Guild Wars 2

Pyrial.2917:

Defektive.7283:

Pyrial.2917:

Defektive.7283:

If a game loses momentum early on it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get their playerbase back.

GW2 sPvP lost its momentum roughly 3-4 months ago. A lot of people have quit or barely play. I myself have moved on to greener pastures and log an equivalent 10 minutes of GW2 time a day, maybe less.

ArenaNet should take notes from Nadeo and their ShootMania series for how they developed the game with competitiveness in mind and decided to not release the game until every piece of the puzzle had been completed.

TLDR:
Low population (lets just say 2,500 and be generous, across all countries).
Little amount of playable modes.
No legitimate ranking system besides time invested.
Lack of variety in class mechanics.

= game on its last legs. I just want people to admit it so we can get past the rose tinted glasses.

I think alot would agree; however the pvp is still some of the best out there. The shame of it all will be that this game will never realize its potential.

Personally, I consider the PvP to the bottom rank among the top tier.

GW2 is to Captain Falcon of SSBM.

Please, let us know what the top tier games are then.

What genre specifically?

Not to go against the ‘community’ grain here but I find WoW pvp to be a lot more robust and interesting to watch.

I wouldn’t even put it past Path of Exile or D3 in having more indepth and interesting gameplay mechanics just from the sheer size of available builds and concepts thrown around. Not to mention LoL, Dota2, Blood Line Champions, probably even Smite (which seems to already have a larger PvP following).

When compared to other less specific ‘player vs. player’ games, the mechanics of this to even some things like ShootMania, Gunz Online (of all things), TF2 etc. out shine this game on the sheer availability of mechanics, gamestyle and interesting concepts.

What we have here is a standard MMO PvP where targeting isn’t needed. A ‘dodge’ button that really just moves your character X feet and makes you immune to incomming attacks, coupled with 3 point King of the Hill mechanics.

You bundle all of that into lack of build variety, standards across different continents (NA vs EU), a hand full of maps and a lack of any real skill indicator…

Well, you get the point. GW2 is a good show and tell of once interesting mechanics executed in a flawed manner and never followed up on.

Now this is all my opinion, and that’s fine. But ArenaNet shot itself in the foot a long time ago so it’s hard to rally behind them once again just to anticipate let down.

Pyrial.2917:

Defektive.7283:

If a game loses momentum early on it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get their playerbase back.

GW2 sPvP lost its momentum roughly 3-4 months ago. A lot of people have quit or barely play. I myself have moved on to greener pastures and log an equivalent 10 minutes of GW2 time a day, maybe less.

ArenaNet should take notes from Nadeo and their ShootMania series for how they developed the game with competitiveness in mind and decided to not release the game until every piece of the puzzle had been completed.

TLDR:
Low population (lets just say 2,500 and be generous, across all countries).
Little amount of playable modes.
No legitimate ranking system besides time invested.
Lack of variety in class mechanics.

= game on its last legs. I just want people to admit it so we can get past the rose tinted glasses.

I think alot would agree; however the pvp is still some of the best out there. The shame of it all will be that this game will never realize its potential.

Personally, I consider the PvP to the bottom rank among the top tier.

GW2 is to Captain Falcon of SSBM.

CookMETEnder.7582:

Um…. does anyone else think that he popped endure pain?

most logical assumption.

CookMETEnder.7582:

MagicalPubes.3140:

“Best” zerk build is 20/30/0/0/20 and force sigil with scholar runes. Do the math and ull see a HUGE dps increase compared to fire/strength sigils and ruby orbs.

Scholar? lol…
Good luck staying above 90% enough to maximize DPS

A lot of people go 5/6 scholar 1/6 div to maximize dps if they are prone to going below 90%.

Norjena.5172:

Defektive.7283:

weird, everyone knows the most optimized GS zerker builds are 20/30/0/0/30

Were did u get 80 Traitpoints?

I think u mean 20/30/0/0/20?

bah, correct 20 on the last.

If a game loses momentum early on it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get their playerbase back.

GW2 sPvP lost its momentum roughly 3-4 months ago. A lot of people have quit or barely play. I myself have moved on to greener pastures and log an equivalent 10 minutes of GW2 time a day, maybe less.

ArenaNet should take notes from Nadeo and their ShootMania series for how they developed the game with competitiveness in mind and decided to not release the game until every piece of the puzzle had been completed.

TLDR:
Low population (lets just say 2,500 and be generous, across all countries).
Little amount of playable modes.
No legitimate ranking system besides time invested.
Lack of variety in class mechanics.

= game on its last legs. I just want people to admit it so we can get past the rose tinted glasses.

Everyone’s opinion is valid (to an extent).

Now, I like Schwar, he’s generally not a bad guy. Sure he comes off as an kitten on the forums but he is trying to do his best to steer people in the right direction. All be it, his methods (IMO) are completely wrong and just make him look bad.

Per the discussion and balanced stance. In a team fight scenario it’s always very solid to have someone with on-demand stability in order to guarantee a stomp. Coupled with how prone warriors are to being interrupted mid HB or via CC’s – in MY opinion having balanced stance is neccessary 75% of the time.

The only time where you can maybe change it out is based on the other teams comp and how heavy they are on the CC’s.

If I am personally fighting a burst heavy team (1-2 thieves etc.) I’ll swap out balanced stance for Endure Pain just so that I can live a little longer against them.

Edit Expanded:

I would like to quickly touch on something.

For warriors to be feasible they have to be extremely mobile (its the only area in this game where we semi-keep up with other classes).

If we want to be extremely mobile we have to choose either 1handed sword or GS.

1H sword is not that great simply because bleeds can get wiped extremely fast. When compared to Axe’s F1 or Mace’s stun capabilities – it’s difficult to WANT to bring a Sword over the latter.

GS on the other hand lends itself to damage and more importantly – mobility. It’s because of this that most people flock to it. However, when running GS you essentially need Balanced Stance to make it’s burst capabilities work.

What it boils down to: Warriors need a baseline mobility attack (preferably a second Adrenaline skill). With this they can stop relying on GS as much, and with that they don’t need to have balanced stance 75% of the time.

Everything just compounds on each other because Arena Net is frankly not seeing the big picture. But that’s not my problem, it’s their game to shoot in the foot.

I wonder how much money they are currently making GW1 to GW2 purely based on microtransactions

daydream.2938:

Shady.3142:

Spvp population is dead. About 100 – 200 active players NA.

Ya, that do tournies, something like this.

More if u count hotjoins. But hotjoins are so random and useles i woudlnt count em.

Realistically, 500 people – not everyone is on at once and it can span frees/paids/hotjoins/people sitting in HOTM.

that was cute
15charapproval

Kilrain Daggerspine.6843:

The basic Gs Zerk build is 20-25-0-10-15 or 20-30-0-10-10 depending on if you swap weapons alot.

Strength sigil seems to be popular.

weird, everyone knows the most optimized GS zerker builds are 20/30/0/0/20 or 20/25/0/0/25

Sand Beagle.9867:

Defektive.7283:

Well done Beagle!

Lets fine it a bit and make it a little spiffy on the looks. If that goes well you may be able to partner with an established GW2 website and provide the statistics and calculations needed so they can build a page on it.

This would help a lot of people with theory crafting!

Yeah thanks Im sure someone with a bit of programming knowledge could package it up nicely. I;ll take a look at trying to get it on google docs though, but it doesnt seem to convert it very well.

I can write an application (software development / project management is my profession) if you’d like. We develop desktop applications (mostly b2b) but I may be able to whip up either a small exe or web plugin that websites could use.

If that’s something your interested in I would recommend asking a gw2 website if they’d use it. If you get a confirmation I’d be happy to help.

Well done Beagle!

Lets fine it a bit and make it a little spiffy on the looks. If that goes well you may be able to partner with an established GW2 website and provide the statistics and calculations needed so they can build a page on it.

This would help a lot of people with theory crafting!

IMO: (to reiterate, this means In My Opinion)

The upcoming patch is going to be about as substantial as when they added in Temple.

We’re all going to get hyped up and ready for the second coming of Guild Wars 2 sPvP (which feels like the third time its been hyped that way). And then there’s going to be a frenzy on the forums when minor tweaks happen to classes that don’t really change much at all.

Because of this I plead to everyone: relax a little, get cozy in your chair and please don’t throw a fit when the changes go down.

From my side, I took a two month break – came back for a week and a half – and I’m already starting another two month break.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! This is going to be immensely helpful going forward.

yay analytics

Ya TG I forgot to add a yearly / never, that dawned on me mid day. But my target audience are people who visit weekly/daily, so if you chose monthly thats a close ‘never’ in my tally.

Yup, that’s all you gotta do! I’m a programmer and this is a side project I dreamt up, so I’m doing my due diligence before I start spending my free time developing the product.

Danke!! char15

Hi there.

I’m looking to start my own business and I’m taking a really quick survey (10 questions) that should only last 30 seconds to a minute of your time.

The information involved will be incredibly helpful towards determining the direction I take my first product and would be greatly appreciative if you involved yourselves!

Thanks everyone!

https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=kmyrGQXMumRj1Y2gwOAhdQ

(Mods: I couldn’t find an off-topic forum and this is relevant to internet savvy gamers possibly GW2 micro-transactions, please allow it! )

to be honest, i think a lot of people on these boards just have so much animosity for no reason. it’s really driving down everyones perspectives of the sPvP community.

let his builds be his builds, if they are bad – then people will figure that out on their own.

dzeRnumbrd.6129:

Nier.2478:

Another build that would’ve been more attractive if Hammer had one simple thing: Blind Immunity.

Signet of Stamina active will clear a blind.

That wasn’t a good response, and I’m sure you’re about to be blasted for it.

it’s a troll, my friend

hey man don’t rag on a guy for trying

I endorse this new meta.

Pyrial.2917:

Sprawl.3891:

26 and still lives at home

What? Those aren’t his parents…they are his roommates.

26 and still has roommates

^Yup he has. This refined version takes emphasis off of GS and places it onto Longbow. Schar’s original build lends itself to GS over Longbow.

Personally I think this works better because without a shield you have less survivability, so you want to spend less time in melee combat. This translates to “how much more damage can I deal outside of melee?” which in turn lends itself to a heavier emphasis on Longbow.

Soryuju.8164:

Chi Malady.2015:

22k health and 2.1k armour? You also have absolutely no condition removal.

You will get shredded if caught by a burst/condition spec.

Doesn’t that go for most glass cannons, though? This is basically the standard 100B Warrior with 10 trait points shuffled (less GS damage for more fire fields and AoE damage) and a different secondary set. The loss of the Shield means you have less direct mitigation, but having the Longbow means you don’t always have to be standing directly in the line of fire, either. Warriors in general won’t hold up well against condition specs, so burst is the main factor he needs to consider, and I honestly don’t think this is a bad trade.

The Longbow has had a stigma against it since beta, but here it lets him bring more to a teamfight than he could with Axe/Shield and leaves him less vulnerable to kiting. I see it as sort of a preference thing, and still think Axe/Shield is a valid choice, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this spec stick around in the meta. It preserves the core of the 100B build while bringing a new style of utility to the table.

Nail on the head.

Chi, that HP / toughness / Condi removal problem is a core issue for tPvP Warriors in general.

If we want to be relevant we have to be glassy, if we’re glassy we have 22k hp and base toughness.

As Soryuju correctly depicted, bringing Longbow to a teamfight provides the Warrior with a method of dealing heavy AoE damage while staying out of harms way.

I like to give out my builds in an attempt to help the community. I feel like good builds are hard to come by and so everyone kinda falls into a standard routine. It’s one of the main reasons I hardly play this game anymore.

By sharing your build, you create variety. Which helps make this game tolerable for people like me

Copenhagen.7015:

Hey Defektive. There was a video on State of The Game # 3, and one of the top NA players (Java) mentioned his team played against a team with a couple longbow Warriors and thought they were very strong. Hearing that made me really want to try this build.

Good! I hope you enjoy it!.

The guild in question would be TSTS which is what I’m currently apart of. IDK which of the warriors in the guild (we have some many) they were referring to, but we almost always have atleast one Longbow/GS warrior there.

Schwar came up with the concept with his original 20/30/0/0/20 variation of the build and then I refined it into this.

Wooyadeen.6491:

Rika.7249:

Defektive.7283:

Rika.7249:

Defektive.7283:

Rika.7249:

Schwahrheit.4203:

Won’t be enough to convince these “cheesy” EU’s who can’t innovate :x

Sorry, name me a good Warrior set-up that EU invented.

Name me anything good that NA invented.

Global Positioning System

Of course related to the topic.

Defektive’s Longbow/GS build.

I’m from New York.

Innovation!

/ignore

Just another rude kid.

It’s fine, I’m just glad this build is getting its due attention in sPvP now.

Rika.7249:

Defektive.7283:

Rika.7249:

Schwahrheit.4203:

Won’t be enough to convince these “cheesy” EU’s who can’t innovate :x

Sorry, name me a good Warrior set-up that EU invented.

Name me anything good that NA invented.

Global Positioning System

Of course related to the topic.

Defektive’s Longbow/GS build.

I’m from New York.

ChampionSound.3594:

I know this is the wrong thread to post in, but I’m too lazy to find your ‘Avalanche’ thread. Anyway, I’m a big fan your Avalanche build because of its ability to shut down high burst pub stomping builds. But considering it is neither a high burst roamer or a bunker spec, how does your team incorporate you? I’m new to TsPvP and this will help me understand the meta more. Thank you!

Usually sit between mid and close point.

At Mid you can assist your primary bunker, while teammates can call out an enemy heading for close. Then you just start running back at the correct time.

Swiftness from allies and portal helps too

SneakyErvin.3056:

How on earth do you get 1000-1200 burning ticks with no condition gear?

I should clarify, I meant Combustive Shot Crits.

Comb Shot lays down a Burning AoE that also crits. This build stacks +crit damage gear to side step the need for +condi damage in order to make combustive shot work.

Then, incorporate 30pts in discipline and 30pts in percision and you’ll never run out of adren while also laying down comb shot every 10 seconds.

Rika.7249:

Schwahrheit.4203:

Won’t be enough to convince these “cheesy” EU’s who can’t innovate :x

Sorry, name me a good Warrior set-up that EU invented.

Name me anything good that NA invented.

Global Positioning System

You obviously didn’t take a good hard look at the build.

You’re essentially always at full Adren, even with spamming your F1 on cooldown.

30pts in percision = gain adren on crit.
+ Combustion Shot’s AoE critting = you’ll be back to full adren within 1-2 seconds of it being down.

30pts in Discipline will reduce your burst skill costs by a 1/3rd.

Towren.1745:

Hello!

My names Towren, nice to meet you. I liked your clips, where can I find more extensive video’s of game play with the long bow? It looks very interesting and it’ll be nice to see something new and fresh from a warrior!

I would just like to say this though: As a resident of the EU (UK specifically) I do find the anti-EU comments in this thread unnecessary. To accuse an entire continent of people from various cultures/backgrounds to have a negative common personality trait based purely upon their birth place equates to racism.

I understand there seems to be some silly rivalry between the EU and NA servers, and I understand we’re on the internet, but that does not mean we have to perpetuate the false acceptability of bad manners and casual racism as the norm.

Thanks for your time!
Towren

Some more lengthy footage:

http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/b/356764728

http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/b/361385893

Kid Taylor.5479:

I see. But

>> Constant Burning ticks of 1000-1200.

Is wrong because the AoE damage only comes from your F1 skill. It isn’t even burning at all if it can crit.

I’ll adhere to the grammar police. Regardless, this does not change the effectiveness of the build or the damage it causes. It’s simply semantics.

Wooyadeen.6491:

Defektive.7283:

The Gear:
6/6 Scholar Runes
Zerker Ammy / Rune

Utilities:
(Standard utilities, Balanced Stance, Frenzy, BC)

Sigil of fire on both weapons?

Yessir. These are completely opinionated choices and is up to the end user to determine which sigils they’d prefer. I have just had the best luck with this setup because:

Sigil of Fire will proc on the Longbow F1’s AoE crit damage.
Because of this it adds a little more oomph to an already string AoE.

Then having it on GS is just standard play for Burst builds.

Arcing Arrow =\= Combustive Shot

Arcing Arrow is the #3 skill (hits for 2-4k, crits for 5-9k)

Combustive lays down a burning field X wide (based on adren).

With this build, you’ll see crits from the AoE (Combustive Shot) of 1000-1200 at 70% the time.

Med.6150:

Defektive.7283:

Med.6150:

Defektive.7283:

Advantages:
Constant Burning ticks of 1000-1200.

More like 500, but okay.

Apologies, let me explain.

Non-crit ticks are for 500.

Critical ticks at 1000-1200. At a 70% crit rate, thats more often than not the standard damage you’ll be dealing.

I don’t think you are talking about burning. You’re probably talking about the explosions from Combustive Shot (tooltip doesn’t state this, but you get 5 ticks every 2 seconds including the initial one). Burning (the condition) ticks for up to 500, if you stack 10+ stacks of Might and it can not crit.

Hidden tooltips aside.

You’re still critting for 1000-1200 as an area wide AoE.

EvisceratriX.1750:

try actually running this in a proper tournament, then you’d die in 3seconds from thief lolol

And I do run this in paids. Consistently.

Med.6150:

Defektive.7283:

Advantages:
Constant Burning ticks of 1000-1200.

More like 500, but okay.

Apologies, let me explain.

Non-crit ticks are for 500.

Critical ticks at 1000-1200. At a 70% crit rate, thats more often than not the standard damage you’ll be dealing.

‘hears the sound of a dead horse being beaten’

Mankind never went anywhere without the help of trying.

Hi there.

My name is Defektivex and I’m a Warrior.

Brief history lesson: The only ‘viable’ build for tPvP is GS / X-Shield. High glass, high mobility. Playing as a Roamer for the team.

I set out to bring a little more change to the team setting.

Presenting Longbow/GS:
This build focus’s on LONGBOW first, GS second.
GS is kept to maintain mobility / escape tools while also providing great hand to hand burst.

Clips of it in action:
http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/c/1879770
http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/c/1879657

The Build: (10/30/0/0/30 – V, V X XI, 0, 0, V X XII)
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzRM0m9dax9MxVVaqVab8kir707kir7070M7kNb70V7ofD8ofY

The Gear:
6/6 Scholar Runes
Zerker Ammy / Rune

Utilities:
(Standard utilities, Balanced Stance, Frenzy, BC)

Advantages:
Constant Combustive Shot ticks of 1000-1200 (AoE Fire F1 Ability).
High arcing arrow burst (6-9k).
Consistent damage.
AoE Blinds (yay team fights!).

Disadvantage:
If they pile on you, all you have is a GS to escape and pin down. But to be honest, that isn’t much more than just bringing a shield.

Goal of the build:
-Provide heavy team fight damage while remaining safely in the distance.
-High mobility to get from point to point.
-GS 100B burst to finish off stray opponents.

Hope you enjoy it!

Hi there.

My name is Defektivex and I’m a Warrior.

Brief history lesson: The only ‘viable’ build for tPvP is GS / X-Shield. High glass, high mobility. Playing as a Roamer for the team.

I set out to bring a little more change to the team setting.

Presenting Longbow/GS:
This build focus’s on LONGBOW first, GS second.
GS is kept to maintain mobility / escape tools while also providing great hand to hand burst.

Clips of it in action:
http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/c/1879770
http://www.twitch.tv/defektive/c/1879657

The Build: (10/30/0/0/30 – V, V X XI, 0, 0, V X XII)
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzRM0m9dax9MxVVaqVab8kir707kir7070M7kNb70V7ofD8ofY

The Gear:
6/6 Scholar Runes
Zerker Ammy / Rune

Utilities:
(Standard utilities, Balanced Stance, Frenzy, BC)

Advantages:
Constant Burning ticks of 1000-1200.
High arcing arrow burst (6-9k).
Consistent damage.
AoE Blinds (yay team fights!).

Disadvantage:
If they pile on you, all you have is a GS to escape and pin down. But to be honest, that isn’t much more than just bringing a shield.

Goal of the build:
-Provide heavy team fight damage while remaining safely in the distance.
-High mobility to get from point to point.
-GS 100B burst to finish off stray opponents.

Hope you enjoy it!

Geewoody.2017:

Defektive.7283:

At this point I’m starting to hope that Arena Net goes the way of THQ, and some more intelligent company picks up the GW2 IP.

I think you might be taking AN for granted. -_-

Side note:
What’s this about THQ now?

THQ went out of business and their IP’s were chopped up and sold off to company’s who wanted to develop on those platforms.

This happened in the past week or two.

Gilgamesh.2561:

At this point I’m starting to hope that Arena Net goes the way of THQ, and some more intelligent company picks up the GW2 IP.

The way of THQ = massive layoffs. You want people to lose their jobs because your profession didn’t get buffed? Wow.

Yes. Yes I do.

If your company sells a product that isn’t doing well nor meeting the expectations of stakeholders (which would be us, the community). Then that company has to do better to change their trajectory.

In this situation, I’d be perfectly happy with them losing their jobs so the IP can go to a company that can actually deliver the goods.

I’m absolutely starting to resent every facet of Arena Net. It’s like their priorities are in some lofty place.

The Warrior changes were down right despicable.

At this point I’m starting to hope that Arena Net goes the way of THQ, and some more intelligent company picks up the GW2 IP.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-January-28-2013

Here’s the best line:

sPvP Update:
Skillbars now have team-colored backgrounds in sPvP.

For my Warrior Friends:
“Warrior
-Arcing Slice: Updated this skill’s description to correctly state the boon it applies.
-Banner of Strength: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
-Banner of Discipline: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
-Banner of Tactics: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
-Empowered: This trait should now appropriately increase damage for the Stability boon.
-Reckless Dodge: This trait no longer enables players to break knockback effects.
Vengeance: This skill is no longer able to rally a player off of kills that grant zero experience.”

2 months to late.

The problem with any piece of software is that if the user base leaves en mass in the first few months, then you either need to make drastic changes to bring them back or scrap the application and move on to re-design a new version.

A lot of people have quit GW2. With the plethora of games out now (many of which are Free to Play, and thus have a very low barrier of entry) it will be exceptionally hard for Arena Net to get players back.

I for one know that I can’t wait till March for radical changes in order to keep my interest. Every night my guildies / friends hear me say ‘I hate this game’. Yet I only keep playing in the hopes that this patch or the January one will fix the many issues that are prevalent in this game.