Guild Wars 2

Mate, i would suggest Sword / Pistol for levelling. You get the cleave from the sword auto, and pistol whip both cleaves and does decent damage.

In a tight spot you can use ur #5 black powder and just stand in that smoke field and melee ur target down while they are perma blind.

Its probably the easiest and laziest way to level a thief if you’re doing it the traditional way and not simply crafting up.

Some very interesting points here Dusk.

Amidst the excitement of promised changes for the 25th, I completely failed to
consider how such changes would assist the PvE Necro.

Truth be told, most of what i’ve read so far seems very much targeted towards PvP in general, as you are no doubt implying.

I’m hoping that we haven’t seen the full story yet, and that PvE love is coming. Personally I don’t really care if I do only half the DPS of a warrior in dungeons, the reason being that we aren’t competing with our group members.

Sure, the group could bring yet another Warrior instead of my Necro, if pure DPS is all that matters, and in alot of cases it is. However, i’ve also saved the group from wipes many times, gotten off some clutch wells of power, or just generally positively contributed in other ways outside of raw dps.

That being said I do wish we were more competitive, and in fact I wish the same for any class outside the current “tier 1 trinity” that is war mes guard.

In any case, well said Dusk, but lets just wait till the 25th before we start fretting.

JonathanSharp.7094:

felivear.1536:

Pray.9751:

In my humble opinion the best quick-fix for the whole problem would be to introduce single/duo queue free tournaments (or just single games) with a strong matchmaking mechanic.

Best regards Pray

Great post and this part is a great idea. Simple, quick solution while they iron out a good ladder system. This way, queues will still be somewhat quick since many many people queue solo or with 1 other friend, and you won’t have to get throat punched in Khylo anymore!

You can already do this.

Cheers.

Not to be argumentative Mr Sharp.

However, if you are going to take the time to post in a thread, please, at least also take the time to properly comprehend the meaning of the quoted text.

As others have said, he is describing a system where you will only be matched with people who are also only solo or duo queuing. The current system in the game will often match people who solo queue into paid tourneys against full premades.

What has been said in this thread is accurate. I was unbelievably excited for the PvP aspect of this game, having a great love of competitive gaming. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this, but this game is currently not e-sports friendly, nor does it have the basic features required for it to get to this point yet.

I didn’t even make it to rank 20 before I became so utterly bored with the sPVP aspect, to the point where PvE and WvW are actually more fun for me, a person who normally buys games only on their pvp value.

I think this game has a ton of potential, and I have no doubt that alot of content is in the works, but frankly MMO players aren’t known for their leniency when it comes to delays in content. Will you eventually have great pvp and e-sports features? Perhaps. Will any of us have any friends / team mates left playing before that happens? At this stage, that doesn’t seem likely.

I truly hope i’m wrong, for I love this game.

@Guanglai Kangyi.

I stopped reading when you said “guardians aren’t really a support class in the first place”

Would you care to re-read that? Are you still sure that you know how to play this class? Guardians have one of the strongest support capabilities out of any of the available classes.

Vendetta,

I have an important question for you, concerning milkshakes. Chocolate or Strawberry?

I look forward to your response sir.

DiogoSilva.7089:

One of the top tier professions gets nerfed, and its fans come complaining about how “they don’t understand how such a thing could ever happen!”

Honestly, I could see a nerf coming to SY! :/

Interesting. Could you please link me the source on this Tier List? I assume ANET created ? Surely it’s not just based off your own armchair theorycrafting and speculation? Oh… it IS? What a shocker.

A: You sure will

I guess that’s another skill we cross off our hotbars really.

I’m happy to adapt to buffs and nerfs, and you expect these things to happen over time, its inevitable with any MMO.

However, (addressing ANET) what I DO not expect is that no explanation is given as to why a nerf was made. I think people would be alot more calm and reasonable about said nerfs if the patch notes actually explained this. I.e Perhaps ANET have been looking at their data regarding diff pvp specs and win / loss ratio and have noticed that Guardians with this ability have an unusually high success rate in pvp, i’m not sure, as it is just an example.

I think all we need is just a we did this BECAUSE and people will accept it, all be it perhaps grudgingly, but certainly much easier to swallow.

Andele,

I would be happy to see DS become a proper stun break with control immediately restored to the player (back on feet, etc). I think that permanent stability might be a bit over the top, but I could accept maybe a 5 sec stability upon entering DS. This would give you enough time to use your key abilities, without being able to just soak up CC endlessly.

I think our pets need alot of love in the AI department, and i truly believe they either need an “attack my target” command, even if it has to be tied to a specific weapon or spec’d for. I.e perhaps a trait that states “All minions will now focus attacks on a target after being hit by any of the necromancers weapon skills”. Etc Obviously that needs work, but you get the point.

I’d love to just see more viability from different specs, rather that just buffing a specific number of key abilities for the conditionmancer.

Andele,

I’m ok with one of those options being actioned, however combined it would (imo) be verging on OP.

As bugged as Necro is right now, it’s not really underpowered. People who have put in the time and effort to really learn the class and find the right build can honestly handle any other class / combination out there.

My concern is that if we start recieving buffs such as the ones you suggest, on top of the bug fixes, we might end up on the other side of the spectrum as being too op / flavour of the month and will once again be targeted for rebalancing as the cycle repeats itself.

Necro (imo) is in a good spot as far as potential right now, we just need the bug fixes and really minor tweaks and quality of life improvements to make more builds viable without making any 1 specific build op

My question is, why don’t you have your enemy targeted in the first place? Also, if you find this difficult to manage, just enter DS…

I mean, add to this that Necro has 3 possible stun breaking options in addition to entering death shroud when stunned. The class does NOT want for cc removal options.

Andele.

I’m not stating that signets don’t turn you towards the target, however I don’t believe you should recieve the effects of the signet or any ability unless it would otherwise deliver its effect (i.e you hit the target).

This signet (ideally) xfers conditions from allies, so is a powerful support tool, transfers to them to enemies on activation (very strong when used appropriately) and also has a built in stun removal for good measure. I do NOT think that it becomes underpowered to expect the necro to be at least facing his opponent. If you are running away from your target with your back to them, you have more problems than your signet not activating.

plasmacutter.2709:

Requiring an ability have a “selected target” in this game is, by the mechanics of this game “breaking” that ability.

Want to make it forward only? fair enough —- make about-face command work while moving, or jumping. (e.g. make about-face work PERIOD)

But ANet has zero credibility with me when they say certain abilities are “less equal then others” and require a selected target.

I fail to see how requiring an ability to have a target “breaks” it. That is possibly one of the most nonsensical things i’ve seen on these forums.

Exceptionally few, if any single target abilities in this game allow you to land a spell without line of sight. In fact, contrary to what you say above, the “mechanics” of this game, which are centered around being able to avoid and dodge all attacks with proper timing would be infringed upon by having abilities like this firing off while running away from your target.

You think Necros are the only ones to have their abilities “fixed” in this way? I remember the Mesmers crying when their number 3 (from memory) on GS got nerfed to be targetable instead of it auto hitting a target without needing LoS.

To anyone even remotely switched on, this was clearly a bug. Having a target selected and / or having to be facing said target to activate the signet makes PERFECT sense.

Are there issues with the ability? Yes, but they are only around the condition transfer, NOT the activation.

@BobF.

Wow. What a spiraling rant. Allow me to share one of my own.
Please stop assuming you speak for anyone of any demographic. You post your opinions and nothing more. Citing random examples of games that succeed or fail based on their business model proves utterly nothing.

I find it hilarious that in one sentence you talk about innovation being important, and then in the next you talk about how succesful a series like CoD is, a series notorious for its same old, same old reiterations.

As far as the need for progression goes, sure, some people feel the need to be reaffirmed by a number, some honour, a rank, +25 elo etc. These systems are designed to keep the people playing who AREN’T playing for fun, or just for the feeling of competition. Some people just need to be told “Yes Bobby, you’re a good kid, you did very well, you didn’t win, but hey here’s a gold star anyway!” Not everyone needs this reaffirmation to remain dedicated to bettering themselves AND HAVING FUN.

But for the sake of argument, you mention League of Legends. Well, as someone who played since beta, you realise that for a LONG TIME there was no Ranked, no ratings other than a hidden elo, not even draft mode. Yet this game had millions upon millions of people playing it just for the sake of the game. Were they getting anything out of it? No, they were actually dumping money IN to it for cosmetic upgrades and to unlock characters just so they could play it MORE. And this game has gone on to be ridiculously successful, even tho a good portion of its life did not have the “incentives” that you mention.

“You guys who just play for playing’s sake do not sustain businesses. Not for a couple decades now. Sorry.”

I’m sorry too, read above and bear witness to the destruction of this argument and understand that in LoL, one of the most successful games of all time, people actually SUSTAIN THE BUSINESS just so they can play with more variety (more champs and cosmetic upgrades) not just so they can stroke their peen.

Ratings are coming, much like in lol, they will be brought in when they are ready. You seem to forget that LoL didn’t start out at the point that it is, over time it grew into the celebrated eSport it now is, much like Guild Wars 2 has the potential to do. People are just impatient and come here to whine and doomsay, as if their tiny voices were the majority.

GaileGray.9587:

It’s not what you’re using, it’s how you use it. Both the mouse and keyboard are fine, but as Rolo said, using them for AFK farming is disallowed.

Hey Gaile.

First, thanks heaps for your updates on this topic.

Unfortunately, regardless of the wording your legal department comes up with, you are not going to be able to cover all possible angles. If you say “under no circumstances do we authorize third party applications blah blah” you are effectively saying "sorry to those of you who have expensive hardware (mice / kb’s) but we wont tolerate you using the third party utilities that come with these devices to create macros or do anything other than what is possible with a stock standard device.

The flip side is if you say, “well, third party apps such as those that come bundled with hardware are ok” then you are essentially opening the flood gates. Not only that, but who’s to judge that me creating a macro that could use 3 instant cast abilities with 1 click, gives me more of an advantage than someone who has a script that allows him to move the camera / direction of the character without holding down the right click button? (aka the combat mod or whatever its called).

The only real solution to these issues is to offer commonly requested features as an option in the game ui. Options hurt no one, as they can be enable or disabled as the user prefers.

I am certainly of the opinion that when it comes to game balance, the community itself should take a back seat to the knowledge and experience of the developers and have very little input. When it comes to UI / functionality however, I truly don’t care about the opinions of the devs / programmers / ppl who designed the UI, the players have to play the game, and so whatever they require to make this easier / more fun / more accessible should be of paramount importance.

Ultimately, the more options people have to tweak their controls / the way they play, the more likely they are to remain playing the game and spending money on it.

Thankyou for any consideration that you give this post.