Guild Wars 2

I figured the blindfolds are optional.

Now I kinda wonder if, like GW1 Ritualists, even without an eyes-covering headpiece your Revenant still fights with their eyes closed.

piedealer.4620:

It’s interesting how most people think the Exalted refer to the Mursaats, but i’d like to make an argument that it is just as likely for them to be traitor Margonites (like the Lost), which were barely introduced in guild wars 1 lore (and could have been developed on much greater extents). For those who are not familiar with their lore, The lost and Apostate (correct me if i named the wrong margonites) are two of the Margonites that betrayed Abbadon, in order to save their race from his corruption.
Unlike the Mursaats the margonites were never decimated (yes they were initially sealed within the Torment with Abbadon, but after his very short lasting* release they might have escaped?). Kormir could have forgave these individuals and cleansed them from Abbadon’s corruption (the lost actually helped a bit in gw side lore). It should also be considered that gw2’s Season 2 (and possibly HOT) includes a significant amount of lore on the forgotten, who are known to have some kind of antagonist relationship (based on random gw lore) with the margonites.
In an interview with WP, Leah talked about the Exalted as a “group” (emphasis on group) rather then a race and whatnot (which would make sense if it were to refer to the traitor margonites).

That’s actually a pretty good theory, especially since there are arguably as many visual similarities to Margonites with the Exalted as they are between the Exalted we’ve seen and the Mursaat. (especially if you believe they’ve been cleansed/purified/etc by Kormir, which is why they glow golden instead of Margonite blue.)

On the flip side, the Silverwastes were quite literally littered with trinkets and other examinable items that strongly pointed to the White Mantle, which if you played the “never knew my parents” Human personal story step, find out that they’re still out there, and arguably the White Mantle’s most identifiable trait is their relationship with the Mursaat. On the other hand, The Margonites’ only mention (that I recall) in Living Story season 2 is a book in the Hidden Arcana mission that was supposedly written by the Apostle.

Flamethrower, Vuln stacking AND goggles? Let me see…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpWrlcxtLseNydBNqmA6JEgsK6C+jWA-ThRBwARUCWU53N1fot/QlHAAgLAAA-e

Best I could come up with. You’re not going to do much vulnerability without spending most of your time with either bomb or grenade kit, and I’m thinking that is kinda what you are trying to find an alternative to.

The real appeal of Flamethrower is self might stacking with Juggernaut, hence the Strength runes (which can be replaced with Hoelbrak if you worry about conditions, or Flame Legion if money’s tight) You might also decide to drop Tool Kit for Elixir B (Fury from B means more crits from the FT AA, which means more chances for vuln) If you feel really lucky, you can also take Elixir X as your elite and hope you get the tornado transform, which is now a constant lightning field with whirl finisher, which can apply vuln if the bolts hit.

Of course, I could have been a real smartkitten and posted the latest ’nade build meta instead, which IIRC does use flamethrower, but only long enough to drop napalm and blast it with Flame Blast, before going swapping to something else. Just take Utility goggles as your Stun break and it will fit all three points (that is, a vuln-stacking build that uses FT and Utility Goggles.)

RoseofGilead.8907:

lordkrall.7241:

Is the main account already subscribed for the newsletter from an earlier time? That could potentially be the case. No confirmation if you already are signed up.

Yeah, I’m not sure if they have the current GW2 accounts automatically signed up for the HoT newsletters. If that’s the case, it’d make sense that we wouldn’t receive another confirmation email. But I don’t know if that IS the case. And I didn’t sign up for any HoT stuff until this morning.

I think that is the case; they won’t send you an email confirming that you’re now on the newsletter list if you were already on the newsletter list.

Donari.5237:

It would help if they sent out an email today to all who are subscribed, just something saying “We are confirming you are subscribed to our newsletter and are in the pool for a possible closed beta invitation.”

Then anyone who has already registered and doesn’t have the email by tomorrow will have something concrete to submit to Support.

Dunno about you, but I got a newsletter email just yesterday from them about PAX and GW2 being 75% off this weekend. While I would feel better with a “you’re in the beta pool!” ‘letter, I’ll take this as the next best thing.

1. Melee Staff. I think we saw Rytlock using one in the gameplay trailer in this fashion, so this is pretty much in already.

2. MH Sword. Same as Staff.

3. No GS. If ANet is going to be different with the Revenant by having ranged Hammer and condi Mace, the next natural step would be a heavy armor class that doesn’t use a Greatsword.

Also, it’s not a “wishlist” per se, but I think I’d find it kinda amusing if there was no OH Mace (normal-ish) or MH Axe (not normal) skills, and the Rev can only wield a mace MH and an Axe OH. Would probably want to throw another weapon in there if that was the case though… maybe OH dagger?

My money is that “Mursaat” actually means “Exalted” in their language.

Here’s an endorsement for power/zerk rangers: As someone who plays the despised Cele Engi most of the time in PvP, the #1 one thing that frustrates me the most after Necros are LB Rangers who can keep me at distance.

First of all, ledges are you’re best friend in most fights; if you are on a ledge and dodge/Stab/Shared Anguish my Magnet (which IMO has a bigger tell than Point Blank Shot) you already have a massive advantage against me. Also, remember you have more ways to keep me away than just Point Blank Shot and the wolf’s fear. You can stealth with Hunter’s Shot and reposition while I’m trying to find you, you can cripple with Barrage to give you more time, You can use immobilizes from Drakehound, Jungle/Black widow Spider and Entangle (IMO Entangle ruins me more than Rampage as One does; Stability from RaO might limit my own CC options, but it doesn’t do much to stop me from closing the distance and unleash my burst) to keep me in place (just make sure it’s not the first condi you apply, or it might get eaten by Transmute) and if you get desperate, there is always lightning reflexes.

Just remember range is the key vs. Cele Engi; More than half of my 1v1 wins vs. Zerk Rangers comes from them thinking they’ve done enough at range and switch to GS to finish me off, only to find out to their horror that my ability to disrupt and burst them down at that range far exceeds their own ability to do the same to me. Only switch to GS if I managed to get close when all the ranger skills I mentioned before are on cooldown, using Counterattack and Hilt Bash as last-ditch efforts to block or interrupt a Pry Bar or Rifle skill before switching back to LB and try to land a PBS or Hunter’s shot again.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Foefaller.1082:

Knighthonor.4061:

Foefaller.1082:

The fastest way to level your Revenant would be to stockpile Tomes of Knowledge now to use on your Rev as soon as HoT is released and you get him/her to a bank.

Remember, if you have an Experience Scroll from Birthdays/5k chevo milestone, you’re already at level 20, so you’ll need only another 60 tomes to hit level cap.

I want to know of other ways besides SPvP can I get ToK. I hate SPvP in this game.

Some of the daily chevos give a tome (Though AFAIK It’s only lvl X-Y fractals and keep capture that have a tome). They are also a log-in reward for the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th day of logging in, and you can choose to get a stack of six for the final login reward.

That’s 16 a month, if the game doesn’t out for another four months you’re set.

Well, 16 everyone 28 days.

…and that assumes you have an Experience Scroll from either a character birthday or hitting one of the 5k Achievement milestones (which, arguably, is very likely), otherwise you’ll need to go through the whole daily login bonus 5 times.

I always wondered why that defense wasn’t like the one with Hodgin’s path, where the event finishes once the last burrow is destroyed, and a new burrow spawns when the previous one is taken out. Does in make sense in the context of what it happening in that part of the path? no. Does it make it more bearable for dungeon groups of all 80s, who have an extra stat and as much as two levels of rarity between their gear and that of the level 35 characters it was designed for, which can never be fully accounted for with level scaling? Absolutely.

Bring back human females getting bored.

Malkavian.4516:

Ralanost.8913:

I don’t get everyone’s love for Tybalt. He’s nice and all, but he’s a bumbling oaf. I would like priory a bit more if the scholars acted a bit smarter. Sadly, they are usually portrayed fairly dumb for the brainy order.

The one thing I can say about Tybalt is that he stands out as a charr in that your first impression towards him in that he isn’t your usual charr meanie.

As for my favorite, I thought the Order of Whispers is pretty kitten impressive though not because I have Tybalt by my side. It’s for the first few missions from my asura and Agent Batanga as well as the mission with my sylvari and Cai (the one where she would hallucinate about the oozes and stuff) and the one involving letting Demmi escape.

Ah man, I forgot about awesomeness of the final mission to join the order of whispers as a Sylvari with Cai. Blackmailing the commander into abandoning the town, before convincing a bunch of centaurs you’re nature spirits leading them to conquer the settlement… Only for the Risen to show up and have the two of them start killing each other for a town there are no humans in!

Two most important things:

1.) Avoid impulse buys; Unless playing the TP is your favorite means of earning cash, the best thing to do is pretend it doesn’t exist.

2.) Use Dungeons to grind for gear. You might get the boot if they ever learned, but running easy explore paths from places like CoF and Ascalonian Catacombs for tokens is a good way to get gear, especially if you’re running it on your main to gear up an alt. The fact you get at least 1g for every unique path you complete each day is also a plus.

Also, you’ll probably see a pretty big spike in income once you’ve start to finish collecting all T6 mats/crafted gifts mats you need for your legendary and start selling off the excess. Most T6 fine mats sell for 20-50s apiece (which, btw, you should be getting all of yours either from drops or the laurel merchant, don’t buy them from the tp until you’re almost done with your gift of fortune) and other mats needed for them tend to be equally ridiculously priced, if not more so (just look up the price for Silver Doubloons used for Juggernaut, or Charged Lodestones which are needed Sunrise, Meteorlogicus and Bolt)

segman.3560:

Imagine every time you got a key from random drop it could have been precursor.

Don’t say that, I’ve gotten three keys from drops since I’ve started playing, but no precursors

But yeah, you’re “best” bet is either map completion, or rolling alts to do personal story missions. Neither one will be quick, but their the only things that have a reasonable chance of earning you one.

As much as I respect Tybalt, I got to say my favorite Order partner is Colonel Campbell Forgal. I always get a kick with the second mission:

Forgal: “If we’re lucky, we can catch these bootjacks sleeping.”
You: “You really think we’ll be lucky?”
Forgal: “Kid, we both know that kind of luck doesn’t exist.”

(while attacking the camp, where everyone is caught sleeping)

“By the spirits! Is this some kinda kiddie playground?”

“You’re the worst-trained, most cowardly loustabouts I’ve ever seen!”

and my favorite:
“Whoever trained you must be crying right now!”

Even current professions with Celestial builds rarely if ever go full Celestial. Most only have their armor or Weapons + trinkets as Celest and do Berzerker or Knights for the rest.

Also, in my observations, the three keys to what makes a good Celestial build are a healthy mix of direct and condition dps, lots of secondary heals/regen, and either excellent burst or good might stacking. That’s why the three most common professions to run a Celestial build in pvp are Warrior, Ele and Engineer, because they have builds that are capable of all three things at the same time. We might already know that the Revenant can do some of those things already, but we don’t currently know if they can do them well and all with just one build.

YuiRS.8129:

Chaith.8256:

Anyone thinking how warding effects (slick shoes, ring, line) will remove infinite stability stacks at once, I recommend the tinfoil hats be re-equipped immediately to prevent an ArenaNet conspiracy.

It rips one stack of stability per instance of attempting to cross the warding effect, this means in practice, the very moment you get caught in it, simply move away and cease using stability stacks on it. These warding effects do have a short global cooldown if you examine them closely.

However, abilities that have only one stack of stability will not always counter Slick Shoes every time, like currently how the Ranger’s ‘Shared Anguish’ trait plays out. You have to employ GTFO tactics for the warding effect to not eat a second stability stack, as the warding abilities function right now.

No, ring and line won’t. Slick Shoes fields can be stacked a huge number of times in a single area. Step on them once – all Stab gone and you’re dead.

Here’s a fun trick to keep in mind: Slick shoes doesn’t spawn a new field until the engi completely leaves the previous field, far enough that a new field can spawn with no overlap (though they can overlap with a field that wasn’t spawned immediately before or after that field). That means with any soft CC you effectively reduce the amount of slick shoes fields an Engineer can stack in a single area.

You can test this out. Toggle walk, use slick shoes and start walking. Observe the number of fields how each of them look (which when you’re in walk/chill speed, is only 3) Then do it again, but with no walk and running back and forth zig-zaging over the fields you drop. The effects of those fields in the second attempt should be much thicker than when you’re just walking out three fields, with significant overlap with the effects.

It’s worth noting that the vast majority of Engineer builds you’ll fight using Slick shoes will only have one condi removal skill -Healing Turret- and the fact it’s also their heal skill means they aren’t going to pop it for a condition unless it’s a life-or-death scenario. That means if you can fire off a cripple/chill/immobilize when an Engineer is moving with slick shoes on, you directly reduce the number of slick shoes fields that they can spawn, and therefore the number of stability stacks that they will be able to remove with that skill.

Or, at least you will if/when each field strips one and only one stack of stability when entered.

Jerus.4350:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If this change means guild groups who fight zergs will be stunlocked because of the numerical difference, a large core of WvW players will quit the game.

Too Late?

Naw really though it sounds like an awefull idea for WvW where getting a solid stab rotation is key to large clashes. I really can’t see how a smaller force would have much of a chance against the larger one now. If you can toss 3 guards per party you win, it’ll only strengthen the need for guards and strict meta GWEN setups.

THen yeah, PVE side… INquest Techs in Arah, the Golems in the Shield room for Thaumanova Reactor and I’m sure there are many more situations where this new stack system simply won’t hold up.

I’d say it would make stab rotations harder to pull off, since a Stand your ground/ Indomitable Courage/Balanced Stance/etc used too early or late will end up stacking intensity with other stability skills, rather than duration, so you’re not going to have the coverage you once had. I’m not sure something that might require that level of coordination in combat will become meta, and you’ll probably find fewer groups running a vanguard like that. That might sound like a terrible thing for smaller guild groups, but you got to keep in mind that’s a blade that cuts both ways; just as that guild group/zerg might not have to skill to keep Stability up as much as possible now that it no longer stacks duration, the larger zergs are going to have to deal with that same problem as well.

Then you also have wall effects. While they might only hit a person once when walking over they have no limit to the number of people they can hit. A group or two of Necros (which would be the best, as Spectral Wall traited has the longest duration of any wall skill that applies a CC) and/or Staff Eles/Guardians could lay down several walls on top of each other, stripping several stacks of stability from an incoming zerg. Assuming the Elixir B example was the norm and you only get about 3 stacks with AoE stab skills, to get though those walls you’ll probably have to make the choice of either popping several of those skills, or popping one of your self Stability skills, which have a lot longer downtime than something like Stand your Ground. Such a thing might make defenses against larger zergs easier, if only to make them stop and wait for the walls to disappear (which, depending on the skill and traits involved, can almost be as long as a traited Balanced Stance) giving the defenders time to build/man more siege.

Knighthonor.4061:

Foefaller.1082:

The fastest way to level your Revenant would be to stockpile Tomes of Knowledge now to use on your Rev as soon as HoT is released and you get him/her to a bank.

Remember, if you have an Experience Scroll from Birthdays/5k chevo milestone, you’re already at level 20, so you’ll need only another 60 tomes to hit level cap.

I want to know of other ways besides SPvP can I get ToK. I hate SPvP in this game.

Some of the daily chevos give a tome (Though AFAIK It’s only lvl X-Y fractals and keep capture that have a tome). They are also a log-in reward for the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th day of logging in, and you can choose to get a stack of six for the final login reward.

The fastest way to level your Revenant would be to stockpile Tomes of Knowledge now to use on your Rev as soon as HoT is released and you get him/her to a bank.

Remember, if you have an Experience Scroll from Birthdays/5k chevo milestone, you’re already at level 20, so you’ll need only another 60 tomes to hit level cap.

AndrewMcLeod.3857:

Immobilize also doesn’t currently affect the defiance bar currently. I’m somewhat of two minds on this condition, though- as it effects only movement, a lot of bosses aren’t punished by it, but it can be exploitative for melee bosses, especially in coordinated, small-group situations like dungeons or fractals.

Me Games Ma.8426:

All on interrupt effects trigger when you interrupt a boss monster that has defiant stacks on it. It just won’t interrupt the mob.
Halting strike triggers the damage, Chaotic Interruption will inflict the conditions and Bountiful Interruption will buff the mesmer. The only thing that does not happen is the interrupt.

In that case, those traits should still trigger when using an interrupt ability on a creature with the new defiance bar.

Well, you’ve already set a precedent of certain mob types (like risen aboms) who are resistant/immune to Immobilize.

Though it does bring up an interesting question: Will a CCs effect on a breakbar relative to other CC effects be universal, or could they possibly change depending on the enemy in question?

i.e. might there be monster that has, say, poor balance, and therefore losses more of it’s breakbar to knockback/knockdown effects than other mobs (compared to stun/daze effects) or is a knockback is a knockback is a knockback, and will remove the same amount of breakbar for that duration/distance (relative to other effects) regardless of enemy type?

Jerus.4350:

fishball.7204:

I thought the DPS list was Ele (staff) > Thief > Engy > UC Guard > Warrior > the rest.

As I understand it the Thief and Ele are very very close, though certainly a manipulated Meteor is likely unbeatable. And I can’t help but feel the need to point out that Engi has a strong limitation thanks to a heavy addition of condi’s in their damage numbers (iirc it’s like 20-25%?) And I believe Ranger edges out Warrior thanks to this last batch of nerfs for GS.

It’s something like that for Engineer. The goods news is that it’s mostly bleeds, which stack in intensity. So only a small portion really run the risk of being knocked off by lesser bleeds (and they usually are lesser, even if everyone’s in full zerks, as Engis put 6 points into the trait line that gives +condi damage for their best build, only D/F Necros do the same.)

…and Ranger’s bump to #4 wasn’t just from the nerfs to GS, but also their old GM signet trait becoming innate and being replaced by Predator’s Onslaught, which gives them a nice damage bonus to anything under the effects of soft CC (cripple/chilled/immobilized) which happen pretty frequently, even before you factor in the fact a Ranger can start every fight with LB Barrage before switching to Sword where the AA does a 2s cripple in the second attack of the chain.

Jerus.4350:

Don’t forget to mention that Ele’s role will also vary their damage, a staff Ele (actually really simple rotation) will max DPS but you lose might for the party most likely. A scepter + LH rotation will do much better in that regard, but has it’s own pitfalls. D/F has nice utility and very consistent but lowest DPS on the optimal rotations.

Also, Engineer has a lot of condi damage which can have issues so their potential and actual may vary greatly depending on the group comp. (lots of bleeds which can be easily overwritten by say a mesmer, and this is talking zerk build not condi, it just has a lot of condi damage built in).

Thief is also max 2targets at that level of damage, where Ele/Engi excel in groups of enemies.

But, yeah, spot on as I understand the theoretical list currently, just some additional info to keep in mind.

Heh, and here I thought Ele staff was the easy way out, not the optimal DPS build (might stacking nowithstanding)

…but it is another thing to point out: Sometimes, even in speedrun groups, the best build for your damage might not always be the best build for the party’s damage/completion speed.

#themoreyouknow

Last I heard, if you were absolutely min-maxing for dps, the order from best direct-dps to worst went something like:

Thief>Ele>Engineer>Ranger>Warrior>Guardian>Necro>Mesmer

There are several caveats with that though. Thieves and Rangers best dps builds requires them to be behind the target, which might not be feasible for various reasons (be it no back to get behind, importance of stacking and/or constant mobility to avoid devastating attacks, or the simple bad luck of being the one the boss focuses on). Engineer’s and Ele’s optimal dps rotation take a lot of skill and practice to pull off, which have many either do less damage than their build should allow them to do, or run simpler, but (in sheer damage) less effective builds. And while Rangers technically do better damage than Warriors and Guardians, and Necros better damage than Mesmers. Warriors, Guardians and Mesmers are seen as much more desirable than Rangers and Necromancers thanks to the wonderful party-wide utility that they bring (Banners for Warriors. Might, various defensive boons and a powerful reflect for Guardians, and a number of reflects and out of combat utility skills (like portal or mass invis) for Mesmers)

Finally, all of that depends on near-ideal group and combat conditions (where fury and 15+ stacks of might are always up, party members are able to stand still and focus on dps, and 15+ stacks of vulnerability are on the target at all times) Take those away, and the list of best dpser in a party to the worst can be very different from the order I posted. For example, as Vodcom has put it, while a Necro might not excel as well as other professions in those optimal conditions, they have enough personal might and vulnerability skills to do roughly the same regardless of the group’s skill and cohesiveness as a whole.

Booms.2594:

Foefaller.1082:

Booms.2594:

What are you doing about slickshoes to keep it from knocking off 10+ stacks of stability in under a second?

I assume the little fields would work like warding lines- you walk over it, you lose 1 stack, you walk over it again, you lose another.

Granted Slick shoes doesn’t actual require you to move at all to start falling over (something that still leaves me a bit flabbergasted) …but that seems like the most sane answer.

and theres actually like 20+ little fields that might each proc stability

Then… don’t run over all of them? 20+ fields should only show up if they popped Super Speed, and even then, I suspect most of the time you should be able to get out of the area without having to cross more than 3-4 of them. That might not be enough if it was an AoE stability skill, but with 10 stacks, that would still leave you with at least 5, which is more than the number of CCs your average celest engi would have after blowing Slick shoes.

Of course, again I’m hoping it’s like walls, and you have to pass over them to trigger (further) stability loss. If so, then the best solution will be to simply stand still.

Maria Murtor.7253:

Charr ftw!

Racism, ehh? I remember a NPC conversation in the old Lion’s Arch (GW 2). He or she (it was a Asura, I think) said, the most advanced and intelligent races are:
1.) Asura (top)
2.) Sylvari
3.) Charr
4.) Human
5.) Norn (bottom)

At that time and as mainly human characters player I was really kittened.

I know what you’re talking about, and actually it’s an Asuran Personal story step. First mission in the Order introduction quest chain if I remember right. It was a female Asura, who was theorizing a race’s importance to the Eternal Alchemy based on the brain-to-body size ratio.

But yes, there is racism in GW2. Charr and humans (particularly Ascalonian humans) hate each other thanks to the whole Searing/Foefire debacle. Asura think themselves superior to everyone else. Krait think the same as the Asura, but are a lot less nice about it. And after Scarlet’s little rampage, a lot of the other races are having dark thoughts about Sylvari, something that will probably get a lot worse once the whole “Sylvari are Mordrem” thing becomes public knowledge.

Booms.2594:

What are you doing about slickshoes to keep it from knocking off 10+ stacks of stability in under a second?

I assume the little fields would work like warding lines- you walk over it, you lose 1 stack, you walk over it again, you lose another.

Granted Slick shoes doesn’t actual require you to move at all to start falling over (something that still leaves me a bit flabbergasted) …but that seems like the most sane answer.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Isn’t 10 stacks of stability nearly impossible to tear down in a 1v1 situation, or is that intended?

With that high number of stacks, it seems like stability will retain its current effectiveness on duels, but will be generally weaker on team fighting. Not that I think this is a bad thing, just noting.

I think a turret engi might be able to take 10 stacks on their own, but only if the person in question was silly enough to repeatedly stand close to the engi’s turrets when detonated.

Let me count that, let’s see…
Net Turret overcharge(1) + detonation(2)
Rocket Turret overcharge(3) + detonation(4)
Thumper Turret overcharge(5) + detonation(6)
Healing Turret detonation(7)
Supply drop (8)
Shield 4 knockback (9)
Shield 5 block (10)+ projectile (11)+ return (12)

So… if a turret engi manages to hit you with all of those effects, he can pull off as much as 11 stacks of stability and still stun you… and have absolutely nothing left for CC…

…Actually, I think I might have found a possible thing that might need tweaking, because I don’t think Static Shield has a limit to how many times it can stun a individual person per second (since it’s a 1sec stun from an effect that lasts 1 1/4 second). Someone who pops stability before using a multi-hit attack against a pistol/shield engi might find themselves without stability in frighteningly short order.

AndrewMcLeod.3857:

Foefaller.1082:

Oh my goodness… I just thought of something…

Dark fields blind with leap and blast finishers, and smoke fields do that with projectile and whirl finishers.

Will Necromancers be called to drop a well on queue that everyone blasts to help chip down the breakbar? Or a thief a smoke screen for the party to shoot through?

Yeah, the easy access to blindness through combo fields is something that we’re paying attention to in balancing break bars, though it isn’t as impactful as it initially appears. Most control abilities aren’t projectiles or leap or blast finishers, so the skill combo generally comes at the cost of the player using a skill that doesn’t cause CC on it’s own.

On the other hand, skill combos do provide a good way that people can coordinate to get a bit more progress against the bar, and can be used to help people running builds without much control to contribute.

Yeah, I’d be surprised if you guys didn’t made it so that it would take several skill combo blinds to remove as much of the bar as any hard CC would (except for maybe thief’s Head shot… though that is part of the list of CCs that are also finishers, soo…)

Oh my goodness… I just thought of something…

Dark fields blind with leap and blast finishers, and smoke fields do that with projectile and whirl finishers.

Will Necromancers be called to drop a well on queue that everyone blasts to help chip down the breakbar? Or a thief a smoke screen for the party to shoot through?

Blaeys.3102:

Foefaller.1082:

Gyler.8150:

I predict warrior greatsword / mace/mace meta for defiance stripping!

Na, Axe/Mace <> Hammer

CCs are actually pretty well spread out among professions with a few that need a little love (hopefully coming in HOT).

Hammer warriors are good at AOE ccs (thus why they are so desired in wvw), but when dealing with single targets, I usually think of thieves, mesmers and engineers first. Mesmers in particular have some strong ranged ccs on short(ish) cooldowns that will make them ideal for fights like the one described.

As the professions stand now (of course, alot is getting ready to change), necromancers and elementalists probably have the lowest number of ccs, even though a good terrormancer may end up being useful in pve now ((I dont play an ele much so not sure about that one).

Eles usually have one or two CCs at their fingertips when in Air and Earth attunments, almost regardless of weapons equiped. Most last only a sec or less though, or require a specific action on the target’s part (like trying to walk over a wall effect or attacking the ele with shock aura is up) which is why they don’t show up as much in PvE as they do in pvp.

As for Necromancers, remember that blind is now a control effect as well, which means both Plague Form and Well of Darkness will work as ways to chip down the breakbar. Warhorn also has a daze that lasts a decent amount of time (2s base, 3s traited) that just doesn’t see as much use as a part of a necro’s main weapon set.

Gyler.8150:

I predict warrior greatsword / mace/mace meta for defiance stripping!

Na, Axe/Mace <> Hammer

Arantheal.7396:

I came up with this and called it “RNGeebuS/D”
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpkrtdxmKseRSehM6rJDCyAJEXvvA-TJBFwACuAA12foaZAAPAAA
Guarantees one abusive whisper every 15min.

If only Defender Runes were available in Spvp, then I’m sure you’ll get double the hateful comments.

Now I feel compelled to show my own crazy S/D build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUnUISfXWyFudBrXGJvgG9VSymBdAWQlFVAB-TJBFwA12fo9FAoaZAAPAAA

I just want to say, no, that is not a mistake nor are your eyes playing tricks on you, that build does use A.E.D.

Why? 3 reasons. 1) Static Shock adds yet another bit of CC, plus it’s the only targeted toolbelt skill found with heal skills. 2) Nobody uses A.E.D., so 80% of the people you face won’t know to stop attacking when they see that on your status bar(and depending on the number of damage conditions on you, it won’t matter even if they do) and 3.) an instant 12k heal in the middle of a fight can be a game-changer, especially in the short, fierce fights that burst build like S/D engi excel at. So many thieves and power rangers that should have had my kitten on a silver platter were denied victory thanks to that heal.

Of course, the downside is that you have to drop rifle turret for Rocket boots or be killed by soft CC, which takes away your fastest S/D cooldown, but I’ve found the burn you get from RB’s toolbelt skill to be a decent tradeoff.

Yeah, no stunbreak is an instant deal-breaker. Waaay too many builds out there will take full advantage of that.

Also, your reasoning for picking up FT seems… off. Grenades already has a blindness skill with a 10 second cooldown (though I guess more skills are better) and if you picked Slick shoes over E-gun or Elixir S, you’ll get a very nice stun that will stop most melee builds completely dead for it’s full duration.

Let’s see, some of my favorite quotes/dialogs:

• Conversation between the Gate Operator and his Sylvari assistant in The Grove: Someone quoted it earlier, both hilarious AND a Blade Runner Reference.

• Molten Furnace Fractal: The Weapon’s Test Enginner. EVERYTHING he says is just gold, though I can’t remember them all atm, but one of the lines he does for the fight: “This Thermal core is crap! Where are my results? I want results! FIRE EVERYTHING!”

• Molten Boss Fractal: The opening cinematic introducing the bosses is all good, but the best line? Braham’s “Oh, we’re so dead.”

• This exchange at between an Asura and Human Lionguard that used to play (human LG isn’t there anymore) at Swamplost Haven in Queensdale:
  Asura: "So, how has the worship of your invisible gods worked for you?
  Human: “You should talk; your people think the world is a machine.”
  Asura:“It is, a beautiful machine to be studied and understood.”
  Human:“How can you understand something as big as the world when you can’t keep your own golem from running off?”
  Asura:“It didn’t run off. It had a… sudden locomotion overload.”
  Human:“…and you expect it to come back?”
  Asura:“Of course! It’s only been… two weeks.”
  Human:“Now that, my friend, is an act of faith.”

• Molensk event chain in Wayfarer Foothills. One Norn’s response to being called “decadent” by some dredge? “Oh yeah? Well I’ll deck you so hard it’ll dent your head!”

• “Blacked Out” Personal story for Norn. If you choose to ambush, you’ll get to hear one charr’s opinion of Asura tech: “Crystal Magic Rainbow Trash.”

• And finally, from the Aetheblade Retreat Fractal:
  “You think you’ve won? You’ve won nothing! Now tremble, as I unleash my greatest-”

How about Mhenlo, the iconic Monk henchman for most of GW1?

Liege Tai.8249:

My money is on warlock, Then again Blackguard sounds good to me also.

Blackguard looks good… until you learn that it’s pronounced “Blaggard” rather than “Black Guard” and realize it’s not really that good.

spoj.9672:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQRBIbdG2JHNNiquptZLNnNspJtB7NmoWoguODgZIqTg62YOqWA-ThRBABXt/o8DP9D5dSAA4JAQp6PmpEUUARE-e

You dont need to worry about lifeforce that much in PvE. Video showing the fully repeatable damage rotation:

http://youtu.be/zVUs752OFmc

Do you really need full zerk for a DS build? I mean, your crit rate is going to be a whopping 94-95% when you’re doing the most damage, when the sweet spot is a “mere” 73%. I’d think you could swap out a couple pieces for Valkyrie and give you extra health that will keep you in DS while under fire a little longer.

1. Any Dungeon/instanced content planned?

2. Will any of the base (pre-specialization) professions be getting anything new? Even if it’s just new boons/effects brought to the current skills?

3. About Specializations, how will the base professions compare to them? i.e. Will there be weapon(s)/skills/traits that a base Ranger can use that a Druid cannot? Or in GW1 terms, is acquiring a specialization equivalent to a Ranger becoming a Ranger/Warrior, or a Ranger/Warrior being able to swap between that and Ranger/Monk?

4.Final Question: How much of the new HoT content will be showing up in the base game?

Muchacho.2390:

I would guess slow but who knows…

I am more interested where it is in the priority list. If it is to hard to remove, resistance will probably far to strong.

Isn’t the priority dependent on what you end up doing with the boon? I mean, in regards to stability, it’s the first thing my thief steals, but the last thing my necro corrupts, and I haven’t played enough mesmer to know where it is for simple removal.

…In any case, my guess is that it will be near Stability, with the other defensive boons.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Please stop spreading this false information. Only one boon removal in the entire game has a cooldown of higher than 40 seconds (save Lich Form 5’s practical cooldown), and that is Arcane Thievery. Corrupt Boon, Null Field, and Well of Corruption are all at 40 second cooldowns and are mass boon strip skills, each stripping 5+ boons (Lich Form 5 removes all boons from anyone hit). Literally every other boon strip in the game is 20 seconds or less on cooldown. Rune, sigil, skill, or trait, doesn’t matter.

EDIT: I forgot Bountiful Theft, which is a minimum of 29.5 seconds. Still much shorter than the claimed “40-60 seconds”

Claims I am spreading false information… proceeds to list 90% of the boons removals in the game and says they have a 40s CD, and names one with a longer CD…. doesn’t list a single one with shorter than 40s CD…

The only short CD boon removal I know of is thief sword, but that uses ini and can only strip 3-4 boons before the thief is then completely useless.

Of course you didn’t bother to comment at all on how boons can re reapplied repeatedly on much shorter CD’s than the removals… or how enemies in PvE apply 20+s boons with little to no CD (dredge in particular are bad like this).

I suppose there are some sigils that can remove boons more reliably, but the loss in damage is never worth it in PvE, since the enemies can still reapply the boons faster than the sigil CD.

So yeah i’m sure that i’m the problem and not the game… That’s why everyone runs boon removal in PvE all the time…

Alright, let’s list all the boon removals with a cooldown of less than 40s:

Mesmer
Sword-Mind Spike (last attack of AA chain): removes one boon on hit. Chain take 3 seconds to complete

GS-Mind Stab: Removes 1 boon from up to 5 targets in an AoE, 12 second cooldown, can be traited to 10 second cooldown.

Phantasmal Disenchanter: Removes 2 boons with every hit, bounces to up to 3 hostile targets. Can be summoned every 20 seconds, attacks every 5 seconds. both can be reduced with traits.

Shattered Concentration (trait): Makes shatter skills remove 1 boon per hit. Mind Wrack has a recharge of 15 seconds, Cry of Frustration 30s.

Necromancer
Focus-Spinal Shivers: Removes three boons with hit, cooldown of 20 seconds. Traits can lower cooldown time, and give a free Spinal Shivers cast when attacking a target with less than 50% health.

Axe-Unholy Feast: Removes one boon from up to 5 targets in a PbAoE. 15 second cooldown, can be reduced by traits.

Necromatic Corruption (trait): All minions have a 10% chance to remove a boon on hit. All minions except Flesh Golem and Flesh Wurm have a sub-30 cooldown on summon (and like most things here, can be traited even lower), and while I can’t find any info on how often they attack, I’m pretty sure more than once every 40 seconds.

Path of Corruption (trait): Dark Path corrupts 2 boons. Dark Path is a Deathshroud skill with a 15 second cooldown, can be reduced by traits.

Engineer
Throw Mine: Removes 1 boon on up to 5 targets on detonation. 18 sec cooldown, has cooldown trait

Mine Field (Throw Mine toolbelt skill): Removes 1 boon per mine, deploys 5 mines. 20 second cooldown, Toolbelt skill have reduced cooldown for every point in Tool trait line

Acidic Elixirs(trait): tossed elixirs do damage and remove 1 boon from up to 5 targets: Toss Elixir H, B and C have cooldowns of 30s, and toss skills are tooldbelts skills (meaning shorter cooldowns with points into tools) as a bonus, they are also now considered Explosive skills, which means that they benifit from all those nice explosive traits.

Thief
Sword/Dagger-Larcenous Strike: You’ve already mentioned this, but for the sake of completion… Second attack of the S/D dual skill chain, transfers one boon to yourself costs 5 initiative total for both attacks.

Bountiful Theft (trait): Stealing removes 2 boons from the target, gives them to you and nearby allies. Steal has a 35 base cooldown, can be reduce with both a trait and putting points into Trickery.

And last, but not least:

Guardian
Searing Flames (trait): Burning removes 1 boon when applied. Has an internal cooldown of 10s.

…So, that’s about 14 different skills and traits that remove boons with less than 40 second cooldowns (not counting multiple skills that benefit from a single trait), compared to… 5 skills that have a cooldown of 40 seconds or more (again, not counting skills that benefit from traits)

Yeah, I’m thinking that considerably more than 10% of the boon removals in the game have a cooldown of less than 40s.

I seem to remember an official response saying they haven’t decided if Legends dictate all your non-weapon skills or just the pool of skills you chose from…

Ah, here it is:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Lets-Chat-Revenant-Masters-of-the-Mist/page/3#post4807887

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Nike.2631:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

The skills on the right half of your bar are tied to the legend which you are currently invoking.

Lets see if I can phrase this unambiguously:

When I am invoking Bob the Mighty, will I have a Bob-themed pool of skills to choose from when filling out my right-hand tray, or does channeling Bob the Mighty give me an absolutely specific set of 5 skills without variation from any other Revenant invoking Bob?

I realize the answer may be different for buttons 6 and 0 than it is for buttons 7, 8, & 9.

That is not set in stone yet and something we are deciding still.

Frightlight.3796:

Correct me if i am wrong, but doesn’t the Revenant put condis on themselves on some of the abilities imagine if they spam a bunch of those and necros use the condi clone ability to stack huge amounts of confusion and torment on people ? wouldn’t that be something.

Indeed the Revenant does, and the new PoI showed that one of skills of that legend pulls condis to the Revenant, granting 1s Resist for each condition pulled, and that one of the traits the Revenant will have in the PAX East demo gives them 2s Resistance every time they use a Mallyx/Demon Legend skill.

So we have at least once case of a profession being able to stack a significant (at least 6-8s+) amount of Resistance time on themselves.

VodCom.6924:

Palador.2170:

I see it as a good thing.

They can give it to NPCs as a buff, making it much harder to harm them. (Let’s face it, even Berserkers tend to do conditions such as bleeds and cripple.) Even Vulnerability and Weakness will be countered by this, or so it seems to me.

What does that mean? It means that, for fights against things that can do this, a way to remove this boon just became VERY useful. It also means that any enemy NPC that puts this on their allies during battle becomes a VIP to RIP. (Imagine a corrupted sylvari spamming this buff on a bunch of husks.)

IF the devs use it well, this could make fights more interesting, without being an instant “I win” for anyone. If nothing else, it should make boon stripping more important.

While your reasonning is well constructed, I have noticed several weaknesses :

• yes berserker meta builds inflict conditions, mostly to trigger +X% damage bonus. The new boon will prevent the damage from bleeding but not the +X% dps bonus.
• Though it will nullify vulnerability so that’s a good thing I guess ? However, only the very best groups reliably inflict the 25 stacks of vuln to a target. 99% of the playerbase won’t see the difference.
• Good berserker parties tend to have boon revomal tools in the dungeons that require it. Mesmer perform this task faster than a necro btw (null zone).

I fear the days of the “pack in a corner -> pre-stack might -> win” are not counted for now.

Actually, Null Field and the Necromancer’s Well of Corruption are identical in area, duration, cooldown and # of ticks/boons affected. If you trait Temporal Enchanter then yes, Null Field does become better with the extra duration (and therefore more boons removed) but untraited, it’s just a choice of an innately Targeted AoE with Condi cleanse and an Ethereal Field (Null Field) or an innately PbAoE that’s unblockable, does damage, and corrupts, rather than removes, boons with a Dark Field (Well of Corruption)

Mesmer’s real advantage in this field really comes from their Sword AA chain, which removes one boon with the final attack, when the whole chain takes only about 3 seconds to complete. Best part? MH Sword-wielding Clones also do the full chain, which will also remove a boon with the last attack.

However, if you’re talking about a single skill’s ability to remove several boons at once, no non-elite skill beats Necromancer’s Corrupt Boon for single targets; five boons, unblockable and no waiting for ticks.

I’m thinking more about what resistance could mean for Thieves, if the new specialization gets it or it gets integrated into current Thief skills.

Imagine being able to completely ignore conditions for a couple of seconds. Might not be as big against necros, because corrupt boon, but Engineers? Condi Rangers? would be a nice thing to have against them.

If taunt is a pure CC effect, and not a hybrid CC/Condition effect like Fear… couldn’t you use it to get Mai Trin to kitten follow you into the kitten electric fields, even with full shields?(though not with any defiance stacks.) Seem to remember being able to do knocbacks/stun on her in those conditions.

If that is the case, I welcome taunt with open arms on that merit alone.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Foefaller.1082:

BrunoBRS.5178:

aiming a shadowstep through a gap isn’t going to happen. faking a shadowstep from a fixed spot to another fixed spot (like kasmeer does) could work though.

that said, i doubt any masteries will have “profession flavor”, because it would have to be fairly similar for all 9 (like a reskin of the same ability).

Well, if we get that kind of thing, that’s probably how it will work.

Like, you have a mastery the lets you cross certain gaps, and the actual effect depends on the profession you are playing at the time, something like

Mesmer: Portal
Thief: Shadowstep
Ele: Rock/Ice Bridge
Necro: Bone Bridge
Engineer: Rocket-propelled jump
Guardian: Bridge of Light
Warrior: Grappling Hook
Ranger: Carried by a large bird/Vine Bridge (if Druid)
Revanant: something appropriate

If you make the location profession-specific, then you’d probably make the effect something that anyone can use or take advantage of (i.e. Warrior leaves the hook in place for the next x seconds/users, Thief shadowsteps anyone within a certain range ala Caithe in episode 7, etc)

but there’s a difference between a teleport (scripted or not) and spawning a bridge you can walk over. one generates a physical object, the other doesn’t. either everyone has a teleport analogue, or everyone has a bridge-like thing (which would be pretty silly for most professions)

May I ask why?

I mean, sure, there could be a possible exploit or clear advantage of using one method over the other, but that does not necessarily preclude never letting anyone ever use a skill like that. I mean, there are skills (Warrior’s Sword 2 and Engineer’s Rocket Boots and Rifle 5 come to mind) that can be used to make long range/percision jumps that are definitely beyond what is normally possible, but they’re still in the game (probably because their not beta RtL level of broken)

Ultimately, it’s up to Anet and the amount of time/resources they are willing to spend to make it work to their level of satisfaction. If nothing else, I would love nothing more than, during PS/LS missions from now on, that the next time an NPC of my profession goes “Let me (do something that my character can’t normally do)” I get the option of saying “No, let me do it.” …and actually do it.

BrunoBRS.5178:

aiming a shadowstep through a gap isn’t going to happen. faking a shadowstep from a fixed spot to another fixed spot (like kasmeer does) could work though.

that said, i doubt any masteries will have “profession flavor”, because it would have to be fairly similar for all 9 (like a reskin of the same ability).

Well, if we get that kind of thing, that’s probably how it will work.

Like, you have a mastery the lets you cross certain gaps, and the actual effect depends on the profession you are playing at the time, something like

Mesmer: Portal
Thief: Shadowstep
Ele: Rock/Ice Bridge
Necro: Bone Bridge
Engineer: Rocket-propelled jump
Guardian: Bridge of Light
Warrior: Grappling Hook
Ranger: Carried by a large bird/Vine Bridge (if Druid)
Revanant: something appropriate

If you make the location profession-specific, then you’d probably make the effect something that anyone can use or take advantage of (i.e. Warrior leaves the hook in place for the next x seconds/users, Thief shadowsteps anyone within a certain range ala Caithe in episode 7, etc)

tboneking.2531:

Wait so Firearms V doesnt have an internal cooldown?

Correct.

Coupled with the fact Steel-packed Explosives means you apply vulnerability with every grenade that hits, once you get the crit rate high enough it won’t be uncommon to go from 0 vuln to a dozen or more stacks with just a couple of tosses + the toolbelt skill.

Tskales.2804:

Has this issue really been ignored for 2 years?

“Ignored” is a strong word, as there have been dev posts/comments about it.

But yeah, we’ve been complaining about it for that long, and all that’s be done so far is jack squat.

Iason Evan.3806:

Playing a control spec has never really been viable in PvE. Hopefully the change will open up the possibility of playing a control spec. They sold us the game that “Control” was one of the three ways to play and left out “..but not in PvE.”

Control is more than knockbacks and stuns. Cripple, immobilize, chilled, blind and even Weakness are all conditions which help you “control” the fight, and Anet has started making them a bigger deal in recent updates (Terragriffs and Vile Thrashers come into mind) That being said, making more traditional CCs more useful in everyday PvE would be a plus.

My Take on the bar? Stun/Knockback effects (and perhaps Mastery-related skills) will now take chunks off of Defiance to stun, depending on type, intensity, and unlocked Masteries, instead of each CC effect taking off only one layer, regardless of what skill was used.