Guild Wars 2

We have very limited options to help out with zerg busting. Not sure a power build can quite cut it. We’re not going to be wiping out dumb kitten who don’t notice confusion any longer, but we can at least … I don’t know, blind them?

Answer: No, I’ll be playing my Ele when I’m with zergs now.

Pretty much everybody will be running a Power build now.

After recently buying my Rabid set (using Arah tokens so I could have turned that into 120g instead), I am seriously unhappy about how little time in advance AN report these things to us. It’s kitten ridiculous.

It’s almost like they don’t want us Mesmers to be any use outside portal drones.

Currently experiencing the SAB with my guild. I’m really impressed. AN never fail to impress with “holiday” events.

Kudos to you, AN. Keep up the work.

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Hello.

Firstly, I’d like to have I have done very little research on shatter builds, so this may actually be quite a widely used build and I am completely oblivious to it.

I’ve currently running Strife 025’s build build for organised groups (very useful player, I also use his Guardian build)

As I usually run half-organised and half-PUG groups, I have adapted that to produce a more shatter-based build, but without completely losing upgraded utility. I usually run witha Soldier-runed shout Warrior & a Mesmer with an Inspiration build, and obviously I have no control over PUGs (I always get a Guardian for Fractals).

This is the build I’m seeking advice on with including of weapon/armor stats, upgrades & my typical consumables, or this for a cleaner template of the traits themselves. I’m unsure if I should be using Compounding Power or Phantasmal Haste, so I listed a trait I have always used.

I would like to point out my 1h Sword is Soldier’s due to me not wanting to transmute Bolt and ruin the Legendary status. It would be Berserker if transmuting didn’t mess everything up.

Here are the thoughts that passed through my head about the build:

PROS:

Mender’s Purity & Glamour Mastery traits are still available.
More shattering = more damage. Duh!
I spend most of my time in melee range. Yes, even in PUGs, so the 4th Shatter isn’t wasted.
I COF farm quite a bit, so increased damage could really help here as utility isn’t needed.
Shorter Shatter CD.

CONS:

No longer able to use BOTH Mender’s Purity & Glamour Mastery at the same time.
No Warden’s Feedback (moreso for the pull, as the PUG players didn’t utilise Temporal’s reflection even if I alerted them)
No vulnerability from F3 shatter.
Greatsword Mastery has been lost from those “Range only” fights (Grawl/Dredge Fractal bosses).
100 Power less from traits.

I’ve grown accustomed to Mender’s Purity & Glamour Mastery and it would take a long time to adapt without them. At the same time, it feels like 20 Inspiration points is a waste with PUGs and I’m trying to make these points more useful, even at a cost elsewhere (Domination).

What are your thoughts? What would you change, what would you keep? Would you even scrap it all as it does not work well? All input is appreciated.

~Xeph.

You’ll eventually be in a position to replace your defense with more offense. Berserker, easily.

Not to mention ascended gear has some of the lowest stat loss per Crit % gain. If you’re currently on a Knight’s amulet and don’t want to lose any Toughness, get Berserker amulet and swap out an existing Berserker piece for a Knight’s piece.

Quoting Strife025 from GW2Guru:

“As far as gear goes, the reason you go for Berserker Ascended gear is because it has the highest crit damage ratios besides exquisite jewels anyways, per below:
5 stat points – upgrade slot of trinkets and backpack
7 points – Ascended Back Piece
8.5 stat points – Ascended Rings
9.4 stat points – Ascended Amulet
10 stat points- traits (not an equipment, but listed for comparison)
12 stat points – glove, shoulder and boots
12.8 stat points – 1H weapons and amulet
13.33 stat points – Earring
14 stat points – Backpack (rare version from guild armorsmith)
14.22 stat points – 2H weapons
14.4 stat points – Coat
16 stat points – Ring, helm and legging”

Source can be found here: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/70142-after-100s-of-hours-my-final-guardian-build/

Nadeen.6371:

Mine is sitting on 99% Crit Damage with all Berserker gear.

You’re missing something then. 20 Dueling & Zerker gear should give you 100%.

Quee.2389:

I recommend going Celestial.

A lot of people on the forums will say you want to focus on 3 specific stats to optimize your build, but the Celestial amulet gives you so much more in terms of overall stat benefit. Compare Celstial Ammy (324 to stats, +7% crit damage, +4& mf) to Berzerker Ammy (211 to stats, +9% crit damage). The numbers speak for themselves.

And since your illusions inherit your power, precision, toughness, healing, condition damage, and crit damage you are also making them much stronger than you would with any other amulet.

Also, Celestial allows you to easily change up your build without changing up your gear.

An effective Mesmer does not need Toughness/Vitality/Healing Power. Really, have you seen our defensive cooldowns? 2s invuln on 8s CD, yes please. Phase Retreat, yes please. “Perma” vigor, yes please. Not to mention Distortion, even if that is on a large CD, and stealth on Decoy.

Legendary: Bolt.
Gifts: Mastery, Metal, Ascalon and have the money for Lightning (just waiting to get 400 Artificer from Daily Crafter).

I also have:
250 Ectos
77 Clovers
Zap (Purchased it as it relatively cheap for a precursor).

Just need about 300G more for the Runestones & rest of the T6 Mats.

Refused all aid from friends as Legendary is not about the destination, it’s about the journey.

IMPORTANT!

I am talking STRICTLY PvE, not WvW or s/tPvP

Now that is done with, hello.

I’m looking for an effective playstyle that primarily uses 1h sword, be it with a focus, a shield or a torch, I do not mind.

As my goal is a legendary weapon, I want to get one I actually like the appearance of. Bolt is certainly my favourite.

I’m currently running an AH/EM build with GS/Staff, so I focus on support play while not neglecting damage due to use of GS. This means I am a firm believer that Guardians should not take a “pure dps” role. We should leave this to Warriors/Thieves.

If your build somehow means your DPS is on part with Warriors/Thieves, feel free to post it, but please bring evidence.

1h Sword lacks support, as it does not provide any boons to friendly players, and loses in terms of DPS to a GS. Where do they fit in?

Vanthian.9267:

Side Note: It would have made more sense to have the bell as reward for getting 100% on all parts (upper, middle, & lower) of the mini bell choir game (not just the lower part), but I assume that goes against their new philosophy.

While unrelated to the actual thread, this would have been a horrible idea. I’ve very musically able, yet fail to get 100% on anything due to occasional lag spikes.

Hello.

I’ve completed this Jumping Puzzle every day since the start of the event, and noticed there appears to be a daily reward (some variation of Karma container, holiday craftable materials & presents) with 3 Giant presents being the reward for every consecutive completion that time (I have completed it hundreds of times now).

However, I completed it just for the daily reward, and I got NOTHING. Not even the usual 3 presents, absoloutely NOTHING.

I completed it again – I got 3 gifts. Apparently, my daily completion rewarded me with nothing.

Obviously, I cannot prove any of this so will not be able to be “refunded”, but I’d like this bug to be fixed ASAP so it doesn’t happen again please.

I know about bug reports, but wanted to see who else has this problem.

Just give me the sceptre ones, and the rest won’t be needed. I’d kill for a decent ranged alternative.

bjwhiteda.7645:

To me thsi is a full disaster

To me this is free content that you haven’t paid for.

It’s a fairly fun place, I stayed for a long time after I completed my achievements. It’s certainly unfortunately to have unruly achievements.

I’ll admit, I started out playing selfishly and only going for presents, but I soon kicked it in because it was so, SO boring. Actually playing it as intended was so much more fun!

The achievement hunting was so utterly bad that teammates allowed the gift carrier to die, and instead of reviving all were trying to click the gifts under the poor souls downed state.

Really bad achievement design, win X games as Y would have been nice, but also tricky to implement since you can change your class at any time if you die (I liked doing that), so maybe deal W damage as a snowball, or reflect Z projectiles (heavy gunner #5, cant remember name).

Its just far, far too expensive to even warrant a purchase. It’s almost already a similar price to cheaper legendaries. Just to change hair? I’d sooner delete my character and start afresh.

I’m hoping AN develop some way of reducing their price.

There was a thread that a developer posted on (I cannot find the thread) who confirmed you can only complete 2 pets if you play all 5 days.

While this is unfortunate for a player like me, it makes the best of both worlds as players can obtain some minipets for “free” (very cheap craftables required) while still allowing AN to make a profit from selling these items in the Gem store.

Wait all 5 days then make your 2 favourite.

EDIT: Thread with dev post here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wintersday/Tixx-Minipets/page/2#post1018060

Tundra.5269:

I like the way you whine then demand your 25 cogs, like your life depends on it. Nevermind asking politely or thanking Arenanet for this great free content. You must be a real blast at parties.

I didn’t “demand” any reimbursement, I simply stated if it’s possible if I could receive them. I’m sure you’d ask if you were in my situation too.

Martin Kerstein.3071:

Per the recent update notes:

“Fixed a bug with diminishing returns affecting the daily rewards from the Wintersday dungeons. We will be following up in the next few days with our plans for the players impacted by this problem.”

Thank you!

It’s also very encouraging you are not settling with fixing the bug, but as well as discussing any possible reimbursements, I’m so pleased to hear this.

Tsubaki.2508:

Well, I’m glad OP got a response. Flissy is mostly angry about the cog problem, not the reduced dungeon rewards.

I don’t see how anyone could say players should’ve expected such a problem. We were all under the impression that the winter dungeon is different.

Not to mention I didn’t know I was under DR, the previous dungeon I did I never got reduced rewards. It’s not like I got reduced rewards for my last dungeon, but decided to do holiday event one anyway.

Thrashbarg.9820:

Araushnee.1852:

Flissy.4093:

Araushnee.1852:

I was disappointed in the chest today. I only got wooly hats and a gift. I thought if you hadn’t done the instance before you would get something from the chest. I asked others in my party and they all got something from the chest today, so I don’t know why I didn’t get anything. The rewards for doing the new instance were as they should be for me, just not the chest.

Oh and, I only got 1 drop from a mob today. I got lots yesterday…

Chest is all RNG. Both days I have only gotten junk, other friends have gotten exotics.

No, I’m not complaining about it being exotic or junk. The fact is I didn’t get even the junk I got yesterday. I got the same chest drops I would for repeating the Tixx instance, not doing a new instance.

Seems the chest is bugged or something (or RNG is just laughing at me). My gf and I just duoed today’s Tixx instance, first dungeon of any kind we’ve done today, and both of us got full reward from the event completion but only socks and a giant wintersday gift from the chest. In 3 runs of yesterday’s (yesterday) I got 3 exotics and several greens, and she at least got 2-3 greens each time. Today it was like the code line for loot was broken and not even rolling for gear, just giving the base drops.

Or it’s possible they deemed the rate of exotics far too high. I did 4 runs yesterday, I may have gotten 0 exotics but the group I did it with accumulated a total of 11.

The sheer effort that has been put into the environment – especially in the Mists and the Jumping Puzzle – would make up for all that anyway.

There has certainly been much more effort put into holiday events in Guild Wars than any other game I’ve played.

Martin Kerstein.3071:

Hey folks,

we are investigating the issue, hang tight!

Great news, thanks.

Araushnee.1852:

I was disappointed in the chest today. I only got wooly hats and a gift. I thought if you hadn’t done the instance before you would get something from the chest. I asked others in my party and they all got something from the chest today, so I don’t know why I didn’t get anything. The rewards for doing the new instance were as they should be for me, just not the chest.

Oh and, I only got 1 drop from a mob today. I got lots yesterday…

Chest is all RNG. Both days I have only gotten junk, other friends have gotten exotics.

Malediktus.9250:

Farming mad king instance resulted in DR, so this was expected.

Not by those who didn’t farm Mad Kings instance.

Urthona.3198:

Thank you for warning others that the rewards for Tixx are affected by DR. I wouldn’t have guessed that they were. Hopefully, you’ll get reimbursed.

I’m waiting on a ticket as somebody who posted previously in the thread suggested. Until then I certainly suggest you don’t do any dungeons for hours prior to these events.

Malediktus.9250:

Your fault. Its almost impossible to get into the dungeon DR without exploiting bugs or skipping lots of content.

So I’m at fault for not having any indepth background coding knowledge, resulting in myself not knowing that event dungeons suffer from the DR returns?

Sorry, but people at AN are paid to do this for the consumer.

Thereon.3495:

Jeez, so many people moaning about a fun event!

Fun is objective. I haven’t found today’s fun. I didn’t know it wasn’t fun until I did it.

Cobra.5710:

I didn’t do any other dungeons just the one in divinity and the one in grove a few hours before. and i still only got 75 cogs when i did the one in divinity

Can any dev explain this?

Avengersoul.8256:

Bad Wolf.1879:

You can do all 5 events everyday (till the event is over) after Tixx gets to lions arch. So technically you can make all the minis.

Already been said by a dev you only get enough materials to make 2 minis. So technically you can’t. And if people are having diminishing return problems at all it will knock them down to one. Just another reason why DR doesn’t belong in this game.

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks so.

I’m not a big fan of minipets, but I wanted to take the opportunity to be able to get 2 pets for pretty much “free” (excluding, perhaps, the very cheap glue/stuffing) instead of having to pay 8g for them from the Gem store (which, by the way, I will not be doing).

It’s just a shame that every other player (excluding the ones suffering similarly to me) get 2 “free” minipets, and due to lack of thought by the devs I am only able to get 1.

I’m just really hoping there will be another way to get cogs once the airship has been everywhere.

^ was clearly TLDR

I understand why I got reduced rewards, and you can only get 2 minipets if you play all 5 days, its simply a rant that because I did dungeons prior to the event, I am now sufferent and can only get 1 if I play all days.

I’m talking about diminishing returns from “too many dungeons” (load of nonsense, a way to penalise the good players? LOL)

Well anyway, did a few dungeons (AC / COF) before I did today’s event in Divinity’s Reach.

Lo and behold, 75 cogs. I can now only get one minipet if I do all 5 days.

Diminishing returns applying to event rewards, did this not cross your mind?

I’d like a way to get the 25 I should have gotten, thanks.

This bug has been fixed according to an Arenanet developer post further down the page. Thank you for their swift action.

My apologies, the concept on the sigil was correct though.

Managed to purchase it all except legs (I bought rabid legs using Karma) for approx 9g, but left the offer in for a few hours while I was out the house. I am definately looking forward to using it – having never equipped armor giving defensive stats.

It looks nice too! Was ready to get 5 Transmutation Stones ready to transmute into another set but it really isn’t necessary!

5 point trait in curses – 66% chance to apply a bleed on crit.
Sigil of Earth on weapon – 30% chance to apply bleed on crit.

Also, power does not increase your condition damage – you’re thinking of might.

Where you suggest vitality over toughness is the best bit.

I’m no expert, but I understand fundamentals – I saw a theory crafting thread that proves Prec > Power but I cannot seem to find it. So please, if you don’t have a clue on the particular spec of the class in question don’t try to offer advice.

vanOorsome.5231:

… wouldn’t know what to use my karma on …

Legendaries!

You must be new to MMOs. If everybody jumps on the flavour of the month, there will be an imminent nerf for them, so be prepared to say hai to Necro in a few months.

Really is a shame, I want to play a guardian as I like support, but they’ll be nerfed soon as they’re OP … guess I’ll go play post-nerf.

Hi.

Recently found myself engrossed in the game after a long break, due to having no real goals. Decided to start gearing up my Conditionmancer in Exotics – but I’m struggling to find a balance between the stats I need.

I understand the fundamentals of what stats I need – Condition Damage & Precision being the preferred 2 – but I’m finding it difficult to find a balance between Toughness & Power for the remainder of the gear.

I want to have fair survival, but without being forced to play defensively, so I’m looking for a good balance of Rabid & Rampager equipment – I’m currently toying around with the idea of Rabid legs/shoulders/gloves with the rest of the equipment being Rampager. However, I don’t know just how much it would increase my survivability, or whether it would even be noticeable.

I’ve also toyed around with the idea of Rabid chest/legs & accessories, with the rest of my armor/weapons being Rampager, but the real offput of this is I am unable to purchase Rampager gear with Karma.

One last idea I’ve been thinking of is 6/6 Rabid with accessories/weapons being Rampager, as get 6 Superior Runes of the Undead for 5% of Toughness becoming Condition damage. Of course this could lead to totally ignoring Rampager and go all Rabid to make the most of the Runes of Undead.

Any insight into personal preferences would be greatly appreciated before I sink all my dungeon tokens/Karma into this.

One final note is the only equipment I’ve purchased is Rabid legs from Arah Karma vendor – simply because I couldn’t wait to find an answer – so this is one piece of armor I will be definately using and will not substitute.

~Xephenon.

There are 2 viable builds for fast leveling, these are:

- Well-o-mancer.
- Conditionmancer.

Well-o-mancers focus on the AOE potency of staves, with utility skills being wells (more AOE) and rely on being able to pull 5+ enemies at a time as single target damage is abysmal (or you’re wasting long cooldowns on 1 enemy). Well-o-mancers are favored in dynamic events, because of the obvious ability of the vast number of AOEs to tag many enemies.

Conditionmancers focus on the damage of conditions that are applied by Sceptre/Dagger. This brings some decent single target damage to the class, but when combined with utility skill “Epidemic” it allows all conditions on the targetted enemy to be passed onto nearby enemies. This allows for fair single target leveling, as well as effective AOE leveling.

While not effective, some players find being a minion master fun. Minion masters focus on honing the ability of the necromancer’s minions, while “nerfing” themselves in order to do so, making the necromancer wholly reliant on its minions. The main issue with this build is the terrible AI of the minions – one reason I don’t play this.

With reference to your last point – yes it’s worth leveling as something and respeccing at 80, it costs so little & you won’t be leveling in exotics anyway.

It depends on what build you’re running. If you are rolling with a sceptre, condition damage wins all day long. If you’re playing a wellomancer with a staff, they’re fairly equal but most people (including myself) prefer power in that case. Power would also be better for a MM.