Guild Wars 2

Why would we keep calm?

The druid is mostly useless and still gets kicked in the teeth with a 10t hammer.

It is not our fault that we only got one beta weekend. It is not our fault that the specialization didn’t get enough testing.

The rangers experience is, that if you wait for things getting better while keeping calm is that you can wait forever and things will only get worse.

So here we go, from what we have learnt in the past:

FIX THE EFFIN’ DRUID AND WHEN YOU ARE ON IT FIX THE EFFIN’ RANGER! YOU HEAR ME?!

That’s how much I will calm down…

Im Mudbone.1437:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Im Mudbone.1437:

I think people in general are calling it an expansion sized patch because of its size only and not what the GW2 game establishment called it.

We do not even know the size.
Why would people talk about it that way. And why would ANet not give a clarification. The last thing this game needs are more disappointed people because of false expectations.

We know how this ended with “an expansion worth of content” before.

By this statement one can assume it to be large; “Due to the size and scope".

That quote was for the last 4 updates of LS season 1, not in regards of the feature patch.

Due to the size and scope of the final four story releases in season one

As Norn, when your camera gets stuck on everything and you have absolutely no control over which direction to look, I sometimes feel rage.

Then I remind myself that it has been like this since day one and it will probably never gets fixed and with this I reach acceptance and tranquility.

The camera can probably be fixed, it is just no priority right now for ANet (and only some of the gods who left might actually know what is a priority for ANet at all…)

Titel unlocked: Super Mario

Which permanent zone did we get since January when we were told to get a whole experience worth of content? Most fractals have been in game since November.

We got some content before January, but hey, we are talking about the amount of permanent content added since afterwards.
You know, solid content, not fluff. Like new zones, new classes or races. new game mechanics or instances. How much of this did we get in the three monthes (originally meant to be split up in two monthes). And afterwards.

Some new fractals, TA path (replacing content actually), Tequatl update (downgrade ^^), now the worms. In over a year. Did I miss something of value?

I am no duelist, but why are people against an additional feature.
Just add an auto block option.

Behellagh.1468:

Last year there was a six week break in the Living Story due to Winterday. This year it’s only four.

As the devs have pointed out, there is a schedule, set months in advance about when things are due so they can be released. The knowledge of when the Halloween and Winterday events are fixed to the calendar, other content has to be worked around them and their deliverable are scheduled accordingly.

It’s not like some guy is sitting in the server room with a pile of LS episodes ready to be released.

I do not know, other companies have updates ready weeks if not monthes ahead of release. They put them on a PTS for 2 weeks+ before going live. It is not like it is good business to get stuff done right before it has to be put on the live servers, as it will only cause burn out for your employees.

Bad time management, that is all it is.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Southsun:
Bad and buggy event -> good rewards

Speak for yourself, the rewards for many people weren’t all that good.

Battle for LA:

Bad and buggy event -> bad rewards

Stomping Scarlet finally was its own reward.

Everyone that participated got:

A free 20 bag slot
A free epic trinket
A free epic item with chance of a precursor.

That sounds like good rewards to me. What did we get this time? Some ugly skin for a helmet?

Stomping NPCs instead of fighting them? Sounds like a great accomplishment.

No, ANet said after the Karma exploit something like if it feels like an exploit, DON’T DO IT.
Exploiters have been warned, they knew the risk. End of story.

Critical Infusion is a major nerf for shatter builds. And shatter is not even meta in PvE or PvP or WvW.
Making a subpar build worse? GG ANet. Now PvE consists of Phantasm builds only. PvE build variety is down to 10/20/0/25/15 phantasm or 0/30/0/25/15 phantasm!
How awesome is that?

The time of regular MMOs is as good as over. People enjoy a good story, and it just cannot be told with 1000 others jumping around in circles.

In a good single player version of GW2, we would have been in Lion’s Arch, when the attack started. We would have seen the devastation taking place and the panic and suffering of the people. We would have seen stuff collaps, airships attack, an invasion taking place. We would have started a futile attempt to defend the city, and we would have failed.

What did we get instead, a suddenly ruined place with more mobs to kill. A farm train, and 1000s of blade shards to loot.

I pretty much think, the future of the genre is found in hybrid games like Destiny which have a strong single player and an additional multiplayer layer as option.

Exosferatu.2961:

I see the first season of the Living World as experimental.

Do you want to see changes in Guild Wars 2? Give Arena Net a proper, well constructived feedback.

Firstly, experimental content is for indie games. This is a NCsoft game, they want to minimize risk, so ANet better stops fooling around.

Secondly, I have seen tons of good feedback since and even before release, that has been ignored. Not playing the game anymore at all seems to be the only language ANet understands…

Nick.6972:

If you can locate your AWSD, F, Space bar and Enter, and have the basic reading comprehension skills, you’re ready for GW2.

Sounds about right. The only entry barrier is buying the game.

With the new NPE, even Forrest Gump would make it to 80 and beyond…

I am pretty convinced, that you can kill the Karka queen with 20 players.
That’s all I am asking for for Tequatl.

Every time I meet her lately, she seems to be a friend, as I cannot attack her.

So she must be a good character. I will try to put her on my friendlist.

Go Lazy Kai, if you don’t like to shatter take the Phantastic Phantasm variant.

It won’t get any easier than that. You will find them in my signature.

Dawdler.8521:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Pre-purchase boxed versions will arrive in stores (not online stores) on June the 30th.

But havent Anet said that there will be no boxed version?

Its all really confusing.

Webhallen, the Swedish store selling HoT as expansion only for €35 (they specifically note that GW2 is required) is listed as an Anet certified retailer.

I find it odd that Webhallen would have the wrong info available.

Does this mean that the pre-purchase version of HoT sold here on the webpage include GW2 and is more expensive than the pre-order version that is expansion only?

Wait wtf? Why couldnt they have told us this?!?!

It is a total fiasco no matter what.

The official response it that there will be no boxed ultimate edition. Anything else is possible though.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

There is no boxed Ultimate Edition version of the game and no other editions of the game being offered beyond what you see on buy.guildwars2.com.

We have an FAQ that covers this and other questions you may have: https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/94582027-Heart-of-Thorns-Pre-Purchase-FAQ

Go Lazy Kai, thank me later… ^^

You will find the build if you click the link in my signature.

And yeah, I still got to update the leveling guide…

It won’t get any more casual than GW2.

Maybe – just maybe – you should look for something more appropriate for your playstyle…

IT IS ALIVE!

Sorry, couldn’t resist…

Let’s all pray for an expansion soon, so there is new stuff to come up with.

Someone explain to me what is so heroic about crafting that it is arguably the only reasonable way to get the best items.

If you needed drops from the most challenging events maybe, but the way it is is just lame, grindy and uninspired. And not a task for a hero but a peon.

Carighan.6758:

Demon.2430:

Hope they won’t do so cause it doesn’t help to support skilled players. For example, a lot of times you see the enemy healing (pvp) and you blink-dodge-F3 to daze the heal (if you don’t run Illusionary Persona). Now, sometimes it won’t work just cause you might have 3 clones up.

You know, two things:

1. One of your clones is close enough, and you just F3 right away.
2. None is, you press any other shatter, blink, dodge, F3. Or for that matter, blink, 2 (staff, aye?), F3. You’re skilled, so I’ll assume you won’t need the extra dodge clone while also not knowing how to work around having 3 clones out already.

Oh dear, you argument is:

1. Hope that the clone that is close won’t run away to a far away mob that he is bound to and waste the shatter.

- or -

2. Waste another shatter or hope that your skill clone generator is not on cooldown, while the enemy has all the time in the world to do whatever he does.

Looking at your approach to the situation, maybe you should join the balance team, as you seem as clueless as them…

ThiBash.5634:

supergica.8652:

I love this type of threads. I camp regularly in the EB JP, and every time i see QQ-ing it brings me so much joy knowing that the noobs suffer so much. My server (Seafarer’s Rest) has some dedicated players, myself included, that lock that place down during prime time.

I’m disgusted that we’re on the same server. That you camp for badges or just because you can is one thing, but to actually gloat over the fact that you’re griefing other people…

OK, I’m mainly a PvE player and I still cannot see the griefing here. People don’t have to do the jumping puzzles. They can get the badges by other means. They can just leave this contested area as it is in the hands of the enemy.

It’s a PvP map, it’s obviously a point of interest, it is a place meant for PvP to happen, as any player will get a reward for succeeding. Where is the griefing please?

Varkronn.9783:

You have no idea what this update entails, they literally just released a screenshot. It could be complete dross, it could be great or it could be the beginning of the run up to a new race/class I fully expect to be released at some point (whether by expansion, update or gems), none of you know. The melodrama here is something to behold.

It is just the next episode of the Living Story, therefore people just expect to get a LS update.
You know, that is what it says. If you expect anything more than that, you are just in for constant disappointment.

Precurors crafting is as alive and healthy as the manifesto.

2.2 The Chrono-Allrounder: The Lazy Chrono Kai Build

So we got a shield and a new shatter? Yay!
Now that we were hyped for a bit, how about we simply forget about that. All we need is a greatsword and the first two shatters. Nothing has changed.

Well, some things have changed. The new mobs hit like trucks and there is AoE damage everywhere, so how about we keep our dodges for dodging that whole mess and ignore DE.

Wut you say, how can you play a mesmer without dodge clones you say. With one weapon only?

Fear not, I got for you the laziest chrono build in town.

Trait lines: Domination/Illusions/Chronomancer

Domination:

II Empowered Illusions
V Blurred Inscriptions
VII Imagined Burden

Illusions:

II Persistence of Memory
IV Shattered Strength
VIII Master of Fragmentation

Chronomancer:

III All’s Well that Ends Well
VI Improved Alacrity
IX Chronophantasma

Armor: Berserker for all slots, why getting creative?
Rune: Dunno, something with power and precision. If you can afford it, get some Superior Runes of Strength

Weapon1: Berserker’s greatsword – ha, what a surprise!
Sigil 1: Superior Sigil of Strength.
Sigil 2: Superior Sigil of Bloodlust.

Weapon2: Ain’t nobody got time for that – see rotation.

Skills:

Signet of the Ether
Well of Recall

Everything else is personal preference, I go with Blink, Phantasmal Defender and Gravitiy Well right now.

Rotation:

Yeah, we got a rotation this time, so this build is labeled “advanced lazy”! Before you cast a shatter, be sure that the phantasms had a chance to attack.

Step1: Press 2 and 4. (Wait for phantasm to spawn)
Step2: Cast Signet of the Ether, press 4 again. Shatter F1.
Step3: Press 2. Shatter F2.
Step4: Press 4, then 2. Cast Well of Recall. Press 2. Shatter F1.
Step5: Press 4, then 2. Shatter F2
Step 6: Goto step1 (sort of – you still have 1 phantasm)

That’s it, Signet of the Ether is now off cooldown again. Remember, healing is overrated (famous last words) so don’t waste Signet of the Ether for some imaginary HP. The rotation will heal you anyway (probably not, but sounds good for the guide).

Looks complex, but it is a quite simple and fluid rotation. Don’t waste your signet on simple mobs though.

The Lazy Chrono Kai Build

Variation 1: If you do not want to start your fight with your heal on cooldown, you can use iDefender as utility and place it as second phantasm at the start of the rotation. You will lose some burst (2 iZerker attacks) but gain some defense.

Rotation Variation 1:

2,4,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
4,2,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
2,4,Well of Recall,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
.
.
.

If no healers are needed, what is a healer good for?

“Stop being lazy Kai!”

Got some PMs and direct requests if and when I will update my compendium. We had a big patch after all, we have Traits 3.0, we have a whole lot of changes.

And wow, ANet did some things right this time (at least compared to what we got with the last two feature patches).
Things I like: Shatter is now worth it in PvE again, yay! Leveling looks more promising and more traits are always nice (even though I dislike how we are forced into adept/master/grandmaster traits).

So here we go. I have a new and working open world Lazy Kai Build I am testing right now with all the qualities the old one offered, sort of. Go Go Power Ranger Build? Not so much as it feels like it was fused with the Lazy Kai Build too much.
Also working on a new melee build, but first things first.

Updating the leveling guide will take some time. First of all I feel the need to roll yet another mesmer to get the right feeling for leveling under the new system. I am planning to use my revenant slot for this even though I would greatly appreciate a free character slot for the expansion. ^^
I really think that updating the leveling guide will help a lot of new players joining us with the expansion, so doing so should not be a waste of time.

So I will stop being lazy so that you can be. Cheers.

Ok, patch is dead ahead. I got a feeling that there might be more changes than expected this time.
So if anyone is actively playing this build (besides me of course ^^), I would be greatful for some feedback.
Just wished, I had reserved some posts after the guide, this thing is growing…

Xenon.4537:

People who actually care about GW2 will stay.

Nope. I actually care.

Uninstalled the game yesterday. Why? The game is in a sad state and the DEV’s seem not to listen.
So I’m making a point, a statement so to say:

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

tolunart.2095:

Yes, I’m familiar with the forum doomsayers “Game X is coming and it will completely destroy this game! BWAHAHA!”

Anet is aware of the impending releases as well. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this spring, around the time when ESO launches, the LS finale happens, a new LS is launched, and between them a “features” update is scheduled? There are a lot of things happening to keep players focused on GW2. And the B2P nature of the game means that a person can set aside the game for a while, play the free month of ESO, and evaluate whether they want to pay every month to play or come back and play for free.

Every MMO release is overhyped and overpromised, and eventually every MMO launch is declared a failure, usually by the same individuals. Anet is not afraid of these people, or the games they will be disappointed by.

While ESO is sort of a challenger for GW2 in matters of Wv3, I wasn’t just thinking of that.
Reaper of Souls might make D3 the game people were asking for, Destiniy looks very promising. Both are without a monthly fee. I have seen too little of Everquest Next, which will be F2P, so all together, that is a fair line-up of things to come. There are more multi-player AAA games coming I have not listed.

What came out 2013 in regards to AAA titels? FF14 redux? I just said, that GW2 will feel an impact 2014 that is stronger than 2013.

Do you have a recording to proof this? No.

So where is my money?! ^^

My leveling guide is in my signature.

In the end it is all about preferences, but I would highly recommend a power build with power weapons.

Dyes are char bound. Very alt-unfriendly.

And try to keep more than one character up to date with all the new ascended stuff, good luck (and yeah, ascended armor is coming in a week)…

As I said, the world is tiny by nature. Mounts would just make it feel more like a shoebox, and who would ever want that.

I once was leveling a char in the labyrinth and thought, “today I will run to Arah from Lion’s Arch, just so I have a waypoint there!”
I was there so fast, that I actually ran back to get some more waypoints just to actually spend some time.

GW2 has a tiny world, anyone who wants to get through it even faster does not realize how little landmass there is…

Well I don’t get it.

Mesmers will get some fixes that will break even more things, while the profession will still suck for PvE and WvW as well as regarding the meta in PvP.
Shatter is not going to get anywhere and GM traits that were terribad when introduced will just be bad and noone will still use them.

We would have been good with just four days till patch, as most of us have given up anyways.

We would have been the perfect match for necros on the last date…

tolunart.2095:

Those players who are committed to obtaining a full set of gear and/or Legendaries are far more likely to stay with the game as competing products are released.

And this is, where you might be wrong. ANet was very lucky with no other big releases out there since launch.
The players you are talking about are the ones that always want more than is available. ANet got greedy and instead of cultivating their niche, they streamlined the game for the big crowd. 2014 will be a tough year to convince players that always want new and exciting stuff to stay with a game that old.

The players you described will leave GW2 like a locust swarm for the new greener looking other side(s). On the other hand, GW fans and people that liked the idea displayed in the manifesto are gone and GW2 will fill no niche at all.

GW2 will not just die, but the already empty zones will get just more barren.

The grind must go on.
The grind must flow.

I need to press one, one and one again!

Honestly, this is the same bullkitten as always.

Twisting definitions of words so that they somehow fit into what was said.

Fact is:

1. A grind is a grind
2. Another grind is still a grind
3. Having more than one grind to reach a goal doesn’t make anything less grindy

Maybe people have personal preferences on what kind of grind is the lesser evil, but saying because you have a choice of grinds the game is not grindy is like saying you have a choice of different chores so the chores are no longer a chore.

How does that make any sense.

Meanwhile I am pressing 1, 1 and 1 again to level a ranger in EotM.

Honestly, this is futile anyways.

If GW2 wins:
- Supporters will say: “Look, I told you GW2 is what we said it is!”
- All others will say: “This award is worth nothing.”

If GW2 loses:

- Supporters will say: “This award is worth nothing.”
- All others will say: “Look, I told you GW2 is what we said it is!”

The simple answer is, you are better off with a GS than with pure melee if you are playing solo. Pure melee is mainly used for speedrunning dungeons, but it only works well if:
- the mobs are close together
- you play in a melee oriented group for boon stacking
- if you know every move of your enemy
- if the distance between you and the mobs does not matter (group pulls)

Most of the time the mobs are just dead in the time it would take you to get into melee range anyway. And you take no damage which means no downtime.
Take a sword/x in your off set and you will do fine.

Holy mother of a necro!

People leave because they get bored. I blame it on the zerg.

Good news, they want to rework all open-world bosses to be similar in difficulty to Tequatl.
You should better get used to what this encounter is, otherwise you will be fairly frustrated in the future.

GW2 at release: Do what you want, have fun.

GW2 after two Feature Patches: Do what we want you to do, have fun later (after the first Feature Patch), much later (after the second Feature Patch).

These feature patches are an insult to any player that has been around for longer.
Some people might like it, but some people like all and everything anyways related to GW2. Or they just try to justify the changes so they can still like the game. Many people do so in all kind of situations.

But from what I have seen in GW2, there is a fair decrease of those kind of members of the community.

“In most games, you go out and you have really fun tasks occasionally that you get to do and the rest of the game is this boring grind to get to the fun stuff. I swong a sword. I swong a sword again. Hey! I swong it again and that’s great. We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that, no one finds it fun, we want to change the way that people view combat.”

Anet must find their own game horribly boring as what they described as no fun is what most of their game is made of.
They said other games have boring grind and they want to make their game fun.

Do the math:

Grind = boring = no fun
Therefore:
No grind = not boring = fun

Now to say, that there is a bit less grind than in other games is:

A little bit less grind = A little bit less boring = a little bit fun

A really fun game they said…

So why enjoy the game now, when you can have a carrot on a stick.

Vayne.8563:

You speak as if this is a rule, not the exception. SWToR wasn’t out when this was made. MMOs didn’t have personal stories where that happened. That’s why they mentioned it.

World bosses and dungeons/raids are all that were in most MMOs. The personal story is most certainly different and something they wanted to tout. Why wouldn’t they?

The personal story is just a copy of LotRO’s Book quests and class quests.
But while the book quests in LotRO at least span a wide arc and carry you around the world with story instances in between and many of them, the personal story makes you go to point A, do a quest and than go to a completely other point to do quest B.

And after level 40, the only sort of unique thing (personally different stories) dies and you do the same solo instances like everyone else. Trahearne’s personal story so to say.

Ok, this might only be me, but as a Norn, I was waiting one month to see, what my fellow Norns are running away from.
They did not talk, and I thought – the horrors might have been to terrible to describe.

Now I have realized that my fellow Norns have been silent out of shame. Being defeated by some lousy Dredge and Kittens? What has become of our once proud race…

There is no epicness in this story, it is slow, tedious and at least uninspired. We have kicked Dredges and Charrs backs a hundred times already, and now they are a threat?

I was waiting for some combined forces of Destroyers and Svanir, that would have been still ok, but what we got is just a failure in story telling. Maybe it is a joke by ANet, but well, I couldn’t laugh…

Gaile Gray.6029:

Healix.5819:

“If you own the expansion, you’ll be able to simply log in to the game to gain free access to upcoming Living World releases!”

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you. I was just going to post that when I saw that you had.

At any time after it got released or while it is “active”?

ANet is going to take a hit by players being angry as kitten.

I do not plan to stay long enough to see this abomination of a “balance”-patch going live, breaking the game even more. I for one have spent enough time with this game, seeing it going South from November 2012. In the end, it just helps me to let go.

The gras is always greener for some time when things are new and shiny. Time to get the thrill of something new.

No you cannot have my stuff, I still have the irrational hope that maybe in some years, ANet will come to their senses (or at least fire the whole Dev team), and this game will become the game we were promised…