Guild Wars 2

locoman.1974:

The transaction of the legendary would not sink gold out of the economy, since it still remains in the system but it just changed hands. However, people using gold to purchase gems will sink gold out, since there’s a tax of about 30% for the gems exchange (if you buy gems with gold, then sell the gems right away, you’ll end up with about 30% less gold).

Technically false, since there is a listing fee and a % of the cost taken by the Trading Post after the sale. I think it’s a total of 10% so a 2700g item would actually sink 270g from the game.

Seems like I need to start at one end of the spectrum or the other and then work my way toward the other until I’m satisfied. Either 100% Zerker and then pepper in Celestial or 100% Celestial and then pepper in Zerker until I’m happy with the seasoning. I was hoping for a cost-effective method where I don’t have to buy more than 6 armor pieces and 5 trinkets.

I think I’m going to start with 100% rare Zerker stuff and start working in some Celestial exotics from there. Once I hit the survivability sweet spot, I can sub the rare Zerker for exotics for more punch.

Which pieces should I sub Zerk → Celestial 1st? The big ones like chest, head, & amulet or the small ones like boots and gloves?

A quick addition:

I’m also an altoholic. I’ve got 8 characters of various levels, half at 80. End-game for me is very broad and “account based.” Since my main is an Engi (and we’ve discussed the aesthetic limitations) and my other 80s are end-game worthy but just not professions I feel like pouring grindy hours and piles of gold into for Legendaries and the like, I tend to play for general fun and broad rewards. I’m not shooting for the mats for any particular Legendary or running champ trains for exotics/precursors. Those rewards aren’t worth the effort required considering my lack of time dedication to any single character. The fact that the only character I’m willing to drop serious gold on is my Engi is what keeps me playing with very broad reward goals and mostly for the fun of it. No matter how many alts I roll I always come back to my Engi. I just crave variety.

Ok, that wasn’t so quick.

So…If I were interested in making a set as versatile as possible using Celestial gear, it’s better to use Celestial armor and then slot whatever trinkets I want, than the other way around (Celestial trinkets, other armor)?

I’m approaching 80 and want to know how best to gear up for damage with survivability (corpses deal 0 dps).

Mochann.5298:

Hey guys, I’m playing a staff nuker ele full glass inWvW, and enjoying it a lot. I eventually want to go commander to support my server as we tend to have staffing issues.

Nobody else laughed? I did. I like puns.

In the end FS gained an expensive and under powered LS. So….technically a buff cuz there’s a net gain but if the gain isn’t worth the cost to use it then I hesitate to call it a buff.

Your race does not influence your role.

Engineer can fulfill any role they want. There are builds out there for melee dps, ranged dps, support, healing, bunker, condition, area denial. You decide which role you’d like to fit and then design around it.

Illusions.3108:

Who overall is better for WvW? How about PVE?? and dungeons?? conditions?

They’re both great for WvW. I’d say about even for roaming and Mesmer has the sight edge in zergs if only for no insta-suicide from retaliation. Engi have great aoe attacks. Mesmer have better utility (reflects, portal, veil, TW).

Mesmers are wanted for dungeon speed clears for (again) their utility. But Engi are incredibly useful for team healing, cleansing, blast finishers, damage, everything really.

Engi definitely win the condition battle. They’re tops (along with Necro obviously) when it comes to PvP or WvW conditions.

Illusions.3108:

how would that be?

A lot of people believe in “zerk 1337 speed clearz ftw” and feel that top dps is king. Utilities like Mesmer’s veil and portal and TW don’t rely on gear/stats and can be slotted into literally any Mesmer build when needed. But Engi’s build design is much more complete, more a product of the whole and less because you brought that one utility. With a single Engi build you can deal consistent melee dps and group heal and buff and aoe cleanse. With a different build you can shower an area with damage, stack vulnerability, and burst heal your party. With yet another build you can aoe stack might and offer extreme group utility with cleanses & heals while debuffing enemies with weakness & poison.

The problem is that people don’t see group synergy as anything except warrior banners and guardian shouts and Mesmer time warp. Those are gimmicky. Engi can shape their entire build around an idea.

Ah, the ever-present and oft-discussed “disappearing weapons/back items” topic. Yes, I know that’s not technically your question, but it is the root of your problem. Until Anet fixes it (which they’ve said they’re aware of but not necessarily working on it) it will continue to affect end-game rewards.

If rewards are your primary motivation to playing a profession, then I’m afraid you’re out of luck. If fun is your primary motivation, then there’s no difference between Engi or any other profession…except maybe that Engi is just inherently more fun .

I continue to play my Engi because I like the dynamic playstyle, it’s my most decked-out character, and the one I’m best with. I keep trying new things to broaden my playing and to constantly improve. My Engi can tackle literally any & every situation depending on my build.

Also, eventually Ascended armor will be available and then you’ll definitely have something to work for.

Also, each turret takes up a utility slot for us, while a ranger’s pet is inherent to the class, always there no matter the build. And they get 2. So even if you kill a ranger’s pet, they’ve got a 2nd to swap to. To drop a 2nd turret if our first gets destroyed requires bringing another utility. Plus, each turret is very specialized (unlike pets) so dropping a rocket turret is not the same as replacing your destroyed net turret. But even swapping from your dying jaguar to your carrion devourer (melee → range) still gets you a damaging pet.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tool_belt

Charr’s Hidden Pistol works great with SD builds
Sylvari’s Vine Shield is a 2s block, which is actually pretty amazing. Coupled with a 7s immob from the actual utility, it’s a pretty nice survival skill.
Asura’s Confusing Speech would be helpful for a Perplexity build, dishing out 3 stacks of on-demand aoe confusion.

Ok, so would Soldier armor + Celestial trinkets be a good setup if I wanted 1 set to use for PvE dungeons and WvW utilizing multiple builds?

Why, if they’re giving us access to more AR, are they then shutting off access to 50+?

SHM.7628:

I just finished leveling a necro and it dawned on me. I grinded away to 80 It’s finally time to get get my gear, but I did everything. The maps entierly open. By 80 your build is pretty etched in stone.

Of course, I can’t get any temple armor because good luck getting one open durring a living story event. I would like to do get the temples for fun anyway. Let’s face it, Orr is a graveyard anyway. (no pun intended.)

Yes there’s living story, but that is dead in a week after release. Plus it further kills the other maps. Personal story? Once you don’t need the XP what is the point? Its usually an unrewarding pain.

If you only play 1 build then you’re only limiting yourself. Try other styles.

If you leveled 1-80 exploring the world then now might be time to jump into some dungeon groups.

Have you done fractals? Nope, cuz they’re 80 only. And they’re getting an update soon so there will be more to love.

WvW. Now that you’ve got your PvE build sussed out, try giving WvW a shot and finding your build for that. And gear…you’re gonna need new gear so that’s something to work toward. And despite the fact that WvW is accessible at level 2, you really aren’t competitive until around 80.

Want to do Orr but it’s dead (pun intended)? Then organize a group. Gather guildies, gather first-timers, gather random Lions Archers and lead your assault on the temples.

And most people find the Personal Story to be a highlight of the game. If you don’t like it you don’t have to play it, but many like it. It’s not always about the rewards, but the journey.

You can’t complain about no end game if you just don’t want to do it. It’s there. That’s like complaining that Papa Johns doesn’t have any topping selection because you only like pepperoni.

The Crossing
Final Rest
Kasmeer’s Staff
Jade Quarterstaff
Bramblethorn Staff
Dreamthistle Staff
Scythe (skin)
Bifrost
Xanthium
Zenith Spire

all good stuff

I’m on Yak’s Bend (NA) so if you ever see me on shoot me a pm and I’ll definitely give fractals a go with someone who doesn’t mind a first timer. I’ll keep my eyes open for you all too.

I never thought of it like that before. Well said OP. I think a lot of people who’ve played MMOs in the past are used to a certain degree of jerk inherent in their elitists. I think the distinction should be made that there are those that are elite and those that are elitists. One is a knowledgeable player who is willing to impart some wisdom and even take some under their wing. The other is a snobbish know-it-all who trolls lesser players to boost his/her own ego. So you’re right OP, here’s another thank you to the elite players who help others, post builds, guide first-timers, and are friendly.

And for a guy who said “pardon my poor English skills” you actually write better than most native English speakers.

Also, gotta love the dude that corrected the native French speaker’s French translation. Pretty sure OP was paraphrasing lol. Though I think he knew that.

Thanks ghost. I’ll be honest, I have been hesitant to try em out because I thought they were the equivalent to raids in the sense that it’s for hardcorez only, min-maxing, wmg groups. I gotta learn to trust the casuals and friendly players in this community more when it comes to end-game content.

Turophile.4028:

… Any tips on what I should use? I keep finding levle 80 builds but no leveling guides, somehting really spike with 0 def would probably fit well…oh well…this needs more lurking.

Start by traiting into water and arcana for survivability.
I love Conjure weapons: Lightening Hammer is a monster. Frost Bow will keep you alive.
Learn your might stacking rotations for each weapon set. They’re easy once you learn ‘em and they’ll really boost your damage output.

I do. I love how variable & dynamic Ele can be in combat, but the flaw I’ve discovered is that there are some incredibly useful traits (which is good) whose necessity almost dictate builds (which is bad). Namely, our water & arcana trait lines being so good at compensating for our inherent squishiness forcing us to trait heavily into those lines, and pigeon-holing our build variety.

I think that if Anet buffed our base health we wouldn’t have to be so dependent on those traits and could therefor build more freely. Ok…rant over.

@Anierna: for a moment let’s believe that not every elementalist is as good as you. Let’s assume that some (like myself) are mainly PvE and would like to break into WvW. Let’s also assume that by not taking your “crutch” trait they die more often because they haven’t learned all the times to dodge to avoid damage. I would think bringing a crutch trait would be helpful for staying alive long enough to learn things from prolonged fights. Not to mention that I can’t (in my limited experience with Ele) call EA a crutch just because it’s helpful. Do you literally take no defensive traits or stats? Are you full glass cannon 30/30/0/0/10 just to avoid defensive traits because they are a crutch? I find your logic faulty. I think everyone would agree that dodging an attack is better than just about any alternative. But dismissing a trait that can proc a blast finisher, cleanse, or cripple by calling it a healing crutch seems like you’re limiting its uses. Getting an extra cleanse without having to use a utility slot is pretty clutch.

I’ve never done any fractals. I plan to soon, but will my inexperience & lack of AR prevent me from seeing this new LS content? If so, I’d better get on that soon.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Unfortunately the change doesn’t apply to items that have already been acquired. Ultimately that’s what I wanted but there was a pretty severe technical limitation on this, so we thought it would be better to make the newly items work this way rather than postpone the conversion any longer.

Also, at higher Fractal levels the weapon skins become more common, and also start dropping in a container that lets you pick the one you want.

Can you do a swap from old to new version at a vendor like you did with the soulbound → account bound infinite gathering tools?

I took my HGH/FT into the Tower and no problems. Flung condition cleanses around the place and even had one guy comment on how our small group would be a-ok since we had an elixir Engi with us. I smiled. We rolled through the place.

1.
For open world PvE and dungeons, everyone just goes 100% Berserker gear. Which means you don’t take any additional stats other than power, precision, & crit dmg. This is because the monsters will generally hit you so hard that extra toughness or vitality don’t matter; you should be dodging/blocking/otherwise mitigating the attack.

PvP & WvW are different. Here you’ll def need survivability built into your gear/stats. Unfortunately, there is no hard-fast ratio. It’s dependent on your build and your ability to play it. Some players are very intuitive, know the tendencies of the other classes, have fast reactions and can get away with more offense than others. The basic idea is to max your offense out and pepper in defense until you find the sweet spot. That place where you’re able to stay alive and still deal enough damage to drop your target. This sweet spot will move for each build you make, as some are just inherently heartier. Defensive traits can easily make up for defensive stats if used properly.

2.
My favorite kit is the Flamethrower (FT). It isn’t our highest damage dealing kit, but it’s a whole lotta fun. Not only does it look cool, but it’s got nice utility (knockback, aoe blind, etc). It also synergizes really well with the Elixir Gun via traits, so using them both make for a very well rounded build imo.

3.
It’s widely accepted that Grenade Kit and Bomb Kit deal the most damage. One is long range (though inaccurate at max range) and the other point blank.

4.
Med Kit is incredibly useful, but will take a little playing with to get used to. Can’t treat it like a simple “press-to-heal” skill. Its toolbelt skill does do some decent healing, but it also offers a condition cleanse, 3 extra heals, and a might/fury/swiftness satchel that is awesome. No other #6 skill in the game has the kind of utility and uptime as our Med Kit. It also synergizes incredibly well with on-heal sigils, since it’s technically a heal skill but also has no cooldown since it’s a kit. This means you can take advantage of all on-heal sigils as fast as their ICD allows.

4.a.
No. The satchels you’ll drop will only heal for about 1000 without an heal power iirc. Which means they’re really helpful but not nearly enough to act as a group healer. A good strategy is to pre-drop them just before a big fight. This way they’re already there when a small heal is needed for you or your party and you can drop more as soon as they’re off cooldown. There’s no limit to how many you can place other than the individual skill cooldowns.

GoodLuck.

STRanger.5120:

Also the knowledge of fields and finishers is essential for Ele proffesion. It can halve the fight length if used properly and also that’s what other players want from you when playing grouped

True enough. I’ve been doing dungeons while leveling using LH, but I’ve been trying to maintain group might stacking rotations between my LHs. Working on that while staying alive is the hardest part for me right now.

oZii.2864:

Seras.5702:

Wow, I’m new to Ele and I’m surprised to see such low Crit%. With my Engi and Thief it’s much higher (50%-70%) in most builds people theorycraft. Is this because something as to be sacrificed to ensure high enough toughness, vitality, and healing power for survival and that’s crit%?

Well most ele builds take Zephyr’s boon so we all say 30% or 40% but just add 20% to that in most cases we just all assume zephyr’s boon so that is perma fury. If someone states they have 30% crit chance in most cases its safe to assume they have 50% really because they have perma fury.

Ok, follow-up noob question. How do you get perma fury from a trait that only gives 5s of fury? I’m clearly using auras wrong cuz I thought the cooldowns were too long to maintain that kinda fury uptime.

Wow, I’m new to Ele and I’m surprised to see such low Crit%. With my Engi and Thief it’s much higher (50%-70%) in most builds people theorycraft. Is this because something as to be sacrificed to ensure high enough toughness, vitality, and healing power for survival and that’s crit%?

Once I figured out the essence of each attunement, it became much easier. Yes, there is an attunement dance. But when you realize that:

fire = aoe damage, burn
air = single target damage, blind, stun
earth = condition damage, defense
water = healing, cleansing, chill

then you know which attunement to swap to and when. You’re generally in air or fire to attack, swap to earth or water as needed, then back to attacks.

Obsidian Sanctum Update

The Eternal Battlegrounds jumping puzzle, the Obsidian Sanctum, is receiving some changes! Along with being able to enter the jumping puzzle from inside your world’s keep in the Eternal Battlegrounds, you’ll now be able to enter the map directly through the WvW menu. Along with that, we’ve added a new arena space to the Obsidian Sanctum where opposing groups of players can meet up for combat. The Borderlands Bloodlust buff will no longer apply in the Obsidian Sanctum.

Does this mean dueling?

Solid Gold.9310:

So much conflicting information here, “I ran it solo on my (Insert prof here) and didn’t die once”, “2 of us did it and killed all the champs”, get with the zerg, get a 5 man party and so on and on.

Just saying……………

It’s all anecdotal. We can only comment on our own experiences. I’ve tried solo with no luck. I’ve run with zergs with no problems. I’ve run with 5 other with no problems. Runners won’t stop to rez cuz it’ll kill them. Group fighters and zergers will rez. All I can comment on.

Champs don’t always scale properly. In those cases a buff like Nike suggested would help to keep those fights from being auto-attack zerg fests. If the Champ could gain 25 stacks of might for instance, it means you’d actually have to avoid his attacks.

Ultimately, Rewards vs. Effort is what drives many players. Following a zerg, chatting away, and auto-attacking for loot and XP is easy. It’s got the best reward:risk/effort/time ratio in the game. To encourage players to disperse throughout the world a bit more, Anet will need to tweak the reward system for everything. Make DEs more lucrative, maybe make hearts repeatable, add more complex mechanics to world bosses but give them unique drops, add a ton more DEs, make LS releases span multiple zones, rather than localizing players to one location, add new dungeons & fractals, tweak dungeon mechanics to make them more challenging yet rewarding.

I remember playing FOW and UW in GW over and over and over again. Two reasons: a chance for some of the coolest drops in the game (chaos axes, fellblades, crystalline sword, storm bows, ectos, shards) and because it was challenging group content. And then I’d 2-man FOW & UW for an even harder and more rewarding challenge. This concept needs to be embraced in GW2 in more places.

I’ve found everything in the tower quite doable with a decent 5-man crew. Sure, some fights are tough and people gotta know what to avoid and bring some support. A zerg isn’t required, but I don’t recommend going solo or 2-manning.

To be honest, I’m glad they designed it the way they did. With 1 WP, travel golems costing 5s each, and no port to the top, it forces players to actually fight/run their way thru the content. It keeps people from trivializing the tower and just bypassing all the content. Also, it keeps people from WPing to the key vendor, buying the 3 pieces, and WPing back to the chest each day. Gotta at least work for it. A week into these LS and we’ve usually got a ton of people either abandoning the content or exploiting it (think Pavilion & Invasions). This way if you want to experience it, you’ve got to actually, well…experience it.

Want option to see my weapons & back items on character select.
Want option to see all my characters together on character select.

Champ trains exist but it’s a small percentage at any time that’s doing them. There are more people just standing around in LA than doing champ trains. That doesn’t mean LA needs to be nerfed (lol).

Unfortunately, it’s the nature of people that they’ll find the single most exploitable or profitable thing to do in any game and then farm the crap out of it. Such as it is with champ trains.

I personally do a few rounds of the Queensdale train every so often with my alts because it’s the fastest way to level up outside of crafting. And I’ve got 8 characters so questing solo gets just as boring as endless champ trains only without the chatting.

Anet recently nerfed the silver in each champ bag, so that’s a good step imo. But even things like Ascended weapons made champ farming more attractive, since T5 & T6 mats are in the bags as well as salvagables.

Asura. Definitely Asura. Best animations (love that spinning dagger attack). Best cultural armors. Best vocal outbursts. And best storyline.

Oh so you’re saying that having Conjure Frost Bow in your utility slot would give your water attunement skills 5 new skills, not overwrite your water attunement with the Frost Bow skills?

Roll a Thief. Their whole playstyle is to stealth/port in and unload on you before you’ve got a clue what happened. There are plenty of ways to play thief. Lots of stealth, no stealth, evasion, condition, backstab…

Every class gets buffed/nerfed with each patch. Can’t predict those things.

Actually, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t think Engis are fun. The big debate is whether they’re viable/wanted/OP/etc in a particular aspect of the game. I generally ignore all the warrior/guardian/Mesmer speed-run elitists out there that preach specific meta builds. When it comes down to it, if it’s fun for you stick with it.

That being said, right now condition Engi is incredibly strong in PvP/WvW. It’s got plenty of viability and utility in dungeons and zergs. And best of all, it’s got so much variety that you’re sure to stay interested in it long after you’d get bored with say guardian. GL

I don’t like this because it effectively removes 5 weapon skills from your bar for every conjure you bring. Bring LH & FGS and you lose 10 weapon skills. In this instance, there goes your ability to stack might in fire.

I don’t see any benefit from this idea. What’s the purpose of this change?

Sylvari T3 Warden weapons

I never even thought about the limitations of the weapon/attunement variety for Ele. You think you’ve got 20 skills per weapon set-up so that’s awesome, twice what any other professions has. But then you realize that it’s the same 20 skills the whole way through. You can’t change it up a little because staff, scepter, and dagger work so vastly different that it’s not a small tweak but a full build change. Conversely, a warrior can use an axe and still vary his off-hand to mace/axe/horn as the situation requires, and still have another variable 2nd set to swap to. So while Ele has more weapon skills available at any one time, the variety is still lacking.

This is something that is unique to Ele, despite its similarities to Engi. Because while Engi also has no weapon swap and limited weapons to use, kits can be swapped in & out to provide added weapon skill variety. A grenade Engi can bring bomb kit or toolkit or even elixir gun for variable utility/attack styles.

I’m guessing our solution to this issue is our Conjures. Unfortunately, there’s little synergy between our Conjures and…anything else. One trait. We give up a utility slot to bring a Conjure Weapon, unlike Engi who get toolbelt skills to make up for that. Conjures need another trait or 2, a signet like effect when not being used, and/or additional utility when used (like a ward around the 2nd conjured weapon).

I love my conjure weapon, but I definitely want it to summon right to my hands. Warrior banners are designed specifically for stat bonuses. Conjures are to be actively used, so I want it in my hands as fast as possible.

As for party support though, I like KumaTazZ’s idea of giving the 2nd conjure weapon a ward-like area effect. Although, I’d like to see them get a little creative with them to make picking up the 2nd weapon a real choice. Something like a pulsing reflect on the 2nd Summoned Hammer would make picking it up be a choice between dealing damage or utilizing the active defense.

Lightening Ward – Pulses 2sec quickness every 8 secs until Hammer is picked up
Flame Ward – Flame droplets periodically fall on enemies inside ward until Axe is picked up
Earth Ward – Pulses 1sec of reflect every 6 secs until Shield is picked up
Frost Ward – Pulses 2sec of regen every 6 secs until Bow is picked up
Fiery Ward – Allies inside ward gain fury until Greatsword is picked up

(Numbers to be tweaked for balance)

Ele are very trait dependent. I’m leveling one currently and every 5 levels it just gets easier. 10 in Arcane for Elemental Attunement and 5 in Water for regen were the 1st things I did. Then I grabbed my Lightening Hammer and Hulk-smashed my way thru Tyria. Keep at it and it’ll get easier.

Also, really learn the weapon skills. Knowing when to swap attunements and for what really increases survivability. Especially with Elemental Attunement trait. Learn what to do when you need active defense, interrupts, heals, damage, kiting, etc.

For instance, (with S/D) Fire 2>4>3 deals damage, burns, and stacks some might, swap to earth and you get protection, #4 for a knockdown & more might, #2 for +armor, swap to air for swiftness to open up distance, #2>3 for spike and blind, swap to water for regen if low on health, then #5>3 for more aoe heals.

Aedelric.1287:

Moto and Tixx, Moto’s super holographic technology and Tixx’s plush toys.

The Super Cuddly Alliance

^ this I’d like to see

I liked the instance. Did it solo first try but with deaths. Just took my dungeon spec Engi in and prayed it’d be ok. It was, though I could make it much easier on myself respeccing. The run through the tower was a lot of fun for me. Got in with a group of about 10 others in overflow and we just fought to the top, no sweat. Gonna give it a try with my 40 Ele next, see how that works out. Should be good XP if I can survive.

Maybe we can form one next time. We pulled together lesser races & formed The Pact in our personal story in anticipation of fighting the dragons, so clearly we understand the value of a good alliance. Maybe forge one with the Koda and the Hylek. One ally on the northern front, another to the south, ready to react to Scarlet’s next tantrum.

Cinematic was gorgeous and recapped the LS nicely. I liked the feel of it. But…

As others have said, it didn’t progress the story in any way. She recapped and walked out. Didn’t even spill the beans about the current LS. They’ve gotta start dropping some good stuff soon. Heck, we found out Darth is Luke’s dad in Empire…they didn’t wait until Jedi to tell us. Dealing with the “bomb” is often just as awesome as the anticipation and the actual drop. Too much anticipation eventually just becomes boring.

Bonefield.9813:

<snip>

I should clarify: I know that she’s a genius and has accomplished things few could. She’s clearly using each faction that she creates for her own personal goals, but those aren’t clear yet. We assume it’s for never-before-conceived of magic/tech. But it feels like she’s simply a child showing off and playing with her toys and then casting them away when she gets tired of them. I think the issue is that she’s so flippant and casual with us (the heroes supposedly thwarting her designs) that I’m not feeling any ominous threat from her.