Guild Wars 2

AAaa need the lone-tail to the side hairdo for my norn (female)! That’s what I’ve been looking for.

@elrohir: Though you could argue they are norn and not norse, of course, but still yes I would love to see the menfolk to get a bit more beard styles to show off!

Honestly I like the GS a lot too, it’s one of the best feel weapons in the whole game to me when wielded by the ranger. So yes you do wish it worked just a little better as a focus to build around for damage.

I love having Axe/x on swap because of the access to chill and weakness. Awesome debuffs! It also helps a lot when you need to AoE (tag, especially) stuff in pve. I mean, you can still have a sword or whatever you run for pure hacking and slashing, in the other weapon setup.

The spear and trident lines on land. I love them, especially the spear (visuals too), but, yes… underwater combat… limited doses only.

I kind of feel like the trait has a limited niche; I feel like the spirits die a lot easier if you have them unbound so whenever you don’t need to move around larger distances a lot it actually feels like weakening my spirits,whereas you can place them somewhere safe without.

I really like the one female Norn has because she looks so natural and casual in a deadly way about it. No posing, just pure business. And it is a bit more balanced than sword out back, since that is pure offense really. Maybe it helps that I don’t get the feeling she is dragging the blade or so, instead I just have this personal view they don’t really care about how stylish their form is until they are facing the enemy. It almost looks reckless at times – at least not exactly taught in an academy.

I can see how it wouldn’t appeal to all but it just makes sense to me that Norn are like a mix of stoic lumbering and competent menace.

Like others I use a lot of bomb and Grenade kits, but really the answer is any kit. Harpoon gun has a little burst but it is completely useless for sustained damage (imo). Nice control and burst but otherwise just no

I think empowering mantras at least should be reworked. It’s a bit ridiculous that the main thing with a mantra build is having them prepared rather than be encouraged to use them. But that’s not the only thing that could use a looking at with mantras I think.

As for Shatter, I really think Mind Wrack needs some kind of DoT or damage synergy added to it. A goal being not to increase burst for pvp, but to make it more viable in longer fights. Either way, I am also not really a big fan of phantasm upkeep. For me it’s like taking the complexity out of the class entirely. I am a way bigger fan of manipulating illusions than being a minion master I suppose. There should be a way to play both types and feel satisfied in PvE.

I kind of get the thought process as I tend to gravitate naturally towards less-played classes because I like quirky stuff (which engi definitely is, and mesmer etc…) and quirky is often less played for some reason, -but- sometimes that doesn’t work and I end up playing something popular.

So i just tell myself that no matter what I play, it’ll be unique for me if I actually enjoy it – and then repeat that as a mantra. I’m lucky I don’t like pure warriors – I don’t think even a mantra would save me from struggles there.

I bet it could be fun, I mean scepter feels rather powerful when it hits – it just sucks for fast-moving enemies. Makes me wonder, is it possible to manually aim it with success like say flamethrower auto, or is it a little too ‘into the ground’-prone? If anybody has a lot of experience with it.

In my experience it’s not enough to just tag something, you need to do a certain low % of their hp as damage or maybe have been in battle with it more than 1-2 sec or whatever… like when you arrive really late at a champ, get 3 hits in and get no loot. I have seen the same on all types of mobs so I just assumed it is something like that.

I have no idea if Purging flames is special though…

I picked Celestial. I generally play berserker builds, but it still has a lot of crit dmg (well, even if that will be changed) as celestial as well as similiar crit chance, so for one item I’m fine if I lose a bit of power for the versatility of being able to use it in other setups as well.

One of the greatest feelings classwise in GW2 is for me when you have FT fire field down, big ol’ bomb goes off just after you detonated your turret, all the while you are mopping up with the flamethrower auto and napalm. Also the knockback has awesome feel and it’s cool to reflect missiles with it too. :P

But yes… I just wish it was a better effective contender, feelwise it is easily the most enjoyable kit for me.

Depends on the game mode, for solo I think having axe MH as a swap weapon is incredible as chill + weakness is great condis for harder fights, and it is also the most reliable AoE weapon we have from range.

I am also sort of in axe/axe camp over SB tho for swapwep in general, I just like the things the offhand brings to the table as well as having Mh for utility/aoe. Works good as backup

edit – as an aside, it can be really neat to axe #4 into axe #2 if you have a dual set, for massive damages total. It’s like the one time I use that ability and expect actual damage, if the enemy gets slinged, before swapping to sword (or GS if I’m feeling radical).

I think it’s perfectly fine to criticize content, but at the same time you have to remember this is an MMO and their primary focus is seldom to tell a story in detail; there is obviously writers and I don’t mean to diminish their work but when designing a game there is only so much you can add in a timely manner and MMOs are made up by a lot of components.

I think a lot of mmo design is to let -you- make your story, the tools are provided but the imagination is in large part yours as you make your journey through the game, whatever holds your interest. I’m glad that there is a red thread, and a substantial amount of lore to draw upon, but i’m not going to expect a novel to detail out the ending of this story arc. In addition, there is plenty of stuff with Kasmeer & Marjory (and indeed a fair bit with Rox and Braham) that has been around and added through the months prior, so it’s not a huge leap of imagination to see this conclusion of -their- journey. I didn’t get every little detail of their interactions, but that’s cool, I understand.

That’s not to say that there is always a ‘good enough’ amount of writing to satisfy you, like for example I personally question the Aetherblades to an extent, which seems a bit vague as to why they would have stuck around as long as they have. But hopefully we’ll get more information – it is just an end, not the end.

Just in an attempt to help, you can actually skip some of the events if just doing the story finale is your thing. There is a teleporter thingy that allows it, though… I am unsure if it has a prerequisite or if you just have to find it. (As I’d done some stuff first)

Really wasn’t hooked to this story arc during the Kessex parts etc, but I really think it was a nice finale. And the romantic in me really got its fill.

And of course Scarlet’s end will be a bit anticlimactic, imo. But that is because it is near impossible to write an end that isn’t, given how she has been so hard to pin down. Besides, she basically thinks she’s taking the world with her, I suppose.

Norn. Because thievery and/or sneakiness exists regardless of race. :P

I think kits are awesome and all, but in a sense they are also like equipping a weapon in place of your utility slot. If the balance becomes such that using kits the majority of the time is the one path, then why do many of the utility skills even exist? That’s the problem I see with the lack of options to kits.

Honestly I don’t even think a weapon swap is needed since even without kits you do have the toolbelt and other considerations as an Engi, I think they should just give a few more options like Hammer, or Torch.

Only thing I don’t like with the GS is the autoattack’s damage variance. If there must be a reward depending on range, it should be in another way, like a boon or whatever, rather than raw damage. So if you end up close-range through map design or a quick opponent, it can be mitigated through having access to the right buff (from a friend or whatever), and if not the loss isn’t as big. And if you do need the range, you aren’t punished as much from being way out there by still gaining an important boon or two.

Entropy was my pick, and I love it! I don’t care for the ‘Guardian = traditional paladin’ supposition that much (given races especially), and I love purple… so that was my foremost picks for skin. I’ve not yet transmuted it but I am considering.

You can see it as getting tanned while travelling – certainly a factor with my own Norn – but even among humans, being tanned/darker skin hue and living in an arctic climate is not unusual, depending on factors such as feeding habits.

However, I really don’t think Norn are human at all. They don’t need to wear clothes even in what we would consider cold climate, they wear them for style, practicality or to revere spirits. You actually see quite a few Norn, particularly shaman I’ve noticed, with darker complexions. Most of my norn are dark because it feels natural to me, being wanderers and out under the sky a lot, especially now that they visit other lands than the shiverpeaks.

Going by FlamingFoxx’ entry, I think that theory is possible as well, particularly if there is any truth to the Norn descending from the Kodan. I don’t know how much that has been refuted.

The answer will always be norn!

But seriously go with aesthetics if you plan on investing lots in the character, in my opinion. Liking looks allows me to forgive whenever the current patch has my class weaker than usual to a larger extent.

Like suggested above I think there should just be an outlined rough target area, allowing you to still lead grenades skilfully, but toggling the button should start you throwing until using a different skill, or else holding down.

For me it’s not so much about skill though but more in preserving my finger. Because it is most definitely one of the most anatomically damaging skills in the game by a large margin. :P

I don’t think it’s too weak standalone, but it’s too narrow in its use to compete over 3 utility slots very often. It’s more like a weapon skill in style. That isn’t on a weapon.

But it’s a cool skill when you make a point of using it, you just… usually miss whatever you had in that slot before.

I’ll be a meanie and suggest melee midrange staff combat; wandering device and weapon in one! Hardly unheard of… but moreover I think it would fit ranger a little better than a pure magical staff, though I would like to see it create naturey effects when you hit people, like make tremors or root-grasps.

Like Ele daggers it would have a long reach (300?). I think it could be fun.

I think the Midnight series blow every other dye out of the water because it has a matte quality that doesn’t make the colour ‘scream’ which ruins like 80% of the whole dye library except for small details. At least for the larger parts of a given clothing they are just so nice, the midnight ones.

My favourite is probably midnight fuchsia, i use it on at least three of my Norn, among them the necromancer. But of course that’s just me, if you do like more sharply vivid colouring with too little shadowing then I am bad advice to heed.

Either way good luck with your dye adventures.

Sometimes it happens in terrain I’ve noticed with other such spells. like for example if you punt something onto a wide stone flat or something changing in the terrain they can isntantly snap back when they get up, it’s really disorienting.

I can’t recall it from before so it must be a newish thing. Or else just less lucky lately. Also that was all pve experience

Ultimately only you can really answer that. Effective will always change in an mmo, sometimes your class ‘sucks’, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s balanced to the point of being boring…. rarely it’s at a sweet spot. If I am to put down my personal opinion it is that the class is one of the better rangers I have seen conceptually, but it still has some design to go to be completely realized with the actual mechanics.

If you don’t like what you’re playing you’re just gonna burn out a lot faster with the overall game enjoyment. And i guess there is no huge shortcuts to find out if you do enjoy a class but to play it, aside from looking at vids etc to find out if the general theme suits you.

Either way good luck with your ranger if you keep going!

I resigned myself to a set of runes with movement speed. Pricy but movement speed is my most cherished effect anyway. Besides, I think even if there was an utility with passive movement I would stay with runes whenever possible, to make sure I always have 3 slots for other things.

Well, depending on the build I suppose. That was mostly for dps/damage + support.

I’ve sighed wistfully at those sets more than once, too… Particularly given the wolf bias in the cultural armour!

Yes, they seem to have moved the 2h reduction to nature magic. Overall I think these are great patch notes for ranger if true. The only thing that concerns is the Guard change, but more because Guard simply cannot stand on its own legs with the current functionality.

I don’t think those supposed notes are all bad, but they really need to redo the clone death things if that goes through, as it goes from a works situation to almost never works. :P And my wishes to use the scepter more seems dead in the water still.

Also, in response to that subconcern in this thread, we do have some of the worst AoE in the game, I think that is a fact. Those we have aren’t bad though, it’s just that we can’t spam them aside from GS beam, which isn’t really an ideal aoe attack, more like a bonus if you hit something else. It’s easily illustrated by the fact I get 2x-3x lootbags from this latest world event on my Thief or Elementalist, where the Ele has half my mesmer’s gear

If you want something simple, a Krytan shortbow is actually pretty moderate in size. I am in your boat-ish, as I find half the shortbows to be near unusable as something else than toys given their size.

Oh and yes. The weapons for Norn seem made for max size so the longer onehanders pretty much always clip when sheathed if you fiddle with the height.

I’d love if whatever it was explains a little better how the krait, and the molten alliance would have stuck with her this long; I sort of get the Aetherblade even if their recruitment drive must be extremely fortunate given their heavy losses the past year(s). :P I’m sure Scarlet has a good reason (from her pov) for that which she does, I’m just still a bit on the fence with that alliance.

Still levelling my necro, but as far as staff goes my complaint is that it is an extremely boring weapon or… lack of variety. I mean, I like the marks. But couldn’t those effects be on 2-3 marks leaving room for something else as well?

I really wish stow would be a toggle, I mean it doesn’t take much ability to know when to unstow that it is necessary to have it automated. I love the pets and I still want that, just so you can more easily drop combat runspeed etc when disengaging.

That is a poor thing for those who got it to enjoy, for sure.

Me, it has way too much not purple on it, and I wouldn’t want to remove the awesome that is Norn with ms manhattan.

I play GS/staff in PU/interrupt specs of various forms. GS is my main damage dealer/tagger, staff is for evading and for Chaos Storm on the enemy zerg, not for damage but because it is really awesome on packed groups with its chance to cause general irritation and loss of control.

I’m sure it is minor, but experience throughout mmos tells me abilities like that can make a big difference in zerg battles to reduce the enemy threat, especially if you combine them with other things such as traps. Besides, i generally enjoy the staff. Of course, like all mesmer I suspect, I have some other weapons waiting in the bags.

I don’t think PU does super high DPS (decent for sure) but the burst damage is not bad at all, with a power setup. I have less knowledge about the condi version as I have sort of always played PU power.

I would really like to play a dueling/chaos/illusions build but it’s pretty hard to warrant shifting those 20-30 points to Illusions – I think PU is one of those trait conundrums, it’s put in arguably the least defined trait line, which on top of it has pure defense/utility base stats, so that the remainder of the points need to make up for the investment to a slightly greater degree than usual, or else synergize with the main trait. But maybe I’m off in my thinking

<3 Dawdler’s image. :D

I didn’t actually notice this on my mesmer first, but rather on the elementalist. Sometimes you just get that awesome fingersling with the staff.

Somewhat unrelated in a way but, I absolutely hate that the spider is so good for pvp. I can barely stand looking at them on even a computer screen. :P

But even with that in mind I think if one starts to fiddle with the unique abilities for each type, there needs to be a solid framework to change to – just taking away ability choice in the name of less unique pet abilities makes things feel bad in another way.

How about if staff #4 would ‘morph’ the main attack? For example, in addition to putting on chaos armour, you use the excess chaotic power to make the #1 skill a cone attack, or perhaps increase the attack rate dramatically while it is active, or increase the number of bounces. Something like that. Make it a choice between offense or defense (with the chance of helping both at once situationally).

I think it’d suit staff a lot, since it is so poor outside utility – to have a button that dramatically improves damage without sacrificing the utility so that when you really need it, the cons of the weapon is not as drastic there, but you have to use your head about it.

edit: meep, should have read more carefully. I see now a cone was suggested! But still, something offensive/defensive in nature

DE change is pretty nice for phantasm builds to allow some shatters as well in a dynamic fashion, so I don’t mind it too much. I think the nerf to on death clone traits is more a nerf because those traits are weirdly designed, since the majority of procs happen because the game mechnics counts replacing them as a death – they should just be changed, to be way more impactful when one actually gets killed.

But to be honest I would like to see the DE thing on the scepter auto, even more…

It’s kind of strange really. Theoretically, warriors should be at least as good or better with bows, because well, active weapons training/use is their thing. People’s minds have just conformed over a sort of erroneous traditional interpretation over time with a given ‘class’ or vocation, so I totally understand the desire.

I am extremely happy that a-net has seen past this and given the woodswoman a chance to use bow or axe as she wishes. Now just to get the balance right!

Picked GW2 ranger because FOR ONCE I don’t have to play a ranger and have to use a bow.

But that said I think any weapon a class wields, especially in this game where skills are directly derived, should be equally viable in as much is possible. So of course there should be more balancing.

I also think that the ranged damage is more problematic on a global level than just for ranger. It seems pretty difficult to strike a good balance with melee given how things work with active defenses, buff ranges, etc. I’d say the damage suffers more from that than any faulty weapon design. For the classes where it actually produces good damage it seems to be mostly burstwise and not overall damage…

Must be my most wanted thing for mesmer aside from Torch being better in pve. Ethereal fields being better (or less disruptive, really) too in pve, that is…

Agreed about Claudia Christian but I don’t think it’s her best work. Some lines are good, others are a bit awkward.

Either way, I see a lot of comparison with humans in real life, human physiology etc though one should remember it’s still not a human. They could have an orange for a head. They resemble us but nothing more.

As for the looks you can choose from, I think it’s great. Funnily, they have the most human faces, but their builds are clearly that of a half-giant or the like, even the less burly norn are built like strong-men/-women to a species like the humans. I would have loved more options for scarring and the like but that goes for all races – what is there still enables you to make a rugged character as you like, but of course the Norn appearance ranges from the pleasing to the unpleasing just like everything else, at least to my eyes. Again, I’m sure on a general level we’d all love more chargen options.

I absolutely love the muscle you can add, myself. It’s so liberating to look strong for once if you wish it as a female – very rare in games. I also love that big and strong does not HAVE to mean it impacts your features, as the title implies – as far as faces go.

I’m the type of player that likes to do my best but am willing to leave the last 5% fluid. So no, I wouldn’t ever considering playing without some form of speed buff.

Honestly, I find the runes + focus if needed better than a passive skill anyway. It sucks to tie up a skill slot for it even to swap and and out as needed, especially since you can have extra movement/avoid things slotted instead for preparedness. But that’s me!

And the runes are that pricy because there are too few of them being sold, and it is too easy to list them just under the next which means whoever sets the first few decides the general pricing.

Depending on how glitchy the LA story missions is feeling they can be really easy or really really hard. Everything from mob spawn, friendly npc ai not responding, to glitched objectives taking ages or even never showing up can happen… so it’s always hard to tell if it’s one’s setup or the actual mission that is making it hard for the class one is on there. A lot going on scriptwise I bet so it’s no big wonder – once i really had to restart the mission just to get anywhere tho.