Guild Wars 2

…I dispute that ‘Glass Cannons’ even EXIST.

The on-demand invulnerability this game affords all characters has such incredible — nay, ridiculous — uptime vs. the incredibly slow attack tempo of most PvE threats that you can’t be a glass cannon no matter how hard you try. Further, the game’s real work horse defenses… not Vitality and Toughness, but Blind and Aegis don’t scale with stats at all, so there’s only very limited ways to gear towards defense through stats. You can buy screw-up insurance with a larger health bar and a bit more mitigation, but it’s always more efficient to not screw up in the first place.

DPS and moar DPS is about the only useful place to put your stat points.

While fun to daydream about, understand that ANet’s not really into doing vast amounts of work for very little pay off – introducing even 1 new weapon type requires dozens (plural) of new models to fill in the many, many weapon sets with that new weapon. If that’s too much work when a new weapon could potentially be used by 4-6 classes (maybe more as Elite Specs continue to arrive) it’s way, way, WAY too much work to only benefit a single profession .

Necromancer: Scythe
Elementalist: Orb
Guardian: Tome
Engineer could have a slingshot .
Thief: Hand claws
Ranger: Whip
Revenant: Cestus
Mesmer: floating Cards/Talismans

I try to. I’ve bough almost every armor skin set to ever appear in the gem store and not a single outfit ever.

But I’d consider paying for music kits and cheerfully put up gems in a kickstarter for some sort of “Add 30 Dynamic Events to Zone X” project. I am a big fan of adding more depth to existing maps through more DE’s.

Every piece you separate is one more thing a person has to first relearn before they can play at full effectiveness in the other mode, then remember when they swap back and forth between aspects of the game. Reading patch notes you can see in general they’re trying to minimize the splits that are already in the game, not create more.

You get 100 times more player understanding and acceptance by making your PvE monsters act more like players (action tempo, range of skills, defensive behavior, movement) than you do from splitting skills by game mode. Even if players freak out a little that some mobs actually fight back .

Kind of depends on his height (which is hard to gauge from that image). Head size is often fairly static regardless of body size, so a proportionally smaller head looks normal on a tall person and a proportionally slightly larger head is expected from a shorter person. His head size seems a little large to me (probably because of the broad neck more than anything), but if he’s average height or shorter it’s probably somewhere between realistic and perfect .

(and I think of it as CDO… with the letters alphabetized. The way they should be )

Or people could stop buying outfits and give ANet some financial motivation to put those same artists to work making armor skins that let you ((gasp)) pick what boots/shoes to wear with your dress.

If you leave games just because of the absolutely necessary process of adjusting class balance in light of direct observation of the Live game, you’re not gonna find a permanent home anywhere in the MMO industry.

Change happens. Some of it will be nerfs. Or stick to one-shot games (and even those get patched).

I consider them proof the Devs do occasionally read the forums since I asked for exactly this 10 months ago .

Nike.2631:

I want tan-gold “Hawk wings” but celestial is ok too.

circuitnerd.5863:

So to me it seems that everytime they do a balance patch it’s based off of pvp and it feels like pve isn’t taken into consideration.

That’s called ‘selective memory’. Pretty much everything about the big rework of conditions was driven by PvE, some of it to the considerable detriment of PvP interplay (confusion now always damaging you when before you could make more meaningful choices about when to mash buttons or hold your actions).

They want to keep the walls between play modes as low as possible so new players can migrate between them without feeling like they need to learn a whole new game. That means abilities are ALWAYS being looked at in multiple contexts.

When you split skills you build a wall that keeps people from transitioning between play modes. Big surprise: they are powerfully disinclined to do that. It’s a lot more effective to make the critters fight with skills and tempo more like players, even if they do freak out that HoT map monsters aren’t complete rofflestomps.

The usage in game — ‘more than one staff (the predominantly wooden tool/weapon)’ — is undoubtedly supposed to be staves. There is no wrangling or misinterpretation that will get around that . It’s largely the same phonetic transformation as calf and calves.

For those who find the word odd, consider also that the long thin pieces of wood that make up the walls of a barrel are also “staves” and a crushed barrel or ship hull is “stove in”, referring to the broken staves.

You’ll want to avoid anything requiring ground targeting, which actually is a big down-tick for Ranger longbow or Warrior longbow. Warrior rifle is a hybrid ranged/melee weapon and they have no pet.

Seriously, Necro minion-master is where its at. Axe/focus has no ground targeting. You’re whole right-hand skill tray is fully automated. It’s a breeze.

I think the real lesson isn’t that they are or (clearly) aren’t optimal, but that a Guardian can deliver every single tool that fight calls for. Heals, tanking, CC, Power DPS, Condi DPS, & pushes. All. Of. It. Which to me makes a skillfully played Guardian the universal fill-in for that fight. Its one of the few classes that lives up to the concept that “your profession doesn’t determine your role, it determines how you fulfill your role.”

“What are we missing? Fine, have a Guardian do it.”

I find almost every comparison of such-and-such profession does this-or-that better than Guards, ignores that a Guard can do 2-3 needful things very well with a single build even if it doesn’t match the ultimate outliers at their one thing at a time.

The classes that “got better” than the Smite Condition buff are mostly bottom shelf chumps than needed it. Meanwhile the spotlight hogging Revenant is getting its wings clipped, and the completely OP choronmancer is being full-on eviscerated.

We don’t need to reach some illusionary “next level”. Holding position or moving up a smidgeon will do just fine when the current titans are getting thrashed with the nerf bat.

That was fun to watch. Well prepared positions, good raid calling, good chat discipline. Only a handfull of downs and no defeats.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

You have to admit though they did a nerf based on cries from noobs and idiots.

They barely care what hoots and snorting noises passes through these forums. They have tools that let them look at every match ever played through 171 filters and what they were seeing is what they addressed.

Our trap dazing was a little too consistent and the initial damage from Test of Faith a little too reliable from a profession that has lots of tools to shove and push people through the boundary against their will.

These changes are not going to knock Dragonhunters out of any positions they hold now, and it gives them some breathing room to improve them slightly in other areas without leapfrogging straight to the top of the heap for competitiveness.

And if your jaw didn’t drop that Smite Condition got a buff, you’re either not paying attention or deliberately ignoring it to make an already flawed argument that much more dishonest.

While it’s not the same cause, the solution might be similar: I suffer near constant 2-5 second lag spikes, spaced with exactly 3 seconds of good ping rate, meaning I have to choose my actions carefully and cannot rely on ‘twitch gameplay’ whatsoever.

Under those conditions nothing beats a ranged necromancer with minions. You basically need one click to engage and then your auto-attack and the horde of slavering undead following you around can do the rest with complete disregard to positioning. I recommend the much maligned axe for a main hand (focus off hand) as the auto attack stacks vulnerability which sets up your horde nicely even if you’re effectively afk most of the fight. Necros can be ridiculously rugged with their high HP and the trait that gives bonus toughness for each minion you have out.

I have to laugh. Revenant is so in the nerf-cannon crosshairs right now it’s not even funny. I take it back, it’s hilarious. Lets see where we stand at the end of the month.

Cool. Thanks for the update .

There’s no word period. Give it a few days and see if we get some actual details.

Daishi.6027:

Glad shatter is getting and update.

But I will be disappoint if I cannot get his wings! Holo is cool, but tired of A-net’s blue bias!

Also + glider plz

Odds are pretty good non-holo Shaterer wings are one of the rewards for doing all the achievements.

Shikigami.4013:

I don’t understand people who consider putting permanent gathering tools into those slots.

Because I have one watchwork pick and 20 character slots?

Given they eliminated their dungeon team? No. They won’t.

If this is the first time you’ve seen an MMO entangle its main plotline and raid plotlines, you’re in for a treat. ((sigh))

Dondarrion.2748:

Colin wrote in the State of the Game blog post – in the spoiler bit following HoT under the “Looking Longer Term” paragraph;

COLIN

… while the heroes of the great invasion into the jungle investigate a strange disturbance to the north.

I was scratching my head why no one else has been picking up on this, or maybe I’m just reading it wrongly. Of course, it could be Primordius too, but ‘disturbance to the north’ that needs investigating sure as hell won’t be Kralkatorrik

The raid map is on the north side of the Tangled Depth. The ongoing raid releases are the “strange disturbance to the north”, that’s all.

Baldrick.8967:

Thank you to all those that bought these and are paying for the game. I’m not laughing at you. I’m not laughing at you. Ahh, who am I kidding? HHAHHhahhaahhaahah.
…
I just bought an entire game for that.

And I’ve left a larger tip when ordering pizza. 10 bucks is inconsequential if I’m happy with the service. So please, keep laughing.

Figure out what might be really worth putting in that slot and then decide on it’s value to you. Multiplying my one watchwork pick out to all of my alts? Might be worth it. Putting a stack of candy corn in there so they can all puke on command? Not so much.

Then I guess you won’t be getting them.

But make no mistake this market is driven by the folks that do, not the folks that don’t.

I’m seriously considering one for my watchwork mining pick. After that for 700 gems a pop I can probably resist getting any more.

Indure.5410:

I mainly blame Anet for the issues being talked about in this post. We know they are going to be buffing core guardian’s traits and abilities (which is great), but in terms of the Dragonhunter, they were clear they were going to nerf the burst damage and disruption capabilities of the specialization without providing any path forward to how the nerf in one area is going to lead to buffs in other areas to make the class “balanced.” Right now a lot of people are under the believe that they are going to take an under-performing class that has one strength and make it an under-performing class with no strengths.

Ok, there’s a fundamental error in the reasoning in this post: If they felt Dragonhunters were balanced, they wouldn’t be nerfing them. So the notion that you’re gonna get something to offset what you’re losing is NOT a given. They want them to be weaker not just as powerful but different.

It’ll be a matter of abiding interest to me too, but I’m prepared to wait until we know more than a two sentence thumbnail of what’s coming.

Link? Because I remember no such ‘promise’.

Hexalot.8194:

… that dreaded word, “Mounts” ? :-)

You’ve got to admit that with gliding, there are some areas in the open world where you can cover substantial ground without setting foot on mother Earth. It does seem (to me) that this may just be ANET “testing the waters” so to speak.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

No matter how many times the mounts crowd bleets out “but I want it” the fact of the matter is speed has value. You can already have speed in this game, if you’re willing to sacrifice for it. Mounts are almost always presented as free speed and that breaks a bunch of balance points for traits, for weapons skill, for utilities, and for runes.

THE PACKMASTER
The Packmaster handles a multitude of beasts, controlling as many as companions with their scepter-whips. They travel the world to gather some of the largest and most dangerous beasts for their pack, gaining the Minion utility skills type.

Class Mechanic
The Pack. Packmaster uses only 1 type of pet (keyed to the first terrestrial and aquatic pet slots) but may have up to three present at once. Each pet inflicts roughly 40% of the damage of the standard Ranger pet and has roughly 60% of a standard pet’s health. Only the pet closest to the Packmaster responds to f2 commands and shout skills.
Reinforce (f4). Summons 1 additional pet if less than 3 are present and counts as pet swap for traits.

Scepter (whip)

• Whiplash (auto-attack). 320 range narrow cone whip attack (As seen with various Nightmare Court enemies). 3 damage ticks with Torment on the final tick.
• Strangle. Animated whip lashes out to wrap around target’s throat. 600 range. Channeled immobilize & weakness
• Crack the Whip. Up to 300 range 2 second fear, up to 600 range 1 second fear. Blast finisher.

Utility – Minions
Blood-Bat (Heal Skill). Large red bat transfers life to Packmaster and casts darkness fields on command.
Chromatic Ooze. Ranged poisoner. Taunts and becomes invulnerable on command.
Bull Minotaur. Melee brawler. Charges/knock down on command.
Griffon. Flying bleeder. Evades on command.
Rock Dog. Melee crippler. ‘Hunker-down’ block/regen on command.
Mature Karka (Elite Skill). Armored behemoth. Poisons/immobilizes on command.

Traits (Minor)
Run with the Pack. Gain pack of pets, reinforce (f4), access to the scepter, and minion skills.
Revenge for the Fallen. You and of your all pets & minions gain Quickness when one of your pets or minions dies.
Feral Sacrifice. You and of your all pets & minions gain Protection when one of your pets or minions dies.

Traits (Adept)
Master of the Lash. Strangle pulls and knocks down at end of channel. 20% cooldown on Scepter skills.
OBEY! All minions gain +20% HP. 20% cooldown on minion command skills.
To Me! Cast reinforce on taking fallen damage or resurrecting an ally (45s ICD). Falling damage is halved.

Traits (Master)
Never Alone. All pets gain +10% for 6 seconds and any remaining cooldown on f2 is reduced by 2 seconds when Packmaster is CC’d.
Resurgent Arrival. Reinforce cleanses 2 conditions.
Endless Menagerie. All minions gain small self-heal over time. 20% cooldown on minion summon skills.

Traits (Grandmaster)
The Horde. Your pack may have up to 4 active pets. Pet hit points reduced by -10%.
Tyrant’s Lash. For each active pet, 8% of all damage Packmaster takes is distributed to that pet.
Dogpile. If two or more pets are active, a second pet respond to F2 commands and shouts after a 3 second delay.

So, over then next three months should we expect eleven new I-can’t-change-anything-but-the-color &$@ing outfits and ZERO armor sets?

‘Cause its getting real old the way you are frittering away the Character Art team’s time.

Belenwyn.8674:

Nike.2631:

Did I read that right…? Not a single word about more second wave Legendaries?

They only presented the highlights. Legendary weapons are not a part of this category.

I’m willing to wait two weeks to see which way this goes, but over a decade of MMO’ing says Devs don’t hide stuff that would make them look good when doing big press releases.

Ayrilana.1396:

You don’t know that. People can always come back.

There is no coming back from releasing after XCOM2 comes out .

Fade to Black.7042:

I don’t like the Karl’s preview of balance >.>

Making the things everyone plays less powerful and the things nobody plays better often has that effect, but that’s usually a good sign for actual balance .

Lagg.3960:

2016 is the year where we’ll be focusing on the parts of Guild Wars 2 that have been most successful and giving our full attention to those areas by adding depth to them.

So you’re bringing back Dungeons and SAB?

I’m pretty sure that wording was specifically to dance around the fact those things are dead and gone.

Donari.5237:

As I read it, it remains a HoT mastery that you must train in HoT. But that is an interesting question, is it possible to make mastery xp earning more global?

As long as the corrupt cesspit of CoF exists, don’t expect anything of the sort.

If they close that loophole, then things might happen.

I’m looking forward to the return of Chinese New Year’s celebration.

I’m dreading some new stupid omega-grind where we have to eat 25,000 barbeque pork buns in 2 weeks to get a new ‘fireworks effects’ shoulders…

Did I read that right…? Not a single word about more second wave Legendaries?

New fractals… just not anytime soon.

And dungeons deader than ever.

ginryu.3026:

I would simply like to voice my opposition to any such change.

A player doesn’t want to be nerfed? Imagine that.

At the end of the day they don’t base their actions on the experience of any single player, they base it on the accomplishments of the entire group across the length and breadth of the game. You may not be seeing Engineers being over-the-line indestructible, but they clearly are.

Dear bite-sized morsel,

Gimme my spoons back. They’re part of a grand plot to bore a sub-aquatic tunnel to the Eye of the North and my Risen servants can’t dig without them.

Sincerely,

You’re delicious.

Serophous.9085:

Pretty much this. It didn’t really give any actual info, just headlines of what they are planning. I mean, that’s not bad per se, but once you read it again, you really just feel like “meh, so I am half a step toward knowing more info”.

Why tell people exactly what’s going on when you can imagine you’ve building a hype train with a bunch of fragmentary information drops?

The cure is simple — polite interest, but don’t get hyped.

Its fun to watch Karl dance around trying to rephrase “we’re gonna nerf the crap out that” in 2-3 places .

I look forward to seeing Revenants get beaten back into line. They were hogging way too much role-space and functionality.

Keep in mind to introduce a new weapon they also have to generate dozens of new skins to fill in at minimum the crafted, dungeon, fractal, Achievement Point, and WvW sets so characters looking to use those weapons have equivalent access. Then add 2 more miscellaneous skins for Champion boxes and potentially another skin for every single black lion weapon set ever.

All to deliver 2, 3, or 5 new skills that they could potentially do just as easily by using an existing weapon in an new Elite spec. And with an elite spec they don’t have to do skills for 3-6 professions all at the same time to justify the art department workload.

Then they get to recode every drop table in the game.

It’s not that it can’t possibly happen, but realistically adding new weapons ain’t ever gonna happen.

Understand something: It looks like they got a six month ban. I’m totally satisfied with it. There is a distinction made at ANet between cheating and cheating that directly harms another player. All good.

This issue many people have is that this particular cheater’s reaction to getting caught was trying to lie their way out and smear those responsible for enforcement. That shows an absolutely REPUGNANT nature and utter lack of integrity. You can apologize all you want: you’ve revealed your character and it is trash. This may come as a shock, but people who have integrity don’t have a lot of patience with those who don’t. If this is your first experience with that treat it as a valuable lesson in social skills. When you willfully cheat, you lose you pity privileges. When you lie and connive to cover it up you push yourself a lot further down the human slime curve.

ryandeniszorro.6735:

I wanted to say just few things not about ban but about how we as community went into this. First reddit post with stupid , shameful redditors, who laughed and mocked this two people.
Then GW2 official forums, thriving on this ban.
Is this what GW2 community is now ? Is it best joy for you to see someone sad and upset ?

There is nothing wrong with taking pleasure in a rare visible example of Justice when a cheater gets punished. I have not one ounce of sympathy for how sad they get FOR GETTING CAUGHT.

Hey. Yeah you, cheater. We don’t just dislike you, we $&*^@#ing HATE YOU.

That’s what’s so incredibly tiresome about cheaters. It’s like they are completely oblivious to the fact that cheating isn’t just wrong, it kittenes other people off too. You’re not clever. You’re not better than everyone else ‘cause you’re breaking the rules. And to have that gall to try and rally public sympathy is such an utter disconnect with how the public actually views such shenanigans it borders on clinical narcissism.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I don’t think FSs can edit other posters’ thread titles. I’ve rarely seen the PvE FS create a thread, but I might have just missed them all. /shrug

I’m not saying they can or should. If something particularly useful/exciting comes out of a discussion or they just want to update us with their collected insights for the week or something they can/should make a new thread, tag the title, and if need be include links to what got them all juicy.

I pay attention to their tags with I see them in thread. I’d be more inclined to click on and read their threads if I could identify them at a glance from the forum pages. If the board software supports a different color (blue?) tag for them that gets overridden by a red tag if a Dev shows up, great. Until then there are ways to achieve better communication than we’re seeing now with tools we know are available.

If you have a laggy connection like mine you’ll never complete it even once, much less three times!