Guild Wars 2

Besides having the best mobility of any class, as well as the best single-target DPS, there’s no point.

MrForz.1953:

What would you make of a (probably) ~1200 range rifle when everything about you is about getting in the thick of things and out of it?

You’d make a sniper, and it’s important to remember that these Specializations aren’t just adding a new weapon your class can use. They’re adding Traits, skills, and mechanics, which means they could be anything from “Hmm, feels kind of different; that’s cool” to “Wow, this is just short of an entire new class!” I doubt Thief will give up its signature mechanics, like stealth, but that’ll be ANet’s design challenge: how to make it relatable to Thief while still making it feel different. Fortunately, we have (real world) precedence for a stealthy fighter that uses a long range rifle, so it’s a bit easier than trying to do something totally weird (like giving Thieves a Scepter or something).

Ynna.8769:

Hunter.4783:

Rifle: Another likely addition; only problem is that it just don’t fit with the class

I know I’m hella biased here, but I really don’t think the Rifle wouldn’t fit with the Guardian. I think it would look awesome to see blue flames spitting out of a blunderbuss.

Yeah, and in exchange for giving you their “flames coming out of a rifle and/or a rifle-like weapon” motif, Engineers can use your fiery hammers and kitten kitten up on the front… well, maybe not the frontline, but the behind-the-frontline-but-not-exactly-backline area! Since they wear medium armor and all. But I think it’d be a nice trade.

Longbow seems the most likely to me, but we’ll see! If ANet doesn’t want Guardian to be strong(er) at ranged combat, then Axe.

Would be nice if they were more like Wardens from LotRO. One of the actual keyboard warrior classes in MMOs, and they used SPEARS! On LAND! Egad.

But GW’s version would be cool, too. I just don’t know how I’d obtain Exotic/Ascended/Legendary Bare Fists, nor what they’d look like.

MrForz.1953:

I’d also like to add something along with my previous post. While I despise scrubs everywhere, it would be unwise to grow hateful toward those and go down to their level.

The OP felt is was necessary to give as many details as possible so the said scrub doesn’t have ANY sort of excuse should he engage in an argument. It’s all fine, however you don’t want to become a kitten yourself when retaliating to another kitten and you certainly don’t want to beat, stab, cut, slice and shoot the horse the OP just killed in here. Such a phenomenon has tainted the behavior of many people, and you lot are far better than that, beyond that, even.

Yeah, but assuming an intellectual, unopinionated tone – simply “laying out the facts”, as it were – can still be seen as being arrogant, condescending, etc. The spectrum ranges from “tantrum child” to “smug kitten”, so the best tone is probably somewhere in the middle.

Draehl.2681:

I like Occultist or Ritualist- the class could move beyond animating the dead to working with pure spirit energy. (Yes, some of the skill from gw1 rit could be incorporated)

Thank you for not just focusing on the Spec’s weapon and considering what skills/Traits/mechanics the Spec will bring!

Knighthonor.4061:

Sagat.3285:

BlackTruth.6813:

Why doesn’t anyone favor Dagger main-hand as a possibility? :x

Also, correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t there a Warrior looking class wielding a 2h spear on the HoT trailer?

Dagger MH and sword OH is bad look,no new weapons just a staff with polearm skin. Spears are UW weapons don’t forget about skins people.

In the pre Pax trailer clearly they fighting with land spears, and why would Anet use a single Spear like skin on a staff for the Revenant reveal?

Technically the Spear on land isn’t a new weapon just a water weapon used differently..

Like GreatSwords are magic ranged weapons for Mesmer, but is a Melee weapon for Guardians and Warriors.

So Spears could be a water weapon for some classes and a land weapon for Warriors.

If you’re talking about Rytlock, that wasn’t a spear or polearm of any kind. It was a (two-handed) mace or a staff.

Since we know they aren’t adding any new weapons, or converting existing water weapons to land, the Warrior Spec might use a Dagger. Not only would I love to be able to use the Incinerator, I like alamore’s suggestion about a (slightly) more agile, close-range fighter that uses his free hand in some sick combo attacks.

Blazinflames.8415:

I bet if it were a Warrior skill of any kind, things would’ve been fixed even before they were broken.

-rofls off a cliff-

Maybe the Revenant’s Jalis Ironhammer… “mode” will be like Warrior’s Greatsword + Hammer in one.

All the Warriors reroll!

Doon.2364:

I think shield mastery and missile deflection traits should be merge as one. That’s all that is needed to improve shield.

Support!

Polearm?

From some guy at PAX on Reddit:

“We talked polearms. No polearms in this expansion. Colin said ‘We warned the art team what the community would think when they saw the trailer, but they chose to make things the way they did.’ It looks like a polearm but it is not. No word if they ever will be.”

Dreams = ded.

Purple Miku.7032:

I could list off the damage nerfs for you if you’d like proof of it or something.

I’d actually really appreciate this, having come back from a break.

New weapon, Traits, skills, and mechanics.

The downside is you’re learning a new class.

As far as we know, each Prof will get 1 Spec in HoT. More Specs can always be added later on (and not necessarily in expansion packs or other paid content; in LS, or some other free content).

Keysha.2815:

Thank you, Colin. BUT… IMO, you basically just came in and said ‘thanks for 78 pages of ideas and complaints, we won’t be doing anything you have suggested, but we will do something else. Oh, and it won’t be coming out for 4-6 months or so. Deal with it until then. KTHXBYE.

Not impressed.

First off, you don’t know if they’ll incorporate any ideas from 78 pages. If you’d like to help, you should read all 78 pages and pick your favorite suggestions.

Second – and this is to people in general – one of the tones from the PAX event and the rhetoric about HoT is that it’s “going back to GW2’s roots” and “redefining the future direction of the game”. That’s why Colin mentioned Masteries/Specs in the same breath as Traits, and it’s why they need to be changed AT THE SAME TIME as Masteries/Specs are added.

Make sense?

One of the things mentioned as part of HoT is “challenging group content”. I don’t know how many people thought “raids!”, as in 10-25 man structured, instanced group content, but I don’t think that could work as we’d hope with GW2’s combat system.

Because we have no Trinity, fights are a simple matter of killing the boss before it kills you. The only place ArenaNet can add challenge and – well, some would view it as “unnecessary mechanics/minigames”; let’s call it “variety” – is Tequatl-like fights, where aspects other than DPS are required for successful completion. I’ll be honest, I enjoy Tequatl, Evolved Jungle Wurm, and Vinewrath (when they work), and it’s much more satisfying to me than clearing a dungeon or killing a less-involved world boss. If ANet can translate that to defined group content (so that the boss scaling and such can be more precisely tuned), it might actually offer that challenge.

That doesn’t really add much role for support, but of course, ANet should also continue to try to invent new things that bosses can do to, above all else, either stop or reduce the damage you deal (which makes support more important because you need to survive to deal damage longer). Whether that’s splitting your group up, trying to negate well-known tactics like stacking, healing, calling allies, whatever… ANet can still do some interesting things, but I have the (perhaps jaded) feeling that no matter what the boss does, once people figure it out, they’ll just claim it’s another DPSfest ezmode fight.

So this thread is suggesting that Necros, instead of being able to summon grotesque and, quite frankly, pretty deadly-looking creatures made of flesh, bone, and shadow, should be able to conjure armored skeletons and rag-wearing zombies seen in 5102894291 other games?

Yeah, no.

I don’t want to go back to 1325 AE. Let’s keep moving forward with 1327 and beyond, thanks.

Sounds dirty.

/15

Palador.2170:

You know, Rytlock isn’t exactly a level 1 character when he enters the mists. Maybe you have to take a level 80 and turn it into a level 1 Revenant?

I believe Rytlock is Champion level when he enters the Mists. Maybe Legendary…

Arewn.2368:

First and foremost, I have to get this off my chest: no new race is really not a big deal. It’s one of the most hallow things they can possible add. Counting a skin, because that’s essentially what it is, as a major feature is ludicrous. I can understand the desire for it, but don’t misrepresent how big it is.

People want Tengu so they can then come to the forums and whine how armor doesn’t “look right” and how it was all modeled only for Humans (and maybe Sylvari).

But you’re right.

Frostflame.5314:

I would not expect it to be anything more dramatic than using a different weapon to get a different set of skills

“Specializations
Evolve your gameplay. With profession specializations, you’ll unlock access to a weapon previously unavailable to your profession as well as new traits, skills, and unique mechanics – all of which will transform your profession into something new.”

Sure, marketing is marketing, but it suggests more than “5 new weapon skills”.

I thought Mursaat were stronger than gods. Couldn’t they just 1-shot the EDs? I mean, Destiny’s Edge nearly 5-manned Kralkatorrik…

I’m sure most of my questions related to expansion content will be answered in the deep dives. I was wondering, though…

An expac might be a good chance to also bundle in some QoL improvements, or even some major (but incredibly desired) features like gear & Trait presets. Would these things possibly be added in an expansion, since you ARE looking at improving existing content as evidenced by WvW, or would it come in something like a Feature Pack?

Will Lucky.8703:

I remember in Guild Wars 1 going to another campaign as a new profession caused the character to be allowed to experience a flashback of what occurred. Maybe something similar?

If the whole “Mists’ time is asynchronous” thing comes into play, yeah.

What’s strange about Revs is no other Profession is given any detail or backstory when it comes to your character. Much more focus is placed on your backstory and personality. You can be a noble Human Warrior who never searched for his true parents, or a noble Human Ranger who never searched for his true parents; nothing will be different story-wise. But if Revenants are being created by a specific lore event, that makes Revenants more important lore-wise, and they might need some explanation.

The real question is…

How many Demolishers? Y’know, the Engineers wielding explosion-hammers. Well, Specs might take a while… ;_;

Gibson.4036:

Well, since the mists are dislocated from time, the revenant could be immune to paradox. Perhaps Rytlock’s unlocking of Revenant powers causes other Revenants to emerge from the mists throughout the time stream.

In other words, wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.

Oh, right… Fractals…

Even better.

What if Rytlock was trained by someone (either one person, or an organization) in the Mists, who is added or mentioned earlier in the game (1325 AE) to explain how new Revenants are made prior to 1327?

Plenty of ways to explain it, if they want to.

I want Charr Motorcycles.

My gut feeling is $30.

Valento.9852:

And yes, I will purchase HoT even if it costs $50.00.

What if it costs $50.01? Well, with tax, it’ll cost over $50.00 anyways.

OP: Hell yes, I’ll buy it. Hopefully it comes out no later than July.

My suggestion would be Human if we get some awesome new Revenant-only armor (though I doubt it; there’s very little gear in this game that’s restricted to specific Professions, besides certain items you can choose when you’re making the character). However, Rytlock’s new outfit might be an example of “Revenant armor”, or maybe only the blindfold is. Using any other race is taking a risk that the new armor will look ugly or strange.

Sylvari might work.

Human Warrior. Human, because I know that all of the armor in the game (well, except Cultural Armor) was designed for me. Warrior, because… Warrior.

The name… the name says it all.

Theatricality and deception are powerful tools.

They would…

…

ESSSSSPLOOOOODDEEEEE!

Anyways, yeah, at this point I’ll just assume the double XP starts tomorrow. Possibly the same time as the game sale starts :o

Victory.2879:

My dailies reset at 12 midnight UK time…

UTC = GMT.

And when does it start, exactly? I thought it’d begin at midnight UTC on Friday night, but I don’t think it did. So will it start sometime Saturday?

Carighan.6758:

Desired state:

• Instead of copying either the male or the female design, Asura would logically have their own style of armor.
• This style could be all over the place. It could be cute, it could be frilly, it could be heavy plate, anything. The point is, they aren’t bound to simply copy&paste another race’s specific gender.

So what happens when Human/Sylvari/Norn try to put on armor designed for Asura (or Charr)? Does it magically morph into something more fitting to those races’ cultural styles?

I want to wait until we get more details about the expansion (e.g., if it’ll only be for level 80s) because that might affect how important a Personal Story would be for a new race. The main, important thing (besides killing Zhaitan) that the current PS accomplishes is it makes you the Commander of the Pact, and there’s plenty of level 80 content that references this. I don’t see how the expansion would not continue to do so (but again, that’d depend on if the content – at the very least, the story content – is only for level 80).

Sirendor.1394:

Gear treadmill inc….

Seriously though… GEAR TIERS MAKE NO DIFFERENCE.

This is what it comes down to:
- tier 1 has numbers
- shiny new monsters are introduced that have higher numbers than you!
- you grind tier 2 with bigger numbers, you feel like a boss
- shiny new monsters with even more numbers are introduced!
- you grind tier 3 gear with… more numbers, you can now kill the shiny new monsters but you get bored after a day.

Repeat this sequence and add more numbers. Before you know we all have 15k power and deal the same damage as before, because guess what… the mobs have gained more numbers too.

You only THINK you are making progress to “getting stronger”, but in fact a math-loving economist is eating your brains.

You’re missing part of the point. When it comes to the gear treadmill, people don’t grind to get better gear for the sake of having better gear. They grind to get better gear so that they can complete new content that REQUIRES better gear in order to complete in an efficient timeframe. Nothing more, nothing less. If I hit 1,000 on the Tier 1 monster (who has 10,000 health), and I hit 5,000 on the Tier 3 monster (who has 50,000 health), I don’t really care. If I don’t have Tier 3 gear, I can’t ever fight the Tier 3 monster, and that’s why I grind.

Fauven.3195:

If Mordremoth wakes up the regular Sylvari won’t become dragon minions just because he woke up.

Yeah, that’s the thing that needs to be stressed here. Sylvari from our Pale Tree are safeguarded by the Dream, heavily influenced by Ventari’s teachings. Even if there was some latent corruption, given the Pale Tree’s resistance to Nightmare, it’s unlikely our sylvari would be turned. However, other Pale Trees – and thus, other sylvari – without the moral anchor of Ventari’s teachings may be more susceptible, and if Mordremoth really needs minions, and has an understanding of their Dreams (unknown whether he does or not since we don’t know if he broke Scarlet’s mind), then it’s not far-fetched to see him corrupting them.

The question of whether even those sylvari will display physical corruption is another matter. Probably; there’s still some cool “evil plant” concept art out there, and it’s more than just the “evil clothes” worn by the Nightmare Court. I’m talking full-on, mossman, lurker in the swamp kind of evil plants.

Well, at least the new system seems to make the OP happy. I’m no longer concerned with all the arguments about the virtues and pitfalls of temporary content; I’m actually trying to speculate what ANet’s going to add. New Dynamic Events in existing zones? Probably. A brand new, level-80 zone similar to Southsun Cove? Likely (Maguuma-themed, of course). New dungeons and world bosses? Well, maybe a new dungeon path (I’m hoping for the whole thing), or reworks to existing ones. World bosses, there were a few in S1 (including Teq rework) so why not?

Basically, S1 with all content – especially rewards – being permanent and replayable. I’m fine with that.

Test.8734:

The Story Journal effectively MONETIZES part of the Living World. It’s only logical that ArenaNet would try to make people PAY for this content and feel like they are GETTING something in return, so expect the next Living World content to focus on the kind of things available through the Journal.

If we follow your logic, there’s no guarantee ANet would focus 90% on Journal story steps and 10% on open world content, as you fear. First, they’re only charging 200 Gems for each episode, which is peanuts compared to some other items in the Gem Store. Second, they’re offering the content for free just by logging in – 15 seconds of peoples’ time – ONCE during the 2-week period the episode is live. Both of those facts don’t suggest the Journal story steps being super-top-notch, AAA+++ content that would take significant development time away from open world or any other type of content.

Now, is ANet going to do their best to make the Journal stories good? Of course. But I wouldn’t expect them to be much different than S1 or Personal Story episodes, which in my opinion were good (not great, but good).

I’m not saying we’re gonna get more open world content – I hope so – but it’s unlikely we’re gonna get any less. I’m looking forward to either a new dungeon, or an entire zone (which we should at least get in part if we go deeper into Maguuma). It’s nicely set up by having the level 80 requirement for LS content, since they’ve already added a level 80 zone in S1.

Besides all that, the big question is whether any content is going to be gated by episode completion. If it isn’t, I think the value of the episodes is undermined somewhat, but I’d be fine with either direction.

Raykon.7908:

Damage and pure dps is the name of the game because there is absolutely no reason to use anything else. There aren’t really any interesting boss battles that take advantage of wide arrays of different utilities, and a large amount of our utilities are little more than temporary stat boosts.

We need bosses that aren’t immune to control effects and other utilities, and that actually require some form of it for success. Currently a lot of bosses simply stand around, allowing you to wail on them while simply avoiding the occasional attack. But what if we were forced to move them around during the fight? What if a boss became a lot stronger if left idle, and weakening him required pulling or fearing it into a an environmental hazard? What if you had to immobilize a boss to prevent it from activating some kind of mechanism and summoning aditional mobs? Why can’t bosses utilize fears or pulls to separate people who attempt to stack?

If we could just have some intelligent boss fights that required more than simply standing in one place and using a skill rotation for maximum dps, we would be a lot better off.

So, why can’t the Queen’s Gauntlet bosses be in dungeons? I agree, but it would require multiple overhauls at the same time; otherwise, people will stick with the “easy” bosses and the “hard” ones will become dead content.

Have faith, OP. Mesmers destroy Warriors more easily than any other class.

Take my example. There I was in Skyhammer, right? And I have an Axe/Shield + Longbow spec, so I can do burning damage and then smack you around a bit. Well, I go up to Point B and there’s this Mesmer, with his 3 clones, just chillin there AFK-like. Well, he wasn’t AFK, he was like a praying mantis waiting for the kill. And boy, he beat me good. I got some hits on him, but it was all BAM SMASH SCHIIING KAPOW, clones exploding, Torment, Confusion, other WTF-condis, and he even went Invulnerable for a bit. I was dead in, like, 15 seconds.

So, just keep experimenting.

Yeah, clicking is obviously slower in most cases, but everyone’s hands/control schemes are different and if it’s more comfortable for someone to click – and he does well enough – then it doesn’t matter to me.

The build definitely looks interesting. I think I’ll try it tonight. Call me a noob, but even after a few weeks of WvW, I haven’t included the reduced fall damage trait.

Aedrion.6483:

Ghotistyx.6942:

This class is great at protesting. It’s forces on tank allow it to for support and dps role at the same time. Hammer allow for most force on tank while dps role.

I am so going to hell for laughing at this.

Yeah, me too…

Ghostistyx is right, though. Guardian is the best at support and protection, but if you specialize for damage, it’s capable of that, too (it’s just more frail). I’d suggest the OP take a look at some of the stickies here in this forum, highlighting good builds for whatever he might want to do to get a grasp of everything the Guardian is capable of (which is, conveniently, just about everything).

And yes, you get 5 character slots for free, so it’s well worth making both a Warrior and a Necro to see how each feels. Then, just play whichever one(s) you like the most.

It’s one of those classes that, on paper, has some flaws. The main two things, in my opinion:

1) Limited access to Stability/stunbreakers; rely on your teammates for that.
2) Limited group utility; what little we provide is matched or surpassed by other classes.

However, actually playing the class has turned out to be fun, and Necros are good in WvW and sPvP because of, mainly, conditions and their survivability; even as a Light Armor class, they have as much base health as a Warrior and have Death Shroud as a secondary health bar, in essence. I’d definitely recommend trying the Necro, and if you like how it feels, keep at it.

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Corax.7381:

Given that it grants Swiftness, it should be called “Charge!”. The reason why I assume “retreat” was chosen was because of Aegis, but really, it makes the most sense to use a +speed and +1 free block skill when running TOWARDS the enemy.

Well if the game was real life, retreating would benefit from having swiftness too. The only reason you don’t feel like it’s useful, is because death in this game isn’t so scary since you just revive on a waypoint, so it makes more sense for us “players” to use it offensively. The story and all the skills however were meant that we’re in that world, without real reviving, otherwise no npc would die. And so escaping death with swiftness and aegis would make sense for the “characters” in the game.

It makes sense both ways. Therefore, since retreating is never an option for a real man, the shout should be “Advance in Another Direction!” It’s better than just “run away”, with “advance” being closer to “charge”.