Guild Wars 2

Humour me please: which class(es) and build(s) have the most frequent CC abilities in a rotation? Or which class(es) and build(s) can deal out CC most frequently, readily and perhaps rapidly?

Many thanks!

I want to make a rather imposing and intimidating heavy armour character. Which one of the two – Charr or Norn – looks better?

I want it be very tall so two-handed weapons look at their max size. A max sized Charr certainly looks big and wide but it keeps hunching down makes it shorter than a Norn. On the other hand, Norn is tall but most of the body shapes look fat – except may be one that looks more or less proportional.

Also, I found this picture on Guildwars2 guru forum saying that a stand up right Charr is as tall if not taller than a Norn. Can someone confirm that?

Anyway, so a second tallest but wide-build race Charr or the tallest race Norn?

Thanks!

Hello!

I have been away since the Queen’s jubilee event and the endless Crown Pavilion grind. I would very much like to come back and to finish the personal story and the living world story on my Mesmer. May be do some dungeons to get myself back to the game.

I left my Mesmer as a PU condition shatter build. I used to play a power shatter one but I have been experimenting a lot with Mesmer, including Confusion bomb a while back. I have been out of touch for some time now. So can any one give me some insight as to the merits on each PvE builds?

I understand that Confusion will be buff some time in the future. Is it viable to play a Confusion build? How about shatter, power or condition? I have heard that there will be a “breakbar” adding to the bosses. Would a lockdown build be more useful in PvE? What role is a Mermer comfortable to be in nowadays?

Many thanks!

Xyonon.3987:

pve everything is power -> zerk, yet shortbow sux in like 99% of the pve content :x just sayin

How bad is it then?

I have tested shortbow a few times against sword, which supposed to be the best power weapon rangers can have. Shortbow only very lightly lesser dps than a sword…

I have two sets of gears: berserker and carrion. And I have fallen in love with using shortbow. I have tested the killing speed against a Heavy Golem in the mist wearing either full berserker or carrion whilst carrying a level 0 shortbow with only +vitality stat. The killing speeds of either sets of gears are more of less the same. So is shortbow a power, a condition or a hybrid weapon?

What second set of weapon I should carry?

I have got a Knight Ascended Armour Chest not long ago. I have not open it yet since I do not which character I want to use it for.

I know that Ascended Armour is only account bound and not soul bound. So it can be transferred between characters of the same armour type. But can I use a Transmutation charge on an Ascended Armour? If I use it to change a piece of Ascended Armour into the look of a cultural armour can I still transfer it to a character of different race?

Thanks!

Neko.9021:

Oh My God.8423:

Are you sure it is a weighed queue?

My understanding is indeed first in first out with no jumping-queue.

Certain conditions (Burning and Poison) use this weird weighted-queue system. The stronger condition takes priority and ticks first before the weaker ones.

However, Bleed, which is the primary source of damage for a Condition Build, uses the normal first-in-first-out rule. This reason alone drastically hurts the usefulness of Condition Builds in group content.

So I presume those conditions that stack in duration use the weighed queue method; whereas those in intensity, first-come-first-serve.

I agree with the suggestions and improvements on pets. Here are some of my random ones.

Since pets are effectively a weapon for rangers, how about allow sigils to be slotted onto the pets? Otherwise, how about allowing pets to wear armours, which in turns allow greater flexibility and diversity of the pets’ stat.

Master’s Bond should not be reset upon deactivation or entering/leaving water. The effect should last until the pet is defeated.

If someone is going 4 points into Beastmastery, it seems to be rather serious in being a beastmaster. There is little reason to separate Rending Attacks, Stability Training and Intimidation Training into three different traits. Why not consolidate them into just one.

Have a new trait that allows the ranger to transfer some of its attributes, for instance x% power, y% toughness or etc., to its pets. Have another new trait perhaps that makes Attack of Opportunity a proc effect on crit.

Are you sure it is a weighed queue?

My understanding is indeed first in first out with no jumping-queue.

I almost always play a pet class and nearly always I find myself reading similar discussion in a forum. I have seen a pet class go petless; and it works to some limited extent – mostly in some sort of second class support role. It works nonetheless.

I would say that a 70-30% dps split between a ranger and its pets sound reasonable to me; 75-25% is also acceptable. To me, however, the pets do not seem to mature well as the ranger levels up. I think some of the traits in Beastmastery should be consolidated into fewer ones. Pets’ attributes need to increase to a slight greater extent as one goes further into the trait line. Then add some new traits like: X% of power, or Y% toughness, etc., is transferred from the ranger to its pets. So for those who really want to make the most of their pets, there is an option to transfer some of the ranger’s attributes to the pets.

I would say axe and warhorn need better skins…

While on the subject of skins, why Adam and Gaze (both focuses) are held as though the character is holding an ice-cream cone with both of the skulls looking up to the sky?

Why ain’t Lion’s Arch paved in gold now!? What happens to all the money Heal-o-Tron collected?

Can ranger make the most of the Celestial Armour?

Just thought of something else after writing the post: why our pets are always a “Juvenile” by default? I think it should grow or level up with the ranger. I know that stats do level up but at least visually too… They should look meaner and more menacing at level 80.

I used to play Warhammer Online a bit. There was a class call White Lion. It is more or less like ranger in terms of concept (but it only has a lion). But at least, that lion changed as the character level up. It is by no mean the best class in that game but I did enjoy looking at a max level lion with armour and stuff…

Dear Fellow Rangers,

I have been playing my ranger the whole weekend in Dry Top doing all the Living Story and whatever else going on in the zone. Although I levelled my ranger to 80 at the beginning of the year, it did not receive much of my attention until the past few days. I had a good time with it.

Then when I logged off and went to bed, I thought of something rather interesting: why can’t we put armours on pets? Of course it will not be as eleborated as those worn by the character but perhaps a chest piece, some sort of head gear or something to cover the limbs. All of which will be dye-able so at least in some way one can personalise one’s pets. I thought of this idea because while trying to get to sleep, I remembered reading a post on giving ranger ascended pets a few months ago. I think the initial response was rather positive but I have to say that I lost track of the post.

Those armour pieces will have stats too so a ranger can play around the with pets’ stat a bit. Of course the actual values will need to be well thought out but for the time being lets leave that consideration aside. For example, I do want a dps wolf, but it will always be out-done by a cat; so I carry a cat in PvE. But what if I can armour up a berserker wolf?

Then how about slotting a sigil on pets? They are essentially a “weapon” for a ranger. How about runes on the pets’ armour? Or perhaps do not give the pets’ amour any stats but instead have slots for runes and sigil?

More I think about it, the more fun I think it will make the ranger class.

So what do my fellow rangers think?

Many thanks!

I have been playing a DS build as well lately. Damage is not bad being able to self stack Might. Stacking Vulnerability is also relatively easy too.

Yes, AoE is a bit of a problem. I wish Anet can combine some of the DS traits or makes reduce recharge for Wells at a lower tier.

Have been playing with a DS build for a little while now. I use both dagger mainhand and axe: dagger for building LF, then switch to (traited) axe for DS.

It works very well because mainhand dagger does a lot faster LF generation and a higher damage, maintaining high DPS outside DS. Then of course switch to axe for a even high DS DPS.

Of course if you need range outside DS, use axe/warhorn.

I think I saw a few Norn join them as well…

:-O

Bhawb.7408:

Silentshoes.1805:

WizardRed,

Aren’t all the life force generating weapons more or less normalized for life force per second gained? Dagger is fast hitting but you have to be hitting rapid fire and not missing any.

Staff is 3/4 sec but a larger LF gain than dagger per hit.

Yes and no. They all have the potential to have somewhat similar gains, but in practice dagger has by far the highest, with scepter being the lowest. Dagger is around 3.8%/s, axe is 1.5%/s, staff is 2.9%/s to 8.6%/s, and scepter is anywhere from nothing to 3.6%/s (although that will never happen, it is much more often lower). Dagger is the most reliable because its simply 8% per chain, which is easy to hit, whereas Staff is 4% per person hit (up to 3 people) but is very easy to avoid since its a slow projectile, and Scepter/Axe both need to land abilities, one with a long easy to stop channel and the other with the need to have conditions on the target.

Offhands are also totally different. Dagger OH gives nothing, WH can give up to 100% per cast (4% per second), and Focus can give up to 15% per cast (just under 1% per second).

So dagger/horn with Staff give the best LF generation??

Thank you all for your advice.

I have been testing my original build (with some minor modifications) over the weekend. It was fun; I like it. I feel that I use the dagger more often for fast life force generation instead of axe 2.

But I am now having a rotation issue with axe/horn and dagger/focus. I am using focus 4, then Blood is Power, then Wells, then horn 5, then DS 1. But it feels rather chuncky. I switch back to dagger/focus once outside DS and just spam dagger 1 to regenerate life force. I may use axe 1 and 2 now and again if I need to stay at range. May be I am not used to this rotation yet. But it feels chuncky for me for the time being.

I am entertaining the idea of using staff with axe/horn instead since it seem the life force generation per second of dagger and staff are more or less the same. But then I lose out quite a bit dps with staff.

All in all, I do like this DS build. It has good burst and good sustain. Just that those Wells are on long(ish) recharge. And 4 (5 if counting Axe Training too) of the 7 major traits are spent on boosting DS making being outside DS feels a bit weak.

Well, the 6th Scholar does not apply in DS; it works off the normal HP bar instead. I just want to get a bit of extra Ferocity in.

Why using main hand axe with Axe Training trait before entering DS will do more damage?

I think this is a rather basic death shroud setup for PvE (and WWW?) but still I want someone who is more experienced in this to offer me some good advice.

The build

My own thoughts:

1) I am working towards a 50% critical chance outside death shroud so I am using a mixture of Berserker and Assassin armours. With Deathly Preception, am I getting 100% critical chance?

2) Together with Reaper’s Might and Unyielding Blast, while in death shroud, I would be stacking a reasonable amount of might and vulnerability. Am I correct to say that it is the best way to self-boost my DPS?

3) I have decided to spend the last two points in Cuses. But I am still debating whether to pick Reaper’s Precision or Focused Rituals. Any suggestions?

4) In terms of healing utility, I picked Consume Conditions. I have heard from someone that Signet of Vampirism works well with a death shroud build. Is it? If so how?

5) I picked Signet of Spite and Blood is Power for obvious reason as being a powermancer, and Well of Suffering for more damage. Any other suggestions?

6) For elite skill, I use Flesh Golem. Despite all the AI problems, it helps me to do damge and be my tank occassionally. Any comments?

7) This build seems to be rather glassy; perhaps with the exception of have a “second HP bar” while in death shroud. Is it going to be a good DPSer?

8) It terms of team support, other than keeping up stacks of vulnerability and an occassional soft CCs, I cannot think of anything else. Would I still be useful in a dungeon and/or factual team?

9) It is suggested to use Locust Swamp before entering death shroud and use Ghastly Claws for fast life force generation outside death shroud. So I am running axe/horn as main set of weapons with dagger/focus whenever necessary. Am I doing it right? What other weapon combo or rotation will you suggest?

10) What nourishment should I use?

Many thanks!

Dear Infect,

I have levelled my necromancer to 50 as a minion master, which was fun albeit rather easy. Then the Crown Pavilion happened and I levelled it further to 80. In the Pavilion, my necro can do every single one of the bosses except Pyro for which I have no reflect or absorb to bring to the party, so I never bothered to go there.

My aim for my necromancer is to use it to finish world completion and do dungeons and factuals. In fact I am torned between whether my mesmer or necro to be my main character. I have heard that powermancer with berzerker setup is the way to go. That is what I am trying at the moment, a 6/5/0/0/3 build with D/horn, A/F, WoS, Blood is Power and Signet of Spite. But is it the only effective way to do PvE contents?

In my heart, I still want to try a condimancer and/or a terrormancer builds, or even a MM build again. But I have heard that they are sub-par for PvE. What do you think of them?

Please advise.

Many thanks!

Zaxares.5419:

I like jumping and jumping puzzles, and I hope they won’t get removed either.

But that said, I do agree that perhaps an “Infantile” mode to get around the map is needed for those who, for whatever reason, are just not capable of using the Aspects or jumping. The vine walkways/ladders, or maybe a balloon pilot who takes you to different locations for a fee (he does it for free once you complete an event where you help him), are some possible ideas.

What do you mean by “Infantile”? What does it compare to?

minbariguy.7504:

Oh My God.8423:

[SNIP]… For example, you can choose to climb or perhaps gather enough resources for an NPC to lend you an airship or a sylvari floating seed pod for so long.

That resource-gathering idea is actually a pretty good one. +1

Alternatively jump down from an airship on a parachute or a glider while navigating cross wind and other flying objects in order to land on the targeted area.

Or have a sylvari NPC to grow some vine or a charr to construct ladders and climb up those vine or ladders like donkey kong.

Be creative!

Take inspiration from other games that their main objective is to get across a zone on a obstacle course instead of murdering foes. Those games take “movement” puzzle to an art form.

DeadlySynz.3471:

The threads aren’t calling for an end to jumping puzzles, they are calling for an end to adding them to the main story; major difference. It’s perfectly fine having them as part of a side quest bonus somewhere on the map for those who truly love jumping. I don’t think any player in the game will complain about that.

It’s like Anet adding story content requiring a lvl 80 Ranger to complete then arguing in favor of “well people love Rangers, so please keep adding Lvl 80 Ranger story content” Not everyone is going have access to a Lvl 80 Ranger, not everyone likes playing a Ranger, and not everyone is capable of playing a Ranger efficiently. Then the “Pro-Ranger” crowd pipes up and says “well, we love Rangers, so please keep adding the content” “You don’t need to complete it, it’s optional” (despite it being part of the story.

My level 80 ranger is a norn. Then I thought of something: OH MY GOD! How hard it is to jump up that rock on that bamboo structure all the way to the diving goggles on a norn! I have not try it with my charr yet but I don’t think I am going to like it.

Some jumping puzzles are not norn or charr friendly at all; and I know one of the puzzle designer acknowledged it a few weeks ago.

So, yes, I am pro-optional!

minbariguy.7504:

No one is calling for the removal of jumping puzzles. People are asking them to be optional, so that those who like them can continue to enjoy them, while those who do not can avoid them and still continue to access new content.

Seems pretty fair, does it not?

Hard to remove the existing setup that involves jumping puzzles. I am fine to live with that.

But yes, OPTIONAL or with other alternatives to choose from. For example, you can choose to climb or perhaps gather enough resources for an NPC to lend you an airship or a sylvari floating seed pod for so long.

I would prefer climbing a cliff or exploring the verticle dimension some other ways than ONLY jumping.

Airship, balloon, rockclimbing, etc…

Just not always jumping please

Vayne.8563:

Oh My God.8423:

To be fair, I think most, if not all already, solutions to those current JPs and Guild puzzles are already YouTube. I think there will always be people who will go straight to the answers before even try it once.

The problem is not whether or not the solutions are out there on the internet for viewing, JPs are getting too prevalence as an alternative to the traditional mob-killing game-play.

Just mix it up a bit. I don’t mind seeing other forms of puzzles as a matter of diversity.

But that misses my point. I know the solutions to jumping puzzles are out there, but you still need a modicum of skill to do it. A bit of practice. There’s books on how to play baseball too, but that doesn’t mean you can win a game.

Mind puzzles are different because all the skill is the mind. If you ask a riddle and provide the answer, there’s no challenge at all.

I know how to do some of the hardest jumping puzzles in this game, but even knowing how I still breaking into a sweat in some situations.

Knowing how to do a jumping puzzle is half the battle.

That is a false analogy: 1) baseball is a team orientated game. You can read books about it but you can only learn the basic skills and some set pieces for team-play. Those YouTube videos are more like a recipe: a step-by-step guide from start to finish; and might include tricks and shortcuts too. 2) There is no portal in baseball.

You however missed my point that jumping puzzles are getting too prevalence. The alternative does not have to be as narrowly defined as “mind puzzle” as you did. I also suggested something that is more (small) team friendly. Jumping puzzle has it place: it is very solo friendly (but it does not require a modicum of skills: all you need is a mouse, a spacebar and a stable connection).

The other point you missed is “diversity”. I am sure all solutions to the puzzles will be posted on the internet at one time or another. That is the problem we have living in the information age. But that itself should not be a reason of limiting the varities of game play.

Jump puzzles are fun, no doubt, even though I do not much like it. The problem people having now is that it seems to be the main alternative to the standard killing-mobs or collecting-items game play.

To be fair, I think most, if not all already, solutions to those current JPs and Guild puzzles are already YouTube. I think there will always be people who will go straight to the answers before even try it once.

The problem is not whether or not the solutions are out there on the internet for viewing, JPs are getting too prevalence as an alternative to the traditional mob-killing game-play.

Just mix it up a bit. I don’t mind seeing other forms of puzzles as a matter of diversity.

What about just have pizzle instead? Some brain-teasing mini-games. Or perhaps some pizzle that requires a small team of 2-5 people to complete. Jump pizzle is getting a bit excessive.

I run similar build as well: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFIQJAodhcM6bW2wuBf0ACAS4ANeMuXwii2A-TlQLwAPV/BgeAA-w

I have to say, after testing it in the Crown Pavilion, it is very very squishy. I basically have to keep triggering Fire Aura in order to get some protection boon. Still, I feel squishy. I am wearing Celestial just to get some extra toughness and health, and still feel squishy. I may as well go full on Berserker or Assassin.

I have to say that it is a very busy build. You have to keep an eye on the recharge of those signets and those shields from your weapon skills. I am dancing between Fire and Air for damage and use Water and Earth for utilities and survivability.

Neko.9021:

For PvE:

Fire Staff = Highest
Scepter + LH = Second Highest (mainly the Lightning Hammer)
MH Dagger = Third Highest

Scepter = Terrible after about 3 seconds of combat, but highest if the combat is shorter than that, strangely enough.

Oh, I thought dagger has the highest dps…

There was this old test we used to use back in the days of City of Hero; it is called the “Pylon test”. Basically you pick the toughest and hard-hitting target, bring your best build and see who can kill it the fastest. There was a table of best time on the forums back then. It is a combination of survivability and raw dps: too squishy, you die too soon before making any significant contribution; too tanky, you won’t do enough damage either.

It is a rather reliable test; in that game at least (mind you, in that game you could scale up the levels of the trash mobs quite significantly. So a well balanced between survivability and dps was needed). Perhaps we could do something similar in here too. Bring the best setup of each profession and have them face a similar target and see who can finish it the fastest.

We could modify the test for the best aoe as well: simply drag a fix number of mobs and see which aoe-centric build finish them the fastest.

For the Panini!

NmmmNmmmNmmm…

Thanks. I will give both builds a try.

But why no stun break and using a staff in a powerzerker build? Would that be a problem?

I am looking for some advice and suggestions:

I have searched the forum for a “vampire” build but most of them were quite dated. For PvE and an occassional WWW, how effective is a vampire build? And what is the general setup for it?

Many thanks!

Thanks!

I will give it a try in a few hours when I get home.

If I have a stack of items, for example a stack of 100 copper (or any consumable), how can I seperate them into to stacks of 50s?

(Can it be done?)

Many thanks!

Rampagers are good too.

I have done some rough calculation: if you are only looking at the average damage output from the combination of power, precision and ferocity, celestial is about 62% of a full berserker setup; condition damage 59% of a full condition setup. With celestial, however, you get a bit more toughness and health comparing to a full berserker.

Normal mobs in PvE just do not last long enough against a full berserker. But tougher bosses, I think, a balanced build with better survivability like celestial can make life a bit easier.

By the way, if you mix rampager and berserker, you get 65% of damage of both a full berserker and a full condition setup. That is the best hybrid build I can come up with for a 2/0/6/0/6 thief.

As I suggested in other thread before, ANet should implement a system like this: when a zone is full, then 1) at the entrance show a list of available shards for players to choose from (such as Pavilion Shard 1, Pavilion Shard 2, and so on); and 2) have a queue in place when someone insist on joining a specific but already full shard.

So, for organised run, players can specify and communicate between each others which shard they are in amongst themselve in order to minimise random pug gatecrashing in. If that so happen, you can always join the queue waiting to rejoin with your friends inside the zone. That or have your friends leave and go to occupy a different shard instead.

The “Taxi” system is very annoying indeed: it divides friends and guild members. It only takes a few “taggers” to ruin a coordinated gold run, which as far as I can see happens a lot.

I play a P/D condition stealth build as well (20606 or 30506, depending if I want heal on stealth). Is it better to use Dire or Celestial gears?

Thanks!

YES! YES! YEESSS~!

I have levelled up a thief to 80 last weekend. Now I am hoping to build and gear it up properly. I do mostly PvE and occassionally WWW. I do not know whether I should focus more on condition damage but it seems that a 2/0/6/0/6 build should go with a condition build. So I am using Carrion gear at the moment. I use steal and stealth a lot; hence a 2/0/6/0/6 build. For weapon, I swap around between D/P, P/D, D/D and S/P depending on the situation. Sometimes I do swap out Shadow’s Rejuvenation for Lotus Poison.

This is my draft build at the moment: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAoa6YlsMp8plOx7J0PNBNhw9oUz8O83yaFA-ThwMAAv6Pg+BA-e

I am still relatively new to playing a thief and I am not sure if I am making the most out of it. Can someone give me advice and suggestion please?

Thanks you!

How about reduce the number of stacks to, say, 20 and start converting to mega condition (e.g. Hemorrhage, etc.) sooner? At least it will be reducing some of the calculation load.

Galen Grey.4709:

Oh My God.8423:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Oh My God.8423:

Behellagh.1468:

The cap is so nibble to death by cats (thank you Londo) isn’t a viable way to defeat a boss.

Why is that a problem anyway!?

Given the hp and other things a boss has, even a full berserker build will have to “nibble it to death”. How often a berserker build can one- two- or three-shot a boss to death?

You do understand the capacity for damage that Condi builds are able to achieve, right? When geared correctly at “endgame”, a necro that is able to consistantly, and solo, maintain a 25 stacks of bleeding on a target will inflict over 280,000 damage over a single minute. And that’s just from bleeds alone. Combined with Parasitic Contagion (Close to Death does kitten-all for Condi Damage), that’s self-healing of 14,000 without touching a heal skill. Adding in direct damage and other incidental conditions, you’re looking at minimum of 50,000 damage.

And that’s one necro. Imagine 5-10 of them if conditions were not affected by a duration/stack cap.

Yes, indeed: tell me what 5 or 10 of the same kind of necro can do with their easily achievable 25 stacks of bleeding on a same target?

Then tell what one fully build berserker glasscannon can do? Then what 5 or 10 of those berserker glasscannons can do on a same target?

Now you see it is counterproductive to have that many that sort of necros all stuck under the glass ceiling of 25 bleedings. Yes, there may be a few more nearby foes affected by epidemic if there are enough of them happen to be there within the radius; and yes, there may be a few extra direct damage going around, which are normally not traited or geared to do more than basic damage. But when comparing to ounce-for-ounce damage each additional berserker can bring, the cap is indeed hindering.

yeah but the glasscannon berserker will die cause s/he needs to be upclose and personal and thus incuring damage while dealing damage. The necro does not. s/he can can focus on interrupting/dodging/fearing etc and still do maximum damage.

Ofcourse they also work well as a team if whatever boss is busy smashing the face of the berserker then the necro doesnt have to keep him/herself alive and can thus help out the glass cannon berserker survive the onslot a bit more while still maintaining damage.

Then there is epidemic which can help deal maximum damage to a bunch of mobs rather then one better then berserker glass cannon can again without having to now suffer 5x the damage the berserker glass cannon would have to in order to do the same thing.

No. You are considering the problem with ONE berserker, ONE condimancer, and a team of ONE berserker with ONE condimancer.

The problem with stack cap is when there are multiple of each around. The damage potential scales upwards with the numbers of power builds around; whereas the same stops for condition build once the stack cap glass ceiling is reached, which turns out to be not that high a ceiling.

I read recently, and some other have pointed out, that one of the reason that a stack-cap is in place is to ease computation. If one player can do one type of condition, it is a lot easier to manage. But when 5, 10 or even 30 players fighting a world boss or in a www zerg and all of whom has different condition damage and condition duration, and behind those characters are players who choose to use different condition power at a different time, to tally all those variables will be so taxing to maintain a smooth mmo fight. So 25 and 9 are the arbitary caps that our computer and the server can safely handled.

Of course, that is not without its problem as most of us have pointed out. Some people may find it uncomfortable or unthinkable to see each condition builds unleashing their full potential much like their power builds counterpart do already. Having been so long fighting with one hand tied behind one’s back has made it into a norm.

The cap is hindering. We however also have to considering the limitation of the current computation problem. So in the above I suggested to either tally the stack differently by converting them according to tiers (much like converting copper to silver to gold, really) or use up a full stack (the rear-end burst suggestion) and reset the tally periodically. I must confess that I am not computer expert but I think that should work. But if that is to happen, I think some of the bosses may have to scale up a bit just to compensate the increase in the collective damage output of the player base.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Oh My God.8423:

Behellagh.1468:

The cap is so nibble to death by cats (thank you Londo) isn’t a viable way to defeat a boss.

Why is that a problem anyway!?

Given the hp and other things a boss has, even a full berserker build will have to “nibble it to death”. How often a berserker build can one- two- or three-shot a boss to death?

You do understand the capacity for damage that Condi builds are able to achieve, right? When geared correctly at “endgame”, a necro that is able to consistantly, and solo, maintain a 25 stacks of bleeding on a target will inflict over 280,000 damage over a single minute. And that’s just from bleeds alone. Combined with Parasitic Contagion (Close to Death does kitten-all for Condi Damage), that’s self-healing of 14,000 without touching a heal skill. Adding in direct damage and other incidental conditions, you’re looking at minimum of 50,000 damage.

And that’s one necro. Imagine 5-10 of them if conditions were not affected by a duration/stack cap.

Yes, indeed: tell me what 5 or 10 of the same kind of necro can do with their easily achievable 25 stacks of bleeding on a same target?

Then tell what one fully build berserker glasscannon can do? Then what 5 or 10 of those berserker glasscannons can do on a same target?

Now you see it is counterproductive to have that many that sort of necros all stuck under the glass ceiling of 25 bleedings. Yes, there may be a few more nearby foes affected by epidemic if there are enough of them happen to be there within the radius; and yes, there may be a few extra direct damage going around, which are normally not traited or geared to do more than basic damage. But when comparing to ounce-for-ounce damage each additional berserker can bring, the cap is indeed hindering.

pdavis.8031:

Oh My God.8423:

For conditions that stack in duration, the first idea of converting a full stacks of “standard-to-mega-to-superior” can also be applied in here. But for poison, since it has a secondary role of reducing healing potency by 33%, the second idea of “rear-burst-after-the-final-stack” may not be suitable.

These are by no mean a quick and easy solutions. Fine-tuning and adjusting are still needt to be made in order to prevent being imbalanced. Nevertheless since the current stacking cap has presented the players with some annoying problems, some improvement is certainly needed.

I thought that duration conditions (poison, burning, etc.) Already just increased the duration further with each application? At what point would you make it a mega stack? After a 2 min duration has been reached? I feel that those Types are fine as is. Maybe if you made all conditions as duration instead of stacking? But then how is damage calculated? Also how is poison damage determined anyway if multiple people are applying poison?

I think we just need a complete overhaul of the whole system. I wouldn’t say they are broken, just dont work well with others. Just some thoughts

I do not entirely understand your first paragraph. But anyway…

I think buring and poison are capped at 9 stacks; further application will be ignored. So for example if a burn-centric build can stack that 9 stacks within, hypothetically say, 9 seconds, any more burn after that point will be ignored.

My suggestion is to convert the first 9 stacks at the 9th second into, for the time being lets call it, a mega burn, which has the property of an average 9 stacks of burn that lasts x amont of time. Any more standard burn applied after that point will start as a new standard stack. That is if the fight is still going and burning is still being applied, at 10th second, there will be 1 mega burn plus any additional standard burn applied (that is still less than 9 stack).

If you manage to apply another 9 stacks before the first mega burn expires, you get another mega burn; that makes two mega burns, and so on. In this way, if there are more than one burn-centric characters around, they collective damage output will not be capped below the totality of their individual damage potential.

That is the crux of my standard-to-mega-to-superior condition stack suggestion.

That is a good suggestion: more info on the game machanic. But I think there is a bigger problem with the Pavilion (or overflowing zones in general): it is very difficult to organise with your guild or friends once the zone is full. That makes an organised run even more frustrating.

Once upon a time when I played City of Hero, when a zone is full, at the entrance you can choose to go to which ever specific overflow shard, such as Pavilion Shard 1, Pavilion Shard 2, Pavilion Shard 3 and so on. Of course you can never have a private shard all by yourself and your guild or friend. But at least like-minded can easily join together and makes an organised run easily. That in turn make teaching any passerby causal players quicker and easier. In that case, it is down to the community to educate others about the game machanic instead of having instructions or hints or info all of the screen holding hands of the players.

Having better QoL info is good. But having better social engineering machanism is even better.