Guild Wars 2

Malediktus.3740:

Felahr.9830:

Majic.4801:

BURN THE HERETICS!

thats not shoulderpads, thats a house.

They protect your head from sides

…And completely obscure your line-of-sight to the sides.

I ain’t no soldier or warrior err nuthin’, but I’m thinkin’ a suit of armor for an infantryman that limits your view to a 45 degree cone in front of you (only) is umm… tactically unsound. ;p

Lahmia.2193:

Saving builds would just kill any originality people have already. Copy/Paste from metabattles would be a literal thing after they introduce it.

Not pickin’ a fight or anything, but that kinda doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like it’s both illogical and sort of an apples n’ oranges kinda thing (if that).

The problem of people using metabuilds has nothing to do with a Build Saver. People using metabuilds is a discussion about things like play style (“I like experimenting with builds as part of the game and take a sort of pride in figuring out my own build!” versus “Meh, hate it, I’ll just use a build off the web” etc), or taking the path of least resistance (“Tons of people use this build, it’s supposedly awesome, there’s numbers to back it up, I wanna W1N!!!, and this experimenting with my own build stuff doesn’t appeal to me – I’ll just use the meta!”), or maybe being a little overwhelmed by the complexity, etc.

Whether people copy/paste a metabuild from the web is about the demographics of your players. Some people are metagamers, some ain’t. Using a Build Saver simply eliminates the need for me to ALT-TAB out to a web page (hyperlink) I’ve been forced to save because the game has (absurdly) failed to provide me with that tool. A metagamer is gonna metagame no matter what you put in his way, or how easy you make it. It’s practically the defining characteristic of a metagamer.

Again, I’m not gonna have a meltdown because I’ve got a Word document with notes on my builds, and a list of hyperlinks to saved builds, and that I frequently have to ALT-TAB back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to read notes and switch all my traits – just to switch from my DPS build/gear to my Support build/gear – but daaaaang… why do I have to this? This should already be in the game. Shoulda been there Day 1.

Ranted about it before, gonna rant about it again: How can a game that is designed to support so much customization, so many builds and roles, with so much complexity (relatively speaking), not include an interface for saving/loading them? It’s so very infuriating. I’m not gonna have a meltdown about it, but dang – if ever a game had a need for a feature like this – it’s GW2.

I get that there’s only so many resources at ArenaNet’s disposal, though – c’mon – it’s a push ‘n pull of very little data to a database with a simple UI. I get that there’s gojillion’s of players, ‘X’ amount of bandwidth, etc, but – LOL – c’mon now… But the thing is, it’s gotten to the point where strained resources is not an argument to be made. It’s about priorities with the resources you have. You need to make room for it. Like – now?

Agreed. Always hated that about the-game-that-shall-not-be-named and it’s inevitable influence on other MMO’s art direction in this regard. It looks clown-like. Hate it.

I’d definitely prefer it didn’t show through the back of my characters head (ie “Fix please!”). I dunno, it just looks weird like this. Plus it’s a little distracting.

PyrateSilly.4710:

I have been having loads of fun with HoT. No bad taste here. Not regretting buying the expansion. Can’t wait for LS3 and either another LS or the next expansion.

Same. Love it. I will say I wasn’t sooper thrilled with it when it came out. I kinda didn’t “get it”. I think a little of the “ohmigod-I-need-to-do-everything-NOW!” fever had ahold of me when it first released. Now that I’ve had some time to get my mind right and kind of slow down, take it as it comes; I’m actually kinda blown away by HoT.

It’s something that’s been asked for many times before, but ya – what he said. A million times over (again) – what he said. LOL, why is this taking so long?

In a game that leaves the door wide-wide open for so much customization of gear sets AND Traits, an easy way to swap back and forth between gear+Traits has got to be a requirement, doesn’kitten

Can I do this all manually? Errrrr…ya, I guess. But it’s just so unnecessary. I get that there’s development costs, time, so many things on your plate(s) etc, but c’mon – this has got to be pretty low-hanging fruit (oh, that totally reminds me of a Tenacious D song). I dunno, just seems like another no-brainer easy win.

I recently decided to push my 39 Engineer to 80, and honestly; I think just flatout playin’ the game with an eye towards map completion is the fastest. I just methodically work my way through the map(s), hitting every waypoint, every POI, every vista, and completing every heart. The levels seem to roll by pretty dang fast. Oh, I also try to stay on top of the story missions.

Plus – make sure you’ve got +15% experience food, +10% experience utility, and maybe a straight-up XP booster on you at all times. I’m not sure how much those really make, but it sure seemed alot faster.

Dragonfeu.4356:

I’m seeing less and less videos put up by the big GW2 youtubers and they’re receiving less and less views. I haven’t played in a few months, so i’m completely out of touch with the community but are a lot of players quitting?

I just came BACK to GW2 after a longish hiatus, and frankly I was stunned by the exact opposite – how alive GW2 is. It kinda got me and my gamin’ buddies (we all came back) talking about how, while GW2 is certainly a heavy-hitter at the AAA MMO tier, the game doesn’t get nearly enough mention or credit for being an astounding good game.

Also – unrelated, quick nod to the devs and the art team: Somebody put alotta love into the HoT expansion. I’m not a big fan of how bewildering and sometimes frustratingly 3D it is (ie with the canopies, and the root-jumping, the flying, all that) – but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating the design, the art, the the time spent making those zones look amazing. Well done!

While it’s certainly been talked about before (re-releasing instanced versions of Season 1, much like Season 2 currently works), and understanding that ArenaNet has talked about how there’s alot of technical difficulties (ie it wasn’t originally designed that way, etc), it does seem like a no-brainer huge win for them if they could pull it off.

While there is undoubtedly alotta resources that would have to be thrown at that project, I guess my perspective is – it’s like releasing another expansion, with a fraction of the work. All the benefits and a fraction of the work. I say that, because I can only assume it would be a pretty massive influx of players, returning players, hours spent playing the game, all correlating to more stuff bought from the Black Lion, all that. It makes for an ideal filler between now and the next expansion, along with other content updates of course.

Well, the old system wasn’t perfect. It did force you down a line or two (sort of). But that’s not exactly the argument I’m making. You still had that ever increasing pool of traits you could dip into. You don’t anymore. And it’s a fairly significant blow to customization. Plus, it’s just pure straight-up talent trees, and aren’t we just sick-to-frackin-death of that formulaic system?

And not to be the guy that just nitpicks and doesn’t offer solutions: Why can’t we have both? Why can’t we have the new emphasis on gear for the direction you want to take your stats, but keep the pools of traits you can dip into rather than forcing to pick from 1 of 3 at every tier?

Said it before, sayin’ it again: Guild Wars 2 just got back-doored by a Talent Tree system (ie World of Warcraft). You got handed a big old kitten sandwich, and I’m astonished at how many people are happily taking a bite (and defending the flavor). You got the same old crap as other homogenized, tired and formulaic MMO’s – in a different wrapper.

Where GW2’s semi-deep system once had an ever increasing pool of talents you could dip into (a smattering of useless traits is irrelevant), you are now enslaved to a linear, sterile path forward with no return. Now you get the illusion of meaningful choice. Now, if you want to build in a certain direction (ie condition damage, or defensive, or whatever) you’re trapped – you have little or no choice in your trees and your selections.

Sorry.

OwikGall.1607:

Did for me. Vitality was high when I put a lot of trait points on Vitality to the point where I didn’t need it in my gear.

And there ya go. As I’m sure you know, now you’re going to have to get that Vitality from gear. Which I think will be good (in the long run). It’s an adjustment, but it’s for the better. Because what you were doing with Vitality (getting enough from traits to not care so much about getting it from gear) in a way – everyone was doing with Power (and Precision). But worse – getting all the Power and Precision from traits AND gear.

To kind of address your OP, I was gonna say that my very defensively built Warrior sounds very similar to yours. The difference is, I built most of my gear (and traits) around Toughness and Vitality (and Healing Power). And I found that my build was as tough as always, and even a little tougher.

I just wonder if this might have been one of the more brilliant and masterfully done patches in an MMO for a long time. ANet might’ve managed to actually do it: to actually turn it all around. To undo the damage done by a flaw in their mechanics and gear stats (ie the whole Berserker Gear goofiness).

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Looks like we’re going to need to start bringing group support to dungeons.

Sweet!

I’m not sure the problem is eliminating traits. The problem is you’ve just been back-doored by a Talent Tree system, and I don’t think most people realize it (yet).

Oh Talent Trees, how I loathe you. The last refuge of homogenized, uninspired, insipid MMO’s that have given up on guts and creativity. The safe design that gives you the illusion of meaningful choice. The design that caters to the lowest common denominator. What little balls GW2 had with it’s semi talent trees – it’s tiered, growing pool of traits you accumulated, but most importantly: could continue to pick from – has been neutered.

Oh, but wait – you get to choose your 3 trees out of 5 (or 6)…

sigh

Yet another aftershock of the seemingly irreparable damage done to the MMO genre by World of Warcraft’s popularity.

Bearhugger.4326:

Sure Footed doesn’t seem to affect Shield Stance’s duration. I’m not 100% sure this is a bug since the ability’s description doesn’t start with “Stance.”, but if it’s not considered a stance I would really like to see this ability renamed to something like Shield Cover or Shield Block because this is hugely misleading. I didn’t verify if it works with other stance traits like Vigorous Focus.

Confirmed that Sure Footed does not seem to affect Shield Stance.

And I’d like to underline the confusion on whether this is a bug or by design, and make sure we’re all on the same page here; the Sure Footed trait reads:

“Increases stance duration by 25%.”

Since the #5 shield ability is named Shield Stance, the assumption is that it is in fact a “stance”. If this trait is not designed to affect Shield Stance, then (as Bearhugger suggested); consider changing the name of the skill to something else. Currently it’s very misleading.

Lastly; an appeal: please make Shield Stance one of the skills affected by Sure Footed. For a class that really has only two shut-down defense skills (the other is Endure Pain), Shield Stance is one of our “go to” skills when things get hairy (if you’re carrying the shield). Especially for those of us who enjoy playing a defensively built Warrior. And look at it this way: less potential bugs if you just add Shield Stance to the stance list, than changing the actual name of it. eh? eh? It’s a win-win!

Hail fellow shieldbrothers! Mace+Shield here. I also roll with the hammer. I typically open with it, actually. Knockback—Knockdown—AE stun, and then roll-on to the Mace+Shield. I love the CC.

DPS? Not interested.

Somebody needs to start (and maintain) a “Warrior – Bugs List” thread. Either here or in the Bugs Board. I’d like to say that I’d stay on top of it if I started it, but I probably can’t.

Safh.7280:

Khristophoros.7194:

The active is bad. That’s the problem.

But if the active were good “Mending” would be completely pointless… its a choice, regen
or burst heal. Having both on one skill would be lovely, of course… but it would be ridiculous also!

This.

Healing Signet is one of a handful of very well designed, and perfectly balanced skills. The weak direct heal AND the low(ish) refresh for it, offsets the fact that you are constantly regen’ing HP’s and effectively don’t have to do squat. If you mess with it, if you boost it’s direct heal or lower the refresh; you’ll throw it out of balance.

Right now, it is the ideal heal skill for PvE leveling. If you’re using a different heal while PvE’ing, (imo) yer basically doin’ it wrong.

But if you’re gonna jump into a dungeon or PvP, you kinda need to swap it for one of the other heal skills. Healing Signet’s regen and low heal will not get the job done for the spike damage you get from dungeons or PvP.

The queue for WvW has been EXTREMELY frustrating for me. I came to GW2 with the intention of spending the next year or two here, doin’ WvW. First I settled in for a week or so of PvE, to get build a nice little foundation, and then a few days back I decided “Welp, time to start queuing up for some WvW. Woot!” ….I STILL have not gotten in. I’ve sat in the queue for three nights now. For HOURS each night. Nuttin’.

Said it in the beta, I’m gonna say it again: I realize the dangers of plugging the WvW zones full of people, and having completely lag-fest zerg battles, etc, but as crazy as it sounds… it’s gotta be that way. Get crackin’ on bigger servers, better network work, whatever it is developers do to fix this stuff. But in the meantime, ya gotta let us in.

I would propose the solution, like so many things in life; is education. Increase the caps, but then implement a message window here ‘n there (like every time you enter an WvW zone) saying something along the lines of "Huge blobs of zerging players creates massive lag. Don’t wanna play in lag? Spread the frak out and don’t create so many zergs." Know what I mean? People are dumb. Ya gotta pound those simple, clear, concise messages into their heads when and where ya can. They’ll get the message.