I agree that making healers useful but not mandatory should be the goal. One way I can think of doing this might be to create a boss room with a healing fountain, and having the boss do a lot of small damage that accumulates over time. This means that zerkers would have to run to the fountain to heal up pretty frequently, but having a Cleric build healer present would reduce that need and make the fight go quicker.
I feel your pain. Soul bound on purchase is a bit of an anachronism given the direction the game has taken. The only currency that is soulbound now is skill points, so now that sort of thing falls into the “annoying oversight” category as far as I’m concerned.
As for craftable soldiers items, that’s another oddity thanks to the history of the game. They want to make ascended soldiers items craftable so that’s why they the made the inscriptions salvageable. Unfortunately that means prices are pretty high as they are hard to obtain, averaging about seven dungeon runs per inscription.
A word of warning, soldiers weapons that have been crafted won’t yield the inscription, so have to be careful of what you are buying if you intend to use salvage. It is probably safer to buy the inscription, especially if you think that there is a chance the RNG gods hate you.
When you run trash in TA, equip a staff. When you prepare to fight, equip a real weapon.
But no worries, I like you. It’s because you’re here that I receive so many (too many actually) compliments about being a zerk guard with sword+focus, greatsword and hammer.
Yeah, you got me, I just camp staff the whole time, and when I hit 4 I make sure that nobody is close enough to benefit. The only reason I use shouts is to take advantage of my beautiful Altruistic Healing, but I make sure that I only use Stand Your Ground against bosses that don’t knock back. And if my party wipes while I’m still alive in my clerics and PVT gear (with a bit of Settlers thrown in because I hate having all those stats wasted on Power) I tell them dead is no dps.
So, I’m a guardian who pugs, and because I have a staff I’m usually only welcome in TA (mostly a joke there). The thing is that the staff swiftness symbol recently got overhauled, so that now the longer you sit on it the longer the swiftness duration lasts. Every time I lay one down however, most of the party take off straight away and set off the volatile blossoms unless I charge off with them.
Anyway, this is half rant, half public service announcement. The longer you stay on a guardian’s swiftness symbol, the longer the swiftness duration, and don’t assume that the guardian will take off straight away.
Pretty pathetic that they must’ve downsized to the point of having hardly anybody doing anything other than recycled LS content.
Sigh. I wish they’d hire more staff then.
There are plenty of people working on the game. According to one article I read there are more now than at release. The are two LS teams, and they have hinted pretty heavily that a lot are working on the sort of content you would usually see in an expansion. It’s just that nobody is working on dungeons.
I can see why they took people off dungeons, but given that these sorts of issues were bound to crop up, it would have been nice if they’d planned to have a dungeon review team to form about now and iron out these kinks.
Okay… and you had to make a thread about it? How about a little more substance such as why? What should be done better next time? Otherwise this is just clutter that should’ve been posted in the feedback thread that is stickied.
Why? Well, first my manager fired me, and then I got stuck doing charity work and children’s parties. i.e. it is a reference to Marcelo I’d Giacomo.
You are probably right that this is a bit too much clutter for a weak joke, but I couldn’t think of where else to put it, and given that GW2 has only had two Wintersdays you missed the joke pretty spectacularly.
OP, the giant wintersdays gifts price on the TP is at about what I’d say their drops are worth. Mind you, the high value drops are very high value and very rare. So look at the price on the TP, figure out how much you can farm in an hour, multiply the two, and if it seems like a good hourly rate to you go ahead. Once you have the gifts, open them if you like gambling, or sell them if you don’t.
They didn’t compare the Living Story to A Song of Ice and Fire. They said that they want to give with the Living Story the same kind of feel that A Song of Ice and Fire gives to the readers (wanting to speculate). They never said that they accomplished that or that they think that there is any similarity between the two stories.
Note the difference:
“I can cook. Gordon Ramsay can also cook” (No comparison between the abilities)
“I cook just like/better than Gordon Ramsay!” (Arrogance)
You people nowadays are finding any excuse to open an angry thread.
I invite you to re-read this particular line
“people realise what the power of having a video game that can tell a story like a television show is””
That is a clear comparison, suggesting the story is told like a television show. Based on previous sentences, it can be inferred the show in question is Game of Thrones.
So a better analogy would be “We wish to take our cooking to the same level that Gordon Ramsay has taken his.” Which is also not arrogant, it’s aspirational. Nothing wrong with aiming to be among the best. If you write a short story and say you were inspired by Tolkien you are not saying that you are as good as him by implication.
But if the analogy does go further I have a nasty feeling that Braham is going to be Sean bean.
Whether speculation and flipping are the same thing or not comes down to how you want to define speculation. I would argue that speculation and flipping are the same thing in the same way as cats and quadrupeds are the same thing. Flipping is just short term speculation. The flipper speculates when he puts in his bid that firstly that it will be filled and secondly that his sale price wil be filled. That makes it speculation in my books, the closest real world comparison I can think of is antique trading, where you buy something to put it up at auction. If you don’t agree with my definition, that’s cool, I can see good counter arguments to my position, but from my point of view this is semantics (I haven’t studied economics).
I do feel it is a logical fallacy to say that because some forms of speculation are bad that all forms of it are bad. In fact, for those who like to trade straight away flippers are good because they will drive the sell-now price up and the buy-now price down.
For my part the only people on the TP that I have a problem with are those who try to manipulate prices, but I have only heard anecdotal evidence for the existence of these people.
The question with cooking is whether there will be new recipes every 25, or if there will only be ascended recipes added. If it is the latter, the other complicating factor is that I suspect many people will have a large number of level 400 recipes already discovered. Personally, I am trying to stockpile the ingredients of my favourite level 400 recipes.
For most paths skipping is assumed. Certain exploits are also assumed. If you don’t try and trap those two Nightmare Court flunkies behind the tree in TA up you can expect someone to complain, even though it’s not a particularly hard fight. Anybody who wants to run no-skipping needs to advertise it as such, and while it will take slightly longer to fill it will still fill.
I will say that I enjoy CM more since they took out that exploit which let you bypass a lot of content, and I would probably enjoy a few of the fights that came up if I stopped skipping, but I still prefer to skip. If I ran regularly with a group of like-minded people the only thing I wouldn’t skip that is usually skipped is that first totem in HotW 1&3, and the champ vine in TA forward.
I really fear the rune-changes though. Don’t kitten with my scholar runes.
To quote one of the developers in the stream: “ALL Rune sets got changed at least a little bit”. Some more than others, but each of them got some sort of modification, whether bad or good we don’t know.
I am guessing that if a rune is trading at over 1 gold now it will get nerfed, if it is trading at close to vendor price it will get buffed.
I would advise you not to be in a hurry, and craft the new t7 mats each day until you hit 470. There’ really no point in getting to 500 until you have 5 each of dragonite ingots, empyreal stars and bloodstone bricks anyway. I would also personally wait until you have enough Deldrimoor planks and steel to make your first weapon too (even though you can buy those on the tp).
After you hit 470 discovering and crafting exotics is the only way to gain serious experience. Go shields, maces, daggers then swords with whichever inscription is cheapest to make.
Also, if you are going to be crafting a lot in one sitting do it in the day before WvW resets.
As I visit my home instance daily for quartz crystals anyway these nodes would be convenient for me, especially as I will be going for level 500 jewel crafting. The west end of Blazeridge Steps will still provide the bulk of my farmed gold, but this would be a nice supplement.
The metabolic primer is more of a convenience tool for WvW.
If that’s the case I’d go for Svanir slaying for path 1 because the butcher and the boss on the staircase (I killed fathers and mothers, now I hunt their children!) are the two places that slow you down. For part 3 I would go for Icebrood slaying to help clear the wolves. For part 2 it’s a toss up as the long fights are a 50/50 split between Svanir and Icebrood, but I’d probably use son of Svanir slaying.
Quick question for Mystic: In your data is there any difference in salvage rates between armour or weapon types? Do daggers and great-swords yield inscriptions at the same rate? What about insignias from gloves versus chests?
I have an inkling that there may be a difference, but this is based on a very small data set ( I might have to but a large sword to compensate
Well, remember that ANet tried fixing healing breeze for Guardians to make it viable and people still don’t use it. Also remember that the game was intended to be “play how you want”, but that the reason that attitude receives scorn is because zerkers are about 40% more effective than PVT the way the game actually plays.
As someone who would like to play as a tank healer, but can’t and so has replaced Clerics pieces wits zerker my guess is that they will undershoot. Again.
As someone who prefers to get his material from game play needing 300 silk is more of a problem than 40 linen. Running TA and CM occasionally is enough for me to more than keep ahead of the pace with silk.
I know why they went that way, it’s because they looked at leather and saw that the glut was still there with 150 per t7. It’s still annoying though.
To get the recipe you need to put the following into the mystic forge: one chest piece of the type of armor you want, 20 crystals (mystic forge crystals, not the quartz ones), 50 mystic coins and 6 Elonian wine. Unfortunately you will need 5 more charged quartz crystals doing it this way, but you will need less gossamer and leather.
I like the idea, but I don’t think that I could deal with the whining that went with it. I think that you might need asura gates to dungeons (20 minutes to walk to CoF?) and the world bosses would have free reign.
What about this idea: eight maps in Cantha playable only by Canthan characters for the first two months meaning everyone has to level up there, no blasting through with you level 80.
Or… Just change the level cap? Maybe without increasing item levels (more or less a system like paragon levels in d3)? Or add some other progression system instead? Why should they force people to create more characters?!
You wouldn’t be forced to do that unless you didn’t want to wait 2 months. Actually, 1 month would probably be enough to get through eight maps. 2 weeks might even clear out the low levels.
You make a good point though, not everyone enjoys having alts. As for d3, I have to admit that hardcore was the only mode that appealed to me after having done the story once, and I only ever got up to the low 50’s there, so I am not really sure how the paragon levels work.
Another option is to try story mode first. People are usually less demanding there.
I totally agree with Neenja that you should always let others know if you haven’t done the dungeon before, if they kick you out you weren’t going to have a good time if you kept quiet anyway. I’d choose a patient group over a 1337 group even in dungeons I know backwards.
If you don’t craft these are the first drop that are of absolutely no value to you, it is not in the style of the original model and IMO it is a change for the worse. Solutions that still mean players have to gather the materials in order to craft are
1. Make them sellable. I would be happy at 1c each (and I’m working on ascended), and it certainly wouldn’t break the economy.
2. Create mystic forge recipes that provide new crafting materials which let you make those currently uncraftable insignias and runes. For example, 100 dragonite and 1 coral orb makes dragon coral which can be used to craft shaman insignias
3 Create a mystic forge recipe that allows you to craft a junk object that you can sell. Eg 50 dragonite+ 50 empyreal + 50 bloodstone + 50 of any of those three = sea shell.
On reflection I don’t like 3, but any of those is better than the current situation.
Serious prediction: Scarlet has discovered a way to tap into the power that woke the elder dragons and will attempt to harvest it. Something big happens involving the soul of a unwoken dragon.
Silly prediction: Scarlet will reveal her latest unified minions: The quaggans and skritt, who shall be known as “The squee alliance”.
Left of field prediction: There will be a series of battles like the current Scarlet Attacks events, but the results of these battles will have a lasting impact on that map, meaning that maps will be different from world to world after LS has finished.
Hopeful prediction: LS will spill over into WvW again, but this time it will give players an opportunity to exploit the changed situation, rather than getting in the way and being annoying like last time.
What about this idea: eight maps in Cantha playable only by Canthan characters for the first two months meaning everyone has to level up there, no blasting through with you level 80. Then after two months trade is re established with Tyria, meaning you can travel back and forth. Have LS related to this on both continents. Anet may or may not decide to give people a free character slot.
Have series 2 legendaries require World exploration and Canthan exploration.
On the original topic, when I read “experienced only” or “please know what to do” I read it as “I need to be carried”. From my experience “First timers welcome” is an indication of a party with a good attitude. If you want a leet party it’s only going to be a matter of luck on lfg regardless of what you put in the description.
Or it could be “let’s not waste each other’s time” or “let’s get this done with and reap rewards asap”.
:)
Oh, I’m sure that’s what they think they’re saying. It’s just that from my experience people in these groups are no better on average, and less patient if something goes wrong.
On the original topic, when I read “experienced only” or “please know what to do” I read it as “I need to be carried”. From my experience “First timers welcome” is an indication of a party with a good attitude. If you want a leet party it’s only going to be a matter of luck on lfg regardless of what you put in the description.
I would add Honor of the Waves part 1, particularly in a group that knows how to fight the last boss (if you just spam 1 with range and spend time taking out the retaliation totem he takes ages).
First off OP, I agree with point 4. I think it’s wrong that a newer player, for whom 3 gold is a lot of money, should be put at such a disadvantage for getting this living world achievement.
However pretty much everything else you post about the economy would lead to rampant inflation. Inflation is a relatively small problem at the moment, but nowhere near as bad as it would be if ANet did away with the gold sinks.
You also wrote “Economy healthy? When everyone and anyone under cuts the lowest price on TP until all the items are not worth much, except the ones you spend hours trying to get? This is not a healthy economy.” Really, this should be addressed. There is a reason that people will pay more money for items that are hard to get, but will pay hardly anything for items that are easy to get. If something is easy to get why would you expect anyone to pay good money for it? There are actually a couple of exceptions if you are not into crafting, like softwood logs and iron at the moment.
Are you saying that all those zerkers who complain about lower dps builds because they reduce the chance of success are bad players?
If they complain about not being able to success instead of the efficiency of the run, then yes. If you can solo it, why do you need a team?
I reread the thread and discovered that there was only one guy complaining that low dps players reduced his chance of surviving in zerker gear, so I suppose my point is not that, um, pointed. I would question the implication though, that if you can’t solo a dungeon you’re bad (I’d happily accept that I’m a mediocre player, but I don’t think I’m bad: bad players are the ones who put “know what to do” on the lfg tool).
As for the original question, I can’t imagine using staff as main weapon on a boss, but then what would I know, I am one of the few people who thinks that torch is a good option off hand (though not so much in PvP).
Now, as for the walls of text above. If you know that as a guard you can provide excellent support even as dps spec, then why don’t you? You say that many zerker guards don’t do that. I agree, they don’t. Because they are poor players, much like many cleric’s guards. But because you acknowledge that you can indeed support your team in full zerker just as well, and in fact better than clerics because you supply dps on top, then I suggest you try it.
Woah now. I never said a dps spec could provide “excellent support”. I agreed that they too posses virtues and other skills that can provide support to a group. This support is less frequent and not used as a primary function but rather as just a “bonus to my awesome damage” from the dps guardian. I can pop my virtues much more frequently and I am able to share some of my passive effects with the group. I can stand in the middle of the battle field and revive people so they can get back in the fight. I can cleanse the stacks of conditions that are killing you. This is my primary focus. I have built myself around helping you and the other 3 people in the group so you can focus on why you built your toon the way you did – to tear things apart. When do you use your heals and support skills? When it suits you right? I use mine constantly, my bar is full of them and they are all on cooldown. So please.. shut up and DPS.
What exactly do you do when you find yourself in a group with four people who actually know how to dodge/mitigate damage and don’t need your support?
Then he would not be optimised for that party, but he would still be adding might as well as contributing a certain amount to dps (albeit less than the others). The thing is that you can’t have a build that’s optimised to every PuG party. One zerker is going to have a bad time in a party that’s relatively low dps. Conversely a party that is full heal support needs to be prepared for long run times. If you are pugging support heal isn’t a bad way of going if you know what you’re doing, because let’s be honest, how often do you pick up with a group that knows how to dodge / mitigate damage? About one time in four? Probably less.
Buy adorned jewels (whichever is cheapest), copper settings and copper hooks to make copper studs with jewelcrafting would be my guess based on a brief look at prices.
I did that. I did the calculations at the time and figured that in terms of converting laurels to gold t6 materials were the best method. I would however say that laurels are most useful for purchasing ascended trinkets.
Glad I am not the only one with this issue. I know that this is a common issue for online games, but it would be nice if developers anticipated this sort of thing and gave some sort of “Servers shut down for maintenance” message, rather than a generic message that made you question your own connection. Here is the twitter account which had the server maintenance tweet made to it: https://twitter.com/guildwars2
One Up One Down will always create matches including 2 servers with 4 to 9 ranks of difference (except first and last tier), because every single matchup will include a server from lower tier and one from upper one.
9 ranks of difference would be really unlikely. It would mean that the best server on the tier above would have to lose and the worst server on the tier below would have to win. Even then that would be only 8 ranks difference (there are 8 ranks difference between first and ninth). 4 ranks difference in this system would be unavoidable, but not necessarily undesirable.
