Guild Wars 2

EremiteAngel.9765:

Sorel.4870:

What I really disliked in the stream was the pulsing stability in the new DS skill 3. This kind of skills seem to be fashionable, but they don’t allow any counter play using boon strips. I understand for an elite skill, but this is just ridiculous.

not ridiculous if you look at warrior’s berserker stance
no condi for 8 seconds is ridiculous for a condi build to fight against

It’s not quite the same case. I don’t like berserker stance precisely because it’s so passive and have no counter play. But a pulsing stability is like a pulsing Resistance: it removes the advantage of it being a boon.

Of course, we won’t be rid of that silly signet of stone, but one fight at a time.

What I really disliked in the stream was the pulsing stability in the new DS skill 3. This kind of skills seem to be fashionable, but they don’t allow any counter play using boon strips. I understand for an elite skill, but this is just ridiculous.

abclemons.7093:

+1 Wolfineer. The Cele Rifle build is pretty fun and kind of friendly to newer engis.

What? Not at all! The cele rifle build is better, but it is more fragile than the condi build, and takes a lot more skill (to interrupt with rifle 4 for example). I suggest you try the condi build first, and see how it goes.

Agreed. I bet everyone hopes he was in charge of their favorite profession. I was lucky with mesmer, I hope he’s on either thief or engineer as well.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

If you were to us Cele D/D, you would receive less than half as much kittening.

You’re one meta behind! In Europe, staff bunker eles (and celestial staff eles) are a thing now. I like having one on my team if he plays well.

Sube Dai.8496:

Its actually going to be a mainhand pistol, and the specialisation is called Space Marine.

My warrior has been ready for this day for months now.

daedalus.9814:

Use dagger storm against rapid fire. Most rangers are dumb and kill themselves.
Smoke screen also stops all longbow damage but barrage. Also makes it hard to fight into a blinding field.

Alternatively, steal from one of the numerous GS warriors running away from fights anywhere on your borderland (I’m always like “yo, why u chose a warrior if you gonna run like a lil girl?”), and use it to reflect the RF.

choovanski.5462:

style.6173:

I think pretty much everyone knows that engi are OP. They have been for a long time. It was just hidden a bit because everyone focused their rage on the turret spec for so long.

its just because no one plays condi anymore, and stab is rare. revenant looks like it’s going to give engineers a hard time.

This guy knows what’s up. The recent meta has:

- no more group stability (no more support guards)
- very few players using stability (you don’t have 2-3 warriors in a team anymore, and they use shouts now)
- no more condi builds, apart from the occasional condi ranger who is so easy to focus in team fights.

And people wonder why engineers are so strong…

BobbyT.7192:

no love for off hand swords?

i kinda want that, with with stances

Impossible. Elementalists are getting swords.

Nova Stiker.8396:

True, but it should only affect Ground Targeted Projectiles like Grenades and…
and…
Tossing Lava Axe?

That’s the only ground targeted projectile that I know of, with mortar. You could argue that the number 5 skill on ranger LB is some sort of projectile (even if it’s not). But why not? My asura looks hilarious throwing grenades over his shoulder!

Nova Stiker.8396:

Also, prevent projectiles to be thrown behind. Unless Engineers are NBA players, throwing grenades a good 50 feet behind is a bit stupid.

Every ground targeted skill in the game works like that.

Sunshine.5014:

Always play a shoutbow if you soloq. Can’t really go wrong with that. You can be immortal in 1v1, and survive for a long time in outmanned fights, then become a support god in 4v4.

That is, if you don’t die of boredom after the first three minutes.

WhiteCrow.5310:

Cynz.9437:

P.S. don’t bring “omg necros counter engis” that was true before celestial, now even necros get crapped on by engis tnks to celestial amy/CCs

Confirming this. I remember the days of fighting Engis in a respectable battle, perhaps with an advantage as a Necro. Now I’m literally hunted by them along with Thieves.

Source: I main Necro.

Condi necro still destroys engineers (even if the celestial build survives a little longer). But condi necros were pushed out of the meta by eles and shout warriors, and the “meta” power necro build is ridiculously weak in comparison. That’s one of the main reasons engineers are so powerful now: nobody plays condi anymore.

I’m not even sure that’s a match-making issue. The thing about unranked is that because it’s more “casual”, the rotations there are completely pathetic. And I swear that more than half of the players there play power necro, power ranger or GS warrior, three builds that don’t encourage interesting gameplay.

Basically, play anything but a home point holder. Basically, playing ranger or necro in soloq is a guarantee you won’t do much for your team.

Playing thief or mesmer is also super risky. You will be forced to switch one game out of two, and even when you do play mesmer EVERYONE WILL IGNORE YOUR PORTAL! As a thief, you can take decisive decaps if you are in a good pug, but if you are in disorganized game (I hate those), where points are constantly capped/decapped, you won’t be very useful.

Your best bets are probably shout bow warrior or celestial/condi engineer.

Turk.5460:

Odds of winning powerball jackpot 1:175,000,000
Who is outrageously lying?

You got it wrong dude. The guy lives in the Vatican. The national lottery is basically him, Francis and 16 swiss guards.

Supreme.3164:

This is an outrageous lie…..the chances of getting a pug team with at least 3 good players is highly unlikely, so much that you have better chances with the national lottery. Having 2 good players in a pug team happens like once every 30-40 matches.

Your average pugs lacks basic understanding of : rotations, game mode, classes…lol let’s just say everything, 8 matches out of 10 end up with me cursing Anet for this atrocious system

You never win against guild groups? Never? Are you sure you’re doing everything right?

Cynz.9437:

Sorel.4870:

Dude, some people actually like to do something when they are running a dungeon. Sorry not every profession is as facerolly as a warrior.

Of course the engineer needs rocket science to do a proper rotation: he’s an engineer!

doesn’t change the fact that majority wants simple rotation and effective dmg for speed runs… and class changes are based on popularity… go figure why majority needs to like engis to stop dumb overbuffing

Overbuffing? I think your historical analysis of the development of the engineer is way off. Here’s why.

Were buffed in 2014-15:

- Slick Shoes (a good buff, but Elixir S and EG are still viable)
- Pistol #5 velocity
- Shield #4 (you can run with it!)
- FT AA and fire field

Were nerfed in 2014-15

- IP
- Accelerant Packet Turret
- FT knockback
- Grenade kit #2
- Turrets
- Automatic Response
- HGH I believe (or was it in 2013?)

Looking at the facts here: the buffs engineer received are not related to the problems you’re complaining about apart from Slick Shoes. It even got some significant nerfs. Engineer is really strong because it fits very well into the current meta. But I wouldn’t get my tin foil hat and cry conspiracy. Get your facts straight.

Dude, some people actually like to do something when they are running a dungeon. Sorry not every profession is as facerolly as a warrior.

Of course the engineer needs rocket science to do a proper rotation: he’s an engineer!

MakubeC.3026:

Sorel.4870:

I really like your idea of an Assaulter, with the mines and everything. However, I think the rifle (if we get it) will be a power-based weapon. We already have a ranged condi weapon (pistol), while SB is more of an hybrid/utility weapon.

Its hard to call the Pistol a ranged condi weapon since skill 1 is the only one inflicting a damaging condition. 2, 4 and 5 would be more control-oriented and do not benefit from condition damage. If you pair it with the dagger in off-hand, you get something going on, but not ranged since you must in real close melee range to inflict torment. P/P is a very hybrid set, 1 condi, 2, 4, 5 control, 3 burst. Not something you could really use in a condition build either.

The only weapon that is condition oriented right now is SB, where 2,3 and 4 actually damage your opponents with conditions.

That’s debatable. Having a bleed on AA already qualifies pistol mh as a condi weapon (just compare it to the engineer’s pistol AA). And don’t forget the stealth opener, which is our best condi skill.

SB #2 is an hybrid attack, since it deals more power damage than condi (it’s still useful in some weird condi builds like condi SD). SB 4 applies poison, which deals minor damage and is useful only to reduce the incoming heals and to cover other conditions, maybe. I don’t remember SB #3 dealing any king of damaging condition. It cripples, but that does not make it a condition skill.

PistolWhip.2697:

The no path to target found bug which was introduced with the change. I.E. A few spots where you can’t port in front of you on plain flat surface. Because ‘kitten ’.

That’s not a new bug. At least now, it warns you instead of wasting your Steal. Still annoying as hell though.

Liewec.2896:

people who vote for skyhammer in map selection,
one person voting for skyhammer, 7 for another map, skyhammer getting selected,
skyhammer still being in rotation after 2000 comments begging it to be canned,
playing on skyhammer,
skyhammer.

You’re sooooo 2014 darling!

I know the struggle. But wouldn’t it be a bit weird? I mean, you crafted an epic armor in 30 days, and then you can just duplicate the part without any material needed? It’s even worse for trinkets: they are supposed to be unique relics, so it wouldn’t really make sense to copy them.

Your big-kitten UI annoyed me more than I like to admit.

UKADAM.3910:

I expect thieves new spec will be the last to be shown

I wasn’t there when the game launched, but I am under the impression that they reveal the specialization in the reverse order in which the vanilla professions were presented before launch. By that logic, the last specialization we’ll hear about will be the Tempest.

I really like your idea of an Assaulter, with the mines and everything. However, I think the rifle (if we get it) will be a power-based weapon. We already have a ranged condi weapon (pistol), while SB is more of an hybrid/utility weapon.

Superform.1067:

maybe you should actually click my images and see the 500-0 wins

Or, Superform, maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t base my argumentation on a couple of particular cases. I can see how bad luck could have biased your judgment, but allow me to remain skeptical.

I suppose they will at least receive the generic animations of said weapon. For example, if the necro has a skill where he throws his GS (highly improbable, but let’s pretend), you’ll have the same animation on Twilight that on MB on mesmer of the warrior #4.

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Ravenmoon.5318:

come on 400:500 vs 5-man team is a joke

When matchmaking actually works, the full pug team will have individually better players than the premade. I think I’ve lost to more pugs than other premades when I queue with others.

Ravenmoon.5318:

(I still don’t know secondary condition for win when the teams tie)

That’s the one time where personal score actually matters.

This is very accurate. Even if the premade is a guild team on TS, if they can’t rotate and have a bad individual mechanical skill, they get destroyed by pugs. I would suggest to try to find a team, and see if you consistently win against pug groups. I can guarantee your “farm” won’t get you very far.

Good players have figured out the basic rotations and don’t need voice communication to know where to go, most of the time. In team fights, voice communication shines the most, but again if the premade has a lower average mechanical skill, chances are they will lost those anyway. How do I know that? My usual premade guild team is terrible :P

HotHit.6783:

“stop having fun and WvW!”

Dude, you sound like my guild.

Essence Snow.3194:

Does this include ascended decked out with infusions?

The recommended infusions are added, according to the original poster.

Vornollo.5182:

Lol? ok, since that field applies only one condition (burning) you can just easily cleanse it with Infiltrator’s Return.

Ok, maybe I was a bit over-dramatic. But be careful that the fire field applies direct damage each tick in addition to the burning (that’s why it’s so strong with CI). On SD acrobatics, I find that without poison you can’t really pressure the warrior enough to kill him quickly, and I usually run away. But that’s probably just me being bad.

coglin.1867:

Is there a reason your so strongly promoting and defending spying?

Oh and yes, there are two specific rules against it. Perhaps you should read the legal documents you agreed to when signing up for the game.

Yep, I’m a spy, beware! Seriously though, I don’t care about my server winning its match-ups, I just want to have fun, so I don’t understand the motivations of spies.

Again, I asked you what suggestion you would offer to the problem. I don’t defend spies. It just happen that spies are impossible to discriminate from other players, so I don’t really see how you would enforce the rules against them. That was the original topic, and so far the options were not convincing.

Thank you for the very informative post. I conforts me in my resolution to NOT craft an ascended armor. A 4% increase in effectiveness is not worth hundreds of gold.

coglin.1867:

So is the ability to publicly behead those spies in my war camp, to show the enemy, and the world, what happens to spies, I catch.

Make that a real option, and we will talk. Otherwise, don’t use such an irrational real world comparison to justify trolling in a fantasy MMO.

How would you implement that? Nothing prevents you from playing on two different accounts. Nothing prevents you for playing on different servers. Nothing prevents you from reading the chat. Nothing prevents you from using this knowledge to counter your strategy.

Nothing, in the process of spying, is an exploit of any kind. There is absolutely no way to tell if a player is spying. And even there was, nothing can prevent him from spying. So what are you suggesting?

Warning: it’s a very long video. Phantaram, member of the best NA team the Abjured, explains to a brand new player how every current meta build functions. I think that might be what you’re looking for.

Excellent video on rotations. Backpack is one of the best player in the game, and a great teacher. Other videos on this channel give you great tips about rotations and team fight for any profession and how to play as an engineer.

http://www.twitch.tv/thelordhelseth/v/4761630

Helseth, one of the best mesmer in the game, is also an excellent chess player, and it shows when he plays in tournament with his team TCG. This video is a commentary of two top level games in his point of view, with very helpful commentaries. Ideal if you want to perform better in a team environment.

I tend to think that illusion will likely be the trait line I’ll drop for a shatter build. However, alacrity won’t give you the 20% reduction on illusion summoning. Furthermore, I still hope that one of the master trait will be iInvigoration in the final version.

I would try to take the clone generation traits in chronomancy and drop dueling, but it is likely that shatter builds will renounce to the illusion trait line, oddly.

A m b Y.9704:

if i’ll go for a legendary for what classes i like ofc it would be Incinerator. However, i was planning to get bifrost since long time and i prefer how it looks so much

If you prefer how the Bifrost looks, then it’s a no-brainer. Craft the Bifrost. You can craft ascended weapons for your other characters, and as long as you enjoy playing on your ele, that’s well-invested gold.

zinkz.7045:

Secondly, it is also an issue of poor game design, in war as you put it, when you find a spy you can execute them, imprison them, etc, there other better designed games that give you options to handle spies, and certainly handle the equivalents of sabotaging siege, but in this game there is none.

Now I am interested. What are these options? Because frankly, I don’t know how you would punish a spy in a way that couldn’t be abused.

Oranisagu.3706:

Sorel.4870:

Anet has said on numerous occasions that they didn’t want add-ons in their game. They want every player to have the same UI. It’s their stance on the matter, and it’s not going to change.

they actually said that in context of addons cluttering the view, they wanted players to experience their game without incessant overlays. which is exactly what they’re doing right now with their advertisements. they already failed to deliver their ‘clean vision’ of the ui by adding unnecessary stuff that just clutters more and more screenspace.

I agree that we should have an option to hide these overlays. I think it’s great to notify players when stuff happens in the community (and I get angry when they don’t), but once it was seen, you should be able to mask it. Same goes for my personal story: I never play it: why should I see my progression in the corner of my screen? The achievement list should have this option as well.

Other than that, I think their UI is as clean as it can be. That’s actually a great strength of GW2: very few skills, organized in a very logical way. Compare that to even the best looking add-ons for WoW.

How to deal with SD thieves:

1) Equip a bow
2) Drop the fire field around
3) Just stand still: your fire field deals more damage than they do

Impact.2780:

I love rock dog on D/P thieves. It let’s me kill them with dancing dagger while the thief is in stealth.

Don’t use ogre.

Or with Mirror blade. Or with SB AA. Or… Yeah don’t use that.

Mattmatt.4962:

Well not really. Its all about théorycrafting.
Shatter spec beeing burst spec, there is no way you give up Domi (+60% damage modifier)
Beeing a burst spec, you dont really need cd reduction (chronomancer giving you your cd twice and some alacrity, and sinc eits a burst, your target is supposed to be dead at the end of the burst unless big outplay/missplay)
Sure it would be nice to have those cd reduction, and you’ll probably be able to, if (we will know once we test it out) it appears that chronomancer’s trait can make up for DE and make mesmer able to drop Duel spe.

So in the end it will be: Chronomancer domination illusion. If it doesnt work out due to a lack of clone, it will be Chronomancer domination duelist.

It’s very unlikely that we see mesmer domi + duel + illu as F5 is really really strong and chronomancer’s trait really strong
i’m still waiting to see how much life will get the crystal left when pressing F5 and if destroying it force the repress (restoring CD) or just rupt the continiuum shift, disabling the mesmer to get benefit from it (no CD/healt/etc. refund).
So i wont bet on it till i know that

I agree that Domination is the last trait line I would sacrifice. But it’s not ALL theory crafting. For example, if chrono does make up for the loss of DE, you could have dom-duel-chrono builds as well as dom-illu-chrono depending on the play style of the player. dom-illu-chrono probably won’t work for sword builds, because the gained clones would die too quickly, being melee (in the current build, you dodge just a few seconds before shattering, max), but could work for double-ranged builds.

Anet has said on numerous occasions that they didn’t want add-ons in their game. They want every player to have the same UI. It’s their stance on the matter, and it’s not going to change.

I think that if someone is dedicated enough to buy a new account to spy on your server, there’s not much you can do about it. Spying is a part of warfare since the dawn of Man, GW2 is no exception.

Satenia.9025:

Well I guess at least in this scenario, tanks would be viable

Good one.

Pride.1734:

They once advertised that you could achieve stuff no matter how you played the game, but say if you only want to do WvW where ascended does matter then you are out of luck. Want the cool ascended skins? Gotta craft. Want to do fractals? Gotta craft.
I just wish there where more options.

Craft is not technically PvE, and you can craft in WvW. I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.

And for that matter, ascended is not that important in WvW. Ascended trinkets matter, but you get them by just playing regularly and getting laurels.

Since a sw map can only contain a couple hundred of players, a lot of them being ranger (who fight with arrows and trained dogs), and yet still manage to take down powerful Mordremoth lieutenants, then I would say yes, certainly.

Astralporing.1957:

65 skill challenges. Even if you take 1 minute per skill challenge, that’d take more than an hour.

More than a minute, and there’s more skill challenges than 65 (you would want that elite spec, right?). Not sure about the precise number, but if we add those that do not show in map completion number (new maps, home instance, wvw) it will be over 200. With 2-3 mins per challenge (and some would take more) it’s 7-10 hours. Per character.

[/quote]

You don’t have to do every single hero challenge on each of your char to unlock everything. You need only 65 of them, in addition to getting your character to 80.