Guild Wars 2

Throw… Shield…?

Oh! Your playing that class that has had complaints every day since Day One about the inescapable hobo-sack, and you’re thinking that ANet cares one iota about the looks of that class’ skills when you have a legendary equipped?

I’m not gonna tell you to not go down that road, but I will tell you there is nothing but tears to be found there. Its one of the great mysteries how this hasn’t been fixed in 2.5 years because believe me this is FAR from the first thread about it.

What new complexity does 10 zerker-wearing DPS-mongers bring to the game that 5 doesn’t already deliver?

Ill-tempered gravity/fold in the terrain would be my guess.

Like how Norns can walk down a shallow slope taking 2-4k damage per step until dead.

sorudo.9054:

they said they would redesign old maps in one way or another, i think the ones who would own HoT would be able to reach things you can only get to with gliders, including on old maps.

Link please? Because that’s 180-degrees the opposite of my understanding of the near future.

It’s not exactly hard to uninstall it later.

Do it. Look around a bit. Do some of the things you liked and see if the spark is still there. Club a skrit. Rain fire down on an Inquest goon. Listen to some of the NPC dialogue in the cities. Open up the map and go “oh, yeah… I remember these places…”

If you’re unenthusiastic after 45 minutes, rip it out again.

Ludwig.4138:

If they wanted to go really outside of the box it would be awesome to give the warriors a staff as just a MH wep and let them dual wield a shield or small wep in the OH.

It would be a super pain in the backside to let any character anywhere under any circumstances have the stat bonuses from a 2-h weapon and a 1-handed weapon. Weapons are more than just skills and animations, they are also a stack of stat bonuses…

I think many here have grossly overestimated how much and how often class mechanics are going to be altered by Specializations. But, we’ll just have to wait and see.

I like how the OP proposes to be a champion of “the new player” for whom all this is supposedly hard.

We don’t all share your experience with it. I found it trivially easy pretty much since day 1, thanks. I find the auto-targeting to be maybe the dumbest in the history of MMOs, but “cluttered” is definitely not a reaction I have to 10 whole skill buttons and a loot vacuum/interact key.

I think Rytlock’s player deleted him and re-rolled using the name again.

Otte.6014:

Staff but only as the off hand. Run around like a heavy armored Gandalf

Would be awesome

Awesome, but not going to happen, as staves have attribute bonus allocations on them as 2-handed weapons.

Lazaar.9123:

Warrior focus is just a weapon you will throw like a boomerang.

At which point we’ll have Wonder Woman clones everywhere.

So, basically I’m for it .

PlagueParade.7942:

Honestly, I think wars will get off hand torch.

Which would be cool .

So sharpening stone doesn’t work on your Rangers?

Polearms are a completely different set of weapons in the database. And I’m totally with you on that, they aren’t going to expend the effort to flesh out polearms art for every set that would be required. Hence “no new weapons”. Spears aren’t a new weapons. They don’t require a bunch of iteration to meet the skins requirement.

It may very well mean no spears on land. But I’d like to find it put in those terms rather than being left to infer from something that doesn’t actually say that. I’ll watch the interview again. Maybe something will pop out at me in review. Thanks for the link.

(Its not really critical either way. We’ll get new toys and that’s the main thing .)

Tricare.2946:

Which one do you think they’ll be giving us?

Neither. I think the Guardians as in-fighers is an established and central aspect they won’t be overthrowing on their first foray into specializations.

They’re really the only two weapons that make sense, seeing as as we have a spirit long bow utility.

What an amazingly limited perspective. They’ve shown for coming up on 3 years that having the spirit bow doesn’t mean they have to be able to use bows themselves.

I’d put off-hand sword well ahead of bows for fitting into the Guardian’s kit.

The wall has some thickness to it (it’s a rectangle, not a line), so if you stand inside of it you can get reflects against enemies on both sides (because you are in it and they are outside of it).

But placement is pretty critical – if you want to be protected from both directions you have to be exactly in it. Likewise your team has to understand how it works and be able to park inside it to shelter both ways. Ranged characters can do that sometimes. In most cases it’s easier for melee to just enjoy that you’ve got their back and for them to focus on destroying what’s in front of them before it kills them first.

Is there somewhere we can maybe sacrifice a dolyak and get a Living Story season that is not about the thrice-cursed Sylvari? The unrelenting writer’s pet-race fetishism has gone literally YEARS past being old.

Caithe as the one sensible member/window into the workings of the of the DE, well, whatever.
Trahearne as messiah was poorly executed, but it’s probably not a pattern, right?
Scarlett was a seething abomination of bad writing, and one does see a trend forming…
Now all eyes are on Caith and the rest of the walking salads and their integral role in the fate of all civilization… AGAIN.

Give. It. A. Rest.

Sure: Mordremoth. We’re committed now. But afterwards, can you maybe bench/back burner the Sylvari with the same absentmindedness that the other races have had to endure for coming up on 3 years now?

Until they actually hear us screaming bloody murder about all the character artists sinking their time into outfits, the idea they’re going to suddenly deliver armor skins 15 at a time (3 weights x 5 races) is ludicrous.

They are making money off the least-effort model imaginable. Don’t expect them to give that up to put more work in for less return.

Cerxi.5472:

That, and the Arcane Archer is one of my favourite fantasy archetypes.

While I like arcane archers too, I gotta tell you: I don’t think of the frilly outfits of the light armor in this game when I visualize said arcane archer…

No, the exact opposite is true. If you’ve got a bundle that will get most people to pay (lets guess and call it) 40$ and you have another product you’re successfully selling for $6 a whack you want to separate the two so that the $40 sale doesn’t become a reason to put off/skip paying the $6. Most customers act on the basis they have X number of dollars they are willing to spend on frivolous stuff per month. You want to actually spread out your products so they never go over that amount in a single month.

And you definitely don’t effectively give your $6 product away for free when it’s not going to bring is significantly more sales.

And if the hairstyles is “your main reason”… don’t buy the expansion. That’s silly. Buy a makeover kit and call it good.

Let me ask the question a different way:

How many people do you think will consider free hair styles the tipping feature when deciding to buy/not buy?

This thing’s already gonna be a hurricane of money. There’s just no reason to not hold a little tiny thing like hairstyles and faces to pick up money three weeks before or after, rather than bundling it in a way that’s not even a footnote to the main happenings that week to most people.

You don’t get a skill point from filling an XP bar anymore. I don’t see that having any impact of the rivers of skill point scrolls flowing from other sources like champion bags.

Pagan Highlander.5948:

So, if I remember correctly, Arenanet said we would never have to pay for an exspansion for GW2.

I’m betting you can’t find a quote were they ever actually used the word ‘never’ in any context, much less what you’re FANTASIZING you heard.

Yeah, read it again.

I don’t see any reason their current release model should change.

Are you advocating we shouldn’t get new ones until HoT comes out just to artificially plump up the features list? Its a long way out and I’d rather have the options sooner rather than later myself…

Most of my characters are tools, windows that allow me to access the gameplay. I don’t care about the lore in the slightest when I’m logged into do some sPvP.

A few of my characters are carefully constructed to fit into the game lore and have interactions with the world beyond game mechanics even if those interactions are mostly in my head. My evil Norn “Jora Corrupted” is always cautious and furtive when dropping in at a Norn outpost, ready should the big brutes around her recognize her for the Jormag’s Minion that she is and has been for centuries. And I always have a great personal giggle when she has to beat down “my stupid nephews, the sons of my Brother Svanir”. And she always carries the Bear Form Elite even if it isn’t the best in slot tool for the job at hand. Because Jora turning into a bear and beating things senseless is its own reward, greater than XP or loot.

But mostly I just exert my RPG muscles to the extent that the others around me do. If someone is chating with a clearly in-game voice, I’ll play along in-character. If its a business-like dungeon stomp, I’m business-like.

Tron.3471:

Well we know it isnt going to be a spear because Colin said that spears are staying underwater.

Any link for that? Everything I’ve seen was of the “there will be no new weapons” variety without addressing spears. I’d love to watch something unambiguous about it.

My reading says map completion counts ONCE per account towards generating mastery points. So having played the game will not punish you.

However, the little star you get for seeing the whole wide world likely remains an individual character accomplishment, so your account with have the mastery points you’ve earned and your characters will have their individual show-off tags. win-win.

That ‘broken mess’ is different from any other Tuesday how exactly ?

I’m of the opinion this game’s class team is absolutely glacial — hell geological — in their reaction times. But at least when I see movement it makes sense to me. They will try. That’s better as a starting point than waiting another 3 years to finally add some weapons to the existing professions.

We’re not likely to see off-hand weapons used as main hand weapons – those weapons have long been cheaper to acquire at various vendors.

I really don’t see bows being the first thing they put in front of Guardians as a new toy. I’d consider off-hand sword a much more likely candidate than either bow.

The strongest thematic choice is still terrestrial spear because the art assets already exist and the class’ strong thematic connection to GW1 Paragons, but even without it being spear, having yet another class out-archer Rangers just doesn’t seem like a grenade Anet would be eager to throw themselves on .

Delirious.9278:

With that knowledge, that is not the way to go about improving character progression. In fact, it would be regressive. That is why they’re called specializations.

Your base class is now specialized into a profession that does something unique – something that other classes (and by extensions other specializations) can’t do.

In the end, what a specialization is, is an extension of your current profession. It doesn’t take away from your current experience. It would be foolish to take something away from a class when it’s supposed to be an advancement to your character in general.

If there is some things being taken away, it’s never going to be something that currently defines the class and those things wouldn’t hurt the class anyways.

I think you are missing how keen ArenaNet is on horizontal progression. Having the option to specialize may represent vertical progression, but the specializations themselves are NOT going to (intentionally) add power to your character judging by weeks/months of discussion with the Studio Design Director. It’s A Long Read but its really crucial to understanding what’s going on here.

Suppose that the new Engineer specialization gains 4 new utility skills – a full set of Signets to work with. At the same time they will also lose 4 utility skills, maybe all of their Turrets. The new specialist plays differently, but it’s not particularly better than the default Engineer when taken as a whole.

Same answer as the other headless chicken release date speculation thread:

HoT will represent a physical box -> which means shelf space -> which means retailers WILL know with precision 4 months in advance and they aren’t in the habit of keeping that information to themselves.

The retailers don’t know yet. So its still somewhere between 4 months from now and the end of the year. Don’t expect to know with any more precision than that until its announced.

HoT will represent a physical box → which means shelf space → which means retailers WILL know with precision 4 months in advance and they aren’t in the habit of keeping that information to themselves.

The retailers don’t know yet. So its still somewhere between 4 months from now and the end of the year. Don’t expect to know with any more precision than that until its announced.

I just bought Delaqua’s greatsword.

Having a greatsword that isn’t some bad reject from a miniatures game where everything has to weigh nine-hundred pounds makes it better than every other greatsword IN THE GAME (the Ebonhawk one is decent and a couple of the very plainest low level ones aren’t completely stupid). Now, if I could get that model leaving trails of light like Dawn, I’d go for it, but right now the whole class of weapons is in pretty bad shape.

I’ll be honest: that did next to nothing to get me excited.

Its grand, its green, you wont’ be able to appreciate it until you unlock flying, and it has some new critter models.

These are good things, but they’re not what’s going to sell me on the product. I’m just waiting for some insight into mastery/specialization. No rush.

I think its embarrassing people want to measure the new space by the number of acres instead of by the time being entertained it represents…

They could make it bigger than all the current maps combined and if it’s devoid of activities who would care that it’s vast?

Take just one look at the Giant Slayer deed and you can dispel the notion that Achievements can’t be GRINDY AS ALL KITTEN.

Lack of foresight is pretty much the defining characteristic of humans.

I saw a wolf fighting along side the druid in the video. Druid’s still use pets. Changing a class mechanic is not the same as replacing it.

We’re not likely to see main hand torch. Torches are priced at all the vendors as an off hand weapon → they’re cheaper than main-hand weapons because they provide fewer skills.

We’re also not likely to see a class jump from not being able to use a weapon at all to dual-wielding them. There’s just too many choices that fit the more limited paradigm to be jumping in the deep end like that.

How I expect it’ll play out: Ranger is the class – and it’s already running the beastmaster specialization. When HoT hits you’ll have a choice between the beastmaster specialization and the druid specialization.

If they are going with the new trait line you’ll lose everything from the trait line that’s being replaced.

It also seems likely you’ll lose access to a weapon – and if the trait line that’s rotating out has a strong link to a weapon, that’s the weapon you’ll be losing.

Basically think of your characters as already being specialized – for each thing you gain, you’ll lose the exact same category of thing from what you have now.

That doesn’t mean you’ll lose your overall class mechanic – those tend to reach across multiple lines. But the Guardian specialization might replace 1 -2 of their virtues with different virtues.

I think it says a lot that people are so passionate — in either direction. I enjoy the game, but I’m not falling out of my chair to know more about the expansion when I know its so far off that we don’t have a release date yet.

I can get worked up about it later. right now the amount of information available is slightly better than trolling the audience, but only slightly. I’m confident they won’t overshoot the mark on what I’ll be willing to pay for what they’ll deliver, but we haven’t really seen what’s on offer or what it will cost.

Torsailr.8456:

I wonder if any of the devs have considered using traits for vertical progression.

I’m sure they have considered it. And discarded the notion.

Keep in mind we’re already specialists now…

Elementalist – Arcanist – 5th Trait Line: Arcana (Boon Duration/Attunement Recharge)
Engineer – Experimenter – 5th Trait Line: Tools (Crit Damage/Tool Belt Recharge)
Guardian – Paragon – 5th Trait Line: Virtues (Boon Duration/Virtue Recharge)
Ranger – Beastmaster – 5th Trait Line: Beastmastery (Healing Power/Pet Attributes)
Mesmer – Illusionist – 5th Trait Line: Illusions (Condition Damage /Shred Recharge)
Necromancer – Reaper – 5th Trait Line: Soul Reaping (Crit Damage/Life Force Pool)
Thief – Trickster – 5th Trait Line: Trickery (Condition Damage /Steal Recharge)
Warrior – Myrmidon – 5th Trait Line: Discipline (Crit Damage/Burst Recharge)

You declare “Balance in GW2 is unfixable” and then want them to follow your guidance on ‘doing it right’.

Laughable.

Well, then I guess we won’t be seeing you in the new zone until Heart of Thorns hits the bargain bin.

If you think that you’re talking other people out of buying it… maybe some, but not many, and we won’t be seeing them in the new zone either. The numbers will tell the real story and we’ll never be privy to the numbers, so I’m not really inclined to worry about it.

Given how difficult it’s been so far, I’d say a fix would be a major feature – and they’ve announced all the major features, so NO, no fix for hobosacks.

…Of course one afternoon we’re gonna log in and they’ll have given Engineers cosmetic display options as part of a normal minor patch….

Right…. that line is just an accident * rolls eyes * . I mean the shirt is just covered in accidental lines…

Regardless, its just art, not a hint at things to come – spears have stat allocations as two handed weapons and even if we see terrestrial spears this year or next, they aren’t going to be 1-handed weapons.

BrunoBRS.5178:

come on, all guardians are missing are the ridiculously large wings while casting empower :P

And I DO miss that .