Guild Wars 2

Durzlla.6295:

uh…. no…. ALL profs are getting half of their prof stat base, so rangers pets would be getting 150 stats, NOT 300, you’d only get the full 300 if you go into Beastmastery, which druids can do as well.

Yeah. I went back and re-read that. Thanks for putting me on the right track.

Which is interesting, because if Beastmaster comes with 150 stat points, I don’t see how the other 4 lines are gonna work without providing 150 stat points too (down from 600, but still).

They DID. By not letting players allocate it .

Do you often manage to close deals that amount to “out of all the work you’re doing here’s the thing I want the MOST… how about I give you some change I found between the cushions of my couch for it?”?

Seriously, you’d tip a waiter more for a bringing decent pizza to your table.

Nike.2631:

They are well past the time they would need to send out solicitations to stores to secure shelf space in August for the HoT boxes. We might see the change over to specializations in time for the anniversary, but HoT has missed that window.

coglin.1867:

That is an absolute false statement.

They are actually in fairly close stride this year, as they were with release year, as far as testing and betas go. Go back and look at the official release notification for retailers and compare it to how far out they are from the same date this your and it will disprove your claim.

I am looking at the wiki… and while I see it, I will say that is very strange behavior. The kind of thing I don’t see them getting away with twice, but we’ll see. ((shrug)) If I’m wrong I get to play it sooner. If I’m right, I don’t sit around gnashing my teeth.

To a marketing guy announcing something is releasing it .

I don’t think this week will have ANYTHING to do with druids.

Obtena.7952:

Does anyone here actually think it’s possible to balance every class against every other? If you do, you’re not very experienced or reasonable.

You don’t have to make a thing perfect to make a thing better. Though matches are decided as much or more by situational awareness as 1v1 dueling effectiveness.

Of course, what guides better is a data set that the playerbase will never, EVER see.

There is a whole room at ArenaNet where they watch the match up results from sPvP in kitten near real time, aggregated across the whole game.

The signs something is out of whack that they’ll take action to correct come from those graphs, not from any “please nerf X” on the forums.

So evidently someone out there does just fine against guards with their thieves.

DresdenAllblack.1249:

It will either be August 28th (three years from launch), or after Halloween.

They are well past the time they would need to send out solicitations to stores to secure shelf space in August for the HoT boxes. We might see the change over to specializations in time for the anniversary, but HoT has missed that window.

One thing to keep in mind is the Druid pets will automatically be weaker than Ranger pets.

hoT Rangers get a free 300 points of pet stat buff as per their current trait line 5.

Druids get 150 of this bonus and 150 of something else. Their pets will be noticeably weaker.

And they are getting a heal, 4 utility skills and an elite from a skill type they don’t have already, so they are NOT going to focus on anything Rangers already have like spirits, shouts, or traps. You can get those things using your 2 flexible specialization slots but the Druid line is going to be something new.

Extreme.8350:

Devout, Prophet, Ethereal , Divine hunter

How do you see those working for Charr, who actively reject the divine as a source of power?

Belzebu.3912:

Remember that every skin they make they need to make 10 skins (male and female of every race)

You can’t POSSIBLY think that’s true. There are two versions (gender). And in most cases the female version only shows up on the Human/Norn/Sylvarii. Everything that comes after is a matter of stretching the same assets to hook to different skeletons, plus a few cutouts built into the basic boot/glove so Charr fingers/toes can poke through. Which is why the only boots that actually acknowledge the shape of Asura feet are the racial armors. And why Tixx is perfectly happy to wear human racial armor despite being an Asura – no they didn’t make 6 new pieces just for him.

and make sure that the 6 pieces doesn’t clip too bad among them and among the other skins

Stop. You’re killin’ me.

lordkrall.7241:

And how do you know that they haven’t gotten one?

Because once they have a solid date, the physical vendors tend to be VERY public about it. Its not a secret when just about any employee that handles orders can check the solicitations log book and see when it’ll be available. The date lines up across the entire industry and the publisher tends to announce the date also (give or take a day or two). This is just how retail logistic work. But the fact remains there’s still a minimum amount of lead time between solicitation and release and that puts HoT into September at the earliest at this point.

Always wanted a skin-covered, better use of the 4-channel options version of this…

At this point we’re to September at the earliest because Heart of Thorns is a physical box and that means minimum 3-4 months notice to retailers to get shelf space.

While the anniversary would have been cute (though I don’t know that I’d highlight that it’s been 3 years to get an expansion out…) I think the only real drop dead date than matters is Black Friday. If they don’t make the Christmas season heads will roll (not that I think there is any concern it’ll take that long).

I don’t WvW much because the Devs refuse to face a basic problem:

The matches need automatic, continuous strategic-level handicapping/bolstering mechanics so you can put ANY 3 servers into a match and not know the outcome 10 seconds into the WEEK.

We’re beyond stagnant match-ups. Hell, we’re a year past ossification of match-ups.

Riot Inducer.8964:

Not sure if you understood what I was getting at. In GW1 the paragon profession’s selection for armor is effectively minor variations on white armor with a skirt.
For reference: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Paragon_armor
Now tell me how limited your light armor choices are again.

And how I do wish 80%+ of that profession’s skins would make the jump to GW2!

Genesis.8572:

Inquisitor
This is my short proposal about how some easy adjustments to the ‘dragonhunter’ e-spec works for an ‘inquisitor’ e-spec.
…
Weapon Skills: Weapon skills need minimal tweaks. Even then, these changes are not necessary for an inquisitor e-spec. I would just recommend renaming “Symbol of Energy” to “Symbol of Searing” and “Hunter’s Ward” to maybe “Seeker’s Ward.”

Like the symbol name change with Inquistor or Dragonhunter. Seeker’s Ward is a good swap for your theme – calling the effect a ward is still a little strange to me – I think I’d like Hunter’s/Seeker’s Binding better but that’s just me.

Heal, Utility, and Elite Skills: It turns out that the utility skills are more appropriate for an inquisitor motif than a dragonhunting one: e.g. Purification, Fragments of Faith, Light’s Judgment, Test of Faith, and Procession of Blades. So what of “Dragon’s Maw”? I don’t think that the animation needs to change, but it could simply be renamed to “Inquisitor’s Verdict.”

I like it. Sounds appropriately beefy.

Traits: The traits would need to be given greater thematic cohesion for the inquisitor e-spec.
- Minor Traits: Virtuous Action, Defender’s Dogma, and Pure of Sight
- Adept Traits: Repenter’s Blood (Piercing Light), Zealot’s Aggression, Wings of Wrath (Soaring Devastation)
- Master Traits: Unwavering Zeal (Hunter’s Determination), Bastion of Faith (Bulwark), Inquisitor’s Mark (Dulled Senses)
- Grandmaster Traits: Confessor’s Grace (Hunter’s Fortification), Faith’s Repulsion (Heavy Light), Foebane (Big Game Hunter)

I would avoid using “Zeal” and Zealot" outside of the Zeal line if possible. One of the challenges of working in an established namespace is not reusing terms .

Dulled Senses is definitely on my list of “whuhuh?” It looks like a leftover name from when the effect changed underneath it.

E-Spec Weapon and Armor Skins: The inquisitor armor could be a helm that mostly hid the face, being reminiscent of an executioner’s hood. The inquisitor weapon would be a longbow made to look similar to balancing scales (of justice). No such longbow exists in the game with such a motif. What of the preexisting dragonhunter longbow? ArenaNet can sell the dragonhunter longbow skin on the Trading Post. The gloves could be integrated into a dragon-motif heavy armor or outfit.

All sounds in-theme and flavorful. I could find uses for a heavy armor hood in my wardrobe .

I don’t think it’s necessary, but I think this could be a good and understandable set of changes. Hopefully they’ll review it with an open mind. And at the very least save it to look at again in the next wave if it doesn’t get used here.

Outfits are still obviously built with the same tools as the armor pieces – in most cases you can plainly see the individual locations like the boots being separate from the pants or easily isolated gloves. The parts are still there, they’re just locked together.

Its a bit of a mystery to me why the assets aren’t being made available/sold as both outfits and as a stack of mix-and-match pieces for the armor weight class they are built on. People in medium/heavy professions could wear the Daydreamer Outfit and light armor characters could wear the outfit OR shuffle the pieces together with other light armor parts.

Ragnarox.9601:

Eles remove burning with dodge (rip guardian condi dmg)

Um, so what? Once burning shifts to [‘stacks intensity’ rather than ‘stacks duration’, it’s going to emasculate this kind of cleanse because the damage will already have been inflicted instead of queing up and waiting to happen when the cleanse arrives.

That one change to the burning condition is going to require major rethinking of our offensive options.

From “Beta Test” to “Beta Chest” in one burst of RNG…

Rhyse.8179:

Oh look another trenchcoat.

Worse — oh look another outfit obviously built on the medium armor template and yet still locked together in one big blob instead of being released as armor.

ArenaNet, if you’re gonna keep making armor using the armor tools (because there’s no mistaking the pedigree of an outfit like this), why not make it available as both outfit AND armor skin? Sell them separately and maybe even offer a discounted bundle. People who like outfits get outfits. People who like to mix and match get a bag full of parts. Everybody wins.

Ragnarox.9601:

I have:
7x Sunrises
6x Twilights
8x Juggernauts
ready for HoT sellings when the price is right.

….and then I woke up :/

Probably for a best. Would have turned into a nightmare when the market for old Legendaries implodes.

Having only one way to build is the complete opposite of skill for a game designer though.

Um, bloodstone dust is ALREADY a cooking ingredient…

Bowl of Bloodstone Broth
Cup of Bloodstone Soup
Chalice of Bloodstone Chili

But it’s not exactly healthy eating…

I don’t see how you could possible determine optimal stat allocation except on a skill by skill basis since each skill has two DPS components~

base damage x crit chance x crit magnitude
scaling coefficient x power x crit chance x crit magnitude

As the ratio of base:scaler varies from skill to skill the sweet spot is also going to vary from skill to skill (thought you could do an aggregate value for a whole weapon tray 1-5 with weighted ratios for auto-attack vs directed skills driven by cooldowns…)

It CAN be solved, but the solution is going to be about three dimensions deeper than what’s been shown here so far and it will be unique to each possible weapon set up for each profession including do you have cooldown reduction traited (and even that being a best approximation vs. the actual frequency of use of skills in combat).

And yeah… all that before factoring buffs and the hard cap on crit chance/leaving sufficient room in you build for Fury if you expect to have decent fury uptime. Some of those rat-tail curves are abruptly clamped .

To add to the fun while best output ratios between crit chance and crit magnitude are easy enough to calculate (at least below 75% crit chance – see clamping above) several professions have auto-crit mechanics that could radically shift that ratio in some use cases… If you have 5 auto-crits coming and can consistently accomplish the task you have set yourself in those five hits, do you need stat-based crit chance at all?

And finally you have the weighting issue that affects many of my builds: proc on crit effects. While a pure DPS evaluation is simpler, if you are running crit proc sigils or any of the 38 traits that proc on crit you might want to give that some consideration when spreading your stat points around.

Ephemiel.5694:

I have said my argument calmly and explained it, so have a few others in this thread but since you refuse to actually read, who cares.

Link? I’ll be happy to read it, just less excited about having to dig for it myself .

Lindelle.3718:

Mini gwynefyrrd after 115,000 ToT bags, but what I’m proud of is that I kept my sanity

Are you sure? …Because I think little gwynefyrrd there is using it as a chew-toy .

I like my Infinite Light. Took 8 months to make it and every Spark in Orr trembles in terror when I walk past…

Ephemiel.5694:

….yeah, i can imagine the “work” that went into the name when the fans are poking holes all over what they said and even thinking of superior ideas.

And that right there is why you are wasting your time. There is NO OBJECTIVE TRUTH to that statement. You like some of the ideas here more, but be realistic – 99% of what’s been pitched is straight off of page 1 of the ‘my first time writing fantasy: a guide to generic as KITTEN names’. Spouting tier 1 drivel does NOT a compelling argument make. The team that owns the canon – the office where the buck stops on what IS and IS NOT “modern Tyria” are on board with this. The mechanics guys didn’t just sneak their 9-year old’s pet name through no matter how clever folks think they are claiming that’s how it went down.

Dragonhunter didn’t come out of a hat. Its been compared to and overcome probably every dammed name thrown out here and it did it 6 months ago. Is it set in stone? Not for another 3 months, but for pity’s sake UNDERSTAND if you want to change it you’re not going to insult them into action and you’re not gonna get a petition of 18 random posters and 11 bloggers who all like page 1 generic names to change their minds either.

You think something’s better? Great. Make a compelling pitch. Stamping your foot and saying “you’re so dumb!” to the Devs is screaming at them that you’re not operating on a level they should (or will) pay attention to.

Iason Evan.3806:

I haven’t read most of this so where does it stand? Mostly for or against the name?

Where it stands is its not now nor has it ever been up for a vote or the end product of a popularity contest.

I don’t think it goes with the profession at all.

Nothing wrong with that, and you’re not alone.

It should be changed to something that invokes thoughts of the base class in a more focused way. Dragon hunter in no way evokes thoughts of what a Guardian stands for or does.

I think it’s pretty clear they DON’T want the E-specs to be considered close to the base profession. Its not supposed to evoke “more Guardian” its supposed to evoke “something new (that shares some techniques with Guardians)”

Corpus Christi.2057:

Given the fact that the VAST majority of GW2 playerbase resides in the EU…

Just out of curiosity, what’s your source for this?

Ojyh.9842:

Hey Nike ! you know that the armor they showed on the DH is already in the game right ? Only the gloves are new.
The Chronomancer only got new shoulders. The Reaper a new hat. The DH new gloves. Nothing more.

Certainly — and I’m pretty sure I know why: because we’re going to pay 5 hero points to unlock the skin and it comes before some traits/skills so having different numbers of armor pieces would make some E-spec tracks more difficult to complete than others. They ALL have exactly 1 new armor piece.

Gloves + Bow : it’s not that much to change. They even might have something ready to replace them already considering they probably have abandonned concept arts or models they never used before and that could fit.

Could be – but the point is that pulling something at random out of the discards isn’t creating a unified theme. The name was chosen before the graphical assets were developed. If they’re open to change then it might be helpful to try to inspire/intrigue them with some ideas for the armor and weapon skin that would have to be made for the new name. The ‘scales of justice-as-bow’ for the Arbiter seems like a clever example of linking Name and visual theme .

And keep in mind some of the names that have been put forward… even if they aren’t used for this first Guardian spec as a replacement for Dragonhunter with its longbow/traps mechanics, are still probably going into a scratch file somewhere to be re-examined when it comes time to plan out the next round of E-specs.

(I for one am happy we aren’t getting the Paragon yet – as arguably the most quintessential of all Guardian branches/influences, I think they’ll do a better job of it after having gained some practical experience making E-specs. Oh, and when they have the tech in hand to give us terrestrial spears, either as 2h weapons or with their stats scaling down to 1H levels when used in an on-land main hand slot so we can combine them with focus/shield/torch)

Um…

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/08/video-game-execution-guild-wars-2-arena-net

Tachenon.5270:

Why would they have to change anything but the name?

Because the name, the armor, the weapon, and in some cases the skill FX work together. They are not independent parts of the design process.

Would wells be so readily accepted as the Chronomancer’s new skill type if they didn’t look like big clock faces?

Genesis.8572:

Nike, could you try being at least fifty percent less patronizing? Thanks.

Your point is well taken. I’ll try to moderate my tone. But I’m not shooting for any more than a 14% reduction .

TheSwede.9512:

They’re not gonna directly Nerf Zerker gear in any way, I’d wager. The only way they could directly nerf it would be through nerfs to Power, Precision or Ferocity which will hurt more than just the PvE Dungeon meta.

The way you nerf ’Zerker is reduce the base healing of self-healing skills about 15% (with a corresponding increase in Heal power scaling) and suddenly most players no longer have the skill to survive existing encounters and have to gear for more sustain (any of the Toughness/Vitality/heal power family).

Which has the added benefit of being able to legitimately say they didn’t touch the ’Zerker stats.

Genesis.8572:

Skill animations have been changed before and they will be changed again. I’m not too concerned about it.

Its work. “Not being concerned” about casually committing them to more work is a good way to get ignored by Devs when you’re trying to be persuasive. More work will always be a weight in the pan against change. Not an insurmountable weight, but any good proposal is going to either take steps minimize those costs or try to convince the Devs the costs are worth the results.

Others have noted that the guardian e-spec shares attack animations with rangers, so that should probably change as well.

Things could go either way on that. If they are concerned enough about blurring the lines between profession they may add new animations to punch up the unique identity and flavor. If you’ve got a good theme you think would highlight the kinesthetic feel of a new name, DEFINITELY include it. The case has been made that since DH’s have longer cast times for some of their shots, a more daikyu/zen-archery style draw-motion might look cool and set them part from Ranger/Warrior archers.

OTOH a bow is a bow to most people and a trap a trap. There may be some advantages in uniformity beyond conservation of art department man-hours.

Basically it comes down to pick your fights in your proposal. Does it add enough cool to make animations a thing you want to delve into.

Genesis.8572:

Maybe some of these names being tossed out willy-nilly can be made more credible by including how you’d like the armor, weapon and skill FX to work with it? Present the whole package instead of just one word as if that’s all that goes into picking an E-spec name.

An excellent idea.

Even if I’m ok with the current name, I want to see the best counter-proposals possible .

It’s a bit sad that the azureflame bow has become even more iconic for the dragonhunter spec than the dragonbow due to that amazing piece of concept art.

I immediately went and bought all the necessary components to build an Azureflame the day that picture came out . Picked up mats for Wintersbite too, for my evil Jormag-infused Guardian who will totally be rocking the icebow…

If I have one real bone of contention with the Dragonhunter its that the Wings of Resolve FX aren’t a third as awesome as that concept art. The misty white wings are cute and all, but I want me some iconic blue fire of righteous whupus dancing along those pinions.

Genesis.8572:

Whoopty-freakin’-doo. Want a cookie for it?

I already got a cookie for it — Superior Rune of the Trapper. Mmm. Delicious.

Is that really all that much work? Some generic looking dragon gear? That’s it? So how difficult would it be to change all that visual work? Just put the gear on the Black Lion shop and then they can milk us dry for it. Give NCSoft a needed boost in quarterly earnings. Then ArenaNet can make some other gear for a more appropriate guardian e-spec.

And there you’ve made the argument for a change more effective. I would totally include that in any serious proposal, because it shows an awareness of their process and the steps they’re on/have already taken. Doesn’t address the skill FX, but that’s only the elite.

Maybe some of these names being tossed out willy-nilly can be made more credible by including how you’d like the armor, weapon and skill FX to work with it? Present the whole package instead of just one word as if that’s all that goes into picking an E-spec name.

Fragments of Faith is gonna be vicious in the hands of any close-range DH. A blind, damage, and 5-6 ‘smart’ applications of Aegis?

Genesis.8572:

Nike.2631:

No less terrible than last time it came up .

And still miles ahead of your precious ‘dragonbane.’

It’s not that precious to me .

Please understand the context for me – The entire structure of E-specs is based off of a couple of documents I wrote for ArenaNet (yes, it’s evolved since then, which is a good thing). I wrote that design doc after having made it extremely clear I thought sub-classes were a terrible idea (in no small part because of the issue of naming them – sound familiar?). But IF sub-classes were going to be ‘a thing’ then here’s how I would go about minimizing the damage they’d to. Because I don’t have to like an idea to want to understand it and improve it.

Basically I prophesized this entire argument IN DETAIL 18 months ago. So in many ways the Dragonbane post is the same thing as the E-spec design doc – I felt the need to legitimately play for the other side, to see if I could craft an argument FOR changing the name and frame it in a way that wasn’t wasting my breath. On the whole I’m pretty satisfied with how it went, but I’m not gonna cry if it doesn’t turn into another case of ‘be careful what you wish for…’ There is the possibility of a better name — there always was — but I find most of what’s been pitched to be generic drivel that ignores the intent that’s been put forward and the visual work already done.

Ephemiel.5694:

Nike.2631:

And I am a little hyped to take a Dragonhunter and blow up people who think that those skills are gonna be useless…

I can just see people, especially bad Thieves, just charge right into those traps.

I used to think its was the dumbest thing in the world in movies when people would jump up and down and shout “over here” before leading the bad guys away (or into ambushes). I mean seriously, could you make it any more obvious you’re the decoy?

Then I started watching people do it in real life. Especially in objective based PvP settings. And it WORKS. Ridiculously well, in fact. People lock onto and chase the thing that catches their eye the most.

Nobody ever lost money in the long run assuming the majority of their opponents are dumber than bricks. Especially in the heat of the moment. If you really are the laser-focused Lord Cool-&-Calculating believe me, I’ve got tools and plays for you too and look forward to a tougher fight.

Still looking forward to it. Was never wildly excited, but I have lots of games I play, so predictably my energy and enthusiasm are divided up across a couple titles. I see a number of mechanical changes coming that I think will increase my enjoyment… And I am a little hyped to take a Dragonhunter and blow up people who think that those skills are gonna be useless…

Genesis.8572:

Inquisitor?

No less terrible than last time it came up . Torturers and murderers aren’t generally a heroic archetype. Tyria had them before and seems to largely be glad to be rid of them.

Cyninja.2954:

Thus people flipping move on to second tier goods or ressources. Let’s make those account bound too.

Let’s make everything account bound, but then we are left with no ingame economy.

Account bound after selling and account bound after dropping from the world are two very different things.

And yes, you could process some materials one time before selling them but at least you would have had some sort of participation in the process beyond buy out a hasty seller to milk a hasty buyer.

Again its a question of do you think flipping is good. If yes, no worries. If no, we DO have the tools to end it. Decisively. Because virtual economies have tags that don’t exist in the real world.

That one city was larger than an entire GW2 Zone and given that most militaries have a 10:1 support to front-liner ratio on a good day “50k troops” is still half a million people in the army…

“Fixing it” is trivially easy – anything bought from the TP becomes account bound on pick up. The end. Flipping dies before drawing another breath.

The question has always been “does flipping benefit the game environment” and our resident economist has always been a staunch supporter of “Yes”.

Ephemiel.5694:

Look at purecontact’s post. Does anyone need MORE than that?

I think some of us need a name that reflects the Devs clearly stated intent that this is a branch of Guardians who are not on defense, not standing watch, not shouting ‘halt, who goes there’ in the night but are instead playing offense, going out into the wilds, stalking and killing the servants of Dragons. Pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of “Sentinels” in fact. But maybe we can persuaded the Devs that not only do we not like the name, they’re entirely wrong in having characters in the setting take hope from the victory over Zhaitan and shift from a century-long holding action and retreat after retreat to taking the war to the enemy.

Me, I’d look for a name that reflects the more aggressive nature they feel inspired this E-spec.

Sooo evocative rather than literal?

Tachenon.5270:

All you have to do is visualize the dragonhunter coming face to face with his prey in a dark valley in some remote corner of the world. What’s he gonna do? Arrest it? Tell it to straighten up and fly right? He sure as nerfs ain’t gonna kill it with traps or arrows or anything else at his disposal short of a Pact fleet with mass quantities of airships bristling with guns and some sort of megalaser or maybe a tactical nuke.

His “prey” are Dragon MINIONS, not the whole kitten dragon. The one victory the People of Tyria have had over dragons has come from taking apart its powerbase one lieutenant at a time until the beast was finally made vulnerable. Here we have a faction – as in many – of Guardians who are no longer satisfied to stand watch and wait and guard – they are training to go out and find and kill those lieutenants and knock the legs out from under the armies of other dragons after the success in Orr.

uhohhotdog.3598:

Nike.2631:

“Trolling” is just an cute word for “Sadism” used by people who don’t know that taking pleasure from causing the suffering of your fellow human beings significantly pre-dates the internet.

“Suffering”? Really? If you suffer from anything someone says online well…. I can’t say.

I can.

Harvest.2506:

I’m not paid to go digging. the premise is base on other specialization names, someone else can go find that no class mixing thing, I’m tried and i have better things to do on a saturday night. me or genesis or some others wrote our reasoning already back when we where young this trend is ancient now.

No worries. It just seemed you felt it so intensely I thought you might have the link handy .