Guild Wars 2

Darkfiremew is right, Lion Arch loading is bugged (no problems with other maps), the bug has been there since the 1st patch of 8 August.

All CPU cores go at 100% for about 25 seconds at the loading of LA image (manifest), after that time it go on normally.

You can check the load of the map by adding the parameter /maploadinfo to the launcher and you can easily see with Task Manager the CPU load.

After the ‘fix’ it works using scepter but don’t works anymore with other weapons…

Update: it works with other weapons if you have Permeating Wrath, but don’t works with other weapons if you don’t have it.

I have to agree that Dagger is a bit underpowered, this is true in all game modes.

Ele dagger has 300 range because is a magical whip, Necro dagger just physical and themed after cerimonial daggers… dagger #2 and #3 are more like spells, this is why they have range.
Option 3 is just extremely OP.
You should use the axe if you want range and vulnerability. (NOTE: before 2014 dagger was able to hit only 1 enemy and axe range was 600 until 2015, axe was meant to be a ranged melee weapon).
Also, if you want to fight in melee you need some toughness, necro helas are not that great.

Anyway…
Since daggers are related to blood skills and traits the second option can be brainless but is ok.
It can be added to necrotic stab (2nd attach of the chain) since seems underpowered compared to the other two (multiplicators of the chain are: .9/.7/1.2) or just at the end of the chain.

There is also the option to just speed up the chain (as Anet has done to thief’s weapons), maybe by a 10% (-.2 seconds to take away from 2nd or 3rd attack).

I think that a bit of vulnerability can be added to skill #3 (Dark Pact) since it is like a curse.

This is a bit offtopic, but I think that Anet should add some LF generation to dagger #4… maybe just allow the skill to bounce to the caster (to give him LF) if there is no aviable enemy target to bounce to.

Lahmia.2193:

That’s odd. I tried the same test on the dps golem and dagger won by 1 second. I left out any traits that may have given one an advantage though (vampiric/vamp aura/deathly chill etc.)

If you are using Spite, remember that you also have minor traits that give might and vulnerability when the enemy has low health, the higher speed and number of strikes per second of the dagger give it a little advantage here.
Remove Spite or add to yourself 25 stack of might and to the golem 25 stack of vulnerbility before testing.

Ok, I’ve made some test with the golem…

1) GS AA damage is exatly the same of Dagger AA (but just that, they differ by number of targets hit, the chill, LF generation and fluidity);

2) There are a few mistakes on the wiki, base attack speed of reaper shroud is 2.37s (2s with reaper’s onslaught) and damage is independent on the weapon used: both ascendent dagger, GS and ex. dagger scored about the same;

3) Untraited Shroud AA damage is 7% lower than Dagger and GS AA (if traided with reaper’s onslaught and dhuumfire is clearly higher).

Sigmoid.7082:

…
GS weapon damage is 10% higher on average than daggers, at ascended level average weapon damage is 1100 vs 1000
…

You are right the difference is 10%, my fault.
Even more true, GS is OP vs all other necro weapons.

One of the problems is that in those balance patches ANet is balancing weapon and skill popularity, and not their power and usability.

Lahmia.2193:

Most weapons, compared to dagger, are too powerful to be honest.

To be honest, Dagger AA is not that bad by itself, damage is good and comparable to the AA chain of warrior’s axe, only the thief AAs are superior (all of them… staff, sword and dagger, and by far), the biggest problem of the necro is the lack of damage multipliers so weapons need really good stats.
NOTE: If it was for me, I would add a Life Leech effect (with the strength of the Projectile/Dark Field Combo) to the 3rd chain attack of dagger, without other changes.

As for the others skills, I think Life Siphon (#2) is generally ok, Dark Pact (#3) is ok in PvP but nearly useless in PvE; all offhand weapons are more or less average.

Back to the Greatsword, I think that should be empowered only if you also empower the others necro weapons, otherwise we will have 1 good weapon but everithing else is trash.

Dadnir.5038:

… This auto attack is almost on par with thief’s dagger auto attack but it’s garbage in your eyes… pity!

Are you kidding right?
The whole sequence for thief is done in 1.68 seconds for a total damage coefficient of 2.75 + 6 seconds of poison;
The necro one is done in 2.04 seconds for a total damage coefficient of 2.8;
Dagger AA of thieves is 19% more powerful then necros (even ignoring the poison stack).

As for the Greatsword, the AA is just slightly less powerful than the one of dagger (dagger AA is 5% more powerful than GS one), but…
1) GS attack hit up to 3 tragets;
2) Shroud skills are 5% more powerful with the GS (shroud use the weapon strength of the equipped weapon);
3) GS add Chill in the last attack of the chain;
4) Life Force is generated from each target hit (dagger one is fixed, no matters how many targets you hit).

There is no real reason to use dagger over GS for his AA, you can use it for style, attack fluidity or for orther weapon skills (this is a joke, since all GS skills are overpowered).

By the way, I think GS is already too powerful, asking for more is absurd.

insaneseagull.7063:

As I mentioned in a post somewhere,I think that with all these proposed changes that the OP have to include in which game mode they would want to see changes!

Because we have that now. We didn’t but we do now. So let’s not try and generalize all the game modes.

My idea was to use the change it in all game modes.
I do not expect everyone to agree, in fact in some situations this solution becomes a nerf, but my intention was to change the trait as little as possible.
If the change proves problematic in pvp, you might think to boost the toughness weakening up to 250 for that game mode or something similar (balancing pvp can be difficult).

Akeno.4962:

I must say I love it. Makes sense creating a real mechanic revolving around a necro’s life siphon.

On the OP point, I think it would power creep other build like tempest or thief. I mean, top dps classes don’t provide any substantial buffs, so if power necro had similar personal dps, they wouldn’t need to provide party buffs. I think DH levels of dps + utility coming from Blood Magic should be enough to be very competitive. So, what about changing that toughness reduction to be reflected into necro’s own skills?

Well, when ANET introduced Pinpoint Distribution in march I havn’t seen any complaints about the fact that Condi classes had been strengthened…
Anyway, I was just proposing a slight change to the trait, not substituting it with a new one.

Also, I think the worst thing to do is to empower (again) the greatsword, come on, no other weapon in the game has so many effects condensed in it (#4 is stronger than 2 utility skills!); any big change should be useful to all necros, not just to reapers.

There are many changes that can be done to buff self damage, but as I said earlier, this is not the result I’m trying to reach with this suggestion; my intention was only to make this trait useful in any game type.

insaneseagull.7063:

It would be cool if you could specify in which gamemode you’d like it changed. I,who play alot of pvp,would not like it changed this way.

Here’s an example as to why I would not like to see it changed this way in pvp;

Scenario 1)
Enemy guard runs “Strength in Numbers” and gives 150 toughness to all nearby teammates. If a necro would run this new altered trait then they would just effectively cancel each other out. By instead having it as it is right now then you’d not only cancel out the guardians “Strength in Numbers” trait but also add a bit of damage on top of that through the vuln stacks you’re able to apply effectively.

This is true, the change will bring a small nerf in solo and in some pvp situations…
but on the other hand, this effect cannot be removed/converted/transfered so the enemy will not be able to get rid of it, also you need time to archive max strength with the current trait (3 stacks every 3 seconds).

I believe this change would be for the best, without big drawbacks or too many gains.

It seems this thread is going a bit offtopic…
I wasn’t suggesting this change to fix the necro damage (isn’t that easy to do), I suggested the change so that the trait could be used more globally…

anyway…

To fix the core Necro DS they should simply replace Life Blast with Plague Blast, is already in the game and works so much better (it has been suggested many times).

Initially I also thought about this possibility, but I rejected it for many reasons, here just a few of them:

- This trait is in the Spite tree, usually used only by Power Necros, so is marginal for him to also have an additional condition damage enhacement;
- The change is not a true limitation because generally there are many other skills that allow a Necro to reach 25 Stacks of Vulnerability in solo, in party this little bonus in the physical damage is better than with the current trait that give nothing to the team;
- Having seen a few weeks ago a video made by my guild where condi rangers are able to reach 47k dps makes me think that there is no need to add more fuel to that fire;
- There isn’t a base stat which allows to decrease “condition defence” and all party traits (like Empower Allies) just add a bonus to one stat, not more;
- But mostly I wanted to balance an accettable nerf the solo play to strengthen the team play.

At least that’s how I see it.

My idea is simple, change the trait Rending Shroud in order to make it a bit more useful.
Currently the trait is not so bad when you play by yourself, but when you play in a party it becomes almost useless due to the excessive amount of vulnerability that the different professions can inflict (some of them can reach 25 stack just by themselves).

Now… I would like the trait changed to function as the group empowerment traits (Example: Empower Allies):

current Trait:

  Constantly apply vulnerability to nearby foes while in shroud
    3 Vulnerability (10s): 3% Incoming Damage, 3% Incoming Condition Damage
    Number of Targets: 5 
    Interval: 3s 
    Radius: 360

updated Trait:

  Decreases toughness of nearby foes while in shroud
    Decreased Toughness (9s): -150 Toughness
    Number of Targets: 5 
    Interval: 3s 
    Radius: 360

The new version will works exactly as the old one, just the effect will be different.
The new effect will not stack, will just refresh itself.
The effect is not a condition so cannot be removed or converted.

How much -150 toughness do?

- 2000 armor foe (zerk light armor), about 8% extra physical damage;
- 2600 armor foe (Test Golem), about 6% extra physical damage;
- 4000 armor foe, about 4% extra physical damage.

How will this affect the game?

If you do not use this trait there will be no difference from now… in general only power necros have access to it and generally this trait is not very popular.

With the current trait as the only source of vulneraility you are able to inflict and maintain 9+ stacks on nearby foes when in solo but in a party is wasted because foes get 25 stacks of vulnerability in less then 2 seconds…

With this new version of the trait you will get an avereage of 6% extra physical damage in solo, in party you will not lose it and everyone else that do physical damage will also be able to do more damage.

You can see it like to be able to break the limit of 25 stack of vulnerabilty to reach 31 stacks for physical damage.

What do you think?

It would just be a cheap way to get permaspeed without disadvantages.
I think they should just fix Runes of Speed removing redundant Swiftness Boon with something more useful and would be a bit more popular.

Just an example:
1: +25 Vitality
2: +35 Precision
3: +50 Vitality
4: 25% chance when struck to gain Quickness for 3 seconds. (Cooldown: 45 sec)
5: +100 Vitality
6: -20% Movement Condition Duration applied to you, +25% Movement Speed

Lahmia.2193:

If you’re using Traveler type runes, you clearly aren’t too serious about the build you’re running, even if it had power.
I’m guessing you’re a guardian.

Well, he is free to choose his own build.
I’m guessing you’re an elitist.

Too easy… his name is Sharknado

after absorbing the other dragon powers will become a firenado, a lightingnado and so on… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrylwPQo3Tc

BlackBeard.2873:

Ele won’t get a main-hand weapon because that requires more work to make 12 skills. Expect another off-hand, as they only need 8 skills.

Work is hard.

They can copy/paste the skills from other weapons and classes, if they are suited the specialization I’m not against it.

Whatever, I have never liked swords on mage classes… well, at least it need to be a primary weapon, elementalists don’t need another offhand weapon.

…

Personally I think that a 2 handed spear would be more suitable if we want a martial specialization for this class (I like how Shaolin monks use the “Guan Dao”), perhaps with good adaptability like fire skills to be melee (good dps) and air skills ranged (average dps).
Utility could be martial skills infused with elemental power, and a few traits can strengthen of the weak points of the core elementalist (defense/vitality).
The change to the profession mechanics can be the access to change weapon, 2 elements for ench set of weapon as many ppl have already suggested.
Just an idea, I’m too lazy to detail it and too pessimistic to think will be taken into account

What about to increase damage of bosses by 50% and reduce their health by 30-50%?
(of course, that means that tanks can finish it and zerkers will be shooted at the 1st error XD)

NO, do not dare to nerf the cooldown!

5 – roll back the changes (the skill was already ok, there was no need of any change from the beginning, and anyway noone asked for a boost).

I think dodge should not be linked only to class skills, added vitality (beyond the base of 1000) should give a small bonus to dodge regeneration so that players will be more willing to use it (I think the same for toughness, it should give a little condition reduction).

Narrrz.7532:

StinVec.3621:

Indeed. There are still several enemies and bosses in the game that I have no idea what they look like after 3 years other than what I can see in their picture when I target them.

pic related.

This is why I always play without postprocessing… you cannot even see them using skills that way.

I can agree with many things, but not on these two:

- make enemy bosses DROP LESS AND BETTER STUFF WHEN THEY DO (i rather get nothing,null,zero,0.. then junk, there should be always 1 drop of unique weapon per event with unique skins)
…
– Don’t make bosses time based, but let the reward be time based!

First, RNG is hated by 90% of players; I think bosses (expecially the big ones) should drop with a fair chance a mix of tradeable and not tradeable items that will be used to craft something good, no extremely rare items for few lucky people, just A LOT of work.

Second, time based bosses and rewards just means “only zerk/meta/specific classes”, this can be ok for a few ones, but I would like to see other things as “if you die you get less rewards”, “if you kill it in a specific place you get better rewards”, “if you fight it in a particular way or you do something during the fight you get a specific item”, etc.

Bhawb.7408:

The fix was a nice one. I still agree it has absolutely no need for an ICD though, if Necromancers want to be an idiot and double dodge just for bleeds then who cares.

The ICD is there because of Blood Bond trait, dodging twice will allow you to trigger it.

Well… maybe I’m the only one who liked the way it was, for me it was a good initial attack, but it seems dodge to skip mobs is more important here… I just dream of a day when Anet will change mobs’ AI so that they follow the party throughout the whole instance (I’m not whining, I really hope for it).

Wanze.8410:

Spoon.6170:

Wanze.8410:

Pifil.5193:

The exotics should be salvagable, either way, in order to let people get their runes/sigils back. I personally don’t care if salvaging them would give you back crafting materials or not.

So i just buy melandru gear with karma, as I have about 6 million of it, and get the rune to sell it?

Sounds legit.

No, they are talking about runes that they put in, not runes that were there already. Runes that were added should have some salvage rate, not zero.

Explain me then, how in this scenario, exotic runes leave the economy and you avoid every single rune to be available at vendor value. Not only the exotic ones but also the rares. If there wouldnt be any expensive exotic runes anymore, rare runes would also go towards vendor value.

Original runes will be soulbound, exactly as for dungeon armors.

If Anet wants runes to leave the game, they can enable the recipe to transmute 4 exotic runes to get 1 random exotic rune .

In my opinion they should be salvageable but without giving anything, just the rune / sigil with chance based on the salvage kit used, this would solve everything.

The problem is not the attack, the problem is that the defense sucks in gw2…

Last man standing…

Since Protection is the opposite of Vulnerability, shouldn’t it work the same way?

They should add Ceara (Scarlet Briar) as a legend, I miss her laugh

Maybe a bar in the graphic options to darken the nights up to the level of Snowblind fractal would be nice… and, of course, glowing eyes, moving shadows, and night sounds (owls, wolves ecc) XD

Well, there is already a necro using a GS, and we know his skills…
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Caladbolg

(obviously there is no chance to get them)