Guild Wars 2

I’m probably the only one in the entire world who wishes it was a melee staff specialization, but… either that or ranged way, go staff.

I like Staff because it is a defensive weapon that -works-. It is defensive yes, but it still has edges to affect the combat, esp in pvp. It also totally works in a power build for certain situations, without having to build defensive power. That is its strength to me.

But it’s always gonna be situational with weapons. Or how much you can be bothered to swap as situations demand it.

Any class that uses stealth will be a hated class/build in any game with competition, it’s just how it is. PU mesmer, thieves here, etc. I have yet to see an exception :P

I guess it has to do with the upset of being ‘backstabbed’, be it literally or not. Personally i really like when games gives you ways to turn the tables, but I don’t think GW2 is the best here. Though, in turn it is also one of the more conservative games with stealth. It’s almost purely a short term thing, so you can sort of learn what people are most likely to do. Still as above posters have said it leaves you a little uncertain.

There’s a difference between trolling and consistency in quirks, so I for one am happy to see posts from Vee Wee!

I don’t think it works that simple in GW2. Dualwield doesn’t need some kind of inherent advantage, when the advantages is all in the skills you want to use.

However, GS is a rather stacked weapon, I won’t deny that.

I really wish they’d manage to fix this. I just can’t play a minionmancer for this reason, I get too frustrated when the basics fail

Never been a fan of locking out stuff like this for new players. I think the average new player is harmed rather than helped by not being encouraged to experiment.

Numbers might be low, not sure, but the functionality is a massive improvement in my eyes.

1. Faster burst healing and making sure you get in some ticks before people walk out.

2. Less time/chance of cancelling out other, more useful longterm fields, particularly in PvE.

If they get the numbers right, they’re on the right track.

I think both Kick and Bolas has that problem that they’re utilities rather than a weapon skill :P Either one would be ok as one, but they’re way outclassed as utilities. Plus, they are too onedimensional to use a trait on compared to well, all axe or GS damage.

As for Ground Stomp, I really like the idea of it, however I think it should be a two-tap attack. One press is an aoe stomp attack + blast finisher + stun break, and another tap is a knock away + Stability. Sort of like how the Karka double stomps work in practice. I think this would make it more attractive in pve, and give you more control over it in pvp, especially with a tweaked CD.

The ability to launch yourself over things.

But seriously it just feels really awkward to do everything about it, including entering/exiting, using it, etc.

I’m also curious about celestial after the patch, simply because the rampager/celestial-type stat spread does gain in relative strength with the buffs to condi appliance, while being on weapons that still benefit from power as well. There is also a fair few ways to gain regeneration.

Will be fun to play around with anyway.

I don’t want to nerf warrior but I’d love being able to pick more weapons without constantly having the “But GS” thought in the back of my head. (mainly pve )

I think tall norn men look awesome but the extra wide body is a little too weird to look at…

Generally my female norn are around the center upper part of the slider as I feel that is where it starts to scale exponentially taller. If you absolutely have to feel like you fit in around human lands etc I would go near the bottom but it will instead make you feel really short in Hoelbrak. :P

I also think there is nothing wrong at all with this elite outside of the scaling shenanigans. It’s big, slow, and has a relatively long cooldown, as well as locks out utilities. So it should be able to stand on its own. However, I’d be really happy with 20 sec duration if it was a tradeoff for a reduced cooldown.

Would really want to use Mimic with Signet of Inspiration. Problem is that it feels like this should take 1 utility slot at most, else it’s too much slot investment

Your minions will die a lot less once you have more of them, or how to put it… when they are one by one or just two they tend to be focused down. However, i prefer necro minionless focusing on the magic side instead so I totally get that desire, and i think it’s awesome that you can do this.

Focus OH is great but for sheer fun i think few sets in the game beat D/D Necro. I just love the feel of it for some reason.

Yes some of those are true, but even on mesmer, I can see some utilities that are better in some situations. Being able to add Veil, portal, signets or whatever on top of a different setup would be really awesome. Ranger has good elites, imo, and otherwise I agree with what you said.

I kinda agree that elementalist has a bit bland elites, except for pretty niche stuff, but I really think the FGS nerf is needed for the game to evolve to be honest. They need to look at the elites beyond this change, and improve them accordingly.

I would for some builds! But then I definitely would on almost all other classes too. :P

The auto is still worse (or at least not better) than power autoattack with a tried and true power weapon, so I don’t really feel like it’s OP like that or wrong (though i’m all for weakening AA across the board).

However, PU might be too strong, but that is more a problem with PU than with scepter.

Most weapon sets make a lot of sense for most classes, as long as you don’t bring in unexplainable restrictions… i think it’s just a matter of them limiting sets a bit for now, hopefully they relax it!

I admit I’m not 100% convinced about this skillful play thing. Why shouldn’t conditions be able to provide some easy auto damage, just like power builds? If we want to remove that part of ‘skillful play’, all auto attacks should be dropped. but while they are here, I just don’t get why condi play should have a weaker auto just to appear skillful? It makes no sense.

Now if all condis (or all power dmg) comes from autos, that is a problem.

This really bugs me with rifle animation and Sylvari/human. With norn, it is pretty fluid when you stop into the idle stance when wielding a rifle, but with human for instance it snaps to in the transitions. so definitely not a norn-only thing, but I think it is rather individual weapon bugs.

I think my favourite wish thing ever would be if the Hammer created a fire field via the auto chain. I really want to use this weapon in PvE but it sucks to feel like you destroy for groups as soon as you risk overwriting (or rather time it just before) fire fields… and it does have a light field on #5 already for when you need it.

I guess it’s more a problem with the fire fields but I don’t see them changing. And maybe there is a better way to feel less disruptive; I just want to use the hammer more, since it’s actually good otherwise in my eyes.

cyyrix.6105:

Classic Pyro. Complains about nerfs. When buffed, complains that the buff is too strong.

Having a critical eye is usually good, indeed.

Think they went with torment because as awesome as it is, being able to AA steady confusion stacks would be way stronger, even if it fit slightly better themewise. I think this is already a bit borderline if the clones can also apply, we’ll see.

Besides if Confusion is #1 theme for Mesmer, Torment is the second best

I generally agree… I dislike him, but it’s mostly because of how he is used in the game. He would have worked a lot better as an advisory role in the pact for example; I still think it’s wise not to have the player as the highest hen though – would have liked a third power to form a triad

Additionally, I think the voice acting is a bit lacking in delivery. It’s actually a great voice, but sometimes its tone is a bit off – or at least, I picture Trahearne able to sound more emotional than that, to reflect when he -does- get involved. In other situations than those it works though.

Whip… my mesmer would be complete! Or spear.

But MH pistol is really cool to imagine for an illusion-weaver.

Ah, it’s actually a piece of a Norn hairstyle, you’d need a makeover kit/hairstyle kit to get it, unless you picked it up at char generation. Follows Accessory colouring.

This is my engineer visiting Hoelbrak. She’s wearing mostly Viper armour pieces for shoulders, boots, and skirt. The coat is Marauder Jacket from late living story, and she’s using a charr tier 3 rifle.

Rune of the Pack is a favourite of mine; the boon gain is sweet but also I find I miss the +125 precision when not using it too. Also, it fits my budget best <.< I play too many characters and have too little gold income for Strength, etc.

I also like Traveler.

For the condi sets I rather like Scavenging runes, but also Balthazar.

Norn huntress, testing arrow ranges off volcanoes?! Tier 3 cultural/viper armour mix.

I’ve never looked at staff as a ranged weapon anyway. Like you say, it just performs better in melee range. The projectile is slow and the bounce works much better and more immediately when close. It’s more like a melee weapon with the chance to hit things at range if really needed. Even when used defensively chances are you’re doing it in melee range more often than not…

Of course sometimes there is still objectification, misportrayal etc in games, but this should really be kept in mind whenever you discuss other worlds. You != somebody from game world X, despite if they’re named after something from our world for familiarity.

It’s very useful, but also very boring in visuals. :P

By the sounds of things they will change FGS so that it is less outrageous in dungeons, which seems like the greatest buff for PvE dungeons for every other class. :P

I really didn’t think they’d give a cleave in addition to wells, but I’m glad for it! I love daggerslashing so I’m stoked for it for sure.

I think for the sleek looks, the store is the best bet with viper or strider, or Norn cultural which is very nice for all three to be honest, for that wanderer look. Perhaps not pure archer wear, but definitely fits norn adventurer types.

I think human tier 2, Falconer is rather nice for a ranged combatant. More a jacket or short coat instead of a long coat, with some scales.

Charr, but Asura is close so it could be either really. As for Asura pets I think they would be a little more pragmatic about selecting their test su… pets.

I’m a Norn fan and still went oh no! I must say I am liking Canach though, can’t we have him about instead of Trahearne from now on?

I’m with the above poster there! However, I think many players don’t see past human… like, they’re not humans from our world with all that tiresome clothes stigma. They are Norn, and for them clothes is mostly to drive home a point. To embellish a ‘legend’, or to honour a spirit… or indeed to show off awesome tattoos.

Remember they have nothing to do with humans or the way we work irl at face value. So it’s kind of difficult to guess just exactly how their bodies work.

If you are to draw parallells to hunter societies in our world there is usually a sort of native understanding in how the ecosystem works so that animal species aren’t hunted extinct but it’s by no means always the case.

But yes straying etc, as I said earlier i think the example in OP is both valid choices for Norn. Actually it would be pretty funny to get official tidbits if Norn wear has changed anything from the unusually close contact they have with other cultures in present time… I know it plays into my mesmer’s garb anyway. A bit more international choices after her travels, purely decoratively

Regarding rapiers in general, it’s technically untrue they cannot be cut with (though it depends on the make, some just have sharpened tips and are extra slender), it’s not quite as practical as the thrust… but in the mesmer case there IS some stabbing and I see the weaving more as illusory – it helps to make sense of the flailing animations at times. :P Also, both rapiers I’ve found in game (Lovestruck sword and Bonetti’s) are relatively wide and edged.

Aaand regarding the topic on hand, I have to say I kind of enjoy Necro and Engi more when I just am out and about doing things, however Mesmer is the nicest from a theme standpoint and it’s sort of there – I am mostly offput with the lack of Aoe options and the heavy reliance on passive phantasm play. I think if we are supposed to be so heavily tied to the phantasms the shatter should be designed around them so you’d use that more for PvE…or do -something- to make it feel more interactive than just spawning them. I only feel like I make clever choices with the Warden, and that’s about it.

Not sure why this isn’t the case either, since there is tech to release a throw on key depress now in options for aoe attacks. Just use that by default on grenades, but as a toggle

I dislike Hip Shot on my norn engineer because you often aim it downwards, making it look ridiculous in general… especially with longer rifles. I really love the rifle overall but I would very much love an animation swap or update here

I wonder if they’d have to do some followup tweaks if they added an AoE cleave though. Considering the class has arguably the best AoE utilities, if necro can cleave properly, they’d suddenly be better than everybody else at AoE. As much as it’d be awesome with a cleave weapon set I think it would make more sense if so to make DS the way to cleave (in a better way than just piercing with trait) so that you can keep Wells strong while outside it. But that’s just me

I think all the other suggestions are awesome!

Would be really cool if the axe auto had a power split mechanic where it always hits for x damage, only when it splits the damage gets divided by 2 or 3 on each target. I think it’s the best way to balance a weapon like that, else it will always be held back by a niche use, and I also think it’s wrong to niche the auto in a system where the weapon selection is the core of your customization. Besides it would sort of make sense, if you picture a world where that move is actually possible. Less need for precision, more power, on one target.

I think the offhand version is awesome though. Path of Scars is one of the best skills, only mitigated by the fact it contends with the excellent Ranger OH choices, and the minor point of having a care if boss CC is needed.

It’s a fun experiment really. Once you have played it a goodly while you do have a rotation but you might not even know it unless you pause to think about it, and it’s extremely hard to follow the 100% same pattern time and again so minor variances easily happen… maybe that’s why it’s so fun, to anybody that likes taking a stab at managing chaos.

I love the button dancing with engineer but that’s more in regards to kits and skill uses; grenade #1 is really brutal on repetitiveness. It should be changed without altering the need to aim the grenades. I feel like it would be cool if pressing 1 starts you throwing, pressing again or using another skill stops you, and while active it has the targeting reticule up for aim guidance only. It simulates exactly what you would be doing, without the ergonomic issues (eliminating the left click and reducing the amount of 1 presses.).

I mean, that’s still a hefty amount of #1. It’s just if you think about it you’ll realize you press that key like 4x the amount of all other keys combined as a grenade engi. Slight, but not huge, exaggeration. :P

I feel like Battle is a waste for GS for me. Whenever I use it, it is because I am not going to melee that much (mostly open world stuff, solo etc), so I just don’t bother to swap enough to make good use of it. If it ever becomes a contender for fulltime duty I would consider it more. I’m a fan of Air/Fire, but fire being the sigil that never leaves.

Personally I feel the bad thing about Mantra of Recovery is the predictable downtime. If you only have 1 charge left, and use it meaning to reset it to two in what seems to be a lull in fighting but then need it, you’re kind of screwed. You don’t have that problem with the other heals. But it’s definitely the best heal for heal trigger sigils and traits. So I guess the offset is there

Some mantras would be pretty cool if they used a press and hold mechanic instead of charges, and a rebalanced cd. Start at a baseline value of the effect, with a static mechanic on use, but charging it up to a point (1-2 sec) before releasing doing something extra. Like, clearing 4 condis instead of 2 at max, 3 in the middle. So it’d be your choice when to trigger it when using.

I’m not a huge fan of starched leather or cloth (it must be to not have straps or lacing :P) but I think it’s a mistake to assume norn has a problem showing skin. I am totally for variety, but the Norn race just doesn’t freeze like a human does, that’s why you see so much variety in what is worn in Hoelbrak and by norns…

Their culture has a fair amount of bravado in how legends are born, how warriors should behave, etc. It’s no wonder their dress is sometimes not 100% practical, since it can be a part of an image over being purely practical. Then again this is common in the other races in GW2 as well. For example human seraphs with way too much plate on them to make good ground combatants.

Aaaaanyway they should really add some connection between the front halves there, at least. I really liked your example, actually!