Guild Wars 2

We now have 3 different maps that can be used as borderlands: Edge of the Mists, Desert, and Alpine.

We have three servers per match.

Why not use one of each BL for each match:
-green BL = EOTM
-blue BL = Alpine
-red BL = Desert

Pros:

-no map goes to waste
-every week, you never know which BL you’re going to get.
-adds variety to prevent matches getting stale every week.
-you can have the same 3 servers against each other, but on different home borderlands to change each week’s matchup.
-is a possible solution to “rotating” BL maps without redoing the WvW world map every week

Cons:
-may need more dev time to bring number of objectives on each map in line with each other

PS: sorry for formatting. On my phone.

I honestly don’t want them wasting any more time revamping the New Player Experience, as they call it. Especially after spending the last 2 years essentially revamping the level up system and developing new systems to the detriment of new content.

i actually prefer using the National Hockey League style:

give 2 pips for a win
give 1 pip for a tie

that make up for losing a pip for a loss, and would actually make winning feel like it meant something in the division. as it stands right now, 1 win followed by 1 loss, followed by 1 win followed by 1 loss, etc… makes wins feel like they don’t mean anything at all.

you mean Howland The Elementalist skill trainer in Pre-searing Ascalon? his orignal Name in beta was Rodgort, was was then changed, (and probably replaced by a different NPC altogether… maybe someone beat him to death with his shoes?)

Rodgort’s skills (Mark and Invocation) duly reference a dragon, in my opinion, with the burninating and even the dragon skill-icon. it’s appropriate, after all, since Rodgort is based off that Homestar Runner webisode, directly referencing Trogdor the Burninator. even the Legendary Weapon “Rodgort” is shaped like a dragon’s head. :P

my apologies for implying deaths of Djinns. ’twould actually be the summoning portal that would detonate, not the Djinn itself. since the Elementalist would be summoning the Djinn directly from the mists, it reasons that the ELementalist would also send the Djinn back to the mists. it also reasons that the Djinn would be summoned / returned through a portal. and therefore, the portal itself would be affected by the f5 traits.

disclaimer: no Djinns were harmed in the making of this elite specialization.

disclaimer: no Asuras were detonated either, but some were tossed around at the moot, having been mistaken for Skritt by the drunken moot-goers

grats Lisa! i’m glad to hear you’ve earned gliding! i know you felt like it was unreachable with your chronic pain. hopefully this makes GW2 a little more enjoyable when you can play.

PS: and bacon to you , too! (unless you don’t like bacon, then more for me!)

Warden

NEW CLASS MECHANIC

F5 is a transform.

this transforms the elementalist into the statue from the Crystal Desert from GW1, weilding a sword and a shield.

while transformed, the skills in the 1-5 slots become physical skills. such as:

1- cleaving sword autoattack chain
2- sword mobility / cc
3- sword high damage attack
4- shield attack / cc
5- shield block / reflect

NEW UTILITY CATEGORY: WARDS

similar to the concept of wards in GW1, perhaps mechanically similar to wells., would be used defensively as Area Denial zones, hampering enemy movement and offense, through pulsing conditions such as blind, chill, cripple. and pulsing boons such as retaliation, swiftness, vigor.

NEW WEAPON: TORCH

this weapon would focus on combo fields and conditions, such as:

fire:: smoke field / AoE burning
earth: poison field / AoE bleeding
air: evade toward your target, pulsing vulnerability and short range AoE damage along the way / rapid-fire-like multiple projectile finisher
water: create a shield of ice, when it blocks attacks, it heals you and shrinks (to simulate the ice melting into water), limit 3 blocks / surfboard movement skill, healing allies and poisoning foes along the movement path. (the idea is summoning a poisoned surfing wave)

TRAITS

i honestly haven’t though too much about traits for this concept yet. but the themes of the three lines would essentially be :

~buffing boons / healing, such as, consuming an aura for AoE healing
~buffing conditions in an AoE fashion, such as hitting a foe with a condition would cause conditions to spread to more foes.
~buffing movement with defense. such as granting swiftness also removes a condition.

the minors would buff the transform: such as:

~ when you transform into a Warden (ie press F5) blind nearby foes
~ move 25% faster while transformed, grant swiftness to allies when transforming

I quote here, mainly to bring awareness of the other thread. Anet is keeping tabs on the other thread. there have been many great ideas, such as an Elementalist Elite Spec version of the GW1 Dervish. Many other ELe ideas have made it there as well, such as Spellweaver from an earlier Ele thread.

Please look at the other thread and offer suggestions while the devs have it bookmarked.

Forgotten Legend.9281:

Elementalist: The Summoner

NEW CLASS MECHANIC

F5 skill summons a Djinn from Elona.

when the summoner changes attunements, the Djinn changes form, (such as flame Djinn, Frost Djinn, etc)

when the Djinn is summoned, F5 becomes, another skill to detonate the Djinn. when the Djinn detonates, it causes a large explosion (600 radius?) to do damage that also causes an elemental control effect (based on attunement) such as fire: smoke field; air, knockback; earth, blind; water, freeze foes around the djinn for 1 second or 2 (like Shiro’s Jade Wind skill for rev) edit: detonating the djinn puts the F5 skill on cooldown.

the Djinn’s skills change based on which attuenement the elementalist summoner is in.

there would be a trait, to proc master minor traits on the Djinn (such as sunspot) on attunement swap.

UTILITY SKILL CATEGORY: SUMMONs

~Tidal Wave: summon a large tidal wave that knocks back foes as it hits them. after the initial wave crashes, it returns from where it came, pulling foes back about half the distance they were knocked back. (this simulates a large wave crashing on shore and then returning to the sea, keeping the enemy out of balance, who is in the tide)

~Summon Rodgort (elite) : call for Rodgort’s aide. when the dragon initially lands, it knocksdown foes, then the skill changes to a secondary skill to cause Rodgort to breath fire on the area to create a fire field that damages foes. Rodgort will remain until he dies. (like a flesh golem)

~ Forgotten Relics: summon 4 large boulders (could be broken ancient rubble from Forgotten Statues, maybe pieces from the ancient statue in the Crystal Desert, that though crumbled, still appears to be whole and standing from a distance)… these 4 “boulders” would circle the elementalist summoner for up to 30 seconds. if they block an attack, they explode. if they hit a foe, they explode for small damage and stun the foe for 1/2 second. once they are summoned, the skill changes to allow the elementalist summoner to launch the boulders at their target, up to 900 range.

~ Fountain of Youth (heal): summons a water field that heals allies and removes their conditions. also poisons foes for 10 seconds.

~ Searing Cauldron: summon a searing cauldron that will periodically cause a local searing event. (think: an area-denial turret that can be destroyed)

~ Aziure’s Mark: you mark your target, who is then attacked by several summoned minor air elementals for a short time

WEAPON

i have NOT come up with any weapon theme that i like too much, but i was thinking maybe a mace mainhand. (keep in mind the potential damage from the Djinn and Rodgort)

air autoattack would swing the mace, and the shockwave would hit targets up to 600 range.
air 2: vulnerability stacker
air 3: summon a mini black whole (think Legendary Diarmid in Dragon’s Stand) that sucks foes into it for a second or two.

earth autoattack chain would be melee cleave, damage—> bleeding—-> weakness
earth 2 would be a block
earth 3 would be a small knockback + blind. (spin around, knocking back your foes, then slam your mace to the ground, creating a dust cloud that blinds your foes.

fire autoattack : 900 range: cause your target/s (small, 300 AoE) to burn. if your target is already burning, do bonus damage to targets within the AoE (edit: think: Searing Flames elite skill from Gw1)
fire 2: mark of rodgort: (this would be similiar to revenenat hammer 2, but spread burning) 900 range
fire 3: supernova: 900 range: summon a supernova at target’s location, 1 second delayed explosion (300 AoE), shockwave causes 3 stacks burning (600 AoE)

water autoattack: melee cleave: damage—-> chill—-> AoE heal
water 2: 600 range: throw 6 ice shards at your foe in rapid succession,
water 3: create an ice shield to block up to 3 attacks… detonate early to blind nearby foes.

TRAITS:

minors:
adept: gain F5 to summon and detonate Djinns
master: blind nearby foes when summoning or detonating a djinn (AoE centered on self AND on djinn)
grandmaster: pressing f5 is also a stun break, +10% damage against blind foes

Adept traits:
~ when you strike a blinded foe, gain 10 endurance
~ when you summon or detonate a Djinn, remove a condition
~ apply burning whenever you strike a foe with a condition (10 second cooldown)

Master traits:
~ gain regen and protection whenever you summon or detonate a Djinn
~ minor master traits also proc off your Djinn (like sunspot)
~ summoning or detonating a djinn will also detonate auras for damage

GM traits:
~ gain might and fury whenever you use a summon skill (f5 and any skill saying “summon” in the description, including the new utility skill category, glyphs, and some mace skills)
~ Djinn will detonate twice when detonated
~ summoning or detonating a Djinn will grant quickness to allies

[Introduction]

We’ve all groaned at the numerous “repeat” threads out there beating a dead horse. Such as:

~ I really liked capturing elite skills in GW1. Can we have that in GW2?
~ I really wish my Revenant could use racial skills!
~ I really wish I could learn skills from the Order (Whispers / Priory / Vigil) I chose in my personal story!
~ I really wish my Elementalist / Engineer could weapon swap!
~ I really wish I could equip a sword on my Elementalist / rifle on my Thief! Etc.
~ I really wish PvP meta would be shaken up more often!
~ WvW doesn’t have enough stability!
~ Stealth is too powerful in competitive game modes!

[Proposal]

F0-F6 can be tooled to be used as game-mode exclusive skills. For example…

in PvP: F6-F0 could be given flavor of the week skills to counter a specific meta.
In WvW: F6-F0 could be given flavor of the week skills to counter a specific meta, and also allow new, map specific skills (such as EotM’s airship strike grenade, which is currently a consumable)
in PvE: F6-F0 could use racial skills, order skills, consumable skills earned from hearts or events.

F6-F0 would essentially work like a second set of 6-0 slots, but: (using PvE skills as the examples)
~ class specific skills can not be slotted in F6-F0
~ racial skills would be re-allocated to the F6-F0 slots, and no longer usable in the regular class slots.
~ F6 would be dedicated to NON-class heal skill (such as racial heal, med kit from heart quests vendor in Gendarren Fields)
~ F0 would be dedicated to racial elites, elite consumables (such as the fire elemental summon), new Order elite skills
~ F7-F9 would be dedicated to the general racial utility skills, non elite consumable skills (such as a jump rifle, or training sword/ shield/rifle from Claypool Heart quest)

[Converting existing systems]

~ we already have a plethora of consumable skills from heart quests, heart quest vendors, NPCs strewn about Tyria just standing around in their own little corner.
~ All of these consumables could be converted to be placed in a “consumable / skill collection”
~ once the consumable / skill has been unlocked in the collection, it can be freely slotted in the appropriate F6-F0 skill slot. In the appropriate game mode.
~ F6-F0 skill slots would be earned through the existing level up reward system. For example: F6 could be earned at level 18, F7 at level 22, F8 at 25, F9 at 28, and F0 at 34. to continue allowing for a sense of character progression.
~ racial skills would be auto granted when the appropriate slot is earned through level-up reward system
~ new Order skills could be awarded for completing different story missions, such as “Barrel of Apples” after completing Order of Whispers Chapter 4.
~ new generic weapon skills can be created for generic swords / rifles / etc, that can be used as “kits” in the F7-F0 skill slots (F0 elite weapons would be more powerful than F7-F9 weapons of course) (thus allowing “weapon swaps” in a different form, and allowing classes to wield generic weapons they normally cant wield)
~ Players could even learn monster skills, or boss skills as rewards for defeating them.
~ each game mode already has it’s own separate character build. (When I move from PvE to WvW or to PvP lobby, my character has a different skill and trait loadout in each game mode. F6-F0 would be included in that fuction)

[PvP and WvW]

~ whenever the meta feels too stale, new skills could be added to shake up the meta without changing class skills.
~ these new skills could be the PvP / WvW equivelent of Fractal Instabilities.
~ these new skills could be rotated / random on a per match-up / daily / weekly / monthly / seasonal basis

[Pros]

~ having consumable / skill collections would add “more to do” for those who “gotta collect them all!”
~ gives people more flavor in PvE, especially for Rpers
~ gives players more skills to use in different game modes.
~ allows Anet to shake up competitive game mode metas without re-balancing class skills in all game modes, especially if the skills don’t need a buff or nerf. For example:
~~ not enough stability in WvW? Create new skills for WvW that apply more stability
~~ stealth is the dominate meta in ranked PvP? Create new PvP-only skills that apply more “reveal”

[Cons]

~ takes development time away from other new content.

[Rebuttal to Cons]

~ this would lay the groundwork for another system to expand character progression in the game.
~ this would not be making a completely new system, it would be adjusting current systems to synergize better with each other.
~~ collections already exist
~~ many consumables / skills already exist
~~ environmental weapons already exist
~~ many animations and icons already exist as assets in the game (re-using existing work in more ways)

bitdefender flagged “http://assetcdn.101.ArenaNetworks.com/latest64/101” as being infected for me as well. i just added both …/latest64/101 and …/latest/101 to my web protection whitelist as well. “…/latest/101” seems to be the more important address to whitelist, though.

my quick story….

two losses on rev, +1 loss on tempest = 3 losses in a row…

then i switched back to ranger (after remembering the bunker meta is gone) and won a game. only gained 1 pip (no bonus pip for comeback after 3 consecutive losses)

so here’s how my day’s been so far…

3 losses
1 win (1 pip)
2 losses
1 win (1 pip)
3 losses
1 win (1 pip)
1 loss

yes, i’m in amber due to being my first day back home after season 2 started.

the feb 23 patch notes say i’m supposed to get a bonus pip for 1st win after 3 consecutive losses, but as you can see, i was not granted the bonus pip… twice.

i’m not posting screenshots because ANET can look up my record easily enough to verify this info.

PS /bug report incoming through in-game too

well, it says it’s an AMD phenom II X6 1090T.

the first thing i noticed in your video is the low clock frequency. that means, that the cool’n’quiet feature is probably turned on in the BIOS. under load, that processor should be running 3.2GHz, not .77-1.83GHz. which means the default cooler may not have been enough, or that the CPU fan curve wasn’t set properly.

my backup rig’s AMD phenom II x4 965 black edition still runs 20-30 fps on a 1600×1200 lcd monitor @ 3.4 GHz @ mostly medium settings mixed with high. cool’n’quiet is turned off, to prevent the CPU from ever downclocking. (cool’n’quiet feature downclocks the CPU to save power)

either way, it looks like having the cheap Acetek watercooler removes enough heat to allow the system to run at it’s proper frequency, instead of downclocking it.

PS: intel makes several 6-core CPUs… such as the i7 4930k, or the i7-5820k

PS: the remark about the generic (pretty much all the closed-loop, pre-filled watercoolers in a box are built by Acetek) watercooler is meant in fun, since custom water loops are the true form of water cooling ;-)

a little tip for the vampire HP….

the main big heal is when he tethers himself to a player using a black laser beam. the ONE player being tethered needs to get out of range to break it. that’s it. and he only uses that skill around 25% health or lower. (mesmers can shatter their illusions if an illusion gets targetted, rangers can recall their pets, necros and elementalists aren’t so lucky with their summoned pets)

all the other heals (like his poison cloud spihoning life from melee targets) are all very minor and can be DPS’d through. (mesmers can shatter their clones at this point)

i’d also recommend filing a bug report, too…

i don’t understand why support doesn’t understand the problem….

the problem is obviously, that the client does not stream while playing, even when set to max. it doesn’t make any sense to even suggest that the internet service is too slow. (they should at least state a recommended minimum internet speed if they claim the internet is too slow) especially in this day and age when nobody in the USA uses 56k dial up modems anymore…

/sigh

that’s the joy of being afk for 5 days at a time… wow… how did i miss the other threads about this? i claim bacon deficiency again….

there is a reason many of us refuse to play UNRANKED matches., mainly due to their poor matchmaking and very poor matches, or because of hating certain maps.

please for the love of Tyria, enabled ranked play during the offseason….

if you’re worried about people getting confused… then i suggest, during the actual seasons, add a “League Match” Option to the queue UI. (or change the Ranked option to “League Match” option during the actual season matchups)

[My own PvP history]

back during the PvE content drought of 2015, i got so bored that i finally tried my hand in PvP. i thought i’d start in unranked so i could practice. sure, my MMR was very volatile, so my matchmaking experience was all over place, seeing blowouts pretty much every match. i watched some videos on YouTube to learn more about PvP, and discerned that most games i was matched in unranked, one team knew how to PvP, and the other team had no clue. therefore, every match seemed to be a blowout.

so i tried ranked. my matchmaking experience was 100 times better. (even though the matchmaking for me is still very volatile since i was not able to PvP every day, or even sometimes only one day a month due to work scheduling)

for me, ranked was always a better experience. and i am reminded of how much better ranked experience is, every single time i queue in unranked. because my unranked experience makes we want to never PvP again.

[TL;DR] ranked is a much better PvP experience than Unranked, please turn on ranked play during the offseason, and give a “League Match” queue option during the actual season

Ulion.5476:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

Elementalist: The Summoner

Forgotten Legend.9281 I guess someone has refined the summoner idea I was thinking of. Your going with the same train of thought. I was considering use an elementalist type pet but wanted to making it more temporary since a permanent pet would be to much like a ranger’s pet. A summons that would copy some of your abilities and detonate. While doing more control effects and lower damage since elementalist already have high dps.

Ulion.5476:

Elementalist:
Summoner, summon a variety of elementals focusing on control uses a Mace. Elementals can block terrain, chill, burn, or knockback enemies that try to move through them and buff allies that move through them. Traits buff elementals and glyphs.

another idea for the class mechanic would be,

when you swap attunements, summon a lesser djinn (up to 4 djinns) based on the element you are attuning to. you can have multiples of the same element djinn based on your attunement rotation. once the cap of 4 is reached, the oldest djinn is replaced by the newest one. press F5 to detonate all djinns where they stand.

but i thought that sounded a little too mesmery, and i honestly thought more about the utility skills, and as powerful as they are, i thought a single djinn that would change elements when you did, would be more interesting. i think i need to mention that F5 would certainly have a cooldown to prevent 100% uptime of djinns.

i was thinking that it would have to be choice though. keep the djinn up, or detonate it for a more powerful control effect, and then wait awhile before you could summon him again. and you’re definitely right about keeping the djinn’s damage lower with elementalist’s core weapon damage potential.

thanks for the encouragement. and especially for suggesting mace as a weapon.

Elementalist: The Summoner

NEW CLASS MECHANIC

F5 skill summons a Djinn from Elona.

when the summoner changes attunements, the Djinn changes form, (such as flame Djinn, Frost Djinn, etc)

when the Djinn is summoned, F5 becomes, another skill to detonate the Djinn. when the Djinn detonates, it causes a large explosion (600 radius?) to do damage that also causes an elemental control effect (based on attunement) such as fire: smoke field; air, knockback; earth, blind; water, freeze foes around the djinn for 1 second or 2 (like Shiro’s Jade Wind skill for rev) edit: detonating the djinn puts the F5 skill on cooldown.

the Djinn’s skills change based on which attuenement the elementalist summoner is in.

there would be a trait, to proc master minor traits on the Djinn (such as sunspot) on attunement swap.

UTILITY SKILL CATEGORY: SUMMONs

~Tidal Wave: summon a large tidal wave that knocks back foes as it hits them. after the initial wave crashes, it returns from where it came, pulling foes back about half the distance they were knocked back. (this simulates a large wave crashing on shore and then returning to the sea, keeping the enemy out of balance, who is in the tide)

~Summon Rodgort (elite) : call for Rodgort’s aide. when the dragon initially lands, it knocksdown foes, then the skill changes to a secondary skill to cause Rodgort to breath fire on the area to create a fire field that damages foes. Rodgort will remain until he dies. (like a flesh golem)

~ Forgotten Relics: summon 4 large boulders (could be broken ancient rubble from Forgotten Statues, maybe pieces from the ancient statue in the Crystal Desert, that though crumbled, still appears to be whole and standing from a distance)… these 4 “boulders” would circle the elementalist summoner for up to 30 seconds. if they block an attack, they explode. if they hit a foe, they explode for small damage and stun the foe for 1/2 second. once they are summoned, the skill changes to allow the elementalist summoner to launch the boulders at their target, up to 900 range.

~ Fountain of Youth (heal): summons a water field that heals allies and removes their conditions. also poisons foes for 10 seconds.

~ Searing Cauldron: summon a searing cauldron that will periodically cause a local searing event. (think: an area-denial turret that can be destroyed)

~ Aziure’s Mark: you mark your target, who is then attacked by several summoned minor air elementals for a short time

WEAPON

i have NOT come up with any weapon theme that i like too much, but i was thinking maybe a mace mainhand. (keep in mind the potential damage from the Djinn and Rodgort)

air autoattack would swing the mace, and the shockwave would hit targets up to 600 range.
air 2: vulnerability stacker
air 3: summon a mini black whole (think Legendary Diarmid in Dragon’s Stand) that sucks foes into it for a second or two.

earth autoattack chain would be melee cleave, damage—> bleeding—-> weakness
earth 2 would be a block
earth 3 would be a small knockback + blind. (spin around, knocking back your foes, then slam your mace to the ground, creating a dust cloud that blinds your foes.

fire autoattack : 900 range: cause your target/s (small, 300 AoE) to burn. if your target is already burning, do bonus damage to targets within the AoE (edit: think: Searing Flames elite skill from Gw1)
fire 2: mark of rodgort: (this would be similiar to revenenat hammer 2, but spread burning) 900 range
fire 3: supernova: 900 range: summon a supernova at target’s location, 1 second delayed explosion (300 AoE), shockwave causes 3 stacks burning (600 AoE)

water autoattack: melee cleave: damage—-> chill—-> AoE heal
water 2: 600 range: throw 6 ice shards at your foe in rapid succession,
water 3: create an ice shield to block up to 3 attacks… detonate early to blind nearby foes.

TRAITS:

minors:
adept: gain F5 to summon and detonate Djinns
master: blind nearby foes when summoning or detonating a djinn (AoE centered on self AND on djinn)
grandmaster: pressing f5 is also a stun break, +10% damage against blind foes

Adept traits:
~ when you strike a blinded foe, gain 10 endurance
~ when you summon or detonate a Djinn, remove a condition
~ apply burning whenever you strike a foe with a condition (10 second cooldown)

Master traits:
~ gain regen and protection whenever you summon or detonate a Djinn
~ minor master traits also proc off your Djinn (like sunspot)
~ summoning or detonating a djinn will also detonate auras for damage

GM traits:
~ gain might and fury whenever you use a summon skill (f5 and any skill saying “summon” in the description, including the new utility skill category, glyphs, and some mace skills)
~ Djinn will detonate twice when detonated
~ summoning or detonating a Djinn will grant quickness to allies

if it makes you feel better , here’s my story of my first dragon’s stand experience:

i went in there on my ranger, obviously for the meta-locked pets.

first attempt at the meta failed, due to the zergs falling apart in the nascar phase of the blighting towers.

second attempt: everything went smoothely. so smoothely in fact, that a fluke random phase of the mordremoth fight spawned the crashed helicopter (to retrieve bombs) on the island where mostly everybody entered in on at the beginning of the fight… and mordy’s mouth spawned the next island over. i didn’t even get a hit in on mordy before he was dive bombed to death in less than a minute. it was the most amazing, but most frustrating, boss fight i’d ever been in.

third attempt in a row, i finally got the kill 6 hours after i entered the zone specifically for the meta.

a guildmate led me through the the loot phase to get my pets.

but, yeah, that second attempt, although amazing… didn’t net me a dragon kill, the achievements, or the loot.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Conncept.7638:

Or, maybe, since we won’t be able to have all three defensive stats simultaneously anymore, they will finally give the ele the reasonable defensive baseline it has needed since launch to ever have more than one build.

Yes, but they’re not doing that. All we get is a Shatterstone buff and a bad diamond skin rework. Remember, 100% of the time when Anet “previewed” balance changes, those were 100% of the changes.

except that the previous balance patches took 6 hours to “preview” on Rubi’s livestream. they specifically mentioned in this livestream that they were not going to talk about all the changes because it would take way too long, and they wanted to keep the show down to an hour. so they pretty much previewed a change or two in each of the four categories they listed in their blog earlier in the week. that blog specifically mentioned plural changes to each category.

while this balance patch might not be as big a change as the specialization changes, there’s no way it’s as small as they previewed. i think the better word would have been “teaser” than “preview.”

but i’ll freely admit that i’m bacon deficient at this hour, and could very easily be asleep in left field without realizing it. (in other words, i could be way wrong about my prediction, too)

PS: maybe they need to shake things up like this, too: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/King-of-fires-suggestion/first#post5928814

/shrug

actually, anet is buffing auras (a mostly elementalist thing), but only for berserkers (warrior spec). i’m suggesting they give this functionality to to tempests, where it belongs.

i’m looking at being able to trade the “defense” of auras, and turn it into an offensive / control thing. aura duration wouldn’t need to be nerfed if we had the choice to detonate it early for more damage and control. sure, control is mostly defensive in nature.

~ the act of detonating the aura before it’s duration ran out would naturally shorten the length of it’s duration.
~ would make auras more useful for tempests that are so good at maneuvering, that they never get hit.
~ it would also encourage more active play, instead of the passive play encouraged by aura spam.
~ it wouldn’t require the tempest to be hit by something to proc the effect of the aura. (because with elementalist’s low base defense, we don’t want to be hit anyway)
~ since tempest skills and shouts offer so much for auras, tempest would naturally have more offense and control effects by detonating their auras early.

and yes, anet thinks that auras offer too much defense to elementalists. that’s why they’re nerfing aura duration to 4s. in contrast, a lot of players expressed on the forums their hatred of auras, for the simple fact that auras only proc their effects if the elementalist takes a hit, which is counter productive to such a squishy class. Anet has just unwittingly offered a new trait for warriors, that if applied to tempest, would much improve the active, fast-paced nature that lead players to elementalist in the first place. i’m offering a suggestion to encourage trading the passive defense of auras into something more active.

two main recommendations i have for you:

1) play the different game modes you like… try out some exotic gear with the different stat combos in the different game modes to see how you like it. compare your experience between the different stats. you may like clerics in fractals, but zerker for world bosses and meta events. so then you’d make ascended clerics (for the agony resistense) for fractals and keep a set of exotic zerker for the other content.

2) your ascended armour , if you change your mind on the stats, can be changed with a mystic forge recipe, but in doing so, will destroy any upgrades (such as runes and infusions) the second you throw them into the forge. so if you don’t like the stats of your ascended armour, you’re not locked into that bad decision. it can be fixed.

PS: some people really like to play a cleric’s healing elementalist. the best advice i can give about end game gear, relies on who you play with. do you usually PUG the hard content? where people are always asking you to ping your gear? or do you play with guildmates who don’t care what your build is, because you all play together so well that you complete the content and have fun talking while doing so?

so basically… play the game, try different stats to see what you like the best, and go from there. (also decide what kind of LFG’s to look for when you PUG…)

PPS: there are some folks who will always tell you “zerker or kick”… if you care about setting world record speed runs, then there’s a LOT more to it than simply “zerker”, such as memorizing the dungeon, coordination with teammates, boons, etc.

i’m not asking for a new fire trait…

i’m basically saying that warriors got a trait, that should be a tempest trait. elementalists already are the kings of auras, so why is it that new aura functionality is given to warriors?

the ability to detonate an aura is themetically an elementalist idea. elemenalists already have arcane shield, which is essentially an aura that blocks attacks, and then detonates if it blocks enough attacks. sceptre earth gives a very similiar skill, that gives a defensive buff, but can be “detonated” to throw the projectiles at your enemy.

so of course, the new, reworked warrior elite specialization trait: King of Fires, is reworked to : zerker skills detonate fire aura to cause 3 stacks of burn. warriors should not get that functionality. tempests should.

PS: i’m also not hating the idea of a trait that scales burn damage off of power, but i think that would be OP… and all three of the GM fire traits are loved by so many people, so that if we lost any of the 3, there’s be rioting in the streets of LA…

Warrior’s new trait King of Fires gives me an idea to boost offense for tempest… It would involve either a second skill for each shout ( if that shout grants an aura) to detonate that shout’s aura for a specific effect, or an F5 skill that could detonate any aura. The specific effect could basically be a super up version of the passive effect of the aura.

a fire aura would be detonated to cause more burning, a shocking aura would detonate to stun enemies, an earth aura would detonate to throw rock projectiles at foes, a frost aura would detonate to freeze enemies solid, like old basalisk venom or Shiro legend’s jade wind.

An f5 skill detonation would mean that chaos armour and light aura would need detonation effects, such as spreading conditions or healing, and would obviously need a cooldown

1) Since you are looking at normalizing rez and stomps (by making it so quickness and slow don’t affect rez/ stomp speed) … Please also consider making it so that anything that prevents point capture, prevents stomps, too. (such as stealth, blur, etc) But especially , make it so that teleporting away breaks the stomp attempt, too.

2) I like the idea of a power/ condition (major) , vitality / heal (minor) amulet…. But I would also love a power / toughness (major) , precision / condition damage (minor) amulet. But please add them to PvE as well!

oh gee whiz…

queue times for me personally, are almost always double to triple the “estimated queue time”, and i only have 23 points on the ladder, so you’d think my MMR would be low enough to get decent queue times… i can’t tell you how many 7-10 minute queues i sit in during estimated times less than 3 minutes…

(this actually makes me wonder if my MMR is higher than what it should be, or if i just need to stop solo-queuing to finally get the wins that the matchmaking system seems to think i should be getting)

if it’s that bad for ME, with only 23 points, i can’t imagine how bad it is for someone with 200…

they changed how the server population is counted with HoT:

before HoT launched, servers counted everyone who chose the server as their home server, both PvE, WvW, and PvP players.

after HoT launched, servers only count active WvW population, no longer counting PvE-only or PvP-only players.

they even talked about in their official blogs leading up to HoT release, and in several dev posts here on the official forums.

considering that NCSoft is no longer Anet’s publisher… how exactly does it matter what NCSoft says in their business meeting?

with all due respect, Nvidia vs ATI discussions are irrelevant at 1080p… either brand will do the job just fine.

as for the budget… $1100 doesn’t even qualify as an “entry level” system. ask any enthusiast who spends triple that on custom water cooling parts alone. (forget about those $150 corsair water-cooling kits for high-end rigs) a serious competitor in the PC world buys motherboards that can handle cold bootups with LN2, which typically run 400$ and up. and they typically run 3 or more top-of-the-line video cards. which typically run $600 and up. a typical “high end” machine will run you a good $7000 minimum for the parts.

the truth about high end rigs though, is that the are built for OTHER things than just gaming, like setting world records on synthetic benchmarks, video editing and compression, protein folding research, or gaming at super high pixel resolutions across multiple 4k monitors. Basically, what most people would call “Overkill.”

my own rig is built from an i7-4930k, Rampage IV black, 32G ripjawZ 2400 DDR3, samsung 840PRO SSD, Win10 64b pro, 2GTX 670 in SLI (i don’t feel the need to upgrade my video cards yet @ 2560×1600 resultion on a 30" monitor), Cosmos II case, with various 2T HDDs and a silverstone 1500 PSU (has really high efficiency at 750 watt load, and 8 12v rails for overload protection, and operates just fine at extemely hot temperatures if needed) i had a custom water loop in it, but decided the case made maintenance of the loop more difficult than it needed to be, so i reverted back to air cooling. the hex core runs everything just fine at a moderate 3.9GHz (i didn’t feel like pushing it to 4.4 or higher. default is 3.4)

but of course, this isn’t about “high end” competitive rigs. this is about a budget $1100 gaming PC.

my friend has a i-5 3590k, 16G DDR3 2400 RAM, and GTX 970 and is pulling 60fps (GW2) on a 1080p monitor just fine.

as for CPUs, when it comes to gaming, an intel Sandybridge i7-2500 games just as good as a skylake i7-6700k. the difference in benchmarks in games like Crysis, is maybe 2-5 frames per second (assuming same video card, OS, RAM speed, etc) (DDR4 2400 RAM performs worse than DDR3 2400 RAM due to looser timings). and when you’re talking about current generation video cards can run Crysis at 90 frames per second. those extra 2-5 frames don’t matter, unless you’re competing on the pro circuit, which means that an $1100 PC isn’t going to cut it…

for GW2, $1100 PC is just fine.

with respect… the MM system should never throw people from 3 differetn divisions into the same match… unless they are a premade team… this is rediculous

whats the point of having leagues if people in different leagues are constantly pitted against each other?

i had a losing streak of 10 in a row last night, and about half way through the losing streak, i realized that me, as a tier one amber leaguer, was constantly matched up with emerald leaguers. (i could not see this until the end of the match of course, because Anet obviously doesn’t want us abandoning the match based on being unfairly pitted against people in other leagues)

after reading these forums and talking with guildmates, it seems that people are losing on purpose to tank their MMR so they face off against worse players. all in order to help them cross into the next league. IMO, once you cross into the next league, you should not be matched against people in the lower league for easy wins.

the only acceptable exception to separating the players from different leagues completely , is that there’s just not enough players online from one league or the other. however, last night, i constantly counted a good 15 or more amber leaguers in my own instance of the PvP lobby.

i keep hearing that leagues are not factored into MMR system at all… which IMO, totally defeats the purpose of leagues in the first place. especially since the league system was hyped up to improve matchmaking, and make better, more matched games for players.

shovels are a possible reward for every event you complete in silverwastes. take a keep, defend a keep. escort a dolyak. take or defend the skritt cave. kill a mordrem veteran boss that roams around. kill a legendary mordrem. gather rubble to rebuild a keep. vinewrath events. the only silverwastes events that DON"T reward shovels are the hero challenges, and maybe the donate bandit crests for a NPC merchant (bank, trading post, merchant) in the main Pact Camp.

why does everything have to be about sex? i thought this was an adventure game… not Y Tu Mama Tambien…

You obviously value cleansing fire and lightning flash more than stunbreakers, otherwise you’d have more stunbreakers on your bar… Duh.

There is more to your build than those 3 utility slots, and ways to add more cleanses and stunbreakers. If you refuse to use other tools available to you, its your own fault. Every build has its own strengths and weaknesses… Weigh them and accept the weaknesses. Half of PvP is knowing when to run away you know…

PS you totally ignored the bacon Deficiency paragraph, which is clearly more important than the paragraph that you quoted. Especially considering that you are so stubborn as to refuse to change your build to cover the weaknesses you’re complaining about. You may not have ready access to bacon, and therefore can’t think straight do to bacon Deficiency. It’s okay. It happens to all of us sometimes… Now look at the irony of me saying its not your fault for being bacon deficient at the same time as saying its your fault for making a build while you’re bacon deficient…

oh i understand completely what you’re asking… you want elementalists to be pigeon-holed into taking cantrips all the time… something that the general community has been complaining about for the last three years. sorry, but i refuse to endorsse your QQ, especially when there are alternatives. (some of which have been mentioned in this thread…)

you still have the final say on whether a stun break is more important to you, or defense. is a stun break more important? or is mobility? apparently, you feel that everything else is more important than stunbreakers… and then complain that you can’t break out of stun…

PS: for someone complaining about “lack of understanding”, you sure like to quote others out of context and ignore the jocular nature of the post.

either way, this is an MMORPG, and RPGs are all about choices. choose wisely.

the shortest cooldown stunbreaker in elementalists’ toolbox is Signet of Air. 25 second cooldown that blinds nearby foes as well. (20 seconds if you take “written in stone” GM trait, but most earth users prefer the defensive GM traits)

it’s your choice which stunbreakers you take… and you have to choose whether a skill is worth more for its stunbreak or for its other effects. in other words, you’re the only one to blame for which skills you use on your skill bar.

however, you may not be responsible for having Bacon Deficiency Disorder. it’s going around this year…

just a reminder… there are some people who think that “PvE” means “dungeons only.” and they respond under that false assumption.

guys… the “story” is not limited to the 4-act story-instances. go do the content in the zones.

there are plenty of story arcs in the event chains in the zones that work in tandem with the story instances. for example: verdant brink is chock full of distrust of the sylvari, forging ahead with the itzel and Nuhoch, another event chain dedicated to the Pale Reavers, another dedicated to Nobles.

much more of the Exalted, Nuhoch, and Itzel story arcs will come available as you unlock more masteries.

the rush to rescue DE and fight Mordy is only the surface. you can explore the depth and nuance of those “side arcs”in the actual events in the zones.

and no, i did not address individual main character development. and no, i won’t discuss that so don’t bother calling me out for it. there is no law requiring me to respond to every single complaint that you make about anything.

i just did a -repair install, and can now log into characters…. but Sign Cutting (chapter 14 HoT story) now requires Itzel Poison Mastery for me to continue… i thought that requirement was removed in an update earlier this week…

sigh… after the last patch, recieved network error til i -repaired client… then i followed the above suggestion… and when i returned to Sign Cutting, i now am required to earn Itzel Poison Mastery to proceed….

requiring 400 hero points for the elite spec, is diametrically opposed to the act of making masteries and their progress, account bound.

masteries are at least alt friendly. elite specs are not.

elite specs shouldn’t feel like a reward for completing HoT. elite specs should be completely attainable (fully unlocked) by the time the character leaves Verdant Brink. at absolute worst, by the the time the character leaves Tarir.

i’ve already converted my armour and weapons to marauders.
now i only need to do HoT act 1 masteries to earn the trinketts.

and so far for me… 15k health pool is better than 12k health pool. (since my trinketts are still zerker). i’ve lasted a longer in those largescale events in the HoT zones.

Evan Lesh.3295:

Unranked arena is not blocked by rank. The conquest game mode is. You cannot queue with someone in your party who does not meet the rank requirements.

the problem is this:

stronghold is not friendly for beginners, but it’s now the “starter” PvP mode.

stronghold is basically the map for advanced PvPers, is much more complicated than a typical conquest map, and doesn’t teach a beginner anything about conquest mode.

it would be the same as using Triple Trouble as the intro instance for people who just bought the game and log in the first time.

i just dropped all my ascended zerker armour into the forge with marauder insignias… the same with my staff… i lost about 100 power, but gained about 100 precision and 300 vitality. sure, my damage is slightly less, but going from 12k health to 15k has made a huge difference for me. i’m even considering to master all of HoT part 1 story to earn all the ascended marauder trinketts…

and yes, the change to pets definitely makes it worth taking the the glyphs of elementals.

as much as i wouldd like ground targeting for fire and air overloads, i won’t trade the stunbreak for them. the stun break finally opened up choices for utility skills. i’m kind of tired of signet of air always being on my bar (it’s the only 20 second stun break for ele. the other stun breaks have way too long a cooldown for my tastes, which would essentially mean taking two stun breaks.) and i still hate cantrips with a passion, so overloads having stun break offers me the alternative from the meta, allowing me to basically take whatever utility skills that synergize with each other, instead of simply “filling kitten in defense” for the build.

please keep in mind that the league will reset every single tournament. so everyone will always start off in the lowest league on day 1 of each tourney.

as an aside… showing the league badge at the end of the match won’t make a difference if the stat panel isn’t available outside of the match. There are plenty of times i wanted to take a “deep dive” into my stats after a match, only to find i was kicked out of the match and no longer able to look at my stats.

[suggestion] please try to do at least one of the following:

a) make stats for the match available outside the match (every stat reported when you press [B] to bring up the stat panel)

b) do not force me out of the match instance until i confirm that i am ready to leave, so that i can take a more detailed lok at my stats for the match.

thank you for your consideration.

Azure.8670:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

Karl McLain.5604:

Following up on the Stunbreak conversation: This is something we’ve talked about in the past and felt like it might just be way too strong. However, it still sounds like way too much fun to not try it out… so I’m going to change them over and we’ll see what that plays like in BWE3.
Please keep in mind that this will be a test and we may have to compensate for or remove it at some point in the future, if it’s too strong.

-Karl

Please keep in mind that traited properly, a necro can use f1 to stunbreak every 7 seconds, not including any utility skill stunbreaks they take.

now, elementalists taking signet of air can stunbreak every 20 seconds while traited, not including tempest defense and gale song.

assuming that the stunbreak on overload cast (at start of cast) would have no icd, allowing overloads to stunbreak would be at best, every 5 seconds, IF the player uses the overload to stunbreak, and then immediately swap attunements to start the pre-cast warm up for the next overload stunbreak.

now, using an overload only for the stunbreak also means setting that stunbreak on a 25 second cooldown, assuming that the channeling is interrupted by attunement swap immediately. (an aside, i thought it was said in the Tempest PoI livestream that it was intended that attunement swapping would NOT interrupt the overload channel, but just wasn’t in the beta build yet)

at this point, starting at the first stun break, and assuming perfect timing on attunement swap. we have: SB + 5s, SB + 5s, SB + 5s, SB + 5s, and since 20s have passed, the first attunement is available again. that doesn’t include any aftercast delays. realistically, we can expect every 6 seconds a stunbreak would be available with constant attunement swapping.

this appears to give the Tempest another choice to make: finish the overload or swap attunements to continue regular weapon skill rotation. (if the attunement swap does not interrupt the overload channel, then how else will the tempest be able to interrupt the channel? cast another weapon skill? we currently can’t dodge out of the overload channel…)

that possible every 5 second use could possibly be OP with the d/d cele cantrip ele build that dominates PvP, but i think that d/d cele cantrip eles would think twice about blowing their standard rotations for a stunbreak that essentially locks them out of an element for the next 20 seconds. this would really slow down their rotation, by a lot, so the damage output would fall considerably. i think it’s a fair trade off.

also, the more available stunbreak might finally allow for other utilities besides full cantrips, but i suppose that’s another conversation.

in the current iteration of overload channels, d/d cele cantrip eles also have to consider whether to let the overload finish channeling, too, which adds another 4 seconds before swapping attunements, (since attunement swap breaks the channel) which could essentially put the stunbreaks on longer cooldowns. 4 second channel + 5 second warmup means 9 seconds before next stunbreak is available.) this might make up for some of the damage lost from their regular rotation, but again, it’s a tradeoff.

realistically, i see overload stunbreak potential on par with necro using shroud as a stun break.

i’m actually really excited about this…

necro using shroud as a stunbreak is the most awful, terrible, horrible way to play there is. we use shroud for WAY WAY more things than just a stunbreak. thats.. wow just an awful way to even think.

you ever play necro bro?

I will respond with the same sarcastic tone you used.

First: don’t call me bro.

Second, do you understand English?

Third. To summarize my post in a way you can understand, since its obviously over your head. The stun break on overload is not as strong as the dev hypes it because , like the necro traited stun break on f1, you would have to use it only for stun break, and go out of your way to ignore, and even cancel the other effects of the skills to prep it for the next stun break usage.

Realistically, the stun break on overload will only be available every 10 seconds (the cool down for the daredevil utility stun break) for someone who uses the stun break within a high attunement swap rotation, or available every 20 seconds for someone who camps a single attunement. (20 second stun break is air signet’s cool down)

PS I actually have 2 level 80 necros I pve with for fun. A Rampagers scepter focus minion master, and a zealouts dagger warhorn well vampire. And when I say pve, in this case I mean silverwastes and cursed shore event chains. The vampire has traited f1 stun break, and realistically, I don’t need to use it as a stun break that often, buts nice to have available in my build, since its my only stun break. Sure, you’ll prolly berate the build on your limited knowledge of it, but this is a tempest thread, so if you wish to discuss my necro playstyles, feel free to PM me.

PPS. My initial sarcasm was intended for entertainment purposes only, exactly as your “do you even play a necro, bro?”

confirmed…. Mordremoth is the Matrix…. his agents (commanders) could be anyone…

[EARTHEN PROXY],

1- can we please make it more like Mass Momentum? make it so we gain 1 stack protection each second we have swiftness or might? (this would better suit the frontline support role if we had more availability of protection while attunement camping instead of of higher damage reduction from protection)

2- or gain protection whenever you break out of a stun, but i think i like the other suggestion better, since this would grant protection at the start of overloads (because of the stun break) and essentially copy the existing minor trait

3- brainstorm… if the stunbreak at beginning of overload channel makes it live ( i really hope it does ) , i would suggest changing the minor trait that grants protection on overload to also grant protection on stunbreak, to allow the minor traits to benefit non overload usage as well. (since there are complaints about how Tempest minors only benefit using overloads)

3b -this would not be as strong as Elemental Attunement, but would also give an alternative to arcana. i think it wouldn’t be too powerful combined with arcana either, because earth + arcana + water already can give higher protection uptime

[HEAT SYNC] (edited due to brain fart…. i originally typed “wildfire”)

1- in addition to might, let heat sync continue to affect / apply vigor as well

2- this would allow removal of latent stamina (i hate vigor traits with a passion, and arcana spec already has a vigor trait)

[NEW TRAIT] to replace latent stamina

Magnetic Conduit – taunt foes when you overload. 3 seconds taunt, 360 radius, 20-30 second cooldown.

- this new trait fits within the theme of a frontline supporter in that it increases survivability

- with the new trait, Tempest traits might need to reorganized, but seeing as how powerful this trait would be combined with granting auras on completing overloads, maybe this should remain as a choice in the same tier.

-this new trait would also synergize with the melee range aspect of overloads, by causing foes to run into the overload while the tempest channels it.

[LIGHTNING ORB]

i like Shrugal’s idea listed above as well, but i fear that the damage would be lessoned to compensate for the mobility…

Karl McLain.5604:

Following up on the Stunbreak conversation: This is something we’ve talked about in the past and felt like it might just be way too strong. However, it still sounds like way too much fun to not try it out… so I’m going to change them over and we’ll see what that plays like in BWE3.
Please keep in mind that this will be a test and we may have to compensate for or remove it at some point in the future, if it’s too strong.

-Karl

Please keep in mind that traited properly, a necro can use f1 to stunbreak every 7 seconds, not including any utility skill stunbreaks they take.

now, elementalists taking signet of air can stunbreak every 20 seconds while traited, not including tempest defense and gale song.

assuming that the stunbreak on overload cast (at start of cast) would have no icd, allowing overloads to stunbreak would be at best, every 5 seconds, IF the player uses the overload to stunbreak, and then immediately swap attunements to start the pre-cast warm up for the next overload stunbreak.

now, using an overload only for the stunbreak also means setting that stunbreak on a 25 second cooldown, assuming that the channeling is interrupted by attunement swap immediately. (an aside, i thought it was said in the Tempest PoI livestream that it was intended that attunement swapping would NOT interrupt the overload channel, but just wasn’t in the beta build yet)

at this point, starting at the first stun break, and assuming perfect timing on attunement swap. we have: SB + 5s, SB + 5s, SB + 5s, SB + 5s, and since 20s have passed, the first attunement is available again. that doesn’t include any aftercast delays. realistically, we can expect every 6 seconds a stunbreak would be available with constant attunement swapping.

this appears to give the Tempest another choice to make: finish the overload or swap attunements to continue regular weapon skill rotation. (if the attunement swap does not interrupt the overload channel, then how else will the tempest be able to interrupt the channel? cast another weapon skill? we currently can’t dodge out of the overload channel…)

that possible every 5 second use could possibly be OP with the d/d cele cantrip ele build that dominates PvP, but i think that d/d cele cantrip eles would think twice about blowing their standard rotations for a stunbreak that essentially locks them out of an element for the next 20 seconds. this would really slow down their rotation, by a lot, so the damage output would fall considerably. i think it’s a fair trade off.

also, the more available stunbreak might finally allow for other utilities besides full cantrips, but i suppose that’s another conversation.

in the current iteration of overload channels, d/d cele cantrip eles also have to consider whether to let the overload finish channeling, too, which adds another 4 seconds before swapping attunements, (since attunement swap breaks the channel) which could essentially put the stunbreaks on longer cooldowns. 4 second channel + 5 second warmup means 9 seconds before next stunbreak is available.) this might make up for some of the damage lost from their regular rotation, but again, it’s a tradeoff.

realistically, i see overload stunbreak potential on par with necro using shroud as a stun break.

i’m actually really excited about this…

post post script: forum end of page bug sux, too