Guild Wars 2

Since she now does the attack one way or another you can even LOS then get behind her as she’s casting and “Fear Me” further into the wall. Can also Ice Bow 5 her as well and alternate between that and FGS.

I doubt people are still complaining about her since the patch. Yeah…NPCs must all die. Varra is a piece of kitten.

Seems interesting actually. Which guidelines are you thinking about though? Some people had some really wild suggestions that don’t make too much sense.

Hell yeah Iris! Welcome back.

It can’t be pure RNG though… I am willing to bet that zerk rings have a much lower drop rate. I have never had 3 bank tabs full of Crystalline Bands and Red Rings of Death. Plenty of Khilbron’s Phlyactery, Band of the Brotherhood, and Vassar’s Band though.

It’s almost as if they know who is running 50 Fractals and just dropping bullkitten rings to spite.

Might have been suggested. I don’t know. Hah…I don’t think I trust Anet implementing something like that though. It would still be entirely possible to stack on a mob though. See the drawing image.

It sounds like you just don’t like the direct (one on top of the other) stacking. I think most people here will agree with you that it’s pretty lame. No one’s doing it because it’s super fun or anything. It’s just there.

Most of the complaints that suck are generally about stacking being efficient. Stacking, even non-direct stacking (e.g. image below) is and should be efficient.

Should consider though that a change like that would need a lot of balancing to make it work. How long should the time of ‘direct stack’ be in order to give the de-buff “slowed”? Anything too quick would make blasting fields an un-needed nuisance. Would be annoying for anyone who GvGs or plays the WvW Zergs as well. Food for thought.

As others have pointed out, there is no collision. IF there was collision, stacking would be just as valid. It is essentially everyone staying at melee and covering each other with boons.

The troll potential for collision in game would be very awesome but not something Anet would likely do.

In some scenarios, if stacking tighter were humanly possible, it would be done. Of course there is also a time and place to spread out and keep intervals as well but it was 1 example.

Stephen McBeaven.5640:

My point was not that it’s hard to find groups. My point was that it is less rewarding to intentionally handicap oneself. The game itself should always strive toward encouraging the most entertaining experience. In my opinion, the most entertaining experience would more closely simulate an actual combat, i.e. not stacking.

U wot? That’s ridiculous. You want to simulate combat in your game? Well kitten, roll a Charr and demolish everything. Just so you know, “stacking” has long been a very successful tactic. The Macedonians and Greeks stacked their way to victory. As did the Romans. Disciplined Armies won because they stacked and stayed together as one. Undisciplined scrubs would break rank and attack a line just to get burned down quickly.

It doesn’t get any more ‘sim’ than stacking. Look at the recent operational environment and the 5 man door stack. Stack and enter a room as one. Each man has the back of the next man and a different sector of a room. Not ‘yoloswag i fight how i want’.

To all the people against stacking let’s break this down logically. Stacking is around for combos, boon share, and faster kills through cleave damage.

Even with collision, stacking would still exist because boon share, combos, and melee cleave would still be available. The only difference would be that players could grief each other by body blocking paths in the game or pushing each other off of cliffs. GG ‘playhowiwanters’.

Another option would be making boons party wide, giving ranged players party boons and allowing them to contribute their buffs. They would still be unable to contribute to combo fields and would not be cleaving. Still lower DPS. Essentially, a party would still have to carry a longbow Ranger through an instance.

I’m sure there are some groups of roving Fractal kittenbags who invite someone just to kick them.

Usually it’s a case of the PuG not reading or being super bad and getting kicked.

TheSwede.9512:

Warrior: Easiest Professions to Learn and Play with. Doesn’t bring anything particularily noteworthy to the Table except for their Banners, who are unique Buffs. However, they have High DPS, Reliable Survivability and Can stack Might on their own fairly well, though that role usually falls on the Elementalist. They’re bit of a Jack-of-all-Trades profession: Good at everything, but best at None.

They actually bring 150 Power via EA, and 170 from Strength Banner. With PS they keep group might consistently capped even during longer fights in Fractals. Then of course Discipline Banner brings 170/170 Prec./Ferocity. I believe someone on here did the post patch math recently; Warrior brings a lot of offensive buff an organized party’s DPS.

There’s always a panic. Most people don’t actually know kitten about how the dungeons work. They see a video or guide and try to replicate without ever trying to make it more efficient.

Oh I agree with that. I’ve said in a few threads a similar thing about adding a Hard Mode for dungeons and unlock-able Gambits to make groups really think about team composition and the “team build puzzle”.

The trouble is that the second you introduce harder content, or even hard solo content, you’ll get three types of people; some won’t be interested, others will practice and improve, and most will just QQ about the difficulty until Anet caves and nerfs it.

For as much as the general GW2 community jokes and complains about 1,1,1,1,1,… zerg events, they sure hate any skilled content being available.

nagr.1593:

maha.7902:

3. spider queen drops poison in melee

of course, this goes both ways. groups with bad dps will end up ranging the boss with bows, groups with zerker will end up bursting down the boss but most or all of them dying at the end. in both cases, it’s now more time lost. continued whining of zerkers being OP will only lead to more waste of time, for all groups regardless of their gear.

Not really. This only holds true if you stick to the old paradigm of “don’t move out of her melee.” Now she does her AoE regardless so you can stack in the same spot but actually move. It’s simple. You don’t have to suicide kill her, you just have to change your strategy a bit by asking yourself what has been changed and what does it mean. Also, ask yourself who is your daddy and what does he do.

Just chill at her backside and fear her before she can AoE. Or Any CC really. She will die just as quickly.

I would but we hate it too So boring and some of the worst floor loading texture bugs in the game.

Not sure you can design a solo dungeon for the average player while still having it be fun for more practiced players.

Had some guy buying an Arah last night talking about how his usual group takes 2.5 hours for path 2. You don’t get a 2.5 hour runs by just not having DPS gear. There has to be more going on there. Likely no dodging or skill coordination and just poor play.

Watering down a dungeon so that someone with no personal trait coordination or dodge reflex can solo it, wouldn’t be good in my opinion.

You have a fractal group in NA Come home Iris.

Time Glitch.2460:

deSade.9437:

This is the first time I see such a thread. I’m amazed at the insight in your idea, I’ve never seen anything like it before… You surely are of the special kind.
Keep up the good work, make more threads with more refreshing ideas.

Gotta keep making them until ANet does something about it.

They did. “Play How I Wanters” still can’t do the Spider Queen. They can’t do HoTW now without exploiting an AFK range spot. They can’t do the CoE golem. They can’t do Alpha. They can’t do Lupi.

They don’t seek challenges for themselves. They ask for the removal of more and more class and combat mechanics in pursuit of some mystical ‘level playing field’, where they will be somehow able to play at a passable level without putting forth any effort of their own.

Anet is doing a great job giving them this. If folks like you get your way, the only thing left to do will be to press 1,1,1,1,1,..

No! I missed the show Does anyone have the cliff notes version or screens? Pls and thank you!

Ariete The Phoenix.8276:

People join the LFG because they read ONLY the path.
If I put a LFG with a lot of gibberish to obscure the entire LFG like this : "KNFJK;NSA;JGNSAUGHSUA;HNFUANAN p2 write "something"@join" I might not get people that are good… but at least THEY READ THAT. I prefer people that read a 10000% more than exp players. This is because I can teach them or I can know what they are doing and why.
And lilith is fashion queen while Maha is…. uhhh “insert colesy baby face”

GLF 1 condi/earthshield ele best tank na

It’s not a bank slot. It’s an account bag. Have wanted this for some time.

So you don’t have to keep switching toons for potions or wasting bag slots on potions on all your characters.

Very much agree. What they did with the Pavilion is great. For as much as “press 1 zerg” has become a community wide joke, people are still stuck in that mindset.

I hope they keep breaking up the zerg with each update. What I’d really like to see is some 8-15 man instanced content that is challenging. Of course everything gets easier with time but I’m hoping for content that 100% requires coordination.

Like OP and Tree said a bit up from here, there is a huge difference between a hard boss (content) with good design and a bad one. More bosses like Baines or Shurak would be interesting to me. Bosses like Mossman are a huge letdown and a boring drag. The best mechanic mossman has is being difficult to see underneath all the particle effects.

Vesuvius.9874:

Maliel.8362:

This is just typical behavior in games without subscription fees, have you ever visited the League of Legends forums?

I’m assuming there’s more whining there because more children play LoL . Grownups don’t whine, they provide feedback.

O_o You must work with some wonderful people.

I don’t believe it actually counts as your GS. We tried a little experiment with Phalanx strength(and Forceful GS further back). The thought was that if bloodlust would stack on kills with the FGS, then the underlying weapon would also carry over with traits.

Was not the case. Could not cap might stacks with an FGS rush despite technically wielding a regular GS under it. So I doubt that it would count for the 10% modifier. The FGS already counts as a bundle and it is pretty clear that for the purpose of traits it will only count as a bundle and will override GS specific traits (I will assume it overrides other underlying weapon traits too)

S T A C K.

Yeah. I played my War last night. Nyn stayed on his Guard and Az was on Ele. Kev ran his Mes for the 49 and we had that PuG ranger. He wasn’t preachy or anything, he was just not very good. I guess he was a good PuG though. He did listen and he put down what he had to but you really had to micromanage him or he would go back to pewpewmode.

Wasn’t really a knowitall, he called himself bad a few times. We didn’t really say anything to him to prompt it. I think he was ashamed when he kept dying to things but he was very good for a pug.

He was dead pretty much the whole time on Mai Trin too. Karen logged on so we just grabbed her for lv 40 and Kev rolled as 2nd Ele.

Yeah. Such lolmode with a good team.

Yes! I’m actually not at work today. Waiting on some food to cook and I can log. We had a pug Ranger with us in 49 last night. Eww eww eww.

Might be heresay but I heard that since the rewards update the drop rates in 49 and 50 have actually gotten worse. Not sure if this is a result of wonky stats or Anet error (or it could be 100% false).

Someone with programing expertise might know this. How hard is it to fix the drops? Seems to be a simple change X for Y and it’s fixed.

Well it’s tougher for you to be picky. It sounds like you’re running full PuGs. I need at least 2 Guildmates to maintain my sanity. That way you can at least wait for PuGs to die and complete stress-free.

I too hate kicking. Sometimes it’s fun taking 1 PuG for lols and other times you need to fill a slot. If that’s the case, I don’t like to kick unless they’re really just horrible or an idiot. Usually both.

Even among the rings, there are a few that I get wayyyyy more than others. I’ve got so many Bands of the Brotherhoods, Ralena’s Bands, and Khilbron’s Phylacteries.

Right. No one but the most up-tight group will kick a PuG who is using the right setup to benefit their team. No one will kick an Engi if they’re stacking might and vuln…even if it isn’t really needed. A PuG is a PuG. At least they’re trying to contribute in a meaningful way.

The kick comes with yolomode leeroy dying 5 times during Mai Trin. The kick comes with being told to stop camping LB at range and then doing so at melee. The kick comes with spamming well after well. The kick comes with running full signet Ele with HoB.

As long as they nerf Fractal rewards. They’ve really gotten out of hand.

Yes, it’s a lot nicer now. The duration is the same but you have a better idea of the impact area now.

If it happened to be that I needed to fill a spot with a PuG, and it does sometimes happen, I wouldn’t kick any of those classes on sight.

You see, when you PuG, you sign a contract. A contract accepting a lower level of play. Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised, but often you get exactly what you paid for or less.

No one gets kicked from my party unless I know they didn’t read or respect my LFG post. Sometimes it’s a gear check, sometimes it’s a math problem, sometimes it’s a philosophical question.

As long as they can read and communicate, I’m alright having them around. So, when I ask such a PuG to stop camping 1500 range and change up their build, they will actually do so. That’s really all there is to it. I expect most good guilds and group runners have similar kicking policies.

You don’t get kicked for your class by reasonable players. You get kicked because you don’t listen and you run pointless builds and use pointless skills.

Hehe no one usually thinks of that one. I like saying all the lines in TS. Surprised not muted yet

LordByron.8369:

And instead people that can t adapt have blood pressure issues

You’re a funny man. That right there is half of why I will never PuG. You have to use these ridiculous emote faces to try to soften the blow. They are so averse to any sort of genuine guidance. Of course you can teach them but it costs you so much energy, frustration, and time. I’d rather enjoy my game.

I don’t enjoy PuGs because they have mediocre builds at best, a very rudimentary understanding of the instance and the tactics, and they are not in TS (or refuse to be). All of this is annoying and I don’t feel like dealing with it when I have skilled players to run with.

If you’re referring the LFG ‘speed runners’, they are not speed runners. For all those reasons Leo mentioned. They’re folks who may have seen a video or two and might even be skilled players themselves but they still just ‘copy paste’ strategies without really understanding what they’re doing. These are the ‘stack and no dodge’ crowd that love to needlessly stack and waste time waiting for LoS in pointless spots. Speed Guild runs are just not something you can do with 4 randoms, no prior coordination, and no communication.

If I’ve got a car, why walk 25 miles to work in the rain?

Sean.8274:

CoF 1 & 2
AC 1 & 3
SE 1

These are generally the fastest dungeons IMO and the set of them can be done every day in a little over an hour netting you 7.25 gold (excluding drops).

As for repeating the same path over and over; CoF 1 is the fastest/easiest to bore yourself to tears with.

Tip: To maximize your gold from dungeons, buy RARE light armor pieces with your CoF (and higher level) dungeon tokens and salvage for ectos/silk.

TA (non-80 paths) are really easy and fast too, but most people do not do them for whatever reason.
HotW 1 is pretty fast, last boss is a bit of a pain though.
CoE 1,2,3 are all about the same and once you are experienced, fairly easy.

AC and CoF 2 are actually some of the slowest paths you can do in the game. PuGs love them because they are very lolmode but they are the worst use of your time. Flissy’s breakdown is much more accurate for your time to gold investment.

You are of course best off running with an optimized team in a guild or with friends (and voice coms). You’ll complete much, much faster than possible in a PuG.

I bring gifts from the general discussion subforum. A dark land with many foul inhabitants.

Stand back. Watch me push a button. Oooh, maybe I’ll flip a lever.

Well, Aragorn is in his 90s and Gimli is 120 something. GW2 is 250 years after GW1 so it makes sense that those two can only be a single profession. Legolas is almost 1000 years old….he was around back when double professions were still in fashion.

lordkrall.7241:

Why should ArenaNet cater to the player-base that DON’T actively play their game though? Wouldn’t it be much more logical to cater to those that actually play the game at least a few times a week?

I think he means that those players shouldn’t get screwed with temporary content. Bringing back the festival was a good call this year, even if it is different.

While some players take breaks to play other games, a lot of gamers get swamped at work and are not able to play consistently year round. It IS in Arenanet’s interest to at least keep these players in mind. Generally they may be more willing to buy gems than younger gamers who have 15 hours a day to play.

Lucas.9157:

Aragorn was a sword/x Ranger.

Legolas seems to be the problem. That longbow 360noscope camper.

Common misconception. Yes, he camps Bow in zerg and for killing scrub players but he’s actually a D/D thief.

Time for an average player-skill buff.

I won’t run a full PuG fractal 50 with you because I enjoy my blood pressure where it is. That doesn’t mean you can’t give them a heads up for tactics right before a fight. Sounds like you don’t really know what you’re doing yourself though.

No one said weakness was a 100% dmg reduction but between Weakness and Protection, you are objectively taking less damage. With Chill on foes, you are also taking less damage because of the increased cool downs. This takes some pressure off of your endurance and lets you save your ‘Oh kitten!’ button for when you make a mistake.

No one here is telling you to facetank anything. Look at who’s posting in this thread. It’s not exactly the clericbearbowcoalition. All the advice is pointing to a little bit of effort on your part to have some massive damage reduction. It is possible with PuGs. I used to PuG 100% of the time…of course I would hate to do so again but only because I have better options for 49 and 50.

There are language group settings in the LFG as well. Just use that and make sure you get someone who ‘understand the words comin you of yo mouth’. Or, better yourself as a person and learn enough German and French to play on EU. Who said video games can’t teach you anything?

Haha yes. We missed you in Fractals last night! Had a great group with Nyn, Az, Clumsy, and Lea.

Ended up having to pug a spot down the line though. Had a guy fail the math test O_o

Haha yes. Increase is what I meant. Attacks reduce from CD increase. 40% reduction ain’t bad at all though. Certainly still worth using Chill imo.

Not entirely sure what Byron meant by Protection will only save you from 1 attack but Prot with Chill and Weakness is awesome. I guess maybe if everyone is just yolomoding around it isn’t that useful but even with PuGs you can give them some direction.

Leo you were there for the skinniest guard NA right?

Raids would be sick. I don’t doubt that a lot of players would be down for them.

Don’t get it confused though. While the instanced PvE content is stale now, it also hasn’t seen any love from Anet. The dungeon sub has been notoriously ignored as well as many suggestions to improve instances and gameplay.

Ninja patches muck things up more than fix actual bugs. Now, this content was difficult when it released but it’s a 2 year old game with no new dungeons. Of course people know how to run them.

GW1’s combat wasn’t as challenging as you suggest. GW1 just kept introducing new stuff to keep players adapting. I played it since launch. By the end, all VQ was lolmode with necro/rit heroes. Assassin farming endgame lolmode as well.

Ah fair enough. Ya’ll have done the maths on this stuff. So the 66% reduction in CDs translates into a 40% attack reduction.

I think the point still stands though. The combination of Chill, Prot, and Weakness takes so much pressure off the team. That sort of translates into more endurance because of less big hits to need to evade. So more damage uptime. Of course is also more forgiving for when someone does eat a hit.

Rauderi.8706:

Dalanor.5387:

ps: Im curious, can you tell me what kind of encounter would need strategy and teamwork? An example from WoW or other well known MMO’s is fine too.

AC path 2. It requires fairly exact coordination that’s frustrating as hell with a PUG.

…And that’s why speedrunners don’t do it. That path will never be “efficient”, so it gets ignored.

Basically, it doesn’t matter if all the dungeons suddenly had interesting mechanics and environmental triggers, the path of least resistance will get the most attention.

Even in WoW, there are some bosses that are little more than tank-and-spank. They serve as basic DPS gates to harder content.

+1 good joke. pls tell again.

P2 is very much a speed clear dungeon. It’s even more lolmode now after the ferocity patch. It’s more efficient than P3 which PuGs love to run.

In fact, the “efficient/fast” PuG dungeons like CoF and AC have some of the slowest paths in the whole game.

LordByron.8369:

With usual numbers u see on Fractals 50, a 33% less damage won t change anything unless you are a warrior maybe.

Arcane shield saves you from 3 hits.
Protection will save you from 1 at most.

But still i can t see why you have Always to be the keeper of truth.
Your way of playing is not the only one or the best.

May be in your party….
If you want to do a pug run with me one day, i will gladly see your theories applied and if it saves time or not (i will do my part).

For sure you can’t say you have more pug experience than me.

u wot m8?

Protection doesn’t save you from one hit. I’m guessing Arcane Shield is your “Oh kitten!” utility. That’s fine. Protection however is a flat 33% damage reduction boon. Any competent Guardian in higher tier fractal will be running a hammer on Mossman.

On top of this, with Skale Venom you should have no trouble keeping Weakness on Mossman (or any enemies). That’s a 50% chance at glancing blows…which I think is half or close to half damage reduction. Couple that with protection…pretty awesome.

You can even take it a step further and apply chills to reduce the attack rate by 66% as well. That adds up to less attacks done which hit for about half their damage while your party, with protection up, receives 33% less of that damage.

Must admit, I am curious to see the Lilith fashion hype in person but alas I work during the day….or I at least sit at this computer at work.