Guild Wars 2

Eviator.9746:

Yamsandjams.3267:

You should maybe try running through him next time instead of running around him. If you have that melee assist thing on, just turn that off, it’s not very useful anyways (you just let yourself be body-blocked by enemies).

I do indeed, thanks for the tip.

If at the end of it all, that still provides issues for you, try rocketing towards your target with slick shoes activated and the line of oil you shoot should trap the npc for a couple seconds. Also effective for kitten ing off zergs.

Dranz.3456:

I thought boon duration was capped at 50%? If not the 2 fire, 2 strength, 2 altruism. That’s 70% might duration, with 5 might (20 sec originally) on heal with a 16 second cd. So it’s what 34 seconds of might? Plus elixir b, and the tosses. I still don’t see how people get 25 might with hgh, and sustain it. I mean throw in weapon swap might, and you get close, but 15-20 seems more realistic, or am I missing something?

I haven’t heard anything about boons being capped at 50%. With the noticeable increase in duration you will find that it is much much easier to maintain those stacks, if you conserve your skills you find yourself resting at 12-15, but if you continually pop your skill when available you can keep 25 pretty much indefinitely. Play around with it and see how it works for you.

joshisanonymous.5270:

On the other hand, the one giant downside to fast-cast for me is that when the screen gets very busy I can sometimes lose my cursor and these are the worst moments because I’m probably getting killed and don’t have time to pause or make mistakes. It’s a lot harder to lose a giant green reticle.

Always a joy to reposition yourself and somehow throw into the wall behind you XD.
However you force yourself into the habit of never having anything at your back (visually) when you do fast-cast, so after time this becomes less of a problem. What you say is true though, each option has pros and cons that the individual must weigh.

Eviator.9746:

You could be right. I’ll try your turn-around suggestion. Unfortunately I’m a mouse-turner and turn-around doesn’t work so well with that, so its gonna take some time.

If that is the case, then maybe you could try different patterns. In the case of the video you could have aggrod the mob and proceded to strafe backwards (imagine stitching a wound with slick shoes, that type of pattern) with slick shoes activated, which would cause them to walk directly into your pools and allow you to continue from there.

Dranz.3456:

I figured the healing power wouldn’t hurt, and the 15% boon duration puts hgh at 45% duration. So it seems like solid offense with might, fury (with a mix of rabid, carrion, and celestial trinkets it would put crit at 46% chance), and boon duration. The healing is just a little something extra.
I am a big fan of semi balanced stats so I was looking at celestial trinkets. I should sit around 20-21k health, and 2k ish deff. I was going to use koi cakes/veggi pizza for condi duration. The 10% from nightmare runes feels like to little, maybe a mix of water for boon duration, krait for bleed, and maybe another for bleeding/burning?

Undead runes also do not look bad… Bah to many good runes, not enough slots.

45% to all boons is pretty decent, but you might find yourself having trouble maintaining 25 stacks of might consistently. The most efficient method I found in doing so was using 2 Superior Runes of Fire, and 2 Superior Strength, 2 optional. Speccing 20 in Explosives gives you the ability to gain 3 stacks of might using your heal, which combos with HGH to give you 6 stacks for 1 skill (9 if you went the Altruism route). However, doing so would make you take 10 points from either Fire Arms of Tools. If you really like Altruism, I would suggest trying the 20 in explosives and see how that works with your current play style.

If you look closely at the video you can see that the areas of slick applied were jusssstttt shy of his footsteps. I think the last ones closest to him could have been dead animation? My suggestion here would be to keybind the turn around to “x” so that you can simply spin on the spot and lay a puddle of slick around you for melee. Ideally, I prefer to pull them to me and turn around to activate slick shoes so that they are dragged into a kd combo when you walk in circles to beat em with a wrench.

Dranz.3456:

I am looking at a hgh p/p condition damage build. the thing is I only like 2 elixirs, namely b, and h. Is the standard elixir s that goes into the slot be that useful in wvwvw? Or could rocket boots work? Maybe the condi clearing elixir?

Even though Elixir S is a shadow of its former glory it is still an amazing skill to keep on your utility bar, as the applications of it extend beyond saving your life by ignoring CC effects for that well rewarded stomp. Rocket boots are amazing with the new forward propelling motion, but are better suited with a Super Speed buff to maximize their distance. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend using Elixir R anymore since it is no longer a stun breaker like Elixir S is.

Dranz.3456:

Is 50% condi duration with food good enough?

This is a matter of your personal preference really. You have to discern whether investing the points into extending your ticks improves your dps enough to justify other build alternatives. I use p/p and find that 60% base duration with 90% bleed is optimal for my build and play style, however this brings me to your next question.

Dranz.3456:

And last question what’s the the thoughts on runes of altruism? More might, and fury on heal seems very powerful.

Unless you are using HGH to stack might and buff durations, I find that this particular setup is a bit underwhelming. With Elixir H you won’t get as much benefit from them as you would from Med Kit, but then again you wouldn’t do the kit for an HGH build and you would have to Rune into Might durations to maintain them. Since I have no idea what your build is I can only assume at this point in time that you have better alternatives to examine than Altruism.

Mizstik.1736:

All valid points. I agree that traits such as sharpshooter that’d normally go into such a build also need to be considered. I’d like to note about one thing though. Condition damage is weaker against high-vit, low armor targets and that’s where zerker shines. But obviously condition damage is ideal against high armor, low-vit target.

Also zerker does not need condition duration food/rune. :P

Unless you were stacking vuln out the wazoo for the highest potential base damage possible. In which case I have tried and found it quite effective, but there are certainly other alternatives that could and do work better for others.

Ostricheggs.3742:

I have over 5.2k games on my engi, a good 90% of which I used nades.

I don’t use fast cast.

All it comes down to is practice. If that fails, roll a necro cuz marks are easier to land.

In regards to how they should be used, under most circumstances, do you think a more aggressive in their face approach to be more effective or do you try to keep them at a distance? I’ve seen a few of your videos and think your advice for the OP would prove invaluable. Plus I just like to pick brains =P

Anymras.5729:

I’d actually be interested in a dev response to this one – it has been months since it was ‘temporarily’ disabled, after all, and at this point it’s not even the same skill, having been turned from a comic relief skill to an actually fairly interesting one that makes us one of the most mobile classes in the game.

I have to agree with you here. The only problem that I can see is that the synergy between SS and RB would function similarly to the pre Lightning Reflexes underwater nerf. I would rather it remain non functional underwater than for them to revoke its current applications on land to accomodate any changes underwater.

Bloodgruve.6038:

Hello Engineers,

I’m practicing Grenades but I’m not fully proficient yet. I’ve shy’d away from condition but am willing to give it a shot.

TY in advance for any input.

Blood~

If you do decide that Condition is something you want to try, Grenades are an amazing place to test the waters. It is insanely easy, to the point of being boringly so, to maximize your condition dps with Rabid gear and an HGH build. As was stated previously, one does not want to become comfortable ranging with nades as you kitten your reflexive capabilities and overal potential. The best grenadiers that I have seen are usually aggressors who constantly push on top of the enemy and root them for dps chains/condition stacking. The idea of using bomb kit in close quarters only serves to solidify this principle.

mecra.5780:

Sorry, the title just typed itself.

Question, once I have to go grenades for various non-PVE content, what’s the best way to ensure proper grenade throwage? Do you bind right and left mouse keys to enhance throwing and use that options toggle to just throw the nade where your cursor is? Using your keyboard hand would seem to hinder your good ability to move so I would figure you would use the mouse to throw the nade.

My fingers are already rebelling at the potential clicking that I’m going to have to do to make grenades work. :/

The greatest piece of advice that anyone can give you in this instance is to remove the aoe sighting and enable “Fast-Cast Ground Targeting”. You will throw grenades wherever your mouse is. Additionally, I would suggest keybinding your primary kit (nades in this case) to the standard weapon swap button “~”, as this will allow you to swap between kit and weapon more effectively.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

Im a firm believer of theorycrafting and ironically im completely against cookie cutting , but some people doesn’t have the desire to create their own so they require assistance . Thats fine , also my intentions werent to pick your build apart viciously , and dismiss it as bad..i merely wanted to analyze the synergy and what could be better for those potentially wanting to use the build . Your stance on your build is inspiring , i love the fact you created what works for YOU and not just hand picked from another’s. Talk about engineering

Quite the opposite, I love having someone analyze as deeply as you have because it brings new ideas to improve upon what has been built. Many of the critiques you provided were from my initial evaluation of the build as I made it. I am truly honored you took the time to inspect it so intently and provide alternatives. This whole exchange is an example of what someone needs to consider when adapting a build to their play style and mentality.

P.S.
Sorry OP if the thread was jacked hahaha.

Grackleflint.4956:

Oh, and in any build that uses Slick Shoes, might I suggest Sigil of Impact. +10% dmg vs. stunned or knocked down foes. This sigil really shines in zerg v zerg fights too because a LOT of knock down and stun abilities are being spammed.

I had not considered this, I could see this adding a bit more damage to the slick and TK pummeling. Granted the cd of slick shoes is too long to make it very useful, but a thoughtful adaption none the less.

Grackleflint.4956:

Thanks for sharing what looks like both an offbeat, and effective build, Mnemesis.

If you want a bit more fun, try pulling a Leeroy into a zerg with shield up, activating slick shoes + super speed + rocket boots. Funniest thing ever to lay down a giant line of slick and kd the whole lot of em. I have actually survived a zerg by pulling this stunt hahaha.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

Ok let me get this straight before i pick your build apart , you want maximum burst right?

On top of this, I think it would help to understand what you are trying to achieve exactly? As Bama questioned, did you want outright bursting or CC? The only times you really see TK, FT, and Rifle together are if you want to throw people around, which is quickly thwarted with stability. A little bit more information on your desired role is necessary.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

-Precise Sights doesnt mesh well at all with this build

-Modified Ammunition is wasted cause you have no attack power

-Coated bullets wasted cause you have no attack power

-Too many points in " Tools"(crit dmg) when you have no attack power

-The 10 in Adrenal Implant is wasted because you once again have no attack power , you’d become stronger by using those 10 for Invigorating Speeds..double the Vigor and more health..not to mention the aid of the passive boon duration youll get that’ll proc your Elixir B giving you more swiftness , crit might and retal (way too many wins)

-Poor choice of sigil (Sigil of Frailty)

-Poor rune choice , you’d be much stronger balancing your build out with more overall condition duration or actually tackling the issue of your poor condition removal.

Let me begin by thanking you for taking the time to actually look at the build so thoughtfully. I didn’t imagine anyone would do so with such intensity. Let’s keep in mind this is less of an analysis of individual builds as it is providing the OP with ideas on what he may or may not like to try out. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my justifications of why I have chosen this particular setup, but I will try to address it if only to show it wasn’t merely slapped together without any forethought.

I find Precise Sights to be very useful actually, as when you crit with SoF the Vuln stacks build rather quickly; granted it’s no where near the efficiency of Grenades. Both of those can easily be swapped out for one’s needs, however I just prefer it for team based support because 2 whacks with a wrench can yield ~7 stacks of vuln plus what you do during Pistols.

The runes allow me to extend bleeding to their fullest since everything else can already be maintained without having to over clock condition duration completely, granted yet another option someone could change to suit their needs, but one that i have found to give me another 2-3 stacks of bleed to maintain without completely altering my traits; having to rearrange the entire build to accomodate a larger boost to base condition duration would put me right back into a grenade kit setup that I wanted to leave.

Coated Bullets truly shines when attacking from walls in WvW as the positioning allows the shot to pierce and impact doing double the damage in a small area, which turns out to be even more useful with zergs present. I can see Modified Ammunition being a bit underwhelming in this particular case, but again it is something I have found to be of use to me as it does improve ones damage and is synergetic with vulnerability. The Coated Bullets effect with Modified Ammunition has given me Auto Attacks with pistols anywhere from 1k to 1.8k damage, which I dare say is pretty good for a Rabid set.

Eviator.9746:

Mnemesis, that build looks like fun. Think I’ll give it a shot, though with a few minor trait changes.

That’s what I designed it to be for, it’s mostly just about having fun and adapting to how you play. I get a lot of hate about the build, but at the end of the day I have a blast with it. If I can’t kill you, then you certainly will have trouble tracking me down to kill me. Make whatever changes you like to suit your play style, just wanted to give you some ideas on how to use what you equip to your mind set.

Eviator.9746:

Upon further analysis Mnemesis’s build has another couple things that bug me, aside from what GeneralBama said; maybe you can comment. With KR granting 2 seconds of Super Speed, it’s somewhat redundant with Speedy Kits? I know Super Speed is faster, but you’re effectively wasting some of that Swiftness time. Secondly, because you have the med-kit, sometimes you’re going to trigger magnetic aura. I’m wondering if healing turret would be better, but then you lose double heals with Inertial Converter…

The SS buff provided by KR synchs perfectly with Rocket boots, which gives you double the distance shot. I rarely delve into the med kit skills unless necessary, mostly keep it for the amazing cd and great base heal with the side bonus of being able to grab another 3k heal from packs. After boosting RB during SS I use med kit to get more swiftness and fury. I admit it is quite a balancing act.

Seeing as everyone has a different playing style and reflexes I can only offer you what I use and how I like to use it:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqal0p6dH5y5F17IyoHfWntZgeAY81I+pAbB-jUyAINhQaBIpBIHWEN2CWQKfRrKGWVNRUt6GTIgFrBA-w

I have personally found more success out of simplifying one’s build in WvW, as trying to do too much makes you clunky and an easy kill. What I strive to do is isolate someone with the Tool Kit’s pull and hold them in place with my immobilize and cripple. The free Super Speed buff from KR gives me insane mobility when combined with constant swiftness. SS with Rocket Boots will allow me offensive and defensive strategies by closing my gap to targets or creating vast distances they cannot close if I get into a sticky situation. Slick Shoes is an amazing utility since you can keep someone knocked down for 2-3 seconds and attack them with a wrench for the entirety of that duration. I have found the block from Tool Kit to be incredibly useful for survival, as you not only nullify someone’s bursts but also prevent any CC effects when trying to escape hairy situations. This build thrives on bringing someone into your game, by catching them off guard with pulls, blocks, conditions, and CC effects to force them into a different pace that many panic when encountering. There is a lack of condition removal compared to HGH and 409, but as Cripple, Chill and Immobilize tend to be the death of most people Rocket Boots does a fantastic job of removing those and allowing you a chance to recover. As I have used Rabid for my armor choice, you might find the increased toughness to be a good medium between damage and survivability.

For what my opinion is worth in the subject, I think Jigain has provided you some sound advice on where to go build wise. The Engineer has such a wide variety of roles to fill that it makes it hard to decide on what route to do since one is capable of using a Berserk set to obtain high numbers from a Grenade Kit or just doing the standard Static Discharge build. My personal perspective on Engineers is that there is such a wide range of conditions available that it is somewhat of a shame to neglect their viability in condition builds. I have stated before that I like to use Rabid armor and weapons while using Celestial as my accessories, but not everyone else likes that setup.

My suggestion to you would be to start off with a Rabid set as you have a naturally high crit chance with VERY good condition damage, which can easily be brought to the highest potential with an HGH build (gets boring after a while). The biggest benefit of Rabid in this case would be the increased Toughness providing you with a little bit more survivability, which allows you to bring out more of your potential without being on the floor because of a slow start on a new build(s). Whatever armor choice you do make, I would suggest getting as many armor pieces as you can from dungeons instead of buying, since you could put that money towards better uses like Food, Consumables, Runes, and Sigils.

Aether McLoud.1975:

Ele armor of earth at 50% health doesn’t stunbreak. Neither does the arcane shield procced at 25% health. Both skills are stunbreaks when used as utility skills.

Fair enough. Would save a lot of time and debate if they simply made a note of it somewhere rather than leave it hanging like this. Thank you very much for the clarification.

Aether McLoud.1975:

Procced skills that usually stunbreak are never stunbreaks.

Is there a particular instance you can think of that would be equivalent? I’m just curious because it should really be clarified with an official response or previous case with a similar situation. Not trying to pine over it really, am just looking for non disputable clarification on the subject.

Grok Krog.9581:

Sometimes with CC like launch if you activate your stun break too quickly it doesn’t unstun you. At least this has been my experience with some launch/knockdown effects. Maybe try waiting till the knockdown is half-over for more testing?

I did try kit swap at various point in a kd and nothing happened.

Wondering if anyone else is unable to proc a stun break from the KR-SS buff. I have heard others say they can, but I have been unable to gain this effect as I am still unable to move and skills locked for the kd duration.

VitalSuit.1980:

The super speed “boon” that you gain from slick shoes actually negates this debuff and allows you to run double speed in combat and rocket boots just send you flying forward. Super speed affects rocket boots more than swiftness to send you even farther.

I believe there is still a hidden speed cap that is impeding SS’s double movement speed effect, however the ability to negate combat movement reduction and impairing effects is a huge oversight in this particular instance. If this were to be balanced without breaking skills like RB and SS the orb needs to completely over ride SS and block the use of RB somehow. In my opinion it would be a little much to go out of the way and completely tailor an orb just to combat certain utility skills, when they could simply disable utility skills while holding it to prevent any particular class from gaining an edge over exploits. This should promote team efforts to secure the orb, even if it does push one individual into the role of a soldier set.

Forestnator.6298:

I checked super speed from KR and it worked as stun breaker. Are u sure it did not for u???

Just tested multiple times on Ettins and it does not stun break on kd, however the normal tool belt version does.

Neare.9703:

I would think it’s working as intended. That the KR on tool kit gives the super speed buff only rather than activating the skill itself therefore you don’t get the bonus of the stunbreaker. The stunbreaker and buff are separate from one another.

This brings up another question I have, has anyone noticed whether or not the automatic consumption of Elixir B at 75% health triggers Cleansing Formula 409. I want to say it does but haven’t payed that much attention to when it activates. If this “triggered” instance of the skill that is also separate from the actual one is proccing 409, then it would logically imply KR should do the same with SS’s new stun break addition.

I have noticed that the tool belt version of Super Speed is functioning correctly as a stun breaker, however the Kit Refinement version provided by Tool Kit does not. They are the same skill in every respect except for cool down, with Kit Refinement being more difficult to time and work with it seems like a justifiable addition to KR’s SS buff. Otherwise it should be directly stated that this is not an intended function to avoid confusion.

If I had to choose between the two builds, then I would be more inclined towards the first. However, from a personal view point I think it could be greatly improved if the Runes were adjusted. You could just as easily get 70% might duration from 2 Superior Fire and 2 Superior Strength, which would allow you to obtain 10% condition duration from 2 Superior Lyssa to combine with another 40% from Rare Veggie Pizza for a combined 80% condition duration from food, runes and traits. I have tried both extremes when it comes to maxing boons and condition duration and I have personally found this to be the happy mix of both worlds when it comes to using HGH.

If I were to offer an additional build that I use and love it would be this (exclude consumables for pvp):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalspiYnuSfF17ICoC5loHPGlNZfewWpFEC-jUyAItASLAIRJMHWEN2KX0KdBpKGWVNRUt6GTIgFLAA-w

Using Rabid gives me a very high base condition damage, good toughness, and nice crit chance while Celestial accessories provide me with a nice boost to my physical dps by complimenting the critical rate with a decent boost to crit damage. The reason I use my particular rune setup is because there is no real need to extend every buff as HGH centers around one’s ability to maintain Might; something I achieved with 4 runes took the first build presented 6 to do. Not only that, but I also optimized the condition duration to make the most of the great dps observed from conditions. Optimally, this build should be producing between 2k and 2.5k dps from condition alone (excluding confusion). Unless removed, targets are usually under a constant freeze and/or cripple, which makes it easier to apply more conditions including immob/confusion/blind.

Dolt.2731:

The idea (i think) is to keep reapplying condi’s, all of which (outside of fear) are available to you at a very rapid rate. I have the basics down just wondering if anyone had any in depth tips on when/ where to use the multitude of blast finishers available etc…

The combination of this information with the build is much easier to follow. Off the top of my head the one combo that I know takes quite a bit of practice to time right, which would essentially provide you with an 8s stealth to give you and/or allies the drop on others if you can achieve it. You want to use Healing Turret + Big Ol’ Bomb + Smoke Bomb + Mines… detonating both the mine and turret and bursting shield 4 skill in the smoke combo field to have everything stack stealth for you and everyone close enough. This might take some practice to get straightened out, but once perfected is an amazing contribution to the setup you currently have.

Aside from that, if you haven’t done so already in PvE situations, is to either buy or cook up some Rare Veggie Pizza to maximize your condition durations as the 40% duration is very nice to maintain. Something to consider as well would be to mix and match runes to maximize other aspects of your play style or build. You stated earlier that you use full Nightmare, but unless you are relying on it entirely for the off chance that you might fear someone at an opportune moment you could easily get an additional 10% condition duration from just 2 Superior Lyssa Runes, which could free up the other 4 slots. As an example you could utilize 2 Superior Monk and 2 Superior Water to give yourself a grand total of 50% boon duration (30 from runes 20 from traits PvE or 40% PvP). In the grand scheme of things the 100+ condition damage lost from sacrificing nightmare would only equate to a marginal loss in actual condition dps. If you have any questions specifically regarding this particular avenue I might be able to help out more, but overall I hope this is giving you something useful.

Dolt.2731:

Started playing a 30/10/0/20/10 condi build and must say it’s quite fun even though the learning curve feels steep with so many options at your disposal. I got a message from an ele today while doing dailies. “I <3 engi’s who can’t play anything but bunker condi, u r pathetic.”

It would help to know what traits you are using in those categories, since no one has any idea what you are running with just the points allotted. We currently have no idea if advice given might conflict with what you are already doing. For example:

Dolt.2731:

Do you generally open with incendiary ammo for a lot of up front pressure? As it has such a long up-time I hit this pretty much whenever it’s up to kick-start the cd… is this wrong?

This statement seems to suggest that you just use FT primarily for the tool belt burn, which could easily be swapped out for the Explosives Trait V and Rare Veggie Pizza. With a Rabid set it would help to diversify your conditions with Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit, both of which combo well with offhand shield. I personally prefer Grenade Kit with the typical HGH setup 30/10/0/30/0. So to summarize here, it would really help us if you were to post a link of the current build so we can more accurately provide you with specific feedback in this type of case. I highly suggest http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/

Had a couple questions for those more experienced. How often do you use mine kit?

I find that I never use or encounter them at later levels. As a whole the mines are a bit of a let down (at least for me). I think it is important to note that they are not a kit, but rather a gadget and function quite differently.

Dolt.2731:

I know it’s very situational but I find myself in ft kit or p/s most often. And on that note do you prefer ft auto attack for burning or pistol for bleed stacks? Oh i run full nightmare rune’s, rabid ammy/ jewel, sigil doom/ smoldering if that helps.

Again, to offer a personal perspective I have found that using FT for burning alone to be a bit underwhelming as is the same with bleeding and pistol auto-attacks. Between the Explosives Trait V and offhand pistol I can maintain perma burns just as with the FT, which then opens up other kit options such as the very impressive bleed stacks of Shrapnel Grenade. I also find the range and channeling effect of the FT auto-attacks to be a bit of a draw back in fast paced combat unless you can keep the person within your reach somehow; a very big challenge when the FT’s main CC effect attempts to push foes away from you and only further complicated with your shield’s pushback effect.

If you can provide just a bit more information for us, I would be more than willing to offer some advice if you would welcome it. Hopefully this can provide at least a bit of help concerning the questions you had.

Confirmed for Aurora Glade.

Don’t depend upon any insight or “advice” that you might expect from the ticket, since I did the very same thing and explained I was using OS X 10.8 and received instructions on basic trouble shooting for Windows*. I’m not sure what brain dead monkey was provided a job with technical support, but all they are going to do is ask you to send your computer information and realize they have nothing to offer… ultimately resulting in them telling you to post your experience(s) here where it has currently been ignored and threads left to die on the very same subject that is getting worse after the server crash recently. Unfortunately you can only hope at this point that enough people have been affected that this will actually make it off the back burner of priorities and finally receive some attention. Up to this point one was able to relog and the problem would have fixed itself. Until recently it has never been so bad, for me anyways, that you were unable to use the social interfaces for hours at a time.

• I would like to add that this response was 15 hours after my ticket submission

Manuhell.2759:

Imho, elixir S (and mist form, maybe, assuming there isn’t something more appropriate lore-wise) should give some seconds of stealth as well, allowing for tactical repositioning. Sure, you are unable to damage the opponent or heal yourself, but you can prepare yourself to do so.

I like where you are going with this. If the 2 skills remain as they are now, then it could possibly warrant an alteration of sorts to compensate for the loss of their tactical application(s).

From a personal perspective this would essentially be turning them into an overpowered stealth that could not be countered, as you would still be invulnerable to damage and CC. Based upon the comments I have received thus far it was not the damage mitigation that others found over powered, but rather the invulnerability factor. If the invulnerability were to be replaced with a “no damage” clause, then the 2 skills would be susceptible to CC and be on par with their counterparts. This alternative could potentially bridge the gap that was siphoning the “Elite” status of RF, which would effectively make it the only invulnerability skill; restoring its Elite status in the process.

Manuhell.2759:

As it stands now, you’re simply delaying your death.

This is without question the most aggravating part of the recent change, rather than being a utility, for which they were named, it has become an inevitability.

Gaidax.7835:

Mnemesis.8257:

Guardian- Renewed Focus makes yourself invulnerable for 2-3s (90s cd). Sure, RF is a channel based action, but it is generally regarded as something to be used in anticipation of large spikes and its end effect.
Warrior- Endure Pain grants no damage from attacks for 4s, with the possibility of an additional 4s at 25% health when traited (90s cd).
Ranger- “Protect Me!” (60s/48s cd) and Signet of Stone (80s/64s cd) can grant an astonishing 12s of 0 damage, granted SoS requires extensive traiting to do so.
Thief- Stealth says it all, even with the implementation of “Revealed”, 3-4s isn’t much of a window if someone knows what a dodge or a heal is for.
Mesmer- Distortion 3-4s evading damage (60s/46s cd) coupled with 2s of Blur evasion every 8-10s; adding stealth only bestows this class with more impressive survivability.

Aside from Stealth, none of the above have a genuine negative drawback when calling upon their respective “Oh kitten!” buttons.

Wut? Are you joking?

Guardian – RF – can’t do anything while channeling, only move. ELITE.
Warrior – Endure Pain – does not block CC, does not block conditions.
Ranger – Pet can’t attack. CC gets through.
Thief – Stealth does not make immune to damage, not the same class of ability.
Mesmer – Distortion – destroys all clones and Phantasm (pretty heavy drawback of you ask me). Blurred Frenzy – you are rooted and unable to act.

So basically, as you see – every for of invulnerability HAS a drawback. Why should Mist Form be special then?

I don’t think it should be special, if anything I agree that an additional penalty should be placed for using the skill, though being completely unable to do anything is a bit of an extreme for 3 seconds at a time. Perhaps adding -50% endurance (or drain endurance bar) recharge would help even the playing field or even disabling skills for 1-2 seconds AFTER the utility has been used. What I do not agree with is these skills rendering a player unable to react to any external factors while during their effects. Hell, I would even be grateful for being susceptible to CC while in either Mist Form or Elixir S rather than being completely helpless for the duration. Before the update Elixir S was bugged in that you could use it while knocked down and the stun breaker wouldn’t trigger at times, leaving you on the floor prone, which is largely how it feels right now.

LordByron.8369:

yes do that

Give also any class 100Blades heavy armor and max HP so people can play pve….

If you find offense in the minor alterations suggested for adjusting a couple skills so that they remain comparable to their similar or one might even say better counterparts, then what would you prefer to see happen instead? In the case of Elixir S the tier change of SRD with Backpack Regenerator seems like a fair compromise to further limit its synergy, while allowing it to remain an “Ace in the Hole” even after an increased cool down duration. One would be required to “spec” into this particular utility to bring it to its fullest potential just like Endure Pain, Stealth, and Distortion/Blur. All I suggest is that there were certainly better ways of handling this particular section of the skill updates than simply gutting a major function of 2 popular utilities. I do not believe they were intended to be used as effectively as they have been and that was largely on the fault of their being too readily available combined with their overall potential and synergy.

Judge Banks.9018:

So what you’re saying is all invulnerability skills need to function like Endure Pain?

DO IT!
LET THE TEARS FLOW!

As tempting as that may sound, and despite my desire to witness it, that is not what I intended. I was implying something more to the effect that Mist Form at the very least should have had its cd increased to 90s+ and Elixir S should have been made more difficult to double its passive with utility while increasing the utility’s cd to ~100s since traiting would drop that to 80s. If Elixir S were to function much like Endure Pain, then Self-Regulating Defenses should have been swapped with Backpack Regenerator in the trait tiers to compensate for its compatibility with both 409 and HGH.

To be more specific I would like to reflect upon what I would regard as the disservice done to Mist Form and Elixir S, which were undoubtedly very powerful skills both alone and traited. Rather than completely neutering both of these game changing skills, it would have been more acceptable to simply adjust their availability to match the time frames of existing similar skills.

Guardian- Renewed Focus makes yourself invulnerable for 2-3s (90s cd). Sure, RF is a channel based action, but it is generally regarded as something to be used in anticipation of large spikes and its end effect.
Warrior- Endure Pain grants no damage from attacks for 4s, with the possibility of an additional 4s at 25% health when traited (90s cd).
Ranger- “Protect Me!” (60s/48s cd) and Signet of Stone (80s/64s cd) can grant an astonishing 12s of 0 damage, granted SoS requires extensive traiting to do so.
Thief- Stealth says it all, even with the implementation of “Revealed”, 3-4s isn’t much of a window if someone knows what a dodge or a heal is for.
Mesmer- Distortion 3-4s evading damage (60s/46s cd) coupled with 2s of Blur evasion every 8-10s; adding stealth only bestows this class with more impressive survivability.

Aside from Stealth, none of the above have a genuine negative drawback when calling upon their respective “Oh kitten!” buttons. However, after this most recent update it would appear that the term “balancing” is little more than a polite way of saying one does not know how to fix a problem, therefore I should remove it completely. The general consensus obtained from the above examples reveals cool down pattern ranging from 80-90s, 90 being the most frequent. At least in my opinion, the changes wrought upon Mist Form and Elixir S were tasteless and lazy from an objective point of view. I am curious as to what others might think of this particular portion of the update.

It seems like a strange thing to ask for and one that I’m not entirely sure as to why is not included in GW2 as it was in the previous. I always found that it was helpful to know whether or not I would be of use for anyone that day by being able to instantly check my latency in game, as opposed to getting inside a dungeon now and stutter, rubber band, move, stutter, rubber band, rage, move, rubber band, stutter and finally dc. It is unfair to the general public to be misled in such a manner by being allowed to enter these situations blind, thus resulting in lost time and rewards. Being able to provide visual evidence of these situations might bring supportive proof and leads on where the staff may begin searching and correcting such traffic bottlenecks. Does anyone else feel this way as well?

Something I have noticed while playing GW2 with my Mac is that the sluggish responses you describe usually take place during prolonged periods of play time or client use. Repeated use of the client without completely rebooting the computer sometimes causes this as well. To combat this, I have resorted to using bash commands through the “Terminal”. The best way to immediately free up any memory she may have reserved by phantom programs is to open the Terminal and type “purge”, which will remove any excess sources draining the cpu. Mac OS has a habit of keeping this reserved memory as a more efficient method of quickly accessing commonly used programs, but for clients such as GW2 this becomes a hindrance by unnecessarily draining memory. To keep a better eye on such behavior, have them check their “Activity Monitor” for any programs that are quietly siphoning memory unnoticed (DO NOT MEDDLE WITH ACTIVITIES CARELESSLY). Hope any of this helps.

Esplen.3940:

Mnemesis.8257:

Esplen.3940:

Mystic Salvage Kit is a bad example. You can get Mystic Forge Stones from dailies at a ridiculously low chance.

Having participated in each possible daily and finished the monthly thus far, I have yet to receive one through these means. So you are either rather fortunate to do so, or I am very lucky in the unfortunate sense. If you could provide some evidence supporting the odds of receiving them that would be helpful.

It is a ridiculously low chance, as I stated. Your wording said that there are recipes that require items that are ONLY obtainable through the Gem Store. There are no such recipes. There are booster recipes, but boosters are obtained through Gem Store and Black Lion Chests. Black Lion Chests are obtained through Gem Store and drops. Black Lion Keys are obtained through Gem Store and drops.

In the end, everything is possible without going to the Gem Store, just don’t expect things in the Gem Store to get handed to you.

I do apologize, I misread there. However, being that the chance to obtain it is so ridiculously low as you stated, that means the only viable option would be to purchase it through the CS. The keys are rewarded more regularly, but they do not provide reliable drops, which only serves to make the point that something like the Mystic Kit is rather pointless if it does not live up to its worth. I do not expect that such an item be given out for free or on a whim, but maybe adjusting the quantity received from the forge would be an option for making it worth the time and effort?

Syeria.4812:

Post opens with comment whining about “greed,” eyes glaze over…

Now posting unnecessary comment with openly sarcastic tones! Kudos on the constructive feedback, always appreciated.

I am of the opinion that everything is not sunshine and rainbows in “The Land of Tyria”, as it was phrased. There are certainly things that appear to have been overlooked concerning the TP or CS.

Trading Post

John Smith.4610:

I have to make the argument that your deals are coming at the expense of another player. You are arguing against market efficiency because you want to exploit other people easier, I don’t agree that’s a positive goal for the game overall (though I make no judgement about personal goals).

When it comes to all things regarding the TP, I have only one real concern and that is the lack of control over greed. Although many people hated it, in GW1 there is a feature that helps to control the market price of crafting materials and runes by directly comparing what is available in game to the wants of the consumer. That is to say one was able to check the legitimacy of another player’s asking price against the merchant’s. It is a clean and simple system that also prepared a maximum price range ,or “cap”, that would set the standard for what the ultimate worth of an item truly is should the market run dry, however rare that was. As of this point in time, I see no such methods that have been implemented to protect players from the greed of others, which was supposedly one of the calling cards of implementing a centralized TP for the game. Cosmetic gear has always been exempt from this game of centralized marketing, as they were not and are not considered a necessity. However, if there is no system in place to control crafting essentials… what is protecting the players from their fellow’s greed?

Cash Shop

Something that perplexes me about this particular topic is that there exists certain items that can only realistically be crafted or obtained via this exchange, however lately this is a pointless effort as it does not offer an incentive to do so. I speak mainly of the use of Mystic Forge Stones and their role in creating the “Mystic Salvage Kit”, but I would like to know if there are other such items that have become worthless as prices escalate. Obviously the exchange rate for gems is a constantly shifting entity, but there are no measures in place here to maintain the legitimacy of the CS related items either. As of right now, it costs more per use of the Mystic Salvage Kit than the Master’s Salvage Kit. Is convenience really worth double or even triple the price of a merchant’s kit? Arguably, each new tier of salvaging kit is double or triple the previous, but those price differentials are justified by the fact that the higher tier can provide greater returns from salvaging the same item; Mystic=Master in return percentages.

Ursan.7846:

Just wanted to point out that a more stable economy =/= economy with cheaper legendaries.

Yet an economy where some of those items are = 400%+ their component values is balanced? Surely time and effort are worth evaluating, but then again nothing else in the TP is allowed to have such a large profit margin. My point in everything I said is that to cut this disturbingly large disparity means the TP needs to place a “cap” on what people can ask for items. I can’t seem to think of any other craft-able items that have anywhere close to a 400% profit margin, which seems to have been intended by design. You can save a bit of money crafting the items yourself, or you can spend the extra little to buy it via TP. It has been stated multiple times that the TP was not intended to be a profitable exploit, as there are measures in place to remove money from the game. So yes, cheaper legendaries is not indicative of a balanced economy, but implementing balances to ensure the current system works as intended would imply this; that being my original point, kill the greed factor.

John Smith.4610:

I have to make the argument that your deals are coming at the expense of another player. You are arguing against market efficiency because you want to exploit other people easier, I don’t agree that’s a positive goal for the game overall (though I make no judgement about personal goals).

I think it is becoming less of a point in which one would “exploit” another player based upon a lack of seller’s knowledge and more of a position where the TP has proliferated the greed of other individuals and spread like cancer. I’m not sure about everyone else, but during beta I did not imagine a game that would actively try to make achieving their end game “content” (i.e. Legendarys) more difficult to obtain. Now the community is in a position that the average player is no longer capable of acquiring the materials necessary to obtain their Legendary gear because it is either incredibly inflated or impossible to obtain the prerequisites by honest means. One would figure that spending an equivalent amount of funds on rare/exotic weapons would at least be similar to the price of the legendary prerequisites and therefore guarantee success in claiming one, but alas it does not.

What is my point for going this far?

The current TP model that is being perpetuated at this moment is the product of a broken system at a deeper level. You suggest in your comment that you have erased the exploitation of other players by their own ignorance, but the system you have implemented unintentionally encourages the greed of those who actively wish to do so regardless. I can say with near absolute certainty that an average player is not going to be able to afford a 1500g one handed legendary or the 2300g+ two handed one any time soon. A more stable economy would institute additional methods of procuring these items so that the outrageous and somewhat insulting prices of these items will level out to more achievable measures. That is not to say that they will be cheap, but they certainly shouldn’t be 2300g, as it only drives the players right into the arms of your beloved gold sites. I don’t expect to be agreed with, but it would be nice that these things actually be contemplated seriously without the dismissive “market efficiency” is where it should be.

Rfreak.6591:

@Mnemesis.8257 and @LouWolfskin.3492

Bombs and grenades are considered “Explosions”, everything else isn’t, even thought somewhere in the tooltip says “explode” or “explosive” smtg… ok? It’s been like this since… always… how comes people haven’t noticed it yet? oO

Not to derail the thread from its original purpose, but it is something that needs to be corrected textually, or implemented mechanically. Observing the traits and Explosive Shot from a mechanical perspective would add more credence to speccing into either elixirs, gadgets or both for utilities as opposed to a “100 nades” build. My beef with this textual anomaly is that it implies that piercing pistols would function similarly to 100 nades, but more reliable against moving targets, yet preventing overpowered stacking against few or single opponents. It would bring more dynamic play to the class outside of current meta. Correcting the text would remove these taunting implications.

coglin.1496:

I do not think they can make turrets scale with our stats any more then necro pets. I read a lot about making turrets mobile here too. That wouldn’t do much for us either. The mobility serves no better purpose for necro pets. I think the best thing they can do for turrets to give them value is to make their tool belt function on a really low recast, to give the turrets value when slotted as a utility skill, even if we do not have the turrets out at the time.

Having the turrets fade/fall apart after surviving the equivalent of a CD duration would help a lot. Makes no sense for them to sit there until you are forced to explode or pick up, which isn’t always ideal for lengthy combat or fast paced events.

Manticore Five.9867:

Addition to Nakoda’s suggestion: We’d have to put any on-plant abilities and overcharges on a separate internal cooldown to keep that balanced.

Wouldn’t do to plant a rocket turret, launch the knockdown rocket, pick it up and then 10s later do it again =)

That is assuming your opponent doesn’t know what a dodge is for. However, I agree that the KB from the rocket should not conveniently reflect Net Shot’s CD.

LouWolfskin.3492:

I noticed a bug with Explosive Shot, in the description it states that it will apply bleed to foes in the explosion, but this doesn’t happen. Even with Coated Bulltes the bleed is only applied to your primary target and no one else, except with a critical hit due to a earlier trait in the line.

If this is not a bug maybe the description should be changed.

I have noticed this issue with every trait related to explosions. The OP informed me that this was not a bug and should be textually altered to prevent misconceptions. As is, one would think “Explosive Shot” is viable to cause vulnerability, additional bleed, increased explosion radius and +10% damage, when in fact it does not. So it comes down to either the devs including these changes as per the textual implications or rewording it to more accurately reflect its function.

Catisa.6507:

Katz.5143:

I dislike a mechanism that punishes the players who do stay alive. If you are alive and cannot rez the ones who are down and cannot take the mob down by yourself then you have to suicide to continue. If the system only punished the ones who died, then great. It punishes the ones alive more in my opinion. It grates on my nerves to have to suicide so the group can all rez.

Live as a team or fail as a team, dungeons are no single player objectives.

So much for that argument…

Wethospu.6437:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn1hTSra3XI

Not exactly like an Arah solo but getting first scepter was quite tricky.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Combat has always disabled map travel via waypoints.

It seems like the biggest issue everyone has with this statement is the discriminatory manner in which it was implemented. If my party outside of a dungeon were to maintain combat I would still be able to “rez-rush” back to the dynamic event currently taking place. However, dungeons were adjusted solely for the reason that this particular mechanic/glitch/w.e. you want to refer to it as derailed dungeoning from your “original” plans and visions. I doubt it would be in your “vision” to deprive players of their ability to take part in events. If so, then why go so far as to deprive them and their party members the ability to remain productive currently? It is as if you have forgotten the “future” updates in development, that will make this current patch more sensible, do not yet exist for the players. Everyone is peeved not because this update was done, but that it was implemented before any real changes meant to balance this new dungeon only mechanic.