Guild Wars 2

Star Ace.5207:

Except not everyone needs to provide “max DPS” in this game to be effective: there is not a true “DPS class” as such (so said jerks were not being fair to you by being exclusivist). Expecting everybody to run max Direct Damage builds because it’s “fastest” and “more effective” is intolerant of all of those who wish to play another playstyle that also works for them and the group.

You said it in point one too. Why give them another tool to promote bad attitudes? The least many of us want is these gear elitist views to be forced on others just so that they can find groups-they will try to adapt to the “meta” (rather than play with freedom) just to get into groups, propagating further bad attitudes in the community.

(Also, some people have already made up their minds about Berserker’s Warriors being the way to go for some Dungeon runs-even though I play my Guardian, I cringe whenever someone at GW2LFG posts the note-Guardian/Warrior/Mesmer only or any combination therein. Even if the Ranger in your example had 3,773 direct damage potential, they would deem it “weak” because it doesn’t meet the artificial criteria of a hive mind, “proven,” meta-“efficient” party build.)

I WOULD have problem with anyone booting me for not having “enough mathematical DPS”, and would never kick anyone based on such silly criteria, because max DPS is not even neeed in a game with no true DPS/healer/tank roles (the assumption that there’s only one role-DPS-is incorrect; many people just love to see big damage numbers and generally assume it’s the “most efficient” way to play.)

(Note that I am not saying using max direct damage builds is wrong, but rather than being close-minded about every other option is, because people are free to play whichever way they want and still get to be super effective at it.)

Math can only do so much in this game-it’s more about your own playstyle, strategy, trait synergy, and many other intangibles, so a simple DPS meter (or any gearscore) is basically rendered quasi-useless in practice.

I mean no offense, though. You are not a “weirdo” for wanting gear feedback, etc. but for this game’s sake, it’s better that each player does so with like-minded individuals, perhaps in a specialized forum, or even with like-minded friends/guildies rather than making it a tool that will further bad attitides in the community. You are entitled to like your numbers, and I don’t think you have a crummy attitude yourself JUST because you like min/maxing, but a tool that may promote those attitudes-even if you wouldn’t-is not right for GW2, in my strong opinion.

hey thanks for reading. I should clarify, i don’t think anyone should get booted from groups. Kicking from the group should be reserved for afks and only the most extreme of cirumstances. I’d just rather my accusers have access to solid info and not boot me for subjective reasons. Of course i’d rather not get booted altogether.

My point is you already have jerks in the game, and it would be those same jerks that will use whatever tool they have available to be jerks. Currently, they have forums as their tool, where conventional wisdom rules and tends to be blown out of proportion (example: word on the street is rangers are underpowered, that doesn’t necessarily mean they wont be effective in a group, yet you still see them being denyed spots based on conjecture).

The more information and hard data you have access to, the more rationality and reason you introduce into decision making.

Yes, a jerk may use an inspect feature to try and rate you based on your gear, but you should have the confidence to defend your gearing decisions, and at this point have the ability to inspect your accuser and critique his gearing choices. And if someone is going to use inspect as justification to boot you then you better off not playing with them. That is the same type of person that doesn’t even need inspect to boot you from the group.

I totally see where people against this feature are coming from. I just dont think the scorn of bullys should be the only thing preventing the playerbase from accessing new tools. But because of the behavior of a few jerks..THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS!! lol

every attune besides water has some sort of CC. I just switch attunements to lock down my target, while sneaking in some dmg.

Air 5 (cage) + air 4 (float) = enemy floats into cage and gets stunned.
Fire 4 – Fire snare
earth 4(i think) = sink
Water 5 (advance to close range) + 3 ( ice, move back, detonate)
Then restart the roto. That usually keeps my enemy locked down.

I am for an inspect option. More in-game options the better!! But i’m one of those weirdos that enjoys feedback on my gear/spec, as well as combat metrics such as dmg meters.

Yes, they can be abused by jerks, but:

1) jerks will be jerks regardless of whether or not they can see your gear. Inspect wouldn’t increase the amount of jerks, but would give jerks a new tool to use.

2) at least jerks would be basing their abuse off objective measurements. I would rather get booted from a group because a dps meter showed my damage was lacking, than get booted because it “appeared” i was not doing enough dmg. Currently, jerk-like behavior is based on conjecture and subjective measurements. For instance, you may get booted just because people think rangers are weak, but inspects/meters could help you defend your ability.

hey! good thread. Here’s what i have to add:

D/D – my normal roto is similar to yours’. However, my goal with this roto is to stack might while doing dmg.

air 3, 4, 5, > fire 3, 4, > earth 3,4,5 (throw in cleansing fire, armor or earth, and arcane wave…7 stacks from both cantrips via traits and blast finisher)> water 4,3,2 > back to fire 5,2,3,4

I like to wait until my second time going fire to use 5 and 2, because i cant squeeze them in initially without loosing my fire fields, and because in 2nd time around i have more might buffs.

and no, i dont know how to prevent the earth 3 bug. I just mash earth 4 until i get satisfaction

staff swiftness roto: (cast on self) Earth 2 > air 5, arcane wave, 4. I get swiftness from switching to air via traits, as well as swiftness from using my heal via traits. Altogether, its about 55 secs of swiftness.

the only use i’ve found for this signet is for a “blind build” with s/d. Between air 3, earth 3, and the signet, you can pretty much always blind a mob before they attack. I’ve only used this for pve.

Lifeson.4352:

Elementalists can no longer use vapor form to get through tower or keep doors in wvw.

hey! you shut your dirty mouth!! >_>

If i’ve learned anything (especially from my SWTOR days) people that don’t like DPS/HPS metrics really don’t like DPS/HPS metrics. Like religiously.

Personally, I’d love some sort of feedback, more than the combat log, as to my performance. Not just “oh it’s dead i must be doing something right.” I want to know which combos put out the most dps and know when i put out the most dps compared to my comrads in a boss fight. But i enjoy competitive play so take it for what it is.

it’s a sticky situation. If pressing “~” switched weapons out of combat, i would, at the very least, always start with my staff and spam my swiftness buffs before switching to d/d. So, as long as i initiate the combat, i can, at the very least, give myself about 45s swiftness for the battle, something i couldn’t really do alone with d/d.

I am using swiftness as an example cuz i have the most experience using my staff just for swiftness buffs, but i’m sure the same methods could be applied other ways.

Another example— i could get 25 stacks of might with d/d out of combat, switch to staff and unleash some lethal AOE.

Albeit, you could theoretically do both these things currently, but having to manually switch weapons lowers the motivation to do that all the time. Not to mention having your inventory take over the screen makes you vulnerable.

I would like an easier way to switch weapons too, but like i said— it’s a sticky situation :P

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Mars.6319:

RedBaron.6058:

I play this game for 3 months now, have been part of hundreds of parties and the dialogue in party chat never went beyond “Hi..”.

This game is based on solo tasks or group zerg tasks that do not need any coordination at all…when you get a party you just spam your attacks and kill the strong mobs you are not able to kill solo.

As per the need to belong to a guild, well I never felt that need because there are no guild tasks/objectives/perks to achieve. Pretty interesting stuff for a game that calls itself “Guild Wars 2”.

How did you get past the swamp fractal?

It’s interesting that a lot of the coordination-type things to beat an encounter don’t involve a synergy between skills of varying professions. People argue the depth of combat, but when the depth is entirely optional in order to beat an encounter… it kind of begs the question as to really “how deep” is the combat?

yeah, i agree with these sentiments very much. The potential is there, but i don’t believe the content is at that level.

Everything they put out seems to have the main goal of “accessibility,” but i think what it really needs is very difficult content that requires preparation, coordination, strategy, and of course tons of trial and error. Something along the lines of the near-impossible raid content of the vanilla WoW days.

Sometimes when i’m blocking trebs, usually with another ele, after about 15 mins or so, i begin to realize how pedantic my actions feel…sitting there, taking turns casting swirling wind, even though i am helping my server.

then i think about the person on the other end, that has been mashing “2” for 15 mins on the treb, only to see “immune” pop up over and over.

it’s that thought that keeps me going, lol.

I get the most use out of my ice bow, which i pretty much only use with my staff in WvW. Meteor shower + Glyph of Storms + Ice bow 4. If you have the staff trait for increased aoe range this is a pretty mean combo.

As others have mentioned the greatsword is pretty sweet, too. I usually use it in sPvP as a last resort if i’m having trouble bringing down an enemy.

Creslin.1758:

Okay, so I play Elementalist. I love Elementalist. Generally, I do not want to see them nerfed.

But there is one thing that an Elementalist can do right now, that is SO cheap, that even I think it has to be nerfed. And that thing is being able to use downed 2 and vapor right inside a structure you are defending.

This essentially means that an Ele defending a keep in UNKILLABLE. They can run out there, do all their D/D burst in the zerg, get downed, then just float right inside the keep portal, revive themselves and do it again.

I really don’t think any class should have a get out of death free card like this. Even mine.

Thought?

I do what you describe whenever i can defending in WvW. I also do it when i’m not around seige…if someone downs me, i go vapor form and try my damnedest to jump off a short cliff or hide behind a tree…whatever i can do to get out of LoS.

I dont think its cheap though, we’re just slippery; easy to down, hard to kill.

As others have mentioned, vapor form loses its effectiveness and you die immediately after 2 downs. And finally, if your tower is getting attacked to the point where you have to resort to vaping back inside, chances are the tower is already lost. Your efforts to vapor form and jump back up to fight will only slow the inevitable.

if not for vapor form, i would say remove the ele down state all together. The point of the down state is to give you a fighting chance, and what the ele lacks in offensive abilities it makes up for in it’s illusiveness.

I use the frost bow pretty regularly in WvW with my staff set up. Mostly just for the aoe (skill 4), following my staff 5. Also, bow 5 is a great imobilize.

staff 5 + conjure frost bow + bow 4 + switch back to staff. Conjuring the bow adds an extra step but it’s all pretty seemless.

If you want more utility from conjure weapons, i would suggest giving each weapon at least one combo field or finisher skill.

ZeroStatic.2176:

I’d love it in concept, I don’t know how well it would work in GW2.
Most MMO’s that had Open World PvP without specific faction zones did it by having some kind of penalty associated with PK’ing. Either you went to jail after x kills, or you’d get a bad rep and people could attack you freely, or some other penalty applied.

If this were properly designed and implemented I could already see the white knighers protecting lowbies from the black named griefers.. Or different (roleplay) guilds practically playing WvW in regular PvE zones.

How about if you kill x number of people, you get a marker placed over yourself on the map, like for DEs or Elite mobs. That way, other people in the area can see where you are and are encouraged to kill you.

Cant think of a better way to deal with ganking than to get a mass group of lowbies to pounce on the pk, lol.

A FFA PvP server would be awesome. Just make everyone who is not your race an enemy.

Let’s say you are in a Human in Human territory. You cannot attack other Humans. If a Char is in the area, you can attack him, but he can’t attack you until you attack first, or unless you flag yourself for pvp. If a Char meets an Asura in Human territory, it’s fair game.

The best part about open pvp isn’t ganking and getting ganked— it’s the element surprise. It’s variable and unpredictable. It’s the tension of knowing that you’re in contested territory and you need to be on your guard.

I think the biggest thing we are missing out on are the great settings which we could be battling in. I find myself staring at the set pieces in PvE, fantasizing about how cool it would be to actually fight people there.

As it stands, WvW is fun and sPvP is also a thing. The lack of FFA PvP wont keep me from playing, but the possibilities of it’s implementation could be fantastic.