Guild Wars 2

Fenom.9457:

I have a few questions for veteran eles. I will ask 3… no 4! I will ask 4.. no 5! 5 questions!

1. What’s the best weapon set for condi?

2. Best elite for condi?

3. Best armor rune for condi?

4. Best weapon (above and underwater if it’s different) rune for condi(duh gonna stop saying it now) ele?

5. Best aquabreather? is there better than rare?

useful info may be I prefer to use fire (I use them all, but someone asked me that in the past), and I have all the HP stuff including Tempest. ty!

I have mixed Zerk/Celestial, with some Ascended, some Exotic.

What I find helps most in the new zones is the right traits, rather than specific gear. Using a Warhorn, with high uptime on 40% Protection and the 10% from Frost Aura almost makes gear choices irrelevant, at least where defense is concerned.

That means you can run very offensive gear, or builds that incorporate the above abilities and still survive while doing great damage.

I’ve seen some Eles also going for high Condition damage, utilizing Sinister gear. I personally haven’t tried the raid yet, but am also looking into Viper’s gear as sort of the optimal offensive gear (maximizing both direct and condi simultaneously), and Trailblazer for tankiness while still having respectable Condition based offense.

Neko.9021:

Full Berserker for Ele. Condi Ele is more of a specialized thing for high level fractals.

Wouldn’t a gearset focused on Power and Condition Damage equally be the best set for overall damage?

I’m thinking of the long term here, what with ANet playing around with Toughness values and such. Throw in the fact that most of the toughest (or longest) fights in the game involve Crit-immune enemies, and it seems that moving away from Precision and Ferocity might be a good game plan.

Example, on Ascended Gloves, you’re losing out on 7 Power by using Viper’s instead of Zerk, and 12 Precision (Ferocity gone). But you gain 40 Condition Damage and 22 Expertise. Viper’s has 124 points to Zerk’s 115.

So you lose very little power in a Zerk→Viper conversion, and gain a bunch of Condition Damage that you didn’t have before, while retaining enough Precision for “on-crit” effects like Vigor traits, and weapon sigils.

Of course, I’m trying to use logic and reason, which gameplay and design choices by ANet might not bear out.

Wanze.8410:

You do know that privates in the army also dont get the best equipment to work with.

Its the same here.
Guild members can craft or buy you everything up to exotic gear and they can give you all the mats you need to level your armorsmith, too.

Sigh.

There is just no arguing with some people it seems.

A Private in the army gets the same quality M4 or M16 as a Sergeant. Its not like you’ve got Master Chiefs running around in Crysis armor, and Privates using dilapidated Fallout 3 hunting rifles.

And as ANY military or society has done since recorded history began, there has always been logistical support in the form of smiths who mass produce items for the warriors/soldiers. A fighting force could not function if every single man at arms had to learn how to make his own weapons, ammunition, not to mention the time taken away from actual fight training to learn the finer points of folding steel or casting molds.

And here’s the thing in terms of gameplay. Ascended gear means only a very small numerical advantage over exotics, generally, not including AR for Fractals. So if its a very marginal increase, and as you pointed out we can already do the trading/equipping with exotics, then from a gameplay/twinking aspect, Ascended offers no big advantage. Then, combine that with the massive number of different stat sets compared to other MMOs, the mat requirements per set, the fact that almost any profession can be built for power, condi, or any of several viable combinations AND ANet has stated it wants to break up the Zerk meta (which is likely what everyone’s primary or sole Ascended set is), and you begin to see that Ascended crafting as a Guild Service is a great idea.

On top of all that, ANet has said that in some unspecified way, Ascended will be REQUIRED to participate/succeed in the upcoming Raid content. No word on stat combinations (Do we need Nomad and Soldier or Berserk and Assassin?), so we’re left to guess as usual.

So when you break it down, combine all the points listed above, it becomes nearly logically inexcusable to NOT introduce something like a Guild Crafting ability.

Anyone remember this quest from GW1?

I won’t spoil it except to say that the reward was fruit based, hilarious and basically unusable, the dialogue was campy, and it was every bit as goofy as you’d think.

It took place while trying to stop Abaddon from basically unmaking the universe.

In Nightfall, the player and his cohorts fought and defeated a god. This is serious business, and yet, there was still time for humor and laughter, heck even cute repartee between the various heroes.

Has GW2 lost this? Sure, we’re fighting Dragons, but Zhaitan was taken down by cannons on a blimp, and I’m sure some Asura is going to discover the alchemical recipe for Roundup. I’m not sure if the writers for GW2 are an entirely different team, but in the years that we’ve all been playing the sequel, I at least feel like the game’s tone is just entirely too serious.

Even Halloween and Wintersday celebrations take on this dark and menacing tone, and rather than having fun, we’re ALWAYS having to save somebody. I guess we can blame the influence of Chris Nolan and the new Batman movies, everyone is going dark and moody lately.

Heck this even affects the personalities of both Iconic teams. The first one feels like the Young and the Restless, Tyria version, the second one feels like I’m watching Party of Five or an afterschool special. There’s just no fun in these characters, and yet, I feel like the threats in GW2 are much less “impending doom” than Nightfall or even Factions.

Triangulator.2867:

Search up crafting guides and increase your account value by ‘forging’ ascended. How much are we willing to lean on others to accomplish benign personal account/character growth?

You want it. You make it. A guild can send you materials to help. But they won’t give you a shortcut. Earn you stripes.

You do know that in the military, each private does not forge their own rifle from solid cast steel, nor does every airman personally assemble their own jet right? A seaman does not build from scratch each boat in the Navy, etc.

The OP makes a great point. And I’ve seen other games allow players who enjoy crafting to set up shops after a fashion, and can craft items for other players, even traditionally super high end stuff that would be soulbound/accountbound on acquire as it is now in GW2.

His point isn’t to make it easier for everyone to get super high end gear, it was to increase the community and value of guilds in the first place. Having a central armorer would make it slightly quicker to get those items, with of course the bottleneck being that players would still have to farm the raw materials first.

With the advent of raids, the intent of the devs to deconstruct the Zerk meta, the plethora of gear stats AND the cost of individual pieces and sets, what the OP suggests is not only perfectly reasonable, it ends up adding value and longevity as well as a sense of community.

Earn your stripes. LOL. Its a game. Get a grip.

Bravo ANet.

Unopened Endless Batwing Brew on RNG.

Supply of under 30 ATM, and ranges from 600 gold to 1200 gold.

And this is as an ingredient for a single shoulder skin with an animation.

I guess you’ll have to protect the 1%’s market share and NOT introduce that recipe for crafting the Endless tonic as you said you would, oh, a year ago was it?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You can get it without ever opening a ToT bag. Just go to the TP.

And just be forced to drop 500 gold on a single item with the sole use as an ingredient. I like how you make something so momentous for the majority of players seem so easy and insignificant. Defender of Capitalism indeed.

Economic facts trump simple opinions. So only one side has a valid argument.

True only when the economy is a fully functioning one in the real world, and not an artificially maintained one in a game. ANet could hand out Nightfuries as a gift to every single player and it would not change the game one bit. That’s a far cry from real world economics.

Anet learned from their mistake, and now all future Legendaries are gated. You can buy certain things on the TP to speed things up, but the Mastery and Precursor crafting is so gated, that it prevents people from short-cutting the process. So now, if you see a new Legendary weapon, that person earned it.

Except of course there’s the Wardrobe system, so people running around with two Incinerators may not have earned it. And as a Defender of Capitalism, you shouldn’t care if someone slogged through hours and hours of gameplay or decided instead to play the market and buy it. AND it shouldn’t matter to anyone how anyone else in a game earned something since it has no effect on their gameplay, unless of course their enjoyment is wrapped up in an kitten measuring contest. But then, you’re just being petty if that’s the case.

Except, to feel like you won the game once, you didn’t have to play 200,000 games of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

I can’t count the number of ToT stacks I’ve left clicked so far, and still no Endless Batwing Tonic. Is it working towards something rare when there is a very real likelihood that it will NEVER happen, or is it simply an exercise in futility?

And should games (yes, even MMOs) have this type of artificially imposed rarity? I suppose there are valid arguments on both sides, from economics to simple opinion. But the bottom line is, if you put something so far out of reach (i.e. getting Nightfury as a “win” condition) as to make it nigh impossible, then instead of galvanizing the players, you push them away to other games where the loot tables aren’t placed on the peak of Mount Olympus.

I’d point out that the OP and all the +1s don’t understand Econ 101 and market scarcity, but instead I’ll just point to the Batwing Brew being 460 gold atm.

Anyone who thinks the OP knows what they’re talking about (forgetting about opportunity cost, marginal values, etc.) want to guess what will happen to that price once the event is over, and the 0.0005 drop percentage drops to absolute zero?

Even a small finite demand over a zero supply will cause astronomical inflation.

Jski.6180:

Yet its still one of the hardest to kill class in the game some how despite that lol.

Yeah, you kinda did.

The Ele can stay alive despite having the lowest health and armor ONLY by utilizing a build totally dedicated to shoring up those weaknesses.

This leaves the Ele with little to no damage output relative to other professions that can have both tankiness and damage. This is fine in PvP when you’re discussing point holding, but an Ele built to survive in PvP cannot really decap, and would be useless in WvW (barring trolling havoc squads, daphoenix early on showcased this to great effect) and REALLY useless in PvE.

HoT may change this, but the point is that right NOW, the Ele’s only reliable defense across various builds is in fact dodging, which is why Vigor traits are nearly mandatory. You can thank ANet for pigeonholing Eles into such builds by nerfing healing coefficients on almost every skill, granting no inherent defensive skills or design such as Stealth or Shroud, and working over mobility hard with the nerf bat.

I don’t even know why I bother participating in these debates, the facts are all in evidence and yet, thanks to the design of PvP and how Celestial interacts with the Ele’s design, people still think the Ele is OP. Which is a totally erroneous conclusion, especially when compared straight up to most of the other professions.

Avador.8934:

Lol, looks like we share similar thinking bro:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Concept-Elite-specialization-the-Archon/first#post5454593

I hadn’t seen that, looks like we’re right on the same page.

Now that I think about it, rather than having four Elemental forms, perhaps we should have the F5 skill be Archon Form (or some other to avoid copyright issues) that turns you into a conduit of pure Arcane energy.

You get 5 powerful Archon weapon skills, Attunements disabled, a purply flame glowing character, Runes or Wards as utilities, etc.

At least then some of the lesser used Arcane oriented traits would see more use, since they’d interact with the weapon skills as well as the new utilities. I’d also include some of the Cantrip functionality (stunbreaks, stability, etc.) on the 2-5 weapon skills, to really give the Archon Form a sense of Elite status.

Jski.6180:

Xillllix.3485:

Jski.6180:

Linnael.1069:

Jski.6180:

Kaleban.9834:

I can’t be the only person to wonder why, on a class with the least access to defensive skills, lowest health, lightest armor, no weapon-swap, nerfed healing coefficients, nerfed mobility and no profession defining defensive abilities like Stealth and Death Shroud, that ANet seems to think nerfing the sole defensive boon is a good balancing decision?

Yet its still one of the hardest to kill class in the game some how despite that lol.
Vigor on cirt is easy to get and for a class like ele nearly getting a free +20% crit chase if you go the same line as the vigo on crit it becomes an “non-boon” as in you simply just have it all the time. The vigor on cantrips is a great deal shorter lasting for the time of the cd on the skills to get it. So at best an 12 sec cd on an heal skill that gives vigor for 6 sec is right on line with an 10 sec cd on crit for 5 sec of vigor that is if your using the heal the sec it comes off of cd and only letting it just go off and stopping it before it go though its full effect.

Because every single ele is forced to build tank.
People like you are why balance is so bad in this game.

“There is no viable build that doesn’t take every defensive trait and utility available while wearing the tankiest stat set that sees use. I’m just going to go ahead and say that the class is fine and hard to kill. hurr”

That the thing went ppl talk about ele having the lower hp / def they leave out that ele has the best sustain in the game and has always been able to play in melee ranged just as well as pure melee classes. Now d/d ele always been super week to ranged classes where most melee have tools to deal with ranged classes.
GW2 not just a numbers game this is more true for a class like ele who lands big hits that are well timed not endless dps.

The ele only has “the best sustain in the game” (which is not true anyway, guardians and warriors bunkering up have more sustain) when it is bunkering up with celestial gear. To do as much damage as other classes with staff we have to run full zerk, and we then the class gets 1-shot all over the place by 20k shatters, 9k arcing slice, 14k killshot and 7k life blasts.

So that why we never see d/d eles in spvp?

Jski, you DO understand that PvP is pretty much all about holding points right? I mean, you do get that’s how you win?

So what do Eles do? They build as tanky as possible, while not needing to worry about inflicting damage, because killing other players 1v1 in PvP is NOT HOW YOU WIN.

Its called a delaying or stalling tactic, which a Water/Arcana/Celestial build is nearly totally focused on.

You can be as snarky as you want, but the simple fact is, that people like you who claim the Ele is OP are the same people who always think its OP when the Ele is not a free kill. Maybe its a perception thing, what with the Elementalist being a light armor class that is difficult to take down when built properly compared to professions like Guardian or Warrior that can do damage while simultaneously being tanky to a point.

For an Elementalist to hold a point, its built to do so, just like any other profession yet somehow the Ele gets all the hate and cries from the peanut gallery about being overpowered.

Humblekain.5418:

Protection boon access

Which requires swapping attunements, with attendant CDs

Attunement skills vs weapon swap (20 skills vs 10)

As has been explained before, those extra skills forces watering down of ALL the skills, meaning the Ele has to work twice as hard for similar effect.

High regeneration uptime if traited water, which almost every ele is in the pvp meta

Huzzah for build diversity. A single weak boon is not a well formulated defensive methodology.

Signet of Restoration providing excellent healing, especially for dagger

Every profession has at least one decent heal, so not sure why this is a thing, and ignores the fact that the Ele’s healing has been directly singled out for nerfs multiple times.

Magnetic aura access for reflects, in addition to frost aura for further incoming damage reduction on top of protection

Magnetic aura is on Focus, so not meta, and Frost Aura is a 7s aura on a 40s CD.

Defensive outgoing conditions access; blind, cripple, immobilise, weakness

Many classes also have these, and don’t have to contend with extra CDs thanks to attunements.

Mobility options on every weapon set excluding sceptre, which can retain some mobility via dagger offhand. My only concession here would be that lightning flash is only 900 yard range and not a stun breaker, but as ele is far from weak in pvp, it is a small quibble

Burning Speed. Nerfed. Ride the Lightning. Hilariously nerfed. Magnetic Grasp. Requires a target. Fiery Great Sword is taken as an ELITE MOBILITY SKILL thanks to nerfs.

Do not forget that this is a team game at heart, and an ele is fantastic at blasting fields – such as water for team healing, or smoke for team stealth

It being a team game is irrelevant when you’re discussing balance concerns, the professions aren’t balanced by team comps.

All this said, I’m tired of people proclaiming the Elementalist OP when its really the use of the Celestial Amulet in CONJUNCTION with the jack-of-all-trades design. Your post ignored the entire point of the argument. The Ele in comparison to other professions is objectively weak, dependent on either heavy boon stacking, high player skill, or dumb opponents (player or AI) standing still like target dummies, and often a combination of all three.

I can’t be the only person to wonder why, on a class with the least access to defensive skills, lowest health, lightest armor, no weapon-swap, nerfed healing coefficients, nerfed mobility and no profession defining defensive abilities like Stealth and Death Shroud, that ANet seems to think nerfing the sole defensive boon is a good balancing decision?

So I had this visuals idea, and figured it would pair well with my long standing belief that the four attunements should have a more specialized function. The basic idea is that ANet seems to have a thing for forms, what with the new Reaper and Celestial forms for Necromancer and Druid respectively. Likely an idea such as this would not be coming any time soon, but could be implemented in the next specialization roll-out.

Enter the Elemental!

The basic idea is an F5 ability which acts as an on/off switch for the Elemental forms. It could be toggled into and out of at will (does NOT act as a weapon switch) granting access to powerful Elemental specific skills. I would suggest that it not be tied to another new resource.

The premise then is that hitting F5 changes your Attunements into Elemental forms. The skills for each attunement are not bound to any weapon set, so a Staff wielder would have the same 1-5 skills as a D/D user when in an Elemental form.

Visually, each form would totally alter the player’s avatar to make it look like the Elementalist is becoming one with the elements themselves. In Fire for example, the PC could resemble the Human Torch, Water could be akin to Iceman from the X-Men or Glacius from Killer Instinct, and similar treatments for Earth and Air.

The point of the new forms would be to introduce specific functionality to the Attunements. Fire would be all about PBAOE with lots of Burning, Air would be spike single target with lots of Vulnerability, Water solely Chill and healing, and Earth would only have hard CC and defense skills. Water and Earth would include no direct damage on any skills, instead incorporating only condition damage from Chill and/or Earth bleeds.

While I recognize that this would mean designing 20 new skills, the upside is that these skills would be the same across any number of builds and weapon sets, and so easy to balance. It also takes advantage of existing attunement mechanics, offers an alternative to weapon swapping, and if movement and defensive skills are properly implemented, shore up several weaknesses of certain builds and weapons without having to completely re-design the profession from the ground up.

Plus it would look frikkin cool.

Just tried FGS, when the sword vanished it went on a 325 sec recharge.

Kisses ANet.

Ride the Lightning using Ele WTB Ancestral Grace.

1200 range, non target specific gap closer on 12 second cooldown. Toss in the 240 radius 5 target 1000+ heal, and compare that to RtL’s stats, devs make baby Eles cry.

Sylvari Green IS PEOPLE!

How to fix Dragonhunter:

Put it on Warrior.

Replace with Berserker on Guardian.

/end

I’ll try not to Echo too much here, but I had a thought about Overloads that might give them more tactical use, and hence, viability in PvP.

Each one should be a means of area denial, specifically, a fire and forget node clear/defense. It shouldn’t insta-down anyone, but give them something to think about.

First, the AoE effects should extend just beyond the area of a capture point. So that anyone entering for a cap/de-cap would be affected.

Second, the Overloads should include more control effects, representing their increased strength, and something the Ele is sorely lacking.

Examples:

Fire could cause a Pull in addition to its damaging effects, since it is a tornado, keeping the enemies in its AoE.

Air’s lightning strikes could inflict Daze, you try getting hit in the head by a lightning bolt and keep operating fine!

Water could Launch any enemy within the AoE, representing its Tidal Wave force.

Earth could include pulsing Knockdowns, perhaps in a smaller AoE given the nature of the Overload. Upon ending affected enemies are Knockback’d.

Damage needs to be tweaked, BUT remember the central concern for Overloads is that they provide something the Ele can’t normally do. Additional control effects would add a layer of active defense, something the Ele SORELY lacks.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Kaleban.9834:

What I mentioned, by way of the Bender concept, and comparing the design of the Berserker to that of the Tempest, is that ANet doesn’t have a coherent design system. I.E. non-magical warriors summoning rocks, Torch slams causing earth ripples etc.

Them non-magical Warriors aren’t ‘summoning’ rocks in the way you’re implying though.

They’re using brute force to create them – the Torch skill 4 being conceptually similar to Mace skill 5, except hitting the ground so hard it causes the ground to fracture, and causing a rock to jut out by stomping before punching it – thus it fits in with the theme of the spec; brute force.

Just like how conceptually the Tempest fits thematically in with the Elementalist (which had attunements in the first game in case you weren’t aware).

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shattering_Blow

“Summon a rock in front of you”

Unless Berserkers are Captain Falcon, they’re not punching hard enough with a Torch to create shock waves.

Physics, in case you weren’t aware. Also, based on what you just described, that PERFECTLY fits Earth bending, not exactly a Guts/Berserk style move is it?

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

The concepts behind overloading an element were pretty well received

This is completely untrue, and if you actually believe this its a good indication of the direction the Ele is heading.

Overload in its current state (melee channel on extremely squishy character with no inherent defense) is an incredibly terrible idea.

It does nothing but hamper the Ele in any weapon set, nor provide any “tools” that the Ele doesn’t already possess.

Between Overloads and Rebound its pretty apparent that you guys don’t understand how the Ele functions at its most basic level. And you created it!

Pandaman.4758:

Many missed your point because you didn’t make it. It’s shocking, I know, but we can’t read your mind, so we’re not going to understand what you mean when you fail to make any mention wanting a lore explanation for why the professions are getting their elite specs.

On the bright side we’re finally getting somewhere, because now we know what you’re talking about when you talk about coherence. Up until now you mangled your own point by first bringing up Elementalist Air Bender concept, then seemingly claiming the design isn’t coherent because it doesn’t match your concept.

Look, those two paragraphs pretty much highlight everything that’s been wrong with your posts: you make generalized claims without providing any details (so there’s absolutely nothing constructive about the criticism), then you can’t seem to resist taking a potshot at ANet’s competence (they can’t deliver, they can’t take criticism), despite claiming you’re not kittened at them.

Do yourself a favor and leave out the personal commentary if you want to provide good feedback.

Do yourself a favor and stop playing forum cop. There are mods for that after all.

I didn’t ask anyone to read my mind, you and others failed to grasp the simple point because you didn’t bother to read, which is OBVIOUS by your inability to grasp what is being said.

I never once said I wanted a lore explanation for elite specs. Not Once.

What I mentioned, by way of the Bender concept, and comparing the design of the Berserker to that of the Tempest, is that ANet doesn’t have a coherent design system. I.E. non-magical warriors summoning rocks, Torch slams causing earth ripples etc.

All of which would make much more sense on an Ele. Quite simple, but in the rush to be first to defend ANet while simultaneously being a smart alec, most of you missed this obvious issue.

As for my statement regarding the forums being designed for criticism, that wasn’t a critique of ANet’s policy, that was a condemnation of the various forum warriors taking it upon themselves to defend ANet from said criticism. Despite it kind of being the whole point for having forums and feedback in the first place. Doubly so when you consider the x-pack currently in development and ongoing betas.

But as its been shown that most of you don’t read before commenting, the tl;dr version is thus:

One skill isn’t making me actually leave the game entirely, what the skill represents when taken against the backdrop of ALL the design decisions is making me question the future of the game and reducing my desire to play. As I am not alone in this sentiment, ANet may wish to consider this feedback in light of the competition that is out there.

kta.6502:

Many people have leveled multiple characters and maxed out content. Those doing RP are working on or finishing up their Pre-HoT storylines. It’s understandable that people are burned out. In WoW, this is called “pre-expansion blues”. This is a great time to take a break. Try out another MMO while you wait for HoT. You might change your mind about Tempest after you return from break.

Oh, that’s not really the issue, I have other stuff “in the pipe” as it were so I’m not suffering from burnout as such.

My whole point, which many seemed to have missed, is the lack of a conceptual thread that ties professions and the new specs together.

No, I don’t want Engineers to say “This is my favorite crafting station in Lion’s Arch…” nor do I actually want Eles to play like benders. One skill being introduced did not cause me to abandon the game wholesale. As I’ve said three times now.

What I am pointing out is the lack of coherent design, the hodge podge of ideas, and the lackluster implementation. Will ANet tie it all together for an awesome expansion? Possibly, but history has shown otherwise.

And the end result is people, including myself, being less motivated to play. Contrary to some claims, I am not screaming to “make it my way or its the highway” I am in fact relating my feedback as to how the game’s tone makes me less inclined to play is all.

You’d THINK ANet setup forums such as this for constructive feedback regarding their game, and currently in-beta x-pack, but I guess according to the respondents ANet can’t handle criticism of any sort.

“E” is obviously Elminster, keeping an eye on the Bhaalspawn

Funny.

Obviously, most of the “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” crowd couldn’t be bothered to read.

I’m also quite obviously not saying that this one skill is the whole reason, but it IS the final nail in the coffin. It showcases a lack of consistency and planning. The icing on the cake of disillusionment.

Heck, has it occurred to no one that the Elite torch is named after RODGORT, yet Elementalists cannot use it?

As I laid out in my OP, I’m not asking ANet to cater to me specifically, simply that their current and ongoing direction does not fill me with a desire to play, and not just my Ele, but any of my characters.

What ANet does with information like that is of course up to them. I may continue to play or I might not, all I was doing was pointing out how ridiculous the Berserker is relative to the Tempest (not in power, but in concept and design), and that it does not fill me with hope for the future of the game.

I main Ele.

An easy conceptual idea for Eles are the Benders from Avatar.

Earth Benders summon rocks and hurl them at opponents.

But instead of the cool as kitten skills we see on the Berserker that thematically might fit on Ele, we got Tempest. Warrior gets new utility skill type, Ele gets shouts.

I’m not kitten, as I realize that the creative juices might be lacking at times. But balance and concept seem to be moving ever further away from logic or consistency, and the various development and balance teams seem to be completely cut off from each other.

I mean, how else to explain the Berserker and probable upcoming Ninja/Daredevil on Thief, and then compare it to the Tempest and Dragonhunter?

But before a bunch of rage posts follow, I’m not doing the “do what I say or I leave” threat post so common these days. I’m just saying that the game’s current direction doesn’t fill me with a desire to play, and I am honestly hoping that ANet gets its act together because I DO like the concept of the game, but it just gets more and more difficult to want to login and actually do anything.

Mahuyo.3079:

This was exactly what I meet. Okay, u say scrap the whole thing. Like to see u program a new weapon, program new traits, that’s 12 traits, your ovreload mechanic, and then balance it to the other professions. It is much easier to take a current theme and modify it. I know what it takes to program.

So saying to scrap the whole thing. Why don’t you go and program it for anet.

I’m saying take that we have and adjust it.

Sword already exists in the game.

ALL of the trait mechanics also already exist in the game, so its simply a matter of picking what you want them to do, and hope the little trait graphic fits the theme.

The Overload mechanic is terrible in concept, but instead of locking you out of an attunement, it would be better to “supercharge” the skills in the attunement. ANet needs to stop introducing handicaps with skills, and instead make the counters be other professions, as it was in GW1.

I also know what it takes to program, and most if not all the needed resources are already in the game. The bottleneck is time and labor constraints, and probably art files.

Going with Warhorn, then shouts, “Rebound.” and Overloads screams that ANet is out of ideas. But if one guy can program a game like Everspace, or Minecraft, then a team of guys should be able to come up with a single traitline on one character profession where all the required resources already exist in-game.

And I’m so tired of the “they work hard so give em a break” White Knight defense. They’re adults, they picked a job, and we expect them to deliver. If they can’t, money goes elsewhere and they close up shop. That’s how business works.

I only bought the expansion because my brother in another state did, so we can play online together. At this rate, we might as well go back to GMOD.

They do have that nifty jumping move….

DRAGOON!

You’re welcome.

Overload would have worked if the attunements acted as I suggested a long time ago, for example Fire being all AoE, Water being all healing (no damage), Air being single target and Earth defense.

Then the Overload would enhance the attunement’s strengths while locking you out of it. This would force you to make a tactical decision (i.e. Overload Earth and lock myself out of my defensive abilities, Overload Fire and rely on Air for damage) that mattered, while not leaving you totally ineffective.

But ANet decided to make the profession’s optimum playstyle one of stance dancing, spreading low grade damage abilities throughout each attunement, basically requiring blasting through attunements to be effective, especially in PvP. Sure, you can camp Fire Staff in PvE, but that’s neither engaging nor particularly fun, and would get you destroyed in any competitive play.

So the Overload mechanic directly contravenes the profession’s baseline design methodology, while neither improving tactical options OR introducing any new mechanics.

Compare that to Chronomancer, which ENHANCES the Shatter playstyle and Illusion generating of Mesmers, and adds options like Alacrity for skill recharge, Continuum Split for resets, heck even auto phantasm re-summoning!

I mean, seriously, one need only look at a skill like “Rebound.” to see how ANet and Karl are running out of ideas.

Bought Expansion… D’OH!

Needs Moar Gravitas

Why Withholding Wards?

Tempest Really Blows

XMen Origins: Wolverine

Scrap the whole thing.

Change the Elite Spec to “Abjurer”.

6-10 skills are Wards.

MH Sword.

Problems solved.

Calling it the “Tempest” is ANet trolling its database with their precognitive abilities.

They knew the Warhorn and yet another slew of uninspired shouts would cause a kittenstorm on the forums, so pre-empted it by naming it what they did.

MH Sword, Wards as Heal/utility/Elite, named the “Warder” or “Abjurer” would have been ten thousand times better, introduced new mechanics and play style, and actually been interesting and unique, rather than a boonshare build designed to take over from Guardian when they mass migrate to LOLhunters.

I’m thinking of submitting the Ele POI videos to Fail Army.

Luthic.7290:

ANET has alerady said that people should STOP FOCUSING ON THE NUMBERS. they are readily fixed.

Ride the Lightning still has a 40 second CD.

Churning Earth is a 3.25 sec cast time spell that almost never gets used because its so easy to interrupt, even by NPCs.

Do I even need to mention Focus’ Fire Shield? Or Gale being on a 50 second CD for a 2s KD???

If they’re so readily fixed, why haven’t these and more been fixed in the almost three years since game release?

What do you think happens to a building that you keep adding floors to, but has a crumbling foundation? ANet needs to spend resources on fixing the current game, and less on gemstore content. You definitely don’t want to have this kind of argument with Rangers and Necromancers, Pets and Minions are still, three years later, pathetic. And that’s just sad.

[EDIT] If ANet had been serious about creating a new role for Eles, they would have made the utility skills Wards. Having the Ele become a sort of mobile “King of the Hill” by being the center of the Ward might have introduced some new play options, as well as zone control.

But as it stands now, the Warhorn and Shouts just make the Ele into a sub-par Guardian. I mean, if EVERY Guardian decides to switch to Dragonhunter and NEVER use shouts again, then sure, the Tempest may have a role.

I know other people have this issue, will we ever see some resolution on it?

I can’t believe this argument is still a thing.

You build your armor and runes for WvW, since literally ANYTHING will work in PvE. You can do Arah and Fractals in Nomad’s and Magi’s if you like, and will still finish easily.

Dungeons and PvE aren’t really built as DPS tests (excluding some encounters like Tequatl), and if the only viable set was Zerk, then there’d be no reason to have any other gear sets in PvE.

Also, it is a fact that Zerk players spend more time on their backs, period. The argument that “but but but one hit attack insta downs blah blah blah” is stupid because 95% of the game isn’t one hit KOs. So of COURSE defensive stats will make a difference.

So stop drinking the Zerk kool-aid, please. Is it optimal DPS? Sure. And how many of the enemies in PvE and WvW are target golems that don’t hit back?

Seriously I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

So is there like no department at Anet responsible for fixing stuff?

Still no fix for this?

Its been some months now, and I would guess that its a simple dialogue flag or something that needs to be turned on/off.

I’ve tried ALL the posted fixes to no avail. I click on Ogden, the “progression” text box flashes real fast (not allowing me to see any of it), and then I get dumped into the flavor history text options.

Loyal customer, pre-purchased HoT, etc., etc. When can we expect a fix for this?

style.6173:

This isn’t how GW2 works. The whole notion of the game is that you should be able to get the rewards you want by playing the way you want. They actually locked ascended trinkets behind fractals when it first game out and later admitted that was a mistake.

The beauty of GW2 has always been to earn rewards the way you want.

I want Arah weapons and armor. I only want to run CoF and never PvP. WAT DO?

The beauty of GW2 is that it has never been overtly difficult to do and complete any of the content. All the people moaning about the “toxic” Fractals community are babies. I’ve casual’d my way up Fractals to difficulty 40, and have been in 20s and 30s with people possessing no AR, and still finish the Fractal. I’m as casual as they come and still find myself /headdesking in road rage at how bad some players are, but I and others have never kicked anyone unless they’re AFK.

While it may take more time than GW1 to get top level gear via Exotics and Ascended, you can be just as effective throughout PvE and WvW in crafted Exotics, and no one is going to notice your 5% DPS difference.

So it boils down to people wanting easy Legendaries, which is kind of silly. And the new Legendary acquisition system is MUCH easier than the old one. People complaining about having to do a couple Fractals have apparently not spent thousands of gold tossing Krait Staves into the Mystic Forge for a shot at The Legend.

So please, STOP THE WAAAAMBULANCE!

Diovid.9506:

One of the reasons, no doubt, is that ‘wards’ is not a utility skill category. So no elite specialization will get wards as their utility skills, just like no elite specialization will get symbols or marks as their utility skills.

Before HoT and the Revenant, there also weren’t movable fields, cascading attacks, or any of the more unique utility skills like Rite of the Great Dwarf or Vengeful Hammers.

If your argument is that wards will never exist (or weren’t thought of) because the current game didn’t have them is the type of logic that would invalidate any new ideas or forward progress. The whole POINT of a sequel with new tech is to increase the play options and content, not re-hash the same old stuff.

Easiest way to fix Overload, taking into consideration how the game is played and the kinetic nature of combat:

Overload doesn’t lock out the Attunement, you just can’t Overload again until you switch out and back.

Ex. In Fire, you overload, switch to Air, then switch back to Fire where you can overload again.

Overload does not lock you out of attunements, it just requires the “charge-up” phase of 5 seconds or whatever.

I’ve always thought it was dumb design to have a CD on attunements at all, especially when you consider that the Engineer can switch in and out of kits nearly at will.

But the whole concept of Overload is fine, if a bit dull, its just that the negative of Overloading (attunement lock out) is so against the grain of the Ele’s design that one must think the bath salts are getting passed around at ANet.

So keep Overload in if you must ANet, but please have the foresight and intelligence to balance it properly without destroying the base functionality of the profession. You wouldn’t make Chronomancer disable Shatters, or Reaper adding a double CD on Shroud if you don’t hit enough targets (ala RtL), so why make such poor design choices for the Ele?

Genesis.8572:

I get your point, but it’s more than you would think: the Homeric Epics, the Greek tragedies, A Thousand and One Nights, and the entire genre of Arthurian Romance.

These and uncountable others use romance and love as a plot point, but the characters are not wholly defined by that love.

When you think King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, do you think about the whiny portrayal of the movie First Knight (Richard Gere and Sean Connery), or the portrayal in movies such as The Sword in the Stone, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Excalibur?

Romance should be used as a motivating factor, but not be the sole defining characteristic, which predictably results in the terrible fan-fiction quality writing reminiscent of Twilight.

Just a couple of ideas:

Engineer – Commando; already been done in GW1, just port it to GW2!

Elementalist – Abjurer; Dual Wield Shield or as 2hand weapon (all 5 skills), Utilities are Wards, weapon skills are all Arcane with prismatic colors (think Bifrost) and focus on combining PBAoE with boonstrip and reflects.

Necromancer – Outsider; Off hand Torch, Utilities are Shifts (kit like skills that replace weapon skills and visual avatar), Torch skills focus on various ranged fields with deleterious effects, Shifts cause Outsider to take on an Alien aspect (think Cthulhu and ilk), Outsider Shroud focuses on movement skills and stun breaks (i.e. piercing the veil between realms).

So one of the skills I saw in the Tempest reveal was a moving water field.

Along with the movable shields that for example the Revenant has access to, is there a reason why the Elementalist got shouts as utilities, rather than the obvious case for Wards?

I’m just curious if that’s planned for a future spec.

Given the amount of money that goes into games like these, you’d THINK they could get writers who can come up with less hackneyed cliche ridden characters.

I’m thinking of games like Baldur’s Gate, for NPCs, or games in the vein of the entire Sierra catalog (King’s Quest, Quest for Glory, etc.) for inspiration. Heck, hire Lori and Corey Cole as character consultants.

As for Marjory and Kasmeer, is there an HR department in anyone’s guild? So we can lodge a sexual harassment complaint? Its nothing to do with their same sex relationship, its a problem with having 99.99% of their dialogue being 50 Shades of Twilight harlequin romance. It’d be equally as bad if I had to listen to Logan go on about the Queen, Romeo and Juliet style.

Any news on this issue? Will it ever be resolved?

Ayrilana.1396:

The base game is a bonus. Would you still be this upset had it not been included and the expansion was still $50 nonetheless like the had planned for it to be?

How is it people still don’t get the point.

Old players, who’ve been around since launch (or GW1) have been kicking money ANet’s way, buying gems, upgrading accounts, etc., etc.

Now an expansion comes out, and its the NEW players who get the bonus while veteran players get nothing in comparison.

ANet could pan for the expansion to cost a billion dollars, but it won’t matter if its a cost the majority of the market is unwilling to bear.

The reason ANet can justify the $50 price tag for the Standard expansion (which doesn’t include a character slot even though the Revenant is the New Deal) is precisely because they bundled in the base game which certainly isn’t free. Its a marketing ploy, and those that defend their tactics have been swindled by the shell game.

Ausfer.1853:

Why 1600? Isn’t a character slot only 800?

I feel like 1600 way too high of an expectation. I sincerely doubt that Anet would ever give 1600 gems away to all current players who buy the expansion.

Because the expansion as we’ve been sold it barely rates $30, 1600 gems are $20, which comes out to $50.

So vets get the xpac and a slot or two, for the same price that new players pay for both the full base game and xpac.

Its simply the easiest way to fix the marketing/PR snafu that ANet brought down upon themselves.

CrimsonDX.4821:

Kaleban.9834:

Because of ANet’s position that LW Season 3 is somehow worth $50

HoT isn’t “LW Season 3”

The Living World are free updates, this is an expansion which entails a full personal story and the amount of content an expansion would entail. I highly doubt they have revealed everything HoT will contain.

Oh ok, so HoT will include eight new dungeons, multiple new world boss raids, a map area approximately 1/2 to 2/3 the size of what GW2 has now, a new race, a new profession, hundreds of new skills, new (not rehashed) PvP modes that includes full scale GvG, two character slots and more?

Oh, sorry, I’m thinking of GW1 and/or WoW. Carry on as if your point had been made.