Guild Wars 2

I was wondering that myself. based on what I see in the updates forum, it’s roughly every 2 weeks or so.

But there isn’t any official time frame that I’ve seen…they could hold off on the next update for a month to make sure it’s all ready. or it could come next week. or tomorrow.

The good news is that we don’t have long to wait, from what I’ve seen.

so working with my logic…that would seem to indicate (to me at least), that the points would be available for the OP to use on their new Rev, and thus they don’t have anything to worry about. Am i close to the mark here?

Palindrome.8904:

funkyfuzz.9142:

I could be off on this, but i distinctly remember reading in one of the recent blogs that they would be converting the scrolls to the Shards. let me see if i can find it.

Edit: Just found it, in the release today on Updating your Wallet:

“Any scrolls of knowledge that you have in your possession will automatically be converted to spirit shards, and any source that used to award scrolls of knowledge will now grant spirit shards. "

Towards the bottom, bullet point in, “What about Skill points?”

So it’s good news. you won’t lose all those scrolls you’ve been accumulating.

The OP is complaining that he won’t be able to use the scrolls for points to unlock skills, not losing the scrolls entirely.

Thanks for the correction. edited my original post, noticed that at the same time you posted

Are the spirit shards going to be used for the same thing? My impression was that they would be…so scrolls wouldn’t be lost, you would just click on the shard instead of the scroll…

Edit: seems like I’m playing catchup. Sorry. other threads have discussed that the points may become account-wide, this could open up possibilities.

I could be off on this, but i distinctly remember reading in one of the recent blogs that they would be converting the scrolls to the Shards. let me see if i can find it.

Wait…am I missing something? is your concern that you won’t be able to use your accumulated skill scrolls?

The conversion to skill shards basically means that you use the shards instead, right? so instead of clicking on a scroll…you click on a shard.

Unless the shards are bind to character instead of account…

90% of the reason I customize is because i have to look at that toon for hours at a time, 3-4 days a week. I want something I am going to enjoy, or find funny, cute, cool, whatever. I could care a spit about what others think about it.

But then again, they’re probably spending 90% of their attention on their own toons. which means they aren’t looking at mine. Go figure.

I’d like to see the rifle as well. perfect tech assassin weapon….the sniper!

NikeEU.7690:

maha.7902:

Spartacus.3192:

Jerus.4350:

Spartacus.3192:

Add more mobs like in SW that have high toughness but susceptible to condis. Makes for more useful hybrid builds, less zerker.

Inc sinister meta… such diversity

And zerker meta is more diverse?

It would be a refreshing change to build my guard and war for more condi damage unlike the full zerk gear that i have right now.

Would also be more interesting in WvW when fighting kiting classes.

oh man, my gear has a different prefix

this is making my gameplay so much more interesting!

oh wait i’m just doing the same thing and can’t actually see the prefix while in combat

Swinging your greatsword in Celestial gear is way more fun than swinging your greatsword in Berserker gear because DIVERSITY. See? Just say the word DIVERSITY and the game is instantly 10x more fun even though the physical actions you preform are the exact same!

not too effective an argument. Technically, swinging at the monsters, no matter what skill you use, is simply tabulating numbers on a table, and when one of those numbers reaches 0, the mob drops to the ground and you get exp. Thus, even having more then one skill is superflous. Heck, having any skills is superflous. they should just start tabulating numbers once your in reach of the mobs!

Oh, but wait! are there actual people who enjoy having to press more then one button? amazing…to think that there are people out there who do different things and enjoy different aspects of the game…weird…
* sarcasm off *
Many people enjoy stats, and see them as a measure of capacity and growth on their toons. technically, they could do away with all stats…and different weapon types….and different classes, because when you boil it down these are all aspects of diversity. different approaches to similar goals. It’s one of the reasons people enjoy playing MMO’s instead of FPS.

So your little joke as actually a very big aspect of MMO games. different approaches to a similar goal. stats are important to many, even the OP. he doesn’t want to be forced to change his gear due to stat issues…

Well, i can’t remember the exact quote, but I do remember them discussing that they were adjusting stats outside of gear. The trait changes will be one big area, not sure if they are doing it in others. But overall, we will be getting less stats from passive boosts, so while the gear may not be tinkered with, the stats we get from them will be much more critical.

i.e. – if your used to getting a certain level of toughness and vitality from passive boosts, you will no longer have those, and if you want the extra Vit and Tough, you will need to get those stats from your gear…so to get those stats back, you would need to most likely sub out either your runes, or a few pieces of zerk gear to get those defensive stats.

This will also probably make some combat situations a bit tougher, as your used to having those passive stats back you up, and they will be gone now. not sure if they will counter-balance that stat loss through gear or the new skill system, but based on the direction of their conversations, this was one area where they were going go even the builds a bit.

Love:
Hammer – My top fav weapon. only wish that the last 3 skills were a bit more applicable in PvE. but it’s simply too fun to smash with (guardian smash!)

Mace – I enjoy how this weapon works. In PvP the range of the circle is limited, But in PvE it works quite well. And with the news of the impending buffs, this is getting even better.

Torch – similar to Mace, I just enjoy the playstyle. #5 could use a bit of a buff, but overall I enjoy the weapon.

Hate:

GS – while I enjoy the leap (Guardians need all the gap closers we can get), the weapon overall isn’t something I enjoy. it’s further compounded by the fact that it is “meta” makes it something I prefer to avoid. I’m looking forward to seeing other weapons catch up to it in HoT

Sword – hate the animations, hate the fact that the only beneficial aspect to it is it’s auto-attack (the blinds aren’t to bad either).

Scepter – I just dont’ get this weapon. people say its high DPS on large hitboxes. great. feels like im making skitteny with a long stick. feels silly actually. not a huge fan of the skill setup or animations either. I’m REALLY looking forward to getting a different ranged option in HoT (too bad its a “specialization”….I’d love if i could just switch to the weapon in combat).

Medicore:

Shield – this is one of those weapons I really wish had more to it. I love the classic 1h/shield look, and it’s really disappointing to me to see just about every other option out there surpass the shields capabilities in huge ways. This is one of those “should have been” weapons. If they buffed it’s abilites to make them more viable and flexible, This would shoot up to my favorite list fast.

Focus – meh. it’s in the middle…I don’t hate it, don’t like it. good defensive options…I pretty much pull it out for group/world bosses, thats about it. only reason i pull it out on those is i need SOMETHING to combine with my Scepter of stupidness.

Staff – This just fits here because It’s not one of my favorites. I don’t hate it, but I usually just end up using something else. It too fits into my world boss set…great support weapon with flexible ranged damage and buffs. Versatile group tool, but i tend to solo allot, So I just don’t use it that often.

Zarvanis.6453:

I can confirm what shaman said. I brought my level 80 to an early-level zone and the arrow appeared.

http://s376.photobucket.com/user/nhzack/media/arrow%20glitch%204_zps3kewmgjw.png.html

This didn’t happen whenever my HP was low in Orr, so it must only happen in early zones.

I can repeat this. The arrow does not appear in higher level areas, so there must be a trigger for it in the starter zones (makes sense since it’s a new player tooltip).

Quick solution: you don’t need to relog. if you simply open the map and choose a waypoint to port to that is far enough away to force a screen load, it resets. Not sure if there’s a ui reload command, but if there is it may be worth testing to see if that works as well.

Either way, really irritating bug. gamebreaking? nah, but it’s like the rock in your shoe. Especially if your low level and don’t have the cash to constantly port (and you also tend to run low on health allot at lower levels as well).

ShelBlackblood.7826:

@MashMash
Yes you are right about that. I’ve noticed the Gliding exp progress I did with the Revenant also counted for the Warrior i created after the reroll. I really hope it stays like this when HoT gets released.

To correct some of my points above: The Beta map looks of course different, more jungle-ry than the Silverwastes. It’s in fact a beautiful map that suffers from predefined paths you are forced to take on your first visit, but I think the movement on this map will become more freely as soon as we unlock more Masteries. I’ve finally tested the Gliding in the second Beta run and it already saved me a bit of time to get to other places.

BUT: This still doesn’t change the fact, that the events seem to be the main focus here. Later on we may take our time to explore the map, but in the Beta, my right side of the screen was full of event texts and the minimap had orange markings all around my characters position.

I’m not against events in generell, I just would like to have a bit of space and calm/silent moments between them. There’s no desperate need of Hearts again, but at least let us “feel” that we actually helped someone out at some point. In SW+DT everything we do is visually for nothing, not a single thing we accomplish improves anything in those areas since the events restart all the time. I don’t know how to put it, but with completeable quests it felt more like we really “achieved” something for us and the NPCs in that location. It may sound a bit strange, but I don’t know how to explain it better.

I think thats a big nail you hit on the head Shel. people tend to forget the benefit of having something to accomplish, or a finite set of objectives. We had a mix of both before. you had things you could do that gave you a sense of accomplishement…you helped the village, or the farmer….they were happy, yada yada.

I go back to the concept of the mix. Silverwastes is great in chunks. But there are times that I’ll hop over there, and the events are “in-between” because there aren’t enough people playing to push the event cycle to open up the next sequence of events. so I have 2 choices: sit there and pick my nose until the event chain has enough progress to unlock, or go back to areas where i can actually DO things. and feel a sense of accomplishement.

I feel accomplishment when I finish a SW series…well that is if it finishes OK, and we don’t have whiners and trolls in chat griping about everyone else. But thats if im there at the right time…and are in the right spot…

If I’m not, then there is absolutely no reason to be in silvertop. Now, my hope is that the new areas have a more fluid approach to this. things to do while the larger events are not going on (you know…like how Orr does). larger event chains with nice rewards. the smaller items provide smaller rewards, but its still options. I don’t want to be shut down in the new areas just because my timing is bad.

I think the problem we have is that they have told us that areas like SW are the “model” moving forward, but those areas are severely limited. and with the current exposure of the new areas, we haven’t been given any indication that they are considering other options, like the more “flexible” alternatives that are in Orr and the rest of the world.

I feel that companies have to be careful about how they structure future progression. If they make it too different from the original game, they risk losing a ton of players (ESO did this, and it was a horribly effective example of how this level of change is bad). But if they go with a similar approach to SWtOR (change, but providing players with options, and keeping the game similar), then I think the transition will be effective.

IMO it’s part of a balanced game. Similarly to why they give us bonus chests and level appropriate rewards for doing lvl 15 world bosses, This is another aspect of the game that intertwines players at level cap with players that are leveling.

Early (and even some current) MMO’s ran into problems. seasoned players often stayed in high level zones, making low level areas ghost towns, and low level and/or new players struggled with content that needed groups or assistance.

MMO’s have tried various approaches to getting high level and low level players to mix…I feel that Anet does one of the better jobs in this. Now, with the new expansion, there will be even more reasons for high levels and low levels to mix. BAU.

At this point it’s probably moot. I think I’ll be renaming my Guardian to “<Previous name> the Arbiter” and ill be referring to her as an Arbiter. of JUSTICE. rawr.

they can call it what they want. they can call it two ways to Thursday. They can call it Nancy. I think we’ll need to be making up our own names for this one.

Celtic Lady.3729:

The Masteries panel just astounded me. It was remarkably confusing to use considering the NPE where Anet was convinced that if we had 2 skills to use in the intro, we’d be so overwhelmed, we’d quit the game….

That is a bit funny. Especially when they have mentioned time and time again, that their goal was to simplify the process, as they felt that their “tack it on” approach up to this point felt clunky and unintuitive. As it is, I’m sure most people would prefer an older clunky system that they already know to a new clunky system that is even worse

on the comment about night/day events, that is a cool addition. adding a little more variety to your play, and making things a bit more realistic at the same time. Question: are these events similar to current events, like on timers that you can always come back 15-25 minutes later and repeat? or are they part of larger scripted events like we currently have in Silverwastes? I’m trying to get a feel of the options for play they are providing us in the expansion.

This does not bode well for me. IMO, new content should look appealing and pull people in initially, not make it difficult to progress.

Please remember that I said initially…there’s nothing wrong with having things accelerate as you get farther along in the new content. But I didn’t get involved in silverwastes and drytop for awhile when i first hit 80, mostly because the initial presentation was irritating and clumsy, and gated you.

If the glider and such are prerequisites to moving around…I suppose that as long as they have a straightforward way to lead into them it will be OK. I hope that they don’t gate all this progression through scripted group events….it will make doing things solo tough if you are simply on at the wrong time, or are new to the areas and get lost behind the larger crowd.

nexxe.7081:

If you compare it to Orr, it wasn’t as coherent. Although the theme was still against Zhaitan and the Risen, they weren’t really connected to each other. They were more isolated.

I’m not sure how i feel about this though. I like the meta-events such as in silverwastes, but i also liked how events worked in Orr too. It made the zones feel more diverse in it’s events, and made the zone feel larger.

I agree. It’s not that I want the game to be like Orr, or like silverwastes. I want to have the CHOICE.

Honestly, If i was forced to play in silverwastes as the elder game, I probably wouldn’t be playing now. I enjoy it from time to time, but the bulk of my time is elsewhere, and I spend far more time in Orr then I do in silverwastes. if they provided OPTIONS, then you would get far more people involved. as it is, I’m worried that they are going far too narrow in their choice of future gameplay. While Im sure it would appeal to a small minority of players, that formula has proven to be a failure when it comes to the MMO community at large.

Elder scrolls online is the perfect example. they decided that after you hit level cap, you were going to be shoehorned into a hardcore, group oriented (i.e. you couldn’t solo most of it at all) end game with almost no other options. 6 months later they were scrambling to change the game enough to keep the mass exodus of players from continuing. a few months after that the elder game had done an almost complete flip flop from it’s original design…and they’re still trying to pick up the pieces.

It’s not the “challenge” that concerns me…its the decision to use such narrow progression approaches. I could be wrong…there could be still 80% of the expansion content hidden from us, that involves everything else like crafting, exploring, solo play, small group play, random wanderings, etc. but from what I’ve seen so far, my gut feeling isn’t a good one…

Dark Saviour.9410:

This, I would have liked. Along with the removal of Vistas and PoIs. I love exploration, but I hate the idea that they’ve created a checklist of place they want you to see. Instead, just make diverse, interesting environments that may or may not have any gameplay-related purpose, and let people explore them naturally (if they want to).

Believe it or not, there’s quite a large base of players that enjoy having scripted things thrown their way. Not saying that it should or shouldn’t be, but many people like times where they can just log in and have something blinking at them, “You should try this!”.

I’m in the middle. there are many times that I enjoy the Orr areas, the feeling of coordination, working with other players, etc. Then there are times where I just want to follow a trail of bread crumbs.

While I see the Orr areas as a good transition, I’m worried if the future is full up scripted events like silverwastes. I often prefer open areas to explore, and silverwastes (and drytop) feel more like locked areas then open explorable. Heck, I avoided drytop for the first 2 months I was playing…i had no clue how to get out of the starting area!

I really think they need to provide a mixture of environments. Orr is a great hybrid….no hearts, but dynamic events, some that are large chain events. some that you can solo, and some that require small groups, some that require large groups and organization to accomplish.

My worry with silverwaste-like areas, that many people will feel stifled, as you often need full groups to get anything accomplished in those areas (or at least tag along with a larger group). staged events I’m OK with, but they need a blend to really provide players with a full range of options. People don’t like single “one size fits all…but not really” solutions. they want choices. as long as the event areas have choices (like Orr), I’m OK with it. but if the whole expansion is nothing but silverwaste copies, i may rethink my purchase.

Reminds me of the Living world releases. rather then having a set of options, they pretty much homed in on a single concept. Didn’t work out so well. MMO’s that succeed tend to have multiple paths to the same destination…

I’m not in Beta so i can’t say, so I’m going fully off of what people have said + silverwastes experience. It can be fun, but like many things, it’s easy to get tired of…

1 – Chronomancer
2 – Reaper / Druid
3 – Dragonhunter

2 and 3 are still up in airs for me atm. I’m not going to do the “empty slot” thing like some people are…don’t tempt fate, they could easily make the warrior spec worse then the dragonhunter….

still, my main issue with DH guard (I think i may just start calling it something else even if they don’t change the name) is the clunky integration with the class. if set up right, it could function well..

Same with Reaper as it relates to function, though I enjoy the theme more then i enjoy the LonGuardian. Chrono so far is hands up winner in my book…nice theme, they’re getting much needed changes for the class, and looks overall like a solid support spec.

EDIT: Added Druid. Don’t know much about the class, but based on what I’ve heard, theme and skills sounds like they could be a solid contender for 2nd place. Chrono is still 1st….they just did a real smooth job with giving the Chrono what the mesmer needed, and highlighted a role i enjoy (support).

…Of course, problem is, much of this could change over the course of the beta, and they could easily kill the Chrono’s design, buff Longuardians skills through the roof, and Improve the reapers group dynamics so much that people will want 2 in each group. But at this point thats my list.

Mar.4839:

Arrk.4102:

Mar.4839:

Actually I believe the main issue is that people are viewing Specializations as something that is supposed to be as the OP states “logical extension of the flavor and theme of the Guardian.”

That’s the biggest mistake I think everyone is making.

Elite Specializations are designed to be horizontal progression, not vertical. We’re taking a piece of our main profession and specializing further into that aspect.

Chronomancers -> Mesmers who decided to focus more on the time aspect of their profession (which admittedly was pretty sparse to begin with).

Reapers -> Necromancers who decided to focus more on being as powerful as Death itself.

Dragonhunters -> Guardians who decided to focus more on zealous justice.

These are all just one piece of each profession that is being extended, the 2nd Elite specializations for these professions will then delve into another facet of the base profession.

A future elite spec for each could be:

Mesmer -> Some kind of mage-thief that focuses more on its stealth aspects.

Necromancer -> A Demonologist-ish kind of summoner with more focus on minions.

Guardian -> Cleric-ish boon giver/supporter with more focus on tomes.

OP is clearly one of the many that think Elite specs are supposted to be vertical progression but they aren’t. They’re just another choice to play the profession in a different way, a more focused (specialized) role.

We can even use the Druid as an example. It is not the total encompassing progression of what a Ranger is, it is just an extension of the Nature Magic part of the Ranger.

Yes but those focus their whole theme on one thing. Guardians by themselves have nothing to do with hunting, dragons or hunting dragons.
Mesmers have time magic thus Chronomancer.
Rangers have nature magic thus Druid.
Guardians have 0 relation to hunting or dragons which is why it makes no sense.

As phys has pointed out, the playstyle of the DH is to switch back and forth between melee and range, heck they even show this on the Ready-Up with the build from Tirzah.

It’s not supposed to be staying at range like a Ranger with a longbow, that’s the entire point of introducing a new playstyle but having a different flavor to it.

Reapers become melee fighters like Warriors/Guardians but the Reaper’s playstyle is different enough from both as well.

Guardians have zeal and/or can be zealous. Thus some focus on that and turn into Dragonhunters.

Remember, Dragonhunters are basically Witchhunters, everything makes a lot more sense if people stop being so literal with the name which is where most of the issue is coming from.

Actually, there’s quite a few people that simply don’t like the name. Why people feel like they have to put some logical explanation behind that is beyond me, but don’t confuse someones explanation as to why they don’t’ like the name with their simple preference. Whether people are being literal or not…they don’t like it. It seems that the Reaper and Druid and Chronomancer are far more liked then DH. It’s as simple as that.

Whether its because they can’t see their Guardian as a DragonHunter, or they have conflicts with what Hunter means/is/is described as, or whether or not they find the theme moving in the wrong direction….This is a game where 90% of what we do revolves around personal preference. and it seems like a lot of people personally prefer to not be called Dragon Hunter.

I personally will be referring to my Guardian as a DH Guard if this name goes through…I really don’t like the concept.

I think the OP raises good concerns… BUT

Unless anyone has actually played the new DH, there’s still quite a bit out there on the table. We simple don’t know how it’s going to turn out…but I do agree that initially on paper, the skillset goes against most of the Guardian design. we don’t really have traits that buff ranged damage, we don’t have any that buff traps, mostly symbols, consecrations, and shouts.

I’m not sure that traps are useless, but overall it seems like you will have to invest in quite a few to make them effective together, which reduces your self healing and condi removal/defensive skills in general. And sure, you won’t be taking traps ALL the time, but if you’ve made the decision to commit to traps, once you enter combat, that’s all you got. and giving up your condition removal, defensive party buffs, and personal healing/party healing is a pretty big sacrifice for a few traps that don’t really fit well with the guardian theme (im OK with the bow…but traps are a bit…i dunno….ranger-ey, don’t ya think?)

I would like to see more of the “symbol” traits impact traps as well. that would even the playing field a bit. I suppose we could just turn them into “symbols”, but then it pretty much kills a large part of what makes the dragon hunter different then your typical guardian. The whole idea was to give us something different, something unique, that moved the class in a different direction…but was still “that” class. the DH definitely does that….though it may be going a bit too far in the different direction….

Raf.1078:

Longsword and Mace are slower than the 2H Greatsword. Which is nuts. Both 1H weapons ought be twice as fast. Animations are pretty clunky too to compared to the GS.

Plus Guardian mace needs a stun, knockback or daze in the 1 skill…I mean its a mace, for pete’s sake…you know..a head knocker?

I too believe it should be faster…but twice as fast seems like a reach. are you basing that on the concept that it’s only doing half the damage of GS? highly doubt it’s that low. but some speed adjustment isn’t out of order, especially if it keeps it competitive. Some people really like the traditional look of sword + X.

I’m excited about the changes to mace. Long time been my favorite weapon of choice, along with hammer. only picked up the GS for the leap (guards limitations with movement at root here), and it’s a bit more involved then hammer (I don’t fall asleep using it).

But with the changes, im really excited about pulling out my mace and torch.

Overall, I’d like a name change. Arbiter is my favorite so far. But as people have said, all in all it really is just a name. I think I’ve actually seen my Guardians class name a dozen times or less (I rarely even pay attention to it anymore).

So IMO it’s really one of those oddball situations. based on the sheer number of posts in this thread (900+ and counting when i posted this), it struck a chord with quite a few people. But on a more logical side of things, it doesn’t impact the player’s ability to play or maximize the class. RP folks will be a bit bent though.

Still…Since it is just a name…why not change it?

based on your definition of p2w OP, every MMO that has released an expansion is guilty of it. OH wait…did the new expansion just increase levels by 5? NO FAIR! everyone who bought the expansion is now 5 levels ahead of me, and they have an unfair advantage. PAY TO WIN!

seriously, your stretching the idea a bit. Just state that your worried about the balance of the new game mechanics and leave it at that. Expansions are always about increasing player capabilities. whether it’s level, or gear, or new class mechanics…doesn’t matter.

And on that note….every MMO that has released new classes has often dealt with this. remember the release of death knights in WoW WotLK? they pretty much broke the game. But WoW is still there….

(in an attempt to head off anti-wow extremists…I don’t play it, haven’t for a long time, have no bias, just using it as a comparative point).

This is the one thing that always bugged me about my Guard. i run as fast as molasses. you know what I enjoy the most about my warrior? with her GS, she has perma – 25%, plus 2 weapon skills that move her instantly across the battlefield (one on a real short CD), and with an additional utility skill…..that’s 3 movement skills.

My poor Guard is just running behind everyone….well, not really, i sacrificed my armor slots for traveler runes. just wish my guard was like every other class and didn’t have to do that.

After watching the twitch, I’m looking forward to the specialty. Name is lackluster…no matter what they’re reasoning…I don’t like it, so add my name to the list of people desiring it to change. Name = no, specialty = yes.

We should get a thread going with a list of popular names and peoples votes for it…see how forum based ideas work out.

I agree with the OP. IF, repeat IF, they go with this concept in the future, it should be ALL 80 zones, with higher chances on tougher encounters (i.e. SW would give higher chances with its scripted series, world bosses same, normal world drops less chance, etc.)

Heck, they could even give a small chance of looting one on farming materials. that way they get a much broader spectrum of playtypes to test the Beta. As it is, your most likely only going to get people who prefer (or tolerate) the scripted areas…and thus your going to bias your results. Your going to get a more favorable response to the scripted design, even though this may not be favored across the board…

Forgotten Legend.9281:

why does precision need to be nerfed?

in order to maintain 80% crit chance, you have to give up a lot of power. sure, you’ll crit more often, but your crits will hit for less damage because your base damage is lower.

also, the on-crit procs pretty much all have a percentage chance as well. so there’s no way you’re going to proc them every single crit. then there’s also internal cooldowns on some of those procs….

I sort of agree with you. I don’t think its really an issue of Precision needing a nerf…what they really have to do is create the need for decisions in stats instead of having a “super DPS” set that has all the goodies with no downsides. first step in that of course, is making defensive stats worth it in the meta…but outside of that, making people choose between offensive stats like my concept (stat categories) would do that. no nerf, only a need to choose now…

Plus, with stats being more balanced across the board, they could reduce, or even get rid of in certain circumstances, the “chance” on proc. instead, you could have guaranteed proc, but you’d have to choose more crit over more crit damage, thereby allowing you more control of your procs, while at the same time reducing stat extremes.

this could even help in their efforts at balancing stats. In choosing, you are reducing your overall stat allowance. this brings down overall damage potential, and make defensive stats more viable (since mobs will take longer to die, etc.). All of this, and not impacting our ability to stack stats or specialize.

They could do what some other MMO’s do and set up stats in categories, and limit the # of categories in each piece.

As an example, keep Ferocity in the game…but make it in the same category as precision (as far as gear stats go). and limit that category to one per item. so an item can have precision, or Ferocity, but not both.

This way people have to make choices, and those choices affect overall stat numbers. that is a much more natural, and flexible, way to limit stat levels. you will limit a persons ability to have both, but not really limit their overall ceiling.

With that system, you can increase your precision more if you want more procs from abilities that proc from crits, but your overall crit damage suffers. OR, you can go high in ferocity, but your crit goes down, so you turn into a burst damage build.

Other examples of pairs for stat categories could be:
Power and Condition Damage ( or even Healing to this one as well)
Toughness and Defense rating
Power and healing
Healing and condition damage, etc.

this way people would have to make choices.

I’m assuming that the OP meant free slots too (64 toons is just crazy, but I supposed doable. not probable, but doable), and I don’t’ see why they would add a slot.

MMO’s are unique compared to standard release games (like halo, MW2, etc.) in that it’s a continuous cycle of balance, addition of content, etc. This overhead that standard release games don’t have needs to come from somewhere…the early model was subscriptions, but that has changed, now companies are doing things “seemingly free to play”

I say seemingly because the cost still has to come from somewhere. they are just relying on some people paying more into the cash shop to counterbalance those that do not pay in.

So, if the Op has filled out the FREE slots and wants more free slots, I highly doubt it will happen. I’m not saying that I agree, only that I doubt they will take one of their best tools for bringing in the residual income and shoot it in the foot come expansion. no one forces you to fill up your slots anymore then forcing you to play only one toon. Personally, I’m perfectly happy to put back in a little finances in a game I enjoy, and unlocking slots is a nice VIP bonus if you ask me.

Just like any other MMO that is reorganizing a very big part of their mechanics, we can’t place judgement until much more information is out. you can’t compare the impact of a few changes to the current game because the game won’t be the same after the XP. We simply don’t know enough about how the new changes will fit into the new mechanics.

Even if the numbers change affected our capacity to have certain stats frontloaded…it honestly may be by design. they may be taking advantage of this stat and trait change to rebalance the same…and push players out of the current “Boring as heck beserker” meta, and provide alternatives to that. if you can’t stack your stats as high as you used to…and other options (condition damage, defensive stats, etc) become more viable, people will build into those areas to compensate.

Not saying that’s what they are doing…because we don’t even come remotely close to having enough info to make that call, but even if they were limiting stat builds, they may be doing it for a good reason.

Actually, i believe the term Meta REALLY originates from Megamind’s second cousin, once removed, METAMind. However, unlike his second cousin, once removed, Metamind wasn’t an evil genius. He was actually a janitor. and thus having a huge evil genius name didn’t work well, so he went with the nickname Meta.

He was really good at his job. Hence the connotation, “if you play a good spec, your playing as good as Meta.”

Congratulations OP!

Getting used to the Elemental can be tough. especially if your used to playing “magic users” from other games. An Ele is probably more like an assassin/ninja who uses magic then a magic user. Lots of movement, busy interaction between spells, and if your not light on your feet and keep things moving, you go down faster then a prom date.

It took me 3 different tries of playing for a bit, giving up, playing a bit later, giving up again…and leveling with crafting a bit until i got my Ele to a level where the traits started to shore things up, and the rotations finally started working. my default reaction (from my days on tanky in your face melee classes) when stressed was to stand there and spam everything. Ele’s need to MOVE…and be careful about skill selection. and press lots of buttons…

But eventually it started to all come together. It felt so amazing to finally be able to solo an elite mob my own level! it all ties together once you find a build your comfy with and really wire in those skill functions! The Ele more then any other class I’ve played to date really needs to KNOW in detail what each skill does. can’t tell you how many times i’ve pressed something, and gone, “Ah crud…that was my shield thingamajigger, not my heal and slow thingamabobber!” and then my little asura goes “EEEP” and turns into a mess on the bottom of the trolls foot.

Thankfully those situations are become less and less. Compared to many other classes, I see Ele as having HIGH initial learning curve. My first toon was a guardian with a hammer….3 skill wonder. went from that to the 500 million skills my Ele has. Brain overload. But it just takes more time.

I agree with the sentiment of Guardian being easier to grasp initially. It was my first toon, and I’m slowly getting used to the Elemental.

I enjoy both. different playstyles. Elemental feels more free moving with all their movement options. Guardian has one basic speed boost on a medium CD, that’s it. Elemental is much busier, and also if your not on your game, much squishier. Ele relies allot on movement and effective skill use to stay alive, whereas my Guard is a bit more the “stand there and take it”. Don’t get me wrong….in a high end group situation, you need to move on your guard too…but playing solo on my guard I never really worry about extra mobs. I have to pay attention to those extra mobs on my Ele or I’ll die fast.

Ele = light armor, so you’ll spend most your time in dresses and gunny sacks. Heavy metal is the Guardian’s province, so that element (looks) can make a difference too.

But Elemental has suprised me…I’m rarely the magic user player (prefer the heavy metal in your face classes), but it’s such a unique approach to your typical wizard class…more like a naruto style assassin/mage/thing. very fun. But At the same time, I miss being able to leap into the midst of a group of mobs and lay them out with my big hammer/sword Like i can on my Guard.

…Think I’ll vote on doing both. thankfull Anet gives you plenty of character slots to start off with.

Mar.4839:

@Olvendred: That’s true but that’s not what we’re asking for, if for instance they were to release in August and take the suggestion that someone said to reveal one Specialization every other week then that means they will have 18 weeks (just about 4 months and 2 weeks) of steady, hype-filled information. This is not even including things like Guild Halls, Challenging Group Content, and they could even delve into talking about more Adventures.

They definitely seem to have more than enough information to go steady for about 6 months or so. People are just unsure of why they have been so light on providing additional, more in-depth, overviews on topics most requested by the community and why has the last few weeks been so full of recaps and WvW/PvP. Not to dismiss those communities but things like Specializations will affect all aspects of the game. On top of that the majority of topics not yet discussed are fully PvE like Guild Halls, Adventures, and Challenging Group Content.

I mean it could be they wanted to get the WvW and PvP stuff out of the way and will now focus on the PvE aspects but so far in terms of PvE it’s just been a recap of what is known so far and the Personal Story overhaul (which while good, is not very exciting compared to the other things they can talk about).

exellent point. take, for example, SWtOR. Last expansion, during it’s development, every Friday they had a dev video where one developer and one customer rep showed a class with its new shiny skills and how they looked/interacted with each other. not only was it fun, not only did it give people currently playing something to look forward too, but it got people excited. this string of extremely thin and veiled glimpses I feel is going a bit too far…they are not giving people enough info to keep them jazzed.

For lack of a better description, they put the carrot too far ahead…the gravy mule has slowed down now, as it doesn’t think it can reach the carrot. they need to dangle a bit more in front of us. I’ve been playing MMO’s for long-um time, and i was actually suprised for the first time with this release. saw some of the info, looked for more stuff coming out…and there was none. makes me feel allot like evercrack 2 the never-releasing…

Couple of points:

1) just about every MMO forum (every class in most MMO’s) are full of extreme drama threads. for some reason players feel the need to make their class look extremely broke in order to garner Dev attention…even if they aren’t. Thus just about every thread discussing class performance is full of posts screaming that “our class is broke” “it’s horrible” “no one plays it anymore because it’s so awful” It really makes honest feedback difficult to get across. too many squeaky wheels and it’s hard to tell which one really needs oiling.

2) whatever you do. DO NOT be a FotM Player. your initial comment, “should i switch classes before it’s too late” stinks of FotM mentality. If you’ve played any MMO’s for any length of time, you will find that all classes get adjusted, tweaked, nerfed to the ground, and buffed into god-like OP status multiple times through their short lives as player classes. It’s almost like griping that winter is too cold and it needs to change or your going to leave…just wait a few months and the summer sun will warm you back up again.

3) you do have more then one toon slot. start 5 different classes and see which ones you enjoy the most. play them all. personally, my Guard was my first 80….but i have a ranger, Elementalist, thief…and just started a warrior. they are all fun in their own ways, and I play them all, so slowly they are all creeping towards 80. My Guard just got their first (I do enjoy the class).

**Note on #2- This one unchanging fact of MMO’s also means that if your favorite class is currently the underdog, they will eventually even out, or become en vogue again. just like winter…give it a bit of time…and things will warm back up again. see the game as a long term investment, not a race to the finish line, and you’ll be fine.

DarksunG.9537:

Nilgoow.1037:

check your privilege thanks

Check you professional victim-hood, thanks.

Nilgoow.1037:

Nilgoow.1037:

check your privilege thanks

Vomits

yeah, pretty much.

Is this the real life? Is this just tumblr?

Unfortunately the line is blurring. People really are changing society by grabbing the moral high ground for their own benefit by “being offended”.

Have to admit, Hitches made a great point when he said: "I’m very depressed how in this country you can be told “That’s offensive” as though those two words constitute an argument."

Yup. Offense is the new political/social power. It’s the result you get when you base a persons political/social control in their life on their inherent “weaknesses”. thus they’re issues, personal hurts, and other limitations become their ability to gain favor in political and media arena’s, and the “Offense” tag is one of the biggest openers.

If i could have a dime for every time I was offended by someone taking “offense” at something that had absolutely NO relation to their lives whatsoever, I probably wouldn’t have to be working right now.

If the OP is playing the fool day, then hat’s off. If he’s not…then this thread really is a joke. Get a life.

I love my Asura Ele. The animations are one of the biggest reasons I play it. But then again im a fan of the cutsy, clumsy style they have. Fire 2 with my dagger is a blast. get the right armor skin combos and they look great. I would honestly try both and see which one suits you the best.

It’s most likely perceptual. not just the difference between a more powerful toon and a new powerless toon (which does make a big difference), but also the perception…on your first toon everything is so new, you often get swept away in the story and the views and so on, and just the interest in new discoveries. The second time or beyond those discoveries (for most) aren’t as interesting…so the actual grond to level is far more noticeable. add to that the new toon doesn’t have all the old waypoints, so travel is reduced back to that crawl once again…

I have severe alt-itis, so it’s not as much of an issue to me. Plus im one of those sadists that actually enjoys streamlining my leveling process, so leveling the same class but faster now that i know all the paths and points to hit can be enjoyable. But I still noticed that I see and feel the grind a bit more when im going over old ground…