Guild Wars 2

female version looks great…..a vast improvement over the twighlight arbor dungeon skin………….the male version is “interesting” if you like a Dragon kitten style villain. wish male version looked a bit more different than the female.

works best with sylvari due to theme and glowing dye parts

Killyox.3950:

It’s a spectral scythe. I doubt it weigts much if anything at all.

I like how it is now.

yep. its not an actual physical weapon.
i dig it.

still not close

needs more stability

put a 5 sec 3 stack on the earth shout
or add a 5sec single stack to a “on use” shout trait (maybe w/ CD reduction).

giovr.6538:

Relshdan.6854:

giovr.6538:

Hmm, sorry, wasn’t sarcastic, that was the selling point for me to use tempest, good to know it’s like this only for me.

i actually was excited for it as a mechanic, it just wasn’t implemented correctly for what it was offering. i don’t mind the idea of being locked into one or two attunements, like a staff ele is….if they gave us the survival tools to be able to pull it off. all overloads needed a breakbar (or shorter channel times) and maybe air and water should have been ground targeted (zerg buster/healer). the traits/utilities could also use some access to self-stability (either while overloading or tied to using shouts) to help secure a melee overload.

Yeah, probably if they make you untargetable while unleashing the overload it could be great, but not even in tornado form gave ele that kind of greatness…

true, but you shouldn’t be untargetable….just should take more than one random interrupt to end the channel.

giovr.6538:

Sagat.3285:

giovr.6538:

Hmm, sorry, wasn’t sarcastic, that was the selling point for me to use tempest, good to know it’s like this only for me.

What’s your favorite mode for you to like it(please not that one)??

With mode you mean pve pvp or wvw right? I have only saw videos on youtube, couldn’t play the bwe, not on the pc on those days… but I’m mainly a pve (98,5%) little pvp (1%) and less wvw (0,5%) so in pve modes I’d like to try that. Anyway, if all elite specs are bad I’ll keep playing with core ones no prob

many of the elites are far from bad….many are quite good in pve

chronomancer: in groups for huge alacrity/quickness uptime and boon share

herald: great solo or in group for boon gen/share and massive damage…will be meta

reaper: only tried solo, but is quite fun to play as its bring excellent aoe melee cleave that necro never had before…its new shroud skills and GS 2 skill are pretty excellent.

giovr.6538:

Hmm, sorry, wasn’t sarcastic, that was the selling point for me to use tempest, good to know it’s like this only for me.

i actually was excited for it as a mechanic, it just wasn’t implemented correctly for what it was offering. i don’t mind the idea of being locked into one or two attunements, like a staff ele is….if they gave us the survival tools to be able to pull it off. all overloads needed a breakbar (or shorter channel times) and maybe air and water should have been ground targeted (zerg buster/healer). the traits/utilities could also use some access to self-stability (either while overloading or tied to using shouts) to help secure a melee overload.

bananenkip.6317:

I didn’t notice it being easier as a whole. completely depended on the class I played. Last beta I was running some pretty horrible builds, because I didn’t really pay attention to my traits and armour yet. This beta I was still getting my behind kicked like last beta until I actually paid some attention to what build I was running, then it became challenging but doable.

Also everything becomes shockingly easy if you’re in a zerg, so I hope people will be a bit more spread out over the map’s many events as the full map becomes playable.

Still, if half of the people are complaining it’s too easy and the other is complaining it’s too hard, the difficulty must be in quite a good spot (i’m certainly liking it).

except for the wyvern actually, that guy could really use a buff.

agree w/ this overall.

i also think round 2 of playing w/ these new specs (many of which got massive buffs to dmg/sustain) makes a difference, as does knowing the mob strategies better.

assuming mobs get harder as we progress, i’m okay w/ the current mobs…………but would really like to see more fast/weak hitting bosses/mobs vs. so many one-shots (that would truely justify some of the more defensive stat gear)…….also hate seeing so many break bars that render my reapers chill null and void.

giovr.6538:

I don’t understand all the elementalists who completely don’t like the tempest stuff. Yes, the warhorn is really bad, shouts not even average, half traits won’t ever be used but you forgot the profession mechanic, do you not like the overloading of the attunements?

i think the mechanic is their biggest complaint

very worried about the lack of polish/iteration that will plague the ranger and engi elite. we’ve seen they needed at last 2 iterations to make even the best specs work.

even though many are down on tempest, of the specs we’ve tested, i’m more down on daredevil, due to its poor animations and design decision to not build the 3 different dodges into the specs base mechanic and instead fill the entire GM tier w/ dodges you may not even want to use.

thankfully, these aren’t locked down at launch….just some classes will have to wait longer than others for their spec to be up to par.

really happy w/ where reaper is at. the improvements to GS (gravedigger)made a huge difference…..shouts still need some help, Soul eater and Deathy chill traits still seem poor/ no reason to take, and RS 1 and 4 skills could use a slight dmg increase…..but the class is really fun to play and pretty effective to boot.

i’ll try them all…..and ignore most.

i’ll likely main: chrono, reaper, and herald, tho…..just brilliantly fun and effective.

Avador.8934:

I miss my rev and reaper so much

yep…..wish they’d just leave it up until the next version.

some of these new elite specs are just too much fun to go back to the base class.
i’d add chrono to the 2 you listed as my top 3.

while i’d prefer the F3-F5 solution as a baseline to the spec (then give us 3 new GMs) ………i’d also be fine w/ them removing the animation delay, and having the attack dodges auto target. the dodges as they are animated now are simply unusable.

was excited to try it out, but found it awkward and not fun to play.

the staff damage seemed fine, but the animations/targeting on all but skill 5, was clunky.

but much worse were the delayed animations to the GM trait dodges. these pretty much killed the spec for me……so i maybe played around w/ it for 30 minutes before deeming it unplayable and deleting. not going to waste time on a spec that i have to NOT choose a GM trait to play.

loved it.

while the shield is okay (skill 4 is too slow, skill five is a panic button defense), the utilites are great….both in the passive upkeeps and their actives (tho the active on elite is odd to use)

running around solo or in groups, it just feels really strong and easy to use. 50% boon duration increase is amazing, perma swiftness is super convienient, and perma fury gives you some other gearing options than full zerker.

my only complaint/problem is that you lose your upkeeps when you swap legends….which basically punishes you for swapping. i suppose keeping them might be OP, but i kind of think you’d run out of energy before it would be OP.

Substatic.6958:

So I’m assuming don’t buy HoT if i wanna raid or Fractal 100 as a Necro?

no one has “raided” yet……if you enjoy playing necro (or reaper) play it.

Bhawb.7408:

Reaper is fun, if you aren’t having fun on it you need to chill out a bit and come back when you’re ready to enjoy easily the best thing to happen to Necromancer so far. Now, Reaper isn’t perfectly balanced yet, it still has plenty of things that need to be mentioned, but at least for the first time Necromancer feels like it flows well with itself.

perfectly stated.

not sure how a long time necro player wouldn’t enjoy playing this spec.

Silverkey.2078:

I do like the skill, but let’s be honest it does not need such high CD. While it is strong, it does not turn the tide of a match. It is more a good engage. Compare it to head butt for berserker on a 20s CD… Sure Chilled to the bone is better, but not “6 times better”.

90s is a good start. With the shout trait, it would be reduced to less than 60s in the best case scenario which sounds perfect.

now if it did recharge death shroud to full like head butt does for berserker…

it’s a game…..it should be fun. as long as you are solo or w/ people who don’t care about min/maxing, play as you want.

and reaper can use “pets”.

Truefrost.6815:

Dadnir.5038:

Well 40k when the wivern is stuned is pretty low… since damage are serverly uped chen the thing is stun.

I tried the GS and it’s disappointingly slow. There is now way it’s PvE worthy. The shroud rock, though. To be Okay, gravedigger would have to do 16k dps (which mean it’s damage divided by overall cast time and aftercast) when your are full buff. I don’t think it’s the case. (and even if it’s the case, it feel so slow, it’s unbearable)

Currently, where GS stands Gravedigger is a damage increase from dagger auto… So yeah, It’s pve worthy. :P In optimized groups It was hitting for 20k+ crits which even with the slow cast speed that is HUGE numbers.

RS is in a good place but I feel still needs a slight increase in damage. I still need to run some more numbers cause Dhuumfire is a thing, you don’t need DP anymore with decimate defenses. (Since now we can sustain 25 vuln in RS with ease.)

this.

GS feels better and the numbers justify using it when mob is under 50%. the 12 vuln from the 3 skill is also very nice w/ decimate trait…which allows you to take Dhummfire over death perception (adds 1000+ ticks quickly even in a power build).

dagger/warhorn should still be main set for LF gain, tho

Zeliden.2014:

It’s not about having fun, it’s about if 2 thieves + 8 randoms can do it as fast as 2 eles +8 randoms.

2 eles + 8 randoms will always beat out 2 of any class + 8 randoms.

eles do everything well. i doubt the incoming ele nerfs will change that much.

nah…..i like that these are tied to raids. some content-specific “shinies” are desireable.

if raids are implemented correctly, then the term “legendary” will seem a lot less silly that it does w/ the weapons.

i’ll love the tactic they are taking here……….if they continue the direction LS2 carapace armor went.

some rng raid specific rewards/items , but the legendary armor will be mostly void of rng.

seeing as how they implemented the earnable armor in LS 2, i’d imagine the only rng will be in getting specific crafting mats/components (they way you extract items from the silverwaste bosses). i’m sure you’ll be able to earn most from actual achievements and masteries…..and you’ll be able to choose the final armor piece you want (that aspect will most certainly not be rng).

in short, minimal rng.

Straylight.7529:

To the OP: If it’s 4 sets per armor type then I’m personally satisfied because I think chances are high they’ll add more down the line and I have several characters spread out over all three armor types. On the other hand if it’s a total of 4 sets then that would be underwhelming.

Test.8734:

Almost everything I provide are facts and should be seen as the only truth.

Everytime I read one of your posts I can’t help myself remembering that scene from Billy Madison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNHuqHWefU

that vid sums him/her up perfectly. bravo.

anyway, i feel 4 new armor sets per armor class at launch is underwhelming. i like earn-able armor skins as rewards…unfortunately, these events by which you earn them come around way too infrequently. they are simply too few for not having more “basic sets” that come as random drops.

since they will no longer add armor skins to the gem store, and seem to have abandoned adding “less special” skins as random drops or sold by karma vendors….we’ll have to hope they add more raids quickly (only one legendary set is fine for launch if there is only one themed raid…but one per year would be unacceptable) or introduce fractal armor skins (not sure why they wouldn’t).

big fan of this outfit (a reasonably scaled heavy skin w/o goofy spikes or weird asymmetries, that looks fine on all races)….and the fact it was free is even better.

thanks anet.

looks almost like it has potential to feel like a fighting game combo-playstyle…..no idea how good it is (damage/suitability seems strong), but looks incredibly fun to play. pair staff w/ a short bow and your evades/mobility is absurd.

some of the animations look odd/ not fluid….so hopefully they are improved before release

can’t wait for next beta to give it a spin.

Berelious.3290:

Seriously, where are people getting the idea that there will only be 3 maps? I’ve looked extensively and have yet to find anything even remotely close to this. All I’ve found so far is ANet saying that maps will have 3 explorable layers. How does this translate to there only being 3 maps?

i think its a bit of tempered expectations/ generic forum pessimism, and either Colin or Peters answering a question about the approach to explorable maps in HOT w/ something like “we’re focusing on less overall maps, but having each map denser and layered vertically”.

Morfedel.4165:

Relshdan.6854:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

According to the latest data-mining, it seems we will have 4 maps included with Heart of Thorns (possibly/probably? at release), at least. Whether there are more at release, or not, is speculation. Whether more maps will be released with further updates, again, is unknown.

Good luck.

if these 4 maps are multilayered and sized similarly to the full verdant brink map, i can’t see it being fair to expect more (in terms of maps), unless you want to wait a couple yrs for HOT.

i’d be fine w/ just 3 of these at release. baring bugged event chains stalling out, there appears to be alot to do/explore.

any less would likely be disappointing (since they already got my money), unless the “challenging group content” makes up the difference.

One of the data mined maps is called Dragon’s Stand. Wanna bet thats Mordremoth, and that is the challenging content?

Well maybe not, or maybe not just that, but still…..

might be…..and could be interesting depending on what it is. an instanced map….much larger than a dungeon, but much smaller than something like southsun, designed for maybe five 5-man parties (anet seems stuck on this). could even be Mordremoth’s body itself that you’re traversing.

taking some of the successful concepts from the marionette event (objectives designed for multiple group sizes w/ each effecting overall success/failure) and remove the automated “handholding” /rng group splitting. the 25 players have to figure out how to best group/split up to solve the multiple objectives (maybe there are time limits, maybe not) that eventually lead to/effect a final battle w/ Mordremoth.

if done well, i’d take that over an open-world map

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

According to the latest data-mining, it seems we will have 4 maps included with Heart of Thorns (possibly/probably? at release), at least. Whether there are more at release, or not, is speculation. Whether more maps will be released with further updates, again, is unknown.

Good luck.

if these 4 maps are multilayered and sized similarly to the full verdant brink map, i can’t see it being fair to expect more (in terms of maps), unless you want to wait a couple yrs for HOT.

i’d be fine w/ just 3 of these at release. baring bugged event chains stalling out, there appears to be alot to do/explore.

any less would likely be disappointing (since they already got my money), unless the “challenging group content” makes up the difference.

arkealia.2713:

What makes chronomancer really good is the amazing synergy from the traitline with all other traitlines and playstiles. They could remove F5 and the class would still be amazing. I wish the other spec could get good synergy like that, DH and especially Revenant are a big letdown for me right now.

THIS.
such a well designed elite spec.
there’s pretty much something for any playstyle/dmg type in chronomancer.

the f5 adds some fun gameplay that is truly game-changing for the class (unlike the other elite specs).

while i expect the quickness generation will be nerfed severely, i hope it doesn’t come at the expense of the amazing shatter potential possible in pve (possible in other modes, but good luck pulling an 8 illusion shatter chain there).

honestly, i got completely bored w/ it after 30 minutes…..could be that i tried chronomancer and reaper first, but i see no reason to use this elite spec over normal guardian.

LB is worse than scepter/x in every way.

the traps are nice in pve melee, obviously, but overall are hard to justify taking over our other utilities.

i like shields of courage, but not a fan of the other two. wings of resolve would be nice with 900 range (traitable 1200). spear is bad. cast times are unnecessary.

didn’t really play around w/ traits, but there seems to be some decent dmg modifiers….so DH isn’t lacking for damage.

probably should have given it more time (same w/ tempest), but the other two specs were far more enjoyable.

valk is perfect if you are going to live in RS and take the crit trait. D/WH for fast LF….staff/GS for optimum shroud damage. your HP allows you to ignore condi removal and not fear mordrem snipers as much as full glass cannons.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm…ah

Misguided.5139:

Interesting. Fwiw, I’m in full dire (maybe that’s what you meant, since I’m not sure why you would pick rabid). Also using reaper’s onslaught instead of Blighter’s Boon, but I didn’t try without to see if the difference really felt noticeable.

with all the sustain, i don’t really need the vit from dire (and get extra from the celestial stuff i can’t change). the rabid gives me useful crit in RS w/o the crit trait….which works nice for on-crit procs and speeding up trash mob kills….but i can see dire being god-mode in terms of not being downed in pve

xinkspillx.3914:

Reaper Shroud, on the other hand, feels great and I’m really enjoying it, but GS and shouts just feel less than stellar to me at the moment.

if the devs get one general thing out of this beta for reaper, its that. RS needs a few tweaks, but otherwise is fun to use and effective. the rest needs a ton of work.

Ark Bladesteele.2943:

Relshdan.6854:

does it work well in pve? i’ve loved power reaper w/ valk gear and blighters boon for sustain…

will give it a go…..just wish we had a burn duration rune to choose from….but maybe the undeads are good enough

Put the runes you want to use in your bank, create a new beta reaper, you’ll have access to them. It’s only stuff you put in your bank after character creation that you can’t access, I think.

okay…thanks.

just played a bit in orr and the first 2 story eps in full rabid…..even w/o optimal runes/sigils, RS 1 is so great. can’t really tell the speed kill difference between condi and power while in RS using 1 skill.

overall killing is slower, but your sustain is crazy w/ blighters boon(since you don’t have spite line, use sigils or be in a group), parasitic contagion, and rabid armor

does it work well in pve? i’ve loved power reaper w/ valk gear and blighters boon for sustain…

will give it a go…..just wish we had a burn duration rune to choose from….but maybe the undeads are good enough

Silverkey.2078:

Relshdan.6854:

Silverkey.2078:

Since there are other traits for shroud 1 (dhuumfire) I think the only way to balance would be to have the same attack speed for RS and DS, in which case, baseline piercing would make sense too.

if they slow down RS 1 to match DS 1, i’ll punch your neck
RS is what currently makes it worth taking reaper spec….kill the speed of RS1, kill the spec. they’d have to change the GM speed trait to +50%….which might be interesting…but then i have to give up blighters boon

I obviously was asking for DS attack speed to be increased not the opposite. But you’re right, I should have been more explicit

lol….my bad.
totally agree, then. puts DS and RS in line, and makes the choice more difficult and reliant on preference/ situational effectiveness.

yeah…..its an absolutely terrible trait…..even if it was an adept.

300-ish per tick on a full condi…..all those nerfs in anticipation for that? couldn’t miss the mark more. scaling needs a VAST increase w/ relation to condi dmg.

OP works for anet.
“buff” one thing by nerfing its competition

agree w/ the crowd….remove the aftercast, and it will be great.

that said, i almost always prefer ranged ground target…so if there must be an aftercast, i’ll take the GT

Silverkey.2078:

Since there are other traits for shroud 1 (dhuumfire) I think the only way to balance would be to have the same attack speed for RS and DS, in which case, baseline piercing would make sense too.

if they slow down RS 1 to match DS 1, i’ll punch your neck
RS is what currently makes it worth taking reaper spec….kill the speed of RS1, kill the spec. they’d have to change the GM speed trait to +50%….which might be interesting…but then i have to give up blighters boon

in pve, i would love the elite shout on a 60-90 sec CD

skowcia.8257:

lordkrall.7241:

I for one would rather have release sooner instead of waiting months just so that they can get all legendaries ready.

I for one would like to see concept of unfinished legendaries yet so at least i can decide if i should wait for them. Why waiting for another hammer that looks like a staff? …

Edit;

Tbh i think they shouldnt release any new legendaries till they wont make full set. Its simply unfair if it happen that my class cant use one of these 3 weapons..

agree…..we’ve waited this long….what’s a few more months? they can still release the “lead-up” masteries w/ HoT.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

spwrbrc.3965:

So am I correct then in understanding that essentially the format of any new maps (regardless of size, that’s not what I’m asking) will be of the Silver Wastes variety?

Yes, more or less. Silverwastes is basically a preview of things to come. ANet has admitted as much in previous interviews.

which for me, is a plus.
the base game maps are prettier aesthetically(this is subjective), but largely dead 90% of the time once you complete the map….there just aren’t enough events to warrant going back outside of dailies.

drytop/SW are always active in terms of events/things to do….they are also more fun to explore (again, this is subjective)as it requires effort)….and incredibly rewarding in loot. more of that pls

after playing a few hours of the new story mode w/ a rabid condi shatter chrono and a valk/zerk reaper, i’m loving how these mobs are tuned. attacks are varied in how fast and how hard they hit… same w/ their defenses. sniper is punishing if you screw up or aggro too many…but that’s okay….just means you have to change up skills/traits sometimes or bring some friends.

once we are able to equip ideal gear/rune/sigils, it will make things a bit easier for some classes/builds….so Anet, don’t nerf the harder ones like you did the wolves.

overall really fun….very pleased so far and makes me happy i went ahead an bought the expansion despite some of the poor balancing on some specs.

“leap virtue” should be increased to 900 range…600 just doesn’t feel good/useful

LB auto seams really slow and weak dmg-wise. LB 2 should not root.

Khristophoros.7194:

What would probably redeem GS for me would be to add a significant LF gain to Gravedigger. When you get the condition you’d start getting tons of LF. Then the weakish damage would be justified.

no. but mor LF gain is welcomed/necessary for the weapon to even be used.
the concept is slow, but hard hits. thats what it should be. HARD hits