Guild Wars 2

If you noticed anything not working post patch, please post for others to be aware / reproduce / verify (and hopefully they get attention to be fixed).

• So far I have only noticed Spear weapon skill #1 for underwater is constant “MISS”, meaning I can’t hit/dmg with default skill. Skills #2-5 work fine.

• Also, if you last left your mesmer in water with Spear before logging off, coming back to the game (so logging directly back to underwater) seems to make you invisible to nearby mobs (I’m still trying to accurately reproduce this).

Setch.2398:

I think it’s important to note that Kaineng gained WM from SBI so that is the correlation between Kaineng now winning and SBI now losing.

edit: I would love to hear how WM likes Kaineng fulltime. I assumed they would miss SBI and was wondeing if they do or are happy with their move.

Indeed that does correlate nicely. Was WM a huge guild? And did they all transfer?

Honestly, don’t anticipate winning. An above average thief will out run you once you got the upper hand. I feel like mesmer 1v1 thief, draw is a win for mesmer.

For 3 slivers, this is my build for my server’s off hours, since we are defending keeps against invaders, many many trigger happy invaders. hehe ~~

yah, like others said, pretty bad in 1v1, Glamour skills all have extremely long CD. Portal used to be a bit better with only 60s CD and you create essentially 2 glamour feilds, but at 90s, I go with Veil now.

As we are moments away from reset, here’s a preview things to look out for this week of Jan 11.

— Blackgate — Most anticipated this week is the rise of Blackgate back into Tier 1 since November of last year (was it really that long ago?). BG is ranked 4th overall positioned in Tier 2, and has consistently won Tier 2 for the last 8 weeks always coming in 1st with margin of victory no less than 20k points. Some would even say they’re Tier 1 in disguise. BG has been characterized for perfecting the strategy of “attacking the enemy when they are weak” and often sweep every map with their strong presence of oceanic/europe guilds during off hours in North America, demoralizing their opponents when they log each day. Of course, Tier 1 is stacked with coverage, and you can bet Jade Quarry’s own international guilds would like a word with BG. How they perform next week will be the key measuring stick of power differential between Tier 1 and 2, since Tier 1 has been in a 8-week lock down with Sea of Sorrow, JQ, and …

— Stormbluff Isle — The last remaining of the original Tier 1 since WvW launched, and they will be dearly missed. After the quick lost of Eredon Terrace and later fallout of Henge of Denravi, they fought to hold on and stayed on top. But perhaps age and wear has finally caught up as their paced seemed to have slowed a bit recently leading to their descend down to Tier 2 and trading places with BG. Still, many remember SBI kicking BG in the rear last time around and only see this set back as a vacation in Tier 2. They’re forecasting a BG flop and will be back in Tier 1 before you can finish a glass of dolyak milk. Indeed, the minds of SBI are sharp, beside the basics of zerging, their tactics and strategy are more sophisticated with effective leveraging of other servers on different maps. It appears that SBI seems unlikely to follow the fall of ET or HoD, and a little bit of R&R with new servers might be just enough to ignite the guilds across SBI again. Tier 2 better watch out, you thought you were tough, but daddy’s in town and it’s a whole new ball game out there, just like …

— Kaineng — A name you probably never heard before, and for good reasons. Dead last in the heats, Kain ranked last and stayed last for the next 3 months of WvW. Morale was low, hopes were lost, and pride wounded. Yet, as some feared the end of the world last year, the stars aligned and brought miracle to Kain. A huge influx of guilds came on-board to Kain in the last 2 weeks of December. They teamed up with native guilds to form what is now the NEO alliance, going on to dominating and escaping Tier 8 to with a 500k points win. They have since stepped on the gas pedal and never looked back getting another 500k win saying bye-bye to Tier 7. You have been warned Tier 6, Kain is no funny business, they are riding a rocket, so step up or get out of the way or you’d wish you were at the Searing of Ascalon. While still 100k points differential, we’re going out on a limb and saying Kain will leapfrog Tier 6 and come face to face with that elder brother you always hated Devona’s Rest next week.

Good luck and good hunting.

The ones that I remember had an impact on my PvE game:

- Portal longer CD time (for a while, I actually did kite 3 mobs, lay portal and jump between to evade. Now just used in JP).

- iMage confusion duration reduction (down to 3 sec now, more often then not, iMage’s attack locks in when mob doesn’t do any skill, torch is near useless compared to other weapons)

In WvW, impacts are:

- Portal again (for obvious reasons)

- Blind nullifies illusion skills (I have a very difficult time solo a camp, especially a fully upgraded one. them scouts and auto-blind)

Quells.2498:

An alliance doesn’t solve a problem really. It just usurps the first place server if it’s successful. You’ll still be battling for first and second place only against a different opponent. They’re useless.

Yup, it’s only there to hold and delay the first server points as long as possible. If there was any way to actually make an alliance happen, either TC or SoR will have to betray one another on the last or second to last day, depending on the score. Then go full out to capture as many points as possible and see who comes out on top.

Imagine all the scheming and betrayal, if there was some sort of alliance function. Makes the WvW must more crazy.

OdinBudd.5298:

First off, happy New Year everyone!
Now, on to this topic of alliances…
I myself do not play WvWvW for the points. I play for the fights, and for the past 2 weeks the fights have been awesome! My hat goes off to both BG and SOR, you are both fantastic opponents and I have very much enjoyed fighting with you and learning from you. I personally do not care whether an alliance is formed or not, I just want to keep having good fights…. but, wanted to put out a few points of logic to debate. If you DID want to play for points, then your goal is to be #1 right? (To quote the great philosopher Ricky Bobby, “If your not first, your last.”) So, if one server has such an overwhelming Asiatic presence which virtually guarantees them 1st place, the only way to beat them would be to minimize the points they can get when they are not fighting unopposed. The only way to do this in my mind (again, not saying I support this) would be for the 2nd and 3rd place teams to gang up on the 1st place team. If you think of the points in WvW as a race, then it does no good for #3 to shoot #2 in the legs. #3 will simply move to #2 and will never be #1. Now, if an alliance were formed and #1 could be brought down to an equal level as the others, then all 3 servers still have a shot at #1. The final days of the week would be a shootout for the top spot.

I can completely understand why BG would not want to face this, who would! But what reasons would those playing for points and the win from both SOR and TC have for NOT doing this? I’m not trying to get flamed or troll this thread, I think there are many people in this thread who have shown ability to have a reasonable discussion and exchange of ideas, I am just asking their opinions to help clarify my own.

I agree.

Look no further than history. Anyone played Dynasty Warriors? Two lesser kingdoms ally in order to face the dominating single kingdom. Realistically, it’s the only way to survive.

Of course this is only a game, and the universe only lasts for 1 week. Your character doesn’t change if you lose. But just imagine, if all participating players character are wiped once you lose WvW, all of a sudden alliance don’t sound too bad eh?

Chewy.9263:

Facepalm at this thread… So much QQ about alliances, elts get back to the scores please.

Here’s a score update.

Wait? So are we having an alliance/truce with SoR for real?

I only ask because BG is really beefing up their fights this week around. I don’t mind an alliance at all, in fact, it would be the only sensible decision from a tactical standpoint. There is no glory in second or third.

Happy 2013 Everyone!

OP is just the world’s smallest violin. What you’re advocating isn’t skill, but mindless burst dmg. Down state is fine and adds a nice element to the game, save the ally, focus on enemy, or flee. Besides, you’re too narrowly focused. WvW is skill + tactics + strategy altogether.

- Skill is for your individual 1v1 encounters. Correctly adjusting and anticipated who you are fighting and how you should fight. If you really want more of this, go play sPvP.

- Tactics is for your 2v2 – 10v10 encounters. Down state plays a HUGE role in these fights. Getting rid of it just means mindless burst dmg zergs in the future, and then its a race to see who can smash buttons faster. Then there are combo fields, call target, and elites skills in which a mere 1 or 2 successful coordination can turn the battle.

- Strategy is for your 20+ player battles. This is where you lay field siege, take high grounds, hold and distract, lure and flank. Vent/Mumble is a must for this to work nicely. This is what separates high tier servers from lower ones. Because these battles change the map presence of servers.

OP seems to be way too focused on skill only. If what you wished for came true, let me tell you what will happen. Everyone will be a Thief, then team up with another Thief, and you can burst down almost anything. No down state now, so instant death. C/D or SR and then shortbow away. Ironically, it would turn to be more skill-less of a game.

Moa is fine. It’s already pointless in PvE and WvW.

It only kills when in tPVP/sPVP you become the target and enemies all gank you at once. Otherwise, you turn around and run (use the sprint skill to run), and get out of trouble. Mesmer can’t chase well, and need a large lead time to setup their bursts. With a 3min cooldown, you only have to survive 10sec and you’ll probably never see it again in the combat.

The times I’ve been Moa’ed, I survived nearly 75% time, and I’m a Mesmer (light armor class).

Scepter is great at PvE, as soon as a mob bites on one clone, you auto attack and auto generate more clones around it. Mob AI is programmed to target close by enemies, which means you can safely sit at range 900 and auto make clones and the mob will only hit clones. Champion that can 1 shot your clone make it a bit harder, but then its a champion. Skill #2 is great in boss fights with predictable routine, and skill #3 is just icing on the cake.

It is terrible in PvP, skill #1 is way too slow, melee would close the distance on you before you can make a single clone. Then you hit #2 cause you’re being chopped down by 100b, only to mitigate 1k~2k at best still taking in the other 9k dmg. Range enemies will out-shoot you on their 1200 range vs scepter’s 900. Finally, skill #3 is mostly dodged in my encounters, if some noob allows you to fully channel 5 confusion stacks, he deserves to die.

At best, scepter is your alternative weapon set, and used in predictable situations to stack confusion.

Decoy and roll backwards (i.e. right into the thief and pass him).

Mesmers cannot chase down a thief, even a bad one. You’re only bet to win is someone that is very green or under leveled thieves. So even if you do a nice counter, you’ll best chances is for a draw, and most likely he’ll run away.