Guild Wars 2

Tx guys, will definitely try some of those ideas & other traits.

Hey guys, would appreciate some advice from the vets around here (pardon the pun.

Bit of a slow poke – tried most other classes (except for warrior & guardian), almost completed game with 80 MM necro (just 4 or 5 story quests to go…been lazy). Other classes were just a ‘looksee’ as my main & only love was the necro (in spite of all the ‘flaws’). Caveat: I am primarily a PvE soloer, still haven’t done a dungeon & I may like to try some WvW later on, but not a focus.

I picked up my sylvari ranger at 19th, where I left her, as per other classes I tried, just to finish starter & next zone. When I came back to just have a short bash following mesmer, elem & eng squishiness which left me with a bit of a ‘bleh’ feeling, it was either grind 800 gems for another slot to try guardian, or try the only class left that I was half-interested in: the ranger. My Charr thief was totally underwhelming for my play style, as I’m mainly a ‘kill from a distance with pets/minions & impunity’ type of player <G>

Ok, enough waffling. My ranger is primarily focused around canines & I want to make it a pet-centric build. I love snow & those areas, but my alpine wolf (Snowfang) was a bit ordinary, as I found out how much more survivable a tank the fern hound (Charlize was – just unbeatable imo with the regen skill.

I use longbow for max distance + axe/warhorn (again, axe for keeping at mid-range, horn for swiftness/mobility mainly.

I prefer signets for slot skills: healing spring, sig of the hunt/stone/wild, rampage as one (sometimes summon sylvari hound for fun).

I’m 46th now, traited up for 16 in marks (signet mastery) & 20 in beasts (master’s bond + commanding voice).

Ok, so keeping in mind that I want to keep my pet survivability/tankage as the #1 priority, and keeping my distance (no melee) as a close 2nd, any/all advice appreciated guys!

Bloodstealer.5978:

You bought a game that in return granted some slots in a database and the ability to utilise their servers and play their game nothing more, the rest of the stuff is purely carrots dangling in front of you.. you choose whether to feast on them or push them aside… THAT SIR IS THE SIMPLE TRUTH !

I already explained my play style which I thought made it clear I wasn’t a wholesale node farmer or TP speculator, not even close. At the risk of sounding clichéd, it’s the principle of the matter. I really thought ANet were different & wouldn’t ruin it for the many because of the sins of the few. Some of us don’t worship at the altar of Capitalism, in or out of games, but do like consistency & reliability in what they pay for. I couldn’t care less about the illusionary game economy or balance or what bot farmers are doing & I don’t PvP – doesn’t impact me one iota. Changes to fundamental game mechanics, rules & content with no warning do.

(My post has also been deleted & I have been given an ‘infraction’ because some little !@#$% here thought they’d nitpick me for a dictionary word I used an alternate spelling for…or the more obvious content censorship in the guise of moderation lol. Glad I struck a nerve if so. But apparently I’m the childish one here.)

Entitlement lol? Far too old mate & probably far more entitled than you can imagine <G>. I enter into evidence Exhibit A yer honour: George Lucas & what he did to SW.

Riddle me this grasshopper: what is GW2, or any mmo, without its players to actually play the game, to make the world come alive, never mind the dollars & cents…?

HERE endeth the lesson of the slippery slope & the players who don’t speak up until no one is listening any longer & of the game creators who do not listen until there is no one left speaking & all they hear is empty space ;-p.

Just to add a bit to this conv as I’ve recently finally topped out by norn necro nymph…:)

I use staff / dagger-dagger, but I really like (read: must have) max mobility to get around, so my build is 20/0/20/20/10, with spectral mastery for the SR line. I use all the mobile minions generally (except for Well of Blood, which is superior to the BF in almost every way, as well as healing/topping up yer mins); I often switch vampiric master for quickening thirst to get the 25% speed boost from the daggers, as well as swap out the bone minions for spectral walk to get max speed.

Caveat: this is a pure PvE build so far, mostly solo, apart from dyn events & such. I’m yet to run any dungeons or try WvW, so I’m still looking for suggestions on quick, on-the-fly trait changes (without paying for a respec), that will let me run an optimum dungeon/WvW build without any mins. Cheers!

Cheers guys – those pesky underwater access routes always get me!

Hey guys, I’ve scoured the entire area all the way round & just can’t find a way to the chest just north of Shelter’s Gate WP:

Map of Cursed Shore

Tried Google/YouTube as well, all to no avail.
There must be some way to get up there onto that moutainous cog outcrop/cliff face, unless…is it possible this has been scrubbed in recent patches for some reason?
Cheers & tx in advance!

CassieGold.7460:

Doing things in Orr alone can be rough. I think it should be. Some WPs and SPs you just have to make some friends and go do…. On one hand, that’s pretty unfortunate if you’re trying to just log on and get some zone completion done w/o worrying about being social. I know…. it’s an MMO…. but some times, we all feel a little humbug, and Orr is not friendly to getting everything done solo, and asking in /map isn’t always productive. On the other hand…. zone completion in Orr rewards Exotics, so I don’t mind it being harder to finish…. I think Risk = Reward here.

To be fair, there are a number of SPs & other map items in lower level zones that simply can’t be done solo, within 1 or 2 levels of the mobs/event around them. Which is actually part of the appeal of GW2 as a mmo – even as a solo carebear most of the time, it’s only a very short while usually before someone comes along & wants to get the SP or kill the champ/boss at the event preventing you from getting to the SP or Commune totem, etc. It encourages & clearly rewards teamplay, even if you never party up or say a word to each other. Not (m)any other mmos like that. It’s almost restored my faith in online teamplay.

MangoMan: Would traveling with a large group help? I’m level 60-something, and therefor of course have never been to Orr, but would that be something you can do to avoid annoyance?

Wow – another slow poke! Were you there from launch, or is this like the 4th toon you’ve levelled lol? Perhaps I am the only one sniff (necro about to ding 60).

Nurse.1085:

Agreed. Screw Orr, the worst high level one ever. I just craft my character’s from 70 to 80 to avoid that place lol. It’d be better if they decreased the amount of mobs in that zone by a lot. Maybe they should think more quality over quantity.

Aren’t there 2 or 3 zones to pick from between 60-80…? I guess even assisting lowbies & exploring/map completion in other low-level zones would get you from 70-80 eventually, if you really hate Orr this much. Can’t wait…:-/

Huh? The only disconnects I’ve had since launch is usually when a critical patch is rolled out & I’m booted out to force me to re-patch (something handled far more elegantly with the streaming GW1 model). I don’t recall a single logout or CTD across several PCs/laptops I play the game on since about week 2 of launch. But then again, to be fair, I haven’t run Fractal at all as yet – are you only talking about this new dungeon…?

Hoggie.2769:

I started a Necro two weeks ago, I have a 80 Ranger and 80 Warrier and i must say I love the Necro. I have got to level 30 so far and things are getting better with the necro, i think i still need to do some reading up but i am very happy with it so far.

Yeah, great thread from Sheobix. I’m a slow-poke casual Norn necro, been playing since launch & only just hit 52 (playing 4 alts as well). I’ve decided to go full minion build, as I loved my pets & miss the D2 zookeeper. In PvE having 6+ pets out rocks! Lots of fun & survivability, switch out one pet with Spectral Walk for an ‘Oh Kitten!’ escape button from most sticky situations & live to fight another day (or in a minute or so, he, he).

I find the necro hugely versatile & flexible. I’ve even got the Norn wolf shifting skill, which I’ve experimented with a bit into the mix. Considering we have DS, Lich form AND Plague to choose from, all available at the flick of a button just before entering combat, I’d say it’s only a matter of using a little bit of foresight & trial & error to overcome any reasonable situation. I’d love to experiment more with shape-shifting & various non-pet builds, which I will do for dungeons & WvWvW, which I plan to do a smattering of.

I’m probably the exception to the rule though guys, being almost exclusively a solo carebear & doing very little PvP. If nothing else, I never feel lonely!

To be sure! I’d be happy even with having to have 2 keys per slot to toggle, but 1 would be better. Being able to define & group several ‘slot skill groups’ & toggle between them with just a single keystroke would be heaven. No idea why ANet overlooked this considering the weapon swapping is right there to the left, just begging the utility skills to have the same flexibility.

Actually, call me greedy, but I’d like to see traits included in the ‘slot group’ quick toggle as well. I’m now swapping between Vampiric Master & Quickening Thirst all the time for the same reasons & it gets tedious with that little arrow, not to even mention getting into the whole char/trait screen every time!

My goodness, on page 5 & almost 50 views after less than a day & not a single response. So I take it that’s a NO then…?

(shameless bump)

Does anyone know if this is possible in some way to do with just the keyboard, instead of having to use the mouse to click the fiddly little arrow at the top of the utility skills?
I would love to just be able to toggle 1 or 2 slot skills with just a keystroke, between a combat set of skills and a mobility set say, for my necro in particular (switching in & out of Locust Signet & Spectral Walk). Obviously, this would only work out of combat, as per the current limitation. I’m really surprised you can’t just mouse-over any slot skill and allocate a key to it. Even if I had to commit 1 key per slot skill (rather than a simple toggle between 2 specs), it would be so much better than having to use the mouse.

Same here still, not that I’m complaining. I left my dailies 2 events short yesterday (forgot Iwas so close) & then completed them after midday today, BUT, dailies should get reset at 11am my time. Sooo….as long as it leaves the progress bars until you actually finish the ‘daily’ it’s just a continuous achievement now until it’s compeleted, then starts a new ‘day’, as it did just before. I actually don’t really want them to fix this, as I’m a time-limited, casual player, so can’t always commit the 2hrs or so (level 47 now) to finish the daily.

Leave it as it is. If we can’t pick or own time, or have it work per timezone, then leave it as midnight UTC. It’s about time you yanks felt 1% of the pain most of the rest of the world has to go through in mmos with this & many other disadvantages, just because we’re not in the centre of the universe. Whining about a totally optional part of the game happening at 5pm in 1 timezone out of 24+ in the world…really? boggle
(for the record, it happens at 11am here, which is a real PITA on weekends,, but I never even thought about complaining about this of all things ANet could/should be fixing).

I use staff then close with daggers. Pets always seem to attack at range or close if melee, then I get in the mix. I rarely notice them standing back or doing nothing. And I use a full comp of pets: BloodF, 2XBMs, BoneF, SF, FG (some times I swap out 2XBMs for a wurm).
I really don’t see what all the fuss is about minions in PvE – they don’t always do what you want, but then again, they are constructs of dead, rotting bits, most with no heads/brains. Ahem.

Cheers guys, off to try Well of Blood right away! Even if I can just use it out of combat to top up the pets, or away from mobs to heal myself, should be better than Blood Fiend I guess.

Btw, is Lich form worth saving up/using up 30 points for a MM, given you lose all pets when you cast it? Does it offer a 3rd form for hard fights (blow minions, use up DS, then Lich…?), or is that not workable for some reason?

What traits would ppl recommend with a full compliment of pets…? DM is obvious – which other branches might have the best synergies? I use staff & daggers btw.

Pls keep in mind, my love of pets is a roleplaying thing, so I don’t expect to be competitive or uber in any way, just to have fun & have some mostly usable pet companions, even if they are as dumb as dogkitten on occasion!

Tx for the heads up guys. I guess if I start serious dungeon-running I’ll have to respec.
Are they also useless/detrimental in WvWvW? i.e. did you mean ALL PvP?
I have no desire to play open world PvP but wanted to try WvWvW soon if possible.

Is there no love here for a fill minion DM build? sniff
I’m a slow poke, so only just hit 40th with necro. Having a lot of fun in PvE & finding a summoner to be quite playable. What am I missing? :-/

Let me preface by saying I’d really rather not play a class almost entirely defined by it’s summoning & minions without said minions.
Mind you, I’ve just hit 40th with my Norn necro babe & still loving it. I hear what you guys say about the mins being a little ‘unpredictable’ at times, but in actual fact, after a while you get a feel for what stoopid thing they will pull next & just go with the flow. After all, are they meant to be brainless automatons responding only to precise commands, or have some degree of intelligence & autonomy…? Given they freely aggro mobs when within range & the fact that ANet in all their wisdom didn’t see fit to provide micro controls (ala ranger) for them…I’d say that the intention was to instil them with a little bit of random chaos. If nothing else, I never feel lonely with my full army of 6 knuckleheads in tow!

As far as the charge on the golem goes, easy fix – don’t send him in if there is an open space or mobs behind the targeted mob! I try to change approach vectors so he hits a tree or wall behind the mob is possible. Usually results in the knockback putting him over the mob so he can pound away immediately after the alpha strike, instead of having to run back, or worse, deal with adds from further behind, bleh.

Having also played a mesmer to 20th it is a bit…sad(?)… that the mesmer’s clones seem more useful & controllable than the necro’s mins, accepting that you are only summoning short-range pew-pews which can be detonated for larger effects. Mind you, having 3 or 4 sets of clones splode all over a mob can wipe off half or more of its life in one group explosion, but it feels like a different type of game playing a mesmer, much more frantic & immediate, whereas with all 6 mins I always have time to bail if things go south (especially with F1 DS always at my fingertips).

Hope they fix the minion bugs soon, as the control freak in me would like to have, well, more control of the situations! But, for PvE, they are eminently playable & enjoyable. If they just added a heal skill or re-summon outside combat with no CD, I’d be happy a happy camper.

As an aside, I’d like to try WvWvW – do I stand a chance of having any fun at 40th, given I’ll get bumped to 80th? Will I need to grind for decent gear in quick hurry, or will something else hold me back?

At least us east down-underians get to kick off at 7am Saturday, though the grand finale will start 7am Monday…:( May have to pull a sickie that day methinks! >8^D

striker.3704:

Yes it does, at the same time though mango and the others are right. The death magic tree shouldn’t only benefit Minion masters. In guild wars 1 death magic was also used a lot for single target degeneration and special conditions(disease<3). Not to mention the traits themselves are terrible compared to what they were probably designed around in the first place (jagged horrors not degening, summoning 3-5 bone minions instead of 2, summoning 2 bone minions, ect.) Since we can’t maintain as large a minion army as we were originally going too, these traits seem petty.

Once again mango is also right in that they need to change it around in a way where it doesn’t shaft minion masters. Minion mastering is currently ONLY useful for solo PvE. Minions get wiped out easily in dungeons, and if you spec entirely for their benefit, it kinda sucks to lose them all in the blink of an eye. So if they/we get nerfed, it would be another kittentorm.

GW2<>GW1.

Death Magic=summoning undead minions. Nuff said (again).

I mean seriously – not enough to QQ about than a couple minor trait levels, which mind you, will spawn minions randomly & passively & therefore give you the stat bonus on the minor master anyway…?
There are 4 other trait trees – you can only max 2. You do the maths.

I swear, it’s my own fault for reading forums huge Shrek sigh.

Death Magic=summoning undead minions. Nuff said.

> Neveroutgunned.3069
> Currently in Level 60 Ravaging/Rampager gear

Can I have her number pls Never?

Cheers guys, I hear you…try the Guardian he he. Need more slots now though.

Cheers guys, some really nice options there I had no idea about.
As I don’t like melee classes much & elementalists/mage-nuker classes aren’t my cuppa either (too squishy among other reasons), and the Charr thief I’ve tried was not my style…I guess of the other 4 I’m playing, necro or ranger might fit the bill. I can only imagine what x6 Superior Runes of Speed would cost lol, but I’ll take a look online tonight.

Hey guys, anyone know what the fastest class in the game is & what skills/buffs/items that requires? I’m more interested in consistent almost-always-on buffs (or innate abilities), not 1-shot, 10sec skills with 60+ sec CDs, if you get mu meaning.

Bizzle.3495:

My suggestion would be to have fewer waypoints within a zone, perhaps only 1-3 depending on the size of the zone. So that travel from a City to another point across the world still remains fast which is important to group play when joining others in progress, and to then have mounts to travel with within a zone at an accelerated pace without the less immerse choice of skipping around the zone via way points.

Or, they make 2-4 inter-zone WPs & all the rest are INTRA-zone only. Would that work…?

Gummy.4278:

Most think that if they add mounts, there would be no reason for a person to stop anymore. Well depending on how they are designed this could be true.

I’d like to think that the people behind the game are smart enough to add something like this to the game(if they wanted to) and give it the Anet spin. They did turn questing into another monster altogether, and its fun. So if they did do the mounts, I am sure they could implement it in a way that would make people have fun.

That’s what I spent my money on when I got the game, is to have some fun. Some people think it would be fun and others have their envision of what it would do to the game state and other concerns. I just wished all the hating on each other would stop , no matter what happens just have fun.

Cool. Here’s a suggestion – one player has to pay another to summon a rickshaw & take him from A to B at 200-300% normal speed, depending on price. Now THAT would be fun & quite interesting to see how it pans out <G>.

I know, there’s a million posts already about this…but seeing this is my first, go easy.

Ok, I’ve played 5 out of the 8 classes to at least 11th level now with the 5 diff races:
- Norn necro: 23rd
- Sylvari ranger: 15th
- Human mesmer: 11th
- Charr thief: 11th
- Asura engineer: 11th

The idea was to complete the starting zone with each class that interested me & see which I like the most & is generally ‘easiest’ to solo PvE with (asa well as jump on DEs every nw & then).

I’m a casual, very time-limited player (as you can see above), so would really appreciate knowing where it will be least frustrating getting to 80th to experience some top level dungeons & WvW, on top of the zone grinds. My experience to date:

Necro: favourite D2/GW1 class, hands down (love multi-pet/minion classes; using staff+2xdagger, seems ok to solo if a little squishy/slow at times & the minions being dumb as doornails & entirely uncontrollable doesn’t help, as this was going to be a max-minions build eh.

Ranger: easy mode with puppy, once I learnt to combine longbow & shortbow (what melee lol?); great supporting dps class if there’s a tank/melee around, but a little bit 1-dimensional overall imo.

Mesmer: roll out yer barrels of faces! Actually, I died a bit with her until I got my legs…using staff & something/pistol combo; I do love the clones, kinda a pet class, but keep in mind, I’m not after just the most powerful class to solo PvE with – being fun for me is #1…never played a mesmer in GW1 & clothies are not usually my thing (which is why no Elementalist in the 5 either).

Thief: quite fun, but the squishiest of the lot for my play style (or lack thereof), being the only mostly melee class I’ve played (twin daggers mostly + sbow later on). The Charr starter area was by far the most challenging for me, as I hit level 6+ mobs as I walked out the gates WTKitten? :-/.

Engineer: Asura are just too cute & their stater areas just the same (even if Rata Sum was annoying at times he he); love the twin pistols + options with gear in slots, just not sure if I was using it to best advantage/combos – probably need a few more levels under my belt to see how this race/class combo pans out…?

Other priorities:
- good, interesting storyline I can absorb myself in
- great sights & exploration – I’m a hopeless completist (already can’t leave a zone until I’ve got all the map thingies & done the daily
- fast travel – hate slow running/travel between zones, though GW2 obviously addresses this mostly
- fun combat that makes you feel heroic, not like you’ve just barely survived another round of Survivor lol!
- crafting – would like to be self-sufficient with gear, but probably not realistic given the time constraint…plus the TP is just too convenient…
- hate being poor & struggling for cash in mmos, bleh, doesn’t everyone?
- possibly may talk the Mrs into playing, but that’ll probably mean starting another char/class best for duoing

So there you have it folks, any/all advice/comments/suggestions much appreciated – TIA!