Guild Wars 2

My knowledge of meta came late around last December. Ele owes it to DEKeyz who has made the holy bible for meta builds in dungeons. She (and DnT) brought to the general public attention the significance of might stacking and vulnerability stacking. [rT] and Zelyhn demonstrated the enormous potential of stacking ele in their 5-ele Lupi burst video and how FGS can be used to demolish every single things. [SC] has made mesmer’s portal fashionable in their series of record runs. The current meta has gotten many iterations and evolved thanks to the speedrun community’s effort.

And their goal? Faster is better and more challenging, thus more fun.

Edit: Credits to Wethospu, who discovers boss mechanics, HP, patterns, etc. He is boss!

Can we have the elephant hat, please?

Consensus.2785:

SlothBear.9846:

Iris Ng.9845:

Elephant ears as well, please!

Elephant trunks too please!!

Elephant mounts too please!

Don’t forget the ivory, please! I’m okay with just an elephant hat (full ears, trunk and ivories) like our other existing hats.

There are multiple times they (the group in the first video) retreated and picked up the stray instead of fighting head on in vain. I think the key is to pick the fight that suit you, and avoid the disadvantageous one. The two videos I linked display this tactic very clearly. For instance,

• The hard counter-play of engineer is necromancer. In a 1v1 fight, Wolf advises you to run away from it. In a group fight, necromancer/engi/ele/thief was singled out and focused first.
• He also uses terrain to line of sight multiple enemies, knowing when and how to disengage
• If you watch other videos in his channel, you can see how he adapts in different situations as well.

Elephant ears as well, please!

Small groups can still own the roaming scene providing a tight coordination and sound battle plan.

If you feel hopeless in battles, it’s time to question how to become a better player.

It has been going to 21 pages. I have seen a few same names going on and on in their own little novels with barely any new arguments at all. Can we reach the consensus or keep getting at each others’ throats?

dlonie.6547:

Last LS episode was a fun hour and a half. Anyone else think Caithe was insanely OP?

I’d loooove some of those skills on my thief >.>

Me. Apparently no one else cares :< And yes, Caithe has the elite skill Basilisk Venom at the end of her auto attack chain and Dagger Storm on a very shot CD. Not to mention her ability to attack in stealth for 8 sec. Too OP.

1. Expansion of world maps/lore/ living story
2. New dungeons or elite dungeons (aka. raids)
3. Revamped fractal scale and rewards. Add fractal boxes and ability to exchange relics for fractal weapon skins.
4. New skills, either weapon or professional skills.
5. New PvP modes
6. New legendary weapon crafting

Hope he/she likes my cake <3

Personally, I prefer Grenade over Flame Thrower because it stacks vuln and bleed better.

I used to be convinced that S/x LH has higher burst than Staff, even though Staff has higher DPS on long fight. Goku firmly proves me wrong http://youtu.be/BF0ttD5lGkY.

By the ways, Miku, your suggested “absolute highest personal DPS” build is incorrect. It should be 04550 with vuln covered by Lightning Storm.

Teyrul.7804:

My Guardian
Glowing Crimson Mask, Carapace Pauldrons, Whisper’s Secret Breastplate, Carapace Gauntlets, Primeval Legplates, Carapace Greaves

Impressive!

My ele has recently switched her summer outfit to something more appropriate for the cold weather. Here are after and before the change ^^.

I did the LS last night and I found Caithe’s skill set is very OP. Anyone else notices that?

dboylolz.3916:

I advice you to check out these two channels:Tobi and Dom, it’s mostly thief gameplay, two of the best PvE thieves in my opinion.

No doubt!

For me, I occasionally check back for new fashion ideas with the new release.

fishball.7204:

Do consumables count towards the power ‘cap’ at low level dungeons (eg. stones, food)?

Yes!

CM <—- fast/easy. Now it’s only up to whoever wants to do it.

@OP: You can either disable Map chat and Say chat, or open a new tab and goofing with your friends and guildmates. I usually just focus on practicing with my harp.

I just want to chime in that a lot of us seem to forget that you can get up to +2 points even if you are losing. (https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/finding-the-perfect-match/) It happens when you have a close match against much tougher opponent (possibly premade team).
As Justin has pointed out, your points, total games and average points per game regardless of winning or losing matter. It comes to my understanding that your total point, albeit benefiting from grinding more games, decides your relative position on the LB. However if you are more skilled, you can still reach higher points with less total games. The higher number of games is, the better the estimation of your skill level (per statistics rationale). Last but not least, if you are skilled and have a good MMR, it is expected that your average point per game is in between 0 and 0.5.

spoj.9672:

I would recommend doing it on a shorter path. And preferably a path that casual players would actually pug. I mean most of the people who complain about the meta dont even do arah so they wouldnt have a clue whats going on. Plus if i were doing the runs id probably get annoyed repeating arah with crap gear.

To be honest i kind of feel like just saying go do se p1 with all those scenarios. That way each run even when done badly shouldnt take long.

The other choice I would pick would either be TA up or a CM path.

SE p1 is too easy and straght forward as stack-and-kill. If I had to choose SE, I would pick SE p3 because of the clown car and the ridiculous pug-stacking at the Destroyer boss. I also prefer either TA up or CM, TA for simplicity and CM for elevated tactics and coordination.

I really appreciate OP has took my thought and revised the content. It looks great and deserves a sticky!

If going for the learn-on-the-go LFG route, I advise you to make an LFG like “Inexperienced look for HELP in Arah pX”. Someone experienced would surely notice and may bring a suitable carry class (guard, thief, mes etc).

Hey Nokaru, I’m not sure your memory serves you right but Langrim never wears a commander tag. I doubt he even has it.

@Lucos: Usually, we pugged 2-3 slots. In one scenario, one of them was a kitten (being bad but gloat about rezzing everyone else, etc) but the other two just stayed quiet for the sake of being invisible. What baffles me the most is, even though they never participated in any verbal argument, their self-righteousness came out so strong that they would accept the kick if they think one side sounded like a jerk. Would I kick the rest of the group to defend Langrim? I could, but I would not because they did not do anything to offend me or anyone else. They just acted according to their reason.

Then, let me give you another story, quoted directly from another topic not long time ago.

On topic of kicking people at last boss, I have a story to share. Last night, I pugged with my little brother and we started with COE p2. As always, me feeling fine for whatever and my bro wanted a bit of security with “DPS only” LFG. There we had two ele (one being my bro), two warriors and me as guard. Things started to go awry when we all went down at the second Subject Alpha except for my bro and a warrior. Then I notice that the war was using mace and shield !!! As Subject Alpha was killed, the warrior started bla-blaing non stop about his tanking nomad build has saved the day while the zerker ele was down (and self-rally) non-stop. Well, we all know who scored the kill so we didn’t bother bursting his bubble. Out of frustration, my brother asked in an aggressive tone why the warrior joined us a dps only group. This warrior promptly told my bro to shut up because his ele was noob and not giving him 25 stacks of might. Good old bickering, I guess. The best part is at the Husk boss where this warrior fought with the two ele over who controls the golem. Then he started kicking the other ele not my brother. We waited for him to withdraw the initiation, but nope, no explanation, nothing. So we whooped his annoying kitten out. The other ele went boohoo whiteknight on us for kicking Mr.Tanky. Even though I tried to explain to him that I was tolerating Mr. Tanky’s fraud, I was not happy with him kicking people in my group so I booted to defend the ele, Mr. Ele insisted on painting me in cahoots with my brother as filthy elitists. As soon as I told him he could leave if he wasn’t happy, he ranted and then took off. The irony is, as soon as they were gone the rest of party three-manned Subject Alpha just fine, even faster than with a full group.

Tl; dr: Pug is weird. Not only they disrespect your lfg, do they gloat and disrespect the other members of the group. What is new is they take it personal if someone gets kicked because that person wanted to kick themselves. link

I’m not gonna try to convince you of who are victims. I just want to say that the abnormal pugs that we’ve seen are beyond reason, whether you kick them or not. Every time we pug, it’s like playing a social experiment game.

I shall thereby surrender.

I wish the dev had implemented a “Refuse to kick” button, so the group has an option to cancel a kick request. That way I can protect the one being kicked for no good reasons, instead of trying to get rid of the kicker and cause confusion.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Meh it’s boring, you just facetank everything and afk while killing bosses, not rly fun imo

Go doing a crazy skipping tactics only changing from berserkers to nomads. Come on! It’s not boring. It is quite fun. I even imagine that it could be a highlight of your nice strategy.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Well Dub already made a video like that a while ago, but it was with cleric’s gear and without speedrun tactics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rn7qtOLDJs or Arah P2 even: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2VhmwLwvrM

When he tried to teach me in vain how to solo with my ele, he advised me to run with a cleric warrior and look up his vid. I remember being badly offended (and probably still). It is the second most powerful way to ruin every meta newb’s inspiration.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Since we’re sharing PUG stories, here’s another funny one:

I was doing AC p1 with terribad ele who didn’t even summon frost bows and FGSs during the burrow section. the DPS of the party was horrible and I think the only 2 people running meta builds in that instance was myself and my brother. Then after failing the burrow section for the 3rd time the ele started bossing us around. I told him he had no right to boss people around and that his DPS sucked and he needed to drop some ice bows and FGSs for us so we could take down those burrows faster. He said he couldn’t do that because he was a “healer ele” and it was “his job” to heal the party so us “zerker noobs” wouldn’t go down. Obviously after he said that I decided to vote kick him. That vote got seconded rather quickly. Sadly enough the ele turned out to be the instance owner so we all got kicked from the instance. That kinda sucked.

^
See, this is why NOT having an instance owner is a GOOD thing.

Erm, strangely enough, I have been in the same situation as you. But things went like this. Langrim would kick this ‘phiw’ ele, I seconded. A moment after we put up the LFG, this ele re-joined and kicked Langrim. Someone seconded. Then I quickly re-invited Langrim, and then we get stuck in the vicious kick-invite cycle. And know what??? It was in our own LFG (as we only kick in our instance). We could give up and leave and they could have stolen the whole instance outright. If it’s AC, no problems. But if it’s Arah or Fractals, well, it’s hard not to ruin our evening.

Well, this is why NOT having an instance owner is a HUGE PROBLEM.

spoj.9672:

I think at this point we need a demonstration to show that it isnt berserker that is the problem. Its player skill and coordination.

My suggestion is for someone to do a speedrun using all nomads gear but doing it as fast as possible. I expect the path to only take a few extra mins to complete.

If you chant “We all care about CM in nomads!” as many times as possible, I know a certain guild would be compelled to do this speed run.

Linken.6345:

Iris Ng.9845:

I need to chime in that Langrim tends to have a worst luck when it comes to pug roll. I once duo’d Arah with him and we got kicked right off when putting up a giveaway LFG. To make it worse, his quirk doesn’t help :s

What quirk might that be do tell

He tends to be a little overbearing when his companions are at risk. I have played with him since I was a noob ele. I know how frustrating it was to play ele at fotm 50 when my group didn’t provide enough support/DPS. I did a lot of research at the time to play comfortably with all kinds of group but not all are like me. I know his friends well; they are casual, they can pull their weight but they cannot easily cover for other 1-2 kittenty players. Most of the carrying falls onto Lang’s shoulders. With that utmost expectation to complete the dungeons at all costs because his friends already invested time to play with him, he took it into his responsibility in making a decent group and justified his passive hostility. I agree with Saint’s opinion on this matter.

However, I have been there with Langrim enough to say that sometimes pugs are downright defensive idiots. But they are nothing new. Most mature players just get over with it or stop pugging entirely (like me).

Just my loonie.

I need to chime in that Langrim tends to have a worst luck when it comes to pug roll. I once duo’d Arah with him and we got kicked right off when putting up a giveaway LFG. To make it worse, his quirk doesn’t help :s

Places where you would need an ascended set should be level 80 maps and we only have a few: Fractals, Arah, CoE, Orr, Dry Top, Silverwaste, South Sun Cove, Frostgorge Sound and World vs World. Considering the versatility, I say runes of Strength and Hoelbrak are not bad at all.

Cries Of Sorrow.5864:

You can have the two of mine iris =) they dropped in the beginning of time in the fractal cycle, i wore them proudly and many noobs were slain by it’s blades.

Did you just pick a fight with me? Wanna be slain under my incinerator blade or get clubbed to a muddy pulp by my shiny bifrost?

To add more paths to an existing dungeon, the developers would need to update or expand their current map (like TA Atherblade). I have a mixed feeling about this issue as it would cost a lot of resources and risk not getting any appreciation.

As an ele, I got scolded or frowned upon by not stacking at least 12 stacks of might (by Sandy), stacking swiftness, stealth (by Lua/Tobi), not bringing Sandstorm (by Kevin), fire field (by Saint), or lightning hammer (by Jerem), FGS (by Dub), and condi cleanse (by Leo-war). Sometimes, swirling wind is also quietly expected. That is just to say how much support an ele can bring and always need on a constant basis.

Astralporing.1957:

Iris Ng.9845:

Astralporing.1957:

spoj.9672:

Thats why i said niche situations. No need to take offense and go on the defensive.

So suddenly 80% of the content is niche? Interesting.

Sorry, I didn’t realize that 80% of players’ prime time is spent running around in zergs and tagging either.

I wasn’t speaking about tagging, nor were i speaking about some players “prime time”. I was talking about the game content – and in PvE most of the content is open world, not dungeons. And for that, gs is actually really good.
The fact, that some players’ “prime time” is devoted only to niche content doesn’t change that.

First, he retorts at spoj for saying tagging is niche then in his reply to me he just denies all of his logic.

Iris Ng.9845:

For those who enjoy Silverwaste like me, iDuelist is pretty sick with its safe-ish unloading range, iSwordman has a dodge and both weapons provide solid block/CC skills. They are particularly good against Mordrem Wolves who come in pack and constantly jump on you.

“I see a group of enemies coming, so I use two single-target skills which lose their effect once one of the targets die.” Logic? Tip: you don’t need any CC and blocks if a group of mobs have been mowed down by iZerker and Mind Stab before they even reach you, and if you do, you group them with Curtain pull, immobilize with iLeap and Blurred Frenzy to finish off.

Does it smell like an over-stretch to you? Because I highly doubt his scenario. I find the mix of mobs during both escort and defense events are fairly hard to group up and deal with iZerker, i.e. wolves, tegariff, root-thrasher. Unless he attacks the menders only :\

munkiman.3068:

hybrid.5027:

What’s funny is that if this thread was above Staff instead of Greatsword the resultant posts would have been almost identical, with maybe a few professions changed here or there.

Guardian staff 1, fastest tagging in the game?

Oh gosh, please don’t touch it. That would be like threatening the bread and butter of many, many players who participate in 80% of the game content.

Let’s come back to Greatsword, guys

Tom Yzf.5872:

Oxidia.8103:

You can actually prevent it by not selling the dungeons!

Love it! Echo my sentiment so well.

I pray for your wish to come true, Zaxares! I myself want to have my fractal dagger eventually.

Astralporing.1957:

spoj.9672:

Thats why i said niche situations. No need to take offense and go on the defensive.

So suddenly 80% of the content is niche? Interesting.

Sorry, I didn’t realize that 80% of players’ prime time is spent running around in zergs and tagging either. But I do realize when it boils to tag-or-die game, the guardian’s staff would triumph and mesmer’s gsword becomes next to obsolete.

For those who enjoy Silverwaste like me, iDuelist is pretty sick with its safe-ish unloading range, iSwordman has a dodge and both weapons provide solid block/CC skills. They are particularly good against Mordrem Wolves who come in pack and constantly jump on you.

That said, I use Gsword almost constantly in WvW (zerg or group) and in PvP, only sometimes in PvE on sleepmode.

Hey EpDF, if you open the guild panel, and look for EU Mentor ranks, we have quite a few. The best way to contact them is to send an in-game mail and wait a day or so for them to reply back to you. By the ways, which dungeons do you have problems? I can direct you to people in charge.

Oxidia.8103:

This made me laugh a little

Orgy!

Ranged support classes have a better place in WvW (Zerg vs. Zerg) than in the open world and instanced PvE. Staff ele and well necros are very good there (WvW).

Otherwise, I agree with everyone’s comments here. Guardian is a good start. Its nature is very close to Prot. Monk. Mesmer is at middle ground with both reflect and stealth; it also has some niche use. Thief and Engi are nice as supporters once you master the classes.

For the records, whenever I was in my lil’ brother group, I tried to be fair and not ganged up on the person in his quarrel. More often than not, I got to be called out as " fat egirlfriend" (d’uh, mind you, your mighty Iris is drop-dead gorgeous), for acting familiar with my brother. It proves to me that these individuals already have this elitist anti-elitism mindset which triggers their explosive kitten anytime anywhere.

But then for those people who join the runs which specifically advertise to a certain type of play styles (meta) even though they disagree with such, do they deserve our silent tolerance? Wouldn’t our empathy just die off eventually? I stop pugging for these reasons.

In the end, I don’t know what is worse…

frifox.5283:

So it seems in eu high AP is valued more than your gear, build, proper utilities, and being generally nice.

Is there any connection with more solo players in EU in general?

Hello guys,

I have sent out the new wave of invitations. Please check in your guild tab and message and info desk if you have any questions.

Iris

Which way you mean?

To me there are both sides of the coin and PuG game is more like a social experiment than playing a dungeon. I’m just amused at how people can resort to verbally demean others when opinions clash. In a certain case, it does seem pretty civil, but in most cases, it blows my mind.

Then it comes into question: How often and differently each dungeon regular obtains his own Wall of Hate? How patient you can stay to keep pugging?

It’s like hopping on an unfamiliar bus and begging the bus driver to let us know to which direction the bus is heading, so that we can get out at the right time instead of wasting time driving around the town for nothing.

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

Iris Ng.9845:

In my opinion, Precursor Crafting isn’t the same as the “Controversial Topics” in this list. I believe that 99% of player would support a way to obtain a precursor without the means of RNG or paying endlessly inflated price. However, the main ‘controversy’ is we are always in the dark about it. ANet only mentioned it once and never tells us how and when they plan to implement it. Everytime a thread is created, it only serves as a friendly (or passive-aggressive) reminder until everyone of us is tired of telling ourselves it is not gonna happen anytime soon. There is virtually no debate about that.

I think you kind of missed the point in the controversy, ie. debate, dispute, matter of contention or argument, with precursors is the acquisition.

Most of us are in the same boat that there should be a way of getting them via new content, ie. a scavenger hunt, building your own precursor, etc. but there’s always the snarky buggers who seem to think they have more weight to throw around by telling the hopefuls that if they work a bit harder for it and save up that they can buy their precursor from the TP. I call this the ‘chump-method’.

The biggest bone of contention about it all, in my mind at least, is Anet allowing full legendaries and precursors to be sold on the TP at all. This has been debated literally since day 1. People will continue to argue for and against the different methods of acquisition of precursors until all our fingers are bleeding from smashing keys in rage about it, and Anet will continue to sit on their hands on the whole issue, knowing full well it’s been shelved for a long long time.

It should have been sorted last year and made it into the feature patch before end of 2013, but no it didn’t make it; they came out and said to us that it wasn’t going to be in that patch because of the method of acquisition getting a rework with the rewards coming into line with presumably the format we have now.

One of the rare times that a dev has the balls to come in and discuss this highly-disputed part of the game and we get the seagull treatment. Typical.

But then, what is there to discuss if there is no actual content to discuss at all? In the end of the day, it is still a massive hate speech against ANet’s design decision (which will not be changed) and little about people’s argument against precursor’s crafting.
That said, I’m not against listing it for people who occasionally come back to check the current states of affair. It’s just not the same nature as the other issues to me.