with new elite specs, they are just there for more options but are by no means a necessity (in fact, I haven’t used any of the new weapons given by elite specs on any of my main builds except longbow on guardian in certain situations, though I still prefer scepter as a dps option in PvE).

I think the axe will be good for condition applying, not just because of the base conditions built into the weapon, but also because of the fact that the auto attacks hit multiple times with each hit, which will proc VoJ more often. But we will have to test it this weekend and see whether or not that’s the case.

The Issue With PoF

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I know that people did not Like HoT, but the one thing I felt HoT did right was the ways to traverse the maps. Mushrooms,gliding,updrafts ect ect. But in PoF none of that exists, which basically makes HoT completely irrelevent by all means. It also enforces the use of mounts which is a turn off, I dont like mounts and I feel kind of slighted. I mean I bought the last expansion yea? Cant I have alternative means to travel the map, so if I dont like maps I can still do the content but do it how I like?

To be honest, you do somewhat contradict yourself in this first paragraph. You claim to like how transport was done in HoTS, but feel that you’ve been slighted with the introduction of mounts, but in both cases, they are simply a means traversing the map that people may or may not like. If someone doesn’t like gliding, but loves mounts, then is their argument not going to be precisely the same as yours, only reversed? Gliding and using mushrooms, etc, were necessary to reach all the locations in the first expansion, and if you didn’t like them, you still had to use them. So really, it was no different back then than it is now, only as of yet, I have had a lot less cases of requiring a mount to traverse the terrain in the new area than I did with gliding requirements in HoTS for example (though we only got to see a small part of one new area, so I have no idea how steep the requirements will be going further).

As for your point about using masteries from HoTS in PoF, or visa versa, there’s a reason they didn’t do that, and it’s because both expansions are separate and can be bought separately. To have one become counter-reliant on another would, for all intents and purposes, force people to purchase both even if they don’t want to. I personally think it’s suitable to have different locations have different requirements as far as exploration goes, and seeing bouncy mushrooms, which are a fauna that is native to the Maguuma jungle suddenly start growing in the desert would be odd from both a lore and gameplay perspective. Aside from those tidbits, you can still glide in the new areas, so your masteries are not all being rendered useless, and there’s no telling if some of the other new locations might use some of the other masteries, where appropriate (though if such cases exist, I presume they’d simply be for fun, and not necessity, for reasons stated above).

(edited by Tenrai Senshi.2017)

The Mounts are Useless

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Are mounts necessary? No. Are they fun? For me and many others, yes.

Ultimately, fun trumps necessity, because it’s a game at the end of the day. Let people have their fun. XD

Taimi is all we need... (potential spoilers)

in Living World

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I dont know…Am i the only one whos sees a raise of the new Trahearne?
I mean look at her? She is a “marry sue”. – Why?
She is growing stronger, every time we see her. That is okay, but she is growing in a terrifying fast way.
First she was just smart but now she builds machienes that handle two dragons at one time…TWO DRAGONS …yes and a god. Or what ever he was doing there and how he ended.
We had to help powerful old, but inprisoned spirits, to be able to enter the volcanoe.
And she? She entered in no time with her armor… err golem… well… “Gomor”, that she build at the same time, when she build that double dragon destroyer…
Still not seeing a “marry sue”?
Well how about getting the information about “what happens if both dragons fall”…yeah a simulation…I dont know…
i currently work with simulations…and to make a good one, you need pleanty of time and tonns of information. But guess what. the little girl gathered info and programmed that simulation at the same time, when she was building a double dragon destroyer and the gomor…
Well she meantiond that she got nearly no sleep…and then there was councillor phlunt…so even less time…

Still not seeing the “marry sue”…well, then lets wait and see what happens next.

Trahearne was even less powerful and did less to become hated. i wonder if it will be the same with this “marry sue” and that all what she is to me…

And about those other “member” of our guild. Instead of taimi, they feel like normal people , to me. and in my opinion, they are much more likable than…you know…that “mar…”. i think you get me.

I think Taimi has potentional to be the new prime evil. she is growing power far too fast and with her childish mind, she cant be able to handle things, that even grownups cant handle well.

Power corrupts…The more, the faster…
hear my words…I told you!

Lol. It would be funny if Taimi did actually start going down the path of Scarlet. Actually, it would be an interesting twist to things. I wouldn’t mind them developing her character in such a way so that she’s always walking the path between brilliance and insanity and where she kinda has to keep herself in check to avoid going over the deep end of the spectrum.

Right now, she does strike me as very naive. She has great ideas and the knowledge to implement them, but also ends up making childish mistakes. Her late discerning of the risks involved with her plan to defeat the two dragons at once could have been costly if we weren’t able to intervene. That being said, I also still feel like despite her flaws she’s still the only one making truly meaningful contributions to our progress in LS3, aside from the commander him/herself that is.

I will say one thing though. I don’t think Taimi will become like Trahearne. Trahearne’s issue was not that he was a Mary Sue. I think it was just that he was a somewhat dull character. I personally never hated him, but I never had true cause to like him either. I just felt indifference, and this is because his character was never really fleshed out. He kinda just appeared, did some seemingly important stuff, and then was gone. It left people questioning why he was given such an important role in the story when, as a character, he was wholly underwhelming.

Taimi at least has the benefit of having a much more interesting personality. It may not be something everyone likes, but I find her to be much more engaging and “fun” than Trahearne, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, if I had to put it plainly, I’d say she’s the most fleshed out character in the story so far. The sad part is, I started out liking our new makeshift party in LS1 and LS2. I enjoyed Rox, and Marjory and Kasmeer and so on. I felt like they all had so much potential. But they’re kinda being written into corners. It’s always drama and self pity and tears and despair and relationship issues. It gets a bit old when every single character is always portrayed as having some deeply profound issue. Sometimes you just want something more upbeat or less whiny. I want the old Braham back. I want the old team dynamic. DX

Taimi is all we need... (potential spoilers)

in Living World

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Am I the only one getting seriously tired of Taimi..?

Maybe you wouldn’t be if we had more personal time with the other members of our guild and not just Taimi. XD

Taimi is all we need... (potential spoilers)

in Living World

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

I would also recommend keeping an eye on Canach as a potential future ally. I don’t think they are done with him by a long shot.

Yeah. I’m not counting Canach out by any means, but at least he had the decency of not giving us any false pretenses about joining the guild when he clearly wasn’t ready to just yet. It’s better than saying “sure let’s work together” only to then run off into the sunset crying out about being his own person and doing whatever he wants. XD

Thay being said, I reckon if he does join he’d be much more reliable than some of the other current members have been. He seems to be the type who is honor bound by his word and so once he commits to something he sees it through to the end.

Taimi is all we need... (potential spoilers)

in Living World

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

Marjory does listen to our input, discuss things with us, but does not always agree. Not blindly obeying is probably the biggest difference between the guild, and the vigil, whispers, or priory — it’s not a military based group, so obedience is not required in the same way.

You are not wrong, though, that various forces outside of just the dragons (and associated things) have kept a number of parts of the guild out.

Uh, and I tend to agree on Braham, though perhaps not for the same reasons; I mostly look at his actions as pretty much exactly what a traumatised 16 year old boy would do in the situation and culture. He needs therapy, not to be dragged into fighting the next dragon.

When he is on a bit more stable a footing, then he might be a great member of the team, but right now his pain and trauma mean he is nothing but a liability — to himself, and to anyone he drags along on his downward spiral to death.

I know Marjory doesn’t strictly have to obey us. However, it was agreed that the player character would be the leader of the guild. However, she dismisses our input to the point where it feels like the title of “leader” has no meaning. I’m not expecting her to stand to attention every time we walk into the room, but at the very least you’d expect her to take us a bit more seriously. Keep in mind the player character has the most experience when it comes to handling elder Dragons and world ending problems. It’s not like our opinion has no weight or bearing.

As for Braham, the fact that he’s acting out is precisely why he should actually be in the guild if he wants to hunt a dragon, so he can follow the lead of someone who is still approaching the situation with a level head and a lot of experience. That way we could at least direct his wrath in a way that is appropriate. Instead, he’s trying to lead his own assault on Jormag, despite his inexperience and despite how emotionally compromised he is. I get the idea behind the whole loss and trauma thing, but that won’t be a good excuse if he ends up subjecting his own race to genocide.

But those iffy situations aside, I think my biggest issue is that our guild seems to be nonexistent. Taimi is literally the only consistent member aside from ourselves. It makes me wonder why the writers decided on this direction if they’re going to spread everyone so thin and make it feel like a two member guild.

Taimi is all we need... (potential spoilers)

in Living World

Posted by: Tenrai Senshi.2017

Tenrai Senshi.2017

So, we’re almost at the end of living story season 3, given that we supposedly only have one episode left after the current one, and after these last few episodes and our failed attempts at creating a new guild to fight the elder dragons, I think we can easily settle on one definitive conclusion.

That is, we should just fire all the other members of Dragon’s Watch and just keep Taimi.

I mean seriously, out of all the characters that are supposedly part of our new guild, Taimi appears to be the only one that is actually competent, loyal and cooperative. She is the only one that has helped us make meaningful strides in our conquest against the elder dragons, has assisted us in surpassing numerous hurdles, and she doesn’t shoot us down every time we try to set a course for everyone else to follow (given that we’re the elected leader of the guild, you’d think others would be more willing to, you know, follow our lead?)

As for the other members, they’re either uncooperative, insubordinate, incompetent or simply not present at all.

Kasmeer – She has been absent most of this LS season and pretty much turns into an emotional wreck the moment something goes wrong or, heaven forbid, Marjory gets hurt.

Marjory – She basically reaffirmed this episode that she will do whatever she pleases, irrespective of our own, or even Kasmeer’s, opinion on the matter. Again, what’s the point of electing a guild leader if you have absolutely zero intention of heeding their input at all? Indeed, what’s the point of being part of a guild with such a specific mandate (to battle the elder dragons) if you’re just going to be a lone wolf all the time?

Braham – He’s technically not part of our guild yet, but if he ever applied I’d accept his application just so I could have the satisfaction of firing him afterwards. I don’t think I need to explain why.

Rox – I’ll give her some credit, she is a lot more level headed and cooperative than the others. But I’m not particularly happy that her only role at this point in time is to act as a babysitter for Braham and that like Kasmeer, she’s been mostly absent for the greater part of this entire LS season.

Rytlock – The only other member who I believe is competent. It’s a pity he’s too busy handling Charr politics to actually assist us.

In the end, I feel like our guild might as well just be a partnership between the commander and Taimi. They’re the two most consistent forces at work in Dragon’s Watch and end up being the ones getting everything done. It also helps that out of all the other characters, Taimi is (in my opinion) by far the most likeable.