Guild Wars 2

No matter how you spin ‘no waypoint cost’ I don’t think you’re going to get it implemented. Ever.

It’s a Gold-Sink that’s been implemented to prevent gold inflation. It’s one of those ‘necessary evils’ to prevent your gold from becoming worthless for as long as possible. The best implementation I’ve ever heard is free Way Point to LA (since we technically can already) or your character’s Racial City. Other than that, this isn’t going away anytime soon. So if you’re looking to save money traveling… well… better tighten your bootstraps mate.

Woah there bud, enough with the Melodrama. If you’re not having fun with the Necromancer, you have every right to go play another class. All the power to ya, come back when you feel it’s more to your liking.

However I immensely enjoy my Necromancer. I’ve currently tried leveling every class in the game, and the furthest I’ve gotten is a Guardian to level 65 before I went back to my necromancer. Despite the rabid complaints about traits and bugs, this class just clicks with me.

Also, as has been stated numerous times. The handful of times Devs come in here, they get dog piled by players and whatever they say gets turned around and spat back at them for months at a time. They’d have to pay me a pretty penny to stick my head in this badger den if I were a dev.

TriggerSad.2597:

You know, after years of supporting ArenaNet, and buying all their games, I’ve come to a conclusion. They really like zombies and fire.
Throughout both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, we’ve come across three main undead forces:

• The Undead Lich’s Orian undead.
• Joko’s Undead Army
• Zaithan’s Risen Army

Then we have all the fire aligned races and their respective weapons:

• The Titans (Didn’t have a weapon set based on them)
• Flame Legion (Didn’t a weapon set based on them in Guild Wars, but they do in Guild Wars 2)
• Dredge (Didn’t a weapon set based on them in Guild Wars, but they do in Guild Wars 2)
• Destroyers (Had a weapon set based on them in Guild Wars, and have one based on them in Guild Wars 2)

Now the Molten Alliance may be a combination of both the Flame Legion and Dredge, but they still have their own weapon set based heavily on fire. Seriously, they really like zombies and fire! :X

Some correction I feel the inherent need to point out.

Dredge aren’t a ‘flame based enemy’. At least no more than Engineers and Iron Legion are ‘flame based allies’ because they tend towards a gritty ‘forged look’.

Also technically speaking, Titans are demons that change depending on their Environment. Yes, the Iconic Titan is a ‘fire’ based enemy, but that’s because our introduction to them was on the Ring of Fire. We also encountered more ‘chaotic/demonic’ variants in the DoA, nature variants in the Meguma, and ice variants in the Shiverpeaks.

So bringing up two races that aren’t strictly under the Fire Theme without weapons prior to the release of The Razing feels like you’re groping a bit for an argument here. And I’d even argue that the Fused Weapons aren’t even technically Dredge, seeing as the Flame effects are you know… the Flame Legion bit of that infused quality.

However I do agree that some tropes are played out a bit more frequently than I’d like in the Guild Wars universe such as their love for Abandon-All-Hope-Ye-Who-Enter-Here endgame zones (Ring of Fire, Desolation, Domain of Anguish, and Orr all come to mind).

Zogyark.4597:

they will fix the bug where you don’t die if you fall and use death shroud.

I wouldn’t object to this as long as it covers all forms of denying death from fall damage. (Such as Mist Form etc) because it is an unfair advantage in WvW when you are able to flee via base jumping.

Of course we’ll also get to see eles and necros across the board screaming ’Y U NERF THIS?!" because most people think that Nerf and Bug Fix are interchangeable.

I don’t think the Mursaat have anything to do with the Jade Sea. This is for a couple of reasons.

The Jade Sea being petrified being a recent phenomena in the game’s history that was caused by Shiro Tagatchi. But more, we have no knowledge that the Mursaat ever went as far south as Cantha or even Elona for that matter. Though being ‘unseen’ I guess is evidence enough to say they could be there just hiding more and being less intrusive.

The other issue I have is that the Jade Constructs, despite being called Jade Constructs… well don’t actually look like they’re made of Jade until the WiK where they introduced the more powerful Jade Cloak. I’d wager that for the most part, they’re made of Obsidian, which would make sense considering their huge base of operations in the Ring of Fire that we went and destroyed.

Though it is possible that they are in fact, made of Jade, I’d find it more likely that if that’s the case the stone probably came from the area north of Kryta. Jade may not be specific to the Jade Sea in that Jade is a regular stone. The only reason why Jade from the Jade Sea after it was petrified was just the most abundant source of it that we know (being an entire sea being made of it an all.

Now… to answer your previous question I think some things can be said of the Mursaat considering what we know of them and the artwork that’s been produced. Do they eat? Likely, but it’s not something we would consider ‘eating’ in a conventional sense. Here we see that they don’t appear to have mouths beneath those masks they wear, and so I’d wager that their physiology would probably consume something less tangible than food. Being an advance race of spellcasters perhaps they syphon ambiant magic for nourishment? We don’t really know, anything we say about the Mursaat diet would at best be speculation.

How do they hover about? Well they all do have fluttery little feather wings, but I’m not certain if these are functional. We do know that the wings are organic/part of their body and not part of their armor. Again, I would mark this up to ‘magically superior race’. Why walk when you float around like a bauss?

Lastly for their dress code, I actually see them very much akin to the Altmer of the Elder Scrolls Universe. They have an overarching philosophy of perfection. They likely all dress the same because they see their garb as the perfect aesthetic for their race. What we know of them is that they have a superiority complex and won’t stop at anything to show just how much better they are. Why else were gold and flashy things like they if not to depict themselves as Masters over other races. Alternatively, we only ever fought Mursaat. We don’t know if this was the uniform of those Mursaat trained for battle or if this is in actuality their every day dress. The only ‘cities’ if you want to call them that, were military installations on the Ring of Fire. These weren’t homes, they were fortresses built to defend the Ring of Fire from anybody who tried to get to the bloodstone and fulfill the Flame Seeker Prophecies. So I don’t think it would be unheard of to suggest that these Mursaat were all part of some kind of Military (sort of like Generals over armies of Jade Constructs and the like).

While I agree with moving nodes around more, I don’t think it’ll have a big enough impact on the gold farmers scrounging up crafting mats. This is because the most lucrative way to do it is by using a bot that teleports around the map. Ideally I’d really like to see something that prevents this script implemented, but not sure how they can do it while movement is client side and not server side. :/

Anyways, as long as they continue fixing bugs I’ll be happy. People get too hung up on these Patches. Just glad I haven’t seen people saying ‘MAKE OR BREAK TIEM!’ as is the norm for the forums, despite the game being out for more than half a year now.

That’s really cool. Not a fan of the game’s art direction, but I love the implementation of that housing.

However, when seeing this, all I can imagine is the pitchforks and torches being raised by the ‘rest xp’. Am I the only one who imagines the entire forum breaking down into another ‘Omg! Now I has to grind 4 Housing!?’

I’d say that GW1 even without modifications to HP would stand a fair chance. Protective Spirit and the huge amount of direct heals that a Monk can dish out, along with UA would probably tip the scales in the favour of the GW1.

HOWEVER! That being said, I really need to make my voice heard on this ‘100S OF SKILLZ!" thing I keep seeing brought up. Sure, GW1 had more skills. It also had redundant ’double’ skills that were created to bridge the gaps of the different expansions. So these skills are effectively write off.

Then you also have to remember that that a huge portion of these skills have done had huge functionality changes. I mean, nobody even started using Aura of the Lich until after it was turned into a proper MM skill. The same goes for skills like Masochism and Barbed Signet among a slew of others that only became viable skills after years into the Guild Wars Franchise.

Even then! The Game was not secretly called ‘Build Wars’. If you went into PvP and didn’t run up against a cut and paste PvX build, you likely mopped the floor with them. By the end of its run, Team builds in GW1 were so streamlined that you would get booted if you could run the current flavour of the month build. HA teams were focussed around interrupting and spikes and these team builds were often very popular builds at the time. You did not see a huge amount of theory crafting. It was a huge amount of who had the better twitch reflexes. This is why Mesmers and Rangers were so amazing, because they could shut down casters and monks if you didn’t pay attention to them.

TL;DR? I’m tired of the rose-tinted specs that I see around here every time I see ’WHERE’D ALL DEM SKILLZ GO’?

As a GW1 vet, I can’t explain just how much I’d be disappointed in Anet if they went and made the Mursaat a playable Race.

In Prophecies, these guys were freakin’ terrifying. When you first encountered them, with no infused gear, and you just dropped dead in a few seconds left going ’Wtf was that? What just happened? What the hell did this thing do?!". The difficulty curve that was created after the Desert from the guys and the stone summit was actually painful. They were one of the few enemies in games that I genuinely did not like to fight (this is pre-factions/nightfall era).

Further Anet continued this tradition of making them painful not only with the last mission in the War in Kryta Guild Wars Beyond content, but they added to the story of these guys in GW2. We found out that they not only fought alongside the other races, but they abandoned them when the going got tough.

These guys are villains. The only thing thing they care about is themselves. When the Flameseeker Prophecies were found out about, they did everything they possibly could to prevent them in fear of the genocide that awaited them if they failed. They did not care about how much blood they spilled so long as it wasn’t their blood being spilled.

And all of that would be wiped away to make these guys a playable race. Anet would have to make us empathize with them (a la Charr), they would have to completely 180 their personality from self-serving and selfish to something akin to the Asura’s ‘self-serving’ but still willing help.

The story of the Mursaat, and ultimately their defeat, was that they could not help the other races. Their view of being superior to all other races is what led to their downfall. They could not finish the war against the Dragons because it was not achievable by themselves alone so they phase shifted away from the plane to protect themselves. They saw humanity not as a potential equal, but as fodder for the Bloodstones to keep their race alive(despite this still having a beneficial effect of keeping Titans out of Tyria, the Mursaat did so only because doing otherwise would have meant the end of themselves). Everything they have done was done purely for themselves, everyone else be kitten They’re like the Inquest, only instead of being a ‘faction’ of a race, it is their entire race.

Do I want to see them in game again? Yes, very much so. However this race of villains, which is precisely what they are, are amazing specifically because they are villains. I hope that Anet never make these iconic bad guys anything but what they are.

I had a bit of a ‘what if moment’ and think I may have solved the mystery around this piece of Concept Art.

What we’re looking at is a rendering of a scrapped Krait Mechanic.

Back in GW1 the Krait weren’t subject to being so closely resembling a Naga. They had a mechanic where they had a basic, shared form that could evolve into others. This was a skill actually in game called Metamorphosis. Using this Skill a Krait would, as worded by the skill itself, transform into an Adult Krait which came in a wide variety of different body types. The most notable among these, and relevant to the discussion would be the Krait Necross and the Krait Hypnoss.

The Krait were previously able to radically alter their body type, and among these changes they could acquire wings or in the case of the Necross and Hypnoss, an additional set of arms and legs.

At the end of the day though, GW2 decided to scrap this evolution style mechanic, and I think this piece of Concept Art was done before that decision was made showing a possible ‘Warrior’-style Krait Metamorphasis.

Actually if you think about it, the Dragons have all been very decidedly near Magically saturated areas. Primordus being the exception that we don’t know precisely where he is, but the fact that there was a magically saturated nation (Asura) living underground makes for a prime feeding ground for him. As does the Ring of Fire if Anet ever deign to let us return there.

The other Dragons seem equally concentrated on these types of areas, with maybe Bubbles being the biggest ‘well we dunno’ due to the whole ‘could be anywhere in the freakin’ unending ocean’. Kralky went to the Desert which was not only a home for the Forgotten, but also a home for humans from Elona seeking assension but also the place of Augury Rock and the Tomb of Primeval Kings, two very magically linked area’s in the game.

The Jungle Dragon has been hinted at being in the Maguma Wastes, the former home of the Druids, who’s even empty husk like bodies are said to contain magical power. I also doubt we’ve seen the last of these once human creatures so it’ll be interesting to see how the story goes for that end of the boat.

I won’t repeat Zhaitan since I think Narcemus covered that one more than adequately. It’s fairly obvious why he was pretty happy to just chill out on that peninsula.

Finally there’s also Jormag. Though there are no direct magical fonts of power that he seems to be aiming for directly that we know of (if I remember he descended from further north than even the GW1 map depicted). He has however made significant attacks against both the Kodan and their Sanctuaries which are not exactly lacking in magical artifacts. I think the biggest anomaly with Jormag is that the Eye of the North, though abandoned, is remarkably not under seige by Jormag which I think suggests either it has lost its magical nature or that it’s magic is derived by something that we don’t quite fully understand yet.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNAodWjMat7Vbia8bKAJFX/M0jcx15oCFTVAeA;TEBA1ytEaJ1StlSLKoM/I+xKkDKpQLQGgcA5Zw0AA

Here is something I whipped up. Alternatively search this forum for the Mr. Freeze build (too lazy to search it up and link ya, sorry). With Spite (30%) the three rune sets (60%) and the sigil of chilling (10%) you’re looking at running +100% Chill uptime at all times. With a Focus put on Soldier’s gear to max out defensive stats with giving a decent nod to Power you should on paper be able to keep people down once they blow their cool-downs. It becomes a battle of their auto-attack against your chills. Even if they’re constantly cleansing you should be able to keep your stacks on them so long as you don’t just face-roll and use your chillz efficiently.

Mind you. I don’t PvP. I WvW on the odd occasion (And I’ll be the first to admit that I suxorz) so this is all ‘paper-craft’ which is next useless. Figured it’d at least give you a shove in the right direction. Assuming you can’t find the Mr. Freeze build.

Actually for a Full +60% from Runes you can go 2 Runes of Ice + 2 Runes of Svanir + 2 Runes of Grenth. In addition to the +30% Cond Duration from Spite.

For traits you’d be looking at Chill of Death (auto Spinal Shivers) in addition to Spiteful Talisman (increased range of Focus I think gets it bumped to 1200) and definitely go for Staff Mastery (shorter Staff Cooldowns means more Chillblains) and Greater Marks (wider AoE). Chilling Darkness Would also be a good way to go if you wanted to take Well of Darkness for additional Chillz.

As others have mentioned, Chill is definitely more for the domain of WvW and sPvP. It’s usefulness in PvE is hard to gauge besides its ability to snare Enemies such as Cripple.

Well without knowing exactly which weapons you’re using, it’ll be hard to suggest skins. Anyways, I’m a bit jelly, I like the Kodan Weapons. I thought that their Ice theme dove-tailed nicely with the Chill effects we be rockin’. That aside, for a Staff have you considered the Pirate Crook? It’s a Karma skin that you can get off the vender at the end that Pirate-Themed JP in Lion’s Arch. Can’t remember its name at the top of my head.

Dagger Skins… well truth be told I find Daggers to be fairly small. I haven’t seen any that really struck my fancy enough to go out of my way to get, since I can barely see them most times.

To be fair Konig, Anet had originally planned for Mursaat to be wiped out. It was only after an outcry from the Player base that they went about writing them as ‘maybe not completely dead’.

I’d also be curious if there are Titans left. If the Foundry of Failed Creations is under Kormir’s control, logically that’d mean souls are likely no longer being tortured into the demonic abominations. However with no idea of what the situation is in that part of Hades, there’s no real means of knowing that one for certain unless one of the friendly folk from the Lore department decide to weigh in.

As Narcemus just said, both factions have much to gain from co-operation. The Flame Legion have just lost their leadership, so not only are they in the midst of regime change that opens other possibilities because they are also losing. It may be time to switch tactics.

At the same time, you the Dredge in the midst of a Revolution. I would wager that since the Dredge have become increasingly more open to ‘ends justify the means’ work methodology (they already were willing to work with the Inquest which pretty much viewed them as an inexhaustable supply of test subjects). So an alliance between the two is actually very feasible. In return for numbers and machine, the Dredge get access to magic which they previously weren’t known to use. The Flame Legion in selling their magical expertise, get access to soldiers and technology. Both factions stand to gain considerable territory against both the Charr and the Norn (who have been hampering each of them since launch).

I’d hardly consider this a ‘out of character’ development, considering where these two factions have been placed. And I think the link to a figure who is banding together antagonists would actually make the most logical Nemesis for us. The Pact has proven itself remarkably well equipped for dealing not only with Dragons but with the Antagonistic groups that plague each of the 5 major races. No doubt after the Pact took such a strong role in dealing with the Flame Legion other races and factions who aren’t directly aligned with the pact would become increasingly worried.

viennapleads.1784:

My necro is a deceptive woman. She wants her enemies to be surprised when a flesh golem pops up under their feet. XD

Yes! At launch I considered something similar, gearing my Necro in purps and pinks and then equipping the Bifrost so that people double take when I start using necro skillz. Unfortunately Legendaries are too much work for a cheap gag. :/

Hmmm, the way it’s written they could have come into contact with powerful Saltspray Dragons like Kuunavang, however them having lived and abandoned the continant is not evidence towards Kuunavang is a Dragon Champion. Forgotten used to live on mainland Tyria before their self-styled exodus to live away from Human Kingdoms.

I will not argue that Kuunavang isn’t special. She, along with all the Dragons of Cantha, are certainly unique. However that still does not equal “Dragon Champion”. This would be in the same fashion of calling ‘Shiny’ a Dragon Champion (Elder Shiny Dragon worshipped by the Skritt as the legendary Shiny).

I would argue that the interview you’re stating doesn’t really add to much. Simply bringing her into a discussion about Glint and Rotscale means they were looking at the broader picture. Technically speaking every campaign has ‘Dragon’ type enemies from Guild Wars 1. Some of these are still in game (Drakes), but these do not make them Dragon Minions or Champions. I personally expect Kuunavang’s to be a different story than simply being a Champion.

Forgotten in Cantha? Where precisely do you see them, as I can’t recall any moment when they were involved in that Continent. (Not being difficult for difficult’s sake, genuinely curious as it would go a long way towards convincing me that Kuun may in fact be a Dragon Champ)

I find the fact that your Theory hinges on whether or not Kuunavang is a Dragon Champ. Something I find remarkably hard to believe and have seen no plausible evidence to support it. The fact that Glint was a Dragon Champ does not instantly mean that Kunnevang is as well.

The Forgotten freed Glint, and were subsequently here caretakers. I have gotten the impression that the Forgotten, whenever they involve themselves with anything, it is a jailor’s and watchers. I think they feared that Glint may relapse and return to her Master, and so diligently watched over her in the same manner that they maintained forces in the Domain of Anguish to keep watch over Abbadon.

Kuunavang has no such jailors. She has, as far as the history of Cantha goes, I have not seen or heard of any word that insinuated that Kuunavang was anything but friendly towards humans (save for the nasty business of being corrupted by the Jade Wind). Further, Glint remained visibly a creature of Kralkatorik, a Crystal Dragon Champion. After fighting Kuunavang, her corruption is removed both mentally and physically returning her to her former state. As far as I’m aware, the physical effects of corruption have yet to be removed from any Dragon Spawn.

So until somebody can supply solid evidence that Kuunavang is a Dragon Champion, I’m simply not buying this theory.

Edenwolf.6328:

Cof gear does not look good on necro, we are not pyro mancers. It woukd look epic if we could change rhe flame colour to green.

Best looking armor for necro hands down is the arah dungeon set, it was practically built for necromancer.

Each to their own. Being able to dye the red fire motif’s would be awesome, but I’m not holding my breath for it.

And for some reason, the Arah set just doesn’t jive with me. I dunno… I find it bland. I like the ragged and tattered aesthetic of the CoF chest/legs. This in addition with the effect given to the entire arm of the Player (though usually hidden by the gloves) is pretty nice. Overall I enjoy it, and I think my necro looks like a boss.

The best part is of course I can set up my armor to look however I like and you can do the same. Player Customization ftw

@Nay: Which is why I don’t play with PUGS. I find it frustrating and I stop having fun, whereas if I’m with a Guild group it’s fun, we’re on voice chat, havin’ a good time. Laughs are had, dungeon’s done quick and efficient like. Besides, I find too many people are super ‘lets skip content’, and I’ve found a guild that doesn’t rush through a dungeon as fast as it can to try and get epic lootz.

My experience tells me though that this dungeon’s difficulty is not a Necromancer specific problem. It is a player problem (and sometimes bug problem, but oddly enough in all the times I’ve done AC I’ve never seen this Destha glitch I keep hearing about. Not saying it doesn’t exist, just saying I haven’ seen it). The dungeon no longer lets you go face roll, you have to think and play intelligently. You have to pull accordingly and fight strategically. If anything, the things I’ve seen in this thread has re-affirmed my desire to avoid PUG groups.

This is a relatively small bug, but it’s one I noticed soon after getting some pieces of this set.

Currently the chest piece for the Light Armor CoF set will overlap the skin for the Leg armor on your character with the CoF legs. This is regardless of whatever other armor (if any) you are wearing on your characters legs. Attached is a screenshot with my characters inventory, to hopefully better describe what I’m saying.

Minor issue, but one I hope gets fixed in the next patch.

I’m honestly confused by the amount of times I see this argument about our Corruption skills. We have Dagger and Staff 4 to transfer conditions directly from us to another person, as well as DS 1 when underwater. We also have access to Well of Power to transform those conditions into boons (bleeding becomes Vigor, FYI). Oh, and we also have a Healing Skill that is more powerful for each condition that we cleanse off of us. These condition’s don’t make us weaker, they are better viewed as additional weapons to enhance the skills or to get the maximum benefit from them.

If you’re going to be jumping in and out of DS a lot, I don’t think you should super need the Crests to buff up your tankyness further. You’ll be jumping a lot between two health bars so your ability to soak up damage will be pretty hefty (keep in mind that your DS hp pool is equal to your health pool, and toughness reduces damage you receive in and out of DS). So I don’t think you’d be too bad off with maximizing the Might duration. I personally run with a Focus, so a Sigil of Peril to maximize the duration of your Vuln stacking wouldn’t necessarily go a miss, which would have the potential to increase the damage you deal and the damage they receive.

If we’re talking looks, here’s mine attached to the post.

We’re talking stats, it honestly depends on what kind of build you’re running. There really aren’t that many ‘glassy’ builds for Necros, because we lack burst. Though I’ve never tried it personally, if somebody wants to chime on it, but I think the current ‘high crit build’ looks something like 20/20/0/0/30 making use of DS for the most part. Which would make best use out of Zerker gear.

Personally when I run a powerbuild it’s for tanky-ness with some decent hitting strength. So my power build currently has P/T/V armor with Zerker trinkets (I’ve heard good things of using Knights instead of Zerkers though so definitely something to look into).

Otherwise, Condition builds will be using Carrion armor sets/trinkets to maximize the tick damage. Necros have a LOT of means of extending bleed condition duration so you should be able to focus entirely on the damage output in a condition build.

Hope that helps.

My guild and I do AC on a nearly daily basis. I have 0 problems with AC. The only time I usually get knocked down to death now is if I don’t see the Howlwer King’s mob of scavengers spawn behind me. And considering I only do dungeons on my Necro, this has NEVER been an issue with me. Before or after patch.

No matter how you spin the poison kittenick it’s broken. Why?

Who does it effect? The person being revived or the person reviving. If you have the slower revive effecting the person down, there’s no way that the person down can cleanse the condition because there are no cleanses in downstate (to the best of my knowledge). So somebody would have to cleanse them, then start reviving them.

If it’s to effect the person reviving, you only have to wait until they start, pop a poison field on them (of which there are MANY in the game) and then they’re stuck there for an additional 33% of time. Unless of course they stop to cleanse themselves and start up again. Then we go back to the point where it’s hideously easy to reapply poison and you’re back at square one.

The number of ways that there are to speed up a revive are significantly smaller, and besides time warp, all have a very high risk factor. So what this change would essentially do is make it certain that reviving no longer happens. The risk to get bogged down for even LONGER resesing somebody will essentially punish co-operative play to the point that the only people ressing will be Res Signets off their cool down. Time Warp is far powerful a gamechanger to blow on resing somebody when it can be better utilised with a full party instead of 3 players (1 person ressing, 1 downed, 3 fighting).

First. You linked a picture. Not an animation. However I stand by my point. Thematically it is not the Necromancer. We are not Warriors, we do not bull charge (regardless of the effects attached to it, that’s what you’re wanting). When we jump around it’s re-appearing with some kind of PBAoE (Flesh Wurm and Dark Path). Yes, the projectile is slow and tracking and speed buff would go a long way. However I still prefer that then my necro running at opponents like a ponce. If I wanted to charge an Enemy, I’d tell my flesh golem to do it for me.

Lol at the Poison want. That’d be unbelievably broken.

Personally I’d just be happy for Marks to trigger against every boss fight in the game at this point. Though Downed Players would definitely be a good start.

Also a mark that chill, bleeds, and fears seems redundant. You may as well just have it stun and bleed because they won’t be go anywhere anyways. Also this won’t happen. We already have an AoE fear in Staff Five so them making a new mark to give you another AoE fear will simply not exist unless they start adding Marks to other/new weapons.

As for Dark Path being a physical charge? No thanks. I enjoy the shadow stepping, more in theme to what the Necromancer is IMO. Though a buff in speed to the projectile wouldn’t be missed.

@Chips: I’m not arguing the effectiveness of MMing. I will however say that NPC Heroes were all around better at it. I would run around with half of my parties as Necros, two of which would be MMs using Jagged Bones and Death Nova. Though not gonna lie, there were also days when I’d set up a Rit with Explosive Growth, Aura of the Lich, Death Nova and Summon Bone Minions. Good times. However I still think MMing was a boring amagamation of just repeatedly spamming enchantments(NPC’s did it better and more efficiently) and blood of the master/heal area (depending on your Secondary Class).

I kept my Nova bombing to JQ though to be honest. My PvE builds were usually SS or Blood Magic. I absolutely loved it when they changed the functionality of Barbed Signet. Bleeding everywhere!

I’d say, if they do feel the urge to consume one another, that their efforts at the moment would be to consolidate their own power, grow in strength, and if the opportunity were to arise giving them the opportunity to steal the power of another ED they’d take it. Currently, what we have seen, is that the Dragons are very much keeping away from one another. The arguably closest were Kralk and Zhaitan (until further info on DSD’s location is given, I do not consider being next to water near DSD).

But yeah, I suspect for the most part, the ED’s are more attacked to killing/consuming everything but each other. It just makes more sense. Why go after the possibly most dangerous thing besides yourself when there’s all this minion fodder with hundreds of magical artifacts to just gobble up? It’s the most pragmatic decision you can make to be honest.

@Bas: My dislike for MMing stems a bit from GW1 where MM’s were really just glorified babysitters. Spamming enchantments on yourself and sporadically remembering to cast death nova one of your meat sacks was tedious and boring for me. Sure it looked cool as hell, but it was also annoying as all hell if you died or couldn’t respec into something else when it came to endgame boss fights (Lich, Shiro, Abbadon, Urgoz, Kanaxai, Grape Ape Mallyx, Dhuum… all of these boss fights were impossible to MM in due to no corpse to rebuild/build. So between being a largely ‘niche’ PvE role, and one I’ve found dubiously boring, well… you can imagine why I’d be unthrilled about the prospect of ever doing it in GW2. All things considered, AI can still get tweaked a little, but all in all, it’s a decent build.

In full agreement with you on this Konig. The Consortium are just doing what they do best, trying to turn a profit on a crappy situation. With the influx of refugee’s (ie homeless people) into Lion’s Arch, trying to provide housing for them on Southsun is the easiest way to turn a crab people infested hell hole look slightly more accommodating as a vacation spot.

Though I’m definitely intrigued by just what the dredge and the Flame Legion intend to get out of this arrangement. I mean, the Flame Legion are obviously after the Charr to regain their control over the society, but I’m at a loss at what the Dredge look to gain from this alliance. Any time they do agree to help ‘good outsiders’ there’s usually some kind of carrot for them. I just don’t see that carrot here, unless they hope to usurp Norn lands?

@Rennoko: As far as the Blood Fiends pop heal, I agree it’s a little on the weak side but considering that it takes only 2 attacks for the Blood Fiend to recoup the loss to equal Consume Conditions’s base healing, I’d say it’s finally acquired the status of ‘useable healing skill’.

Anyways, I’ve finally tried out the Axe again after my long hiatus from it after the Betas. I gotta say, it’s a kitten good weapon, especially for parties. I also tried running an MM spec on my new P/T/V armor and was VERY happy with the results. I ran AC Path 1 and 2 using it, and though I was having some survival issues against the howler king one of my minions was ALWAYS alive during the Ghost Eater allowing me to tank him while the rest of the party focused on activating the traps.

Also this should be noted that I still don’t have the armor optimally spec’d yet. Was probably gonna go with Rune of the Pack and Zerker or Cleric trinkets, but all in all, was happy with the build. I think the least responsive pets were Bone Minions, but if I was close enough in combat, popping them by me still dead damage so it wasn’t a biggie.

This is also coming from somebody who generally dislikes MM roles.

EDIT: Also should note that I never dipped below 80% hp against Ghost Eater and my blood fiend and golem were usually the longest living minions of the lot.

I’m curious as to why people are getting angry at Anet buffing stuff some people don’t use… isn’t one of the chief complaints of this game is that there isn’t enough build variety? If you feel you have access to different weapons with different strengths along with access to more utilities that you find appealing it goes towards solving issues surrounding build diversity.

Now half of what I’m reading is people complaining about them buffing stuff nobody uses. Of course they will. You were complaining that nobody was using it.

I for one, am off to try out axe. Always loved running a focus, but I may finally test out this Axe/Focus combo. Though it’ll be very hard to give up my MH dagger. I freakin’ love that thing.

He’s a crazy theory. What if… now this is a big if… what if Dessa’s lab is a Fractal.

Think about it. She’s from a decidedly different era of time, a time before both Sylvari and the creation of Lion’s Arch as a free city (this is a roughly 70 year window between 1230 and 1302 source).

Ultimately, my crack-pot-lets-put-on-some-tin-foil-hats theory aside, I still think the best bet is that she’s simply been stuck in her lab working on this for the past 30-50 years. However, the theory can easily be debunked if somebody would be so kind as to point me to where I can find out how old the average Asuran lives.

I’d say that Sylvari being “100% immune” is a bit of an exaggeration. Corruption still effects them, just not in the same way it effects other species. We’ve seen them poisoned by Zhaitan’s corruption in the Lynchcroft Mere in Kessex Hills, and we do know if exposed to enough corruption they will die from it.

The advantage that they have is that don’t appear to change into Dragon Minions from Corruption though. Or at the very least, they don’t appear to turn into Branded or Risen. I’m not entirely sure if Jormag has ever tried to corrupt any of the Sylvari for us to know positively of whether or not he can corrupt them, though evidence does support that they cannot become minions as far as we know.

I’ve said this once and I’ll say this again. The best MM’s in GW1 were Heroes. The Computer’s ability to handle all the enchantments from AotL or Jagged Bones (mutually exclusive) to appropriately using Death Nova (until the last few years with no Minion AI it was down right impossible to cast this on the Minions close to death) along with the change to Masochism (another enchantment). No player could juggle this as effectively as a computer. Then of course you know, there’s the whole endgame PvE that was impossible to bring an MM to because the end bosses would destroy all the minions, and with no corpses available make them useless in a boss fight, left swating at bosses with a staff or scepter. Oh yeah. Real useful.

Nope, best Necro build as far as DPS and general Utility throughout the game was the SS Curses Necro hands down. Spiteful Spirit was virtually unchanged throughout the entire game. The only change being, I believe, that the enemies were given better AI to deal with the damage. Which didn’t even matter because going to Hard Mode (enemies attack faster) actually improved the Elites ability to doll out damage. The SS Necro was pretty much required in all high end farming that (save for a few Dungeons that were relegated to the A/P Shadow Forms).

So can we all stop putting on our rose tinted glasses about how uber the MM was? The change to the skills was to prevent the very thing I mentioned and nobody wants to address it. By removing the Corpse spell cost from the Minion Spells, Anet is trying to make the class actually viable in high-tier PvP (ie not JQ and FA and AB which were largely considered PvE missions with other people since the points were all acquired by killing NPCs) as well as Endgame content boss fights. But by removing the corpse requirement the had to make the number of minions more manageable because if you could just continually spam a minion skill for Minions you’d have an infinitely large army at your advantage (one that doesn’t have health degen might I have).

No, I’m not saying the current system is perfect but it’s definitely a step in the right direction to make Minions more accessible to players in more formats of the game.

Lolwat? Saying every human enslaved centaurs is kind of like saying that every human is responsible for the Foefire. The thing about humans in the game (kind of like real life) is that they’re kind of a lot of them, and though I won’t defend Adelberns crimes, you can’t really judge the peasants, knights, and others who died in the Foefire and turned into twisted caricatures of themselves for what happened.

Likewise, you can’t really say all Humans enslaved centaurs when in reality, the only humans who have been historically documented doing that was the nation of Kourna. Similar to how Humans enslaved centaurs, humans also helped to free those centaurs. So what are we? Saviours or slavers in this black and white world of yours.

But since we’re going on about everybody’s sins, lets please not forget the entire effects of the Searing. Not only did the Charr nuke an entire kingdom, but they showed in that one moment of time that their desire was not purely to regain the land they had lost. Their armies swept south into Orr, which eventually lead to the Cataclysm (an event that would not have happened had the Vizier not been pressured to do something about the huge army on the Orrian doorstep) but they also marched over the Shiverpeaks and almost destroyed Kryta. Last I checked, the Charr didn’t have any claims to either of those countries, but hell why not right? What’s a few thousand slaughtered humans if it means more land, eh?

Also since you know, we’re using Adelbern’s sins to paint all of humanity black that means we cannot overlook the Searing or its ramifications just because the Gold Legion were in charge. I mean, if we’re going to judge entire races by their leadership, then this is technically how you have to do it.

Unfortunately for this way of thinking, you can’t judge entire nations by their leaders. The entire point of these moments is that these leaders were driven to the edge of madness and desperation. Was Adelbern wrong in what he did? Of course, but why did he do it? Narcemus touched on it, but I don’t think he followed through enough. Adelbern had lost everything. Think about it. He lost his son, his heir, but more than that he lost a good portion of his kingdom to the migration, he lost the faith of his people. What’s more, when the Charr were finally at his doorstep, in his eyes he had lost his Kingdom as well. He was a man with nothing left to lose. I always saw Adelberns descent into madness, and it was madness, a sad story, watching everything get stripped away from this man who in the end only wanted to defend his homeland. And that’s what it was, it was his homeland. The Charr can say the same thing all they want, but Adelbern and all the Ascalonians who died there were also born there.

These issues were never meant to be black and white, especially with humanity. Humanity in the game has spawned some of the greatest villains. From Vizier Khilbron (who has arguably killed almost as many Orrians as the Charr), to Shiro and Varesh and Joko. However Humanity has also had some of the greatest heroes in the game as well, and to judge them only by their villains is a slight to every player who took part in Tyria’s history 250 years ago.

For one, shouldn’t this thread be in the Lore section?

Anyways, that aside as others have stated there’s plenty of NPC dialogue to show that, while there is a push for a peace treaty between Humans and Charr, there is certainly still tension between the two races.

As for the Peace, consider it a very pragmatic solution to the overwhelming problems each Race is currently facing. Without the Treaty, Kryta would be effectively entrenched in war with both the Centaurs on their doorstep AND supplying Ebon Hawk with the resources to combat the Charr advance on what’s left of their territory in Ascalon. NPC’s even comment on the exhorbitant cost of using Asura Portals for the war effort, yet alone the cost in lives and other valuable resources that could be better spent pushing back the Centaurs invading their homeland. Then of course there’s the rampant bandit problem that is heavily suggested to be linked to the White Mantle as well as the Caudacus attempting to usurp the throne and causing trouble as well, though I think it’s been suggested that he’s more interested in Power for himself than potentially linked to the White Mantle. Could be wrong on that one.

Secondly, the Charr are still bogged down in 4 military war efforts that consume money, resources, and manpower. Where before they were fighting Ebonhawke, the last human refuge in Ascalon and an effective thorn in their side. They also have to contend with the immortal ghosts of Ascalon who continually respawn to cause them trouble all across their territories in Ascalon near the wall. There’s also the Charr Civil War against the Flame Legion still attempting to dominate the Charr and reclaim their lost glory. And of course we can’t forget that since Kralkatorrik’s awakening, the Charr also have to work towards containing the corrupting influence of the Brand from spreading further. If they don’t, any victory they do achieve over getting Ascalon will be for nothing if the land turns into a large corrupted domain of the Crystal Dragon.

Even with the treaty though, the Charr and the Humans still have to spend resources trying to round up the last Renegades and Seperatists who want nothing more than to continue the war between Humanity and Charr. Further if the Gold Legion does regain control over the 3 High Legions, you can bet your bottom that they’ll throw out whatever Peace Treaty Jennah managed to put on the table and take another crack at World Domination.

So long story short, ending this conflict allows both Humans and Charr to put more resources in very real presents that exist on their doorstep. By pulling back Charr from the war against Ebonhawk, they free up supplies and men to better contain Ghosts and the Brand which loom very ominously over Charr lands and just north of the Ebonhawke. A peace between both, though not welcome with open arms by either party, is a clear and pragmatic decision to face decidely larger threats.

CHIPS isn’t claiming a sportscar out-hauls a semi. What he’s claiming is that my analogy is incorrect because a theif pulls more weight (ie is more valuable in a team fight). I may not agree with the man, but he’s not a lunatic. :P

Right. So what if a lot of people loved Cantha? I can just as easily say ‘A lot of people hated Cantha’. Anecdotal ‘bunch of people <insert this> really means nothing. And clealry NCSoft seem to have an issue with it, and a bunch of shrewd businessmen aren’t going to be making decisions all willy nilly with no reason. For every person who likes it they also have to compare it with negative cultural impacts. Yes, negative cultural impacts. You know, because things you interact with on a daily basis actually do have effects on how you perceive your surroundings. Particularly surroundings you are not likely to encounter personally save through media.

Further, they may also be as tired as I am of the tropes that (Yes, even Cantha) often rely on in order to maintain Western interest.

Wanting more mobility is one thing. However the comparison being used (Necro vs. Theif mobility) is like comparing a 16 wheeler to a Sportscar. They’re completely different, and the truck will never be able to accelerate or tear down at the same speeds so pining over the difference is a useless gesture that gains nothing. If you like the Theifs mobility, then cool, play a theif. Just don’t go onto another classes forum and complain that other classes can’t give that kind of mobility when the class is designed to be one of if not the most mobile class in the game.

People really need to read some Edward Said’s work on Orientalism (and I mean an actual book/essay, not a Wikipedia Article) and realize that representing the East, especially from a Western point of view, is not easy and can be very problematic. Cantha is very much included in this, despite however much you guys want to think it is flawless.

Relating this idea to GW1 is kind of missing the mark on what GW1 let you do. Choosing your Class had a tangible effect. It effected what armor you could wear, it effected what your Primary Attribute was, and it also effected which Runes you could use effectively making some attributes better than others.

In similar ways Class selection in GW2 has similar effects. It effects what weapons and armor you have access to. It also effects what kind of Traits you can set yourself up for. It also effects base stats such as HP.

This idea smacks me as ‘wanting your cake and eating it too’. You can’t have everything. By removing options it increases the value of certain things. Also I’d shudder having to carry around potentially 8 different sets of Armor and Trinkets, along with 16 potentially different weapon sets (giver or take for Under water Weps). So yeah, terrible idea.

Technically speaking, if Anet were to disallow gambling in the game, they’d have to remove RNG’s like the Mystic Forge and Chests which essentially work as Slot Machines.

Anyways I’m pretty sure if Anet does comment on this, they’d likely just point out that anybody participating is liable for any losses incurred or whether or not you scam everyone in an elaborate gambling ring pyramid scheme.

No offense, but Dodge is a huge part of this game. I’m pretty sure it was made a Daily as a means of getting players to try to do it part. The whole ‘no trinity’ and ‘taking care of yourself’ means that Dodging is one of the best Damage Mitigations in the game, and if you’re going into High End content and not dodging you’re not only hurting yourself, but you’re hurting your Party who has to spend more time taking care of you as well.

I sympathize that your lag is giving you issues, but it’s kind of a core mechanic of the game and the point is to train people to use this mechanic effectively and intelligently. Also dodging 15 attacks in one day is kind of laughable. Find an AoE and roll around.

As for the effects, I think it’s largely because of the silence of the Gods. Remember that the previous statues in GW1 were only displaying those effects when we had Favour of the Gods. However now the Gods are Silent, so arguably we’re just in a prolonged case of no favour of the Gods.

I believe the new statues were inspired by the Malchor ones. However I’m not entirely positive of this, so somebody feel free to jump in and correct me if I’m wrong here.

Love the class, it’s my main and I can’t seem to focus on any other class long enough to level them to 80. Closest I got was a Guardian to level 64. That being said, I will say there are frustrating aspects that I suppose you could chalk up to ‘quality of life’ issues that I hope Anet get around to sooner or later.

The number of enemies that are immune fear, making our most available CC useless in certain fights. Staff Marks not effecting objects, which in turn make them useless against certain boss fights (I’m looking at you Ice Elemental in the Fractals). Then there’s the whole ‘we suck at destroying objects that make a LOT of PvE content a chore’ issue. I’ve never really liked MMing so I tend to avoid the little meatpuppets, so I wouldn’t know how they’re doing. I keep seeing mixed opinions on the Forum on whether their fixed or not, so if you go that route hope for the best but expect the worst.

Overall, I enjoy the class. I’ve never been denied a Dungeon group and nobody’s ever told me Necros are trash in one. I tend to switch between a Condition spec and P/T/V spec these days now that I got two sets of Armor/trinkets to jump between.

EDIT: Also lawled hard when I read a complaint about Necro mobility and then comparing it to a Thief of all things. Of course a Necro can’t keep up with a Theif, they’re the most mobile class in the game.

I’d say that it using the new statue is a very pointed decision by Anet. After all, we’ve seen the older statues tucked away in places like the Brand and underwater in the Godlost Swamp. My gut tells me the old statue was likely replaced after something happened, or perhaps the fact that it was replaced means that up until recently people still made pilgrimages to it. The lack of people there currently is no doubt symptomatic of either the Steam Creatures/Underworld beasties that now fill the area.