Guild Wars 2

Few disclaimers: I haven’t PvP’d much, mostly due to PC problems (read: because I’m a silly Linux nerd with old hardware), so I can’t say I “feel the pain” first-hand, but I do watch a lot of PvP, mostly warriors (Wilson and Shin), so that’s where this suggestion comes from. Pure theory-crafting at its best!

Overall, I think Warrior is in an odd place, not necessarily a bad one. The meta doesn’t quite favor it, and I think it needs some TLC, but it’s not in some inescapable black-hole of suck. It just needs a bit of TLC. So here’s my TLC:

1. Embrace the Adrenaline

I would like to see more functionality provided by default from adrenaline. My favorite example would be decreasing weapon-skill cooldown based on the level of adrenaline, 1 second less per level of adrenaline. This addition really emphasizes the martial prowess of a warrior: as it fights, it becomes stronger, and more attuned to the fight. I like keeping some functionality in traits, though, because it encourages build diversity and can force critical decisions. For example, adding regen based on adrenaline (already a trait) leans a warrior more towards survivability, whereas adding “armor piercing” or some other way to bypass damage reduction (a new trait), leans a warrior more towards pure offence.

2. Make Stances Like Attunements

Not as in they become F1-F4, but in the following sense: Only one stance can be active at a time, activating a stance provides ongoing lesser benefits, and activating a stance again provides a temporary significant benefit but ends the stance. Let’s take Berserker Stance as an example. In its current iteration, it gives you adrenaline every second, and resistance every 3 seconds, for the duration of the stance. In my revised iteration, you would activate a stance, and have a passive benefit plus a new active option. So, you activate Berserker Stance and start gaining adrenaline every second (while in combat). Then you can activate it again to gain resistance (say, 3 stacks every 2 seconds for 6 seconds). This would remove the passive benefit of Berserker Stance, and put it onto cooldown. However, you can only have one stance active at a time! So, say you were in Berserker Stance, and suddenly you wanted to be in Balanced Stance. By activating Balanced Stance, you would deactivate Berserker Stance without using it’s active ability, putting it onto a shorter cooldown than normal. As part of this change, I would probably revisit what each stance does as well, since some wouldn’t properly fit into the new format.

3. Make Banners Like Spirit Weapons

Again, not exactly like Spirit Weapons, but drawing similarities. First, instead of banners being bundles summoned at a location, they would provide an aura around the warrior when activated. This would be visually apparent by the warrior literally having a banner on their back. Each aura would do what the current banners do, but would be centered on the warrior. After being activated, the banner skill will flip to a secondary skill similar to how Spirit Weapons flip after being summoned. This would be the previous on-summon ability. So, when you activate Battle Standard, you start emanating the passives to everyone around you for the entire duration. After being activated, Battle Standard flips to a secondary skill that is the AoE revive. Unlike stances (and just like spirit weapons), multiple banners can be active at once, so the passives could need adjustment, but probably not much. The only downfall to this is the loss of the banner as a bundle/weapon, but I can’t imagine many people actually use it as such.

I think the really exciting thing about these changes would be the build potential. Consider a build that uses a stance and a banner in PvP! There’s suddenly actual use for banners outside of niche builds or one-off uses in dungeons! Stances and banners actually require planning and tactical usage rather than reactionary button-mashing to break stuns or revive team mates! And warriors gain much-needed viability in a team, due to providing buffs to team mates, and better damage output. Wilson once quipped that warriors don’t have any fancy magic to do their stuff with, they just hit things. I like this summary: the warrior is a martial master, who relies on pure physical capabilities and eschews any magical help. I think these changes maintain that style and theme, in additional to being beneficial but not overpowered.

Thanks for reading, and long live Warrior!

Race: Charr (though presumably any)
Sex: Either
Class: Engineer
Equipment: Slickpack (though presumably any visible back item)

This issue was mentioned before, but it really sticks out with the recent Slickpack item and kits.

When you activate a kit, the backpack properly replaces the back item, but once you use an ability, or get hit, the backpack and the back item merge together. See screen shot:

In the Black Citadel, just north of the Plaza of Remembrance point of interest, I always get map elements that disappear if I rotate my camera around my character.

First pic: Normal map.

Second pic: Rotated a bit to the left (move camera to the right)

Third pic: Continue to rotate in the same direction as second pic.

In the third picture, you can actually see the icons for the BLTP, but not the building! Very strange behavior.

Stron Magnesson.8017:

Here’s my idea:
Daggers: 1 Stab/Slice/Cut (the last two doing some kind of bleed), 2 backflip & throw (character does a jump backward and throws a dagger in the opposite direction while in mid air), 3 Hamstring, 4 throw/yank, 5 disarm (not a literal disarm, but makes the target unable to attack for 5 seconds) OR alternate: 5 find weakness (causes vulnerability), F1 throw multiple daggers (more daggers thrown depending on tiers of adrenaline)

Warriors aren’t really the type to be doing backflips on a battlefield. That’s what thieves and characters not carrying around 60 pounds of steel armor do. ANet approaches profession development from more than just a numbers perspective; to them, a profession needs to feel and look right, in addition to playing right. Having giant, steel-clad warriors running around, back-flipping doesn’t make sense. Granted, having them combat-rolling around everywhere doesn’t make a ton of sense either. Also, skills that provide some kind of evasion-and-damage mechanic belong to either the Ranger or the Thief. We warriors can’t have everything!

Stron Magnesson.8017:

Swords: 1 as is but without bleeds and a little more damage (ok, maybe some kind of condition like weakness), 2 as is, 3 a quick three swing flurry that adds confusion or interrupt (much like it would be in real life), 4 a spin or flourish attack (similar to the Axe 2 skill, maybe with a small knockback. Small, mind you…), 5 as is. F1 as is but maybe just a little stronger.

ANet’s focus on weapons is pretty simple: Sword has mid attack-speed and mid-damage, compared to the ax (faster attack speed, less damage) and the mace (slower attack speed, more damage). Swords for Guild Wars have always been about bleeding. As such, ANet kept that theme. Regarding skill 3, warriors aren’t about confusion, but have some nice daze/stun abilities on the mace. Adding a similar mechanic onto swords would depreciate the mace. Regarding skill 4, sword is much more focused on a single enemy than ax, so giving them some kind of multi-target spin attack would depreciate the ax.

Stron Magnesson.8017:

I’ve tried running the numbers before, and even with bleeds and other effects, swords just don’t match up to what Axes can do, they are a weak link in the warrior’s arsenal.

Sword provides much better mobility and initiation than ax does. Also, sword 5 provides a nice defense skill, whereas ax is about pure offense. Sword is a more focused weapon, giving up some multi-target abilities to focus a single foe down; their 4-skill, 2-skill, burst-skill and even 5-skill all support this. The strength of the sword comes from applying consistent stacks of bleeds, having superior initiation and single-target focus to the ax or mace, and combining some defense with offense. Compare this to the ax, which is about pure offense, or the mace, which is the inverse of sword: some offense with solid defense/control.

Stron Magnesson.8017:

…Sword and Dagger is a real fighting style in Europe and Japan, so i see no reason for daggers to have been excluded…

I agree, but consider what that dagger was primarily used for: defense. A primary example is the main gauche for fencing, used almost exclusively for providing defense while allowing you to focus your rapier on offense. With the exception of Musashi, katana was paired with wakasashi to allow the wakasashi for point-defense. I think Musashi would be quite pleased with double-sword in this game, actually. Except for the whole throwing-your-sword deal…

Regardless, the trick becomes how do you balance this new weapon set. Since we already have off-hand sword for a combo of offense/defense, off-hand ax for pure offense, and off-hand mace for pretty much pure control (with damage, of course).

If we were to get dagger added, I would push for it to be off-hand only. We run into the above problem though, and dagger feels like sword off-hand. I actually think that sword off-hand is supposed to represent a short-sword/dagger “traditional” role, as evident by the throwing mechanic and the parry/riposte mechanic.

Stron Magnesson.8017:

Why do Warriors even have a bleed build? Isn’t that what Thieves are for?

If warriors had a stealth-oriented build, I would agree with you. Bleeds are too general.

Overall, I can definitely see where you’re coming from, but I think that the sword on warrior is pretty well balanced as is. Adding, perhaps, some dagger skins would be nice for appearance, but I don’t think the dagger as a completely new weapon properly fits into the warrior’s already impressive arsenal.

Definitely an interesting idea, though. And a great way to look at the game, and try to figure out how/why ANet decided to balance certain weapons, combinations, and themes.

Just happened to me, after I replied to the “Show me your Warrior” thread, in the Warrior sub-forum. I could get around it by just clicking on one of the latest page listed, and then it works. It seemed from the URL that the forum was returning me after my reply to the 5th page of a 4 page thread.

Using Opera 12.10.

KyleQuest, you can blame history, specifically the Roman Empire, for that.

I’ve been trying out using ESDF for movement. I’ve bound Q -> 7-skill, W -> 8-skill, R -> 9-skill, T -> 0-skill (ult), and I have 2 thumb buttons on my mouse, one of which is bound for dodge, the other for my healing skill.

I’ve found it works pretty well, though I’ve been slow to adjust simply due to a lack of (a) play time and (b) usable skills; I mostly just run around PvE with signets on.

After a bit of playing, I noticed that it was a bit of a hassle to reach my 1-skill, so I bound it to A. I’ve also noticed that while I can strafe a target (I have S and F set to move left and right, not rotate left/right; I use the mouse for character rotation), it can get a bit difficult to continue in a direction and use all my weapon skills. For example, holding “F” to strafe right and keeping my middle-finger on E to keep close for melee range, I can use my 2 and 3 skill without any problem, but 4 and 5 get a bit more difficult. Reverse for holding “S” and strafing left.

I currently use “TAB” for weapon switching, and have set up a small enemy trio for X, C, and V as Previous Enemy, Closest Enemy, and Next Enemy, respectfully.

I have Z set to “Look Behind”, and I use SHIFT+D for “Turn Around,” allowing me to quickly check my flank, and then respond to it if necessary.

Also, I set SHIFT+Q to my “Burst Skill” button, since I’m always real close to them. Despite my initial thoughts, that I would use my Q/7-skill too much, due to miss-clicks, I have never actually done so.

All that ranty-goodness aside, binding Q, E, R, T, and using WASD for movement, could also work. I haven’t tried that quite yet.

(Also also, as an added bonus, most keyboards have a little extra texture on the “F” and “J” keys, for touch-typing, so if I move my hands away from the keyboard, I can re-orient myself by touch by feeling for that “F” texture.)

Here’s my Norn, Lord Theodryl

Rocking the Heritage Helm, Shoulders and Legs, with Cultural Tier 1 Body, and Karma Hands and Legs (can’t remember exactly where from).

I really want to get some legs with that under-cloth appearance like the arms/body have, but I haven’t found anything yet. Only time, and exploration, will yield results! My quest continues!

MrsAngelD.6971:

1. When I click subscribe to a thread, nothing happens. I don’t want to receive emails about threads I posted it, but instead a list of threads I’m subscribed to should be in my forum profile so I can easily access them.

Probably my most desired feature for this forum, especially for build threads, since they tend to involve lots of updates. Replying to this one to voice support.

MrsAngelD.6971:

2. Sometimes the reply, flag and other buttons just aren’t visible on a thread. When this happens the only thing visible is the permalink button. Which can be really frustrating when you want to quote someone & reply to them.

What’s mentioned above (post/edit) works for me, but it seems I only need to do so once, and then it appears all the time. For this problem, it may be most beneficial to list what browser you’re using, just to give the devs as much information as possible.

In my case, I’m the odd-man out, using Opera 12.02!

As others have stated, the moves in LoL are copies of moves from previous games. The Caitlyn-Ult/Rifle-Burst skill, with the kneeling? Yeah, that’s copied from history; you kneel like that, with a rifle, if you’re on the front line of a firing squad.

I understand your enthusiasm for similarities, but don’t think for a moment that just because you saw LoL do it first that they did it first, or that Guild Wars 2 copied LoL for a similar reason. To assume this gives way too much credit to LoL, and diminishes any credit to the developers of Guild Wars 2.

All the same, it’s fun to draw similarities.

No race has any inherent bonus over another for the professions. The big thing, I would argue, would be character size, but the hit boxes are all the same, so it’s a matter of actual screen space (ie., a norn is just bigger on screen than an asura, so it might be “tougher” to see things in front of them… kind of…). The race-specific skills are nifty, but not allowed in sPvP so regarding that aspect, any race is fine.

Actually, regarding any aspect any race is fine…

tl;dr Any race. I prefer norn, because I friggin’ love the norn.

I’ve fallen in love with the main-hand mace skills, but I favor either shield or sword for my off-hand. Granted, I don’t do any WvW or sPvP, so I’m not sure how viable it is for either, but running around being able to parry, block, and stun an opponent almost indefinitely is just super nice.

+1 for Linux native client.

With Valve working on getting their Source engine working for Linux, Guild Wars 2 is the only thing tentatively holding me back from going all linux.

Is GW2 OpenGL in the Mac client? If so, would it be easier to try to get the Mac client working on linux than the Windows client? I’m not really too savvy in those departments…

Two I have found, both on the Crystal Desert server:

(1) Snowden Drifts, Lost Child’s Sorrow — No NPC spawned

(2) Lornar’s Pass, Mistriven Gorge — No item spawned

Also, in Snowden Drifts, the Njordstead Waypoint has been locked due to an incomplete event since Saturday. I tried to complete the event, but it’s impossible to find the final Ice Elemental or whatever it’s looking for.

Eagerly awaiting my 100%’s on both these maps!

Thanks,

Azulien