Guild Wars 2

Not to insult your english, but are you saying you want to make a burst build using zeal or radiance or both? I ask cuz I’m pretty much in your shoes as well (trying out radiance with this)

Another warrior…

Joking (but it’s true) aside, any condition based prof would be bad since the warrior could kill before the condition’s duration finishes.

With that, any prof that can give consistent boons would be better. Staff guard with empower (12 stacks of might at a fairly low cd) comes to mind. At least 15 in radiance and both of you are good to go Virtue of Justice would give both of you burn on hit and blind your target (and since VoJ resets on kill) for more room to breath at the start.

Then there are conditions that don’t do damage but still contribute a lot. Thief skills have no cd. Just bring off hand pistol for a blind field or go d/p for a “cheaper” single target blind. Mobs attack slow enough for you to be able to perma blind them.

Seetoo.9316:

How are you supporting better with PVT?
Can you body block AoE’s?
Can you body block cleaves?
Can you body block a boss from reaching your party members?
Does the amount of reduction given by protection scale with how much toughness or vitality the caster has?

If support means giving your party boons (like prot, regen, and vigor) and heals (like healing breeze), then a guy in zerk will provide just as much support as the guy in PVT.

Except I did give examples of how I define support (boons and heals), ending with saying a guy in zerk will give the same support as the guy in pvt.

So I ask again (swapping out the word “support” for “boons and heals”). How are boons and heals from a guy in PVT better than boons and heals from a guy in zerk? The only supports that scale are regen and healing, and both sets don’t have healing power.

If you want really specific examples of “group support”
Casting VoC or Stand your Ground before Kholer pulls. My stats don’t matter here.
Casting Hold the Line on top of the hammer chain for protection when you have to face tank Spider Queen’s melee so she doesn’t drop poison fields. My stats don’t affect the amount of reduction protection gives.
Casting Wall of reflect for the harpy fractals. My stats don’t affect how long the wall lasts or how often I can cast it.

Seetoo.9316:

Obtena.7952:

Seetoo.9316:

I’m saying that “IF (conditional statement, not absolute) you are good enough to NOT NEED the VT in PVT” then the only reasons you ARE wearing PVT are:
- you couldn’t be bothered to get a zerk set
- PVT is your preference

OR

… you are teaming with people you have to support better or carry more. Not everyone you pick up for team is running the zerkers (or capable of using it), therefore, you might not be able to either.

How are you supporting better with PVT?
Can you body block AoE’s?
Can you body block cleaves?
Can you body block a boss from reaching your party members?
Does the amount of reduction given by protection scale with how much toughness or vitality the caster has?

If support means giving your party boons (like prot, regen, and vigor) and heals (like healing breeze), then a guy in zerk will provide just as much support as the guy in PVT.

Baiting??

See bold above (that’s from you, not me). I asked how, and you never answered (or just ignored the question)

Gasp the zerk camp could possibly have a non zerk preference but uses zerk in pve group content anyway because its “faster”.

My preference is actually magi gear (not zerk? UNBELIEVABLE!!) for the vigor on crit, more hp and bigger (not really) heals. I wasn’t told zerk was better, I learned it on my own (more hp didn’t prevent oneshots when they hit, and the healing power added contributed to over heals, specially after learning the dungeon).

Obtena.7952:

spoj.9672:

I agree with what you’ve said but you also have to consider the people you are grouping with.

That goes BOTH ways. Your not going to enjoy being held back by non-zerker people, they aren’t going to enjoy being pulled through by full zerker people. The difference is that non-zerk people aren’t telling you how to gear and play while the zerker camp seems to have no problem doing that to everyone else.

@ bold
Really?

The difference is that non-zerk people have no problem slowing down the group and not fully contributing while the zerker camp isn’t opposed to switching to zerk gear to accommodate a group setting.

BTW, I would still like to know how PVT support (boons, heals, and other utilities) is superior to zerk support (boons, heals, and other utilities).

Content gets hard via:
1. monsters take longer to kill (higher toughness, higher hp)
2. monsters hit harder

How stats get used:
1. offensive stats require you hit your target
2. defensive stats require you get hit

If you go defensive in any way (full, partial), the only time you are actually using those stats is when you are getting hit. The more difficult the content (say higher lv fractals) the harder the hits become (and the chances of getting 1shot increases).

At some point those hits will kill you no matter how high those defenses are (since your stats won’t scale with the difficulty and there is a cap to how much defensive stats you can have). At that point the goal is to avoid the hit entirely. At that point you may as well be naked, since 0% of your defensive stats are getting used when you are not getting hit.

If you go full def, 100% of your stats aren’t used (not really since at least 1 stat is offensive on all gear).
If you go half def, 50% of your stats aren’t used (not really since at least 1 stat is offensive on all gear).

So why aim for a stat that you actively won’t use (since the goal is to not get hit)?

Obtena.7952:

Seetoo.9316:

I’m saying that “IF (conditional statement, not absolute) you are good enough to NOT NEED the VT in PVT” then the only reasons you ARE wearing PVT are:
- you couldn’t be bothered to get a zerk set
- PVT is your preference

OR

… you are teaming with people you have to support better or carry more. Not everyone you pick up for team is running the zerkers (or capable of using it), therefore, you might not be able to either.

How are you supporting better with PVT?
Can you body block AoE’s?
Can you body block cleaves?
Can you body block a boss from reaching your party members?
Does the amount of reduction given by protection scale with how much toughness or vitality the caster has?

If support means giving your party boons (like prot, regen, and vigor) and heals (like healing breeze), then a guy in zerk will provide just as much support as the guy in PVT.

Amins.3710:

Hunter.4783:

Seetoo.9316:

Amins.3710:

I run PVT gear.

I must be bad.

Yep, that’s gotta be it.

If you are good enough to know when to dodge, are able to plan your dodges around knowing when to dodge, and are actually able to dodge, then yes, you are “bad” (selfish) for running PVT.

@ people who don’t like being called selfish
Don’t fit the description.

Other than calling Amins bad (he is overrated, but not bad fyi) you call anyone who don’t run full zerker selfish. Im not sure whether to be amused or disgusted

o.0

Bad to overrated in just a few posts…

INCREDIBLE!

Trolls trolling their class forums.

Clearly the kids from WoW have begun migrating!

I’m not flat out calling you selfish for wearing PVT.

I’m saying that “IF (conditional statement, not absolute) you are good enough to NOT NEED the VT in PVT” then the only reasons you ARE wearing PVT are:
- you couldn’t be bothered to get a zerk set
- PVT is your preference

Suppose it is fact that he is good (beyond contestation). He is dodging every single hit that would kill him (not impossible) and dpsing as normal.
Case 1: PVT gear
2/3 stats on his gear are NOT BEING USED.
Case 2: zerk gear
All stats on his gear are being used.

Amins.3710:

I run PVT gear.

I must be bad.

Yep, that’s gotta be it.

If you are good enough to know when to dodge, are able to plan your dodges around knowing when to dodge, and are actually able to dodge, then yes, you are “bad” (selfish) for running PVT.

@ people who don’t like being called selfish
Don’t fit the description.

It’s infuriating that Braham’s heavy armor skin looks like THAT, while I still get stuck with nothing but coats.

Cuz I would die if I worked 24/7. You see 100% of my time includes sleeping/resting, eating, bathing, bathroom breaks for 1 and 2, moving (getting from where I work to where I sleep), recreation (that thing you do so you don’t burn out and become unable to perform your work efficiently) etc.

As for games specifically, they are therapeutic. Society has only just begun to discover the productive effects of games because they have been labeled for a long time as useless.

Shooters have produced more skilled surgeons due to the increase in their hand-eye coordination.
Games with fast moving objects (MMO’s come to mind) have been discovered to help improve eye disorders
Games specifically catered to address fears have helped cure those fears (Make a game specifically to slowly introduce an arachnophob to spiders).

Simulations (you know, that thing STEM people use to not waste resources testing theories out) is this big and important sounding word for games.

I wanna build this device to end world <insert problem>, but it could blow up the earth.
a) let’s build it anyway because it is the product of our fine STEM minds
b) simulate it

But then again, you obviously didn’t know since you had to even ask the question.

Amazing what you sound like for applying a game (that doesn’t simulate real life) discussion to real life. The amount of kitten is too kitten high.

If you wanna pursue this then you’re on your own. I’m going back to topic.

Does one automatically become a STEM employee after birth? – teacher
Can a STEM employee be productive after he’s been cripple/killed by fire? Can a STEM employee be productive after his tools are burned to ash? – firemen
Can a STEM employee remain productive after he’s been burned out by doing nothing but work? – games

These nonSTEM professions support STEM professions not because they want to be support but because STEM professions NEED the support. You can’t stand on something without something to stand on. How exactly do you think the food on your plate gets there? How do you even have a plate to begin with?

UNLIKE in this case (group PVE content), players DON’T NEED OTHER PLAYERS to support them since Anet gave every class the ability to dps, cc, and heal.

“I screwed up and got hit big”
“I’ll heal myself and simply not get hit the next time a big hit is ANNOUNCED”

But that’s exactly what selfish means. To not care for the greater good of the group because your own preference takes higher priority. It’s an adjective used to describe exactly the situation you are saying “prioritizing YOUR interests as a single player 1st than as a group member”
self·ish [sel-fish] Show IPA
adjective
1.
devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.

I could use the other words
Synonyms
1. self-interested, self-seeking, egoistic; illiberal, parsimonious, stingy.
but they all mean the same thing and they will still insult you and people like you.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/selfish?s=t

It’s calling a black (adjective) pot (noun in question) black.

I’m calling a player(noun in question) who prioritizes himself over the group(definition of an adjective) “selfish”(adjective).

For personal survival in a group
You take defensive stats because you know that YOU can’t dodge the really painful hits (hits that take a huge chunk of total hp) or you don’t walk out of red rings. That’s why you chose defensive stats right?

“I know for a fact, that I can’t dodge this particular hit so I’ll gear to be able to mitigate it instead”

Isn’t that what defines a bad player? You know which hits really hurt, but you don’t plan your dodges around that information and instead “gear for it” and mitigate (since you can’t “gear for dodges”).

PVE content has patterns and tells. Suppose you already learned the dungeon, so much so that you never get hit (ever). Would staying in defensive gear to maintain your preference be selfish or not?

For group survival
Say you take healing power to help keep the group up. That right there means the group is bad enough to NEED you to heal them. Your preference assumes that the group is bad. So instead of elitist, your preference just made you an kitten.

Because we have dodge, defensive stats are designed around bad play (defined as taking the hits as opposed to not taking the hits). So long as dodging is an ability available to ALL builds of ANY class, defensive stats will be inferior.

Think about it. Remove dodge. Suddenly its reversed because the dead do no damage.

Star Ace.5207:

It would be like me being critical of types of music I don’t enjoy, and telling them that “my music” is the one they should listen to, otherwise people are polluting the air and being “selfish” by doing so and letting me hear their “garbage.”

I’ld like to point out that listening to music does not have a group oriented goal. Gearing does (in this case dungeons).

The ingame equivalent to your analogy would be looking at your stats to feel good about yourself or looking at your skin combinations and saying “I make this look good.”

If you want a music example to fit the game, try choosing music for your walking / jogging work out. Music has a subconscious effect to the pace at which you walk / jog. Place that in a group setting with the goal of finishing at a moderate pace. Even if nobody can hear everyone else’s music, the group can only go as fast as the slowest person in the group.

Moderate pace jogger: Why did you choose a slow song.
Slow pace jogger: I like this song.

Star Ace.5207:

Your logic is that since defense doesn’t do damage (really?!!!), it’s useless! So I have nothing else to add.

In your world:

-No trinity, only damage matters. That’s just a myth based on people too used to the old trinity.

-Therefore, if your armor doesn’t attack (wow!), it’s useless

-You are bad if you ever get hit, because getting hit is bad. (O.o)

-You are not supposed to get hit, because getting hit is bad; if you are good you won’t ever get hit and thus will never need healing power.

Is it really my point? My point was defense is bad because you active try “not to use” it. Toughness and vit only do their jobs when you take a hit (something you don’t always do). Healing only does it’s job when you are missing HP (something that isn’t always happening).

So, let me make it very specific. How do toughness and vit help everyone else in the group when you aren’t taking hits (something that is completely possible)? How is healing power helping everyone else in the group when no one is missing HP (something that is completely possible)?

See the questions? There’s nothing there about doing damage. It’s about not using the stats you invested in. Now let’s flip it for damage.

Offense is good because you actively “try to use” it. Pow, prec only do their jobs when you deal damage (something you always try to do). Crit damage only does its job when you crit (something you always want to happen). You always want prec and crit damage to do their jobs, but you don’t control when that happens (outside of sigil of int and sure crit traits).

So, let me make it very specific. How do prec and crit damage help everyone else in the group when you aren’t critting (something that is completely possible)? How does power help everyone else in the group when you aren’t connecting hits (something that is completely possible)?

My questions apply to zerk as well. These questions are about not using the stats you invested in.

The huge difference in favor of zerk over pvt is that you actively try to do damage (use offensive stats) while you actively try to avoid damage (not use your defensive stats).

So unless content comes up where the goal is to take damage (and not deal damage), defense will be inferior because you actively try NOT to use it.

Cont. (to match your post)
Except you didn’t actually get my point (since you thought my point was “defense doesn’t do damage (really?!!!), it’s useless”) My point was you actively try not to use the stats you invest in when you go defensive (who does pve content with the goal of taking damage?)

So, your argument is preference (binary: like or dislike). Mine is getting use out of your stat investment (pretty binary too: yes or no → are you dealing damage? are you taking damage?)

And here comes the “fun” argument. If the goal is to have fun with like minded players, why is this even an issue since you will NEVER aim to group with zerk minded players?

Anet didn’t design this game with max dps in mind. They designed it with dps in mind. How to tell? Every objective involves dealing damage to something.

I remember a guild mission where you go to south sun and “keep a crab alive” or something. It would have been great since the goal was to keep something alive rather than kill something. But because the would be “crab killers” weren’t invulnerable, it was better to just kill them than tank/kite them.

I’m not asking Anet (they already gave their answer). It’s not about preference or “fit”. By Anets own design defensive stats are “bad” (for lack of a better word) “You are not supposed to be able to tank anything” (no trinity). Name a dungeon where completing it required you to survive for x sec (molten facility comes to mind – but then the traps wouldn’t stop if you didn’t do damage to the core). Name a dungeon where completing it required healing something (none comes to mind). Name a dungeon where completing it required dealing damage (all of them?).

I’m asking you (since you are so sure about your stance on this matter). All your examples are for when defensive stats DO perform their job (mitigate damage), something that DOESN’T ALWAYS HAPPEN.

Defensive stats ONLY work when you get hit. Getting hit is ALWAYS “bad” (for lack of a better word). This translates to "Defensive stats ONLY work when you are “bad” (for lack of a better word).

This isn’t opinion. Toughness and vit literally doesn’t contribute anything when you aren’t taking hits. Healing power does nothing when your health if full. Again, the exception would be stat conversion (toughness -> power, vit -> condition damage, etc).

I’ve never taken the armor for the armor. I take the armor because that’s where my stats come from. I’ll say it again, defensive works for taking hits". You have neither refuted this nor given counter example. I’ll assume you agree.

“You can’t always avoid damage” -> “You can’t always take the hit”. You admit that it’s possible to never get hit and stay alive. Is it possible to always get hit and stay alive?

“Soldiers is always bad for PVE”. Base on my argument that VT in that PVT only works when you take hits, and that taking hits is “bad” (for lack of a better word), it holds true. Refute it by saying taking a hit is good.

Completing ANY dungeon requires you do damage to something. In PVT only 1/3 of your stats is helping you complete the dungeon.

Until Anet actually produces PVE content where keeping something alive (and not doing any damage)is the objective, then mitigation will always be inferior.

Examples:
- a dungeon with constant damage (you can’t OOC)
- survive for x secs vs an invulnerable boss
- protect this npc (npc death means failure)

How do defensive stats help other people in your group, when you don’t always get hit?
Case 1: not taking the hit
Dodging invalidates any defensive stat you have. There’s no damage to mitigate using vit/toughness or damage to heal back with healing power when you don’t get hit. The only way anyone is FULLY utilizing their defensive stats is if they ALWAYS take damage.

Case 2: taking the hit
The only case of actually utilizing your defensive stats is when you take a hit (unless you count conversion traits). If that hit 1 shots you with the defensive stats, you may as well be naked (no vit no toughness). If the dps you take is greater than your hps, you will go down. Going defensive comes with the assumption of using those defenses (meaning you won’t be dodging,blocking, going invul as often as possible). No boss dies from not killing you (I haven’t done arah so maybe?). No boss dies because you mitigated x amount of damage. Note this is not about speed clears.

So bottom line:
How do defensive stats that you DON’T ALWAYS USE benefit the group equally or more than offensive stats you ALWAYS USE?

I’ve been trying to make “defensive” work, but the only thing that “works” with getting hit is retaliation. Ever finished a dungeon using just retal?

Ok, quick question? How does MF benefit the other people in your group?

I’m actually building around Orb as a main damage source for zvz. I like the “jousty” feel it has and I don’t actually need a target (just aim and shoot).
- It has no target cap since anything it passes is hit.
- It has a really low 3 (2.5 traited) sec cd

I’ve already seen it crit for 4.5k (not upleveled) with only half exotic zerk armor and blue knights trinkets.

Arkham Creed.7358:

timidobserver.7925:

Arkham Creed.7358:

timidobserver.7925:

I agree with this thread. I can’t really see any issue with putting Engis in heavy armor.

How about the fact that it makes no sense conceptually or thematically?

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a mechanic clocking into work in full plate armor? Or a computer tech in chain mail?

I don’t really care about themes and rp carebear stuff. I am sure that Anet could find some way to explain an engineer coming up with a way to buff up their armor capability if they decided to go that way.

I just love how to the “hardcore” player anything except the mind-numbingly easy and no-skill-required content of “replay this exact instance a hundred times while spamming the exact rotation you found on a wiki for three months until luck gets you a cool reward” somehow becomes “carebear.”

He was referring to “rp carebear” stuff (rp as in ROLE PLAY). In that regard, this

How about the fact that it makes no sense conceptually or thematically?

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a mechanic clocking into work in full plate armor? Or a computer tech in chain mail?

is what makes an rp carebear.

On a side note, is there any gear NOW that is medium but looks heavy?

Or just remove the FT requirement on juggernaut.

@Manuhell
What you have going is “An unstoppable force meets an immovable object”. So I’m pretty happy Phineas Poe is not a dev (since he and others like him keep saying FT as a weapon set is OK when it’s NOT)

So I’ll end with FT is better than before, but still not GOOD.

@topic
How bout they just introduce plate-ish leather since there is already leather-ish plate (pit fighter exotic)

Imma say no on bleed/torment, but only on the premise that fire cauterized. And is particularly good against bleeding. But hey “magic” right

As I reached this last post I did think of “combustion” for the guardian. How bout this:
- 66% chance to deal 75% burning damage (as direct damage) x duration on crit
- cleanses burning off the target

There’s your crit AND condition damage. Issues I can see are 5 people applying 20 secs of burning on 1 target while the guard nukes it for 15 secs worth of burning in 1 crit.

If this is too much, then it could be changed to:
- 66% chance to reduce burn duration on a target by 1 sec
- deal 1 sec worth of burning damage (as direct damage) to the target

“Cool” beats logic any day when it comes to the engg.

I’ll take the jormag FT over backdraft. 5sec cd leap and has a block too.

Possible issues to “traiting” for heavy armor
1. Where do you put it?
What traitline should hold such a “defining” (? – is 200 ish toughness truly defining?) trait. Personally, I would place it in either Inventions (reinvent your armor to be heavy) or tools (your tools add armor).
2. What tier trait should it be?
Should it be a heavy investment? Does 200 ish toughness require/warrant as heavy an investment as 30/25 into a traitline? Personally, I prefer it be an adept tier trait that scales with lv
3. Should it be a minor or major trait?
Should we get it for going into the traitline, or do we have to chose it (giving up other possible choices)? Personally, I prefer it be an minor trait (just to test if it would break anything)

Just remembered pit fighter chest armor are just a couple of leather straps ~_~

Ironman?
- Message Body length must at least be 15.

Regain opening strike on
- pet swap. All ranger builds have access to pet swap.
- every x attacks. All ranger builds have access to attacking.

They could do for us with gadgets like they did for warriors with Deep Strike. Say 100 toughness per gadget equipped? Or they could go juggernaut with gadgets and grant 200 toughness with a gadget equipped.

There is just as much that can’t see past pve.

I’ld like to believe its how they want to see if stealth is a good fit for rangers or if stealth is a good fit for reactivating opening strikes. Look at torment being added to warriors.

They should have tied it to pet swap making it a 20 (15 traited) sec cd that doesn’t require a specific weapon.

@maul
It would be great if vulnerability where applied BEFORE the hit. There’s enough of a delay between activation and actually landing then hit for it to happen. Here’s what they could do.
- A melee range AoE (5 targets) vulnerability when the bear sound starts
- A single target melee range vulnerability (more stacks) when the bear sound starts

@remorseless being “mandatory” for LB
LB can still use SoBM. Marksmanship grandmaster is now actually a choice.

You forgot to add in the jetpack.

I’ve been tweeking a protection version (0 10 10 30 20) of this for weeks. I can’t decide if I want 53% damage reduction(stabilize armor + protection injection) when controlled or invi when immobilized (cloaking device) + 33% damage reduction when controlled (protection injection).

Stabilize armor is 20% damage reduction when KD or stunned (no icd <- needs confirmation), but cloaking device is 5 sec invi (25 sec icd). I still haven’t tested cloaking device yet. If anyone can answer this question (do I get the full 5 sec invi if I take a less than 5 sec immobilize?) I would really appreciate it. If yes, the I could go for -88% cripple/chill/immobilize and build around that.

@Phineas Poe
You assume that all builds using kits are kit jugglers cycling the respective nukes per kit only ever using AA when all nukes are on CD.

And it’s kinda funny too, cuz that build is the one that will likely have a kit with untraited use seeing as you can not fully trait more than 2 kit (except for FT EG since they have been a pair since last year) more so if you also cycle your actual weapon. It got easier with a couple of FT/EG traits going down a tier, but what about bomb,grenade,and tool kits?

@ saying AA’s are simply fillers between nukes
Where was that logic with rifle, pistol, grenades, bombs, tool, and EG’s AA?

Anyway, time for some small talk and what ifs.
So Knox, would you trade your mobility for standard melee-ish damage on the FT’s AA? Something like “deal x2 damage when not moving” or something.

I see. I’ll start with that then. Just 2 more days to match reset. Hopefully we get a server with more of a SEA population so we can finally get some good zvz’s and get some testing done.

Comparisons between untraited and traited are both important. Untraited shows how something is designed baseline. All weapons are designed with untraited stats and can be used as a control group to be compared with other tests.

Such tests could include:
- AA dps untriated vs traited
- trait point efficiency (how much does it cost to raise a weapons output by how much)

What’s deceptive is omitting data because it does not support your claim, like claiming the FT as a weapon set is strong without comparing it to a baseline. Or omitting to say that the FT does less damage than both ranged and melee options an eng’g has (not even comparing to other classes)

@ guard sword comparison
I’m guessing you compared it to sword because (traitless) it also provides the 1sec burn at the end (5 hits to burn, guard sword cycle = kittens). It would be better to compare it to guard staff.

And here I wanted to give my jetpack to my eng’g cuz of rocket boots. With so many explosive leaps, how can we not consider a rocketeer.

So where’s the math supporting either side? Some disputes are about damage. That’s pretty easy to prove.

Disclaimer: I have already shelved my ranger for maybe 4 month. I have yet to rework my traits since the latest “huge change”. The following requires the food buff gained from “grain of salt”.

Here’s my take on ranger F1-F4.

By themselves they are pretty standard. Though not flashy, they do what it is they are designed to do, control your class mechanic.

Anet could; however, spice it up by doing what they did for F4. We have some choices for “on pet swap” abilities (my favorite being “quickness on pet swap”).

F1 – offensive F2’s: direct damage/condition damage (arctodus rending maul)
F2 – utility F2’s: boons (pig forage, jaguar stalk)
F3 – defensive F2’s: heals/condition cleanses (bear’s shake it off)
F4 – pet swap

F1 will still command the pet to attack while F3 will still command the pet to return.

Then you can have traits like:
- you and your pet gain prot/aegis on F3 <insert icd>
- you and your pet gain might/fury on F1 <insert icd>
- you and your pet gain evasion on F2 <insert icd>

@Blood (nice to find someone who understands what I’m trying to accomplish)
So there’s the divide and conquer application. What I’m exploring now is like acting as my commanders personal KD torpedo. I can already imagine watching The Hunt for Red October again.
“Load torpedoes 1 and 2”
“Fire 1”
“Fire 2”
Where I’m torpedo 1 and hopefully I find some other eng’g who finds this amusing to play torpedo 2.

For gear and utilities I’m exploring 2 set ups:
- rifle + EG for Jump Shot and Acid Bomb escapes
- p/s + tool kit for the blocks

Well, I have 3 blocks ready (2 shield skills and gear shield from tool kit) and if those aren’t enough there’s still dodging and super speed. And if that still isn’t enough I have to hope 53% damage reduction keeps me alive long enough to use rocket boots again.

5 people does not a zerg make. Why would I focus on skills that hit at most 5 people? Everything you said is exactly the opposite of “get creative” since every single one of those suggestions are already “part of the norm”.

I’ve been building a “Rocketeer” meant as a member of a zerg buster group (slick shoes + rocket boots into a zerg for multiple knock downs), but haven’t really been able to test it since Anet’s system keeps matching my server up with a diff time zone (always night capping and no real zvz)

0 0 20 30 20 with boon/prot duration runes and boon duration food (100% prot duration 85% boon duration)

My current problem is “What to do while slick shoes is on cd?”

If you’re already juggling nukes, then it already does “work for all kits”. You stay in FT to build stacks, and come out only to nuke.

So for a long time I’ve never really thought that I contributed damage during my cof farming runs so I’ve always run a “what ever” build. But ever since I’ve reduced my slacking, I’ve been able to squeeze in a 4th run per omnom. So I figure my damage really does matter.

I tried out: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJAsdl4zqqHQTrGa9ICqCaHpHwWrhalewb52FC

It doesn’t feel right though (maybe cuz I’ve been running a phantasm build for so long). Help?

How would you implement the shadow step on 2 (not that anything we say will actually affect what goes live)?
- Instant? A spammable, instant shadow step could be too powerfull
- Projectile based? Projectile speed could render it useless (for example: if I could outrun a 300 range IA by the time it lands)

- Ground targeted? Kinda awkward for a short range shadowstep (can’t outrange IA for less ini cost, its the 2 skill after all)
- Fixed direction? I can live with this (Like a mesmer’s Phase Retreat)
- Single targeted? Can’t shadowstep without a target (well, you CAN, but you’ll shadowstep in place)

So how would it differ from dagger? What you listed would be “ranged dagger”.

The problems are:
- pistol 2 is bad
- p/p has no mobility

So what if p2 is changed to a mobility skill. What would it do?
- It can’t be a leap to target with damage (Heartseeker)
- It can’t be a shadow step to your target with damage (Shadow Shot)
- It can’t be a shadow step away with damage (Shadow Strike)

- It can’t be a gap closer since you still want to kite

So the options would be a (300? 350?)gap maker (basically withdraw without the heal) with additional effects like:
- damage (boring)
- short duration smoke screen (premeditated)
- evade (reactive)
- caltrops (ridiculous with caltrops on dodge)