Guild Wars 2

this is an Anet balance dev….pretending to be a troll player….just to test mesmer player reaction to the future “Skill Bar” segment.

as compensation, they will attempt to fix 3 skill bugs…..1 will be fixed, i will not, and one will get worse.

Shriketalon.1937:

And so I conclude this simple piece of advice. Let the Biconics step out of the spotlight, and use a rotating cast to explore the fascinating facets of this world. Because at the end of the day, there is only one core protagonist for the Guild Wars Franchise…

…and her name is Tyria.

while i don’t agree with all your criticisms, i do LOVE your proposed solution….as it meshes with the concept of “living world” far more accurately than the current narrative w/ its static cast of characters (and more traditional fanstasy storytelling device).

viewing a singular event/catastrophe by how it effects a rotating cast of characters (how they react to it) is hardly a new storytelling method…….its done in lit/tv/film all the time. no reason an MMO can’t have that level of sophisticated storytelling.

adding you as player character/protagonist to the formula is slightly different, but opens up a ton of possiblities. if each episode had 2x or 3x as many missions (but maybe shorter in duration/scope) we could play different “mission paths” depending on how we react to these rotating characters (this could give purpose to the silly and underdeveloped agression/dignity/charm system) …….this also make playing the episode over again more enjoyable, as we can plat different paths. this probably changes the 2-week schedule to 3-week or 1 month, but i think it would be worth it.

as long as this is still bugged…i’m not bothering (i like doing the entire chain in one go).

theoretically, i like LS being a mix of instance and open world………but if you guys don’t have the capability, pls keep it instanced like the first 2 eps.

Slaptjip.4895:

I cannot understand why players complain about precursor prices. They are needed to make a legendary weapon, the weapon of all weapons.

They are suppose to be rare, they are suppose to be extremely difficult to get.

To retain their epic legendary status few players must have one because if Anet had to heed to every QQ’ers demands precursors would be worthless and everyone would be running around with a legendary to the point where legendary will not even be worth a transmutation stone.

To be very honest, buying a precursor from TP for 1200 gold is not all that difficult either.

To buy mine I did only what I liked.

1) I run AC p1,2,3 & CoF P1 &2 daily.
2) I enjoy EOTM and BL wvw.

Doing the above I made a fair amount of money in a short time.

I have also (every time I had 10 globs banked) dumped them into the mystic forge using the 10x clover recipe.

That alone (considering T6 mat prices) made a massive fortune. That is also how I got the bulk of T6 mats for gift of fortune. The rest came from drops and putting in lower the instant buy offers in the TP.

The fact of the matter is 99% of the QQ comes from people who wants a easy legendary whilst they expect it to remain at legendary status. This is impossible.

The other 1% QQ comes from people who lacks the ability to think out of the box on methods of making money in a game where making money is already extremely easy.

So, be bold, think out of the box, choose an activity you like that provide some gold and you will over time get a real legendary and when you get it, it will feel better then a random blue drop.

agree. money to buy a precursor in game is not that difficult, once you have all the t6 mats you need. i don’t get the complaints in that regard. if you made it your only goal, you could have a legendary within a year of relatively casual gameplay (a couple hours a day).

but still, “buying” the main element of the legendary weapon by either doing/grinding “normal game-play tasks” or using a credit card to convert gems to gold, is hardly “legendary”. the weapons don’t really hold any status…and most aren’t even that rare.

based on the “ready-up skillbar segments”, Late Sept/early October at the soonest….then wait another year for the next one.

Prysin.8542:

Relshdan.6854:

enjoy the sarcasm of the OP post, but the buffs to weak weapons/kits of the first two classes leave me intrigued.

*out of place serious response:
would like to see a reason to play P/P Thief…do it ANET

PP with venoms is rather nice. You use steal (with stealth trait) then use the stealth skill followed by unload. Rampagers set does really nice damage this way. You need to run a secondary set that you are good with, i prefer DD for cnd and leaping in smoke fields.

intriguing…gonna o mess around on the build-maker. thanks.

lol….yep…still bugged………argh

Filaha.1678:

Eshady.9146:

Filaha.1678:

Eshady.9146:

IMO, stick with instances so that challenges like “Masters” or a “Hard Mode” (GW1) can be added and used for a reason to actually replay episodes. I mean look at LS2 E1&2. It was instanced, had a lot less problems at launch, if something bugs for you just restart and still.. it had open world co-existing beautifully with the story.
Why did we go backwards to the LS1 player mash up debacle?

Because people complained that everything was instanced and they wanted more open world content.

See the pattern here?

I doubt very much they rewrote everything back into open world content because people complained too much. With that being said there is no pattern and I find your lack of faith disturbing, Anet does what they want how they planed it. So again I ask, Why go backwards as a planed installment?

The pattern is:

Anet does something.
Players complain about it and want it another way.
Repeat.

If they kept it instanced, people would complain about open world.
If they make it open world, people complain it should be instanced.

A strange game.

agree.

and funny…..some of us like it both ways (sometimes instanced, sometimes open world event) !

am about to try it out (assuming latest patch fixed things)……hope it’s not dumb zerg (but fear it is because any coordination/multi-mechanic open world event would cause a forum rage meltdown…

this stuff is permanent now….so the opening day bugs are no where near as damaging as before (and they weren’t that bad even when the content was temp).

darkace.8925:

Vlad Morbius.1759:

This is what happens when your QA department is off site and third party.

It’s also an issue of the QA having only two weeks to find and report bugs and the programmers having even less time to fix them.

its both…..and its why we get nothing but tooltip fixes for bugged skills/traits for all but one patch per year (and half the time they don’t fix it, or they introduce a new bug). Then we get to wait another 6-8 months

Bugs always happen…..always will. its how fast you fix them that matters.
Anet is good about fixing events bugs………awful at fixing skills and traits. its kinda embarrassing…which is why the QA liason hides from all but the most silly and inconsequential bug threads (graphic glitches and players who can’t read the UI so claim things are bugged).

okay….guess i’ll just do the first 2 eps on my alts while i wait for ep 3 to be playable.

Kentaine.4692:

As cool as that would be, unfortunately as history has proved those massive events lose popularity by the end of the first week they’re out… which means to have this happen would probably kitten off a lot of casual players.

Locking the progression behind a massive raid style fight is really a problem when it comes to living story because it is a STORY first. You wouldn’t read a book if after a month it came out you could not get half a chapter any more because there wasn’t enough people interested in reading it anymore.

Adding a large raid to Dry Top… and a dungeon too… I can see them doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mordremoth battle becomes a new Meta boss raid in Dry Top (or the dungeon and one of his Lieutenants becomes the boss raid) to be put into the cycle of the other ones in the world like the Claw of Jormag, Tequetal the Sunless, or the three wurms.

agree. can’t lock story behind them, but certainly could add them as stand-alone, but story-related open world events.

and with new zones, why not design another event like Marionette? loved the breakdown of one large group into smaller groups of 20-25 (to defend) and then down further to parties of 5 (to take down a boss with a specific mechanic). no zerg.

the only coordination it required was getting 20-ish people in each lane. easy to coordinate, fun to play….with a real element of potential failure due to relying on other groups. as long as the rewards were good enough and metered in increments of success (like Teq and TriWurm are….in marionette’s case, maybe a reward for each chain severed), i think it would get played.

there isn’t enough small group PvE play (25-30)…so it would be great if the new “epic” events they add could siphon maps into groups that size.

if doing world bosses, i’d remove sw/f and equip a staff instead. its phantasm deals +% dmg for each unique condition on a enemy…World bosses will have every condition on them. basically stay in GS and only swap to staff to keep its phantasm up.

and as others have suggested, you base traits will be 4/6/x/x/x (i’d go 4/6/0/0/4 or 6/6/0/0/2…..the first focuses on buffing your phantasms, while the second is mantra-oriented and focuses more on buffing you)

it’s been suggested countless times……..they aren’t going to change the once or twice a year balance patch schedule. those who do the balancing know its a terrible iteration schedule, but they don’t call the shots.

they will never tell us, unless the implementation is imminent, because:

1) it would significantly alter the economy/TP prices
2) anything they say about it (general or specific) will be viewed as a “promise”. breaking one of these “promises” results in forum meltdown and constant “Anet Lied” threads.

no one knows if they are working on other ways to get precursors, or implementing new legendary weapons (probably get armor or back pieces before new weapons). so its best to just let it go.

if you like one of the current legendaries….craft it. if not, hold out (or just craft an ascended as a placeholder) and hope they surprise us.

enjoy the sarcasm of the OP post, but the buffs to weak weapons/kits of the first two classes leave me intrigued.

*out of place serious response:
would like to see a reason to play P/P Thief…do it ANET

river drake is the best PvE pet…period. add a cat for your swap pet, and you are good to go.
high survival stats…..predictable blast finisher….hard hitting range F2 that stacks might beautifully w/ RaO.

i’d say that makes drakes useful and not a hindrance like most pets. so not OP, but actually an effective addition to your ranger’s offence.

jcbroe.4329:

The other side of the buff is that on top of the recharge speed, traited, we now have a 48 second recharge elite that allows us to interact with the “on elite” runesets, which is a HUGE bonus.

this this this.
outside of might on axe auto (will make hybrid/condi ranger much more interesting w/ strength or aristocracy runes), this is my favorite ranger “buff”

Celestina.2894:

Tbh, I think both are niche sets. The ley lines weapons really only look good for the glow, the color/texture of the rest of it just clashes with kitten near everything.

works perfect with zodiac armor….or guardian skill effects……use staff for ele w/ zodiac armor, and focus for my guardian.

ambrite…if you actually like them, they only work w/ a proper dye job.

some nice buffs/lateral changes announced…….but where are the nerfs? Not that ranger needed any, but it seems they chose to only show buffs. I can’t imagine engi isn’t getting some nerfs…

my mesmer is parked at the end of a jumping puzzle, not to played again until some bug-fixing occurs

damage is only part of the equation, unless you are in a very small group (which is extremely rare in the megaserver era). in large groups 100+ it seems to not be about total damage.

i run pure zerker strength rune self-might stacking on all my builds and have about a 50% champ bag rate during WB events (often in melee). others have speculated it has to do with who tags the boss first and that after a certain amount of tags, the rest of the players get no bag no matter how much damage they do duyrng the fight….its a hard theory to confirm, tho.

also want to say Kas and Jory disappear after a while even if you don’t get downed (not that it matters) during the boss fight. i will say they stink at getting aggro for you during the arrow cart phase.

other than that, i have yet to experience the other bugs in my 5 times doing the mission.

BrunoBRS.5178:

i’m just glad they added a new full set obtainable through specific gameplay, even if it’s a set i have no interest in.

this.

though i agree in the wish that the Ley Line weapons were the craftable ones.

wow…..some decent and much needed buffs (to LB and Axe). very cool.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Aza.2105:

I feel healing power is a good stat, the only problem is (as you mentioned) that some healing skills do not scale well with the stat while others do. Guardian’s minor tier 2 trait selfless daring scales extremely well with healing power. But then a trait like altruistic healing scales poorly with healing power.

Likewise healing signet scales poorly with healing power, but has a high base healing. I think the devs should make all healing skills scale well with the stat. But I have a feeling they do not do this for the sake of balance.

It’s silly, considering that in order to get healing power up there, you either need to use armor for it which sacrifices damage output in most cases, or you need to put a full amount of points in the traitline for it, which again sacrifices damage output. I do understand their fear of people becoming too tanky though.

you have to make sacrifices to have high healing power…

disregarding all the skill bugs ( i can’t, but some can)….a fully geared 80 mesmer is very fun to play….and you will spend the bulk of your time playing the character after it hits lvl80.

that said, it was the least “fun” to level up of all classes for me (and this was before the new trait system that only makes it worse).

basically, the two milestones for leveling are: being able to take DE (this greatly increases your ability to survive) and next is being able to equip 3-stat gear (this allows you to finally deal decent damage). basically….it’s frustrating to level until lvl 60+….so you really only have “fun” leveling, for about 20 levels.

i would suggest waiting to do the bulk of your world exploration until you reach those two milestones, because what really makes leveling fun is exploring and unlocking the world…..even more fun when you have the optimal skills/traits/gear.

so much talk about balance…so little implementation. its nice to talk……to see where the devs might want to take the classes…..but so little ever materializes.

last real balance patch (skills/traits) was Dec. 2013…..the only other balance patch was mainly the rune/sigil redo in April.

having to wait another two months for the next real balance patch is insane.

implementing many balance changes every 11 months is horrific balance iteration. why not spread it out and do a few shaves/changes every month? waiting almost a year for devs to recalibrate the numbers or reverse miscalculated changes is so frustrating.

….and this doesn’t even take into consideration bug fixing broken skills and traits……which seems to happen at an even slower pace.

lordkrall.7241:

I love how about 4 months is a very long break nowadays. It is after all shorter than most releases in other games AND we did get releases during that time as well (Feature Patch, Festival of Four Winds).

it kind of is if you take the unconventional approach they did (very regular, but very small doses of mostly temporary content vs. very spaced out permanent expansions).

obviously expansions cost money, so i wouldn’t be silly enough to expect Anet to give us the same amount of content for free…….but 4 months without new playable content is a very long break when you consider most of what you were given over the course of the first 1.5 yrs was taken away from you.

now….given the new permanent LS model, that same 4 months will be much less of an issue next year (for me, it would be no issue….having 1yr of new content to replay).

my main point, tho, was simply that the “very long break” just happened. so i imagine this next break is simply there to introduce the next feature/balance patch.

YES pls.
i don’t like the skins (but oddly enough, some people seem to love them) and thus don’t want to make one. hate to have to discard my “RNG win” for nothing. right now, it wastes a space in my inventory.

Zaxares.5419:

I’d rather they just make the Unid Fossils be tradable. I’ve got two Fossils now and since I don’t want the Ambrite weapons, they’re completely useless to me.

same for me……….i don’t want mine.

they just took a very long break between seasons, so i would hope that means a feature/balance patch happens during this planned LS2 break, with some actual BUG FIXING!

Ariella Goldstein.3562:

Relshdan.6854:

i would have to disagree with OP. having one mechanic to work around makes this a “teaching moment” that has been long overdue in this game. so much of the game is just run up to mob/boss and AA til its dead (because there are so many ways to “skin the cat”). Anet devs realize the main player base has been trained poorly by world bosses and melee stacking….so they are retraining the general masses through the LS (especially with the new mordrem mobs)…………kudos.

Teaching what? Retrain? What are they retraining? This is supposed to be a fun game, and it’s not supposed to be played in any one mode. Giving several intelligent options in order to overcome obstacles, ones that give the player agency in the fight, are better than being depended on a kludge system of slow moving escort quests through minefields.

I hate this kind of talk, it stinks of elitism. It’s a game, it’s supposed to be fun. people should be able to play their own way at their own pace, and not how any one person thinks it should be this way only. Options are good things, intelligent options even better.

they wanted to maintain a “shield mechanic” for the boss……..so give me 3 “fun” ways to break down the shield, that doesn’t include DPSing it.

i will easily tell you why they won’t be fun for some segment of the player-base.

if its one mechanic, that can be attacked from different angles (as it is…defend and then dps, while avoiding condis…however you see fit), its fine….and preferable. it teaches you to attack a problem differently with different builds. i’ve done the episode with different classes and builds (power zerk glass w/ little condi cleanse and hybrid rabid/zerk with vedry nice cleanse) and i have to attack them differently (this also includes the mordrem mobs). this is fun….yet makes it easier for casuals to figure out, since its the same mechanic no matter what un-optimized build they bring. they’ll either learn to get better in the build they are in, or adapt their build to be more efficient. the cool part now, is “most efficient” might not be the same zerk build its always been.

i would have to disagree with OP. having one mechanic to work around makes this a “teaching moment” that has been long overdue in this game. so much of the game is just run up to mob/boss and AA til its dead (because there are so many ways to “skin the cat”). Anet devs realize the main player base has been trained poorly by world bosses and melee stacking….so they are retraining the general masses through the LS (especially with the new mordrem mobs)…………kudos.

Rainshine.5493:

Relshdan.6854:

but it could be really interesting if healing support was actually needed…though probably better for instanced content than open world…..but maybe something in open world where blasting waterfields was necessary for non-tank builds to survive

I’m still dreaming of the day I can load up my cleric gear and Aquatic Benevolence in PvE and not feel like a horrible leech. Why should it only be instanced content where that’s needed?

EDIT: To be very clear, it’s not needed in instanced content now. I’m saying make it needed for both, not JUST instanced content.

only said that because i know how hard it is to organize open world groups and classes laying their garbage fields over what would be needed….i would love it in open world as well(in a vacuum where players cared about what fields they were laying down).

EdwinLi.1284:

I maybe concerned a bit about Taimi’s choice of idolizing but she been acting like a normal kid that just don’t want to listen to adults but only smart because she is a Asura.

making her a villain you must fight mear the season’s end, would thus be brilliant. most players actually like and care about her.

how twisted would it be to see her pull off some really diabolical things? now whether we actually have to kill her, or “cure” her, would be up to how dark/cruel Anet writers are.

darkace.8925:

Now if they can work in some crowd control and support necessities (or close to necessities), we’ll finally have some real build diversity in PvE..

i think CC from range is a really effective way to deal with the wolves (my hybrid warrior melts them with his LB…pindown shot in lvl 3 combustion shot…and watch it burn ). i imagine a SB or LB ranger could do something similar with muddy terrain.

but it could be really interesting if healing support was actually needed…though probably better for instanced content than open world…..but maybe something in open world where blasting waterfields was necessary for non-tank builds to survive

Emissary.3792:

Disagree with OP greatly. I haven’t had this much fun fighting mobs since… ever. I still beat it all pretty handily, but on DD ele built for WvW and very robustly built. I will probably go back and redo this episode on characters with much different playstyles (zerk BS thief?) and see if it presents a bigger challenge, or is even viable.

If nothing else, this is probably the ‘right’ way to balance the current zerk meta – make sustain more important with enemies that pose actual threats in different ways. If anything this should encourage more build experimentation.

playing it with full zerk 5/6/0/3/0 S/P-SB thief…very fun, but i’d be toast with out all the blinds.

Substance E.4852:

Enemies that punish you for auto attacking and encourage active boon stripping? Like we needed more incentive to not play ranger…

you have plenty of evades, conditions, cc, and Healing Spring…..you’ll be fine.

Zaxares.5419:

I got one from the 2nd chest I opened in the new area of Dry Top. The worst part? I don’t even want it! I’m not interested in the Ambrite weapons, but I can’t sell or give away the Fossil. Dentt doesn’t even offer me anything else for a Fossil apart from the Ambrite components!

same here. i have one, but have no interest in those weapons. it just wastes space on one of my mule alts. really wish the weapons could be sold on TP.

can’t disagree with OP more………these new mordrem mobs are EXACTLY what PvE needs. Boon Stripping, CC, Condi Dmg, Condi Cleanse, Blocks, etc. are now worth doing.

so much more fun to fight now (and yes, you can still zerk if you are careful and pack a few skills/traits that do the above things).

it is silly…..but why would you not come prepared with a decent stock of kits/tools?

wish it was a JP.

takes way too long.

rng is rng.

the end reward for completing the story is pretty lame (i got 2 rares and some t6 mats…so i can’t complain too much), but the overall accumulation of rewards for doing these fairly easy missions is pretty great.

i’d have completion of the story reward a one-time unique item (which would in turn gives incentive for people who missed the episode to buy it with gems)…..in this case, it could have been an item that allows you to rewatch the end cinema (have you watched it while under the effects of a quaggan tonic?…so awesome). a skin specific to the story (like during season1) would also work.

so other than the lame end reward, the overall rewards for LS episodes are fine.

not discovering it is Mordremoth , but instead just “knowing” is kinda lame…other than that, the narrative was okay (with Taimi once again being great). the ending cinematic was fantastic. kudos once again to your art team….they’re all-stars.

the LS missions lead you through the zones well, but felt a bit less challenging (easier mobs/less mechanics) in this second installment, which i hope is not a continuing trend. I thought the first installment was spot on, in this regard.

the new/added zones themselves are once again excellent to look at and fun to explore. the events within are fine (though some take VERY long for what they are, which hurts raising the event tier) but the new mobs are better.

i greatly appreciate the new mordrem……mobs that reward more than simple AA melee zerk builds (multiple hounds will murder you, but can be cc’d/ranged effectively…husks are faster to take down with hybrids/condis). in general, these new mordrem are a nice step toward adding effective variety to pve combat….so PLEASE continue in this vein.

not a fan of the amberite skins, but do like the implementation of a non-cash shop skin that is earnable.

overall…..8/10. keep up the good work, Living Story Team.

delete you mesmer……save a slot. you’ll thank me later

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

Honestly how many times can you encounter skritt burglar and why do you want to fight him after all those achievements. This “bugfix” isn’t doing anything at all and it is almost like the devs are testing mesmers’ patient.

Skritt burglar got more priority than those class breaking bugs, yay!

they aren’t “class-breaking” so long as you keep playing this kitten class. i really wish all mesmer players would just retire their mesmers and move on to another class/game. that is the type of dramatic thing it would take for them to even consider fixing any of our class skills/traits in a timely fashion. they have no in-house QA team (just coordinators)…and they won’t stop outsourcing QA and leaving skills broken unless something dramatic happens. we hear nothing from them, and that makes total sense…..if i was a dev with “QA” in my title, i wouldn’t show my face on these forums either.

i’m willing to wait and see what happens by the end of the season+feature patch. i love not having to pay for content, but there needs to be more significant gains than launch+season 1 to keep interest.

i, like any reasonable person, understands i won’t get a genuine “expansion worth of content” for free. that would be business suicide…..and they aren’t going to drop the LS+cash shop model unless it proves disastrous (LS 2 will be the test).

moving to a permanent LS model is a good start….so is adding quality new zones. if somehow they can add a new dungeon and worldboss event….2 new weapon sets per class (a range and a melee w/ at least one also having offhand potential….more new traits/utilities, and maybe a new race…..i will be more than happy with “sub-expansion” content for free with regards to PvE. pvp needs new game modes desperately, so i would expect at that too.

IvanTheGrey.2941:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/DPS-guide-for-PvE-Dungeons-Soloing-More/first

Miku’s one of the best PvE guys in the game. Listen to what he says He won’t steer you wrong.

this is true. power builds r most efficient to group and even most solo play (if you are skilled enough).
but you might get bored of the meta GS – axe/x zerk build(s) and switch up playstyle.

in solo play, a hybrid (2k power/1100 condi unbuffed) and full condi LB-S/S 2/6/0/0/6 can be fun to break up the monotony. hybrid for open world so you can still get gold reward and run through mobs quickly…..full condi for soloing champs and dungeon bosses. you’ll want aristocracy runes (krait or undead while you earn the former). its just a difference of swapping some of your rabid gear, with zerk/carrion/rampager.

disagree with OP…i think this kind of thing should be revisited often….but obviously not a “given” for every new zone introduced. over other one would be fine.

bringing any incentive for “zerg/map-wide” semi-organized play is a positive thing. while the map play hardly requires organized play….it gives extra incentives for participating in a zone. i like that (even tho i feel the current rewards for upping the tier is underwhelming).