Guild Wars 2

How’d you guys manage to do it?!

Aeonblade.8709:

Malchior.5042:

Don’t call it zerg content…that taints people’s responses.

Call it for what it is – Large, Open-World, Challenging Meta/Zone Events.

Although your description is accurate without the Challenging Meta part. Something by any other name is still something.

I do agree that maybe zerg has a negative connotation, but Zone Events doesn’t exactly evoke a good response either imo.

Regardless of people’s expectations and content design, if the OP is looking for truthful and illustrated responses (which I believe he is), barring the use of the term “zerg” may be beneficial.

Also true that “Zone Events” does not always receive a healthy response, but this is the kind of criticism that has the potential to be acted upon.

Why do certain people dislike certain zone events? Is it game performance/lag? Is it difficulty? Is it lack of server participation and integration? (Overflows)

If we want change, we need to offer constructive discussion that not only points out flaws but suggests solutions!

No.

Part of the allure of big zone-wide bosses is that they are infrequent, rare, or foreboding.

Reducing their timers to where they could be attempted again and again with no time to learn, adjust, re-strategize, etc… would greatly reduce their difficulty, the feeling of accomplishment, and probably the rewards Anet wants to hand out as well.

Elbegast.6970:

VOLKON.1290:

Invisible walls? What’s he going on about?

Did they release the Mime profession or something?

Invisible walls…aka…don’t go that way.

Restricting movement in an open world is a bad model. I’ve been stopped by some rather absurd invisible walls in the past. Kills immersion considering I’m a thief and part of the prof description was that I was supposed to be able to go where others cannot.

That does not include breaking the map, or achieving a world-out

Don’t call it zerg content…that taints people’s responses.

Call it for what it is – Large, Open-World, Challenging Meta/Zone Events.

Abaddon’s Mouth [DE] – could someone post a screenshot of where you’re waiting? Several servers, including mine, have already failed the event, so it’s working for some.

I’d be curious to see what the waiting party looks like

Irikami.6270:

After read the notes i’ll not update for now. Play other things and wait more months, maybe things will be better after this boring LS, maybe not.

Define “better.”

Arenanet can’t read your mind. If you would voice out what type of content appeals to you, perhaps someone will take notice and make changes.

aspirine.6852:

So much fun, standing for half an hour doing nothing, much better this LS than any expansion.

How bout now?

Just…wait…they concluded their Edge of the Mists test. They actually need time to act on player’s feedback.

That should drum up a lot of WvW attention when it’s ready.

As far as I know, you can just purchase the digital deluxe upgrade. I don’t think you can purchase the full game client itself…not sure.

Engineer does well with Carrion, Necro does as well, Ranger can do well if they use double bow or a mix of power and condi pets.

Fantastic, Chris! Thanks for being so open to the community and for being the front-runner on Anet’s side of the CDI.

BTW, I sent you a PM regarding an idea for the next CDI. I imagine your inbox is stuffed with them, but when you get a chance and can send a response, I’d appreciate it.

How about we wait and see exactly what will change, and to what extent the change will mean before making baseless assumptions and guesses, hmm?

All will be explained during Ready Up! on Friday.

vulpinus.4726:

Well I like fast paced combat, I really like melee normally however seeing how casters on gw2 ara quite different to any other game i have played I woulnd mind trying a caster, mainly mesmer cos I like the GS.

If you enjoy weaving between melee and mid-range, Mesmer does excel at that. Leveling is a little more slow/difficult in the early game for Mesmers, because a lot of their great utility skills are buried in their list. Mesmer picks up significantly at level 30 with Time Warp.

Also, if you liked the style of deception and combos that thief had, Mesmer could give you that from the perspective of both a melee fighter and a spell-caster.

Engineer

If you enjoyed Thief with its minimal cooldowns and comboing of skills, then Engineer will feel the same but will provide it in a new flavor.

Instead of swapping weapons for Initiative combos, you’ll be swapping kits for increased effectiveness and flexibility.

Another option is Elementalist with their Attunement swapping.

There should be different tiers of armor so the good players, who complete the hard dungeons are better.

Define “better.” Sounds like Vertical Progression to me, which needs to be incremental, not immediate. Even then, it should not restrict content.

Nike.2631:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

The level of detail is great the way it is. We read the posts and note micro suggestions in terms of the level of detail in rewards for example. This is why I don’t add specific reward types or skills in the proposal.

I see… I think .

Its more identification of topics and avenues of attack than their resolution.

Bingo.

Excuse me, Chris, if I’m misunderstood or speaking out of place here.

It’s elements that Chris can say at the company roundtable “The community wants X.” The goal of the roundtable would be to first determine if X is both desirable and even possible by Arenanet – “Why do they want X, why do we want X?” From here, if X is seen as a great idea, the big question that will probably be discussed for weeks is “How to do/give/reward X?”

wouw.5837:

While I do agree A-net should be more clear on some statements, I can also see why they don’t say: “No mounts for GW2” Because if they say this and 3 years later they introduce mounts, people will eat them alive

This…

This is why no definitive statements of “yes” or “no” can occur until content is comfortable enough in both development and testing for Arenanet to state that a piece of content exists.

Take lots of screenshots and enjoy the sheer beauty of this world and Arenanet’s art style!

ZudetGambeous.9573:

darkace.8925:

Vol.7601:

Another interview
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-14-you-thought-that-was-it-for-guild-wars-2

Something that’s been said before, and Colin Johanson said again in the linked interview:

“We have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background.”

We’ve been sitting at the table for a while, and we’ve had our fill of complimentary bread. It’s time to tell the cooks we’re ready to feast on something more substantive. It’s time to tell the cooks we’re ready to be served whatever it is they’ve been cooking on the back burner. Wait too long, keep it simmering on the back burner too long with promises that we’ll get to eat soon enough, and your hungry customers just might go to one of the soon-to-be-opening restaurants down the street.

When he first said this at launch I was like: AWESOME this game is going to kill every other MMO ever.

When he said it again 6 months later I was like: These things must be HUGE if they are taking so long, I can’t wait!

When he said it again at the 1 year anniversary I was like: You keep saying this but it never seems to happen… what’s the deal?

When he said it again now at the 1.5 year mark I am like: Bull kitten, i’m sure it will poop unicorns and rain bunnies soon too. You had your chance, the lies are just ticking me off now.

Launch updates that were cooking and got released – WvW ranks, Breakout events, Currency Wallet

0.5 year updates that were cooking and got released – Player choice of design – Cutthroat politics release, Tequatl 2.0, (Thaumanova Fractal)

Year 1 updates that were cooking and got released – Gold in PvP, new maps, Ascended crafting, upcoming LS content

It’s all there…just the player visibility into which features applied where is vague. Not to mention most players here seem to think every last word of Anet is a promise written in blood to be carried out indefinitely. If something must change, they’ll change it. That’s why they don’t reveal specific projects, because the fragility of software design can cause any number of things to happen that would either delay said project or make it unreasonable to continue pursuit (budget, technical restraints, time, etc…)

Define “many.”

Do you happen to be friends with the individuals using the finisher and know they aren’t rank 70?

Might you have seen the Sanctified Finisher instead?

Ideally, they probably want suggestions to stay within the vein of existing game mechanics and not be too time-consuming.

An example for out-of-scope would be…changing every single trait or skill on a profession.

Instead of WASD, I use ESDF for hand placement and bindings. It takes some practice, but before long, it’s much more natural than WASD since your index finger is on the home row key of F.

Movement: E – Forward, F – Strafe Right, S Strafe Left (no backpedal bound, never use it)
Turning: Mouse
Weapon Swap: D
Skills 1-5: A, W, Q, R, 5
Heal: G
Utilities: Z, X, C
Elite: Y
Profession Skills: 1-4 (I’m an Engineer, so Kit swapping with bottom row, movement middle row, and toolbelt top row allows me to be constantly moving, even when aiming grenades or doing kit combos)
Interact: V
Dodge: Space Bar
Jump: Left Shift
Target: TAB
Social: O
Guild: N
Push to Talk: Mouse 4
Call Target: Mouse 5 (CTRL)

I can never go back to WASD after learning ESDF and having those 3 extra keys of A, W, and Q for additional binds.

Pariah.8506:

Martin Kerstein.3071:

We just wanted to respond to the image that has been data-mined from the Edge of the Mists testing branch.

This is a testing branch. We conduct internal experiments for various territories on our testing branches. This particular experiment is not being tested for the West.

As always, keep in mind that we test a lot more than we ship, so data-mining is no guarantee of anything. If we have announcements to make about future content, we’ll make them through the usual official channels.

So the host of the party pulls out a gun from under the table and announces he has no intention of using it, whereupon he leaves it on the table and proceeds as normal.

Oh thank you, I feel so much better now.

Except Anet didn’t pull the gun. The Dat Diver did. If this wasn’t posted, I imagine they’d have just released it with their Eastern Market like normal.

Martin Kerstein.3071:

We just wanted to respond to the image that has been data-mined from the Edge of the Mists testing branch.

This is a testing branch. We conduct internal experiments for various territories on our testing branches. This particular experiment is not being tested for the West.

As always, keep in mind that we test a lot more than we ship, so data-mining is no guarantee of anything. If we have announcements to make about future content, we’ll make them through the usual official channels.

Could Martin’s response please be edited into the OP?

Thanks for the quick reply, Martin.

Devata, probably to proofread before localization, hence the misspelling. I heavily doubt Arenanet’s writers know Mandarin Chinese

VOLKON.1290:

If you don’t know who Fozzy is

As a GW 1 player who witnessed the awesomeness of the FoS guild and the great Luke “Fozzy” Yeoryios, I would scream if Fozzy returned!

Omaris Mortuus Est.2738:

Hmm one thing I think we need is dual-spec, maybe even triple-spec.

I play WvW most of the time and all my gear and traits are speced to WvW. But use it in PvE or sPvP, and it’s kidda useless or a lot harder to play.
Even in WvW sometimes you want to run with the zerg and other times you want to roam, but again your gear and traits need to be changed to make yourself more effective

So if we add dual/triple-spec, people can enjoy the game more as they can swap out their entire gear and switch trait lines with a single click, or two.

I definitely feel it’s needed as well, but it’s not “progression.” That’s a Quality of Life improvement, such that it would improve the way a player plays the game right now in its current form.

To be honest, I have no idea how sub-classes or elite classes would work for “Horizontal Progression.”

• If it’s just 1 subclass per class, then it will feel vertical because it’s one linear path that while it may not be required, player psychology considers it as “more powerful” or “better.”

• If it’s even just 2-3 subclasses per class, then that’s 16-24 NEW CLASSES Arenanet has to design, which even if done at a basic level, would take an enormous amount of time!

• Basically, even if the intent would be “Horizontal Progression,” the player mentality and design would point to Vertical Progression.

• The only logical way I see of adding Horizontal Progression with regards to improved gameplay (cosmetics/visuals excluded) is to increase versatility and flexibility between the class roles/styles of play and to add new skills, traits, and perhaps even weapons to the existing classes.

• For sub-classes, Horizontal Progression doesn’t make sense to me. If sub-classes were to be designed, I’d expect them to be the next baby step of Vertical Progression. This way, they could be given all the flare, new mechanics, new skills, new trait lines, etc…that would make them unique, powerful, and something every player would WANT to achieve for ALL of their characters.

Conski Deshan.2057:

ColinJohanson.2394:

The event idea is an interesting one, but it doesn’t feel like a “grand journey” so to speak. Do you feel like if we asked you to do 90 different events in a month, and that allowed your ranger to say become a Druid, you’d feel like that was a cool system?

By grand journey do you mean in difficulty or length?, As I assume you want all players to be able to unlock their “subclass” fairly soon after hitting 80?

Also could we get a weigh in on your opinion on housing?

I’ll offer a counter-view here. First off, what would you consider “fairly soon,” Conski?

• IMO, why should a person unlock their subclass fairly soon after hitting 80? Hitting 80 a person has just reached their last trait points, their max level gear, and all the other elements to cement their play.

• Me personally, I’d be ok with a week-long journey (hardcores could probably rush it out within a few days) that focused more on “unlocking/discovering potential” within your character.

• The idea above that adds different weight to all the events sounds decent, but also sounds incredibly time-consuming to Arenanet. Colin, I probably could do 90 events in a week, but I wouldn’t enjoy it. Instead of deciding on a number first, I’d focus on the flavor of each event being run. I would expect a Ranger hoping to “Ascend” (hehehe) to Druid would do an event track or whatever that sent said Ranger all over Tyria doing Druidy or Rangerish things (those are words ).

• This could conclude with a new instance/dungeon or something where a party completes the final task to “unlock their potential” together. This adds additional merit that GW 2 is a game that’s built on large encounters, profession combos, and player interaction. After said final task is completed, each party member would unlock their prospective track, and they can all rejoice together at their accomplishment.

Absolutely nothing.

Thread.

(Suggest change of thread title to "Content I Can’t Do…)

Knowman.8764:

Thanks for the observations friends, helps me understand what’s going on. I’ll be a little more patient with things like this in the future.

I have to mention that this game is really, really good. It’s taken some time to grow on me and I highly recommend it to anyone curious. The detail packed into it is amazing!

Thanks again!

Enjoy good sir! Sorry if I was overly blunt in in my delivery

It’s only for the first arrival to the Home Instance.

Deal with the fact the game recognizes you’re on your first character, play it, and you’ll never have to see it again.

I’m sure Arenanet is much more inclined to respect your opinion and your wishes with that sensationalist and demanding title…

…nope.

Is that leaker and complete kittenbag Sacrx back?

Much respect to rest of RG. Good luck guys!

You guys know arguing like this won’t advance the discussion, right?

Even if each of you have different views, or even if you have evidence the other person is flat out wrong in his/her logic…

…it doesn’t mean you have to reply just for the sake to shoot down his/her viewpoint. Just ignore it…and move on…

ColinJohanson.2394:

- Collect skins: Purchase them for currencies (which becomes play the fastest way to earn currency X), get them as rare drops (play fastest way to kill mob/content type X), or purchase them off the trading post. (Play the fastest way to earn gold)

- Skills: Collect skill points. (Which becomes play the fastest way to earn XP, or skill points.)

- Achievement Horizontal Rewards: These are things like achievement point skin unlocks, titles, etc. This is more just sort of play everything that gives achievement points, since very little of it is repeatable.

- Legendary: This one doesn’t really have a totally clear path to acquisition other than earn crazy amounts of gold, which goes back to play the fastest way to earn gold. (note legendary is only horizontal if you already have ascended)

- WxP Abilities: Complete objectives worth points in WvW. (Complete objectives as fast as possible, find a group to help you do this. Of all the above this is basically just telling you to play WvW, and though it is as some degenerate aspects is probably the least so)

- PvP Skin Locker & PvP Ranks: Play PvP. (This is basically just play PvP since the latest release.)

Not everyone plays the way I described above, but many of the systems above encourage you to want to play the fastest way possible to earn the rewards, sometimes at the cost of not playing the way you’d find the most fun. The upside of Gw2 is you can play the things you enjoy most and still be rewarded for them in most cases, even if it’s not at the fastest rate. The downside is because almost everything can earn you most of the same rewards, this becomes a matter of choosing to do the things you enjoy the most, but getting rewarded slower because of it.

First, my opinion is going to differ greatly from any of the previous voices concerns/suggestions.

• To be honest, Colin, I can’t believe I’m saying this…but it seems as if everything has been made TOO rewarding. That, or the fact of acquisition anywhere or ability to buy just about anything on the TP has removed a lot of the value of diversifying the content one plays at any given time.

• This behavior I see as a consequence of the initial Pay-to-Play model of MMOs of old, as well as the original design and time/experience curves of those games as well. Going on the player mentality of often taking the path of least resistance, I feel there is no one solution or one progression system that would be both meaningful to existing players and easy to message to new players, that wouldn’t be subject to the existing MMO mentality of “path of least resistance.”

• If the path of least resistance is going to be what the player desires, I say give that path more branches, so players are encouraged to branch out, try something new, and explore if they want to maximize profit gain/time spent. Only then, will new systems gain their maximum value potential.

• I’m gonna get some serious hate, but introduce Diminishing Returns on champion loot on a per-zone basis. If a person farms Queensdale for more than an hour, no more champion bags from Queensdale for that day. If said person loves champion farming, they’ll have to go to another zone. This first step will show how repetitive play is punished. It’s still possible, but players have to explore new zones, form new champ farms, etc…

• With that in place, add improved incentive for playing a variety of content. Players like maximizing time, and just about every human on earth likes to “get a good deal” or save time/money. Along with daily achievements, add hourly bonuses (not necessarily achievements) that can be messaged by the event panel/LW panel area. Only one bonus would be active at a time on all servers, and would rotate either every hour or every few hours. It might pigeonhole players, but honestly, if people are farming Queensdale, what’s the difference in just moving them around?

• Something like… “50% bonus xp for completing events in Fireheart Rise.” – 60 min
• “50% bonus Karma from events in Mount Maelstrom.” – 60 min
• The Call to War! “50% bonus WvW experience!” – 60 min

• Systems that continue to improve on existing content and spread players out across the world will give Arenanet more time to develop complex new systems for Horizontal Progression. I’ll have to detail more about what I would like to see for new systems at a later time, but for now, I’d say new story arcs that add meaning to Order choices and reward with skills/traits sounds like the most appealing and unique suggestion thus far.

wolfsong.1857:

That said… I just did an experiment to see how far I could push myself. I’m in Dredgehaunt Cliffs, down around the level 46 mobs. I just tamed a Lynx and am testing it out, etc. I had the Lynx attack a level 46 Veteran Lynx here. I didn’t fire a single shot. I just stood and watched. My pet won. A level 41 pet against a level 46 Veteran, with no assistance from me. I don’t think that should even be possible. It certainly wasn’t earlier on. That fight would have been over before it began – even with me helping. But there ya go. I think that says it better than I ever could. The game is definitely getting easier as I progress. At least the world PvE stuff.

How many points of Beast Mastery do you have, sir? Also, which traits have you selected within the Beast Mastery line?

Death to Critical Damage

Anet will have to find some way to mitigate the effect of critical damage at least in instances (maybe the open-world as well) for PvE Only! It’s PvE content that’s getting trivialized by the stacking of ever-increasing critical damage through ascended items and food/wrench buffs. WvW/PvP are fine where they are with regards to critical damage.

Chris Whiteside already commented that equalizing build strength is goal for 2014 that must be met before additional methods of Horizontal Progression can be implemented.

Since when in any MMO was equal level open-world content difficult? I can’t think of a time.

If you want the open-world to be difficult, fight something 5 levels higher than you, with only blues or greens on. Trust me, it’s totally possible to challenge yourself.

Also, the flaw of just spamming 1 to succeed in content is a consequence of event-design and encounter scaling. Anet recognizes this and is improving on both their monster AI and the variables used in scaling. Nightmare Tower was a great step up for monster design, difficulty, and synergy.

I do wish the Queensdale farm were nerfed in some way, but I’m not too sure which direction would be the best to take.

• They can’t just kill the ability to get max level loot in any zone, because that would only create even more ghost towns.
• They can’t increase scaling on the Queensdale champs because then natural Queensdale players would find the encounter extremely too difficult.
• I’d hate to say just nerf the drops on champions, especially champions that are lower level to the player, because that once again removes incentive to revisit older areas.

Personally, I feel respawn timers for the Queensdale champs just need to be increased dramatically. It might penalize people leveling up in Queensdale a little bit, but I feel the benefit would far outweigh the cost.

The concept of Zone Progression is one that I was really looking forward to as I interpreted the pre-release design of Guild Wars 2 back in 2010 and 2011.

The only zones that really get that sense of struggle and conflict of minor goals to achieve a major goal are Harathi Hinterlands and the Straits of Devastation. In these 2 zones, their events are all linked with a goal of “reach the end” or “destroy the leader,” and each event completion furthers that goal in a way, whether by slowly moving the player across the map or kicking off triggers to spawn new events.

The meta events throughout the other zones – Shatterer, Claw of Jormag, Fire Elemental, etc… They all have their own unique individual story to them and they easily serve as a zone’s climax, but there’s no buildup to them. That just have one or two prerequisite events and boom, the fight starts.

Harathi Hinterlands has always been one of my most favorite zones because it’s literally a back and forth battlefield between the Seraph and the Centaurs. The lines of war are constantly changing, as waypoints contest and outposts get destroyed and rebuilt.

^ THAT is the kind of Guild Wars 2 I want to experience in EVERY zone! I want meaning, depth, progress, and character in every event, such that they’re all intertwined to tell the “story” that the entire design and writing of the zone is meant to entail.

Southsun was an experiment with this, but honestly, it just felt too small and disconnected. Take the writing or the persistence of Southsun and mix it with something like the direction of Harathi, and I imagine something truly special and unique could burst forth!

Thanks Chris! Good to know it’s on the radar, perhaps even being worked on as we speak

Shongaqu.5279:

Malchior.5042:

Hero Recognition based on Order choice, Player Housing, Guild Halls, etc…that could branch into further Diversification and Performance through new skills, events, challenges, etc…

So based on the above mix of Chris’ original categories, I’d say Hero Recognition/Sociopolitical development could set a solid framework for the different skills, events, and challenges that we’re all eager to see as well.

Are you thinking PvE skills like we saw in GW1? or something else? new weaopns based on faction even?

example faction system with necro that has attained mid rank

• Great Sword for Vigil
• Scythe for Order of Whispers
• Chakra Guides for Priory
  all three would be melee AOE type weapons but do differnt things GS is power based, Scythe is Siphon based, CG is conditon based. depending on what weapon you want to be trained in you chose a faction to gain rep with. Ultimalty you can unlock all of them. Add token buffs like the Kiel/Evon ones to WvW for your faction so everyon can work towards it regardles of game type. Make them unlocked in SPvP for free.

Just sort of going down a rabbit hole with this…

For GW 2, I don’t think PvE skills would be a bad thing. WvW has their specific skills through rank upgrades. PvE should get similar. It’s very important; however, that said new skills are not imbalanced against the existing skills, and even more important that new, difficult, challenging content is introduced that could be alleviated partially by the use of new PvE skills.

The bold is going to be the difficult part. Players have blown expectations out of the water with stacking, combos, killing Lupicus in seconds, etc…If Arenanet truly wants to create challenge, they will essentially have to kill the existing builds or curb their power down to make any new content feel challenging enough.

I wouldn’t do this through nerfs to any existing skills, but instead, I would give all new bosses in metas or dungeons an “armored” buff (non-strippable) that reduced critical damage by a flat percent. This would greatly reduce the current strength of Berserkers, but still be possible to keep that strength high if players could stack Vulnerability. (the existing % debuff).

Rin.1046:

I would mix them into one choice is as follows:
— Hero Recognition and Diversification: New skills/traits, new weapons, access to inaccessible existing weapons, infusions as well as unique skins, follwers and rewards, which would all be unlocked through progression in a title or faction.

As you gain rank in your chosen faction, or in a title, you unlock ways to increase your hero’s power (through diversification) and focus your hero’s identity (through skins and extra weapon options).

Sorry if this is technically 2 choices, but I feel they could be so closely linked they can easily be treated as one.

I’ve been stunned at Rin’s interpretation of the different features, and I must say, this is the approach I would like to see.

Hero Recognition based on Order choice, Player Housing, Guild Halls, etc…that could branch into further Diversification and Performance through new skills, events, challenges, etc…

So based on the above mix of Chris’ original categories, I’d say Hero Recognition/Sociopolitical development could set a solid framework for the different skills, events, and challenges that we’re all eager to see as well.

GW 1 Nostalgia, you say?

I found this gem of a video that details the making of Nightfall and showcases how the design process works at Arenanet (or at least how it worked back then, which could mostly still be the same).

Answer – a lot, if you’re specced for Crit Damage

Static Discharge is a staple of just about any Engineer Power build.

If you want to be a support Engi, your mates will appreciate you being able to do damage as well.

Never take bombs without improved radius. It’ll make your life a lot easier. Engineers dont support with healing power (not as well as guardians or banner warriors). Engineer is the absolute BEST control class in the game. Immobilize, stun, cripple, and do every other means necessary to ensure the enemy doesn’t reach the squishies in the back.

Your support will come from the control and from the combo fields you can set up. Flamethrower or Fire Bomb to get those fire fields for might stacks. A smoke bomb on top of an ally is a great way for continual blinds against an enemy to rez them up, especially if you can blast finisher on top of it with Big Ol’ Bomb or Magnetic Shield/Inversion to stealth both of you.

Power or Condi is up to you, but I’ve run my Engineer Dungeon Support as an enabler type, maximizing DPS potential of other players more so than my own. The core of my build utilizes Vuln stacking to increase % dmg output for all players.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0pSXHxyuF1LJy4DdG4DAmoC53nHvFbBhA-jQzA4sAi2QoMA0Hw8HUKkIjtgF2aW0KfBRzgpRjsKVI1hUEtaA-e

(The gear is very similar to what I ran as the max exotic gear on my Engi for the longest time, with only the accessories improving as Fractals were introduced last November.)

For boss fights, I’ll usually swap out Elixir B for Elixir R (party rez for people who can’t dodge). If I get dropped to 25%, the Throw elixir R rez function is renewed, thanks to Inertial Converter. Elixir S can sometimes be useful here too, for bosses that are more about positioning and direct damage instead of condi damage. I can use the Throw Elixir S to stealth rez an ally (or invulnerable rez, simply begin the rez animation and pop the elixir as an attack comes your way), and once again, when dropped below 25% I get that option back.

Runes/Sigils are personal preference. The build isn’t dependent upon them. I’ve been having fun with maximizing Bleed potential by mixing Krait, Centaur, and Afflicted runes to have each one of my Shrapnel Grenades leaving a 25 second bleed when I have food on. The 25 second bleed extends to the Shrapnel proc from Explosives.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Wolf.5816:

I always liked copying other classes. Mimicking is a great tactic to use against an opponent, I wish using Elixir X just gave you a random Ultimate from the entire list. Lower Elixir X’s Cooldown and That would be fun and a balanced way to make this Ultimate more appealing than Supply Crate. Because you would have the potential to get an incredibly powerful Ultimate like Thief’s Guild or Moa Form on an engineer would be potent for sure but you also have the chance to get detrimental Ultimates as well.

I know this is not the fix any Engineer is looking for, and honestly I wouldn’t so much consider this a fix by normal standards but it would definitely make Elixir X much more fun, Without ultimately changing its mechanic.

The problem with Elixir X is that it’s TOO random. More randomness won’t help. What if you really need to knock a guy off a point and instead you get Glyph of Elementals? How would that even work? What if you try to get a transform, but you don’t have a target and it turns out to give you Moa Morph?

As a short solution, they could make rampager better at knocking multiple people off a point. Then Tornado and Rampager can solve the same problem: too many people on mah dam point.

I think Wolf’s got the right idea. Imagine if you could have access to Glyph of Elementals or Moa Morph, but it didn’t happen immediately?

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Symbols_of_Inspiration

Without the “disabling” portion, I’ve always viewed Elixir X as the Larceny skills or Symbols of Inspiration from GW 1. With that in mind, I would prefer one of these two options -

1. Elixir X pulls from a much larger pool of elites across all classes (probably 6-8 skills total). Here’s the difference. Activating Elixir X doesn’t activate the new elite. It replaces Elixir X on the skillbar with that of the elite, to be activated whenever the player wishes! There may need to be a time-limit on it – captured elite has to be used within 30 seconds before Elixir loses effect and reverts to Elixir X. The other key component is that Elixir X would not begin its individual recharge until after the stored elite was completely finished. This gives Elixir X a more high risk/high reward aspect because it’s a shot in the dark which elite you’ll get, but those with the ability to adapt and find setups to make each captured elite useful, they’ll be rewarded greatly! Think of it sorta like the last “kit” at an Engineer’s disposal.

2. Elixir X has to have a target to be activated. The target is then scanned and either the elite skill of the specific target is copied to the Engineer’s bar or the profession of the target is used to select a copied skill from the pool of available skills. Now, the Engineer has some aspect of control with regards to what to receive from Elixir X. I would expect this copied skill to be stored on the bar, much like version 1, but have a much shorter window of activation time (10-15 seconds).

Both of these versions would reward smart play with whatever elite is given, instead of just 2 elites highly focused on pure CC.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Happy New Year @Chris, other devs who read this and you guys! I haven’t seen such a dedication to a game from any other company so far, it doesn’t feel that Guild Wars is only a job for you, but your passion as well.

I’m not sure if others at Anet feel like you do, I have to say thank you for being this link to you guys. I’m looking forward to the following discussion about our brainstorming. All the best to you and your family.

<Big Hugs> to you Marcus and to all the fellow Collaborators. Thanks for being part of this initiative and making GW2 the very best it can be.

And in answer to your question the guys and girls at work are just as passionate as me if not more (-:

Chris

P.S: I crafted my first piece of Ascended on Live yesterday!

Weapon or armor?

Nope, I still enjoyed GW 1 after trying other games (often times, it actually just rekindled by view of GW 1.)

GW 2 still is fun to come back to every few days a week. One of our guild members even went back and got GW 1 because she never played it. Now we’re having a blast reliving our old memories, and she likes the skill system of the original.

Pretty sure grouch is just looking for a way to add guild visibility and ability to showcase one’s guild into the existing SPvP, while a full GvG mode is still up in the air or going around the concept table.

Please guys, it’s rare for anyone to just say “Here, design this for us!” He asked specifically about the design of season leaderboard and guild representation within those boards. Let’s keep the discussion of GvG as a gametype elsewhere.

Sorry for the slight derail OP, but I believe a few of us can see where this might be heading

Also: hi Chrono