Guild Wars 2

I think 5 is definitely too high for each skin, if it stays random like it is now I think 2 or 3 for old is much less punishing. You aren’t just investing in an old skin, really, you’re also removing 5 tickets you could use for new ones. So i feel like the old skins get really underused for it

I really like ranger, it offers lots of fun gameplay and I feel it has a fair amount of builds you can do unless you are doing higher end dungeons where as per usual power/crit/ferocity reigns. Either way, it has the feel of a ranger that is more about ranging and less about weapon type, which I love.

The problem with ranged weapons is less ranger and more ranged mechanics, obviously with caveats but… it really is where the biggest crux is, imo. The global damage reduction due to range compared to melee to a lesser degree, the buff range conundrum to a larger degree. But this is also a fact that is way more of an impact in PvE. More often than not the most well-played, dangerous rangers I meet when roaming or such in WvW is ones that use shortbow or longbow.

But, I just think a-net has to change the game’s range mechanics if they want it to always be equalish to melee, and it must be pretty hard to do without rooting the range to the ground to balance the power of being out of harms way more, and that would really suck. Maybe you could make some kind of PvE dungeon buff for ranged, I don’t know. I do think that is the only place where it is a significant problem, though.

That chart seems right. The standard archetype classes usually has most players (whatever people associate to mage, warrior etc, even if diff. names) and engi, mesmer and necro is the more uncommon (themewise) outliers. Seen it in virtually every mmo I’ve tried… hehe.

Not using the flesh golem anymore since the bugs. It’s just too unreliable :/

Class love goes beyond the current performance for many people. If you like a theme you like a theme, and they’d have to break it pretty bad for you to abandon it. bugs and tuning will always change and even if it never changes to the better you still have that love to keep you going.

But it always depends on the type of player. Some only feel at home when a class is strong in the grand scheme of things, and then I can understand leaving certain classes when they aren’t quite as tuned.

I think it’s more a problem of Fire fields have a really strong blast effect rather than light fields sucking!

I don’t know about serious dungeon runs, but otherwise I find Necro incredibly fun and varied, despite the lack of cleave built in. I love that there are many builds that feel -useful- when you just run around and do stuff or hop into WvW. In that sense I think few classes beat the Necro, but I know from reading posts here that it’s not as good in dungeons (?).

I like Zenith Cesta myself.

If I somehow had a lot of tickets which will never happen, I would get every single lovestruck skin.

I like it myself. It’s a little lower pitch but it’s obviously female, and she has attitude, but it’s more blunt and less elaborate. Besides, I think it is a really difficult voice to do, unless you are content with it sounding like a human. They aren’t, after all.

Funny; I did not like how she voiced Aela in Skyrim, even though it was one of my favourite followers. I think she did so much better here. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit more directing and context here though.

I think almost all cultures will have some form of warrior in a dangerous place such a Tyria, but it’s still funny how perceptions subtly change from person to person. For me, the humans have a lot of influences of continental european in GW2, which makes sense regarding Krytans I suppose. Victorian era or earlier, yes, for me.

But I also totally agree that some combinations just click so well. To give an example, Norn Guardian. I am not a fan of traditional faith classes in any setting, and guardian always seemed to me to be a sort of paladin on paper. I think I would have a hard time shaking that image as a human character, but as a Norn it feels completely different – it helped me enjoy the class, and I now see it less limiting a class since that.

The same thing goes with my human Necro. I tried sylvari first, and while I love them… no, it just didn’t work near as well in feel for me.

While I like the GW2 take on humans… Norn is my true love so I will suggest that!It’s weird, I find them rather graceful despite the size. Plus if you really want to adjsut things you can make them short if it super bothers you with long step animations.

Other than that the bonus choice would be Sylvari. I adore them but I can’t find space to play them myself.

StickerHappy.8052:

Solution? Change the Projectile Into A Purple Laser.

A swarm of pink butterflies, in my opinion!

Anyone else have this wish that Illusory Elasticity should be baseline for staff, somehow? Whenever I use it, i feel like #1 works -so- much better, but that it sits where it does is such a huge build limiter. And I like the idea of increasing its speed, although I think mesmer staff is more of a melee/medium range weapon than range as it is… it works best there anyway.

I really don’t have any other issues with staff, I think it’s a great weapon otherwise.

While I think using them on cd is bad, it is also bad to encourage them to stay passive. One of the worst traits in the game from a gameplay design standpoint has to be the mesmer Mantra trait that encourages you to have mantras charged but not to use them for a damage buff. It would be the same issue here if you gain damage per Virtue charged- effective, yes, but it just creates a different problem.

I actually think Virtue of Resolve is pretty nicely designed. The passive heal is very nice if you combine it with other methods of survival like protection, regen, traits, sigils or from teammates. But the active heal is also very nice in times where you really need a heal right now. Arguably it depends on what build or gear type you are using but I think that is fair, the same can be said by most classes and their F-abilities.

I think a good way to look at Virtues is that they are essentially Signets. So what classes has the best mechanics to make signets work well? I would look there instead for a way to improve Virtues. And if not, just redo them from the ground up. :P

I went celestial/MF. But that is because I do a lot of random stuff, if my plan was only dungeons or so I would have gone zerk.

As an aside, anyone else’s greatest wish with guardian that they’d reduce Glacial Heart’s icd a little?

I am not the most hugely experienced pvp mesmer but it is the same with me as for what Cufufalating says, the ranged pressure is by far the most obnoxious since your own pressure just works better if you have easy access to melee range with your opponent. The hardest ranger I’ve ever fought was a SB condi ranger that I just couldn’t control well. If your izerker is dodged, you just have no pressure while they certainly do, and you have to start playing out defensive cards. You can’t always do this but it’s a huge bonus.

I would have picked Transfusion over bloodthirst i think. I just love the heal utility of that, and it sort of gives Death Shroud a team support aspect as well.

But i have been really curious about that gear set, I’m glad to hear you’re making it work!

I honestly don’t think it is useful to further develop into ‘roles’. It should be a trait choice first and foremost, the class flavour should be in how abilities feel, not what buffs you are able to provide. Mesmer has a fairly close relationship with its advertised style, in my opinion, even if short class descriptions are always pretty ambigous.

The only place where I feel mesmer isn’t quite up to par is the combo fields. We have a lot of fields, comparably, but ethereal fields are a pale shadow compared to for example fire, smoke or water – which is a shame since I think one of our things is ethereal fields. I would love to see something like, blasting an ethereal field adds a random boon(Or picked from a specific list, if too strong), in addition to Chaos Armor. I can’t be the only one that feels like Time Warp is both a buff and debuff since it shuts out fire fields for its duration. Also, I’d love another blast finisher on another source than torch.

I wouldn’t bash the axe offhand just like that. It is in my opinion the most damaging power offhand (with knockdown/interrupt/projectile reflect/aoe vulnerability/retaliation utility) except for warhorn in larger groups maybe, and it has more utility for sure than the warhorn. Its only drawback is when you have to hold off path of scars if a boss needs a timed CC, but that’s not a large issue.

Glass or not (in terms of gear), I think it is a good thing to tailor your defense like you prefer it. All builds have some form of defense after all.

Maybe it is just me – could well be – but i think the weapon choice being optimal really depends on the enemy or the situation. There is enough cases where staff is better than GS and vice versa that I just carry both around. I’m no super expert but it’s what i have found, in terms of WvW.

Honestly, this has little to do with Guardian and a lot to do with the particular Norn, in my opinion.

I think honestly, that sword in mainhand enables any offhand for a power build whatever one you have, though dagger is probably better for a hybrid (power/precision/condition) or a condition setup (condition/defensive stats). It is by no means useless for power though, since you also gain defense from it and a cripple. The main damage comes from sword, anyway.

In my opinion the ranger conceptually is one of the best I have ever seen in GW2, but it has its quirks and things that need looking at (like most classes tbh :P) like the ranged side being a little weaker even if you take their relative safety into account – not always but… more often.

Another tip could be, how about looking through the axe gallery on the GW2 wiki and finding an Axe offhand look that is similiar to that of a sword? That way you could feel more like that dualwield sword character you were having an image of. It gives you another option, and it is a fun offhand.

Really, the icd on it is that long? O_o That explains a few things – I think that really does make the investment too much. Half that would make more sense, I mean you have to compare the trait with the fact in mind that it also requires 30 BM points.

The one thing I dislike with condi builds is the ease that you escape them if you aren’t also targeted by somebody else that can cripple/cc you. I don’t like knowing that I am at the mercy of a foolhardy opponent when I roam etc. But in itself I find the playstyle pretty fun, especially confusion and punishing the enemy that way.

It’s a great defender though. I don’t think many builds/classes has a condi mesmer beat there.

Warrior always gets superdexterity in any game i play. I really am not sure why but I assume it is because it is a popular class to promote. :P Often it does make them more fun, I suppose, but yes…

However! I do not think ranger is that slow. In my eyes there is no such thing as too fast ( I love mobility) within reason, but I sure have more issues there on some other alts, like my necro or mesmer (aside from occasional portal tricks).

Something i think is underplayed about Illusions (other than the awesome phanstasmal haste) is the cd reduction on illusion skills that you use everyday but might not think about when selecting those points, like iLeap, decoy, etc. I just love Illusionist’s Celerity.

And I also love this build, but I have never tried the disenchanter with it. I will do so!

The ranger longbow is better at damage over time and ranged attacks, while the warrior longbow has more burst and fuctions best in closerange area.

That said, the ranger longbow still has some problems but imo it is unrelated to the warrior longbow, except maybe that the latter feels more rewarding and fun to use. :P

I love the pact knife-across-palm animation for dagger #3, it sets the mood immediately for daggers. I actually love daggers in general for Necro. It just feels so cool, very elegant in swathy cloth wear.

If you are worried that you have to live in Death shroud (I initially was) that is simply not true. It’s always a useful tool for various things, but Necro has so many tools at their disposal and not only DS does good damage (Dagger is very hurty to use the above example).

I kind of agree with scepter. I actually like playing condi, but especially the impact feels so uninspiring. The staff scythe visual isn’t bad at all to me but slow-moving projectiles beef me in any game setting so I’m glad i don’t have to use it for a main weapon – it makes for a nice second though, for some builds. I would be happier with it if it was better at cleaving things with its projectile, like a cone or sweep.

Great idea, Rym.

Would really like something like that. It would also buff Dark Armor trait a little bit, which I don’t think is a bad thing.

I really love this trait, as I love shatter, but it’s tricky to find a good build one is satisfied with. If only one could go 0/4/6/0/6…

The disengage at will part is the only unfun thing, otherwise it’s a blast ( ;D ) to play! I love condi mesmer but I never find a good setup I like (regular PU feels nicer as power for me), but I really enjoyed roaming with this one aside from episodes with good ranged rangers and such.

I met a ranger with this playstyle (sword/dagger + shortbow with spider/wolf) the other day – without my speed runes on to make it extra sad. I was very impressed, and could not disengage or engage properly. Made me want to gather a condi setup on mine, which I haven’t had the time to do yet.

I think sword is ultimately a better weapon for damage, but I can definitely appreciate the GS as well. It works a lot better for short periods, though – just the way it goes, which I can find annoying.

I wonder why they let sword be so good. It requires no traits, or indeed build to come up on top in raw damage, as long as you have power. I’m not hating on it or so, just curious.

In one of the living story segments of my female human, it was suggested by several npcs I was there as the romantic fling of a certain female npc. It’s just one of many examples where I don’t see there be any particular stigma regarding same-sex relations, which is refreshing.

This response is based on fun, not 100% performance:

I’d just like to point out that if you want to play staff with some condi damage as well (a few posts up) you should look into rampager, not rabid. The toughness will not help you much (pve) given staff is already a defensive weapon, whereas power is always useful on mesmers.

As for staff itself, I love to use it, but it is annoying that it has a very good phantasm but you have to ‘debuff yourself’ with its auto for the weapon swap cd when you use it. That said, I really don’t think it is bad to carry with you or have in the 2nd slot.

How about if the trait that increases speed for each illusion out was changed so that it provides 25% movement speed when you have a signet traited? It’s in a pretty good location, and it would improve signet builds a little bit as well.

I play quite a few classes and to be honest it’s just how it is with the major special mechanic of the class. Mesmer has tons of shatter traits/boni. Ranger has a lot of pet-related traits. Guardian has many virtue traits. And so on.

I think it is only a concern when individual attacks has multiple traits associated with it. I think the ranger longbow is the best example, it has like 5 traits or something so if you compare it with a weapon that works well without traits (sword) it just seems cumbersome design. I’m not sure if Necro has anything like this, it’s usually just 2-3 traits.

I personally really like DS. To me, Necro is one of the best overall class designs (disregarding bugs) a-net has accomplished; however, some individual things are still off of course. For example I agree that DS should be designed around the chance of life steal, since it -is- a core mechanic used by all Necros in some form (be it defense or nuking), and one of the traitlines is dedicated to leech, and thus slightly devalued by DS’ rules.

Honestly, does every class have a purpose other than being fun to play from a design standpoint, anyway? Is there enough different purposes for 8 classes? :P I think it is the wrong way to look at any class, even the ones with obvious design paths like thieves with stealth; instead you kind of have to look at the details like, rangers having some unique support buffs, for example.

A ranger to me is somebody who knows their way around their surroundings in less mapped out areas, and are adept at handling the many obstacles you can typically meet such as dangerous paths, fending off adversaries, finding landmarks or the whereabouts of beings etc. I think a simple weapon choice has extremely little to do with that role, except that there are a few types more likely to be lowmaintenance and frequently used enough for such a person to usually carry, like a spear, axe, dagger or bow.

From the LotR stuff I think there are many you could classify as rangers – I would certainly say Legolas fits the bill in addition to his obvious expertise with a bow. But I do wonder if it wasn’t there they got the spark for Torch offhand and rangers, given Aragorn’s use! It’s a very useful item for a wayfarer, and I’m really happy with a-net to have included less orthodox weapons in this game.

I always felt like the main problem in its current incarnation is when you are closer to the enemy and get to use it, actually popping the skill means you have less ways to get back to range (only slow backwards/sideways kite) than if you didn’t bother with it. I feel like it should be better at abridging that – transitioning from closer range desperate shots back to your home territory, so to speak.

I really like axe OH for the excellent damage and control options on it.

WD is so nice for reflects or aoe Vuln, esp if you have offhand training – though it is a little awkwardly placed. Since it’s paired with an awesome singletarget (plus collateral) ability I don’t really feel at a disadvantage at its limited use against singles.

Once you go mesmer it will never wholly leave you

I don’t really find it super-annoying but it did become a bit more inconvenient.

Why is it called ‘dumbfire’ anyway? Because it worked like scepter condis, with an icd? I think I missed the train on that one

If they would design the game to be less about the #1 slot I would agree it wouldn’t be as OP. But currently the game’s design revolves a lot around that to push out ‘pvp threat’, or damage, which the trait severly reduces.

But I completely agree that it would be cool if it could be a thing, if autos were less potent. Logically it should work like that.

That said, increasing the velocity would increase range barring obstacles, logically. But whether that’s intended seems dubious in this case (at least in regards to eagle eye interactions).

This is the kind of skill that can never be 100% balanced even when it only works on skills (vast scaling with player skill), but if it shuts down autoattack there is a 0% chance of this ever being balanced.

I have come to really dislike mounts in past games I have played. Simply put, they make you ‘consume’ the world at a quicker rate. You pause to see less people about because they too can rush from place to place to a greater extent. It has benefits, but… I just don’t think it outweighs this, it’s like starting on the path towards A sort of… lobby instead of a living world.

Though, I suppose there is ways to elude it with mount content. However, I find generally the worlds are too small for mounts. And they’re still obviously not small… it’s just if you consider scale, distances. You can’t make a game world that vast unless you go out of your way.

Let’s wait and see! My hopes are for slightly more interactive play than Ranger is today. I love mine but it’s a bit too much #1.

In all games I have played abilities like this is some of the best PvP abilities in the game. So yes I expect nothing less than nerf cries from this one once it’s around.

But yes I would also like it if all interrupt traits had more of a pve benefit :/