Guild Wars 2

Bhawb.7408:

We need to see some of our might turned into damage modifiers, even a stacking damage buff would be welcomed, but we can’t keep throwing more and more might/vuln/crit chance at our traits.

I’m afraid of putting more of that stuff in spite until SR mandatory issue is resolved a bit. I’d be sad if every Reaper was tunneled into Spite/SR/Reaper. That’s my main concern.

Mm, can’t agree with outright removing pip loss, or they might as well put the wings on a reward track and close ranked. At best, prevent tier loss in Ruby too, but even that is a stretch of you ask me… The last two before Legendary aren’t supposed to be easy/grinded. It’s what sets people apart.

witcher.3197:

ronpierce.2760:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Diovid.9506:

Just to clarify: Is this just for raids or for all PvE?

All of PvE, any creature attacks.

What about conditions?

Also, pets in AOE in PvP is absolutely not fine. If there was a similar system, but 50% or so in PvP, that would be great.

Notice the lack of viability in Minions/Spirit Weapons/Rangers/Phant builds, all having a huge root in pet survivability?

I don’t mind them being killed, but they are way too weak to AOE spam in PvP just as well.

Also, with them less susceptible to AOE, there would be less risk of cheese-killing when a bar full of minions trigger Death Nova at once (because they’d die less often).

The last thing PvP needs is viable, or even top tier AI specs.

That’s entirely opinion. There are steps they could take to reduce clutter and make them more skill-based, but that doesn’t mean they need to innately be bad at their core. The AI stigma is silly and fairly ignorant. Pet builds can be some of the most skillful and harder to master builds in many games.

Meglobob.8620:

Isn’t it silly and pointless rating the classes before the balance patch and the effect of 8 new healing skills?

The meta’s going to be mixed up quite a bit and probably only after a week will we have a good idea which classes are the winners and which are the losers.

Not really, most players are good enough at theory crafting to have a good enough idea at this point having seen a chunk of changes and seeing the heals demonstrated. The only thing that really keeps us in the total dark is not knowing how much the patch notes may have changed, and how many things will change that just weren’t mentioned. But even still unless its huge, we can have a pretty good idea. Several players have already tested “post-patch” builds on some classes, specifically the warrior.

I think they need to make utilities usable. It’s a design issue. They would likely have to change some other things for balance purposes, but it goes back to what I always say. Worry about design first, then balance around a good design.

It’s very obvious there are a lot of “old death shroud” philosophies tied to it that should be reconsidered.

Ideally, Shroud would be something that’s less of a total sponge and something you use more frequently. Like reducing the total pool, increasing build-up time (specifically outside of D/Wh+Soul Marks), and you can heal while inside and use your utilities, but at a cost, you’re not able to sit and soak as much at once. More like spurts of defense rather than build and soak, waiting for cooldowns.

Real generalized, obviously, too tired to get into deep detail, but the idea is the Shroud should have better synergy with the class overall and not inhibit team play (in regards to receiving healing). That all said, it would probably be a lot of work at this point to make Shroud feel like a better design without direly risking balance for a while, and I’m not sure many people are totally down with that either. :/

Yumiko Ishida.3769:

Well the only thing I see wrong with this is now trades over mail, if they do happen, will consist of ectos just like GW 1: anything over 500 g in GW 2 (100 platinum in gw 1) has to be in ectos. Isn’t that fun?

Well considering they purposefully don’t support mail trading, I guess thats on you… o.O I’m sure they’ve made it pretty clear that they want people using the Trade Post, if you want to find way around it theres risks and inconveniences. It not meant to be “fun” because it’s not “meant” at all…

I love you guys… :}

tobascodagama.2961:

ronpierce.2760:

They show every build on both teams before each match, and yes, PU Mesmer is the standard meta right now.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_PU_Shatter

I’m really glad you linked MetaBattle, because it nakedly reveals your fundamental fallacy: the complete inability to distinguish between “in meta” and “overpowered”.

As Cynz said, I posted it to show that it isn’t just in WvW, its a core build in many walks of PVP. Is it too strong? Well there are a reason top-tier players gravitate toward these builds. Top tier players don’t play whats “fun” they do what gets the job done, but that still leaves it open as to whether its too strong or not. There’s no proper calculation for that, its generally based on consensus. However, many players (including many Mesmer players) tend to feel like PU’s 100% increased stealth duration is not only a bit too powerful, it’s cheap and not fun to deal with (i.e. dampens the fun of the game. See: Turret Engineer.)

So you could argue with me all day whether its OP or not, and frankly, I don’t care to have that argument, as it doesn’t really matter what I think. But the point is, its not a knock-off build, its very real outside of WvW (but also in WvW), so that’s something to consider.

skowcia.8257:

1. Engi (AN child after all.)
2. Mes
3. Ele
4. Thief
5. Guard
6. Ranger
7. Warrior
8. Necro

This list seems about accurate from what I recall. I’m about sick of Engineer. Necros could have used that dev time to make it something other than a terribly designed sponge and #1 spam hero. Instead let’s give Engineers another f-ability and all the hugs in the world.

It ruined what could have been a good game because of the balancing around it. I’m not going to try to prove it to you, but I deeply believe if it didn’t exist, the balance around it NOT existing would make the game much more enjoyable for just about everyone. Being the same (a place where the game would have never even ended up had it never existed) but taking away downed state, yeah, it wouldn’t seem like such a great idea because PVE would be near impossible and pvp would be zerker bate ahoy, but if numbers were balanced around not expecting you to die every few seconds in PVE or being bursted down in PVP, the overall gameplay could have been improved.

It’s enjoyable at any play level and skill, but its effectiveness has a steep downward curve with skill levels compared to other classes and builds (within the meta game).

It’s no doubt some people will be upset, some will be irked etc. There’s no “perfect” answer. I’m just saying what is the most fair and the best option. Buyers who bought out of good nature should absolutely not be punished, simple as that. Some people who don’t read the forums will log in one day and wonder why they got jukedwhen they were happy about their previous purchase. Some of which may even still be doing things/spending money thinking about this armor who have no idea it’s being changed.

Yes, some people will be muffed in group 1, but group 2 got their way overall, group 3 will still have their item they rightfully bought and won’t lose trust in ANet, and group 4 will be a bit muffed (but I can assure you the pain of having and losing is way worse than “what could have beens”).

I can already see myself spamming Banish Enchantment on Elementalists who think it’s great to have more boons than they deserve. :P

Personally, I don’t think he’s wrong. As an adept, Soul marks is far too necessary and even a bit OP, as a long time Necromancer/reaper. I hate to say it, but it’s partly true.

Frankly, if it were up to me for balance, I’d make the LF on Soul Marks baseline and put “Foot in the Grave” as the adept in that spot (which opens up build diversity options, allowing people to step out of SR a little bit better, while maintaining SR’s great benefits) but moving Soul Marks to that GM slot and adding a new benefit in addition to the unblockable marks. That way, you have to choose between damage that is harder to avoid (and some new benefit) or direct shroud damage or shroud condition damage, but giving up the unblockable mark application.

Like I said, I feel like it’d be fair to ask for more “investment” for what unblockable marks allows, especially if it gained a new effect. It also gives a slight better access to CC breaks/Stability for baseline Necromancers and more diversity to be allowed to leave SR (though, Vital Persistence is still a consideration…) And if you choose the damage routes you still have the LF gain but no longer have easy application.

Admittedly, probably hard to swallow, but I think it’d be best for balance and the class as a whole. And of course, other classes need toned down in their own ways, so it’s not necessarily a suggestion to be considered in a vacuum.

Uden Reavstone.3426:

ronpierce.2760:

Uden Reavstone.3426:

ronpierce.2760:

Personally, I don’t think he’s wrong. As an adept, Soul marks is far too necessary and even a bit OP, as a long time Necromancer/reaper. I hate to say it, but it’s partly true.

I disagree. I use staff in most of my necro builds, and not a single one uses soul reaping, let alone soul marks, so it’s not “far too necessary.”

You successfully play mid-higher tier PvP without soul reaping? Better than with Soul Reaping..? I have a hard time believing that.

I take it that you will also have a hard time believing that I used to facetank enemies in most 1v1 fights in ranked pvp with an ele, you know the squishiest class, back when the meta was all about dps, but I did. Point is, meta is not the only way.

Erm, Ele being able to tank is nothing new. Meta or not, there’s still a difference between yolo solo/ranked being able to kill some people and actually being viable or on par with other builds.

As I’ve always said, and Bhawb is getting at, fix the games design issues first, then balance around proper design. Don’t ignore design because of a false sense of balance.

Soul Reaping:
1.) Minors are all pretty good.

2.) Adept Major, all have uses and are pretty fun.
- I do wish Shroud 1 would always hit 3 targets baseline (pierce and cleave for DS and RS) and unyielding blasts upped that number to 5 for both so both Shrouds could take advantage of the number boost, and base Life Blast wasn’t so bad.
- Soul Marks is good.
- The last one is okay, I question its use, as most Power would go UB, and conditions would go SM, but perhaps people will find a use for it, it’s not objectively bad I don’t feel.

3.) Master Majors, this line has always bothered me a bit.
- Spectral Mastery is fine, no major complaints,
- Fear duration trait is fine. Could go with Terror, honestly, but whatever.
- Vital Persistence is too kitten dominant imo. It’s so hard for me to not want it on any build. Wish it was a minor so there could be more choice in the line, but that might end up OP so I don’t know what to suggest.

4.) GM majors. Issues here as well.
- FitG could use a 5 second pulse effect on the 1 stability while in Shroud, that’d be great.
- Death Perception is good as always.
- Dhuumfire is REALLY bad right now. It doesn’t come close to scepter DPS, even factoring in Reaper’s faster attack speed, with life blast it’s just terrible. Should also affect Shroud#4 skills in addition to being bumped a bit on Shroud #1.

Special Notes for Minions
- Moas still ruin the entire spec instantly.
- Still sone responsiveness issues exist, but it oddly seems better. Keep working at it!
- Minions die too fast in PvP. Both physical and Condition damage, they’re just too stupid, and really need and appropriate crutch.
- Cast times need to be brought down still to 1 second. This applies to all pets, though including spirits and spirit weapons

Okay, that’s it! Thanks,
High Warlord Sikari!

Vuh.1328:

I wonder how hard people would cry if there was a immune to physical damage below 25% hp :/

That’s what I said. Let necromancers have a death magic trait that says under 20% hp, you’re immune to all non-condition damage.

100 bucks it would no longer be a “Rock paper scissors” issue.

martin.1653:

Karl McLain.5604:

A short update:
We’ve been working heavily on the dodge abilities, making them react the same way that your normal dodge occurs. There have been a lot of long hours, but we managed to get this functionality in for the next beta.

• The ‘Bound’ dodge animation is shorter and more appropriate for a dodge.
• Dash – The extra distance has been removed for now as well. Dash now breaks immobilize in addition to its other effects. For now, the animation is just going to run you in the direction you’re dodging.
• Impaling Lotus – The jump has been removed, as it caused issues that couldn’t be remedied. I’ll update if other things happen.

-Karl

Why do I have a feeling these will get recycled for months after HoT release until you finally scrap them, make them F3-F5 (just so all the work that will went into them won’t be complete waste) and give thieves proper grandmaster traits.

Suggestion:
Dash – make it travel more distance. This trait will be useless without this feature. Now it’s just slightly improved Expedious Dodger from acro line, and that’s sad for a grandmaster trait.

You think removing immobilize on any/every dodge is bad…? Are you crazy. That’s incredible.

If I had to GUESS, F5 will probably be some sort of tempest-related core move that changes in function depending on your attunement. Could be wrong, but that’s my guess.

Can we only do it outside of sPVP? :P I like it for marking where thieves are moving. It’s a very useful tell.

Scythe Staff
witch’kitten
Wizard’kitten
Glint’s gaze
I require these items in my life.

I just want LB to be like half the speed and about 40% less damage so it feels better in general and traits can be better balanced between the two shrouds. And baseline pierce of 3 with UB raising targets hit to 5.

This just in! Tinfoil is harmful to brain cells!

Hey everyone I’ve tried reinstalling GW2 PC version several times from the website, but it keeps going to 1 file remaining and stopping. Any ideas to fix this? I have turned off my firewalls etc to try to let it go, still nothing.

Personally, I wish people would stop valuing Zerker so much lol. Why do people have such a kitten for glass cannons with the goal of having 2-5 second fights that have a lot to do with lucky dodge rolls/evade frames? Because if you’re honest with yourself, it comes down to it a lot… I just don’t see the appeal. I love Celestial in what it means, causes a middle ground for those builds. The only problem with Celestial is might stacking that causes them to do unjustified damage, its not the amulet itself. A 0 might (ever) celestial ele is not very scary at all.

xarallei.4279:

Vlad Morbius.1759:

You people kill me. Try another class, then come back and tell me how awesome we are, totally delusional i swear. A Tempest can out damage you, a guardian can make you inept as far as survival? What the are you playing?

Have to agree with the others. And I did try all the other elite specs and I still like the reaper a lot. And yeah, why are you so angry? People have a different opinion than you. It happens. No need to be angry.

There’s often a clash between “happy with how something feels/is” and “still not competitive”. I try to let people be happy, which is why I stayed out of this thread, but I’m just jumping in to explain. Often times when people bring up serious issues you get people posting things like “with my pug earlier, I did great!” which holds little value to progressive threads. What we have here is the opposite situation. x.X

Just don’t add fuel to the fire and keep it positive for people who are happy, there are about 100 progressive threads and more to come soon. :P

Ned is a rebound. I hope the best for them.

Mungo Zen.9364:

I am glad that some players here are looking to try and turn a bad thing into the next good thing.

Yes, the combined changes to Necro make it look like there was an overall nerf to the profession, especially with changes to other profs getting some love. I understand that can be frustrating, I was pretty disappointed at first as well, but people will keep playing this prof and trying to make the most out of it, and someone like Sun Lian will come up with a brilliant build and all y’all will be back to being mostly happy.

So rather than repeatedly pointing out how Necro got nerfed, try expanding your minds and look for viable solutions. Or go play another Prof, I am pretty sure nobody would miss all that negativity.

Not all of us are being as negative as you think. Most of us are on the “right change, but a bit undertuned” boat. And it is. We’ve offered many subtle changes to make it viable again, but it gets a bit frustrating to deal with people who ignore real math and prefer to substitute it with unrealistic hypotheticals. To say it’s fine or especially some how a “possible buff” is just entirely wrong, even if you can get moments where the bleed stacks deal more damage than a single tick of chill would have, it’s still by FAR a numerical nerf.

This has even been admitted by Devs who said “We realize this is a large power swing, and we’re keeping an eye on the trait.” (Paraphrased).

The Boz.2038:

Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046:

a cardgame like magic … involves balance

MBUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh good god, this one is good! Pure gold!

A little off topic, but turn 1 kills aren’t what I’d consider balanced.

nearlight.3064:

Hahaha if you think thats strong, wait till you fight a downstate shiro revenant.

3 second AoE stun on down +25% damage with sigil procs and their downstate skill that moves the stomper away even with stability?

You’ll just love it.

Let’s be fair here, who’s going to spec for downed state over 150 ferocity or Might stacking…? O.o

Only bunker builds, that I could imagine… And I don’t see a ton of bunker builds taking Devastation.

I found this post to be rather passive aggressive.

Frenk.5917:

Lishtenbird.2814:

CONDI, tough, vit

and

CONDI, pow, prec

please?

lol no please, I just witnessed burning ticking 5k with condiguard…

Engineer hit 7.5k ticks. No problem. Thanks, Grouch. :P

The reason they do that is because the more you “balance out” your stats, the weaker you will be. Jack of all trades is a master of nothing, so they balance it by giving it a few more total stat-points.

Marauder is basically essential for low-Health classes to even exist right now, so there’s that too.

The amulets are not the problem. Certain traits/skills/situations are out of hand. Messing with amulets would not help balance, you’d just break some amulets and kill balance.

If anything, the game just needs more 4-stat amulets. Remove all the 3 stat ones and add a butt-load of 4-stat amulets. THAT will help balance out “super bunkers” and “super DPS” to a more manageable level and increase diversity…

EDIT: Fixed Low- Armor → Low-Health. Typo.

WereDragon.6083:

Well don’t let this die guys, neither this thread nor the necro forums have gotten a response to this, so Anet is either ignoring it or hasn’t seen it yet. I’m hoping for the latter.

Well the title was in all caps, and more rage-filled, so SOMEONE has seen it. :P

In about 2 hours I’ll update it and add some more info and make it neater. Maybe they’ll take it more seriously. TBH it just gets exhausting writing several page papers for these guys and having them be ignored. Doesn’t feel worth it anymore. But for old-times sake, I will when I get back.

Dhemize.8649:

I vote for an elite skill that drops a blob of minions on an enemy and instantly rek them while they’re stunned/imob.

As for names for this new minion elite, I suggest “Iwinbutton”.

Ah yes, zombie crate that spawns a blood fiend, 2 bone minions thst explode on contact, a bone fiend that uses his immob instantly and a flesh golem. I am all for a zombie crate! :P

Qaelyn.7612:

I think that’s awesome. The meta has shifted, and it will take some time for people to adjust.

Diamond counters (Harder than hard counters) are not meta shifts. They’re terrible designer flags.

JoeVertigo.9236:

ronpierce.2760:

PvP isn’t really supposed to be random. It’s about outsmarting/outplaying the enemy, kind of like chess. You really should be able to judge at least 2-3 moves ahead depending on what you’re playing and once you take the time to figure out their playstyle/build (which takes about 10 seconds max)

And smart PvPers are more than able to do that, I don’t see the issue. And there’s still a lot of randomness in this game.

I know they can, but as for counting Endurance (/dodge rolls) you can’t unless you magically find out if they have energy sigils or not, any hidden vigor traits etc. The thing is, is it’s entirely impossible to know these things which is why the bar would increase good playing. Also, it demotes spamming because you could rightfully watch for windows of opportunity, without having to play the guessing game. The guessing game is why its best to just spam the hell out of something and hope stuff lands (for the most part). I don’t think you guys are thinking it through how this would make the game LESS spammy and more skill intensive. Not every player is good at keeping an eye on various informations, such as enemy buffs (why not just hide those too, right?) personal buffs/conditions. Those things you can watch increase skill cap not lower it artificially by making you completely clueless.

SkylightMoon.1980:

ronpierce.2760:

SkylightMoon.1980:

Im kinda sad this was put in game as well and I think it should be there. But there is one important reason Anet probably wont do this. Its because their pvp devs only care about developing an esport. You cant have 2v2/3v3 arenas be an esport. So for them, there is no point. xVx has always been very interesting to watch, some may disagree, but you have to have an eye for pvp to really know whats going on.

WoW’s entire esport is centered around 3v3 arena PVP. If you have good combat arena is great reports material. Especially if matches were set up best of 3. Gw2 2v2 and 3v3s have tons of moments for amazing clutch moments and stomp plays. Just watch some 2v2 tournies, it’s exciting as hell. In many cases way more exciting than a sweeping game or a stalemate or watching a bunker roll around on the ground doing nothing but trying to survive in a circle.

I agree but they still won’t do it lol.

It’s a poor business decision. Are as are incredibly popular and the only real good option people have is WoW, which is a VERY PvE oriented game and not pvp friendly. This game would be perfect for arena becuase it has no healers. BUT has support and the stomp system. Literally this game is designed for 2v2 3v3 and it’s such a blatant missing link…

Necro and Ranger have the best community (internally) in my opinion. And ironically have had it the worst throughout the game. And just as funny, engineer and thief have one of the harder communities to crack.

Harbard.5738:

ronpierce.2760:

If you can play an MMO with absolutely 0 rewards, what is most peoples’ “fun factor”, that’s fine, but in that case you’d enjoy just about any game well designed or not… You’re a rarity, and frankly a lazy game designers delight.. x.X

Oh yeah, because it’s not totally lazy to make a game that’s just like a food dispenser that trickles down rewards instead of making a game that is engaging on it’s own and doesn’t need you to bribe you with illusory gains of money/shinies.

See, it’s way harder to design a really good game with really engaging gameplay than set up loot tables for you to roll on.

I forgot how engaging buying grinding gold to buy all the mats you need to do everything with was. My bad. I didn’t say other games had it perfect. But they’re certainly a hell of a lot better than this.

The merge shuffled my Poll into this mess.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

I’d rather see more pulls and shadowstepping our foes to us than getting leaps and ground-targeted teleports, myself.

This.
Dark Pact reduce Immob 1 second, increase range to 900 and shadow step target to us (maybe increase CD? Idk.)
Make spectral grasp faster and better at homing like turret missiles are since unlike most ranged abilities it is fully intended to be used at the highest distances away because you’re luring them back from a distance. Maybe even make it shadow step them to you to fix the stupid pull bugs.

I’d be allllll for that.

Just make it so PvP doesn’t have amulets, make all PvP gear have “Celestial” stats on them. This is roughly what happens:
- Burst is less burstier.
- Condition builds are less damaging.
- Tanks are less tanky.
- Bursts survive longer.
- Tanks do a bit more damage.
- Runes/sigils play a bigger portion of the role we want to specialize in.
- Trait attributes begin to form the build more/become more meaningful.
- Opens up many more build options because hybrids are now viable, and traits become less about optimal in-and-out burst potential OR ultimate survival.
- People die on points by not being able to bunker forever.
- People don’t die in 2 seconds because some builds are built to do so much damage in under 2 seconds that they don’t even have time to react.
- On crit sigils become a bit more useful as a whole, because everyone has (at bare minimal) 20% cirt and capping about roughly 43% with precision runes and deep investment in a critical line.
- All minions would have to scale with stats to avoid being over powered. (I play an MM).
- People will still think this is a bad idea because big change scares them and it SOUNDS like it limits options.

Just my crazy two cents >_>:

Zenos Osgorma.2936:

needs more replys , somthing like this is boring to kids and won’t bring them into the thread.

though the idea is Rock soild its easy simple to understand clear as day , just keep bumping.

That’s a common issue with good ideas. If its so simply it feels like it “should just be the case”, it doesn’t strike up enough argument or debate and gets buried, so you get stuck with flame wars on the front page. :/

We’ve already answered that, Nagato. All you have to do is put a heal cap/second (Modified by healing power) or a cap on how many people the trait can steal from at a time. There are ways to adjust that, while having the ability in a good place. Their alternative is just terrible.

Harnel.6810:

MattyP.6954:

Ok, does Revenant Main-Hand Sword provide any dodges or cripples? It seems to be almost entirely dps (with the exception of a chill and a blink).

Also, did you adjust for Longbow range?

Revenant Main-Hand Sword provides a chill, extreme vulnerability stacking, and an invulnerability skill that stacks might, which is a good deal better than any other weapon in the game.

Your exception of “a chill and a blink” is two thirds of the weapon. Don’t be ignorant, particularly when including the entire main hand Ranger sword.

Sword 3 doesn’t have an invulnerability. It doesn’t have any added defense beyond the movement, which is uncontrollable which means AOE crush it.

Sword 2 does a… 1 second chill… So congrats.

I feel like people are totally missing the point of berserker here…

Point is, team work is more fun if its preventing death, not playing the classes best suited for stomps/rallies and playing on the floor. This argument will never end though. Some people like it, some people hate it, its certainly too late to change it, but I KNOW, 100%, this whole game would have been better if it didn’t have it from the start, and was balanced around not having it in the first place.

In the stream he said something along the lines of “Allowing you to deal a little bit of extra condition damage”, so I think its fair to assume it will likely be condi damage. I think it’s their answer to “why would a Condition player run Reaper?”