Guild Wars 2

What is your build, and where do you play it? Do you have a theme or a tactic that you use predominately?

The number one rule for being an engi is: Have a plan, and coordinate.

If you’re just running around in a peicemeal armor with diluted stats, you’re not gunna be happy with anything you pick up and use. I levelled with rifle and flamethrower, and did that mostly solo. Rifle and FT is great for personal control. Teaming up with other folks, you can swap to grenades or bombs, or pick up where other professions have weaknesses. The trick is mastery of adaptability.

Try to find an armour combination for you that highlights the strengths of your build. And for the record, you can’t go wrong with 10 pts in Tools for speedy kits (when you are running alone, the speed boost is a plus) and you can swap that trait out for static discharge for extra damage. Also, don’t neglect your toolbelt skills. The engi playstyle is very active and requires some focus. If you just want to run around and shoot stuff for high damage, you’re likely better off with another profession.

Don’t get me wrong, you can do a high amount of burst as an Engi, but it goes back to rule number one: Have a plan, and coordinate. After a while it becomes second nature.

I have the same problem on my Charr Ranger. It floats behind me and it looks really creepy. :/

A guildmate of mine posted a green Sentinel insignia, that was salvaged from one of the new content items. Did this get put in as a new crafting bit? Is there a recipe that is open to the public or is in it discovery? Details would be most welcome.

nakoda.4213:

I would go so far as to say that the engineer forum in gw2 is the worst for this sort of hegemonic belligerence in any mmo I’ve ever played.

Try Anarchy Online sometime. The engineer forums there are so full of hate and spite, that it takes a serial killer mentality to come away feeling refreshed.

My Sylvari Mesmer is named Mirage Iboga. My guildmates prefer to call him “The most annoying plant in Nightfall”

Disagree. Dryads.

Snow Leopard! My ele likes the snow leopard because its all about self-reliance, wits, and curiosity to explore the world, as well as the instinct and cunning to stay on top. Snow Leopard, like many other large hunting cats, and sometimes be social when it suits them. Snow Leopards are known to take down wild game that are 4 time their own body weight, so imagine a Norn weighing in on that challenge.

Also, Snow Leopards are somewhat non Nornly. IRL Snow Leopards live in high mountainous areas in Asia/Siberia.

Warlord.8075:

Sigmar Skyhammer – Male Warrior

Haha, there are 2 Skyhammers in this game! Thats the same last name as my Ele (Steinar Skyhammer)

Every race in the game runs at the same speed. Asurans are closer to the ground, so it only seems faster when in first person mode.

It sorta depends on what it is about those two races that you are leaning toward. If its all about aesthetics then I’d say good luck. If its about racial skills, then your mileage may vary. I made my elementalist a norn. I really didn’t have any real particular reason why, but since I picked up snow leapord, I turned him into Eleninja. Between that, and the mobility of D/D, along with the great cantrips like Flash Teleport and Mist Form.. getting into hard to reach places and around patrols and ninja’ing skill points without being caught or damaged severely is somewhat of a blessing. The mobility is top notch. As a Norn, the summoned weapons also look only that much more intimidating.

I just don’t recommend extended hand to hand fighting while transformed. Stealth, pounce in, do your do, get the kitten out.

If I had to choose between Asura and Charr, I’d go with Charr.

Gw1: Mesmer
Gw2: Ranger

Aside from whats been said (and some good points too), id advise that you shouldn’t neglect the use of any one particular weapon. I highly suggest incorporating the techniques from all the guardians weapons. What might not work in one situation may not be true for the whole.

I also want to chime in on the slower attacks. Just because that third swing on hammer or mace seems to stall for 2-3 seconds, doesn’t mean its a worthless attack. It’s just part of a larger attack chain.

Although I’ve gotten some flack from ‘hardcore’ support guardian players, the torch was a wonderful levelling offhand for pretty much any main hand weapon. I found that the cone burning was fantastic in a tanky solo build. Any regular world mob can be beaten with pretty much any build, but I could round up multiple mobs and just burn em down (keeping stability handy for the peskier ones).

Heh. This is almost the exact same build my ele uses.

lol. Yes, the animation is still very strange.

Meshuggah.5492:

Ramethzero.3785:

I’m a fan of viking history. My family comes all the way from Denmark. Anakka Svaarblade sounds spot on. Very old icelandic. I give it a 10/10.

I’m not trying to be a.. kitten? Buuuut, as a native speaker of Icelandic, a language which hasn’t changed much since antiquity I have to point out that Anakka Svaarblade is nothing even closely resembling an Icelandic name, past or present :P

I minored in linguistics. I am not saying you are wrong, but.. hear me out. First of all, the Icelandic language base is a huge area to cover. You say it hasn’t changed much, and from someone from Iceland, that is mostly true.

However, there are some fundamental things to consider. Without the benefit of an Icelandic .keyboard some of it gets lost in translation.

‘Anakka’ is a name that is found in the name databases online. There are multiple variations of it. The most common I found was the first name ‘Annika’. My norn necro has a variation of that name ‘Anneke’. While its spelled differently, it has enough in common phonetically to pass muster. This is the part I mostly disagree with you on.

The next part I can partially disagree with you on is the fragment ‘Svaar’. It is basically a syllable, but one that clearly sounds like it belongs. ‘sverð’ is the Icelandic word for Sword. Its not a terrible leap to consider. Some graphemes can be lost in translation, but it shares enough on the basic level to me that I’d let it through even on a stretch.

The component ‘blade’ is ‘blað’ in Icelandic. Its basically the same word. There is enough evidence to suggest that they were in the spirit of the language, even IF they couldn’t put it in its most proper terms. I don’t think its an important enough semantic distinction to come down on. Besides, using that component in a surname in a fantasy setting is pretty common.

I doubt the name has very little in common with the modern naming conventions of Iceland, but it shares enough components (especially in a fantasy setting, i mean come on!) that I let it through.

If one were to put it more finely the approximation would be: Annika Sverðblað.

Visually, its different in the print. Phonetically, its very similar. As a Norn name I like it. :P My vote of 10/10 stands.

Uncle Salty.6342:

Unless the devs plan to change the world’s perspective that rangers are meant to be melee classes and J.R. Tolkien should’ve given Legolas a slingshot and some pellets.

There are people IRL that can fire faster and more accurately than Legolas. According to Tolkein lore, Legolas was an Archer, while Aragorn was a Ranger. Aragorn primarily used swords. Funny, huh?

Coincidentally, my ranger uses the slingshot skin haha.
Also, as time goes on.. I’m finding that I too are gravitating more towards melee. I think this has to do with Melee having some nuance that is not easy to grasp for the most common player. A guildie complimented me the other day for my playstyle using the GS. Reminded him of hoppy warriors in sPvP and the Bunny Thumper Build from gw1.

I was also considering a chill / cripple build as well. On paper it looks pretty slick.

1 Abyss
1 Black

Playing since launch.

A buddy of mine got 2 celestials within 24 hours of each other. Random luck is random.

I finally perfected my Charr Rangers look. All of this is transmuted skins onto my exotic armour set.

Karma medium helmet from Shelter waypoint. Looks very tribal.
Deathly Shoulderpads (the bulls ones but I suppose any of them would work)
Wranglers Coat (Tier 2 medium)
Emblazoned pants and gloves (Wranglers Coat covers them both)
Krytan skin on the boots.
Guild Backpack.
Godskull Longbow.
Pirate Sword from Lion’s Arch
Adamant Guard Greatsword
Flame Cleaver Axe

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Bubbacrush/gw004_zps382cf1c5.jpg

On my engi, I use the Charr racials with some decent frequency. Hidden Pistol is a nice bursty toolbelt addition. Battle Cry is also good for ally buffing.

Also, if you are running explosives in your build: Throw Mine + Shrapnel Mine and explosives on dodge roll are nice to lay down in choke points where you can lure players/mobs across them. Or, wait on high ground and rain nades on them as they pass over your traps.

I used Artillery Barrage twice in my life time. Once to find out it might suck, and the second time to confirm my shock from finding out how terrible it really was.

I’m certain those those that don’t cotton to the word Thief in terms of the legions soldiers.. you can also say “Tactical Fighter”

I’ve been thinking about your response, and I think I may have presented my argument a bit incorrectly. I was attempting to detail the differences between Shaman, Shaman Caste, the real world definition of Shaman, and Caste System. I don’t think I got it quite spot on.

The basic gist I was looking to do was make a comparison/contrast between these tropes and their real world equivalents.

I dont see the overall similarity between a Shaman of the Legion, and a Shaman of historical definition. Fundamentally they have some similarities, but they are definitely not the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism

Therefore, I theorize by the definitions I know of, that being a Shaman within the legions are not something that you are born into. Only one position within the Charr history has been bloodline-related (The Primus). You had to work to be a member of the Shaman Caste, which implies that not all magic-using Charr were or are Shamans. If all of the legions were run by magic using Charr, how do you explain some of the non magic-using leader bosses in Guild Wars 1? There are discrepancies between the lore and its practical gameplay value.

I seem to be moving more and more towards melee (primarily PvE), and so far its going well for me. Your mileage may vary, depending on build and playstyle, and what part of the game you take part in.

I’m getting the hint here that people don’t really understand what the concept of a caste system is.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shaman_caste

Nowhere in this official citation does it say that all Charr that use magic are considered part of the Shaman Caste. The current legions other than the Flame Legion, no longer carry the Shaman Caste in their ranks. They continue to employ magic-users in their warbands, but these individuals are NOT Shaman Caste, because that caste system is no longer used by the High Legions anymore.

Those that still practice magic within the Charr Legions are treated with suspect, but they are not dubbed as Shaman Caste.

Moto, clearly you need to l2fem. Buy a copy of Asuran Cosmo, and cease this relentless offense.

/sarcasm.

But the question of the hour is: Who cares what bookah’s think about asuran women?

The title I put on my asuran thief is “Instigator”.

Umm… Mesmers and all magic using classes, do not automatically equate to Shamans. The Shamans of the Flame Legion were magic using, but Shamans overall were a social caste. That caste system is no longer in effect with the 3 remaining legions.

The only groups I have ever had problems getting into, are the ignorant ones. The ones that would have you gear checked for all zerker gear. Because people seem to have this mentality that zerker gear is how you win @ gw2.

Honestly, these teams are not the sort you wanna roll with anyway.

Congrats, and thanks for satisfying my own personal curiosity. I like what you’ve done here.

However, you also brought math to the internet ( and to a gaming forum no less ). I’m thinking its going to bounce off of many people’s heads that are just too convinced that rangers are no longer viable in pretty much everything. It’s not your fault, its just the way things seem to go.

I play both engineer and ranger extensively. After finding out the observational differences in game, I gotta say that I don’t feel terribly underpowered in PvE. In fact, the overall output of both has not changed in any dramatic way, despite what people are saying. In WvW, there is some active difference, but the play style is much more fluid and one needs to react to changes quickly. Its the nature of the beast. A build only reflects part of the story. How its implemented and played is entirely another matter.

I also want to point out, that historically officers do wear different colours and identifiers so that soldiers can recognize rank, even at a distance.

A Tribune is not the head of a legion. The title of Imperator is reserved for that. The title of Tribune is more like a Field General, but plays a similar role as a Colonel, as evidenced by his leading the raid against Barradin’s Crypt.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tribune

My male charr mesmer is named Fausto The Sly.

Good read. 9/10.

Historically, Necromancy has been about divination and burial rites, which was seen as commonplace by civilization before the spread of christianity.

What you see in guild wars and other games is sort of a stereotype perpetuated by roleplaying games, particular any that see it primarily as an undead minion raising profession.

Erm. I am getting the feeling people don’t quite grasp what pollination is.

If this is a roleplay thing… Shout down an avalanche on top of the Giant.

Problem solved.

Dustfinger.9510:

Pic please!

and i agree. Mine is Native American.

Unfortunately the Toshiba laptop I’m currently using seems to be unable to take screenshots, or I do not know the correct button combo. When I hit END/PrtSc, nothing happens nor do I get the confirmation in chat.

Edit: I have two norns. My ele looks very obviously mongol wearing furs and looking very warriorlike. I pretty much count him as Siberian Canthan. My other norn is russian/slavic necromancer. I am debating on whether or not ANet purposely made Norns so that they can be so easily stereotypical.

Both of the legendary bows look like they were designed by bronies, tbh. Not that I have anything against bronies, but its just not my thing. In fact, I really can’t be swayed by 95% of the skins they have for any of the bows. I’m mostly praying that I get the bow drop from fractals.

it sort of irritates me, but this one needs to be heard. After performing resuscitation on Asurans:

Thank you, that was surprisingly helpful.

(I realize this is likely not what was intended, but this thread is priceless. I want to post as my Charr RP Character, who’s an alchemist, but I have a feeling he’d be laughing to hard at this. )

I’d be so happy, to have a racial elite skill that forces everyone in the vicinity to do the Charr Haka. Kinda like a button that creates flash mobs. I would totally drop 10 points into that kittenz.

I would never want my sylvari to join the nightmare court. Its a pretty silly concept, like the Sith Empire had a bone for salads and 9 months later gave birth to the lollipop guild of evil.

This thread creeps me out, but only when I let go of the OP’s use of the word ‘we’.

I see your lettuce beard and raise you one cabbage butt.

plasmacutter.2709:

MMMMMM…. centaur-burgers. I hear the meat is sweet and lean.

I hear it tastes like horse. :|

PraetorMortis.8610:

Ramethzero.3785:

I don’t have a problem with any greatsword because its a game, and not showstopping enough for me to put my life on hold to make a thread about it.

…but you had enough time to reply to one about it. Excellent job sir, you are clearly better than the rest of us.

You’re welcome. I always like to find out in my posts, who’s likely to be the most sensitive to commentary about self-image. Thank you for raising your hand.

I’m stuck on this one too, now. I don’t even get a talking option. I can hit F to speak to them, but then nothing happens.