Guild Wars 2

It just looks too weird for the game. that’s it. If any1 want s to play it, good for him/her. I will skip these 2 weeks.

Is there any intention to utilize Karma (in some way, or any way) for the ascendent gear already in game, the upcoming ascendent weapons (on 3 September) and the future eventual ascendent armor pieces?

Any posts from Devs in this context?

Will KARMA be used, in some way, to obtain ascendent gear?

Or will it remain a sub-optimal currency as it is now?

Lord Kuru.3685:

fellyn.5083:

Coldin.2840:

What we could see happening is that dungeon tokens will be a way to purchase materials for ascended gear. So it won’t give ascended gear itself, but provide a path to it.

I’m not too worried. Ascended gear isn’t really required for anything.

Basically this. It’s all speculation at this point. The existence of ascended gear isn’t going to automatically invalidate all of your exotics. Just like with exotic vs ascended trinkets.

The difference is barely noticeable at best. It might be slightly more noticeable if you go from all rares to all ascended, but that’s about it.

The difference between fully geared Ascended and fully geared Exotics looks like it will be 8% (that’s the difference between an Ascended amulet and an Exotic one). That’s noticeable: it’s like one whole piece of gear. Do you run around with a piece of broken armor? Because that’s a very similar comparison.

Very good point with which I totally agree. 7-9% estimated difference between exotic-ascendent is noticeable indeed and I do not think that a lot of players will say:“Bah, who cares? it’s almost the same thing”. I foresee a rush to get as many ascendent as possible, which is totally understandable. Not great for alts though, but this “item fever” on other MMO happens every 4-5 months so…

It is just a pity if we lose a great incentive to run dungeons (which is to gear alts, since the ‘skin’ factor will remain).

And yes, give us a skin wardrobe or similar.

I seriously doubt it, mate. It is not related.

Onkelbubu.3108:

You cannot compare precursers with other items. Thats just wrong.
Or do you compare apples with Maseratis?

Depends, selling 1 Maserati is worth, let’s say, 200k?
I ‘ll get same money by selling, let’s say, 1 million apples….
Prolly this will be a rude awakening for you, mate: it is called economy.
I honestly do not see anything wrong for how it is going right now. I am not worried. And, I do not need a legendary, which helps.

spalt.6938:

Delvoire.8930:

Sigils do boost stats…..

Superior Sigil of Bloodlust gives you +10 Power for every kill.. (max 25 stacks)
Superior Sigil of Perception gives you +10 Precision for every kill.. (max 25 stacks)

Now you’re just being silly…

Anyway, I have another important question though, how will Infusions factor in for 2-handed weapons. Will there be two infusion slots (i.e. we can socket 10 agony resistance) or will we be stuck with a max of 5 agony resistance unless we dual wield two 1-handed weapons. I’ve already felt the pinch with being able to use only one sigil but will we get the shaft with infusions also?

As now, I think there will not be 2x infusions as there are not 2x sigils on 2H weapons.

I do not get the connection between sigil and stats…?

Sigils are everything but stats…

The question is will we lose sigils in favour of Infusion slots? I really hope not and that we will have both.

I hope a Dev will clarify this.

In all fairness if new ascendent weapons are introduced I will like to see new skins, especially because Gw2 is 85% skins/cosmetics (and hence horizontal progress vis-a-vis vertical).

Dungeons are still a cheap/fun way to get gear (and skins, yes), I hope for some sort of inclusion/connection of the same old dungeons to Ascendent gear.
Concerning stats the switch from a full Exotic gear (weapons, armor and trinkets) to an Ascendent one: I guess it will be the same proportion of difference between Rare and Exotic, so still a nice bunch of stats more (proportionally), which I would not consider negligible.

I do not yet play a Thief, but I play other 6 professions and I have nothing against how Thieves are right now. The “stealth-class” in a MMO always is the most annoying. Another “nerf thieves” topic is just silly. Learn the ropes, mate. Every class can be most annoying if played right. This is for WvW and PvP.

Obscure One.4357:

Klawlyt.6507:

Hickeroar.9734:

I think WvW should be “rewarding” enough that we get the things we need in order to continue playing. I play WvW because WvW is fun. PvE has done this very strange morphing into nothing but an endless “reward” farm. I mean….do these people endlessly farming the same champion event over and over and over actually stop and think about what they’re doing? Like….really? All you’re left with is “why?”

How people think it’s worth it to spend hours and hours farming out worthless artificial currency while not actually having real fun….is beyond me. Yeah, it pays well (artificially), but it’s not….fun. WvW pays better than PvE at any level of rewards, because WvW provides real challenge and fun. Even if it’s a buggy, mostly neglected, mess, it’s far superior than what ANet seems to be investing most of their resources in.

What happens when ANet realizes that their game is nothing but farming and pulls things back to even half of what they added with this farm event?

This is a point I keep trying to make. Remember FPS games before they had XP? Remember when you played the next round of Unreal Tournament simply because the last round was fun, and the next one probably will be too? That’s what keeps me playing WvW and sPvP. Granted, I’d like to see a bit more evidence of development resources being poured into WvW, but for the time being, it’s still fun, and I’ll still play.

On the other hand though, all the farming that PvE enables does inflate the economy, and does make it harder for the non-farmer to afford some spicy mushrooms and weapon oil. In that respect, I think more if not most primary WvW players don’t want so much to be rewarded, as they want not to be left behind, financially speaking. As you stated, most just need it to be rewarding enough to sustain itself. It still kind of stings to see those who are into brainless farming rolling in gold while those engaged in something much closer to battle are rolling in comparative squalor.

Indeed. I’ve been making kids cry and rage quit from getting owned in online games since Quake, and I did it just to taste their tears…best reward system ever.

WvW is akin to that, but I only get two maps (sure there’s 4 but 3 are identical), it’s bug infested, there’s exploits you can run into virtually without trying, and there’s no longer fair or balanced matchups…most of which we’ve had to deal with for a year.

Bad rewards is just pouring salt in the wound.

I think we all agree about the big difference between PvE and WvW, for the good and bad.

Money/farming/reward wise, there are only two things that would make me happier in WvW:

1- Making a decent and constant amount of gold. Enough to buy what I need to play, such as consumables (food+oil/stones), gear (the one strictly necessary, maybe if I change build, etc.) and siege/upgrades for towers, etc.. I do not need to have hundreds of gold, just a decent amount so that I do not need to go farming in PvE to get 5g/hour;

2- Some cosmetic reward which is exclusive for WvW (or whatever, even not exclusive) but some sort of variety in skins, which now I can only get by doing solid PvE…

or is there a project to “transform” dungeons (and the tokens?) to conform to the new ascendent gear?

Maybe new dungeons/tokens?

Any feeling whether badge of Honor will also be still useful to buy ascendent gear?

thank you all for the replies, much appreciated.

Markadis.9012:

I agree with the OP, they need to add a WXP retrainer. Just make it cost 10g to retrait each time so we don’t have to worry about anybody abusing the system.

It could cost Badges of Honor. Gold is still sensitive for WvW dedicated players who do not get as much gold as dedicated PvE players

my bad; thx for the heads up; totally overlooked.

Draygo.9473:

Regardless there is a major revamp coming soon to how achievements work in wvw.

Can you re-direct me in the forums where this was stated officially, please

Seras.5702:

As with the balloons, I’ve resorted to pen-n-paper to keep track of where I’ve been.

I think an achievement panel upgrade is needed for these types of achievements. The dungeons paths should have a little “story,1,2,3” with check marks if you click on the panes to see not only how many but which you’ve done. Same goes for the invasions and diving goggles.

I agree that a more complex achievement panel is needed to keep track of the different tiers, like it exists for other games.

In the while, since we all know that we do not have yet an exhaustive tracking system, use the good old PAPER-PEN.

If you check the achievement and you see there is no record kept of what you are doing (or better said: of which parts you did already), then I am sorry, it will be your fault for not keeping track.

What is the current status of this issue? Do all boosters/boons still increase a % of the flask used accordingly, as in the past, pre-patch? Will this change in the future?

@Vick: I agree that we should not cry wolf for every little thing.I do not feel worried at all about this so called “inflation”. I hope the price of gems for gold will go down, but that is just a personal wish.

All I can say is that participating actively in invasions nets me around 2g more per hour compared to more “traditional” ways of collecting gold, such as the Frostgorge path or recently the Pavillion. I do not see a dramatic increase in the gold I get (vendoring/selling at TP, etc.).

Mid-range crafting materials are also getting cheaper/more available which is nice to level up crafting AND t6 mats are also getting cheaper/more available which is great news in the prospective of an increase in the crafting levels to 500.

HOWEVER, I do see that the exchange rate gold/gems went relatively high, which is not good for GEM STORE shoppers, so far. The 10 days sales and older skins re-introduced may help re-balance this, though.

Altogether, I am not that worried about the economy, there is more gold also because it is more fun (and people get more involved) to “farm” in this way rather then repeating always the same path over and over again in Frostgorge (although I admit the invasions can get equally boring after the 30th time).

Any warriors who did this solo? any advice on utilities or such?

Thanks to everyone for the useful info

hi guys,
Do mobs and Scarlet scale in power depending on how many players enter the instance (Playhouse)?

It seems that it is solo-able quite easily, anyone tried in 2-3 players? Or is it convenient to run it either in solo or in full group?

thumbs up for the good work!

Viking Jorun.5413:

If you’re looking for a balanced build, you might want to try going with less crit chance. The mathematically ideal crit chance is 41.9%, so you’re wasting a whole 10% that could be put into something that would benefit your build more, like vitality or healing power.

Could you please elaborate a bit more on the ideal crit chance %, please? How did you come out with that number?

thanks

I deleted my previous reply, since I thought it was a rushed comment.
Many PvP alliances/communities/guilds are just waiting to jump the boat. Many already left. I do not see signs of a reverted trend, so this exodus will likely continue.
I don’t say this to whine and stomp my feet on the ground hoping for a sudden change the next morning, I say it because I like the game’s concept of WvW a lot and none of the friends I was playing before online(when the game launched) is still in the game, so I hope for consistent changes in time (not in ages though). I would love to go back and play GW2 with my (many) friends and avoid moving to other games to enjoy time together, that’s all. If EU and NA collapse I do not see honestly any hope in other markets. I could be wrong.

perhaps identifying the Server you play in, might be useful.

My feeling is that already Wildstar will drag away WvW/PvP players. Many of my friends quit already because of the lack of development in WvW which they considered the core of the game, not a mere mini-game where you could do dailies.
I know some important WvW-focused guilds also will try Wildstar and cannot wait for new games, which give them at least hope for something challenging and stimulating. I do not think that neither ESO nor Wildstar are the answer, but almost every game is exciting at the beginning.
I reckon there will be a mass exodus to greener grounds. It is just that now there are no alternatives in the MMOs out there. Fact is that constructed PvP and WvW are not stimulating enough, in despite of desperate cries for help from the players….
Rough times ahead for GW2 in the next months.

Hi mate, this is what we are running at the moment in WvW (solo or small groups):

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|8.1g.h2.a.1g.h14|5.1g.h8|1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1|2s.0.1c.61.1c.61.1c.61.1c.61.1c.61|0.u13b.u4ab.a2.0|3a.7|57.5b.5c.5e.0|e

Please note:

Utilities: Shadow Refuge and Shadowstep fix and a signet of your choice (depending on playstyle and situations);
Elite: depending on playstyle and situations;
Traits: still depending on playstyle. A good alternative is going 0/20/30/20/0.

Virindiira.1025:

WvWvW is NOT about maxing out your char in wvwrank. It is about have !!FUN!!

There will be never a account wide wvwrank. just accept it like 99% of the gw2 player do it. Just play wvwvw and have fun and you will see ranks will come.

I do not believe that anybody should tell me how to feel.
We, singularly, decide what is fun and what is not and we make our decisions.
If you feel WvW is good as it is and it is fun: good for you, Sir.
It seems evident that the majority of WvW dedicated players disagrees with you.
Let me also add one thing: I believe that the current discussion about WvW is more or less civil, constructive and simply shows that we love the game and we are frustrated that we will be forced to quit it due to a poor development.

I am still waiting for a clear answer in which A.net states their perceived advantages in keeping the system as is vis-a-vis pleasing the WvW community in something that seems largely agreed among players: WXP account bound.

Also, from Devonbro on the new WXP flasks (they will not be in every rank-up chests…):

Sentinel.5731:

so Question about liquid exp, I leveled about 3 times on my characters last night and did not get any of the stuff. Is it a RNG drop?

It is a low percentage chance per rank up chest. We are going to be adding it to more places shortly, but that’s the only place for right now.

Mates, what I wanted to point out is that the level of communication (regardless if positive/negative) between Devonbro and the community is fair. The fact that in despite of the good communication things do not happen is another thing…
I always questioned myself about my attitude towards WvW: I love it and it is the reason why I am playing this game (and the horizontal progress instead of the horrible “every month you gotta farm, boy, or you won’t be as geared as the others”), HOWEVER, probably I believe that there are a lot of players like me (playing GW2 for the WvW aspect, mainly) and in reality there aren’t so many and that is why we are relegated tot a ghetto where “the change” is trebuchet mastery…
Probably we got it all wrong and we represent the 1% of the players’ pool and that is negligible, business-wise.
Regardless, I think we have the right to complain and constructively critique on things that we love/hate about the game…I just really do not get why A.net is not focusing on one of the main (good) differences between GW2 and the large majority of the games that are out there or that will be out there soon…
For as much as I like the PvE aspect of a MMORPG, it is not for that aspect that I remain “loyal” to a game.
Having said so, I believe Devonbro is doing a good job considering the resources at disposal, business policy and the fact that WvW is still the Cindarella of the game. Does this make me happy or keep me calm about the direction WvW is taking? Rarely.

I think the OP’s point here is that at least someone is answering. Not with the answers the majority of the WvW community is looking for, nonetheless at least a decent attitude from a Dev. I do not think Mr. Devon Carter has absolute power in deciding the future of WvW (and we all know there is a LOT to be done there…), so I believe he does his best to calm us down. Not always successfully, I admit that, however, he is good in keeping his presence in the forums felt.

I got back after a break from the game and after the departure of the hardcore night-shift guys from [IRON].

I have to say I was very positively surprised about how the Deso community reformed a consistent, friendly and enjoyable WvW environment. It is a lot of fun to join battle again with nice and enthusiastic players!

Big kudos to all the guilds and commanders – in particular [DVG] – who made this possible and who led Desolation back to the high ranks. Whomever decides to move to Deso for WvW he/she will have a lot of fun and won’t regret it!

Thank you, mate!

Puandro, mate, thanks for the video. It seems I cannot find your build/gear; is there any link to check?

Nemesis, mate, as usual a great job in explaining your builds.
I absolutely love the new way of presenting your videos.

I cannot wait for the WvW condo-build.

Keep up the good work!

The thing that saddens me the most is that, sooner or later, I am convinced that WXP will become account-bound (probably you will preserve on all character the highest WvW rank you got), since the community is crying out for it – and crying out loud – since the introduction of WXP…so, why not implementing it right now? Or let’s just wait another year to do the obvious, so that players can change game in the while…

I very much doubt that a a new Living World event where you can farm until you feint on the keyboard will help Desolation to participate more in the WvW scene. I guess we will have to wait after 3 September.

Q:

Fellow thieves, this is to understand a bit better how viable and which stats experienced thieves are looking for.
At the outset, it is important to clarify that I intend to play the thief in WvW and in a small group (3-6 players at maximum), plus some occasional solo roaming.

Watching videos and browsing through posts and articles in the community, it looks like there are 3 approaches to gear/runes when it comes to thieves:

1- Full Berserker (P/Pr/%dmg);
2- Berserker + Cavalier/Knight (P/T/%dmg)/( P/Pr/T);
3- Berserker + Valkyrie (P/V/%dmg).

Here is what I am currently running:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaOXcy9E95EymidqC5e4UKVT1p4q0KA-jAzAYLioRKCERJh0FMqAQ6rIasthioxqXwUmI6WUlrgs3QZVIAzLAA-e

Stats summary as follows:
Attack: 3250
Critical chance: 47%
Armor: 2321
Health pool: 16695
Critical dmg: +98%

I would be grateful if experienced thieves could advise on which stats they prefer/use. Also, do you reckon that the more you become skilled the more you can “safely” tend towards full berserker gear?

Please feel free to comment on the build choices.

Many thanks,

Fellow thieves, this is to understand a bit better how viable and which stats experienced thieves are looking for.
At the outset, it is important to clarify that I intend to play the thief in WvW and in a small group (3-6 players at maximum), plus some occasional solo roaming.

Watching videos and browsing through posts and articles in the community, it looks like there are 3 approaches to gear/runes when it comes to thieves:

1- Full Berserker (P/Pr/%dmg);
2- Berserker + Cavalier/Knight (P/T/%dmg)/( P/Pr/T);
3- Berserker + Valkyrie (P/V/%dmg).

Here is what I am currently running:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmaOXcy9E95EymidqC5e4UKVT1p4q0KA-jAzAYLioRKCERJh0FMqAQ6rIasthioxqXwUmI6WUlrgs3QZVIAzLAA-e

Stats summary as follows:
Attack: 3250
Critical chance: 47%
Armor: 2321
Health pool: 16695
Critical dmg: +98%

I would be grateful if experienced thieves could advise on which stats they prefer/use. Also, do you reckon that the more you become skilled the more you can “safely” tend towards full berserker gear?

Please feel free to comment on the build choices.

Many thanks,

@ Brother Grimm: I agree with you, mate. However, I enjoyed the journey to lvl 80 for five characters, now I’d like to enjoy the 20 lvl more for my other alts:-)

@Vol: I honestly do not see why players who feel the rewards are totally useless for them should not make a civil proposal to A.net… and try to give useful advice. A scroll which gives 20 levels instead only 1-20 would be useful for and welcome by EVERY player. It seems a good/logical proposal.
If for you it is not a concern, spare your words.

Also, let us not fool ourselves by thinking that these free things made of pixels are ‘presents’. This is part of A.net strategy to try to keep players in the game. A common, logical and justified practice for almost every other MMO. It is not like A.net is doing as a favour and being nice.

awwwwwww, the old days!
I wish Desolation had more coverage in despite of the very high population, but I am happy to see what will happen this week. A good check point to see how the server is re-organizing after [IRON] (the WvW bunch) and others left.
Good luck everyone and let’s hope WvW lootbags’ drops have not been ninja-nerfed!

/bump. we deserve some sort of an answer, I reckon.

@Straegen: it makes sense, mate. Have you considered Superior Runes of Altruism for the Guardian? Since we will not probably have an Elementalist and aura sharing.

@Straegen: thank you for the feedback; any particular advice on build/gear for that set-up?

Thanks guys for feedback.
We understand that the game is fairly balanced for professions (still some work needs to be done). The topic is to trigger a discussion on actual game experiences and theory crafting, just to find some more fun in WvW, outside of the omnipresent zergs.
for the moment we are trying to set up a 2x thief, warrior, guardian, mesmer team, taking into consideration what we like to play and what can be useful for the team.
naturally, it is not always very easy to have ALL the teamplayers agree, but that is the purpose of theory crafting, isn’t it?;-)
We are thinking of keeping thieves and the mesmer full dps/glass (no condition dmg) with a classic berzerker equip. We are having some sort of disagreement on how to equip the two meat-shields (a.k.a. warrior and guardian) though. Is it worth to throw in +healing gear (Pr/T/heal for instance) or would the classic P/V/T do?

Some friends and I wanted to create a party to roam WvW the times we play together and there will be at least 2 thieves; on the other hand, we could not agree on the other 2-3 components of the team…
Anyone has some successful examples of roaming teams?
Or simply put, what would be your dream team and why?

Hi Nemesis, thank you for the good work!
It would be interesting to know what do you play in WvWvW after the 6/25 patch.
thx~

crizpynutz.9062:

Nemesis.8593:

crizpynutz.9062:

First of all thank you for these tutorials they are extremely well done and immensely helpful. I have a general question. As predominantly a PvE player with some interest in WvW between the Conditionmancer and Hybrid which do you think is the more powerful and/or more versatile to play?

If you are interested in PvE and WvW i would recommend you go for the conditionmancer… you will then be build towards higher success rate for the amount of skill/time invested in both aspects. Hybrid is really potent in PvE and requires skill… but if you take it into PvP, requires even more skill…

Nemesis – So I did go Conditionmancer and I love it! The AOE and survivability is awesome. I was just thinking about setting up a second build of either a hybrid or GC set up. With the new patch coming presumably Hybrid looks like it might get a boost. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on a good build option to a conditionmancer is considering PvE dungeons and fractals specifically.

I was thinking the hybrid build. Also I’ll be curious about any tweaks to the Conditionmancer you find with the new patch.