Guild Wars 2

This isn’t a balance issue, it’s a bug. Why do we have to wait until next year for them to fix the healing coefficients to be what they’re supposed to be?

Besides the very small field at your feet that can blind more than one enemy thief pistol is the only truly single target ranged weapon in the game. None of the attacks deal damage to more than one target at a time. Every other ranged weapon in the game can potentially pierce, bounce, or has some kind of AoE hit.

Personally I wouldn’t have removed ricochet until I had something else to replace it, but I guess anet doesn’t mind replacing something that works with nothing that doesn’t and being glacially slow with the rework they promised.

Dungeons have needed rework since launch. They were fun but rough and too easily exploitable. There was some minor rework to a couple bosses in AC long ago and a few very very slight tweaks (like taking away the safe spot you could climb up on to fight the TA bosses), but they have at no point put any significant effort into working on dungeons and now they’ve abandoned them completely.

I guess it’s easier to churn out new mediocre content than it is to make existing content good.

Some of these are alright ideas but #6 will not happen. Anet has given up completely on aquatic combat. You already drew the comparison to them and dungeons, and both have been abandoned.

evilapprentice.6379:

Recall ~2 years ago when body shot didn’t have immob, a 10stack of vulnerability for a criminally short period, and a ridiculous aftercast? IIRC, they changed it to the current version with the reasoning that “This’ll give P/P the nudge it needs to be a useful weapon set”.

So don’t hold your breath for a functioning P/P – it’s been broken for 3 years, they might fix it a few months before the servers go offline permanently.

All fair points. I don’t know if their changes will be good or if it’ll make pistol/pistol more viable, but allegedly changes are on their way.

I believe they will come before another elite spec comes around and they said that they aren’t bringing ricochet back, but anything beyond that I really can’t say.

I don’t think any of the gliders in game are structurally sound for actual use, so why pick and choose for realism when none of them would work? Butterfly wings are small and shouldn’t work, but ridiculous looking angel wings should?

As I recall there was mention made of how they know pistols aren’t where they need to be and there was a rework in the makes, and specific mentioning that the 24-26% damage boost to the skills was NOT it but just to hold thief over until the rework came.

Now what it is or when it’ll be only god knows, but if I were a betting man I would say first quarter balance patch and not whenever they cook up another round of elite specs.

It’s fine they don’t have anything that needs covering

It’s cool that rifle is getting an undefined damage bump but the reason why longbow is so superior is because it also has much more utility than the rifle. Increasing just the damage of the rifle probably won’t do much to narrow the gulf.

It’s like the 20% damage buff to thief pistol. It’s nice, sure, but doesn’t address any of the real issues with the weapon.

So…. you hate convenience? Am I understanding this right? You’d make another character if your finances were made more contrived and needlessly complicated?

20% damage doesn’t even begin to make up for gutting pistol mastery to only work on crippled enemies or the loss of ricochet, nor does it touch any of the inherent flaws of the p/p weapon set. It’s not a good start because it’s barely even a start at all.

What in the world does a range-ish hammer look like

Berserker is the most efficient for pve. Dungeons are very poorly designed and have had almost no adjustment since launch, and anet has essentially given up on dungeons altogether and won’t be making any more in the foreseeable future.

It’s really as simple as that. The game has all sorts of potential for encounters and group dynamics and build diversity, but as far as dungeons are concerned killing the enemies as quickly as possible is virtually always the best and easiest strategy. There is nothing that requires or encourages having more defense statistics or taking extra healing power. Surviving is possible and often quite easy without building around survival, so you’re only handicapping yourself and your group.

Pvp has all sorts of viability for lots of builds and playstyles and that’s because the enemies/fights are varied and interesting.

TO ANET’S CREDIT however the silverwastes have enemies that are more diverse and the bosses are more than just blindly burning down as quick as possible, and with the revamp to conditions berserker is not the only viable stat set for pve (but full offensive is still the only way to go).

You can’t replace something that worked with nothing that doesn’t. If the shots ricocheting made it too similar to shortbow, why not make pistol shots pierce or explode on impact or anything else? I’m hoping they have some sort of plan (though why they’d remove ricochet before having a substitute is absolutely beyond me), but how long must we wait while pistols remain the clown town comedy option?

when I meant dungeons are trivial I mean that everyone is so powerful that nothing in pve is a challenge. everything is much easier and berserker is better than before. you’ll be completely fine.

dungeons are trivial do whatever

Seabreeze.8437:

And no, I absolutely don’t buy that “too random/reduced the purity of pistol” excuse.

Pistol is pure garbage, and they didn’t like ricochet muddying its purity by making pistols useable and fun.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Still that doesn’t mean the elite spec would have no pistol traits. 1-2 pistol specific traits + some traits that improve general survivability/cc options (which if we actually get staff would probably be most suited as traits) would be enough to breathe some new life into p/p.

But there’s no reason at all to believe this would happen. Have any of the elite specs they’ve shown off ever had traits to improve weapons or skills that aren’t directly associated with them?

And even if it did, why lock it behind a tree that you need to have the expansion to own? Why split pistol related traits into two trees when they could easily roll it into ankle shot? It’s all wishful thinking that is unfortunately not based in the sad reality. Anet replaced something that works with nothing that doesn’t.

Seabreeze.8437:

Sigh… I suppose this joke was bound to show up sooner or later.

It actually showed up in the first post.

Azure.8670:

It’s most likely because thief elite spec is getting rifle. The spec will probably revolve around rifle and pistols, Assassin style

You’re behind the times. Signs point towards thief getting staff.

Scootabuser.4915:

You actually have way more damage that got rolled in and from traits you can pick now, and because your not locked into picking initiative traits you get to pick up a TON of utility from other traits.

The only thing p/p lost was a tiny bit of range, and ricochet.

Ricochet was the only thing pistol had going for it, and without it there’s really no reason to use it. Ever. Sure you can pick more traits and you’re probably more powerful overall (and so is everyone else), but why would you waste that new found power on such a gutter tier weapon? The range was reduced, the shots only hit one target, and rolling together ankle shot and pistol mastery is an overall loss in damage because now the 10% damage bonus only applies to crippled enemies. And what did pistol get to make up for this? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Getting extra traits doesn’t excuse any of this either because that helps all thieves and all weapons. So while sword, dagger, and shortbow reap the benefits of more traits pistol is rendered useless with its sub-mediocre single target damage.

More than anything I can’t imagine why they’re charging as much as the core game used to cost for an expansion that is going to have about 1/20th of the content.

It’s like 3 pve zones that everyone will be bored to death of in a month, guild halls that should’ve been in game since launch, a spvp game type that I’ve never heard a single good word said about, a new wvw map, and a new profession + a new trait line for every profession, and probably some kind of story mode in there. There won’t be any dungeons added because they fired their entire dungeon team and decided the only pve content should be open world junk.

There was like 25 zones at game launch, like 4-5 spvp maps (rip raid on capricorn), all of wvw, 8 professions, 8 dungeons with 3-4 paths each + story mode, plus a full personal story. They added more since, sure, but content release was glacial in pace.

I could care less if new players get the core game (as long as they give refunds to people who bought the game recently because their FAQ said they’d have to have it to play HoT), I’m just thinking this is going to seem like a tiny morsel of content a month or two after release that was released at full game price.

Vayne.8563:

And you know, if you don’t get it, that’s okay. I’m sure some people do.

Vayne.8563:

I played Guild Wars 1 for a long time, because I could get what I wanted from just playing. Admittedly I’d have to just play for a very long time, but it was an option.

No you can save your patronizing, clearly I got it. You want the bland flavorless gray mush; nothing new or challenging but you still get the coolest stuff. You didn’t answer my question though: do you have a problem with all the exclusive gear from all the aspects of the game, or is there just something about dungeons that sets you off? Because if it’s all of it I then I don’t see why you’re so much more opposed to them making more dungeons. Dungeons and fractals are still a major part of this game and it’s not unreasonable to expect improvements to the existing ones and the release of new ones alongside new wvw, pvp, and open world content.

You should be saying “make everything tradeable” instead of “don’t make dungeons”, because unless you follow that up with “…or pvp modes, or wvw maps, or living story episodes, or special world bosses” you’re a hypocrite who just wants to edge out the part of the game you don’t like so nobody else will have new dungeons either.

Vayne.8563:

This game I like. But if exclusive rewards, too many of them, are locked behind content I’m not enjoying, I can see myself walking away from here too.

One of the things I like about this game is that I can get most rewards doing most things. Not all, but most. I’d sort of hope that would stay the same.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Seriously you’re in shambles here and once again I can’t wrap my head around what it is you’re advocating. First you talk about how we don’t need instanced stuff because it’s possible to make challenging open world stuff, but then you talk about how anything challenging is bad for the community because if it’s hard then only a small amount of people will do it which would automatically create some kind of elitest superculture.

Then you complain that there are exclusive rewards from doing stuff that you might not want to do and that would make you quit. That’s INSANE because that’s how it has been since day 1 and it’s not just from dungeons! There is equipment that only comes from dungeons, equipment you can only get from spvp, a set of weapons that only comes from wvw during tournaments, gear that only comes from specific world bosses like Tequatl and the evolved jungle wurm, and luminescent armor requires that (among other things) you complete all the achievements of living story episodes. The entire philosophy of this game is that getting gear is easy, getting the impressive and cool looking gear (which is statistically not better in any way) takes some time and effort.

So is it just when it’s from instanced dungeons that you have an issue, or do you have a problem with all of those things? Cause to me it’s starting to sound like you want to turn this game into a bland flavorless gray mush where nothing is hard and you can get any item you want without trying anything new or challenging.

dlonie.6547:

And OMG James Quall. Love the name.

RIP in peace Richard Dunn

He was buried in a cemetery for actors, which is where he belonged.

RIP

I’m having a really hard time understanding what the hell you’re actually trying to say. You’re not against them making content for individuals or small groups, but it just can’t be in a separate instance because that isn’t the game’s “focus”, which you interpreted from the grandiloquent way they describe the game world?

Earlier I said why do we have to choose between open world and dungeons. I think there should be both, and I never disagreed or implied that they can’t make challenging content in the open world. So it mystifies me that you’re hammering home some counter to a point I never made.

Liadri would’ve been better as an instanced fight because then you wouldn’t have to wait in line to fight her. Pointing out that it didn’t technically happen in an instance is really pedantic anyways. The discussion between open world and instanced content is really about if it’s restricted to a small number of players or an unrestricted number of players, and Liadri was obviously a restricted fight.

dlonie.6547:

But imagine if they’d kept working at them — kept designing new ones, tweaking the old ones, working with their community to improve them…If they’d even been attempted, second or third generation dungeons would have been amazing. But they didn’t even try.

They kind of tried. I really liked Molten Facility, it was a huge step forward in dungeon design in terms of both boss encounters and standard enemies in the dungeon. The Thermal Core event was some good variety because it wasn’t just a race to kill a boss as fast as you can. You needed to use your wits to avoid the hazards, and it even gave reasons to use skills you might not frequently use in dungeons, like blinks/portal/spectral walk, as well as pulls/launches to dislodge molten protectors so they can’t protect the core. It was far from a perfect dungeon, but like you said if they kept working at it dungeons could get better; molten facility was evidence of that.

But this was back in their “let’s only make temporary content because that’s totally not a really stupid idea” phase. To their credit you can do bits of it in fractals, but the inconsistency of random fractal assignment means you can’t do it when you want to.

Furthermore I don’t understand the sentiment that they ought not do anymore instanced content ever. Why not? Does it really have to be a one or the other kind of deal? They’re releasing stronghold and new wvw maps with the expansion, we didn’t need to make some kind of Sophie’s Choice between pvp and pve. Why should our only options for new pve content be open world OR dungeons but not both? Why shouldn’t we expect new content and updates for a major part of the game?

RoseofGilead.8907:

James Quall.6029:

I usually don’t say this sort of thing because opinions are subjective and they really can’t be bad or wrong, but all of your opinions are bad and wrong.

But are they badong?

We may need a stronger word still.

I usually don’t say this sort of thing because opinions are subjective and they really can’t be bad or wrong, but all of your opinions are bad and wrong.

Algreg.3629:

Elvis impersonator minister…

this person gets it too. i just want to have a sham wedding in a quickie chapel with a fake minister and have it end in disgrace and divorce, like my parents before me.

Eyia Hellhide.7320:

If there is a chapel for in game marriages, I also insist for a court for in game divorces. I intend to get married to ? big amount of guys, then to get a divorce and to sue them for maintenance. Like let’s say half of their loot and in game transactions. Because this is the least I deserve after sacrificing my best playing hours for them!

this person gets it. are you all taking notes? get a pencil already, geez.

why complain about complaining

tramwajarz.2369:

If a zerk player is skilled enough to outplay the encounter it is totally okay in my book. The better the player, the better the reward should be.

I completely agree. I just mean that I think it’s unfortunate that with all the wide variety stat combinations available on gear and the ability to have fluid roles that in pve everything that isn’t pure physical damage is just training wheels or inefficient (or both).

tramwajarz.2369:

That’s because after almost 3 years of no significant PvE content, we learned and mastered what we have. The same goes about professions. Once we get new content we are going to learn it until we master it like old content. This is how games work. And berserker builds in PvE are rewarding for those able and willing to learn the content.

I don’t think that (at least for pve) there is or was really any place at all for characters geared specifically to be tough and that high/pure damage builds have always been the best option, regardless of how long it has been since there has been content released or how long it has been released for.

You can gear yourself to take a lickin and keep on tickin, but at the end of the day a person in soldier/cleric/nomad armor not dying is always going to be severely outperformed by a berserker character who is also not dying because they know how to dodge or use built in evades on attacks or blocks or invulnerability skills or projectile reflects. There is just never an unmanageable danger that requires you to have more life or armor.

You don’t really need survivability stats in pve if you play smart and know how the encounters work, so gearing up for that holds your damage back. That’s why berserker equipment is so dominant in pve because it is so hard to argue that anything else is better/more efficient.

It’s really too bad that the game can easily be reduced like that but that is the state we’re at.

If salient points are spamming, what are your posts called? I’m looking at my non luminescent boots and I’m feeling like this is no part resolved.

Why is soon in quotes? Is is some sort of ironic soon? Is the wink implied??

I unlocked every single skill before level 80. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

Try playing in windowed mode. This won’t fix your problem, but if you’re like me your game is still crashing and generating crash reports, you just can’t see them unless your game is windowed.

I guess sending in crash reports might be able to help, but you won’t have to close the game through the task manager anymore.

Fey.7610:

I moved to ATI, feels good man!

I’m pretty sure this is probably the only solution. I’ve had crashing issues since the first beta weekend and I’ve been sending in crash reports ever since. I had a ticket opened during beta that was closed without any actual response and then an almost identical ticket that has been opened for close to a month now that isn’t really going anywhere and looks pretty content to stay that way.

After doing an assigned battery of tests that I guess didn’t reveal any apparent problems I’m starting to lose hope that any solution will emerge for me besides hardware replacement.

The choices are: human, tall human, plant human, disgusting little gremlin, or charr. It’s an easy choice.

Gotta be scepter/sword. Two blocking abilities and four out of your five weapon skills make illusions. I love it.