Guild Wars 2

Romo.3709:

That’s already the case with underwater fractal. Nobody does it anymore. The easiest fix would be bringing the selection to being completely random just like it used to be before Fractured. That way we would get verity of levels again without any problems.
For example yesterday I’ve gotten Swamps -> Cliffside and…. Dredge. T1 and 2 T3s… How is that fair? Getting rid of Tier system would still have this kind of scenario happening, but the possibility of this happening would be much, much smaller than it is now.

Title: Randomized Tier Assignments

Goal of Proposal

Create a mixture of random fractals and tiered fractals

Proposed Functionality

Would it be possible to leave the fractal tier assignments, but still make it random? What I mean is, what if dredge (and other T3s) remained a T3 fractal, but it could pop randomly as any of the 3 fractals. They could program it so that you will only get one T3 fractal, but it could happen 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Then you wouldn’t have to run the risk of having more than 1 long fractal, but you could still have a chance to run all of the others.

You will run only one T1 fractal, one T2, and one T3, but they could come in any order.

Alternatively, they could reverse the order of tiers (T3 always comes first) so you can get the longer fractal over with first. They could also make it so that if a fractal is in two tiers (like cliffside) you wouldn’t be assigned a dual-tier fractal if you had already completed one from the tier pool (i.e. If you did dredge first, no other T3s or T2/T3s would be given).

This could be given as an option when entering at the beginning of the run, kind of like dungeon paths. “Which path would you like to enter first: short, medium, or long”

Associated Risks

This would probably promote some sort of “reverse-rolling” where players would roll for their T3 first to make sure they don’t get dredge, but at least then it wouldn’t be so frustrating to realize you have a fail party after already completing 2 fractals.

Romo.3709:

Iason Evan.3806:

This is a pretty clean band aid until more long term solutions can be implemented. Better than nothing and an easy fix for now. /approved as triage until long term solution is in place. Would anyone be against this as a short term solution?

To be honest. Yes. I’m very much against any kind of short term solution when it comes to fractals. Not because I don’t want a solution to begin with, but because of a nature of fractals in eyes of developers. Fractals doesn’t have a team working on it around the clock. They don’t have people dedicated to the content. If we do get an update it is because some people from LS updates teams been moved to fractals development for short amount of time and brought right back to their usual spots the moment the content went live. Which we seen the examples of during Fractured.

Short term solutions would be made into Full term solutions even though they would be called otherwise. It’d be more of a well, it’s working for now, lets get back to more important things than fractals.

Because of that any kind of temporary fix should be put on hold and instead of using that limited time on creating short term goals, lets put it towards the bigger picture.

If what you say about the fractal development team (or lack thereof) is true, then we should all be very excited about the next few months. The current LS arc is almost over, which means that some devs should be freed up to work more on fractals. Hence, this thread was created. They want a long list of things to work on, and I think we are doing a good job of giving it to them.

I just wish people would take the time to read what has already been posted before adding something “new.” So many of these posts are basically repeats of things that have already been said. If I wasn’t at work I would take them time to summarize what has already been thoroughly discussed so we could continue adding new ideas, not just repeating. Maybe tonight…

Proposal Overview
Randomization of Mistlock Instabilities

Goal of Proposal
Allow players to experience a wider variety of instabilities over the course of a fractal run.

Proposal Functionality
Starting at level 30, random Instabilities start appearing during each fractal shard. Each new fractal would have a randomized instability rather than having the same instability across the entire fractal run. This could be tiered for each of the current reward level tiers as well as the fractal difficulty tiers.

For example, levels 30-40 could share a pool of possible instabilities that could be assigned. This could include the current instabilities, or new ones could be added. Each fractal (1st, 2nd, 3rd, boss) would get a different instability from the pool of possible instabilities for the reward level. The 1st fractal could have a smaller, and possibly easier, pool of possible instabilities, and then the 2nd fractal would have its own pool of possible instabilities, and so on for each shard.

This idea could expose players to a wider variety of instabilities, as the current meta seems to be to choose a reward level with a relatively easy instability in order to maximize efficiency. It is currently very difficult to complete certain fractals combined with some of the instabilities (like the bloodlust one on the grawl shaman fight, or the OOC one for Mai Trin, for example). This could be alleviated by not adding certain instabilities to the possible pool for certain fractals. Less rage, more variety.

Associated Risks
People will probably still roll for swamp, but now they might also roll for swamp + X instability. This would make the rolling process even longer and more frustrating. At the same time, however, it could potentially decrease rolling for swamp if another fractal popped along with an easier instability.

PowerCat.5738:

Dietere, was the instance owner a guardian with a helmet with wings?

Nah it was a 12k AP warrior in full CoF armor. Bossy, rude, and full of rage quit.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Its generally faster to leave, re-roll another fractal and not get dredge ^^

Assuming you have a competent, non-PUG group, maybe. But you still have to bang out the first 2 fractals again, all the while hoping that you don’t just roll dredge again. But if your group is good enough to speed through the first 2 again, they are likely good enough to just do dredge.

Don’t get me wrong though. I’m all aboard the dredge hate-train! In all the “fixes” that have been made to it, I can’t think of a single one that makes the fractal any better. Longer, yes. More difficult, yes. More frustrating, yes. But improved? Not one bit.

I was part of a group where the instance holder rage quit for the exact same reasons as OP. Not hilarious. But understandable.

On a side note: it seems that people have been exploiting the start of dredge for so long that they have forgotten/never learned how to do it legit. I mean it’s not super easy, but it’s also not something that should be making people rage quit.

Chris RJ.1843:

Unique mobs. Yeah. At least this way, they would have an excuse to drop greens.

Just like GW1! Maybe not BiS items, but unique skins are always desirable!

In August 2013 most champion-level mobs were given a “champ bag” as a drop to reward players for killing them. This was done for 2 main reasons:

1- To reward players for taking the time and effort to kill a champion, an activity which wasn’t very rewarding prior to the patch.
2- To motivate players to explore the world a bit more to seek out champions for loot.

This patch led to the oh-so-controversial “champ trains,” which WILL NOT be discussed here.

Instead, I would like to propose how the update to champs SHOULD have gone…

STEP 1: Make champion mobs “named” monsters. (ex. Champion Rabbit -> Fluffy McNibbles [or something to that effect])
a. This would make champs more unique and could add a lot to the lore of Tyria. It could also create a lot of opportunities for unique skins and titles.

STEP 2: Use a wider variety of spawn methods:
a. Timed spawn (this is how most champs work now)
b. Forced spawn (they appear as part of a Dynamic Event or other activity)
c. Lottery spawn (they appear randomly, under specific conditions, or after a certain “place-holder” mob is killed)

STEP 3: Institute a “Monster Hunter” achievement track
a. Award achievement points for each first-time champ kill (small amount, maybe 1 pt per champ)
b. Have titles available for reaching certain numbers of killed champs (50, 100, etc.)
c. Award a “Monster Hunter Token” for killing a certain number of champs, or randomly as a drop from champ bags.

STEP 4: Create a “Monster Hunter” NPC Vendor
a. Redeem “Monster Hunter Tokens” for unique skins (one-time or account bound, either works)
b. He gives out a “bounty” that prompts you to go looking for a specific champ, the completion of which will result in small bonus reward (daily, unique for each account)

STEP 5: Discuss this idea.
Pros, Cons, etc. I understand and accept that there will be trolls here, but if we really want to see some improvements in our wonderful game, we have to be as constructive as possible. Have fun and be nice!

Gizmo.9178:

lol good luck cutting off players from their easy money. There is no way those players would ever support this. They want their gold/items as fast as possible with as little effort as possible.

I like the idea but 99% of the players who join the champ train will hate any idea that threatens their fast and easy income. :P

This is exactly why Anet should love this idea! They are always nerfing easy gold-earning activities (Cursed Shore event chain, CoF P1, etc). They do listen to players occasionally, but when it comes to complaints about “omg my monies!” they don’t tend to take much heed.

Part of the reason the started champ bags in the first place was to get people to actually fight them once-in-a-while. It would be a pretty cool system, but the short, consistent respawn timers in FS and Queensdale make it so convenient that people just do those particular champs, while other open-world champs are still (for the most part) neglected. Random respawn timers could be great to fix this. I think that’s all they are saying.

What if, in addition to improved loot, the boss scaled up a bit in difficulty every so often? Nothing major, maybe a small buff that stacks every so often to make the fight a bit more challenging.

On the flip side, though, this would be a clear indicator that a mob could potentially give better loot. Heaven forbid that the players have a way to beat RNG!

I know that Healing Power is pretty useless in PvE, but what about using the zealots gear along with something like Superior Sigil of Water/Blood? The increased precision and healing power could work pretty well together for some group heals (albeit small) and life stealing (again, small). This would be more useful in PvP/WvW than PvE.

UPDATE: the Watchwork Mechanism is now tradeable on the TP.

UPDATE: the Watchwork Mechanism is now tradeable on the TP.

chronometria.3708:

I think we are looking at the new candy corn cob – its a way of getting the sprockets off of the market in large amounts. Considering what happened to candy corn prices, I suspect its a good idea to invest in these in large amounts.

Interesting idea, but I don’t remember those being craftable by players. Didn’t you have to trade them to an NPC?

That would make a lot of sense. Were those craftable? I never got into that event.

Addition to comments from Crafting thread:

Not sure what they do yet. Haven’t seen any recipes or any clues about how it might work. Possibly part of the Power/Precision/Healing sets that were announced?
I assume it will be used in multiple crafts, however, since it is craftable in several different crafting professions at lvl 400.
I have Weaponsmithing at 500 and I couldn’t see any use for it in the main page or an option to use it on the discovery tab.

Not sure what they do yet. Haven’t seen any recipes or any clues about how it might work. Possibly part of the Power/Precision/Healing sets that were announced?

I assume it will be used in multiple crafts, however, since it is craftable in several different crafting professions at lvl 400.

I have Weaponsmithing at 500 and I couldn’t see any use for it in the main page or an option to use it on the discovery tab.

I posted this in crafting, but I figured this page would be getting more traffic.

I see that I can craft a “Watchwork Mechanism” with 400 in most crafting jobs. I can deposit it in collectibles and it’s not account bound, but I can’t sell on TP. Also, I don’t see any recipes right off, so I assume they are drops or something? Post any info, please!

I even crafted one with Weaponsmithing. It takes 500 Watchwork Sprockets and it makes 1 Watchwork Mechanism (Rare). It has a spot in the collectibles tab and when you right-click it you get the option to buy/sell on TP, but it doesn’t show up on my list of items I can sell. I wasn’t able to search for it on TP either.
It doesn’t appear as a component on the discovery tab either.
Time to invest in Watchwork Sprockets?

I even crafted one with Weaponsmithing. It takes 500 Watchwork Sprockets and it makes 1 Watchwork Mechanism (Rare). It has a spot in the collectibles tab and when you right-click it you get the option to buy/sell on TP, but it doesn’t show up on my list of items I can sell. I wasn’t able to search for it on TP either.

It doesn’t appear as a component on the discovery tab either.

Time to invest in Watchwork Sprockets?

I see that I can craft a “Watchwork Mechanism” with 400 in most crafting jobs. I can deposit it in collectibles and it’s not account bound, but I can’t sell on TP. Also, I don’t see any recipes right off, so I assume they are drops or something? Post any info, please!

Current Server: Kaineng
Level 80: Mesmer (main), Warrior, Thief
Experience: 6/8 Dungeon Master (need Arah and HotW), PR 36 FotM, All story modes complete

I’m interested in casual hours, but I want to get the job done when I’m on. I’m not a “leetist,” but I’m all about efficiency and effective strategies.

Please invite!

I would like an invite please!

Deathfro Afromancer – player on Kaineng

My Norn Warrior, Harrison Bergeron V.

A while back Kaineng hated Devona’s Rest.

Now Kaineng just hates Kaineng… Because, well, it’s Kaineng. We are quite mean to each other in WvW, unfortunately. We are no longer good enough to have a legit rivalry with anyone.

I like Shaman’s Rookery. Takes about 1 min with little chance of failing. Very easy and low stress.

phys.7689:

but itd be populated by people idling to immolate some NM every 1-1.5 hours

True. People would probably just park their alts at the spawn points and wait for the window. Just looking for some possibilities for the problem posed by the OP.

phys.7689:

NM system was pretty anti gw2, and id rather not see it again in similar form. Standing arounf for 1-1.5 hours for a chance to kill mee deggi, for a chance to get a drop was not good

But that feeling when you finally get those Bounding Boots 1/52…

The big difference in GW2 is that everyone can tag the mob and have an equal chance. This could keep the maps populated while discouraging the zerg trains, even if only a little.

Not to be “that guy” who refers to a different MMO, but…

FFXI had a system called Notorious Monsters (NMs). These were champion-like mobs that only spawned under specific circumstances. Usually there were some placeholder mobs and a window of time in-between spawns for the NM. If the spawn window was open , you could kill the placeholder mobs and hope that the NM would spawn. They even gave the NMs cool names and some even had titles you could earn for killing the mobs. The NMs had some drops that were exclusive, which made hunting them kind of prestigious.

Replace “NM” with “Champion” and problem solved! You could even throw in a rare chance at some minis or something.

Bump.

It’s been several months, so I thought I’d try reviving the thread. I apologize if this is a breach of forum etiquette, but I’d like to see a fresh perspective on this idea. It is clear that Anet is not giving up on MF any time soon, especially with the new account-wide bonuses to things like MF and coin find and such.

Give thief a Treasure Hunter trait! Make us, you know, more like a thief!

Just use d/p or s/p or p/p and spam Black Powder. Basically makes you invincible vs. any number of mobs as long as you keep them close to you. You can farm pretty much anything by keeping AoE blind up + auto attack. It’s like easy mode for farming, it actually gets boring after a time cause it’s so easy.

If you want to have a big more excitement, spec for lots of dodges and cond. damage and use your short bow to kite groups of mobs around while watching their health drain away.

Gear doesn’t really matter that much unless you are looking for speed (Zerk gear) or possible “better” drops (MF gear). You could try cond. damage gear, but if you are looking to farm them you prob want more dps for faster kills, so again just go for berserker armor and trinkets. You really don’t need to worry about toughness or vit because you should either be dodging/kiting of just spamming blind. The goal here is just to avoid damage completely.

Make sure that you actually hit your targets with the pickup skills. The wind one is tricky because it has a short range. Just enter a match, get ahead of a few players, then wait just before the finish line to hit them with the skills. I was 6/7 too, entered a match a did what I just said, and finished the achievement. Good luck!

I want to run more dungeons and DEs with experienced players. I currently have 2 characters @ 80: thief (main) and warrior. Will consider server transfer. Thanks!

I, too, am currently learning the way of the warrior, and I experienced the same thing as you. I was trying to go full power/precision/crit, since it seems that what most warriors run with and I want to prepare for that type of gameplay. I was discouraged at first, but I have improved over time. I believe this is due more to experience than gear, though.

The most important thing I learned is how to time attacks/utilities/weapon swaps/ heals. If you keep an eye on your CDs and use your knockdowns and dodges strategically, you will survive far longer than you would by adding a bunch of toughness/vitality.

I have enjoyed main GS with Axe/Mace in second weapon slot. Auto attack with GS and use 100b until adrenaline is up, then switch to axe/mace for knockdown, vuln, and Eviscerate. Then switch back to GS and repeat. I can solo pretty much any vet now (I’m only lvl 55, but hey!) and multiple mobs without much difficulty.

That being said, I would also like to know from you pro warriors out there, is it worthwhile to have a balanced/tanky set aside from the obvious full zerker set?

Another option is to just throw in the cheapest random rares/exotics that you can find in the hopes of getting ANY precursor. Then you can just sell that and with the money you can buy the one that you really want.

The biggest downside to this is that you might get one of the “undesirable” precursors that are way cheaper than the others. You are still gonna get 100g+ though, so it’s not a bad option.

Yes all of the crafting professions other than cooking can craft exotics at max level. You can buy recipes with karma from the crafting vendors for each profession. The only real issue with crafting exotics is they are all quite expensive. They all require 5 ectos and T6 mats, so by the time you finish making them it is often more expensive to craft than to buy from the Trading Post. Unless, of course, you farm your own mats, but the time it takes to farm is often longer than it would take to just farm for money and buy from the TP.

You will find a million threads about how crafting isn’t profitable, and just as many with little tricks to make it profitable, but ultimately crafting is, at the moment, mostly just for personal satisfaction. If you have a bunch of extra mats hanging around and you want to earn some easy exp, go for it. If you are looking for the easiest/cheapest way to get exotics, just go to the TP.

I have found 2 things that make my thief very effective in PvE, primarily dungeons (including FotM):

1. Scorpion Wire: great for pulling (literally) one mob away from a group so that you don’t have as much to deal with when approaching a big fight. The reset timer is just about perfect so that by the time the mob is down you can recast and pull another mob. The biggest problem with this that makes it not as reliable as it could be is that sometimes a group of mobs is always linked together, so pulling one mob gets you aggro from the whole group. A bit of patience and thoughtful experimentation, however, can make Scorpion Wire an excellent skill to help avoid wipes.

2. Black Powder: AoE blind. While blind only negates the next attack, Black Powder lasts for several seconds (I think 4?), so any mob inside the AoE will not be causing any damage for the entire duration. This can effectively eliminate mobs from the fight until the party is ready to take care of them. As a thief, I will call out a mob, or group of mobs, and pull them off to the side while my party does their thing. I can hold a group of mobs, including ranged mobs, and keep them on me indefinitely while I take 0 damage (even in full MF gear [bad party etiquette, i know]) because they are blind the entire time. Then my party can come smash them after they have finished whatever they are doing. I can usually kill one or two of them on my own while I wait for the rest of the party. This is yet another way that the thief can help control a crowd of mobs to prevent a party wipe.

I think that many of us have experienced wiping to a large group of mobs in PvE. While the individual mobs might not be that tough, if you get enough of them at once it can cause a wipe. Thieves are great for splitting up a large group so that wipes are less frequent. A party that communicates and focuses on the strengths of each profession in the party will usually find a way of succeeding in PvE, even if you aren’t pulling out record-breaking speed runs.

Lil Puppy.5216:

Can we start deleting the ‘bots are back’ posts… They’re completely redundant and unnecessary. You cannot remove all the bots, it’s a for-profit business model that works in all MMO type games with player trade and naive players.

…and trolls too, while we are at it? Let the man post about what he wants, I say! Why not also remove all of the ectos/thiefOP/MF/qqascended/gemprices posts as well? The OP noticed a problem that many people were hoping was solved, or was at least slightly more under control than before, only to realize that it is back to annoy us once again.

While you are correct about the inevitability of bots, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue reporting them and doing what little we can to try to stop them. Same thing with drug dealers and human traffickers. They’re not going away if there’s a profit to be made, but it doesn’t mean we will sit idly by at let them have at it. Maybe that’s a bit extreme, but I think you get my point.

I ran across a good ol’ fashioned bot train in Southsun Cove today. They have been at the skelk farm for a while now, but I was more surprised to find a huge group of them UNDERWATER! They were using some sort of teleport glitch or something, cause they weren’t just running (swimming) like normal, it was like they would appear for a second and then quickly disappear and then re-appear further ahead, almost like they were shadow stepping (they weren’t, it was your classic ranger/bear bot train). They would hold still long enough to kill a mob and then they would continue their tele-swim train. Sad to see this happening again.

And yes, I have noticed that prices are considerably lower as well. Powerful Bloods were almost around 30s and today they were down to 20s. Wish I hadn’t just blown all of my $ on my sexy new quiver… That’s not true, it looks good on my thief! But still, bots are no bueno.

Crazy idea:

Could a person start their own guild ( I don’t know what it takes to do this, maybe costs $), invite the potential WTS partner to the guild, put the item for sale in the guild bank, give the trader permission to deposit items but not withdraw, have them deposit their payment, you remove the payment, then give them access to withdraw the item you are selling them, then kick them from your “guild?” I know this sounds silly, but isn’t it a more secure possibility?

BTW, I don’t know what the costs are for starting a guild or having a guild bank, etc. but for a serious WTS trader, wouldn’t it be worth the cost to have a Perma-secure trading hub for yourself?

Does anyone know EXACTLY how DR works? I mean, like, the official code in the game and how it affects drops, and after how much time? And does it only affect the zone that you were in when DR kicks in, or does it affect the player across all zones? And how long before it wears off? I think a little information about how it works will help us really decide how to handle it.

Forgive me if I should already know this information, but I don’t remember seeing an official announcement from A-Net or a post by someone who had really done the math to accurately trace the affects of DR. I’m not denying its existence; I just wonder if anyone really even understands exactly how it works.

On a more positive note, I do a small amount of solo farming, and I can almost always bring in 2-4 gold/hour in several well-known zones without noticing any sort of Diminishing Returns. While this may not seem too impressive, it is more than enough for me to do what I want, including crafting 4 full exotic armor sets, multiple exotic weapons, 4 fully leveled crafts, full dye unlocks, and over 20g still in my bank without ever spending a penny of my own RL money. I don’t have a legendary or anything but I am still really enjoying the game without being affected by this “game-breaking” mechanic called DR.

Maybe some people just have unrealistic expectations for $$$ drops, or “leet-ism,” but I don’t think that DR is something that the average player needs to worry too much about.

I would love for someone to tell me how DR actually works instead of just complaining about it.

*Edited for poor, sloppy grammar. I’m ashamed of myself, I truly am.

I am borrowing a post I made a while back on a very similar topic. This is in response to the title of this thread, “Most Successful Survivable Solo Thief Build.” I did every part of my personal story solo (other than the last dungeon, obviously) with very little trouble. I am currently only at 51% map completion, but I have done all of the level 70+ zones solo as well. Ok, here goes:

Equip S/P or D/P. Find a mob (regular, vet, or even most champs), get in close, hit Black Powder and Caltrops for bleed, then just stand there and swing at it with AA until the blind wears. Then hit BP again and continue attacking. If you get bored you can finish it off with HS, but that is really just a waste of Initiative. Yes, you do have enough initiative to keep this up if you time it right and pick a few initiative-based traits (I forget their names, the one that gives +3 max initiative and +2 every ten seconds are nice).

Got a large group of mobs, including ranged attackers? Get up close to one of the ranged attackers, pull all the rest of the mobs in close with you, and begin the BP cycle. Throw in a Dagger Storm and the whole group is down by the time it’s over. You will generally finish off the entire group, no matter the size, and take 0 damage. I generally have Sig of Malice on so that even if a hit or two somehow slips through, I am fully healed again after a second or two.

I have recently discovered the power of increasing Crit . I currently have about 42 Crit chance and boy does it increase damage a lot! I added the trait that gives you haste on a Crit and also a superior rune of fire and stuff dies crazy fast.

I basically run my thief like a Perma-Sin from GW1. 0 damage taken, high AoE damage dealt = extremely efficient solo PvE character with very few deaths.

This build is great because you don’t have to rely on gimmicky stuff like dodges and stealth to survive. You pretty much just stand there and whack stuff that is Perma blind and can’t hit you at all. Anything you do to increase DPS like bleeds or condition damage or w/e is just a bonus. If you want a “successful survivable solo thief build,” this is it.

Bump – in the hopes of a fresh perspective on these pointless, pathetic excuses for NPCs. Why???

Am I the only one who thinks thief is ridiculously easy to play in PvE? Sure, there are lots of “gimmicky” things you can do, but that is really unnecessary.

Equip S/P or D/P. Find a mob (regular, vet, or even most champs), get in close, hit Black Powder and Caltrops for bleed, then just stand there and swing at it with AA until the blind wears. Then hit BP again and continue attacking. If you get bored you can finish it off with HS, but that is really just a waste of Initiative.

Got a large group of mobs, including ranged attackers? Get up close to one of the ranged attackers, pull all the rest of the mobs in close with you, and begin the BP cycle. Throw in a Dagger Storm and the whole group is down by the time it’s over. You will generally finish off the entire group, no matter the size, and take 0 damage. I generally have Sig of Malice on so that even if a hit or two somehow slips through, I am fully healed again after a second or two.

I have recently discovered the power of increasing Crit . I currently have about 42 Crit chance and boy does it increase damage a lot! I added the trait that gives you haste on a Crit and also a superior rune of fire and stuff dies crazy fast.

I basically run my thief like a Perma-Sin from GW1. 0 damage taken, high AoE damage dealt = extremely efficient PvE character. I usually end up tanking mobs when I play with a party because I aggro all the mobs to me and then hold them all in a circle while my pt destroys them, all the while takinkittenage and keeping the mobs from damaging my teammates as well.

Ok, I realize that this post is slightly arrogant, so I will end. But in response to the OP: yes, thief is an extremely easy and effective PvE class.

*Edit – lolspelling on iPad keyboard.

Does anyone know EXACTLY how DR works? I mean, like, the official code in the game and how it affects drops, and after how much time? And does it only affect the zone that you were in when DR kicks in, or does it affect the player across all zones? And how long before it wears off? I think a little information about how it works will help us really decide how to handle it.

Forgive me if I should already know this information, but I don’t remember seeing an official announcement from A-Net or a post by someone who had really done the math to accurately trace the affects of DR. I’m not denying its existence; I just wonder if anyone really even understands exactly how it works.

On a more positive note, I do a small amount of solo farming, and I can almost always bring in 2-4 gold/hour in several well-known zones without noticing any sort of Diminishing Returns. While this may not seem too impressive, it is more than enough for me to do what I want, including purchasing 2 full exotic armor sets, multiple exotic weapons, 4 fully leveled crafts, full dye unlocks, and over 10g still in my bank without ever spending a penny of my own RL money. I don’t have a legendary or anything but I am still really enjoying the game without being affected by this “game-breaking” mechanic called DR.

Maybe some people just have unrealistic expectations for $$$m drops, or “leet-ism,” but I don’t think that DR is something that the average player needs to worry too much about.

Bump.

I want more people to see this and add to it because I believe that this is a very useful guide. Well done!

Funny, I was just thinking earlier today that someone ought to do something like this. Very well done!

You might consider including a section on WvW terms and some of the major DEs (like Jormag and Plinx, for example).

I am going to max out all of my crafting skills for a few reasons:

1. I want the Master Crafter title.

2. I am holding out for the day when crafting will become useful. I want to be maxed out and ready to take full advantage. Yes, I do realize that this day will probably never come.

3. Money burns holes in my pockets. When I have some I need to spend it, and this is a healthy outlet for me.

4. I love being able to craft my own gear. It may end up being more expensive than buying off the TP, but I like the satisfaction of knowing that I made it myself.

5. I enjoy crafting for my friends/guildies. I have already made 2 full exotic sets for other people free of charge.

I just bought Usoku’s today, and I have to admit that I look pretty freakin sexy with it.

I am also going for a kind of ninja/assassin look. I use the Mystic Crescent right now, which I think is pretty nice. I ran with Drakevenom for a bit, since I think it looks pretty cool and assassin-ish, but I recently switched back to Mystic for the cool effects.

Wolfborn shortbow is also pretty sexy, it’s like black and white colored.

If I remember correctly, the change they made to champs was that you would be guaranteed a drop, but I don’t think they actually said anything about improving the chance at rare drops. Someone fancier than me can quote the dev notes for the last update to show this evidence.