Guild Wars 2

Was the million damage all on one Gravedigger?

Amen. (15 characters)

This all brings up interesting questions. If you don’t have full Viper’s yet (let’s say you have 5 pieces (4 armor and a sceptre), what’s the best approach? I incline towards the 4 nightmare/2 traveler’s runes, but what about trinkets and sigils?

LucianDK.8615:

Using 6x strenght myself. Tried Scholar, but couldnt stay high enough on life.

Get high on life.

I really hope ANet does not nerf the mob challenge in the new zones. It’s a breath of fresh air.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I think the only thing I can think of that would be lab-equivalent would be the cof farming, but I doubt mastery farmers would want to let non-80s in. Although, maybe you could ask some of your friends to help you.

Otherwise, event farming is probably it. With the nerf to EotM, that’s pretty slow now too from what I’m hearing.

Thanks. I’ll see if any guildies would be willing to let me in.

Thanks, Kal. And yes, One Prairie, I’m aware of the tomes. Used them on my Revenant. More are inbound as Kal mentioned.

Mad King’s Lab. was just such a crazy amount of XP, I got a little spoiled.

I got the last 26 levels on my Revenant in Mad King’s Labyrinth. Is there something comparable now? I have a Guardian at 58. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the update. Do you know how the elite spec requirement reduction will be implemented? Will we be refunded HPs that we’ve already spent? Or will what we have not yet unlocked just cost less?

Caligatra.6197:

I think the system is fine, it is just the difficulty of having to fight champions that is the problem. Yes it is really hard to find a lot of these hero points, but we aren’t used to truly vertical maps! If the champions were hard to solo but possible I think there’d be less of a problem. Instead they just squish solo players making it nearly impossible to go out to get your elite specialization so you can play as the specialization you want.

I appreciate your perspective, and I would add that the gating of the Hero Points behind the mastery grind is equally frustrating. I wish they were decoupled. By coupling them, they’ve effectively prevented us from experiencing fresh content with the new gameplay options. Not only that, but PvPers and WvWers are doubly screwed.

Most concerns have been addressed here, but I’ll add this one:

For those of us who were really looking forward to new gameplay options (in the form of new specializations) the flow of play in the new zones is now quite frustrating. Repeatedly looking for marginal Hero Point increases only to find that they are gated by a lack of sufficient, or applicable, masteries, or by the requirement of a group, really breaks up the flow of the game.

In GW2 initial, it might have taken some time and effort to map complete a zone, but it always seemed to happen in the flow of playing. In the new zones, at least for me, there is an almost constant rhythm of playing, enjoying the gameplay, running into a wall, banging my head against the wall, realizing I need something I don’t have and am hours away from getting, becoming frustrated, going after a new reward, enjoying the gameplay, running into a wall…(repeat).

And here’s yet another thread discussing this issue when there is a merged, larger thread holding all of people’s opinions about the system right near the top of the thread list.

I’m one of those people who are frustrated and disappointed with the elite spec unlock process, but I love love love the more challenging aspect of the new zones. I just want to play it with a new spec. The way it’s set up, I will have played the new zones over and over with my old spec before I can try out the new one.

Reducing the argument to “you don’t want to work for it/you just want it handed to you” is a very shallow way to look at it.

Note, however, that 60 points just unlocks the weapon skill, the first minor trait in the specialization. To use the weapon effectively, you’ll need somewhere shy of 400 HP. This means you’ll have to play the new zones; and you won’t really be able to use the new weapon there due to the difficulty. Unless you have a group to play with — in that case, you’re good.

I like this idea.

Tasao.4623:

Your build is NOT content!
Your build is how you PLAY content!
Being arbitrarily blocked from experiencing content because of MULTIPLE overlayed gatekeeping systems isn’t fun, creative, or engaging no matter how you attempt to twist it. So why are you defending it?

This ^^

I’m deeply frustrated. First, I learn that it’s going to take me weeks to get to the content (elite specs) that I was interested in, but that these specs are gated behind the same kind of repetitive grind that much of the rest of the game is. I’ve had to do the same things over and over today to achieve a tiny fraction of what I’m going to need to do to unlock 1 elite spec in such a way that it is not a liability to me in the new content.

I’ve been trying to do the hero points but I’ve been rebuffed numerous times by mastery gating, the puzzle-like aspects of the map, and the requirement that other players be around and engaged in what I’m doing in order to accomplish them. In the course of a day, as a counterpoint to the above poster, I’ve been able to gain 50 hero points from the new areas. That’s 12.5% of the way to fully unlocking an elite spec. That’s about 80 hours if it continues like this. I just don’t have that kind of time.

I’ve had some fun running around in my old spec playing GW2 basic, but now I’m stuck repeating content over and over again just to get a mastery that might or might not be able to get me to the next hero point spot. And once I get there, I might or might not be able to get it. So, this is not only trying on my time, but also my patience.

This is frustrating for me, obviously; not fun. I’m not sure I’ll fire up the game again tomorrow. Very disappointed. It’s not okay (to my mind) to have waited so long to see the new features and now have to mind-numbingly grind for them in the same old way. And, as implied, this issue is compounded by feeling like there is no promise that I’ll get to something interesting once I’ve done it enough.

Your data mining will not be able to measure frustration.

Why did you gate the new specs behind all this stuff? Why not reward the people who supported you by allowing them a new experience from the get-go?

I’ve been playing much of the day and am even more of the same opinion as Pezz than when I initially posted. It doesn’t help that the first map has multiple mastery gates to getting to the hero points. I hadn’t played my necro in a long time and had only 69 HP stored up. There are 11 HP spots on the first map, which adds up to 110 HP. Even after I grind up all the first zones mastery, I won’t even be halfway to unlocking the spec. Indeed, I will have completed most of the new content before being able to go full Reaper.
As it should be, the new content is more challenging — which is a positive — but it makes using less than half a specialization even less appealing. I’m up for suggestions regarding accelerating my HP acquisition.
None of this is to say that I disrespect anyone who likes the new system, just that it’s not really working for me.

I’m with you, too. It makes no sense to gate the full specialization unlock behind new content grinds or even old content grinds. Effectively, for some time, the expansion will merely be a new zone for me.
And, yes, you can certainly accuse me of having the wrong expectations — guilty as charged — but I’m sure many of us who don’t comb through these forums regularly are in the same boat. I’m not going to make a huge issue out of it, but I don’t think it’s crazy to have expected an expansion to give me immediate access to some really fun new toys.

gotem.5284:

BM bunker build is still strong to the point I switched specs out of boredom. These boards are so far off when it comes to the current state of the ranger… but then again so is every class board.

I don’t doubt you’re right, but perhaps you could enlighten us (or at least me) about the “current state of the ranger”, rather than just saying everyone’s wrong. I’m not attacking you, just very interested in what is actually going on beneath the public despair.

Rigel, this sounds like just what I’m looking for. Seems like it would work in dungeons, too. What do you run for skills besides well of corruption, well of suffering and spectral walk — or are you always using those?

Tobbygnome.6793:

I’ve been playing conditions in sPvP all day since the patch, the more i play the more i see people getting better at dealing with us already.

Zerkers are really easy to pick off, some even die before i leave DS after a combo, but people with proper gear are very fun to verse now.

There are still ignorant people though who think they can still ignore Necros damage and let themselves bleed a ton before doing something about it.

My advice to anyone with extremely strong opinions towards one side of this Necro discussion, is to play the other classes first. Back when i was having trouble with Mesmer, i made one and was blown away by some of their damage potential.

If you consider yourself a good player, which most of you probably do, then you can pick up the other classes easily within a couple hours, and you will have a better perspective of where Necros stand in terms of balance.

Being reasonable is futile.

Someone said Ele’s are “noob friendly”. Not to derail, but that’s just not true. Warriors are noob friendly, Ele’s require quick thinking, good class understanding and decent reaction speed to level. Things might be a lot easier at 80 but definitely not a noob friendly class on the way.

This thread is about leveling:

I have an Elementalist at level 19 (almost 20) and, although fun, have been struggling getting a handle on it. I followed some of the great advice here (D/D approach, S/D approach, Staff approach) but still often feel I have to work my butt off when soloing (everything things feels like butter in a group) and die frequently to veterans and groups. So, while not soliciting direct advice, I’m wondering if others can share insight on how their ele’s evolved over the leveling progression. Do I have things/milestones to look forward to? Is it always going to be a major challenge to solo level? When did Elementalist “click” for you and why?

Thanks in advance. Also, if you think this is a redundant thread, I would be very grateful if you pointed me in the direction of something similar.