Guild Wars 2

Ryn.6459:

Why dont you go and play a game based on trinity? I really like the fact if you have skill you dont need passive defenses.

Why, yeah really why? I do actually play other games, its not the point.

GW2 devs created a wide variety of stats, item suffixes and trait lines. Which of about 10% is used in 90% of the game. Now if they said at some point “it is working as intended and we meant the whole PvE to be about damage and dodge” it would be fine, or at least it would be another topic.

But they don’t. They did actually communicate on the fact that Zerk meta isn’t healthy for the game, and we still… have that.

Now about the skill factor. Stacking toughness or vitality will not make you any better at PvE, with or without skill. First, most big attack will kill you anyways, second, it is much safer to assume you will kill before you get killed, which at the end of the day isn’t involving any more skill.

Skill would eventually be knowing which attack you must dodge, and which you must take knowing your fellow team members will help you survive until the next one.

I am not saying the game does not involve any skill (tho it is mostly knowledge and habit, but heck, what is skill anyways?) but the presence of skill is not at all related to the fact healing sucks and all PvE is about DPS.

I was so hyped after hearing all the dev comments at twitchcon and others. They said “the berserker meta wont make it”, “we think its not healthy for the game”, “if you are in the jungle you will be very happy to see a druid coming up!”.

After 3 weeks, full maguuma exploration, a few WvW evenings and a bunch of high fractal stuff the status of group gameplay is grim.
Dungeons and Fractal haven’t changed an inch besides lower rewards, condi over direct damage and OP alacrity (yes you know it will be nerfed, and/or its going to spread to some profs, but its not the topic).
So basically it is still just dps dps dps dps dps all over the place.

Same goes for world events and exploration. Once you know the few tricks and what to dodge there is 0 reason to run any stat that is not pure damage. I wont go over how great and immersive the new zones are and stuff, there are many good points in the expand, but the gameplay, or, the meta gameplay is still completely ridiculous.

Heals are bad, scale bad with healing power, are narrow, short ranged, at best situationnal. Defensive buffs besides projectile reflect are completely useless.

The brought two “new” pure healing lines to the game (druid and ventari) and no one ever uses them in a PvE environment.

They said raids will bring utility to the other 12376123 suffix stats set they created and no one ever used. I hardly believe it, and even if they do what about the rest of the game?

Skirmish is good. Tho the quickness under 50.% is rather good for going avatar, the power scale on healing offers alost as much dps and the protection and weakness uptime is heavy. But yeah, quick draw… Its really good on kitten auto weapons.

I run at the moment. The idea is to bring “some” decent dps along with huge burst healing and actually quite a bit of CC and melee disruption.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWRn0rCNsgVsCGsCctglFBDeqeV/qOjuSQqbpFEAGcnshrsC-TVyDABEqE0S1fea/hrU+BwlAAPdAupJ4/HAAEHBAA-w

Druid line doesnt give much damage mods but Beastmastery and Nature Magic aren’t also wonderful options for direct damage.
Now Grace of the Land + Seed of Life + Glyph of Empowerment (Unity and Rejuvenation) seem to be a considerable group damage boost in addition to potential “free” group healing. Not to mention the Scholar uptime boost.

1- Rune of the Ranger : Bonus works for mermer clones/fantasm? Works for minis?

2- Exoctic Weapon + Sigil of the Night > Ascended Weapon + Sigil of Strengh?

(more to come)

How would you rate best prof as :
1- Best dungeon soloer
2- Best Orr/Karka gatherer/soloer
3- Best WvW event/player soloer
4- Best World Event (ie AoE tag essentially) participant
5- Best puzzle jumper (ignoring portals)

To level up crafting skill to 500 I basically need no craft these Orichalcum items right? Is there any fancy new way to farm Ori? Or is it still the Orr runs?

I m a bit overwhelmed with the things to do.
How would you list the things to do returning after 6ish month with 400 crafting skill and only ascended jewelry?

A few questions for you if you dont mind (I have log in since they implemented WvW Fresh Air)

1- A lot of people seem to use Focus now, I dont really see how it changed from junk to supercool.

2- People talk about Nomad, Assassin and such gear type. Where can I see the new gear?

3- Back in the day some items were stronger in term of statweight because of +crit damage. Does the new ferocity (or something) stat normalise everything and it doesnt matter what item you put where?

4- Also back in the days Soldier gear ended up with better result than Knight because Power having so much impact on damage. How come people tend to go for Assassin (more prec?) rather than Berzerk now?

5- (edited) Are Elems still laughable damage dealers compared to Warriors. Are they still not as needed as Guardian/Mesmer as support?

All the sticky guides on the Elem forums claims to be “top notch min maxing calculation” but they are all 5+ moth old. Haven’t the game change?

I wasnt very sure in what section to post that. I think class balancing has the most links.

I am planning to eventually return on GW2 but I ö afraid I still be disappointed by a few aspect of the game. Can you tell me please (without discussing if they were ever true really) if they are still true or have changed in the mate game :

1- PvE (and the whole game to some extend) is all about damage and keep yourself alive.

2- (linked) Besides very specific situation (ie ranged shelter) there is no reliable support, healing or aggro management whatsoever.

3- In PvE warriors deal the kitten out. Other professions are meh (besides eventually mesmer/guardian making warrior better/faster).

4- There is not seriously viable condition PvE damage build (due to stacking issues, short fights, etc…)

5- There’s still the 5 target limit on AoE. Making non-siege AoE damage hardly impacting and making plated zerg the one-way-win on RvR.

If the goal is perma fury/25 might you will need EA. If its not noone would waste 30 pts in fire.

Only because you dont read the whole thread bro.

30-10-0-0-30 isnt “good”. Its the best way to supply perma fury and might.
If someone is ever going 30 fire and SD for group damage boons than its the way to go.

Actually it doesnt.
3 might on Cantrip hardly makes it for the extra boon duration on Intelligence and the extra might uptime of shorter cooldown for Elemental Attunement.

Worste, Blast isnt just “3 might for you”. Its 3 might AND fury for the WHOLE team.

The only reason to take 20 in water would be for Piercing Shard+Vital Striking but losing EA is just too expensive if you go for damage support.

The optimal build for damage support (considering you dont team a lot with warriors) would be 30-10-0-0-30

Bolt to the Heart being less damage than Stone Splinter or Vital Striking but the 100prec+10% crit dmg makes it almost as good if you consider both other traits may not have 100% uptime.

Also, you have to understand Churning Earth is a bad skill on single target. Its great burst but its damage/casting time makes it hardly better than an auto attack. With EA you also dont really need the blast component to keep the might and fury up.
Building around having LF for every CE is a bad strategy in PvE.

Vaugh.7193:

I use 30/0/0/20/20. Trying to stack as much might/fury I can. Zerker gear, get as much crit dmg and crit % as possible.

I would really go for 30 in fire and Arcane of you plan on stacking might/fury. EA is a quarantied blast every 9 seconds.

As for gear, zerker is always the best, Scholar runes are always the best.

Scepter has very bad auto attack, it will never match dagger in term of personnal dps.

If you call offensive support “dps” than you can pull perma fury+25might with SD but your personnal dps will be low’ish.

As for pure dps as an Elem, whatever weapon you use, the best is always :
10-30-10-10-5 (last 5 points hardly matter)

Leuca.5732:

Powers of destruction sounds really supportive to me.

Dead stuff dont hit back right? Thats heavy support!

Joke aside, the jack of all trades state of the Elems makes me think of feral druids on vanilla WoW. Thats not a very good place to be!

It took me some tries on Elem (actually not much after I understood I have to take foods).
Did it in D/D with mucho stability, movement and healing (0/0/20/20/30).

CCing the dog is hardly an option, you have to be faster and survive long enough to have food buffs.

Full damage Elem S/F (10/30/10/15/5).
Only auto attack and Atunement swap (Air/Earth/Air/Water/Air/Fire/Air…) you just have to pay attention to move around sometimes cause Air#1 does some damage on the line to the target.

C’mon guys. Jannah is nice, Logan is nice, Kiel is nice and no one ever thought she could ever not win the politics since Evon was the “bad guy”. Anet writers also did Carebears and Rainbow Brite, were you ever surprised, just once, by the personal story line?

Azraelle.1683:

You don’t need to force yourself. Just forget about gauntlet.

My whole point. People should avoid it. Its very bad and may disgust you of the whole game.

How many people will rage-quit or leave GW2 after Queen’s Gauntlet?

A game is not about one event, I mean, you can perfectly enjoy GW2 and not do one single of the Gauntlet fights. However you always have reasons not to play a game or to platy another (MMOs are often exclusive to each other), the feeling of rage and frustration Gauntlet challenges bring can absolutely be the spark that lights the “screw this game” bonfire.

I don’t mind hard, hard is good. Frustrating isn’t.
- Bad cam angles with the dome
- Lag due to zerg fighting under
- Having to change/remove graphic options to make it playable (ie post-processing)
- Having to queue for challenges (or look for another Overflow, either way time consuming), seriously? Queue for solo? The duel is not even watchable with the glass dome thing.
- Having to run back from the bottom or plant a friend near you for rez (like losing durability and dieing was not enough of a punishment)
- Having to farm tickets, I don’t know why Anet felt it was anymore “fun”

I just got 11/11 achievements so its perfectly doable but I had to force myself not to give up and even had to reinstall stuff on Steam to take a break, just going on WvW/Dungeon wasn’t enough, I had to go away.

Now what? I don’t want to log on anymore. Maybe it the “that’s done” feeling but it didn’t happened achievements before. After insulting my characters for hours and being so frustrated I have this feeling the whole game is a source of nerd rage.
Maybe I need time.

Anyways, if you love GW2, please do yourself a favor. Don’t do Queen’s Gauntlet.

Use it like eat it? If I keep picking meat I cant dps

Anyone did the Gauntlet fight with the Norn and his dog? If I kill the guy the dog oneshots me and if I dont he keeps healing the pet with meat.

I tried to “steal” meats from the dog but than I hardly do do any damage and time up.

- Let us use utilities/heal in tornado.
- Glyph is fine’ish, Earth Elem could have an Unsteady Ground.
- FGS is half useless half broken. I dont really like the way it is right now (ie sickkitten crazy nonesense PvE damage against cornered mobs and hardly effective the rest of the time).

10/30/10/15/5 does the job. Obviously in Berzerker. Weapon usage depends on the fights and the team, D/D will aways be ahead but many events requires you to be ranged.

There are other builds, perma fury25might with 30 fire and EA is a good group buff but it only shines if noone else supplies fury and might.

Perma burn25bleed with heavy cond damage and cond duration using Rampager can also pull impressive damage but if you have already bleed or/and burn in the group you wont be half as effective as a direct damager.

As for defensive support even if you can actually pull some decent HPS out of S/D with EA and healing ripple you have to understand the PvE right now is almost only about damage. And guardians, but also damage. And guardians.

I’v got 100% world exploration since awhile but for some reason I have Magguma jungle achievement at 163/167 and Shiverpeaks at 172/173 in the achievement window.

I’d like to complete the achievements for the 20 points I lack but its freaking impossible to find what I missed since all zones appear as complete. Any tip?

World of Warcraft never was PvP oriented, SWtOR wasnt neither (and was such a failure that I dont think you want to compare it to antything), Bioware didnt develloped WAR, Anet did GuildWars 1 and 2. Both are PvP oriented, GW1 didnt have stealth.

Anet tried, with some success, to go away from many classic MMO features. Some are a success, some are a major flaw. Stealth in general, and Thieves’s stealth even more, is a design mistake (like healing scale is, like rally is…)

Aberrant.6749:

Loi.5401:

Stealth equals invincibility.

This is what most new/bad players seem to think. He stealthed, what do?!

Thieves are fine. Stealth isnt for anyone, anytime.
Any game designer with half a brain wouldnt allow stealth in a PvP game.

DeadlySynz.3471:

The downed state/rally mechanic is neither interesting, strategic, or skillful.

You can support downed. It does make things different.
Rally however is completely stupid. Just because your target spammed some AoEs and hit some wolf or naked lowby running by he deserves not to get stomped? Seriously?

Actually Rally MAKES downed looks bad because it completely screws the rez/stomp system.

So basically the fix to uttersucks elite is to nerf racials right?

Lord Kuru.3685:

I think the real problem is not that the Norn Elite is OP — as others have mentioned, taking it often gimps their offensive capabilities. The problem is the asymmetry in rewards. If the Norn beats you, he stakes you and gets badges/loot or simply the satisfaction of having staked you. If you beat the Norn, he escapes at the last moment using his elite. This asymmetry makes people unhappy.

In my opinion, this is the same problem with thieves. They win: they get loot/satisfaction from staking you/teabagging rights. You win: they stealth and run away. Whether they are OP is actually a different problem!

Or they can chose to use an actual Elite skill in order to win the fight?

Jabberwock.9014:

Hi, I’m a baddie.

The very few Norns using Lepard Elite is those with extremely sucky profession Elite skills. Give a serious look at Norn racials before calling for a nerf.

There is not ONE situation that doesnt make rally bad.

1- Ridiculous in PvP
2- Trivialise PvE
3- Useless or OP in solo depending on professions

One day someone at Anet is going to have to stand and remove this bullkitten. But it wont happend before 2 or 3 years, these kind of change* requieres insight and courage so never happends when the game is on the "rising".

(* that and stealth, buff range, healing reliability, AoE limit...)

Remove Stealth. Add reliable healing. This game will become interesting.

Stealth mechanism is a bad in a PvP oriented* game. GW2 had already 2 stealth professions, now it has 3. Rangers are fine, the design is flawed.

• Dont tell me GW2 has PvE please

By the way I hope they will give a place for large scale deathmatch seomday because GvG is messing with WvW population balance.

Saying f* every 2 seconds makes the comments not understandable.

Zelyhn.8069:

I cannot agree with you Innocent Ouarior.
In my signature I have a link to my guide, in which I explain that LH is situational.
Swicthing the pieces that have a bad ratio to rampager is not a dps gain, because if you want to use that extra condition damage you need to apply bleed, which makes you use a suboptimal auto-attack.

LH is situational. It should be used in the situation when you can use it because it increases your dps.

Rampager depends on the weapon use. However nearly every non-FA rotations have condition component and the dps gain from zerker legs/2h is extremely low.

(edit: tu prétends que les armes invoquées t’empèchent de bénificier des changements d’affinités et de discharge?! Depuis quand?)

If you are a PvE Elem you want to use Lightning Hammer everytime you can (it doesnt mean you have to spec for it). That means Zerk gear.

When you cant use Hammer it may be a slight dps gain to switch for Rampager on hight priced crit damage slots (legs, 2hands, chest).

You can do good as full rampager/condition build but it requieres you to team up with low bleed/burn teamates to shine.

Bloodmage spec (which sounds 10 times cooler than Condimentalist), that being full Rampager perma 25bleed+burn using does incredibly good single target PvE damage as long as your team doesnt use much bleeds and burn. With sharing poison Thief or Poison Filed supplied its even more impressive.

Of course its a very niche.

Staff has static field and its the only reason anyone wants to see an Elem in WvW. Everything else can be done better by other professions.

Idea:
1- Remove all conjure
2- Have CFG as Elite
3- When you cast CFG you have access to Frostbow when attuned to water, shield when earth, hammer when air, greatsword when fire
4- Remove charges and trait. Make it 50% uptime (une minute/one minute maybe)

Leo G.4501:

But blink doesn’t do damage. Lightning Flash always did damage, it just does more now.

The only thing LF damage did, and still does, is removing Aegis. 50% of crap is half a crap.

I wont reply to the rest of the troll.

Zelyhn.8069:

So what I mean is: take a step back, look at the bigger picture, you probably need to adapt but we have received quite a buff

If I keep steping back I wont see anything believe me.

Making GoEP instent isnt “nice”, its common sense. Having a stun breaker on something you want to burn on cooldown is ridiculous.

What other glyph was a good client? Probably pet, even Storms, but there’s always the solution to create new abilities! Heck, even calling Cleansing Fire a Glyph would have been better.

As for Lightning Flash, if they want to make damage out of it than put actual damage! Right now, even buffed, it looks like the kittened little brother of Blink.

Stealth.9324:

With the current patch being released today, Fresh Air trait is really caught my attention. Is it just a coincidence or there is something else behind this change? My prediction is in the future, we will see similar Grandmaster trait on Fire,Water, and Earth Tree, maybe something like this:

Grandmaster Earth Trait (name) : When you get disabled (immobilise, Stun,Dazed,etc..)
reset your Earth Attunment recharge rate.

Grandmaster Water Trait (name): When you have 4 or more Conditions on you, reset your Water Attunment recharge Rate.

Like I said hunders of time:
- Remove/Rework Intelligence
- Put a “go back to the attunement feat for all Elements”. I would have supported a passive CD reduction scaling on the trait point invested but Fresh Air is also a path.

I understand that. But the changes looks like its whack a mole balancing with no thinking whatsoever. Like some guy poped after 3 month holydays and said “ok thats the problem we just change that that that, good, see you in three month!”.

I understand the need of giving stun breakers to Glyphs but GoPE? Seriously?

I understand the need of nerfing damage boost in water line but, but in a half with no support compensation?

I understand cantrips are too good (or populaor, or the rest just sucks) but adding damage on lightning flash? Seriously?

It doesnt make sense, none of this does. Are people playing the game before making decisions?

Thaia.5146:

A nice bunchload of crapola

Besides,

- Frech Air is a good move toward the right direction. Next step is to change Intelligence and to have Fresh “Element” in every trait line.

- Nerfing Bountyfull Boons is a good move… if it was compensated by a support buff (Increasing heal/buff range would be the best path).

- Nothing on conjured weapons indicates Anet actually consider they are cosmetic toys.

- We’ll see on the long run if Staff buff does make a diference. I would have liked a real instent heavy damage spell somewhere (fromtload damage Lava Font, instent Ice Spike or triggered Eruption).

- I wouldnt have hit so kitten Cleansing Fire.

- Glyph of Elemtal Powers as stun breaker isnt maybe the best play since you pretty much want to use it on cooldown to have the maximum uptime.