Guild Wars 2

Hehhe yea, I played on and off GW2 for some time and I landed on a necro after trying out the classes. It felt really nice that I have an “oh kitten…” button (the shroud form). I dont consider that to be a stance-dance. Ele is a LOT more heavy on that department :’)
Btw, used dagger/focus +staff I think…? It was at the early part of GW2 ^^

I do know that melee is more of the bigger deal in this game, but I really like to use bows and whatnot thats why I was considering the possibilities of a more ranged type proffession I usually either play a support (healer, but here its more like a defbuffer/buffer) or sneaky guy ^^ Thats why I added ranger and thief (and perhaps guardian with bow…?) to the possibility list.
I will most likely play solo since I left for a long time. So there is also that too. And yea, I plan to play PvE more. PvP is … a bit hecktic here :’D

With these in mind, thats why I was pondering other possibilities then necro. Problem is, I dont have too much time to play, so multiple chars are out of question ^^; I can dedicate to 1 character fully though Thats why I was looking around for some answers ^^
Necro is nice, I like the class so I might end up with it again, but I’m tempted to try out different classes this time.
Ranger is interesting (bow user), the only thing putting me off is the pet (the AI is still stupid, isn’t it?)… at least with necro you can chose to use one or not :P Thats why I was considering Guardian who also has a bow with the new spec, but without the pet hassle.
Last would be Thief, my only worry is that I dont have the fastest reflexes in the world :‘) but could work, who knows… ? ^^ I like to play sneaky classes as well mainly interested in pistols/shortbow though I wasn’t the fan of spamming DB…

Hey guys

Played GW2 for some time now, took a break and coming back a lot of things have changed, so I figured I’ll start from scratch (+ I like exploring anyways).
This time around, I was thinking on making a character that excels in some form of support (mostly offensive, like CC, debuffs, etc.) and preferably good at range.
Mainly I’m looking for PvE + PvP thrown into the mix. I’m a solo player at the moment (friends no longer play this game). So with that in mind, which proffession would you recommend to (re)start now? I narrowed my choice to a few classes:

Necromancer, Ranger and perhaps Thief?
Was thinking on Engi too, but the kits are really putting me off. Flamethrower was fun though ^^ Ele… stance-dance is not my cup of tea, sry guys, I know the class is strong Warrior is just too simple, got bored really fast. Mesmer, same deal as with Ele, although I like the concept but the execution is… confusing xD Guardian is also plausable with the new Dragon Hunter, but not sure how much dmg he can dish out with bow…?

Will need to think on a race as well too after I got the class :P
Any imput would be more then welcome ^^ I need some information about how they work, since I missed out a lot of time and not sure how they changed.
Much appreciated

Actually I feel the same that they totally missed the opportunity with switching the vuln. on Body Shot to Torment… It would actually make 100% sense to switch out that poor excuise of skill to something useful… not that we could spam it non-stop, but it could give pistol a needed edge :/
Ah well… hopefully they realise that a 10x stack 3s duration vuln. is not that great… since it will override the condi specced ppl’s duration and we would be ini starved to keep it up constantly -_-

Pretty much CoF stuff if you want Flame Legion stuff ^^
You can mix in the T3 light cultural’s face mask and perhaps the Arah stuff in it =)
I’d advise to look into the PvP locker, as it has all the available armor skins in there ^^ cultural too =)
As for fur colors, there are a few options. Yellow, orange, foofoo and the reddish colors, upt to the choclate + burned toast and black are all making nice variants in fur color
Females have 2x nice fierce face type that goes well with that idea ^^
Males have some options too

just my 2 cents :P

If you look at the charr naming, especially for male, its a srong, but harsh sounding sometimes. If you want to stick to roman/greek names, I suggest go for the stronger sounding ones. Since the titles are already roman empire like, its not too far streched ^^
I’d advise to look though the greek and roman mythology, a lot nice names there that could fit a charr ^^

Personally I named my charr Kilgar, though its not a greek/roman sounding name :P

I’d said bow + rifle because they are already in game, so it would take less effort and time to get it working for the class
But if I could chose, I’d say shuriken, light crossbow, throwing knife, kusarigama, ect ^^

kelman.9451:

LOL yeah and the only profession with perma-stealth, I’ll trade you perma-stealth for 1200 ranged weapon.

Good luck getting pelted with arrows, bullets and spells from 1200-900 in fort sieges ^^ Ah, the AoE ^^
Besides the “perma” stealth… it can be done for a few sec in a row but not permanently. We blow all steal, utility, heal + CnD repeatedly then might be able to do it for about… 16-ish sec (not counting cast times and whatnot) but after that we are free kill, since we have all on CD and no init to do anything ^^ free kill ftw So no, I wont trade the range for “perma” stealth… I’d need to trait heavily into the stealth line to get it working (+ 1s to stealth skills, 2s stealth on steal, really, great perma stealth possibilities xD).
Guess why only dagger-backstab build use stealth… ? XD because its useless outside of it :P dont synergise well with sword or pistol or showtbow main (the dmg is a joke compared to dagger main) and its easy to predict. This is not WoW or Aion where stealth is permanent once cast… 3-4s thats quite short time to get into position… especially on melee. Not to mention you need to spend time outside of stealth before you can go in it again.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Revealed

It cant be permanent by far :P

Cant help it, I’m a ranged archetype person Even though ranged has less kick in it, I still play that over the melee variant ^^;
Plus I have a soft spot for rifles and pistols + bows :P
So, yea… rifle Would LOVE it ^^ Only 2x class can use it anyways :P Why not extend it to thief ? Or longbow Same story ^^ And… for the love of god, I dont even need to go far —→ Thief series… if I recall Garret uses a longbow ?
And its epic ^^

I’m wondering if this is made in prep for thieves getting a long range weapon, like longbow or rifle (these actually would match the sniper-assassin theme quite well)?
That would be interesting ^^

hehhe, no worries I had the same issue, though I done that on my engi alt xD now I wish I’ve got the pistol instead of the shield :/ ah well ^^;

nirvana.8245:

Whats this venom thing?

Venom build is a trait build utilising the poisons we have access to, along with the Basilisk Elite ^^ Interesting build, but right now it just lacks the usefulness and power :/
Venom share is a nice niche party build, but got some issues now (especially the share range with party, its just too small to be useful :/)
Would be really nice if the devs would look into it and work out a working trait line and stuff

randomfightfan.4091:

Nike.2631:

I’m running a super unicorn (D/D signet of malice, caltrops, all settlers armor/weapons apothecary trinkets) and even before the patch it felt like godmode to me in dungeons and had a tempo I could actually manage out in WvW.

This patch was nothing but buffs for me (lower initiative cost on dagger 3 & 4, signet heals significantly increased). I’d say the changes are a lot more tightly targeted at specific builds the Devs believe to be preforming above the bar, because they clearly aren’t going after thieves as a whole when a not-so-long-ago popular build like mine made out that well.

You might never die but you’re really not doing anything for the group. Even with all those bleeds, you’re doing less damage than a pvt warrior and less support than any other class. You’re using all your initiative to dance around the boss, without doing damage, and not helping the team unless the boss somehow has aggro on you and the rest of the team is being dumb and ranging. It’s the same as a guardian going full tank set. They won’t ever die but they don’t bring anything a good guard couldn’t bring but a few worthless heals. If they went zerker they’d bring just as much useful support and actually bring damage. The worst guard I’ve ever had in a dungeon run never died once but he would aggro everything, pull the boss in the dumbest directions, and constantly do stuff to jeopardize the group. Not dying doesn’t = useful.

You know…. this is the problem with the game…
The only “useful” thing to do is to sqeeze out as much dmg as possible. Things like condition, support, tank, semi-healer, evade-tank builds are thrown out of the window. The only acknowledged support class is the mesmer and perhaps staff ele. So much for diversity inside class builds -_-
Doing dmg… a blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could do that while drinking tea… xD Support and tanking, now thats a whole lot different beast (hence why few ppl play that “role” if we can call it like that).
I dont like that we are forced into certain builds to be “viable” :/

Hahaha :’D Seriously, that made my day xD
Thumbsup
God that was a good laugh…
But true… I get annoyed that how clueless some people can get with posting nonsense… just because of 1x build they see x)

lol nice one
Should be made into a class description extension xD

Personally, from my point of view, stealth classes can be done right, this game however needs serious traiting on stealth to be useful at all. The people constantly crying about stealth: go try Aion, WoW, SW:TOR then come back and say stealth is OP xD It lasts only 3s or 4s IF traited… thats barely enough to do anything, let alone be a true sneak class -_- Plus, a lot of thieves nowdays use the evasion line more then the stealth line. Why? Because stealth is really only useful for backstab builds X) Sword and pistol + SB just dont cope well with stealth since the stealth dmg is not that high compared to dagger. Plus, not everybody likes the positional backstab build, especially in PvE.

As for the thread: it is nice to see the list of what happened so far I’ve missed a few when I stopped playin for a few month x)
I still dont get it why people crying about the thief class in general. In PvE they are not welcome in dungeon or fractal runs (not much support + current W/G/M or Ele meta) in WvW we are good skirmishers but absolute crap in big engagements (especially with the range nerf now on bomb). sPvP and tPvP… for some time I can’t see many people talk about bringing a thief.
So… why is the cry? Its a common thing on forum posts nowdays that “bring a warrior/guardian/ele/mes instead of thief any day” :P If we were so effective, I dont think I would see that mentality :P True for both pvp and pve ^^

Also, if you check the charr race intro in game, after you created a character, the same flamethrower guy gets shot to pieces by the Black Citadel troops, so it is quite sure Flame Legion :P

Ooooh
I think I’ll drop something here soon-ish ^^
We might give the desing team a nudge in the right direcion ?

Clipping is one thing, it annoys the hell out of me too…
But I dont know who on earth shaped the armors on charr, since it looks like a lazy work… tail clips, textures just strech out, most of the armor that has a longer skirt-like thing is just awefully steched to the side and the list could go on.
But for the love of god… who on earth designed the helmets on charr oO excluding some of the minor good ones that actually look great (some cultural, light, medium, few heavy) most of them look utterly stupid oO I think I dont need to mention a lot… every light and medium armor user charr has a hard time finding a gear that dont look ridiculus on it. Not to mention masks/hoods or face protector helms (like gladiator or armageddon) that either misses the mask part totally or its shifted to the top of the head (which looks kitten silly oO)
Or, my other fave is the Arah light set’s shoulders X) I cant decide to laugh or cry x) wonder why did they made the oversized chicken wings thing on charr, while it looks quite menacing and cool on other races oO yes even on asura lol x)

/end rant
Actually I dont know why the desing team doing that with charr… I know it would need extra care and modeling on most of the armors to make it look nice on charr… but MMOs for the most part has an important part, thats looks. Some pople care less, some really care a lot. Funny is, on the concept art they look so amazaing…
But in some of the clipping-streching armors… not so much x)

Btw, I’m open to commissions, so feel free to poke me if you have a request
And let me know about what you think about the mesmer I’ve drawn
First time I’ve done a plant-like creature tbh ^^;

Heya ppl

The commissioner wished for a little stuff added to the sword, so here is the edited version ^^

@mathea — thanks a lot glad you like it

@Berkut — hehhe sadly I dont know if I’d have time for request work ^^; I joined in with a modder team and drawing stuff for them so aside commissions I wont really have time x)

Hello guys

Thought I’ll put up the final version of the Sylvari mesmer commission I’ve made for Vorago
Hope you guys like it
The original is a 5760×3240 px size XD

Enjoy

A quick update on the sylvari
Hope you guys like it Still the leg/arm/sword needs working xD

Hello guys, just stopping by to drop the update on how the drawing looks like atm
He has the “Vision of the Mists” greatsword which is slightly transparent It is about 75% done now ^^

Enjoy ^^

just on the first page there are 4-5 artist threads in this part of forum xD
check them out, they have different styles, one might match your idea

I have one on my own too ^^ Here is my DA gallery, if you are interested drop me a note here on the GW2 forums =)
http://tanathiel.deviantart.com/

Have fun

Hm thats a nice drawing there mate you can draw metallic stuff nicely =)
You should check his arm tho, its short in the elbow a bit ^^; (the upper arm should be as long to reach the waist if standing still ^^) You can use highlights on the skin also it will bring out the depth =)
Othervise a really nice drawing ^^ Got to love the rusty-red paintjob on the armor

this is just too cute
wanna cuddle ^^ both :P

Ahoy there =)

Here is a little update on me work ^^ Its a cropped close-up on the guy, since I’m working on that area first and foremost
Lemme know what you guys think

Well, here it is, enjoy

hi there peepz

As I promised, here is the sylvari mesmer I’m making at the moment for Vorago ^^
It is sill in its basic shape, I got a lot to do with it :P
But at least you can see how it will turn out in the end ^^ The basic background and linework is there Along with the fill-out colors ^^

The fun part starts from now on, since I’ll start working on the realistic figure, details, tidbits… all that makes a character look alive and unique ^^
I’ve deviated from the original sylvari here and there, like on the stomach or general muscle look, skin, ect. ^^ And the clothing is different from the race specific ones either. I’d like it to look more… organic and part of their body. Most of the sylvari race specific armor looks really like a clothing that they put up. But thats my own idea

Stay tuned for the next part

Hi guys, sorry for the long silence Working on a sylvari mesmer commission now, I’ll put up work in proggress pics as soon as the owner gives green light

Stay tuned until then

@DoctorOverlord —- Aye, personally I like togruta way more But havent manage to done togruta fanart as of yet ^^; Would be happy to though
If I’d need to take a pic, I’d pick Dealer, Last Council + Demise I had the most fun drawing that 3x pic ^^

@Sekiri — Well it largly depends on what you’d like me to draw for you =) But usually I work in the 100-150$ range ^^ It can go higher as that as well if the commission is just way more complex =)
Though usually a character concept is in that range. A full blown battle scene with a busy foreground, full background and such is what I consider around 200$ =)

I offer quality in return so I think my prices are fair =)
Either way, send me a PM if you are interested so we can discuss the details ^^

@sebi — sure thing mate =) I’m not that good with photo manip myself, so I enjoy people who are doing sweet work with it ^^ Realistic drawing style is just one out of many styles out there, so I agree, one must find its own style they enjoy the most and make art with that =) It would be quite boring if everybody would always do the same :P

@Heylo — Hm, nice Human I assume from the body shape ? It would be quite skinny for a nord :P I take your fave animal companion would be the eagle/hawk ? (seeing one behind you ^^)

@seby — Hehe thanks a lot seby
I’m totally self-thought artist, so in my opinion everybody can lear how to draw to a certain degree ^^ It helps if one has affinity and talent for sure. But talent alone cant make you a good artist if you dont back it up with practise So if you want to draw, just start it =) I recommend getting on deviantart, a crapload of helpful tutorials there to learn from I do the same

Thanks a lot Defora ^^
Actually, Mesmer is one of me personal fave class =) Even though I’m not the best with it ^^; Still, an illusionist that actually works is a good addition to the RPG game =)

Anyways, I’ll take a look at what can I do with your character
I have a vague idea already ^^

Hehh ^^ Do that mate =)
Curious what you made

Now thats really impressive looking… need one —drool--

I think you guys gave the GW guys an idea of a new PC house project ^^

Hello there people ^^

Some of you might know me from SW:TOR’s main forums art thread and SW:TOR-RP forums ^^ Or even from Deviantart, who knows The net is quite small after all

I’m open for commissions!

Anyways, since I really loved Guild Wars 2, I thought I’ll give it a shot and make an art thread here too, so some of you might want to see some fan art stuff =)
I’m accepting commissions and might do some request art, but thats to be seen, depends on my free time ^^

You can check my non-GW2 related artwork here:
http://tanathiel.deviantart.com/

GW 2 related artwork:
I’ll update the page as I get the drawings coming ^^ You will be able to see the progress pictures in the comments below in the forms of WIP (Work In Progress)

• Sylvari mesmer commission (wallpaper 1960×1080 variant) complete
  (I’ve uploaded a 2nd variant, since the commissioner wanted some changes but some ppl might like the other version, so I’ll leave it up ^^)

I’ve linked some non-GW related art so you can see what I’ve did before (you can still check
Enjoy

By no means I’d change the “no trinity” stuff. Actually I liked the bold idea of kicking the usual archetypes out of the window and try something new. Thats why I picked up GW2 in the first place. Sometimes you are tired of the same old stuff done over and over again.

They really have some intereseting elements going tho. The dodge is a nice new tool, adds a small skill into the game. Its up to you how well you can dodge or not, however limited it is. Its there.
However, I find it bland to rely only on dmg to win a game. Its just too… boring and one sided. The trinity gave us a standing point. We knew if a tank had a healer backup its gonna take a while to take the duo down. It would be nice to see something similar in this game. Clear roles. Not the trinity. But roles. Right now its only damage-damage-damage. If you want to help your team… well, you can reduce the incoming dmg by 33%, block one attack, reflect. All these are on too long cooldowns to really make a difference. When 4-5k dmg spikes are flying all over the place, 3-4s 33% dmg redux wont really change a thing, especially on a low duration.

What I really miss from this game is that I cant feel that I can connect to any of the pugs. I fend for myself only. If I chose to help out then its ok, but dont take it granted that it will be returned.
Whats annoying me is that chosing a supporting role actually punishes you. You lack dmg and usually survival in favour of support. Means, you cant kill anybody and survive only for 2-3 hits longer. And since they nerfed bunker specs last time, its only DPS world again ^^;

Still, the pvp here needs a bit getting used to. Its faster paced, nearly all skills are instant cast or low cast animation (1-2s-ish) and the rolling is another tool aslo ^^

Good points =)
Actually I dont play pvp since Beta or Launch so I cant tell the in-depth problems with the core of the issues in it, but certainly the things I’ve listed are really striking out even after…. say 4-5 rounds of game. I think that tieing the gamers hands to be forced into one or two ways to play is not something anybody would like for a longer time.

And yea, too much CC can also ruin the game (prime example is WAR’s early stage and even sometimes up to this point too), but here I feel I just push out dmg, focus down a player. Just zerg vs. zerg with little to no brain activity needed to execute it.
Some classes only need to spam 1-2 then they are set (100b or heartseeker anybody ? :P).
What I always loved in PvP, is that it challenged my skills, my reactions, my brain. How well I can out-play somebody or not was the borderline between a good or a bad player. Here… I just feel frustrated.

On the support part: I’ve played a healer 24/7 in other games. Here… its not working, mostly because its not intended to work (no holy trinity right ?). Still, the other support options (mitigation, reflect, absorb, ect.) are always a sub-par choice at the moment. I dont feel that there is actually any need for it aside of tournament and other pre-made group play. Its hard to keep somebody alive (be it mitigation or anything similar) when most of the protective stuff has only 3-4s duration. Most smart players will just wait that small time. Than… when the ability gone on a long CD (25-40s+ up to 120s) they can just go back to what they do. Hard to mitigate dmg when ppl. do 4-5k per hit, critting up to 10-12k a hit. And they do this in such a quich succession, I can hardly follow. And no, rolls dont help. When you used up your 2x rolls, your defence CDs, you are pretty much dead if the opponent(s) is still brething.

Hey there =)

Dont know about you guys but I find sPvP “slightly” annoying and frustrating. I’ve played a lot of games and I’m a heavy pvp player, usually play support or tanker classes. I’ve come to GW2 since there was no healers (in the classic sense) that made it interesting to try out. After a few rounds I’ve noticed an interesting “standard” in pvp:

1. No “Holy Trinity” – While its a new and interesting system, it has its flaws. What is your role? What you can do? Anything. On paper. In reality you are either a heavy dps or a bunker. Support is not existant since its bleeding from so many wounds its just not worth it. Especially in a Hot Join. Its rather bland tbh. No tactic or strategy involved. Just who can busrt down the other one faster. We have rolls (yeey xD) but thats really limited control to keep dmg flowing.
Every class can do whatever they want. Again on paper. Most classes have only 1-2 working builds. They play next to eachother not with eachother. Huge difference.

2. Team play thats lacking team play – This is the first game where I feel that there is no actual “team” play involved in spvp. I love to play team games, however its extremely frustrating, that the whole “teamplay” involves moving in a big blob and kill everything unfortunate bumping into it. Ok, there are other games where this happens too (like Warhammer) but at least there I could play in team, since I knew who had what role + could rely on a pug member to some extent. Here ? No xD
sPvP dont really encourage people to play together.

3. Welcome to Bunny Land! – When I played my very first pvp matches I wasn’t able to help myself that it feels/looks hilarious. Everybody is rolling-jumping-leaping-evading on the screen, it makes me feel like I’m watching a circus show xD Add the lot of fire/explosion/spell effect/smoke screen/ect + the clones of the mesmer(s) present and you really start to feel you are watching a Cirque de Soleil show :P Its just kitten annoying to actually able to see anything in this mess and time the rolls/skill you’d need to avoid death x)

4. Professions and balance – Its nothing new I guess. Its an old topic in the game + on the forums that there are some faceroll classes and some weak classes when it comes to pvp environment. I wont start with the thief and mesmer, you guys already know all about it. They are quite powerful. Period. The only rule is the faster you can kill somebody the better. Some classes excel in this. Some just… not. Engi + necro cant burst down anything as fast as a thief or a gs warri or mesmer could. Maybe thats why I see them rarely.

5. Armor class is just cosmetics – This was the part that made me puzzled the most. Wearing heavy, medium or light armor wont change a thing. The small amount of difference they had in stats is so minimal it just wont make an impact. A dps specced guardian could be as low on armor as a thief or necro. It wont matter. IF you spec to it yea, you can be hard to kill. But its a rather bad concept that a heavy armor user and a light armor user will be on the same survival line if they spec for dmg. I’d expect a heavy armor to mean something. Not just be a cosmetic fluff :/ One would think its there for a reason ^^;

6. sPvP maps are not favoring long range encounters – Speccing for long range (900-1500) is rather pointless in spvp. As the maps are designed + there are just so many gap closers (and not too many gap keepers) its rather easy for a melee to get in close and personal. Oh… and if you have a crit build, you just use the condition remover sigil (60% chance on crit to remove a condition) making ranged combat a “bit” questionable at best.
Not to mention, melee abilities always hit harder, so there is little merit to range. And I havent even mentioned stuff that completely ignore cripple like leaps, teleports, ect. And if somebody comes up with “needing better CC options means you are a bad player” thats complete bs. I dont have problem with competetive pvp play, I love it. But if I’d like to play only ranged then make it possible I could keep the distance with skills I can use. If I use it badly than its my bad. But I find that a 3s cripple on a weapon is anything but not CC. I’d need to sacrifice utility slots to keep somebody at range, usually with long CDs (40+sec is an eternity in pvp lol) and some classes dont even have additional relyable CC options in their utility. As an engi for example, on paper I have some options, but most of them can be countered/ignored (glue shot, slick shoes) quite easy with dodge only (net shot, net turret, glue shot) or hamper myself roo (rocket boots).

Ok, I end my wall of text rant :P Flame on ^^
Puts up protective gear