Guild Wars 2

Blaeys.3102:

I think instead of counting the number of features or how large the maps are, we need to be thinking in terms of hours per dollar spent.

By that, I mean how long we play before repetition and boredom set in. The number of features and map size can add to these, but so can diverse and adapting dynamic events, unique builds and a truly competitive pvp scene. if they can pull those off in ways that keep us engaged, things like map size and the exact number of features becomes much less important.

To repeat what many are saying, it is way too early to have an idea of this, but what would people consider reasonable? With single player RPGs, we usually look for between 20 and 60 hours of gameplay for a 60 dollar game (so between 1 and 3 dollars per hour of unique gameplay). If HOT can achieve that same goal before we find ourselves repeating events or getting bored in game, then it is worth the money in my eyes – especially if they plan to continue adding free living story and feature packs.

For example, Dry Top and Silverwastes still sees an appreciable level of people, and they were what I suspect are comparatively much smaller than HoT will be. As per an interview they are trying to make maps that are going to have very high replay value to keep players coming back. I suspect Drytop and Silverwastes was a test to see whether that idea works.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Morfedel.4165:

Ragnarox.9601:

Guild Wars 2 :
~
30+ maps
8+ dungeons
8 classes
4 wvw maps
5+ spvp maps
+ items, armors, weapons….

= totally worth 50€.

HoT=
~
1 area (maybe 3+ maps)
0 dungeons
1 classes
class specializations
1 wvw map
spvp map??
new armor, weapon??
= ppl say 50€?? Too much
compare gw2 content with exp content

-> 20€ max. It would be bad move to charge more than 20€ for this expansion. Sucking money from its customers is for f2p games.

compare this and their previous free releases to the average sizes of mmo expansions. Remember, when considering, all the free content we got leading up to this, that most MMOs (none that I recall honestly) don’t release that kind of free content generally.

AION , RIFT, are those MMOs?

Sure. But how many mmos do that. WoW certainly didn’t, and it’s been the biggest boy on the block.

Test.8734:

Morfedel.4165:

Please. I think it’s pretty obvious this expansion has been in the works for some time. I sincerely doubt this was a “oh crap we gotta make money somehow!”

We won’t know until we actually see the quality and polish (or lack of) in the expansion itself. The ZAM interview had some troubling comments, though:

“‘That is often the strategy that a lot of games use when they grow into an expansion,’ Colin said. ‘Our focus is instead on a smaller number of maps that have an incredible amount of deep replay value.’”

…So, expect 3 maps at most with “replay value” meaning “a lot of stuff to grind for”.

“For the launch of HoT, ArenaNet is focused on making one fantastic map for the game mode that lives up to the promise of what Stronghold can be. It is once they have that and love the map, Colin says, that they will start thinking and worrying about other maps. Right now it is about delivering one perfect map that defines Stronghold.”

…So the new game mode will have only one map.

“As for guilds overall, Colin said that they are staying really high level and will fill in the details about guilds down the road.”

…So ArenaNet likely doesn’t know itself how the guild hall system will work.

And so on. The result will tell us whether this was a rushed product as a last resource, or something carefully planned years in advance.

What I mean is I think it’s flawed reasoning to automatically assume that they did this out of desperation at the last minute. I’m not saying they will do a good job of it. I believe it’s something they’ve been planning for some time, though granted I could be wrong.

But I have my suspicions. I remember some people speculating that they were holding back on an expansion because the parent company was coming out with another mmo (Wildstar I think?), and they didn’t want to be competeing with themselves, so the living story was a way to hold off, keep the customer base at least marginally mollified, until (wildstar?) had a chance to get it’s feet firmly under it before doing a solid push on an expansion for GW2.

Truth? Who knows. Maybe. But I just get a (granted utterly unjustified) feeling that this has been at least in the planning stages for some time.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

GoldenTruth.2853:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

GoldenTruth.2853:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

teh persun.6517:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Picture this.

You buy a ew $60 game , you get through 3/4 of the game with tons of lore. The last 10% is blocked off behind a pay wall.

Yes! How dare Anet charge money for the content they create! I’ve already gave them money a few years ago, so now I should have access to everything!
/sarcasm off

CDPR and some more characters

Didn’t realize Witcher 3 was free after purchasing Witcher 1 or 2.

Its not and it would be stupid to think that the Witcher 3 is an expansion.

Anyway , Witcher 3 will be getting free DLC and they said they would wouldn’t ever charge for anything small, but Anet over here wants to charge for features that should have been in the game already and a new region that basically equals all of the new zones we have been given over the course of 2 years.

Maybe anet should have just stuck with living story and rolled out these features on the bi-weekly basis , or if they couldn’t handle the work load go monthly basis?

So basically the smaller dlcs are free (living story cough), but when they want to pump out much larger content all at once they pump out a b2p game? Or maybe CDPR should just keep pumping out their free content for Witcher 2 and forget about Witcher 3.

except that this expansion is actually going to be small despite the region we are getting and actual features. Adding a new map to WvW was probably a mistake. One single new spvp mode? ONE! ONE new profession!

Maybe if Anet was working harder on Living Story quality instead of secretly putting their resources into an expansion they probably would be better off.

Also Anet isn’t doing LW/LS updates between now and release. Who knows if they will actually do LW ever again.

Yes, but they added specializations, which is almost like making 8 new classes sorta kinda. And masteries. Hang gliding!!! Precursor scavenger hunt!

Come on guys, its not just about the one class and such.

And recall we don’t know for sure if this region is divided into several maps or one. But we do know they claimed this area is huge (I read somewhere that its as large as kryta or ascalon), and has three tiers: ground, roots, and treetop, so that is x3 the real estate.

Ragnarox.9601:

Guild Wars 2 :
~
30+ maps
8+ dungeons
8 classes
4 wvw maps
5+ spvp maps
+ items, armors, weapons….

= totally worth 50€.

HoT=
~
1 area (maybe 3+ maps)
0 dungeons
1 classes
class specializations
1 wvw map
spvp map??
new armor, weapon??
= ppl say 50€?? Too much
compare gw2 content with exp content

-> 20€ max. It would be bad move to charge more than 20€ for this expansion. Sucking money from its customers is for f2p games.

compare this and their previous free releases to the average sizes of mmo expansions. Remember, when considering, all the free content we got leading up to this, that most MMOs (none that I recall honestly) don’t release that kind of free content generally.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Behellagh.1468:

“We hate this drip, drip, drip of the Living Story. We want a paid expansion.”

“Here’s a paid expansion.”

“What? I don’t want to pay cash for an expansion. Can I pay in gold?”

Honestly, a fine example of kitten if you do, kitten if you don’t.

They’ve stated it’s bigger than any of the current regions, the ones with multiple zones. They aren’t giving us a pocket zones like Dry Top or Silverwastes.

I guess I am the only one who didn’t want an expansion. I thought Living World was great and whatever features that came in was just bonus. I supported Anet through real money gem purchases….. Obviously buying virtual items on a gem shop doesn’t make profit for some reason.

We don’t know that. They could be making money just fine but want to make more. That being the case, though, its clear that ANY mmo wants serious expansion level releases once in awhile. Nothing strange or different from what any other successful mmo has done.

dekou.6012:

I don’t think this has anything to do with the expansion, as the issue affects the entire game. It’d have to be solved in a universal balance/engine update. They’ve been quiet about it, so it’s safe to say nothing is being done anytime soon.

Just because they aren’t revealing their inner dialogues doesn’t mean they aren’t discussing it. Don’t make assumptions.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

So their giving free stuff was bad? Seriously?!

That’s just plain unreasonable. Sure, they are finishing it with a paid expansion, but that expansion is giving us a LOT more than just the story continuation. Furthermore, most MMOs dont even give the free content that GW2 did.

And yet people will always find a way to find that could in every silver lining. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

The sky is falling the sky is falling!

Please. I think it’s pretty obvious this expansion has been in the works for some time. I sincerely doubt this was a “oh crap we gotta make money somehow!”

35 views and not one opinion on the matter yet? Ouch lol

I don’t play guardian much, it’s not my main character. When I do play him, however, I want to use Spirit Weapons. And I wondered what you thought would be the best stats for that?

I believe that IE only effects bounce effects on weapon skills. I’m not sure whether that’s intended, but that’s what I’ve observed so far.

If unintended, then yeah, that’s a bug.

EDIT: Reading the wiki page, it APPEARS that its intentional and not a bug.

Vieux P.1238:

Morfedel.4165:

You know the trait that gives phantasms retaliation?

PD also defends all of your allies.

And triggers retaliation for EACH instance that it splits damage.

It also has more hps than any other phantasm. Couple that with the increased health of phantasms trait and signet…

Note, I’m not saying this is intensely viable. If you have several allies and AoEs are going off everywhere, it will pop fast. But it will also pop a lot of retaliation as it dies too. It isn’t OP, possibly not even on par with other abilities, but it is a kinda fun change of pace.

Like i mentioned before, PD needs tweaking before it becomes viable & interesting to play. The casting time is the main problem cuz theres no way to pull it out in time especially with a 900 yrds distance from ur target. So no matter how many buff it can dish out, worthless in the long run. ps: apparently other bugs arise. chek link
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Phantasmal-Disenchanter-is-Bugged/first#post4738631

I was referring to phantasmal defender, not disenchanter, lol, but fair enough

EDIT: I’m noting it in the other post, but according to the wiki notes it appears that the disenchanter is intentionally like that.

Ross Biddle.2367:

I’ve been running it for three months now. Overshadowed by CI and IP? YeahNo, that’s a bit of an oversimplification when it comes to assessing the builds that go behind these GM traits and why you’d take them.

I assume the reason its not 100% stun chance is because the devs feel it’d be OP. They might be right. A chain daze is devastating enough. A chain stun is GG. But sure, if you want to give me all those stuns, I’ll take it :p

It would be very op.

I ran a build using the confounding suggestions in a very heavy stunlock build using stuns, dazes, runes of the mesmer, and sigil of paralyzation in some pvp matches.

I had this one guy SCREAMING at me for being a hacker. I had him locked for… oh, 12 seconds or so. Some of it was daze, definitely, but a lot of it was stun too, and he was very angry with me over it lol

It’s really only good 1v1, unless you get very lucky with a chaos storm hitting several and all triggering daze→stun, but still it can be quite dangerous and entertaining.

You know the trait that gives phantasms retaliation?

PD also defends all of your allies.

And triggers retaliation for EACH instance that it splits damage.

It also has more hps than any other phantasm. Couple that with the increased health of phantasms trait and signet…

Note, I’m not saying this is intensely viable. If you have several allies and AoEs are going off everywhere, it will pop fast. But it will also pop a lot of retaliation as it dies too. It isn’t OP, possibly not even on par with other abilities, but it is a kinda fun change of pace.

Thund.2795:

Speculation Time!

In my opinion the mesmer’s new mechanic, which seems to have to do with “time”, changes the use of illusions and will no longer be “shatter”. If this would seem too radical you have to consider that we have only the shield with this specialization!

In any case, the new illusions become like “pets” (so you don’t have to target a mob, or they don’t disappear when the enemy is killed) but these only live for a finite time! Above all illusions there will also be a kind of clock-timer that, when it reaches zero, it will “explode” the illusion automatically. Obviously they can also be killed before the phenomenon occurs, but if they are still alive and the timer reach zero these will give you an additional effect: integrating with the existing F1-F4 for instance if you keep active FX when your own illusion reaches 0 your next attack will do more damage / apply confusion / apply daze / makes you invulnerable (effect that only lasts a few seconds, you can’t keep these buff indefinitely). In this idea illusions have 16 second timer (so you can do at least two-three attacks) while the clones 8 second timer.

I am curious to know your ideas!

P.S. : sorry for my english, it’s not my native language, please forgive my mistakes!

Your english is excellent. However, your speculation seems… pretty detailed, lol

I think its clear they are using some kind of time mechanics or effects, based on the mesmer clock-faced video, but I don’t think we know enough to speculate effectively.

Margonites, Mursaat…. heck, it could be an entire new race. Heck, look at the back armor piece you could get from the Karka with the flailing back arms.

Let’s face it, flailing back thingies are pretty common in the GW world.

I’m torn. If I go the slow way I won’t be able to use him/her to explore the new region… well, unless it has level 1 areas, heh

On the other hand, if I make a level 80, then I won’t have the joy of exploring the new class.

I could alternate between one of my current classes and the 1, I suppose.

Hm, side note, that’s interesting, if this is an entire new region IE ascalon, Kryta, etc, might it actually have low to high level zones? Obviously we don’t know, but it could offer us the chance of leveling new characters in the entire area.

Otherwise, separating action will have to be the way to go.

Then again, it will also let me explore my specializations of my other classes and still level up my revenant.

And since the only personal story I havent done is one of the sylvari ones, I suppose I can make a sylvari revenant. Let me kill a couple of birds with one stone there.

lordkrall.7241:

Aye, adding one spec per profession might actually be a rather smart idea. In order to see if the system works out well. It would be quite a waste to spend months making 2-3 specializations and then end up with it not really working well in the game at all.

Better to give it a try with one each and add more in the future if the system works out as planned.

This. Plus, if you are losing something to gain more, it really is a choice: the original or the change.

And it allows them to do a global test to see what they will have to fix before they release more specializations.

I still want at least two though lol

In the video, he said that changing a specialization will change some of the core class mechanics.

Which means it very well could be your choice is original class or the one specialization. But I have to admit, I’d be disappointed if there weren’t at least two specializations.

For those who have the scrolls and tomes, you could make a level 1 and, after the tutorial, level a character to level 80 in a matter of a minute or so of clicking.

So, for those of you who plan on playing revenant on day 1, and have the resources, will you stick to level 1 and do the patient leveling up, or will you go straight to level 80?

Gaile Gray.6029:

Wait, Prince Rurik? So he can lead you on a merry chase again, all the while telling you touching stories of his youth?

We need to summon GWEN. As in the multiple fiery demonic gwens at the end of the GW1 open beta.

I was gonna say, if I want I’ll be able to pop up any new character to level 80 within a minute or so of getting through tutorial.

But it might be fun to just play through him the regular way. Tough call. Maybe I’ll just make two LOL

Gaile Gray.6029:

As Colin mentioned, we’ll be going into the news about Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns starting very soon. I think you’ll find that these “deep dives” will give you a lot of helpful details that will answer your questions.

I think the BIGGEST question in everyone’s mind is… WHEN?!?! As I’ve said in two threads now, saying you will release info until release, and not giving us a hint of WHEN seems kinda cruel lol

Emtiarbi.3281:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Made me smile. We’re eager for you to play, too!

I think they should have announced a date or something! now i’m on the Hype train and i don’t know when it will stop.

I agree. Saying “we will be dropping info from now til release date” and not having even a speculative release date isn’t cool! LOL

I would have thought that with HoT being announced it was, while not polished perhaps just yet, darned close to being complete and thus close enough for a ballpark, like, say, Fall 2015 or so(with a disclaimer in big bold capital letters that its a guestimate lol)

Yeah, they said we will be dropping info from now til launch. So when is it? LOL!

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

Gaile Gray.6029:

TDC.1627:

Hey Gaile, How can we get some ANET representation at PAX Australia in October! Would love to see the team down here!

I’m on board!!!

Now to convince my boss that I need to go.

Won’t happen.

They couldn’t even organise a stall or basically ANY kind of representation for GW2 back pre-launch in 2012 at local games festivals like Supanova, but guess which other long-standing MMO was there representing all it’s wares?

We’re not good enough for representation from Anet. I don’t say this lightly, but every bit of support I threw in for my appreciation of Anet for the great work they did with GW1 has been cast asunder by the disturbing lack of interest with GW2. The 8:30am PST official unveiling of Heart of Thorns just reaffirms that belief, as locally it’s 3:30am, the next day. Again, only the local die-hards and insomniacs will be in livestream attendance.

I can’t change where I live, and there’s no way I can afford a ticket and a 14 hour flight from here to there. Have some consideration.

And if they unveiled at a time convenient for you, other people would be likewise inconvenienced. It wasn’t a slight. Seriously.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hello, Forum Members!

I’ve just been given some… dare I say “exciting” news?

We have a handful — just a few — Saturday passes for PAX South in San Antonio, Texas, on January 24th. The passes include preferred (I call it VIFF = Very Important Forum Fan) seating for the presentation being given by Mike O’Brien and Colin Johanson.

Doors open at 10:00 AM for the 10:30 AM presentation. You can get a few details here.

We’d like to invite a few of you to attend as our guest. If you’re interested in attending the presentation (and PAX South) on Saturday, January 24th, and are in or can be in the San Antonio, Texas area, please send me a PM by Monday, January 19. I should be able to get back to you on Tuesday to let you know if we’re able to add you to the (limited) guest list. (It goes without saying that we can only add people who will be able to attend, so please be sure of your availability.)

I won’t be at the event, but I know a lot of ArenaNet reps are looking forward to seeing you there. I hope from some of our fantastic forum members to get their names on the guest list!

Figures. I live four hours away. More importantly, my KIDS live in San Antonio, AND I’ll be there with them that weekend.

Sadly, I found that saturday was completely sold out – WTH?!?! I don’t go to these things, so I didn’t realize they would sell out.

Secondly… well, my two boys would probably love going there, but not my daughter, so I don’t suppose it would be cool dragging her around all weekend around something she wouldn’t enjoy on our few precious days together.

Ugh…. ah well.

Swish.2463:

I just bring Ether Feast to every game mode personally…

but yes Ether Signet is really only taken to recharge and throw out the third phantasm at the opening of a fight.

Ah I don’t know, the regen from that, the regen for <75%, and the regen offered by phantasms if you have that in inspiration 1, + protection from Chaos 3, might be nice.

But yeah, the pop out of another phantasm in phantasmal killer builds is by far the more superior option.

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

Verock.8234:

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

if you want to be “that guy” try running either 2/0/6/0/6 as hybrid shatter mesmer or 0/0/6/2/6 as full condition shatter. Both work amazingly well as a solo roaming build with scepter/torch staff, and require very little skill to play. At the end of the day though, its cheese in its ultimate form. -Priest of Lyssa

Actually, both of those builds are pretty awful. Running shatter builds without DE is a great way to get stomped by anyone competent.

Agreed, you need the extra clones.

In my experience with PvP (not WvW), the problem with condi mesmer is the burst. In a 1v1 fight, you may win. However, this can take upwards of 40-50 seconds. The condis continue to stack on, but there is nothing to close the gap. By the time you have your opponent downed, they’ll have another teammate on you for the 2v1.

The great part about power shatter is the heavy burst and disengage. You can provide that extra damage to down an opponent and move on. You can roam well. You can’t do this with a condi build.

It’s a fun build to play, but you won’t see competitive teams running it because it doesn’t have synergy with other classes (for the reasons mentioned above).

Once again, these are not builds I would recommend for an experienced mesmer, but do not knock the viability untill you have tried it yourself. Both of the mentioned setups do work very effectively as solo roaming builds, but ofc there are far better options for any player with a good amount of mesmer experience. These specs are what I would consider very “noob friendly” as they give the mesmer a large margin for error whilst still maintaining the potential to be incredibly strong.

I’ve tried shatter builds without DE. They’re trash. If an inexperienced mesmer can make them work, then an experienced one can make them work better. I’m what you might call highly experienced, and those builds are awful, no matter who uses them.

It depends on the venue.

If a mesmer is solo roaming in WVW, it may be nice to have prismatic understanding so if you run into numbers you can’t handle, you have escape potential.

That being said, though, I’d likely not run shatter with PU. I’d use the PU on-death or PU phantasmal killer style builds instead.

EDIT: Which I suppose amounts to, yeah, if you are taking shatter, DE is most definitely preferable to PU, lol!!!

MunkeeBreath.9165:

Considering the pact now lacks 1/5th (an estimate) of its troops because of the sylvari’s “betrayal”, don’t you think that the pact would try to fill its ranks with new soldiers? I believe tengu because consider the proximity the Dominion of Winds is in relations to the Grove.
Also, if anyone watches Wooden Potatoes, he released a video detailing how Arena net gave his account a level 80 sylvari automatically. Given this information, say people chose to play as tengu, it could be a possibility that you insta level to 80 so the players could hop in on all the new content automatically. Although, the insta level 80 is less than likely.

This isn’t evidence.

I realize this will never happen, as it would likely require too many resources, but since we already have zone instances, why couldn’t we have zone instance DIFFERENCES?

As in, before you beat Zhaitan, going to Fort Trinity and the straits of devastation is in one state, returning after sends you to a different state.

It would make running into random players harder, but I think it would improve immersion significantly.

As in, now the pact’s suffered a major defeat at the hands of Mordremoth, anyone returning to Silverwastes would into a demoralized and significantly reduced PACT base.

Ah well. I’m sure it would never happen. But it would sure be awesome.

Kossage.9072:

It could be worse. Trahearne could pull an Evon as seen in Lion’s Arch where we can currently find Evon Gnashblade standing both near the northern entrance to the city and at Fort Marriner. Unless Evon is a time traveller or has a twin (or a body double)…

Wait, what?

I need to go check that. LOL!

Renn.8241:

This has to be a troll post? Seriously? Open your eyes man this patch was kitten incredible.

It was good. But it was also short. I mean, previous releases included, for example, new areas. Lots more content. These last few I finished in… what, an hour maybe? No, it was a bit longer, but while they STORY was thoroughly enjoyable, the CONTENT was spare compared to the releases that opened up Drytop and Silverwastes.

I do want a good story. But I want more content too. It seems we get the story in droves, but the content in dribbles, and that’s somewhat disappointing. I’m holding out in the hopes the rumors of an upcoming boxed expansion is real.

It seems clear to me that not all Sylvari became corrupted. Of course, fear can cause people to ignore the innocence of some when suspicion falls upon the entire race.

anzenketh.3759:

Please use spoiler tags or edit title to add spoiler.

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Rytlock has been on a journey in the mists recovering the sword. Perhaps he came back found that his friends are dead or presumed dead and has great hatred for the sylvari.

That was not so much a cutscene but a trailer.

My bad on the spoiler.

But cutscene vs trailer, I think the distinction isn’t all that important for the discussion. It’s like correcting someone using a simile when they call it a metaphor. People know what you mean, no real reason to pit nits over it.

lordkrall.7241:

Yes, it has been confirmed multiple times that Abaddon is gone for good. His power still exists, but in Kormir.

Unless they go completely against what have been established for years, Abaddon won’t suddenly turn up.

It wouldn’t be the first time a game company has changed their mind, but if so, thats great actually. It would have kinda annoyed me.

I suppose its just a lore thing then… though I find it odd, since prior to Nightfall Abaddon’s name and existence had been practically wiped out, but now his artifacts and temples are lying about…

Maybe. But who knows? Like I said, I may be imagining things, but Abaddon was supposedly sneaky, so with all his artifacts we see, I thought maybe….

And as a side note, related but not precisely on topic, there are 6 dragons and 6 gods… but there really were MORE gods, if you think about it, just 6 that were worshipped:

1. Menzies (what the heck is Fate of Menzies though, he got turned into an artifact by his brother?)

2. Dhuum (still imprisoned by Grenth?)

3. Abaddon of course, replaced and killed… but was he?

I always assumed there was a 1-to-1 relationship between the dragons and the gods, but recently I started thinking of these other three “divine” entities and wondered if that original line of thought of mine was incorrect… or if the difference between a god and someone just really godawfully powerful was somehow holding a “sphere” or some such… and that the Dragons occupy or hold spheres the way the gods do, and those other three are just powerful but, well, sphereless.

Anyway. So anyone else think Abaddon is somehow involved, or just me reading into something that isn’t there?

The impression I had was that the cutscene is a direct effect of many of the sylvari going mad and attacking their allies.

but Rytlock was lost to the mists. I mean, really, what the heck, shouldn’t we solve that mystery BEFORE you put him in a cutscene?

I’m assuming someone else might have already said this, though I haven’t seen it, but I can’t help but feel that, in some fashion, Abaddon still has his hands in all this, whether directly, somehow having cheated death (why not, everyone else does!!) or indirectly, via plots set in motion prior to his death.

Why?

I just keep seeing signs of him. That underwater temple of his that you have to explore during the mainline story. The statue of him greeting you as you enter the archives at the Durmond priory. That picture of that floating spellcaster guy at the end of this storyline that looks like possibly is a margonite.

Between that and the potential hinted at relationships between the dragons and the gods, I just wonder if there’s something more to it. Or maybe I’m just imagining hints that aren’t there

So i’m at what looks like the final stage, beating vorpp. Disabled his shield the first time and got him down to half health, before he reactivated his shield. Now, I “used” the shield generator again, and….

All the npcs stopped moving, there’s nothing for me to interact with that I can find, and can’t attack anything either, being in “permacloak” mode. I’m assuming this is a bug, but I suppose I could have missed something. Anyone have an idea what that might be?

Ross Biddle.2367:

I can cream most opponents with it, or keep them on their toes. Only had trouble with one bunker ranger (of all things). I run a 0, 4, 4, 0, 6 build, scepter/pistol + staff, running condi cleanse mantra, blink, and MoD.

• In almost all 1v1’s it’ll lead to a win.
• I don’t suffer thieves the way I would with a power shatter build.
• I can take on multiple opponents with it leading to downs.
• It’s most strongest in a group fight where, while the enemy is tied up with so much going on, landing an AoE condi shatter will catch them out and down them en’mass.

It’s strong. It has it’s weak moments vs select encounters, but I can’t deny it’s strength so much of the time.

(I even got PM’s asking me after the build).

My build is a bit different, but same thing. I was dueling an ele with so much regen it was horrifying how fast I watched his health rebuild after taking damage.

But he was horrified at how hard he had keeping his regen going, as I had a condi shatter using, among other things, maimed the disillusioned, and he couldnt keep the regen boon up with shattered concentration + arcane thievery.

He pmed me after and asked for the build. He spectated me during the next match and loved it.

I think it can be accurate to say some classes are better than others at pvp, in large part because of the point capture process.

KB engineers, hammer warriors, and fear necros, for instance, and now rangers with kb and cripple on their long bows plus kb/fear wolves all make for great control of points vs other characters.

But that doesn’t mean we suck.

I generally dont run the current flavor of the week. Mesmer is my fav class, but for some reason I’m just not that good at damage based zerker shatter mesmer; I think it’s just that I’m not that good at avoiding getting killed with zerker gear while trying to fry my foe with shatters.

So, I use different builds. In my case, I’m running a condi shatter build with… ah, what the heck is it? I think the amulet is power, vitality, and condi damage, with condi being the main, and runes of the nightmare, with sigils of bursting and corruption, using scepter/torch and staff, utilities being the heal signet, mirror images, decoy, arcane thievery, and moa (I love moa to strip transforms off necros and stop cloak spamming thieves, if I can nail them during their brief reveals).

My traits are 4/4/0/0/6, using Domination: rending shatter and shattered concentration, dueling: desperate decoy and deceptive evasion, and illusions: the master of confusion trait, blinding befuddlement, and Maim the disillusion.

The idea is using shatters to stack vulnerability, confusion, torment, etc etc, stripping boons all at the same time… well, I suppose its obvious. It isn’t based on powerful hits precisely, but stripping boons and stacking condis. I’m adding more torment and confusion from scepter, more confusion from scepter and torch, possible confusion from chaos armor which I can get twice (using Staff #2 to get it while in chaos storm), poss blind from chaos armor as well which along with torch 4 and skill replacement of scepter 2 will do more confusion, my scepter clones doing more torment, my scepter #2 block doing torment, my torch 5 doing more confusion….

Plus the staff and chaos armor is stacking more random other conditions while at it.

Nice thing is… due to the power from the amulet, the shatters themselves also do some appreciable damage despite being a condi build. Not as much as a pure shatter, but I’ve surprised some targets with it.

The key, though, is not getting caught. Keeping mobile, stacking the conditions, letting them chase me down (which with all the torment makes it even more fun lol), I’m not going to say its the best build ever, but its done pretty darned well.

Point being, mesmers do well in pvp, in the right hands. Mesmers do have a higher learning curve than most of the other classes, but that doesn’t make them weak. I DO think they are a bit weaker than the other classes in pvp, IMHO, but not so much that they are worthless.

It may just not be your style though, just as the meta shatter mes just doesnt work for me.

Justin ODell.9517:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

what are the odds of you releasing the map editor tools to us, so we can fix the map ourselves?

Basically nil. The tools we use are very customized to a particular workflow, and there’s a lot of tribal knowledge involved as I understand it. We’d need to allocate a fairly large team dedicated to just this.

That said, I think it would be a lot of fun if we ever held some sort of map concept contest. I believe something like that was done for weapons in GW1.

Was it removed because players didn’t like water combat?

Because as I said my previous reply, I DO like water combat. I think it’s unfortunate, I thought it added an extra dimension towards tactics and strategies.

What they need to do is release a boxed set where we are going to have to fight Bubbles, and while at it, maybe make water combat more interesting with more weapons and tactical options, maybe even water-only utility skills, and an entire underwater region. Call it…. the Journey to Atlantis!

And then bring Capricorn back.

:-D

Justin ODell.9517:

Harbinger.8637:

I preferred Raid on the Capricorn and it was removed!

It was removed because we decided to exclude water combat from PvP, not because of anything wrong with the map’s mechanics (outside the water, obviously.)

I loved the map… very few people knew how to work the canon, so they’d leave me alone as I repeatedly blasted them.

Hey, I liked water combat!

Granted, it wasn’t QUITE as diverse as land combat, but I still liked it. I wish you’d kept it. On the other hand, maybe over time you can diversify water combat a bit more, more weapon options or something, and that might make it a bit more interesting then for those that don’t like it.

Some people actually like skyhammer, and not because they are trolls. I happen to be one of them – and since I play mesmer, not the best kb/fear classes out there, its not even something I take advantange of the way a fear spammer or hambow might, for instance.

Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I should have the right to play maps I enjoy too.

Thiagugu.9682:

Morfedel.4165:

Styles.7469:

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Styles.7469:

The book that has the name of the Elder Sea Dragon in it on the top floor after you open the secret passage to get to Ogden.

/win

I think you’re making this up. I just checked out of curiosity and unless it’s on the cover of one of those books with writing in krytan so small that you can hardly read it, I don’t think this is there.

Stand back far enough (but not too far) from the books, and look at the colors. The darker books create a pattern that you follow which point to the only book with its unique color on the shelf. That book has the name.

/protip: work it out, it was fun for me since I noticed the floor on the upstairs library was actually a map, I thought it would be sneaky of Anet to make a similar pattern with the books. Haha!

screen cap and spoiler it, eh? :P

Guys, it’s a troll.

oh I figured, but calling him out with calls of proof.

Styles.7469:

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Styles.7469:

The book that has the name of the Elder Sea Dragon in it on the top floor after you open the secret passage to get to Ogden.

/win

I think you’re making this up. I just checked out of curiosity and unless it’s on the cover of one of those books with writing in krytan so small that you can hardly read it, I don’t think this is there.

Stand back far enough (but not too far) from the books, and look at the colors. The darker books create a pattern that you follow which point to the only book with its unique color on the shelf. That book has the name.

/protip: work it out, it was fun for me since I noticed the floor on the upstairs library was actually a map, I thought it would be sneaky of Anet to make a similar pattern with the books. Haha!

screen cap and spoiler it, eh? :P

DrDivine.5378:

Morfedel.4165:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Lockdown Mesmer can be tricky to learn, but certainly works well in PvP.

Check this thread for details.

I had a guy once screaming at me for keeping him stunned for like 11second. accused me of hacking. Had to stop and explain to him how confounding suggestion and sigil of paralyzation worked. Granted, I got lucky in every daze proccing to stun, but still I lolzed hehe

Do you like it better than double ranged shatter?

Yeah, but just for style, no particular mechanical reason for it

huh you were absolutely right. Weird. Thats the first time I’ve had that problem, thanks for the info!