Guild Wars 2

arrownin.3128:

To be fair though, the rifle for engineers does feel very clunky when compared to rifle on warriors. I think its because they needed to make so many different kits actually function, and also feel good to use. Imo pistols and shield feel fine for engineers, but rifles really do feel clunky. Maybe its just me

When you look at what its purpose is, it isn’t clunky at all. It’s just not the same as what the purpose of the warrior rifle is. There’s much more control with the engineer rifle.

The engineer as designed is pretty much a short/mid range class in general. It’s not terribly surprising rifle has the same limitations the other weapons do.

Rangers are the long ranged/sniper class in this game.

I found fully stacked might from juggernaut gave me more attack power than my rifle (meaning no longer did switching to rifle to use the grenade toolbelt ability do more damage).

Piercing shots for pistols is amazing…provided you know how to use it.

Dual pistols is pretty good with a condition setup I’m finding. Also the trait that makes bullets pierce is a must for events/large groups provided you know where to stand and how to aim (get them in a line, target the furthest mob just like you do rifle).

SirMoogie.9263:

Karma does not add to the economy, but it can take away. If something can be gained through karma that would otherwise be purchased in the public economy its effects will be felt in the economy. It may not be as direct of an effect, but to claim no effect is false.

For example, some gear can be obtained through karma and without DR someone can set up a bot to farm karma so they can equip themselves faster than they would by normal means; which could include crafting it using purchased goods, buying it directly, or just playing the game normally. Either way someone is exploiting the karma system with their botting.

It has already been demonstrated that this DR code does nothing to deter or reduce the effects of botting (as they stand in one place doing events as they appear, which is outside the timeframe for hitting DR on most events).

People are botting to gain levels and/or coin (which directly impact the economy and trade), not karma. Karma needs to be removed from the equation, it is not what Arena is after.

Karma should be removed from the DR equation. Whatever items you can purchase with karma that are left which are not account bound should be made so, first.

I do not see how Karma is impacting the economy, so the reasoning behind Karma DR makes no sense (or XP for that matter).

Kimbald.2697:

It would be a real improvement if you could sigil your kits… weird idea, I know. But it would make several kits a it better I think.

or: if your sigils on equipped weapons would work for your kits too.

Agree except for weapon swap ones, since there’s no cooldown on kit swapping. And I’d rather not see them put a cooldown on kit swapping to allow them either.

Just weapons, guy. Not all your gear lol

Fozzik.1742:

I’ve leveled to 80, played more than 200 hours, gotten 100% on more than half the zones in the game, along with discovering every nook and cranny, doing every event more than once, and doing all the puzzles. I even talk to most of the NPCs. I have around 10 gold, several exotics including a level 80 exotic weapon, about 60k karma, and I’ve horded a massive amount of crafting materials (overflowed my collections tab with multiple items).

Never, at any point in all of that, have I been affected at all by the DR system. Including my time in the Orr zones over the last week…repeating events and exploring. How do you explain that? What I see happening on these boards…people getting worked up like crazy over hyperbole and a few unsubstantiated anecdotes and screenshots with no context, and nobody making any attempt to provide real proof, makes me very skeptical about the whole thing.

Considering this has been in place for a week or two, none of what you say you’ve done has any bearing with regards to this system with the exception of what you did (or didn’t do) in Orr.

I have had several friends quit over this, and not even Orr farming but just simple event farming as a means of levelling (which to them is fun).

We really do need some response on this issue from Arena, as it is becoming a big deal. If we are being told we cannot play however we want (which was the draw to the game in the first place) we need to know what the rules are so we can decide if we’re willing to work within them or not.

The not knowing part is just turning people away.

Doesn’t condition damage also impact the amount of damage taken from confusion (pistol #3)? Since #2 is poison as well it would appear condition damage is kind of useful for pistols regardless if single or dual wield.

It’s not even the hardcore legendary seekers that are the only ones affected by this. Consider Orr zones, which have NO hearts. It’s all events, and yet they punish you for taking part in more than a couple in a play session.

Doesn’t make any sense.

It’s crazy to me that they set up a game with so much stuff you have to grind out to get anywhere…then punish those trying to do just that.

It’d actually be an acceptable practice in a monthly subscription game because they’d clearly be trying to extend the amount of time you play (and thus, pay). But here? Doesn’t make any logical or financial sense to me.

Fix, not nerf. How one could expect to retain the benefit when not in the form is beyond me. Clearly an exploit.

While I’d like the option of not making a backpack show, I don’t really think of it as a mission critical issue. More of a wish, at this point. There are much bigger things that need looking into.

What they should do is cut the duration to 25% and make it work like the siege mortars that you have to aim by holding down the buttons…but do ridiculous damage.

This is news to me that sigils define a class. Or even have a significant impact on the performance of a class.

I guess I’ve been playing the wrong game.

Of course if you mean the specific ‘weapon swap’ mechanic, sure. What I’m saying is what the engineer has is better than that (sigils notwithstanding – I chalk that up to my ‘main weapon not counting’ issue).

Truly, engineers do not need ‘weapon swap’.

Lyuben.2613:

You may not feel a lack, but you have one.

Mechanically, an engineer will never weapon swap.

Kit dropping and picking up kits, does not count under existing game mechanics, wish that be the case as I may.

As I gain swiftness and vigor everytime I switch kits, I beg to differ. I ‘feel’ the swap quite clearly in my build. I understand other engineers do not.

Perhaps having played elementalist and guardian extensively gives me a different viewpoint than you all. The only issue I have with kits is losing the weapon stats.

As I use 3 kits typically, I do not feel the lack of weapon swapping. Especially when kit swapping has no cooldown, unlike every other classes ‘swaps’.

Do agree main weapon stats should count towards kits, though (unless kits have some hidden innate stats I’m not aware of).

I’m 67 now on mine and as far back as I can remember (whenever I had access to everything) I’ve been going Rifle with grenade kit, flamethrower and throw mine as my utilities. Healing kit as my heal with traits in firearms and alchemy, and 10 in tools for the permaswiftness. It basically makes me incredibly versatile as I have very strong single target dps and control with rifle, and AE options with both grenades and flamethrower. The mine gives additional control – I can juggle a single melee target permanently (it will never strike me).

I swap out the flamethrower and mine for Elixir S and Slick Shoes in WvW.

Jordan.6157:

Level 90 and setup = skill + skill kit

Yea, as I suspected.

Jordan what level are you and what is your setup?

Engineer’s rifle is more about control than raw damage. Warrior’s rifle is just a blunt instrument…at range (like the rest of the class).

Regardless of how ‘difficult’ it is to perform, access to it is something no other class has.

Also, if it wasn’t their intention to allow it to happen the cooldown would be longer on the swiftness, or on kit swapping itself.

No, mobility is not an issue engineers have.

Darx.9842:

It’s virtually useless against bosses in dungeons. Usually they are resistant to Blind and are totally immune to the knockback/interrupt of 5.

Shield doesn’t have a blind, you’re thinking of focus.

Yea the word “god” is defined differently in Tyria vs Earth, so Charr are definitely not atheists in that there is no belief required (no belief to refuse) – gods are real in Tyria. Charr just don’t worship any currently.

It’s a trap, really. And it’s a clever one I can’t blame Arena for constructing. In truth, having opened many chests, they aren’t worth real cash. I think Arena knows this as well, but they’re counting on the obsessive/compulsive nature of some players to want to open those chests anyway.

That being said, I’ve dropped tons of cash on the gem store…for dyes :P

I’m having the opposite problem. I really want to finish my elementalist but ever since I hit the mid 40s it’s really hard to play when the other classes do things faster and easier (exception: combo fields). Not asking for a buff, just feel like it’s not worth the effort.

Basically you got beat by a healing skill that all thieves start with :P

I think the answer is Jormag.

I wouldn’t say it has warrior damage but it is a good class.

Swords are mainhand only but the other one handed weapons (dagger, pistol) can be used in either. Sword/pistol is a popular combination because of the pistol whip ability (you’ll see posts here calling it cheap, noob, etc. which usually means it works really well :P). Spears are 2h, yes. Dual pistols do very good single target damage (because of the #3 unload ability which just looks cool too). I’m not sure why you’re seeing a stat issue, unless you’re equipping one on one weapon set and one on another, they should total when used in the same set.

Mystic coins just hold onto, honestly I haven’t spent any myself but will look into them later (you can apparently use them at the mystic forge to do stuff).

Transmute stones I use all the time – when you double click one you can drag two pieces of armor onto it to combine the looks from one with the stats of another. Good for when you find that extremely beautiful piece of armor that you don’t want to let go of just because that thing you just found off a corpse has better stats.

They have said that Kryta is now a melting pot of all the nations, and humanity is in GW2 mostly united under one banner (which certainly wasn’t the case in GW1).

The way I see it, over 200 years have passed and Ascalon is for the most part dead and buried. These feelings GW1 players have about the Charr are completely out of character and really have no place here.

So of the questions I found in the OP that look like they should get answers:

1. You can dual wield by dragging the weapon into your offhand, or right clicking the weapon and choosing ‘equip offhand’. Just double clicking will replace your primary hand (unless the item is offhand only). It is more beneficial to dual wield than single as you open up your #4 and #5 skills plus change the #3 to be a combination of the two weapons.

Your 1-5 are determined by your equipped weapons. #6 is your heal, #7-9 your utilities and #0 your elite. At your level you only have access to the weapon, heal and a couple utilities (elite is at 30). If you’re really lost on what utilities to pick, it’s never a bad idea to take signets as they always grant a passive effect (if you forget to use utilities often or don’t want to be bothered with another active skill at the moment).

2. All of the items in your inventory can be stored in your personal bank, which can be accessed by an actual bank npc in a capital city or any crafting station (look for the tabs on the left when you open it). Some of the items you list sound like they are event/heart quest items and if you’re already done with that particular area you can safely delete them (as they cannot be sold). Mystic coins and transmute stones should be saved for later, they’re both useful to you.

You have the right idea on the black lion chests. Because of the rareness of the keys if you never intend to buy them (honestly they’re not worth the money anyway imo) just vendor the chests as you get them.

3. Respawns are fast in this game, and I suspect it’s also contingent on how much population is in a zone. Obviously this means the starter zones will respawn stuff much faster than higher level zones. I don’t have a really good answer for this other than be aware of it and move faster (or follow mobs of people around/get in a group yourself so it isn’t so lethal).

Lyuben.2613:

Maybe make speedy kits apply swiftness automatically every 5 seconds, if you have a kit equipped. Which, with the vigor trait would give it full uptime.

If you’re going to do that you might as well just remove the timer on it and say when you have a kit equipped you move 33% faster.

Honestly you guys are complaining about being able to do with a tiny amount of work what no other class can. Nobody else gets perma swiftness as an option.

This is my current setup, basically tank/support in pve:

http://tinyurl.com/93prwkh

I’m incredibly durable, though I kill quite slowly. Suits me fine, as I feel the guardian is more about staying alive as long as possible – this build/gear lets me do precisely that.

I use the same weapons, gear and trait points with shouts (and matching traits) and healing breeze for WvW. Lets me be more mobile/party oriented while still very defensive/strong.

Coming from guardian where the closest thing I have is being able to drop a symbol I have to walk in (which sometimes bugs and doesn’t proc even then) to get swiftness for 8s every 15s…I love speedy kits.

If you use the first aid kit you can literally get permaswiftness as the #5 kit fills the gaps between switching. Considering swiftness is faster than any passive movement gain other classes get, it seems a fair trade as is.

There wasn’t a patch this morning, was there later?

Burning does the highest damage outside stacked bleeds, it also gets the most contribution from condition damage. It’s also the best damage condition when up against condition removals (as it will do full damage per tick from the start).

It’s typical for vendors to take aggressive action against chargebacks, as there’s typically a fee the vendor themselves has to pay in addition to the loss of money from the charge.

You definitely don’t want to chargeback something from a vendor you want to do business with in the future.

Just having them factored by your equipped weapon would be the ideal solution. If they were to make them weapons you could only have two ‘weapons’ like everyone else, and if they did attunements there’d be a lengthy cooldown there as well.

Red Falcon.8257:

A 2s block is hardly preventing damage equal to the extra heal from signet of resolve unless you’re being hit by a boss or 10 mobs.

It’s clear that Shelter and Breeze are quite useless now, you guys aren’t level 80 I fear.

Situational abilities are situational (I’d like to see how you heal your team with Signet of Resolve, for example). Disagreeing with you does not make one not level 80, I fear.

Knuckledust.5621:

What would you prefer? Taking 33% less damage from two 500 dmg hits or taking 100% less damage from a 5k hit?

I am complaining that the option which makes me survive is a wood stick instead of a big shield.

I’d prefer my party taking 33% less damage for the duration, actually. I’m pretty freaking tough. /flex

Knuckledust.5621:

Protection from #4 lasts 5 seconds. That is barely 2 swings from the common attack animations.

It’s interesting you complain about the duration of protection when the duration of Shield of Wrath is actually one second shorter. So exactly how often are you getting those three blocks, anyway?

I presume the amount of people reporting it got it hastily deleted.

I certainly didn’t start this mess :P

Eveningstar.6940:

So the real comparison is not that Shield is more of a party weapon, or Focus is more of a party weapon. But Shield shines brighter in mass combat situations where several party members are at risk of damage from several sources.

As this is typically what happens in the parties I’m in, I don’t see the difference. To me, the shield is the clear winner. As I’ve said multiple times this thread and elsewhere, MY guardian is plenty tanky without requiring the focus for more personal defense (which it does better than the shield – I will not argue that point at all).

Can it be improved? Sure, anything can.

Is it catastrophically terrible and should it never be used ever as the OP of this thread and others in here claim? Absolutely not.

Banewrath.5107:

I`m sorry. I am really confused by what you`re saying. But reducing damage by 100% has always been better then 33%. A block will completely negate the damage from an incoming hit. Protection just reduces it by 1/3. No matter how you use it one, one reduces damage and the other blocks damage alltogether. What I am trying to say is that that the protection buff for the shield should be tossed and the 3 block buff be given to the shield with aoe effect. Then your shield as actually a true functional shield.

I use a mace/shield 99% percent of the time I am online. The other 1% is when I need to kite then it`s scepter/focus or staff if I feel like doing support instead of damage.

If protection hits 3 people (which you can do) then technically 100% of the damage of one attack on AE attacks/conditions is absorbed each hit for the duration. That’s all I’m saying. Yes in a one on one situation you’re absolutely correct, again that’s not why I use the shield – it’s the party tool.

The way I’ve heard it here is that it takes whoever does the highest condition damage and prioritizes their ticks first, followed by lower ones.

So yea, if you know in a large group others can upkeep better burns it’d probably be pointless.