Guild Wars 2

MeGaZlo.9516:

Is it possible to play GW2 with gamepad? Is it convenient? Doesn’t it violate a user agreement?
How to do it? How to configure? Can someone share the optimal settings? Or smth… =3

Speaking about this: have developers any plans to introduce full gamepad support? Suppose it’s not too convenient, but it could increase game rating or even play a crucial role in the choice of some people.

Here you go: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YROM5NF7bCbkbJTsEvZ2XRPHZSYdtctkPzj9yo0zleI/edit

It’s a gamepad setup I made at launch and have been distributing since. It incorporates mouse turning, ground targeting, target marking and taking, camera zoom, and all skill functions, as well as map and map zoom.

Enjoy! (btw, Anet has OK’d gamepad use)

Topic says it all. Can you go in with just one or two players and manage it?

Just wondering if you head in there with a character that’s below 80, will you get any XP, or is it just for the skins and lulz?

Looking for advise on Gearing for endgame.

I’ve been running a hammer / sword+mace setup for a while and enjoy the control build, though recently I’ve been trying a GS / Axe+Axe combo and am liking it as well.

Is there anything specific I should be looking for at 80? I’d like a build that does high damage while maintaining good survivability. Mostly just want to kill things as fast and hard as possible, I have a guardian if I really wanna do support.

If I can get high damage out of the control weapons that would be pretty cool, though I’m loving dual axes right now.

Thanks!

I don’t personally, but somebody named Surelog recorded it in use a while back. Here:

Just bear in mind this is the first iteration he recorded, I made some tweaks and improvements to the setup at End of September, November, and somewhere around Christmas last year. It’s as complete as it is going to be at this point.

Also bear in mind that Surelog was playing an Engineer, which in my experience has been the most difficult to play with the controller, though I got comfortable enough with it to even play a grenade engi without difficulty in PvE.

DanteZero.9736:

My question: When you ground target, do you use LB+RB for a left mouse click? Is it possible to alter it so that you can click on the L3 (control stick) to count as a left mouse click?

As a general rule I double tap the skill to ground target. I don’t click the ground at all, I just aim it using the right stick and use LB+right stick for fine tuning when needed. So basically aim with camera and then double tap the key to cast.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted this. At this point I’m sure there many new players who haven’t seen it, so here’s my controller scheme for Guild Wars 2:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YROM5NF7bCbkbJTsEvZ2XRPHZSYdtctkPzj9yo0zleI/edit

I’ve tested it with every class. You get mouse turning, ground targeting, and every major function and skill button represented on multiple sets (LB and LT, or L1 and L2 depending on your controller act as set selectors).

Everything you need is in the document. Hope you guys enjoy it!

HarderStyles.6820:

So my problem atm is im currently level 32 Ranger and im getting pretty bored already, i feel as tho once i got to 30 and got all the skills i wanted now it just seems….repetitive and now i have no urge to play anymore which really sucks cuz ive been waiting soon long for this game.

Ive tried pretty much every class, i have a level 21 Elementist and that got boring fast lol ugh i want to play but i just dont feel it anymore What can be done?!

I felt the same about ranger and elementalist that you do, though there has been enough variety in other classes to be interesting.

With elementalist it was boring and I deleted mine, but then rerolled a different race and enjoyed it, so I think there’s something to be said about class/race synergy.

Ranger though…it was the same at 40 as it was at 20, little variety for me and I got bored.

My suggestion would be to pick a class and stick with it through 40 or 50. Most classes in this game don’t come into their own until around then, and then you get your variety through traits and slot skill selection. When in doubt, try a guardian or warrior, there are many ways to play these classes. Mesmer would also be a good choice.

Good luck OP, hope you find a class that suits you.

Nevermind, I was logging in at Lion’s Arch. Pretty sure my rep was going to another server via the overflow.

vince.5937:

Tomkatt.1684:

Resonance.4216:

FXAA is rubbish, turn it off and you barely notice a difference.

FXAA has no noticeable framerate hit unless you’re running a SMAA injector with extra effects.

That is completely untrue, unless you’re running the industry’s best hardware setup.

Within 5%. I generally only lose 1 fps to FXAA. It’s very lightweight compared to traditional MSAA. I posted my specs above, I’m running a very budget rig, cost me sub-$500.

Here’s an example: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/06/12/max_payne_3_performance_iq_review/4#.US7CJ1eIfzc

Resonance.4216:

FXAA is rubbish, turn it off and you barely notice a difference.

FXAA has no noticeable framerate hit unless you’re running a SMAA injector with extra effects.

Salacious.7358:

im usually 65+ on major events ill fall as low as 58

You could always post your specs and in-game settings. I’d love to know what rig is running such a stable framerate but still only hitting 65 or so on average.

Salacious.7358:

if your fps isnt 60 all the time, theres something wrong….

Your elitism is showing.

I’m running the following:

Phenom II 965BE
Radeon HD 6750
8 GB DDR3
Two HDDs with a separate physical drive on swap.

I often get 70-80 fps in open areas, but in events mt fps can still drop to 23. These things happen, and people have reported losing 15+ fps in general with the current patch.

Sorry My hardware isn’t beast like yours, I’ll upgrade just for you. </s>

Well, I hate RNG to death, but are you saying ladies can’t buy a blue Quaggan? I’m assuming the pink backpack is random for all, correct? You’re misrepresenting this a bit.

…But I still hate RNG so I wish you could just buy it.

I don’t understand why they can’t just let us choose from all the dailies. Why is it still randomized? I thought we were supposed to be able to choose whatever we want, but it’s still limited and randomized daily, even if there are more than 5 to choose from now.

There’s some weird stuff going on with influence gain right now. Not only am I not gaining influence for my guild when logging into characters, but my guild only consists of two people right now, and a total of 10 characters. My guild history says 12 characters logged in yesterday, which would be impossible.

What gives? Anyone else noting issues with this?

Can’t speak for Roachsrealm, but for me with a good AH bunker build, I will tend to eat conditions and let the signet take care of them every 10 secs. You can use AH and dodge to heal through just about anything but a high stack of bleeding. I pretty much laugh at poison and burning.

With the healing signet and 6x soldier runes you get condition removal every 10 seconds and whenever you shout.

If you run a meditation build conditions are an afterthought, you’ll never have to worry about them since several meditations either remove conditions or convert them to boons.

fishergrip.4082:

Tomkatt.1684:

The Show Must Go On.3415:

To all: How do you cope with conditions besides Purging Flames? Are you using SoR, Purity, other means? I thought I’d give a try to Lyssa runes if I invested 15 or less in Radiance, but it is worth it in your opinion? The condition purge + extra boons (hence extra healing) on Renewed Focus are appealing to me.

Meditations build covers the conditions issue. With AH you just have to hope you heal through it via boons and your main heal. Spamming all your virtues and hitting Renewed Focus can make a big difference.

Also, dunno about Lyssa runes. I’d recommend soldier runes if you absolutely need a bunch of toughness and vitality, or Soldier crests if you would prefer to balance toughness and vitality with additional damage. IMO, knight’s gear with some carrion gear and soldier crests are pretty pimp.

Knight’s gear good. Carrion gear bad. Condition damage is not good for guardians.

You’re right, we don’t need cond dmg. Pow Vit Tough would be better, but I forget what the moniker on that is.

The Show Must Go On.3415:

To all: How do you cope with conditions besides Purging Flames? Are you using SoR, Purity, other means? I thought I’d give a try to Lyssa runes if I invested 15 or less in Radiance, but it is worth it in your opinion? The condition purge + extra boons (hence extra healing) on Renewed Focus are appealing to me.

Meditations build covers the conditions issue. With AH you just have to hope you heal through it via boons and your main heal. Spamming all your virtues and hitting Renewed Focus can make a big difference.

Also, dunno about Lyssa runes. I’d recommend soldier runes if you absolutely need a bunch of toughness and vitality, or Soldier crests if you would prefer to balance toughness and vitality with additional damage. IMO, knight’s gear with some carrion gear and soldier crests are pretty pimp.

I forgot to mention too that mace pairs very well with greatsword. GS 5 to pull in mobs, then focus 5 if you have it and mace 3 for an AoE block/counter on everything you pulled in.

Oh, my bad, yeah. Any fast weapon works well with Empowered Might and shouts. Sword and GS especially with over 40% crit.

BTW, I find AH works best with 0/15/30/20/5, Meditation build works best for me with 0/10/30/30, but your results may vary. Everything else I posted before still applies, but if you have specific questions feel free to ask. I’ve been running AH variations ever since I hit 80.

AH is perfectly doable with hammer, I did it for a while. Utilize shouts and the reduced shout cooldown trait in honor. You’ll need empowered might and preferably above 44% crit.

0/15/30/20/5 works best with hammer IMO, but 0/5/30/30/5 and 0/10/30/30 also work. Try pairing the hammer with either greatsword or with sword and focus. If you need more survival, mace and focus or shield is good, but you’ll lose mobility on that setup.

Edit – btw, if you primarily run solo, try a meditations build as well. The same trait choices work with it (but different major traits), it’s just more solo healing and condition removal instead of group support. You’ll choose meditations instead of shouts though.

Alarox.4590:

Tomkatt.1684:

• low HP Max
• high crit dmg and condition dmg
• high damage in general
• guardians have an innate threat boost of 25%
• necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat

The only things you mentioned above that we know for sure are high damage. I haven’t seen any evidence for the rest of them other than anecdotal.

---

We know that damage and proximity are two major factors in determining aggro. We also know that depending on the mob, they might specifically target certain professions/armor-classes. We also know that it might be the reverse for some enemies, the mob may target your allies far away instead of close up. A good example of that are the Wurm fights in TA.

“The following tend to draw threat:”

“necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat”

I only posted my observations. The guardian 25% modifier is true though, I’ll see if I can find the anet confirmation, but that did come from Anet. However if we’re talking anecdotal, we’re not even sure about the high damage thing, that’s also anecdotal. There are times a mob will run right past a damage dealer to a player who hasn’t even attacked yet.

Nobody knows exactly how aggro works in this game, but here’s some pointers. The following tend to draw threat:

• low HP Max
• high crit dmg and condition dmg
• high damage in general
• guardians have an innate threat boost of 25%
• necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat

That’s all I really know. There’s no real “tank” in this game, it’s about mobility and avoiding damage, not soaking it all up and getting healed. High damage weapons like hammer and GS will help, mace is slow and defensive, better as your swap weapon than your main attack.

Edit – just an aside, while you can provide support and mitigation as a guardian, your allies are still responsible for their own survival and self-healing. You need to escape the tank/healer/dps trinity mindset, everyone fills all of those roles at some point in GW2, depending on build, weapon choices, and playstyle.

I feel guardians are in a good place, but I think a few things need to be looked at:

• Symbols are Larger, Honor tree – I personally think is should be the default, symbols are ridiculously small without traiting. Also the trait to make symbols last longer could use a slight buff, IMO.

• Zeal tree sucks. I’ve never had a reason to take more than 10 points in it, and I’ve tried. It’s not that it’s completely inferior to other trees, but moreso that the traits in Zeal just don’t synergize well with traits in other trees. There are simply better options elsewhere even at the 5 and 10 point level, let alone deeper in the tree.

• Spirit weapons suck. They had potential, but they suck, and now they suck worse than ever.

Pairing with a mace. I don’t understand the benefits of shield. I pick focus 100% of the time over shield. Is there something I’m not getting? The shield skills just seem lackluster.

Why mace and shield as opposed to mace+focus?

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUUQJARSlYgiDnGyNEf4EhVBCi9QjfMjXPgIFbIA;TsAA1CnUOR1lxLhX2gcdJDaByIDA

Just curious how something like this would handle with survival and group support. See any major flaws or places I could improve on this?

Alarox.4590:

4.) You basically say that Virtues are overpowered, if you don’t think so too then you must be an idiot who spams them all at once.

LOL, excuse me while I spam all 3 of my Virtues to buff my allies and burn mobs, heal 2/3rds of my health via Altruistic Healing, and then block for 3 seconds with with Renewed Focus and get my virtues back.

While the above is true, I still don’t think it’s overpowered, since to actually build for this, you have to sacrifice power and HP generally, to have enough crit and the right traits to make an AH build viable. Someone saying Virtues are OP out of the gate is kinda stupid, IMO.

Also, traited right, there’s no reason not to pop them all at once, especially in a group event. That’s a group heal, a group aegis, mob burning, and with AH, a solid self heal. Also, with 5 in virtues, it grants might, protection, aegis, and regen.

Oglaf.1074:

We should get something similar to the Guardian ability. Y’know, the bigass shield that knocks everyone around you back?
.

Trust me, as a guardian main, it’s not as useful as you think. Down skill 3, on the other hand, has saved my life more than once.

Look around the map for heart quests. If you don’t see any you haven’t completed, look around for spyglass icons to find a scout.

Do any Dynamic events you come across for an easy xp boost. Also, as a warrior (assuming you’re a warrior), get your healing signet ASAP and then get 10 points in the critical chance tree (2nd from the top). Use a few signets (not all signets, but maybe dolyak and the one that boosts endurance regen and heals conditions), and whatever 3rd skill you want.

It’s up to you if you wanna do banners. I don’t like them, prefer shouts and signets, but to each his own.

Good luck!

I primarily use Carrion gear, but I’m a heavy condition/bleed thief, not a backstab/bust thief.

I used to dodge cancel between auto-hit 2 and 3 on the hammer for a faster strike/selfless daring. That doesn’t work anymore from what I can tell.

Tetsuya.4783:

Go a bleeding build with 20/0/0/20/30 like incurafy said and spam DB for big mobs of enemys or shotgun bleed skill for long range, though if u can get 5 DB’s in a row, they will bleed to death

With this setup should I be wearing Carrion or Valkyrie gear? I use crits to replenish my initiative and keep the DB spam up, how would I go about keeping the crit rate up with this setup, or renewing initiative without the 15 point in Critical Strikes?

I’m wondering if anyone has some good PvE oriented builds for a dagger and shortbow thief out there. Currently I just hit 80 and am running a 10/20/0/20/20 build. It’s working for me, and I’m not having difficulty in the early portions of Orr even in rares and greens, but I can’t help but think my build is not optimal.

Here’s the rub: I don’t really like to stealth a lot. I use Shadow refuge, but that’s about it, and primarily for the heal/group support (to rez an ally safely, for example). I prefer mobility, AoE damage and bleed stacking, and using caltrops to cripple and control the mobs, as well as shortbow 2 shotgun spam. Rather than be sneaky, I currently rely on the healing signet on AoE damage to keep me alive, along with high regen on initiative to keep up the deathblossom and shotgun spam.

Any thoughts? And thoughts on what sort gear I should be looking for based on my playstyle preference?

Thanks!

I despise this quest with every ounce of my being. The mission itself is fine. Swim out and fight your way to the bone ship, swim back. Then, when the charges don’t detonate, Tonn swims back out to fix the problem and you fight krait onshore.

Spoilers ahead, you were warned:

My problem lies specifically with the way Tonn died. Control is taken away from the player and Tonn’s death becomes meaningless. You beat the ever-loving kitten out of the krait and then when it’s over you’re just standing around twiddling your thumbs and an NPC says “you have to hit the detonator, we’ll be overrun” or something to that measure, except that you’re not, and there’s no sign of hostility. You can swim around, roll around the island for 10 minutes, nothing happens.

There’s an insistence of urgency that doesn’t exist. And then when you hit the detonator, Tonn inevitably dies. I mean, it feels wrong, and takes the player out of the role of performing a necessary action, and into the realm of sociopathy. Why did we have to hurry up and hit the detonator. We could have waited another minute, two, five, ten, whatever, there was no sense of urgency, and it renders Tonn’s death both heinous, and unnecessary.

I propose adding actual urgency to the quest. I should be able to see a horde of 50, 100 krait in the distance swarming toward the island. I should have a reason to say “oh kitten, sorry Tonn, we can’t wait any longer bro!” Instead, I felt the quest was just a let down, and I’d killed an alloy, and a character I actually liked for no good reason whatsoever.

That’s all I really have to say about it, I just hope Anet does something to improve this quest. Tonn was a great character, and it would be nice to see his death as something meaningful, and not something utterly stupid and preventable.

Just curious, are virtue and signet passives boons, or are categorized as something else?

IcomeINpeace.2085:

Keep in mind you will need to level your guard to 11 (I think) before being able to transmute shoulder armor.

Nope, I’ve transmuted a thief hood at level 1 before. You don’t need to wait so long as you have the transmute stones.

Ehra.5240:

No. Most, if not all, of the profession specific starting gear have unique skins that can’t be found anywhere else. With the newest blog post, I’m hoping that the new chests being added that have profession specific gear will have these skins included to help out the people who trashed them without understanding how rare they are.

Umm…this is flat out wrong. As long as you have a free character slot, you can just reroll the same class and transmute the item onto a white piece of gear, then transmute it to your main.

If you don’t have transmute stones, you always get them for exploring your home town or starter zone 100%.

Don’t forget OP, you should be doubling your damage number for mighty blow, since you can hit it twice over the length of a 100 blades channel.

I think I may be a bit low on power… any thoughts? I’m in pretty much all knights gear w/ power, precision, and condition damage, and making up the HP via soldier runes. I’m wondering if crests might be worthwhile at this rate, or maybe swapping out a knight piece of zerkers.

Stats attached.

Quarktastic.1027:

I just hit level 80, and I’ve been using a pretty typical 0/15/30/20/5 build with altruistic healing and empowering might. I’ve been debating on equipment choices, specifically armor and trinkets.

…

Which would be of greater benefit?

Quark, with your build I’d go with a knight set and soldier runes or crests. You’ll end up about 16k hp, and with the AH setup, you will regenerate it easily. I’m running a similar build with 0/5/30/30/5, and I’m honestly not hurting for the lack of HP. This is PvE though, can’t speak for wvwvw or sPvP.

Judge Banks.9018:

Soldier if running at least 2 shouts.

Yeah, running Judge’s Intervention, Retreat, and a swap between SY and Hold the Line.

Jay.3284:

Orbs/Crest. Better and Cheaper.

Orbs/crest? Which ones?

I’m rolling a 0/5/30/30/5 build with empowering might and altruistic healing. I’m sitting at 44% crit and ~15k HP. I’m wondering if runes of the soldier or runes of divinity would be a better choice for me?

I’m leaning toward soldier right now, if only for cost. I can buy 7 of these for the price of one divinity rune…

Anyway… thoughts?

I find Thief and Necro a pretty potent combo. The fields generated by marks are great for combos.

I’m a D/D and Shortbow acrobatics and crit thief, my wife rolls Necro Staff and Scepter. We condition kill stuff to death.

Draeka.5941:

The Punisher. That is all, there are none that can compete—price wise, at least.

This. I have one, love it. Look is simple but good, stats are exactly what I want for the hammer.

Barnabus Stinson.1409:

Although I have found both Blindness and aegis to be very helpful in some situations, it also fails miserably in others. For Arah Exp it can be great, but against multi hit based attacks it is terrible. Aegis or blind can Stop an eviscerate but a 100 blades it saves you like 500hp. I think it would be far better if it gave a 1 second block when activated. Meaning against multi hit attacks it actually has some use

Aegis and blind are for single hit. Protection and regen are for multi-hit. You also have a heal that blocks for 2 seconds and Renewed Focus which blocks for 3 seconds. Aegis is fine, and guardians have plenty of mitigation tools.

Selfless Daring. 15 point skill in honor heals allies (and self) at the end of your dodge roll, and synergizes well with the 5 point honor trait that grants vigor on crit.

The big deal about it is that it benefits 1:1 from healing power (1 healing power == +1 heal to the roll).

ThiBash.5634:

Overall, you make a solid case. Some of your statements sound a bit like you’re a car salesman though:

Air 5 : Single target knockback. Not terrible, not great. It will save you many times over.

It’s either a great skill that will save you many times over, or an ok skill that you will use sometimes when it’s convenient. But not both. :-)

“Air 5 : Not terrible, not great. It will save you many times, simply because it’s there and you’ll hit the button eventually.”