Guild Wars 2

Honestly I think conditions still aren’t that great for zerg fights, and with the stability change, hammer trains are a common appearance. So definitely switch to power.

Guardians provide great utility and make up the frontline with Warriors.
Your stats should go survivability>damage
You could run unkillable Nomads or even healing Clerics, but I think the healing should be left for water field blasting.
I personally run Soldiers (haven’t changed from the stability nerf) with Melandru Runes (the cheaper variant).

With the True Shot nerf, it’s getting harder and harder to choose the Longbow over Hammer/GS, unless you’re running havoc or pirate ship.
Focus is a bit selfish. Shield is a better option for zerg fighting, and you can’t beat the loot stick.

CrimsonNeonite.1048:

I don’t mind that there’s more roamers now, the only thing is I’ve seen a dozen Condi PU mesmers since. Anyway it’s much better to roam as group, especially as a thief, unless you run into scrubs, you can duel, but some builds have way too much sustain to fight 1v1 .

I mostly solo roam and actively look for duels.
I really haven’t fought anyone using tanky sustain builds (except druids, those i’ll just avoid unless I know they’re a trapper)
Most duelers I think try to improve their personal gameplay, and think cheesy “carried by build” builds don’t help them improve.

But then you have the occasional gank groups who run these builds. don’t take it personally that they bm after ganking you.

Volatile.8452:

Hexalot.8194:

Josh XT.6053:

Not enough “thanks” go out to the ANet guys I think. I gave a lot of negative feedback when HoT came out and am happy to see they’re turning things around.

That said, in NA, the server tiers have been shaken up greatly and I’m loving seeing different servers to fight more often. I’m on Blackgate and we’ve been fighting Jade Quarry and Yaks bend for god knows how long, now we’re getting Dragonbrand and TC in the mix too. It has been a lot of fun seeing some different servers without having to transfer around.

Very interesting that Yaks Bend and Jade Quarry have dropped to Tier 2 after being in tier 1 for so long as well.

JQ yes, but Yaks hasn’t been in T1 that long compared to the other traditional T1 servers. Six months at the most maybe ?

But we (Yaks Bend) were winning almost every single week. I actually stopped playing WvW because some weeks we would be 80k points ahead of BG.

As was stated earlier, YB lost a few guilds to TC that inevitably led to a drop to Tier 2. Currently we are beating JQ and FA, but it’s a lot more evenly matched than the blowouts that were happening vs BG after the guilds transferred. I could head to EB in primetime and we were outnumbered because we were losing so bad that no one bothered to play. I think the new matchups have been working much better so far and I’ve had some really fun smaller scale battles with FA and JQ. I, for one, hope these tier shakeups continue.

I think YB’s fairweathers are a lot more volatile than most servers. When we lose, we lose by a lot, but when we are winning, it’s endless queues and blobs.
Hopefully the guild migration is enough to counteract the inevitable return of fairweathers.

apharma.3741:

nativity.3057:

apharma.3741:

Lol, anyone thinking mesmer is fine or OP hasn’t really committed to realising how face roll other classes are.

I main ele though Mesmer is my second most played, often I’m there thinking “why should I play my mesmer when my ele is so much more useful?” I also have some form of diversity with ele across all modes, something mesmer is woefully lacking.

Still play power shatter in WvW though, still wreck clueless people in an embarrassing fashion.

Alacrity and Moa nerfs were fine. You really think 10 seconds of Moa is necessary? Your burst takes less than 5, the passive on the signet is still amazing, and only bad mesmers use it when 1v1 dueling.

People complaining about mesmer “nerfs” haven’t played other classes besides FoTM ones.

So…wanna point to me where I said anything about Moa or alacrity nerfs? Oh wait, here’s a better idea, go through my posts and go find me something where I say Moa with CS was fine and didn’t need tuning down.

Oh wait you can’t because you saw a comment you didn’t like, face rolled across your keyboard in response that had nothing to do with what was put. Sorry if you don’t like the truth but most HoT classes and the meta builds we have with them are face roll compared to pre HoT and certainly 2 years ago.

Let me spell it out for you:
PvE: Mesmer has 1 and only 1 build and is exclusively support. It’s DPS is so embarrassing that if anyone seriously says Mesmer dps is good they should be seriously checked for brain damage.

WvW: Roaming, sure condition chrono or sceptre torch old condition roamer is really strong but as soon as you get to 10+ fights Mesmer quickly drops to poor bottom with thief for those fights.

PvP: 1 build, that’s it. No power shatter, heck Frostball even popped onto the forums and said that base mesmer isn’t competitive and chronopower isn’t very good either. Once the nerf seals have smacked their flippers together hard enough that conditions get gutted on mesmer we will have 0 viability outside of portal.

You’ve never distinguished between elite specs and base class, so I don’t know where you’re getting your anger from…

But in regards to that…

PvE: Mesmers will always have a spot in raids.
There are other classes who don’t even have the option of support or are considered top DPS, but any class can be run. Complaining about PvE is just complaining for complaints sake.

WvW: Mesmers are top 3 for roaming (thief and rangers being the other two)
Mesmers, even condi mesmers, can solo clear camps faster than many other classes.
Condi and power both work, I like to run power more than condi.
Instagibs are possible, condi specs are insanely overpowered, and if you 1v1 duel, that’s more up to your skill than the class.
Mesmers are great for small group roaming, and provide utility for zergs, while also being able to pick out priority targets.
The stab change made hammer trains reappear, and yeah, if you’re a light armor squishy, hammer trains are not your friend. But this means you have to position better, better than how you positioned in the “brain-dead” pirate-ship meta.

PvP: “Only 1 build”
Sorry to say, that’s the case for a lot of classes, and some classes’ one build aren’t as good as Mesmers. I main Guard, so I’m familiar with having only one viable build, but that’s the past. Now, Guards can’t keep up in damage or support.
Take a look at Mesmer’s relative viability. It’s considered S-tier along with Revenants.

apharma.3741:

Lol, anyone thinking mesmer is fine or OP hasn’t really committed to realising how face roll other classes are.

I main ele though Mesmer is my second most played, often I’m there thinking “why should I play my mesmer when my ele is so much more useful?” I also have some form of diversity with ele across all modes, something mesmer is woefully lacking.

Still play power shatter in WvW though, still wreck clueless people in an embarrassing fashion.

Alacrity and Moa nerfs were fine. You really think 10 seconds of Moa is necessary? Your burst takes less than 5, the passive on the signet is still amazing, and only bad mesmers use it when 1v1 dueling.

People complaining about mesmer “nerfs” haven’t played other classes besides FoTM ones.

Josh XT.6053:

To those screaming “Duel in guild hall, eotm or OS” – I have bad news for you. I don’t know ANY of the people I am dueling ever lmao. We usually just run in to each other, bow and go. We don’t just have a community of duelers looking for duels, its usually people solo roaming who run into another solo roamer.

1v1s are tests of personal skill – some people just don’t have that which is why they zerg around all the time I suppose.

LF Dueling LFG (Cross worlds) please

lol

OT: There are certain rules you abide by when dueling. I really hate gank squads that actively look for duelers (actively go to areas known for dueling just to nab an easy bag). Most of the time zergs ignore those areas because it’s not an efficient path, and on the rare occasion they do, the squirrels end up getting stomped.

Now that HAMMER TRAINS are slightly back, we’ve seen an influx of returning players.

I’m on NA Tier 1 (Yak’s Bend), and I guess my experience will be different from players in T3 and below, but I’m constantly experiencing lag, to the point where zerg fighting requires me to cast skills seconds earlier, kinda hard when Teamspeak is real time.

I’ve noted that it’s only on WvW. PvP and PvE ping for me stays at a constant 40-60 range, whereas WvW will take me from 40 to 3000 and average around 500 ping. Even roaming solo I get these massive ping spikes.

Now, add in WvW world linking, increasing player population, and you see that the lag will only get worse, unless Anet addresses some hardware issues on their end.
I understand getting WvW to work smoothly is a hard challenge, but when it’s NA prime time and in Tier 1 only EBG has a 10 man queue, I don’t see why there’s lag.

Keep away from Tier 1 or Tier 2
Never-ending blobs that will squirrel to get you, havoc groups that will hunt solo roamers, and gank squads that toss siege after 5+v1’ing you.

I would assume T3-T4 would get you the most action, but the quality of roamers would be better at the lower tiers.

Straegen.2938:

zhonnika.1784:

Yeah, where YB is right now, is where JQ and BG were…. three years ago. Therein lies the problem. We’re way past that stage, and won’t be able to recruit to match that level of coverage unless anet intervenes with population balance. So, of course things are chill and easy on YB. I mean, what’s your competition? Doors for 3 timezones? Who wouldn’t be relaxed dealing with that. You’ve literally got 0 challenge for first place.

To me NA Prime BG and JQ are both sort of stuck in an old school blob mentality in a game that really doesn’t do blob fights well. A fundamental problem with WvW is that on one hand it promotes blobbing via commander tags and PvD but on the other it generates too much lag and less interesting red circle fights.

As for YB being relaxed, I am not referring to when things are going great. I have been on a lot of servers and this is probably one of the most cordial servers to play on while it is being pressured. During NA Prime weekends both JQ and BG often have a much larger organized zerg rolling over anything they can… even then, the map chat and TS on YB are typically calm and low drama.

Lobo Dela Noche.5127:

I can’t count how many times BQ [BG] has teamed up to take down YB.

YB does this too such as last night when they allowed BG to flip a T3 JQ SM by cutting off JQ reinforcements. This tends to happen when a server gets too far out of line with the norm or holds a key objective that is annoying the other servers. YB is more often the recipient but that is how it should be.

Oh yes, that was definitely a 2v1 team-up right there /s

Although I would have preferred it to be JQ over BG, because all BG did after capping keep was to use it as an escape and fire ACs.
“YB” seige hump is real

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Tachenon.5270:

If your grocer charges you for a dozen eggs but only gives you eleven, then says he’s indefinitely suspending the selling of eggs because it’s better than he should use his chickens for chicken noodle soup, then refuses to even talk to you about it, much less offer any sort of compensation for the egg you didn’t get, would you continue to shop at his store? Would you recommend his store to your friends? Would you warn your friends about this grocer’s business practices?

If your grocer advertises a special of bogo cans of green beans, then tells you they can’t deliver them because they don’t have them, they’ll try and find ways to make up for it: rain check for when it comes back, even if they don’t have an eta (‘indefinitely postpone’), corn as a substitute (increased LW production), or refund. If you no longer trust the store, and hate their business practices, then you’re gunna wind up leaving in any case and not shop there again no matter what they do… so a refund is certainly viable: you walk away with your money back, and they don’t get it.

~EW

This is a dumb analogy, and touting the words “sunk cost fallacy” doesn’t help your argument at all.
If a company advertises certain content in a game but fails to deliver, a customer has every right to receive a refund.
However, in Anet’s case, getting that refund means locking out your whole account. So if you’re unhappy with HoT and you want a refund, you also lose the base game.
Now some of us paid full price for the base game, some even more, before it became F2P.
Being locked out of a game that we paid for because Anet failed to deliver on the expansion is not right.

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

If I decline a que pop, why do I get dishonor. Maybe the phone rang or I had to grab something. I still want to play the game, I just could not take that specific que.

Is it fair to have to wait now because of this?
At least this gives the potential team better decency than me afk in the match. Why are we punished for declining?

Does dishonor affect pip or MMR?
If not, then no, I think it should stay.

It really only affects trollers who want to constantly decline matches, not players who unfortunately have to decline that one game. You took a phone call so you had to wait a little longer for the next game. It’s not like you’re doing this consistently.

Salamander.2504:

Don’t buff thieves.

Don’t buff guardians.

Don’t buff anything.

I think I speak for the entire community when I say that the consensus is to nerf the elite specs already. Bring them in line with the core specs. We miss playing a game with good balance, and we miss playing the builds/classes we’ve played for the last 3 years—the core specs.

So here is our plea: Season 2 is coming to a close soon, and we’re all expecting a balance patch. Please make this one count.

And when you balance—think about class interactions. For example, condi reaper needs a nerf, but it’s the only thing holding rev’s and scrapper inline, so we can’t just nerf reaper in a vacuum. And so on. We need a holistic approach to balance to make core specs and elite specs viable together, without this nonsensical attitude of “shaking up the meta”. No one wants you to “shake up the meta” for its own sake. We just want to play a balanced game.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Disapointing-balance-preview/first#post5989378
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Revert-Nov-4-Deathly-Chill-buff-Balance/first#post5958280
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Unranked-Is-a-Poor-Laboratory/first#post5993945
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Minor-balance-tweaks-on-23th/first#post5994028
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Is-core-equal-to-elite-specs-desirable/first#post5991156
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Some-Constructive-thoughts-on-Balance/first#post5967639
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Plz-remove-the-corrupt-boon-on-scepter-auto/first
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/New-classes-are-too-OP-R-I-P-core-ones/first#post6077370
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Balance-A-framework-to-work-in/first#post6066556

The problem with taking a holistic view is that then Anet sets the meta, and the only meta we get to play is the one Anet decides on.

Do we want to give up the little variations we have left for more class viability?

I got kicked from a PvE guild for not 100% repping.
Got a whisper saying it’s a 100% rep guild, and if I don’t, I’d be kicked.
Seriously. A PvE guild, one which I joined randomly by doing a dungeon run.

I would really want this.

I don’t do the AB meta event anymore because every time I’d crash at Tarnished Traitor, losing the rewards at the end and wasting my time.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Hardly. You paid for access to it. Do you get it if you didnt pay? No. In pretty much ANY mmo in existence, you’ll find that there’s language in the EULA/ToC that amounts to “you paid only for access to the service/product,” not “you paid for something you THINK you should get.”

edit: In fact, from Section 2.a from the gw2 EULA:

You further acknowledge that Your full or partial access to Content, including one or more Message Boards, Teams or Items is conditioned upon Your compliance with the provisions of this agreement and the Rules of Conduct. ArenaNet may modify, remove, or add Content in its reasonable discretion.

Bolding my own to highlight the point soooooooooooooooo many of you people miss.

edit2: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-user-agreement/ for any of you who think I’m lying.

>You paid for access to it

The access is now gone.

Mike O Brien.4613:

Obviously I go into this knowing that some players will be very upset. That’s why it’s such a tough decision.

Ankdarkwolf, Darkmikau, Ballads, Spira, Caerbannog, Cysgod, you each posted a variant of an accusation I’ve seen many times over the past few months on the forums, something along the lines of, “AN shipped half an expansion with HoT.” I take issue with that. We shipped a new region full of content, a new mastery system, gliding, guild halls, a new profession, nine new elite specializations for existing professions, and more. Then we shipped precursor journeys for existing legendaries, and said, “We’ve been working hard on new legendary weapons, the first handful of which will be introduced in Heart of Thorns, with more to come in subsequent updates.” While I fully get that you’re disappointed today, this is not about us shipping half an expansion pack.

Mo

This is an excuse, an unprofessional and rude one at that.
More than half of an expansion is still not a complete expansion. Your own personal offense does not matter to thousands of customers who bought an incomplete game.
To say, “But we did this” doesn’t do the customers any good. Yes, the expansion added 3 maps, a raid feature, and elite specializations, but it promised many other things as well, at a high cost of $50. To be asked to pay a substantial amount for an expansion, nonetheless an incomplete expansion, is ridiculous.

Anet has continuously promised things to be done, yet things never come. Open World PvE is a nightmare for anybody other than hardcore PvE’ers. Instanced events besides raids have seen no updates, yet raids cater to 1% of the population. WvW has been promised a fix 2 years too late. (As a WvW’er mainly, this is a huge issue for me. When only 2 maps have a queue (both of 20) in a Tier 1 NA server during reset (today), it screams that there is a problem). Only PvP has gotten updates via seasons, but also have gotten complaints.

I read some Glassdoor employee reviews, and there are two main issues I see: the environment and management.
While an open environment has its benefits, it also has downfalls. Lack of structure leads to operational efficiencies, for example communication difficulties brought up by employees. Any manager who went through business school should understand organizational growth, yet they miss the obvious next steps, delegation and control.
The other issue is the “disconnect between managers and employees”. This just highlights the management’s shortcomings in dealing with the issue of autonomy.

Anet’s organizational culture has stopped it from meeting deadlines, and a fix is necessary. They have been riding on the goodwill of their customers for too long, and this is the final straw.

RubberDougie.2750:

The nature of the MMR hell (Matlab analysis)
To those who are unfamiliar, MMR hell refer to the long streak of losses many players experienced in season 2. It’s caused by reducing MMR lead to reduced teammate quality which leads to further reduced MMR. This also applies to win streaks. Some people do not believe this happens, and think everyone who has this problem is bad (ROFL).

I have written a Matlab Simulation of the Season 1 (and unranked) and Season 2 algorithms to find out exactly why this happened and what factors were involved. I made some educated guesses on the distribution of player population and implementation of the matchmaker. The purpose of this is not to publish in Nature, but to reproduce the symptoms people are experiencing. If you are interested in the assumptions, please see the figures at the end of the post and comments in the source code. I also made the source code available to anyone interested in running this simulation. (http://www.ssnt.org/personal/pvp/pvp_sim.rar)
For the complete post with inline figures, see:
(http://www.ssnt.org/personal/pvp/pvp_analysis.pdf)
For Full Sized figures, see:
(http://www.ssnt.org/personal/pvp/figs.rar)

So without further delay, the pretty pictures

http://i.imgur.com/eFxtmkR.png

Unlike real players, true skill levels of simulated players are assigned. This allowed me to have a look at how matchmaking captures the real skill. Both algorithms were terrible, with S2 being a little better with the added “benefit” of vastly inflating or deflating rating of some players. In this simulation there were about 4.5% of stuck players, and that number did not decrease as season progressed.

So why is this happening? Let’s look at a few factors.

Login Randomness
Eliminating the login randomness not only kills the MMR hell, it also allow S2 algorithm to vastly out-perform S1. If everyone who played less frequently only logged in while people who played more often are online (In the other words, the number of players online is a perfect sinusoid), there is no snowball hell. This is probably why Anet thought season 2 algorithms was better on paper. But reality doesn’t work like that. People have jobs.

http://i.imgur.com/O1uJLQI.png

This happens because people can’t find even games during off-hours. Looking over the data for the stuck models, I realize they overwhelmingly had very poor number of close games. But before we get to that, there is another factor to consider.

Within-team MMR Tolerance

http://i.imgur.com/eZmb03K.png

Removing the limit for difference between MMR of teammates improved the situation dramatically. It did not eliminate the MMR hell (about 3.5% player were stuck) for S2, but it did allow the MMR to have some resemblance of actual skill. The reason is an increased number of off-peak games, which increased the chance of finding even games during these hours. This leads us to the heart of the problem.

Rating Error and Close games

http://i.imgur.com/O0T1eDm.png A
http://i.imgur.com/eEz1DP8.png B
http://i.imgur.com/0RX0EEw.png C

In every case (A-baseline, B-Nonrandom Login, C-No MMR limit within team), the Maximum Rating Error is a decreasing function of number of CLOSE games (team MMR difference less than 300). This can be seen from the Glicko equations. A close game where team MMR is identical changes MMR by five times the amount of a game where the team rating difference is 600. This means as far as Glicko is concerned, games between teams with vastly different ratings are not meaningful. The team with the higher rating cannot gain MMR, and the team with the lower rating cannot win.

The job of Glicko algorithm is to estimate a player’s true skill from CLOSE games. Without them, Glicko cannot rate players. While these streaks of wins or losses are subjectively satisfying or frustrating, they don’t provide any meaningful information about the players’ true skill. The job of the Matchmaker is to provide Glicko with these games from which true skill of players can be inferred from wins and losses.

By removing the limit on the MMR difference of red and blue teams, Season 2 matchmaker is wasting everyone’s time with strings of pointless games. It’s less efficient without any benefits. In less technical terms, season 2 algorithm is dumber than two bags of rocks. Relaxing teammate MMR requirement for the old algorithm would do a better job.

Assumptions

http://i.imgur.com/R2GV77G.png

This is the distribution of player models used. It makes the following assumptions:
- Most players are casual and plays a couple hours a day, but a small number of players …
- Online time modeled as sum of a sinusoid with a random variable, and is strongly correlated (R squared ~=.5) with a pure sinusoid.
- Player skill is normally distributed and is strongly (R squared ~=.45) correlated with play time.
The more you play the better you get.
- Most players are okay, but there aren’t many past 2500 ratings, and there are 2% player with zero true skill ratings, which represent AFKs, brand new players and people who intentionally throw matches.
- Most players are pretty consistent between games. Their performance in each game is a Gaussian random variable with a log-normal deviation. A 100 deviation means 95% of performances will fall within 600 rating points.
- The ratings were adjusted in each game assuming each player played a series of game in the time interval against every player on the other team. Email communication with Dr. Glickman indicates the algorithm was never intended to be used in a sport where teams can rearrange between matches. I also tested the alternative interpretation where the teams were adjusted as a single player. But it made no difference. Please check team_adjust in the source code for this implementation.
- Teammate MMR requirement was 100 for baseline and 1000 for the relaxed case.

Quick question, where did you get the data on the population? (like population size, because I do think GW2 PvP suffers from a lack of players)

Is it in the .rar file? I can’t open those because my computer doesn’t have a rar extractor.
If you could post a picture or an excel file (preferably an excel file), that would be great! I’d also like to try analyzing the numbers, but with R since I use R (also would be good practice for me!)

Thanks in advance

ITT: Blackgate complaining

All the hate thrown because YB plays the PPT game is just as incredulous as that one Anet employee who trolled a GvG match because they “were ruining the mode”.
WvW is essentially PvP and PvE combined. You can’t ignore one part and be salty about it, that’s on you.

Players are complaining that there are no good fights. Pugging in general will lead to no good fights. Blob v. blob is just a fight that’s decided by numbers. There are no good fights. Typically the good fights come from joining a dedicated fights guild and fighting other guilds or zerg busting. You can still do this, yet the BLs and Obsidian Sanctum remains empty. Zerg busting died with Stability changes. No coming back from that.

YB’s using the tools to win 1st place and it’s not fair? You guys aren’t utilizing the tools (SANCTUM) to coordinate fights.

That’s not to say YB siege humping isn’t a problem. Wrong? No. Annoying? Yes.
Although it helps PuGs feel useful and introduce new players to the game mode, it’s not something I personally enjoy, and quite a few in YB feel the same.
It’s primarily driven by the huge casual WvW guilds that is being represented in other servers’ complaints. These guilds recruit via map chat, grouping PuGs and new players who often can’t fight well.
I can’t say I hate them though. They put in time to bring YB up, while helping new players get interested in WvW. But I do hate being called out on map chat for not helping YB PPT.

Current WvW is what you’ll get when you have a dying game mode where fight oriented guilds have left for different games and all that remains are an influx of new players and those loyal to the server. The mentality for fights dropped while the mentality of “PPT to win” has increased.

Link.1049:

YB…roamers??? That’s the best joke I’ve heard in at least a week.

Hahaha, and on the other hand, you have BlackGate “roamers” stacking Daredevil, Condi Chrono, and Scrapper thinking a 10 v 2 is fine and justifies an emote.

You kill one BlackGate and soon a group will be hunting you down.

Agemnon.4608:

Why not set people as a provisional rating and have the cutoff for ranked be at least rank 50? That way ranked players will enter with decent experience while the provisional would be volatile for 100 or so matches like a provisional rating in chess.

I have, an estimate, around 500 games played? My rank is only 39, so that would mean I wouldn’t be able to play ranked.
I have -100 games played in ranked and I reached ruby.
Your plan would require I play an extra 300 games to reach Rank 50, and an additional 100 for provisional ratings to expire.

There probably are a lot of players like me who do fairly well in a PvP environment, but learned to PvP via WvW, and just started to try PvP. You would unfairly lock these people out from PvP.

ronpierce.2760:

entitled solo-quing casuals feel they MUST be able to reach legendary or it shouldn’t exist at all… I hate to come off as harsh, but why?

Wait, solo-queuers can’t be non-casuals?
I get that sPvP is a team game so you’ll do a lot better with a team. But that shouldn’t take the fun away from solo-queueing.

Anet should update Obsidian Sanctum.
It’s the perfect place for GvG (pre-arranged), and could be reorganized to make it a good battlefield for fight guilds.

Dusty Moon.4382:

nativity.3057:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Chiccotot.7296:

Dusty Moon.4382:

I like the DBL. There is nothing wrong with it, once you understand the map. It is more complex than the Alpine BL, which, was designed like a ‘Risk’ map one dimensional.

there’s A LOT wrong with it.

1. Auto-upgrades – i say scrap this idea, back to basics, have someone trigger the upgrade to actually happen, just remove the gold cost.

2. Towers serve no real purpose – sure they block you and have you take the longer path to wherever you wanna go, but getting towers wont let you treb garri, or bay. they are now just simply aesthetics.

3. relative to point 3 – the map is too big. i know, a lot of people are saying “its the same” …really? then how come northern towers cannot treb middle/garri keep?
same goes for sw tower to bay/fire keep? you cant even hit a friggin camp from a tower. now tell me if its not too big, and if it’s the same size.

4. WayPoints being permanently contested in both air/fire keeps in home BLs …this is simply just a nightmare.

5. Gathering nodes. Nuff said.

6. Too horizontal. Clearly this map has been made with gliders in mind, but because of the possible glitch/glide abuse, it is not implemented.

7. Oasis Event – thankfully they disabled this. As this event just gives the more populated server an advantage over the few defenders…

8. Particle heavy. again, too much aesthetics.

These are the things that i can think of, but im sure people have more in mind.

LOL – those are separate from the MAP design. The auto upgrades are also on EBG – so that argument doesn’t hold water. Same with gathering nodes.

Oasis was pulled out – non-starter.

The map is not too horizontal (they are the same size – they are vertical more) – there is no way they would allow Gliders in any WvW map. From the 3rd floor of EBG, you could get into any inner keep easily. Non starter argument.

As far a WP contested – that is something that removing much of the PvE from the map would fix (anytime a foe takes one of your shrines – it contests the keep).

It doesn’t lag my PC much and mine is 4 yrs old.

If you look at the map and overlay them they are the same size but more VERITCAL NOT HORIZONTAL.

So basically – what you want is the PvE out of WvW – that we agree with.

Did you look at the map and overlay it?

Because I did. And DBL is clearly larger horizontally.

Not that much and your point is about it? More people can be on the BL maps.

They take more of a tactical mind to play than just blob and ram gates with head. That is why I like them. I dislike them for the reason I stated, changes that were made to put more PvE into the maps (more like EotM – barracades, buffed lords, harder gates and walls, etc). Take those out and the maps would be fun to play. Along with reverting the Stabo changes.

It is a big difference. The area of the map is a lot bigger, the distance between towers, camps and keeps have increased as well. It just increases the time needed to arrive to the objective. A lot more running, a lot less fighting.

Do you play WvW? Your idea of strategy is entirely fantastical. There is no general who commands what point to take and when. The most organization you see is a server council asking guilds to be in a certain borderlands at a certain time.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Chiccotot.7296:

Dusty Moon.4382:

I like the DBL. There is nothing wrong with it, once you understand the map. It is more complex than the Alpine BL, which, was designed like a ‘Risk’ map one dimensional.

there’s A LOT wrong with it.

1. Auto-upgrades – i say scrap this idea, back to basics, have someone trigger the upgrade to actually happen, just remove the gold cost.

2. Towers serve no real purpose – sure they block you and have you take the longer path to wherever you wanna go, but getting towers wont let you treb garri, or bay. they are now just simply aesthetics.

3. relative to point 3 – the map is too big. i know, a lot of people are saying “its the same” …really? then how come northern towers cannot treb middle/garri keep?
same goes for sw tower to bay/fire keep? you cant even hit a friggin camp from a tower. now tell me if its not too big, and if it’s the same size.

4. WayPoints being permanently contested in both air/fire keeps in home BLs …this is simply just a nightmare.

5. Gathering nodes. Nuff said.

6. Too horizontal. Clearly this map has been made with gliders in mind, but because of the possible glitch/glide abuse, it is not implemented.

7. Oasis Event – thankfully they disabled this. As this event just gives the more populated server an advantage over the few defenders…

8. Particle heavy. again, too much aesthetics.

These are the things that i can think of, but im sure people have more in mind.

LOL – those are separate from the MAP design. The auto upgrades are also on EBG – so that argument doesn’t hold water. Same with gathering nodes.

Oasis was pulled out – non-starter.

The map is not too horizontal (they are the same size – they are vertical more) – there is no way they would allow Gliders in any WvW map. From the 3rd floor of EBG, you could get into any inner keep easily. Non starter argument.

As far a WP contested – that is something that removing much of the PvE from the map would fix (anytime a foe takes one of your shrines – it contests the keep).

It doesn’t lag my PC much and mine is 4 yrs old.

If you look at the map and overlay them they are the same size but more VERITCAL NOT HORIZONTAL.

So basically – what you want is the PvE out of WvW – that we agree with.

Did you look at the map and overlay it?

Because I did. And DBL is clearly larger horizontally.

Chase.2798:

nativity.3057:

Chase.2798:

The virtue is the best way to go when stomping, it will block all frontal attacks so with good postioning you can get stomps off a majority of the time

Most of the times.

But with the back open, and the necro stacking, it’s quite hard to stomp efficiently.

If playing longbow, in a team fight, i think you are better off using longbow #5 over a down to protect whoever on your team is stomping rather then going for the stomp yourself.

Yeah usually in teamfights I try to either CC the rezzer or put enough pressure on them to back off.

But in 1v1 scenarios, it’s hard to stomp if I get +1’d.
That scenario usually ends up with me going 1v2 until I get back up.

It’s not really a game losing situation for me. I think I’m pretty capable on Guardian to 1v2 most of the time (in my current division).
It’s just a quality of life issue where I want to stomp, but I can’t!

Chase.2798:

The virtue is the best way to go when stomping, it will block all frontal attacks so with good postioning you can get stomps off a majority of the time

Most of the times.

But with the back open, and the necro stacking, it’s quite hard to stomp efficiently.

First, I don’t think DH should be stomping at all.

Really, thieves and revs do it a lot better, and the time to stomp an enemy is longer than it takes a druid to fully revive the enemy.

But, if DHs are forced to stomp (ie when teammates don’t stomp/it is necessary for the point win), we are left with two options: a virtue or Focus 5.
Focus 5 is castable while mid-stomp, so that makes it 10x better than using the virtue to stomp. However, there is a limit of 3 blocks. Any competent player is able to pop the blocks (downed auto for some classes hit fast).
But the main issue is unblockable CC. Unblockable Necro CC and Thief Basilisk is just uncalled for. Completely shuts down a DH’s ability to stomp.

I’m in Sapphire, and I’m more than usually able to 1v1 contest/protect a point. However, when it comes time to stomp, if the enemy rotated, I can’t stomp, instead I have to run and come back, losing the point.

I usually use GS for WvW, so switching to Sw/F in PvP was hard.

Everything about the GS works well, maybe except for GS5 which sometimes doesn’t hit correctly due to terrain.

I think the main problems with Sw/F are the last chain of the auto attack and Focus 4.
The other two auto attacks are quick, but the last one requires a windup time and just doesn’t make sense. Projectiles?

Focus 4 has a longer delay time than most Guardian skills, so that may be an issue, but I particularly have issues with it not hitting sometimes. Very clunky

zxstanyxz.8769:

mildsoss.9867:

wtf why is there an emerald on that team? Thats like throwing a silver against a platinum is league of legends. This matchmaking is terrible.

beecause they’re partied with a saphire, and only the highest member of a party’s position/mmr is taken into account during match making

tas there’s no way to know how many pips in ruby/saphire everyone has this may have been a match that was actually very closely matched… with the unfortuante side effect of having a warrior on one team

league doesn’t allow plat players to play with silver players, only one division away.

i think anet should implement this as well.

ZvZ: RUNE OF MELANDRU/TROOPER OR ANY TANKY RUNES

GvG: RUN WHAT YOUR GUILD NEEDS

SOLO ROAM: TRAVELERS ONLY. ANYTHING ELSE YOU DESERVE TO BE RUN OVER.

GROUP ROAM: TRAVELERS OR PACK.

DUELING: TRAPPER FOR FUN

Dyroth.5063:

nativity.3057:

How is this a me problem? The fact that there is no LFG tool? That’s a me problem?
I’m not asking for the difficulty of raids to be lowered. I don’t even know the difficulty of raids because I’ve never run one. I shouldn’t be pigeon-holed into joining a PvE guild solely for the purpose of doing raids. Anet doesn’t decide how to you play. That’s been their whole appeal with Guild Wars 1/2. And somehow your opinion changes that fact?

WvW bag, and raid. I don’t know what you’re saying here. Zero coherency.

You are the one blocking yourself. I want to raid so I’m bashing down the obstacles in my way to get my group set up and see what happens. You on the other hand are too afraid to leave your comfort zone. Not every PvE guild requires 100% rep time. You have 5 guild slots I don’t see why one can’t be used to start making some PvE friends. You want to focus on the problems opposed to the solutions.

Anet isn’t forcing anyone to do any content either. There is no sign on the game saying you must do the raid to access other content. The rewards are no better than any other gear piece or weapon in the game currently. The legendary armor being a raid item isn’t a huge issue in my eyes either as legendaries should be a grind and difficult to obtain which is the group of players the raid calls to anyways. The people I see being an issue here isn’t Anet but the players themselves. They want a way to walk in press a complete raid button and then stand in a shower of balloons and confetti. The game is still 90% casual friendly but players still need to put in effort.

Let’s see, out of the 5 guild slots, I currently have 3 filled. 1 is a personal guild for the bank, the 2nd is the WvW guild, and the third is the first guild I joined when I started GW2.
The last two slots were filled by 2 PvE guilds, who kicked me because I didn’t 100% rep.
Off to a great start.
Most of the advertising PvE guilds are mega guilds, that’s something that isn’t enjoyable for me. So that’s out.
Nobody runs dungeons (joined the last PvE guild through dungeon running), so meeting PvE guilds through dungeons is hopeless.
Fractals are 1/4th the length they used to be. Pugging them has become much easier, so requiring a PvE guild for that is meaningless. Not to mention the shorten fractal length has made it harder to judge how people play, how they act.

But that’s anecdotal. I’m mainly a WvWer (or what is left of it). Most of my time is spent on WvW unless I’m trying to get Hero Points for Elite Specializations.

Not having a LFG tool for raid makes people who want to try raids join a PvE guild first. But this is an issue Anet is looking to fix. I just wish they would make the rest of this game more solo friendly as well.
Hero Points gated behind meta events that require Tequatl-level of coordination/numbers? No thank you.

I never mentioned rewards from raids. I put down time in WvW even when the rewards were negligible, just because of how enjoyable that game-mode is to me.
I’ve only just started to try Ascended armor crafting. Legendary Armor is beyond me at this point.

TexZero.7910:

nativity.3057:

TexZero.7910:

nativity.3057:

Raids are just HoT fractals. Fractals require gear grinding (ascended), that many casuals don’t have the time to do. But one thing Fractals do have is a LFG tool, so anybody can just join a Fractal group and PUG one out.
Yes, I would love to do a raid. What are my options? Join a PvE guild? No thanks. I rather not get spammed with constant messages or be forced to 100% rep.
LFG? With what?
Get friends to play? Sorry, ever since HoT came out I’ve been telling friends to not get it. It has been a huge disappointment for me. Was not worth the $50 I paid, plus the $10 I spent just to play Revenant. (I’m still extremely kittened why a character unlock slot was not bundled with the expansion).

Congrats on being your own problem ?

You’ve single handedly put up obstacles in-front of yourself that will prohibit you from raiding.

I’ve already said they need better grouping tools. That’s the only thing that is needed for Raids when it comes to accessibility. The problem is too many players yourself included put unnecessary barrier from entry onto themselves instead of taking the liberty of socializing and forming a group.

There’s only one way to play this game, right?

I’m already in a guild, but since it’s a WvW guild, not many are willing to do raids.
Not to mention I’m a casual, I don’t have the time to play.

You really have no constructive criticism, basically only the “filthy casual” mentality.

Has nothing to do with casual or not. The moment you put walls up between you and doing something, it ceases being the something problem and starts being a you problem.

Stated over and over and over again…..I’ve helped people raid in my own guild, who went from pretty much the easiest bag you’ll ever get in WvW to being able to complete the raid.

If they can, so can you.

How is this a me problem? The fact that there is no LFG tool? That’s a me problem?
I’m not asking for the difficulty of raids to be lowered. I don’t even know the difficulty of raids because I’ve never run one. I shouldn’t be pigeon-holed into joining a PvE guild solely for the purpose of doing raids. Anet doesn’t decide how to you play. That’s been their whole appeal with Guild Wars 1/2. And somehow your opinion changes that fact?

WvW bag, and raid. I don’t know what you’re saying here. Zero coherency.

TexZero.7910:

nativity.3057:

Raids are just HoT fractals. Fractals require gear grinding (ascended), that many casuals don’t have the time to do. But one thing Fractals do have is a LFG tool, so anybody can just join a Fractal group and PUG one out.
Yes, I would love to do a raid. What are my options? Join a PvE guild? No thanks. I rather not get spammed with constant messages or be forced to 100% rep.
LFG? With what?
Get friends to play? Sorry, ever since HoT came out I’ve been telling friends to not get it. It has been a huge disappointment for me. Was not worth the $50 I paid, plus the $10 I spent just to play Revenant. (I’m still extremely kittened why a character unlock slot was not bundled with the expansion).

Congrats on being your own problem ?

You’ve single handedly put up obstacles in-front of yourself that will prohibit you from raiding.

I’ve already said they need better grouping tools. That’s the only thing that is needed for Raids when it comes to accessibility. The problem is too many players yourself included put unnecessary barrier from entry onto themselves instead of taking the liberty of socializing and forming a group.

There’s only one way to play this game, right?

I’m already in a guild, but since it’s a WvW guild, not many are willing to do raids.
Not to mention I’m a casual, I don’t have the time to play.

You really have no constructive criticism, basically only the “filthy casual” mentality.

TexZero.7910:

nativity.3057:

TexZero.7910:

Swagger.1459:

There is not any need to spin doctor. I know exactly what you are saying by that quote.

“Drags the fun out of even playing the game” is what you said, and that’s exactly how some players feel about all things raid.

Your arguments are weakened by your complaint about John, the economy and the “resolutions” to the broader issues.

And yours are pretty baseless, off topic ad hominems which do nothing to prove any point about the current topic.

So congrats. While you sit here complaining on the forums i’ll be in the raid playing any class i want because the are all viable. Cheers!

What are you even arguing about?
His main post was about development of the game, yet you chose to nitpick the one part where he had an issue about power creeping. Which, by the way, is not wrong at all. Elite Specializations have made some classes much better than others in terms of numbers. Just because there are different roles to fill in a meta group, doesn’t mean there are power creep issues. Berserker? Still the same old PS build, with the Elite Spec providing a little extra damage, not even enough to put them past Guardians.

There is 0 reason why I should not be able to solo a Hero Point, instead having to ask for help.
>Don’t play full Zerker
Sure, there’s also a DPS check via the timer
>Use Marauders
Even more gear grind? And one that forces me to join meta events? No thank you.

HoT has made the game less casual friendly, and if you’re blind to that, I can’t help you.

Post is about raids, and you bring up hero points and casual ?

Yep totally on topic and relevant to the discussion.

Raids are not the exclusive, kool kids club the OP is making them out to be. HoT is pretty casual friendly with some minor issues. Sorry you feel that the difficulty is beyond you however.

Based on your wording, raids and casual are mutually exclusive, huh?

The expansion itself has drifted far from casual playing, raids being a part of it.
You don’t see it yet you think the difficulty is too much for me?
Here, I’ll list them out for you:

• meta events take hours
• hero points aren’t solo-able
• story and PvE is gated behind masteries
• there is no LFG for raids

Some people don’t have the time to spend hours on one map, one event. There are players who can’t play all that long, or players who want to do different game modes within a certain time constraint. Hour long PvE meta events prohibit this, especially when the events are tied to the performance of a GROUP.

You can’t solo meta events. You can’t solo Hero Points. What can you solo in HoT?
Mastery points? Sure, it’s easy to commune with a mastery point, but getting there is the difficult part, when a lot of things in the new maps are locked behind how long you can glide, what tunnels you can take, and who you can talk to. All unlocked via grinding.

Raids are just HoT fractals. Fractals require gear grinding (ascended), that many casuals don’t have the time to do. But one thing Fractals do have is a LFG tool, so anybody can just join a Fractal group and PUG one out.
Yes, I would love to do a raid. What are my options? Join a PvE guild? No thanks. I rather not get spammed with constant messages or be forced to 100% rep.
LFG? With what?
Get friends to play? Sorry, ever since HoT came out I’ve been telling friends to not get it. It has been a huge disappointment for me. Was not worth the $50 I paid, plus the $10 I spent just to play Revenant. (I’m still extremely kittened why a character unlock slot was not bundled with the expansion).

TexZero.7910:

Swagger.1459:

There is not any need to spin doctor. I know exactly what you are saying by that quote.

“Drags the fun out of even playing the game” is what you said, and that’s exactly how some players feel about all things raid.

Your arguments are weakened by your complaint about John, the economy and the “resolutions” to the broader issues.

And yours are pretty baseless, off topic ad hominems which do nothing to prove any point about the current topic.

So congrats. While you sit here complaining on the forums i’ll be in the raid playing any class i want because the are all viable. Cheers!

What are you even arguing about?
His main post was about development of the game, yet you chose to nitpick the one part where he had an issue about power creeping. Which, by the way, is not wrong at all. Elite Specializations have made some classes much better than others in terms of numbers. Just because there are different roles to fill in a meta group, doesn’t mean there are power creep issues. Berserker? Still the same old PS build, with the Elite Spec providing a little extra damage, not even enough to put them past Guardians.

There is 0 reason why I should not be able to solo a Hero Point, instead having to ask for help.
>Don’t play full Zerker
Sure, there’s also a DPS check via the timer
>Use Marauders
Even more gear grind? And one that forces me to join meta events? No thank you.

HoT has made the game less casual friendly, and if you’re blind to that, I can’t help you.

Ithilwen.1529:

I have solo’d all but 2 matches ( I lost both team matches ) and am currently Sapphire T2. It has been an awful slog. Most days I log off depressed and wondering why I’m doing this.

Same here! Tried doing 2 matches with a guildie, ended up losing both, and went straight back to solo queue.
Currently in Sapphire T1. Was on a winstreak and only needed 2 more wins to hit Ruby. Now I need 3 straight wins.

This is my first ranked season, so my game numbers are low and should be different from people who did play S1.
What I experience now is that PvP is a grind up. It’s not really about skill at all. Actually, I think dueling in WvW requires more skill to win than winning PvP. Any class can participate in dueling, although some classes might be a lot better (condi chronos).
But it’s still more fun than trying to go up the PvP ladder.

Another point, relevant to the MMR situation, sometimes the games are a big mismatch. It’s not enjoyable. Team composition is one thing (hello necro stacking), but the skill matchup is different.
My MMR doesn’t reflect my ability, and currently it shouldn’t since this is my first season. So when I, as a DH, can on point 1v1 a scrapper and win, that means our skill matchup was different, immensely because scrappers counter DH. It’s nice to stroke my ego and say “Wow, I beat a scrapper”, but on the other side, his/her teammates were probably grilling him on why he/she lost to a DH.

Shaogin.2679:

2. Who decided Scrapper was supposed to be weak to CC. The spec is designed to fight in melee. Trait is fine as is.

What about actual heavy armor classes? Warriors? Guardians?
Scrappers can fight in melee far better than the other two soldier professions.
That’s not right at all.

I get a random 1.8k ping in game.

I can move around, but none of my skills register. But I did die.

I had log off and re-enter for it to fix (dishonor?)
this is not fun.

Agemnon.4608:

It was against two dragonhunters (at least), a warrior, and tempest. DH counters DD hard so that makes the win even more impressive. It’s funny whenever DH’s play like thieves with trying to roam and decap.

It’s even funnier when people who don’t know how DHs play act like they do.

Watch Zero Counterplay’s relegation matches. Although they lost, I think kitten was the best person on their team. Really knows the Guardian class and what to do as a DH.

Ithilwen.1529:

Mesmer has already experienced a massive series of nerfs. The shield (multiple times ), wells, alacrity,blurred frenzy ( multiple times ), confusion and yes, even moa. That’s not a complete list.

If anything, Mesmer is currently underpowered, ( as it has been for a majority of the game’s life.)

Yes there is one condi build that is competitive. That build has very little defense against conditions. Necro in particular should have no difficulty against it.

The reality is that there is a lack of skill and understanding on the part of some of the other players.

there’s a trait where mesmers lose condi per shatter.
with alacrity on shatter i don’t see how mesmers have weak condi cleanse compared to other classes like DH, Shiro Rev, and Thieves

Haleydawn.3764:

It’s always best to get comfy with 3-4 professions, so you can swap out if your team is missing something. It’s something you will get used to because unless you are premade you will rarely get a perfect team composition in soloqueue. So ele, rev, necro, scrapper and circumstantial mesmer/thief for decaps and +1s. When you load in, check team comp, is it missing something. Yes, relog. No, you’re golden.
What goes well with 4 necros, ele, druid, rev or another necro because why not.

Somebody told me I would get dishonor if I swapped classes…and I believed them.
You don’t get dishonor if you leave during the waiting period, just during game, right?

Yasi.9065:

Also, dont forget that you can switch builds also. If you memorize two different builds (for example condi mesmer and dps/shatter mesmer) and can swap them out quickly, you dont even have to switch toons.

DH is only good against bad players. Good players will either just use defensive skills to counter you (bulwark gyro, invuln, baiting traps with summons, reflect, even stability can be an issue). A good necro will probably just range you and then put up stab and dodge out of your burst when you jump him… giving back your nice burning stacks as a thank you.

As to your question… if you get put in team with 4 necros, DONT log mesmer. Log aurashare tempest. Its actually not that easy to fight 4 necros and 1 tempest. Especially for soloqueuers, because they seldomly play sides… instead trying to win that midfight… against 4 necros….

If you get a team without scrapper or rev… and dont want to play neither… then go for current condi shatter mesmer. Though its of course not perfect.
A good core teamcomp is:
Necro (signet or corrupt), aurashare tempest and scrapper. That rev could be replaced by a second necro, that scrapper could be replaced by a druid or maybe even 2nd aurashare tempest.

I really like Rev. While aurashare Tempest served me well in teamfights, I really disliked losing in rotations. I’m only in Sapphire right now, and while I can assume being an Ele gets better as I progress to Ruby and Diamond because of better average teammates, playing an Ele in Emerald made me hate it. Being a support bot at mid isn’t fun, and it especially isn’t fun trying to hold home against 2 because everyone seems to want to get in on the initial mid action.
And of course I can’t down anyone. Holding a point as a DH or Rev 1v2 I think is easier than Ele because I will down one, making it 1v1&down, whereas for Eles I would have to sustain vs 2, or the more likely situation is to run away and come back for a decap.

JEFFARR.8163:

Best comp is tempest/scrapper/reaper/rev/condi mes.
You can change a Druid out for Mesmer if you really want to.
But it’s not ideal

For opening splits I would go either 2-2-1(reaper-rev) (tempest scrapper) (condi mes far)
Or most common one 1-3-1 (necro) (ele-scrapper-rev) (condi mes")

What’s also really good is 1-2-2you send rev-scrapper far necro close then send a mesmer-ele to mid but Mesmer leaves portal mid and goes far. There’s multiple things you can do with this portal.if they rush mid with 2-3 and managed to kill you ele(which should take 10-20sec)you portal him out in downstate and rez,meanwhile you’ve won far because you’ve outnumbered it.if far somehow isn’t dead than you leave your ele to stall for 10-20sec and you go mid with the portal and Moa it.
Also if you get quick wipe on far you portal mid with Moa and boom 2/3 cap.
Gg wp

1-2-2, I think, requires a team. While any smart Ele will mist form into the portal, the rest of the plan requires a lot of coordination from the other teammates.
But yes, I think Mesmers have the best carry potential. But they have to run Dueling to actually contribute.

Sardath.8524:

nativity.3057:

I’m not sure what Revs and Warriors bring to the table.

Just gonna comment on the Warrior thingy. In team fights, with proper dazes and immobilizes, a rifle warrior will wreak havoc on the enemy team. In a couple of seconds it can dish out 2 gun flames worth around 20k. A pure glass warr coupled with a support to keep him alive is really fun/dangerous. With them having the arguably highest dps in PvP, I find them useful in this reaper meta, as they can melt quite easily through the reapers life bars – of course, kiting from a safe distance.

Unfortunately, they are very weak for 1v1, as most attacks can be easily dodged and they lack sustain. Still fun as hell though!

I love roaming as Gunflame in WvW! (although Axe(Sword)/Shield is still my favorite.)
The problem is that Eles counter Gunflame with their numerous reflects.
Also Revs do anything power Warriors/DH do but better.

Topher.5631:

To be honest, if you don’t know you probably aren’t ready, especially if you can’t see the utility in Rev. If I were deciding a team comp, then it would probably be rev, ele, necro, scrapper, and your free choice.

Well I’m still relatively new in PvP. I think I have around 500 games played in total and less than 70 in ranked. Just because I’m new doesn’t mean I shouldn’t play.
I do know basic map rotations, plus I understand the strengths/weaknesses of the classes I play sans Thief/Rev.
Just writing down “rev, ele, necro, scrapper” isn’t helpful. ESL teams run this, not solo queue. I have a larger chance of queueing with 4 Necros than I have of an ESL team comp.
What I want to know is what would work with the 4 necros. (Guessing it would be a Mesmer who can move around)

cptaylor.2670:

Just roll 4 or 5 reapers since that seems to be the go-to solution for this season.

In all sincerity, scrapper/reaper/chronomancer/guardian/revenant is probably the best comp. They seem to be the strongest at least.
When I see people that are diamond or legendary, they’re all either necro, revenant, or Mesmer.

I’ve yet to see a diamond or legendary division thief.

If I roll a Necro I’d probably have to spend a large amount of time in unranked, and by the time I think I’m ready would be the end of the season lol.

Playing DH is iffy as I progress. More and more people are realizing that DHs aren’t so scary as long as they focus and chain CC. Which is more common in the higher divisions. Also, anything they do, another class can do better.

Wondering if anybody could help me out with sPVP team composition?
There’s the meta team build, but that’s mainly for premades.
Solo-queue team construction help would be ideal, since that’s what I mainly do. (Please no 5 necro). If I’m soloqueuing, I can’t expect my teammates to be running the most optimal class/builds, so me being flexible should help.

Some questions are:
What roles are each class good at?
What classes synergize well together?
What are class/build counters?

With GW2 only giving 5 character slots, my class pool is limited (6 slots: DH, War, Chrono, Ele, Rev, Thief). I don’t think I need (or want) to play Necro/Scrapper since there are plenty of those in every match.
Chrono and Thieves are roamers, Ele is support, and DH does well in team fights (also 1v1s on point if I play correctly)
I’m not sure what Revs and Warriors bring to the table.

Exedore.6320:

AegisFLCL.7623:

So lemme get this straight.

According to some threads Emerald is cursed.

According to others Sapphire is cursed.

Now Ruby is cursed?

Yup! As players break out of the “curse” they move up to the next division and it starts again. You’ll see the same complaint for Diamond in a week or so too.

This is my guess at what is happening, especially in Ruby:
The mediocre players who get boosted or get lucky move up a division. However, they’ll lose more than win and end up at the bottom. When other players who are progressing enter that division, the player pool within a few pips of them has a disproportionate number of these mediocre players. They end up being chosen for as teammates and drag you down, making it hard to get out of that first division. Once you get through the second division or so, it’s smooth sailing until you go up a tier and the process begins again.

I think this is the immediate issue at hand.
When you can’t go down in divisions but can in tiers, those who can’t win will congregate at the bottom tier. Whether they were carried up to their current division, their skill levels are at that level, or genuinely better, it doesn’t matter, since they will be stuck there. This is a team game, so the chances of winning are increasingly slim at the bottom tiers.

The threads where people say “X division is hell”? Well, they’re not wrong. If we took a survey, the chances of those posters being in the bottom tiers could be high, just my assumption. It just moves up from each division.

In my case, I just hit Sapphire (less than 70 ranked games, please don’t be mean), and on a win streak. So far I have 4/5 pips, and the last two matches have been complete shut outs.
I know for a fact that this isn’t because I’m better, just that I had better teammates who probably also just got to Sapphire and aren’t stuck at the bottom tier. (I know this because I played those two games as a Revenant, when my main is a DH, and I still accidentally swap weapons instead of legends).

ArenaNet should make it so that you can go down divisions. Yes, it might be harder to get that legendary backpiece, but honestly, everyone isn’t entitled to it.

David.5974:

JayAction.9056:

DH is stupid easy, but it’s not really that great in a lot of areas.

I was never had problem to deal with DH, so I am affraid to pick up this one. Could someone describe what DH brings to his team? (Dmg, cc, “rock vs paper” on specific class etc.)

Really good burst.
That’s about it.

CC is okay. LB 5 is a good for teamfights (preferably when they can’t focus you), Heavy Light knockback and Spear of Justice pull synergizes well with your blade trap.
Dragon’s Maw is good CC and burst and good for point holding/contesting. But long casting and easy to dodge.

Guardians still beat thieves 1v1, and if you play it right, can kill a +1ing thief.
Necros are hit or miss. Even if your full rotation lands, Necros can still use plague form and live.
Engies are extremely hard to beat as DH. Just awful.
Eles counter us since they have a lot of reflections. Unless you can instant burst a not full hp ele, don’t pick a fight. They’ll outsustain you until help arrives.

Really, don’t go in when they outnumber you. DH are really susceptible to CC focus. Chill is your worst enemy.
In teamfights just focus on doing damage to priority targets.

warbignime.4610:

nativity.3057:

Why do people use this argument to belittle those who complain about matchmaking?
This kind of logic would make sense in games like LoL or Dota because in those games, when you get kills, you progressively get stronger due to item purchases. That means yes, one person can solo wipe the enemy team because they are exponentially stronger in terms of stats than the enemy.
This is parallel to EoTM or WvW, where level 80s (+/- elite specs) can solo wipe rally bots up-levels.

But it doesn’t work for PvP, where your stats are constant. Even if you get a kill, you won’t be able to kill them faster in the next encounter.
To carry, you should be able to play 1v2 and win? Again, it’s easier in LoL to double kill than it is in GW2. You both have the same number distribution of stats, so even if you play perfectly (which would award you a win in a 1v1 situation not counting class counters), in a 1v2 situation, your enemy must play worse than you. It gets increasingly hard to 1v3, 1v4, and nearly impossible to 1v5.

Say you can 1v2, that means you now rely on your teammates to win the 4v3. That’s not carrying at all, that means you need to have competent teammates.
Not to mention not having competent enemies who can also 1v2.

Then how do you explain LordHelseth winning non stop with low mmr account? He did that, twice with two different low mmr account already to prove his point.

I don’t watch twitch streams. I would have to watch the videos to make a comment, and I don’t intend on watching hours of stream.
There are other factors to in this scenario. Did he communicate with his teammates? Did his teammates know he was smurfing? How many of his teammates were following his direction? A chicken with a head will run straighter than a headless chicken.
Did he 1v3? 1v4? 1v5? Even if he is a professional player, I doubt he could 1v5, maybe even 1v3.

Secondly, using an outlier like a professional player to try and reject the average is simply bad statistics.

I’m a bit confused as to how the distribution works in sPvP.

Where is the middle? Emerald or Sapphire?
Since you can’t lose rank, I would assume Sapphire is the average?

When you jump up a rank, how much better are the players?
This is my first sPvP season and i only have a few ranked games, so I can’t really determine how good I am at Conquest, since I can only tell why I win is by having better teammates.

Also, a bit off topic, but when should I start multi-classing? I primarily play Dragonhunter since it was my first character and the one I know best. I also do a lot of solo-roaming with Berserker as well in WvW, but I hear warriors aren’t very good in sPvP.
I can play Tempest a bit, but I get really frustrated that it doesn’t have good damage, so I usually end up switching back to my Dragonhunter.

Why do people use this argument to belittle those who complain about matchmaking?
This kind of logic would make sense in games like LoL or Dota because in those games, when you get kills, you progressively get stronger due to item purchases. That means yes, one person can solo wipe the enemy team because they are exponentially stronger in terms of stats than the enemy.
This is parallel to EoTM or WvW, where level 80s (+/- elite specs) can solo wipe rally bots up-levels.

But it doesn’t work for PvP, where your stats are constant. Even if you get a kill, you won’t be able to kill them faster in the next encounter.
To carry, you should be able to play 1v2 and win? Again, it’s easier in LoL to double kill than it is in GW2. You both have the same number distribution of stats, so even if you play perfectly (which would award you a win in a 1v1 situation not counting class counters), in a 1v2 situation, your enemy must play worse than you. It gets increasingly hard to 1v3, 1v4, and nearly impossible to 1v5.

Say you can 1v2, that means you now rely on your teammates to win the 4v3. That’s not carrying at all, that means you need to have competent teammates.
Not to mention not having competent enemies who can also 1v2.

Rome.7124:

Archon.6480:

Tontonino.9736:

Mike says they have a total of 210 devs working on the game

wut

At least 210, it’s funny how all the script kiddies on these forums think software development is easy. It’s magic, it just works! “I wrote a few hundred lines of code in college, including Hello World!”

I write more code in a normal work week than in 4 years of college. It takes hundreds of programmers and millions of lines of code to make GW2 work.

because not having a test server makes whole lot of sense… Seriously, you dont need to be a pro game programmer to know what’s ideal dev environment and what’s not. I’m a full stack developer in finance industry in NYC, we have a staging test servers and run unit testing before merging / pushing code changes, you’d think it’s pretty common for gaming company to do something similar. For the amount of developers Anet claim they have, they sure suck at having a system for handling their internal QA. More often than not, they break old stuff and introduce new bugs. There are plenty good software development concepts like Agile, perhaps Anet should adopt one of them and hire capable people to write user stories to improve their development processes.

You can’t compare the resources of a company in tech/finance to the resources of a game developer.
One venture capitalist could fund GW2 for a lifetime, and that’s only the bottom level of funding.

Also, look at NCSoft’s 2015 Q4 financial statement.
Taking a look at retained earnings of the previous year, current year, and net income of current year. Using that and converting currency (should do at 2016 rate), NCSoft paid nearly $60 million USD in dividends.
They’re still keeping a portion of income for the company, but you can’t forget that NCSoft looks for quarterly profits.
If they aren’t profitable, GW2 will be dropped. That’s why ArenaNet tries to be profitable, not sustainable.

Despite all the gem store sales, it might be profitable in the short run, but highly unlikely to be sustainable in the long run, where a company needs to invest in R&D to stay relevant, and R&D in this case would be test servers and new developers.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

/bow works too

Whatever is fastest for you to type I guess. Unfortunately, none of them are “quick enough” when I’m in the middle of getting beaten to a pulp and just get stuck.

sigh

Why Anet? Why?

“e-sports”

really, if Anet was serious about wanting GW2 in esports, they should fix game-changing bugs.

Velimere.7685:

nativity.3057:

Sunshine.5014:

It’s a well-known bug (that won’t be fixed). Cleansing a Taunt will get you stuck. Your best bet is to copy paste /dance, or just don’t cleanse the Taunt and tank it.

#sorryimsalty

well known bug? sorry this is my first pvp season, usually never play spvp, so i wasn’t aware.

if it’s well known, why hasn’t Anet tried to fix it? Just because there are ways to get around a bug doesn’t mean the bug is gone…

They did something after the Cele D/D Ele meta that introduced it, and never fixed it.

wasn’t that pre-HoT? It’s been half a year hasn’kitten

Sunshine.5014:

It’s a well-known bug (that won’t be fixed). Cleansing a Taunt will get you stuck. Your best bet is to copy paste /dance, or just don’t cleanse the Taunt and tank it.

#sorryimsalty

well known bug? sorry this is my first pvp season, usually never play spvp, so i wasn’t aware.

if it’s well known, why hasn’t Anet tried to fix it? Just because there are ways to get around a bug doesn’t mean the bug is gone…