Guild Wars 2

Interesting post indeed, although shouldn’t this be on the dungeons section? I agree that the ai on gw2 mobs are very limited and unfortunately can be infinitely abused.

Jcbroe has a point in his discussions. Basically I feel that the rangers traits are overly dependent on grand master traits to be of any use. Obviously the pet is another issue on his own, but I do have the same problem where I am choosing a trait not because is good, but because is the least worst from the list I am provided with.

…… nothing to see here. Move along.

@ ShadowRX and Cotser

Guys, calm down. No one in this post has said that you are doing it wrong or what not. This post is to invite anyone that does not like to stack/skip etc. If those people do not want to skip on arah p4, and takes them 10 hours to beat it, if they enjoy it they are able to do so. No need for toxic responses for something this simple.

@ Everyone else

For anyone else still interested, the guild is still open and growing everyday! Come in and find a non stacking group for non stacking fun

so far so good…

I agree, would be awesome to have this type of activities in GW2.

I recommend anyone who wants to have fun in dungeons to join this guild (instead of the stack fest common nowadays). I have done a few dungeon runs, and it is without a doubt much more fun playing the game the way it was intended. Plus, this guild happens to have very skilled players on its roster.

Hey OP, I agree with your post, but I also understand that some people just prefer to stack. I want to point out a few things:

1) GW2 was advertised as an action oriented, fast paced MMORPG, where skills and constant movement is a must in order to survive (take a look at old commercials for GW2 before release). I sincerely doubt that stacking was intended in this game. In reality, mob AI is simply not good enough in this game, and would gather up easily in a corner only to get butchered quickly. How do I know stacking was not intended? think about how the camera goes ABSOLUTELY BONKERS when stacking in a wall. YOU CAN BARELY SEE WHAT YOU ARE FIGHTING!!!!

2) Players will ALWAYS search for the easiest way to obtain what they want. That includes skipping/stacking on mobs. While it is fine to skip trash mobs (albeit, trash mobs in this game are almost POINTLESS to kill) Im not sure stacking was one of the approved methods. However, in a post made by an ANET employee a while back, they DID mention they are neither FOR or AGAINST stacking. The reason he/she may have said this was because they would make a LOT of people angry if they approved either method.

3) Stacking has (in my humble opinion) dumbed down player skill. I have been in countless COE runs, and every time alpha moves a slight bit away from his corner, the party I am with wipes, leaving me to face alpha alone and usually just solo it. People feel spider queen is super strong if not dragged to her usual corner, yet with skills, proper dodges, and condition removals this fight is so easy I solo her for breakfast.

4) Is not a good idea to post against people that do stack. Those that prefer to stack are usually offended with comments like these, and is only natural, after all you ARE judging their preferred methods of playing. I understand that in some ways they feel that they are being told how to play, and you will not change their mindset the same way you wont change yours. At the end of the day, is up to ANET to decide what is the method of fighting they truly envisioned in their game: whether it is a stack infested game (where corners and walls are the ONLY method to win a fight) or a action and movement oriented game.

Excellent post. hopefully this can change the way Anet handles the whole balancing process for all classes, as at the moment is quite disconnected, as if they did not know their own game…

These are excellent!

Beautiful weapons:

http://dulfy.net/2014/03/18/gw2-mistforged-hero-weapon-skins-gallery/

Whoever designed these deserves some props! Just wanted to give a shout.

BTW hairstyles are awesome too, omg….

http://dulfy.net/2014/03/18/gw2-new-hairstyles-in-total-makover-kits-and-self-style-hair-kits/

OP, I dont want to sound rude, but you need to practice and learn to play. If you need to complete AC, and want some training regarding the dungeon and your class, feel free to contact me in-game. I promise that you will be soloing storymode after our training.

You would be surprised just how much the challenge in this game has diminished because of the stacking phenomenon. Just yesterday I went to COE with a pug group and they were all completely wiped by alpha about 3 times in a row because Alpha was moving more than usual and left the corner a lot (I survived all three times after seeing the group die extremely quickly and running away), until at one point I said: Let me kill it. They agreed, and Alpha was dead in about 3 minutes.

Thing is, most people want to make believe that stacking is a sound strategy, when in reality it may not be so. I know some things are best to stack to, but if it weakens your individual skills and abilities to adapt to random situations, then whats the point?

Hi Chris:

I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this already, but the Urban Battleground Fractal has some really bad AI issues (the charrs that accompany players thru the fractal). If they die, it is required for all players to die as well to eliminate the ascalonian soldiers, and the npcs run to trouble without players consent. Not sure how you guys can fix this…

Aden

Eosaujii.5713:

Specific Game Mode

WvW

Proposal Overview

Pets are part of the Ranger’s heart and soul. The idiom, ‘whats mine is yours, whats yours is mine’ could be the fundamental game mechanic for a Ranger and her Pet.

In this regard, no distinction should be made in the traits between Ranger or Pet – all traits/signets, etc., should effect both the Ranger and the Pet equally. The Ranger and Pet should have full synergy.

Goal of Proposal

Balance the Ranger with her natural role as a Champion of Nature let her be as one with the wild animals she calls friend. The Pets will impart their strengths upon the Ranger and in turn, she imparts all of hers upon them.

This synergistic relationship will make the Ranger greater than the sum of its parts.

Proposal Functionality

Remove the traits from the Ranger’s lineup that are only for the Pet, and rework them so that what effects the Ranger now also effects the Pet.

Bring a new level of synergy between the Ranger and Pet by allowing the pooling of health, the sharing of all boons, and the ability of each animal to impart a mode of defense and/or offense to the Ranger – this relationship exists in harmony, and is in effect all of the time.

Some examples of this:

Bear defense: imparts a bonus to health pool (scalable depending on level)
Bear offense: imparts a terrifying instant roar (stance) causing weakness and fear

Spider defense: imparts a sticky residue, causing an attacker to be immobilized momentarily
Spider offense: increases the potency of all the Ranger’s poisons, along with durations

Hawk defense: imparts a special sight to the Ranger, allowing her to block some missiles
Hawk offense: increases the range of all missiles, with a bonus to crit on the initial shot

Each animal in turn, would offer to the Ranger something unique. These functions could replace the current pet-bar, and be accessible as a normal class function.

Associated Risks

There are no risks associated with this, as it will simply balance the game play of the Ranger, forever removing the handicap of having a class with reliance on an AI driven game mechanic.

By allowing the Pet itself to become part of what the Ranger is, the Ranger no longer has to rely on the game server for the other half of her abilities.

I really, REALLY liked this.

Yes, although at the moment I am in 5 guilds, but will leave one guild if another one pops up that is actually active. Send me an in-game mail if such guild exists.

Removing Pristine Fractal Relics

Too many currencies are available in the game already. I’m not sure why PFR even exist. Please, either eliminate that currency and allow players to buy ascended items with the regular relics (although at a high price), or allow us to create PFR out of the regular relics.

SPECIFIC GAME MODE

PVE. I’m pretty sure the other modes will benefit as well.

Anet, sorry for the long line of text in advance, but there is NO WAY I can give comments about my favorite class without passing the 400 char limit. I tried!

PROPOSAL OVERVIEW
Improvements and changes to current Ranger weapon skills. I will make another post regarding traits, but I need to be focused on one subject at a time.

PROPOSAL FUNCTIONALITY

Greatsword:
1) Maul: Allow this to become a blast finisher. Not only does it make sense (animation wise), but also it will greatly improve ranger’s melee abilities, as they will be able to blast fields in close range. By increasing it’s cool down a few sec’s, it won’t become a balance issue.

2) Swoop: Fix animation bugs. One of them is that sometimes the ranger using swoop will stop mid animation and then do the leap. Also, we have this weird glitch where the eagle animation stays even after the skill is finished.

3) Counterattack: Allow players to control the counter. For example, at the moment at melee distance rangers will automatically counter attack. This can be an issue, since sometimes the player just wants to block a series of attacks. Similarly to how we can throw the sword, allow the player to control if they want to counter attack by adding a second function to the block.

4) Hilt Bash: The stun duration for this is too short. Please increase by a second at least.

Longbow:
1) Rapid Fire: This should be the long bow’s signature attack. Not only can it do with a faster startup animation, but a considerable amount of damage as well. Please make it so other players WANT to avoid this attack.

2) Hunter’s shot: One issue with this skill is that, if the ranger uses barrage, then HS, the stealth effect is completely negated. Since the amount of stealth time for this is so short, we can have it so the stealth is not removed even upon attacking.

3) Point Blank Shot: Allow rangers to charge this attack- for example, releasing the button rapidly will cause a stun, but if charged, it can have various “push” ranges depending on how long the button is held. Also, increase the damage considerably.

4) Barrage: Allow rangers to move while using barrage. This can be done easily by making the character shoot upwards while running. The location of the AOE will not move with the ranger though.

Shortbow:
1) Poison Volley: This attack is fairly weak, and has little to no use except for the moment you think your opponent will heal. Please improve this skill by increasing the duration of such poison and increasing it’s range a bit. I’m a bit over the fence on this skill.

2) Quick Shot: There is a glitch that sticks the character in place while doing the skill. It has gotten me killed more often than I would like to admit.

3) Concussion Shot: Increase stun duration by .5 seconds or just 1 second.

Sword:
1) Slash, Kick, Pounce: Love the animation, but hate the stickiness. I agree that expert players can overcome this by removing the auto-attack function on this, but I believe making this ability be overridden by dodge will make all the difference.

2) Hornet Sting: Reverse the process- Make the first leap towards the enemy and the second leap away from the enemy. Makes more sense since rangers want to HIT and RUN.

Axe:
1) Ricochet: Increase the damage on this a bit.

2) Splitblade: Increase the bleed stacks by one or two stacks to make it more useful.

3) Winter’s bite: Increase chill duration a bit.

2) Whirling Defense: Allow rangers to move while doing this skill. Other classes can do it well, why does ranger has to stay grounded?

Torch:
1) Throw Torch: unfortunately, this is one petty skill. It would be nice to see this transformed into something better, although I’m not sure.

1) Throw Torch: Make this similar to the warriors fire field with the bow in range and duration. It would give rangers the ability to create might fields and other players will definitely have them more welcomed.

ASSOCIATED RISKS
Last comments for the weapon changes: Would these changes make rangers dangerous? Yes, it would. However, isn’t that the point? Every class should be a threat to other classes, and rangers are no exception. Without calling it OP right away, isn’t it the point that all classes should be impressive in their own right? Rangers will be more accepted into dungeons and WVW, and less of a draw back to parties. I’ll do traits later, but for now, thanks ANET.

Charming Rogue.8071:

It will be accountbound yes. And also, Rangers are one of the strongest DPS classes in the game. Especially with the future patch which will remove the 1 handed sword autoattack bug, where you can’t dodge during the animation.

Huh? Sorry but… you must be trolling. The reason why they are doing a CDI about rangers is because of their awful state in the game.

About eternity, congratulations!

Hi there Sevan’s

Please invite me again, I forgot I was member of way too many guilds, most of which were not active.

Aden-

Aden Celeste
Chrystal Desert
PVE/Fractals/dungeons (prefer not to stack)

Sunrise and Twilight!

I am interested in joining a Guild that prioritizes the enjoyment of dungeons rather than speed clears. I wish for a no stacking philosophy Guild (unless a boss’s mechanics request it), and personal player skills over class priority. Please send me an in-game mail if such guild exist.

Also, while I know many prefer the stack/zerkerwarrior/skip meta, and I respect that, I want to join a different type of guild.

Aden-

Some random guy might pop out saying they absolutely love dredge fractal, and that 99.999% of the population needs to learn how to play and bring a thief or a mesmer and guardian to the party… Im surprised that person hasn’t posted yet.

1- Ranger
2- Necromancer
3- Engineer

1. BOWS: Remove the damage variation based on distance for the longbow. Rangers are mostly hated because of the fact that shooting from 1000+ range does not allow us to participate in the boons shared by the team.

2. PETS: their ai is incredibly unreliable, Im not exactly sure Anet understands that since we need to rely on our pets as a class specialty, we need them to be 100% reliable. Also, their damage is horrible, specially bears. Why would any ranger, aside SOME situational moments, would want to use a bear? Thus the reason the term “bearbow” was introduced. Pets are also no exactly too varied in their attacks and skills, I would really want bears to be more useful, but to differ more in their attacks and skills.

3. TRAITS: what a mess we got here. If rangers are unparalleled archers… why do we need to trait for piercing or to improve longbow range? At the very least, merge them both together.

Pretty much, the entire class is unfocused and broken. I even forgot to mention the terrible spirit design. Why would anyone prefer a spirit that can die easily over warrior banners? unlike our spirits, they dont need traits to move the banners and cannot be damaged.

Think about this:In most dungeons, party leaders accept 2 OR MORE of the same classes: warriors are always welcomed, same for guardians, elementalists, and mesmers. Heck, even the underdogs engineers and necros can participate in a dungeon, even 2 pairs of the same class… BUT as soon as 2 rangers are in a party, ONE of them has to GO. Why? ask yourselves why?

cranked.3812:

Tree.3916:

Tachii.3506:

Tree.3916:

Don’t you think that if it was designed poorly it would have already been redesigned?

Circular reasoning. There’s a lot of stuff overlooked by the developers, and Fractals and dungeons certainly are one of them.

So you are saying that the people that manage this product have overlooked something? I doubt that.

This made me LOL so freakin hard I almost spit out my drink.

The subtlety and word choice are pure genius.

If Tree’s goal was to irritate me then he is doing a fine job. The developers are not gods that can see everything from a players perspective, and the majority of players do not like dredge fractal at all. Tree disrespects everyone’s thoughts on dredge while at the same time posting some “L2P” talk to everyone that doesn’t agree with his view on dredge.

Tree, will you please stop shoving your superiority complex to the rest of the community? if you like dredge so much, keep doing it until you see dredge even on your bowl of cereal. This post is meant to let anet know the rest of the player base is not interested in un-fun mechanics that take 1hr to complete. If its not fun, it doesn’t matter the challenge or whatever, ITS JUST NOT FUN.

Hi there!:

I would like to be a dungeon mentor. I have experience in all dungeons, including FOTM (currently I do 50’s daily). I however have one requirement: I will NOT tolerate stacking. I am all about active play .

Name: Aden Celeste
Server: Crystal Desert
Usual login time: 9pm NY time

Add me to the “Against Stacking” group.

That is exactly why Anet doesnt do things properly with their dungeon design, class balance, and many other things…

Because there’s always that ONE GUY who says the content is fine, and 90% of all players just need to man up or something.

Dredge Fractal is horrid, it is not fun, and is NOT challenging, what it really is frustrating and painful. I have NEVER been with a group that when they get dredge as the third fractal they dont curse their lungs out.

What’s wrong with Aetherblade path? I actually did not like the horrid and boring design of foward up path… to the contrary, I think aetherblade is very good and a proper step up in their dungeon design, although still needs work but overall much better.

Anet just needs to pay attention to their dungeons in general, but specially Dredge fractal: is a curse, as a matter of fact, me and my friends learned a new curse word:

What the DREDGE?

get the DREDGE out of here!

shut the DREDGE up!

etc… Please Anet, fix the dredge fractal!

Ayrilana.1396:

Tachii.3506:

Ayrilana.1396:

People do realize that doing suicide runs for the bomb door isn’t the only way? It’s just what most players settled on because it requires the least amount of effort. There’s another way that is in most cases quicker.

But the bomb timer only respawns after a while, I use stealth + mesmer warp but we still have to wait for the bomb to respawn.

If done correctly, you should only have to wait for the bombs to respawn once.

Ayrilana, take no ofense but: you rather have this fractal completely untouched just because you can make it and run it efficiently? I can honestly say that I have succeeded in running dredge fractal without death/down several times, but it all depends on how good the group is and also the composition. Just because of those few nice times doesn’t mean I want to go ahead and tell devs “this is fine, no tuning necessary”. Dredge sucks most of the time, and if you haven’t already, please try it with a pug group.

I really don’t understand some of you guys… Is like some of you ACTUALLY like this fractal, when its just a HOT POT of a mess.

Basically, here are the issues with this fractal:

1- People skip the first part of the door opening sequence because in higher level fractals the dredges hit VERY hard, and can spawn unlimited amounts of them. It is also time consuming, and those vets have so much HP is a chore to bring them down.

2- It is like is ALMOST necessary to carry a guardian/thief/mesmer to this fractal. If a party of necros get this fractal, they are pretty much screwed.

3- The door bombing sequence is just horrid: is it really necessary to have a death fest here?

4- The amount of time this fractal needs for completion is ridiculous.

5- The clown car…. wow. How many dredges can fit on that thing? It is boring, stressful, and way overstayed its welcome.

Can ANET FINALLY revise this thing and make it ENJOYABLE? because as of now, I have never been in a party that, when encountered this fractal, didnt curse or exhaled out of frustration. At the very least, they can tone down the amount of dredges present at one time!

@Robert:

Would you please set up a team to work on that darn Dredge Fractal? I have NEVER seen a group that, when they get this as their third fractal, they don’t curse their lungs out.

- Most players just skip the entire initial mechanic to opening the door because the dreges spawn too many groups, cannot be blinded and hurt like a truck.

- Without a class that can focus on reflects, this dungeon is a death fest

- Have the devs actually tried doing the door bombing sequence without pulling their hairs out? Is it part of the mechanic to die and die until the door is finally busted?

- Can that clown car contain MORE dredges? that is by far the biggest nuisance I have ever seen on this otherwise great game

- Again, can you guys , like, tone down the quantity of dredges and vets in this fractal? is not impossible by any means, but IT IS NOT FUN.

Amazing things for ranger: We will now delete the ranger class.

JK

In any case, I hope they actually keep their promises this time and repair the darn pet AI.

Lishtenbird.2814:

“Where do all exotics I put into the Mystic Forge go?”
“They all flow into the same sewer system, and that all goes out to sea…

Hahahah my favorite so far—

“…Hey you asked, just don’t ask if anything LIVES down there…”

Would a DEV PLEASE take a look at this post?

And guys, what did you expect from a 2 week work schedule? buggy events, game breaking issues and less time to actually play the content they themselves create.

if they had more time, they would be able to create better content, its just the nature of the business. We know for a fact that the anet team is talented, but with such preassure above themselves I can tell they are getting weary. Look at the developer livestreams, these guys look tiiiireeeeeed and bored out of their minds, screwing up like crazy.

Also, bringing the cosmetic’s issue here, they need more time to create compelling dress ware and other things like hats, etc, instead of basically recycling the same armor that already existed.

Check out my post on the Living story section “fractured”, and sign there. Pretty much sums up everything about these 2 week releases.

Pazu.8320:

I hope they fix the npc AI in charr fractal. Having to lure the groups of mobs and dodge backward just to get the npcs engaged is ridiculous.

This is yet ANOTHER issue. Why are we forced to wipe when the npcs die in that fractal? Couldn’t it be done so that, if the npcs are all dead, you can return to the camp and gather new ones?

Account.9832:

I think that, overall, the fractal design is okay. It’s mainly a matter of adjusting the HP of certain mobs and bosses, and increasing the respawn speed of the bombs (or making the mobs drop bombs when killed), so the fractal becomes shorter. In terms of mechanics it’s certainly more interesting than most of the original dungeons. It’s just too long.

Or did you have some specific gameplay mechanic in mind?

You have a clever solution there, although I would include to reduce the amount of dredges that appear at one time (specially in the door bombing section), and to shorten out the dredge car part considerably. I do like the battle against the boss in that fractal…

I think that letting Anet know about the general feeling for the dredge and harpy fractals is necessary for them to provide changes. I think they DO listen, but our voices must be loud enough for them to hear.

You guys must understand that, some self-titled “pro’s” will go on and say “dredge fractal is EASY, you just need to know what you are doing, check this link here”. But many fail to realize that this fractal forces people to go in a suicidal rampage with sub-optimal group compositions (those without warriors, guardians and mesmers).

Take a look at what Duffy says about this fractal:
“Dredge Fractal is fairly annoying due to its high difficulty compared to other fractals."

and

“On high levels, it is almost impossible to survive while standing on the pressure plates. Therefore, it is usually best to just die on the press plate as the weight of your corpse will activate the pressure plate.”

Does dying on the buttons really make for a good design? does requiring guardians almost as a mandatory requirement to survive really the intention of this fractal?

Any of the fractal designers care to shed some light on the subject? I was wondering if the dredge or harpy fractal will receive a re-design or something. Currently, the dredge fractal is extremely unpopular do to infinite spawn of dredges and ho-hum’ mechanics.

In any case, this fractal needs to be fixed or re-designed. But I wonder if the fractal designer is aware about this fractal’s popularity…

I don’t mean the end bosses of dredge, more like finding a happy medium where they don’t spawn as much or at least improve the button mechanics, to which I have yet to see a party not take the short way to pass it, and even then most prefer a guardian or two to help with the enormous amounts of projectiles thrown at you. Can anyone say that they got dredge and were happy about it?

The bomb sequence is, most of the time and depending on group, the most stressful activity I have ever seen in gw2. Is quite the death-fest.

Amazing trailer, it was even better because it didn’t include dredge or harpy fractal!

Trolling aside, artistically speaking, it is gorgeous!

Is there any indication that the dredge fractal will receive an uplift or some changes? Im sure many “pro” people would think otherwise, but that fractal….really sucks. I’m just hoping that it can be updated somehow.

Oh, that also includes uncategorized fractal (those crazy harpies just troll too much).