Guild Wars 2

I think that kind of thinking doesn’t make sense in a game where attrition doesn’t make sense; there is no holy trinity, so you can’t just ‘out-attrition’ someone with heals or massive, constant damage reduction that other MMO’s typically gives healers/tanks. There are minor direction shifts with stats, and that’s about it, but we all know that the game mechanics don’t favour that.

Honestly, I think the whole PVP scene in this game sucked because it was so linear; at least it sucks less with different avenues.

Always the problem with the meta pusher mentality; builds and gear do not replace skills. Apparently, the rebuttal is just as silly; builds and gear get you closer to good if scrub.

I’ve been on the fence with DPS meters, but my latest is that it would be great to have them, just to make many people look really ridiculous with their assumptions about meta builds.

If an elite skill was only good as a once in a while save your but thing in WvW … then it was a good thing it was demolished into something else. Typically, things don’t gets fixed without breaking it first in MMOs

Vyrulisse.1246:

Obtena.7952:

Vyrulisse.1246:

Whatever is fun for you honestly. Most PvE in this game you can do whatever you want and be effective.

This advice is awful. Being able to complete PVE with whatever you want is not the same as being effective.

The nature of “general PvE” means that you can be effective doing whatever you want in terms of builds so I disagree. He didn’t ask about Raiding or high level Fractals in which case yeah it would not be great advice. General PvE is for having fun doing what you enjoy doing, that’s how it is designed.

Again, being able to do whatever you want does not equal effective. Effective implies a level of optimization. Being able to do whatever you want does not. Being effective in PVE is not limited to raids or fractals either. You can optimize for OW PVE as well. These are not debatable or subjective statements. Offering the advise that you can do whatever you want and be effective is bad advice because it’s not true.

CrimeMaker.8612:

Obtena.7952:

I like how you just decided what things should and shouldn’t do. That’s a convincing argument. I won’t argue you’re numbers, other than to say that your comparisons aren’t very meaningful. It’s amusing that acknowledging power cleaves in the 10K range doesn’t seem to bother you at all … in fact you say it like that’s just normal play … but 4K conditions … how ruinous.

You sound really ignorant right there. I said power dps builds do burst dps from 2k-10k your every hit isnt a 10k. Power damage scales depending on how much armor, vitality and healing power based your enemy is. If you against a minstrel ele with power build you are not killing it.

Then I also said condition damage do dps 4k to insta down someone and conditions do 4k+ per tick. It doesn’t take much to keep reapplying conditions on your target.

What you did was, you took 4k from conditions and 10k from power while ignoring everything else I said and tried to prove that power is still superior. No it isn’t with the continuous buffs to condition dps power is lacking in every single way.

If you don’t understand how the game plays don’t comment on it

There is no ignorance. I’ve played plenty of MMO’s to know that a condition (DoT) focused damage philosophy is not a problem and GW2 would be no exception. As for you simply spouting off numbers to try to be convincing, I will let the regular populace correct you on that stuff, that you can see is already happening.

Vyrulisse.1246:

Whatever is fun for you honestly. Most PvE in this game you can do whatever you want and be effective.

This advice is awful. Being able to complete PVE with whatever you want is not the same as being effective.

Classes jump the meta ranking all the time; so if the OP is just leveling a necro because of it’s new found buffs, I would advise you don’t bother. That kind of thinking is going to make you very disappointed with this game. You play a class because you like the theme, not because it’s wanted in teams.

Axe was significantly improved, though the build up still seems a little slow with the AA. Being that you can stay outside of melee range, using minions with power gear will work well. It’s the ranged power equivalent to Scepter Condi.

I like how you just decided what things should and shouldn’t do. That’s a convincing argument. I won’t argue you’re numbers, other than to say that your comparisons aren’t very meaningful. It’s amusing that acknowledging power cleaves in the 10K range doesn’t seem to bother you at all … in fact you say it like that’s just normal play … but 4K conditions … how ruinous.

phys.7689:

Obtena.7952:

Being hard to avoid is the trade off for having a relatively long time to react to the damage you get from it. I have YET to play an MMO where DoT damage didn’t have that trade off. The primary people I see complaining about DoT’s are burst power twitch guys and to be honest, I think it’s rather stupid for an PVP MMO to have that kind of PVP model.

and thats the problem, its bursty now, you dont have a long time to react, and you have little counterplay after popping your clears.

its not DOT any more its easier safer stronger burst.

I STILL don’t see that as a problem … I would rather be burst by a DoT than direct damage. You’re not going to tell me that the DoT isn’t easier to deal with, even as a burst, than direct damage would be.

insanemaniac.2456:

drop healing turret late in the might stack. the fire field will be older and you’ll still blast might, and if you don’t suck at spamming you might even be able to kill your turret before it drops the field.

I don’t see how this is an issue. you know game mechanics right coro. you know blasts go by field age right.

Facts matter little to people that don’t like change. Be careful before presenting facts gets you labeled a troll.

I would urge people to think about the changes before crying wolf. I mean, the bottom line here is that this is simply a matter of relearning timing and playing smarter. I know that won’t appeal to people that just want to faceroll to victory but in all honestly, there is no argument that makes sense for supporting facerolling to victory. Claiming this is ruins healing turrets in WvW because of field overlay is a proclamation of being unwilling to think about what you do when playing.

This is a HUGE freebie and everyone should be kissing Anet’s behind for getting it.

Well, let’s just put it this way … just because WvW is the only place you think FT isn’t a waste doesn’t make that true. I mean, if you don’t like FT outside of WvW, don’t use it, but don’t claim it’s not useful or it’s weak outside of WvW. There are multiple threads here that talk about how to use FT. I suggest you do some more research before making unsupported claims of uselessness and weak, especially outside of WvW.

Sidenote: FT has only gotten better in WvW since blasting light fields stopped procing retal. It’s not the best? If you’re going to talk about what is best, why would you even care to make a thread about buffing FT? Seems to me that if you just want to appeal to what is the best, you sunk your own thread right out of the gate. FT certainly isn’t the best for every situation but there is no reason to buff it for the reasons you give.

Ryou.2398:

Obtena.7952:

I would argue that group play is the last place MMO’s are balanced because the number of combinations in a group play vs. individual are orders of magnitude larger and literally impossible to map out and deal with each scenario for balance. The best you can hope for is that there aren’t broken interactions between skills and classes that may allow groups to cheese content.

Considering soloing is incredibly easy in this mmorpg it is indeed balanced around group play, there is no argument.

You can’t draw the conclusion that Anet attempts an impossible task to balance around the huge number of possible groups just because soloing openworld PVE content is easy. That shows you haven’t considered all the other more significant areas where balanced classes impact the game, namely sPVP. In fact, I don’t see how that’s not the MOST obvious choice to balance classes in this game, taking into account the relatively unnecessity of balancing for OW PVE, the insurmountable group instance environment and the already vastly inbalanced due to numbers WvW environment.

I would argue that group play is the last place MMO’s are balanced because the number of combinations in a group play vs. individual are orders of magnitude larger and literally impossible to map out and deal with each scenario for balance. The best you can hope for is that there aren’t broken interactions between skills and classes that may allow groups to cheese content.

I don’t see a problem with that scenario … sounds to me like the squad that has the smarter players will know how to handle that eventuality and make MEANINGFUL CHOICES. Seems to me you are telling me that such a change is unfair to players that don’t want to think about how they use their choices. I lament the idea that changes to the game that force players to make meaningful choices are bad ones, yet it seems it’s becoming more and more frequent amount players to complain that meaningful choices are bad to them and how they play.

Frankly, I think if it was easier to engineer these complexities, there should be many more of them and they should have absolutely CRUSHING effects on people that wouldn’t take advantage of them. That’s the real way to distinguish the difference between mindless zerg mass PVP and a thoughtful approach.

OK, I don’t know what you’re going on about. I’m not discussing how those changes affect WvW, I never even made an attempt to do so. Therefore your conclusion that I don’t see how it affects WvW makes no sense. It’s also irrevelant to the fact that I was establishing about Anet directing the game with how they want players to make the choices given to them. I don’t see how that’s unreasonable; I’ve yet to play an MMO where the devs don’t make changes that encourage players to adapt.

As for the map completion, I’m just going to pretend you misspoke if you don’t have a related point between it and the discussion.

If you don’t like how game changes impact how and what you play, then you are playing the wrong kind of game. FPS that way —>

So you have a different set of choices that Anet thinks is more appropriate for the direction they want the class to go. That doesn’t change what I’ve said here. I tested this last night. I really don’t see the problem, other than whatever bug exists. I can have my turret or blow it up, or use the toolkit. I got three choices I can make. It’s irrelevant if you don’t like those choices; that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Being hard to avoid is the trade off for having a relatively long time to react to the damage you get from it. I have YET to play an MMO where DoT damage didn’t have that trade off. The primary people I see complaining about DoT’s are burst power twitch guys and to be honest, I think it’s rather stupid for an PVP MMO to have that kind of PVP model.

I don’t see the relevance of if the choice is the best or not … that doesn’t change the fact you have that choice to make. You do not get to decide what the choices are that are given to you.

As for the rest of your post, I can’t follow you; I don’t see what map completion in WvW has to do with engi turret changes.

To be honest, i don’t understand your point either … power damage is the result of an action. Condition builds are the results of similar actions, and so those actions are affected equally by quickness etc … as they do the actions that bring about power damage. If anything, the advantage for quickness leans to power builds because it’s harder to react to the damage you get from that vs. condi builds where I might lay more stacks, but I still have to wait for that damage to happen to you.

so why is power more affected by speed affects than condition builds? Maybe if there was still caps on condi stacks so more actions didn’t result in more conditions stacking, that would make sense, … but there isn’t anymore.

So … instead of assuming we are all idiots missing the obvios, how about you just explain yourself better?

Um, you’re just not using it correctly or making proper builds around it’s strengths if that’s your conclusion. My experience is completely different. I love my FT build, it performs well in any situation, exceptionally so in some, is adaptable on the fly and as with the eng theme, provides lots of access to other secondary skills and effects.

I won’t complain when Anet makes it better but … I will argue against any claim this weapon needs a buff because it’s weak or isn’t useful because those statements are not true. You just aren’t realizing the situations that this weapon is highly (some might say overly) effective. That includes the idea that the AA should be unblockable. Justification on such an idea because of an appeal to realism has low mileage, in a fantasy MMO. Simply put, realism doesn’t appear to be a class or weapon skill design goal.

I won’t argue if Anet got their assessment right or wrong; I have no idea how they conclude that people don’t deploy turrets because of toolbelt skils being too important.

I will argue that this gives Eng’s a choice they did not have previously. It’s neither right or wrong that the choice is based on any specific element of the game; that’s Anet’s prerogative to decide why and what game element a change focuses on. The fact that there are three of those elements should indicate to any player that a change may not appeal to them based on that player’s favoured game element;

TLDR; you need to get over yourself if a change didn’t positively affect your preferred game mode. That’s just a fact of this game. If it bothers you that much, you shouldn’t play games that don’t completely separate class skills between PVE and PVP .

Burtnik.5218:

Its Nerfing Time.1495:

Burtnik.5218:

Its Nerfing Time.1495:

Burtnik.5218:

Its Nerfing Time.1495:

Buran.3796:

TheAngryDuckling.5481:

Hey anet! Power rev was trash too!

The buffs are mostly condition PvE oriented (yes, that spec that Is Nerfing Time calls “fine”). I think that roaming/PvP condi Rev is still crap because still lacks stability, condition cleanses and any sort of condition pressure at range.

It is fine (more than fine, it’s great), and has even been buffed with latest patch.

Your problems are always PVP related and therefore irrelevant as PVE is the focus of the game.

Lmao. These condi buffs were mostly pve focused cause condi rev was far from fine.

You do realise Anet buff or nerf for different reasons (some needed, some not, some make sense, some do not). Your personal jaded opinion due to PVP is irrelevant as I said.

In PVE it’s a great choice, now it’s become a bit stronger.

And yet, most of the changes were pve focused cause condi rev sucked balls in pve so they had to buff him due to the upcoming condi elite spec. Condi rev was far far away from being good in pve prepatch, now who knows.

In your opinion, you mean. Condi Rev did most certainly not suck. As I said, PVP doesn’t matter.

It was a viable and good choice, Rev has had 3 choices – Support, Condi and Power for awhile now.

If condi rev was viable then they wouldnt buff him in the first place. You dont make any sense at this point cause even devs found condi rev to be subpar choice, unless you consider yourself to be smarter than everyone else ingame, including devs with access to data?

I don’t think you can make that conclusion. We have seen LOTS of thinks changed that was hard to understand why Anet did it. Anet buffs things EVEN when they are viable, EVEN when they are THE BEST option. For example, when they buffed Guardian Meditations; it made the best PVP option for Guardians (at the time) even better and left everything else in the dust.

So no, trying to make sense of why Anet does things isn’t really such a logical exercise as you seem to indicate. What is clear to me; this was a PVE buff and since you admit you aren’t concerned with Rev PVE in the first place, it would be interesting to understand why you are so zealous in your thread about condi buffs. That’s a bit of a rhetorical question; I think anyone with history already knows you’re here to sell the salt. Unfortunately salt tastes great on food like this.

Dadnir.5038:

Don’t you think that the real question is more :

Why does anet link WvW with PvE instead of linking it with sPvP?

WvW is mainly free PvP why the hell is it associated to PvE? Balance should be PvE on one side and PvP/WvW on the other side and don’t tell me that they ca’t do it, they already do it for ranger’s pets.

Honnestly, a little bit of logic would have already fixed this issue a long time ago.

I think there could be a reason for that, even though I don’t think Anet consciously does make that link. I see WvW as PVE with a strategic element, or at least it can be played that way. PVP is almost totally player competitive.

Put it think way … anyone that thinks a zerg vs. zerg is about PVP hasn’t really thought that through very well. There isn’t really such a thing as balancing when 25 players hit 25 others. I find the notion that any kind of class and skills balance should be attempted in THAT environment completely ridiculous.

morrolan.9608:

Obtena.7952:

BlackDragon.2084:

I like to play Condi and Power builds. But I also think Condi is OP, because I have fun with both builds. I don’t want to make it so that one build is OP but that both have a reason to exist in all game aspects. I like to play a power Thief or Ele but Necro I like to play Condi. But I don’t want to be forced to play my Ele and Thief as Condi to be allowed in Raids or so or to change my Necro to power. I think there would have been better ways to create some sort of balance between this builds.

Good sentiment but unfortunately, the game has never worked that way ever. There is clearly not objective at Anet to make equivalently performing builds. Therefore, it makes no sense to lament something that never was.

Let me get this straight you’re saying anet don’t want class balance. Well that would explain a few things if true but I highly doubt that it is true.

I don’t think that they don’t want it but I do think they are knowledgeable enough to know how hard and fruitless such a goal would be. I don’t think you can come to any other conclusion; have you seen anything in the game that makes you conclude that Anet is working towards overall class balance and equivalent builds in and between classes the last 5 years this game existed? No way.

I don’t really get some of the changes in this patch but in truth, I’m still flying high off the last one. I mean, RIP True Shot? I don’t think that’s an honest evaluation EVEN with the nerf.

Only time will tell how the changes affect DH in PVP. No one on the first day will know. That’s just reading tea leaves.

What you like is not relevant to this discussion, so why even bring it up as a point to support your side?

I admit that there is unbalance. I just don’t see a problem with that unbalance because we have never had it and we won’t get it. No game with this level of skills and class variation and dependence on player can be balanced so I think there isn’t any value in doing so.

I mean, don’t complain about a change in direction, then ask where the fun is in a game that is stagnate and doesn’t evolve further … that’s silly. Clearly, there is a contradiction there. If you don’t see that these changes, good or bad, are Anet’s attempt to continue making the game not stagnate, evolve and improve, then I don’t feel you are being honest here.

Here is some reality for you … player expectations are not very relevant as far as minor changes like this go. How new are you to MMO’s anyways? I have yet to play an MMO where the Devs generally use player feedback to adjust this level of detail in the game.

You can show me all the videos you want; if that’s the direction Anet wants this game to go, you better evaluate if this game is still worth playing. I mean, are you trying to tell use that Anet is simply ignorant of how their game works and they made a mistake by favouring condi in this balance patch? That would be funny on so many levels.

I mean, they are no more forcing condi meta in this game now than they were forcing power meta in this game for the first 3 years. The whole idea that Anet shouldn’t direct the game in a certain direction at their discretion is ridiculous!

I would argue this game never had any need for the kind of player skill level other games do … until raids came along. I mean, why do you think it’s as successful as it is? It’s because people that don’t care to know how to play their classes or do builds can be successful. That’s a market hardly any game services.

No, the build doesn’t need to perform equally. There is nothing in this game that makes me think Anet is trying to achieve anything like that for any class and no, whatever I said doesn’t indicate I think there is a problem with that.

Equal performance builds are an expectation YOU make in your head to justify your dislike for the changes; there has NEVER been equal performance builds for a given class or across classes in this game, if only by coincidence. The only problem here is you think your expectations should be THE expectations.

What I am certain of is that Anet is willing to make adjustments to get the game they want. If they think the game should be more condi meta, that’s what you are going to get. if they think it sways too far that way, I’m confident they will dial it back. We have almost 5 years of watching their behaviour demonstrating that willingness. The only issue is if players are patient enough to see what they do … and most people can be pretty fickle.

BlackDragon.2084:

I like to play Condi and Power builds. But I also think Condi is OP, because I have fun with both builds. I don’t want to make it so that one build is OP but that both have a reason to exist in all game aspects. I like to play a power Thief or Ele but Necro I like to play Condi. But I don’t want to be forced to play my Ele and Thief as Condi to be allowed in Raids or so or to change my Necro to power. I think there would have been better ways to create some sort of balance between this builds.

Good sentiment but unfortunately, the game has never worked that way ever. There is clearly not objective at Anet to make equivalently performing builds. Therefore, it makes no sense to lament something that never was.

Fay.2357:

Obtena.7952:

Frankly, I think the number of stacks is not really relevant; it’s the amount of damage it does.

I’m sorry, did you forget that condition damage is a linear relationship based off of stack size?

No. I’m simply indicating the relevant thing here is the damage it does, not how many stacks you get. If it still sucks, then why do I care if it’s 12 or 25 or whatever stacks?

I won’t argue your hypothetical scenarios here. Go ahead and PVP on paper all you like. If you do not want to understand the risk you actually face and understand how to deal with them in PVP, then you have greater problems than Necro spike condi damage.

I’ve already explained why this gives choice and it should be obvious why choice is good. If you don’t see that, well, I guess don’t try. I won’t try to guess what the Anet thinking was for the change (actually they explained it), I can just see that I now have the choice to use overloaded turrets when it’s placed when I didn’t before. If that reduces function, than that’s the tradeoff that exists.

Is the discussion here that having overloaded turrets on placement is not worth the tradeoff of less functionality? That seems like a really subjective discussion.

That makes no sense … your sacrifice to get that damage is requiring to use a very specific build to deliver it, just like power or anything else. Nothing you say indicates there is a problem here. I don’t see a problem with the game moving to a condition meta, if that’s even the case.

I mean, you can invent problems all you like. Condition stacking, etc … again, these things have counterplay just like power builds … significantly more counterplay than any power builds do in fact.

The only thing I see here is someone that doesn’t want to add to their skills of how to deal with condition damage.

I mean, we had power meta forced on us for YEARS, but through some personal philosophy, that’s OK to you. I’m listening to you, I just think you’re trying to make some factual arguments from emotional and personal preferences.

Not sure if you have thought of this but perhaps that’s the way Anet wants them used; and the ability to defend a position is still there if that’s how you wish to use them that way, even if there is an alternate and better option available. To be frank, I think people aren’t really thinking about the fact that this is an improvement, even if it’s not the one you want.

I also don’t see option reduction as generally a big problem, especially in this game where it’s inferred there is no attempt to balance options equally to achieve a diversity that would result from equivalent options.

OriOri.8724:

5k crits on a 6 sec CD and you think its underpowered? Do you just want it to be a OHKO skill, unblockable, unevadeable?

Not only that but if DH was only good for one skill … that’s a bigger problem as well. People should really stop and think about complaining about losing their ‘I WIN’ buttons.

Weasels God.8296:

@obtena Here you go. Didn’t feel the need to explain myself but apparently people are blind to obvious facts. Yes this is set at “perfect” conditions as its a benchmark but you can’t get remotely close with a power build. Also by “stronger” I’m meaning in single tick applications. Damage over time is one thing. When you can literally spike harder than a power build your doing balancing wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-iSt27j7U&feature=youtu.be

I don’t get the problem … Why should I not be able to spike harder with condition than power builds? Just because? I see no facts here … other than your opinion it shouldn’t happen. Posting a video of a necro fighting a golem proves nothing related to why condi builds shouldn’t be better than power ones. You might as well have posted a video of cats. It would have been as meaningful.

Weasels God.8296:

I understand wanting to make conditions “viable” but that shouldn’t make them stronger than power builds.

I don’t see anything in your post that makes me think that should be true. A condition build should be stronger than power builds? I can think of many reasons why they should, primarily because they deal their damage over time and allow more options for the player to reaction and make decisions.

The choice is you can take advantage of an overloaded turret immediately or keep them up … you didn’t have that choice before. If you think the turrets are useless, then you have decided to use your turrets that way …. a CHOICE you make. Maybe you shouldn’t assume everyone thinks as you do to pretend this isn’t better than the way it was.

I mean, are you going to tell me the old way was better or that this new way is not? I think that’s clearly not the case. It might not be the improvement you were looking for, but it is an improvement.

orisci.6527:

How is it broken or worse now?

Because if they didn’t say those kinds of things, they would have to stop selling salt. Admitting Anet did something good for Revs would make their worlds collapse.

Frankly, I think the number of stacks is not really relevant; it’s the amount of damage it does. Obviously 25 stacks is more damage, but is it like .“25 stacks of bleed” reasonable? Not sure.

The whole point of the change is that it gives choice. Why are people always so angry when they get choices?

If you’re feedback was constructive, the things you call issues would be less subjective.

For instance, has it ever occurred to you that Druid has ‘awful’ damage for a reason? Perhaps that’s intended? I mean, most of your issues are all easily dismissed with a simple “that’s what we intended” from Anet. That’s the definitive.

Frankly, I think when players see these kinds of issues that don’t get addressed, the first thing I think of is that players want to impose their own ideas of how Class X or Skill Y should work. That’s always a non-starter.

The other point is that Anet works on issues they choose on their timetable. Maybe they agree with you but the tone of your thread doesn’t recognize that possibility.

TLDR: Anet sets their timetables and priorities, and not necessarily inline with any player influence.

Here is a dose of reality for people; balance is not something achievable. That’s a fact, especially as long as it’s subjectively measured by players with forum access. That’s not just with GW2, it’s any game where there is class or gear variations.

Now, once you let that sink in, realize why every single one of these OMG NO BALANCE threads have little impact. I don’t even get the problem … condition meta is making people quit? If that’s true, those players are fickle to begin with; the littlest change make them drift away.

If you don’t like condition meta, then leave. If you really want to have the biggest impact to changes you can’t live with, that is your biggest way to influence the direction of the game.

CrimeMaker.8612:

Why wasn’t this trait nerf? This trait is really broken in WvW. A solo necro can stack 30 stacks of bleeding AoE easily. Can we please do balance separation for this trait and bump the amount of bleeding down to 1 stack in WvW. Good epi change.

Because Anet didn’t think it needed to? I mean, we’ve had this argument already … if a solo necro is stating 30 bleed on you, it’s a L2P issue. The tradeoff for getting that 30 stacks is pretty big.

narcx.3570:

Obtena.7952:

What works in a group is dependent on the GROUP, not the class. It’s been like that since day 1 and continues to be. If a class or build doesn’t work, it’s because the scrub group you’re teaming with doesn’t know how to play. Assuming that you NEED something in specific is making the kittenumption that Anet designs the encounters for a specific composition. That’s not how GW2 has ever worked.

That’s the self made conundrum though… If you’re in a non-scrub group, they’re probably all playing meta classes in meta builds (or something very close.) When you see people playing something crazy, like Condi Rev, there’s like 99.9% chance they don’t even know the basics of the encounter, and even if they do, you’re group’s going to be slow on the DPS.

And if you’re using a wild class choice and failing and blaming it on your group being scrubs, don’t you think that maybe if you played a class choice/group comp more optimal to the fight, they might have succeeded? Because while no composition is REQUIRED to clear any content, there’s certainly ones that are better. Why would you want to do a bajillion core phases on KC when you could just play your tempest and bring a PS and a Chrono and a Druid for max buffs instead of trying to 10 man condi-rev it?

I should add that this is speaking strictly from a PUG perspective…

It’s absolutely a player self made conundrum…. that’s why every time some one references it for Anet as a justification to evaluate the game, it’s an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. The game was designed so you don’t need optimal comps … and you CAN succeed not using it, so the idea that anything needs balance around an optimal comp makes no sense whatsoever.

Anyways, lots of condi changes this patch anyways. I know it will matter little to the saltsellers here but nonetheless, people that are a little more objective will acknowledge the improvement.

What works in a group is dependent on the GROUP, not the class. It’s been like that since day 1 and continues to be. If a class or build doesn’t work, it’s because the scrub group you’re teaming with doesn’t know how to play. Assuming that you NEED something in specific is making the kittenumption that Anet designs the encounters for a specific composition. That’s not how GW2 has ever worked.

LezardValeth.9453:

All those elite specializations that allowed you to bring an extra weapon to the table, as well as additional new skills and an elite skill?

Once the new expansion roles out, once we get those new elite specs, what was the point of even getting HoT’s? Granted, there’s no telling if the new new elite stuff will be better or worse and you still have the option to go back.

But what’s the point? You won’t be able to use both at the same time, so matter what you lose something. Necros can’t use greatswords and torches, reaper shroud and sand shroud. Mesmers can’t use shields and their newest weapon, or chrono specs. It goes on.

Unless Arenanet addresses this issue, it looks like we won’t go into the new expansion with benching one elite spec.

I don’t get how this is a problem, how it’s a surprise to anyone or how there is an issue to address. I’m pretty certain at some point, Anet was clear about how elite specs would work, including future ones and I think a reasonable, sensible approach also makes it go without saying that you shouldn’t be able to spec into two elite specs at the same time.

?

jihm.2315:

i cant find anything lately without youtube in new areas and i dont think it a good thing , i wanna play the game not search for the exact paths of story npcs and vistas.
the good thing is that its beneficial to the community that does guides, but as a player i find it a bit tedious.

i hope new expansion has simple maps and directs the challenge somewhere else like more difficult mobs or something.

the less dulfy i will watch to find stuff the better

I haven’t played a game in 10 years that doesn’t use youtube or the internet somehow to provide information to the players. It’s just the way of the future I guess. It’s simply easier to do … and free.

Shortage.5427:

In any other game weapons have a name. But in Guild Wars 2 they mean nothing. Just another skin. With enough cash you can get enough gems to buy gold for everything you need.

So no need to come up with your memes “Muh legendary is hard”.
The game is on decline, after failing at China NCsoft have completly abandoned GW2/Anet from expanding further to NK and JP.

This game had a good concept, but didn’t deliver.

Again … you aren’t recognizing this game for what it is. You are indeed right; everything IS just another skin. The difference is that this is intentional; that IS the game concept and it delivers it quite well in fact. I mean, skins don’t have a name? Is that a serious complaint? It would be rather stupid for Anet, 5 years in, to add a feature that many people enjoyed NOT having.

And no … there are lots of game where weapons don’t have ‘names’. But if named weapons are so important to you, I’m sure you will find pleasure in playing them since GW2 doesn’t deliver for you.

Aeolus.3615:

IndigoSundown.5419:

When asked in 2014 about gear tiers with stats above the Ascended/Legendary tier, then Game Director Colin Johanson said, “I hope not.” I echo that sentiment. Gear progression is a pointless exercise in busywork.

Stil the game lacks progression… besides buy the next traitline to keep competing more easilly.

Classes progress is in damage increase and more condis/boon spam.
They dont actually have a structured class progression trait*build sytem as well, all they have done is added skill that need to be grinded to preggress through maps.
Its controlled time gated gameplay with distractions

Not really … your MMO mindset have to be stuck in the 90’t to think that way. Sorry, 2000’s as well. Progression isn’t just getting levels and better gear. The story of the game progresses constantly; that’s WAY more engaging than some busywork to get the next stat level on some gear. If you want busywork gear stat grinding, well, you have LOTS of choice but hopefully, NEVER in GW2.

Fashion Mage.3712:

No, it’s pretty bad actually, especially compared to a lot of other games. Build diversity is always a good reason to fix things. Fortunately, if recent balance patches are any indication, it seems like build diversity is at least somewhat one of their priorities.

RabbitUp.8294:

Anyway, during the last pvp Dev AMA, they said SW are one of the 4-5 skill types they want to improve, along with mantras, and a couple more I can’t remember.

Do you have the source for that?

WE have lots of build diversity so that makes no sense.