Guild Wars 2

Fluffball.8307:

BondageBill.4021:

I tried out the YouTube version of this build on a sPvP dueling server last night. It was interesting, to me, that for a condition focused build, it doesn’t seem to have a very high condition application rate.

I’ve tried multiple times to get a pure condition ranger using a sword/x axe/x to work in sPvP and am always disappointed. My solution was to use a similar tanky build but focus on power, which is the main damage of both a sword and axe. I use barbarian’s and +5% crit sigils which give me a 40% crit rate as well as over 27 thousand health. You can hybridize it just as well (perhaps better) with flame trap/Rabid amulet, but I didn’t like the health loss.

The concept is the same: you’re tough to kill, and slowly whittle people down. I just find the autoattack much more consistent than trying to apply conditions I don’t have.

Edit: Should also mention it gives you an excuse to bring Spotter.

Fluff, have you tried this in WvW at all? It seems that you would be a lot squishier in a 1vX situation without the healing power and toughness. Maybe there is a sweet medium somewhere in there though.

Also, I might drop the Axe/X in favor of GS in a power setup, just to have the added mobility (again, thinking WvW).

@FrauFrau – will definitely check out the vids when I have time later tonight. Watch this space for edits.

ETA: That’s a pretty interesting variant you have with the GS. It really adds an extra layer of mobility that lets you fly around the battlefield. I assume you are using Cleric’s gear in that setup?

I’m trying to choose a new class to level up specifically for roaming in WvW. I will be mostly solo, and I am looking for a class that does not rely solely on hit-and-run (ie. thief /mes) or continual kiting.

Based on the above, warrior has piqued my interest. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the warrior class in WvW roaming?

For reference, I have been eyeing Axe/Shield and GS (or hammer) builds, but I am not set on anything in particular.

I’m looking to level a new character for solo roaming in WvW, and Ranger has grabbed my interest. Specifically, I’ve been looking at the Regen Roaming build, and I want to get an idea of the pros and cons of the build / class compared to other class options before I devote the time to level to 80. Here’s my go:

Pros:
- Very survivable – I’m getting tired of squishy hit-and-run type roaming
- Lots of evades
- Good passive condition cleansing
- Decent mobility with sword MH
- Perma-swiftness
- Ranger down-state
- I like the look of medium armor more than heavy (and I already have two scholar classes)

Cons:
- Difficult to catch people who run?
- Apparent limited condition application for a condition focused build (not like condi-bomb necros or engis) – Is this an issue?
- Slow time-to-kill?
- Limited control skills, based on pet F2
- General ranger pet issues
- Need to spam Guard every 15 secs…

Any thoughts on things that are really good or really bad that I am missing? I am also considering Guardian, Warrior or Engi for roaming, if you have any thoughts in comparison to these classes.

Koroshi Build Video

Thanks!

Diehard.1432:

BondageBill.4021:

I tried out the YouTube version of this build on a sPvP dueling server last night. It was interesting, to me, that for a condition focused build, it doesn’t seem to have a very high condition application rate.

It makes me wonder if a similar build using Power, HP, toughness gear would be as effective.

Otherwise, it was a pretty fun setup. What do you find to be the downsides in WvW solo roaming?

I have done that, basically they can’t kill you but you can’t kill them either lol. There are simply not enough dps to do that

Haha. I had a 5+ minute duel with a cleric’s shout guardian. We decided to give it up when we realized we were both still at 100%. Fun fight though

ANet should just make Tomes of Knowledge purchasable through in-game currencies, such as Karma.

Played long enough that you have boatloads of karma stocked up? You probably don’t need to go through the leveling process with a new alt. Spend some currency to gain instant levels.

That, or slap an instant 80 consumable in the gem store. I’d sure buy one…

I tried out the YouTube version of this build on a sPvP dueling server last night. It was interesting, to me, that for a condition focused build, it doesn’t seem to have a very high condition application rate.

It makes me wonder if a similar build using Power, HP, toughness gear would be as effective.

Otherwise, it was a pretty fun setup. What do you find to be the downsides in WvW solo roaming?

melodey.4652:

Why don’t you enjoy your mesmer? There are many roaming builds available to mesmer, and blink and decoy allow for a lot of flexibility in 1vX. If you don’t enjoy phantasms, you could try a shatter build. Search youtube for some great solo 1vX mesmer roaming. Like other people have said, condi engi might be a good option for you. Warrior is pretty popular atm as a solo build, thanks in part to their ability to run away from virtually any sticky situation they find themselves in.

I think that I stopped enjoying my mesmer mostly due to the very hit-and-run playstyle that it employs. I’ve played both shatter builds and PU roaming builds pretty extensively. Both types of builds really boil down to setting up your burst combo, then kiting / stealthing for a long period of time (relative to bursting at least), until you can set up your next condi, shatter or phantasm burst.

For similar reasons, I doubt I would enjoy thief. Plus, I have never been able to get a thief past level 10, as I just don’t enjoy the class very much.

Then I find some videos that don’t seem to rely on hit-and-run tactics, like:

Guardian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw6bMD5z6bM
Ranger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDib2vl9fVU

I think I’d rather try a class that has more meat on its bones, so to speak.

Carpboy.7145:

Engis fo sho. They’re bomb/toolkit/rocket boots condi build with perplex is VERY effective roaming 1vX

Here’s a video. I think this guy also has some more roaming videos with this build, and he streams regularly.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/external?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfUoHcJLWjoc

Thanks for the link; I’ll have to check it out. Not super thrilled about perplexity runes ATM though, as I assume they will be getting the beef hammer in the next balance patch.

On an unrelated note, my phone just autocorrected nerf hammer into beef hammer. I think I’ll leave it like that.

Darek.1836:

Best for fighting thieves are guards best for fighting mesmers are Necros.. unfortunately guards and necros are absolute opposites. I think engi is a good middle ground, if well played they can beat both but don’t have the absolute counter that the necros and guards have. also PU mesmers will beat engis.

I wouldn’t have thought Guards are very good for roaming due to the lack of swiftness / mobility. Maybe I’ll have to look a little deeper into that class.

Any thoughts on how Rangers play into that mix?

I’m looking to level a new alt for WvW roaming. I am not interested in playing Mesmer or Thief (already have a Mes, never liked Thief much). I’ve heard Ranger and Engi can be effective roamers.

Which is more effective when solo?
Which can deal well with primarily Thieves and Mesmers (all I run into in tier 1 roaming)?
What are the differences between the two in fighting style?

lordkrall.7241:

BondageBill.4021:

For example, how is it that the Order of Whispers haven’t infiltrated the Aetherblades in order to track their movements?

How do you know they haven’t?

It just so happens that I’m a pretty high ranking member of a certain secret organization, not to be named…

They ain’t told me nuttin’

Obviously, she built it on her moon base, using rocket dolyaks to transfer the required materials from Tyria.

I agree fully with Jaken; the required suspension of disbelief for this arc is too great, and there are too many plot holes regarding the apparent lack of concern about Scarlet from greater Tyria. For example, how is it that the Order of Whispers haven’t infiltrated the Aetherblades in order to track their movements?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Would it be better instanced?

I can’t speak for the masses, but for me and mine the answer would be no. Simply put, we’d never get to do it if it we locked into an instance that required 80+ people.

The majority of content (including the large scale world battles), in my opinion, should not be locked behind barriers such as instancing. (Unless that barrier can be passed vie the use of npcs like heroes and hench for those that can’t necessary rally that many actual people – or don’t desire to) It reduces the likeliness that the majority of players will get to enjoy it. Most will look at the requirements, and shake their head in defeat and not bother trying to begin with. With an open world boss, that same person can instead simply ‘sneak in’ and give it a go without drawing too much attention to themself and decide if they want to try it again… maybe see if they can get into an organized group to attempt it. It allows them to get their feet wet, without any massive commitment.

What if it were tuned around 15, 25 or 50 people instead of 80?
What if there were an easy and hard mode?
What if the LFG tool supported putting together pugs so that it made the content more accessible for casuals?

Would any of the above propositions assuage some of your concerns?

Amiron.1067:

I honestly believe that the wurm and tequatl fights would make amazing raid content if balanced around 10-15 players. GW2’s newer dungeons, fights, and mechanics have proven that the dev team can create thought provoking encounters in a zerg, so I know they could make it work if they created raid style instances.

And when I say raid, I don’t mean gear treadmills. I mean fun content that requires an organized 10-15 man group. I really would love to see what ANet could pull off in that kind of environment.

IMO, marionette @ 25 people (5 people per lane, 1 person per platform) would be an amazing encounter.

The lane groups would require a good amount of coordination between back guard, siege builders, siege users and champ killers. The platforms would emphasize individual skill. There’s so much potential there, but laning in it’s current incarnation is kinda bleh imo.

ETA: In my 25 man scenario above, it would be good if they could add a way for the shields to lower on the platforms phase, allowing DPS characters to help tanky / support characters after finishing their own platform.

laokoko.7403:

Many people would enjoy it more.

But if you are not in a large guild. You probably dont’ like the idea.

I am not in a large guild; I like the idea. Don’t make the mistake of assuming instancing requires added difficulty. Also, LFG tool.

Talyn.3295:

It should be instanced. I understand people want world bosses open. However from the other side, I hate being stuck with PuGs. And that is all that we really get when we are doing a world boss, that requires tactics. It would be better if we could control the instances. Just like when Word went out that we Killed Teq, we had even larger ques as everyone tried to crowd our Server to get those kills rather then trying to learn to do it themselves.

I don’t like relying on players I don’t know, when there is a factor of skill involved. Or at the very least knowing what is expected of them.

I know what you mean about the server crowding. Up until last week, I still had to log into Sparkfly about 40 minutes before Teq spawn during prime time to actually land on my home server. First time I saw my home server’s Lornar’s Pass since Tuesday is right now, because I logged in 90 minutes (1.5 hours!) before the next marionette spawn. Hence, all the time on the forums (sadly, time not actually playing the game).

Instancing would also alleviate guesting issues, since we can run cross-server instances.

Mars.6319:

Yes, instanced 25/50.. whatever man content that was coordinated would be better.

I do not consider myself a raider but EQ and WoW both did “raid” content much better. GW2’s raid content is extremely strange in that it requires strategy and coordination but forces you into a pug situation with a very large number of players.

Of course my perspective of GW2 content is skewed by the fact that I’m on an under-populated server. Just the same; raid content is raid content and the way GW2 is presenting raid content leaves much to be desired.

I think one of the challenges in the open world environment is that you cannot assume everybody will coordinate. Some players will decide to buck the system, while others may just not understand what is going on around them. It seems odd to me that GW2 is pushing for so much coordination in open world fights, when, by definition, you cannot ensure everyone present is willing to work together as a team.

IMO, one of the benefits of executing these types of encounters in an instanced environment is that you can integrate mechanics that requires significant party coordination and safely assume that all of the players in the encounter are on the same page.

Imagine for a minute: A brand new player to GW2 is questing through Lornar’s Pass and stumbles across the marionette event at level 33 in random blues. Would you think that experience is going to be a good one?

Now imagine that same player got ported to a platform with only one other player. That experience is not going to go well at all…

Vayne.8563:

Not for me. If they were instanced and required a large number of people, I’d probably never do them.

That is to say, the kind of nonsense that usually goes with raiding is the kind of nonsense I could completely do without.

I kill Tequatl a couple of times a week with a bunch of strangers and some guildies. It’s a good time. But there’s no pressure at all.

To the above, there is no reason an instanced mega-boss would have to be a “hardcore” raid encounter. It could remain at the exact same difficulty as today, except it would always be properly scaled to a specific number of people, and it would alleviate several of the open world issues that are occurring today with these encounters.

In other words, if it had the same difficulty as today, you could still complete it with a bunch of strangers and some guildies with little pressure. That is more of a factor of how the encounter is tuned, not how it is accessed.

Vayne.8563:

If you don’t show up, no one calls you at home. If you make a mistake, no one knows. The only thing anyone usually gets called out for is if they die and they aren’t using a waypoint instead of rezzing.

Instance increase the pressure on the casual player base. I’m a decent player…but I’m not the best player in the world. I can run any dungeon in the game relatively easily. I can do high level fractals.

Again, the argument above is about how the content difficulty is tuned. If it is tuned to be extremely difficult for the hardcore crowd (of which I am most assuredly not), it will increase pressure on casuals. However, there is no necessity that it be super difficult just because it resides within an instance.

In the second paragraph above, you acknowledge that you can currently clear all of the instanced content in the game. Do your guildies call you when you don’t show for dungeons and fractals? Do current dungeons and fractals increase the pressure on the casual player base?

I think a lot of people assume that instanced means super hard. These two concepts are not necessarily related. In an ideal world, there may even be multiple difficulties to choose from, in order to appease everyone (of course ANet would need to balance that with added development cost).

Vayne.8563:

And I can understand why people want to control exactly who they do these events with, but you know…that smaller percentage of the people who would benefit would do so at the expense of the wider gaming population.

That’s part of it, sure, but instancing also provides other benefits such as the encounters being balanced around a reasonable and consistent number of participants. Also, instancing would allow you to have better coordination among your team (VoIP), if desired. It would also solve the overflow issues and waiting games.

I also disagree that only a small percentage of people would benefit from this. What percentage of people do you think actually clear Tequatl regularly?

Coming from a different perspective, do you think the wider gaming population would benefit if current instanced dungeons were made into fully open world encounters with 2 hour spawn timers?

I don’t know why people hate armor in the gems store so much. It’s the exact same acquisition method as cultural armor; save up a bunch of gold and buy it from a vendor.

Of course, it would be fun if there were a long quest chain or some personal trials / challenges to unlock new prestige armors, but I’ll take purchasable with gold over a tiny, tiny RNG chance from a boss you can only attempt every 2 hours any day.

I agree with the OP. In the Liadri fight, the outcome was 100% based on my skill. With the new mega-bosses, my skill counts for less than 1% of a successful outcome. I’d like to see more encounters that emphasize personal skill over personnel skill (woot terrible joke success!)

Seriously though, a fight where the majority of the challenge lies in getting pugs and server guests to follow your plan is not all that interesting, IMO.

Simple question, though a complex discussion to be sure: Do you think the new mega-boss encounters would be better if they were instanced? Why or why not? Also, what rulesets would you like to see in place around these types of encounters?

Sandwichmancer confirmed!

Love the idea, but love the “incredibly kittenty drawing” x1000 more

I have to say that I disagree with your hypothesis and resolution based on mechanical limitations. For the destruction of the Pale Tree to pass, ANet would have to:

• Rewrite the entire Sylvari personal story line:
Even if they temporarily disabled the creation of new Sylvari characters, they would need a contingency plan for existing Sylvari that have not advanced the personal story. I doubt they would simply disable the personal story and prevent progression for these characters, so a rewrite would be necessary.

• Rewrite all personal story steps involving the Pale Tree:
See above. If the Pale Tree is destroyed, they need to introduce new story mechanics for the parts of the post-Claw island story involving the Pale Tree, which also means finding a new way to bring Trehearne into the mix.

• Move the Sylvari starting zone:
For all of the flak GW2 has taken over temporary content and/or removal of content, would you really expect them to remove creation of one of the five playable races, even temporarily? I would not. Even if it is groundbreaking in terms of a truly Living World, I don’t think the general MMO populace is ready for that type of mechanic.

The Distant Future: A Cleansed Orr:
The prospect of a cleansed Orr comes with two outcomes:
1) invalidating the entire post-Claw island personal story or
2) instancing / phasing undead Orr so that players can complete the personal story.

The first exhibits the problem mentioned above regarding temporary content. While I think that type of grand-scale world metamorphosis could be awesome, I question whether the MMO populace would accept the loss of all of the current content associated with undead Orr and the personal story. It would also entail either a complete re-write of the post-Claw island personal story or a complete scrapping of the personal story initiative.

For the second option, the issue becomes that fact that it splits the player base. For example, can anyone go into cleansed Orr or do you need to complete the personal story first? Can those who have completed the personal story return to undead Orr? Would people even try to complete the personal story if they had to essentially solo Orr?

(Personally, I would like to see ANet develop a cleansed Orr, but the ramifications are difficult to manage, to say the least).

Also, as a side note: Would your hypothesis mean that approximately 16% of player characters are dragon minions? It would be a cool concept to develop, but it feels way out of place for the chummy chummy world that is GW2 PvE.

Now, regarding the lore portion of your theory: I think I can reconcile it with the mechanical limitations above. We already know that Scarlet did not see what she thought she saw (paraphrased dev. quote, too lazy to look for source). I would amend your hypothesis as follows:

In the “Eternal Alchemy” Scarlet was influenced by the jungle dragon (or some other essence) to believe the Pale Tree is evil. Scarlet believes everything you said above, but is incorrect. She attacks the Pale Tree, but our plucky heroes stop her just in time (thus not requiring the massive mechanical rework implied by successfully offing the Pale Tree).

Howdy Rangers!

I recently started a Ranger alt (currently lvl 20), and have been enjoying the new play-style and additional micromanagement of the pet quite a bit so far. My current 80s are Necro and Mesmer, and I am trying to figure out how the Ranger plays / performs in my preferred activities at 80.

Dungeons: In dungeons, I prefer efficient groups. Not necessarily speed clears, but groups with dungeon focused builds that are working together to ensure a smooth run (including stacking, might stacking, etc.). Currently, I use my Mesmer with a full melee zerker setup (phantasm / reflect meta build), so I expect I should be able to run whatever melee build is optimal for Rangers too.

I’ve heard Rangers can be a good group DPS boost with a Spotter & Frost Spirit build. Based on my current experience to 20, I would assume this is a zerker setup with sword / offhand / offhand. How are Rangers performing in dungeons these days?

WvW Roaming: Again, my Mes. I understand Rangers can roam well with condition / regen builds. What are the strengths and weaknesses compared to other classes? Is this a relatively active and engaging build?

WvW Zerging: Ok, so I hear Rangers are bad at zerging. I currently use my Necro in a power wells setup, so I have a boatload of AoE for tagging in zergs. However, I would think a 1500 range piercing LB setup would be fairly effective when spamming arrows into an opposing zerg, especially when a zerg is tightly stacked. Does this work decently for tagging? Are piercing arrows capped at 5 targets, and does this hinder the ability to get kills?

Leveling: Yeah, this isn’t my favorite aspect of GW, but any advice on the best utilities and/or traits for leveling? Right now I am running a sword / offhand (whichever feels most fun at the moment) with SB switch for when I need to kite. I’ll probably switch SB back to Axe/Warhorn until I can get piercing arrows though. Which trait lines are best? Which majors are really useful but easily overlooked?

Alacrity.4312:

What you are asking for (dropping an Ascended chest – with a specific colour, no less) is like winning a lottery.

You’d be better off crafting it yourself, then at least you will get the stats you want too.

Since your ranger is new, you can max the Huntsman line to help level.

Cost will be 150~ish gold, minus whatever mats you’ve accumulated
http://www.gw2crafts.net/total.html
I think Ascended mats only drop from exotic bags (and even then, only if a lvl 80 opens it), but by the time you’ve maxed Huntsman you ought to have plenty.

Fortunately, I don’t need one specific color. I should be able to work almost any color, barring green or orange, into my color scheme. I’m just hoping that eventually I will come across one with a color that is not completely incompatible.

As far as crafting goes, just no thanks. I was never a fan of the weapons crafting system to begin with. Why should I need to max out three separate weapon-specific crafts just because I want to run a build with staff, sword and pistol? It’s a poor design IMO.

Furthermore, the ascended weapons were shoehorned into this system, with a bunch of added grind and fully account-bound outputs, making me further reluctant to “progress” down this path. That’s a discussion for another thread though. In short, I’m not going to drop 150+ G for a new pistol skin that also requires me to sit through the tedium of crafting instead of enjoying my limited gaming time.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

For Dragonite, you must be level 80.
For Empyreal Fragments, it depends on where they are obtained. If from a chest, you must be level 80…if from a dungeon, there is no level requirement.
I am unsure about loot bags in WvW.

Thanks Inculpatus. Perhaps I will take to leveling in dungeons once I reach 35. That is, if I can find groups willing to take a low-level ranger along. Or maybe I’ll try something else…

WvW loot bags appear to not drop ascended mats up to level 13 at least.

Does anyone know what character level you need to be before ascended materials start dropping via loot bags and WvW events? Do you have to be level 80 before you start seeing any of these drops?

I have noticed on my new alt that no ascended materials are dropping at level 10, even if I pass my champ loot bags over to a level 80 to open.

I am hoping to one day find an ascended weapon chest in order to get the pistol skin. I doubt I would be lucky enough for the right stats, but the skin itself is just about perfect for my mesmer (assuming I land an appropriate color). If I cannot even get the chance of lucky RNG on an alt, due to ascended materials not dropping until higher levels, that would be most discouraging for continued play on my new ranger.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

BondageBill.4021:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Personally following the last proposal I put forward I am still listening and thinking to the CDI groups discussion and considerations. I am sorry if this isn’t moving fast enough for you but this thread isn’t closing anytime soon and I am a patient man.

Chris

Chris,

My apologies if I am just missing something, but I cannot find this proposal you are referencing. Searching through the Dev Tracker and this thread, I see the following:

11:55 – a post stating that you are building a proposal.
17:11 – a comment about several points that will impact the in-process proposal.
19:22 – the above quote where you refer to the previously presented proposal.

Unfortunately, I do not have much time to post back-and-forth during the week, nor time to sift through 29 (and counting) pages, but I would really like to see the resultant direction of this discussion and have a chance to comment further before the Vertical segment is closed and Horizontal is opened.

Would it be possible to post a summary proposal for the direction of vertical progression with a very easily identifiable and bolded title for those of us that are time-impaired during the week?

Hi Bill,

I will try to make the next evolution of the proposal easier to access. The Lost Witch did a great summary which I plan to link to the OP as well.

We need to build a better way of referencing summaries, proposals and major discussion points in the CDI for sure. But that is a topic for the next CDI Process Evolution thread.

Chris

Thanks Chris! Much appreciated.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Personally following the last proposal I put forward I am still listening and thinking to the CDI groups discussion and considerations. I am sorry if this isn’t moving fast enough for you but this thread isn’t closing anytime soon and I am a patient man.

Chris

Chris,

My apologies if I am just missing something, but I cannot find this proposal you are referencing. Searching through the Dev Tracker and this thread, I see the following:

11:55 – a post stating that you are building a proposal.
17:11 – a comment about several points that will impact the in-process proposal.
19:22 – the above quote where you refer to the previously presented proposal.

Unfortunately, I do not have much time to post back-and-forth during the week, nor time to sift through 29 (and counting) pages, but I would really like to see the resultant direction of this discussion and have a chance to comment further before the Vertical segment is closed and Horizontal is opened.

Would it be possible to post a summary proposal for the direction of vertical progression with a very easily identifiable and bolded title for those of us that are time-impaired during the week?

Posted the following in another thread earlier today. Fits pretty well here:

Necro was my main from head-start until the Queen’s Jubilee patch, and comprised probably 90%+ of my play time over that period. Though I was aware of the Necro’s flaws in PvE previously, Liadri turned out to be my breaking point.

After spending too darn many attempts on Liadri on my Necro, I switched over to my Mesmer, created a new build on the fly, equipped a GS (which I hadn’t used since level 10ish), and one-shot the encounter. It wasn’t that I was better on my Mes; in fact I had power-leveled the Mes through AC farm and crafting, and barely used her since. Instead the key difference was two additional invulns, constant vigor, and blink.

Unfortunately, the core Necro design of low mobility, low evasion, no invulnerability, and support / control via conditions is directly contrary to the core of the combat system in GW2. I’ve found my Mesmer is far better for anything PvE (except tagging mobs in massive zergs), and generally more entertaining as well.

Now, my Necro is relegated for my WvW zerg character. He’s still not attrition based though; he’s a squishy backline AoE nuker, just as intended.

Necro was my main from head-start until the Queen’s Jubilee patch, and comprised probably 90%+ of my play time over that period. Though I was aware of the Necro’s flaws in PvE previously, Liadri turned out to be my breaking point.

After spending too darn many attempts on Liadri on my Necro, I switched over to my Mesmer, created a new build on the fly, equipped a GS (which I hadn’t used since level 10ish), and one-shot the encounter. It wasn’t that I was better on my Mes; in fact I had power-leveled the Mes through AC farm and crafting, and barely used her since. Instead the key difference was two additional invulns, constant vigor, and blink.

Unfortunately, the core Necro design of low mobility, low evasion, no invulnerability, and support / control via conditions is directly contrary to the core of the combat system in GW2. I’ve found my Mesmer is far better for anything PvE (except tagging mobs in massive zergs), and generally more entertaining as well.

Now, my Necro is relegated for my WvW zerg character. He’s still not attrition based though; he’s a squishy backline AoE nuker, just as intended.

3. Vertical progression does not need to take forever to achieve.

When GW2 first launched, I thought the time investment to get a full set of exotic gear was just about right (my first set consisted of a mixture of crafted, dungeon purchased, karma purchased and TP purchased gear). Needless-to-say, I think the time and cost requirements needed for a full set of ascended gear is wildly over-the-top.

However, since then, I have happily spent far more time and gold farming up different dungeon sets and crafting named exotics in the mystic forge. Not for increased power, mind you, but for specific skins (prestige-based rewards). And it all goes back to vertical power-based rewards versus horizontal prestige-based rewards. While legendaries are also significantly costly to acquire, they do not give a competitive advantage over other players, and as such, are justified in the very high prestige investment. I know we all recall the pre-release quote from Mike O’Brien (?) about items that take 1000 hours to acquire and their relative power to other items.

Many other MMOs have linked their power-based rewards and prestige-based rewards via raids or what-not, but it does not need to be this way. Imagine the following scenario:

What if each release of the living story had included the ability to upgrade one piece of your gear to ascended via an ever evolving quest line that took about 1 hour per release. Over 16 releases or so, each player would have upgraded their entire kit to an ascended status. At the end of the LS season, the LS would be remembered for an evolving quest line where you character progressed throughout to become ever more powerful. This type of vertical progression would create a bonding experience with your characters, fond memories of the events involved, and not require hours upon hours of tedious farming or crafting for power-based rewards.

Lastly, this rule applies to alt-friendliness as well. To date, ascended has not been very alt-friendly, due to time gating and high costs. Vertical power-based rewards should be developed in a fashion that allows players who want to maintain multiple characters the ability to keep all of their characters up to par. Prior to ascended gear, character bound fractal levels, and character bound WvW levels, GW2 was the most alt friendly game I had ever played. You are already correcting 2 of the 3 above. Moving forward, vertical progression should be alt friendly as well.

As a little background, I pre-purchased GW2 primarily based on the manifesto and pre-release discussion regarding focusing on prestige-based rewards instead of power-based rewards. At this point in my life, I have neither the time nor inclination to play a game that is heavily focused on vertical progression, and I was hoping that ANet could deliver a mostly horizontal progression focused MMO based on their track record with GW1’s low power curve. To say that I think GW2 needs more horizontal progression and less vertical progression would be an understatement at best.

That said, I truly believe that vertical progression can coexist peacefully (and possibly even improve upon) the goals established by the manifesto and other pre-release media. In order to do so, you need to start following these three rules:

1. Vertical progression should not interfere with horizontal progression.

Right now, this is one of the biggest issues with ascended gear IMO. If I spend 100 hours farming a full set of ascended berserker gear, I am essentially locked into berserker gear indefinitely. Even if you buff alternate playstyles, such as condition damage or support, I am strongly disincentivized from trying the new builds because I would have to downgrade my gear. This does not promote horizontal progression.

Instead, vertical progression and horizontal progression need to play nice together. For example, a title that gives +5% damage against dredge would provide vertical progression without locking the player into any one specific build. Regardless if I equip rabid, berserker or soldier’s gear, I still get the same benefit from my vertical progression.

Lastly on this point, the legendary gear stat switching is another tool that allows vertical and horizontal progression to interact cleanly. If you allowed ascended to switch stats, I would be farming my behind off to acquire a full set, simply because it provides both forms of progression in one swoop.

2. Vertical progression should be available via all game modes to which it applies.

One of the most common complaints of last-gen MMOs was that if you wanted vertical progression, you had to participate in one specific game mode to acquire better gear. You want better PvE gear? You must collect X number of people and raid. You want better PvP gear? You must participate in PvP mode X, but not modes Y or Z. Unfortunately, GW2 has also fallen into this pattern with most of the ascended releases.

Instead, why can’t players progress vertically while playing the specific game modes that they enjoy most? This would fit directly in line with the “play the way you want to play” design intent for GW2.

IMO ascended amulets and laurels was the best ascended roll-out we have seen to date. Regardless of your preferred game mode (PvE, WvW, or sPvP), you will collect laurels and steadily progress towards your next ascended piece. On the other hand, you have ascended acquisition methods such as fractals, guild missions, and crafting, which force players into specific game modes for power-based rewards.

Power-based rewards tend to compel people to acquire them, especially when they affect competitive gameplay such as WvW. When someone is compelled to engage in an activity for an extrinsic reward (i.e. loot), instead of the intrinsic reward (i.e. fun), it becomes a grind. However, if the power-based reward is gained through the game mode the provides the highest intrinsic reward (fun), the progression does not feel grindy.

Note that if vertical progression only applies to one specific game mode, it is generally acceptable that it can only be acquired within that game mode. For example, Agony only affects fractals, so Agony resist only being acquired in fractals is OK. Stats that affect all game modes only being available in fractals would not be OK.

On the other hand, I feel that horizontal prestige-based rewards (such as skins, titles, etc) are perfectly reasonable to limit to specific game modes. If I want a specific dungeon-themed armor, it makes sense to play that dungeon to acquire it. Likewise, awesome WvW finishers should come from playing WvW. In short, vertical progression should be available via all game modes to which it applies; horizontal progression may be limited to specific tasks or game modes.

Shouldn’t it be impossible to link the two calendars though? Ok, so both have 365 days, but the duration of a day is not the same in-game versus out of game. In-game, a full day / night cycle does not take 24 out-of-game hours.

How many Tyrian days occur within the time of one real-time day?

Let’s assume that the Tyrian day / night cycle completes 4 times within one Earthen day (24 real time hours). If so, Tyria’s 365 day year should elapse in only one quarter of an Earthen year. We should celebrate Wintersday four times per calendar year!

Am I missing something obvious?

IMO, the poorest part of the story development is that the heroes and/or orders never proactively searched out additional info about Scarlet.

Do the writers really want me to believe that the heroes couldn’t find one Molten Alliance defect that was willing to talk about what happened there?

Do you really believe that the Order of Secrets was not able to infiltrate the massive organization of the Aetherblade pirates to learn more about their secrets?

Did no one ever engage the Pale Tree regarding Scarlet’s past? Did no one ever attempt to interrogate the Inquest about her plans or motivations?

It is these types of plot elements that could have been used to flesh out Scarlet’s character, but were completely lacking over the course of Living Story Season 1, to date.

OP – I guess it depends on what you consider “expansion content.” If you expect to see traditional MMO expansion content and new features devs have never talked about, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

I expect the large “feature only” release to include most of the features they wanted to roll out in 2013 but missed, such as precursor crafting, maybe additional legendaries, and some new skills / traits, along with the additional sPvP features they are working on (see recent blog post). Are they working on any features for WvW? Maybe the new WvW map will land in this release also. I would hope account bound WXP launches before March.

But “expansion content” like new zones, races, weapons, levels, etc? Nah, I don’t expect that in a “feature only” release. If they want to open new zones and races, and do it correctly, they would put a story behind it. Why are we gaining access to the zone now? Why are we meeting a new playable race? That needs to be story driven.

W.r.t. weapons, I personally think that’s just too far down the road at the moment. So far they have given us two new healing skills only. I would expect to see several utilities, and maybe even a few elites before new weapons.

Of course I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised…

I just spent a lot of time typing, so I am going to make my response fairly short.

I greatly prefer option 1, gradually lowering the requirements for the old gear when new progression mechanics are introduced.

While option 2 (full gear reset) works in other gear-focused MMOs, I feel it would be bad for GW2. Much of the GW2 player base came to this game to avoid never ending gear treadmills, and I feel this approach would disillusion many of the players currently chasing ascended gear, especially considering the time and gold costs to create this gear.

Lastly, and you can probably tell this from my OP, I think leaving the current situation as-is for the long-term will disillusion new players, as they will feel as if they can never catch-up with the players that started before ascended gear rolled out.

While responding to another thread, I was reminded of a long-term issue that ascended gear may create within GW2. This response is a bit long-winded and off-topic for that thread, but merits discussion from the player base. Please try to keep this thread about the long-term future state of ascended gear (instead of the short-term discussion about the Dec. 10th patch):

One interesting thought on ascended gear. Anet has stated that they have no plans for a tier beyond ascended gear. This means that eventually, GW2 will reach a state where a large percentage of the current player base has full ascended gear.

However, this may cause an issue with new players joining GW2. For players just buying GW in late 2014 or beyond, they will be woefully behind the ascended power curve. Additionally, it will be very difficult for them to catch-up to the current player base due to the expensive and heavily time-gated nature of ascended gear.

Ultimately, this gear wall will likely discourage new players from joining the GW universe.

As GW2 moves forward and ascended gear becomes increasingly prevalent among the population (i.e. 2015 and beyond), I see two actions Anet can take to ease the burden for new players to catch-up with the old player base.

1. Make ascended gear easier / faster to acquire.
2. Obsolete ascended gear, likely by raising the level cap.

Option 1: As seen in other MMOs, when a new tier is released, the developer often raises the restrictions on previous tiers to allow more casual and/or newer players the ability to stay close to the power curve. In theory, this strategy would allow newcomers to GW2 to more quickly catch up to the base ascended level, where they could then engage in additional progression alongside the older player base.

For example, let’s assume that ascended gear is common among the long-term player base in mid 2014. Anet then decides to add higher rarity infusions to allow continued low-power curve vertical progression. A new player joining GW2 in late 2014 would still be a good 6 months away from acquiring the base set of ascended gear, making higher rarity infusions pointless, and placing them behind the long-term player base on the power curve indefinitely.

Conversely, if the cost of the base ascended gear were also lowered when the next segment of progression was released, it would allow new players to catch-up and join in the latest wave of progression (something that is good for the longevity of MMOs).

Option 2: The other common method to level the playing field in MMOs is to obsolete all of the current gear. This is usually accomplished via an expansion that raises the level cap. Once the level cap is raised, higher level gear of any rarity obsoletes the best gear from the old level cap. Hence, every player, old and new, is reset to an even playing field.

In my experience, this is even one of the bigger selling points of expansions in MMOs. I have seen several friends quit MMOs because they cannot keep up with the gear curve, only to rejoin when an expansion is released because they are on par with the rest of the population. Again, this option can be good for the longevity of MMOs as a gear reset may rejuvenate the MMO community.

TL;DR from here down:

As an MMO player and GW2 customer, which of the methods do you prefer?

Do you think Anet should consider lowering the cost of ascended gear as additional progression mechanics are introduced?

Do you think Anet should consider resetting the playing field (via a level cap raise or other means) once the old player base gets too far ahead of the newcomers?

Do you think Anet should leave everything as-is long-term (2015 & beyond), even if new players have a difficult time catching-up to the current player-base on the power curve?

Fear not! You will surely enjoy completing the crafting requirement as you progress your character via Ascended armor (and level 500 crafting)
/sarcasm

If the requirements are anything like weapons (I assume they will be roughly equivalent), then zero. I can always be surprised though.

Wolfheart.1938:

I made an oath not to buy a single gem untill at least 1 of my characters is wearing BiS.

I’m in the same boat. I bought this game for the lack of gear treadmill. I bought gems while my chars had BiS gear. Maybe I’ll buy gems again in the future, but ANet sure isn’t making it easy, and I’m not going to spend all of my limited gaming time farming …

Considering that the December monthly includes a category for crafting (never before seen in a monthly IIRC), I fully expect crafted Ascended armor to be released within the month of December.

For instance, November’s monthly included an achievement for Fractal runs, and they released the Fractal update patch in the same month.

I have a similar issue. When I attempt to enter fractals, I only get the Story Mode option. However, if I am in a party that starts Exp Mode, I still only get the Story Mode option!

This seems to be account wide, affecting characters that have previously completed fractals and others that have never done fractals. I have not completed Story Mode on any character.

Would really like to do regular fractals …

I have a similar issue. When I attempt to enter fractals, I only get the Story Mode option. However, if I am in a party that starts Exp Mode, I still only get the Story Mode option!

This seems to be account wide, affecting characters that have previously completed fractals and others that have never done fractals. I have not completed Story Mode on any character.

Would really like to do regular fractals …

Haven’t read the whole thread, but I agree with a large majority of the OP. The two biggest issues IMO:

1. Number of achievements needed for meta should be around 11 or 12 instead of 15. Reward the roamers and reward the zergers, but don’t force everyone to do everything that is available within W3.

2. Daily system should have been tied in to the meta.

1. Future of vertical progression versus horizontal progression

2. Effort versus reward ratio; e.g. do you feel the cost / effort for current Halloween skins is appropriately balanced? How much effort or gold do you expect players to expend on temporary and cosmetic items?

3. PvE/WvW skin locker

Eroiqua.5891:

BondageBill.4021:

I agree with OP; last year’s implementation had a better atmosphere IMO.

Better atmosphere? Last year I ran the puzzle as a skinny Sylvari and even I was getting hate. I felt so bad for the norn and charr. This year I haven’t seen one instance of hate. Much better atmosphere this year.

The new atmosphere is sterile. Nobody talks (at least in the games I’ve been in), and you can’t tell which one of your cohorts fell first versus which one made it half way up with you. The new atmosphere might as well be a single player instance; it would have the same level of player interaction anyway.

I agree with OP; last year’s implementation had a better atmosphere IMO.

I liked running it with friends. I liked being able to show off PvE gear (not personally, because I was not even 80, but I saw some good gear). And lastly, I liked seeing other players running alongside myself.

Regarding the visual obstruction aspect, I think this was actually a good thing for the puzzle. It forced you to occasionally change your route on the fly, based on the routes of other characters. Now that it is removed, you can just put one path on farm and there is little challenge in replayability.