Guild Wars 2

Okay, so besides COF, what have you found to be the most efficient mastery farming techniques? I saw COF faaaaar too much at launch (I’m sure a lot of us did) and honestly, I don’t care how fast it is, I just won’t do it.

I’m not in a huge hurry to level my mastery – I’d just like to vary it up a bit so it doesn’t feel so grindy, so I’d like Ideas! I’ve near-completed one of the Tyria masteries (through the autoloot (woot!)) by just getting a few (3) of my toons their 189 hero points and way points – should have just gone for world complete as there’s good xp in POIs and hearts if you’re there anyway… (soooo glad we get something for xp now and glad I waited to advance my less important toons! Just getting something for any effort feels better than getting nothing.)

You can solo all your masteries, more than enough enough hero points now that the amount needed got severely hacked, and most open-world content. So far, the only thing I find as an unsurpassable obstacle without having to make friends or rely on others is getting a guild hall and the benefits therein.

My year would easily be made by a Chaos Bow or Staff skin! I have like the WORST luck with black lion tickets and keep giving my gold to my husband for his usually failed endeavors.

Hi,
A friend of mine said he read of a guild hall being claimed with 2 people, so I’m trying to find those people and find out what builds they used. I’m highly interested as I refuse to beg random people for help. GW2 is our refuge from being forced to deal with other players – It’s always just been just my husband and I… This is the first seemingly unsurpassable obstacle we’ve encountered. We’re antisocial loners who have no and don’t want any friends.

We tried Gilded Hollow with 2 people (Venomous Aura Thief and Ranger/Druid) and found it nearly impossible to do for these reasons:
Adds
Maybe we got really unlucky with positions of the events, but they were always on top of a ton of adds. If we didn’t have to move across the map, we could get through the adds with maybe a minute to spare, but then…
Breakbars
Breaking the breakbars (defiance bars- whatever term you like) was a challenge. We both had to be on the same vine mob because when I throw 5 abilities at it (3 of which completely remove a veteran breakbar in the world in one shot) including a chill to inhibit regen, I get mayyybe 3/4 of the way through one mob’s breakbar. Not all breakbar-destroying abilities work the same in the guild hall instance as they do in the world, which is annoying.

We tried ignoring the adds, which didn’t work out because we constantly had 3 aoes at our feet and 2 sniper targets over our heads… Having to be in melee range to break defiance bars made leaving the adds up overwhelming.

Anyway, if you know who these alleged 2 people are who duo’d guild hall claiming, send them here to report on their strategy!

If you’ve done it with 3 or less or have any awesome suggestions for us, I’d love to hear your ideas as well!
Thank you!

I’m in the same position. After running guilds in other games for a decade, I’m just over having to deal with other people. Guild Wars 2 has been my refuge because I have been able to do everything I want to do by myself or with my Husband. There needs to be a way for very small guilds to earn favor. Changing the system now, 3 and a half years after launch to force us into having to care about other people is just Uncool.

We won’t do it.

If we can’t level our own guild hall, just the two of us, we may be more tempted to play other games… or at least less inclined to play this one… I’m already feeling disenchanted by this change.

Solution: do the containment achievement.
I just did it and received 4XLimited-Use Scarecrow Finishers. That with the 5-use one I had from before and I’m golden.
I just hadn’t done that acheivement first. Thanks a ton, guys! Sorry to have been a bother <3

People in map chat are indicating they received enough Finishers in the mail to complete the A Stomping Good Time achievement wherein you must use 20 Scarecrow or Mad King stomps. I did not get a mail including these and would like to complete this achievement. Is anyone else experiencing this?
I’ve been told these finishers drop from mobs in the labyrinth and from candy bags. Can anyone confirm?
My husband and I both got one with 5 uses.

Sorry to be a bother, but my crafting still says 400/400. Do I need to train somewhere to get the ability to level up? I’ve been away for a while and kinda forgot how things work here, but I expected to see 400/500, giving me some impression that making stuff would actually level my skills.

Thanks in advance.

What it has dome for me is it afforded me time to do the dishes and laundry without feeling like I’m losing out on loot.

While I think their algorithm has changed since I was farming, I would easily meet my DR within 2 events, then I’d just go afk and take care of business for 15 minutes, then do 2 more events. And I netted a more worthwhile loot (yellows) overall than just spamming all day in no MF gear (which I had done prior to obtaining the MF set). That’s just camping one spot. People who want to farm all day and see maximum benefits from their MF gear will change zones every couple events. I’m not that motivated.

PS @ Gurp and those like him: My MF gear has power/precision on it. I do as much, if not more damage, thus make as high a contribution to a group as anyone else. I say if not more because I’m far better at staying alive (IE dodging, moving my kitten out of danger) than a lot of people, thus I’m able to contribute more. It’s only a performance drop from glass cannon gear (full pow/pre/crit/Condition), which few people actually run with. For me, performance-wise, it’s the same as any other 2-dps-stat gear.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/On-Botting-and-What-We-re-Doing-About-It/first#post267288

I’ve noticed a huge improvement in the area I was seeing them in! Thanks Anet!

I agree with both sides! Something definitely needed to be done to combat the WvW-motivated transfers, but this change definitely punishes those who transfer to play with their friends due to the absence of the guesting system, which, I believe was said to be introduced a week after launch (or something).

If WVW is really the issue, then, yea! put a WvW join timer after transfering. You want to xfer to the winning server? Okay, but good luck getting into a match before the next reset! Enjoy your time in PVE land!

Is there a solution that wouldn’t have punished PVE-motivated transferers? I can’t really think of one that’s not overly harsh. So… get that guesting system up then change it to a month! I think 7 days is too little considering matches last 7 days… make them stick it out for several matches, IMO.

I’m with Tuccos here. It was something I thought should have been enabled at launch.
This probably only affects those of us who play lots of games and have similar abilities on certain keys all the time. For instance, my top row nostromo keys are for heals, some are my most-used aoe abilities,others are always my openers, 2 are for dispels/stun breaks etc… And they’re the same for every game except this one.

I’m over it now, but I still would have liked to have the ability to make them flow in a way that makes more sense to me.

I doubt you get ambiguous answers every time – not with these forum trolls.
Anyway, “Why do we have armor types?”

If you’re going to honestly ask this question, then you have to couple it with “why do we have different classes?” because the most obvious answer to your question is this: We have armor types because it makes sense. Would it make sense for a caster who floats up in the air every so often to be bogged down by heavy plate armor? No. All of the classes are designed around traditionally accepted roles for them and their armor types are assigned based on that design.

Also: Armor type determines armor only. It does not affect any other stat. Class determines base health. Guardians and Elementalists (a heavy and a light) have the lowest base health and Warriors and Necros (again, a heavy and a light) have the highest base health. So we have a high armor/low health, low armor/high health, high armor/high health, and low armor/low health just within those 4 classes. Personally, I love that each of my toons starts off with a different set of strengths and weaknesses before I even do anything to it. It provides an extra level of customizability, which is something this game does extremely well – it gives us choices.

I think you misunderstood whoever told you everyone is equal. If you’re going to take such statements literally, why don’t you have some follow through here? All toons should have the same armor type, same stats, same traits, same boons, same abilities, same everything that affects play?! Doesn’t that sound like an awesome game?! I’d totally play it… for an hour. Everyone has equal access, I think, is more what they were going for. Everyone can have a full exotic set of gear in the stat combination of their choice before even hitting 80. What stats you choose determine, to a large extent, your play style (oh no! more awesome customizability!).

You asked what is the point of gear at all. The point is to give us an ability to create a unique armor set to suit whatever our current needs are and for us to look fabulous. In case you’re wondering, my armor needs are this: A full condition damage set for instances because I love dot-based damage in instances. A full Magic Find set, the value of which is still being determined. A full Vitality/Toughness set so I can be more annoying in PvP. A full crit percent/damage set so I can see big numbers! I love that there are so many ways to obtain same-level gear, so it’s not all a grind fest. I love that it’s not a gear progression because, after 7 years of raiding in WoW, I think I’ve spent enough time grinding for stats.

Gear makes a difference in WvW – a big difference in my experience. Just get in there on your full exotic 80 toon and target any non-80 toon (the liklihood they’re in exotic level 45 gear is pretty low, thus their scaling makes them excellent punching bags). It matters when being scaled down too.

I actually have issues with everything you said in your OP, but I’ll comment on just one more, then leave you to your delusions. Quotes aren’t working, but you said “If you have no progression and can just design a pretty boss that dies quickly, then you don’t have to do that much work compared to other games.”

My response to this is simple: Have you even looked at this game?! It amazes me every third time I turn around. Crazy amounts of detail! This game has raised the bar for every other game in the future to an extent never even approached by any other game. They’ve put unimaginable amounts of work into this.

Sorry for the long post.

TLDR: Armor types make sense. Gear level matters, just not as much as we’re used to. The point is customization. Anet has worked harder than other game companies.

This game is about skins wherever armor is concerned. When you can get the best possible stats in however many flavors you want before you even hit max level, It’s not about working hard to obtain upgrades like it is in many other games. It’s just about how they look. Sure, there are some people who don’t really care what their toons look like, but those aren’t the people posting here. And some of us have jobs and like to sleep.

People need to stop saying stuff like “get over it, life isn’t fair,” because this is NOT life. This is a game and it’s supposed to be fun. For many people, that these recipes take mats (like lodestones) required to make other highly desired items, is poor design. For many people, being required to spend 10g (at minimum) plus grind for or purchase all the other materials is not fun. For some people, tossing all these mats into the mystic forge for a recipe for which you’ll have to grind a bunch more mats is not fun.

Yes, the grind is optional. Stop stating the obvious. The question up for debate is this: Are the costs of these items too high, making holiday items more exclusive than they should be? I know as well as anyone else that this is not just any other game, and in most respects, I think Anet has done an amazing job, but I think holiday items should be easier to obtain – especially given the other things they’ve included for people to spend their time on (running around carving pumpkins and doing jumping puzzles for achievements, etc…) that need to be done within the span of this event. I’m having a hard time conceiving how It’s possible for a person who’s unwilling to drop real money on gems and has a full time job to complete all the achievements and grind for the gold and the items for the skins they want.

For me, I had to cross getting the weapon skins off my list because I place a higher priority on achievements and armor skins. I’ve never had to prioritize holiday event stuff in a game before (I’ve always been able to get everything I wanted, sometimes, even, for all my toons (like in Rift) ) and I can’t say I’m super pleased about having to do so here. Given that “endgame” is all about skins, it is a little gamebreaking for me. I don’t really care if you think that I should “grind and grind until I claim what I desire.” It’s a holiday! I already have too many things in this game to grind for and would have liked being thrown a bone – especially given this game’s supposed ungrindy nature (LOL).

Do the holiday skins really have to entail this kind of grind and gold commitment? I don’t think so. Dumping 1/3 of my gold on 1 skin for 1 toon is ridiculous by itself. Add in having to grind for (or buy) the other mats and it’s just too much for 1 skin.

Again, It’s not life. It’s a game. The more disappointed I am, the less likely I am to continue playing or to drop cash on expansions. And I am just one of many people saddened by the sheer amount of time and gold required to obtain the holiday items I want. Yea yea… I know GW2 doesn’t want to be just any other game. It wants to be MORE FUN than any other game. Item acquisition in this event definitely doesn’t raise the fun factor. This disappointment, however, might be balanced out by the amazing art direction, though, overall, just not for me.

Rise – type /deaths
I’ve died 365 times in 490 hours on my elementalist. I credit the relatively lowish number to the downed ability those whiners in another forum call useless, Vapor Form, without which that number would be at least twice as high.

Rarely do I care enough about a game to go through the effort of typing up a list of functionality I wish were there. To their merit, They’ve already added at least half of the things that were on my list before I got around to typing this up. This means they’re paying attention to their customer base and I have hopes of seeing at least some of the following in game.

In no particular order:
Except this one, which is the most important to me:
Being able to Undo Transmutes
While grinding for every set in the game has certain appeal, In the meantime, I’d like to be able to change this hideous gear I have on to look like something else, then change it back later so I can show off the effort I put in to get it Just another stone to undo would be fine. A Looks tab would be ultimate, but I’m sure they can come up with something that fits in their view of the game that works.

Previewing from the AH
While it’s possible to go get item codes to link to yourself in game so you can preview an item before spending your hard-earned gold on it, it would be so so much nicer to simply be able to preview it right from the Trading Post list!

Bags of loot
PvP bags should be added to inventory instead of left on the ground where you stood before you were completely annihilated inside an enemy’s base, where you won’t be able to get before they despawn. I’m sure I’m not the only person who cares more about survival or finishing what I’ve started to run around mid-battle collecting little bags of loot. rarely am I standing still long enough to pick them up while they’re in range any way, given the high mobility demanded by pretty much every encounter. I would love it if these little bags of glory would magically appear in my bags.

Map completion from other zones
Being able to see zone completion stats on mouseover would be fantastic. Having to travel to each zone to check completion statistics is very inconvenient and often costly (over 3silver per destination at level 80).

While we’re on completionist neuroticism: Achievements
I would love to be able to easily see the last achievement completed because I’m often absent-minded when the little award pops up above my minimap. I’d like to say that I love that achievements existed at launch, though, unlike that other game, which added them long after I completed them all without awarding proper credit after the fact. I like being able to care about achievements in this game without being kitten off at the same time!

Tradeable general goods
So often have either my husband or I run out of gathering tools or salvage kits. It would be so nice to be able to say “Hey! I Have some you can borrow!” without immediately then saying “Oh yea… can’t trade. You’re SOL. I’ll wait while you run through all those veteran exploding risen chickens to get more tools. Muahahaha”

Items automatically stacking into and out of the Bank
Can’t really say much about this. My bank is so incredibly disorganized that I’m not sure what I have in there! it would be nice to just double click and “oh! that was added to a pre-existing stack! I have 103 of those suckers!”

Separating/Combining stacks of salvage kits
Maybe i’m the only kitten person who clicks from different stacks them tries to combine the leftovers to no avail. No can do!

Chosen categories and sort order reset on Guild Roster
If I add an achievement point column then sort by it, it doesn’t remember how cool it was like that and reverts back to default every time I re-log.

WvW Repair Costs
While I’m sure those on consistently winning servers like Henge don’t have as much of an issue with this, but I’d like to at least break even in PvP. I can take one look at the map and tell if I’m going to make gold, break even, or lose gold. While I understand the repeated beating I took while being bent over at AH broke straight through my pants, paying for it over and over gets a little tiring. Especially because I was too dead to pick up those little goody bags (see above).

Speaking of PvP, Queue Pops don’t seem to persist
There may be a trick to this that I’m not aware of, but on several occasions, my queue has popped right as I click on a vista or something, then doesn’t reappear. I open the PvP tab and don’t see anything like a Join Match button or anything. And I’m wondering if there’s some sort of penalty for not accepting immediately because my queue seems to last forever after this happens.