Guild Wars 2

So are we finally going to know what happened to Rytlock in a few days? Been waiting 10 mos for this.

I have another theory.

SoloQ was removed around the time the 1st pvp test ladder took place. When you solo queued for ranked back then, there were more pvp veterans around that ended up in your team.

The pvp veteran population may have taken a huge dive. One example is the activity on the pvp forums. Also, around the first test ladder season na prime, my contact list had 20+ logged on and 80% were in hotm. Today, it’s only between 3-5 online na prime.

Take that into consideration plus MMR being wonky.

Like OP I was on my engie and went against a full teamQ. Two teammates queued and the rest are solo, myself included. It wasn’t a very talkative team but saying something doesn’t harm and it’s better than being silent.

How I wish matchmaking could always choose good pugs to go against not so good premades. That’s only fair, right

What Vapour said is true though. Talkative teams do well.

Why? Because communication closes the gap between solo q and premades. Sometimes, the only advantage premades have over solo pugs is communication – but that’s IF matchmaking is doing its job and grouping people of the same skill levels.

I’ve ended up fighting along or against Vapour and he is very knowledgeable with the classes he plays and understands map rotations better than most.

I don’t want eles to suffer the same fate as thieves with limited viable builds.

More than anything, those 2 classes need a buff or at least get a nice elite spec with expansion. NOT nerf it further.

I don’t understand posts like this especially after the said class just got a significant nerf to condition damage, might and blinds.

Cynz.9437:

I would like to know that too. Idk most of people on my stalker list.

Maybe you impressed them and they want to play with you in the future. That’s my first guess. Second guess is they might be creep balls.

I don’t mind adding and befriending creep balls if they’re good enough to carry my lazy self. I always end up the person who hustles the hardest and it’s nice to be the scrub every once in a while

DaShi.1368:

It wouldn’t be so bad, if the waits times weren’t so horrible. It seems that the longer you wait the more likely you are to be on a bad team.

I also have that same conclusion when I queue solo

abc.5790:

Eles had better sustain pre June 23 patch

From what I remember there was only a slight reduction in defensive stats. But from all the trait changes and stats no longer affected by trait lines, they got a nice offensive boost. It more than makes up the small defense nerf because they killed faster.

Stilgar.6437:

abc.5790:

Eles had better sustain pre June 23 patch

false. evasive arcana heal got buffed, they got access to frequent blinds, free frost aura, free 4x condi cleanse, regen and vigor from fire adept, EA made minor. Due to cele amulet they didnt loose defensive stats from traits relative to non-cele builds.

ele sustain always was the biggest problem and it still is, which is blatantly obvious if you play or watch a match involving eles

Nerfs in the latest patch where minuscule and mostly irrelevant (you still have 100% vigor, you still have 20-25 might), and the RoF buff was absolutely not what the class needed.

the fact that its one of the easiest builds ever to play effectively does not help either.

Theres a reason why in every tournament more then 30% of total players are eles. thats no random coincidence

I thought June 23 patch slightly reduced ele defensive stats (heals and vitality) but then got a massive boost in offense.

Good riddance that’s a big pole you have there Chaith.

Before the condition and might nerf, I was a critic of how overtuned it was. Happy it wasn’t gutted to uselessness. They did a good job not destroying it.

D/d eles are fine where they are now. Just wait for expac to see how they fare. If they survive expac, it’s a build non HoT buyers can count on.

Edit: I wanted to add that BWE 3 was too short but from what I’ve encountered:
d/d ele beat gs reaper but scrapper and chronomancer beat d/d ele

Hmm, well if you guys know your rotations and want to end the unnecessary losses, I can suggest that we hit each other up in-game and team up. It should be drastically better than getting randoms or worse, F2P people. I don’t know, just throwing out ideas coz I love pvp but hate losing when I don’t have to.

Bringing back dishonor is huge. Wow that put me in a good mood.

Moa engie after destroying rocket

Staff ele fire 5

Ranger pet agro while attacking ranged

Engie cele IP nades 1500 range

There were more but these are the ones where I ended up having full HP after the encounter.

edit: Not certain if these are soft or hard counters but I always won. I can’t believe people are still haunted by turrets. Don’t worry, burns are easier to counter.

Xyonon.3987:

2 things you have to know about FT #4:

1. On cast, only define the center of the line aoe. While moving and casting it, the line will turn around when appearing so it will be rectangular to yourself.

2. You have a max range. While casting it on max range and run out of range, the fire spawns closer to you than it should. This is a bug tough, mortar shares the same one unfortunately :/

BEHOLD MY AWESOME PAINT SKILLS!!!

+1 kittenmm dat paint skillz

The 4 hammers in my bank waiting to get picked up by my pvp scrapper…

I’m not rude enough to dictate people what class they should run when everyone there queued solo. No one should.

However when someone makes the initiative to swap because they feel it’s best for the team, then I acknowledge what they did and thank them. It creates a pleasant environment too which adds to the enjoyment of the game

In solo queue, you’ll never know.

Sometimes teams are just slow at picking up momentum at the start. If no one AFKs and everyone finds their rhythm, table often turn.

The problem I’ve been seeing a lot lately is that people rage quit on a whim. Lately, I’ve been thanking my teammates more for not quitting on us earlier in the match when we appeared to be the weaker team.

Post BWE 3
all solo, 25% win rate

Pre MMR update
all solo, 48-50% win rate

Appreciate the collaborative effort of sharing match results.

MMR update and BWE
all solo, 65% win rate

Pre MMR update
all solo, 48-50% win rate

I’ll share with you exactly what I went through with full transparency

I saw an improvement when MMR update took place and all throughout BWE. On Oct 6, everything took a nosedive to levels worse than pre-MMR update.

Pre-MMR = 49-51% win rate
MMR update and BWE = 65%
Post BWE, Oct 6 onwards = refer to image with this post. these aren’t cherry picked results, It is literally what I’ve been averaging last 4-5 days

I profusely criticize my performance in-game and rate myself as average skilled. However, I’ve been Pvping for years and have a full understanding of map strategies and rotations.

So why the heck have I been getting teamed with the most clueless people that just started Pvping a few weeks ago?

It’s been absolutely deflating and unenjoyable.

I just hate losing especially when I’ve contributed much more than my share. I’d hustle, push and even win outnumbered fights. Meanwhile, teammates are either double/triple capping, chasing a thief or Mesmer, getting wiped in combat or just simply not knowing what to do. In a losing streak, these are the most common scenarios. In a winning streak, our pug team plays like a premade. I’d be happy being somewhere in the middle.

It’s definitive that matchmaking was flawed and dysfunctional. In fact the term Evan used was “bugged”

He announced that they’ve discovered the problems and an update with a fix will follow. Update took place a couple days before BW3 and a lot of us here saw an improvement in matches.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Updates-to-Matchmaking
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/High-MMR-is-punished-for-solo-que

A day after the weekend, it just felt like matchmaking reverted to its former self when we were placed in winning and losing streaks.

This could be a solo queue problem so it’s fine if you can’t relate

Titles and all are nice but I’ve probably made it to R80 3-4 times over on this account and have every champ title except thief. These don’t mean all that much to me and the reason I pvp lots is because I enjoy the rush from close matches even if I don’t get them as often as I’d like.

To have a functional matchmaking system. It’s all I want and all I care for.

I understand gold and other reward tracks are necessary to bring people in. However, in my case, what I would love more than anything else is a fair and functional system.

Asking for an independent queue for solo players sound like a bit much since there has never been word about its return.

If solo queue pugs continue feeding the small premade population, it would bring us more enjoyment if you at least round up solo players within the same MMR or maybe a slightly higher MMR than the premade opponent.

Putting players in predetermined win/loss streaks when solo queueing is a bit cruel. If that gets eliminated and at the same time get an overall improvement in matches, no other reward can make me happier.

For condition builds, I’ve had more success playing Mesmer and ranger than I do with burn guard. It sounds like some have been effective with burns. I’ve been in many matches where the high burn stacks just couldn’t stick (cleansed right away)

And that goes both ways, they clear my burns as I do theirs.

I am far more effective applying multiple attrition type condis with my ranger and torment/confusion on Mesmer.

2 recent solo q matches against premades. Rabid ammy, krait rune, aoe condi removal and heals. Burning isn’t my primary condition. I’m not defending burns, I just don’t think it’s that great against more organized teams – which sadly I get to face plenty of despite solo queuing ranked matches.

Mogar is a good Mesmer and same for Vapour on his necro. Lol I have been teamed up with them in the past when solo queueing.

Getting put in a bad streak would sometimes make me question my abilities. It’s like, I know I’m not that bad coz I’ve been doing this for 3 years. More than anything, I think a system that puts people in a long streak of losses is mean and cruel. It really is, I don’t know how else to put it.

Instead of rewarding the veteran solo q players, they punish them so the newer players could catch up and the entire pool of pvp players would contribute towards a 50% win even though there is a huge difference in skill amongst participants.

Edit: Let’s be nice to one another and unite against this freak matchmaking beast that kills our enjoyment of the game

The matches (team scores) were closer which meant teams were on equal footing unlike the recent streak I was in.

Another one from bw3. API only lists 10 matches.

Matches were more consistent during the event and the day or two prior. Teammates knew what to do, we were playing like premades on some solo queue matches.

Then it got weird all of the sudden. Maybe when they did the Tuesday update, matchmaking was reverted back to its old self. Sounds unlikely but still a possibility.

TheGuy.3568:

Pimsley.3681:

It goes like this…you lose 3 in a row and decide to queue again to make up but then Murphy’s Law happens and you end up losing 7-8.

Quite comical actually but still annoying

You could just be bad (not saying you are). Or you could be focused squarely on the win and not how well you played personally. So many break it down to wins and loses but I have won and felt like I put in a kitten poor effort. I have lost and felt good because I was winning my match ups. Perception is key here. I could get a great or bad team based on the stats. I rather be a great player myself win or lose.

I could just be bad….

But it doesn’t change the fact that some of us saw an improvement in matchmaking soon after the update was released. However, in the last 24hrs, noticed a decline in overall quality of matches that could be due to bad matchmaking.

The one from BW3 had better, closer matches. The one from recently were the unenjoyable, offensive, deflating type matches that are one sided.

It goes like this…you lose 3 in a row and decide to queue again to make up but then Murphy’s Law happens and you end up losing 7-8.

Quite comical actually but still annoying

I agree with Impact and OP.

In fact, bwe 3 was a blast and it felt like matchmaking was doing its job. But the last day feels like we are back to square one.

We have people queuing (more like polluting) ranked matches ONLY because they want to avoid certain unranked maps for their DAILIES. These people lack the basic fundamentals of capping and map rotations. They lack the intent or the drive to be competitive or further improve themselves. They are there to finish dailies and sadly gets teamed up with people who want to be competitive.

And to make matters worse, a mixed bag team of dailies farmers and pvp enthusiasts gets matched up against a premade. Ye gods.

Hi Gizmorage

One of the scrappers tried sending me a hate PM but since I’m invisible he sent the message to mapchat using racist, sexist and other derogatory slurs.

The build I used had semi-passives from pet swaps, weapon swaps and lots of pressure from pet condis and aoes.

The scrapper could counter a bursty condi build like burn guard or p/p rabid engie because it’s easier to cleanse high burn stacks with a little bit longer CD. They could also outheal the short duration of the burst.

I used 2 almost identical ranger builds. I altered the build a bit more after almost falling to a scrapper that used Balthazar with IP. I swapped one of the hydromancy for generosity, swapped SoS for SoR , swapped Orr rune for krait

What really got them was the constant application of attrition condis (bleed and poison) along with pulsing poison from trap and pulsing burns from trap and torch on top of targeted and aoe poisons from pets.

Poison is very powerful because higher stacks could do significant damage while denying them a third of their heals. Their condition reduction didn’t really help because I traited both duration increase and increased rate of application

I really wish I had more time to try out other classes. But the ranger build did better than expected.

I hope you guys find other counters and use the one I posted to further improve on it. Im not a pro ranger like Eurantien but enjoy tinkering and finding synergies in builds.

Edit: I also swapped offhand dagger for torch. Too much poison already, wanted to balance out with a burstier condition to make them panic

Scrapper Counter

Last night I couldn’t find a scrapper to 1v1 on point in ranked/unranked but I did in hotjoin. The build isn’t fully optimized but effective enough to shut down hotjoin scrappers. Some of the scrappers copied every little detail from OP’s build link while some used gyros.

I’m sure you guys can improve on it further or find other counters.

The scrapper is powerful due to its survivability, not so much from its damage output. I prefer d/d eles over scrapper and glad that it wasn’t gutted to the ground.

Lol

I pvp lots and already miss playing scrapper, chrono, reaper, berserker. And there’s 5 more I still haven’t spent much time on. BW3 was lots of fun it kinda made my original characters boring to play.

I think you will enjoy the site.

It also tracks stuff you don’t normally think about like account value. In 2 days my acct value went from top 500 to <98.5% of users. Lol wtf but w/e I hardly leave hotm anyways.

Velimere.7685:

Ross, abc… what site are you guys using with your API keys?

first get the API key. I’ve attached a screenie on where to get it.

then plug the key here:
https://gw2efficiency.com

Im absolutely ignorant about thief gameplay and shadow is the only title I don’t have (titles are meaningless anyways) but I support this thread because it’s not right how little survivability they have. If an outsider like me realizes the weakness of the class, it must be hell for a lot of you guys that main it.

Now is probably not the best time to learn thief gameplay but I think I will spend more time on mine until the expansion comes out.

lol i thought the thread had something to do with engie’s performance in combat/matches. coz you know, engie sux

Thanks for sharing. I missed this post during BW3

I played a build w/ hammer that I think will be a great support role. In fact, after I got bored playing reaper and chrono I used up all 4 beta slots for scrapper w/ different variations. Need to invest more time practicing to realize full potential (skill cap slightly higher).

I queue solo.

Just had one of the sickest matches ever with this guy ^ Faded Quaggan at forest map

Hey guys – I’m familiar with this set-up and run it in different variations. I still have a main engie build but this will serve a great support role in the future.

What “powers” this build is the synergy between the rapid regen trait, backpack regen, HGH, Hidden Flask, Heavy armor exploit…. You can even be more aggressive with the healing by traiting firearms with soothing detonation and bunker down.

Right now it only seems powerful because the counter build hasn’t been found yet. Good news is that I believe there is a very powerful counter to this build.

It’s a bit different from d/d ele. This has more sustain whereas the d/d does more damage. The counter to this build will be similar to what counters d/d ele pre June patch and shoutbows of the same era.

I’ve attached a screenie with support and healing stats .

I just hope I have enough time this evening to test out the counter

apocom, Sandzibar, Jekkt and Frenk’s list are all within the same ballpark and matches what I’ve experienced in the last 2 days. But it’s still too soon to know and builds will slowly emerge as we progress further into the expansion

I play both chronomancer and reaper, still noob, but one elite has a higher skill cap than the other. What I like about the chrono is that I don’t get heavily focused like I am on reaper, lol.

Running dueling, domination and chrono so yeah, it’s still possible to blind on shatter with the new elite.

From a recent game…

TheGuy.3568:

Not bragging or joking. I have yet to lose 1 v1 with reaper on my condi (no PU) mesmer. So far if I stay ranged it seems to work just fine. I have fought quite a few so being serious I have yet to see how it counters condi mesmer. Would someone mind explaining? (not kidding) I do not have hot yet and haven’t touched the class.

Reapers are great in team fights because they serve as a catalyst to eliminating enemies on point. In exchange for that power, are their 2 downsides. First, they are always at risk of getting focused on. Second, they don’t excel in 1v1 and gets countered by many builds.

The game play for reaper is similar to the power wells necro, it’s pretty much just a melee version of the power nec.

nearlight.3064:

Pimsley.3681:

Hi Ithilwen – I see what youre saying about reaper. It kinda does seem OP at first but once you learn their animations, they are incredibly easy to counter and interrupt.

If your interrupt skills are on CD, you and your team should treat the reaper like you would any other necro…focus it down focus it hard.

And that’s exactly what this team did to my poor, harmless, innocent, solo queue reaper because I’m still noob and cant 4v1 like that one reaper you saw

Lol just interjecting, since I was playing the revenant on the red team this match (Near Despair). Was a fun time killing OP necro’s dragonhunter with rev hammer 2 spam that game.

Although I don’t remember killing you that much specifically, but I played so many games tonight I can’t recall all the details, just that you guys ate a lot of hammer attacks from a zerk rev build.

What build are you running btw? It looks like you managed to do a lot of damage and rip a lot of boons.

Hi Near Despair lol I enjoy close matches like the one we were in. We had to eat a few hammer sammiches coz one of our guys dc’d and we were 4v5 for a minute. Everyone was cordial on mapchat from what I remembered.

Im running a build I borrowed mostly from the power wells necro. It’s not yet fully optimized for team play. For solo queue, it does enough damage to help clear the invaders off our points

Also been fooling around with chrono and berserker

Hi Ithilwen – I see what youre saying about reaper. It kinda does seem OP at first but once you learn their animations, they are incredibly easy to counter and interrupt.

If your interrupt skills are on CD, you and your team should treat the reaper like you would any other necro…focus it down focus it hard.

And that’s exactly what this team did to my poor, harmless, innocent, solo queue reaper because I’m still noob and cant 4v1 like that one reaper you saw

Recall dye with Celestial and Recall dye with Shadow Abyss

On a positive note, at least the ranger NPC is back! You can take all of your frustrations out on him

You know there’s something wrong with this world when you struggle and barely beat a ranger 1v1 on d/d ele and then get much hate.

When on the other hand, effortlessly coast beating the same ranger 1v1 on PU condi mesmer and get a bow and gg.

One of those builds is the great grandmaster of cheeseball builds and it isn’t the elementalist.