Guild Wars 2

So, since Reaper is melee, I was thinking that for WvW it might be good idea to go with Lemongrass food and Holebrak runes (at least in theory). Those 2 give you -60% conditions duration applied to you.

If you take Relentless Pursuit, which in Reaper Shroud reduces duration of certain conditions applied to you for 66%, does that mean that unless player, that is applying conditions, has at least +27% condition duration increase, those conditions cannot be applied to you at all? I am a bit confused, so if anyone can help me with this.

I’d say minion build with dagger/warhorn + staff is probably the best for leveling. Don’t be scared of the game. It is not easy one so don’t feel like underachiever. Take your time to learn things, trust me it is normal.

Boons are buffs (probably word you know better if you played other similar games), for example more speed, damage taken reduction, critical chance increase and similar. Conditions are de-buffs: you take more damage from enemies, move slower, your skills recharge slower, you also have damaging conditions which apply damage over time on you as long as you have them…

There are 2 things you should know when starting GW2, which many new players don’t know unless they investigate this game well before starting.

First is that there is no quest line you can follow which then levels you up as you complete missions. You must go out in the world and explore and as you explore you will discover waypoints, vistas, new areas, do world events or some smaller tasks, gather resources, learn crafting discipline(s)…because all that gives you XP. It is a bit hard to understand and get used to since (I think) all other MMOs have standard story line and lots of repetition to gain XP you need to progress.

Second thing is that PvE (mostly I mean open world) is not the only way to level up. While there are many ways you can level up in PvE, you can also do so in WvW (especially in Edge of the Mists map if your server happens to be green that week – experienced players know what I mean). You can also level up through PvP matches because you can select certain track which you in time complete as you play matches (you get more track progress if you win, but you still get something even if you lose). You get many rewards as you progress further in some track and every once in a while you will get Tome of Knowledge which gives you level up if you are below level 80 (important note: levels don’t matter in PvP environment, just for PvE and WvW).

I would also advise you to look for some guild. I know some servers have community guilds for new players and there are few cross-server guilds that accept new players and help them learn about the game. Just try shouting here and there and pay attention to map chat and I am sure you will find a guild soon.

I understand why they did it, but I agree with you and I find it frustrating in some situations (like wanting to share cool story or discuss build options, traits, skills etc.)

I have already answered to similar topic and I will just repeat same advice. Don’t be scared of how difficult it initially feels and going full zerker (at least until you learn more about every mob mechanics) doesn’t seem to be viable option anymore.

My first PVE experience was with Revenant (a class I knew almost nothing about) wearing celestial equipment (until I figured out I can get different stats) and my first impression was also “This is way too difficult”. However, when I changed to Reaper (class that I main with just new mechanic) and once I added a bit of toughness and observed what some more complicated mobs do, PvE content became really pleasant experience for me, who BTW finds PvE boring and sometimes too hard in this game. Unlike dungeons (which I find difficult) this type of difficult I actually liked.

Second suggestion is about Reaper Shroud.

I really have 1 and only 1 remark about Reaper Shroud and that is the fact that Necro is light class being pushed into melee group (in WvW) or right in front of mobs (in PvE). I don’t see (at the moment) any viable build for strictly melee Necro in PvP (maybe and only maybe some ultra tanky bunker build) so I will leave that aspect out for now.

Life Force pool for Reaper Shroud simply has to be higher comparing to Death Shroud.

I saw few people suggesting F1 and F2 shrouds (which is also very interesting suggestion), but I would prefer 1st minor trait in Reaper trait line to give x % Life Force boost (the way I see it 20% or above is magic number). Death Shroud is ranged option so you won’t be exposed to so much damage and it feels tanky (with Vital Persistence trait). However, damage you take while being in melee group simply melts shroud even with all traits and more defensive build.

This is not the only problem with Necro going melee. The question is what can Reaper bring to melee group to make it viable choice in the first place (other than “I like it and I wanna play it so my team has to deal with it”). At the moment we have Guardian and Warrior as melee professions. Necro can’t support, heal or buff so Guardian’s role for now is his and his alone. The way I see it (and it’s just my view on it), Necro has to compete with Warrior for that place (not to replace Warrior, but to make it so that having few Reapers actually brings something to the group oppose to having all Warriors).

Warrior is heavy armor profession, which means more defense to begin with, with really high damage and CC and depending on the build high group support and buffs. Heavy armor gives Warrior ability to go for more offensive stats, improving damage, while still keeping decent numbers regarding armor. Reaper must boost defense significantly in order to be able to be inside melee group and boosting defense means lowering damage. So, Necro can’t buff allies, can’t heal, is not so great with CCs and has to sacrifice a lot of damage in order to survive.

So, that makes me wonder why would any group choose Reaper for melee instead of having more Warriors. The only thing that would make Reaper viable option is higher damage output than Warrior. So, you can have Guardians for buffs, Warrior for damage+CC and Reaper as main damage dealer. Unless Reaper can bring significantly more damage, I see no reason to use it other than in PvE because it can stack vulnerability which is the only way to boost damage after reaching 25 stacks of might.

Considering all that, Reaper has no other way to improve survivability, without sacrificing majority of its damage, unless you boost Reaper Shroud. Please have in mind that Reaper Shroud is main profession mechanic and you should feel rewarded for using it. While in shroud you cannot use utility skills, so all that you can do is deal a lot of damage. Stacking chills and vulnerability is very unrewarding (again, except in PvE) because they are cleansed before you can get any benefits from them and being unable to use utilities while in shroud makes it impossible for you to de-buff enemy as well. So, by using main profession mechanic, you are actually limiting the only “group thing” Necro can do. Again and again we come back to the point where it has noting else left to do other than to deal heavy damage. If it cannot survive then damage is 0 and if it has to sacrifice majority of damage to be able to survive, then why have it in the first place?

I am really hoping this can reach developers, but I am also very much interested to hear what other players have to say about this (good or bad).

Hi everyone,

Much has already been covered and I will try not to repeat what majority are saying, so I will try to just stick to few suggestions I thought might be useful and why.

First suggestions for new maps since it is shorter and easier to explain. Verdnat Brink is map different from anything I have ever seen in MMO games I have played so far. Really well designed and vertical component is just amazing. However (and here I must state that I am no PvE player) I had issues navigating map and difficulties going from point A to point B without getting lost.

I noticed that in story mode you get those arrows showing you the way and I found it really useful. So, why not add that or something similar to open world also? For example arrows showing you way to reach some point (whether it is specific point on the map, event location or just random point you marked on the map), or maybe line that shows, once you marked the spot you want to reach, and if you follow the line you get to where you wanted to go. Since map is vertical also I can see some possible issues with marking the proper spot, but I think you understand my point and what it is that I think could be helpful. Since I don’t play PvE I must say I am unaware if such thing already exists and if it does please excuse me.

Now to the Reaper…

Many have said that greatsword is currently not good choice for a weapon. I must say that for PvP and WvW I completely agree and find it very slow and unrewarding. The more I tried to use it in PvP and WvW the more I realized there is no way I would choose that weapon over something else since it can’t hit almost anything. In PvE it is actually not so bad at all, but only because mobs tend to be a lot more static and easier to control and even then, it is only good as secondary weapon set (mostly because of skills 3,4 and 5).

At first I thought how improving damage would help (like many suggested), but then I found myself in situation where I tried to kill enemy dolyak in WvW. I was constantly holding move forward key and tried to attack dolyak. As you know they are really really slow. However, even slowly moving dolyak was impossible to hit with greatsword auto-attack. I have reached dolyak and, as soon as it was in range of auto-attack, animation started and before animation ended dolyak was out of the range and I missed.

Now, I didn’t tell that for the story sake. I told that because it got me thinking how much damage must it deal before I can begin considering greatsword rewarding and I came to a conclusion that even if you put numbers aside but put option on it that if it hits it is guaranteed kill shot, I would still not use it because even killing anything with 1 shot is not worth it if that 1 shot basically can’t hit anything.

So, my suggestion regarding greatsword is that it should be faster on auto-attacks because no damage would make me use it with current speed, range and animations. Regarding damage, while greatsword auto-attack damage is fine as it is (if it hits anything), I must add that Gravedigger hits way too low damage regardless of the animation/cast time (even if you make it instant). Opposite of auto-attack I feel that high cast time here is justified, but damage is unrewarding, especially since before you get enemy under 50% HP there is absolutely nothing special about this skill and I am struggling to find reason to use it (before enemy gets below 50% HP and even then dagger auto attack against 0.8s cooldown Gravedigger would be tough choice).

Just to end elaboration on greatsword: skill 3 is great, skill 4 good (I found nothing wrong with it so far) and skill 5 is a bit difficult to aim (maybe it was intended that way, maybe it’s something that needs fixing) but overall interesting skill (someone suggested chill on it which I found to be really good suggestion).

Coming from a player who barely plays anything to do with PvE and considers dungeons in this game (everyone is free to laugh) really hard, I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about. When beta started I made Revenant and I didn’t realize I can change gear so I stayed with celestial build. At first I was scared of how mobs were more difficult to kill, but when I changed to Reaper (Necro is my main) and put some zerk and some cav gear I actually found fighting mobs fun because it was more challenging. Maybe more challenging means more difficult, but I actually thought to myself I could spend some time in open world content (again, totally not PvE player) once HoT is here. So, profession you know + proper build and I think you’ll have fun.