Guild Wars 2

It’s no wonder that villainous orders such as the Inquest, Sons of Svanir, and Nightmare Court exist. They receive cultural armor as a STANDARD ISSUE. That’s right – items that cost your character considerable gold are provided to nearly every member of the antagonist organizations. Sons of Svanir walk around in t2 cultural, Nightmare Court can be seen in tier 3 cultural armor, etc.

And what does your character get as the reward for leading the pact and killing an Elder Dragon? A few rares and a token that can be exchanged for a single standard-issue Pact weapon.

Yeah.

Nuka Cola.8520:

gold is shared. laurels are shared. dungeon tokens are shared. karma isn’t shared. MAKES SENSE!!!!!!!!!

Considering Karma is an arbitrary number representing how much the npc’s of the world know and appreciate your particular character, it actually does make sense.

Also, Orrian Jewelboxes let you effectively trade karma from one character to another (albeit with heavily deminished returns). Just spend it, open them up for the drops/tastes/vials, bank them and stack up a massive amount, use them on your other character (preferably with a karma booster active), and benefit from the potential lodestones/minis/gold/etc. from the boxes.

This would be a new, 2-handed caster weapon, usable by the Guardian, Elementalist, Mesmer, Necromancer, and Thief. Yep – Thief (Deadly Artist / Guild Wars 1 Assacaster).

These orbs are like floating …. well, orbs, obviously that act as a medium for casting magic. They levitate near the palm of the wielder’s hand(s) and can be thrown at the target like a boomerang. They have appeared in other MMOs (such as Aion and Perfect World – being one of the few good aspects of those games).

Orb attacks tend to be flashy and disorienting attrition weapons with widely different effects for each profession.

Conncept.7638:

Raf.1078:

I wouldn’t mind seeimg some sort of Swashbuckler or Rogue class. Capable of wearing leather or chain maybe. Dual rapiers etc…

Thief just doesn’t quite fit that bill. Thieves remind me of more like an Assassin class.

The classes in GW2 cover a much broader spectrum of archetypes than in any other MMO I’ve ever seen. The thief for example can be an assassin on one end of the spectrum, but a skull-caving thug on the other end, or a lithe and finesse duelist somewhere in the middle.

The Thief seems rather redundant to me. The Mesmer can (and pretty much does) contain everything that defines the Thief and so much more. It’s like…. if the Thief was combined with the Mesmer and another 8th profession was added, there would be no real loss.

Zeivu.3615:

Necros are far from the bottom. IMO, Engineers are the bottom. While I don’t agree with the weapon sets released for each class, WoW fanboys should either except gw2 for what it is or go back and pay real money to nuture your pandas.

Wait, so people are WoW fanboys for asking for more weapon sets for each class? There is no reason why alternate ways of looking at a character (such as “Deathknights” for Necromancers) should be viewed as fanboyism to another game.

If anything, it’s the loyal Arenanet fanbase – the Guild Wars 1 fanboys that want more weapons.

Doesn’t WoW charge a considerable amount of currency just to transfer one character?

I don’t know – guesting is a great system. Let’s you play on any server at any time with the sole restrictions being no WvW, no server benefits, and no guild benefits.

IMO, they really should make guild benefits of the guild you are representing affect you if the guild has benefits on the server you are guesting on.

The only way to fix conjures is to make them work as a secondary weapon set while in effect, allowing the Elementalist to swap between them and his regular weapon.

Conjures will be gimmicky at best as long as they lock the Elementalist out of their core functionality.

I’m going to have to say no to this. The Engineer doesn’t need the functionality and the Ele should have conjures work as a secondary weapon set until their duration or charges run out.

Yes, yes, 1 million times yes.

Weapon selection has nothing to do with class tiering and Necromancers are most definitely not at or near the bottom of the barrel. The best Necromancer players are some of the best and most effective players in the game because the profession is strong despite its poor traits and low build variety.

That said, I would love to see more weapons added to all classes with a limited selection. Necromancers getting Greatsword, Greataxe, OH Axe, MH/OH Sword… Elementalist getting GS/Hammer/Longbow/Rifle/Sword/Torch/etc. Mesmers getting a MH pistol. Thieves getting melee (Bo)Staff. Etc. Etc.

Hammers have some of the best skins, IMO:

The Juggernaut is arguably one of the best looking legendaries (and probably one of the cheaper ones). Mjolnir as well, but it’s absurdly expensive.

The Priory and Vigil Hammers are solid Order skins.

Ebon Vanguard Hammer looks fantastic, as do Lionguard and Seraph. The Molten and Corrupted Hammers are nice as well.

Oh, and the HoM Icebreaker – definitely one of the best HoM rewards.

Largos would be an awesome race. They just need to be fleshed out more and perhaps given more appearance diversity.

Bedstain.6735:

What is the point of having the ability to create a character of any complexion but the game itself has all Caucasians in the humanoid cities? There are no people that look of Asian or african or any olive complexion decent? Really?

Hoebrak is Nordic. I understand the concept behind the race, but you mean to tell me that all humans must be Caucasian? Really?

Is ridiculous and shameful. It’s not just gw2 that does it but since the Devs want suggestions, how about adding a little diversity in your cities.

Chill out. If you had played Guild Wars 1, you’d know that other ethnic groups are present in the GW universe on other continents. Cantha is a primarily Asian continent and Elona is mostly African.

Also, the character creation system allows your character to be any ethnicity AND if you choose the missing sister storyline, you get to personally choose your ancestry.

Honestly, “racial equality” posts on online gaming forums are usually ridiculous.

Direct damage currently scales with virtually every offensive stat except for condition damage/duration. Power, Precision, and Critical Damage stack together and work with vulnerability to hit for huge numbers, especially in PvE. Condition Damage tends to fall short except to counter high toughness, low vitality enemies. This contrast is even more apparent in PvE where the 25 stack caps on conditions are more likely to be met and duration-stacking conditions are often applied to the point of redundancy.

Simply put, Vulnerability should work with Bleeding, Burning, and Poison:

1) Vulnerability is currently one of the weakest conditions except in high stacks and/or with multiple allies.

2) Condition Damage tends to be lower than Direct Damage, especially in PvE.

3) Many CD builds apply Vulnerability to poor effect (Staff Mesmers, any Ranger with opening strike, a longbow, or a vuln pet, Necromancers, Warriors using an axe or GS, etc.) This change will help synergy within builds.

4) This improves offensive team synergy.

Human Elementalist.

-You give more weapon types to each profession.
- You add more legendaries + improve existing ones.
- Add Largos and Tengu as playable races.
- Incentivize players to explore all maps.
- Separate map completion of the PvE and WvW – one Gift of Exploration for each.
- Cheaper pre-cursors.

I’d settle for any new 2-handed ele weapon. Longbow, GS, Hammer, Rifle, whatever.

I have to disagree with the Thief crowd. I’ve played one. They get really repetitive due to the low number of weapon sets and the way weapons are designed. They aren’t particularly challenging to play due to their low skill floor (they MIGHT have a high skill ceiling depending on build).

An Ele, Engineer, or Necro will give you more build options with more abilities to work with.

Elementalist. Soldier’s gear makes them durable enough to excel in virtually all environments and they bring a fast-paced, challenging playstyle with great support and reasonable damage output.

I’d rather see the Greatsword reworked a bit. Maul just sticks out as a boring, generic skill that doesn’t really add much to the set and none of the skills particularly synergize in more than an arbitrary way.

Only if it’s treated like a short-duration condition, such as what you see in games like League of Legends.

schizandra.4587:

The Factions and Nightfall professions were absorbed by the current GW2 professions as they are, from what I understand. I know people think we need a 3rd heavy armor profession, but what would it do that isn’t already covered by current classes?

In any case, I don’t mean to say that I don’t want debate about new professions in this thread (I don’t care and I’m happy to participate in that) but there are already many threads on that. Here I’m mostly asking what people have heard about from ANet or others about whether or not it will happen, and sources if possible.

Well, soldiers are the only classification without a class that uses an alternate mechanic instead of weapon swapping. Something like a class that swaps stance styles with a single set, a spellsword of some sort that alternates between melee and range with each weapon, or a druidic heavy class that changes his inner animal to completely change his weapon skills (sort of like a more creative Udyr from League of Legends) would all be worthy candidates.

Hammer, greatsword buffs/reworks, whip.

wildcode.5403:

Vavume.8065:

It has become far far worse than it was before, in both wvw and places like Lions Arch.

This culling issue can also be seen in dynamic events with large mobs, half the time you do not see the mob until they are on top of you.

That makes event farming in Orr a disaster. I thought it was just the new players with the Orr rework, but I hadn’t thought of connecting it with the culling “fixes.”

If they ever do legendary armor, it has to give you a whole armor box rather than a piece.

Harbinger.8637:

Not every legendary needs footsteps…..

Flameseeker Prophecies is one of the better ones in the game, it’s beautiful. Whoever designed it props.

Take my Juggernaut for example. It’s footsteps are terrible, you can barely see them. Might as well remove them. Do I care? No, because the rest of the weapon is amazing.

Flameseeker Prophecies is beautiful, but it doesn’t really do much to qualify as “legendary”.

nowitsawn.1276:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Something subtle, fitting, and aesthetically pleasing would be nice.

What if a glowing page fell out of the book and flew in the wind behind you every so often?

Quite nice indeed.

As for the footsteps, what about some fancy writing? Was a bit curious how that would look, so made a quick screenshot edit (attachment).

They’d have to use different writing, though (shameless LoTR ripoff in the image below). Something like Old Krytan or Old Ascalonian perhaps.

Well, I was thinking that the pages WOULD be the footstep. A footstep effect doesn’t necessarily have to actually be on the ground – just a trail of any sort.

The writing concept is nice too, but blue writing would probably look better.

Something subtle, fitting, and aesthetically pleasing would be nice.

What if a glowing page fell out of the book and flew in the wind behind you every so often?

Ooshi.8607:

I will not speak of over-sized chickens, no polar bears in drag or underwater Forest Gump lookalikes.
I will state why the Skritt should be the new playable race.

Every intelligent person among us will surely recognise the fact that Asura are the superior race in Tyria. This is not only due to their OP cuteness, but because the world of Tyria is evidently built with someone with the correct anatomical size in mind. The Skritt would give us another choice at playing a correctly sized individual. Not only that, if you look closely next time you speak with a skritt take a closer look at his smile. Tell me that is not even cutter than the cutest asura.
Secondly, skritt got tails. Only the Charr have got tails. Everyone knows that tails are OP. If like most people you want to have a character with a nice beautiful tail, but would not like to play a charr because they are anatomically challenged, then skritt are the way forward.
My final reason is that clearly the Skritt were just made for co-op play. Sometimes I feel that Guild Wars doesn’t give you enough reasons to group. Can you imagine a horde of Skritt just going forth in Tyria just shouting at the top of their perfectly sized lungs:

- Guarding! Guarding! Guarding.
- Hey stinky feet. Got shiny for me?
- Yes shiny? No shiny?
- You smell funny.

Skritt Thieves would be overpowered. Steal without a cooldown.

Fay.2735:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Dwarves would require retconning or deus ex machina, as only a few of them are left (and it’s hinted that Ogden might even be the last one) – certainly not enough of them to justify a playable race.

Well according to the wiki dwarves are still around but turned into stone, living in the depths. There could easily be a plot devised where the magic that transformed them is reversed or a cure made (not deeply familiar with dwarf lore so I don’t know but I can imagine it wouldn’t be hard to explain it).

That isn’t what I was referring to. Stone dwarves are still very much dwarves, but most of the stone dwarves have died in their war against the Destroyers for the past 250 years.

Dwarves would require retconning or deus ex machina, as only a few of them are left (and it’s hinted that Ogden might even be the last one) – certainly not enough of them to justify a playable race.

Title says it all – which 3 races would you most want to see become playable?

Mine:

Tengu

Largos

Djinn

The representation system should definitely be reworked. The whole thing is kind of borked.

Sol.4310:

We should of been given the Hammer over GS, would of made rangers allot more useful in team fights and not so limited to builds.

Well, it’s not so much THAT we got the GS so much as it is that our GS is poorly designed with little synergy between moves, lackluster trait support, and (like many Ranger weapons) is a bad case of not being able to decide whether it wants to be direct or condition damage.

The Bunny Thumper (a Ranger/Warrior hammer beastmaster) was an interesting pressure build that became quite popular in Guild Wars 1.

Merits:

Hammers are currently only used by 2 professions – Guardians and Warriors, making them the least-available weapon type in the game (tied with Mace).

Rangers are rather lacking in terms of direct crowd control – they have some short dazes (Shortbow, Greatsword), a knockdown (situational – GS counter), and a knockback (Longbow), but that’s about it. Sure, pets put out CC, but it isn’t responsive or particularly reliable.

A crowd control weapon would allow Rangers to lock down targets for a short time, making pets and traps more useful.

Concept:

For Warriors, the Hammer is a simple cc weapon with a weakness move, a knockback, a knockdown, and a leap + aoe stun burst skill. Without adrenaline, it lacks a gap closer.

For Guardians, the Hammer is a more combo-oriented weapon. Trap a foe and hit them with your symbol. Snare them and do it again. Set off combo fields with your 5/4 second cooldown blast finisher. It’s more elegant and complex than the Warrior hammer, IMO. Still lacking in terms of mobility.

For Rangers, the Hammer would be a high mobility crowd-control set. The auto-attack chain would be faster and weaker than other hammers, mainly just there to fill in the gaps between skills and inflict weakness and/or vulnerability. It’s 2-5 would provide valuable utility. Most damage would be inflicted via coordinating 2-5 skills with your pet.

For Example

Chain-
Fast hit, gain swiftness (1s)
Fast hit, gain swiftness (1s)
Slower hit, inflict multiple stacks of low-duration vulnerability.
(Synergizes with Nature Magic to help both you and your pet stay on target.)

2 – FOUR!
Swing your hammer at your pet, sending them towards the target foe dealing good damage and knocking them down for 1 second. Don’t worry – no pets were harmed in the making of this skill.
Subskill – Leap to the foe you threw your pet at, crippling them with your hammer briefly.

3 – Smash as One
You and your pet both smash the area around yourselves, dealing aoe damage. Foes can be struck by both hits.

4 – Return
Throw your hammer at the target foe, dealing damage. The hammer will briefly trip the foe and pull them about 100 distance in your direction (the hammer throw would probably be about 450-600).

5 – Shard Storm
Smash the ground with your hammer, breaking the earth and sending out rocks that fall on the target location, dealing multiple pulses of damage with mini-stuns (like 0.1s-0.25s). (Think Cave Troll but not nearly as potent).
(Works especially well with traps.)

Respecs are hilariously cheap. They are just a huge inconvenience. I would pay quite a few gems for the ability to have 2 or more trait pages stored for out-of-combat swaps.

The Soultwister
Type: Staff
Appearance: Looks like an ornate spear with a soul wrapped around the full length of it.

Effects:
Spectral trail on footprints and weapon swings.
Any foe you get the killing blow on has a new death animation in which their soul leaves their body.
When playing as a Necromancer, Death Shroud and Lich Form turn you into a Wraith, rather than the Lich.
Reason: Land spears are awesome and we need a non-rainbow staff.

The Rodgort is currently one of the most lackluster legendaries, which is a pity, given the potential of torches. It currently only provides a footstep effect – one that is redundant given that the Incinerator does that and more.

I would like to open up discussion on how to improve this legendary, starting with my own suggestion:

When you use torch skills, Rodgort should momentarily cause ethereal dragon wings to sprout from your back, much like the wings Paragons in Guild Wars 1 had when they used chants (though more intimidating – more flesh than feathers.) The effect would remain for a couple seconds after the skill was used. In the case of channeling skills, the wings would remain for the entire duration then end when the channel finishes.

Ansultares.1567:

Striker.4853:

I play 4-6 hours a day, i finish the daily achievment in 10-15 minutes. I need to sit and wait for it now?

This is one reason I don’t like daily formats. I’m also not convinced that it works well for casuals, since casuals are likely to skip days entirely or cluster their playtime on one particular day (say, a day off).

dustinharlin.8693:

What other game gives free monthly updates?

I don’t know that I would count the holiday events in there; plenty of other MMOs do that, but you don’t seem to give them any credit for it.

And the post above mine has the best explanation for why regular updates will continue in this game; it’s vital to sustaining gem sales.

Why does it matter if it’s vital to sustaining gem sales? It’s free content that benefits the playerbase and keeps the game interesting. If a few people want to spot them some money, then that’s all the better – it keeps the company running and funds future updates. Arenanet isn’t some large, greedy company. Hell, they have (or had?) a whopping TWO people working on balance.

You know how many laurels you could get before the patch? None.

They threw us a bone with a great new mechanic and all you can do is complain about the returns of this free stuff?

Anchorwind.9016:

This thread is intended to serve as a straight yes-or-no [I don’t know is also acceptable] poll on many of the discussions currently on going. This thread is not intended to continue those discussions, please visit the relevant threads and participate. Also, as a subset of the community I [the compiler] and you [the participant] are/should be aware that our percentage numbers may not reflect the community as a whole. This is strictly informative to the people currently participating. Pending sufficient responses, I will periodically update with current percentages.

The Dirty Dozen:
1) Would you prefer ascended gear to be the last tier implemented for the remainder of GW2?
2) Would you prefer ascended gear to be equal to exotic gear in all statistics except agony resistance?
3) Would you prefer the level cap to remain at 80 for the remainder of GW2?
4) Would you prefer if WvW was set up on an equal playing field similar to PvP?
5) Would you prefer if WvW / PvP / PvE had separate skill functionalities?
6) Would you prefer if Magic Find was removed from the game completely?
7) Would you prefer if Magic Find was divided equally amongst all party members?
8) Is GW2 too ‘Grindy?’
9) Does GW2 need less RNG?
10) Has the Trading Post [and all its users/farmers] positively impacted the economy?
11) Do you have as much faith [and/or enthusiasm] about the game [and/or company] as you did before launch?
12) Do you reasonably expect [many of] your primary concerns to be addressed in early 2013?

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.
5. YES.
6. No.
7. Yes.
8. No.
9. Yes.
10. Yes.
11. Yes.
12. No.

The best solution would probably be to combine pvp and pve dailies in a large selection where you get “Daily Completion” by completing x out of y dailies. By completing a selection of PvE OR PvP dailies, the players would be suitably rewarded.

The changes to Orr are already making a significant difference to my playing experience. I love not being pulled or feared every 2 seconds and I love getting more bags and Elaborate Totems.

The Jewelboxes were a nice way to lower lodestone prices a bit.

Pinder.5261:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Technically, Staves, Foci, and Scepters are just as “done to death” as GS’s (all of them on 4 different professions). Swords and Spears are the most “done to death” weapons in the game with 5 and 6 respectively.

Ah, I meant “done to death” to indicate the amount which players use the weapon. Players have a natural inclination towards the Greatsword, it seems. Those classes with the option are commonly found using them. Staves, Foci, Scepters, and the like, while more commonly accessible, are less commonly seen. (Staves being a probable exception to that observation.)

To be fair to Mesmers, scepters are awful in PvE and swords are melee on a light armor class, leaving Staff as the only other real PvE option.

Greatsword is arguably the most fun weapon on the Guardian (though I prefer Hammer).

Rangers don’t lean towards them much – their Greatsword’s kinda blow anyway.

And most player interactions in open world PvE are farm-oriented, where GS and Axe/Axe are the most common choices because of their high AoE damage. The Warrior is the only profession that I consider the Greatsword to be grossly overplayed in.

Pinder.5261:

Why not greatsword? Because the game needs at least one or two classes who don’t use the bleeding greatsword.

Hammerheart.1426:

Pfft, as if Rifle Elementalist wouldn’t be the coolest weapon selection.

The possibilities are awesome.

This guy, right here, he gets it. Rifles have far more potential than another, “my blade spits FIAR!” In fact, most weapons have more potential. I’d take a mace over a greatsword, or a shield, a pistol, torch, or long bow. Far more fun to be had with those than the done-to-death greatsword. But Rifle, above all.

Technically, Staves, Foci, and Scepters are just as “done to death” as GS’s (all of them on 4 different professions). Swords and Spears are the most “done to death” weapons in the game with 5 and 6 respectively.

My point – why be satified until every profession can use almost every weapon? Swords, Spears, Greatswords, Rifles, Torches, Spellbooks, Orbs, Maces, Shields, Whips, and Bows all have a lot of potential on the Ele. Hell, just about everything does.

I do love the picture though.

Having the Obsidian Shards available through Laurels was the right decision because it helps smaller servers who do NOT have reliable access to Balthazar like Ferg.

Think beyond yourself. It never hurts to have more options.

The Ele has more potential for interesting mechanics with each weapon than just about every profession in the game, in my opinion – and few weapons are more requested than the Greatsword.

So how might a weapon like the Greatsword be interesting on an Elementalist?

My vision for the weapon is a sort of bridge between melee and ranged combat – both at the same time. All four attunements would have a melee swing, stab, or smash that fires projectiles. At range, you would do less damage, but in melee, you would hit with everything at once, greatly increasing your dps.

The fire auto-attack, for example, would be a swing that produces fireballs. Water would unleash ice bolts (or alternatively splashes water that seeks out allies to slightly heal them). Air would produce a slow but powerful shockwave, and earth would smash the ground to release stones.

The Greatsword’s skill set would probably focus on crowd control to keep foes right where the Ele wants them.

lordhelmos.7623:

The goal of the idea is to balance out the ability of thieves to enter a fight at no risk. Right now because there are no mounts for chasing, escapes are very powerful. Stealth is the most powerful escape because it essentially provides a get out of jail free card at any time for escaping an encounter.

The objective is to create a mechanism that adds risk to an encounter. The idea adds a mechanism for forcing a thief to stay in a fight instead of being able to vanish without a trace and reset the fight at will and with high frequency.

While non-crit and chilled ideas are great ideas, they still don’t fix the problem of no fight commitment that thieves are entitled to

While thieves should not be easily trapped in every fight, there should be a stealth counter mechanisms that increase the degree of difficulty in fleeing an encounter.

The problem with the idea is that burning is plentiful, easy to apply, and easy to maintain.

It might be better to add an illumination buff to only certain burning abilities that applies a 2-3 second debuff on thieves and mesmers that prevents them from stealthing.

Why should a class with 10k base hp and medium armor be forced to commit to fights, especially seeing as how their sustained damage can’t hope to match that of Warriors or other high durability professions?

And why burning – a condition that is easily inflicted by literally every non-Thief profession? Hell, anyone can equip Forge(?) runes and get a free, long-duration burn against the Thief as soon as they drop to 50% health, along with a free 10 second Protection to make the Thief’s forced commitment even more useless.

Your idea has no merit. Thieves are SUPPOSED to have commitment issues. Give them enough base health to survive a sustained encounter and then talk to me about forcing commitment.

Duration is too long. It would be better to do things like add anti-crit to a condition (like Blind or Weakness) and make Chilled increase initiative costs (seeing as how we lack weapon cooldowns).

Turgut.4397:

People saying warriors are OP in every game. Please play GW1. The amount of anti-melee in that game is mind blowing. For years and years, I’ve suffered at the hands Empathy spamming Mesmers, Parasite spamming Necros, Blind spamming Eles (note: Blind lasted for a duration, and was literally spammable, with a longer duration than it’s cooldown), cripple spamming Rangers etc. Every single class, even the kitten warrior had countless anti-melee skills.

What’s the anti-melee in this game? A short blind which is removed after 1 attack, and perhaps immobilize.. THANK…. GOD….

I see warriors here in GW2 being rewarded for all the years of pain and suffering at the hands of our oppressors!

Edit: And how on earth did I forget the huge number of Block skills? Unless I sacrificed skill/adrenaline to get just one attack through, the other guy punching his 1-8 keys would be having a jolly old time smashing me to pieces regardless of my armor.

Good one. Despite all of the anti-melee abilities in GW1, Warriors were still a staple PvP class that often had 2 reserved slots in a given GvG team because they were the best pressure class in the game.