Guild Wars 2

“That’s the last time I try to res someone downed on traps.”

Next run…

“That’s the last time I try to res someone downed on traps.”

Your CPU is actually pretty bad. And im surprised you aren’t getting out of memory crashes with only 3GB of ram.

Your graphics card is not too bad. It will run medium settings, even with hi-res textures enabled, pretty reliably. Unfortunately it’s getting choked by your CPU.

My brother had a A4-3400, which is only just marginally better than your processor and a GTX 660. The game looked like he was playing on a Nintendo 64. He upgraded to a A8-5600K and now it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Fortunately AM3 CPUs work in AM2+ motherboards. So you could get another year or two out of your PC with something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

and a little ram if you are using a 64bit OS.

The difference you will notice is beyond night and day.

I like the minimalist look, but I can say I don’t think it really encourages impulse purchases. For instance, an uncle buying a gift for his nephew might know he likes swords, magic and role playing games. He is just going to pick up a box in the Best Buy isle that looks like it has that stuff. Poor kid ends up with Dark Souls II and learns at too young an age what true frustration, rage and pure hatred feel like.

As gamers we may look down on cliched box art. Especially since we have existing knowledge or at least awareness of most titles. But that box art gives cursory information to people that have no awareness otherwise. The game has monsters, swords, guns, fire, anime characters, race cars, et cetera. This helps guide people that aren’t gamers buy them for people that are. And the people that were going to buy it anyways aren’t going to change their minds because, just for an example, the cover art looks like the cover of the Collector’s Edition strategy guide (http://goo.gl/oQw5H)

I’ve attached the revealed Bioshock infinite box art as an example. Horribly cliched and uninspired. My mother, father, grandma, brother or girlfriend will buy that game for me for my birthday based on the cover art alone. No doubt about it. I wont even ask for it.

GW2, they wouldn’t touch because it doesn’t tell them anything.

Just a different perspective.

Torqueblue.1945:

Regizer.1763:

I also, want ANet to fondle my ballsack

whoa what? seriously we can say stuff like this? kinda going overboard there aren’t ya?

Maybe in his country that’s how they appreciation? Sort of like a handshake in other countries. I’m not one to judge.

nofo.8469:

But yes, if you would prefer to play a game where the company spends all their resources on holiday celebrations instead of the actual game then this game is awesome.

Live team and content team are two separate departments. Same as in GW1. Holidays were just as elaborate (for the time), and new content still came out at a steady pace. I’m not sure you know well enough how the company allocates its resources to say they are wasting them in one place or another. But that information is out there if you want to educate yourself.

Lionaeron.5724:

I don’t feel like reading your wall of text can you summarize it please, thank you.

Nah, I post for people that are interested enough and have the attention spans to be able to read for a solid 45 seconds. If four five to nine sentence paragraphs are too much for you, then I can’t say I’d be interested in any opinion you have on it anyways.

Not at all. “The sky is falling” threads are typically what you find in official game forums. Every time a change is made there will be a subset of players that do not like it, and think that because they don’t like it then no one else must either and that means the game will be dead in a month. Enough logical fallacies to make your head spin.

Also the grind your fellow forum members are referring to is limited to the rarest stuff in the game that is largely aesthetic. And the devs have posted here and on reddit that they have things in the works to reduce that. The only “grindy” stuff that isn’t aesthetic would be the two ascended items in the game as of now, and devs have said they are working to change that also. I would wager that by the time you get to needing or wanting that stuff, it will have been fixed.

The gear treadmill that was mentioned doesn’t exist. There are several tiers: common, uncommon, masterwork, rare, exotic, ascended and legendary. Ascended items are being rolled out over time so the entire set isn’t available yet. This was recently added and players started screaming treadmill, even though devs told us “there will be no other grades of gear added in the foreseeable future.” Gear wise what the game has now is a road. There is a beginning and an end. Some people have just forgotten what the word treadmill means. They also let us know the ascended tier was a thing planned for launch that just wasn’t ready and rather than have a type of gear in game with an unknown function because nothing for it was completed yet, they just saved it for a (free) content patch later. So starting now, you are playing the game closer to how they envisioned it to be than we did.

Something else to keep in perspective, some players like to compare the content in the game and the polish to games that have been out for three, five, seven years. There are bugs, and if you rush through everything as fast as possible you will find yourself rolling new characters or repeating dungeons just because there isn’t thousands of hours of fresh content yet. If you compare the game, at six months old, to other major MMOs in their state at six months after launch: The amount of things to do and polish are very respectable.

That should cover most of the non-sense you see on the forum front page and were greeted with.

Enjoy the game. The players helping players section, and this thread in particular, https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OPERATION-UNION-Bringing-Players-Together/first#post406302, are good places to check if you are looking for people to play with.

I heard that you have to get a sigil that has a chance to drop from the chest for winning a paid tournament and you trade that sigil to an NPC for a guild hall. It is not account bound and can be sold on TP.

I have no source.

The thing I think most GW1 players feel they are missing but can’t put their hands on is the meta and how ingrained it was in to all parts of the game.

The simplest way to put it is, in GW2 you make your character to function in the game as a whole. In GW1 you made your character to function for a situation. In GW2 changing around your build is a novelty. In GW it was a requirement.

That meta game evolved three times.

Once when they added secondary profession change on demand (originally you had to take on a quest chain to change).

Adding Heroes.

Allowing 7 heroes in a party.

Now you could min-max, tweak, optimize, and customize your character and entire party for any possible thing in the game. You could micromanage 64 skills, cooldowns and three heroes positioning to create back or front lines.

In GW2 pick two weapons your character can use, a random heal, and random utilities and an elite. You can still burn through most content and even stumble your way through dungeons. You could’t do that in GW1. If you tried, it would mercilessly destroy you and not give a single kitten about hurting your feelings for it.

Die on the boss of a story mission or in an elite dungeon? GTF back to town and don’t come back until you know what you’re doing, and when you do, you’re starting over! This made you plan. It’s why we would have to wait a min or two before entering missions so someone could “change their skills”. Occasionally you would notice things are harder than they should be and it would turn out one person forgot to adjust their traits. Because thats how important the meta was and how much of an impact one person could have on performance. Traits could mean success or failure. In GW2, they mean something goes a little slower or a little faster.

Thats what changed and what people are missing. The meta game in GW was a game in and of itself. The meta in GW2 is totally inconsequential.

Theorem 2 Hint:
Those aren’t proper nouns!

Hope that helps. Keep the answers coming.

Alipius.4783:

AcidicVision.5498:

But I’m not sure it’s reasonable to compare the number of activities and options in a game that had over half a decade to build on itself to one that is still less than six months old……

… and designed by the same people, with the experience of the previous game.

Experience cannot eliminate the man hours required to get things designed, implemented and tested. Experience can help you streamline your processes and find/remove blockage or un-needed dependencies. But the work still takes time to do and will never be done as fast as some players can consume it.

While you are hunting for things to keep you busy now, a player that picks up the game in three years will be overwhelmed and think they will never catch up to early adopters.

Rose tinted glasses. If you look back at the first GW, it launched with precious little content. For PvE you only had the story and two “dungeons”. For PvP you had Arenas, GvG and HoH.

On top of that you would hit max level in a few hours and could complete the story in a weekend. Afterwards the only real thing to do in PvE was to hunt for randomly spawning bosses for elite, or farm up mats and gold for 15k sets or unlocks for PvP.

A few months later the SF update added a new area, a new dungeon, and a new quality of weapons and the chest/key system.

The countless things to do in GW didn’t exist for months or years after its launch.
FA, JQ, Codex, Zaishen bounty, Zaishen mission, Zaishen vanquish, Zaishen chest, Hard mode, 12+ dungeons, rare collector weapons, TopK, many of the titles, world holidays, challenge missions, War for Kryta, Winds of Change. And that’s just what I could think of off the top of my head.

The game you are reflecting back on that had thousands of hours of content had about two weeks worth of PvE content when it launched. But that expanded exponentially in pretty good time.

GW2 looks to be similar. Every holiday update has added permanent new fixtures to the game and the Lost Shores added a new area and dungeon as the SF patch for Prophecies did. Now we have Wintersday, that has more content than any of the GW Wintersdays and the Jan and Feb update that are supposed to be an entire expansions worth of stuff.

Yes, GW was amazing. Over 7k hours I would say I had my fun and got my money’s worth. But I’m not sure it’s reasonable to compare the number of activities and options in a game that had over half a decade to build on itself to one that is still less than six months old.

FoTm and dungeons are excellent for money making. The gold drop rate in Fractals is really good, so you can TP those or the ecto you salvage from them. And dungeons guarantee 40-50s per run with the 26s reward along with all of the drops.

That’s how I make my money anyways, and my characters are doing pretty well for themselves. Almost have enough for my T3 cultural and commander title (although hackers have seemed to be targeting commanders lately, so I may hold off on that)

I you’re in desperate need of some golds and like puzzles, there’s a forum game going on here that has a gem prize:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post954238

Theorem 2

“Remind me again why he hasn’t been expelled…” asked Agent Rosicrucian, as the duo entered one of Lion’s Arch’s small makeshift apartments. “One does not simply get ‘expelled’ from the Order. It get’s…messy. Besides, Mason has some special talents, one of which we need for this particular assignment.” Replied Agent Wick, the older and more experienced of the pair.

“Funny, I just thought he was an insane conspiracy theorist. And speaking of messy…”

The apartment had been ransacked. Books and parchment strewn over every square inch, furniture overturned and the only window covered with an Order of Whispers tapestry depicting Turai Ossa brandishing the Order’s banner during the battle at Grand Cataract. The tapestry was embroidered with the phrase “In absence of all others, our Colors endure.”

“It looks like it’s all research on Wintersday. Was he kidnapped? Robbed?” Said Ros, thumbing through a journal full of incoherent notes and doodles. “Maybe there’s a clue as to what they were looking for in this Pig Pen somewhere.”

“No.” Wick Answered as he pulled aside the tapestry to reveal a pattern of symbols inked on to the window. “He’s taken off on his own again. This is going to be a disaster.”

Good Luck

Welcome to the game. Now head over to the players helping players section, and this thread in particular:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OPERATION-UNION-Bringing-Players-Together/first#post406302

As for general discussion: leave this place. And do not look back. It can…change you.

Doggie.3184:

AcidicVision.5498:

But…you’re a thief. Now you need another one.

Off hand Severed Dagger would be better.

Buh-dum-tish

But…you’re a thief. Now you need another one.

100% World completion. All skill points, waypoints, heart quests and points of interest in all main map areas and each of the WvW battlegrounds maps.

You could play a forum game for a shot at something like 25 gold at the current conversion. Likely to be over 30 when the holiday event starts.

Here’s the link:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post954238

Four sticks of butter!

More answers than I expected for the first one. The next will definitely need to be a little trickier.

A hint for anyone that might be a bit stuck: “When the Charr Seize her”… Seize her said out can sound like something else that will help decode the message.

Theorem 1

Dear Master Chronicler,

I have been commissioned to author a children’s book based on Gwen to be written in New Krytan. Mentor Keane was kind enough to allow me to study the volume of her biography that the Priory lent him; however it is written entirely in Old Ascalonian and some of the pages have become worn with age.

Chapter three begins when the Charr Seize her. But the final passage of this chapter seems to translate to gibberish. It reads “Gxnh Jdedq pdb Gzdbqd suhvhuyh brx, was etched into the bottom of her cage”.

I am sure you can understand how pivotal this part of the story could be, since here were her first steps into greatness. The dates in this chapter have, sadly, also become illegible. Such as her age when she escaped, which would be a key part of my tale.

Any clarification on these missing or mistranslated details would be much appreciated, and I will certainly note the Priory’s assistance in my acknowledgements.

Humbly,
Cimon the Scribe

Solution: 6 words.
Good luck.

Guild Wars 2 Theorem Game

I will post five passages. Each will contain some form of pen and paper encryption and clues in the text as to what sort of cipher it is and the key to solving it. The cipher and keys may lead you to outside sources (wikipedia.com, the wiki for one of the games, some other source on the internet) to properly decrypt.

If you believe you have solved one of the theorems, message me your answer on the forums.

There is no cut-off date for Theorems. You can still submit answers to previous ones even if newer ones have been posted, up until I announce a winner on Dec. 25th.

For each theorem, the first correct answer will get their name in the drawing three times, the following two correct answers will get their names entered twice, and all correct answers after that will go in once. So the faster you solve it, the better your chance of winning.

As a bonus, community members that offer helpful advice or creative clues without giving away the answer will also get extra slips, so there is an incentive for public participation.

On Dec. 25th I will draw a name for the winner and message them a serial code for 1,200 gems.

Theorems

Theorem 1: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post954557

Theorem 2: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post968222.

Theorem 3: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post990467

Theorem 4: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post1037562

Theorem 5: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Theorem-Game/first#post1061463

Thief IMO. There is a lot of flexibility, and a ton of utility. You also have to stay on your toes so it makes you a much better player overall than some of the other classes that don’t need to worry about damage avoidance, positioning and control as much.

The Guardian I just found to be boring and slow. Especially after playing 500 hours or so of a thief. They are just sort of EZ mode and it gets dull fast.

The HoM makes me sad. All of my statues are gone, tapestries rotted, the vision pool lost it’s magic, the Xunlai message I seen so many times is there, but there are no agents to speak to. It’s just…empty.

It a really depressing place.

Worst of all is we still don’t know anything about it. Who built it, why they built it, what the vision pool was, what broke it. Very undignified and unsatisfying end to something so monumental.

It might even be more saddening than seeing Gwen’s grave is just a small rock tucked away in a shallow alley in Ebonhawke.

That’s sad.

Holiday items are generally account bound, but I would happily log you in and make sure you get everything if you don’t have someone else to do it.

Msg me and ill give you a phone number or email you can contact me on to work out details.

It’s a public offer and Anet nor the community would look kindly on taking advantage of a hospitalized fan, so your account is safe. I care too much about my own to risk getting banned for funny business. You can change your pw to something temporary and ill let you know as soon as I get you everything and you can change it back.

Let me know. Have a happy Wintersday and best wishes with your health.

Well the VGAs are nice for main stream publicity, even if they are mainly an hour long commercial.

Doesn’t matter if GW2 wins its category or not though, they didn’t even air or announce the PC winner. Also, GW2 was left out of the Best Original Score category. The four nominees were major console releases.

The only category GW2 was in that was aired was Best Multiplayer game and there it was against four other major console releases.

I can say, as I sat there watching the award show on my Xbox, and seeing all of the Microsoft first party 360 commercials and features I wasn’t exactly expecting a PC game to win the best multiplayer award and I wasn’t surprised when some lesser categories got screen time but best game for two other platforms was totally absent.

It was surprising though to see Valve take game of the decade and Journey run away with multiple awards. And I was happy to see Dishonored take best action game and Walking Dead take GoTy. Arkane and Tell Tale definitely deserved it.

soulesswanderer.9714:

Honestly what I’m more pissed off at this point with is the fact that the official tally on people that I know is that there has been 8 people now who’ve gotten 2 chests. 3 who’ve gotten one. Of those 11, 7 of them were online and popped the chest at the event.

That’s not an official tally. An official tally would come from ANet and I doubt you will see one. The tally you are counting is of a bunch of nameless, faceless people on the internet who may have already gotten the chest and think posting they didn’t get it may score them another one. Or that couldn’t attend the event anyways but are making noise to just give it away all over again because they missed it for reasons other than technical issues.

Your tally is as credible as one id have if I were to walk down mainstreet and scream “Which transient did I not give a dollar to this month?”

RedBaron.6058:

…and give a chest to whomever did not got one with your script today. Lets move forward and forget the last event. Your client base has reason, do not waste more time and resources checking who got what…just do it, send a chest by mail and stop this bad blood.

Thanks and best regards,

Red

But then, some people might get two and thats not fair to the people that got one, or that got disconnected or had to log off to go to lunch at their grandmas five minutes into the event but think they should get the chest because Anet scheduled an event during Grandma day. And if you give those people chests and they get a precursor thats not fair to the people that got two chests but only got yellows and a crappy rune….

are you beginning to understand? Just ignore them and they will go away. Try to please one sub-set of people and you upset a totally different one then we hear about it from them for the next week. Just…let them have their fit and eventually they will go down for a nap.

Poor kid. So angry.

Professions are were designed to cater to different play styles. The filling any role and traiting for variety of utilities was meant to make it so any profession can be effective without relying on another profession. As opposed to other games where Tank depends on healer, healer depends on DPS.

It also means that groups don’t need to sit around waiting for a particular class (healer for instance) because people can trait around it to be support in their own ways that suit their play styles (banners, shouts, spot healing, removing conditions, giving boons).

If every profession had the ability to be as effective as any other profession at anything at any time, then there would be no need for professions.

Yes you have some of your stereotypical classes. Yes they do some of the stereotypical things. But they also do things that other games have never allowed them to so they can be effective on their own and more versatile in a party.

Mystic forge recipes to convert dungeon tokens at maybe a 1:3 or 1:5 ratio. Sort of like promoting materials, but more accessible.

Not a fan of universal tokens. Some armor, weapons and gifts are more desirable than others and should require more effort. Even if prices are adjusted, farming the easiest path of the easiest dungeon will be the route most players take. It will do the opposite of making dungeons more desirable and drive everyone to the speed run of the week. However, converting tokens allows players to make at least a tiny bit of progress in the dungeon of their choice when doing other dungeons to help friends or other players. Win , win.

More dynamic events in dungeons

Using the AC Troll as an example, it would neat if he had 3-4 different places he could ambush a party or just not appear at all. It would make dungeons more tense if you didn’t know where, when or if this bonus boss is going to appear. A few events like this per dungeon would make them less static would go a long way to keeping them fresh.

Bring back genuine problem solving

GW dungeons were great because they didn’t hold your hand through every requirements and lead you through every step. They were more adventure esque in the way that you had to find bosses that had keys to open doors, or look for a hidden map that would show you where these things are. There were few puzzles but the ones there were didn’t spell themselves out (looking at the Gwen and Urgoz dungeons as references). It might be too late for this now, but something it would be nice to move towards in the future.

Bring back interesting boss fights

One of the most memorable boss encounters in GW2 is one that was actually inspired by GW1. The Forgeman. His health is the perfect amount and the encounter encourages movement, focus and communication. Compare the Forgemaster to the Final TA explo boss, Fimbul, Kasha, or the Evolved Destroyer.

Adjust boss health but make it harder for the party to do damage and make it immensely painful for them if they are too slow or careless. Fights do not need to be artificially lengthened to be intense. Dhuum, Shiro, Varesh, The Drought, Duncan, Glint, Ilsundur, and the Lich are all great examples of bosses that didn’t need massive health pools to keep a party on its toes and working together. GW2 has sparks of that sort of spirit (Forgeman, COE story boss, War Minister Shukov, Lovers (pre-nerf)), but most bosses boil down to not being a genuine threat to the party, too simple to manage, and too much health.

Rewards

Dungeon only loot that isn’t tokens. I know this was added already in the form or accessories. But people like things they can see. Maybe a chance for a dungeon appropriate mini from chests (would be perfect actually since there isn’t a way to acquire them in game yet). Maybe a rare boss skin from the bosses ala GW1 green boss weapons. Perhaps a tablet outside of dungeons with the names of players from a party that did each path the fastest with no downs. Resets daily and there’s a title for each dungeon for getting on its tablet.

Those few things you have attracted the collectors, the speed clearing crowd and the title hunters.

Final Suggestion…a Fractal based on this…
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Rabbit_hole

Nerfing thieves has pretty much been the answer to everything. As far as I can tell there hasn’t even been an honest attempt at balance. Only random cuts to whatever other players are complaining about.

Downed state (which was taken from us for being imba, but then given to Mesmers?), Heartseeker, Pistol Whip, Backstab, Basilisk Venom, Dancing daggers, Whirling axe bundle and a few I am sure I am forgetting. And each of those things had substantial risk involved on the thief’s part, and legitimate strategies to counter. But instead of expecting players to elevate their game, or adapt,Thieves just get a baseball bat to the knees.

Meanwhile other classes have safer methods of delivering the same amount or more of direct burst damage and go untouched.

But wait…Scorpion Wire range increased from 900 to 1200! Because that’s what every Thief player has been begging for and makes everything better.

I honestly think that Anet isn’t sure what they want the thief to be or how it fits into the game anymore.

Thief is amazing in fractals. The passive movement speed buff along with swiftness on dodge lets you run straight through the underwater fractal to hit the boss checkpoint. Then wipe, respawn and you have saved about five minutes on the run.

Cloaking is great for the dredge fractal because you can just sit un-accosted on the first switch while your team moves in and then cloak again on the timed switch while two guys hold the door open.

Shadow stepping around and passive movement speed means you will very rarely be the guy that messes up in the swamp and doesn’t get his spark to the alter in time.

Unload and thieves guild are great at burning down the shield for the grawl boss so he doesnt regen.

Those are just professions specific gimmicks that work great for individual fractals. Then you have normal thief utility, like shadow refuge rezzes, scorpion wire pulls, black powder shot where mobs continuously spawn (dredge tank), quick defiance removal, and high dps.

Thieves are one of the best classes to take into a dungeon. People just get a bad taste in their mouths for them because there isn’t a lot of middle ground. It’s easy to forget the thief that the party never has to worry about. He is there and stuff just happens. But it’s hard to overlook the thief that is constantly needing a rez and putting the party in a bad position.

Doing a move through a combo field. LDB is a whirl finisher…
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Whirl_Finisher

Finishers have different effects depending on the field you use them in. They do things like give enemies conditions, buff allies, or deal extra damage. For example, doing LDB through a dark field (like Shadow refuge of a Necro’s wells) will steal life from enemies you hit, if you do it through an Ele’s fire field it will set things on fire.

I did it quite a few times and made points to avoid active and inactive pools. Still got nothing. Thought maybe the fire from the rolling boulders counted, so I avoided that. Then considered that the area debuff for standing still might count as lava, so I avoided that also. No dice.

Ended up just saying “meh, ill get it when I get it” and quit paying attention. Two runs later the achievement randomly popped for me. So my advice is just forget about it and it will end up coming ^.^

stof.9341:

AcidicVision.5498:

Im beginning to think you do not actually play a thief. O.O

With a steady sword and steady pistol my average pistol whip was:
36 + 68 + 68 + 68+ 36 + 36 + 36 + 36 + 36 = 420

My average three hit auto attack chain was:
163 + 163 + 143 = 469

The autoattack chain does less damage on the first two hits than the last. You probably got a crit on the first two. Whereas the PW test you only got 3 crits out of 9. Translation : your test is biased and flawed due to the very small amount of samples. You got 66% crits in the autoattack chain test and only 33% crits on the PW chain which in the long run, such variance wouldn’t happen.

I told you it was an average. I averaged 2/3 crits on the auto chain and 3/9 on Pistol whip. I also told you the results were reproducible. The number of crits and dmg will vary between characters but you will still, on average get better dps with auto attack.

As an in-game experiment, instead of trying to make a point on the forums, why don’t you take your character in to Lost Shores and kill two young Karka:

The first one use pw. When the fight is over note how much damage you took, how long it took to kill the monster and how much init you had left when it died. If you want tally up all your dmg.

The second, use auto-attack and chain black powder at the end of it’s duration. And take the same notes.

Your results will be the second Karma dying x seconds faster (depends on your crit chance and weapon grade, but auto will be faster), you take 1/5 of the dmg you took initially, you end with most of your initiative left (even though black powder costs one more initiative it lasts twice as long. You use it less and regen more). And if that’s not enough, you can tally dmg again and see the exact difference in DPS.

I actually have a video of doing exactly this. It will be up on youtube sometime this weekend after I edit it to pause after each fight to display the metrics and do a side by side comparison. Might even make some pretty graphs. But I welcome you to try it for yourself.

Anet didn’t go in to details, but they made a vague post on guru a long time ago about not being available on Steam because of changes Valve made to their policies. I don’t remember them saying it was specifically microtransactions, but that’s the best guess.

Well, seeing as how the only ascended items are a backpiece and rings, and it will be a year until the entire set is available…I think the Exotic gear they bought will still be viable for a good long while.

As silly as it is to buy gems for that since an Exotic set is easy enough to get through crafting, dungeons, or even flipping exotics you get from map completion rewards to the ones you want specifically…

It’s less silly than this “observation”.

Corvindi.5734:

Which looks to be for all eternity. It’s pretty darn tough..

When the original GW launched I bought a Logitech MX 518 and that has been my go to mouse up until GW2 launch. That thing lasted over 7 years and never gave me a single problem. I tried other mice (see previous experiences with Razer) out of sheer gadget lust, but when they all gave me issues, the 518 got hooked right back up.

The thing is still alive and kicking. I handed it down to my brother because he needed one for the PC I built him for the game.

Incidentally I heard the newer builds of the mouse don’t hold up as well as the original. I guess it’s not good for business to have optical mice that could potentially outlive their users.

You are right about the headsets though. I tried a few of those and was never a huge fan. Admittedly never any of the higher end ones. Just the $15-20 headsets you can get from Walmart when I needed one in a jiffy.

This site will be invaluable:
http://gw2cartographers.com/

^^

I had a problem with the Naga that would either randomly restart my computer, or not let my computer shut down. Windows would shut down, but all case lights and fans kept running. It started a few days after using the naga and I narrowed the problem down by using two other mice (logitech 510 and MS) and had no random reboots or failed shutdowns.

I have never encountered a problem like that before. Something about the mouse using a service that the firmware wouldn’t let Windows close.

If this is a mouse you have had to save money for and would be a big burden to pay for shipping on RMAs or replacements…seriously consider looking into the G600.

Mobs will drop weapons. You can also get them from Karma vendors, just make sure to check the heart guy after you finish the event to see what he has. The best weapons you will get at early levels will probably come from story missions.

Crafting is also a good way to get the exact weapons you want as soon as you want them to keep up with your level. Personally I would go weaponsmith for daggers and swords. You can do hunstman to make pistols and shortbows, but in my experience they are the more common drops so you wont be as hard pressed to find those.

Dont forget your karma vendors! Everyone over looks those and they are a good source for armor and weapons when you find yourself in need of a quick/cheap upgrade.

That looks so uncomfortable.

If you are looking for a gaming mouse I suggest the Logitech G600
(http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/g600-mmo-gaming-mouse?crid=825)

IMO its superior to the Naga in design, function and quality. The third ring finger button is amazing for weapon swapping. And the thumb buttons are designed in a way that makes it easier to navigate by touch between the 12 of them without misclicking or your thumb “getting lost”.

Razer products have always been hit or miss. They either work great or are total lemons. There really isn’t much middle ground. I myself had to RMA the Lycosa twice, the Naga three times (though once was for one as I got as a gift for someone else), and the Tron gaming mouse once (another gift).

Enough was enough and I got the G600 mouse and G110 keyboard and they have been nothing less than spectacular.

Just my experience. Other people might attest otherwise, and it’s entirely possible. Like I said Razer can be great, but their quality is super inconsistent and you are really gambling on what you will get.

voidwater.2064:

Range is irrelevant when I am in melee. The root as I said before is not a problem either. I don’t feel unsafe when I use PW, in fact, I feel safer because of the evade. I will regain initiative from using PW because of traits, so it costs the same as headshot. 1/2 second stun is superior to 1/4s daze. The interval between interrupt-worthy attacks on a boss is typically long enough such that the time between PW stuns versus rapid headshots is not an issue. Interrupt-worthy skills generally have a big startup, so activation time is not really an issue either.

The interval between interrupt worthy attacks on bosses is typically long enough that they regain defiant while you are waiting to disrupt the skill. If you are looking to interrupt something specific its more reliable to leave one stack and then double headshot to make sure you get the interrupt; unless you are just removing it for a random CC in the fight, in which case you should be removing all stacks and letting another class use stun since PW has the shortest duration stun in the game by over half in most cases.

As for safer on evade, my posts further up give just a few examples of bosses with attacks too fast or with durations too long for the evasion property to protect you at all. And there are plenty more, if you’d like I will message you a comprehensive list.

584 hours and counting on my thief, mostly spent in dungeons. I’m not making this stuff up. But it’s easy to bicker theories on a forum. I pose a challenge to other s/p users to try a few dungeons without using 3 so you can see for yourselves. I think you will be surprised.

I could offer all of the empirical evidence in the world. From average damage, evasion time vs elite mob skill duration, average elite damage lost to root + defiant, average initiative lost to whiffs/dmg taken/defiant, to successful dodges vs. pw evades. All of which will favor not using the skill, but a lot of you will still counter argue until you experience it for yourselves. Pw damage no longer justifies the areas it falls short to auto-attack or other weapon combinations.

voidwater.2064:

I disagree, I think there are good reasons to use PW instead of auto attack.

The defiance stacks on the boss/champion are precisely why I would use pistol whip instead of auto-attack, it helps the group push interrupts in dungeons and such.

Just a friendly tip, if you are trying to remove defiance stacks to help your group you should not be using PW. Headshot has a greater range, instant activation, no root, is a combo finisher and uses one less initiative. PW is unsafe for that and the worst possible skill you could be using to burn down defiant.

ASP.8093:

AcidicVision.5498:

Now, I would like you to also hit pistol whip and try to dodge. You can’t. You are rooted. The only way to break it is by burning initiative or a cool-down to cancel in to another skill.

Try taking a step first. Then you can dodge normally. Same way as you’d break out of ressing someone. It’s a bit annoying to do but doesn’t require using any resources.

Theres a problem with that also, that may or may not be a bug. You can move and dodge before the first hit connects but that doesn’t cancel the skill. The flurry of swings still happens and will even cancel a dodge.

Try hitting 3 and then taking a step and dodging. To see what im talking about. Mid dodge you snap back into the pw animation and need to re-move and dodge out of it. If you hit pw and see danger coming (Kohlers whirlwind attack for example) the only safe ways to escape are to weapon swap/dodge, roll for initiative, or headshot/dodge.

Thats part of the gamble of using the skill, which just to re-iterate, is not my core issue. The risk is perfectly reasonable IMO as long as the damage has a payoff (ie, more than the auto-attack chain). It used to. It doesn’t any more.

Im beginning to think you do not actually play a thief. O.O

With a steady sword and steady pistol my average pistol whip was:
36 + 68 + 68 + 68+ 36 + 36 + 36 + 36 + 36 = 420

My average three hit auto attack chain was:
163 + 163 + 143 = 469

These results are easily reproducable using steady weapons. Now, I would like you to also hit pistol whip and try to dodge. You can’t. You are rooted. The only way to break it is by burning initiative or a cool-down to cancel in to another skill.

The invincibility cannot be relied on since you are using it predictively. You could be hit by a mobs power attack before the frames start, or after the frames end, both windows in which you are locked in place by the skill.

Where-as if you were just normally attacking, you get more damage and can dodge or simply walk out of AOE.

In dungeons against champions or veterans melee is always safe as long as you can re-actively dodge. PW is never safe because the mobs have not a single kitten to give about your stun or invincibility. They care that you being stuck there makes you a tasty treat. Especially Mossman, Alpha, Graveling King, Lieutenant Kohler, and the Zealot. As they all have very fast attack skills that can beat pw to its invincibility, or long duration attacks that will outlast your evasion and hit you when its done.

Despite all that, my problem isn’t with the guessing game and stickiness involved with the skill. It used to be a worthwhile gamble for the substantial damage it did. Infiltrator’s Strike + Pw + shadow return used to be a favorite combo of mine on dungeon elite mobs. My problem is since the nerf, there is no reason to take that risk. Auto attack gives you more options, makes you less vulnerable, does more damage and saves you five initiative.

stof.9341:

Pistol Whip still has invulnerability frames, interrupts mobs

It does have the invincible frames and the interrupt but they are still meh because of the start-up and duration. You cannot use pw to interrupt on reaction unless its a skill with a reeeaaallllyyy slow wind-up. Head-shot is a much more reliable interrupt when you are reacting instead of trying to anticipate. And if you miss the interrupt then you are rooted and going to be punished.

Same story with the invincibility frames. They have a delay and don’t last for the duration of the animation. You can’t use them defensively at all. You can’t even rely on them to protect you from a whiffed interrupt. Because of the time between the initial hit and evade start-up.

stof.9341:

and does 9 hits in quick succession making it far superior to autoattacks for Signet of Malice and procing stuff that procs on crits.

Most of the sigils that proc on crit have a cool down time. They can’t trigger more than once every 2-10 seconds. So the most you get, assuming you crit on the very first hit and the very last, would be two triggers. And if you are using those sigils your crit chance should be high enough to not need pw to get two crits 3-5 seconds time.

What good does the signet of malice heal do when you get hit for 5k by a champion because you were rooted or it missed your invincibility frames?

stof.9341:

As it is currently, it’s an attack that is safer than autoattacks and more multihit but less mobile for the same DPS. I cannot say it’s a bad skill as it stands but it remains underwhelming.

Its not safer than auto-attacks. A full auto attack chain does as much damage as pw in a marginally longer amount of time, but still allows for full mobility. The damage nerf really took away any incentive to use this skill during any threatening encounter. Bandits in queensdale…sure spam it all day long. Using it in explorable dungeons…practically a death sentence with little payoff.

Pistol whip is inferior to auto-attack. Deals less damage and roots the player. It can’t even be used defensively on reaction since the invincibility frames have a long start up and end before the end of the root. Combined with virtually every boss and champion in the game having defiance, using this skill is begging to be punished.

The damage used to be worth the risk. Now you can just sit on 1 and re-actively dodge to get bigger, safer damage.

Please restore this skill to the way it was. All of the QQ in sPvP about pw was due to it being augmented by Haste. Shorten the duration on that utility or let players figure out counters like you did in GW with IWAY, air/earth/curse/trap spiking, or guild lord ganking, instead of rendering an entire dual skill useless.

Also, Basilisk Venom should be reworked. It doesn’t even qualify as an elite any more. Numerically, tripwire is a better skill. If the target can’t break the stun, then they are controlled longer by tripwire, if they can break the stun then they still have a five second condition from the trap, it has half the cast time and a 15 second shorter cool down. If the unbreakable stun wasn’t working out, then just go back to the drawing board with it instead of making one of the thief elites, and their only underwater option, worse all around than their low tier utility skills.