One thing that you could do is select the trait Chemical Rounds in lieu of the High Caliber trait.
My own experience/opinion regarding running the HoT maps with a Condi build is that it is best to minimize switching out of your P/P. Switching out of Pistols is, in essence, a DPS drop. Constantly switching Kits is a type of self-nerf. Pistol 1 Bleed, with Krait Runes and Pizza can stack 10 Bleeds, easily. The Elixer Gun becomes somewhat redundant. I think that EG servers a purpose in WvW, but not so much in a PvE Condi Build.
Actualy I prefer hammer over pistols in condi
When I first read this I thought, “Dude, L2P!”. Lol.
But the build that you link to is pretty impressive! Those are some good Power, Crit and Condi numbers. I might need to give it a try. Seems to lack in Toughness, though. But this can be offset by the trait Adaptive Armor.
The playerbase for this game is bad at playing….
I was responding to what is implied by this sweeping statement.
I reject any notion that the playerbase is “bad at playing” the game. I see this as nothing more than a pat-yourself-on-the-back self compliment and a dig at others.
Edit. Maybe you can elaborate on what you mean when you say the playerbase is bad at the game. The player base is, by definition, the majority of players.
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Dark Souls is also “solo friendly” as its a single player game. I cannot just “press 1” while watching Netflix to beat it however.
There is a huge difference between being an MMO friendly to solo players and being braindead EZ ala Fallout and Skyrim. Maybe it is you who doesn’t understand the differences?
Or maybe you think the HoT content was hard, where as I don’t. I played most of it with my headphones on listening to and watching football. Is there anything more “press 1” then killing group after group of raptors?
Maybe you should L2P.
It took me a week or two after HoT to realize that a pretty solid demographic that plays this game WANTS it to be a single player EZ mode game like Fallout 4 or Skyrim.
The game was designed (and advertised) to be solo-friendly.
It took you 3 1/2 years to realize this? And you’re surprised that a game designed to be solo-friendly would attract players that enjoy —-— wait for it——- solo-friendly content?
Gyros are pretty useful…….
Nice post. I too agree with your assessment of the 4 Gyro’s that you like, and I run with all 4 in a P/P + Rock Boots + Medic, Blast, Bulwark and Sneak Gryro build.
I do like Blast Gyro’s Tool Belt skill, however. It’s a good stun break and, coupled with Rapid Regeneration, I can proc about 1,000 to 1,200 heal as well.
The only way that I could see the Shield becoming viable is if the cool-downs were reduced to around 8 and 10 seconds.
I’m playing a 4 Gyro + P/P + Rocket Boot Build , and would like to use the Shield’s Finishers with the various Gyro fields, but I just can’t justify giving up Pistol 4’s Blowtorch which tags multiple enemy and has a short cool -down.
…. because people aren’t willing to lead and expect others to do so (aka taxi wars 2)
Or perhaps they just don’t find this type of PvE to be fun or very rewarding relative to the time they have available to play the game.
Do you really think that Anet planned on needing to LFG the HoT maps in a month or so of their release? Do you think the people financially backing the expansion are happy that LFG’ing is necessary just to fill maps? Why didn’t Anet have to ADD new servers to accommodate the huge influx of new players clamoring to play the expansion? That’s what they HOPED would happen, but it obviously has not.
Rather than argue that people “expect other to do so” (which is nothing more than a feigned insult to them), the easiest explanation is that the HoT maps have little in the way of replayability and that most people “hit it and quit it”.
That’s a poor comparison.
I did not make a comparison – just the opposite.
I said that the time required and the rewards available for completion of events in HoT have driven people to other regions. For those that have acquired their Mastery Points in HoT, there is very little to motivate them to go back and repeat events. Too much trouble, too little reward.
If the HoT maps were wildly popular, then LFG would not be necessary. People would be lined up three-deep doing the content. But that is not happening.
It ain’t as complicated as you appear to be making it.
There’s plenty of players. It’s just the system is broken.
I challenge you to go to any Boss, such as Jormag, Shadow Behemoth, Frozen Maw, etc. and not see 40 to 50 players. The Megaserver does a fine job of grouping people together for those events.
But then again, those events are of short duration. The HoT events are empty because the time required and the level of map wide coordination needed is not justified by the rewards. Their novelty has worn off, and they are no longer attractive to players.
The Megaserver is not what is broken.
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All the HoT maps are, essentially, mini-games. Not just Adventures….
….then you need to use the LFG tool to taxi into an active map…..
Uh, is this not the very definition of a dead game?
Raids are “adventures” on steroids. Same gimmicky mini games with added bullet hell for extra twitch gameplay. They are the result of the no gear progression philosophy. If you dont like arcade games i suggest you to forget that raids exist in GW2.
Pretty much sums up Raids….. For good or bad…..
+1
HoT introduced a lot in the way of goldsinks, presumably to proactively combat inflation with all the new mats and items coming in. I understand the need to draw gold out of an economy that generates currency out of nothing.
I think this was done to drive Gem sales, nothing more. But I do like your post and the OP’s.
It is what it is, and what I said it was the day they announced it.
Picket line? Really?
Complain all you want, but don’t come at us for liking the new BLs.
Fair enough.
We shouldn’t “come at” the two people who like the new BLs.
Besides, they won’t have much gold anyways…..
If people’s complaining on the forum – and refusal to play WvW in it’s current state – drives Anet to make positive improvements, then perhaps we should dock gold from those who are currently playing it and redistribute it to the complainers? The scabs who crossed the picket line should not only collect their paycheck, but should also get a bonus?
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I just realized how casual this community can be , i mean seriously?!?!
How does this impact your enjoyment of the game?
If you understood supply and demand, you would understand why ascended mats are expensive
But this presupposes that the TP is a Free Market, does it not? And that Anet has no influence over the supply? Or that Anet does not influence the drops of materials needed to craft Ascended items?
Sure, the demand is player driven, but if you are operating under the assumption that the prices on TP reflect nothing but player-driven “supply and demand”, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you….
people dont like change but complain about the same old thing all the time. This can be shown with any subject. It is a lose lose for Anet, so i think they did a good job and should continue to update and develop
There is a difference between people actively playing WvW while complaining about glitches, lag, bugs, imbalance issues etc., and people NOT playing WvW and complaining.
The latter is where we stand today. The new maps are just not being played.
Don’t call it merging call it a new feature.
+1
Lol,
I expect we’ll see such spin, once the exodus becomes undeniable….
Maybe I should drop this game and go play something else till Living World Season 3 comes out. :-(
Dude, this is Living Season 3…..
Merging (i.e., deleting) servers would have too much the “stink of death” attached to it. It would not resonate well across the industry or within the gaming community. Because, frankly, there is no way to hide the fact that deleting servers – or having no full servers – is a sign that the game is on the decline.
I’m sure that they were hoping that they would need to ADD servers, with the release of their fifty dollar expansion — but that obviously is not going to happen.
How do you explain to your investors that you are closing servers after the release of an expensive to produce expansion?
I’m sorry, explain to me why Arena-net should devalue legendary weapons for all players who have worked so hard to craft them just because a few people whine about it on the forums? Legendaries are something you earn by dedicating time and effort to the game, simple as that, if you can’t understand that, well I’m afraid there’s nothing more I have to say to you
I was bored over the summer, and farmed mats for my Legendary while listening to and watching the NBA Playoffs. How was that “dedicating time and effort” ? Lol. I chopped trees and mined iron…. Could a less imaginative method be devised?
And what do I care if someone buys a Legendary? It has no impact on my game play.
I never played GW2 to preen about Lions Arch showing off my gear to nameless strangers on the internet, anyway. Most of my 4,800 hours have been spent in WvW.
If someone has a Legendary in WvW, it doesn’t give them an unfair advantage over me. It’s a skin, nothing more. The stats are the same as Ascended and are only marginally better that Exotics.
GW2 was never to be about grinding in the first place. Ascended should never have been introduced into the game.
It’s been all down hill since…..
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Pretty much all we need to know.
….and I’ve been hugely sceptical of the gem store since launch.
People will catch on….
The RNG drops on the trading post would maybe decrease in price a bit….
You don’t actually think that the precursors on TP are only being posted by players who happened to RNG them, do you?
Edit: The same can be said of the Ascended Mats…..
(edited by Soon.5240)
In the 3 1/2 years I’ve played WvW, there have been exactly two (2) weeks where I was actually surprised by the outcome at weeks end.
All other weeks I’ve known – at reset – not only who would place first, second and third, but also, approximately, what the score separating each server would be…..
Let it rain Ecto’s, Crystalline Dust, Leather and Silk and people will come running…..
You know something is wrong when no one is playing WvW and yet there is still a PPT.
I was a big fan of the original system. It allowed player freedom. Players could do things they ENJOY and still progress. Thought that was the point of games anyway.
Take away the mastery points and allow mastery bars to be filled with experience only to progress. That would give players freedom to play as they want.
+1
Unfortunately, if they disable the Mastery gating system, it becomes readily apparent that Anet only really created about 24 to 32 hours of new content….
….if Anet really wants us to get on board with the new map, they need to find a way of forcing us to go there.
head>desk
Anet never told people that it’s a cheap way, it’s a non RNG way to get precouser it doesn’t mean cheaper, easier or faster to get.
Anet also never told us that if we bang our heads against brick walls, it might hurt.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Attention GW2 Players: Don’t bang your heads against a brick walls.
What a sad statement about HoT.
WvW is officially dead, ANET killed it.
But have they opened naturally or has anet manually opened them all or revised their cap?
Interesting just checking the HOT launch date and it was a month ago so it might just be natural. In which case you are right its not unexpected though.
I would guess that the last thing that Anet would want is to give the appearance of an “Empty Restaurant”. No matter how good the food, no one really wants to eat in an empty restaurant.
Had they done so on purpose, I think it would have been loudly advertised across not only the player base, but the entire gaming industry.
Edit: Now back to killing Zombies in Boston….
(edited by Soon.5240)
Scenario 1
1. Anet knows what we want — which hasn’t changed in 3 1/2 years.
2. Anet knows how to make WvW the most popular form of PvP in the game.
3. Anet has no desire to see this happen — because it doesn’t fit their business model.
4. We’re wasting our time.
Scenario 2
1. Anet doesn’t know what we want — which hasn’t changed in 3 1/2 years.
2. We’re wasting our time.
Which Scenario is most likely?
Well, technically speaking, it no longer is a huge zerg of players….
This is the most anti-fun thread I’ve ever read. Seriously, guys, you’re damaging my faith in humanity right now. Not to mention the rank hypocrisy! Adventures are bad and mastery points shouldn’t be tied up in them, huh? Yet if I told you I shouldn’t have to grind masteries or do map completion for collections or whatever, we all know what kind of response I’d get. Why, just the other day, I saw a thread complaining about a timegate in a legendary collection, and the respondents basically told the OP to suck it up and deal with it.
Is maxing out all the masteries really that important to you? If so, suck it up. Deal with it. You want the rewards, you gotta do the content.
Anet had to make decisions about what content to develop, and what content to not develop for the expansion – since developing content requires a commitment of resources, man power and money.
Is Adventures the best they could come up with? What made them think that the core group of players would enjoy this type of repetitive, platform gaming?
A couple of Adventures for people do do on the side (like jumping puzzles) is fine. But to make them play such a prominent role in the expansion?
And, lets face it, they truly lack creativity or imagination. They were an inexpensive way of seemingly introduction “new” content into the expansion. The Hearts in the core maps at least attempted to have some “story” about the region in which they were located.
The Adventures however are just outright platform gaming. If I wanted that, I’d go play other games that do it better.
Can’t you buy Ascended items from a Raid merchant?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3t8k3l/raid_vendor_item_list/
And how many Raid’s do need to get the Mastery to even get to the Merchant?
I honestly don’t know. I was hoping someone who does Raids would answer. Raids hold no appeal for me. I’m just curious.
exotics where suppose to be ok for raids the players say NOPE full ascended or gtfo…
…. that’s the new gear grind don’t matter if that’s not how they intended it raiders from other games will make there own elite rules any way
Raids should be removed ASAP
While I don’t necessarily agree about the removal of Raids, you are absolutely right about the direction the game is headed. And sooner or later, it will be possible to purchase Legendary armor, weapons, etc.
Oh, you will need to make some minor “accomplishment” prior to making the purchase – just to give the illusion that the game is not Pay 2 Play. And players who so choose will still be able to farm and craft for items.
But, like it or not, a year from now, the game won’t even be recognizable from it’s release.
This is the new business model.
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Ok, picture yourself as someone who has just hit level 80 been playing for 3 or 4 months and wants to get the new legendary weapon. How on earth are they to get the gold or materials without resorting to heavy heavy grind?
They buy gold from Anet.
I’m not being facetious. This is the new business model for the game. We’ll see more of it in the future. And as people get used to it, it will be more blatant.
And, btw, I have all ascended, and my legendary(s) for my one (1) toon. So I don’t care about the difficulty anymore. I got mine.
When I saw the direction the game was headed with HoT, I deleted my Alts, and sold all the Ascended Mats I was collecting for them and then sold it for a small fortune on TP.
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And since when should long term goals be designed in a way that semi casuals can buy completion if it on the tp within 5 days?
Wanze,
How would a semi-casual’s being able to buy ascended or legendary items impact you in any way? Other players don’t really care if you (or I) have ascended or legendary items. All my ascended armor has been transmuted anyway — so no one can even tell if I have it or not.
And you do realize that the grind is in place PRECISELY to encourage the semi-casual player to BUY the mats with their credit card. You do get this, right? And the more money the semi-casual throws at the game, the better it is for everyone.
I hope that everyone is smart enough to realize that Anet is not as stooopid as you think they are.
They want you to do the math — and then whip-out your credit cards and buy gold to acquire your ascended and legendary items.
It ain’t complicated folks…..
Good thing I crafted all mine prior to the expansion.
Edit: The game has very clearly become Pay 2 Play.
(edited by Soon.5240)
“dungeons are the only reliable source for Empyreal Shards”
So not true. Go capture some camps in WvW or play EoTM. You will be swimming in it.
You can also make a 15 min tour of those round chest that are in Cursed Shore, Malchors Leap and Straits of Devistation and the two simple jump puzzles in Caledon Forest and Metrica Province. You can net around 40 with ease. And each Alt can farm the same chest too.
See Rune’s of Orr for list.
Can’t you buy Ascended items from a Raid merchant?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3t8k3l/raid_vendor_item_list/
And the lol of it all is that Legendary weapons have the same stats as Ascended…..
Also, the condi bombs where 6+ conditions are inflicted at once make even removals a lottery.
If you pay attention, or review your combat log, when we apply multiple condi at once — they aren’t actually doing that much damage! – they just APPEAR to be doing so. And, in a panic, you expend your condi removal skill…..
…. and then we hit you with our TRUE condi damage…..
and then you melt….
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what do condi builds have to give up?
To answer this in a non-snarky way (unlike my above post)…
My Condi Engi has very little in the way of condi removal/negation, stun breaks, heals or direct damage. While I can easily stack 8 stacks of Burn – my opponent can negate it with one condi removal. I’m also susceptible to Necros who throw my condi’s back at me. And I can easily be interrupted, which triggers a cool down on my ability to dish out condi.
What wins battles for me is not Condi damage, but rather Toughness derived from my Dire Armor/Trinkets which allows me to outlast my opponents — giving me time for my condi’s to do damage.
If you encounter a Condi Engi and expect a quick win, you need to think again. You can win, but you need to be patient.