Guild Wars 2

ArcTheFallen.7682:

There is a dungeon finder online www.gw2lfg.com. Most people use it now a days and there are still a variety of different runs.

That’s an excellent site I was not aware of. However, it’s also a very sad reflection on Anet. How is something similar not already part of the game?

Manoa.5897:

Valhallen.1693:

Why do I have to take a bunch of waypoints then sit and wait in the hopes of even seeing an event? Was it too much to ask for a timer?

Best to check the Guild Wars Temple Dragon Timer before waypointing…

http://guildwarstemple.com/dragontimer/

That’s another excellent site, so thanks for that. Maybe I’ll give it another try tonight. Again though, great site, sad reflection on Anet.

Tenshi.3598:

WvW you’re oversimplifying though, I think. Just like on Earth, zerging is pretty much the most basic strategy, but a pretty inefficient one.

I won’t deny that, since WvW is what it is. But it would have been much more fun to have more than a few catapults and battering rams. There should be giant NPCs you can “capture” to fight with the zerg. The zerg should be able to work together to create base assaulting tanks and golems (not player/zerg destroying ones mind you), and more interesting weapons of war. It would be great to have more transport options than running 10 miles to the action, only to hit a group of enemies running toward you and getting a repair bill. There should also be a greater sense of accomplishment, such as having little bases leading up to bigger bases and finally leading to an enemy commander with a big event. (They sort of have that but to a much lesser extent)

What I’m saying is, WvW is good not great. Which is a shame because it really could have been amazing.

I bought this game specifically because of how awesome events like the shatterer, sunless, and shadow behemoth looked. When I finally got to see the shadow behemoth and shaman events during beta, I knew this game was going to be awesome. Fast forward 3 months, I log in and can’t find a single big event up and the zones are practically empty on a “full” server.

There needs to be at LEAST one big event in every zone that happens all the time. They need to provide worthwhile loot such as rare unique pets, unique dyes, and weapon and armor skins. There also needs to be some type of DE UI that lets us know when and where an event will occur.

Anet didn’t just drop the ball on DEs, they didn’t even bother picking it up.

nerva.7940:

on a more positive note, even though the game hasnt really moved forward in any way so far, it’s young and the potential you speak of still isnt lost.

I definitely agree. The game still has every chance in the world to live up to its potential. Just because some players have been alienated and left, doesn’t mean Anet can’t make the game awesome and draw everyone (and more) back to the game.

Plus there’s no sub, so we can always come back at any time. The way the game is now, though, and the way it’s going…..I’m not optimistic

I’m not even worried about stuff like class balance, ascended gear, everyone only grinding fractals, or bugs at this point. The game has a severe general lack of “fun”, especially in PvE, and that worries me.

It’s been a while since I’ve played GW2, pretty much since the fractals event weekend. After taking a break I decided to give the game another shot, thinking perhaps I was overly harsh and dramatic with my criticisms. So my RL friend, who also hasn’t played in a while, and I logged in feeling optimistic.

Attempt at fun #1: Do some epic events

First we tried going around and doing as many of the big epic outdoor bosses as we could find, such as the shadow behemoth and the sunless dragon. After wasting some silver and about 20 minutes teleporting around and waiting, we gave up. No events up, no one in the zones knew when they last spawned (if we even got a response).

Attempt at fun #2: Run some dungeons

I think you can guess how this went. I went to lion’s arch and he went to the relevant zones to spam “LFM for X dungeon”. A few times we actually found someone who wanted to do one of the dungeons, but we never found a full group. On top of that I even got a “do fractals nub”, and “sorry, everyone is doing the new instance now”. So it’s 3 months into the game and the original content is already outdated? I shouldn’t have to join a guild to run a stupid dungeon.

Attempt at fun #3: PvP

Neither of us had tried the new PvP map so we were interested to see what Anet had come up with so soon after launch. I read about getting buffs and stuff so it sounded promising. Again, I think you can guess how this went. The new map is…more of the same? At least we had a chuckle about Anet’s lack of creativity, and it looked pretty. We did a few games and got bored.

Attempt at fun #4: WvW

After being thwarted 3 times we decided to try WvW in a final effort to have some fun. We spent a few minutes running to where the action was only to be met with a zerg and overrun while trying to escape (since a bunch of them suddenly appeared right in front of us). That was enough “fun” for the night and we logged off and logged in to Planetside 2 to have some real fun.

I’m not trying to be overly pessimistic, but this game seriously isn’t that much fun. Anet really dropped the ball with dynamic events and especially the awesomely epic huge boss events. Why aren’t there more giant dragon and monster events, why don’t they happen more often, and why don’t they offer some kind of desirable reward? (Such as a unique pet, dye, armor/weapon skin for each boss) Why do I have to take a bunch of waypoints then sit and wait in the hopes of even seeing an event? Was it too much to ask for a timer?

Why are the old dungeons already obsolete? Why isn’t there a “dungeon finder” utility? Why are the entrances for some dungeons allowed to be perma contested? Why isn’t Anet doing anything to fix this?

Why are all the PvP maps the same? Seriously…how are there no capture the flag, capture the base, or even deathmatch style maps? They make these beautiful and well designed PvP maps only to implement the exact same mechanic in each one? Then when they create a new one…it’s the same old thing? Come on!

I guess WvW is what it is, but it would be nice to have more than just zerg vs zerg with long runs, no waypoints, and constantly trading the same bases and points over and over. If you WvW for one day, you’ve seen everything WvW has to offer, and that’s not right for such a large battlefield. Also, why aren’t there any cool events going on like a big dragon interfering with the fight occasionally, getting giant allied NPCs to fight on your side, or creating massive assault tanks/golems to attack bases?

“Wasted potential” is the best way to describe GW2. It could have been so awesome, and it still can be, but Anet seems content to simply put the game on cruise control. If you’re going to turn the MMO genre upside down and create an awesome game world, why not go all the way and make it epic?

Guess I’ll be back in another month or so to see if things have changed, but I’m getting less hopeful.

Anet made the horrible mistake that Blizzard made (multiple times) during Cataclysm, which lost about two million WoW subscribers. They funneled everyone into a single instance that provided the top tier of gear and made all other content obsolete. For GW2 that will do 2 things:

First, it takes everyone out of the rest of the world since there’s no reason to farm other dungeons or events since Fractals is better. Second, it will be the game’s undoing (at least for a large chunk of the population), because people will get bored and burnt out on running the same content over and over again.

It’s sad that a game with so much potential has made so many serious mistakes this early in it’s life. GW2 had every opportunity to live up to its potential, and the devs have failed at practically every turn.

I really hate to say it, especially since I had such high hopes for the game, but I think it is in trouble. Not because GW2 is a bad game, it’s not, but rather because people like myself had such high expectations, and visions that Anet didn’t share.

I’ll probably never “quit”, since you can’t really quit a game with no subscription fee, but I’m already starting to look at other games. This is hugely disappointing because I planned on playing GW2 regularly for at least the next year. Many of my friends have already moved on, and I’m likely soon to follow

I don’t like it. Never have and never will. I don’t like the way it works, I don’t like having to use it for certain items, I don’t like the purpose it serves, and I generally dislike everything about it. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any posts about this topic,

Does anyone else feel the same way about the mystic forge, or am I alone in my disdain for its existence?

I agree completely. Make dungeons soloable and give 20% of the reward. Heck, why stop there? Make the dungeons scale in both difficulty and reward depending on how many people are in the dungeon. This will be one more potential source of replayable PvE content in a game surprisingly lacking in replayablility.. The more options for having fun and seeing everything the game has to offer, the better.

Osprey.6587:

They figured if they were going to have to grind, they might as well do it in a game where the PvE was more polished and that’s what they did.

Anet needs to read posts like these and think very hard about where they’re taking the game. The quote above is exactly why many of my friends and myself are considering going back to WoW. We quit WoW because of the manifesto and what Anet promised. Guild Wars 2 was better BECAUSE IT WAS DIFFERENT, not because it tried to compete with WoW. Now, by Anet’s own admission, they’re abandoning the manifesto and on the path toward gear progression based PvE.

WoW’s PvE is better than GW2. There is no denying that fact. Yes GW2 is much MUCH better looking, but if team/competitive PvE is what you’re looking for, WoW is the undisputed king. If I have to grind and get back on the gear treadmill in any way, I’ll do it in WoW. At least I’ll know what I’m signing up for.

Many, such as myself, will not quit over this since there’s no monthly sub and no reason to uninstall. However, I will definitely be less invested in the PvE side of the game and will likely NEVER make another gem purchase. In addition, I will be far more cautious about any future purchases related to this game, such as expansions.

Anet had a rabidly loyal fanbase that would have stuck by them through just about anything. But with the incredibly short sighted decision to start abandoning their principals this early in the game’s life, Anet has lost a massive amount of “street cred”. Everything the company says from this point on will be met with higher scrutiny and skepticism. Plus, all it will take is one more terrible change, such as adding sPvP gear with stats or recreating the trinity, and their credibility will be destroyed.

Edit: A bunch of people had a much better suggestion to give Ascended items the same stats as exotics, basically only having the infusion slot as the extra perk/dungeon necessity. While it accomplishes the same thing (not making current gear obsolete in the rest of the game), this implementation makes more sense by introducing an “optional” niche grind that only affects dungeons.

The only way for Anet to save face now is to offer free optional upgrades for soulbound exotic gear acquired prior to the patch up to ascended quality.

Many players have had their exotic items for between 2-6 weeks. If you took your time leveling multiple characters and enjoying the early game, it’s likely that you haven’t had a full exotic set for more than a month at this point. It was made clear from the beginning that exotic was the highest quality of gear (stat wise), and once you had a full set you wouldn’t NEED to get anything else. This “endgame” designation for exotic items caused the price to be greatly inflated, both on the trading post and on karma NPCs. Each item costs between 2-6 gold (depending on when it was purchased), and 42K karma for armor. If you have multiple sets of gear, such as solo, dungeon, and WvW sets, AND multiple characters, the overall cost becomes quite high.

Now with ascended items being the new exotics, exotics are basically the new masterwork, making them relatively worthless compared to their previous value. Considering how new the game is and the short amount of time people have had their “best in slot” gear, adding any upgrades at this point without some type of free upgrade or refund is completely unacceptable. Even if it’s just rings, everyone who purchased them on the TP wasted a considerable amount of gold.

For example, I have 2 80s with full exotics and multiple sets. My main has solo PvE, dungeon, and WvW sets of gear, and my alt has a dungeon and WvW set of gear. Together that’s 10 exotic rings. At an average cost of 2.5g, that means I wasted 25 gold in rings alone. That is not an insignificant amount of gold, and if you think it is, put your money where your mouth is and send me some. Had I known that Ascended items were coming and exotics would start becoming obsolete within a couple months, I would have made some very different choices.

MMOs live or die by the confidence players have in the game. Confidence that their character will still be there the next time they log in. Confidence that their achievements, currency, and items won’t randomly change or disappear one day for no reason. Confidence that the knowledge they have acquired won’t suddenly become obsolete with no warning or reason. Do you think World of Warcraft would have become anywhere near as popular if the Tier 1 and 2 raid sets were suddenly replaced by tier 2.5 two months into the game? I think not, and that’s exactly what Anet has done, except to EVERYONE.

Of course not everyone has lost faith in Anet over this choice to introduce a new quality of gear so early in the game, but many have. The 85k view 8k post thread on the general forum proves that this is a controversial issue with many people on both sides. I for one will completely lose confidence in the longevity of GW2 over this if something isn’t done to restore it.

bamono.7098:

Cool. So this is mostly fear based on speculation that the gear people worked for will quickly become obsolete. Understandable. They haven’t really said that though…so I don’t need to worry about this becoming wow. I hate that game. I hate most MMOs. lol. So I was worried with the sky is falling-ness of all this. I shall carry on. ;D

The thing is, it’s not just speculation now. The sky may not be falling yet, but the possibility that it could fall has just become very real. Until today, Anet had never given us any reason to think otherwise. The game has just barely gone live and they’re already backpedaling on their own manifesto. (Something they made a pretty big deal about)

Parthis.2091:

Once Ascended gear (Armor, weapons, the works) is out there for all to get (and I think Anet deserves some credit for releasing this stuff slowly, over a period of time), it doesn’t matter. This is a framework they’re putting down. It says that some challenges will require infusions to prepare you for the content; NOT new gear. This is software, everything is malleable; all it takes is the ability to hot-swap infusions and you won’t be grinding gear, you’ll just acquire new forms of protection against the challenges you face.

If they do this right, it’s a good thing. I get the negativity, but personally (and I feel like the only one?) I think this is a positive change. It’s too early to call it the death of GW, as so many seem to be. It’s a feature, and carefully implemented, it’ll work well.

I agree that this is probably a good game design that would give people more incentive to play longer…if it were the only MMO on the market. The problem is, it’s not. World of Warcraft is the 800 pound gorilla, and the only reason Guild Wars 2 gained so much popularity, relative to the other non-WoW MMOs in recent years, is because Anet promised things would be different. Ascended items are a major step toward becoming a WoW clone.

Now it’s Ascended, next it will be superior ascended, followed by perfect, replaced by even MORE perfect…etc.

The ONLY reason I finally quit WoW and switched to this game was because they promised there would be no treadmill. You were supposed to level up, get your top level gear, then be able to do anything you wanted. NOT be forced to grind new gear every new dungeon, something that is heavily suggested in their recent article, and highlighted in the quotes I posted.

If I have to choose between playing a WoW clone, even one as pretty as GW2, and playing WoW, I’m going to play WoW.

bamono.7098:

Ok, not trying to have a fight about whether they should or not, I just don’t get why people are raging. It sounds like they’re keeping the top tier items top tier according to her own post. Why does everyone keep saying it won’t be?

The screen shot in the article shows that Ascended gear will have slightly better stats than exotics with gems already built in, plus a new slot for infusions. This obviously makes current exotics they will replace completely obsolete.

So lets say you just spent 4g, 60k karma, 300 dungeon tokens or whatever on supposedly the “best amulet you can get”. When this new patch comes out, that item is now worthless and must be replaced with an Ascended item in order to complete the current dungeon.

This goes against everything Anet has been saying for the last few years about GW2.

bamono.7098:

Ok cool. I was afraid there was some glaring problem I couldn’t see.

The reason for the rage is many of us left World of Warcraft because we were tired of the gear treadmill. Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be a revolutionary next gen MMO that didn’t have said treadmill. Now, not even 3 months into the game, Anet has created a gear treadmill.

Having to work for gear to improve your character is called grinding or progression. That’s fine, and is expected in any MMO. Having to replace your “end game” gear with new “end game” gear when a new major content patch comes out is NOT progression, it’s a never ending treadmill. Ascended gear is exactly that. Here’s some quotes from Anet:

“New Condition: Agony

In the upcoming Fractals of the Mists dungeon, we’ll introduce a new monster condition called Agony.

This extremely dangerous condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means. Players who wish to delve deep into the Fractals will find that Agony makes progress increasingly difficult, until they reach the point where some defense against this condition is a must. The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge."

“The Future of Items Progression

This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content."

This is why we’re pissed.

The thing that bothers me the most about Agony is that it’s not a new idea. Not only have other MMOs used something similar, but they also failed and were scrapped YEARS ago. For example, World of Warcraft used to have resistance gear back in Burning Crusade, but abandoned it ever since because it wasn’t fun or challenging. Lord of the Rings also had radiance, a mechanic similar to Agony, which was later removed since everyone hated it.

If GW2 is supposed to be THE next gen MMO, and being better by being different, how does it make any sense to essentially copy failed mechanics from other MMOs that were deemed failures and removed years ago?

Gab Superstar.4059:

I think it’s a good thing because anyone who starts playing 3 months from now will have a ton of infused gear to allow him or her into all the groups that form for Fractals of the Mists.

Basically what Arena Net is doing is opening up all the content to every player, new or old!

Until they release the next set of dungeons with “corruption” or “Agony Rank: 2”, requiring you to get new gear to mitigate it.

Jrunyon.3012:

aaron.7850:

“The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative.”

“Item progression”, not “stat progression”. Did you want them to not add ANY new content at all?

The new items have better stats, so ya, it probably is. Agony and better items to mitigate it are not content. They’re gating mechanisms to create fake progression.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Arguments about gear treadmills and how GW2 wasn’t supposed to have one aside, I don’t like Agony. I don’t like how it works (from the article), I don’t like needing to mitigate it with new gear, and I don’t like the idea of grinding a dungeon for gear so I can do…the dungeon. In my opinion this is a mechanic best left in the past where it belongs, like resistance gear 5 years ago in World of Warcraft.

It’s not interesting, it doesn’t add anything to the gameplay, and it’s certainly not fun. The only reason for its existence is to encourage people to play more to upgrade their current gear.

What do you dungeon crawlers think of Agony, both the idea and implementation?

“As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.”

Unless Anet completely abandons the idea of adding a new tier of gear to the game at this time, and acknowledges that they made a mistake, this patch will be remembered as the first nail in the coffin for Guild Wars 2. This game was advertised as having no gear treadmill, and the above quote describes exactly that. I quit WoW BECAUSE of the gear treadmill, and specifically chose GW2 since it wouldn’t have one. Now, not even 3 months into the game and a gear treadmill is being added.

You can keep my money, but you definitely won’t be getting any more of it.

NO

If these items go live, and require any kind of grind to obtain them, this patch will be remembered as the first nail in the coffin for GW2. The game will become nothing more than another WoW clone like Rift.

nofo.8469:

Jrunyon.3012:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Jrunyon.3012:

Nope, youre killing this game for yourself. I guess you dont realize that the new gear, as far as I’ve read, will only impact your progression IN THE ACTUAL DUNGEON.

Please quote the sentence where they state those new stats will be dungeon-specific and that you can’t use the items in, let’s say, WvW.

I can’t seem to find it.

Aside from the +5 precision or whatever, youre not getting any benefits from using an ascended piece with an infusion, in fact it nerfs you since you cant apply runes to these ascended pieces.

The stats are better even if you factor in gems from the screenshots provided.

The 3% MF could potentially be any other stat.

Judging from the sounds of infusion they will also offer some form of stat benefit. They talked about offensive, omni and defensive infusions or something.

They wouldn’t create a new set of gear just for 5 precision, they have goals in mind for the ascended set and that is not good news for anyone that dislikes gear treadmills.

^This guy gets it

GW2 was not supposed to be a gear treadmill, and this IS a gear treadmill.

Nabbis.5784:

Its not even close on the same level of gear progression as other MMOs. I dont see the big deal with this, they are probably introducing only 1-2 items every 2-3 months with slighly(And i do put emphasis on slightly) better stats.

What the hell is the problem here? You are making a big issue of a small thing.

A major backpedal on their ideals concerning an obvious slippery slope is hardly a small thing.

Phy.2913:

Even if they went full gear treadmill the game wouldn’t die, the playerbase would just have a shift in ideals.

It most certainly would because they would be directly competing with World of Warcraft. All the ex WoW players in the game that left for that very reason would go back to WoW. I know I would.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

I can’t believe it. The years of anticipation, building a new gaming PC, weeks and months of theorycrafting professions, wasted gems on account stuff like character slots, hundreds of hours of emotional investment in the game…all for nothing. With one bad decision Anet has managed to undo all the hard work put into creating what could have been an amazing MMO for years to come.

Exotics were supposed to be THE end game gear that would last until the next expansion or major game overhaul, not an upgrade that lasts barely 2 months before being replaced. Even legendaries have the same stats as exotics, proof that they were designed to be long term best in slot items.

Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be about fun. Seeing content, having epic experiences, and improving your character aesthetically were the rewards, not grinding for upgrades. Gear was not supposed to be the motivating factor for playing, hence the multiple paths for obtaining the same thing (crafting, trading post, karma, dungeons, etc) But now we’re supposed to throw away our “best in slot items” for even better “best in slot items”, not even 3 months after the game was launched…Even World of Warcraft doesn’t pimp its gear treadmill that fast…

This quote worries me more than anything else:

“As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.”

Shame on you Anet.

Backstab, and thieves in general, are not OP in any way. Only the worst players are the ones posting on the forums about getting instantly killed before they even knew what happened, or thieves being in “perma stealth”.

Good players aren’t having problems any more after the assassin’s signet nerf, which was a bit much 1 on 1. Now, unless you’re not specced/geared properly, not paying attention, and need to practice your profession, you shouldn’t be getting killed instantly.

I’m seeing more and more people in sPvP that have learned how to deal with thieves, and not just bunker specced players. It’s actually pretty rare for me to cnd > steal > bs unsuspecting players and have them go down in under 2 seconds like they used to. Now people are dodging better, have defensive abilities ready to go, and are learning how to cc/kite me. If someone is bunker spec, and they know what they’re doing, they win, period. Guardians, engineers, mesmers, necromancers, and even elementalists can beat thieves with ease now. If you’re not laughing at 3/4 of the thieves that attack you in sPvP, you need to l2p. (Yes, I also play a guardian and elementalist)

Anet, don’t listen to all the QQ on the forum. We’re talking hundreds of individual complaints out of MILLIONS of players. Only the worst players are the ones complaining on the forums, and they should not be catered to.

Backstab is and isn’t OP, depending greatly on the situation and opponent. I think nerfing the damage and buffing stealth is the best option for satisfying everyone:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Nerf-Backstab-Buff-Stealth-Best-Fix-for-Thieves/first#post658979

Shadow refuge is the longest stealth if they stand in it for the full duration. It’s probably bugged since it stacks in duration the longer you’re in the circle and can stealth you for something like 9-10 seconds. If you attack or leave the circle before the 4 second ability ends, then you are unstealthed and cannot stealth again for another 3 seconds.

Shadow refuge is very easy to spot. It’s a huge haunted house looking icon. Otherwise regular stealth is 3 seconds, and 4 seconds if they are specced into shadow arts (a non-dps line).

The only exception is if the thief is really good at timing cloak and dagger. If you precast cloak and dagger before the stealth expires, you can hit a target every 3-4 seconds and basically remain in stealth until your initiative runs out (maybe 5 hits, so 15-20 seconds). However, the damage is very low and if you hit too early you’re stuck out of stealth. It’s more for messing with people, not actually killing anyone.

OP you are an idiot. Dagger storm is an awful ability against anyone that doesn’t suck at PvP. It does very little damage unless you’re full glass cannon, in which case it becomes a huge liability. Since you can’t dodge or do anything while channeling it, you’re an easy instant kill for melee. Any melee dps that sees you dagger storming will literally kill you in under 2 seconds. A whole group in WvW with a combined IQ over 80 will down you instantly.

If it caused you to evade like the warrior steal then it would be extremely OP. But it does nothing against melee, aoe, and conditions, and basically lets everyone know you’re a free kill. Plus, even if you’re ranged all you have to do is dodge roll back (or walk away) and laugh.

Oh, and it’s a 90 second cooldown. That’s hardly spammable moron.

Wow, thank you so much for all the info everyone. Gonna print this out and give it a try!

Griffon.4716:

Everything you listed screams elementalist, and yet you don’t want to play one.

Heh, very true, but I just don’t like the whole attunement swapping thing and all the ground targeted abilities. Really not a fan of their downed abilities either.

Schwahrheit.4203:

Necro probably cause if your protection is gone, Necros have top priority in Bunkering. Warrior as a Bunker? Debate-able. Most of the time Roamer Warrior is where you put a lot to the table so whats the point of Bunker Warrior?

Of course most of the people in this thread who hasn’t pulled off a legit Bunker Necro, because they are either bad players who can’t really pull off anything or just like to talk base on FOTM, will say Necro isn’t viable. But in reality Necros are viable. And it isn’t hard to build and play them to viablility either, just that 90% of GW2 PvP’s population is bad. Much like most of the people in this thread.

Necro was honestly my first choice since they look like fun to play. The only thing that really bothers me is the life force mechanic. It seems like death shroud could be incredibly powerful and useful with full life force, but without it (after just spawning for example) I’d be a sitting duck. I like being able to just spawn and be at full power, so I’m not sure how well a bunker necro does in tPvP with minimal life force built up.

Thanks for all the suggestions and information.

Sorry, I’m sure this gets asked like 100 times a day but I did some searches and couldn’t find exactly what I’m looking for. I don’t need an in depth explanation or exact trait spec, just the lines, stats, and weapons, or even a link to a thread explaining it.

I’m looking for the build that lets you laugh at glass cannons, makes you basically unkillable against 1 or 2 people, and does decent damage. With practice of course, I want to go into sPvP and be “the unkillable jerk” that makes people ragequit and complain on the forums about nerfing bunkers :P

Thanks for the info!

Ezekeel.2837:

Out of Plague form the survivability depends mainly on Death Shroud which needs life force and you start with zero and life force generation as a bunker is kinda tricky (also due to bugs).

Ah, that makes sense. I definitely wouldn’t enjoy that mechanic then.

I thought warriors were pretty tough since they have high hp, heavy armor, and various stuns, and necros have death shroud, condition removal, and multiple heals. Apparently the answer is a lot more simple than I thought :P

I’ll give guardians a try. Thank you for the suggestions.

There can’t be “to many op builds”. Overpowered means that something is excessively powerful compared to the normal level of power for everyone else. Half or more of the available professions can’t be OP.

Also, not every profession is supposed to be good at everything. Guardians will always be better at defensive and support roles than a thief, and warriors will always be better at melee than a necromancer. If rangers could be just as good at playing a defensive support role as a guardian, what would be the point of playing a guardian? If you don’t like how elementalists play, don’t play an elementalist.

Aegis is a 1 boon counter to the high burst backstab combo. Guardians basically can’t be “instakilled” by glass cannon thieves using basilisk venom. If a guardian puts it on the whole group when engaging multiple thieves, it’s a guaranteed victory if everyone isn’t terrible. Granted you said beside backstab, but it’s technically negating mug and basilisk venom, and sometimes cloak and dagger.

It’s also very good against any attack that does something extra only if it hits. Any ability with a stun, condition, or boon attached to it for example. Especially if the blocked ability has a long cooldown.

Before anyone mentions it, I’m aware of how strong engineers and elementalists can be when specced and geared for the job. I just don’t like their play style.

I’m trying to figure out which profession would be the best for the following, in order of importance:

-Practically unkillable if specced, geared, and played correctly
-Strong against glass cannons
-Viable against every profession’s abilities (direct damage, conditions, melee, ranged, minions, etc)
-Can still kill other players 1 on 1 (even if it takes a while)
-Does not rely heavily on long cooldowns, unreliable gimmicks, and multiple conditions to be met (ie having X amount of energy built up, a certain cooldown up, and the target not having a stun break)
-Has good team utility
-Does well in large battles
-Has viable ranged options
-Relies more on passive damage reduction than active (uses abilities and boons to survive more than dodging or positioning)
-Is desirable in dungeon groups
-Can solo PvE without taking 10 minutes to kill a single veteran mob.

Things I’m not concerned about:

-Bugs, even if they affect an important ability at the moment
-Difficult play style requiring practice
-Has 1 or 2 hard counters (ie for w/e reason staff elementalists and shortbow rangers are especially good against the spec, but does well against everything else)

Also I’m not looking for hand holding, really specific info like exact trait builds or team comps, or which is technically the strongest bunker right now. I just want to know which I would like best based on the criteria I’m looking for so I can start from there. Thanks for any suggestions!

This is extremely important to the success of the game, especially for PvP. WoW, for example, has pretty static balance from season to season. If a certain class or spec is powerful or very effective in Arena, you can expect it to remain powerful for at least the duration of the season, if not most of the expansion. Blizzard operates very slowly with their patching process, and generally gives very long winded and detailed explanations of their plans for future balancing and how classes are supposed to work.

Arenanet, however, has done the exact opposite. Patches balancing professions have been released quickly and with no warning or explanation. One day you’re learning how to play a certain spec then BAM, that playstyle is no longer viable. No warning, no explanation.

This is an awful way to balance a game. Sure some professions may seem or even be unbalanced, but players need to know how the devs feel about them as well. If 100 blades warriors, for example, are not supposed to be as effective in PvP because the devs never intended it as a burst ability, people need to know that before they invest time in the profession. If someone spends a week perfecting a 100 blades setup, learning how to play it, then practicing with their team, only to have it suddenly made useless one day with no warning, that player is going to be very upset.

Right now I feel uneasy about investing any amount of time perfecting my PvP playstyle with any profession because I’m worried it will all be a waste of time. As a hardcore PvPer, I prefer to find the best possible class to maximize my chance of winning. Call it “flavor of the month” if you want, but that just seems like the most logical choice if you’re into PvP. However, it seems like Anet doesn’t want there to be a “best” choice. This is problematic because there WILL always be a best choice, no matter how hard they try to eliminate one. This leaves me with a dilema: Do I purposely pick something that’s second best that probably won’t get nerfed, or do I pick the most powerful option that lets me have the most fun?

With no communication from the devs, it’s hard to make an informed decision about what profession to stick with and master.

People will cry about thieves until they stop getting killed by them. Well guess what. If a thief can’t kill you, then that means thieves will be the undisputed weakest profession in the game. Why? Because good players are already able to deal with thieves. Pro players using any profession with the correct traits and gear can counter the supposedly OP glass cannon thieves. Their burst gimmick is a one trick pony that skilled PvPers have learned to anticipate and negate. Once countered, glass cannon backstab thieves shatter just as the name suggests. With 14K hp, no defensive stats whatsoever, and their best burst on cooldown, good players make quick work of them.

In team battles of 2 or more where people are actually supporting each other and dropping AoEs, backstab thieves quickly lose their utility and are forced to sit out with a bow for most of the fight. (Anyone who complains about thief shortbow is so blinded by thief hate that they’re not worth listening to)

Hopefully Anet does the smart thing and nerfs Assassin’s signet so the “OMG I got crit for 14K at under 50% HP” QQ will go away. It’s mostly overkill at that point anyway. If they nerf backstab then thieves in every part of the game will be pretty useless. DPS is their thing. It’s what makes them worth having in your group or on your team. Take that away and what do they have? Basically just shadow refuge.

I’m surprised more people haven’t posted about this. I confirmed it with multiple professions on my account, and my friend said he sees the same bug. Granted it doesn’t affect the actual gameplay since you can fix it, but it’s still a serious bug.

I think the waypoint cost is about right, but Anet needs to increase the amount of silver rewarded for completing DEs. 1 DE should be enough to pay for 1 Waypoint. Basically, you should be able to take a waypoint to participate in an event, have the port cost covered by the event, then whatever you loot is profit.

I got lucky and found a few expensive runes and sigils, some dark and shiny dyes that sold for a lot, and a couple good exotics that netted me about 50g, but I even cringe a bit every time I have to waste 3s. I’m not cheap enough to go to the mists/lion’s arch, but I still don’t like the idea of losing gold to do a DE.

Out of every bug in the game, this is by far the most annoying and disruptive. My head practically exploded last night when I was fighting 2 mobs underwater, got them both to 50%, then one went invulnerable and started swimming away. I chased it for a sec and lost some HP before turning around and attacking the other one. Then the second one went invulnerable and started swimming away as the previous mob returned and began attacking at full HP. Then the second one came back and loaded me up with bleeds again.

After dying I cursed the developer that designed this flawed evade system and went somewhere else.

I’m not sure if this is a bug or intended, but when you hit a signet within melee range of a target it forces you to start attacking. This is especially problematic for certain signets that have a “on next attack” kind of function since it can easily get wasted on a wrong target or used with the wrong ability.

Please fix it so activating a signet does not force you to start attacking.

I’m sure this has probably been mentioned at some point, but I couldn’t find it on the forums, so just in case…

My traits are always fine in PvE and WvW. But whenever I enter the mists my selectable traits (10, 20, 30), are either moved or empty. Some stay the same, but others are either empty or moved from the 20 to the 10 slot, for example. Once set they stay put in between PvP matches, which is the important thing, but if I leave the mists and log out, they get messed up again next time.

Also to clarify, the trait points don’t get messed up, just the selectable ones.

If you’re still having trouble with HS after the nerf, that’s just sad.

I definitely agree that most people probably aren’t cut out for PvP. If you…:

-don’t spend days and even weeks researching the best playstyles and team comps
-don’t spend several days learning about every other profession’s abilities and playstyles
-don’t spend weeks and months practicing with your teammates
-don’t look at every loss as a learning experience
-get upset when someone kills you
-post on the PvP forums complaining about anything but an exploit or bug

…you aren’t cut out for PvP.

PvP is player versus player, not your character vs a bunch of NPCs. You will lose. If the game and skill levels of your opponents are perfectly balanced, you will lose HALF the time. If you aren’t winning most of your games and fights, it’s because you probably aren’t as good as you think you are.

PvP is the most cutthroat and hardcore type of online gaming, and most people probably aren’t cut out for it.

The downed state is what will keep GW2’s PvP from ever becoming greatly unbalanced. People cry about how OP thieves are, but 2 equally skilled players of any class will be able to defeat a single thief. Even the best bunker guardian can be taken down by 2 competent players, and that’s how it should be.

If you greatly outplay your opponents, you can win a 2 or even 3 vs 1. But if your opponents have even a little skill, it’s not gonna happen. If you lost a 2 vs 1, it means you weren’t so much better than them that you deserved the kill.

Thieves are fine. The only reason they seem OP is because of Assassin’s Signet and Haste. Nerf those 2 abilities and the “OMG I got hit for a billion damage” qq will go away.

If they nerf thieves enough that the scrubs who are getting destroyed will be able to kill them, then thieves will be absolutely worthless in PvP against good players.

Thieves have one thing going for them. Take away the burst damage and they will have no use in any aspect of PvP over any other profession. A glass cannon thief gets destroyed in group fights, can’t defend points against multiple attackers, has few support options, and can’t even beat equally skilled bunker players 1 on 1. They’ll be crappy warriors that can stealth every 5 seconds with less HP, less armor, and no way of winning drawn out fights.

Being able to win a 1v1 every 45 seconds against some scrub running around the map by himself is hardly OP.

While somewhat headache inducing with the constant zooming in and out due to obstacles, the camera is much better now. The slight acceleration is still annoying, but it’s so much better than before. Now do the same thing to combat. Give us an option to disable or greatly reduce ability queuing, allow us to interrupt abilities with other abilities, and sacrifice animation smoothness for PvP performance.

Don’t do it for everyone though, just add an option in the game controls. Have a slider for ability queue time 0-2 sec or w/e, add a check box for ability interrupts, and in general just get rid of the whole having to finish your animation before you can do something else thing.

These changes would massively improve PvP and make the game much more enjoyable to play.

It is by far the best $60 I have ever spent.