Guild Wars 2

Which game mode? PvE (open world, dungeons, fractals), PvP, WvW?

Also, since the OP mentioned playing Engineer, I too main an Engineer (currently Scrapper) and I’m probably far from having mastered the profession despite having played it on and off since launch. I have an 80 of everything else aside from Mesmer (not for lack of trying. I just can’t get I to it) and Revenant (somewhat limited play time lately has made me reluctant to start up a new toon), and despite taking a break to play other professions periodically I always come back to the Engineer/Scrapper because the mechanics and theme unique to the profession are the most enjoyable for me. It has very little to do with level of difficulty.

BrotherBelial.3094:

If you don’t want lag, you need faster internet speeds. If your talking about frame drops dew to not enough power from cpu/gpu/ram, no pc in the world will run WvW blob fights at 60fps at all times. The game will not do it.

/This

Please don’t pick a profession for your friend based on ease of use. You could end up doing them a huge disservice. Unless of course they specifically request it as we’ve seen in the past for a variety of reasons (generally injury/disability related).

What you could do is provide your friend with as much info as possible about the various professions as possible, and let them chose for themselves.

It’s been brought up in the past when choosing a first profession that one shouldn’t simply go for the easiest to play, but the one that will keep you playing. It’s probably more likely that someone will get bored of the game playing an easy profession someone else chose for them than someone will leave the game out of frustration due to difficulty level of a profession they chose themselves and may have some attachment to due to an affinity for a specific mechanic or theme.

With the amount of Tomes I’ve been getting I’m really not seeing how lack of exp gain is an issue.

Shaogin.2679:

Is flamethrower useless in zergs due to retal?

I wouldn’t say it’s useless. Just don’t have FT #1 on auto. Until I bought HoT I was using a Power FT build without serious Retaliation issues. FT is great for a short CD blast finisher, Fire Field, safe down/res from the AE Blind, and you also have an Interrupt.

If I didn’t have HoT I’d still be playing Power FT.

I too noticed when playing Necromancer that Well of Power was a stun break with a cast time and found that odd, and now Scrapper with Bypass Coating.

Can’t recall if the stun break was ever interrupted or not due to the cast time. Yet another not so clear tooltip from Anet?

Inventions: 2, 3, 2
Alchemy: 2, 2, 1
Scrapper: 2, 1/3, 1/2

The alternates in the Scrapper line depend on if you’re using gyros or not.

As for gear & utilities use what suits your meta and playstyle.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it almost feels as if the OP is trying to understand how flames could actually be blocked? As in if someone IRL were holding up a shield and another someone IRL was standing in front of the shield-bearer with a Flamethrower going off in their face, how could it be blocked 100%.

If my assumption is correct then the answer is, “It’s a game.”

If not then you need to explain a bit more.

TheBandit.7031:

This is where I found someone using it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxoUl7cbPpo
He applies condis with elixir gun and bombs and uses power with the hammer

If you’re into a triple-kit setup go for it. Can’t forget Toolkit, a pretty integral part of his build. Also he doesn’t quite use full celestial based on his build links.

I can’t remember all the changes, but the video was from January. Not sure if any changes since then would’ve affected this build.

TheBandit.7031:

Sagramor.7395:

Celestial would be a no go. I believe it was used early on in PvP though.

Currently using a mix of Berserker/Soldier/Knight gear myself.

Isn’t it decent with bombs? Hammer will give your power damage, and bombs for condi damage.

Yes, I believe Bomb Kit and Celestial were used, but with P/S pre-HoT as a zerg build. That’s pairing a hybrid kit with a condi weapon.

I’m not sure it would make as much sense pairing a hybrid kit with a power weapon using that same gear. And come to think of it I haven’t seen all that much Bomb kit usage in WvW since HoT.

Celestial would be a no go. I believe it was used early on in PvP though.

Currently using a mix of Berserker/Soldier/Knight gear myself.

Probably not what you wanna hear, but what about Scrapper makes you want to play another profession?

IMO if it has “Elixir” in the name or is tagged as an “Elixir” (e.g. Acid Bomb, Healing Mist) it should work for both HGH and AT.

They went through the trouble of adding the “Elixir” tag to tooltips and changing Elixir F to Glob Shot to clear up ambiguity regarding traits like HGH and AT. I haven’t tested personally, but it appears as though Acid Bomb is the exception to the rule that anything that works for HGH should work for AT (if I’ve learned anything over the years it’s not to trust Anet’s tooltips).

Solution (assuming Acid Bomb is the only exception): Either make Acid Bomb a proper Elixir worthy of the “Elixir” tag in the tooltip with condi removal on Alchemical Tinctures, or remove the “Elixir” tag and it’s HGH functionality.

Kamara.4187:

It always ticked me off that I had to jump off the wall and face-plant just to fix my armor after wp’ing back, or run all the way around to use the stairs that should have been right there to begin with. I always thought that was kind of a jerk move on the part of the designer. (sorry but just being honest here).

/This

Pretty much sums up desert BL for me.

DBL will not be missed here.

I’ll be holding back praise/condemnation for the changes themselves until I’ve had a chance to play with them live in their released version.

I will however comment that it feels like the forum community is still being ignored. It takes a Twitch streamer doing interviews with guild leaders (assuming from higher tier servers) to get the attention of devs meanwhile your forum specialist has a stickied post of Constructive Feedback that’s apparently being, well, ignored.

Entenkommando.5208:

PS: I was expecting a post like this on reddit :P

Jim Hunter.6821:

Chunky Milk.2130:

If i were to participate in a poll, i’d like it to have more than 1 option reworded three times.

I lol’d.

“None of the above” for me.

This

When topics like this pop up I can’t help but think of Floyd Petrowski from “The Guild”.

Since Anet took the “Home Border” concept and split it over three maps I can’t see anything like this working.

The fact that Anet is posting straight to Reddit instead of their official forums at all is baffling. Reddit is where users should be reposting Red posts from the official forums, not the other way around.

ArchonWing.9480:

They really need to talk more (with us) and stop sending in changes piecemeal.

One good example is the specialization system which basically saw a few different revisions and that was really jarring. It was supposedly done in preparation of HoT, but it felt more like experimenting on the population.

The ultimate example is probably Living Story Season 1, where ideas were just being churned out at such a rapid rate and not too much of it is quality.

So here we are in WvW. Supposedly there will be a massive revamp and there’s no doubt that the new borderlands are designed to go with that revamp. But now we’re stuck with this “master of none” in between sort of nonsense for god knows how long. How many products can be sent out piecemeal? Here, have our brand new wheel. Oh the rest will come in later!

If this was a 7 course meal, the dishes are coming in random order and the cook is sometimes taking your plate away to finish it again. How could this possibly lead to a satisfying, no even manageable, experience?

I really don’t know what’s going on. Perhaps the bean counters are demanding so-and-so amount of content must be put out before a certain date, and I’m sure everyone been where they know that they could do a better job but the decision makers often think otherwise. We also live in an era where instant gratification takes precedence over quality. In the end though, the results cannot be any good though.

Amen

Sure, its pretty clear that Anet dropped the concept of “home” borders whether they realize it or not. Why I’m not sure, but anyone who’s arguing that is in denial. However, you now have to split your BL team across 3 maps to maintain the PPT that was previously achievable on your home border. This only does more damage to already suffering lower tier servers.

And what Yuffi and GROMMIT said.

Good Luck

/15 char

Lord Kuru.3685:

Those BLs sloppily dropped into the map says everything you need to know about Anet’s stance towards WvW.

I have no desire to go digging for the thread (since Anet’s official solution to the broken Forum search is to use Google), but I believe this was presented as a bug in a red post at some point.

If Anet gave just have a rat’s kitten WvW would be in a much better place.

/fingerscrossed

ArchonWing.9480:

In the end, WvW fills a niche that remains hard to replace despite all of this, and it might have just been too successful for its own good. So, it might have been entirely possible that they never planned for this at all. After all, this was meant to be a bridge to Esports PvP.

Very unfortunate.

Crapgame.6519:

You know it is an issue when the exp pack releases and dailies still include tasks from the maps no longer available

Isn’t attention to detail a kitten?

This should’ve spoken volumes to anyone paying attention. On top of all of the other little things, the fact that it took over 3 weeks for this issue to be resolved really speaks to how important getting WvW right means to Anet.

Swagger.1459:

That’s part of the problem with their mentaikty… Don’t promise things that area part of a larger update just to have something…

This.

I’ve said this in a few threads before, but what’s so bad about not releasing content until its in a finished state. I’ve seen open (and closed for that matter) betas in a better place that the current state of GW2.

Jim Hunter.6821:

I haven’t even logged onto the game for over a week now. I’m at the point where I’m checking the forum every couple days to see if they’ve come to their senses and reverted these kitten changes yet.

I think it’s been closer to two weeks for me, but I’m in pretty much the same boat.

I’d love an answer to this as well.

Not reading the whole thread so forgive me if I’m repeating anything someone else has posted.

Not going to give a out a specific layout because everyone’s will likely be different, but I will give some basic broad steps to get you started on putting together your own key bind layout. Only you can create the best set of key binds that will work for you.

Step One: Unbind right and left turn from your keyboard. It may take some getting used to, but this will force you to learn to turn with your mouse (RMB). Additionally it frees up two keys. Mouse movement (LMB+RMB) is also something you could work on, but maybe only after your comfortable with turning using the mouse.

Step Two: Figure out what your available keys and mouse buttons are for you binds. This will depend on which buttons your using for Forward, Back, Left Strafe,Right Strafe and what keys you can easily reach from that “base”.

Step Three: Take the keys which you can’t reach from your base and start placing them in more convenient places. Don’t think of only 1-0, F1-F5, but of Jump, Dodge, Stomp/Res, Swap Weapon, Stow Weapon, Toggle Autorun, About Face, Call Target, Assist, Target, etc.

Step Four: If something isn’t working, and not for lack of practice, change it. It’s your layout after all.

In my 10 years of mmo gaming I’ve never felt the need for an " mmo mouse" with 12 thumb buttons. I’ve always used a standard keyboard and a 5-button Logitech gaming mouse.

Great read OP. And others pretty spot on as well.

Swagger.1459:

Patch notes don’t lie people, and those reviews are much closer to the “truths”. This game needs to be steered on a better course and the devs need to be allowed to create fully finished “products”.

This so much.

Every time I look at the patch notes I cringe, and what’s the problem with waiting until something’s finished to release it?

Virtute.8251:

My own experience says that for me B2P held me in the system longer than I would have tolerated ANet as a subscriber. However, ANet also did not collect gem sales from me that would equal a 1:1 with what I may have paid in a subscription model. I’m not sure which model would have capitalized on me more.

I do suspect that I’m a bad example for both models, in terms of monetization, because I have a low tolerance for displeasure in subscription, and a high resistance to impulse purchase of vanity and convenience items. Neither model succeeds against me when the product is failing its purpose more often than not in my judgement. In other words, I’m not the ideal customer. I’m a hard sell.

But if you really want to analogize customer behavior to lover’s quarrels and breakups, there is always “hell hath no fury”.

I think that you probably underestimate how much of the playerbase are this type of customer.

I too am probably far from Anet’s ideal customer since I can count on one hand the gem purchases I’ve made in 3 years, which if memory serves were primarily for character and bank slots, not vanity items which I have no desire to purchase through the gem shop. So comparing to a subscription model I would’ve only paid for a few months of game time over 3 years (minus a few breaks). Were GW2 using a subscription model I would’ve left a long time ago (and likely not come back), but being B2P I’ve left and come back a few times with no risk. Additionally I never purchased HoT since I’m a WvW player and it wouldn’t have been worth the money for merely access to new class/specs.

I suspect they recanted on their plan of not release any expacs, but instead releasing new content via living story, because they weren’t generating enough money through gem sales. I have no issues with purchasing an expac as long as it delivers something I feel adds value worthy of the price tag. But when you have issues in WvW stacking up since (before?) launch going unresolved over a month after a release of an expac, which only made matters worse in the process, I’m not in any rush to buy said expac. Give me a retail box worth my ~$50 as an almost exclusively WvW player and I’ll buy it.

GROMIT.7829:

As much as i would liek to supportall these great ideas and solutions that the community has come up with I’m afraid we’re flogging a dead horse.

Anet will do what Anet wants and it’s as simple as that, I’m already looking for a new RvR gamemode in an MMO to play but they are all so bland with very boring combat that involves sieging for over half a day with huge ability cast times.

I honestly think Anet are actually being maliscious at this point with thier complete lack of involvement with the WvW community, thier consistant dismissal and ignoring of solid ideas from people who acutally play the game mode. They have to make a conscious disiscion to do what they do because it can’t be by accident they do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we want every time.

I am amazed that no company hasn’t carbon copied Gw2 WvW with it’s class mechanics, maps, siege and combat etc because if they did and they listened to the community and did as we asked WvW would be only played by people wanting to level in Gw2. I would even be happy to pay a small sub if it meant i get a high qaulity version of Anets WvW because Anets WvW is no longer a quality product.

WvW is dead, long live WvW.

This so much.

msalakka.4653:

The major overhaul could simply mean the new borderlands and wrapping up the development on them.

What would’ve been so hard about releasing the overhaul as a whole finished product?

Instead we get piecemeal rollouts of one component at a time, which it seems might be the case. In the mean time the game mode is hurting bad, and by the time the complete overhaul is rolled out is anyone going to be left to play it.

Forgive me if this has been brought up, but the new maps were probably designed with the assumption that masteries would function in WvW. I don’t have a source, but I’m pretty sure it was asked if Autoloot would function in WvW(at some point pre-release) and the answer was yes. HoT comes out and what do you know, masteries don’t function in WvW.

It makes perfect sense why masteries don’t function in WvW since you can’t give an advantage (real or perceived) to HoT players. Whether there was a miscommunication that lead to the WvW devs thinking Autoloot (and possibly all masteries) would function in WvW when in fact it wouldn’t, or they did in fact intend for masteries to function in WvW and later made the decision to not allow them (possibly due to real or perceived advantage) I can’t say. But I’m thinking that one way or another the new maps were designed with masteries in mind.

Chiccotot.7296:

Colin

Our goal was to ensure we didn’t really need to tweak any major game system again after this expansion and our focus could be entirely on adding new content, and building on top of – rather than expanding outward systemically. WvW is the one major feature I’d say we didn’t end up accomplishing this goal, the project is so large it didn’t end up fitting into the scope of the expansion and we still have work to do to address core fundamental issues like population balance, rewards, scoring, night capping, etc. As always we don’t discuss features in development until they are far enough along to share meaningful details, so for now we’ll just say WvW is the final big game system on our radar – and we’ve had a lot of great conversations with our players about what they’d love to see from epic large scale PvP combat.

As a game with global market, I am DISGUSTED by the fact that this came from an ANet guy. News Flash, USA is not the only country in the world.
It may be capping things at night for you, but for us in SEA/OCX we are doing things on our day/prime time.

I cannot express how outraged i am by this statement without getting the forum moderator whammy, but just to put it out there, think of the most horrible, atrocious and abhorrent insult you can think of, and that is pretty much how i feel..

Seriously.

Yes the fact that Anet chose this of all all possible topics to highlight in the “Sorry you’re playing a game (mode) that’s half finished because instead of waiting until it’s complete we decided to push it out while everyone’s PvEing to grind out Elites and Guild Halls/Upgrades because no one would notice anyway since we’re all ‘Really into PvE’.” statement is pretty unfortunate.

Vintage.3850:

Simple fix…give us back the old maps…end of story.

As a number of people pointed out elsewhere old maps with HoT mechanics won’t fix (much of) anything.

Also, to think getting the Alpine BL back and scrapping the Desert BL is even an option is pretty delusional.

ArchonWing.9480:

Haralin.1473:

why exactly is autoloot not just a basic game mechanics?

I don’t know. I have no idea why you would ever not want to pick up loot unless your bags were overfilled in which case it warns you anyways.

The most irritating part though is it does exist in the game, but then there was “oh, we forgot about WvW”

Sorry for not having a source, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a case of “oh, we forgot about WvW”. I recall seeing a dev response pre HoT (probably on Reddit) to someone asking whether or not Autoloot mastery will function in WvW with a “yes”. So its essentially a screw you WvW. Active neglect is very different from oversight.

Oversight being the broken WvW dailies (making an assumption here). An example of Active Neglect would being told, “Sure Autoloot will work in WvW.” and then turning around and saying NO masteries will function in WvW.

Straegen.2938:

Sagramor.7395:

I’m hoping the Fire/Air keep WPs being contested when controlled by home server is a bug.

I’m still seeing clipping on some walls post-upgrade. Happened tonight in SWT.

I have seen the clipping post patch as well and updated the Bug List.

I believe the WPs are only accessible by one of the three servers regardless of the server that owns the keep. For example, the home BL will only have access to Earth keep even if they own all three and they will not have access to the Earth WP unless they own it. It does not work like the old Alpine maps.

I understand that the Air/Fire keep WPs are following the same rules they were when they were in the towers. My comment was more or less me hoping beyond all hope that it’s a bug and not Anet clearly misunderstanding what the players were asking for regarding WPs in keeps.

I’m hoping the Fire/Air keep WPs being contested when controlled by home server is a bug.

I’m still seeing clipping on some walls post-upgrade. Happened tonight in SWT.

Just figured I’d put in my two cents as someone who plays T8 WvW almost exclusively, and has effectively stopped playing GW2 altogether since HoT launch after about a week’s worth of logins.

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

Typically off-peak I’d run either solo or a small group of 5 or less flipping camps and towers if I was feeling ambitious. Typical Havok stuff. On peak I may run in a larger group to (re)take a keep.
Keep the home borderland the correct color then branch out.

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

Generally I did not play EBG unless there was a guild run heading over there.
Typically larger groups when in EBG.

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

More solo roaming in home BL (since there are generally fewer people on map) flipping camps despite the value of doing so being severely diminished. The only positive is that T3 camps appear easier to take now since it’s easier to pull only a few guards at a time. Taking towers is mostly off the table since so many are T3 and they require significantly more time/players to (re)take. I’ll hop over to an enemy BL to pick a fight if I’m getting bored.

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Off-peak it was typically 1vX, with larger groups during peak hours. Pre-HoT I ran into a lot of LB Rangers, Condi/DP teefs, DD Eles, PU Mesmers rarely solo. When caught solo they often ran if the initial burst wasn’t a (near)kill.

A few good duels since HoT, and been jumped a few times by groups of <5 while soloing camps. Seeing more variation in roamers mainly with the Elites, but haven’t come across anything that (ab)uses the “verticality” yet.

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Camps of equal tiers appear to take roughly the same amount of time, with post_HoT possibly being a little faster since you can sometimes get away with not having to kill all of the enemies to clear the circle and what’s left being spread far enough apart that they won’t aggro while you’re flipping.

Towers are a different story since you have the +5 supply (guild claim) and Guild Cata changes which slow down the process. But those things aside I don’t believe taking towers of equal tier are that much different time-wise.

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

If you’re playing WvW for the loot/rewards you’re in the wrong place.
I can sustain myself by cutting corners like I always have. Using cheaper consumables and sub-optimal sigils runes when necessary.
I have not purchased HoT since it is unnecessary to play my preferred game mode (WvW), and my main profession received an Elite that a. doesn’t have a proper Elite mechanic and b. received more AI utilities (it was pretty unanimous that no Engineer wanted another AI set of utilities).
Which other in-game goals?

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

My last few logins have been to get my daily and get out. So to answer the question, as of HoT, I no longer have multi-hour WvW (or GW2 for that matter) sessions.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Fix Master of Ruins and Vet Creature Slayer Dailies.
Remove Auto-Upgrades. Upgrades must require player interaction AND supply as it was pre-HoT. Upgrades can be made free, and kept in HoT tiers to avoid having to balance rewards around upgrade costs and “trolls”. I would be open to a badge cost for upgrades similar to how siege/traps costs badges.
For guilds who had +5 unlocked pre-HoT don’t make them reacquire it.
Waypoints for T3 keeps only. Bring back waypoints for T3 keeps. Remove waypoints from Towers.
Remove central PvE Event.
Remove maze and gimmick factor from keeps.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

Don’t bother trying to complete the Vet Creature or Ruin daily. Of all the work Anet did on WvW they some how neglected to change two of the dailies to match the current content. We’re now 3+ weeks into HoT and no fix. You should feel neglected.
Get involved with your server’s WvW community including voice comms (even if you only listen).
Aside from that you should be able to figure it out on your own, but feel free to ask questions.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

If you don’t know by now I’m not sure anything I say can help you.

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

Home BL if I decide to login at all.

Don’t see why not. Other mmos have PvP restricted consumables and I don’t recall them being an issue.

Might want to look into Thief as well. Sword/Pistol looks pretty Witch Hunter to me, but that’s probably because I’m more familiar with Warhammer Online Witch Hunters.

Due to megaservers which server you’re on is irrelevant outside of WvW. It’s gonna be tough to tell the state of servers in WvW until after Halloween is over and HoT has cooled down.

ArchonWing.9480:

Let’s be honest. Did you guys just forget about WvW?

I’m gonna go with (mostly) yes.

If you’re gonna go with Incendiary Powder you might want to try Celestial amulet instead, possibly switch to Hoelbrak runes, and think about Backpack Regen..

I’m doing alright roaming with a Juggernaut build Firearms, Alchemy, Inventions.

Diku.2546:

@OP

This is my opinion, but I think ANet vision of WvW is this:

1) It’s called WvW because it’s a World of people vs a World of people. When you have that much people in game…you need to have tasks that scale accordingly. The basic unit for getting anything done should be groups.

2) Provide content that appeals to the largest population base that plays GW2. PvE content provides an automatic & continuous growth mechanism to the WvW population by attracting players from an established game mode.

3) Provide an environment that protects single players from groups. Large areas to traverse & Upgraded structures are used to provide a sanctuary against the many groups that roam the WvW landscape.

That’s the basic 3 point vision that I think they’re using to develop WvW under.

---

Has anyone seen a formal WvW Vision definition by ANet anywhere?

You’re implying there is a vision for WvW.

As a start you could try swapping Nades for EG, Explosives for Inventions, and maybe Elixir X to Mortar. Currently you have no stun break and no OOC perma-swiftness or movement speed buff.