Guild Wars 2

skullmount.1758:

Well ele is what they started with and was in the blogs. Only other choices would be Guards, Thieves, or Mesmers, since they’re the only ones in the live stream that they actually showed in game instead of the powerpoint slides.

The only PowerPoint was Engie. They also played the necro a bit to show off the new animation for Dhuumfire.

I suspect, like was also suggested, that the order will be similar to the order in which they talked about them in the livestream. Tempest first though seems fairly obvious.

I’m thinking they will add an F2 skills. So go into the DS as normal with F1, or use it’s new mechanic with F2. Similar to how the leaked Warrior looks.

I am 100% for this as there are a number of builds that use this option. Unfortunately the option doesn’t fit well into their new pretty UI.

I’m thinking I might dust off my engineer based on these changes. And Mortar just seems fun!

I’m trying to reserve as much judgement as possible for now. But I feel I have to say something about Necromancer Bloodmagic traitline. That has always been our week point, and I don’t see anything in here still to make a build around. Please take another look at this. Give me reason to start in Bloodmagic and say “I have a starting build here, now what can suppliment it?”

Personally I’d love a true and designed siphon build. Not siphons as something to just maybe add to something else. But if you can think of something else, I’m all ears.

Teladis.1309:

I like the changes.

Please elaborate so I may understand your view point. Exactly what specifically do you like about the changes?

RabbitUp.8294:

I don’t think changing the nature of a skill through your settings is a good idea.

They could make a key bind that does that for all ground targeted skills, though, like Alt+key to automatically cast under your feet.

This, to me, is the perfect solution. Really hope they add it (but have my doubts)

Tommyknocker.6089:

Thought up another, more rhetorical one. Do you think that after almost 3 years that is it a wise move to totally recreate a system (some would say for a second time) many of us have used and understood for years?
Also will this change make it easier or harder to design future content for us the players and if not easier, why bother?

It is a simpler system, although veterans may not like it completely, they will quickly get use to it. Since it is simpler, there will likely be less of a learning curve for newer players, putting them on par with veterans quicker. It will allow easier balancing because it does have some inherent limitations (can’t combine two “master” traits in a single line now). Finally, it allows for easier integration of new traits as they will just add a trait line, and since those lines will likely be in the form of an Elite Specialization line it is even easier to balance since multiple elites cannot be combined.

So, it seems like a complete win/win from a developer stance. They just have to weather a few months of veteran player complaints (and during that time, many other veterans will help them defend the system too). By this time next year, only the nostalgic people will remember or care about what we have as our current system.

Scoobaniec.9561:

Invictus.1503:

Scoobaniec.9561:

Diovid.9506:

Scoobaniec.9561:

Im curious about this sentence btw.
“Revenants will gain an Elite, a heal and a set of utilities of the same type”
Does it mean that one legend will get modified skills?

I’m guessing it means that the elite specialization of the revenant has access to one additional legendary compared to normal revenants since each legendary gives an elite, a heal and a set of utilities.

Yeah i thought that too but im not sure about that tbh. They dindt said new legendary, they said “of the same type”

Right now revenant has;
Legendary Dwarf
Legendary Demon
Legendary Assasin
Legendary Dragon
Legendary (?) Centaur.

Which might as well imply new legend but with existing type of “utility” My bet is on another demon.

I’ve had a theory for a while, and this keeps it alive, that the Revenant’s elite specialization will actually take the legends (as we know them) away and allow the Revenant to pick skills from a pool of them rather than tie them to a new legend. This article even went out of its way to say “most” professions will receive 4 utilities. The word “most” implies at least one exception. That exception very well could be Revenant because they will get 10 utility skills (just a random picked number there) from which to choose.

In which case it would make revenant OP as kitten (pick best possible skills and call it a day) and force every revenant to take specialization or go home. Specializations was supposed to give alternative way of playing character, not huge gameplay advantage over base class. In another thread i have already explained as why allowing revenant to mix utilities is a bad idea.

In short mallyx is a condi bunker that lacks mobility/anti cc and direct damage mechanics where jalis lacks mobility/condi resistance. Mixing abilities will remove any disadvantages from revenant based on the legend which will lead to overnerfed abilities ruining base class completely. If anything i think just like warrior, they will get another way to spend mist energy (f2).

Why would it be OP? I’m not saying they’d let the Revenant pick from all available skills through each legend, what I’m guessing is they will have a different set of skills (6-10) that you’d be able to choose from. So you wouldn’t choose the best skills from Malyx, combined with the best from Jalis, etc.. You wouldn’t be able to choose those skills at all if I’m right.

So, if you want Malyx skills, you can’t specialize. But if you want a choose your skills, you need to Specialize. This is the mechanic change I’m thinking of here.

Scoobaniec.9561:

Diovid.9506:

Scoobaniec.9561:

Im curious about this sentence btw.
“Revenants will gain an Elite, a heal and a set of utilities of the same type”
Does it mean that one legend will get modified skills?

I’m guessing it means that the elite specialization of the revenant has access to one additional legendary compared to normal revenants since each legendary gives an elite, a heal and a set of utilities.

Yeah i thought that too but im not sure about that tbh. They dindt said new legendary, they said “of the same type”

Right now revenant has;
Legendary Dwarf
Legendary Demon
Legendary Assasin
Legendary Dragon
Legendary (?) Centaur.

Which might as well imply new legend but with existing type of “utility” My bet is on another demon.

I’ve had a theory for a while, and this keeps it alive, that the Revenant’s elite specialization will actually take the legends (as we know them) away and allow the Revenant to pick skills from a pool of them rather than tie them to a new legend. This article even went out of its way to say “most” professions will receive 4 utilities. The word “most” implies at least one exception. That exception very well could be Revenant because they will get 10 utility skills (just a random picked number there) from which to choose.

Zaklex.6308:

Invictus.1503:

Seems rather clear to me that the “mystic forge crafting material” that we will get in place of the skill points earned from items and the like will replace skill points in the recipe.

I believe his question refers to the items you buy from Miyani with skill points, to which I don’t have an answer, nor do I care to speculate.

Yes, I know and my answer remains the same. In fact, one of the interviews actually called what you get a new “currency.” Between the blog post and the interview I fully expect that what she sells will be sold for this new material or currency. I hope it will fit in the wallet though.

As a precedent, they have been preparing us for this type of thing though. Geodes and Bandit Crests seem to be the lead ups to the system.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Since people will most likely ask most questions I have in mind, I will ask the silliest:

Will Elite specializations get their own “profession” icon?

I would be happy to see other icons, to really separate the main profession and the elite specializations

That is answered here:
http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-heart-thorns-specializations-and-jon-peters-qa

Spoiler…the answer is yes

We know that skill points from scrolls and similar means will be converted. In the blog it refers to the what is is being converted into as a material. In an interview article (granted a less likely source, but still an official interview) that they are converted into a currency. This is a big difference considering my inventory is full of materials beyond the 250 it stores and since I’ve got thousands of skill points and even more scrolls I would simply not have enough room for all of these new materials. If, on the other hand, it is a currency that will go into my wallet, that would make everything ok.

So, the question is, will this be a “material” or a “currency”?

Seems rather clear to me that the “mystic forge crafting material” that we will get in place of the skill points earned from items and the like will replace skill points in the recipe.

ainekitten.9517:

Invictus.1503:

ainekitten.9517:

I’m just thrilled to hear news about ANYTHING but Stronghold at this point because as a PvE only player, I was getting bored of the news being PvP centric for such a long time without much new PvE info being released.

To be fair, last week was all about PvE. You got to read about the lore and some mechanics of the local PvE frogs.

Which was nice but sadly not crazy exciting and I sort of forgot about it after a few days.

That may be, you just weren’t interested. However it was exactly what you asked for in your post, so Anet did give it to you after Stronghold

They’ve now, in 4 weeks, given information for most of the masses. WvW stuff, PvP stuff, Lore stuff, and Character Mechanic stuff.

ainekitten.9517:

I hope I wasn’t misreading but…

“Finally, these reward tracks unlock everything for an elite specialization: weapon, unique mechanics, skills, and traits. They’ll also reward items, including new runes and sigils, a fancy weapon skin for your new weapon type, and an armor skin for a single matching piece of armor (usually headgear or shoulders). As long as you’ve purchased Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, you’ll automatically unlock access to all elite specializations in PvP.”

Does this mean elite specializations are another way for Anet to try and force PvE’rs to play a game they don’t like to get content? I for one will be ultra salty if this is the case, I want nothing to do with PvP.

All that means is that they don’t want to force PvP only people into playing PvE to unlock the elite specializations, skills, and traits. While in PvE, you will have to earn the specialization, skills, and traits through the reward tracks.

ainekitten.9517:

I’m just thrilled to hear news about ANYTHING but Stronghold at this point because as a PvE only player, I was getting bored of the news being PvP centric for such a long time without much new PvE info being released.

To be fair, last week was all about PvE. You got to read about the lore and some mechanics of the local PvE frogs.

Scoobaniec.9561:

They are getting a bit “useless” considering the fact that while you can lv your toon up to 80 you wont have any utility skills forcing you to explore world for “hero points” as skill points will be turned to some mats (rll? i have over 7k of scroll skill points..)

Not true. Seems you missed the part of the article saying “A level 80 character that’s done none of the hero challenges should be able to unlock more than enough skills, specializations, and traits to make several unique full builds.”

That does mean you’ll still have to get Hero Points from the world in order to get ALL of the skills and/or traits. However an insta 80 will still have quite a few options, and if you know what type of build you want, should be able to unlock all of the relevant skills/traits for that particular build.

Gibson.4036:

Telling us about the system is foundational to moving on to tell us about each individual elite specialization. It’d make no sense to do it the other way around.

We’re one week closer to the point at which you find out how you can specialize your favorite character.

This exactly. I’m actually very pleased with the level of information the provided today and greatly anticipating the following weeks.

From what I’ve seen and heard so far, the legends are actually the ones talking when they are channeled. It is rather cool in my opinion, but doesn’t seem to be race specific. Now if they will have some other skills or situation where the Revenant actually speaks differently per race is yet to be seen. I suspect they’ll still have the generic race voices in cases of gaining Might, Swiftness, etc..

Linken.6345:

Invictus.1503:

We know it will be a new weapon, as it was stated that each profession’s specialization would have a new weapon. No reason to think Revenant will be an exception.

As for new legend, that depends on how much they change the class mechanic, if at all. My personal speculation is that they will only get one legend (I think it will be Glint) and won’t be able to switch. As a compensation, they will use less energy per skill (due to not being able to switch) and will have the option to mix and match skills rather than have a set bar (from skills specifically designed for the specialization).

If they lock down the specilisation with 1 legend weapon swap would be the trade off instead of cheaper energy on skills imo

I thought of that too, but the compensation was fully cheaper energy, but the ability to swap out skills. Although I know some still hold on to the idea that this will be possible with all legends (because of arrows) I hold that those arrows are only able to change the position of the skills and because it still indicates when you are out of combat. I believe the specialization will have a pool of skills to choose from as compensation for locking down the legend.

Zaklex.6308:

Invictus.1503:

lordkrall.7241:

But who are you to decide what is filler? For some people the lore is the MAIN thing, while information about the Revenant and specializations or guild halls are just filler. So why is the stuff you interested in more important?

I didn’t say more important, I said filler vs. features. When they announced HoT they focused on the features. On the HoT website they focus on the features. I didn’t decide what the primary focus of HoT would be, Anet did in their presentation and official website. Therefore topics that are outside of the primary selling points they’ve established are, by definition, filler.

Back up there Invictus, perhaps you need to go look at the HoT page again, and tell me what the second heading is on there…never mind, I’ll tell you msyelf: it’s The Heart of Maguuma, well guess what, Anet themselves made this information important by making it one of the highlights of the features in HoT. I think you need to take a few moments and reflect on that.

Just to make sure people get the picture, these are what’s on the HoT website, in order:
The Mastery System
The Heart of Maguuma
Specializations
Revenant
Guild Halls
sPvP New Stronghold Game Mode
WvW: New Borderlands Map

In that order, not saying it’s how things are ranked in importance, but for anyone complaining about filler, doesn’t look like anything has been filler.

Please see my other post for a response. I’m not in the business of arguing over the forums as it takes away from the topic. Your thought has already been expressed by another and responded to accordingly

I like the treefrog base. Though I must admit I wanted Monkey people. We do have the Monkey King Tonic and Mini so a base model is there to use. Being in a jungle, I thought it would be a perfect time to bring them into the game.

I also enjoyed this very much. I’ve love to see the playable race enemies (enemy Sylvari, enemy Human, enemy Norn, enemy Asura, enemy Char) stompable. So that we don’t have to do it constantly, just make their “downed” health pool very low so a few extra shots will kill them if you don’t want to stomp.

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Well, they should have never called it a Ranger in the first place. It should have been called Beastmaster, cause that is what it is… It’s our base class, so Anet Devs making a Specialization that replaces the mechanic completely (not just changing it) would be the easiest route to go. If they did that with a 2nd expansion pack, I’d preorder four within the first 10 minutes they are available.

The “original” RPG gave their Rangers pets. Check out Dungeons and Dragons, the pen and paper game that inspired in some way most of the fantasy games we play today.

DontJudgeMe.3958:

So that’s why the Hylek are capturing those Giant Beetles in Silverwastes!

I thought the same thing when I read the article. Great tie in and absolutely love it. Also found the asterisk funny as well.

Leo G.4501:

Invictus.1503:

lordkrall.7241:

But who are you to decide what is filler? For some people the lore is the MAIN thing, while information about the Revenant and specializations or guild halls are just filler. So why is the stuff you interested in more important?

I didn’t say more important, I said filler vs. features. When they announced HoT they focused on the features. On the HoT website they focus on the features. I didn’t decide what the primary focus of HoT would be, Anet did in their presentation and official website. Therefore topics that are outside of the primary selling points they’ve established are, by definition, filler.

Hah, nice try.

I say just admit that what info was released IS one of the features made present to us since the first announcement (I was there, live ) but it just wasn’t relevant info of your interest? Why struggle over something so inconsequential as a label on information released in an article? I guess for fuel for more internet arguments perhaps?

Arguing over the internet is pointless and in this case has detracted long enough from the actual subject of this forum. If my recanting of the term “filler” is what it takes to avoid distracting others such as yourselves I gladly do so. The only point I was making is that there are a number of us that expected feature…wait, sorry I don’t want to use that word again to confuse…let’s say game mechanic information to be more forthcoming than it has been lately.

There is nothing to say that lore information and the like has no place, but it would be nice if they could give both (perhaps a Tuesday and a Thursday article). For the record, I do enjoy lore articles.

lordkrall.7241:

But who are you to decide what is filler? For some people the lore is the MAIN thing, while information about the Revenant and specializations or guild halls are just filler. So why is the stuff you interested in more important?

I didn’t say more important, I said filler vs. features. When they announced HoT they focused on the features. On the HoT website they focus on the features. I didn’t decide what the primary focus of HoT would be, Anet did in their presentation and official website. Therefore topics that are outside of the primary selling points they’ve established are, by definition, filler.

Zaklex.6308:

Invictus.1503:

So, this means there won’t be any info on features this week once again. No Revenant, no specializations, no guild halls.

You already got one blog post on the Revenant, you want another now. I can see the info for specializations and guild halls still being needed to be posted, but keep in mind, that’s not all the information available. Even this weeks Blog post about the new Hylek tribes is information, something they did with the original too, when there were Blog posts on the Grawl, Ogres, or what have you. It’s the same style of reveal that the original game was given.

I included Revenant because they said there would be more coming (at least one more). Only part of the reveal was done as they didn’t show all the weapons, or the trait lines. To quote the blog itself “This was just the tip of the iceberg. There are more weapons and legends coming with the revenant, but you’ll have to wait to find out more. It’s no fun to spoil everything at once.” That was two months ago (Feb. 18th)

As for the interview itself, I don’t mean to imply it wasn’t well done. I rather enjoyed it as a filler piece. I’m just getting a little tired of the filler pieces running so long as the last bit of information was on the WvW maps, but even that was drawn out quite a bit as they gave us pretty much everything at first, then spent multiple weeks telling us the same things in just different ways.

Fill a week in with substance (stuff that hasn’t been reviewed yet from a feature perspective) and use filler like this to keep our interests peaked.

So, this means there won’t be any info on features this week once again. No Revenant, no specializations, no guild halls.

I don’t know, I like the second and third male style (as seen on Dulfy). I also like many of the other race styles. Don’t like all, but thought this was a pretty good set. I guess they can’t please everybody.

Looks more rectangular than square to me

Alex.9268:

People are being very optimistic about the zerker meta changing. A lot would have to change. As long as the community can cheese “dungeons” with zerker gear, the meta won’t change one bit.

This would only apply to those who are dungeon fanatics. It looks like a lot of the rewards from HoT will be in the jungle itself and is designed to break out of the general zerg mentality as well. Right now, zerker rules both dungeons and other PvE. The optimism is that after HoT, you might at least break it out to have a dungeon meta and PvE meta different (and if conditions are really worked well, that could even become more effective or as effective in dungeons as well. It is all a matter of DPS).

Do we know if the “slow” status will affect the stomp? From everything I’ve see, the “slow” status only affects skills, and I don’t think the stomp is actually a skill. Did anybody test this during the stress test by chance?

I am, but not because of the dev, or because I don’t have one (have two). I think the night glow will look very cool for a Revenant.

It is likely another stress test situation where they want to see how the servers handle the larger capacity. They likely want the data for something else they are working on later in the week and see the general population on Tuesday’s (generally scheduled patch days) as adequate for their testing purposes.

Well I’m not official, but having multiple accounts is pretty common. As long as you aren’t using software to control both accounts with a single key stroke (for purpose of farming and such), you are not breaking any rules by having multiple accounts.

We know it will be a new weapon, as it was stated that each profession’s specialization would have a new weapon. No reason to think Revenant will be an exception.

As for new legend, that depends on how much they change the class mechanic, if at all. My personal speculation is that they will only get one legend (I think it will be Glint) and won’t be able to switch. As a compensation, they will use less energy per skill (due to not being able to switch) and will have the option to mix and match skills rather than have a set bar (from skills specifically designed for the specialization).

I think this topic has been brought up time and time again. Do I want it, yes. Is it a very popular “suggestion” in the forums, absolutely. Are they working on it, no. Colin specifically said he thinks it would be cool, but it is not something that currently has any resources devoted into developing. That was a statement in an interview during PAX East.

I’ve never gotten a confirmation, or any type of newsletter either. Frankly not sure if I’m truly subscribed or not even though I’ve followed the instructions multiple times.

They really need to improve minions in two ways for this to be viable. AI improvements (ever see your Flesh Golem stand around for most of the fight?) and improvements that would make them survive AoE skills. Without these two things, the Specialization would be doomed to fail. Frankly, I don’t think they put much effort into either one of those two things, so the likelyhood of a Summoner specialization is very slim.

It is a decent read, but absolutely no new information in this article. I’m getting rather annoyed at the lack of forward moving information lately. Give us:
-Rest of Revenant information
-A Specialization or two (there are 9 of them after all)
-Guild Hall information

Something to sink my teeth into. They said they’d give a week to each specialization so that is 9 weeks of dedication right there. Then at least a week for the Revenant, and then 1-3 weeks for Guild Halls. So, by my count Anet has 13 weeks of data to present which, if started next week and no weeks taken off (unlikely), this will take them through to mid-July.

I too love the April Fools, this year didn’t disappoint and can be counted with the many fun April Fools days jokes over GW1 and GW2 years. Thanks

I too miss the Daily Costume Brawl. I love costume braw and it seems anet seems to be forgetting about it.

Same logic would apply to blindness. If he doesn’t rely on sight, blindness would do nothing to him. Though as was said, this would never fly as a real game mechanic.

lordkrall.7241:

Which is quite stupid.
Considering we have a grand total of no idea which items will be needed.

The pictures we have seen have been confirmed to consist of placeholder images.

I’m not saying you are wrong, but haven’t seen this confirmation and have been looking. Can you link where this was confirmed?

Many.8419:

I cant find it explained in lore anywhere. This is just making excuses. If your idea was correct then we should have an option to craft katana skins in game. But we cant. because its gem store easy cash.

What do you mean you can’t find it explained in lore? Belinda is confirmed to have Canthan lineage, Tengu behind the wall are confirmed from Cantha, if you choose human as your race, you can choose Canthan as your culture. Cantha is all over the place in Tyria.

As for not being able to craft the weapon, there are a number of things we can’t craft, but make sense. Sticking to Canthan theme, we can’t craft Cantha style dress, but you can’t deny it is in the game and worn. You also can’t say that is old chothing because, well it looks new to me when people are wearing it. To think that at least a few craftsmen didn’t migrate to Tyria when they came over in large numbers (per “the movement of the world”) is just silly.

Welcome to the forums as I can tell you are new (or haven’t been here for a while) as this has been discussed many times now. That said, it is easy to miss now because there are so many new threads since the stress test. Please see the below discussion thread for details, but in the end, most people say yes as there is no reason to restrict a single class from using them. There are no special rewards or anything for being the first 80 Revenant.

Enjoy:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Tome-of-Knowledge-and-the-Revenant/page/2#post4870899

Many.8419:

katanas would fit lore if cantha wasnt closed for any contacts with tyria.
in this case any katanas in game should be covered in rust or broken.
katana skins are fast money, like black wings not long time ago, this is why those skins are in gem store and not in game

There were hundreds, if not thousands of Canthan refugees. The player character (if human) can even have Canthan ancestory based on customization options. I find it very likely that some of those refugees were weaponsmiths and have passed on the craft of creating katana style weapons over the years. This skill wouldn’t be common, but then that makes sense why you see so few katana skins and so many of others (such as broadsword).

How does this not fit into lore?

I doubt they change the access to healing. For one, I like the feature and think a lot of people will as well. Second when they announced the Revenant at Pax South Colin specifically listed this as something cool they could do and one way they will stand out.