Guild Wars 2

Soloing almost everything in open world PvE is quite possible with DPS pets. So swap in drakes or bears only if you want to take out some really nasty champion. Most of the time I just run with 2 cats, or a cat and a drake and it’s totally fine whatever I run into.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Instinctive_Reaction
But it’s based off healing power, which almost no one uses. Maybe if healing is actually a necessity in raids, some druids might go with clerics or zealots, and this trait gets some use (altho at that point, it’s competing with Bountiful Hunter, so probably no).

Iris Ng.9845:

We Heal as One is gonna need to be nerfed a bit. Like, capping the duration of certain buff transfer.

Or just removing some boons from the list shared (probably quickness and protection). Or giving it the Fortifying bond treatment where it transfers set durations regardless of the actual durations.

I’m not entirely convinced of it, but I did read some posts from the various speed running people saying sun spirit is better than QZ, provided you already have outside quickness (so a guard or mes). And like you mentioned, Storm spirit isn’t needed if you can get vuln out of the party.

But putting that aside, I’m not sure why you would sacrifice the axe damage/utility for having the horn on all the time. Just do horn 5 at the start before you enter combat and swap it over to an axe. Better yet do torch 5, swap to horn 5, swap to axe, proceed to combat. The pet swap clarion bond and the PS warrior will cover the rest of the might needs and the fury is long enough, especially if an ele blasted that torch 5 at least once.

I don’t like it either, pretty much everything about Healing Spring being a trap has made it worse. Even the cooldown trait being in competition with Sharpened Edges. No more on demand water field.

Kitty.1502:

This still doesn’t address the issues with spirits. They still die way to easily and in a lot of cases are just sub par.

They don’t die that easily tbh (well maybe if you place them under Tequatl or something that has AoE’s with above 5 target limit). In dungeons most AoE skills are limited to 5, and spirits/pets don’t get affected if all players are in range to be targeted first. And even when they die, the buff still pulses for a few seconds (I believe it’s 6 seconds, not sure). So their actual downtime is less than the 20 second recharge. And with the buff to WHaO, there’s less of a need to go for beastmastery, making nature magic and its longer boons/personal damage boost trait available (at least for the zerk build, the cond build is still all about beastmastery/wilderness/skirmishing).

EDIT:
@Fluffball
At 25 might stacks (750 cond dmg) 2 stacks of burning applied by the passive of Sun spirit deal 1487 damage over 3 seconds. With 25% more from vuln that’s 1858 (or 1859 if the game rounds up). From 5 people all proccing it once during the 8 second ICD that’s an extra 9290 damage. All that’s required for that damage to become “real” is the boss fight lasting 8 seconds which pretty much all do. You can also detonate it almost as soon as you put it down in case the boss melts fast and it will add another 3 stacks for 5 seconds. You will still get the buff for another 6 or so seconds after its detonation.

Vulnerability is usually well covered throughout the party. One warrior, one ranger and an ele can keep up decent vuln without much investment. If you’re not using quickening zephyr, having Sun spirit is the best extra damage you can add to the party. The extra burns, plus the detonation near the end of the fight is pretty good, even without condition damage. Just the condition damage from might stacks and bonus damage from vuln make it worthwhile.

Ice Bow could’ve probably been reduced by 75% if they can’t fix the large hitbox problems that it has. It still might see use on large bosses even with 50% reduction and with it force more than one ele in the party, but it all depends on the amount of time you spend fighting such foes in any given instance.

Either way, for PvE the bow nerf was warranted, but they should have split it between PvP and PvE.

Actually there’s no skill out of place on the bow, the only thing out of place is the way damage is calculated against large hitbox targets. And the only 2 skills that have that problem (afaik) are MS and IB#4 (as far as ele goes, I guess Smite on guardian has it too). Don’t know why Anet can’t just code those skills like they have the other AoE’s.

I’m mostly liking the pets and the balance changes, druid is too heal focused for my taste. Btw, did anyone catch the specifics of tigers’ F2?

His AoE’s are 5 target just like our own. The target ordering prefers players first, then anything else. If all five players are in range, they will be prioritized. The times pets can die on Alpha are if someone ranges it, while others are in melee, or during the running up to him, if someone rushes a bit ahead, the pet might die to one of the long range AoE’s.

So it’s somehow important if WP said so?

The Mallyx elite stat buff is pretty significant, that’s the only legend that should always be in a PvE build. Shiro is good as a secondary if you don’t have enough quickness in the group, otherwise the second legend is anything you want.

Merging into the pet confirmed for druid spec.

WvW griefing is a problem!

Naming and shaming will just get you banned off the forums. Take this to the support.

Other than chronomancer, the core professions don’t seem to be any better in PvE with an elite spec compared to without it. Maybe reaper, but necros get hated either way I don’t think reaper does anything about that. Druid and engie spec still remain, but I’m doubting those will change anything in PvE either. Adding more damage and complications to engies’ already high damage and very complicated rotations doesn’t seem likely and unless druid adds some unique type of group buffing Spotter/Frost spirit is still gonna be the thing rangers bring.

I already have two of every race except the asura, so rev will be a little rat. Which is nice, since they’re the race that looks best in heavy armor imo.

Hoping to win the lottery and buying the tickets required every week doesn’t equal effort once and if you finally do win it. Someone earning the same amount of money by running a casino doesn’t invalidate your “efforts” of buying lottery tickets weekly.

I had the torch, sword and shield before the wardrobe update. Found them incredibly ugly and deleted. Prestige…

I’m not even sure why the gear check mechanic exists. The difficulty of higher fractal levels is about the scaling of the monster stats and amount of extra mobs. Agony matters until you have the breakpoint value at which point it becomes irrelevant. It’s a totally antiquated MMO mechanic.

Photinous.4628:

Elorna.5329:

Photinous.4628:

Is sinister really worth it as well? Can we achieve roughly the same amount of dps using rabid?

Your power damage is not completely nonexistent, so you get more out of that with the added power from sinister than you would from the extra cond dmg out of the utility buff (and the +100 cond, +10% duration buff is better anyway).

Yeah, I just don’t want to farm silver wastes if it’s not much more dps overall.

Ask Guang for math on that, but the difference probably isn’t game changing.

Meanwhile even the joke that is Revenant gets better self might generating traits.

Photinous.4628:

Is sinister really worth it as well? Can we achieve roughly the same amount of dps using rabid?

Your power damage is not completely nonexistent, so you get more out of that with the added power from sinister than you would from the extra cond dmg out of the utility buff (and the +100 cond, +10% duration buff is better anyway).

Eles are already strong enough for PvE, they need nerfs not another viable build. Tempest will see use in PvP most likely and that’s what Anet cares about anyway.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I’m thinking that Flame Trap is the only one worth taking now, meaning I can drop Trappers Expertise for Sharpened Edges. But I also want to drop spotter for hidden barbs then too heh.

I agree, having 2 traps is a thing for open PvE, for dungeons you still want to have frost and sun spirits with flame trap. Unless you’re in a full sinister group (I wish).

Don’t waste your time with % dmg modifiers in this build, it only works on the power portion of your damage, which is like 1/8th of the damage or less. More uptime on splitblade, more pet stats and a stronger modifier for the pet means more damage in this condi build. I’ve had an apothecary set on my 2nd ranger that I never actually used (since I got bored of WvW long time ago), used the new MF formula on it. Totally didn’t regret it. More fun than the bow/sword zerk. And I still have that if need be.

EDIT:
Sharpened edges are a must, lowering the CD on flame trap isn’t such a big deal, compared to the free damage of sharpened.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAnfjEqQ7K2sCuqAVLGKEq+DG2XgHg29B+EIaDgMeqEZTA-TxRFABDqEUY1fA4EAQsyPl2H46FG89BA6BCAcAsbdDgxHf8xHf82d3d3d8dLFAMLrA-e

I suggest you use punctuation, then continue trying to get your points across.

GW2 is not a really competitive game, so it doesn’t matter, anyone who’s posts you like is good enough.

Technically the only tournaments that mattered were the 2 world championships. After those, and the release of NF/EotN the Korean presence lessened, game balance was becoming harder to maintain, etc.

Wasn’t zerk mesmer and thief (and medi guard) the only way to go zerk if you played that amulet before patch? Did something change in that regard after the patch? I haven’t really played enough SPvP since to come to a decisive conclusion, so honest question here.

That’s because EU>NA obviously. But it’s probably got to do with the popularity of GW as a franchise in Europe, during the heyday of GvG Europe was second strongest after Korea. Something about GW attracts the hardcore Europeans more than the hardcore North Americans.

Purple Miku.7032:

Elorna.5329:

I seriously don’t understand the obsession with guardians in AC. You literally have one fight where reflects are useful, the boss of p2. And even for that you can just 5 icebow him, or use any of the other random missile protection abilities that are available on every profession except war and necro. Anything else in AC is pretty much a cakewalk where just stacking heaps of damage from any profession is sufficient.

Where is this obsession that you speak of? Pugs? I would not consider pugging AC so I of course would not know.

I would argue that WoR would be more useful at SQ than last boss of P2, because with wall you can safely burst the queen down in the middle even with all 4 gargoyles up and without pre-killing all the mini spiders.

However… if we’re talking about pugs then they most likely wouldn’t do that anyways.

This entire thread is about the LFG tool and pugs.

I seriously don’t understand the obsession with guardians in AC. You literally have one fight where reflects are useful, the boss of p2. And even for that you can just 5 icebow him, or use any of the other random missile protection abilities that are available on every profession except war and necro. Anything else in AC is pretty much a cakewalk where just stacking heaps of damage from any profession is sufficient.

The design is nice. Anet art team is definitely skilled, as we’ve already known.

Why would there be no personal story? When the actual expansion hits, creating a reve will be like creating all the other professions.

No damage

Shiro legend and that specialization better be over the top, cause this is currently worse than necro in PvE.

You could start by not naming and shaming, pretty sure it’s against forum rules. Also try using the support system.

Mia Crazymike.1780:

You know, we all say ArenaNet, but ArenaNet consist of human beings. With emotions. I feel bad for them sometimes. That’s why we should pinpoint the specific human being who is allowing such patches and/or changes.

Probably Josh.

I’m 90% sure it’s Peters. Too much of a “warrior must be the measuring stick for everyone else” about him. Ever since GW1, when warriors actually were good measuring sticks.

SlyDevil.3952:

Found this lovely chat from a couple months back.

/parent spiked

Well as you can see from my post, I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with your position, I just think it doesn’t matter in the grander scheme of things. Anet wanted an esport, they had it in 2005/2006, they haven’t managed to recreate it in 2012. The failure on the Chinese market and the nonexistence of GW2 on the Korean market are just further indicators. And ofc that’s my opinion, everything I say here is.

Besetment.9187:

Elorna.5329:

Besetment.9187:

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

I know I am late to this post, but I feel PU needs to be nerfed so hard that no one ever uses it again.

Ahhh the 25/90 treatment. Because it worked so well the first time around.

It killed a skill that needed killing, in a very nonsubtle way. Anyways, PU doesn’t deserve that treatment, stealth in general needs it.

It didn’t need killing. Thats the point. The effective removal of smiter’s boon from GW1 pvp didn’t stop smiteway groups in team arenas. They just dropped a smite monk for a WoH healer until cumulative balance patches made the whole concept unviable.

Since every player and their mother was no longer packing Smite Hex and Smite Condition in team arena, guess what: the flavour of the month went back to hex/condition pressure (later with eles instead of rangers). That eventually turned into MBway which dominated TA and RA – eles spamming distortion, liquid flame and immolate for free because mind blast + aura of restoration meant you always had more energy than you could ever realistically spend.

So people started asking for immolate, mind blast and distortion to get the s-boon treatment except that never happened because TA got replaced by codex arena instead, about a year after boon gate.

When you nerf a skill to uselessness, all you do is reduce complexity. That doesn’t mean PU’s functionality cannot change but the whole idea of deliberately making PU or stealth completely useless is such a stupid idea, you should feel terrible for even thinking it. If you remember s-boon you were there. You have seen this before and it didn’t work.

What you’re describing are meta changes, not reducing complexity. Sboon was so strong it negated too many other options. The way it was handled was kinda trollmode but it did open up several other options, whether those options were as “toxic”/“stale” or not is another question. Also, GvG (and to a lesser extent HA) were the main sources of PvP balance changes, and for those removing Sboon was a step in the right direction. Nerfing stealth to a degree that it’s mainly a mechanic used for a “first strike” and not so prevalent in combat as a “waiting out on their cooldowns” would be an interesting first step.

EDIT:
Altho in the end, I don’t think GW2 PvP in general can be balanced as GW1 PvP was simply because the main game modes are so different. Objective based gameplay of GvG and the push and pull between holding your base, attacking the opponents’ and keeping morale boost/preventing theirs, created far more opportunities than a simple cap and hold mode like conquest.

GW2 lacks two things to be considered e-sports – a proper PvP mode and enough of a playerbase so that words like “top”, “mid” and “bottom” tier even get some meaning. The second would come if the first was sorted out. Stronghold won’t help in that regard. The other issues like the questionable downed state, uneven distribution of various game changing mechanics across professions (invulns, stealth, etc.) are just secondary problems that could come into play if the PvP mode itself was better. The best you can do here is have fun and not worry too much about balance, even in the so called top tiers. Often times that means not playing rangers unfortunately.

Besetment.9187:

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

I know I am late to this post, but I feel PU needs to be nerfed so hard that no one ever uses it again.

Ahhh the 25/90 treatment. Because it worked so well the first time around.

It killed a skill that needed killing, in a very nonsubtle way. Anyways, PU doesn’t deserve that treatment, stealth in general needs it.

I liked the troll knockbacks, didn’t like the build that much, but that’s just me not liking lbow in general. The execution of the build was fun to watch.

Adding stealth as a possible outcome of a combo+finisher mechanic was also a big mistake on Anet’s part. Thing is, people are so used to it at this point that removing would cause more problems than keeping.

You can already RP everything out of your list, so gather a group of like-minded people and arrange it.

Seems like a nice addition, but I doubt there’s enough interest for it. Anet would probably use a lot of resources on this and then end up with a small amount of people using it.

All forms of stealth should be nerfed so that revealed is applied immediately when you use a non movement skill while stealthed, regardless of whether or not you’re in combat. PU is just the last in the list of overly forgiving stealth mechanics.

Lack of nonverbal communication kills even the simplest of humor on the internets.