Guild Wars 2

It’s really simple, Anet.
Your customers dig apples (metaphor for capes).
You grow apples and sell them to your customers → you make money and satisfy customers.
So tell me, why are you growing bananas? Nobody asked for bananas.

GW2 is not oriented on farming for a specific item, though you get a ton of lodestones in Fractals; if you get the ones you don’t want you sell them to buy the ones you want.

Yeah healing signet is a joke in both PvP and PvE.

This heal basically provides less hp/s than surge/healing without any “extra effect” like surge’s adren boost or mending condition removal.
Sure, in theory, if you let it heal you for a lot in between uses the “overall” heal is better than other skills, but in reality this game revolves around burst damage, burst defenses and burst healing.
You cannot possibly sacrifice your heal skill to get 200hp/s.
I tried a setup with 417hp/s but it simply doesn’t work in any endgame content.

Ranger’s Troll Unguent is an example of a good regen-based skill.

2x sup monk 2x sup water 2x maj sanct = 40% boon duration.
SoR boons (including swiftness) will last 42s over a 48s CD, this means you have a 6s downtime on swiftness in between SoRs.
If you have 10 tactics it gets to only 3 seconds downtime.

I’m still not understanding why this is a “living story” and why I should care for it.

Thieves are pretty easy when you learn that your utility slots need to be slotted with stuff that’s useful in PvP, and that the most useful utilities are invul/block/stunbreakers that counter spike builds completely.

On my Warrior I can kill you in 1.75 seconds OP.
So I’m twice as OP as Thieves? No, you just need to learn how to pvp in this game.

I once lost to a Ranger.
Had 3k health left and all on CD because I stomped the other 2 rangers tagged along with the one that killed me.
Rangers need a buff and yes this includes experiences in tPvP too.

But hey, hey.
If you guys don’t want to be buffed to the level of every other class, I’m fine with that.
The more you say you’re fine the less guilty I feel when I have 15k health left and you’re lying horizontal.
I’d just like to feel like I somewhat earned the Glory/Badges I got, though I’m ok with some freebies too.

Lyssa runes are not worth the slot absolutely.
The only worth-mentioning boon is Protection which is really just 5s.
Earth runes provide better results and add a 5sec anti-projectile shield when 20% health, much better.
Forge runes too, 12s protection @ 50% health is great.

Rhysati.4932:

No, it really isn’t. Medieval fantasy is lord of the rings.

This is more a steampunkish sort of world. There is nothing medieval about teleporters, helicopters, submarines, tanks, guns, etc.

Medieval, by definition, comes before the industrial age.

There are a ton of medieval fantasy books that involve all kinds of high level technology sitting into a medieval setting like GW2.
Medieval fantasy came centuries before LOTR, read some books.

Oglaf.1074:

How about this?

A slow auto-attack chain with the final hit causing your foe to be pulled towards you?

Think Guardian Hammer auto-attack kind of slow.

Long cast times on auto attacks is pretty terrible design for a melee class.

I used this setup in frac40+ and it worked pretty good, Banner healed 144hp/s and my ePower was around 4800 due to 4 perma boons.

You’re lvl 20 tho, it’s a long way to go.

Devs (I think robert) said they’re working on it just a few weeks ago.

panzer.6034:

When was this ever supposed to be a medieval fantasy anything? I bought this game and saw robots, lasers, helicopters, airships, sniper rifles, engineers with gun turrets, etc. I guess because there are swords that must mean “medieval”?

That’s actually what medieval fantasy is. Medieval setting plus magic/technology.
Commercial gimmicks don’t belong to medieval nor fantasy though.

That wasn’t the focus of my point though.

Because Warrior’s power scales esponentially with gear and traits, Mesmer is more reliant on his weapon skills instead.

You will have to explain where your crit chance comes from more in detail.
For instance I have 66% base crit with food.
+9% from trait (when full adrenaline).
Fury +20%
Accuracy sigil +5%
Total = 100%

Make a video.
Chances are you were not full adren, or fury got stripped/ended.

xarallei.4279:

Errr….but I like the plushie backpacks! My charr runs around with her charr plushie backpack, it’s pretty amusing. And you can actually use them, unlike the majority of the style items. I don’t mind occasional items like that. I do want to see more real armor skins though.

Ok but when I bought the game I bought an epic world in war and fantasy, not Hello Kitty online.
I’m tired of “joke” content, I want things that fit the lore and make me feel epic.

You can’t sell me an epic setting and turn it into a japanese shopping center.
If I want to laugh I go on 9gag, GW2 is a fantasy role playing game.

Anet, this is a medieval fantasy setting.
You make capes and the like? Great. Many of us even requested them.
What are plush backpacks, gangsta hoodies and riding suits in a game with no horses?

You’re turning a masterpiece into a commercial joke.
Please, stop it.

THEmeltor.7295:

You’re right, my bad. In that case, you are losing about 80 hp/sec if you’re taking Healing Signet over Healing Surge, assuming adrenaline is maxxed. But then again, if you are using Healing Surge to get an adrenaline boost as well, you’re dropping your hp/sec significantly…the only way to get the max heal out of Healing Surge is to use it when you’re maxxed on adrenaline, which means if you use it at low level you’re only getting 174 hp/sec out of Healing Surge (plus whatever number you’re getting out of Adrenal Health, which will vary because of your fluctuating adrenaline levels)

So it’s a little more complicated as I wouldn’t know how a person is using Healing Surge. If you keep your adrenaline at max and only heal when it is at max then yes, Healing Surge is better, overall, for hp/sec. But when you start burning your heal for the adrenaline boost as well, it gets a bit wonky.

I may be completely off-base…I am what you would call ‘a rookie’.

EDIT: I should note that I’m not trying to say one way is better than the other…I just like theorycrafting and playing with numbers. I do use Healing Signet + Adrenal Health in PvE and it seems to work quite well….I think I like it mainly because I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to the point where I’ve looked down and said “Oh crap I need a big heal”. I pop in and out of ranged combat because I like using the Longbow + Sword/Shield combo and I guess that helps me stay alive better than someone who is continually staying in melee range. Plus I don’t have alot of condition removal in my build and the sustained health/sec helps combat conditions a little bit. Just my thoughts.

You said it all.

Surge is better healing than HS if you don’t use adrenaline.
Surge gives better DPS if you dump adrenaline before healing.
Surge gives more staying power (and thus DPS) due to burst heal.

In any sector of combat Surge does a lot better than HSignet.

THEmeltor.7295:

Healing Signet + Adrenal Health at max adrenaline is 320 hp/sec (0 healing power).
On a per 30 seconds basis, that means you are healing 9600 hp total.

A stage 3 heal from Healing Surge is 8440 (281 hp/sec over 30 seconds)

Yeah, you compared HSignet+Adren vs Surge alone.
Surge+Adren > HS+Adren.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

mantis.6459:

Playing a game just to “have fun” and pass the time is not my idea of a good game.

you could’ve simply posted that, it explains everything about your position.

That seals the thread.

Though on his defense I have to say GW2 doesn’t provide much fun to those who look for a challenge.
Beside high Fractals everything can be done by a 4 years old kid mashing buttons randomly.
Fun and challenge are strictly tied when talking about videogames; there isn’t one successful game that provides no challenge whatsoever.

LB is more consistent and reliable damage, proc application, gets a root, a blast finisher that is immune to reflection, etc.
I only use Rifle when I’m forced to (i.e. I need to keep 1200 range).

Mell.4873:

Some classes may beat it but becouse this is largly passive it trumps any casted healing spell.
So its simple
banner regen provides 130 hps
Adrenal health: 120 hps
Healing Signet: 200 hps
So thats 450 hps with no cast time (I guess the banner is)

I have all the heals here.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuAXA8GRArcRdHl5UWlZeF9tWVlISjJ2cnZCeHJ6eEE

That removes your main heal skill tho.
Which also means you lose 283hp/s worth of healing from Surge, let alone adrenaline refill.
You actually lose hps by using Healing Signet.

I know rookies don’t realize this but not having a heal skill forces you to stay out of melee a lot to wait for health to regen, which means a big DPS loss.
Let alone the DPS loss from tossing a full adren skill and recovering said adren immediately with surge.

Danicco, I prefer to get Shield CD down because it greatly improves the Protection uptime and Projectile reflection uptime, but your idea works fine too.

DeathPanel.8362:

Why not trait empowering might instead of the 30 in the first line?

Dumping RH strength greatly decreases your DPS.
I’d rather dump Valor if I was to go like that.

The strongest Guardian build has about 2000 less effective power than a Warrior’s classic zerk build.
Instead of doing theory check on buildcraft.

Also consider Warriors get 100% crit chance permanently.
HB + Axe auto equals to 8k DPS. A Guardian cannot deal 8k DPS.

You can blame it on devs all you want but you perfectly know it’s standard MMO player behavior.
Regardless of how a MMO is made, most players will try to find shortcuts, exploits, faster ways, speedclears, and ignore anything that isn’t filling their virtual wallet.

I’m intellectually honest enough to admit I’m likely to skip events unless they are worth something or challenging.

Levistis.8356:

To me, it makes this game a lot more fun than others. Preference, I believe.

Yup and that’s why we have many games instead of just one.
Each offer different things.
This one was made for people tired with traditional combat mechanics so no point in asking for a trinity.
It’s like asking an Italian restaurant to make McDonald food because you are used to it and you like it more.

critickitten.1498:

I remember one thread like that, yes.

Selective memory?
I remember 2 forum pages filled with just “no endgame” complaints, I remember all IGN review sites filled with “no endgame” comments, “no endgame” videos on youtube, Guru filled with 100-page threads begging for more progression…
It was at least one month of this mayhem before we got Ascended and everything settled after one megathread of complaints, with the rare anti-Ascended thread here and there from then on.
GW2 would be pretty much dead if they didn’t pop Ascended tier to give the majority something to do.

As much as I agree with you that stat progression is bad, the majority rules Anet’s decision not me and you.
They put Ascended after a great demand and threatening of mass quits, not because they woke up one day and Colin said “Make a tier again!”.

As long as you can keep your ePower at 5000+ other stats can go where you want.
I strongly recommend getting your armor to 2300 for 20% damage reduction without becoming an aggro magnet (high amounts of armor make mobs love you more).
Vitality is quite inefficient to stack on Warriors.
If you try to get more than 30% your ePower will go downhill so don’t go too far.
Your survivability comes from Endure Pain, dodges, evade, block; you can’t live off armor rating.

Jemmi.6058:

I agree and disagree.

I do not think that the Trinity is needed in this game.

However, I do like the Trinity. My preferred class is healer. I like keeping my team alive, making hard judgement calls (i.e. sacrifice the almost dead caster to make sure the tank survives or w/e) and healing people randomly out in the world. It provides a feeling of need/value/importance that I do not get anymore. I always feel expendable, and that I could easily not be there and it’d make no difference.

Try a full support Guardian and you’ll have that feeling back.
I played my Guard full support and it heals for bazillions while providing protection to everyone and making a team almost invincible just like old school healers.

There is one single thing I miss from GW1: Challenge.
Outside Frac40+, GW2 poses no challenge whatsoever, sadly.

There was a huge thread about this and Anet explained themselves.
Simply put, as they always said, first they finish the vanilla game and then build expansions.
It doesn’t meant they aren’t planning expansions, pretty sure Cantha and Elona can wait until the vanilla game is finished – but for now all the focus is on free content (which could also mean more lands).

I believe it’s best to have a quality product than a bloated game with a ton of empty lands.

Here is how I resolved it about 2 months ago.
Control panel → hardware → sounds → double click on device → advanced → select 24 bit 48k.

Here is a min/max build for GS/Rifle.
I used it up to frac 50 so you’re sailing in calm water, though I’m using LB now since the patch.

I started selling Ascended rings to vendors…
I think that Fractal, being the “endgame” of PvE, should reward all forms of Ascended gear not just rings.

Guys let’s be realistic here.
You play some CoF1 with a signet build and say “oh this game is a DPS zergfest!”, it’s pretty common.
Then you play frac 40 and realize you got it completely wrong, that you’re actually tanking, healing and DPSing at the same time; if you don’t do this your team won’t get anywhere.
And there you see how much deeper this is compared to any other MMO combat.
Some people won’t even get to that point because they can’t get beyond the pidgeon-holed 1-role mechanic.

What we know for a fact is that the majority of this game’s population plays GW2 because it’s different.
Because we’re not limited and locked into one thing, we manage all aspects of combat.
Some will never like or understand this, let them post superficial reviews that mods will change into “in my opinion” titles and they’ll fall to page 10 in two days.
No need to give this more importance than it’s worth, we get this thread 2-3 times a month from some newbie, you don’t really need to rethink the theory of evolution every time.

I run frac40-50 easily, I’ll give you some pointers since your issue seems pretty clear.
I’ll have to be blunt though, so you can tell me to go die if you want but you won’t solve your issues until you realize the following.
You stack health and armor, you want “well rounded” stats that allow you to sit into damage and hit, you lock yourself into the same 3 utilities because they give you (terrible) healz since you think survivability is healing.
The sooner you drop this mentality the sooner you become a good Warrior.
This game’s hard content requires constant dodging/evading/blocking, there is no setup that will make you stand still and take beating.

The key to Warrior success is constant damage spikes with continuous damage avoidance.
Unload burst, roll offensively, burst, roll again and swap into arcing then burst, then whirl into evade then EP into HB, etc.
Roll and burst. Anti-damage CD and burst. Swap burst and roll. Burst and evade. Etc.
Ever played D3’s WW build? You avoid stuff and damage at the same time, the concept is the same.
Predict what will happen in the next seconds, keep DPS maximized but know when to withdraw.
Drop PVT and get rid of all that condition removal, conditions are a nuisance at most 99% of the times.

For instance this is how you full melee on Imbued:
Pop in, HB 25k, whirl away 10k, offensive dodge in 3k, auto auto auto 8k, dodge off into arcing 8k into PD, rush in 7k, HB 25k, whirl away 10k into BT+Fan, engage in again 10k+ dmg until low health then combustive into surge out, in again and 25k plus whirl, it’s all over again.

Burst in, move out, leap in again, evade into burst, dodge into burst, swap into busts, burst skill into surge.
This is how we get tremendous DPS and survivability, static gameplay is the bane of a Warrior.

Something like this would be pretty effective.

Axe/Shield works well with an “Invul build” based on EP/DP/Sblock combinations, like this.

Heightened Focus (20 disc) adds more DPS than Stick&Move.
Also, Endure Pain is fundamental and much better than Signet of Might (since you’ll be sporting 25 might anyways).

A Guardian on a DPS build has the same survivability of this but double damage.
Warrior isn’t born for tank specs…

Columba.9730:

I suppose that the final argument has to be that thieves are supposed to be opd in WvWvW to make up for pve.

Except that they aren’t OP in WvW nor UP in PvE.
We just have a ton of people in WvW who lack the mere basics of PvP aka anti-burst skills, and a ton of noob thieves in PvE who can’t do anything but think their class as a WoW rogue and fail terribly at anything remotely challenging whereas my Thief runs 40+ fracty singlehandedly.

Why is it I wreck Thieves in bunches?
I’m not even one of those asians with mad gaming skillz, I just happen to slot my invuls/blocks and 2shot thieves while blocking their stuff.

The only point of unfairness Thieves have in WvW is the pre-loaded CnD+steal which is mostly impossible to dodge unless you’ve totally seen it coming.
But once you hear the “clang” of CnD on your armor if you don’t hit the block/invul button you’re to blame.

Sarrs.4831:

OH OH OH

You don’t implement “ONE WAY” to make everyone happy. You have several ways! That way Mister Dungeons can play and get Ascended gear in his dungeons and be happy, and Mister Fractals can play and get Ascended gear from his fractals and be happy, and Mister Wuvwuv can play and get Ascended gear from his wuvwuv and be happy!

Everybody’s happy!

Then what about Mister Event, Mister Crafter, Mister TP broker, Mister lvl 80 in the tutorial map, Mister “I play 1 hour/week but want all the best gear handed to me”, Mister Bean, Mister Bison and Blanka?

We make 800 ways to acquire every single item in the game?
You perfectly know what would happen.
People finds the easiest way (aka the one that can be grinded faster than others), blame the game for being a grindfest.
Ta-da!

Complaining is inner of gamers these days, they’re still crying for exotics even though they’re basically throwing it at you in 100 different ways now.

sostronk.8167:

There is obviously alot of grinding in the game. The argument that you “don’t need to” is completely redundant. There is only so much content in this game. Seeing Anet implementing all these carrots on a stick for people scares me. Why? Because its a clear indication by them that they are not intending on giving this game the development attention it deserves. They brought out a pretty good game. Now they are dropping it like a dead horse. It saddens me.

I’m not sure where you have found this “grinding” in GW2.

I have 3 fully geared character and I never needed to farm or grind anything.
Got their exotics by completing 60+ maps and selling rewards for gold.
Got ascended rings by simply playing fractals and opening chests with rings (and I have 40+ unused ones in bank).
Got my ascended amulets naturally by getting laurels over time, which most times didn’t even require me to go out my usual gaming route.
Got my ascended back by simply using the mystic forge with the capacitator I got with relics that I got by playing the game.

So where is this whole required grinding monster that haunts GW2?

Here is a fact for you guys:
Every single solution to endgame progression any company tried in the last 20 years of MMOs led to complaints.

If it’s dungeon RNG = “boohoo RNG bad design”
If it’s dungeon tokens = “boohoo token grindy bad design”
If it’s daily activities =“boohoo I need to play every day bad design”
If it’s easy to get or cosmetic = “boohoo game has no endgame”
If it’s karma grind = “boohoo but I don’t like events bad design”

Name one way that would make everyone happy.
You know what? There isn’t.
People will continue to deem “forced” and “grindy” everything and the opposite of everything.

That’s why I keep my DR on 20%.
Why sport 30% and take a ton more hits so it’s would be like wearing wet toilet paper as armor?
Even if you have a Guardian how can be sure he’s not a Warrior wannabe with 2100 armor and full """DPS"""?
Go 20% and combine dodges/evades/blocks/heal, no need for more.

dmitrycx.7465:

couple more questions
1 what sigils can be used here? is it always sigil of strength or it can be replaced?
2 so.. didnt get why it is 25\25 not 20\30
what u get is +3% damage not all the time. you want your endurance be full to have chances dodge out or smth. While in 30arms u can get 33% to get vulnerability on crit that is not really so bad and you need just 3 stacks of it to have the same damage improvement for you BUT this also will up other team damage by 3%. Or you can take ‘crits get adrenaline’ which is really great if you use axe\axe for the second set (you can swap, evisicrate, whirl and you are full again), or anything else.
Basically i dont see why stick and move can be better

1. Depends on what weapon you use.
For GS go Accuracy, for Axes Accu/Force, secondary wep I suggest Perception or Energy.

2. I hate stick and move too, especially since dodges recover quick when using Vigor or SoS.
I much prefer to get 30 arms and get more traits or Furious/Last Chance instead.

I wanted a build capable of high DPS but high support too for my 40+frac everyday runs.
Other high DPS builds I tried offered very little support and unpredictable DPS, while a full support dealt low DPS and grew boring to play, so I built both high DPS and high Support into one build.
Ran a 46, 44 and 42 all went smooth from both a damage and a team survival perspective (all 3 with not-so-pro PuGs instead of guildies, so I could test the failsafe limits).

Highlights:

• High DPS (4600 ePower).
• 71% base crit chance, up to 100% with Fury/Perception stacks.
• 15k health 2700 armor.
• Great support; mostly from high team-wide protection uptime and wide access to projectile blockers.
• +50% boon duration.

How to use
Before a fight unload Empower from staff, shout Retreat then switch to Sword/Shield.
The trick is applying 21s of protection to your team right before the first clash through VoC, SoJ, HtL, then apply another 13.5 when it’s almost over (SoJ followed by HtL once it loads), and continue to apply both plus VoC when it’s off CD.
Versus projectiles we apply WoR, when it’s over we pop SoA, then go next the ranged dealer and ZD for a total of 21s of projectile protection – 10s later you’ll be able to restart this cycle again.
During the above just continue DPSing with your sword and spamming VoJ; there is nothing to stop your reliable crits from happening while you support as the majority of your support doesn’t require stopping your DPS.

Learning Version
If you are new to Guardian/Fractals or just not used to this setup, I suggest you start with an AH version which has a less support (you lose protection from VoC and WoR CD/duration) but makes you basically immortal just like any other AH build out there.
Even though it isn’t as much supportive, it still offers the same high DPS and offering good support.
Once you get to the point where you skill surpasses the need for AH heals, start with the former build.

Results
Most groups will notice the easy rolling through dungeons and will thank you/friendlist you, and wonder if you’re support even though you’re technically a DPS character.
Everyone will feel like Warriors due to the sturdiness and might you give them all the times so any class will be useful and give its best.

Hope you have fun with this

yLoon.5289:

1h Sword doesn’t need love, it needs the player to learn how to play ir right!

There isn’t a lot to “learn” from 3 attacks really.
First is DPS, second is AoE blind/gap closer, third is anti-projectile+worse-than-autoattack’s-DPS.

The problem is they are on too long CDs considering how weak they are.

It happens only when you manage to hit the mob and he can’t hit back.
Just make sure that you hit stuff that can fight back, this system is in place to prevent people from abusing the environment for free kills.
Sure you can keep telling yourself that sittint on a cliff and farming stuff that can’t reach you is “strategy” but it really isn’t for intellectually honest people.