Guild Wars 2

A ‘save/load’ build option (in the style of Gw1) would be more comprehensive. But since Anet seems to be stalling us on that front, your suggestion is a great place to start.

We already have a ‘favorite’ dyes feature for each individual character, so this ‘favorite’ sigils/runes feature seems within reason for developer wizardry.

Hello, a few thoughts:

Glyph of Elemental Power: Actually does have a “per target” cooldown. You are right though, it does function somewhat awkwardly in that you are torn between saving it to stunbreak, and pre-buffing with it to modify your attacks. And yes, the 25% chance activation is annoying with slower weapons…maybe it could be adjusted to 33%. With the current effect though, I would be hesitant to buff it much more as the ease of perma-weakness or cripple application might be too strong.

Glyph of Storms: I wish it were different, as it stands now I much prefer to take Conjure Frost Bow.

Glyph of Renewal: It is extremely strong already. Every revive utility is difficult to use/or long cooldown.

As for the Glyph of Elementals and Lesser Elementals: I think it is a great idea to let us control their active ability (as most utility-summoned pets in this game seem to allow). Perhaps put stunbreaker on the air or earth active too. And balance accordingly. People should be receptive to less “AI” and more player control though.

Hoping this is more than just pageantry.

Great job on your website, and nice transfer to wiki. A build resource like this has been missing from Gw2 all along. I think it would do well if exposed to the PvE/WvW communities too.

I understand your frustration with it, but I think it’s fine the way it is. Nice to have some variety in this game with skill functions. Just practice either flicking your camera or using about-face/look behind.

It is a joke.

The top spots are often camped by players who only play a couple games a month (or even less), obviously exploiting the system. Then you have players coming back to the game after 1-7 months (not even big name players, mind you), losing their matches, and being rewarded with top leaderboard positions. And then every single week, we see these players with about 11 games played total (with any combination of wins/losses) being rewarded with top leaderboard spots.

My only advice is to not pay much attention to the leaderboard for SoloQ, because it is too frustrating when you realize how many problems it has.

<-Achieved R1 soloq on 3 separate occasions/hundreds of games played in top 25 soloq.

Hi Blackjack, I’ve had a problem with these skills too for a long time. Despite the many adjustments to Gust (I think they’ve added piercing, improved cone, etc), it is still one of the most difficult skills in the game to actually land on a target. Unless the target is: stationary, moving toward you, or right next to you…there is a good chance the skill will miss. Despite having used this skill so much, I still amaze myself with some of the misses I get (missing on someone ~300 range from me).

As for Lightning Surge, I am not sure what can be done. But notice this:

Slot 2 skills for staff

-Lava Font: 6 second cooldown
-Ice Spike: 4 second cooldown
-Lightning Surge: 10 second cooldown
-Eruption: 6 second cooldown

I am not necessarily suggesting that Lightning Surge be given a 4 or 6 second cooldown to match. But I am suggesting that the long cooldown of Lightning Surge + unreliability of Gust is why Air Attunement is so unsatisfying for staff.

It is hard to argue for buffs right now because, as you point out, elementalists are in a strong spot. But in the future (if not now), I think these two skills should be considered for redesign.

For now, I’d say use Lightning Surge when you can for a pre-emptive 1200-range blind with decent damage, and try to mitigate the error risk with Gust.

Well done on the spellbook Zoose, I hope it encourages players to pvp with scepter.

Blu is missing out on some great advertising opportunities during those big team fights.

Seems too good to be true, but I really hope you’re right OP.

I was wrecked by a venom share thief/scepter ele in a match yesterday too. I think most people are unprepared for it (only used to fighting the same builds over and over). Plus the way you guys opened was great and put the enemy team off balance for the whole game. (I’m sure you would have won either way, but nice to see some different stuff)

Despite the attempt to rebalance all of the runes, there have definitely been a few (strength and pirate come to mind) that have felt too strong in comparison with the rest. I’m surprised Pirate runes weren’t nerfed at the same time as Strength runes.

Dagins.5163:

I would watch some sPvP videos if there were 2vs2 or 3vs3 arenas with interesting strategies and synergies between team members, but I have no reason to watch 5vs5 conquest mess on a 3 node map, with sumo wrestlers pushing people off rings.

I think even duels are more enjoyable to watch.

Yeah I enjoy watching 2v2 or 1v1 more than conquest.

As said above, should just have helmet count for stats and make the waterbreather into an optional appearance item. Same with back items in my opinion, although people have already invested in those, it just feels like an afterthought in design.

You want to know how the leaderboards work? Today on NA SoloQ someone came back from 6+ months of inactivity, played 1 game and lost, and was given Rank 1. Later on the same day, someone else lost their way up to R1. I will not give the names of any of these players as I respect their privacy, and the issue is not with them, but with the faulty system.

If you really want to know how people are doing, check the leaderboards on one of the 3rd party websites.

White mantle confirmed.

Finally a trailer without Scarlet, I’m hyped. Happy to see new areas finally, just really hoping it will be better than Southsun (by that I mean, not a mini-zone with only a few events and enemy types).

A fresh noob isn’t really any worse than someone who got to rank 20 (or any rank) in hotjoin. Further, what will happen when the hotjoin population declines? That will severely limit the growth of the tournament playerbase.

If anything, implement a mandatory PvP/Conquest tutorial that each account must complete before entering ranked tournaments.

Yes, it is a bug. But it is not tool-tip related, so it is probably a very low priority to be fixed.

There are people in Gw2 who still think glory rank is worth something?

Maybe they are just doing their pvp daily achievement?

I used to enjoy hotjoins before spectator mode was added. It used to be a fun brawling area. Now you need to join numerous servers, mostly finding that teams are full, or that the majority of the people in the room are in spectator mode trolling/afking/stealing builds. I’m tempted to buy a custom arena just to set the rules like oldschool hotjoin, but I’m sure it would disappear into obscurity like most custom arenas.

And yeah, the Gw1 observe mode was so much better than this trash. It was unbiased and always showed top games. Gw2 spectator mode shows you uncompetitive pvp 24/7 and occasionally you can watch a competitive tournament (on a third party site…twitch)—completely dictated by one of ArenaNet’s “Authorized Shoutcasters”. Or through a limited POV of one player streaming as they play.

Fastest and easiest thing they can do is make 2v2/3v3 arena an official format with some queue attached to it. It has been very popular with the community for quite a while already, and there are semi-official tournaments hosted weekly for it.

It is a problem on every map.

Also annoying:
-Your blink skill not teleporting you anywhere, but just going on cooldown (if you click certain surfaces).
-Perma-“immobilize” bug: Being stuck after a teleport skill (launches too? haven’t tested enough) so that you cannot move unless you type /dance, or use a skill that moves you (some).

This game has been live for almost 2 years, and yet these embarassing problems (and many, many others) have not been addressed in the slightest. ArenaNet, do you even care?

Also noticed people have grey names now when they are dead.

Looks very celebratory and certainly linked to the current festival event/dragon bash. I’m glad it has a different style compared to the r80 pvp finisher.

Gw1 had arenas before WoW did (Not including WoW’s Gurubashi arena).

#AnnoyingGw1References

More game modes please!

Thank you all for the comments.

@ConRae: Thank you, but there is no need to defend me. I think I know who daltondeguzman.9182 is, and if so, he has certainly earned the right to talk here. Regardless, people are entitled to their opinions, and there is certainly some truth to what he says.

On topic: I tend to play staff elementalist, usually with hybrid/support builds in a 0/0/2/6/6 trait setup (pre-April 15th patch, I mostly used 0/0/4/4/6 with rock solid for stability support, but now the cleansing of 6 water is quite useful). I often change my gear/amulet/utilities and traits (mostly within 00266) to mix it up.

I have been fortunate to have a good amount of success in SoloQ (having been top25 for the better part of 2+ months now and played some 200-300 matches within that time). But I am certainly not one of the best pvpers in the tournament scene (especially while I almost exclusively play staff ele!). Furthermore, to the OP, I think any profession has at least a couple builds each that are capable of reaching the highest ‘levels’ of SoloQ success.

I would like to offer a few general SoloQ tips though:
+Have a decent build and know its strengths and weaknesses.
+Know the maps. (Objectives and terrain advantages)
+Learn to watch your minimap during the match and make informed decisions based on that information (also pay attention to your allies healthbars).
+Know how to play a couple different professions so that you can swap characters accordingly (I hardly ever do this, but it is helpful for those who do).
+Do not give up. Even though the match may seem unwinnable—remember: the opposing team is just as disorganized as yours! Impossible plays in SoloQ happen all the time.
+Do not rage at your fellow SoloQ players. You will probably be playing with/against them again. And raging at your group during the match tends not to motivate them to play better. (I am guilty of plenty of ragefits, I apologize for and regret all of them).

Sorry for typing so much, I hope this information may help someone!

Might make the game more fun, but yes it would require rebalancing of pretty much everything.

On the contrary, Gw1 was much more of a team game. But, as your example suggests, there were game modes in Gw1 that required less teamwork (or dependence/cooperation) than others. Bringing more game modes to Gw2 might help address this, but I think Gw2 is really crippled by fundamental problems with the game mechanics and design in PvP and general combat.

I think they plan to address this with ladders/seasons eventually. But nobody knows when that will actually happen.

Just a warning, you’ll probably want to get windows for your iMac. It will run Gw2 better than the mac beta version, in my experience anyway.

I’ve gotten 2 ascended items from pvp reward tracks (a piece of jewelry and an armor box). So, more options are gradually opening up. Indeed though, the initial implementation was terribly limited (and there is still much work to do…).

Congrats on the win and the loot!

Bodyblocking was one of the (many) reasons that Gw1 was so good. I don’t see it coming to Gw2 though because of the technical limitations Anet keeps telling us about.

Highlights of ToL day 2:

-KPz pregame formation and Reevz emoting (+1 for Reevz not being an asura)
-Supcutie being stuck in the terrain (GG anet thanks for caring!)
-Being kicked out of the custom arena multiple times (again GG anet!)

Frost bow is a great compliment to any build! Play around, and once you feel you have enough survivability on your build, see if you can fit the bow in.

Yes, I’ve gotten 64 tomes of knowledge in PvP since the April 15th update (16 of them from ranking up from 64 to 80).

Plus, I think you can earn experience by completing daily achievements in PvP now? I’m not sure as all of my characters are 80 and I don’t look at their xp bar much.

That being said, I would recommend playing pve/wvw/pvp to level up (if you enjoy all 3).

KarlaGrey has been trolling Gw1/Gw2 forums longer than anyone, be nice to her.

Shameless plug for adding districts/channels (so that people can choose the ‘overflow’ they are in).

Haven’t noticed it yet, maybe I’m oblivious to it?

No. Megaservers will save the game, and secure its longevity. But ArenaNet needs to do a lot of work on them, as the current implementation is flawed in many ways.

They need to consider: world boss problems, guilds having trouble playing together, maps feeling ‘too full’, adjusting difficulty, the problem of zergs, etc.

I would also like to see districts/channels implemented in some form, so that players can perhaps more easily meet up with their friends/guildies (as it was in Gw1). Example: You would have Gendarran Fields 1, Gendarran Fields 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc…With copies of the map expanding or contracting depending on its population…again just how Gw1 districts worked.

Have patience, I think ArenaNet will find a solution for most of the common complaints about megaservers.

Damage is higher due to the rune and sigil changes. The sigil changes especially, as all 2h weapons now have an extra sigil -and- sigil interactions have changed so that people can use very powerful sigils together (for all weapons).

Great build Ken. I have been trying to do something like this for a long time, and now with the changes to celestial (and to sigils), I think this sort of build is viable and a lot of fun to play!

Congratulations on your “achievement”.

Happened after I went to The Grove (megaserver enabled). Have changed characters, zones, restarted gw2, etc. Can’t find a way around this problem.

This needs to be your top priority now Anet.

Confirmed. Restarted GW2 several times, changed characters, zones, etc. Cannot chat at all. Happened after I went to the grove, though I suspect it may be related to megaserver in general.

This needs to be priority #1.

Hello. Yes we had a great time playing our eles, and let me point out that this was a pretty casual venture. No voice chat used, no real build coordination (with the exception of: “hmm we need more of ‘x’, I’ll modify ‘y’ in my build”). I hope these videos can inspire some people not to give up on their elementalists, as we have all had some degree of success with ours.

Regarding the one match against “most of good fights”: Though we had no realistic hope of beating them, this was by far our most disorganized match. Some of our team wanted to load into the map as late as possible, partly for the surprise factor, and mostly for “luls”. So most of us joined that match a bit too late. We missed our pre-game buffing, I had my staff equipped with my dagger traits, and etc. It was a big mess from the start. We would have lost anyway I’m sure, but we could have given a better showing.

Anyway, I encourage any elementalists to check out Morderger’s stuff on Youtube or Twitch, as I think he has probably created more elementalist pvp videos than anyone else (apologies if I am wrong).

I like it and I’m considering buying it (and I rarely buy gem store items). Given the complexity of the instruments, I think it is fair for Anet to be selling them for gems/real money. This game would benefit though from having more standard emotes accessible to all.

Watch the map, adapt, and try to make the most beneficial decisions in every situation. Think about what you can do better.

I would not count on random players to accept your authority before a match.

“…the level of identity and competition in WvW that we’ve established since the release of Guild Wars 2.”

Read as: the level of zerg anonymity and importance of coverage in WvW that we’ve established since the release of Guild Wars 2. We still want you to spend $$$ for world transfers, so WvW will not be changed.

Well, at least you’re trying to fix the rest of the game.