Guild Wars 2

@ Dark Saviour

I gotcha now. Yea, I can see how you’d want a short event to just be about fun and instant/soonish gratification. I think, in an effort to please everyone, Anet added things like the 4hr weapon skins for those that don’t want to grind and the harder to acquire permamnent ones for those who do. Cuz you know if everything came fairly easy we’d have an outcry from teh hardcorez. Can’t say I’d be upset if I could have one of the new skins with ease, but then again it’d feel cheap to me if everyone had em. In GW1 having candycane weps year 1 was pretty awesome. A few yrs later they were lackluster cuz everyone had em.

I don’t see how you think it’s all “grindy bollocks” (i’m gonna remember that one). The scavenger hunts takes what…..15-20 mins? And you get an immediate reward. Carving pumpkins, opening doors, mining candy corn…they all can happen as you play the game. Want to dedicate an hour or 2 to the event? Then you’ve got a large chunk of it licked already. But if you want all the ultimate stuff right now and cheap….then that seems a little spoiled. Don’t you think there should be something in the game that requires some actual effort and dedication to acquire?

Yea I saw this too and thought that it’s a terrible way to unlock minis. By forcing you to buy the same thing twice and then destroy one (actually 3) for a single mini. If maybe you only had to throw 1 in I could get behind it. But honestly, you shouldn’t have to destroy anything you paid real money for.

Agreed. Don’t need a scythe when whatever I’m carrying turns into one anyway when I use it. Which is awesome btw. Honestly, I’d rather have a permanent version of the 4hr staff skin (can’t remember the name) that has a little lantern hanging from it. That one is sweet.

I found 3 doors in Gendarren Fields last night that were spawning and working correctly. Had a group of about 4-7 of us at any given time running laps between them. However, at the same time, map chat channel was filled with people asking if/why the doors are broken/bugged. We spread the word about the 3 we were using, but that’s still pretty lame that only 3 in the whole map work right. Eventually, due to the monotany of running between 3 doors, I left.

The achievements this Halloween are actually very easy to get if you have the time. They don’t seem to require an amount of time that would indicate they could be continued next year. Maybe more tiers will be added next year, but I’m thinking it will be different.

When they die, do they at least contribute some Lifeforce? Cuz I’ve never had a single one reach an enemy and deal damage.

necros arent bad at all. in fact, they’re one of the more interesting professions to play. What the complaints are all about isn’t imbalance or boring utilities or lack of synergy. It’s the bugs. It’s all about skills not working like the tooltip says it should. Things like wells healing our foes. Things like signets not removing, but copying conditions. If they worked right, we’d be so happy. Also, our traits need a little rearranging imo, and the 5pt Death trait needs to be either removed or improved and made into a major trait.

Dumb question: why would you let an Orrian beat on you. You lose 3%/sec just being in DS….so taking combat damage would skew that wouldn’t it?

Pretty sure that would be OP, since quickness is the most coveted boon in the game and increases output immensely. However, I think the whole Necro community agrees that DS shouldn’t be a slightly buffed Downed state.

So it seems like there’s a nice even split for Condition v. Power for leveling. So I might give power a try. What’s the basis of a power build? Is it just axe, wells, and DS?

frans.8092:

On a side note, the Charr didn’t seek to reclaim lands they lived in, they just sought war. It’s what they are, it’s all they know. They can not live without fighting, if they don’t fight each other, they wage war against any race that happens to live next to them. Before humans lived in Ascalon, the only reason they Charr were passing through Ascalon was because the were at war against the Forgotten Ones.

That’s not true at all. The Charr fight the humans in Ebonhold because they’re the last vestige of human occupancy in Ascalon. If they really just wanted war, there are plenty of other races out there to fight. But they’re not, just humans and just in Ascalon. Also, they don’t fight each other like you think. The Flame Legion brought some corrupt gods to the Charr and were leading them astray. The other legions fought back & drove out the gods. Also, female Charr rose up and took their place next to the males, something that happens in every society on Earth (if possible). They are bread for battle because that has been their life for generations.

Honestly, I like Prayer to Lyssa the best. It’s great as a low lvl necro, allowing short CD condition and boon spamming. And it’s only 1 SP so getting it early is easy.

Well, think about it from a lore perspective. Asura are magical geniuses, lab rats, experimentalists…the Priory would be right up their alley. Can’t see many joining the ranks of the Vigil. Meanwhile, the Charr for instance, would be most at home with the Vigil; charging into battle rather than sneaking inthe shadows gathering intel with the Order of Whispers. As players, we can join anything we want. But the NPCs should reflect the general racial tendencies imo.

Because Anet wants to promote player cooperation, not world PvP which encourages griefing. If you want PvP, try WvWvW. It’s a very large area. GW has always had designated PvP areas only.

I’m pretty sure that crafting only makes money at max level, and that’s for all MMOs. Crafting is a gold sink while leveling, easily making you more money selling the mats rather than the crafted goods. At high levels tho, you can make some great items that may sell for a profit on the TP.

I think Charr & Asura are least played races because of armor & appearance. Charr are a bit awkward imo and all hunched over and I hate that they gallop on all 4’s. Asura are awesome little guys, but because they’re tiny they don’t look as awesome in their exotic gear & their weps seem like miniature versions. I saw an Asuran Guardian rocking a greatsword that wasn’t much bigger than my Human’s Krytan dagger. Also, I think Asura have fewer options at character creation than all races. Humans have like 20 different hair styles to choose from…Asura have about 9. Both races have great stories and lore, but their appearances leave a lot to be desired. Sylvari, Human, & Norn give players a beautiful canvas upon which they can display their armor and epic weapons.

Will Retaliation return damage even if it’s blocked. Guardians utilize both Ret and Aegis often. So if a spike is blocked with Aegis, will it still return the damage?

Gaining LF more efficiently with condition builds is moot as long as DS is lackluster for the build as well.

Just a quick question about staff & condition builds. I’ve been stacking +condition damage and neglecting power. Should I be stacking some power too? I use scepter/dagger with staff off-set.

My recommendation: pick whichever bow you like more, then pick 1h sword + any offhand except dagger. Axe, torch, and horn all work nicely but differently and are fun to use. To keep things interesting I often go full melee: 1h sword/axe + greatsword. Our evasion makes smart melee completely viable.

Have fun with pets. Try em all (especially the porcine family, they’re my fav). And swap em often. Every 15-20 seconds you get a pet with full health and (if traited do this) quickness.

Wow…that made my day. JP validated everything that we’ve been complaining about. That feels really……<sigh>

This gives me hope. The devs are listening and apparently completely agree with us regarding the primary issues with various professions. While necros haven’t yet heard from JP directly, I’m sure that the issues plagueing them are known and will be addressed soon too. All players can take heart that Anet is on top of things.

I’m currently lvl 24 and am running scepter/dagger + staff conditions. And it’s working quite well. But, I feel like I’m not using my profession defining mechanic (Deathshroud) at all except to escape death (panic button). Is a power build utilizing DS feasible at low levels for leveling PvE?

There are no healers or tanks or dps in this game. So every class should give you the ability to deal lotsa damage, given proper building. But, since the game is so new, right now warriors & mesmers & thieves seem to be at the top of the damage mountain. That will even out as time goes on. Pick a profession which has a fun playstyle for you.

Candycorn mining is very easy. I got about 70 in Queensdale in about 20 mins. So do that for sure.

The Matter Meter: Use the appropriate skill button (ethereal in the case of the one you mentioned) and look for a ghost to appear. Speak to the ghost and get the next clue for your hunt. Rinse & repeat.

The stats you get from your traits from 11-20 are actually pretty nice, since no armor you get will be able to give you an instant +10 to vitality or power. However, trait for the traits, not the stats you get as a result of them. This is especially true the higher you get, since you can always gear for the other stats you aren’t getting. Not to mention that you should be getting beneficial stats for your build by investing into the accompanying traitline (ie – a power build will require traits in the same line that gives +power).

That being said, things like vitality & toughness are quite important, especially as you level. You may not need to trait for it, but definitely gear for it. My Ranger is quite hearty, having a tanking pet, evasion skills, and ranged attacks. However, as I neared ~40 I realized that I needed to add a bit more survivability to myself for when I did get hit. No point in being able to down an enemy in 4-5 hits if you get dropped in 3.

I know for sure you can equip the same weapon in the same slot for each weapon set (ie – shield offhand) but I don’t think you can effectively swap the way you’re asking.

I never stand still. We’re squishy clothies so getting hit isn’t an option for me. What we do very well is cripple & chill our foes. I’m constantly laying down slows on my targets whilst running in circles & keeping my distance, all the while pummeling and condition stacking. Done right, I can easily drop 3 melee mobs without ever getting hit and that’s just with scepter/dagger + staff.

Halloween event stuff (lots of it) + bug fixes and it took what? 4 mins to patch? I’m not too upset about it being at 8pm EST (my time).

Anet has already said that they will never offer profession changes thru the gem store.

I actually like the staff/support idea way better than using guns. We’ve got plenty of range options with longbow, shortbow, and mh axe. As it is, for support roles all we really have is our horn and that’s just for one skill. Axe is meh for support. It basically lets us stay at range so we don’t die when we try to contribute some damage. Staff support would be sweet and could really benefit from other “nature magic” like our spirits.

This is my hope as well. I play necro & ranger, the 2 most ignored-by-devs classes out there and I’m hoping for a big overhaul that’s in the works. My forum posts probably make me seem bipolar, spouting my faith in Anet for never having let me down in the past in one breath and then complaining how my necro and ranger are being ignored when the whole community is begging for answers. All I can say is that I’m really enjoying this game. Despite its numerous profession bugs, Anet is constantly patching and working and I’m just trying to keep the faith that they’ll release a big patch that fixes all the bugs (for all the professions) that everyone (even me) has been complaining about. Until then, I’ll keep rolling thru Tyria.

Doesn’t sound all that elite…if I were an MM killing all my minions wold seem like a step backward. Oh! I guess that means I’m forced to take the elite minion. Nevermind…problem solved……….

If DS were supposed to be a panic button, it should have abilities to keep you alive, not gap-closers. If it’s to be the profession-defining ability, it needs to be viable with every necro build. Every mesmer build uses clones, so shatters work. Every ranger build can benefit from an extra smart attacking pet with unique abilities. Every warrior has a weapon so its bursts are always useful. Am I making my point? But DS takes away our utilities and heals and elites, gives us 4 lackluster skills that don’t scale with all builds, and have no synergy at all. Not to mention that if we use it when close to death, when we come out of it…hey, we’re still just as close to death. Can’t heal while we’re in it so…it’s basically like prolonging downed state.

My main is a Ranger. You know the story there. Then I switched to Necro. It’s a fun class! But well, you know the story here too. Am I supposed to play what Anet decides are the best professions or the ones I enjoy? Cuz uh…it seems like I’ll have to dust off my lvl 20 Guardian if i want to be competative here. Or at least ya know, have skills that work the way they’re written.

Levian.6742:

My guess is they’ve been busy working on the Halloween event. There haven’t been any fixes in a while for anyone

I’d have said the same thing, but this update fixed numerous bugs throughout the game as well as added content. Unfortunately, all the bug fixes were for dungeons, DEs, and other classes. The bugs necros are facing aren’t just reduced range of skills or a delay on an ability. It’s completely broken mechanics that define the necro: stupid & unimpressive minions, a 1-note Deathshroud, and wells that heal enemies just to name a few. Pretty sure these are more important than say….warrior banners.

Actually, I have the opposite feeling. I’m betting Anet does a complete retuning of the necro profession. There are so many bugs & & trait inconsistencies & tuning issues that they’re going to have to bring out a massive patch just for this profession. I have faith that it’ll happen. We just have to endure until then…And when we get it ooohh..boy, look out. We’re gonna own Tyria.

I think you can trait for stability in DS. Also, our escapability isn’t bad since we can chill and cripple with just our weps quite easily (warhorn, dagger, staff).

ZudetGambeous.9573:

1. just buy him the armor and dyes and mail him those. edit or use the guild vault to send him what he wants.

2. Yes you should try to think before posting, better luck next time

What if the items my buddy wants are bind on aquire? Can’t exactly buy those for him. And what if he’s not in my guild? Or we’re in the field and he’s outa money and there’s no bank around and he just ran outa mining picks? Don’t be so rude when you post.

We necros must take advantage of this upcoming time of terror. New costumes and skins will be available to us and this is the perfect time to gear up with the awesome new halloween items that will suit our profession.

About 3.5g w/ a lvl 51 & 21. I’ve used a bunch of low lvl mats for crafting for XP. And I’m addicted to dyes…

It’s a great theory because, as it stands now, DS is very lackluster. As a condition necro, it’s even more so. It’s a stock set of skills that don’t synergize well with any particular build (unlike say…Guardian’s virtues). Minor traits in certain lines would then cater DS to synergize with those builds. Perfect.

I like the Asuran racial skills a lot and this one is pretty nice. Due to how you’re specced, it won’t help when soloing, since you’re going to not want to be in attack range anyway. But in DEs it could be quite nice. Though, something like Poisonous Gas Cloud will benefit more from your +condition damage (which I’m assuming your stacking). Epidemic also spreads conditions, but Pain Inverter is aoe so it sorta does that for you. Just my 2cents.
As an aside, I was using the human racial Prayer to Lyssa when leveling (low level) because it had a quick CD and was another condition to stack, plus free boon to me (often quite helpful like regen or swiftness). However, as I’ve leveled I’ve unlocked Necro skills which are just plain better.

Charr once ruled all of Tyria north of the Crystal Desert & east of the Shiverpeaks. Then humans came in with their 5 gods and pushed them back. Then humans got a 6th god. Then the gods left, the Charr pushed back, humans fled to Kryta, and new races appeared when the dragons awoke. The gods gave humans magic, and without them, humans are pretty well kittened. The dwarves disappeared (human allies). Humans were never the biggest bad, but they did surprise the Charr and build a huge wall. Thanks to the Charr Flame Legion and their new magic & new gods, they took back their land from the humans.
With the surfacing of the Asura and the Sylvari coming into being and the Norn being pushed out of their territories, it’s obvious that the dragons are the big bad this time around and without working together, everyone will die. Hence, all the races we can play as in GW2. Even Charr.

I run with 1 minion just as an extra meat shield while leveling. I drop it for DEs as it’s not useful in any way. I’ve been focusing on conditions so Scepter/Dagger + Staff is the way to go. Make sure your gear has vitality in it because you can have an insance health pool and with abilities that can bleed you or the like, it’s a good idea. Then you can send all those conditions right back to your target. I’ve heard the minion AI is awful so I’ve personally stayed away from any MM builds. Plus, MMs have slots 6-0 full of minions and it means a boring leveling process. But I don’t think we really need them: we have so many ways to slow enemies & blind them, plus we have an extra hp bar (DS) so our survivability is higher than most think.
Some points:
From what I understand, DS is a power-based ability, not precision.
Scepter/Dagger gets more mileage out of +condition than any other stat.
Vulnerability is good…unless you’re dealing condition dmg, which isn’t affected by it.
Play with skill synergy. Skills that self-inflict conditions, then Plague Signet, Staff’s Putrid Mark, Dagger’s Deathly Swarm, Well of Power, or Consume Conditions are amazing.

At 24 the armors do mostly suck. But you’re 24 and gear skins are what GW2 is all about. So play a bit longer & you’ll see that there are some pretty great armor sets out there. And my 51 female Sylvari Ranger looks like a swashbuckler: feathered hat, pirate coat, 1h sword….all I need now is a parrot. Guess i’ll just use my raven.

I couldn’t agree with the OP more. I’m still not 80 and yet I don’t feel left behind because I don’t have to worry about the gear grind & end game shenanigans. And what you said about being left behind by your friends if you stop playing for a month…I know exactly what you mean. Playing WoW with a friend, he shelved it for a little while & when he came back it took him forever to catch up to me to be competative. Wasn’t fun. And things like downleveling in GW2 makes playing with low lvl friends fun, so we can explore the whole world instead of focusing on getting that next next next tier piece.

Honestly, I don’t want to see raised level caps & new tiers. I think back to my experience playing GW & WoW and realize that I had way more fun with new GW expansions than I ever did in WoW. No new level caps, just the meager 20. But what each expansion brought us was another continent of content (stories, quests, vendors), weapon & armor skins, new skills for every profession, new professions, and new “dungeons.” What Anet did with GW was a winning combination of design & art & fun. I want to be able to come back to my characters with renewed excitement to play them every day, new builds, new armors, new DEs, and involved & exciting dungeons like UW & FOW were to me. That’s what i want to see from expansions…not higher gear tiers that force us to grind for more gold/mats/gear. But fun content that makes me want to find a group and play.

I think the OP ran theu the beautiful content this game has and forgot to enjoy himself. This game isn’t about end-game content, raids, and gear progression. Down-leveling should be all the proof that Anet wants us to experience the whole world of Tyria. They did a masterful job of designing it, it’s gorgeous…explore it. The point of playing GW2 (and Anet did say this) is to have fun. You’re supposed to play this game and enjoy what you do, whatever it is.

I agree with the OP. It’s beautiful how the DEs link together and affect each other. There are times I’ve gone thru a zone with an alt and I do completely different DEs than I did with my main the first time around. Players want an immersive, realistic world but won’t follow the NPC for a minute after a DE finishes to see what’s next. They want it now now now and want to level faster faster faster and complain about zerg-fests when they themselves are a part of it. I’ve been playing since the 1st hour of advance launch and still haven’t hit 80 because I play slow, enjoy the story and the DEs, rol alts, try different storylines, explore the beautiful world that Anet gave us, etc.