Guild Wars 2

I like that you included the distinction between ranger players excited for the druid and non-ranger players excited for the druid.

I had actually forgotten that there may be people who start playing ranger solely because of the druid spec.

But yeah, I can fully support wanting to put a stop those particular posts.
I’m just a bit more pessimistic, and think that they’ll instead just start spouting reasons why their argument shouldn’t change rather than actually stopping the “I speak for the majority when I say…” trend.

Wuselknusel.4082:

The Druid (….) just doesn’t fit the Ranger.

I disagree.

*Edited for clarity

thrag.9740:

Daddar.5971:

Will all of the Meta-Messiahs please hurry up and publish the exact builds you are requiring for each profession you’ll allow in your raid party? I’ll need detailed gear lists (weapon, armor, runes, sigils, trinkets) as well as skills to equip and a rotation for pressing my buttons. I’ll put my character together exactly as you require and practice until I am good enough at doing exactly what I’m told to please you. Then I will get the coveted chance to complete a raid in record-setting time. It won’t be ‘playing’ at all; it will be a job. But really, why play when you can work?

I don’t get why this is an issue for people. Make your own lfg that say “raid, anyone welcome”, or join one that is already made. The only time there are ever issues is when meta players join non-meta groups or non-meta players join meta groups. As long as everyone plays with like minded individuals, none of it matters.

Members of one group good-naturedly slagging the other is hardly unheard of though. =P It sounded like satire when I read it anyway.

Azure.8670:

Kicast.1459:

Azure.8670:

roll necro youll be fine

Indeed DH purpose is to make the numerous Guardians to reroll.
This artificially produces content.

Same story should also happen sooner or later to warriors (most played class)

you know, I dont think this is true (I know numbers say it is, but hear me out).

I think Ele is played more than Warrior for the most part. I feel a lot of people start with Warrior and thats why theres been so many, but this past year, I def think Ele has taken the number one spot. I also think Necro and Ranger are more popular than Warrior and Ele, but due to how low they have ranked in the PVE scene for so long, they have dust on them. I fully expect necro to be the most popular, or top 3, after HoT drops. If you play WVW and PVP and never touch PVE you would never know necro is unpopular

Back in May you wouldn’t have known that necro was even in the game any more! =P

Harper.4173:

Rashagar.8349:

Cyninja.2954:

Rashagar.8349:

Cyninja.2954:

Rashagar.8349:

Canakun.8031:

PHIW mightn’t be against the existence of ‘a meta,’ but the PHIW crowd in this game have refused to acknowledge the freedom they’ve had for the past three years to play the game however they darn well want to and instead just complain about people who clear content faster than them.

Hahaha! Yes, it’s all jealousy on their part, that must be it. =P

As an aside, if PHIW is meant to be “Play How I Want” and being used to categorise a certain play style, if you really want to coin a phrase for that style of play then I feel a more accurate representation of that player group’s mind set would be shown with “PHYW”, Play How You Want.

The people interested in perpetuating a specific meta are the ones insisting that other players should conform for optimisation purposes, everyone else is more welcoming and inclusive of alternative play styles.

Just a semantics thing, but it’s little touches like that that do betray a certain prejudice in the OP’s writing. “Play How I Want” makes it sound like that player’s primary motivation is selfishness, ruining meta-runners gold gains per minute or some other such foolishness, whereas “Play How You Want” is much closer to the reality of being motivated by inclusiveness and friendliness.

Harper.4173:

To an elite player and a farmer another player is a resource – an NPC – a bot – something that gets something done – I for example have absolutely no interest in why people who don’t run meta builds don’t run them.

Harper, that’s not the hallmarks of an “elite” player, that’s the hallmarks of a psychopath.

Oh no, I think PHIW fits the crowd and the mentality just fine. Especially with the semantics you just mentioned.

That’s… nice?

I really don’t follow you, sorry. How is wanting to promote inclusivity the same as being selfish?

Do you think that someone who welcomes everyone wouldn’t extend that welcome to someone running zerker stats? If so, then, I’m sorry that your personal experience has led you to that assumption but it’s incompatible with my personal experience.

Yeah, that reply may require more explanation than just a back-handed throw-away comment from you.

The PHIW crowd you refer to are the most vocal about change. Honestly, most players running zerker gear could care less what others play. They search for like minded people and everything is fine.

On the other side your typical PHIW player will want to change the current meta so their build is forced on other players. While under the guise if pretending to want to have the game opened to more builds, in essence it mostly boils down to just:“I want MY build to get taken along.”

Hence the PHIW fits perfectly. Also I disagree that PHIW players are inclusive. Quite the contrary.

So, you’re saying that people who play the way they want rather than following the meta, actually want to change the meta so that they’ll be following the meta? Isn’t it more likely that they just don’t care about the meta or don’t find the current meta play style fun? Cos that’s the “PHIW crowd” that I was referring to.

If your definition of PHIW is that narrow as to exclude the people I just mentioned then it probably shouldn’t be the term that you use to describe… whoever it is you’re talking about.

By the sounds of it, if most zerker players don’t care what other’s play then those zerker players actually are PHIW players. It just happens that the way they want to play is zerker.

If they didn’t care about the meta and meta players they wouldn’t be posting about it – they would be making their own groups and enjoying the game in their own way.
I’ve seen dozens of posts by mostly the same people asking for the game to be changed in some way so that the resulting meta will have to include their favorite way to play the game.

The problem most PHIW players have is not that there’s a meta – it’s that the meta is not including them and they want to be included so instead of finding other PHIW players they want the meta to change to include their build.
Because it’s easier and more convenient for them if that happens.

Okay, but… it’s also possible that them wanting to be included is simply a knee-jerk reaction from them being actively excluded by a rather visible proportion of the community…

Making your own party might not occur to everyone, especially if they haven’t done the fractal/dungeon much and think that starting a party means that people who join it will be expecting some kind of expertise or leadership on their part.

But again, if “PHIW” only covers that very small cross-section of the total number of people who don’t run meta-builds (“dozens of posts by mostly the same people” isn’t a particularly large amount of players), then, by your definition it doesn’t include people who just find something else more fun or who just don’t pay attention to the meta, and lumping all of those people together under the umbrella of “non-meta” and treating them as if they all have the same motivations would be a form of prejudice.

A motivation of wanting to be included while also having fun… how dare they be so selfish…

Cyninja.2954:

Rashagar.8349:

Cyninja.2954:

Rashagar.8349:

Canakun.8031:

PHIW mightn’t be against the existence of ‘a meta,’ but the PHIW crowd in this game have refused to acknowledge the freedom they’ve had for the past three years to play the game however they darn well want to and instead just complain about people who clear content faster than them.

Hahaha! Yes, it’s all jealousy on their part, that must be it. =P

As an aside, if PHIW is meant to be “Play How I Want” and being used to categorise a certain play style, if you really want to coin a phrase for that style of play then I feel a more accurate representation of that player group’s mind set would be shown with “PHYW”, Play How You Want.

The people interested in perpetuating a specific meta are the ones insisting that other players should conform for optimisation purposes, everyone else is more welcoming and inclusive of alternative play styles.

Just a semantics thing, but it’s little touches like that that do betray a certain prejudice in the OP’s writing. “Play How I Want” makes it sound like that player’s primary motivation is selfishness, ruining meta-runners gold gains per minute or some other such foolishness, whereas “Play How You Want” is much closer to the reality of being motivated by inclusiveness and friendliness.

Harper.4173:

To an elite player and a farmer another player is a resource – an NPC – a bot – something that gets something done – I for example have absolutely no interest in why people who don’t run meta builds don’t run them.

Harper, that’s not the hallmarks of an “elite” player, that’s the hallmarks of a psychopath.

Oh no, I think PHIW fits the crowd and the mentality just fine. Especially with the semantics you just mentioned.

That’s… nice?

I really don’t follow you, sorry. How is wanting to promote inclusivity the same as being selfish?

Do you think that someone who welcomes everyone wouldn’t extend that welcome to someone running zerker stats? If so, then, I’m sorry that your personal experience has led you to that assumption but it’s incompatible with my personal experience.

Yeah, that reply may require more explanation than just a back-handed throw-away comment from you.

The PHIW crowd you refer to are the most vocal about change. Honestly, most players running zerker gear could care less what others play. They search for like minded people and everything is fine.

On the other side your typical PHIW player will want to change the current meta so their build is forced on other players. While under the guise if pretending to want to have the game opened to more builds, in essence it mostly boils down to just:“I want MY build to get taken along.”

Hence the PHIW fits perfectly. Also I disagree that PHIW players are inclusive. Quite the contrary.

So, you’re saying that people who play the way they want rather than following the meta, actually want to change the meta so that they’ll be following the meta? Isn’t it more likely that they just don’t care about the meta or don’t find the current meta play style fun? Cos that’s the “PHIW crowd” that I was referring to.

If your definition of PHIW is that narrow as to exclude the people I just mentioned then it probably shouldn’t be the term that you use to describe… whoever it is you’re talking about.

By the sounds of it, if most zerker players don’t care what other’s play then those zerker players actually are PHIW players. It just happens that the way they want to play is zerker.

Cyninja.2954:

Rashagar.8349:

Canakun.8031:

PHIW mightn’t be against the existence of ‘a meta,’ but the PHIW crowd in this game have refused to acknowledge the freedom they’ve had for the past three years to play the game however they darn well want to and instead just complain about people who clear content faster than them.

Hahaha! Yes, it’s all jealousy on their part, that must be it. =P

As an aside, if PHIW is meant to be “Play How I Want” and being used to categorise a certain play style, if you really want to coin a phrase for that style of play then I feel a more accurate representation of that player group’s mind set would be shown with “PHYW”, Play How You Want.

The people interested in perpetuating a specific meta are the ones insisting that other players should conform for optimisation purposes, everyone else is more welcoming and inclusive of alternative play styles.

Just a semantics thing, but it’s little touches like that that do betray a certain prejudice in the OP’s writing. “Play How I Want” makes it sound like that player’s primary motivation is selfishness, ruining meta-runners gold gains per minute or some other such foolishness, whereas “Play How You Want” is much closer to the reality of being motivated by inclusiveness and friendliness.

Harper.4173:

To an elite player and a farmer another player is a resource – an NPC – a bot – something that gets something done – I for example have absolutely no interest in why people who don’t run meta builds don’t run them.

Harper, that’s not the hallmarks of an “elite” player, that’s the hallmarks of a psychopath.

Oh no, I think PHIW fits the crowd and the mentality just fine. Especially with the semantics you just mentioned.

That’s… nice?

I really don’t follow you, sorry. How is wanting to promote inclusivity the same as being selfish?

Do you think that someone who welcomes everyone wouldn’t extend that welcome to someone running zerker stats? If so, then, I’m sorry that your personal experience has led you to that assumption but it’s incompatible with my personal experience.

Yeah, that reply may require more explanation than just a back-handed throw-away comment from you.

Canakun.8031:

PHIW mightn’t be against the existence of ‘a meta,’ but the PHIW crowd in this game have refused to acknowledge the freedom they’ve had for the past three years to play the game however they darn well want to and instead just complain about people who clear content faster than them.

Hahaha! Yes, it’s all jealousy on their part, that must be it. =P

As an aside, if PHIW is meant to be “Play How I Want” and being used to categorise a certain play style, if you really want to coin a phrase for that style of play then I feel a more accurate representation of that player group’s mind set would be shown with “PHYW”, Play How You Want.

The people interested in perpetuating a specific meta are the ones insisting that other players should conform for optimisation purposes, everyone else is more welcoming and inclusive of alternative play styles.

Just a semantics thing, but it’s little touches like that that do betray a certain prejudice in the OP’s writing. “Play How I Want” makes it sound like that player’s primary motivation is selfishness, ruining meta-runners gold gains per minute or some other such foolishness, whereas “Play How You Want” is much closer to the reality of being motivated by inclusiveness and friendliness.

Harper.4173:

To an elite player and a farmer another player is a resource – an NPC – a bot – something that gets something done – I for example have absolutely no interest in why people who don’t run meta builds don’t run them.

Harper, that’s not the hallmarks of an “elite” player, that’s the hallmarks of a psychopath.

Canakun.8031:

Rashagar.8349:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I really enjoy it when people talk about “ending the meta”. But as stated, once one meta dies, another is born. The anti-meta becomes the meta. It’s Metaception!

Well the only reason it will never go away is because there will always be people who believe it’s the only way to play. If people stopped caring about it it would never come back.

I don’t believe it will ever go away, but that’s only because the people who push it will never stop pushing.

A meta isn’t about being the “only way to play,” it’s about being the most optimal, most efficient way to play. Some people like efficiency, especially when they’re grinding content multiple times.

Oh I know, I just don’t believe that’s what everyone who subscribes to it thinks. Or, being fair, even if it is what they think intellectually, their actions can run counter to it.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I really enjoy it when people talk about “ending the meta”. But as stated, once one meta dies, another is born. The anti-meta becomes the meta. It’s Metaception!

Well the only reason it will never go away is because there will always be people who believe it’s the only way to play. If people stopped caring about it it would never come back.

I don’t believe it will ever go away, but that’s only because the people who push it will never stop pushing.

To be honest, what they’re asking for doesn’t sound that far fetched at all.
Hope it goes well for them.

Is this going to be recorded on twitch for viewing at a later date or anything?

I really would like to see that Jennifer Hale bit, but won’t be around for viewing anything this weekend.

Edit Regarding druid, I’m trying to contain my hype. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it whatever it does, and I can’t wait to see what tricks it brings, but since I can’t watch the reveal I’m trying not to let it consume my every waking moment until I do see it heh.

Rauderi.8706:

mauried.5608:

Thanks all.
One Charr Mesmer coming up.
Havnt player Charrs yet so this will either be fun or a total disaster.

How strange, Charr Mesmer was one of my original five. I suppose I liked the contrast of a brutal, bestial character wielding the most subtle and skillful magics.
Or, like many others who play Norn Mesmers, dressing up the uber macho in purple and pink. :P

I did it because beast-headed trickster demons utilising charms and illusions crops up enough in mythology/pop mythology that it felt right.

Puck.9612:

Rashagar.8349:

I really don’t get what your post is meant to be about, so I’m just going to ramble aimlessly.

I decided to try out longbow again for the first time in ages about a week ago. The first time I tried it shortbow was considered to be far superior. (to give you an idea of how old my ranger is hehe).
I don’t know who these people you’re talking about are tbh, but maybe they’re firing a longbow in melee because they’re actually targeting a mob a long way away and have piercing arrows traited? Or want to proc any of the on swap abilities rangers get like furious grip or fast hands, and know that rapid fire is equally effective at any range and it’s only the auto-attack that has different coefficients?

shrugs My weapon of choice will always be main-hand axe for my ranger simply because I enjoy it best. But I needed a change after using it for so long.
I’d rather maximise fun than maximise dps. But I’m probably weird. (Greatsword is a very effective way to maximise fun btw =D )

When did we get fast hands!?
I’m guessing you meant quick draw? I swap to longbow in melee range all the time, so I can do things like PBS someone off point or to interrupt a stomp, use hunters shot to kite, etc.
This thread makes no sense.

Yeah, that one. Messaging first thing in the morning is a mistake haha!

nottsgman.8206:

I’d say female charr mesmer, but I could be wrong

That was my first beta weekend character haha!

But it does sound like a good contender for least played. RIP you beautiful beast.

I really don’t get what your post is meant to be about, so I’m just going to ramble aimlessly.

I decided to try out longbow again for the first time in ages about a week ago. The first time I tried it shortbow was considered to be far superior. (to give you an idea of how old my ranger is hehe).
I don’t know who these people you’re talking about are tbh, but maybe they’re firing a longbow in melee because they’re actually targeting a mob a long way away and have piercing arrows traited? Or want to proc any of the on swap abilities rangers get like furious grip or fast hands, and know that rapid fire is equally effective at any range and it’s only the auto-attack that has different coefficients?

shrugs My weapon of choice will always be main-hand axe for my ranger simply because I enjoy it best. But I needed a change after using it for so long.
I’d rather maximise fun than maximise dps. But I’m probably weird. (Greatsword is a very effective way to maximise fun btw =D )

Torenn.2598:

A man wearing women’s clothing is actually contrary to natural law. Natural law doesn’t change to fit our disordered appetites.

That law was changed in referendum quite a while ago. =P

In all seriousness, if such a thing as natural law really existed for this stuff then by it’s very nature it would be constantly changing.

For reference, see pink being a boy’s colour until relatively recently. At some point, girls started wearing pink, and I’m sure some people said it was against the natural law at the time. =)

Yeah I’m afraid I don’t have that much experience with the RP community of this game (though I also really like to see them around), my one experience trying in this game wasn’t particularly welcoming or encouraging, but I can’t take that as representative of the entire community. I agree with the people above saying that finding a guild for it is probably the best bet.

I know from running tabletop rpgs that some people use RP as an excuse to be jerks. If you bring it up with them out of character they’ll hide behind the excuse that they’re only role-playing a jerk, not being a jerk! This is of course a load of bull. I imagine the key to enjoying roleplay in this game is the same as in tabletop rpgs, ie. it’s entirely reliant on the group of people you do it with.

Btw, if anyone says that to your Asura, just have your Asura explain to them that “technically the more accurate lexical entity would be xenophobia, but it is still an equally incorrect assumption”.
Also that “making such a declarative assumption as that simply reveals a propensity for xenophobia on their own part”, preferably using even bigger words if you can =P

Honestly, despite loving shapeshifting, I hope that druids in this game stick more to this game’s pre-defined lore for what a druid is. Shapeshifting can always come again in the form of a dedicated shapeshifter elite spec. Shapeshifter, Shifter, Skinwalker are all perfectly acceptable elite spec names. I don’t particularly want Anet to try to fit too much in this elite spec and end up with it having a very mish-mash feeling instead of a more pure design focus.

I’d edit this for clarity but I doubt I’d be able to do any better right now…

KotCR.6024:

Electro.4173:

In terms of new weapons… wow, I dunno. Guardian has all the magic weapons already, and obviously something magical would be the most fitting. Maybe they’ll have added some new weapons to the game by then. But if not, and we absolutely have to choose from the existing weapons… offhand dagger, maybe? I mean, given the complexities of the Tomes I think an offhand is probably the most likely choice, and dagger could perhaps act as a pseudo “writing tool” of sorts, creating inscriptions or something.

That was pretty much my thought too. Guardian already has access to all the traditional “spell-casting” weapons the game offers, so barring any newly introduced weapon types, this makes the most sense for a number of reasons.

Thematically, Dagger as an offensive melee (or even ranged) weapon, doesn’t fit on the class at all, but being used as a channeling focus rather than an actual weapon, similiar to the OH-Dagger on a few other classes, does fit thematically and would make alot of sense.

The alternative would be Axe, but I think if Guardian got Axe, most people would instead rather see it as that extra offensive melee weapon added to the Guardian, rather than a casting weapon, and as a result it wouldn’t fit with the design plan of a Tome-specialization, and would instead be better kept under lock-and-key waiting for some Crusader-esque (or even Dark-Guardian/Knight-esque) specialization instead.

But the only way you are going to get Dagger on Guardian, is if it using it as a magical focus, so it’d make sense to tie it into a Tome specialization.

I wouldn’t like it to be off-hand dagger since that’d be conflicting with focus (kitten it I want my books! =P ) A main-hand dagger as a casting weapon could definitely be very interesting but I’d kind of feel like if we got that then the utility skills that would be most thematically fitting with a main-hand dagger would be corruptions.

Oh, and that tome-wielding guardian elite spec they mentioned, I wish for that to become real too.

Atherakhia.4086:

Small scale group play the Necro is the one that comes pre-shot in the leg so your group can escape while you’re eaten by the ravenous horde.

Oh hah! well maybe I’ll provide a hefty speed bump…

TheLastNobody.8319:

Question, roaming or zerging?

Mainly focused on group play tbh, preferably versatile enough to switch between big zergs or small groups fairly easily. My problem is that there seem to be too many fun possibilities, my mind being currently full of ideas with very little structure, so I was curious if there was any specific utilities that were considered essential that would help narrow the possibilities down.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys =)

Fashion Mage.3712:

- Which new weapon should it allow access to?

Main hand focus, so you can dual-wield books! =D

I’m most interested in trying out some kind of condi/power hybrid since I’ve been pure power for a very long time. Assuming that can be done without scepter since I hate scepter.

So just curious which utilities get pride of place on your bar and which get situationally swapped in. Theoretical reaper thoughts also welcome.

Edit also apologies if this topic is done to death elsewhere, my searching powers are awful.

I’m surprised to hear that it’s the 3rd least played profession, they seem to be everywhere in wvw sometimes (mostly late at night).

I’m one of the players that never learned how to deal with 1-H sword (it’s on my to-do list), it seemed like with every skill I would always manage to find a cliff to fall off of. Greatsword is very nice though. As for elemental arrows we don’t really have anything like that but there are weapon sigils that can cause lightning strikes or flameblasts on your target if that helps. They’re not limited to bows though. Any weapon on any profession can call lightning =)

Black Box.9312:

Rashagar.8349:

Ragnarox.9601:

Rashagar.8349:

Sankofa Jimiyu.1567:

Am I one of the few that likes traps on a Dragonhunter?
It is a support mechanic on a heavy armor class, and I think that can be confusing in itself, but that’s the Guardian’s bread and butter.
Thematically, Dragonhunters are based on witch hunters. The idea of casting runes to bind opponents works with that.
Currently I have a style with my husband that has my Dragonhunter running support for his Daredevil. It has a nice synergy with the other new specializations, and with group play, but I understand it is a little awkward to play it alone.

I think people saying “the majority dislike traps” are just flat out lying/making baseless sweeping statements/suffering from information selection bias. You’re definitely not alone in liking them. =)

Have fun liking them. Every competitive and smart Guardian won’t replace shouts/meditations/consecrations to them. Srry but traps are bad in every aspect of team/solo play. They are fun because its new stuff but don’t count to be useful.

I intend to have fun =) That is the point after all.

I have no problem with them getting changes/buffs/whatever, but people that are saying “scrap traps completely”, I disagree with.

As an aside, saying that so many of our utilities are already stupidly strong so traps should be replaced with something equally stupidly strong is… kind of stupid. =P

If “every competitive and smart guardian” is so completely averse to playing with new toys because they can’t survive without even one shout/meditation/consecration on their bar, that’s hardly my concern (which I highly doubt you speak for all of them, never mind speaking for any of them, since my definition of a competitive and smart guardian is someone who switches things up and experiments)

Try to remember to have fun out there =)

1. The evidence is there. Not many people play traps on Ranger and even less than that play traps on thief.

2. Your definition of a “competitive” Guardian is incorrect. A competitive Guardian would be a Guardian player that plays the game at a competitive level. That’s not a subjective definition. It means they are literally competitive, and that typically means that they know their stuff based on high-level experience.

You’re forgetting the “smart” subclause =P

Edit
Now I feel it important to say I’m not actually calling anyone stupid, I’m just saying that I wasn’t defining just a competitive guardian. And “smart” is subjective. So nyeh =P

Ragnarox.9601:

Rashagar.8349:

Ragnarox.9601:

Rashagar.8349:

I intend to have fun =) That is the point after all.

I have no problem with them getting changes/buffs/whatever, but people that are saying “scrap traps completely”, I disagree with.

As an aside, saying that so many of our utilities are already stupidly strong so traps should be replaced with something equally stupidly strong is… kind of stupid. =P

Dude your main is ranger, go play with your trap ranger then. Leave our constructive feedback.

Dude, no it’s not. Not that that’s entirely relevant.

I’ll repeat, I’m not against constructive feedback for traps or them getting altered/buffed, I’m quite in favour of some suggestions I’ve seen here like more fluid longbow play and being able to have multiple iterations of the same trap out at once, I’m just saying that saying “the majority hates traps” is a statement that’s very susceptible to selection bias, that asking for them to be scrapped completely isn’t constructive feedback and is a fairly unrealistic expectation at this point, and that if you’re not excited for it that doesn’t mean that no one’s excited for it. Maybe the next elite spec released will be more to your personal tastes.

I’ve seen 3, or 4 ppl liking traps, other 99% are suggesting change to something else or they have no desire to play with traps at all. Just read reddit and forums little better.

Yup, that’d be the selection bias I was talking about. (mixed with a healthy dose of hyperbole). Nicely demonstrated =P

Ragnarox.9601:

Rashagar.8349:

I intend to have fun =) That is the point after all.

I have no problem with them getting changes/buffs/whatever, but people that are saying “scrap traps completely”, I disagree with.

As an aside, saying that so many of our utilities are already stupidly strong so traps should be replaced with something equally stupidly strong is… kind of stupid. =P

Dude your main is ranger, go play with your trap ranger then. Leave our constructive feedback.

Dude, no it’s not. Not that that’s entirely relevant.

I’ll repeat, I’m not against constructive feedback for traps or them getting altered/buffed, I’m quite in favour of some suggestions I’ve seen here like more fluid longbow play and being able to have multiple iterations of the same trap out at once, I’m just saying that saying “the majority hates traps” is a statement that’s very susceptible to selection bias, that asking for them to be scrapped completely isn’t constructive feedback and is a fairly unrealistic expectation at this point, and that if you’re not excited for it that doesn’t mean that no one’s excited for it. Maybe the next elite spec released will be more to your personal tastes.

Ragnarox.9601:

Rashagar.8349:

Sankofa Jimiyu.1567:

Am I one of the few that likes traps on a Dragonhunter?
It is a support mechanic on a heavy armor class, and I think that can be confusing in itself, but that’s the Guardian’s bread and butter.
Thematically, Dragonhunters are based on witch hunters. The idea of casting runes to bind opponents works with that.
Currently I have a style with my husband that has my Dragonhunter running support for his Daredevil. It has a nice synergy with the other new specializations, and with group play, but I understand it is a little awkward to play it alone.

I think people saying “the majority dislike traps” are just flat out lying/making baseless sweeping statements/suffering from information selection bias. You’re definitely not alone in liking them. =)

Have fun liking them. Every competitive and smart Guardian won’t replace shouts/meditations/consecrations to them. Srry but traps are bad in every aspect of team/solo play. They are fun because its new stuff but don’t count to be useful.

I intend to have fun =) That is the point after all.

I have no problem with them getting changes/buffs/whatever, but people that are saying “scrap traps completely”, I disagree with.

As an aside, saying that so many of our utilities are already stupidly strong so traps should be replaced with something equally stupidly strong is… kind of stupid. =P

If “every competitive and smart guardian” is so completely averse to playing with new toys because they can’t survive without even one shout/meditation/consecration on their bar, that’s hardly my concern (which I highly doubt you speak for all of them, never mind speaking for any of them, since my definition of a competitive and smart guardian is someone who switches things up and experiments)

Try to remember to have fun out there =)

Sankofa Jimiyu.1567:

Am I one of the few that likes traps on a Dragonhunter?
It is a support mechanic on a heavy armor class, and I think that can be confusing in itself, but that’s the Guardian’s bread and butter.
Thematically, Dragonhunters are based on witch hunters. The idea of casting runes to bind opponents works with that.
Currently I have a style with my husband that has my Dragonhunter running support for his Daredevil. It has a nice synergy with the other new specializations, and with group play, but I understand it is a little awkward to play it alone.

I think people saying “the majority dislike traps” are just flat out lying/making baseless sweeping statements/suffering from information selection bias. You’re definitely not alone in liking them. =)

The meta evolves over time but it can also be incredibly blind when it comes to acknowledging entirely valid alternatives.

The best rule is play what you find fun. If you enjoy staff and don’t particularly enjoy greatsword then run staff, you’ll most likely play better with a weapon that you enjoy than with one you don’t. Most of the meta stuff is picked around best case scenarios with the idea that if you find yourself in a situation that isn’t the best case scenario then you’re doing something wrong, but this kind of designing in a vacuum is kind of short sighted in my opinion.

I’ve been making an effort to use more of the previously ignored pets in my menagerie lately, starting with pigs, which are easily my least used pet type.

More current items made into collections (particularly if themed collections)
New things to collect.
SAB at will
Mix and matching with outfit pieces
Control/support roles effective in PvE.
I never really experienced Polymock, despite playing Gw1 for 2-3 years. I think I remember being told that it’s a bit like pokemon? It could be interesting to tie it into the current minis we have if so. (Eg. small quest/crafting/forge recipe to turn a mini into a polymock mini, when you do you get to assign it a role and pick it’s abilities. So say you pick mini frost drake, you assign it the elementalist role, and get to pick which 3 or 4 skills from the elementalist polymock skillset it learns, then you get to take it into the open world and challenge players to battles with them)
Expanded cooking/jewellery crafting…

Yeah, I’m now completely daydreaming about that polymock idea, sorry…

Bioectomy.9217:

Put. Loot. On. Mobs. This is not a thing that can be debated or discussed.

See, I disagree with this. Not just with the it can’t be debated or discussed part. I think putting loot on mobs is a bad step in the wrong direction, only enforcing the competitive tagging zerg fest that I feel should be steered away from in future events.

Event rewards should be more evenly distributed across the different player roles, (ESPECIALLY if Anet want to promote combat roles in future content that isn’t just dps) and the people manning the catapults (for example) or doing a bomb run or whatever should get the same rewards as the people who kill things to protect the catapults or clear the beaches to allow the bombers through safely or what have you. For mobs that do drop loot/champ bags/whatever, their life span should be measured in minutes regardless of player zerg size rather than seconds, and they should have a separate stage in the event cycle all to themselves to allow everyone to pile in and contribute. If an event spawns 3-4 giant champions to deal with simultaneously, the person who deals damage to all 4 and the person who spends their whole time distracting/kiting one of the champs should be equally rewarded, because they were both contributing effectively.

Killyox.3950:

There are some builds here which I have thought about myself

Now for a little support twist!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNAsemnnN2gSyJvQRNlbosoyPU4U5IKIs8ElFglh9iNKZNgDSw+2dDG-TxxGABA8EAwTJYunCgEV/Jt9HWS5Hb6DIFgf7tA-e

1756 Healing Power

When using healing skill (like Ventari’s Will) You grant & get Protection from Bolster Fortifications as well as 3 stacks of Might + Fury to allies from Runes.

Sigils for healing on hit/swap

Boon duration 15% Herald + 10% Rune + 50% Facet of Nature

Outgoing Healing 10% food, 15% minor, 25% energy above 50, +20% from health above 75%, +20% after invoking a legend for 10s, 26,34% from Selfless Amplification
Total Outgoing Healing: 116,34%

Lots of boons for yourself and allies as well as CC from Herald Elite & Staff.

Lots of Healing, lots of utility, lots of boons and quite decent dmg for a healer/support.

Estimates on properly used skills with these % increases and stats (on allies).

Regeneration ~700 per second
Envoy of Exuberance ~5600
Ventari’s Will ~3000
Natural Harmony 5300
Purifying Essence (not entirely sure if heal on condi remove is affected by outgoing healing but if it is…) 1300 per condi
Energy Expulsion ~3600 per fragment.
Project Tranquility max of ~835 but more likely around 600 on normal every 3 sec

Keep in mind you cannot have all of these up because of how these % work but you can do huge burst heals for very little costs and then have a bit weaker burst heals but still tremendous.

Consider this yoinked =P

I was actually most excited for Mallyx but I turned out to be quite terrible at using him during the beta. Maybe practice is all that’s needed though.

Yikes, 12 pages. These opinions have probably been already expressed somewhere in them, sorry but I can’t read through that much to find out.

I’m glad you tried to solve the prior problems of people using the events to farm champions instead of completing events, but I don’t think this is the solution you’re looking for heh.

I would support something that does away with the mindless desperate rush to tag something before it dies. I was running around with near-permanent swiftness, one fast melee weapon, one ranged weapon and 3 gap closers and even then it often wasn’t enough to get a hit in. There were events where I was around killing things and rezzing players for the entire duration and didn’t get any kind of participation medal at the end (or increase in whateverthatbuffwascalled), I still don’t really understand why.

Participation rewards not based around tagging, things that encourage cooperation rather than competition, a map-wide goal to strive for, more aggressive de-leveling or player power standardising, more frequent rewarding (eg. 1→3 blooms rewarded for bronze→gold participation at the end of each event, gold only applicable if present for the end of an event, or something), more varied roles available for participation (thinking like with the hydra queen or claw of jormag, I like that a few different participation options are available at once, not just killing things), are just some thoughts off the top of my head.

I definitely don’t think mobs/champs should go back to dropping stuff. But event rewards are nice motivators. I had originally thought that this event might be a nice memorable way to level up one of my alts, but that idea didn’t last long heh.

It’s a pity, because I was so excited to see a return to world-changing events. But it just reminded me of that time a few weeks ago when I tried going back to Orr to try farming some materials, where it was just hammered home for me how much better the set up in the Silverwastes area is. This event feels like a step backwards to days of Orr rather than a step forwards.

I’m very much looking forward to your next attempts though =)

Thank you very much for asking for feedback. I’m sorry this event didn’t turn out the way you wanted.

Jasper Defthand.3018:

I agree with all that, and I am playing around with my builds, learning all the combos and whats effective for whatever situation. I just really want to see a change in the community. I left WoW to return here because it was turning so toxic back there. While there is a greater prevalence of nontoxic players in this game, the toxic areas are far worse and really I just want to play the game that Anet said this would be rather than what it actually is. As it is currently, I feel pity for new players who are impressionable and making their first steps into the MMO world and this is their first experience in this type of community and Melandru forbid they pick up the LB and a pet and then get told by some zerkermeta, “no your not viable”, reroll to a class you didn’t want to play.

Yeah, some people just can’t see (or don’t care) that negatively affecting new players with the brainwash bullkitten metacarp only hurts themselves in the long run. (less newbies staying hurts the game we all enjoy, people leaving for toxicity reasons even more so because word travels fast and a reputation develops)

There are probably already a few examples in this thread (haven’t read it all) showing people jumping through hoops to keep this zerker fallacy afloat, (eg. stacking/max dps/whatever really does work, your team were just blah or you should have done blah or team comp was missing this one of many vital elements that allows it to work like reflects or group stability or whatever). It’s kind of like a shared delusion that a lot of people just don’t want to wake up from, and it means that a lot of people who listen to it don’t end up learning about things like positioning or mobility in combat or reading televised attacks or anything.

One of the main reasons I dislike it (other than how it drives people away) is that it makes the combat system seem so much more shallow than it really is. It’s like coming across a series of increasingly intricate knots that require untying and instead of trying to learn how to untie them you just cut the rope every time.

Reaper: Probably about 50% of the time. Been playing chill power necro since forever but giving up a trait line for it will be difficult.
Chrono: I don’t have any mesmer skills, and chronomancer seems even more complex, so probably not for a while.
DH: Yes, it really suits my guardian.
Zerker: Maybe, depends. As a condi warrior it makes sense but as a nightmare courtier it might not.
Druid: Probably, have always loved druids in all iterations.
Forge: Probably, those drones are cute.
Tempest: My Ele is level 50 so it’s unlikely. In terms of flavour it really suits but my ele skills aren’t exactly good.
Daredevil: Haven’t tried it yet. Probably not though.
Herald: I loved it. Big yes.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Durzlla.6295:

Rashagar.8349:

Snipping

Every single second the NPC lives longer – your party suffers from damage.
By being selfish with defensive stats – you are harmful to whole party including yourself.

And most importantly, OP, don’t forget that dodge rolling to avoid damage is also being selfish with defence because that’s time you’re not spending mashing 1. Your party will and should hate you for it.

I’m screenshotting this for how true it is lol

It’s as true as saying that we shouldn’t breathe because Oxygen is toxic (because it is).
This is about efficiency. Defensive armor reduces your DPS by roughly 30-40%. Dodge roll postpones your damage rotation by 0,75 second and may prolong your life just as much as the stats would have. 1 more boss attack.

It was satirical.

Snipping

Every single second the NPC lives longer – your party suffers from damage.
By being selfish with defensive stats – you are harmful to whole party including yourself.

And most importantly, OP, don’t forget that dodge rolling to avoid damage is also being selfish with defence because that’s time you’re not spending mashing 1. Your party will and should hate you for it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about stats now as well. Very interested in hearing what people have to say on this. I really like Celestial but I’m not sure. Do you find you can survive ok with full zerker in wvw? For a full melee power damage build I was thinking of mixing cavalier and assassin to keep crit dmg high but work in some toughness but I’m not sure if something else would work out better.
Either way I’ll probably be waiting til druid reveal before buying/crafting anything.

Puck.9612:

I was just really upset that the underwater form wasn’t a shark with a laser beam on it’s head… Instead they gave us a friggin sea bass. Who the heck wants to be a sea bass?

I’d prefer sea lead guitar but this is meant to be a support spec. =P

Edit Comparison skills not strong tonight

I hate it. It didn’t address any of the things we wanted. Weh weh weh, rip GW2, Anet losing a customer here, no inclusion of shopping list of changes (or if it does and I didn’t notice, the spec is too necessary and a band-aid for a broken blahblahblah)

Also the name is so stupid (isn’t every character in this game a druid, really? Druids are basically gardeners and we’re all going off to fight an army of plants)

Snipping

Blaine Tog.8304:

He’s supposedly railing against elitists while acting actually quite elitist himself.

This is the main thing I find disappointing with his current apparent direction. When I first found him (was it over 2 years ago now? Jesus) he was really good at pointing out (and calling out) toxic behaviour but then he kind of went on a fight fire with fire spree, looked too long into the abyss and so the abyss looked back and all that.

Blaine Tog.8304:

You put people on the defensive and they’ll just counterattack regardless of whether you’re right or wrong.

Heh, I think some of the comments here are going to be evidence of this. If people have a predisposed idea to something (or someone) it can be difficult to present an alternate view point that they won’t just dismiss out of hand even if you do everything right and are the most eloquent and respectful person in existence.

The only other thing I have to say is about

group support is more important than individual DPS, after all.

I wonder if anyone could truly pinpoint when this idea became commonly accepted, because it certainly hasn’t always been held in prominence by the visible aspects of the metamind conglomerate. =)

hits replay for the 3rd time

Some truly magical moments.

Mourningcry.9428:

GW2 made me aware of Angry Joe… does that count?

Same here. I like him, and I enjoyed his review a lot, but his persona can get bit annoying at times in other videos. I don’t know what he’s like now so much but there was a period of time where the whole angry thing seemed fairly at odds with his actual personality.

PyrateSilly.4710:

No Angry Joe did not cause me to buy GW2. GW1 caused me to buy GW2 and yes they are different games. I knew that going into it. I actually read what would be different and stuff. I had no clue who Angry Joe was until I searched for reviews and found that one. I showed it to both my sons and that plus me hyping it up got them playing with us.

See they did not just want to take their mom’s word for how the game would be they needed to hear more than me talking about it. They still play off and on but with real life it’s sometimes a little hard to get all of us together playing at once. 2 birthday’s ago I had the best present a gamer could have —- I got to play all day (about 14 hrs) with not only my husband but both our boys even while they were in different states. The granddaughter even got on daddy’s account for a little while to play with grandma …. good times that are hard to coordinate when everyone lives in different states and time zones.

That is adorable.

I would love a Colocal. They’re just so adorable.

Edit Also a stag or moose.

TheGrimm.5624:

If it does remain a policy then can we add a selling section to the LFG interface and have people advertise there to keep the open parties open? Might also consider going back to allowing people to sell other services or goods there as well if this continues to be the policy.

The separate section in the LFG tool for selling is an idea that I like. I think it would be a very considerate tweak to the system.

nekretaal.6485:

The lunar new year backpacks are really cheap any stat exotic / ascended backpacks.

I guess they aren’t cute, but they are a fantastic option for max stats on the cheap.

You can make them ascended?

Seera.5916:

Rashagar.8349:

dom.2748:

Rashagar.8349:

dom.2748:

Serophous.9085:

hildegain.2106:

Mr Glass. I’ve been there. A lot. My guild and I used to post LFGs looking for 1-2 more people and we’d always say that we want a complete, non exploitative run and that we’re not zerker meta players.

9/10 times we get the zerkers join our party, demand that we skip, threaten to report us and try to kick people from the group we started.

Yeah… This is pretty much what the “meta mentality” is.

9/10 I make a LFG inviting all and I never have threats like that and we go at a normal steady pace.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

I have the same problems as the OP. It is why I say that the whole “just make your own LFG” argument is a lie. It just plain doesn’t work.

Works for me

It works for everyone. This is just more people trying to make a problem out of a non-problem. It is a big issue on this game. People make stuff up to invent a problem to “fix”.

“It’s not a problem for me or this other person I was talking to therefore it can’t be a problem for anyone”? Really?

@OP, you have my absolute support.

No, its not a problem because it is only a problem for the very small minority.

So was marriage inequality. =P

Seera.5916:

Rashagar.8349:

dom.2748:

Serophous.9085:

hildegain.2106:

Mr Glass. I’ve been there. A lot. My guild and I used to post LFGs looking for 1-2 more people and we’d always say that we want a complete, non exploitative run and that we’re not zerker meta players.

9/10 times we get the zerkers join our party, demand that we skip, threaten to report us and try to kick people from the group we started.

Yeah… This is pretty much what the “meta mentality” is.

9/10 I make a LFG inviting all and I never have threats like that and we go at a normal steady pace.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

I have the same problems as the OP. It is why I say that the whole “just make your own LFG” argument is a lie. It just plain doesn’t work.

Works for me

It works for everyone. This is just more people trying to make a problem out of a non-problem. It is a big issue on this game. People make stuff up to invent a problem to “fix”.

“It’s not a problem for me or this other person I was talking to therefore it can’t be a problem for anyone”? Really?

@OP, you have my absolute support.

No one is saying that it doesn’t happen.

Just that it doesn’t happen as often as some people like to make it out to be.

It was literally called “inventing problems” in the post I quoted =P

And they weren’t saying that it never happens in that post.

They said that people make stuff up to invent problems (aka the problem of it happening to everyone everytime they make an LFG, it’s not a problem as it doesn’t happen to everyone everytime they make an LFG).

So the problem is with the existence and use of hyperbole? I have some bad news for them =P