Guild Wars 2

I play shortbow-pistol/pistol in WvW. I use mainly Rampager gear with bit of Knight gear, and my build is focused on precision, mobility, and health generation.

Pistol/pistol is not really that amazing at burst, compared to dagger builds, but it does fairly well if you add some condition damage on top, which rampager gear will also give you. A lot of people only think Unload when it comes to pistol/pistol, but the set actually has some good utility as well. Sneak Attack, is obviously good when coming out of stealth. Body Shot, is great is small groups, as you quickly can stack 20 vulnerability, while your allies provide most of the damage (think camp mobs and lords). And together with a longbow Ranger, you can pretty easily have a constant 25 stack. Unload, speaks for itself; this will be your main burst skill. Headshot, is one of the most underrated Thief skills. I always try to save 4 initiative for it, as it’s perfect for interrupting your foe’s healing skill (especially on Guardians and Elementalists), which usually means your foe is dead 2 seconds later. Black Powder, is perfect once your opponent is downed, as it prevents all damage and some interrupts, but is also good to use against dagger Thieves.

Skills and traits that are worth considering with pistol/pistol: Roll for Initiative, allows you to use up all your initial initiative on Unload, and also makes sure you keep distance to your foe. Signet of Malice, works very well with pistol/pistol, because of Unload and Sneak Attack (it also works very well with Dagger Storm). Opportunist, gives you a 20% chance to restore one initiative on critical hits. Kleptomaniac, gives you 3 initiative on stealing. Preparedness, increases your maximum initiative by 3.

Edit: Forgot to mention that it’s very fun to use pistol/pistol in PvP, because the weapon set is a bit rare, so you get some fun reactions sometimes. Players don’t really know how to counter, so the initial reaction is usually to run away, and then try to anticipate your next move. All without attacking you. Which is totally opposite to dagger thieves, who gets attacked instantly once they are spotted.

It’s not simple at all. If opponents can’t revive downed allies, then you can’t have ten allies hit a downed player either. Honestly, it’s a learning issue. Once you run with a group of players that know to focus fire, it’s not a problem at all. Most of the time, your allies just need a little guidance in chat.

A problem that I would like see fixed, is players getting into towers once they are downed. Elementalists especially have a very easy time doing this, thanks to Vapor Form.

There’s not going to be enough people for that right now. If ArenaNet ever manages to make Guild Wars 2 a popular eSport game, and they make an expansion with some actual good writing and story, they might be able to gather a big enough fanbase for a convention. But right now it’s honestly not looking to good.

randomfightfan.4091:

Kasama.8941:

You totally missed the point. It doesn’t matter whether or not someone adds ten trait points in Shadow Art to get more toughness, or adds 30 trait points to get Venomous Aura. The point is, that if a player wants to add 10+ points in Shadow Art, and he doesn’t use any stealth skills in his build, he still needs a reliable stealth trigger to make the stealth traits in Shadow Art work. That is what Last Refuge is there for.

I have five stealth triggers in my build. Hide in Shadows, Blinding Powder, Last Refuge, Descent of Shadows, and steal.

oh okay, in that case it’s just a wierd way to have easy access to stealth in my opinion. Just don’t see why you’d intentionally get yourself to 25% for the reliable stealth. Also what’s descent of shadows? And if you have steal gives you stealth then you have 20 points into SA not 10, so now I have no idea what your build is. So confused.

Last Refuge isn’t meant for spamming Backstab, it’s a skill meant to save you. And if you add ten trait points in Shadow Art, you can also get either regeneration (Shadow Protector), remove a condition (Shadow’s Embrace), 2 initiative (Infusion of Shadow), or blind nearby foes (Cloaked in Shadow), on top of the stealth from Last Refuge.

Descent of Shadows; “Release blinding powder when you take falling damage. Take 50% less damage from falling”. Falling damage is quite easy to get. I don’t mean stealth from the trait Hidden Thief, but from the steal skill Blinding Tuft. My build is 0/30/10/15/15 in case you are wondering =)

I was just wondering if anyone knows, what the story behind this huge tower is? I noticed it while doing an event at Fields of Gold. It’s the tallest structure I’ve seen in the game.

randomfightfan.4091:

Kasama.8941

Well, the stealth skill is tied into four out of the six adept traits, in Shadow Art, so it creates some problems if you just move it, as you need stealth in order for those traits to work. So if a player, who doesn’t use any stealth skills, adds ten trait points in Shadow Art because he want more toughness, he needs that stealth trigger from Last Refuge. That’s why it’s there.

… what? Also if you want more toughness, grab toughness on 1 item. That’s the same amount of tough you’d be getting from 10 points into that line. If that’s basically all you’re getting out of it (you are if you’re p/p), you’re far better off going somewhere else with your traits.

I play WvW, so I need the condition removal. People love snare skills in WvW.

You need the condition removal but you’re getting the removal from stealth… and you don’t have good access to stealth… Anyone else see the problem here? If you were p/d then it’d make complete sense… but you’re not.

You totally missed the point. It doesn’t matter whether or not someone adds ten trait points in Shadow Art to get more toughness, or adds 30 trait points to get Venomous Aura. The point is, that if a player wants to add 10+ points in Shadow Art, and he doesn’t use any stealth skills in his build, he still needs a reliable stealth trigger to make the stealth traits in Shadow Art work. That is what Last Refuge is there for.

I have five stealth triggers in my build. Hide in Shadows, Blinding Powder, Last Refuge, Descent of Shadows, and steal.

You need snare skills of some sort, to be viable in PvP. Most Rangers use the sword to snare, but you can also use Entangle, Muddy Terrain, Frost Trap, and/or pet skills. If you aren’t using sword, it’s important that you are aware of condition stacks, so your opponent won’t be able to just remove the snare. If you don’t use any snare skills, your pet won’t be able to hit, meaning you won’t be dealing full damage. Also, the Ranger is very bad at dealing burst damage.

Anything goes in PvE, and in some dungeons sprits can be useful as well, as long as you can place them out of harms way. But in anything PvP, forget about it.

Spirits are more squishy then pets, although Spirit of Nature has more survivability then the utility spirits. That doesn’t make them completely useless, though. If you are able to place your spirits out of harms way, on top of a wall, or inside a tower while you’re standing up on the wall, they can be useful. But if you run around with spirits in WvW, they will die faster then you can say “I could outrun a centaur!”.

A Warrior killed me using Whirling Axe. So I respawned and ran back to the same fight, saw the same Warrior, used steal on him, and then downed him with Whirling Axe. I just loved the irony in that. I wish steal had more skills that replicated other profession attacks, in a similar way.

Okamakiri.8746:

Kasama.8941:

How many of these “this skill throws off my otherwise perfect combo timing” topics must we have? I play a pistol/pistol build, and those 2 seconds of stealth has saved me more times then I can remember.

So they can make it a major trait so that you CHOOSE to use it. I can’t count how many times it’s gotten me killed instead of saving me, and I have no way of disabling it. Yet specing into that tree is mandatory for any CnD PVE build for “Infusion of Shadow”.

Or they can make it ignore “Revealed” debuff and make it an actual reliable trait.

Well, the stealth skill is tied into four out of the six adept traits, in Shadow Art, so it creates some problems if you just move it, as you need stealth in order for those traits to work. So if a player, who doesn’t use any stealth skills, adds ten trait points in Shadow Art because he want more toughness, he needs that stealth trigger from Last Refuge. That’s why it’s there.

Grimwolf.7163:

Why are you investing in Shadow Arts as P/P?

I play WvW, so I need the condition removal. People love snare skills in WvW.

Issues.5789:

Kasama.8941: Did a dev come out and say this, or are you just guessing?

I’m not gonna go looking for it; but I’m sure at a state of a game talk I remember seeing it was brought up. When quickness and pistolwhip were combined; it almost made it impossible to stunbreak because it was so fast; and since Anet didn’t nerf quickness at the time, they decided to mitigate the damage. Now they reverted quickness back to 50%, so it just seems logical to.

Well if they came out and said, that quickness was the sole reason for the nerf, then I agree that the previous damage output should be retested in game.

Yes, it is good. If anything, WvW needs more diversity. Also, give the Portal skill to other professions then just the Mesmer. Or make it a WvW Ability.

How many of these “this skill throws off my otherwise perfect combo timing” topics must we have? I play a pistol/pistol build, and those 2 seconds of stealth has saved me more times then I can remember.

Issues.5789:

Did you even read the thread at all? It was nerfed because quickness was alongside PW made it OP, now that quickness is only 50%, we should get our initial damage back from PW.

Did a dev come out and say this, or are you just guessing?

Incurafy.6329:

Kasama.8941:

Why would you want more Hundred Blades or Mug+Backstab type effects? I don’t get this obsession with being able to down your opponent in 2 seconds. It’s makes for really boring fights. I would rather have they increased the stun duration to 1 second, or added a ½ second immobilize on top of the stun.

Why on earth would they add an immobilise to it? A stun is a daze combined with an immobilise so adding the immobilise condition would be absolutely pointless.

Because it will give you an extra condition stack, meaning that if your opponent uses a stun breaker, the immobilize will still stick. Thereby it becomes harder to escape.

For now, I just wish the kitten loot bags were bigger. I constantly find myself pressing “Show Enemy Names” in order to see where the bags are. I don’t even want to think about how many I’ve missed..

I feel like many are just celebrating the fact that there’s new content, and not really looking at the context of it. Personally, I wish they would release less content at a time, so it could have a larger impact on the game. Instead of trying to please everyone at the same time.

Most people have a tendency to not know what they like, until they actually try it. What makes you think you’re any different? Stop being so close minded. Give it a shot!

Iruwen.3164:

Kasama.8941:

The only place I think Mesmers need a nerf, is with phantasms and Mind Wrack. Something as simple as a small cooldown timer in between casting different phantasms would be nice, plus a small nerf to Mind Wrack damage. That is all.

You can already avoid the creation of phantasms, destroy them and finally avoid their damage. If those chances aren’t sufficient, I can’t help you. But probably you’re just mixing up phantasms, clones and illusions…

I play a Mesmer myself, so I’m not mixing up anything. When fighting a Mesmer, people are focused on the Mesmer himself, and phantasms are therefor often a guaranteed hit. You can easily cast one phantasm, and then weapon swap to cast another, with next to no delay in between. It’s the speed of which you can do this, that is too powerful, in my opinion.

I’m looking very much forward to seeing what they will do with the Deep Sea Dragon, but so far I like Jormag the most. First of all, Jormag’s face is very well designed, I really like his “horns” and ice spikes. The idea of Jormag being the nemesis of the Norn, that some of the Norn believe Jormag to actually be a spirit guide, and their whole belief around Jormag’s tooth, is also really well written. I’m looking forward to seeing the climax on that.

The only place I think Mesmers need a nerf, is with phantasms and Mind Wrack. Something as simple as a small cooldown timer in between casting different phantasms would be nice, plus a small nerf to Mind Wrack damage. That is all.

I agree on everything but WvW, sPvP, and balance changes.

The WvW abilities makes no difference to the game, at all, and it takes way too much WXP to get the full supply increase. Removing culling sounded like a good idea, but in game, it has resulted in there being one blob per server running around, with around 150 players in each. When culling was in the game, there was a lot more small groups running around, which was a lot more fun.

No doubt that sPvP is improving, but it still feels very much like it’s in beta. ArenaNet is constantly testing new things, adding content, then removing it all again. It has taken way too long to get something as simple as leaderboards in the game, which is just one of many things there should have be in at release.

While I have to applaud ArenaNet for their very quick bug fixes (this is honestly really exceptional), the slow development when it comes to profession balance, is just really frustrating. Month after month, we have to watch each profession getting miniscule changes, that barely affects the game. I understand the fear of breaking the balance of the game, but right now they are just being overly precocious.

Why would you want more Hundred Blades or Mug+Backstab type effects? I don’t get this obsession with being able to down your opponent in 2 seconds. It’s makes for really boring fights. I would rather have they increased the stun duration to 1 second, or added a ½ second immobilize on top of the stun.

ShoeMoney.5249:

Kasama.8941:

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Well I am happy for you that my build is “too easy”. I really had to work at it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there’s no learning curve to it, just that it’s very easy to play, compared to other builds. There is a learning curve to all builds, and no matter what build you play, you still have to learn the in and outs of other professions. But just because you didn’t have knowledge of other professions, or your own build, before, it doesn’t mean that the build is difficult to play, in general. You even say it yourself; “its not hard and with the BP/HS combos you get to land a free shot and not loose stealth”.

Try playing with pistol/pistol, shortbow, or sword/pistol as your main weapon set. Once you can’t rely on that repetitive stealth from your weapon set, it’s a whole different game. And one that’s a lot more fun, in my opinion.

ThePaladin.2140:

Kasama.8941:

I’ve never played WoW, so I have no idea what half the things on that list are :P

The only thing I dislike about Guild Wars 2, is ArenaNets way of being overly precocious about everything they add to the game, to such an extend that a lot of what they add, almost has no impact on the game. WvW skills is a good example of this.

I think they’re just trying to reserve the bigger changes to the expansion packs. Cuz if they gave us everything, how else are they going to make some moolah. They are a business after all. Let’s not forget that developers need to eat too. We keep saying that they’re greedy, and they’re evil for wanting money. Let me ask this, don’t YOU want money in your personal life too? Does that make you evil? They’re a business, that’s that.

No, that’s not it. Take WXP Upgrades as an example. They could have given us the ability to carry +1 supply, per 15 points spend, with +10 supply being the maximum for a total of 150 points. But instead they decided that we need 300 points, for the ability to only carry a total of +5 supply. I actually have to be reminded that the points are there, because I constantly forget to check how many I have. The WXP Upgrades have no impact on the game. And that’s just one example.

I’ve never played WoW, so I have no idea what half the things on that list are :P

The only thing I dislike about Guild Wars 2, is ArenaNets way of being overly precocious about everything they add to the game, to such an extend that a lot of what they add, almost has no impact on the game. WvW skills is a good example of this.

It’s not very hard to be good with that build. Kill a target in 2 seconds, or run away. It doesn’t get much easier then that. Personally it just feels too easy for me. I love to use pistol/pistol as my main weapon set, with Blinding Powder and Hide in Shadows as stealth triggers, while also stacking poison with shortbow.

Dasorine.1964:

I assume by permanent swiftness you mean the fleet shadows buff?

No. I put 15 points in Acrobatics and 15 points in Trickery, and then pick “V gain swiftness when you steal”. Then I use Signet of Agility and use “Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew” to gain more endurance. I can then gain 10 seconds of swiftness from steal, and then follow up with the swiftness from dodge rolling, by also activating Signet of Agility. Then repeat once steal has recharge. If I don’t get the timing right, there might be around 1 second where I don’t have any swiftness, but other then that it’s solid. Getting 20% more boon duration helps cut that small second out, though.

Because very little beats, watching a foe chase around a clone, while you’re hitting him in the back. The Mesmer can literally confuse people, it’s not just an aesthetic.

Mesmers can be very effective bunkers =)

Ross Biddle.2367:

Carighan.6758:

• Arcane Thievery: Since it caps at 3 boons/conditions moved, this is only useful for specific PvE enemies which stack 25 might or 60s of boons. And then only with SoI to spread it to the party.

You, Sir, are an amature :p

Yes it’s great in certain PvE situation (hell, it removes 3 conditions and steals 3 boons, that’s nothing to shake a stick at for a mesmer wanting some condition removal), however it SHINES in WvW.

Consider any encounter. You’ve got players in both 1v1 and ZvZ who’re stacking large quantities of might (D/D eles, guardians, warriors) which are beautiful to get your hands on for both condition/confusion and power mesmers. Stealing boons also denies enemies of their builds/combos (steal haste from an enemy running away = slow kitten mesmer without a focus can chase them down). Personally I love thieving a warriors haste/might/fury from invis at the very start of a fight. That’s just the half of arcane thievery in WvW.

The condition removal doesn’t just remove the conditions, it transfers them. So in the case of being a condition mesmer you get to transfer a whole lot of pain on to the enemy. Obviously it gets you out of the kitten if you’re rooted, or chilled, but there’s more to it than that.

Consider a D/D ele, P/P/D thief, or glamour mesmer who focus on high stacks/duration of bleeds, poison, and confusion. If you’re built to withstand their hits you can actually take an active roll in stacking conditions on yourself for the purpose of offloading them back on to the enemy. So stand in the earthquake, stand in the poison fields, let the pistol bleed shots hit (preferably with a chaos shield), and run in and out of glamour fields as much as you can, then with the push of a button they’re now conditions your enemy has to deal with.

It can also be traited for a shorter CD, which is well worth it if you’re a blink user too.

I would love to use Arcane Thievery more, because the skill effect is so cool. But Null Field is just better, simply because it removes all boons from your foe. An Elementalist or Guardian can quickly replace the boons they lose, but if you have an ally cast immobilize, and then cast Null Filed under them, they melt away in 2 seconds. Elementalists and Guardians are very weak without boons. Arcane Thievery just can’t do that, as it only removes 3 boons at a time. Further more, Null Field is also great to cast on foes when you’re defending a gate, thanks to the AoE. And unlike Arcane Thievery, you don’t need a target if you just want to remove conditions from yourself.

Daecollo.9578:

Yes, because nobody will be able to see the thieves many combo fields/cluster bombs/houses.

Might as well just say they arn’t stealthed…

Why does it matter if anyone sees them? Shadow Refuge has a duration of 4 seconds, and Smoke Screen has a duration of 7 seconds. After that you get around 10 seconds of stealth, from each. You can run very far as a Thief in 10 seconds, with permanent swiftness and shadow stepping.

This is the only way I play. Level one character to 80, get all exotics and the skins I want for that character, and then I level the next. I only have ascended gear on my main character, though, or ells it would take way too long.

Ruprect.7260:

I have 6 80’s in full exo’s. My biggest dilemma is which one to play. It is really annoying.

The key to make sure you play all your characters, is to have each one of them fill a role. So one character might be full bunker, another might be bunker+support, a third might be focused around sharing boons, a fourth might be precision focused dps, a fifth condition damage focused dps, and so on.

You can get very close to permanent stealth on your own. Use Cluster Bomb together with Smoke Screen. Wait until the stealth has run out, then drop Shadow Refuge on yourself. After the stealth from Shadow Refuge has run out, your Smoke Screen should be ready to use again. If Smoke Screen and Shadow Refuge are both recharging, then use Cloak and Dagger, Hide in Shadows, and Shadow Trap, in between.

Needless to say, if you have two Thieves, you can easily get permanent stealth.

I feel like I have to add that I’ve never had a problem with playing the Ranger in dungeons. Being able to add 20 vulnerability on bosses, and giving 70 points of precision to nearby allies, makes a noteworthy difference on damage output. When it comes to dealing AoE damage, the Barrage from longbow and conditions from traps, can stack a lot of damage on mobs. Revive allies with “Search and Rescue” or Spirit of Nature, can sometimes make the difference between wiping or staying alive. The fact that bears can tank bosses or mobs, for quite a few seconds, can give some much needed breathing room to your team, if things get hectic. And with Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal, and the Brown Bear, the Ranger becomes very effective at consistently removing conditions from allies.

I came up with a “set up” for a Thief scout some time ago, which gives you maximum speed and stealth:

Shortbow
Hide in Shadows – Signet of Agility – Smoke Screen – Shadow Refuge
15 Acrobatics – I 50% less falling damage (makes a huge difference in WvW when crossing terrain)
15 Trickery – V gain swiftness when you steal (this will also give you 3 more maximum initiative, and give you 3 initiative when you steal)
Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew (gives you +40% endurance regeneration)

Speed: use steal to gain 10 seconds of swiftness (you don’t need a target to trigger this), dodge roll to gain swiftness, use Signet of Agility to gain more dodges, use Infiltrator’s Arrow in between. Together with the food, you should have permanent swiftness.
Stealth: combo Smoke Screen with Cluster Bomb to gain stealth (make sure Cluster Bomb doesn’t hit any mobs or foes), use Shadow Refuge after that stealth has run out, and then use the Smoke Screen combo again after the stealth from Shadow Refuge has run out. Together with Hide in Shadows, you should be able to get around 30 seconds of constant stealth, provided that no one interrupts you.

Your second weapon set, elite skill, and the 40 remaining trait points, you can add as you wish.

ZenonSeth.5739:

I had a similar thought. If you ever fought a Veteran in one of the starting zones, you realize that he’s about as powerful as you. Some of the vets teach you how to dodge (the Vet Oaks) while others how to interrupt (the summoning of wolves by the Alpha Wolf).

I was wondering what would happen if you reduced the sheer number of mobs, and instead made all enemies veterans, so that a 1v1 encounter would last longer, and have more meaning than just slam-head-on-keyboard button mashing.

This is a good example of what I’m thinking. But I don’t think the open world fights should be longer then they are now (taking into account that veterans have higher HP), just that the damage of mobs should be more significant, and that all the dodging, blocking, and interrupts that we have, should be used.

Vayne.8563:

Kasama.8941:

I feel like a few are misunderstanding this. Just because something is difficult, it doesn’t mean you are suddenly forced to play it. Even if open world mobs hit harder, you could still just chose to run past them.

Also, there’s a big difference between difficult, and annoying.

Running past mobs means no experience and no drops. I’m pretty sure that people want to play the game…even casuals. Making them run past a lot of stuff means they can’t level and why should they play.

Lose the casuals and there’ll be a whole lot less people playing this game.

The majority of exp comes from everything ells but killing mobs. Many heart quests can be completed without fighting any mobs at all. And, as I added in my original post, there would have to be less mobs in the world, as a counter to the higher difficulty, and therefor also a higher drop rate per mob.

I’m still not sure why all the casuals would leave. The game is already set up so you can dodge, block, or interrupt attacks. You just don’t need to take advantage of it in open world PvE, as the game is right now, because mobs don’t deal any notice worthy damage. Making the difficulty higher, would simply mean that you’d have to be mindful of how you fight, meaning it would be more engaging. I think a lot of casual players would love that, although not everyone of curse.

Ruprect.7260:

Hmm The problem with what the OP is asking for is that none of the mobs or open world champs/vets really give any indicators for when they are going to attack. Even some of the dungeon bosses are impossible to tell when they are about to one-shot you because of spell effects. Depending on your group composition it can be near impossible to tell when Koehler is going to one-shot you because he is nothing but a ball of light.

If everything had some type of indicator they were going to do certain attacks then I would be fine with 2 shot mechanics.

This would of curse have to be changed, for the gameplay to be balanced. But the mobs that don’t have any attack indication, are a minority. You just don’t notice the clues, because the majority of fights are so easy, that you don’t need to.

I feel like a few are misunderstanding this. Just because something is difficult, it doesn’t mean you are suddenly forced to play it. Even if open world mobs hit harder, you could still just chose to run past them.

Also, there’s a big difference between difficult, and annoying.

Vorch.2985:

This is a real issue I have with owPvE: difficulty does not scale very well with population.

Personally, I would love if there were enemies that could 2-3 shot people. But when you have 3-5 people with you, it all of a sudden doesn’t matter.

• There need to be enemies that punish autoattacking. 25 stacks of retaliation for 5 secs at 75, 50, and 25% health? Hell yes.
• There needs to be more bosses like, sad to say, the King Frog from the SAB. Force people to engage in active combat instead of standing at 1200-1500 range and pew pewing to win. In the end, everyone enjoys it more.

• Bring in Hard Mode open world (level scaled down by 5, 100% MF added) and fractal elements to dungeons.

However, keep this in mind: people may not enjoy a more difficult game…they may simply flock to what ever content is easiest to do.

I don’t know that it doesn’t. Personally, I think there are far more people who loves a challenge, then there are people who don’t. Dark Souls popularity is a solid proof of this. Developers really only make easier games, because they fear their player base. They don’t like frustrated players coming up to them, and complaning that their game is ridiculously difficult. But in that frustration, there is also passion and a drive to succeed, which in turn makes dedicated players. These are emotions easy games never can achieve.

The fact that content is easier when you have more people around you, is already a factor. So that would remain the same.

Thereon.3495:

I personally would love it…but I think a lot would have to change in order to facilitate it. You could introduce a standard ‘block’ button and then have skills that block and do something else also but this would change the playstyle of the game completely. You could probably counter the fact that events/fights would take longer by boosting damage but I dont know…lots of tweaking.

The game already has plenty of ways to “block”. Aegis, blind, daze, fear, knockdown, launch, pull, push, stun, and also partly chill, weakness, or protection. Adding a dedicated block button would really just be overdoing it.

I was just watching a 12 min demo of Dark Souls 2, which is a game where the difficulty is very high, and dodging or blocking therefor makes a big difference. So that made me wonder:

If bosses or mobs in PvE could down you in 2-5 hits, would you spend more time playing open world PvE?

Obviously this would also mean there would have to be some changes. Some professions would need to be able to dodge more then two times, others might need more block or interrupt skills, and mobs would have more or less crowd control. However the basis for a kind of “Dark Souls” gameplay is already there. But would it make a difference?

Edit: I feel I should mention; the idea is not to replicate Dark Souls, but simply to make the difficulty of bosses and mobs in Guild Wars 2, similar to that of Dark Souls. The point would be to bring a sense of danger into the open world, and force you to be mindful of your surroundings. It would also mean that there would be overall less mobs in the world, as counter to the higher difficulty. Which in turn would mean mobs would have to have a higher drop rate as well.

So; higher difficulty (higher damage, but lower attack rate), less mobs, and higher drop rate for each mob.

It depends on how much condition removal, or regeneration, you have already. If you feel that you have enough, then go for Hide in Plain Sight. If you also use Shared Anguish, you’ll have a very fun stealth combo with Hide in Plain Sight, as well.

The Ranger is still the best open world PvE profession, in my opinion. The fact that you always have a companion with you, has a lot of benefits. Even something as simple as running thought Orr is a lot easier with the Ranger, as the pet will take the majority of incoming damage, thereby making it a lot easier for you to keep moving. Dungeons are a different matter, but personally I haven’t had any problems there either.

I’ve only been able to find one consistent burst combo:
Press F1, to send the pet in your opponents direction, and use Hunter’s Shot. Lock your opponent down with Grasping Vines (sylvari skill) or Entangle. Then use the F2 skill from River Drake, together with Rapid Fire from longbow.

The fact that you can use either Grasping Vines or Entangle, means you have two chances at this (assuming you can survive for the 30 seconds it takes Lightning Breath to recharge). You can use Quickening Zephyr as well, but if your opponent hasn’t escaped the vines within the first second, it usually means they don’t have any condition removal ready to remove the immobilize. So it doesn’t really matter whether or not you use quickness. The River Drakes F2 skill is also ranged, so if your opponent escapes at the last second it will usually still hit.

Edit: Forgot to mention condition stacks. It’s really important that you use Hunter’s Shot first, because if your opponent has a skill that removes one condition, the vulnerability from Hunter’s Shot will be removed, before the immobilize from the vines. Also, if you want to hit multiple foes, you need to use Muddy Terrain first, as you will then add cripple from Muddy Terrain before the immobilize from Entangle. Then follow up with Barrage and F2. If you use this burst combo against a Thief, you should also use Barrage instead of Rapid Fire, to prevent the Thief from getting out of range of Lighting Breath, should he escape the vines.

Tyops.5894:

Sustained damage != condition damage. You’re conflating two things that sometimes overlap. Sustained damage can be consistent direct damage (it often is).

Vox Hollow.2736:

Sustained includes Condition damage, but is not limited to it. For example; Sustained and Burst damage exists in FPSs, even though those games may not even have status effects at all.

But, if the whole Sustained vs. Burst dynamic exists in this game, I have a hard time seeing it. Classically characters who specialize in sustained damage are very good at maintaining forward momentum because their output creates consistency through energy efficiency and/or creates consistency through damaging in a way that circumvents avoidance and/or they’re sturdy enough to survive punishment to dish damage out reliably.

But there isn’t any system of energy for Rangers to be efficient at, while a pet can circumvent some ways people can avoid damage being the only un-removeable DoT in the game doesn’t count for much if it rarely ever hits, in terms of survivability I’ve never seen much of a tempo of pushing forward and falling back so what good is there in maintaining solid forward momentum if burst characters aren’t doing much in the way of falling back?

I understand the literal term of sustained damage. But the term also has to have some point of value within a game system aspect. And the way I see it, sustained direct damage has none. I mean, what value does sustained direct damage have, if condition damage does a better job of sustaining damage? I believe the very reason that bleeding was once reduced to having a maximum of 25 stacks, was to prevent it from becoming burst damage. And in the same aspect, sustained direct damage would probably be reduced, if it became better at sustaining damage then condition damage. So saying that the Ranger deals sustained direct damage, isn’t really saying anything good. Because in order to maintain balance between the two damage types, sustained direct damage will never be good.

Tyops.5894:

Kasama.8941:

I don’t understand people commenting that the Ranger deals “sustained damage”? I was always under the impression, that the general rule to all profession is; direct damage is meant for burst damage, and condition damage is meant for sustained damage. The fact that I don’t feel like I can deal any real burst damage, with my longbow/greatsword Ranger, is exactly why I don’t enjoy playing Ranger in PvP. It doesn’t feel like it’s intended, it feels like my weapons are broken.

The “sustained” damage thing is a copout. Every class deals sustained damage, this is what happens when other classes dont pop all their cooldowns in the first five seconds of a fight, or when pretty much any class that isnt specced 100% for support simply auto attacks the target with their #1 skill.

Rangers do sustained damage because EVERYONE DOES SUSTAINED DAMAGE.

I don’t really agree with that. Direct damage is further affected by critical chance, and condition damage is further affected by condition duration. One deals a large percentage of damage over a short duration, the other a large percentage of damage over a longer duration. The benefit of direct damage is that it gets your opponent from 100% to 0% in a shorter time, but at the cost of you having to consistently hit. The benefit of condition damage is that, while it takes a bit longer to get your opponent from 100% to 0%, you don’t need to hit as consistently, because the damage is constantly on your opponent. That’s how I see it.

I don’t understand people commenting that the Ranger deals “sustained damage”? I was always under the impression, that the general rule to all profession is; direct damage is meant for burst damage, and condition damage is meant for sustained damage. The fact that I don’t feel like I can deal any real burst damage, with my longbow/greatsword Ranger, is exactly why I don’t enjoy playing Ranger in PvP. It doesn’t feel like it’s intended, it feels like my weapons are broken.

Stop looking for things that can make you “addicted” to a game, and just judge it based on your own honest values. If you can’t find any fun reason to play a game anymore, then stop playing. The point where you say you’re playing with a coworker and having fun, yet still feel like you are wasting your time, because you feel forced to farm CoF, is the basic problem. Your mindset is screwed. You’re forcing yourself to do something that you don’t find fun, because it’s the only reason you have to keep playing.

The only real goal a game should be judge by, is whether or not you’re enjoying it. After all, gaming is an entertainment media, not a job.

whiran.1473:

Vayne.8563:

Kasama.8941:

I don’t farm nearly enough to make the price of this worth it. I can get 25 Orichalcum Mining Picks for 1 gold, that’s 2,500 uses. More then enough to last me a long time. Also, drawing more attention to yourself in WvW while you’re gathering a node, is a bad idea.

Unless you have a bunch of friends stealthed nearby and use it as a lure.

That’s the wrong way to look at it. Look at it this way: How LONG does it take you to resupply your picks? Do you ever run out of picks while mining? Do you have to go back to a vendor because you forgot to pick up picks? Even if you include pick buying as part of your routine in a town it still takes time to go to the vendor and buy the pick.

Buying the gem mining pick is just a matter of convenience and will save you TIME. How much is your time worth to you? How much gold do you make in the game per hour?

It takes quite a long time for me to spend the picks, as I rarely go on “farm runs”, but just pick up the nodes I see on my mini map. I always carry spare, in case my equipped picks run out, so that’s not really a problem either. Buying new picks is simply something I do, while I’m also selling items at a merchant. And the merchants that sell orichalcum picks are all over the place, in Lion’s Arch, Fractals, WvW, and the major cities. Getting 4 silver is ridiculously easy. I easily make over 1 gold in the course of a few hours, just by playing casually. There’s really no reason for me to spend 25 gold, or 800 gems, on an endless pick. It’s a waste of money.