Guild Wars 2

I could not for the life of me get used to the Nostromo, so it’s basically just collecting dust on my desk now. :P

To each his own.

lunyboy.8672:

just because I was using reflects to let them spit themselves to death.

Sorry, but it has to be done. For science.

“Stop spitting yourself! Stop spitting yourself!”

Your account name is your email.

One of the few posts that have made me genuinely laugh.

That face reminds me of someone. Or something. Can’t quite figure it out, but the skin tone, lack of ears, and unibrow combine to really tickle the ol’ memory cells.

Also, how did you manage to get two preview windows up at the same time?

I see more Human and Norn engineers than I see Charr, Asura and Sylvari engineers combined.

I demand a refund.

Anymras.5729:

I’m not sure why you’re placing emphasis on the weapon choice – if it’s something about “Guns should deal more damage, look at the real world,” I’m going to have to point out that, if this were the case, guns would deal more damage than most weapons in the game, leaving them terribly unbalanced.

If ANet adopts that policy, I’ll immediately reroll every character I have to a charr.

Charrzooka everything.

I’ve actually had no problems whatsoever for about a year with my G600, it’s been working flawlessly for me. The only difference I see is that I only do all of my skill commands via the mouse (weapon skills, utilities, elite, profession skills) excluding healing skill, and handle all other commands via keyboard (Q for healing, E for evade). Reckon it could be those commands that bugger things up for you?

Le edit: Also, Tink, what version of the Logitech Gaming Software do you use? I think 8.40 is the most recent.

I love my Logitech G600. Slanted side buttons so you never lose track of which button is which, and most importantly a “G-shift” function which is essentially just a “cool” way of saying there’s a modifier on the mouse. Switched to it from the Naga about a year back, and never been happier.

Amadeus.5687:

Healing support, we got a 3 second Waterfield now with the new Healing Turret + easy acces to a lot of blast finishers in a build that can still work

Tell me about it. I’ve fallen in love with the combo deploy healing turret, overcharge healing turret, detonate healing turret.

Tacgnol.8079:

I mean, according to ANET we are supposed to be control freaks, but I do not see really how to “control” anything in world versus world, except maybe by carpet bombing a tunnel with nades… Maybe…

The best control build in WvW is, as far as I can tell, a build based on grenades and pistol/shield. To control people, you can toss posion grenades in tight passageways to deter enemies from running in until it dissipates, chill them to severely limit their movement speed, blind them to keep friends and yourself alive longer, as well as use the knockback and block of your shield on the frontlines. For fun, try knocking half the enemy zerg off a cliff with shield #4!

But your role is very much determined by your build more than your profession. I like switching between a flamethrower build for frontline aggression, the grenade build for control, and a build focused on the rifle (believe it or not) for solo or small group reconnaissance or supply camp harassment.

The only thing that’s always consistent between all of them is Speedy Kits. It’s nearly a must-have trait in WvW. Permanent Swiftness is a godsend in those maps.

I feel like we have enough “blind self-knockback” abilities (rifle #4, elixir gun #4, rocket boots). If anything of the sort, give me a proper leap, as we only have rifle #5 for that, and many choose to give up the rifle for the pistol/shield or pistol/pistol.

lorazcyk.8927:

Jigain.8231:

Utility, Tool Belt. What’s the difference?

We get to pick what extra skills we want to bring in our Tool Belt by changing what utilities we have loaded. Tool Belt skills’ cooldowns are independent of utility skill cooldowns. No other profession gets to have four interchangeable extra skills as their F1-F4 skills.

And now we need moar because four isn’t enough.

No you don’t.
You don’t have weapon swap, you lose 5 skills.
You can choose either toolbelt or utility skills, you can’t choose both toolbelt and utility skills. There are a lot of skills I want for the toolbelt, but don’t use the utility skill because I didn’t want it. And a lot of skills I want for the utility skill, but don’t want the toolbelt. If we could choose toolbelt skills independently, it would be a lot better.
You can use a kit to have another weapon, but you lose a utility slot for it. (since your utility slot is now weapon swap. Now you might say “but you gained a toolbelt”, but I didn’t gain anything, because I didn’t choose that skill, the game chose it for me.

I do not see your point.

There are skills I want on my flamethrower, and there are skills I’d rather substitute for others. There are skills I want on my staff fire attunement, and there are skills I’d rather substitute for others. There are skills I like stealing from people on my thief, and there are things I’d rather not steal. The game isn’t always a pick-and-choose smörgåsbord. You do what you can with what you have available. This does not change the fact that you have some control over what extra skills you bring into battle. No other profession can brag about that.

Also, you do gain a toolbelt skill. Just because you don’t have complete control over what you’re given, it doesn’t mean you don’t gain it.

Unless they’ve changed it since launch, scroll wheel cannot be bound in-game, so you’d have to redefine the scroll wheel in your mouse’s software to mimic another key instead.

That said, I often feel the need to adjust my camera on the fly. Not sure if it’s just me, but as I play it seems boss events and such cause my camera to zoom progressively further in. Not to mention some jumping puzzles are easier while zoomed in a bit. Personally I couldn’t give up the scroll wheel.

KratosAngel.7289:

Yes. Someone who is holding a single button or just press it once to do an attack over and over again allows you to play longer than a person who has to consistently spam the same button over and over again. Because eventually that person is going to feel the strain and will have to take a break. Faster is also a conceivable notion, as with a macro, you can set up your abilities to fire to the millisecond of when they’ll be off cooldown.

I have to disagree. You still have to be here to target with your mouse. Yes, even if it’s PVE, enemies do move, sometimes at least, so you can’t actually play longer.

“Longer” in this context is referring to the fact that a person who continually press a button every ~1 second will eventually feel a strain in the finger used to press that button, and will need to take a break to recover. In comparison, a person who holds the button down or presses it once to simulate it being pressed continuously does not feel the strain to the same extent, if at all, and as such will be able to do the same action for longer. Whether you need to move the mouse or not is entirely irrelevant in this context.

KratosAngel.7289:

either way if gaile meant that only macro allowed is 1 button 1 function meaning that you do 1 thing then… thats not a macro , thats a button ^^.

Absolutely true. A “macro” which does not do anything more than pressing one key can NOT be called a macro. Just a key, extra key or same key but not at the same place, depending on how you look at it.

That is accurate, but the accuracy quickly diminishes past that one function. If you have a macro that simulates key #1 for every 1000ms you keep the button pressed, and you keep it pressed for just one second, the character does its #1 attack once. This is fine, it’s one keystroke for one function. But the key question is, if you hold the button down for 2 seconds, and the character does two attacks, is it then two functions for one keystroke? Or does the same attack constitute as only one function no matter how many times it’s called? Without ANet clarifying this, we’ll never know, and we might be either giving up the easiest (though not most efficient) way of playing with the weapon kit, or risk being banned because we don’t want to suffer the strain that every other weapon setup for every other profession doesn’t have to deal with.

JubeiTM.5763:

Jigain.8231:

Kain Francois.4328:

If we had an extra slot for utility skills rather than an elite, that would be great. Especially since we waste so many utility slots equipping weapon kits.

We do. We have four, actually.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tool_belt

He ment Utility not Tool belt.

Indeed it would be nice to have 1 extra slot. Or at least to be able to choose any skill in place of Elite. This would boost versatility up.

Utility, Tool Belt. What’s the difference?

We get to pick what extra skills we want to bring in our Tool Belt by changing what utilities we have loaded. Tool Belt skills’ cooldowns are independent of utility skill cooldowns. No other profession gets to have four interchangeable extra skills as their F1-F4 skills.

And now we need moar because four isn’t enough.

Kain Francois.4328:

If we had an extra slot for utility skills rather than an elite, that would be great. Especially since we waste so many utility slots equipping weapon kits.

We do. We have four, actually.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tool_belt

muslumgurseks.4951:

Ljiona.9142:

It is happening to thousands of people, Anet is still refusing to acknowledge the problem.

Pc crashing is one thing Game crashing is another… OP is having problems with his pc in general and his friend as far as I understand is suffering from game crash there is the confusion.

In fairness, there are countless threads interspersed throughout the Tech Support subforum where people are reporting the same symptoms: the entire computer crashes / hangs / shuts down while playing GW2 and GW2 only. I have the same issue myself, if I play my thief. I think most of us just kind of get used to the idea though – I’m fortunate in that I can still play all my other characters without issues.

EverSeeN.1630:

“Does this program allow someone to play faster, better, longer, or more accurately than someone who doesn’t use it?” (NO : its actually worst for knowing when the click happens and where the nade gona land when you use fast cast )

Yes. Someone who is holding a single button or just press it once to do an attack over and over again allows you to play longer than a person who has to consistently spam the same button over and over again. Because eventually that person is going to feel the strain and will have to take a break. Faster is also a conceivable notion, as with a macro, you can set up your abilities to fire to the millisecond of when they’ll be off cooldown.

EverSeeN.1630:

“Does this program allow someone to ‘play’ when he/she is not at the computer?” (NO : since its a single button made for ease. Having 2 separate buttons macro makes a macro COMBO that constitutes a minimal bot that IS bannable)

Yes. Park at a place where you know events are going to happen, place your mouse pointer where mobs will be spawning, press your toggle button or tape your hold button and go to the john. Return five minutes later, collect loot and experience. People were doing this in droves back in the day and got banned for it, IIRC.

I’m not debating whether or not it should be allowed, I’m just saying that unless an official spokesperson for ArenaNet comes out and clearly states that you are allowed to use what is essentially autoclicker bots as long as you’re at the computer (which so far they haven’t), you should generally assume that if you choose to do that chances are pretty high you will get banned if caught. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter what you intend to use it for, it’s what you’re able to use it for.

EverSeeN.1630:

1. macro keyboard or macro mouse
2. make 1,pause 20ms,1,pause 800ms ( if fast cast ground 1,pause 500-800ms )
3. use toggle or hold down (toggle is better)

closest you can get to ignoring a fix

and macro for making 1 button pressed is allowed so no worries on ban

I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you. The rules are (intentionally?) very vague on that.

Guild Wars 2 players are permitted to use macros as long as the macros are programmed with a 1 key for 1 function protocol.
This means that if you program a macro, it must require one keystroke per action. You may not program a single key to perform multiple functions.

Pay close attention to the segment “it must require one keystroke per action”. Throwing two sets of grenades while holding a button, or pressing it once to toggle, can be considered to be in violation of this, as the action would normally have required two keystrokes (or four, if not using fast cast).

kitsuneKyo.6824:

and I am not kidding. after 3 dungeons my hand is hurting like crazy. :’(

I feel your pain. Literally. It’s the main reason I keep switching between a grenade and a flamethrower build.

Spin Echo.8263:

Jigain.8231:

Even looking at weapon kits this holds true: bomb kit, two soft CCs (blind + immobilize)

I think you’re forgetting knockback on Big Ol’ Bomb.

That I did, aye. I apologize for that, I was a bit rushed towards the end. Sister’s birthday. :P

Now that is a much more reasonable standpoint.

I don’t deny that the pistol/shield weapon set lacks damage output. In fact, it’s what I’ve been saying all this time. And yes, to do reliable damage you will need to bring another weapon in the form of switching between combat situations or just using a kit. All of these points that you made, I do not have a problem with.

What I do have a problem with is your previous statements, which may be overgeneralizations but no less inaccurate for it. I quote the particular segments:

if you like the pistol, it means you work on condition damage
Incorrect. The pistol, along with the shield, is a primarily control weapon set. Now if you were talking about pistol/pistol you may have a point, but in the context you were talking about mainhand pistol on its own, independent of shield or offhand pistol. Pistol/shield is control, not condition damage focused.

it’s not about liking pistol or not, it’s about: being forced to use a condition damage weapon with a shield.
Again, it’s not a condition damage weapon set, it’s a control weapon set. You’re supposed to supplement it with other methods of dealing damage.

with that poor pistol main hand I’m not killing anything, ever.
Again, you’re meant to supplement your loadout with an offensive weapon set in the form of altrernative weapons or kits. That you’re unable to kill “anything ever” means that you’re not grasping that fact by bringing another source of damage.

Pistol #1 should pierce untraited at least.
This is where the crap really starts to hit the fan. Not only have you concluded that the control weapon set doesn’t work as a pure damage set (while oblivious to the fact it was never meant to), now you go requesting balance changes so that the weapon will better suit your personal needs, or if you will, turning it into the end-all-be-all weapon for engineers rather than leaving at least a little bit of personal preference to the user.

you can NOT use pistol-shield as a primary weapon since you can not kill anything with it
pistol main hand in anything but a high condition build does too little damage.
The game isn’t all about the damage, damage, damage, more dots, I’m top of the damage meter. Just because a weapon set doesn’t do max damage, it doesn’t mean you cannot use it as a primary weapon set. Especially in group play, where it shines.

don’t say it’s for support, because a shield does not define a support build. Elixir gun, healing bombs, healing turret to some extend, define a support build.
Now this is a gem. You did later concede that pistol/shield is a control build, and you bring up such wonderful examples as elixir gun. Yeah, elixir gun is a terrific support weapon, just like pistol/shield is a terrific control weapon. So why isn’t the elixir gun dealing damage on par with, say, ‘nades or 100blades or glass cannon elementalists? *Because it’s a support weapon*. Same applies to pistol/shield.

Your cleric isn’t supposed to kill anything, a GW2 build is.
Incorrect. Not every build is geared towards killing everything. Many group-based builds aren’t. My warrior currently has a tankish build, for example. He doesn’t kill things lightning quick. Yet guess who’s being whispered every time he comes online on that character? I’ll give you a hint, he’s got two thumbs and both are pointing at him.

where the heck did I ever say it sucks???
As I’ve quoted above, you have on numerous occasions said that the weapon set is useless, that you cannot use it as a primary weapon under any circumstances, that it needs to be buffed to be usable, et cetera. All of these are the same as saying the weapon set sucks.

So the last question is: does it offer that much more utility than any other weapon set engineer has acces to? So much more it warrants not having enough damage, where the others can be traited to have that?
The answer is yes. Undoubtedly yes. Pistol/pistol offers two soft CCs (blind + immobilize). Rifle offers one hard CC and one soft CC (knockback + immobilize). Pistol/shield offers twice as much as both of these, with two hard and two soft CCs, as detailed earlier. Even looking at weapon kits this holds true: bomb kit, two soft CCs (blind + immobilize); elixir gun, no CC (unless you count cripple as a soft CC, but personally I hardly find it worth even that); flamethrower, one hard and one soft CC (blind + knockback); grenade kit, two soft CCs (blind + chill); medkit, no CC; mortar, one soft CC (chill); tool kit, one soft CC (pull). As you can see, the pistol/shield build has twice as much CC as any other potential weapon the engineer has access to.

I’m afraid I’ll have to cut the rebuttal short here, because I’m expected elsewhere. But hopefully this will have provided some things to consider at least.

Ciao!

Out of curiosity, did you update any drivers since last time you successfully played?

Well, when downscaled you’re capped in certain stats, and the cap may not be entirely linear. For example, my crit warrior is much more effective in level 80 areas than, say, level 1-15 areas. This is because in level 80 areas, he typically has a crit chance of ~60-70% (IIRC, have been experimenting with different builds lately so it’s been a while), whereas in a level 1-15 area, he might go so low as ~15%. As he’s rather reliant on high crit chance, he kills things slower in those areas, despite being gear-wise much more powerful.

Also, which level 80 area you’re in also changes things. The most obvious example is the difference between Cursed Shore and Southsun Cove. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’ve found the Southsun mobs more than just a tinge tougher.

It’s an opinion, not an observation. An observation is noting a fact, an opinion is a belief or judgment based on grounds insufficient to make an observation. Not saying one is more important than the other, but I see the two words intermingled so often I just get sick of it. That pistol/shield is not adequate to even enter a PvP map, to even visit a dungeon, or even go to WvW is not a fact, it’s your own opinion.

The pistol/shield set is fully functional as it is. I recognize this, others in this very thread recognize this. Many engineers use it to great effect in dungeons, PvP, and WvW. The reason it doesn’t work as well for you as for those who stand in favor of it is that you cannot let go of your preconception that the pistol/shield needs to be focused on damage. The key point is that, as stated earlier, the weapon set is tuned to control. Three of the five weapon skills are direct crowd control skills – two soft, two hard. While not technically control, one of the remaining two skills quickly apply a (reasonably) long-lasting effect that reduces the target’s healing, which in my personal opinion should at least partially fall into support. It is very obvious that this weapon setup is not intended as a pure damage setup. You’re not meant to play it as such, not any more than you build a grenade kit engi for healing, or make a melee ranged longbow ranger. You’re complaining about a non-issue. If you want a weapon set that’s focused on damage, you’ll have to let go of the control abilities of the shield. You can’t have the cake and eat it at the same time.

Post scriptum:
You are saying the shield is crap. You’re saying pistol/shield (which is the only way of using a shield) can not, under any circumstances, be used in any of the game’s activities save solo PvE (and I’m not sure if you haven’t claimed it cannot be used there, either). Shield and pistol/shield is the SAME THING. You’re saying one thing is crap, you’re saying both are crap.

Long story short, pistol/shield is fine if you play it the way it was intended, and you really should drop the “must max dps” argument – the setup shines in group engagements (like PvP, WvW, dungeons) where CC triumphs topping invisible damage meters.

There, I said it.

Hey, it could be worse. Every AMD 13.x drivers cause a system with dual Radeon HD 6950s running in crossfire to BSOD on boot, and they haven’t released a new beta in the ~20 days since they told me they’re aware of the issue and working on it.

I’m sure you can guess what setup I have. :P

Eyefinity supports a maximum of 6 screens. Provided your graphics card(s) has the required amount of connections, of course.

Kimbald.2697:

Jigain.8231:

A fine question! Here’s a couple of examples from my personal journal.

• Reflected a warrior’s Kill Shot back at him.
• Dived straight into a zerg in WvW and pushed about half of them off a cliff.
• Dazing low-health opponents trying to heal with Throw Shield.
• Quickly stacking poison on enemies.

Those are just some of the fun ways I’ve killed people while wielding a pistol and shield.

Now, a counter-question, if you don’t mind. Why are you so focused on killing things when using a shield? It’s a soft + hard CC build with some condition damage added for funsies. Saying you can’t really kill anything is like, and forgive the analogy, making a D&D Cleric, stack up healing spells, then complain the game is unbalanced because you don’t do as much damage as a Sorceror. :P

every build, of every profession should, in the end… be able to kill things in this game.
And don’t say it’s for support, because a shield does not define a support build.

Did you even read what I wrote? I said a pistol and shield is a control weapon set. Not support. Control. And you can’t argue that it isn’t, as it features two hard CCs (knockback, stun) as well as two soft CCs (blind, daze). As you didn’t like the D&D example, I’ll strike a little closer to home – saying pistol and shield does not define a control playstyle is like saying the grenade kit cannot be used for hitting multiple targets.

Any changes to the mortar in a patch? Yeah, sure. I guess… October 2012.

Hey, guess what? I win!

Mortar: This skill is now properly affected by the Inventions trait Rifled Turret Barrels.

Pleasure doing business with you.

Kimbald.2697:

could the 3 people above claiming it’s ok that pistol #1 does little damage, explain me one thing:

how do you kill anything when using shield?

A fine question! Here’s a couple of examples from my personal journal.

• Reflected a warrior’s Kill Shot back at him.
• Dived straight into a zerg in WvW and pushed about half of them off a cliff.
• Dazing low-health opponents trying to heal with Throw Shield.
• Quickly stacking poison on enemies.

Those are just some of the fun ways I’ve killed people while wielding a pistol and shield.

Now, a counter-question, if you don’t mind. Why are you so focused on killing things when using a shield? It’s a soft + hard CC build with some condition damage added for funsies. Saying you can’t really kill anything is like, and forgive the analogy, making a D&D Cleric, stack up healing spells, then complain the game is unbalanced because you don’t do as much damage as a Sorceror. :P

Confirmed open on Kodasch [DE].

Yes, I may have had a script refreshing this page every 60 seconds the past few days. :P

tigirius.9014:

Jigain.8231:

Kain Francois.4328:

one of the WORST main-hand weapons in the game (Pistol)

See, I don’t agree with that. Two of the three skills are amazing. A fast stacking poison attack? An AoE stun, blind, AND confuse? Where do I sign up?

I don’t think any other profession has a weapon that offers that much while still allowing for an offhand. Except maybe elementalists, but attunement.

I do agree with it.

Pistol should never be as slow to cast as rifle, should never miss at the higher levels (poison darts/blowtorch) and some of the traits could use some work to enhance the pistol to match what is enjoyed by the ranger and thief with their preferred weapons.

Blowtorch isn’t a mainhand pistol ability.

For everything else, what Kardiamond said.

Kain Francois.4328:

one of the WORST main-hand weapons in the game (Pistol)

See, I don’t agree with that. Two of the three skills are amazing. A fast stacking poison attack? An AoE stun, blind, AND confuse? Where do I sign up?

I don’t think any other profession has a weapon that offers that much while still allowing for an offhand. Except maybe elementalists, but attunement.

I like yelling “For great justice!” just before swinging at a rabbit.

What? He killed my parents.

Because I can be obsessively compulsive when it comes to numbers, I re-did the same thought experiment I used back in the days. Here’s a calculation on the total amount of different abilities the classes in question can pull off. Where necessary, I’ve specified which skills I was considering. Number in (paranthesis) is a running tally.

Engineers:

5 weapon skills (5)
1 healing skill – Med Kit (6)
1 profession skill – Bandage Self (7)
5 kit skills – from Med Kit (12)
1 utility skill – Bomb Kit (13)
1 profession skill – Big Ol’ Bomb (14)
5 kit skills – from Bomb Kit (19)
1 utility skill – Grenade Kit (20)
1 profession skill – Grenade Barrage (21)
5 kit skills – from Grenade Kit (26)
1 utility skill – Elixir Gun (27)
1 profession skill – Healing Mist (28)
5 kit skills – from Elixir Gun (33)
1 elite skill – Elixir X (34)
5 weapon skills – from Elixir X (39)

Amount of extra skills from weapon swap: 5, total 44

I was a bit off on the number from what I recalled; I seemed to recall the amount of skills for the engie was in the early 40s, but as it turns out they “only” have a potential of 39 abilities. Let’s move on to the elementalist – I shortened that one a little for the sake of brevity, from reading the detailed engineer one you should understand my reasoning without me spelling it out again.

Elementalists:

4 attunements (4)
5 weapon skills times 4 attunements (24)
1 healing skill (25)
3 utility skills – Conjure Frost Bow, Flame Axe, Earth Shield (28)
5 conjured skills times 3 conjures (43)
1 elite skill – Conjure Fiery Greatsword (44)
5 conjured skills – from Conj. Greatsword (49)

Amount of extra skills from weapon swap: 20, total 69

And just for comparison, I picked a random remaining class to do a comparison of. The short straw fell of the thief, so after a detailed look into what utility and elite skills they could pack that gave them extra abilities to use (hint: there were none), here’s a summary of how many skills a thief would have if they could not weapon swap, as well as if they can (as they do) swap.

Thief:

5 weapon skills (5)
1 profession skill – Steal (6)
1 healing skill (7)
3 utility skills (10)
1 elite skill (11)

Amount of extra skills from weapon swap: 5, total 16

25 minutes well spent, in my opinion.

Hybelkaninen.3087:

How hard is it to give Engineers (and Elementalist) weapon swap ?

Probably pretty hard as they’d have to rebalance (read: nerf) both classes if they did it.

Did some math on it maybe a little over half a year back, and engineers and elementalist can have a potential 40+ abilities available to them at any given point thanks to attunements + conjures and weapon kits respectively. No other class comes close to that versatility. And yes, I know, people don’t want to be versatile, people prefer to niche themselves into a specialization, whether that be 100nades all condi bleed or staff support w/ boon duration or whathaveyou. The point is that these two classes were designed for extreme versatility, and to give them even MORE versatility (a second weapon set would make it closer to 50-ish abilities for the engi, and a whopping 65-ish for the ele, compared to the max of 11-ish for most other classes (the only other one to have such a massive degree of potential skills would be the banner-based warrior, methinks)) would mean they would have to be even LESS proficient in specialized roles.

Just trust me, you’re better off not being like me and taking everything into consideration when pondering changes. Ignorance is bliss.

Le edit: Seems ripAnubis had the same thoughts as me, but I’m still pretty certain that my old calculations yielded somewhere in the 45 range for amount of possible skills for the elementalist even before weapon swapping is taken into consideration. :P

To sum it up, it is a tangent that started when I proposed that the Sclerite Rifle is a rifle and not a shotgun, to which Dustfinger theorized ammunition in the game is cartridges of powder as opposed to metal slugs or pellets. In the same context he mentioned a charr coating her shots with a substance that would stick and burn on contact. From there my curiosity was piqued, and I theorized as to how realistic such an idea was (to which I eventually concluded it wasn’t realistic, but could fall within the suspension of disbelief already required for the game), and Dustfinger provided additional information on the burning substance. Then Seras asked if there was more to learn, and Dustfinger kindly provided a video to the episode in question. Then you asked what it was about, and that’s where we are now.

“Preparation” and “Warmup” might be good statuses (stati?) to look for as well. “Warmup” should just indicate the NPCs are moving to their respective positions following a successful pre-event, and potentially talking a bit. “Preparation” is a bit fuzzier though, but the way I read it, it’s defined as “any point where the event can be started, but the NPCs cannot start it themselves”, in which case it may require someone to talk to an NPC, NPC reinforcements to spawn, or the NPC to be rezzed by players.

To conserve your guesting, though, you should definitively (as you suggested) look for the three “in progress” states, those being Preparation, Warmup, and Active in order, then refresh every minute or so until you see if it lists as Success or Fail. Only then should you guest – unless you really want the loot from the fight, of course.

That is amazing, HyssT. I could kiss you.

I looked into the API system and it seems to be just the thing for us. Only flaw I’ve found with the system is that it only checks the last state of the event in question, so unless you check one that is the repeat-until-failure event (like the one you linked), “success” doesn’t mean the temple is uncontested; and conversely, if the temple becomes uncontested, and people don’t stay around for the repeat-until-failure event, that may never trigger a success even though the temple had been liberated.

It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not a perfect solution yet.

I don’t know if ANet is periodically reading this, but one (hopefully) easy solution would be to include timestamps, preferrably in the form of “X minutes ago”, so one could check the event status of “Cover Keeper Jonez Deadrun as he performs the cleansing ritual” (which is the event that un-contests the temple) and determine by way of timestamps how likely it is the temple still is uncontested (4 minutes ago versus 21 hours ago, for example).

Nevertheless, thank you for the tip, HyssT! All the +1’s to you! I’ll keep checking that list on and off, but in the meanwhile, if anyone notices Grenth flipping to uncontested in any EU server, I’d be happy if you’d leave a little note here so I could finally get my last pieces of gear. :P

Any Grenth open in the EU now? Spent most of yesterday trying to get it completed, but not enough interest for it on Deso. :P

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/audio/A-guide-to-custom-playlists

Stickied in this very subforum.

It kind of is, though. Inhumane is, specifically, lacking pity or compassion. Beating sentient beings into submission is not an act of compassion or pity. It is an act showing no compassion, no pity, and as such qualifies as inhumane.

Le edit: Here are some synonyms to “inhumane”, a lot of which can be used to describe beating sentient beings into submission.
Cruel, savage, brutal, severe, harsh, grim, unkind, heartless, atrocious, unsympathetic, hellish, depraved, barbarous, pitiless, unfeeling, uncompassionate.
Online dictionaries are your friends!

For me, fun beats powerful at all times. If I die thirty times in the span of an hour while having fun, I still see it as a better time investment than dying once in the span of an hour while not enjoying it.

lorazcyk.8927:

• what other profession do you think is amazingly fun (80+), yet more powerful than engineer

Personally, I’ve found weapon and build combinations for every profession save guardian that I’ve really enjoyed.

Engineer: A pyrotank build, most of the time. I find it really fun to build around the flamethrower, with constant regeneration (that stacks with other sources of regen), 6-7 constant stacks of might, wide conal AoE attack, and good control abilities (#3 & #5). Mostly for PvE, but also fun in WvW when you fire it at a gate. Fire isn’t a projectile, so it passes through, damaging any invader/defender on the other side. Been dabbling a bit with a grenade build too, but it’s a bit too much button spamming to be enjoyable in the long run.

Ranger: Been experimenting with a build centered around buffing others with spirits. Still not complete, but it seems pretty fun so far. Natch best for group play. Longbow with greatsword as a secondary is pretty kitten fun too.

Thief: Favorite build so far is one focused on pistol/dagger, using skill #5 to stealth and subsequently using #1 to fire a volley of bleeding shots, a couple of #2’s for vulnerability stacking while waiting for the stealth debuff to disappear, then rinse and repeat. Lots of fun in PvE and 1v1s.

Warrior: Going a tankish route for this one with mace and shield. PvE-focused, not sure if it would be any good at all in PvP. Perma weakness is amazing, though. Healing shouts. Veterans are a piece of cake even without dodging, and with a bit of patience I can deal with champions with just one friend helping. Really fun to be able to survive just about anything.

Necromancer: Still trying to decide with this one… staff’s a must-have for me because I love the trap-like AoE it brings, especially in tight corridors. No innuendo intended. But what I really love about the necro is switching to a more melee-based weapon once the target’s been led through the traps and just going all-out on it. I love both the dagger and axe for this… also trying to decide whether to go for a dagger offhand or a warhorn. All of them are massively fun.

Elementalist & Mesmer: I only find these fun with a friend, but when that opportunity presents itself, it’s amazing. Elementalist is staff without a doubt, while my friend keeps the target occupied I land AoE after AoE, while also providing support. Mesmer, I go for sword / pistol, doing the exact opposite – diverting the enemy’s attention while my friend dishes out the real damage. Staff for secondary, for chaos armor and combo field.

That should be all the professions, and how I play them to enjoy them. Hopefully it’ll give you some ideas and inspire you to experiment yourself.

Lightsbane.9012:

looks like someone made the mistake of taking someone too seriously on the internet.

Whaaaat? Nooo… Me? Never.

WyldKat.4712:

AstralDusk.1670:

The asuran necro soundbytes are pretty fun for pet summons and deaths, at least as a female.

“I didn’t think it would pop like that.”
“I’m glad I didn’t name that one.”
“You’re dumb. You’ll die, and you’ll leave a dumb corpse.”

“I should’ve given that one a brain.”
“Look! Life after death!”
“Go forth my undead minion!”
“This one’s kinda cute.”
“Never waste a corpse!”
“You live by my whim!”
“I can always summon more!”
“I’ll summon another!”

Well, fair enough, if the only conditions you care about are damage-ticking ones, I suppose. I don’t know what build you’re running with or what kits you use, so extra time with cripple, weakness, immobilize, blind, vulnerability, chilled and confusion might not be as important for you as extra condition damage.

Curiosity sated.

Question: Why 10+10% from Lyssa x2 and Nightmare x4, as opposed to 10+10+7% from Superior Lyssa x2, Superior Mad King x2, and Major Mad King x2? Or have they changed it so they (superior and major runes of the same suffix) no longer stack?

Create a shortcut to GW2.exe on your desktop, if you haven’t already.

Right click it, select Properties.

Under the Shortcut tab (should be default), go to the end of the “Target:” textbox, and add a space, followed by “-uispanallmonitors” without the quotation marks.

Very nice, I’ve always liked the T3 light chestpiece, and it’s a great color scheme you have. Also love that you’ve kept the starting mask (Wraith, if I recall correctly?), but I would’ve wanted to see some more action and less landscape. I’d give it an 8/10.

Mine’s from just after launch, an oldie that I’ve kept because I love how it looks. It’s been resized to fit into a brief collage, but other than that I haven’t touched the pic. Here’s Snuya, my necromancer.

Dustfinger.9510:

<snipped for brevity>

Very interesting indeed. It certainly might have existed, but I hope you understand if I still reserve my scepticism, considering that the only source still is one program on one channel. You didn’t make that great of a case as to why it hasn’t been heard of elsewhere. :P

Of course, GW2 requires a lot of suspension of disbelief as it is, and I fear we may need to chalk some things regarding this charr’s idea up to that. For instance, a rapidly accelerated projectile (such as when firing a projective from a rifle) will fall apart if consisting of multiple segments (as seen when launching multiple projectiles from a catapult or trebuchet, or perhaps more on topic the pellets of a scattergun, and observing the spread the further the distance traveled), hence this adhesive flammable solution would have to be, pardon the French, pretty kitten adhesive to stick to the projectile until contact with the target – which in turn means it would be too adhesive to fire out of a firearm. This is also a concern upon contact, where the projectile would penetrate (enter) or even pierce (enter and exit) the target, leaving the substance without a source of oxygen inside the body with the only potential burn sites on the entry and exit holes (as we know, fire requires fuel, heat, oxygen, and a chain reaction as per the fire tetrahedron), or alternatively, miss or be deflected. Again, it would have to be very adhesive to stick to the target at the moment of friction when the projectile is deflected. But again, if we suspend our disbelief, this could be a devastating weapon.

That was certainly a tangent and a half! Now where’s the guy who thought I was giving ArenaNet credit for double rifles?