Guild Wars 2

Hey guys! So recently I have been super into raids and t4s. As I have been doing this, there has been a lot that I have learned about this game due to the incredibly challenging content. One of these things is the importance of rotations. There are various sites (qtfy.eu, metabattles, etc) that have top build and rotations that I have learned from, as well as my guild raid leaders sharing them with me. These all have one common hindrance when I am trying to learn though: they are usually just a giant wall of text. I can’t learn very fast that way; I am a highly visual learner. I noticed though that there is nothing out there for nicely presenting rotations. Being a Software Engineer, I decided to make one myself! It is a simple program so you can visually create and share your rotations. I figured I’d share it with you guys in case it could help any of you like it has helped me Here is a link to it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j2yzqzoa78mefao/GW2RotationViewerSetupV1.1.1.0.exe?dl=0

It’s super easy to use.
First you create a new group of rotations by typing in a group name, then clicking the Add Group button (you can also use this just to add a line of text).
You can then add any skill to the rotation by double clicking on the skill or by selecting it and clicking the Add Selected Skill button.
You can search for a specific skill by typing it’s name in the text box at the top and clicking the Search button. Clicking the undo button will remove the last skill / group in your rotation.
The Print Rotation button allows you to print your rotation. You can select a PDF printer to save it as a PDF if you want a digital copy.
The Save Rotation and Load Rotation buttons allow you to save and load your rotations into .rot files for future use.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to let me know; I am always willing to update it and add new features!!!!

Here are some sample of rotations from qtfy that my program has generated.
Condi Ranger: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd3mylievanf8ti/CondiRanger.pdf?dl=0
Condi Reaper: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ho86x3s2tbc13yo/CondiReaper.pdf?dl=0
FA Scepter / Warhorn Tempest: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bc78bq4ah3lew24/FAScepterWarhornTempestRotation.pdf?dl=0

It is sad that you had to go through a crappy experience like that, and for that, you have my empathy. However, I feel that it is important to note that it wasn’t a DPS meter that kicked you from the party; it was a toxic player. Even if Anet did re-ban DPS meters, this issue would not go away. In fact I dare to say it would be even worse because players would subjectively guess your DPS and kick you because of their guess. Back when you had to do 4 fractals in 1 run and memory DPS meters were against the TOS, I had been kicked because the other 4 players who were all guild members decided at the end of the last fractal to kick me because they merely felt I had not done enough DPS. Situations like this are A LOT more toxic and bad for the community. I’m sorry that some elitists kicked you, but it’s really because your party members were crappy. I’m a huge advocate for DPS meters. I’m no elitist, and I only learned about DPS meters maybe a month ago, but what they can accomplish when used for the greater good is pretty amazing in terms of personal growth. A guild recently joined for raiding uses them to generate reports at the end of each raid to show how we did and what we can do to improve. Our Chronomancer can see how often squad members lose alacrity, our druid can review heals across all the squad members, and I personally (a DPS role Condition Ranger) can see how I stack up next to my squad mates and gives me something to aim for in my next raid. All people should have the right to play how they want.

If people want to focus on personal growth, they should have the rights to tools to aid them in that, not stripped away because a couple of idiots misused them. I personally feel that one way ANet could solve this problem is to implement their own group DPS meter into the game that could log reports. As in in game option, you could make your DPS visible to other players. This would allow for the best of both worlds, and other DPS meters would begin to fade away since it would already be an in-game feature. This would cause a reduction in gear meters as well.

Also, if the player knew your gear, report them because they are indeed breaking the TOS. However, I do know that some people can tell based on default skins for some gear. I have a friend very into Fashion Wars that is quite good at that.

After reading everyone’s opinions, I can understand why some would wish not to keep it permanent, and these reasons are probably the same as ANet’s reasoning. However, at the same time, many players did not feel that they got enough time; one of which pointingredients out that they never even got a chance to really play tribulation mode, another due to Internet problems, etc. Though I do not claim to have deep knowledge over the sustainability of the player base, I’m willing to bet that most players are casual, and play Guild Wars 2 only in spurts. Players like these are likely to never have a chance at trying the Super Adventure Box.

So my suggestion: why not a compromise? Though it may not have endless content, I personally feel that the Super Adventure Box has more “meat” to it then many of the other holiday events. I feel that by either increasing the frequency of the Super Adventure Box event, we get the best of both worlds. It still remains special because of the lack of presence, it would give hard core players more of a chance at completing the many different things within it, and it would give casual players a higher chance to play during a time when it is actually going on. I mean, let’s face it; the Super Adventure Box is not a holiday. It doesn’t have the same time restrictions that Wintersday or Halloween have. This is what would make the higher frequency idea feasible. Maybe once every have a 3 month interval then put it out for a month: rinse and repeat. That way we’d get it 3 times per year, while on that same token, it still remains special.

As the same as last time, it is incredibly sad to see the Super Adventure Box go. After it’s initial release (a couple of years back I think), it seemed that the Super Adventure Box was a big hit. Many were sad to see it go, as it was an incredibly fun part of the game, and as time passed, even new players that came into the game and saw YouTube videos of it, wished for the Super Adventure Box to return once again. ANet has always been great at identifying player needs, and meeting them, and this was no exception; ANet brought back the Super Adventure Box to the world of Tyria! Sadly though, as this month comes to a draw, the Super Adventure Box has once again left us. I am sad to see it go once again, and I KNOW that I’m not the only one that feels this way. So my suggestion: why not keep the Super Adventure Box around as a permanent feature?

The first thing that I think that’s important to realize is that the Super Adventure Box is not like many of the other events that we have seen in Guild Wars 2. Most short term events in Guild Wars 2 involve a small story around mechanics that are already a part of the core game (fight some monsters, win a race, etc.). Once in a while though, ANET develops some “one-of-a-kind” content that is a totally new and original piece of game play; something that the players truly enjoy. ANET typically tries to then add this mechanic to the game. Take the Aspects found in Dry Top for instance. The Aspects were a very new, fun part of the Festival of the Four Winds. They added new game play that players really did enjoy. ANet’s next move was a smart one; they incorporated aspects in the main game play through Dry Top. Similarly, I feel that the Super Adventure Box brought something very unique to the table. Out of the 1,700 hours that I have put into this game, I feel that the Super Adventure Box is a nice relaxing break from the immersion. Typically when I start getting tired of Guild Wars for the night, I begin browsing my Steam library for a game that is a bit less intense that I can unwind on. The Super Adventure Box brought that to the table. If I wanted something a bit more challenging, I could play the Super Adventure Box on Tribulation mode, which is a lot of fun to me. Correction: was a lot of fun to me. Now it is gone though once again.

With the updates that were made, I feel that it was plenty sustainable. Sure it may need occasional maintenance, but what part of any game doesn’t? I guess my real point here is why take away something that the players really love? As I said earlier, I know that I’m not the only one that feels this way, which is why I want to push for the Super Adventure Box to become a permanent feature of Guild Wars 2. As a previous guild leader, I understand that this game is all about the community and keeping the players happy. This would be an easy way for you to do that ANet! I don’t know; maybe I just sound like some whiny brat who wants his mini-game back. I truly feel though that this is something that the community wants, and I really do care about this game. Through Guild Wars 2, I have met many people, and many friends. I’ve played many games, MMOs in particular, but wheather it be WOW, DDO, or LoL, I can undoubtedly and wholeheartedly say that I have never found a community in a game as great as the one in Guild Wars 2. I just want to continue to see that community flourish and be happy as I’m sure you do too, ANet.