Guild Wars 2

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Broom.2561:

And even in this game, people capable of healing just DO NOT HEAL OTHERS even when it’s essential (e.g. temple of balthazar, keeping the NPCs alive).

To be fair, that is often more of a case of enemy mobs spawning right on top of the NPC’s, and instantly obliterating them with multiple simultaneous nukes, before people can even react.

Also, I would be interested to see an update on this with some of the Support Build Buffs that came through with the Specialization patch. I mean, I AoE Heal on a Necromancer for Kitten’s Sake.

I understand all of the frustration with EotM, but I have a hard time caring. I literally just use it to kill time while waiting for a queue or occasionally troll people (hey, I play Engineer and Ranger—EotM was made for us to troll uplevels).

The issue has never been with the content, however. Frankly, I wish that the objectives and bosses in the core WvWvW maps were more interesting and had more mechanics (as well as the variable terrain) like EotM. The issue is that there is no actual impact for one’s actions in EotM. Serious WvWvWers just don’t care about it because it doesn’t impact ppt or the core WvWvW score at all. If there was an impact, organized groups would get on and wreck the K-Trains into oblivion.

If success in EotM matches gave buffs to players in core WvWvW, the K-Train issues would be fixed overnight.

NoTrigger.8396:

Knighthonor.4061:

NoTrigger.8396:

Knighthonor.4061:

maddoctor.2738:

Knighthonor.4061:

Cyrill Faust.9340:

I think they should have picked a different name, it’s not meant to function in anyway similar to “taunt” in trinity games and it just confuses people who have a poor grasp on game mechanic/design. It’s meant to be the opposite of Fear instead of of pushing away it pulls in, it was never meant as PVE aggro control.
That said I can see how it could be interesting in PVP/WVW however it’s not accessible enough to really matter at the moment.

I disagree. Because it forces enemy to also auto attack the source of taunt.
Also it controls AI for NPC. Far different from Fear.

It forces them to auto attack while the taunt is in effect. Once the taunt ends the mob can continue attacking other players as normal, taunt has no effect on the threat list of the mob. It doesn’t put the taunter on the top of the threat list like taunts do in “aggro games”

From what I been testing, that’s not the case, except the one time I had the taunt fail all together and didn’t effect the enemy at all while the condition was on the NPC condition bar.

But in my testing, taunt held Aggro after the mob was taunted, meaning it places the taunted target at top of Aggro list. Just like in other MMOs with taunts in PvE.

and even if thats the case it still wont make “tanks” viable, because you can get good and avoid damage in gw2 instead of eating it.

What is a tank?
Somebody the controls mobs is it not?

Well with Defiance bar and taunt, thats more of a reality come HoT.

You were arguing that Taunt is simply a reverse fear. again, Taunt is in the game now, and proves you Nay Sayers wrong.

From testing, it totally changes the aggro list, and puts the caster at the top, even after effect ends. Even changes the target of the target just like Taunt in every other MMO with taunts.

Now what you have to say about that?

im saying, even if its the case, your facetank gear wont be optimal because you can avoid taking damage.

This kind of Taunt mechanic changes what it would mean to “Tank” in this game. Tanking isn’t just about taking damage, it’s about taking the attention of your enemies away from your allies. In that sense, you don’t have to eat any damage whatsoever and you can still be a tank, as long as you keep the target interested in you.

For example: Taunt + Shield Stance is a classic take on tanking, while an Engineer with taunt can cc-lock the taunted enemy with blinds and knockdowns.

Tanking can, and maybe should, become a thing in this game—it just won’t be the damage sponge we know from WoW.

Bunuka.3154:

Played roughly 2k games (hotjoins, tournament, unranked etc. )

I’ve taken beastmastery for the very strong taunt as the Grandmaster. I find Quickdraw in skirmisher really overrated and not suited for LB due to the need to swap. Nature Magic is okay but offers no real utility like Beastmastery does.

I use Greatsword for mobility/ the block and Maul. The Block is the main purpose for the GS as it provides such much needed damage avoidance while you wait for your heal/endurance or stealth to come off CD. It’s also very helpful against thieves or mesmers who have gone into stealth.

If you go Beastmastery, you should probably choose a bird like the Raven as a pet as the F2 cooldown lines up well with taunt.

I also go Beastmastery, and with it, take the AoE Blind on F2, GS cd reduction, and Taunt to Pet on F2 traits. I run Greatsword as my alternate weapon, and go for 2 birds as my pets (I go for Eagle and Snow Owl) because of the low cooldowns on their F2s (icd on the taunt is 15 sec, and both are below that on their F2, I believe).

With my zerker build, I have gone toe to toe with medi guardians and thieves in 1v1 and dominated PvP (with Marauder ammy).

I’ve only noticed improvements to my power build. The addition of two cc effects on F2 (15 sec icd) and lots of condi clear in the Survival line made me incredibly strong in all three game types.

Yes. Traps are traps—they’re not grenades to toss at people.

I don’t think that we can make any assumptions as to Elite Spec balance vs “Standard” Spec balance. At this point, I don’t think there will be any difference between the players with the expansion and players without the expansion—only less build/character selection for those restricted to the core game.

I use something like this (http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VZ;4sPVg0c-JR-x0;9;4ijm;0047238136;4LJ0;3jxqQjxqQr-ki-M;2a;1f1A4f6A9fBf0-WCN771C) for WvWvW and PvE (Silverwastes mostly, and I don’t like having to carry two sets of gear around).

Some Notes:

• I love the Med Kit, even though I usually only use the ToolBelt Heal (getting the activation without cd on dodge is awesome). I use the other skills occasionally, but, with the exception of vuln and combo fields a plenty, this is a pretty selfish build.
• I think that Mortar Kit is very useful, especially the Toolbelt skill, but getting guaranteed Projectile finishes on my 1 skill is great
• Grenades are still useful, though I, oddly enough, find them most useful at close range. I usually lay down my bombs, then switch to nades and go ham, switching back to bombs when they’re off of cd
• With all of the hits I get from nades, I get enough crit procs on my bleeds and burns that seeing myself get 4k bleed ticks and 2k burn ticks, on top of any poison and confusion I put out, is pretty common.

As for your questions:

1. I think that grenades and mortar are a good mix, particularly for a condi build
2. I’ve been using mortar kit. After using Supply Drop exclusively for so long, I haven’t looked back
3. I ran bombs before the patch, so I’m running them the same amount
4. Posted my build above. I use nades, but wasn’t aware of the bug or exploit
5. I currently use the new med kit because the Tools traits make the heal really strong (relatively beefy on a low cd and occasional 0 cd)
6. See above
7. I never considered gadgeteer because I only run one gadget.

I can definitely see Rabid P/P engineers being strong in sPvP (though I’ve been having fun with my temporarily OP Power Ranger to the exclusion of Engi recently).

I’m thinking something like:

• Explosives: Grenadier, Shaped Charges, [Trait that gives bleeds and cripple to explosions]
• Firearms: [Close Combat], Precision to Condi Trait, Incendiary Powder
• Tools: Reactive Lenses, Streamlined Kits, [No CD on Tool Skill on Dodge Trait]
• Heal Kit, Grenade Kit, Bomb Kit, Slick Shoes, Mortar Kit
• Krait or Balth Runes
• Sigils of Fire and Earth

I haven’t tried this in sPvP (it certainly works for WvWvW Roaming, with some Dire and P/S instead of P/P). With all of the hits you get with the explosives line, you will get enough crits to proc all of your condis every time they are off CD.

Granted, I’m running Balthazar Runes and a Sigil of Fire (the other is Earth), I maintain 1-2k ticks for burning damage pretty consistently with the Incendiary Powder trait.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Nausiation.1469:

They nerfed the longbow/gs combo. The GS might be better if you spec for it but then you can’t fully spec for the longbow. Not sure why they would change everything up that didn’t need changing so that returning players can no longer play their favorite builds.

They can play Longbow builds without traiting for it.
They buffed GS thousandfold. Do you realize you are asking for playing double buffed spec you played before? Which is not really playing the one you played before but the one 2 times more powerful.

LB/GS is still a thing in PvP.
And for PvE: LB was taken before GS just because the highest DPS output came from sword #1 spam and we didn’t even swap weapons. So you started with #5 LB and #2 and never took it out again.

Edit: They can play more powerful versions of their former build. If they do not like it – they can run with 0-0-0. Or leave some of the traits out.

LB/GS is a great thing in PvP. Especially with the Beastmastery Line… such synergy…

kitten OP is kitten.

Raising of Condi Caps makes more builds viable and requires more diverse zergs. This is a good thing.

Zoke.2147:

[snip]

P.S. I have played ranger, I do understand the class has weaknesses and has next to 0 chance in most straight up duels because there are no mechanics to deal with it… but if ranger had those mechanics and didn’t get a nerf to follow them it would be the dumbest thing in the game.

If you think that Ranger has a close to 0% chance to win a 1 on 1 duel, you either didn’t play ranger well or haven’t played against any good rangers—maybe it’s both.

I went 3 for 5 against a Medi Guardian the other day (on a LongBow/Great Sword Power Ranger). In sPvP, I have come out at least one kill (and usually still alive) on 1v2 or 1v3 fights more times than not since the patch. Rangers have a relatively high skill floor (they only have 2 real profession abilities, after all), but it’s not so high as Warrior or Guardian. It also has a really high skill ceiling—it certainly isn’t easy to go toe to toe with heavy melee as a LongBow Ranger.

The trait overhaul has completely revitalized the game for me.

I used to run an Engineer with traits in four lines, but now I get the functionality I was getting before in three (of course, it helps that it was a WvWvW Condi Roamer build). Overall, it’s easier for me to select traits when I can just mouse over them, rather than have to click several traits to see if they work with my build.

Furthermore, they removed some terribly useless traits and merged others to make them stronger.

I see that most of the QQ comes from people having to make hard choices when it comes to their traits… well boo freakin’ hoo—decisions in games should have consequences. It’s not like it’s hard to change your build if it isn’t working out.

LameFox.6349:

Vayne.8563:

Coldtart.4785:

All pve can be solved, therefore no pve can be challenging. You just follow the solution and you win.

Math problems can be solved, too. Doesn’t mean there aren’t challenging math problems.

That’s actually a pretty good comparison because both generally only need ‘solving’ when you first encounter them or something changes. Dungeons also seemed more challenging when the game first released, before everyone began to memorize what worked and just repeat it. So did Tequatl when it changed, but now all I have to do is show up early enough to avoid the ‘special’ maps (and hope not to crash) and it’s basically a sure thing.

It’s a big part of why so much content in this game gets boring so quickly.

Dungeons are also boring because most of the content is skippable -.-

A lot of the PvE Difficulty issues will probably be fixed when break bars and Resistance gets implemented on World Bosses.

That being said, I do think that SW is more fun, partially because I love seeing absurd condition ticks on my Engi or being able to lifesteal sustain while tanking Copper on my Necro (!), but also because it does feel like the enemies are a lot less spongy (which is a really lazy way to make encounters difficult, IMHO).

PvE needs more play and counterplay, lest everything become a lazy dps race like it was before.

Gear stat wise, it is usually easier to build condi. Trait-wise, we have to give up a lot of QoL traits in order to keep condition stacks up. I have zero cleanse on my engineer now.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Quarktastic.1027:

Chokolata.1870:

Steady focus is a PvE trait.

Fluffball.8307:

Those 2 traits are not what makes the GS so powerful with the new traits; it’s Remorseless and Quick Draw.

What they said. I’m landing back-to-back 10-15k damage mauls and I love it. The Ranger GS is more powerful than it has ever been.

This, this and this again.

Greatsword became a viable weapon for PvE meta. People should learn to learn before complaining. Forums would become less of a mess.

If people made informed arguments then it wouldn’t be a proper internet forum, now would it?

Mesmers have always annoyed me, but right now my biggest issue is with power/burst variants. With the survival line, I can cleanse almost constantly, but I was dueling with a Power Mesmer, got him down to 1/3 health after he burned his heal, and he cleared 70% of my health in a matter of seconds.

It’s probably a LtP issue on my part, though. Every build has a counter, after all.

NikeEU.7690:

The new specialization system allows you to run whatever build you want within your playstyle. The old trait system did the same thing too. I don’t see what the complaint is here?

For me, the issue was never with the traits per se, it was that the gulf between the effectiveness of Zerker/Assassin Direct Damage builds and Condition or Support Builds was always too wide. I think that this patch did wonders to bridge the divide and put alternative builds on more equal footing.

The question has never been “choice.” It was always been whether that choice was between a variety of similarly effective playstyles or being effective or ineffective.

Yeah, meta builds aren’t really all that important unless you’re either in the highest ranks of PvP or run dungeon groups that are completely obsessed with (completely unfun, IMHO) Dungeon Speed Running.

I’m in a T2 WvWvW server, and I don’t run any meta builds (unless I stumbled upon them accidentally, like I did with my Ranger). That being said, I can usually hold my own in a 1v1 (oddly enough, hardest to do on my “meta” Ranger) or in a zerg fight.

Play how you want, and adjust what doesn’t work. It’s not fun if you just chase the meta.

Has anyone QQing about conditions stopped to think that Condi works with Dire because you need to be able to survive in order to ramp up your damage? Having a ton of condition damage does nothing when you get burst down in the time it takes you to apply a few stacks.

Strong? Yes. Broken? No. What the conditions patch is going to accomplish are threefold:

1. Increase the viability of condition builds in PvE other large group settings
2. Make YOLO builds more difficult to pull off (increase risk/reward)
3. Incentivize groups to run condi cleanse. Individuals generally won’t have to, but someone in the group needs to.

I run a condi engineer (dire/rabid for WvWvW and Silverwastes) and a power Ranger (zerker in wvwvw, marauder in pvp) post build, and, while they seem to be equally viable, I get faster kills with my Ranger. That is with me being able to get consistently concurring ticks of 3k+ bleed damage and 2k+ burn damage on my Engineer—my ranger just dies faster if things go wrong.

This is because, even now, condition builds need time to ramp up their damage and add stacks. This time can be used to counter the condi giver with:

• burst damage
• condition cleanse
• stuns/disables
• disengage, cleanse, reengage (thieves just need to trait into Shadow Arts for this)

The issue now is that damaging conditions can’t be ignored like they used to because that stack of 10 bleeds can pretty quickly become 30.

As for Thieves being squishy, well, most professions are only as squishy as you build them :-).

Here is something that I’ve been playing with with some success. (let me know if the link doesn’t work)

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VKo-g;2FFx-r2cDF-0;9F-1;1Yb_;0148046157;4LBW4R;1LNW4LNW4a0O

It’s a variation of a longbow/greatsword power ranger with a heavy focus in pet management and survival.

Some benefits:

• All of the survival skills (Zephyr, Lightning Reflexes, Entangle, Troll Ungent) provide condi cleanse
• The birds (hawk and eagle, though I sometimes use snow owl) have relatively short cooldowns on their activated attacks (4.75 seconds for hawk/eagle), which is important because they inflict AoE Taunt and Blind)

Other than that, it’s relatively basic. I like Marauder more than zerker because they removed vit from zerker and Marauder gives more crit chance (more crits = more sigil procs)

I play both power (ranger) and condition (engineer, necromancer) builds, and I am really, really pumped for the condi changes. As for all of the power folks complaining… the patch gave me access to so much condi-cleanse on my ranger I could hardly believe it.

Knighthonor.4061:

What Skill types you want for Elite Spec?

The way I predict it is as follows:

*Warrior (Berserker) Torch
I want:
-Conjures
-Kits
-Minions
But most likely getting:
-Venons
————————————————-
*Guardian (Dragon Hunter) Long Bow
-Traps
———————————————————
*Revenant (Unknown) Focus
I want:
-Ranged Legend

---

*Engineer (Forge) Hammer
I want:
-Physicals
-Minions
But most likely getting:
-Signet
———————————————————-
*Ranger(Druid) Staff
I want:
-Physicals
But most likely getting:
-Mantras
———————————————————————————-
*Thief (unknown) Staff
I want:
-Meditations
-Spirit Weapons
But most likely getting:
-Stances
——————————————————
*Mesmer (Chronomancer) Shield
-Wells
————————————————
*Necromancer(Reaper) Greatsword
-Shouts
——————————————————
*Elementalist (Tempest) Sword
I want:
-Turret
-Spirit Weapons
-Spirits
But most likely getting:
-Glamours

My guess is that Thief will probably get Rifle, though a melee staff Thief would be cool. That being said, I think that Mantras are a possibility with Thief.

Miku.6297:

MattyP.6954:

Man… ANet can’t even give things away for free without people kittening at them…

Had they given these free BEFOR pre-orders had been placed, it would have been purely awesome for everyone. Giving them out after people pre-ordered some editions with a character slot being one weighing factor: not so awesome.

In the case that the marginal character slot was the determining factor, then you can get a refund for your deluxe edition and buy the standard. No Harm; no foul. If you want to keep the goodies and now you have an extra slot… you didn’t lose any value on your purchase, you just have an extra slot that, even if you never use it, has no cost to have.

Anet didn’t remove value from anyone’s purchase (the opposite, in fact). The issue is that people aren’t getting exactly what they want. Well, I wish I got kitten gift card with my laptop instead of having Norton Antivirus pre-installed on it.

If wishes were fishes then nobody would go hungry.

Man… ANet can’t even give things away for free without people kittening at them…

dreadicon.5840:

Once again, it’s the updates to which you subscribe, not access per-se. You gain access the first time you subscribe to updates (including all past updates). Each time there is a new expansion, your subscription runs out. Because 90%+ of the new updates will be behind the new content, lack of the HoT subscription means you are also hedged out of the Living World ‘free’ updates.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a different marketing model. My post is not so much to jab ANet for not calling their model a subscription as it is to try and keep the model clear in people’s minds. I see a lot of people complaining that they are short-changed by buying the original now, or will be next expansion by buying this one now. This is simply not true; you can wait till next subscription period to get better value, or buy HoT now and get the content before 2018+. Their call. The price will be the same then though in all likelyhood.

@IndigoSundown: WoW as a comparison is medeocre at best, I will admit, but it’s often either ignored or misrepresented as a comparison.

Nope, you still lose. You still have access to all of the base game and all of the QoL improvements that come through the pipe, even if you don’t buy the expansion

There’s nothing shady going on. The standard MMO Expansion costs between $40 and $50, and that is what Heart of Thorns costs.

They don’t have to give you a discount, and they are giving you a free character slot ($10 value) if you prepurchase.

Furthermore, this is not a subscription… that metaphor is completely ridiculous. Not buying the expansion doesn’t prevent you from playing the core game—it just locks you out of the new content. Try that kitten with WoW. Drop your subscription, and they won’t let you log in.

Stop QQing. If it’s too expensive, wait until it goes on sale.

I don’t know if it should be or will be nerfed, It’s a grandmaster trait, so it should be strong, and it’s highly situational. As for ElixerR, doubling that is going to have limited impact if the res fields don’t stack—that’s a pretty easy fix.

Secondly, after the 20 second cooldown, it’s going to be pretty hard to have a dodge left to trigger the ability again (even with ElixerR). Also, it only counts on successful dodge, not just a dodge in combat. So if you mistime a dodge or accidentally dodge a blinded attack (I think that “Missed” overrules “Evaded”), then you just burned your chance.

It’ll be strong, but it will be difficult enough to pull off as to not be completely OP

So, I stopped reading around page 5, but here are some reactions I had to some of the points I’ve seen:

• LB Rangers are OP when they +1 a fight

So wait, you’re complaining that a ranger can burst you down while you’re paying attention to another player? Rangers are by far not the most effective at this. Our main burst option takes time to realize it’s full damage potential. Have you ever been +1ed by a Thief? A Meditation Guardian? A Hammer Warrior? There are so many professions that are better at this than ranger.

• Being able to counter an LB ranger doesn’t make it balanced

This is completely silly. Balance is the presence of effective play and counter play for all available professions. I used to suck at countering thieves on my engineer… until I learned how to counter thieves on my engineer (I didn’t even have to change my build!). Every profession has an effective counterplay for every other profession. That’s balance.

• Rangers are too strong in Zergs.

Yeah, let’s hate on all of the ‘zerker wearing thugs that wreck my face while hiding in a zerg. Let’s nerf staff Eles while we’re at it. And grenade Engineers… wait, you mean that everyone who has a ranged burst option benefits from hiding on walls or behind friends? Clearly playing in groups and standing on walls is unbalanced and ArenaNet needs to change it immediately.

• Rangers that are bad players have too easy of a time

Bad players die. It doesn’t matter what profession they belong to. A monkey that knows how to click a mouse can perform a high burst backstab as a thief, that doesn’t mean that it’s unbalanced… it means that professions are good at the things they’re designed to be good at. Thieves are great at melee bursts; rangers are great at ranged sustained DPS (honestly, far from the best burst in the game); Guardians are great at support sustain. If you can’t avoid being killed by a bad ranger, then you need to learn how to avoid being killed by a bad ranger. It’s really, really not that hard. If you’re annoyed that you got last-hit by a noob in a zerg, then welcome to the club. It happens to everyone.

• Groups of Rangers focus me down and it’s not fair! QQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Welcome to WvWvW. My name is Matt, and I’ll be your guide. Combat in WvWvW is asymmetrical. I roam on a zerker LB/GS ranger (though I do have an ascended trinket with the vit stat), and I can’t count the number of times I pursued an easy kill (say, a warrior who isn’t paying attention) only to have to run the hell away because 3 of his friends show up (which isn’t easy, considering that there is NO swiftness in my build and my only mobility is GS3).

Is that a fair fight? No! Nothing about that fight was fair. I snuck up on someone who wasn’t paying attention, then I had 4 people come after me. But that’s the game mode. If you don’t like frequently running into fights where the odds are against you, than this is the wrong game type for you. Go back to beating on Tequatl or something.

In short: Ranger isn’t particularly OP, neither are Thieves (though stealth is getting some improved counterplay, which is nice), or Warriors or Guardians. You need to be able to counter a variety of professions and builds in order to WvWvW effectively, LB Rangers being chief among them due to their popularity.

Note: I was going to note how easy it is to counter a zerk lb ranger on my engineer, but that wouldn’t really be fair. Firstly, I main Ranger, so I know what counters ruin a Ranger’s day. Secondly, I built my Engineer specifically to roam and fight against the odds. Third, my Engineer runs Pistol/Shield, so having a block AND a reflect is really helpful.

Finally, reflecting LB2 isn’t fun for me. Sure, it’s effective, but it’s so… pedestrian… I like to block/dodge/stealth through the LB2, bait an LB4, then hit the reflect (hopefully, and with surprising regularity, making them knock themselves off of a wall or cliff). If they are silly enough to stick in longbow when a a freaking engineer walks up into melee, range, they deserve to be punished.

Yamsandjams.3267:

MattyP.6954:

Regardless of delay and telegraph, this skill will be great for blowing up siege in wvwvw,

Not only that, but think of the Synergy between Explosives Trait VII and Tools Trait VII… Orbital Barrage hits twice, AND you can cast it without a cooldown trigger after a successful dodge.

Think about the possibilities… drools

You’ll still need to have line of sight though. It’s not like you’ll be able to drop it down on the other side of a gate or something.

Unless you actually can, in which case that’s as OP as all hell. They will nerf that if that’s the case, I can guarantee you.

That is true, I was thinking primarily for hitting trebs on top of Borderlands SWT hitting Bay keep or clearing walls.

Regardless of delay and telegraph, this skill will be great for blowing up siege in wvwvw,

Not only that, but think of the Synergy between Explosives Trait VII and Tools Trait VII… Orbital Barrage hits twice, AND you can cast it without a cooldown trigger after a successful dodge.

Think about the possibilities… drools

My condi-roamer in wvwvw has traits in 4 lines, so that will have to be changed (already built the new one though).

I looooove owning theives with a Dire/Rabid engineer.

Hooray! Optimism!

I’m going to buy the expansion, but it’ll probably just be a couple days before launch so I can predownload it. I don’t really have interest in the betas.

Yes. In fact, it will probably have a bigger playerbase than it does now, because that’s how MMO Expansions work.

I don’t mind the lack of new dungeons. I would rather them fix the dungeons in the base game (particularly around how easy it is to skip content, and how zerker speedrunning is too easy) first before they add any new dungeons to the expansion.

I would like to make a note about the relative efficacy of the Med Kit post patch…

The fact the primary heal is on the Tool Belt means that, if you spec in to tools, you get a 15% cooldown reduction (this is why I currently use medkit, I get decreased cd on my heals)… but post patch it gets stupid-strong…

Tools Trait VII means that every time you dodge an attack (20s cd), you can activate your next toolbelt skill without triggering its cooldown.

That means a double heal after dodge 0.o

I run a Dire/Rabid WvWvW Roamer here, and I’ve set up a specialization set that I think will work pretty well.

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgEBeAKcBZQ~

I’m thinking of replacing tools IV with tools VI for the extra blast/vuln, but it’s hard to say “No” to Speedy Kits.

I feel like Tools might become the must-have specialization for Engineers. It is such a powerful traitline…

Edit: I am also thinking of switching to Runes of the Krait to further buff my bleeds.

Just give players who buy through the gem store a character slot. It’ll provide us some value and doesn’t make us pay for the game that we’re buying the expansion through again.

Easy fix for this (and will solve the QQ). Make expansion purchases in the gem store contain a character slot instead of the base game.

It is a little silly to make us buy the base game when we’re buying it through the base game.

Here’s my ranger. Just need the pants to complete his look.

I’m not too worried about this. Traits have always been about making choices, and people rarely pick the fall damage traits for the secondary effects (though I have used Soften the Fall in WvWvW on my ranger to immobilize groups of enemies while they have no clue).

If the trait/traitline isn’t worth it to you, don’t pick it. It’s as easy as that.

So, I have a longbow power ranger (which I actually built without consulting metabattle… whodathunkit?), and I just want to take a moment to appreciate how good I am a holding the Skyhammer in PvP. It’s always the same rundown:

1. See someone running towards the Skyhammer door
2. Run back to the corner next to the door
3. Fear with the wolf, LB3
4. Run next to them, LB4 off of the platform
5. If that one fails, skirmish around a bit and try again

Over the last couple of days, I’m probably 9/10 at holding the Skyhammer one on one, 50/50 when I’m outnumbered.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how strong this class can be.

phys.7689:

Coulter.2315:

Pino.5209:

Coulter.2315:

The traits are all more worthy of taking now, they have made every choice valid and have cut the pointless rubbish. You have more valid choices now just less pointless choices. Its a better move for diversity not worse.

This not entirely true. You have less choices and flexibility now. Less pointless choices, which you can’t avoid while being lock into a line, just because you want to get a specific useful trait in that line. I wouldn’t call it better move for diversity. It’s a better move to dumb down the traits, less complicated for the simple minded. Just like when they dumb down leveling, NPE. Not only this, the nerf bats that come with this new system is enormous, just to poor salt into the wound.

Old example, say you’re a Necro from a few years back and you want to take Dhuumfire you then are forced to take the 2 “least worst” options in Adept and Master – now because of the combining of traits and several useful choices at each level you now can get better options. Thats before I even mention Mesmers getting IP as baseline (a MASSIVE freedom), all classes getting 1/2 their bottom line effect and more.

The removal of redundant traits and the enpowering of all choices gives you more choice. Yes it makes it harder to make a bad choice but is that really “flexibility?”

you dont have to get rid of choices in order to make some choices better, thats a fallacy.
yes, they cut choices, and improved some choices at the same time, but they didnt have to.
they could just have had more choices which were better choices.

its like someone saying the only way you can have good food is if their are less types of food. simply not true, you can have choices AND high quality at the same time. Which gives you the ultimate amount of diversity and quality.

Actually, if you watch some of those shows where they fix-up failing restaurants (Restaurant Nightmares, Restaurant Impossible, etc), one of the most common things they do is remove the under-performing items from the menu, because having too many options a.) overwhelms customers and makes them take more time make a selection and b.) complicates the operations of the kitchen by having to maintain rotating stocks of several different ingredients that often go to waste.

Having a ton of choices doesn’t matter if, to be viable, you have to disregard most of them (like not ordering the obviously kittenty items from a menu). It’s not true choice—it’s the illusion of choice.

I hope they have more armor sets that work on Ranger. Most of the Medium armor skins work best on Thieves/Engineers, imho.

That being said, I’m quite happy with how Koda/Falconer looks on my guy.

Don’t want to pay? Grind out some transmute charges in pvp

I wonder: Why do you need full unlocks on 20 alts? Honestly, do you play your alts often enough as to where you’re changing up your builds on them?

Especially when you’re talking about having multiple characters of the same profession, why wouldn’t you use your 400 points on each character to make sure all of the builds are unlocked between the two characters?

Heck, I only have 4 level 80s (and a 5th on the way), but I never play my alts enough to need to change their builds up on a regular basis. They each fill a niche, and, when I need to play a certain role (usually in WvWvW), I hop on the corresponding alt.

My bet is still on mobile minions, based on the trailer footage.