Guild Wars 2

N x ((N-1) x (N-2)/2) where N is the number of stats available to build arrays from.

Again its less a question of what could exist and more why should some jump from potential to manifestation and what builds do they serve?

Until we have an environment that calls for more than time-efficiency-through-massive-damage the sub-set of N of meaningful stats is very, very small. Terrible scaling (of say, Healing Power…) also means commitment in to results out is very, very poor in some cases.

I’ll be happy to start supplying them again when ANet quits bumping all my alts out of Sharkmaw every time they log in .

TriggerSad.2597:

Fate.5914:

I had no time to go over all that has been suggested.
But i would love to see:

1) (Power)/Healing/Toughness
2) (Power)/Healing/Precision
3) (Power)/Healing/Ferocity

My power/vampiric necro would love to see any of these

Number 2 already exists in-game. Look up the Zealot’s stat-type!

Funny you should mention that since both my mains are wearing full sets of it in exotic and I’ve managed to buy most of the ascended armor recipes for Keeper’s in the last week.

I took one look at the Ferocity nerf and swapped to Zealot’s with a grin .

GuzziHero.2467:

Achievements > General> Weapon Master > Shield Master would like a word, too.

My warrior scores those shield bashing rabbits…

phys.7689:

What type of roles are you looking for?

I think I would like to see more content that creates an opportunity for a (single)ranged DPS character to shine – a situation where the optimal strategies is a certain amount of kiting of the boss, but a critical switch/location that one character needs to stay near. that is about 900 for where the boss will be handled. A job any character can handle, but a ranged damage character can handle while still contributing some damage.

In the Fractals thread I suggested a boss encounter with the boss being closely followed around by 3 henchmen that have 100% retaliation uptime, but only refresh it about ever 20 seconds. This would create a reason to try to split the group up so that melee DPS doesn’t execute themselves cleaving into 3 retaliations, but also provides a clear role for boon removal/corruption to clear the retaliation either to single out and kill that henchman or to clear the way for AoE/cleave attack son the boss.

There are tools already in game. We just need to get the content designers to treat us as capable of carrying out plans slightly more intricate than “Hulk Smash!”

Good to see people still crave the kinds of choices and personalized touch that table-top RPGs thrive on.

Nike.2631:

I just want to know how it works with multi-map flags like the Corrupted Statues in Orr.

Do the three Orr maps just work in permanently affixed clusters or do I face the possibility of flipping a temple in one map, strolling across the border to the next map and finding the corresponding statues there still active?

And now I know.

And frankly I’m DISGUSTED.

For a bunch of storytellers who chased after EPICNESS to the verge of complete nonsense, throwing away the ability to have any interaction carry across zone borers is a GIGANTIC STEP BACKWARDS.

Isaiah Cartwright.8569:

Sarrs.4831:

Quick q, Izzy, are Boon/Condi Duration actually on the table?

I’m just testing the waters so I love to hear ideas.

It had better be on the table… since they’re both on armor/weapons already in the game.

Seriously though, boon duration aka “Concentration” and condition duration aka “Expertise” are on gear now and desperately need to be given the same sort of pass that critical damage aka “Prowess” received. Only without changing the name to Ferocity just to mess up the personality system . You guys completely control the mechanical namespace and still stomped on your own toes…

Thanks for all the responses!

So, there’s about 0% chance you couldn’t generate every single combination offered here in less than 60 seconds in your head – the data being gathered is actually about where player’s attention is directed. Were you expecting anything other than the obvious echoes of the DPS-uber-alles meta and a few people frustrated the other roles have no value in the current content-design paradigm?

Sure, how about one of the other corners of GW2’s soft trinity:

Healing Power with Precision/Boon Duration

I’d like to see you fix Giver armor.

((Covers my Reef Drake’s ears))

Don’t say things like that. He’s sensitive.

Maybe they’ll just convert them to black lion keys .

If Automated Response is any sort of guidepost, expect this stance to provide -50% but last longer in the next patch after this one…

We’ve already seen that they can wire specific condition removal into the weapon skills. There was an accidentally leaked tool tip for the ranger sword auto-attack that it would remove one stack of bleed on the second attack.

Imagine that tech being applied with real flavor: imagine one of the elementalist’s fire skills removing poison from themselves (purging with flame!) and one of their water weapon skills removing poison. It gives you a reason to use those attacks creatively or to hold them for the combined benefit of its main function and the specific cleanse. Add a warrior attack that lets you “man up” and remove weakness. A Thief attack that doesn’t natively poison, but will transfer a poison from them to the target all “Hey, you dropped something…” style.

These sorts of changes could make both condition dealers and their presumed victims play smarter instead of just nerfing some numbers.

They are not for everyone. The real question is are you worthy?

IF, and its an ENORMOUS IF the Developers feel the need to reduce the effectiveness of Condition-based builds in PvP (and that’s clearly what we’re talking about because it is are already grossly inferior to power-based damage in most PvE encounters) it will almost certainly take the form of greater speed, variety, or accessibility to condition cleanses/counters. You can’t just nerf condition damage. That’s both a passive solution and a terrible idea in the broader context of all play modes. You can make the active counter-play to conditions more effective and more interesting.

The changes must be made to the target, not the source.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

village idiot.1436:

I see from the blog the implications the mega server has for event timers has yet to be addressed.

We will be addressing this in part 2/3. Sorry for the delay, I’m guessing it was decided that each portion of this announcement was big enough to deserve it’s own news day. Given the volume of posts in this thread, it might be for the best.

I just want to know how it works with multi-map flags like the Corrupted Statues in Orr.

Do the three Orr maps just work in permanently affixed clusters or do I face the possibility of flipping a temple in one map, strolling across the border to the next map and finding the corresponding statues there still active?

Keep in mind also that nearly every economic change in the patch is geared towards reducing the amount of coin in the system. Gold will become more scarce and that means prices people are willing to pay will fall slightly.

I recommend going and buying Thief for your favorite console. Play something else for a few weeks while the GW2 devs sort themselves out on the whole China launch. Tyria will still be here when you get back and you might find yourself looking at it anew.

I like having nice complete crafting recipe tables… I need thousands of laurels to do that. No immediate peril of me stocking up too deeply.

pswendel.8179:

Ha. I hope those other farms are ready, Vol. Megaserver just killed this.

I was just coming over to say that too. They apparently accepted his challenge to nerf it and killed it at the root: guesting.

I wonder what the going gems price is for a sense of humor ?

I use mine…

Jajuju.6970:

Are we going to have to wait another 6 months before a real balance patch?

If by “waiting” you mean “playing something else and checking the patch notes occasionally” the infinity balls says: Quite Possibly.

Lorelei.7809:

Like these?

I wish these were back…. no set of wings are the same

With a screen name like mine, I’m sure you don’t have to guess my level of approval for restoring those as skill FX .

Well played.

There is a polearm in the database that is clearly a Order of Whispers-style skin. You can also see the polearm for the Lionguard set displayed in-game in Rytlock’s office.

Beyond that its just a code stub. No signs they’ve added to it, thought including the Tormented Polearm in the April’s Fool Day screen shots was neat/cruel .

Shriketalon.1937:

….ask and you shall receive.

I find your perspective fascinating and wish to subscribe to your newsletter .

Chaith.8256:

The community would eat that idea alive – time gated stat combos?

Then the community better brace for a heavy lunch, because we ARE going to see play-gated Traits and play-gated Skills, which, as you say are far more impactful than being able to fine tune the last 15% of your total stats.

Also to be clear, I wasn’t suggesting play-gating the adjectives/stat clusters. No “you must play 25 games before you can use Rabid Amulets.” More “you can play any stat right out of the gate. Experienced players can use jewels that don’t mimic and reinforce the amulet to tweak their build.”

I don’t want to seem completely unsympathetic – even with all or nothing one-combo amulets, the initial option paralysis must be terrifying for new competitors. Understanding what all the stats do/mean is not something the game introduces well in ANY mode of play.

Its just a shame to see depth being sacrificed to solve a problem that’s actually much more widespread and needs to be better illustrated to all new players, not just in sPvP.

One from column A (amulet) one from column B (jewel) combinational systems are really powerful. If you have 15 in each column you end up with 225 possibilities to explore. Chopping column B out of the system means you’ve just lost 210 of them. There has to be a better way of overcoming option paralysis that nuking diversity .

Justin ODell.9517:

You aren’t alone in that. Just because we’re trying to appeal to one type of player does not mean we will ignore the others.

To put a more positive spin on it, it would be nice if there were a “novice tier” of amulet that are all one stat combo, and after you’ve played a while with those you unlock the option to use Amulet + jewel combos that have the same stat total, but allow you to flex that last 10-15% as we see now.

Since you’re already shifting to a starter set of traits and skills with earning additional options later through play (after the player is more versed in the “basics”) perhaps the same philosophy can be applied consistently so it includes gear too?

Justin ODell.9517:

Reducing perceptual complexity will help us attract additional players, and rewards will give them reason to stay.

And here is everything wrong with Guild Wars 2 in a nutshell:

You’re chasing player longevity through rewards instead of rich gameplay.

I want a game that’s interesting to play every time I play it, not one I have to play 600 times to get Shiny X.

If you want to reduce “perceptual complexity”, add better tutorials instead of castrating player choices/build variety.

Sad how many things in that list I’d actually like to see…

mrauls.6519:

Nike.2631:

Traveler runes only have 3 stages committed to all-stat bonuses and they jumped from 30 points to 36 (20% gain). I think its reasonable to anticipate Divnity runes will also gain 20% (72) and possibly a smidgeon more (75).

Oh so they do get a buff?

More accurately they get a shift. All sources of Crit damage are going down. “Celestial style” sources of crit damage are going down A LOT, so they’re being compensated with a small increase to the all-stat bonus.

If you used them for high crit damage builds there are (much) better choices now. IF you used them for multi-role functionality, they are a tiny bit better.

They got me. With the new Wardrobe coming I broke down and got the light and medium armor skin sets. 5 bucks each and accessible to all my characters crossed the threshold of worthwhile to me.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

I would also like to do a Guild CDI soon.

Good lord I’d love a peek behind the curtain at what the odds-makers say about a system seemingly designed so that one explosive evening of player-player drama costs the game 30 solid regular players jumping ship over the next 2 weeks. Guilds must normally do a really good job of enhancing average player retention, because when they implode the resulting crater is spectacular.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

There will indeed be more CDI’s. We were thinking of slipping the process evolution phase between topics this time as the new format worked out quite well.

The topic we are thinking about discussing is the Trading Post.

Note: Moving forward we will do 2 CDI topics concurrently at maximum.

Interesting. I was thinking Rangers having to endure “I got sick, told no one, and didn’t get someone else at the office to take over for me while I was gone.” Was sort of the opposite to working out well . Contrast it with telling players that “I’ve got some hospital time coming up and will pause participation this thread for a few days.” Flying solo on these is clearly rough. I’m hopeful that more of the CDIs get ‘two hosts who can tag-in’ in the way you and Collin tend to operate.

We definitely learned that the player-contributors benefit from being told “The Pillars” up front so we have grasp on Arena’s perception of the design space. I feel like when threads have received those it really amps up the meaningful conversation.

Beyond those two refinements, it does feel like we’re getting a working rhythm .

Traveler runes only have 3 stages committed to all-stat bonuses and they jumped from 30 points to 36 (20% gain). I think its reasonable to anticipate Divnity runes will also gain 20% (72) and possibly a smidgeon more (75).

Smart money is on post-patch 6/6 divinity giving right around 5% crit damage (down from 12%). Stats bonus rises from 60 to 72 or 75.

Kadin.2356:

100 Ferocity that’s what… 6+% crit dam? That’s down from 8% but it’s not getting “slammed” per say.

Losing 25% of your former value is still a pretty big bite, but that’s actually the smallest proportional cut I’ve seen on anything. Good catch .

Yeah, my eyes sort of crossed at the “constant balance patches” comment too.

When I look at GW2’s gameplay, the word “Stagnant” comes to mind a lot faster than the word “Unstable”.

cranked.3812:

Their making changes to the DPS meta because of a minority of QQers who just refuse to make their own groups because they want to tag along with the zerkers.

Nice excuse, but not based in reality. 100 million dollar a year enterprises DON’T infuriate the majority of their customers to appease a minority.

So either your presumption of ratios is flatly wrong or there are other compelling factors at work.

So if everything is a matter of catering to the majority, why are the people who have access to the game metrics making changes? Changes that add up to a fairly clear pattern of intent.

Lardi.7265:

They remove almost all exploration costs but they don’t remove warp costs? What’s the deal with that?

Because that gold sink actually works. It encourages you to make a choice between spending time logged in experiencing the world or burning some accumulated wealth for convenience. COMPLETELY different proposition from the gold sinks that are being removed.

Perhaps there will be more when they add a new map.

Facepunch.5710:

I’m confused as to why there are no dev responses to this post.

The decision speaks for itself?

Sure, that would be fair if what it does now was considered balanced.

Maybe they should be barred from serving players in your country. Tends to cut down on petty complaints.

Vox Hollow.2736:

Taking a page out of Nike’s book from the Ranger CDI (and scribbling all over it): What if higher rank NPCs had and endurance bar and also the behavior – ‘If takes more than x% of HP in a single blow; then dodge in a random direction’.

Hey, at least you read it (and clearly understood the implications).

I’m really not sure if the Devs read it or not. That thread was not a shining example of the CDI process.

Feycat.4370:

Nike.2631:

Clipped.

Just a note – your sig line is misquoted. It bugs me every time you post, LOL

Its the dialogue from the manga. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!