Guild Wars 2

I finally got Twilight for my warrior!

A big fat male norn elementalist named Hagrid.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Roda.7468:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

What is the difference between a melee scepter and a mace? I don’t think there is one.

The scepter breaks when you hit it against someone’s armor.

That’s not true. In the real world scepters were originally used as melee weapons. They did get replaced by maces though and scepters were repurposed as decoration items and status symbols.

Wiki says that the scepter started out as staffs. They then undoubtably shrank in size as their use became ceremonial and became the scepter.

“The Was and other types of staffs were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt. For this reason, they are often described as “sceptres”, even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff."

Either the English wiki is incomplete or you’re misunderstanding what is written there.

The modern scepter is a mix of a staff (used as status symbol) and a club (used as weapon). The idea to use a scepter as status symbol comes from the Was, but the length and shape of the scepter is based on the scepter’s original purpose: a clubbing weapon.

mtpelion.4562:

Shadow Behemoth needs to reposition his facing (and thus the location where players need to be for damage) based on where the last portal closes after each portal wave.

It is very annoying to see an army of players sitting still while only 3-5 players are trying to take down the 13 portals.

This is one of the best suggestions I’ve seen so far for SB.

Roda.7468:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

What is the difference between a melee scepter and a mace? I don’t think there is one.

The scepter breaks when you hit it against someone’s armor.

That’s not true. In the real world scepters were originally used as melee weapons. They did get replaced by maces though and scepters were repurposed as decoration items and status symbols.

What is the difference between a melee scepter and a mace? I don’t think there is one.

Even WoW had this from the very start. A soulbound item always had a “soulbound to…” tag in the description.

If WoW could do it in 2005 then surely GW2 can do it in 2015?

Leo G.4501:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Starbird.4029:

Biggest concern about warrior is that everyone seems to be be one :|

That’s not really true. In an MMO with over 400k people, all classes are overly represented. It might seem that everyone is a warrior but I’m certain that just as many players have a guardian, ranger, thief or any other class.

Worse yet, it’ll be another greatsword 100b spammer sheep that can’t utilize anything outside of a banner or a signet.

I mean, yeah advice is advice but if ultimately leads to the same frustration most warrior players complain about.

Everyone has to start somewhere. I bet most (if not all) of us were 100b spamming banner sheep once. There is nothing wrong with that. You learn the basics of your class first before you can become good. Once the OP has toyed around a bit with a lvl 80 warrior and liked it and wishes to improve then he/she can always ask for more help/tips and maybe start watching some videos from Nike and Brasil to better understand this game and the class mechanics.

I once started as a heartseeker spamming scrub thief. Now I’m someone who understands all classes to a degree and I’m confident in saying that I’m a good warrior and great guardian player (I mostly gave up on thief, not really my cup of tea but I can still pull it off if I need to). We all have to start somewhere.

Starbird.4029:

Biggest concern about warrior is that everyone seems to be be one :|

That’s not really true. In an MMO with over 400k people, all classes are overly represented. It might seem that everyone is a warrior but I’m certain that just as many players have a guardian, ranger, thief or any other class.

Starbird.4029:

Thanks! Great advice here (although confusing).

Going with Warrior for now and unless I hate it, will likely be my first 80.
Goal – get Nightmare Court set. After that, if I have some disposable gold, will level thief a bit via crafting to make the process a bit easier.

What do you find confusing? Maybe I can explain it again in a better way.

The reason why I suggest to go to the Heart of the Mist is because when you enter that location, you’ll automatically become lvl 80 and unlock all your skills (but you’ll be back to your original level once you leave again). That’s why going to Heart of the Mists can be a good way to see what a class truly has to offer.

To get to Heart of the Mists, you have to go to Lion’s Arch and from there walk to the Fort Mariner Waypoint. Over there you’ll find a bunch of portals. One of the will take you to Heart of the Mists.

If you really need help and you play on the North-American servers, add me to your friendlist and whisper me in-game. I can help you out in-game if you want.

Starbird.4029:

Okay well as long as I can use a GS I’m okay.

Well, going to give a warrior a go until level 10.

Not sure if playing to lvl 10 is a good way to judge a class. If anything, try taking your warrior to the PvP lobby (Heart of the Mist) and check out what the class has to offer there. You don’t have to join a match, you can simply test all your weapons and skills on training dummies present in the PvP lobby.

Warriors have a lot of good stuff to offer but most of it will get unlocked at higher levels.

Also: Always keep a warhorn in your inventory. Warhorns are the best way to go from A to B fast.

Starbird.4029:

On the subject of warriors, is GS decent? I’m a big fan of dual swords but apparently it’s as bad as thief’s dual pistols :|

Yes, both guardians and warriors use greatswords in PvE content.

As a warrior, most of your damage will come from your main-hand axe. However, the greatsword has great burst potential and on top of that it can help buffing your party with extra might if you have the Phalanx Strength trait equipped (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phalanx_Strength).

Greatswords are almost never used by warriors and guardians in PvP, but in PvE they’re definitely good weapons to have and use.

Wheatty.1892:

It isn’t too bad a deal at 1360 gems, copper salvage and silver salvage sold separately are 1300 gems in total but you get 3 black lion ticket scraps and 3 upgrade extractors as a bonus + other junk worth at least more than 60 gems I think.

Yep. It sucks that I already have the copper-fed-salvage-o-matic. If I didn’t I’d totally get that salvage package for 1360 gems. But as it stands now, with me already having the copper-fed salvage-o-matic I don’t think it’s worth it for me.

Starbird.4029:

Warrior…hmm. I sort of like my clouds of blue fire and the flashyness of a Guard but that is an interesting thought.

How sought after are they in high level PvE? If I’m going plate, my first priory is that Nightmare Court set.

Warriors are always welcome in dungeon runs. But when you’re with multiple warriors in 1 party I do suggest you communicate with the other warriors who is going to use what skills. Most warriors use banners but having more than 1 of the same banner is a waste because the effects of warrior banners don’t stack. So keep that in mind if you find yourself in a group with another warrior. Ask him/her what banners he/she is using and switch out some of your banners for other utility skills if needed.

Since rangers are pretty much useless in high-level PvE (not as useless as necromancer though) you might want to scrab that class.

That leaves thieves and guardians. Both are high-skill classes and neither allow you to take it easy in high-level PvE content.

So personally I’d suggest to consider warrior.

I know you didn’t list warrior as an option, but I seriously think it’s the best class for you OP. Warriors are strong, well-rounded, capable and easy to play. They’re have the highest mobility in the game and among the highest base defense. Even when you spec a warrior in full DPS gear (and I suggest you’d do so) you’ll still be capable of taking a hit and not dying while dishing out pretty decent damage yourself.

I’d really consider a warrior OP. I think you might like the warrior a lot once you get him/her to lvl 80 and start doing high-level PvE content.

Sylv.5324:

rotten.9753:

Bubi.7942:

pickpocket.2071:

GLHF pressing 11111 with your boring living story zombie key mashers

- said the dungeon runner.
Sorry, couldn’t resist, the irony was stunning.

Anyway, don’t get your hopes up in new dungeon, I’m hoping “challanging” content will be challanging.

Do something harder than ac.

None of them are harder than AC.

Sounds like someone is getting carried.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

I don’t think this is the case. When I was out of combat with my revenant I saw the little arrows pop up above the utility skills. You know, the arrows that allows you to switch your utility skills. Even above the elite and healing skill it popped up.

As it stands now, those arrows are only for changing the order of the utility skills.

Ofcourse. But if you read the rest of my post that you left out in your quote you’d see I have more arguments to back up my statement than just having the arrows popping up out of combat.

rainisword.7860:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

rainisword.7860:

The finished product tough will be 6 trait lines obv. 1 extra for the specialization.

Source?

Its an educated guess. Every class now has 5 trait lines normally, I assume the same for the revenant. Plus every class will get one specialization that includes a new traitline in the expansion, so thats why I say 6. The thing about specialization is I think unlocking it actually restricts your other professions mechanic trait line. Im pretty sure Ive heard this in an early interview but I can’t remember where.

So that’s not 6 trait lines but 5, though 1 of the 5 being different when you choose to specialize, which is, at this point, merely speculation. We don’t really know how the specializations will work.

rainisword.7860:

The finished product tough will be 6 trait lines obv. 1 extra for the specialization.

Source?

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Atm I’m worried about the whole set in stone skill thing. Pre-determined weapon skills is one thing. But pre-determined weapon, heal, utility AND elite skills? Doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I don’t think this is the case. When I was out of combat with my revenant I saw the little arrows pop up above the utility skills. You know, the arrows that allows you to switch your utility skills. Even above the elite and healing skill it popped up.

This can mean two things:

1) The revenant utility skills are fully predetermined and Anet simply has to clean up the utility UI for the revenant.

2) The revenant in the Beta is incomplete and when HoT launches the revenant will get more utility skills for each legendary and we’ll get to pick and choose between multiple heals, utility skills and elite skills for each legend.

Personally I think option 2 is more likely. The reason why I think this is because it would make sense.

Think about it: Most classes in this game have 5 types of utility skills. For example the guardian has shouts (1), meditations (2), consecrations (3), spirit weapons (4) and signets (5). Each type of skill gives us 4 skills to choose from. For example the guardian has 4 shouts: “Retreat!” (1), “Save Yourselves!” (2), “Stand Your Ground!” (3) and “Hold The Line!” (4).

We know for a fact that the revenant has 5 legendary stances to choose from. You could see each stance as one “type”. Where guardians have meditations, shouts, consecrations, spirit weapons and signets (5 utility types), the revenant will have Jalis, Mallyx, Glint, Ventari and Shiro (5 legendary stances).

Based on this comparison I think it’s safe to assume that the revenant will have at the very least 4 utility skills to choose from for each legendary stance, possibly even more if you consider the fact that the revenant can only use 1 weapon.

So don’t worry, you’ll be able to customize the utility skills on your revenant. Each legendary stance will give you a small pool of utility skills to choose from, I’m sure about that.

There actually is a workaround for this.

Go to http://www.gw2mb.com and download the macros of the songs you like. Now all you need to do is download a program that can play these macros for you while in-game. One of them is linked on that website as well. Bind these macros to specific keys on your keyboard and you’re good to go!

It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done and allows you to play really cool tunes on the instruments in GW2.

Paradox.1380:

I’m a Knight’s/Clerics Guardian and really, all I have to say is stop making us look bad. Get your AR and suck it up. You have to play the role you cast yourself into. If your group wants to melee DPS down the boss bring what is required to get it done. I do Fracs all the way to 50 almost every day on my guardian. You can say goodbye, I say good riddance. If you are going into an encounter ill-prepared yourself how can you expect your team to be? Trait properly so your wall last’s long enough to reduce the fire, make sure you’re not using Empower and overwriting might stack duration, bring your greatsword, and your sword/focus. Also make certain that instead of using your shouts to remove the condis, use the Virtue Trait that clears condi so you can put more useful traits like one that gives aegis. IF you are going to play the support role remember its about supporting others not yourself. Also you should always run shelter in Molten Boss.

^
I’d take this guy in a fractal run over the OP anytime any day of the week. I’m all about the meta and making my runs as efficient as possible, so I would obviously prefer you’d run Berserker gear. But if I have to choose between a bad zerker or someone like the person I quoted I’d take him over the bad zerker any time any day of the week.

If you want to be a “support guardian” at the very least know how to actually support your party, like this guy I quoted.

The revenant isn’t finished yet. Right now we only had 3 trait lines 2 of which only gave us extra stats in just 1 attribute. Calm down. This is clearly not how the Rev is gonna be when HoT launches.

I think you forgot that sigils that proc on swap have an internal cooldown of 9 seconds. So spamming stance swap won’t do much for you.

Technically swapping stances in a revenant is no different than swapping attunements on an elementalist.

Eight Samurai.6840:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Eight Samurai.6840:

Also, just to add that there are ‘non support’ guard builds like the vulnerability/blind build. It’s a highly dps which I wouldn’t classify as support.

Euhm those guardians are actually the most supportive guardians out there. They don’t just classify as support, they classify as the best support you can get, hence they are the meta.

Blind spam, vulnerability spam, aegis rotations, reflect rotations, a huge kitten nal of group condi-cleanse and 100% protection upkeep when needed, all that while also having decent DPS because of the Berserker gear with Scholar runes makes guardians the most desired class for any dungeon/fractal run, especially in pugs.

I meant non-support relative to the typical pure heal guards that OP is probably using. I run that blind build in dungeons if I take my guard though it is a really squish.

Being “squishy” is no issue because if you’re a good guardian and you’re with decent party members you’ll be bursting the mobs down so fast that for the short duration you’re actually in combat you’ll have plenty of blinds, blocks and reflects to mitigate most if not all damage. For longer fights hammer with perma-protection really helps out keeping yourself and your team alive.

Staying alive in GW2 PvE is all about active defenses and mitigating damage, not passive defenses or healing. The sooner people learn and understand that the better for everyone involved.

Eight Samurai.6840:

Also, just to add that there are ‘non support’ guard builds like the vulnerability/blind build. It’s a highly dps which I wouldn’t classify as support.

Euhm those guardians are actually the most supportive guardians out there. They don’t just classify as support, they classify as the best support you can get, hence they are the meta.

Blind spam, vulnerability spam, aegis rotations, reflect rotations, a huge kitten nal of group condi-cleanse and 100% protection upkeep when needed, all that while also having decent DPS because of the Berserker gear with Scholar runes makes guardians the most desired class for any dungeon/fractal run, especially in pugs.

laokoko.7403:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

So can someone explain to me what most people in this thread mean with “support guardian”? Because I don’t get it. To me “support guardian” sounds like saying “wet water” or “round wheel”.

So what is a “support guardian” and how is it different from other guardians in terms of supporting the team?

I’m not sure what he is talking about. But guardian by itself is a support class. “reflect, healing, aegis” etc. Just like warrior people think of banner, ele people think of ice bow, thief blind.

you can trait and gear for max dps 4/6/2/0/2 and you are still expected to be a support class.

That is exactly my point. A guardian’s capability of supporting the team isn’t dependent on gear. So I really want to know what people mean when they say “support guardian”. Do they mean the full zerker meta guardian build? Because to my knowledge that is the best support build available for guardians.

I usually don’t respond to such people nor do I block them, I just make sure to kill them again (in WvW or PvP) and spam /laugh on their corpse, then crab some popcorn and enjoy all the salty whispers they keep sending me. Sometimes they even unblock me in the hope I’ll talk back to them, but I won’t, I’ll just keep killing them and keep spamming /laugh every time they die. I’ve seen trolls rage-quit because of me. So you should try this next time.

So can someone explain to me what most people in this thread mean with “support guardian”? Because I don’t get it. To me “support guardian” sounds like saying “wet water” or “round wheel”.

So what is a “support guardian” and how is it different from other guardians in terms of supporting the team?

phokus.8934:

I’m fairly convinced that ANet has no quality UX designer because this change goes against anything remotely best practice.

This.

Even young beginner design students who just started out in their first year of design school know that green text on a while background is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea.

ArchieD.6972:

If I run FotM with my guild, I’m teaching them the fights. It’s not about “learning my role.” I was trying to support them more than myself cause we’d all keep taking a lot of damage from them wanting to do the fight a certain way, which I’ve never seen before and never had trouble with otherwise.

And people staying alive and being buffed will do more damage than the extra damage one person will do going zerker instead. Zerker is great for fights that don’t do a lot of damage, but in a boss fight where everyone is eating agony, not so much.

My complaint isn’t even really about zerker vs support, it’s the mindset that goes along with it. It’s not that support is inferior to zerker that made me not want to support other players, it was my experience with that group that makes me not want to support other players.

(Really this is just a big /rant, I know all pugs aren’t like that. But I really am going to stay away from my Guardian for a while because of it.)

You talk as if Zerk and support are mutually exclusive. They’re not. A good and proper support guardian is also geared in full Berserker gear just like the rest of his team.

Vix.6730:

But let’s not kid ourselves. This is not a real “beta” where a gaming company is looking for testers. It’s a demo open to random players.

Yes this is a real Beta, not “just a demo for random players”. But you can tell yourself what you want to make yourself feel better for not being selected.

On the bright sight (or less bright for those who look forward to play the Beta), Betas are rarely fun to play, especially MMO Betas are a pain and not that fun.

I’ve been in the closed-Beta for Wildstar, TESO and SW:TOR. Between the many crashes, failed login attempts and tons of lag I think I had merely 30 minutes to actually play these Betas during each Beta weekend. Not much fun at all.

Who knows, maybe the HoT closed-Beta will be different, but I doubt it. I guess I’ll see when I’m gonna try it out on the 24th.

Awwwww yissssssss.

What is “immersive combat mode”?

I’ve already linked my human guardian and thief in here. Now it’s time to show my norn guardian.

Please let me know what you guys think! I’d really appreciate that.

I posted this pic in 2 other threads and since her armor is mix-and-match I’ll guess I’ll post it here too.

Meet my thief:

I’d like to point out that GW2 doesn’t really have tanks. Instead we have controllers.

Condi on the other hand doesn’t really deserve its own group as there are 2 different types of condis that fall under 2 categories: damage and control.

When Anet announced GW2 they said they had their own version of the trinity:

Damage: builds who’s prime focus is dealing damage, either directly or through conditions.
Support: builds who’s prime focus is supporting the party with boons and heals.
Control: builds who’s prime focus is controlling the enemies with conditions, effects and crowd control abilities.

All builds in GW2 fall under those 3 categories.

So based on that, I’m going to edit your list to fit Anet’s idea of GW2’s trinity. I removed the open-world PvE section of your list as I believe open-world PvE is so incredibly easy that any class with almost any build will do fine as long as you deal enough damage.

Here is my list:

Best Class for PvE Dungeons and Fractals:
1. Guardian (Control/Support)
2. Elementalist (Damage/Support)
3. Thief (Control/Damage)
4. Warrior (Damage/Support)

Best Class for PvP:
1. Shoutbow Warrior (Support)
2. D/D Elementalist (Support/Control)
3. D/P Thief (Damage/Control)
4. Medihammer Guardian (Control/Damage)

Best Class for WvW:
1. Staff Guardian (Support/Control)
2. Staff Elementalist (Damage/Control)
3. Staff Necromancer (Damage/Control)
4. Shout Warrior (Support/Control)

Curtis.1562:

You can no longer hop from map to map advertising your guild.

I’m happy to hear this.

Sure, it would have been nice for Anet to announce this change but whatever, I’m happy they made an end to the annoying guild recruitment spamming (for the most part).

The original abyss dye always looked very black on leather armor but often has a grey-ish hue to it on most cloth and plate armors.

Below is my thief using the old abyss dye (in combination with other dyes). Looks pretty black to me. Shadow abyss doesn’t really make her armor look any darker.

Wanze.8410:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Celtic Lady.3729:

If he’s gone already, he didn’t play very long. Must not have liked the game.

No he isn’t. He’s still leveling and learning off-stream and he said he’ll start streaming GW2 again once he has a better grasp of the game and the PvP meta. He definitely likes GW2 and he’s definitely not done with it yet but he does want to tone down his streaming of GW2 a bit because he’s afraid if he plays/streams GW2 too much he’ll get burned out of it and stop enjoying it.

So nothing is off the table. Heard that before….

I have him on my friends list and saw him online just a few days ago. Considering he has an insanely large following (and his followers aren’t the brightest people, he knows that) he probably plays with his status on hidden most of the time. I can’t blame him for that.

I’m confident he’ll stream GW2 again in the near future. But who knows, maybe I’m wrong. We’ll see.

Wow OP your “exotic” toon is creepy as hell! 0_o

This is what I consider exotic (my mesmer in the 1st pic and my thief in the 2nd) let me know what you think:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Well – A.Net has stated one Key = one function and that includes macros. Anything other than that is against the rules.

It is very plain and simple.

Anet also said they’re fine with instrument macros. The only type of macros they crack down on are those that give you a clear in-game advantage over other players. Last time I checked, being able to play a digital instrument does not give you any in-game advantages.

So no, it’s not really that plain and simple, but I also would say that you can safely use instrument macros without having to worry about being banned. Anet has better things to do than ban harmless people who just like to play a cool tune on their instrument.

I have a friend who reached a point where I personally would say “alright, I’m done”. He has a lvl 80 of every single class, he has 25k AP and is sitting on over 16000 gold (nope, I did not type a 0 to much there, he literally has more than 16k gold) with 8 crafted legendaries under his belt.

I myself have not reached that point yet though.

Gunga Din.2350:

Ok, is this the norm or have I finally won at the RNG.

1 Shadow Blue
1 Shadow Abyss
1 Shadow Turquoise
1 Shadow Violet
1 Shadow Magenta
1 Shadow Purple
2 Shadow Green

So i got 8 Shadow dyes from the 15. Umm, did i just hit the lottery? I’ve never done well with anything RNG related to this game before.

I’m with you bro! I also bought 15 packs and finally got lucky for the first time in my GW2 carreer!

My turnout:

1x Shadow Violet
1x Shadow Orange
1x Shadow Magenta
2x Shadow Green
1x Shadow Blue
2x Shadow Abyss !!!

8 Shadow dyes out of 15 packs and 2 of them are Shadow Abyss!

Gunga Din.2350:

Ok, is this the norm or have I finally won at the RNG.

1 Shadow Blue
1 Shadow Abyss
1 Shadow Turquoise
1 Shadow Violet
1 Shadow Magenta
1 Shadow Purple
2 Shadow Green

So i got 8 Shadow dyes from the 15. Umm, did i just hit the lottery? I’ve never done well with anything RNG related to this game before.

I’m with you bro! I also bought 15 packs and finally got lucky for the first time in my GW2 carreer!

My turnout:

1x Shadow Violet
1x Shadow Orange
1x Shadow Magenta
2x Shadow Green
1x Shadow Blue
2x Shadow Abyss !!!

8 Shadow dyes out of 15 packs and 2 of them are Shadow Abyss!

Celtic Lady.3729:

If he’s gone already, he didn’t play very long. Must not have liked the game.

No he isn’t. He’s still leveling and learning off-stream and he said he’ll start streaming GW2 again once he has a better grasp of the game and the PvP meta. He definitely likes GW2 and he’s definitely not done with it yet but he does want to tone down his streaming of GW2 a bit because he’s afraid if he plays/streams GW2 too much he’ll get burned out of it and stop enjoying it.

And what if the player made the macro he’s using himself? Do you feel the same way about people who make their own macros and then use them? Because I’m one of those.

The weirdest place I looted a precursor was in my dreams.

Testing out the new camera options.

Valento.9852:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Deni.7345:

Lol, am I missing something? Why is everyone hating on wings?

This should give you an idea how most people feel about the wings and why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rgKr2ynfjw

Bwahahahah that zoom in remaining time made me spit my coffee.

I know right? :P

I’m exactly like the author of that video. I bought the wings as an impulse purchase because of the times and because I thought they would look super sweet. But merely minutes after buying the wings and running around with them between the other dozens of winged people in WvW I already felt remorse and asked myself: “why the heck did I buy these?”

I guess Anet’s tactic worked on many of us and I wonder how many of us who bought the wings feel the same way as me and the author of the video.