Guild Wars 2

You think RtL is bad, you should see what I can do with Snow Leopard->Stealth->Dash->RtL. :p

Yes, we can move quick. I can tell you however, that without such mobility we would be just free badges. On a stick.
We have lowest armor and lowest HP. Anything goes wrong and we have to have our escape options or we’re dead. And in WvW particularly, stuff goes wrong all the time.

If you want balance, then we should get more base toughness and HP. But ask yourself which would you rather have, a fire-breathing sprinter or a fire breathing juggernaut?

Attic.1562:

Gaudrath.6725:

My main point is that elitism of any kind simply sucks, and that still stands. I don’t care how well someone can play, or how experienced they are, that gives them no right at all to be condescending to other players. If you want to argue something, argue that.

And seemingly your only counter to the “hurrr im better than u b/c i r 100/0 in duals & r moar skilled than u” elitists you’re railing against boils down to “durr u suck cuz ur skills r meaningless 2 the real game” only with some false indignant righteousness attached. Hypocrisy at it’s best.

As I said before (even if it got deleted), the counter to elitism is not more elitism. You’re just ranting about something you don’t like and masquerading as some sort of noble soul who only cares for the hurt feelings of the poor newbies being trampled by the big bad duelists.

There are words for how you’re acting but all of them equal out to “kitten” here.

First – I am not elitist. Do you even know what the word means? You simply have no arguments and keep beating that dead horse. No, the counter to elitism is not more elitism, but neither is not talking about it.
Second, I am not even sure what you are arguing about. I’m not masquerading anything. Try to grasp the concept of caring how other people feel, might make it easier to understand what I’m talking about.

And third, you seem to want to argue for the sake of arguing. I really don’t have time for that. Either argue with solid arguments or simply don’t. And leave ad hominem out of this. It just increases your chances of getting an infraction and has no other effect.

Attic.1562:

Gaudrath.6725:

Re-read my posts if you want. I never said I was better than anyone else or that my way is the only way to play the game. I said that it is wrong to act as if you are worth more than your fellow players just because you got skill in pressing certain buttons in a correct sequence. Simple as that.

Oh really? I must have imagined all these quotes then.

I said I thought my way is better (roaming vs. fight clubs) and explained why. Nowhere did I say that my way is the only way to do things, nor have I said that duelists in general suck. On the contrary.
And I definitely never derided anyone who didn’t deserve it in the first place. I’m sorry, but I do not think the kind of players I’m talking about deserve courtesy.

My main point is that elitism of any kind simply sucks, and that still stands. I don’t care how well someone can play, or how experienced they are, that gives them no right at all to be condescending to other players. If you want to argue something, argue that.

I think they were just very very upset that they got roflstomped and some people are not very nice when they’re upset. I got trash talked because I didn’t want to repeatedly rush with three people into a 20 people zerg spawn camping us in EB once. It happens, not everyone is like that and basically the fact that some of them put you on ignore simply saved you the effort of ignoring them yourself later on.

Heh, this would make tornado actually useful!

Acelerion.6820:

I dont even know how to work siege.

You need a really big helmet.

Furiousbeard.7602:

Everybody paid the same money for this game and can play it how they like, they can boast if they want and they can brag if they want. Just because they don’t hold your viewpoint on group play being what GW2 is all about doesn’t mean they should get a tongue lashing from you.

Ah then, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it. As I said, I don’t care about bragging. But there is a big difference between bragging and elitism. And no, they can’t be elitists if they want without deserving a tongue lashing.

And so what? That’s my opinion, and I voice it. If anyone has a problem with other people’s opinions or getting a little broiled on the forums, they should just unplug their internet connection because they gonna get an ulcer that way.

Honestly, something that looked like bare hands casting, like gauntlets, would fit much better than a greatsword.

That, or 1H sword, that would also fit nicely. Or longbows. We could use a long range single target DPS weapon.

Parktou.4263:

you would think that an ele’s mist form would land softly on the pavement below, but no……just, no……sucks poppin mist form goin off the edge to avoid the zerg and dying to fall damage -_- but atleast i can still go through doors from downed state XD

One of the first things I tried when I got Mist Form… though “ooh, mist surely can’t take fall damage!”.

Splat.

GuardianOMS.8067:

This thread is some good reading. Keep it up, boys!

Gaudrath.6725:

Anyone who is doing their best, deserves props for their effort, not their skill.

This sounds an awful lot like coddling to me, like we’re in kindergarten. I will say that I agree that we should respect each player no matter their skill level, but to ignore someone who is obviously more skilled in a certain area just sounds like an attempt to make everyone seem like equals. The truth is, we’re not.

No, we are not, but I believe in positive affirmation rather than negative segregation when it comes to team effort. Yes, some players are obviously more skilled or experienced than others which is why I always advocated that commander tags should be closely tied to time spent in WvW, kills or rank.

However, I do not believe that just because someone is more skilled gives them the right to be condescending towards those who are not. The attitude that certain players are “useless”, “mindless” or any of the usual derogatory attributes simply because they are not as good at a certain aspects of WvW as some other players are, simply does not fly.

Furthermore, in any team based game, morale and team cohesion are very important. Players who feel they’re not appreciated will not be as committed to the effort as players who feel their effort is being noticed and acknowledged. For example, why should a puggie spend coin to buy siege BP’s and deploy them if they hear their commander deriding “useless pugs” in chat afterwards?
Even more so because it’s a game. It’s not real war, nobody died, nothing is permanently destroyed or lost. There is literally no reason not to be nice to each other regardless of skill presented and appreciate the effort. It’s not cuddling, just basic team decorum.

Do note, I am not saying nobody should ever be criticized for making mistakes, but there are useful ways and obnoxious ways of doing that. I vote for being useful.

Furiousbeard.7602:

Both types of play and players should be given respect. A solo player shouldn’t generalize group players as being unskilled unless they have engaged in a group duel to prove the claim.

Its like comparing apples to oranges.

I never said anything to the contrary – in fact in one of my earlier posts I said pretty much the same thing.

I entered this discussion because I wanted to speak out against elitism that is unfortunately cultivated by many FC participants. We have seen a lot of generalizations in this thread, most of them aimed at group players a.k.a. zerglings.

Though I still think open roaming is better training than FC’s, simply because the situation is “real” and you get good at both dueling and quickly figuring out what to do when the situation inevitably changes. You train yourself to track more information and your reactions are faster and more appropriate, than if you only learned how to track what your opponent(s) are doing.

Sure, it will cost more silver and time, but I just think it’s more efficient both for the player and their team, since they can double as scouts and actually do harass the enemy.

Just like back when I was playing EvE… some people enrolled in a player run PvP “fight club” (Eve University I think it is called), where there would be Red vs Blue staged fights so that people can learn how to fight properly.

And some of us just bought a hundred cheap frigates, and went to die a hundred times out there.

The result was the same, except that the latter ones learned quickly how unfair open world PvP is and adapted their playstyle accordingly.

Attic.1562:

Gaudrath.6725:

not to mention that any kind of elitism is contrary to the kind of camaraderie and a sense of working together on a large scale which makes (or should make) WvW appealing in the first place

This coming from someone who’s posts in the thread largely seem to boil down to “That thing you do that you enjoy? You suck because it doesn’t conform to my narrow view of how WvW should be,” how rich.

Elitism is not the answer to elitism.

Which I suppose is sort of beside the point in any case. You’re not actually trying to stop elitism, or speaking out against it. You’re just trying to play “Fun Police.”

Gaudrath.6725:

WvW is a team oriented game. No two ways about it.

WvW is just an area of the game where people can kill other people who are not on their server.

That’s all it is. Trying to ascribe some deeper meaning to it is foolish nonsense perpetrated by foolish people, usually with overinflated egos.

Maybe I am complicating things too much. Let me be clear. I don’t care about how you spend your play time. What I care is about how people treat each other. Call me sentimental if you like, but just because we’re all doing the anonymous persona online thing doesn’t mean we should throw basic human decency out the window and behave like 13-year old schoolyard brats/bullies to each other.

Elitism of any kind is something I will speak out against. It has no place in the real world, and even less in the virtual one where all you do simply doesn’t exist except in our collective heads. This is a game. More so, it is a team oriented game. Anyone who is doing their best, deserves props for their effort, not their skill.

And no, it is not elitism to call people elitists if they behave like that. That’s typical “politically correct running in circles and saying nothing” attitude and I don’t prance about like that.

Re-read my posts if you want. I never said I was better than anyone else or that my way is the only way to play the game. I said that it is wrong to act as if you are worth more than your fellow players just because you got skill in pressing certain buttons in a correct sequence. Simple as that.

SabreWalrus.8647:

Everybody hates blobbing but everybody is doing it. Christ, guys. Please stop. We need to work to change the meta, not conform to it. This plague is moving down the tiers and soon everything will merely be a grass is greener situation, it won’t actually be any better anywhere else, on any other server in any other tier.

Scnd called early tonight because of so many connection issues and lag, plus boring blobs.

If you love this game and want to have fun, everybody is gonna have to do their part. /Pep talk.

I agree, but it’s not going to happen unless ANet gives us some hard counters for zerging, solid tools for commanders and starts encouraging more diverse tactics than “bunch up and hit ’em”.

I used to do large scale alliance PvP in EvE Online, and that’s where I learned two things:

1. People love to group up when the fight is on
2. There is no supercomputer server cluster in the world which can match the number of people grouping up when the fight is on.

CCP, the company which runs EvE, has made a very flexible server structure which is actually counted as a supercomputer, with top of the line hardware and everything, capable of supporting a few hundred players in a single battle…

… and I’ve been in alliance fights numbering about 1500+ players trying to duke it out in a lag infested quagmire. Someone astutely noted then, if devs make a system that can support up to 1000 players in a battle, there will be at least 1001 players fighting.

That’s just human nature and there is no way to coordinate it out. ANet needs to make a better system that makes zerging inefficient and dangerous. Only way.

Sokina.8041:

I’m not ashamed of saying that while the enemy is kicking my kitten I’m telling my allies my position so they can flank and destroy said enemies. I’m just a guardian. I can’t chase that well, so the easiest way to survive a fight with me is to walk away. I have no skills to catch you and I don’t care if you run. Wasting someone’s time and forcing them to disengage is a small victory, especially if you’re assault or defending a keep.

Well, we do have skills to catch people… Judge’s Intervention, Leap of Faith, Flashing Blade, Zealot’s Embrace, Binding Blade, Ring of Warding, Line of Warding, Chains of Light all can work together to make a solid attempt at catching someone. A Guardian is an arbiter of justice and nobody escapes Justice! :p

So can you use it to bat treb shots out of the air?

Hicci.8761:

Gaudrath.6725:

Hicci.8761:

I would recommend at least 1800 toughness and about 1400 vitality. Living guardian>dead guardian who hits higher.

Depends on what you want to do. If I pop Save Yourselves + Leap of Faith + Judge’s Intervention and Whirling Wrath in the middle of a group, I’ve just nailed several people down to 50% or less (even downed a few a couple of times) before they even had a chance to react.

Of course, if I get focused I die quick, so this is not one of the builds for 1vsX play. More of a shock trooper stuff because I rely on my group to hit them immediately afterwards.

So far had little trouble in such scenarios, and even if we lose I am usually one of the last to go down. But I am susceptible to burst damage, so gotta watch out for that. I’m not saying mine is the best build out there, I was just answering OP’s question, how low can you go with HP. Well, really low.

Well first of all “save yourself” in large fights WILL get you killed plus in pvp the buff duration is half of their duration in pve.

That’s for sPvP, in WvW, the duration is same as in PvE. But you are right about killing yourself if you pop in in the middle of a fight… which is why I pop it before I jump in from 1200 range. The extra crit from fury + protection might and swiftness means I get a really nice buff for that initial charge.

However, as you pointed out, if something goes wrong, I have very few means of getting out. Renewed Focus helps with 3 seconds on invulnerability, as well as nicely timed dodging.

Hammer #5 with JI is also good, though I haven’t had that much time to practice with the hammer… the autoattack just seems so clunky to me.

Zumy.6318:

Gaudrath.6725:

Furiousbeard.7602:

Gaudrath.6725:

Furiousbeard.7602:

Small skilled groups are highly underrated in wvw. They really can decide the look of a map by winning small decisive fights while the zerg is busy with another zerg.

Dueling is a very good skill to have since your understanding of each class has to be superior in order to win.

I never said anything to the contrary. My point is that the notion that only being in a FC can make you a good roamer or duelist, or that anyone running with a zerg is an unskilled player simply isn’t true.

As I said… if you want to be a good duelist, don’t go to fight clubs, get out there and roam for real. Because that will give you a proper kind of challenge, since roaming is a highly unpredictable business. AND you get to be actually useful to the team, since you can also scout around and report stuff.

And again… do the fight club if that’s your thing, and you’re not taking up slots. But observe the #1 rule and shut up about it. FC-ers have no business talking down to anyone, since even the least skilled zergling is actually more useful than they are. Simple as that. Play as you like, but don’t act like that makes you better than “those dumb zerglings”.

The tone of your post is terrible. Please don’t quote things I say if you are rebutting something posted by someone else. The phrase “shut up about it” is offensive.

Not every response in this thread is directed to you or about you.

I thought you might think I was criticizing you personally with that last part – I wasn’t, even though I quoted you so – my bad for the misunderstanding.

I was addressing the type of player who participates in FC’s and then acts elitist towards their fellow team members. We even have an example here of players repatedly rezzing their teammates which interrupted a FC so that they could be killed over and over by the other side.

Now, do you think that sort of attitude doesn’t deserve at least a terrible tone in forum post? Makes me wish there was such a thing as banning players from WvW.

Meh, he will get repaircosts only once, so who cares.

It’s not about that. As the OP mentioned, that sort of thing can really leave a sour taste in your mouth. Perhaps even enough to discourage someone from playing WvW at all, not to mention that any kind of elitism is contrary to the kind of camaraderie and a sense of working together on a large scale which makes (or should make) WvW appealing in the first place.

Plus its just lowlife bullying. No other way to describe it.

This morning, I interrupted a duel. I didn’t realize ‘till afterwards (I got stomped) that it was a duel. And I will do the same thing again. Why? Not because I’m a mean guy who likes to ruin people’s fun, but because there’s no frikkin way to tell if some guys are dueling or having a FC, or if there is a legit fight going on. If it is a fight, and 99% of time it is, you want to hop in and help out. And you don’t have time, once the hits start flying, to nicely work things out in chat, especially since the other side is incommunicado and is trying to kill you.

WvW is a team oriented game. No two ways about it.

Furiousbeard.7602:

Gaudrath.6725:

Furiousbeard.7602:

Small skilled groups are highly underrated in wvw. They really can decide the look of a map by winning small decisive fights while the zerg is busy with another zerg.

Dueling is a very good skill to have since your understanding of each class has to be superior in order to win.

I never said anything to the contrary. My point is that the notion that only being in a FC can make you a good roamer or duelist, or that anyone running with a zerg is an unskilled player simply isn’t true.

As I said… if you want to be a good duelist, don’t go to fight clubs, get out there and roam for real. Because that will give you a proper kind of challenge, since roaming is a highly unpredictable business. AND you get to be actually useful to the team, since you can also scout around and report stuff.

And again… do the fight club if that’s your thing, and you’re not taking up slots. But observe the #1 rule and shut up about it. FC-ers have no business talking down to anyone, since even the least skilled zergling is actually more useful than they are. Simple as that. Play as you like, but don’t act like that makes you better than “those dumb zerglings”.

The tone of your post is terrible. Please don’t quote things I say if you are rebutting something posted by someone else. The phrase “shut up about it” is offensive.

Not every response in this thread is directed to you or about you.

I thought you might think I was criticizing you personally with that last part – I wasn’t, even though I quoted you so – my bad for the misunderstanding.

I was addressing the type of player who participates in FC’s and then acts elitist towards their fellow team members. We even have an example here of players repatedly rezzing their teammates which interrupted a FC so that they could be killed over and over by the other side.

Now, do you think that sort of attitude doesn’t deserve at least a terrible tone in forum post? Makes me wish there was such a thing as banning players from WvW.

Hicci.8761:

I would recommend at least 1800 toughness and about 1400 vitality. Living guardian>dead guardian who hits higher.

Depends on what you want to do. If I pop Save Yourselves + Leap of Faith + Judge’s Intervention and Whirling Wrath in the middle of a group, I’ve just nailed several people down to 50% or less (even downed a few a couple of times) before they even had a chance to react.

Of course, if I get focused I die quick, so this is not one of the builds for 1vsX play. More of a shock trooper stuff because I rely on my group to hit them immediately afterwards.

So far had little trouble in such scenarios, and even if we lose I am usually one of the last to go down. But I am susceptible to burst damage, so gotta watch out for that. I’m not saying mine is the best build out there, I was just answering OP’s question, how low can you go with HP. Well, really low.

dreztina.4820:

I like the zergers talking about important, meaningful contributions to wvw to accomplish real goals. And what are they accomplishing? Making a meaningless number that resets every week go up. Keep up the good work guys.

You could say that about any game. Football? Bunch of dudes kicking a ball around to make meaningless numbers go up.

It’s all a game. What, you think your superior dueling skills are more meaningful? The fact that you can press buttons on your keyboard in a more efficient manner is not that impressive. None of this is. We play games for fun, not to accomplish anything.

Which makes the kind of condescending attitude certain players seem to cultivate all the more baffling. There is literally nothing to be condescending about.

Furiousbeard.7602:

Small skilled groups are highly underrated in wvw. They really can decide the look of a map by winning small decisive fights while the zerg is busy with another zerg.

Dueling is a very good skill to have since your understanding of each class has to be superior in order to win.

I never said anything to the contrary. My point is that the notion that only being in a FC can make you a good roamer or duelist, or that anyone running with a zerg is an unskilled player simply isn’t true.

As I said… if you want to be a good duelist, don’t go to fight clubs, get out there and roam for real. Because that will give you a proper kind of challenge, since roaming is a highly unpredictable business. AND you get to be actually useful to the team, since you can also scout around and report stuff.

And again… do the fight club if that’s your thing, and you’re not taking up slots. But observe the #1 rule and shut up about it. FC-ers have no business talking down to anyone, since even the least skilled zergling is actually more useful than they are. Simple as that. Play as you like, but don’t act like that makes you better than “those dumb zerglings”.

Ahmrill.7512:

All the stuff you guys suggested was pretty much what Warhammer’s “Warband” system had. Hopefully they make grouping properly a priority soon.

Well Warhammer’s WvW system was overall better, even if the game itself wasn’t. Ah the days of shield walls in keep defense… now that required some coordination. Much more entertaining than just zergballing like angry bees.

Well, I have 64% crit rate with 75% crit damage and and my GS autoattacks usually crit around, depending on target, between 1200-2500 points. I run with Staff/Greatsword for general WvW (I don’t do sPvP) but my favourite fighting set is GS – Sword/Torch combo because it has nice mobility, lots of blinds and good AoE/ranged options.

Though lately I’ve come to appreciate the staff more… faster Might stacking before fights + watching runners bounce off the Line of Warding is funny.

13500 HP and 1600 toughness, though I expect to get about 1-1.5k HP from runes which I haven’t bought yet.
I’m not easy to kill, but that’s because I have mad dodging skills from playing an ele and easy perma-vigor helps. No face tanking for me. I think lots of people get surprised when I hit them like a truck and they were expecting a bunker guardian.

Adaneshade.2409:

Gaudrath.6725:

Adaneshade.2409:

Gaudrath.6725:

I love catching these awesome megaduelists with a group, it certainly is entertaining watching the little pink bubbles of rage float off their smoking corpses once they get stomped into the ground. :p

Duelists -> sPvP is that way. And kids, those videos you see on the youtubez… it’s called video editing and they never, ever show you the real story. For example after MegaAwesomeDude just totally destroys those five players in the video, they never show you how he was caught by their 30 friends three seconds later and got brutalized with an angry yak.

Ok, so 30 players managed to kill a soloer
/surprised face

The fact that MegaAwesomeDude just reamed those 5 proves that practiced PvP players are superior to non-practiced.

Now go hide in your 30 man and let the real men talk.

And of course, you just missed the point. People watch those videos and think WvW can be like that.

It can’t and it won’t. Those videos never show that such fights happen one out of ten times or less, usually when an experienced and decked out player with a good build catches a group of inexperienced ones with possibly sub-par builds and/or equipment.
In reality, there is no way equally skilled players can lose 5 vs 1. So basically the MegaAwesomeDude is putting up videos of him killing total noobs and pretending this is a normal occurrence.

WvW is not about dueling, it is about massive teamwork. Regardless of skill, players are an asset only if they work for the team. Doesn’t matter if they run with a zerg or if they roam and harass supply lines, or if they’re yakslapping to get supply moving.

But if they stand in jumping puzzles or in some remote spot with their duelist buddies pretending they’re some kind of “real men”, the only thing they’re doing is wasting slots.

Which is why I think ANet should finally introduce frikkin’ dueling and arena play so that we who actually want to play WvW don’t have to scratch our heads wondering where the heck is everybody when enemy zergs come knocking on the front door and half our force is off e*-peening somewhere.

The operative term in the 5v1 argument is “equally skilled”. Do you honestly believe that players who spend the entirety of their PvP experience relying on support from other players and/or superiority in numbers to win out in a situation could ever be “equally skilled” to someone who focuses primarily on 1vX fights and trains to fight them?

Interesting question. Depends on what kind of skills we’re talking about.
I find that people who train in controlled 1vsX fights tend to develop their skills only for that particular kind of fight.

Real WvW is very rarely like that, as I am sure people know (hence fight clubs). WvW fights are seldom the same numbers-wise at the beginning and at the end, meaning an efficient WvW player has to develop a different set of skills if they really want to be as successful as possible.
Being able to predict the ebb and flow of large-scale fights is different than focusing on only a few opponents. It doesn’t matter if you can win against five less skilled players at the same time after a five minute fight when 30 players just roll over you in a few seconds and you didn’t see it coming. It doesn’t matter that you can win any 1vs1 duel if you don’t learn how to work with other players.

Also, the attitude that people in zergs are somehow dumb or unskilled is completely wrong. Yes, you will always have less skilled players or young kids or very occasionally people who are in their own world. But most players stick to big groups for a very valid reason – not because it’s easier but because it is a necessity. Not because they are unskilled but because skill means little if you get caught out alone in the open by 20 angry dudes.

So no. Fight club training is not that useful skill wise. That is, I can see it being far more useful for sPvP than WvW. Although even in sPvP teamwork is far more important than awesome dueling skills. It’s just that kind of game.

Train in siege placement instead, that’s more in tune with what’s really going on in a WvW fight. Train group flanking maneuvers. Portal bombing. Efficient teamwork. That’s going to make a real impact in a WvW fight, not who can down the most people when in a strictly controlled environment.
And best of all, while players need a fight club to train in 1vsX fights, they can train all of the above while actually making a contribution to their team.

Or if they’re so intrigued by the prospect of 1vsX, do what real roamers do and get out there on their own, come hell or high water. Instead of hiding in some remote corner somewhere and pretending they’re just the best there is.

Jinks.2057:

There were a few DR players trying to ruin one of ECHO’s FCs.

After a bunch of us flew in and dropped them the DR FCers kept ressing them for me to repeatedly kill….they didn’t show back up needless to say

Lol, poor guys probably saw a bunch of green and red nametags and hopped right in… then got violated by the same people they were probably trying to help.
A scene worthy of a Tarantino movie. Where is a katana when you need one, eh? :p

What you do is, you run straight between their two zergs and let them both attack you at the same time.

Best way to break an alliance is a lot of friendly stomping. :p

Dynnen.6405:

Know whats great about cybering 1v1 with ECHO Mesmers? It quickly turns into a 5some, just sayin.

What if they’re a Charr mesmer?

GuardianOMS.8067:

S

What kind of game makes a mechanic that allows you to just up and avoid damage by doing a front/back flip?

A good kind? :p

Daviez.4913:

Gaudrath.6725:

The reason is simple – with certain build you could “pre-summon” your clones and shatter your way to glory. One of Mesmer weaknesses is that they require time to set up their big effects in combat. This gives other classes time to fight them. If you could run around with your clones, first, it would be difficult to target the real mesmer giving them an advantage from the start, second you would have your big effect (confusion, damage etc.) already preloaded and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Like I said before, clones or phantasm summoned out of combat would do absolutely nothing (except following you and copying your emotes) and they would immediately disappear when you get in combat

So basically you’re looking for a cosmetic effect? Sure, I’m down with that. Every class should have more emotes and nifty stuff they can do when not in combat.

The reason is simple – with certain build you could “pre-summon” your clones and shatter your way to glory. One of Mesmer weaknesses is that they require time to set up their big effects in combat. This gives other classes time to fight them. If you could run around with your clones, first, it would be difficult to target the real mesmer giving them an advantage from the start, second you would have your big effect (confusion, damage etc.) already preloaded and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Totally agree with the OP. Commanders should, at the very least, have:

-overhead overview UI with the total counts of players in their squad, supply they’re carrying and the amount of siege BP’s in the squad

-ability to quickly designate goals on the minimap. Commanders should be able to drop “pins” with attack, defend or move orders which would be visible to the entire squad on their maps and minimaps. Saves time, is clear and does not rely on third party programs like TS which usually end up with puggies guessing as to what is the next move.

In addition to above, commanders should also have:

-detailed squad UI, with complete roster of players who have joined, their classes, HP, true level, (upcoming) ranks and other data essential for making informed decisions.

-ability to designate smaller arbitrary groups of players and set the above mentioned goals on the minimap per group, so that players can get easy to understand and clear goals
-ability to see different designated groups on the minimap in different colors for easier battlefield awareness

And if I were in charge of the programming team, I’d also throw in a simple approximation bar for each group strength, which would be calculated based on overall group numbers, members alive / members downed or dead etc.

And most importantly: bonus XP and karma for players following orders. Because without that we all know half the zerg will just stay with the main group and ignore instructions.

I love catching these awesome megaduelists with a group, it certainly is entertaining watching the little pink bubbles of rage float off their smoking corpses once they get stomped into the ground. :p

Duelists → sPvP is that way. And kids, those videos you see on the youtubez… it’s called video editing and they never, ever show you the real story. For example after MegaAwesomeDude just totally destroys those five players in the video, they never show you how he was caught by their 30 friends three seconds later and got brutalized with an angry yak.

I swear by GS – sword/focus (or torch) combo. Great mobility, tons of blinds, probably the best damage combo you can have.

Sil.4560:

Gaudrath.6725:

19k crits. I’d love to land those on a thief, the tears would be delicious.

I’m not sure whether you’re talking about 100B maybe? I mean, that attack roots you and is pretty easy to avoid, all things considered, haha.

…Resulting in non-removable vulnerability stacks. Ridiculous.

I was kind of thinking that “boon hate” would be as temporary as some other boon, meaning that with skill you could possibly just avoid most of the duration of the danger. Who knows what they actually wanna do though…

My first point is that Guardians, being tough by design, are indeed more forgiving when it comes to making a mistake (though in WvW that really often isn’t the case), but they also do not have advantages other more frail classes have, like incredible burst damage.
I spec for damage on my guard and all I can say is that I really don’t have nearly as much room to make mistakes as a bunker build guard. But then again, a bunker build will have a hard time killing anything (froth-mouthed players who disregard stuff like retaliation not included).

I also mained an ele, and while I could do all the stuff you see in the videos, what most of them don’t show is how easily you can get steamrolled if you just make one mistake.

So it balances out in the end. More survivability = less lethality.

If boon hate is a new skill with a cooldown and everything, it might work. Judging from their track record, I think this will not be the case, instead I think it will be something you trait for.

Konrad.9587:

Gaudrath.6725:

And if those other people want more rewards, then they can put in more effort. You know, like doing events, dungeons, fractals, WvW, whatever. Dailies in no way interfere with that and do not impose any kind of “artifical ceiling”.

I meant laurels, not gold or the other currencies. You can get them only by completing dailies and monthlies. The amount you can get is fixed – and low, and there is no way to obtain them faster, even if you put a great effort in the game, much greater than logging off after completing your dailies. There should be more ways of earning laurels, or a way to earn more of them – with DR – but without the absurd ceiling of one per day and ten per month.

Why, exactly? If you really want to deck out your characters with ascended trinkets, do fractals. Laurels are for those who play the game casually, so that over time, they too can get ascended gear.

It was never meant to be a fast or better way to get them. Just a less efficient alternative for people who can’t or won’t do fractals.

As for necklaces, if someone is so fixated on getting a 3% increase to their stats that they feel they’re being punished with the laurel system, I’d say the problem is in their mindset, not the game.

And as far as dailies are concerned, as others have said, they complement your gameplay. There really is no donwside to them. They’re extra. A cherry on top. A cherry that requires literally 15-20 minutes of effort if you’re focused on them, or zero effort if you just play the game.

Konrad.9587:

tl;dr New dailies give everyone the same rewards no matter the effort they put. Is it good? Perhaps yes, but only for those who put little effort and play only to complete their dailies. Not really for anyone else.

And if those other people want more rewards, then they can put in more effort. You know, like doing events, dungeons, fractals, WvW, whatever. Dailies in no way interfere with that and do not impose any kind of “artifical ceiling”.

And it is not about challenge. It is about time. Time has value. Some of us work and have families. Dailies make it possible for many people to get, for example, ascended gear without having to grind fractals for a gazillion times.

This thread is a classic example of people complaining for the sake of complaining. There is virtually no downside to dailies. And yet some people try oh-so-hard to find one and complain about it.

Sky.7610:

I’m being punished because that free money, mystic coin, and karma you got from the daily makes my gold less valuable due to inflation, therefore I am being punished.

Getting ascended gear in fractal does not harm you and is only beneficial to the person wielding it and cause no harm to others.

Free money? Free karma? We do the dailies for those, they’re not free. We don’t get them for logging in, we get them for doing something.

Does people getting their paycheck for their day’s work punish you in real life? Because that’s the same kind of logic you’re using here.

Sil, it is true, Guardians have the option to recover from making “dumb mistakes” like jumping in the middle of an enemy zerg so they can distract and scatter the enemy and getting out alive… and yeah, a “higher skill ceiling” would be good.

You know what would also go very nice with that “higher skill ceiling” and consequent inability to do “dumb mistakes”?

19k crits. I’d love to land those on a thief, the tears would be delicious.

Now, since I don’t play a bunker guardian and rely more on active evasion than boons for mitigating damage, this change doesn’t concern me as much, but I agree that the idea of turning boons into a liability is inherently a bad one, simple because players have no way of removing boons. Conditions are a danger but every class has a way to deal with those. How do you deal with allies giving you boons and essentially stacking vulnerability on you? You can’t. Which makes the boon hate idea broken from the get-go.
Especially in WvW where you have large amounts of players simply using their skills and landing boons on allies. Not bunker players, just normal skill usage. Resulting in non-removable vulnerability stacks. Ridiculous.

All I can say is, I mained an ele, then switched to guardian and I have:

-better survivability
-better damage
-better critical group support

As an elementalist I was in no way a detriment to any group I ran with, but Guardians simply outshine them. I run a balanced guardian build and my autoattacks are simply higher than those on my ele even with the perma-fury critical damage build. The fact that I learned to dodge very well on my ele compliments the innate higher survivability of the Guardian. I have more powerful heals that are allmost as frequent as those on my elementalist.

And finally, my critical support skills are better. By that I mean if one of my team mates is in real trouble, as an ele there really isn’t much I can do to save them. As a guardian I can literally save them in a number of ways.

And in WvW, I tend to either kill eles or make them run. So yeah, Guardian is simply better.

Note, however, one important fact. I did not say that elementalists are not fun. They’re great fun to play. All classes should be as complex and versatile. Sadly, being so “all over the place” means that they often feel watered down compared to more streamlined classes. I imagine it is similar with engineers.

My advice is to play what class you like. I liked playing an ele, but I find myself enjoying guardian even more, yes, in part because it feels I get more for my effort, but that should not be the deciding factor in choosing what class you should play.

Well, you have to admit it, poor thieves need more damage. I mean, imagine their frustration when they can’t one shot a guardian! It’s not good for their health! :p

This. Also a problem – you can’t self-remove boons. So basically, every class has some sort of condition removal mechanism. But now if boons can become a liability, and there is no way to remove them from yourself, it creates an interesting (read, preposterous) situation.

Wait… more AoE? Didn’t ANet make a big deal about reducing AoE effectiveness in the game?

Make up your mind guys, sheesh.

I run 20 in radiance and love it, in PvE especially, and constantly available Justice is great – especially if you trait so that it applies vulnerability and AoE blind. I also run 30 in Honor and have 20% 2-handed rate slotted, so I get both… if I had to choose between the two, honestly, not sure. Both are great.

1. ability on the GS is awesome and you should use it all the time. First, it’s an AoE, second, the damage difference is really not that big that you should skip it. Also, if you drop #4 beforehand, you can combo with #2 and do some nice extra condition removal on nearby allies. Or you can combo it with Purging Flames for a fire whirl finisher, so it definitely has its uses.

Aegis is legendary, darnit! :p

First, damage against champion levels of HP means little. That warriors can dish out more than guardians is irrelevant. Staying power matters far more and guardians have a lot more of it than warriors.

Second, dodging. Nobody can solo facetank a champion, with a few exceptions which only confirm the rule.

And third, as other have mentioned, there are various champions. Some are a snoozefest and others cannot be soloed. At all and by any class.

I think we need mounts that give us 300% run speed, and a big red “InstaGIB” button that replaces the #1 skill, with 0sec casting and refresh time, that works on everyone, everywhere.

Then I would ride it in Lion’s Arch, mauling all the mount haters.

Oh, and it should be really big, like an elephant, it should prevent people from passing through it, and it should be garishly pink with rainbow bow ties around its feet.
Skills #2 – #5 would be for bells on it, which you could use to play music, only each note would be chosen at random from a pool of Terrible Sounds.

Utilities could be stuff like “Pink Elephant Dancing on Your Corpse” or “The Musical Impaler”, and a special utility for those hardcore mount haters which would turn them into a mount, replace their movement controls with neighing sounds and enable other players to ride them around.

Who’s with me!

If you aim to make a PvE build, I would advise going for damage more than defense. I run a 0/20/10/30/10 build with Knight armor and berserker weapons/accessories and even though I haven’t completely geared up to exotic yet, I have:

Zero issues in PvE. You kill stuff fast, the heals are great, but you have to be more active with buffs/debuffs/dodging when fighting groups of enemies to compensate for not being a total tank.

WvW, I have decent damage, can bring down most people down in a 1vs1 but due to being undergeared I can’t say that I could face more than 2 people and win… not that you’re supposed to in WvW anyway.

In my opinion, when you gear up and level up, nothing beats Guardian for sheer survivability – even if you spec more for damage like I do. I actually beat down Risen faster than on my balance build ele. And I beat down five-six of them at a time, as opposed to getting eaten alive on an elementalist.

Warriors have more HP, but they have poor heals relative to guardians. Also, guardians have tons of mitigation in form of easy and frequent access to Protection and Weakness, which are essentially a 30% and a 50% damage reduction effects.

Furthermore, you can also throw in Spirit weapons which are very good at holding aggro, can be healed and buffed just like any other “pet” and do decent damage on their own when specced.

I wouldn’t agree that guardians are weak when leveling either. I frequently did content where I would fight 2-3 mobs 6-7 levels above mine during leveling and yes, it was a challenge, but completely doable with vigor and lots of dodging, blinds and defensive weapon sets. Never seen warriors do that, and I know I couldn’t do it, simply not enough ways to evade/prevent damage.

We have low base HP simply because we can basically refill our HP pool every 30 seconds, and we have a ton of small heals which over time add up and make guardians one of the highest effective HP classes in the game.

Gandalf. Not Gandolf. Gandalf. :p

And yeah, the lack of staff animations is annoying, not sure why they did it this way. If you played WAR, the animations on the Archmage were how you do the staff spellcasting. It was awesome, and the staff was used the whole time.

Actually the only game where I saw proper staff spellcasting animations.