Guild Wars 2

Sagat.3285:

I love all the non necro players happy to join us through the reaper and worshipping it without knowing the price. Welcome.

Who do you think doesn’t know necro in here?

I think some might have preconceived notions about the roles the classes play, but that might be because they only see the game through the scope of the current meta.

OK, I am really getting tired of this belief that if you are not somehow actively buffing everyone around you that you are somehow a selfish class.

Condi-cleanse and redistribution, boon stripping, area CC and conditions all help a group during group play. Can we please stop labeling Necro as a selfish class simply because they don’t play like the other classes already? Not everything in this game revolves around dungeon speed runs. I could make the argument that thieves are the most selfish, but it wouldn’t be entirely true either.

I like the direction the Reaper is going in since they seem to be about both keeping with what the Necro does well (in direct team support) while also delivering better on the damage front.

Xillllix.3485:

Chill everywhere, hopefully the balance “team” will take into consideration that chill affects some classes more than others. Because elementalist attunement recharge is affected by chill even if it shouldn’t be.

Bring a Chronomancer friend along to help counteract the chill affects.

But yeah, i get what you’re saying.

I can’t argue for 2 slots as they are only giving one new class, the Rev. When they gave 2 new slots in the past it was because there were 2 new classes.

One slot for people that don’t have the space to make a Rev would be good and it gives anoter incentive for new players to also get the xpac. It literally makes them more money in the end to include it in the xpac so I really don’t know what there is to think about here for Anet.

Valmir.4590:

PookieDaWombat.6209:

Valmir.4590:

Well, while the English name is quite cool, the french translation is ugly as hell. I knew we would have to pay for the better name we got for the Dh, but not this fast…

What’s the translation?

Fauchemort. Word for Word, it is Reapdeath. And that’s crazy, since Reaper would be Faucheur, (and the name of Death is sometime the Grande Faucheuse, so it would have been better).

So, it’s basically the reverse of the Dragonhunter.

Oh, i am so sorry.

I see many Voldermort jokes incoming for you now. :/

Iason Evan.3806:

This really fits with the them of the profession. I like it a lot.

Does this mean we will see a profession or two have anti-shouts like “Well of Silence” or “Ulcerous Lungs” in GW1?
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Well_of_Silence
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ulcerous_Lungs
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cacophony

OR, maybe this spec also has those in there to be its direct counterplay as well as a way to also counter/hurt shout warriors and guardians. aaawwww yissssss.

Valmir.4590:

Well, while the English name is quite cool, the french translation is ugly as hell. I knew we would have to pay for the better name we got for the Dh, but not this fast…

What’s the translation?

Kail: i believe it is “elite” in so far as it will only be available to those that have gotten to level 80, just like the other specs being introduced. The whole idea is that these are meant to introduce not only new skills, but new and possibly more advanced play. Things that rely more on steady teamwork, build synergy and fight skills in PvE, PvP and WvW. Basically their attempt to give us harder content and the tools to play it without it devolving into “1111111111111112111111”.

Now THIS is how you introduce a new class.

Not gonna lie, this one has me REAL excited aaaaaand that one skill in the vid with the hand grabbing the dude and pulling him back better be a shout called “get over here!”.

If not, make it so.

For reals.

Still….dem in the thick skirmish skills. oh yes. I am ready.

While i think that this is a fairly easy question to answer for Anet (yes or no), I think the only “correct” answer from a business standpoint is “yes”.

Not offering one will come off as needlessly greedy and make a large number of players just getting into the game again just for the xpac feel like they are being told to delete one of your level 80s or pay us more money on top of the xpac if you want to try the new class. Same for any vets looking to jump in that already have their slots filled.

Basically its going to create a HUGE outcry on the forums if you don’t at least provide one slot for the xpac and anyone with an iota of sense looking at this issue can see that to be true. So, its either make your playerbase happy (and happy people spend money) OR insult them and see how quickly those wallets close over something that will cost Anet nothing to provide for with the xpac that people are already going to be paying for.

Souleater could still be a good one with a mechainc where they can call forth and then consume souls for different effects.

I guess we will see the prelim write up tomorrow.

blinds, reflects, evasion and crazy spike damage when done right. nope thieves are fine. Serious here. learn the counter to the new metas.

If I make a rev it will be a Charr and I worked out his look a while back. oh yes. Yes I have.

Zero Day.2594:

Plot twist,
It’s a thief with a greatsword, and their new mechanic is “Disguise”.

Not gonna lie, if I could disguise as an enemy player for “X” seconds to get in behind one and deliver a backstab or some other disguise related skill that’s be awesome.

It wouldn’t negate getting hit by enemy AOE or anything like that, and skills like sick em can reveal me to be an enemy, but I think it might be neat from a “follow their zerg” and launch crazy ambushes kind of way.

“that Demon thing”

…

Right. Well, they’ve already stated there will be other ones to choose from at launch of the xpac so no worries there if you’re buying it.

I WOULD say though that the Revenant is definitely a class that was kind of made with a bit of fan service in mind for all of us that played through all of GW1 campaigns since it will most likely be referencing many of the figures we played with and against in those games. Like that Demon thing.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA, oyster…i found that way funnier than I should have…

NEW ITEMS IN GEMSTORE…

Or something like that. Maybe. Some dyes? Discount on bank slot or bag slots?

Oh, and news about the Soulreaper spec for Necros.

i know we are all talking Necro spec names, but it just occurred to me that I really want to see “Burninator” for the Ele now.

It couldn’t POSSIBLY be that we are poking a little fun at Anet over this name thing right? i mean we must all be seriously kitten here and that is the only reason for the threads filling with all the really bad names.

See, here’s the thing, I think there is a very small number of people seriously upset about the DH name, and the rest of us think it more silly than anything and are having some fun with it all now.

Seriously, lighten up. its all good.

Meeeeh, back in MY day I ran across all of Tyria and Cantha (friggin CANTHA) and Elona with my two legs and LIKED it.

Seriously.

So much run. So much.

Never once wanted a mount. Still don’t. Even LESS necessary now.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

The Necromancer as a class tends to be more brutal and direct than that, and frankly it’s also in utterly desperate need of area attacks. If this thing isn’t a melee cleave there’s going to be a great deal of disappointment for Necromancers out there, what with this spec basically being the last faint hope for the class.

Yes, the necro is more brutal. This spec though? Just weighing it against what they’ve done thus far and yeah…i still think i might be close to it, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Soulreaper

Skills will be Mesmer GS-esque with the “clones” being souls sorta like Ritualist spirits from GW1 and a trait to allow them to follow you like the ranger spirit one. Lots of high DoT damage from a distance with the greatsword because reasons.

Also lots of bounce and AOE that cause fear/life steal in different ways.

lordkrall.7241:

Mogget.2104:

The concern people, myself included have with them is that they potentially make the base classes inferior. Not to mention we have no idea how long it will be before we see new specializations. I wouldn’t be suprised if we don’t see new ones for a good 6 months to a year after hot releases.

But based on what we have seen none of the announced elite specializations seems to make the base classes inferior, seeing as they don’t focus on the same thing.
The specializations add things that the base class could not do before. That doesn’t automatically make it superior seeing as you still lose out on a whole trait-line in order to use the Elite Specialization.

The current DH (from the twitch stream) definitely makes base rangers obsolete. They out ranger them easily and that is a problem.

Problem for me is that as it is now, this spec out rangers all the stock rangers in the game.

That is a BIG problem for me from a design aspect.

Ok, so I just got through the vid and i have to agree, from a numbers aspect the damage potential was a bit on the crazy side and I can’t imagine them letting that into the game as is. Two DH working together could explode a large group of players at a choke by themselves, and thats before adding in everyone else that might be dishing out damage with them.

While nice, I don’t know how I feel about a non-ranger out longbowing the rangers (again). I don;t think every shot needs to pierce or jump like that. Perhaps making people trait for those effects, I dunno.

Either that or root them as long as rangers are rooted for barrage when doing that true shot. Either way, looks a bit more menacing than the pewpew from the first vid, and has some nice synergy with other trait lines and weapon sets so I’m looking forward to it. Just want to see it toned back a wee bit or there will be massive (and somewhat deserved QQ).

I’m going to catch it once they put the full recording up on youtube.

Zombie gwen destroying everyone with insta-gib fireballs. Oh yes.

Actually, when running my staff i stay most mid range (unless i have my tag up). This allows me the most flexibility with my support of a group and allows me to hold down those that try to penetrate to the back while helping hold the core of the zerg, so while not “back line” i’d say its more effective than being on the back line until i leap to the front then have to fall back to the back like it sounds the DH will be doing a lot of. not to mention i can hammer or GS leap to the front from that position easy enough and have plenty of CC on either of those as well as damage or support depending on the situation.

All in all still doesn’t negate my point that this spec seems like it is trying to re-do the same thing I can already do, but less efficiently.

The problem isn’t in getting “less” comparably to another new spec that is maybe only getting an off hand or main hand weapon. The problem is getting less out of a completely new spec than you already have on your base class. In this case, it feels like the spec (from the vid and notes so far shared with us) that the spec is getting to be a new back line support role (which we ca already do), with skills that can make them more font line(?) with more mobility (?) and mechanics similar to another class that is already hated by many in the game, while loosing some key benefits from virtues that are getting changed for the spec to something that doesn’t seem like a trade up from what we currently have.

So, the spec is to be ranged, except when you’re not ranged, and doing variations of the same things you could do before, but not as well, all while pewpewing CC. So if we are doing CC with the bow that means it’s damage is nerfed in the same way the warrior hammer was nerfed so we won’t be doing crazy amounts of CC along with crazy amounts of damage.

Basically, not seeing an upside to this spec with regard to the base class, and THAT is where its problematic for me at this point. I’m not looking for something that is OP, just something that is comparable in a different way. Chronomancer succeeds in that aspect from what I saw. DH doesn’t seem to do the same, but once again I’ll know more once I’ve seen the Anet team go into it in more detail.

Hmmmm

I’ve of two minds here.

On he one hand, we have not actually seen this in play yet. Much like the original outcry of the Chronomancer being too OP from the write-up being debunked a bit when they actually showed it in play and explained some of it a bit more, this spec for the (giggle) Dragonhunter might actually have some bite to it, and could be the active ranged combat with some more focused support that some of us Guardians have been craving.

We just don’t know yet.

That being said, good lord that initial write up and video did a HORRIBLE job of making me the least bit excited about the class. First, the video. This is what I saw:

Dino: RRRRAWR…STOMPSTOMPSTOMP I’M A BIG DINO WITH SPIKES AND TEETH.

DH: Lookitme! I can jump with wingies now!

Dino: RRAWR…wait…what? Do i really need to tell you I’m about to EAT YOU?!?!

DH: twang

Dino: What was that?

DH: twang

Dino: Dude. Did you just blind me? Like for reals? LUNCH TIME!

DH: ranger, I mean Dragonhunter barrage of keeping you still!

Dino: Cute. You just made a fence. Still gonna eat you.

DH: twang

Seriously. They could have done a video of the Dragonhunter hitting him with a pool noodle and it would have looked more menacing.

And while I applaud Anet for thinking outside the box regarding the change of how the virtues would work, having one of them literally be a “leap into combat” while saying this new spec is bet for back line support is counter intuitive. And yes, while blocking an area in front of you against multiple ranged attacks is neat, we have a skill for that. More importantly, we have that skill while ALSO having access to our aegis. Also, unless this wall that can be made also stops that thief from jumping through and poking me in my “back line support” face, then its not much use to me as an active combatant.

And traps.

Traps.

Nothing screams “knock me back, fear me out of, of evade through this space and render this skill more useless” than the word “trap”. Tying that to the HEALING skill? Now you’re just trolling us. At least that’s how i feel so far.

Maybe that will change once we see more, but for now, this new spec isn’t seeming like one that will get lots of play.

My biggest worry is that this will be a very dps unfriendly spec and that bothers me a lot. My choice is already between selfish single target damage/dps or full on support on my guardian. If the new spec is ranger lite with a side of light fields that everyone still hates then no…not for me.

Holding off until I see them give it some playthrough and talk about it some more, but i have to say, the vid and the write up do this new spec no real favors.

I’m hoping it is more than just a retool of ranger longbow skills with shiny blue arrows and some traps, but yeeeeah…

C’mon Anet, Guard and Engie are my two mains here…I really wanted to like this one. Help me like it.

I’m all for the Black citadel arena being used for such thing. Simple. You enter the arena, you are flagged as a potential enemy and can fight others in that space. Spectators can watch. If you want to limit it you can instance the space. Open world though? nah.

Gern.2978:

JustTrogdor.7892:

I have no problem with allowing people to duel in selected areas as you suggested. However I disagree with a reward track tied to it or any rewards at all. From what I have seen from the pro-dueling crowd the ability to duel is the reward in itself.

I wouldn’t be against a reward track. But I mostly want a dueling system so I can test out WvW roaming builds.

i test mine in WvW.

Crazy, i know, but i find running these test builds in the place with the players that I will actually fight with said build tends to work out the best. The proper terrain is there, as are the players i will most likely fight.

Short answer is no.

This will be one of those things that people will have to roll with if they plan on continuing in the game.

Speak with your wallet as that will be the only possible way to get their attention if you want.

Yeah, just given the design choice i think the Rev is going to get Ritualist as a spec with the ability to call up stationary spirits for area denial type stuff. Sorta like turrets for engie’s, but with different affects from CC to support and some kind of consume spirit thing for the elite to make them more in line with the Riti of old. maybe with scepter as the new weapon choice for it.

It would be awesome to get a version of IWAY back. it would make sense on this spec for Guardian to have that as a thing. Imagine a shout that would give ridiculous stacks or even defiance to your character if a certain amount of your team is downed around you.

If Paragon and shout based goodness incoming, can we has “I-WAY” at our disposal Anet?

pleeeeeeeeeease?

Halbarz.3854:

I am wondering why no dev is replying here. Would like to get an answer on why some players have 2-5 portals in a freaking day and others get nothing at all over a whole week.

Not kittened off that I have to farm or didn’t get a portal but this RNG thing is broken for sure and no dev comes to give info to us. for their own sake they should just reply and get over with it

Let me introduce you to Trait posts 1 and 2.

If THOSE posts barely got replies I can promise you this will see even fewer since this topic goes right to the core of Anet functionality.

You. Are. A. Warrior. One of the single most difficult classes to keep a condition on for more than 1 second, especially if specced for mobility. This is literally a L2P issue. Only YOU can help YOU with this.

As for this mob having cripple: It actually makes all the sense in the world if you understand or know anything about this creature in the real world. They prey on the crippled and near dead. They fight/hunt in large packs. Seriously. At this point i can only assume you’re trolling.

Yoroiookami.3485:

I like the way you guys exaggerate everything. It must be sad being so bitter. All I’m asking is the removal of cripple from hyenas. I don’t think it’s much.

Here’s the problem: You’re asking for something because you have not learned how to deal with it. Its not like this mechanic makes traversing the map impossible. It makes you have to be mindful of how you traverse the map and think about the skills/traits you use to do so.

Add to that the fact that MANY others have learned how to deal with it and it just seems more like a L2P issue than anything else.

See, its like this: I used to rage about thieves in WvW. perma-stealth super ganking machines they were. until i sat down and played one exclusively for a few months. i learned their rotation and the timing of said rotation AND i learned how other people countered me. When I went back to playing my mains I started wrecking those same thieves I had issues with.

dodges, blocks, mobility skills that clear cripple on warriors, blinds…right.

And this is why i use them on my ranger as well. Calls in second Hyena and then pop my hounds of balthazar. heheheheh

Good times.

How about this:

Someone who has 100% map complete and has done the entire main story line, and has also opened all of the new maps AND is doing content in those new higher level areas should be flagged with a 5-10% greater chance to get precursors and ascended items from the big boss chests in those areas than someone who only has 50% map completion and is running around Lornar’s for the first time, and BOTH of those people should have a better chance of getting any of those items than a person who just bought the account today and ran out into QD and is killing Moa’s by the farm and Franklin skill challenge. THAT person should have as near to 0% chance of getting that precursor as possible.

Otherwise, what is the point in playing the higher level content? Why not just take your level 80 out to the most densely populated/lowest tier mob that you can decimate and just have them maul them for hours on end until a precursor drops? Why even take a level 80 out there?

More importantly, why play the content through to the end? it isn’t like we’re E. Hillary trying to climb Everest “because it was there”. Sure the journey CAN be fun, but if i know that i can the best rewards possible by farming nonsense mobs in Queensdale with little to no effort, then whats the point? If I know I have a “bad luck” account that never gets any worthwhile drops, then why bother playing high level content or ANY content for that matter? Its not like I’m getting rewarded for it. Not meaningfully anyway. its like being in a Skinner Box that doesn’t even do what its supposed to do. The system is broken and Anet needs to address it.

I know its been stated in the past, but the biggest issue with with RNG is in this game is that it applies everywhere to all the things “equally”.

Since playing harder/higher level content doesn’t actually reward you with anything of substance given the way Anet has structured rewards in this game, it makes those people that have put so much time and effort into the game even more furious when they have yet to see any high end drop (precursor, etc) when doing this high level content, while their friend who just bought the game can run out into Queensdale one day and kill a moa by the farm and get Spark.

It leaves many players with the feeling of “why bother”, and that is patently bad for the game and the players in the long run, but great for Anet and NCSoft in the short run for the exact reasons that the OP stated.

I gave up on getting any drops on my account that were worth over 20 gold, and the 3 that HAVE dropped for me (which at most were worth 20 gold), came very far apart in my time playing this game since beta.

I help my wife get her level 6 mats because her luck is marginally better than mine and she wants a particular legendary, but I game up on the idea of having one ages ago, and I may still not craft one in the xpac just on principal alone.

RNG.

I’m one of those people that doesn’t ever get favorable drops, so i stopped beating my head against that wall after the first night.

I believe its because you said the words “trait lines” in your post.

In either case, yeah if you were relying on those stats to offset your armor stats then you will have to find another way to distribute those points.

As of this writing I think i only have 3 repeat classes: Warrior and necro.

They key for me is that they are repeat classes, not characters. My Charr is a vastly different Guardian as compared to my norn. My Charr is a soldier, honor bound to protect and while my Norn is a bit more selfish and violent. This manifests in their playstyle and weapon choice/trait choice.

My warriors also are very different in that regard with my human being the more combative and my asura opting for support healing and backline work.

My necros are split between condi and power specs and while they are both combat oriented, they come at it differently.

I just made a second thief that might live to see level 80, but what role she will take over from my other thief I’m not sure. maybe glass cannon and I might then make my other thief a condi-jerk.

Welcome aboard.

Players helping players is the place to hang out as a new player in the forums.

In game, ask for help and most people will tend to be helpful

Explorer and do all the things in the game. Seriously. The world is huge and gorgeous and there is no lack of things to see, do, hear, etc in the game.

Do dungeons at level 80 and just have fun.

I think anything that gets put out at this point will be viewed as over simplified by many vets familiar with the game and the mechanics, but that doesn’t necessarily make it so. I’m all for streamlining the process so there is less of a barrier to entry for using the system as opposed to something that is too convoluted and making it so many people barely pay attention to it, even in or especially in PvE since you can probably get through with a mess of traits in that game mode as it is.

I’ll wait until I can put it through its paces to say if I like it more or less than what we had at the start of the game.

Yeah, its not that you are losing something. Its like me going “Hey i don’t want to play my bomb kit/power engie right now and want to play my condi stacking engie”. To do that i change my trait load out, armor and weapon set. That’s it.

If anything I want these new specializations to feel kind of OP in some ways. It means that base classes are going to have to readjust their meta/comfort zone a bit and older play styles will need to be altered for competitive play.

Now, do i think some of the new classes/specs will be OP in some ways? Sure, but we won’t know fully how until they come out and are played for a bit, and then we will see balance changes come out to deal with it.

Its still definitely too early though to say how these will play out.