Guild Wars 2

Along with others, I find Ice Shard and Throw Gunk the least useful. The others seem fairly powerful (albeit situational), and any re-work (as OP suggested) would instead make them unbalanced.

Different setups have different roles. Crit builds pair nicely with condition builds, for example, on turret defense. I have no problem with that. I contribute my part (and it’s important), and qualify for the rewards as well.

I disagree with a DPS meter

My post was mostly sarcasm. ;P

They are trying to bring “life” into the zones, and not just shove everything into an instance within an instance — especially for a WORLD event. If it wasn’t a world-event, then an instanced “raid” style could have more pros than cons, but that simple isn’t the case.

They should also add support for gear-checks and dps-meters, to, you know, guarantee that “better” experience. If it’s limited to, say, 40 players, then you don’t want anyone that can’t afford the time or money to equip the very best gear, or run their profession’s most “efficient” build. You’re lucky magic-find is gone from gear, or that would be an instant kick.

Of course, most of those runs would involve guilds. If you’re in a fairly large guild, then you’ll have to assign certain days and times where you can try for a few hours (to accommodate everyone’s real-life schedules). Well, that’s if you do qualify for that day (or days).

If you’re for in a small guild, or no guild at all, then you’re… in an unfortunate situation. Fortunately, they will have LFG available in the future, where you’ll have pugs that aren’t geared or specced properly, won’t go into a voice-chat, and might be wearing all greens — that is, if they don’t go afk after the fight begins. That would be fun…

P/P no-stealth might make leveling more difficult vs. other builds. It performs well @ 80 with Exotic/Ascended (mainly berserker, at least) for PvE, but before that point, it’d probably be much easier just running a heavy condition & stealth build (“god mode” for PvE).

If you’d prefer to level with P/P, then it’d probably give you much needed experience with surviving (and adapting to survive) with the weapon-set. That works too!

With his build he is capable of doing 10k healing from Healing Turret.

P/P is also capable of doing 20k damage before the turret’s cool-down is available, but capable doesn’t always translate to practical. If the engineer drops the turret the very split-second Basilisk Venom is consumed (and it lands), for example, then what happens to the engineer and their turret?

Oh I forgot, his build has an unlimited Vigor and Swiftness.

To remind you, it’s quite simple to switch to Bountiful Theft before fights. Oh look, P/P would get Vigor also (15 secs, every 21~ seconds), and also rip 2 boons from the engineer (also every 21~ seconds). I’ve thought about switching to this trait so often — mainly against guardians (prolonged deaths), but usually, it’s never necessary.

You may want to say you can dodge his attacks and get the equal ground.

Really? Heal-on-crit food would probably out-heal the auto-attacks. I think it’d heal at least 1.5-2x higher than what the engineer even gets from the turret-regen.

This is not really a bunker but more like balanced build.

Balanced builds would be fine for fights that naturally last quite a while, since it can endure pressure briefly while awaiting support. For PvP, I assume that works great. However, remember that those builds neither excel in damage, nor survivability. It’s similar to wearing PTV gear in WvW — you may live longer, but you’re also less useful.

his build is capable of killing you in 10sec if you don’t do anything about his conditions

Probably true, but likewise, P/P could kill the engineer in 5 seconds if they didn’t do anything about the raw damage. A naked, up-leveled warrior could also kill the engineer rather quickly under the same circumstances. See the pattern?

If you can’t kill him under 15sec he will heal back again and again until you whittle down and die.

That’s only true if the engineer can out-heal 100% of the damage every 15 seconds. Considering the engineer was near-dead from that Ele quite often, then you’re greatly mistaken.

I guess you are more like a casual player.

All I can do was just spamming Unload till I died.

I’m a casual player that plays very often, and enjoy it 100%. I love to be front-line or dead-center in small skirmishes, or even better, in massive battles (that don’t lag…). I can spam Unload to my heart’s content and survive until the end. If I die in those situations, it’s usually due to a complete wipe, or from our front-lines collapsing and falling back (I don’t like to run ;P). Then there are times where I get a “yolo” urge, but that’s a personal thing. :-)

If you enjoyed P/P play-style, you would adapt your setup to survive — not just spam Unload until you die…

You sound like you’re a fan of this engineer, and that’s fine. They could very well overwhelm P/P through setup, through “skill”, or both — not denying the possibility. From my experiences in WvW, however, I’ve never noticed any imbalance between P/P vs P/S (Eng), but as they are limited (with P/S Eng), I will, as said earlier, keep an eye out for ‘em. Unfortunately, it’d take many encounters to get a “good feel”, given the obvious factors involved in random encounters.

If you’re not their fan, then you must’ve instead been mauled by condition Engineers quite often. Ouch! Learn to adapt, if that’s the case, instead of giving-up on a weapon-set. Unload animation is too nice to sacrifice. :-)

Now it’s possibly different in WvW (since people in WvW for the most part suck/under-geared/under-leveled/more damage/free kills/etc)

Hmm? My step-daughter’s friend recently got GW2, got to 80 in a few days (on warrior), then leveled a thief to maybe 20~. He wanted to try PvP, so I set him up similar to me, and he said he was downing players with ease. Mind you, he knows very little of the game’s mechanics, nor the thief profession, and also plays on a small-screen laptop with 15ish fps.

My step-son plays casually as well (warrior), and in PvP. Despite my efforts, he still prefers to “mash keys” for the most part (;P), and can down enemies fairly well.

Either way you look at that, sPvP nonetheless also consists of players that “suck/under-geared/under-leveled/more damage/free kills/etc”. It’s entirely situational whether one has more “skilled” players than the other.

You can’t spike people down

The damage scaling in sPvP, if anything, could definitely cause problems with P/P. I don’t have any experience with that, so I can only assume. I would further assume, however, that it would also affect other high-damage/low-survivability builds as well, such as your “stealth backstab hearthseeker” combo.

very hard to incorporate one of the thief’s greatest advantages… stealth

It’s an advantage for builds that benefit from stealth, but P/P berserker is not necessarily one of ‘em. If anything, it’s a crutch.

As for mobility and speed, TeamBattleAxe, summarizes the solution well.

I guess you haven’t seen a real Engi with his imbalanced Healing Turret.

I don’t sPvP, so possibly not, and I seldom encounter engineers for 1v1 encounters in WvW (poor roamers?). I’ve had numerous side-line fights w/ engineers (some P/S, as stated earlier), however, but never felt overwhelmed.

As for the video, it looks like the engineer is a bunker condition build? His raw damage is fairly low, and relies heavily on “whittling down” a target (while maintaining steady healing). I would assume the elementalist is something similar, as well, considering the painful length of the fight.

The question, however, would be whether the fight lasts long enough for the engineer to win. That’s entirely situational (many factors), obviously, but the engineer would have to survive very intense (and sustained) bursts of ranged damage the entire fight.

how do you intend on killing his Healing Turret? (maybe you don’t really know how Healing Turret really work?)

Ever been on the other end of (effective) Unload spam? On non-bunkers, it can easily channel for 8-10k per (<2 secs). If the turret can out-heal its damage (obviously lower on bunker) every 2 seconds, then only then would it be a concern. If it’s deployed, detonated, and blasted in, isn’t that only a 6k~ heal every 20~ seconds? That’s only slightly higher than Withdraw @ 15 seconds.

I’ve toyed with five or six different trait setups, but haven’t gone 30 in Trickery for Berserker P/P. I feel like you would be vulnerable without triple dodge and Vigor on Heal?

When I first tried P/P, I probably switched my traits 20+ times until I found something comfortable. The setup is vulnerable to begin with, so quick fights are necessary IMO — the sooner a target is forced into playing defensive, the better. If 2-3 Unloads can easily drop most targets, or at least drop them <30% health, then they usually must try healing or using their CDs. In that case, dodging is just a crutch (and a waste).

If you do try 30 in Trickery (for Sleight), I would also highly recommend Mug — every 21~ seconds is 2-3k~ damage, and 2-3k~ heal (in addition to all the other Steal goodies). With a 15 sec Withdraw, 21~ second Steal, Heal-on-Crit food, health can be maintained quite well — especially with the mobility provided by utilities.

I’ll give your variant a test in SPvP.

Could you post the build-stats (mainly power, crit chance, crit dmg) that you try with?

If you bought it for convenience, then it works perfectly as-is. If you have the infinite gathering tools as well, then you really don’t need to worry about “do I need to buy any…” stops.

It’s also very generous of ANet to make it account-bound; unlike the tools. Appreciate that fact, before continuously wanting even more.

Don’t forget that ascended weapon (boxes) can also drop wherever the materials can be gathered, and are account bound (in case your current character cannot use the stats). My wife had one drop in WvW from a camp supervisor (Assassin — not terrible for thief shortbow), and she’s only leveled her Huntsman to possibly 415. If you’re in a rush, then that’s obviously not the best way to obtain one, but if you’re just a casual player, then immediately requiring a minimal stat-increase shouldn’t really matter anyways.

What set up do you run, Barfoi?

10/30/0/0/30, mostly Berserker (w/ Lyssa Runes), using Withdraw, Roll for Initiative, Shadowstep, SoS, and Basilisk Venom. It strengthens Steal significantly — 21~ second CD, poison, damage, heal, +3 ini, fury/might/swiftness, (sometimes boon-stripping), an interrupt, and the obvious gap-closer.

I used to use Dagger Storm often, but giving it up for Basilisk Venom (due to Lyssa runes) has made certain encounters much easier. Besides, since I mainly use Withdraw in WvW (and not Malice), it’s a bit hazardous to survival (no mass heals during it). Being immobilized also prevents dodging out of it (bad if no other CDs up), and Necros can even corrupt your stability into a fear.

There is no way you can beat a good Engi P/S with Healing Turret with P/P no matter how you run it.

Why (excluding sPvP)? P/P focused on high damage and mobility-through-utility exerts an extreme amount of pressure on a single target in a very short period of time, and can easily maintain it. The only issue I can think of comes from bursts of condition-application (e.g., similar to Necros), but using Lyssa runes nullifies the concern for a bit, and provides time for several more Unloads. The shield-reflect & block just delay the fight, which works in favor for both our cool-downs. The turrets… situational. Offensively, their range is less than ours, no? The healing turret, if it doesn’t get destroyed by ricochet’d Unloads, and its healing (for some unknown reason) can’t be burst through, would probably easily go down in 1-2 Unloads.

It’s basically a matter of which can burst the other down first. Can P/S engineer spam enough conditions (after Lyssa clears the first set, and possibly Shadow Return clearing the next 2~), and/or do enough raw damage to kill the thief before the Unload-spam kills them? There is no “whittling-down” in this fight — it’d be over within 1-2 minutes for one or the other.

I will be sure to keep an eye out for those engineers next time I play, and see how the fights feel. I don’t roam often, at all, but I might run into a solo fight here/there some time with one!

P/P sucks if you’re by yourself.

P/P can perform well for 1v1 scenarios, but with a low health-pool, the pressure from being outnumbered (and focused) can be too much (for me at least, especially with a no-stealth setup). After switching to Lyssa runes, however, and using only Basilisk Venom (due to that), I actually can’t think of any profession that feels superior.

Fights against Guardians/Warriors can definitely take longer (with their defensive utilities and/or mobility), but they’re either downed with little threat, or it’s a quick, good fight. If they’re “tanky”, it’s no threat, but just an unnecessarily longer fight.

Necros can be a problem with mass-conditions, but a proper Basilisk w/ several Unloads and they generally must retreat (followed by whittling down shroud/forms/blah blah…).

Mesmers.. well, they’re generally quite squishy, and ricochet drops most of their clones/phantasms within a second of them being summoned. Unload channels through their stealths as well, so it can be a very quick fight.

Elementalists usually drop very quickly also (if they don’t run after the first/second Unload), and usually ends in just chasing their mist-form(s). Some can heal quite well through the Unloads for a while, however, but then there’s also no threat.

Engineers, depending, can be good, tough fights. High damage (and ranged), with plenty of conditions (and utility), can definitely pose a threat.

Rangers… well, I’ve had many close-calls with those. The equivalent damage and (superior…) range of Longbow (with knockbacks!) is threatening! It feels like a combo of three of its skills can easily shave 10k+ health within a few seconds.

Thieves.. the majority I’ve encountered would have to catch me off-guard not to be downed within <5 seconds.

Which professions (or specific builds) would you consider superior? Albeit P/P is not bested suited for 1v1, it feels sufficient to me (even if it’s only Unload spamming).

infantrydiv.1620:

P/P thieves? Dead in any gear. That set sucks.

(if you’re referring to WvW…)

P/P thief can survive no-problem, and can easily spam 5-10k Unloads 6x in a row. Most professions drop within the first 2-3 Unloads unless they’re “tanky” and/or blow their CDs just to survive the initial pressure. With Steal (Mug + Daze), Withdraw, Roll for Initiative, Shadowstep, and Basilisk Venom (Lyssa), there is also plenty of mobility and utility to go with the high (and sustained) ranged-damage.

Thus, I wouldn’t quite say it “sucks”. It’s actually more useful in small-to-massive battles than any other thief setup I’m aware of — well, unless you want to hide behind allies and auto-attack/cluster-bomb.

For P/P, you want the fight to end as soon as possible. Do whatever it takes to achieve that, while accommodating what’s necessary to survive (for me, I chose utilities that provide bursts of mobility).

If your gear and traits result in having to “whittle down” a target, then you definitely will have problems with P/P.

I use mainly Berzerker (w/ Valkyrie armor), with 10/30/0/0/30, and have had very few problems with roaming Warriors that decide to pick a fight. Between Steal (Sleight + Mug), Withdraw (Lyssa runes), Roll for Initiative, Shadow Step (and Return), and Basilisk Venom (Lyssa runes), and the fact that 2-3 Unloads will generally drop their health <50% (+dmg%) within 5~ seconds, keeping distance is generally not a long-term necessity. If they’re running a bunker-build, then heal-on-crit food (w/ Withdraw @ 15secs) will probably keep you full health.

I generally don’t roam, however, and so my setup accommodates that fact (I don’t think P/P is best intended for 1v1 scenarios anyways ;P). We have the capability of avoiding pressure in small-to-massive fights, while also punishing anyone that chooses not to pressure us. When you can sweep through the side-lines of 40+ enemy, and drop 3 targets in <1min (not down them), then it gives you constant, warm-fuzzy feelings.

If P/P has any issues, it’s as others have stated numerous times — the cost-effectiveness of its other weapon-skills. Under most circumstances, for example, it’s more effective just to spam Unload.

It feels less costly to trait 30 into SA for condition-builds, so you’ll have very high survivability, with less inner-debate. ;P With runes/sigils/food (40% cond. duration), you can also easily maintain 15-25 stacks of bleeds on multiple targets (weapons + caltrops & dodge caltrops), while also maintaining near-full health. It’s quite enjoyable in PvE, and as long as your group isn’t condition-heavy, still very effective for instanced events.

Probably best to try both, however, and see what you prefer at the moment.

All but the last fight were fairly easy (1-3 tries max) using P/P, and no stealth (except from Steals). Stealth itself becomes a crutch if you rely on it solely for your damage and survivability.

Your setups (“Wish’s Mug/Fall”; traits, utilities) already sacrifice a great deal of potential damage, and provide no extra mobility. They look to rely entirely upon stealth to heal through the hits that simply cannot be sustainably avoided. Any gain from Soldiers vs. Valkyrie just seems insignificant due to that. It’d probably be successful for fights of attrition (with the 30 SA…), but it doesn’t even excel at that.

Out of curiosity, what do you typically use those setups for in WvW?

The only arrogance in my posts is the arrogance you projected into them.

From looking at how you’ve addressed others in other posts, then it’s not only arrogance, but ignorance as well. No biggie.

Thief has tons of condition removal

… for a cost.

It’s always tempting to have greater survivability, but it comes at a sacrifice. ;P It’d probably be best just to experiment, and find what works best with how you play, and what goals you play with.

wish.1027:

You get more damage reduction and EHP from Soldiers compared to Valk, and you can achieve higher EHP and Damage mixing Berserkers and Soldiers than Valk and Berserkers because of the distribution of Crit Damage and Crit Chance you achieve.

You also get more damage reduction by avoiding the hits, and thereafter achieve higher damage because you’re not sitting in stealth healing.

Unless it’s for competitive PvP, then one really shouldn’t stress so much about Toughness vs. Vitality. Beyond solo/small-group roaming, these attrition setups (gear, traits) contribute very little to any significant objective. The longer the fight, and the more you stealth, the more time is “wasted”. When points matter, a group won’t want to be in a stale-mate.

How you’ve fostered such arrogance from this ideal, I’ll never know.

With P/P, you just spam Unload instead, and maybe a few Head/Blinding shots here/there. ;P

Fortunately, one Unload usually takes one of those HS spammers to 10% health… ;P If they don’t stealth before the next channel, then you have to wait around for their soon-to-be corpse to show.

For P/P thief (mainly ’zerker), Deadeye w/ 5 gambits (no extra boss):

Thieves Guild → Scorpion Wire → Caltrops → Haste → Unload until 1st teleport → Steal → Unload until dead. Used Signet of Malice for healing (from unloads, caltrops, etc.). I did run w/ 2 consumables (ogre pet and fire ember), but that was mainly to meat-shield his ranged shots if I couldn’t down him before 2nd teleport.

You don’t need to move at all, which is good, being crippled and lacking dodges and all.

My stepchildren have characters on our (wife and I) accounts, so this is also somewhat problematic for us. We’re now storing our gold in separate guild-bank tabs to alleviate some of the concerns, but it’s still only a partial blanket of security. At least it’s something, however. ;P

I completed all but Liadri within 1-3 tries using: 10/30/0/0/30, Valkyrie armor w/ rest berserker, and basically only P/P (8-10k+ unload spam). The only mobility was from utilities (e.g., Withdraw, Roll for Initiative, Shadowstep), but I adjusted those per fight (in addition to flipping some trait abilities).

For Liadri, however, the pressure from her constant ranged attacks in Phase 1 distracted me enough (only 13k~ hp) that I kept making mistakes, and come Phase 2, was completed destroyed. :-) I tried 30+ times yesterday (had hoped I wouldn’t have to regear/retrait), and the fight was always completely out of my control.

Today, I switched back to my old condition set (full carrion), P/D, and a tweaked 0/0/30/20/20, and downed her within 10~ tries. Getting orbs on her was MUCH easier without constant pressure (stealth, regen, condition removal, mobility), and by the time Phase 2 started, a full stack of bleeds (caltrops + dodge caltrops) already downed her health to 60% very quickly. The rest was just frantically staying alive, while keeping bleeds on her. ;D

I’m not that great of a player (e.g., lazy mouse-clicker, slow mobility-response), so if you’re struggling, then this approach might help. High burst-damage is just very volatile if you don’t control the fight (which thieves can easily do).

Just use ‘em all up. ;P If you’re not “lucky”, then, well, it’s only gold.

If you’re curious about the precursor distribution from 3 randoms + stone, then I believe they were (between wife and I)… The Chosen One, Venom, The Energizer, The Hunter, Dawn, The Legend, Dawn, a spear (I think) w/ a weird name, and then something else. One of those may have been without a stone — don’t recall.

Those were mainly all from using the freebie stones given up to 5k & 5.5k ach. boxes over a week-ish.

Our current attempt (without stones) has cost probably over 2-300g thus far w/ no precursor yet. I may call it quits with the forge for a while if that keeps up. ;P

the only “downside” i guess is you won’t be able to choose which weapon type you get back exactly

Correct. We just decided to gamble again to use them all up, and it had an oddly high success-rate for some reason. For all we know, the freebie stones are bugged and provide a 5% higher chance.

Edit:
When I said “decided to gamble again”, I was referring to my original post. Our current success-rates are dreadful, but we aren’t using stones.

…. it’s those freebie stones! ;P My wife and I dumped all of the achievement-box stones into the forge with random exotics, and within a week’s period (for all boxes to come in), had gotten about 8~ precursors; about a 1:30 chance (based on stone count). Without the stones, however, it’s been more-so 1:70+, but that’s without keeping count.

Considering it was roughly 1:30 with the stones, 8~ times in a row, throughout an entire week, and on two separate accounts, it’s tempting to assume they do increase the chances. Quite a few months ago (last time I played w/ the forge), I had also used store bought stones and got The Legend within <10 forges, but stopped after a couple dozen more tries.

Unfortunately, the factors included within the RNG algorithm will probably remain pure speculation to us, and possibly to most ANet employees as well. There have been many times I’ve thought about there being a daily/monthly distribution cap, or the common “lucky account” paranoia…

Fannwong.3059:

Hello guys,

I’ve been ordered to give this message by Zac, our 2nd OIC NA Commander to BG NA OIC Commander. I did a pure cut/paste because I think her language is on the trolly side but I think her intent is extremely clear.

FW

I’m quite surprised that anyone would complain about “hiding in a keep” (or tower), or utilizing siege for its defenses (from earlier posts). Really? The tactical defense and assault of fortified positions brings constantly evolving (and entertaining) depth to WvW — it should be embraced, not shunned. If someone fails at overcoming its inherent challenges, then they can either endeavor onwards, or resign defeat (and whine about it…).

Now, combat in the open field does have an equal importance — don’t get me wrong — but if it can be avoided with no losses (of significance) incurred, then it’d only be a waste of time and resources; the fool’s choice. You could be a foolish victor, sure, but a fool nonetheless.

Many like to “zerg”, however, which is fun in itself, of course, but brute force only goes so far. Personally, I prefer sitting on an A/C in a tower, and watching the zerg outside, confused at why they’re accomplishing nothing but downing unimportant siege. Coincidentally, the message in that screenshot is probably a summary of their frustration.

In my kindness, however, I do offer my teddy bear and binkie to any lost, confused, and/or frustrated opponent that finds themselves at a fortification that’s actually defended. You’ll require more than just throwing massive numbers at it and “hoping for the best”. If you throw gold (golems) at it instead, then that’s fine, but hopefully that won’t be the extent of your tactical capacity.

If this happens to fall upon ignorant, stubborn, or just simply deaf ears, then that’s fine as well — I expect very little from someone (Zac) that would say such, and in such a manner.

Sincerely,
[some BG player]

It feels like it scales with a group, but having at least a second person provides utility necessary to keep things going smoothly — at least with 2 thieves. ;P We’d have to kill a couple running back due to vets spawning with some, but can get away with only losing 1-2 bags (no biggie?).

I was able to 2-man this with my wife (2x zerker thief p/p) following something similar. We just Scorpion Wired them to us near the rocks (where the mortars pop, which you can ignore), and burned them down in a few seconds. Alternating Head Shots can interrupt their loot-throws, but we still lost a few bags since they can still throw them away from their intended location. Whenever we pulled aggro from vets, we’d alternate Shadow Refuge, and they’d shortly walk off near center/back.

Before this, I tried a 5-man group and well, that didn’t go so well!

This bug is still present. :-) I’m currently permanently crippled after finishing the Arah event, and have no way to remove it (without rallying) — being stuck in combat, you can’t change utilities!

This also happened to my wife during the pre-events shortly beforehand, so it’s occurring quite frequently.

I’ve had plenty of fun sieging-up and defending QL while on EB (on/off), but please discourage fellow server-mates from using unfairly zoomed-out ACs . I’m not referring to the ones built that can fairly reach the roof of the supply hut, either, but the ones built underneath (or even behind!) the tower.

… and why must you (JQ) treb all my siege? :P If it wasn’t to soften the tower for SoR to push, then I’m quite baffled!

Koi Cakes for me! I’m a bit disappointed, but hey, it’s a lot cheaper.

i’m a casual player who has only done a few dungeon runs ever………..and i LOVE this dungeon.

Same here. I’ve run several dungeons and fractals here/there, and any I repeated were only for possible rewards. This one, however, I’ve run quite a few times already with pugs and it’s been a lot of fun. The rewards could be a bit better, but the fights (without past bugs) seem perfectly reasonable.

It’s working now. Thanks.

If she gets “stuck” before the bridges, you need to activate the panel right after them. Afterwards, she’ll run across and be okay. If you proceed much further without doing that, she might not trigger the final boss.

can you please try again and report back?

… still can’t trade — just a blank page.

Oops! Yes, I was referring to trading gold → gems. :-)

It is only when you try to trade with certain amounts

For us (wife and I), it doesn’t matter if we trade for 1 gem, or 2400+.

I’ve bought gems before without any issues (some several days ago, actually), but neither my wife nor I can buy any now — clicking “Trade” just redirects to an empty page. I thought this might just be a “server overload” issue, but others in map-chat say they’re not having any problems.

Thanks

why i use the shortbow and not the D/D as my second weapons

I opt for shortbow over d/d as well; having high-range, ground-targeting attacks — as well as Infiltrator’s Arrow — provides greater versatility in most situations (for me, at least).

Don’t people have any sense of what is and what’s not worth showing?

I could say a few things about your reply, but you probably wouldn’t like ‘em, so I won’t.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Their demand is staying relatively constant but supply is increasing due to them dropping more frequently from Orr and Moldy Bags. Prices will probably continue to drop assuming no more loot nerfs and such until they level off at some lower price.

I’ll assume that’s the reason. The bags drop very often now, and many are probably playing in Orr to experiment with the “latest changes”. If they’ve been heavily invested in, those investors might also soon unload to risk losses — and the prices will drop even further. Hard to say where it’ll go, however… ANet can easily change something to go one way or another.

Welp, guess I’ll just have to save the money to buy them.

Turning the game into a chore won’t be fun, so don’t do it! Just play the game how you want to, and slowly buy them here/there from the extra gold you want to throw-around. They’re slowly making it easier to get gold from doing whatever, so it shouldn’t be too bad — only if you’re in a rush. ;P

Exploring the world and doing events will net you drops to sell/salvage (in addition to harvesting); instances (such as fractals/dungeons) can be very lucrative, and even the drops in WvW are worthwhile (getting rares quite often, and an exotic a few days ago). They’re not get-rich-quick, but ANet tries to keep it that away — just like how they want Legendaries to take time to achieve.

This is still happening quite often to me (and many others) in WvW — usually during mid-large battles. It didn’t start happening to me until a few weeks ago, but since then, it’s been rather frequent. I usually mute the sound for GW2 as a result (don’t want to wait in queues), and the client doesn’t crash, fortunately.

I did change some audio-settings (“more stable”, etc.), and it didn’t happen tonight (after many hours), so perhaps that helped.

It’s good to see all three servers fielding significant numbers — makes the week much more intense, and more worthwhile to participate in. Now, if only they can hurry-up and resolve the issues with culling and lag. ;P That’s more detrimental to (enjoying the) game-play at this point — especially for any current and upcoming 3-ways.

You do know how three way fights work right? It is always a 2v1.

There’s a difference between 1v1v1 and 2v1. If all three servers are constantly fighting on both fronts, then it’s a 1v1v1. If two servers are primarily focusing their efforts on one server, however, then it’s not quite the same (from their perspectives).

It will undoubtedly happen quite often, and there really is nothing wrong with it in my opinion. It’s just odd when it appears to happen very often, and to the point where there seems to be a “mutual understanding” between servers.

Fortunately, with SoS lacking numbers earlier (for whatever reason) in EB, there were some great fights on both fronts for BG. The SoS and JQ that were there fought well and (from last I was on) pushed us out of their towers. Hopefully I’ll see more action like this in the coming days.

I don’t know if there was much SoS vs. JQ going on (understandable with their current attendance), but it’s “good fun” with battles on both sides, you know! More entertaining than following a 40-50-man group on one offensive, at least.

because we play smarter, we play more coordinated, and we have a plan

Hmm? When JQ had no significant numbers on EB yesterday to distract BG, SoS failed miserably for hours trying to take Anz. I kept thinking, “are they seriously trying that same thing for a 4th time?”. In the end, the tower was 100%, and SoS’ main forces apparently routed to other maps because they weren’t “smarter”, “coordinated” or “had a plan” to handle BG on its own. Well, they might’ve had a plan, but there weren’t enough JQ online to accommodate it.

In the end, I would rather BG endure a constant 2vs1 and lose, than to rely on another server to guarantee its success. It looks like that’s the way it’ll be, too, and if so, it’s just disappointing that we might not see any large-scale battles between all three servers (on EB).

Oh, and your post — especially as a Guild Leader — reflects quite negatively upon your server. I could be wrong, but the presumable arrogance it expressed was enough to warrant my comment at least. Perhaps I should not expect any less, though?

Oh (#2), and I’m just expressing my own thoughts and opinions which, in themselves, could be entirely incorrect/misinformed/skewed/etc.

Lankybrit.4598:

Why don’t people understand randomness.

It’s pseudo-random. Computers cannot calculate a truly random number — well, unless it gathers data from a natural phenomenon. So likewise, why don’t people understand that? ;P

The pseudo-random algorithm(s) used within GW2, for all we know, could provide favorable “odds” for character-names starting with “Bob”. It’s highly unlikely, obviously, but nonetheless, the RNG is simply a calculation based on unknowns. It’s far from being random, and anything can alter its results.

Hmm… I also lose the cursor (during large fights), and have always just shrugged it off as my own lack of focus.

It isn’t possible to abuse the Mystic Forge, unless it starts giving out precursors consistently with a specific combination of items, because ANet has defined the precise odds of the Forge.

What about the level-65 rares that went into the forge that resulted in precursors? Many were in an uproar by its potential impact, and I believe ANet considered it an “exploit”. However, who is to say — especially with no way to know otherwise — that the 65 rares weren’t designed to result in such?

What about any current and future undiscovered recipes (combos) for the forge as well? First discoveries will net significant profit for the discoverer, but ANet could easily say that the “recipe was unintended”, and pull-out the “ban hammer” over it.

The game is simply played the way it’s designed, and if it allows something to be done, then it probably will be done at some point. However, ANet has consistently penalized players — since the beginning — for THEIR mistakes in design, and it’s simply unjust.

None of these exploits have EVER been “legitimate (and ethical).”

… and this is your own opinion, and the problem in itself. What technically is an “exploit”, and will that definition cover all current and future incidents? Very unlikely.

Also, define “infinite cycle.” You can’t profit FOREVER from the Forge.

With “profit”, the process repeats for an “infinite cycle”, but as you said, the price-fluctuations would result in little-to-none, and effectively end the cycle. This would’ve happened to the snowflake incident as well — which others explained — but apparently it was still an “exploit”.

As long as you’re not taking advantage of incompetent design, then I assume you should be “safe”. :-) It’s just unfortunate that players are penalized for playing the game the way it is designed.

Assuming how it’s actually intended to be played — in defining an “exploit” — can go either way, and should not be a concern for players. I can understand questioning the morality or ethics of gaming-conduct, but should we seriously question whether or not crafting or salvaging is an “exploit”?

It’s not very different than, for example, gambling with the Mystic Forge. It is/was possible to continuously dump thousands of rares into the forge and make profit from the exotics and eventual precursors, or to just continuously upscale crafting materials. As long as there was profit, it provided an infinite cycle. From this situation, wouldn’t that also be an “exploit”? More importantly, should playing the game the way it’s designed even be questioned — especially when it appears perfectly ethical?

If such design was so detrimental to the integrity of the game (or more so its “economy”), then the source of the problem itself should be evaluated and/or removed (cough). Yet, people make mistakes — it’s natural — so why punish the players instead?

In case some would think I’m simply defending my own actions, then no — I haven’t now, nor have in the past, been involved in any of these incidents. ;P It’s just ridiculous to think I have to question legitimate (and ethical) game-play!