Guild Wars 2

I vote Isle of Janthir. As an Ehmry Bay player, I understand what it’s like to get unfair matchups. Isle of Janthir got the worst matchup of any server for this season, and they didn’t give one fifth of a kitten. They just go out there and do their thing. They don’t take it too seriously or whine or cry, they just make the most out of it.

Isle of Janthir, we salute you.

You guys hear that? The sound of thousands of salty Stormbluff tears hitting the ground. Mmmmm, music to my ears.

It’s cool that Bobby responded to this thread a few times, I appreciate that. At this point I’ve stopped getting frustrated with Scarlet and I’m just embracing her and all her flaws now.

I’m really curious though, if we had gotten the Abaddon fractal, would Scarlet still be involved? I’m starting to think the elections really were rigged, I just don’t see how Scarlet could have anything to do with Abaddon.

Bobby, if you are able to clarify what the Abaddon fractal contained, that would be pretty cool. Thanks.

Thief could use some more usefulness in dungeons, currently they’re at the bottom of the list when it comes to group PvE. However, in PvP, Thieves are just fine. Learn to play.

I haven’t played Thief in a long time and I know the general opinion is that Thieves are in a bad spot right now.

Disregarding all the negativeness, are there any S/P builds out there? I never see any Thieves using S/P, is it as unloved as P/P was back in the day?

I don’t like stealth and I used to run the pistol whip build because of it’s lack of stealth. Is this not viable anymore?

I agree that this just makes Scarlet even more overpowered, but this isn’t really news.

We already knew that she was mentored by the greatest Hylek alchemist ever. Alchemy isn’t exactly biology but it’s pretty close. At this point nothing phases me. It could turn out that she has the power of intergalactic travel and I wouldn’t say anything anymore.

I always thought of the Krait and Nightmare Court as metal-heads. I quite liked it. For once, ANet is giving some character to an update. I’m pleasantly surprised so far with this upcoming update.

Honestly this isn’t an issue for me for a couple reasons..

1) Every character created from the Living Story is boring, poorly written, and incredibly unlikable (all my opinion of course.)

2) My character is a man. Every other character in the game could be a woman, it wouldn’t change anything for me as long as I get to play my male character.

3) Even though I think all the Living Story characters are boring, I pretty much find them all equally boring. Rox and Braham are equally lame, and one is female while one is male. Scarlet and Bloody Prince Thorn are both incredibly annoying, and once again, one is male while the other is female. Note that I’m only naming characters created by the Living Story. I think most of the characters from the core game are pretty well done, and they’re also relatively equal.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

The Living Story is a good, ambitious idea, but there are too many things holding it back. There are too many Living Story ideas that conflict with what has already been established in the game world. The Living Story should take a backseat, and become a story that builds up to each expansion.

I am absolutely sure that GW2 will not survive on JUST the Living Story, but that doesn’t mean we should throw it away. It can serve as filler or buildup between expansions. Most people don’t really take Scarlet seriously anymore, so why not build on top of that?

Every month or so, Scarlet comes up with some cartoon villain dastardly plan, then we go and foil it. While we’re doing that, some dragon champion shows itself, and the buildup for an expansion starts. That way ANet doesn’t have to kill off their beloved Scarlet, only push her a little bit to the side. She can be more of a filler comedic relief. A pesky nemesis. The dragons will remain the big baddies, and the Living Story can fill out other parts of the story.

I would love for a big Living Story update that lets us go into the Wizard’s Tower in Kessex Hills, since that would actually be filling out some of the missing lore and developing the world. Just please don’t have Scarlet be the one living in the Wizard’s Tower, lol.

Whenever I see “Scarlet’s minions are invading x!” I always think of Plankton from “Spongebob Squarepants”. The on-going joke with Plankton is the fact that he never successfully steals the Krabby Patty Formula. He does all manner of evil shenanigans to get it, but his plans always fail. To me, this is another major problem with Scarlet that I’ve only thought about recently. Like others of said, she consistently fails but she never cares. Is that supposed to show that she is such a crazy kitten that no failure affects her? Even the Joker in “The Dark Knight” (who Scarlet is so obviously and poorly based off) gets frustrated when he loses control of a situation or things don’t go according to plan.

Either let Scarlet win for once or let us see her get upset when we defeat her for the 9000th time.

I agree with what the Mad Queen said. ANet seems keen on Scarlet being a connector of sorts. Right now this is a massive failure, but I think it could be saved if Scarlet has some interaction with the bad guys we actually care about.

I DO NOT want Scarlet to make some new alliance between the Mad King and the Elder Dragons, but rather, I would like to see a 4-way battle. Some kind of festival starts and Scarlet pops out of nowhere to cause havok, but for once something happens that she didn’t plan for. Maybe an Elder Dragon champion could come in, then the Bloody Prince could break out to exact his revenge.

Obviously that scenario is a bit much, but it would open up multiple storylines while also keeping the feeling of connection. They could use the Living Story to build up these stories into an expansion. I would still prefer they just drop Scarlet, but I feel this is the best way to go if they want to continue with her.

Thieves shouldn’t be charging in with the Warriors, unless you’re running S/D with lots of evades to keep yourself alive.

1) Supply runner. Fastest class=best supply runner
2) Small objective taker. Thieves can kill yaks, knock on keep doors to separate the enemy force, and flip supply camps.
3) Distraction/troll. I saw a Borlis Pass Thief distract a small zerg of Ehmry Bay (my server) for literally 10 minutes WHILE Stonemist was under attack. I had to go yell at the zerg to leave the troll alone. We lost SM castle just because of that kitten Thief.

Mickey Frogeater.1470:

Unless the Krait Prophets hijack the Nightmare Court storyline and turn out to be the ones behind said Nightmare Court i the first place!

If that can somehow make sense I’m all for it.

Erukk.1408:

From what I remember about the Krait, they don’t build obelisks to ascend prophets. The obelisks mark where the prophets ascended. So, unless one of their own already ascended, they are building the tower for something else.

Yes, I do believe they can make a LS delveing into the religious order of the Krait, but you are making it sound like that can’t be included in this LS. We know barely anything about this LS so far, much less how the Krait came to be possible allied with the NC, yet people have already marked it down as “Scarlet being Scarlet”.

The Krait are exhibiting totally unknown behavior by actually allying with another group, but instead of people finding that fascinating, and wondering what could possible cause that and the motives behind it; people have already declared it a lore breaking failure on Anet part. And i’ll repeat, we still know barely anything about it.

Germany did get far in WW2, by themselves, but they still lost didn’t they? The same goes for the Krait. They can cause a lot of problems by themselves, but they wouldn’t last against any allied force. Heck, they wouldn’t last against DR alone, if DR ever turned their full attention to them.

Read my response again. I said there is a possibility for me being wrong. I have not claimed end of the world yet. I am totally willing to give this Living Story update a chance, since I think the quality has been getting better lately. I just wanted to say to you that the Krait can be great villains without having to change their ways. And honestly, do you blame people for being sick of evil alliances at this point? I don’t think Scarlet is the ultimate worst thing ever like other people do, but I can understand why people would be upset about talk of another alliance.

Erukk.1408:

I very understood why people are in such a fuss about this. Would everyone have preferred the Krait to stay as an evil one dimensional race? Because, that’s all they are at the moment. Their “we’re already superior to everyone” mentally doesn’t really lend itself well to growth on the lore department, because they already think themselves perfect.

But hey, who am I to judge. Maybe people would have preferred this to be a solo Krait LS. They could have made a small tower, in the middle of the lake, out of sunken ships and debris, just to show everyone just how evil and superior they are to everyone else. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Oh man, are you kidding me? This Living Story had the potential to introduce the Krait’s version of a god. The Krait aren’t even evil, they just consider themselves superior. Kind of like how we hate kittenroaches, and we try to eradicate them from our own special worlds. Are we evil for that? Maybe, but that’s just how we think. Besides, the Krait will remain “one-dimensional” if they decide to ally with the Nightmare Court, since the Nightmare Court are just as “one-dimensional”.

A Krait focused LS could be the turning point of the Living Story, the one update that finally ends the skepticism. It could expand on existing lore, introduce a new baddy that isn’t Scarlet or related to her, and bring a real sense of threat to the world. A lot like the Tequatl Rising update (which is imho the best LS release so far) but on a bigger scale.

Who knows, maybe this Living Story arc will pull that off, but the Krait allying themselves with a faction related to Scarlet does not make it look promising.

I wouldn’t go that far, actually. Scarlet is a really underdeveloped, lame, generic villain, but that’s okay with me. Guild Wars has a lot of pretty lame villains, and then some hidden gem villains every now and then.

I don’t have a problem with Scarlet being involved in every new alliance, I’ve already accepted that she is the Guild Wars version of Superman. However, I will never accept how nothing is explained, ever! If Scarlet is going to be this military mastermind that unites every enemy faction, then at least tell us how she does it! How does she get the Krait, the most xenophobic faction in GW2, to unite with the Nightmare Court? How does she get the Molten Alliance together? Where does she get all these soldiers?

Some of those things have been explained partially, but without a proper explanation, everyone is gonna dismiss this new update as another “Oh look, Scarlet used her Mary Sue powers to unite evil people again.” We need information, otherwise this story will be a complete failure.

Bunch of whiners, you lot. I love the changes. Mace/Focus Scepter/Shield full meditation healing build. I have about 28% crit chance normally, so the on demand fury gives me lots of crits. I can support incredibly well, keep myself alive, and give occasional bursts of heavy damage if I time the fury right. The only thing I’m lacking is condition removal, but if I had that then I would be OP.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Why slap Colin? He didn’t do nothing wrong. All he does is smile and swing a sword!

He is, in my opinion, the face of the company. A face that shall be slapped if I am not satisfied!

1. Wizard’s Tower
2. Wizard’s Tower
3. Wizard’s Tower

It’s been almost a decade, and I have waited for half of my life. It’s time to let us inside, ArenaNet.

Just don’t kitten it up. If it turns out that Scarlet has been living in that tower for centuries, I will personally fly to ArenaNet HQ and slap Colin Johanson.

Mikau.6920:

Focused Mind grants 3 sec of fury. So it is basically… USELESS.

Karl had 4 1/2 seconds in the tooltip and I think he had +20% boon duration. I have +50% which would make it around 5 seconds at least. 5 seconds of fury every 18 seconds (from Smite Condition) alone is enough for me to land all my burst. Throw in the extra 5 seconds each from 2 other meditations, and that’s pretty huge.

Are you crazy? We actually get some consistent and reliable accesses to fury, and you’re complaining? My Guardian can already heal better and take more damage than any Warrior, but now I can make use of my +30% crit damage with constant fury. This patch is huge, at least for me.

Either way, how about you way for the patch notes, huh? The devs said like 100 times that they didn’t mention all the changes, just be patient.

Lore really isn’t my thing, I usually just get my info from Konig, The Wiki, or WoodenPotatoes, but I did play GW1 since around 2006. Maybe it was just because I was so young then, but I definitely felt that GW1 had better storytelling.

Prince Rurik was a really generic “noble prince looking out for his people” character, but I sympathized with him. His goals were clear, his character was well rounded, his accomplishments were WITNESSED by our characters, not TOLD to our characters. He was very likable even though he was really generic, and I was genuinely sad when he died.

As for Trahearne, I don’t even care about the whole “Trahearne took over the personal story” controversy. I’m fine with that, I didn’t want a personal story in the first place, I wanted the devs to focus their attention on making one good story, instead of a bunch of different bad stories that branch out. I liked being Trahearne’s sidekick. I just really didn’t like Trahearne. His character was about as generic as Prince Rurik, maybe a little bit less generic, but he wasn’t realized at all. He only contributes to a fight once, and he goes on vacation at the end while our characters+Destiny’s Edge go and kill Zhaitan.

I don’t really know what I’m trying to say, but I guess I’m saying that it’s bad for me to like Prince Rurik, who was roughly 1/4 of the story in GW1, while disliking Trahearne, who is at least half of the story.

As for the “Living World” I like the concept of the Aetherblades, as well as the Zephyrites. Neither of them have been fleshed out (I’m seeing a trend here) but I think they have potential. Scarlet is hopeless at this point, she can’t be saved. I never even knew who Canach was or why I was fighting him, and I’ve basically forgotten about the Molten Alliance.

I already got my perfect backpack (the zephyr rucksack) so I have no interest in any new back items, but I think it’s good for people who are still looking for the right fit,

I’m not going to go through 4 pages of lore nerdiness so if these pics have been posted already, I apologize.

To anyone who actually thinks Zhaitan is still alive, here’s some pics of his body.

I’m not going to discuss whether the new Tequatl is too difficult or not, because it’s too early to tell (and everyone else is discussing that right now).

After the overflow I was in failed the fight, Tequatl rampaged across the beach and knocked over everything in its path, and I was like “YESSS!!!”.

It was super cool, but the actual boss fight is still boring old Tequatl standing in one spot shooting his gross morning breath at a zerg. The fight may have been improved and made more difficult/tactical, but it still doesn’t feel like a boss fight.

A while back when people complained about the world bosses standing still, ANet replied with “if they moved, there would be too much lag”. I accepted that, until Tequatl ran across the beach.

Is there really no way for world bosses to move around and look like they actually care about what’s going on?

Just hopped on, put this together in a couple seconds. Just ignore the old man hair/beard.

I like the condition transfer idea. It should transfer a condition based on how many allies are around you. (maximum of 5, of course).

I enjoyed Scarlet. Yes, she is a generic cartoon villain, but generic cartoon villains, especially when well acted like Scarlet is, are a lot of fun. And I play video games for fun. I don’t play video games for incredibly deep characters, those are just nice bonuses.

All I’m saying is: this is the first time I have had legitimate fun in a Living Story instance.

Also, this was her intro. We know nothing about her. I agree her build-up was terrible, but I don’t understand why people are complaining about her back-story. The Aetherblades have always been working with the Inquest, so they obviously had something to do with her college graduation.

If her college graduation is even legit, since we only have ONE source saying it is.

Kwll.1468:

You have to be joking. Seriously I am not saying this is not useful stuff but you would have quit if they didnt update the tootips? If you didn’t know how much stuff signets gave you when traited with perfect inscriptions by now I don’t know what to say. As for what Virtue of resolves heals for per tick lets just say I think its awesome I can really crystalize how poor it really is. Regen in this game are weak and are barely effected by hp so what are you going to do you know what I want to increase virtue of resolve healing by 20 points lets me add a bunch of healing power!

The OP was being sarcastic, lol.

danbuter.2314:

What are you complaining about? Now I want a set!

Not everyone is turned on by pixelated butts.

I don’t think it would be fair for us to get more mobility. Mesmers would just get more kitten ed off about their lack of mobility. I would prefer some other way to apply damaging conditions, since burning is our only condition.

Even though D/D bunker build has seen some nerfs and isn’t as strong as it used to be, it’s still borderline OP. I can still charge head first into a 30 man zerg, blow all my cooldowns, mist form, RTL, heal up, and run. The survivability is ridiculous. Scepter dagger is also a very viable option, best ranged damage in the game in a PvP environment. The only weapon set that still sucks is x/focus. Hopefully that will change soon.

I run full heals. 10/0/0/30/30. Full Cleric’s.

Pros: Good heals, surprisingly solid damage, simple to play.

Cons: Terrible crit chance/crit damage. Go down pretty easily if focused and heals are on CD.

You can gear for damage and still be effective though. I fought a staff Ele today who hit for 3k per meteor. Anyone standing in the Meteor Shower melted in 5 seconds.

ARM.3912:

What happened is they continuously nerfed the elementalist until it was unplayable garbage. Desperate people are trying out the scepter, staff, and lots of new builds but really nothing works like d/d used to. Class destroyed.

It’s unbelievable to me that so many people genuinely think this. This class if fantastic. I just switched over from Warrior a few weeks ago and I enjoy the game so much more. No classes give me trouble in PvP, and PvE is a joke so I can do whatever I want and still be successful there.

Think about it, Ele’s have been nerfed for like 5 straight months (not arguing with you there) but the class is still incredible! Doesn’t that mean Ele’s were OP and deserved the nerfs?

Most pro PvP teams still take at least 1 Ele, in most cases they take 2. Until that changes you have nothing to worry about, the class is great.

If you tossed a cat off the zephyr sanctum it would land on its feet but it would still die. I don’t understand where this idea of invincible cats came from. My Charr always lands on all fours but still dies.

I agree with giving it to dual pistols. Shortbow was too strong with a 1200 range option, but double pistols is too weak right now, it really needs 1200 range to be somewhat viable.

Darksidhe.6740:

I just don’t see how you can remove stealth completely without breaking trait lines.
Even longer revealed is problematic.

Well obviously the traits would be reworked. I don’t think ANet wants to put that much effort into balance so I highly doubt stealth will be changed/removed, I’m just saying what I want personally.

I imagined the Thief as a Scout from Team Fortress 2, rather than a Spy from TF2.

As a Thief main, I actually agree with getting rid of stealth. It has always been frustrating for other players and the classes with access to stealth always get tons of hate and QQ. I would prefer the Thief to have tons of evades. ANet has said repeatedly that Thieves are supposed to be the most mobile and slippery class. Withdraw and Roll For Initiative are what I’m thinking of. Stealth just makes balance too hard to achieve.

Forestgreen.7981:

The very first condition to be removed is bleed out of all the conditions you get. This is why condition warrior who rely heavily on bleeds is bad.

Not at all. Conditions get removed in the same order they are applied. If you apply cripple, immobilize, and bleed: cripple will be removed first, then immobilize, then bleeding.

It’s not weak, it’s just insanely clunky in any situation that isn’t zerg vs zerg. I can also hit double 1k’s with Dual Shot, but it fires very slow and half the time it bugs out and one of the arrows goes to the moon instead of going to my target. Fan of Fire and Pin Down also miss half the time, and Arcing Arrow is so slow and clunky that the targets move out of it even at point blank range. It was clearly not designed for close range combat, because trying to use it in such a situation is a mess.

It took forever, but my Charr finally wields his sword correctly! I can now use one handed weapons and not be grossed out whenever I see my character running! Thanks ANet! Cheers!

This patch was great for me. Longbow didn’t get any buffs, but my main set Sword/Warhorn got a huge improvement. I can put crazy pressure on people now and actually stay in the fight.

I never sPvP because of the handicap Warriors have in Conquest gamemodes, but I have about 300 hours of WvW on my Warrior, and Longbow/Sword/Sword is my favorite set in general. However, do NOT focus on conditions. Precision is the stat you want the most of. I use Knight’s armor, Rampager’s Swords/Longbow, Soldier’s backpiece/amulet, and Rampager’s accessories/rings. The best way to build a condition Warrior is to go hybrid. Warriors can only apply Bleeding and Burning, which can easily be cleansed. For runes I use full Soldier’s for the condition removal, and I keep “Fear Me!” so I have some form of interrupt on my skillbar. Permafury from “For Great Justice!” and Signet of Rage is a must. Like I said, you need lots of critical hits to keep bleed pressure on and get that extra damage in.

I like this idea. However, to keep them from outshining Engie kits, we would have to get some kind of nerf to the amount of time or charges with the weapons. I’m totally fine with that though, Eles are probably the best combo makers in the game, so adding to that would be awesome.

No problem, just keep in mind that it’s almost impossible to actually lock down a good thief, so if you run into a good thief, it really doesn’t matter what weapons you have, you’re already at a disadvantage. Their ability to disengage is insane.

Whenever I feel like maining a hammer build, I keep a longbow in my offhand for any blind thieves/kiters. Use pindown followed by earthshaker so they don’t have a chance to spawn a blind field, then continue the stunlock chain. If the Thief is bad he’ll let you lock him down until he dies.

THAT IS AWESOME! PLEASE DON’T FIX THIS ANET.

AlBundy.7851:

I just want to say this thread is officially awesome ohh it’s so sweet. This is straight up payback /highfive if you know what is going on.

Not sure who you’re seeking revenge on. I have like 8 posts on this forum and I have never come into contact with you before today.

AlBundy.7851:

Is it called mid tier pvp?

It’s called Guild Wars 2, maybe you’ve heard of it?

AlBundy.7851:

I think we should replace the term warrior’s dps with 100 blades. I think it’s offensive to mention warrior’s with dps.

Are we playing the same game?