Guild Wars 2

I don’t see new utilities happening with the April feature patch. As it is, there’s quite a bit that’s dropping and will lead to subsequent balancing hot fixes. I’m hoping that Anet has some new utilities in their back pockets that they’re holding onto until May when they’ve got the trait changes balanced and de-bugged. Then they drop those on us and we’ll be squealing with happiness.

Xar.6185:

Hmmm…. seems a bit obtuse really.
A new point every 6 levels, sometimes 2 points and then another 2 points at 80 since the math doesn’t line up.

A much simpler way would have been just start trait gains at level 15 and earn 1 point every 5 levels which works out to 14 at 80 like they intended. Coincendently the starter zones are levels 1 -15 so it would work out to the player completing their respective starter zone before earning a single trait point.

If you use the aquirement rate they have provided it would seem level 90 is in the future. …

….

Not sure what to think at this point. I kinda need to know more.

If this was the system at launch I think I’d like it more than what we have currently.

As an aside there is so much changing in this upcoming ‘feature’ patch it kinda gives me the feeling that I’ve been playing something between a beta and an actual release…

The bolded part, so much. I can’t wrap my head around why Anet felt that players would love to spend their first 30 levels not being able to trait and experiment with builds. Seriously, 30 levels.

Hopefully the challenges required to unlock the traits can be started prior to 30. This way, when traits are finally available, the player will have a couple to choose from. Otherwise, it’s an even longer wait, making traits available at 30, and then having to accomplish the associated challenges to unlock them.

And if they require skill points to purchase, that puts traits in direct competition with unlocking utility/healing/elite skills.

New characters will still have to earn their traits, either thru the associated challenges or purchased with some silver. Either way, it’s a trade-off.

While I’m happy all of my characters are already made (I would NOT want to wait till 30 to get traits) part of me is sad I won’t get the satisfaction of earning the traits the new way.

Try a different server. Mine apparently doesn’t have a Frostgorge train anymore, but those I’ve guested to are packed.

Also, it may just be a product of the down time between the Epilogue and April’s feature patch. Not really any new stuff with the latest patch so people are more than likely taking a needed break while anxiously awaiting the big changes.

I too had an “a-ha!” moment when she said she’s being deployed to Brisban. Figured, well she’s gonna die and Jory is going to rush to fight the new dragon threat.

Frankly, I hope she does die. Cannot stand any more of that voice acting. It sounded so wooden and cue-card-read. Plus, it’ll give Jory & Kasmeer a reason to join us in Maguuma. And hopefully, that’ll pull the rest of the Bionics there too. And then they meet up with The Pact and Destiny’s Edge and I command them all !!!!!!!!!

mjhungness.8059:

<snip>

Agreed. In GW I missed the beautiful pre-searing Ascalon, but eventually moved on as I discovered just how small my idea of the world was. Also, though I spend a considerable amount of time in pre-searing, I certainly didn’t spend a year and a half making it my home like I did with GW2’s LA. We became so comfortable with LA for so long that its destruction really hits home.

Leveling is the time for learning: combat mechanics, trait synergy, skill libraries, dungeons, group events, etc. In addition, dungeons are an excellent way to earn money, XP, and dungeon tokens for armor/weapons.

But with the new no-traits-till-30 system, dungeons for sub-80’s are going to be…interesting. Especially the lowest level dungeons such as Ascalonian Catacombs and Caudecus’ Manor. At level 35 and 45 when you first access these dungeons, a player has between 25-35 trait points, giving quite a lot of build experimentation and making each profession that much stronger. But with the new change, those same level 35 and 45 players will only have a handful of traits, making them considerably weaker and making these dungeons much harder.

Not only that, but tuning a dungeon for players with barely any traits vs down-scaling 80s for those same dungeons is next to impossible. How does Anet plan to handle this issue?

They wouldn’t be so bad but they were given out for 1yr birthdays. Which pretty much ensures that anyone with one has made alts already. As drops from BLC they make sense, but not as a reward for playing the game for a year.

lordkrall.7241:

Khisanth.2948:

Doesn’t this end up making the lv1-30 zones even easier for lv80 characters?

Quite likely, unless they tweak the downscaling a bit.

But then again, lvl 1-30 zones shouldn’t really have to take lvl 80 characters into consideration anyway.

Sure they should. That’s the whole point of down-scaling. To make content relevant to all players no matter their level. Anet intentionally created auto-scaling so that level 80 players can head into a level 25 zone and play with lower level friends and not be 1-hit smashers like in WoW. Also, it lets 80s finish world completion without the monotony of 1-hit smashing everything in lower zones.

Scaling needs to be taken into account at all times.

Roy Cronacher.1576:

We have done some tuning on monster stats pre-80 to account for players having less traits, and stats from traits. We wanted to push back traits to give characters more meaningful progression up to 80 and keep things simpler for a new player to learn over time.

I’m sorry but I completely disagree with this. As it is, everyone agrees that open world content is pretty friggin’ easy. With auto-scaling, you’re going to make sub-80 monsters in the world even more face-roll easy for down-leveled players. I brought my lvl 55 Mesmer to Wayfarer this week to help a friend who just picked up the game. I was completely destroying things, and I’m not an 80 and have blues/greens probably 5 levels below my character’s level. Now you’re going to make the game easier??

Also, I can’t help but notice that all of the red posts are in response to people saying “yay I love these changes” but not one in response to the numerous posters who have issues with the new trait system. I’m fine with the new features (earning traits, trait resets, 14vs70 pts) but I am NOT ok with the dumbing down & simplifying of this system. We are not stupid, and don’t require the level of hand-holding you think we need.

My buddy was elated at 11 when he could begin experimenting with traits. I couldn’t imagine the boredom that would ensue having to wait till 30 to do nothing but unlock utilities and go through the same old playstyle without traits. With the current model, by 30 we’ve got 2 major Adept traits already and can goof around with what works and what doesn’t. Fun right? Apparently too much fun because that will be gone. And then no grandmasters till 80…I’m sorry why exactly? Because when I hit 80 I wanted to focus on gearing up in exotics, not learn more traits. By 80 I’d already figured out which build I liked. Isn’t that the point of leveling? To learn the class? Well now we won’t be able to learn the class until we are level capped and only then experiment with grandmaster traits.

Also, some professions are HIGHLY trait dependent. Engineer & Mesmer, for instance, are fairly weak without traits. Now new players are going to feel weaker longer without their aid until 30. Or is this just a ploy to keep players from discovering & abusing Grenadier until they’ve already learned a different build?

I’d love a red response explaining exactly why they think this is a good idea. I just cannot wrap my head around it. It seems like intentionally pushing fun away. I am so glad I’m already level capped. This would bore the heck outa me.

Man I hope that means some of these April features are just April Fools jokes….

Well it can’t be too expensive or first time players are gonna be outa luck.

Who wants to play a game that heavily restricts your access to your traits as well as skills? It seems the new trait system is going to make it awful for first timers. No traits till level 30?! No grandmasters till level cap??

Ohh those look like good traits. I’d like to experiment with them and see which make a better build. Oops, can’t afford to buy them so I can’t experiment. Guess I’ll have to stab in the dark. Uhh…that one.

Makes it hard for levelers to experiment and try stuff out, really get a feel for traits and synergy and their class as a whole until they hit 80 and buy everything.

So…Deckard Caine?

I actually hate what’s coming and am so thankful I’ve already got 8 toons. It’s not just balancing and new traits. It’s a completely new trait system as you level. I feel bad for my buddy who just started, cuz now he can’t experiment with traits at 11 (which he just hit) and test things out…no no….now he has to wait till THIRTY to get his first access to traits! I understand the importance of more explanation in a game for various features, but 30!? He’s gonna be over 1/3 to max level before he even gets to test out traits. That’s absurd. And then no grandmasters till level cap….why exactly?? How does that make the leveling process more enjoyable??? It limits potential longer. How dumb does Anet think its players are that we need our hands held for so long?

And dyes….account bound =/= account bound with gem store fees to identify. With the prices on the gemstore, we’re bound to pay just as much or more to ID dyes with the new system. I don’t want to be forced to pay the gem store just for DYES! It’s a basic function of aesthetics and now it’ll be controlled by the gem store. O but wait, you can craft them. Try again. The mat costs for dyes via crafting is way off compared to existing TP prices. The only reason you’d craft dyes imo is in hopes of winning the dice roll and getting celestial, white, abyss, etc. Not likely.

This seems like more control and more gem store with the guise of making things more friendly. More helpful & intuitive traiting, aka excessive hand-holding and limitations for too long and paying for skills with gold. Account bound dyes, aka pay the gem store or deal with starter colors.

Regarding Professions:

I suggest either Warrior or Ranger. Warrior is by far the easiest. High health and armor, along with simple mechanics make it new player friendly. Ranger can be more complex, but the pet ally essentially gives you a meat shield that you can hide behind. The only problem I have with these 2 recommendations is that they can get boring in my opinion. You mentioned that Necro was boring for you so I mention this. However, I think that rolling either Warrior or Ranger will get you more familiar with combat mechanics and then you can try other more complex classes.

Regarding Combat:

Some tips for combat in general, no matter the profession. Be sure to carefully read the tooltips for all of your skills and traits. Too often I see people whacking away with all their skills, not knowing what they do. Save your dodges for telegraphed attacks or red circles. Dodging is the single most important mechanic for staying alive in the game. Stay mobile. Use your cripples, immobilizes, and chills for when you’re chasing a fleeing target or trying to get some space. Make sure your stats and traits complement your playing. For instance, if you’re using a lot of condition skills, make sure you’re choosing the traits and gear that supports that.

If Cobalt works well, try the Ghastly weapon skins from Ascalon Catacombs. At night, they glow blue and might give off enough light similar to Cobalt. Don’t have one myself so I can’t confirm.

The trait is basically a version of Feedback

It gives engi more utility in dungeons/fractals/zergs. Unfortunately, the focus is the reflect bubble, not the turrets. This will not help turret survivability much, so turret builds will be in the same place. We’ll be able to reflect for days with this trait, but only if tied to turrets (sadface).

Tom Gore.4035:

Except that you don’t need any money (well you do a bit, to purchase the first materials) to get your crafting to 500. You can earn 20-50 gold while leveling it.

Tell me more….

No Legendaries for me. I main an asura engi, so anything I make would be small and seen 1/4 of the time anyway. So no point.

Also, I hate grinding and farming so 320g is the most I’ve ever had. I’m content. I think at this point if a precursor dropped I’d sell it and enjoy my new gold.

Also, CTRL+SHIFT+H is the default to hide all UI – makes for the best screenshots

Earn some money to get your crafting to 500. Seems those are becoming more important lately.

Run some dungeons/fractals with guildies.

Take down Teq & the Wurms.

Organize large prayer circles around the broken lion in LA. Then everyone pull out their boomboxes, horns, flutes, harps, & bells for a funeral dirge procession thru the city. Actually, I like that idea.

As for the Celestial nerf…

Anet is changing the way crit damage works (Ferocity) and it’s going to result in a net loss of crit damage on all gear with that stat, including Zerker as well as Celestial. But considering Celestial is going to be hit hardest with the change, Anet has suggested that the other stats may get a boost to compensate for the hit. Here’s hoping. I think they will.

It’s not just balance that we need, but something for our classes to grow. Each balance patch opens or closes the door to various builds due to strengthening or weakening an existing skill/trait, but rarely does anything fundamentally change. After over a year and a half, we need more skills, and broader traiting.

We’re working with a new class-specific heal and a new universal heal, neither having much impact on gameplay. We need more than just new content with which to play our characters, but a way to see our characters grow, some of which are fast approaching their 2nd birthdays. We’re on our 2nd dragon…I think a few new weapons in our kitten nal are due.

Account bound dyes would be great, but I’m hesitant to get excited because it could prove to be more costly than the current system. As is, I have to buy the same dye 8 times if I want it on all of my characters. But 8 × 2s vs a currently unknown gem cost…who know what will be better? More convenient, yes. But potentially more expensive too, given that supply will drastically drop. Also, that means that fewer players will benefit from selling dyes, but rather Anet’s gem store will profit instead.

ukuni.8745:

Seras.5702:

ukuni.8745:

4 conditions 8%+1 bleed stack 5%= 13% increase

Actually, 15%.

8% from 4 conditions (Mod Ammo) plus
1 bleed stack = 5% (Target the Maimed) + 2% (Mod Ammo)

that’s 5 conditions

That was my point.

dylan.5409:

@Seras
True, the thing with marks is they provide front loaded damage, step on 1 and you get the full output; unlike traps that require 3 pulses (3seconds) for full damage output. I honestly don’t know how they could make this work without giving us more on demand soft cc, either through working pet f2, through utilities (for which we have 0 room), weapon skills or a combination thereof and that would still leave a very squishy trapper.

Optimally, I’d like to see it done through our pets. As it is, their AI is wonky, they can’t hit moving targets, and they account for 40% of our damage output. Instead, they should have a more support role. Let them redirect damage, spread boons, debuff targets, block attacks, cleanse conditions, swap positions for escapes, etc.

This way, we could bring 3 traps and still have some utility via our pet choices.

I have 2 armor sets: Berserker and Celestial

I run Zerk gear in PvE
I run Celestial (with Zerk trinkets) in WvW or content I’m unfamiliar with until I learn the mechanics.

They both work fantastically
Celestial armor with Traveler Runes is awesome and versatile.

ukuni.8745:

4 conditions 8%+1 bleed stack 5%= 13% increase

Actually, 15%.

8% from 4 conditions (Mod Ammo) plus
1 bleed stack = 5% (Target the Maimed) + 2% (Mod Ammo)

…except play the game. Honestly, it doesn’t take 2 weeks to play each LS patch so do whatever it is you normally do after you finish with each patch content.

Just chiming in for statistical purposes to say I didn’t get the cinematic on log-in either. Got the double load screen though, like I always have just before cutscenes. Also tried a different character. No luck. Tried WPing into LA and walking thru a portal. No luck. No luck.

Glad Anet is going to have a fix today. But the cutscene is kinda crucial to the story of the epilogue and it’s a shame I have to see it out of order. What I see littering the grounds of LA are unexplained until I see it.

Bug Fixes
•Made a slight change to the Zodiac armor skins to make normal maps less defined on the chest portion.

From the latest update. What’s that even mean?

Jocksy.3415:

Hint: staff necro is what you want…

dylan.5409:

Well idk,
Its possible that any weapon skills that basically requires the opponent to stand in a little circle for any period of time without lots of cc is doomed.

So these made me think…

While marks are somewhat different than traps, the essence is similar. And they’re attached to a weapon, which can be swapped, and still has access to 3 utility skills.

And Guardians have Symbols . They are essentially a small area denial or immediately popped trap under an enemy’s feet. So they can absolutely be tied to weapons.

And both Necro marks and Guardian symbols have related traits.

I just want to have access to useful traps and not be hog-tied by having no other utilities or limited traits.

Ultimately, I had to use Tomes to level my warrior. Yes, it’s easy to facetank PvE content with a warrior. But is it fun?

I much prefer my engineer because, despite the challenges while leveling, it felt rewarding and dynamic.

The one thing warrior has going for it is the large build variety. The only thing that keeps me playing it is the ability to switch builds/weapons/play styles often because otherwise I’d have slipped into a coma mid-battle.

Great post Mon! Just a perfectly written piece laying out what, how, and why. I really hope this is read by people who have the power to make the suggested changes.

While I agree with everything you said, I do want to highlight a couple points just for my own satisfaction. That is…

- making broad changes simply to adjust a single aspect of a single skill. For instance, changing Engineer Net Turret because of abuse issues from Supply Crate. That seems like lazy coding rather than efficient change.

- smart PvE content is needed. As mentioned, “support” and “control” types are unnecessary due to Defiance and slow, hard-hitting attacks. Berserker gear will reign supreme as long as attacks are so hard that you’ll die no matter the gear/stats. PvE combat needs to mirror PvP/WvW combat in the sense that attacks need to come more quickly, hit lighter, and be smarter. I would love to see a return from GW of enemies that use player skills. As such, balance across the various game types might become easier too.

- updating bugs more frequently needs to be a primary concern. We don’t need to wait for a giant patch after months of waiting for a long list of bug fixes. I think we’d all prefer fortnightly fixes to what can be tackled in that time. I have read so many threads asking devs for a pause of the LS while they fix bugs and balance the existing content before resuming the temporary content. And while I really enjoy the LS content, I’d have to agree that the permanent stuff, the foundation of each class, the essence of our builds really need to be paramount.

“Holy Trinity” is a Christian thing.
“The Trinity” is a gaming thing.
“Trinity” is a Matrix thing.

That is all.

The poison nerf I get. Fine with the impending change.

The Net Turret nerf, not so much. If Supply Crate is the issue, change Supply Crate. Not the individual Net Turret. That’s just lazy coding imo.

Grr…my post didn’t post

Ok, in brief, I loved GW trap rangers because you could bring a full complement of traps with lower cooldowns and still have open slots for utility and ranged damage. In GW2 however, a trap ranger requires heavy trait investment and bringing 3 means you now have no utility for escape or stun break.

While I like the idea of a trap kit (engi main here) I think it’d be too similar to engi’s unique mechanic and too dissimilar from the rest of ranger’s utilities. What I’d rather see are traps attached to weapon skills and possibly thru traits. For instance, a trait making all evade skills not on autoattack drop a spike trap with an ICD. Or a redesign on some weapons (that people have been asking for anyhow) to put a trap on the #4 or #5 skill.

Aveneo.2068:

So yeah, I kept coming back because there isn’t much else to do. And I’d love to get that gun but the droprate seems to be the same old 0.00001% and it will be a cold day in hell if I am going to pay 225+ gold for one.

That’s why I keep coming back too. Would love those rifles but I am not paying 225g or even 110g for a cool-looking-but-barely-visible holo-rifle. So I keep returning for over an hour of fighting per attempt at the outside chance I’ll beat the 0.0001% odds of getting a drop.

I exchanged them for Tomes to level an alt. Hmm…I should look into how much I can make from Sprockets if I exchange what I have left.

PvE: Engi
PvP: Engi
WvW: Engi

The issue arises when you have, say, a 30-30-30 distribution at the Knight fights and 2 go down, and then people rush to help the 3rd. Problem is, now you’ve got 50 at the last knight, and only 20 at each of the other 2. Now everyone enters the portal and the distribution is off.

Kal Spiro.9745:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Considering the blade shards are now a permanent drop, and Miyani has them as an item to sell… I’d think they should be around for a while.

I still purchased all 3 of mine with the belongings though. Saving 6 gold was worth it to me.

Wait, how did you save six gold by purchasing two extra versions of the same thing? It sounds like you actually wasted an extra 6 gold.

Yea I’m a little confused why you felt the need to buy all 3 recipes, considering the back items don’t have an armor category (heavy, med, light). Unless you’re a completionist and got em for the sake of having them.

All good thoughts. I chose 10 in Inventions because it was literally the only defensive traiting done. But if you want 100% offense, yea 10 in Tools is your best bet.

Only thing I’d disagree with is you don’t need fire shield to keep your target burning. Between Napalm, autoattack, and the FT toolbelt your target should be rolling in burns.

SD builds are generally squishy. That’s why I like…

Rocket Boots over Rifle Turret because it gives me an extra escape.
Adrenal Implant in Tools keeps my endurance up for extra dodges.
Hair Trigger in Firearms gives me a Net Shot every 8 seconds.
And of course Power Wrench in Tools to give me Gear Shield every 16 seconds.

You aren’t gonna get much healing or cleansing, so you’re gonna have to burst fast, control your target, and avoid damage.

Please be sure to carefully read all 3000+ posts in that thread before posting, as duplicates are frowned upon. LOL

Because there are a lot of passive regens, tt would be nice to have an indicator showing whether you’ve got a net gain or loss and roughly how drastic. GW had a very simple system and it was perfect, but conditions and regen work differently in this game. There’s the regen boon for instance, but there’s also passive health gained from skills like warrior signet and traits like engi’s backpack regenerator.

I think a simple color-coded icon would be ideal:

An arrow up for net gain of hp
An arrow down for net loss of hp
A dash for no net gain or loss
3 colors to indicate severity of loss: green for negligible, yellow for moderate, red for drastic
3 colors for severity of gain: red for negligible, yellow for moderate, green for drastic
(You can normalize the colors, but I think this distribution is more intuitive: green=good, red=bad)

This way if I’m standing next to my Healing Turret with Backback Regenerator ticking away and I get a couple bleeds I can instantly see if it’s worth cleansing or not. In this scenario, probably not. But if I then get poison and my regen rate is cut, the arrow may change from a red up to a yellow down. Now I know I gotta cleanse.

The difficulty will be decoding what the arrows indicate. Only passive regen from skills and traits, as well as the boon regeneration? If I step into an ally’s Healing Spring does it affect my arrows?

Yep! It’s our hardest hitting non-kit build. It’s quite fun and bursty, but does tend to be a bit glassy in WvW content, due to requiring high power & crit.

This is what I use: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vcAQFAUlUUptrlcxvLseNiM6BpJabGoH2VeNiiKofA-zkgAYLQyXENWA-w

I prefer Rocket Boots to Rifle Turret for the burn and escape it gives me, but RT’s toolbelt has a lower cooldown. Your choice.

You can also swap Power Wrench for Speedy Gadgets for lower CDs on your Boots (escape) and Goggles (fury, stun break).

Have fun!!

You can’t want a mechanic nerfed based on intentionally stupid counter-play. Nobody will just stand still and do nothing for 20s, letting a condition tick away. Actually, more people will stand still and eat an entire 100b, but power shouldn’t be nerfed.

I like to think of some of these abilities as skill checks. If you’re gonna stand there and not cleanse conditions that are melting you or not stun break when someone’s about to unload a channeled skill in your face region….maybe L2P. Intelligent combat is a good thing, so don’t dumb it down.

So it’s consistent damage vs higher risk/reward burst

Skills like Rapid Fire are going to deal a more predictable amount of damage than Maul, but Maul has more potential with since it’s a harder hitting attack. Each portion of Rapid Fire has a chance to crit, ramping up the overall damage done. But with so many hits, it becomes consistent. Maul however, will either crit or it won’t, giving you a hard hitting attack or a crushing attack.

Fluffball.8307:

You would lose out on the dodge if it were reversed. Unless the first skill remained relatively permanent. I.e., you leap in, then you have 30 seconds to leap out.

I prefer it the way it is.

It should toggle. No timed reverting to beginning of chain. This way you can use it to engage an enemy, then again when you want to leap out. Forces a little bit of planning. Pre load it out of combat for how you want it to begin.