Guild Wars 2

Mobility
Thief
Ranger
Warrior
Elementalist
Mesmer

Viability
Thief
Mesmer
Elementalist
Engineer
Warrior
Ranger
Guardian
Necromancer
Revenant

Stealth
Thief
Mesmer
Engineer
Ranger

Burst
Mesmer
Thief
Elementalist
Warrior

Best
Thief
Mesmer
Engineer
Ranger
Warrior

Mobility
Thief and Ranger both have very high mobility with the proper weapon/utility choices. A Staff + GS Ranger can cover some massive ground but nothing compares to the near infinite mobility of a Thief. Warrior isn’t far behind if they choose to use Sword/Shield + GS and Elementalist is roughly the same with Fiery GS. Mesmer has poor landspeed but good mobility. With Blink, Portal and other skills like Illusionary Leap, they can be pretty slippery in a fight.

Viability
Viability means “capable of working successfully” by definition. All professions can be effective at roaming if the player is capable. That said, some are more ideal than others. Thief, Mesmer, Ele and Engi all take the top spots because they are equipped for dealing with being outnumbered as well as having moderate – high mobility. When roaming, mobility and the ability to deal with multiple targets are extremely important. Although Warrior is good in team fights and 1v1 for example, they aren’t very strong in 1vX due to their primary defenses being very easy to counter. I rank Revenant below Necromancer only because Necromancer deals with multiple targets better than Rev. They are both bottom of the barrel in terms of viability but again, that doesn’t mean it cannot be done, just that it takes a greater deal of skill.

Stealth
Thief and Mesmer are roughly the same here. They can come and go as they please which is what makes them the best for roaming. It’s not mobility nor is it dealing with multiple targets, but it is the ability to reset a fight just about any time they like. That’s something unique to these two professions and although a Ranger isn’t terribly far behind, their access to stealth comes at a much higher cost.

Burst
A full YOLO Mesmer can pretty much obliterate anything if the player knows how to do it right. S/P Thief is certainly a close second but but since it’s channelled, I would have to award highest burst to Mesmer which is nearly instant. Glassy Tempests can do some pretty mean bursts as well as Berserker’s with Gunflame.

Best
Thief is simply the best for roaming because it has it all. Mobility, the ability to deal with multiple targets and high access to stealth. Although Mesmer comes in a close second, they struggle to deal with multiple targets and if they’re forced to run, their only option is to use stealth to do so as they have very poor landspeed. Engineer’s can be quite effective with mobility and multiple targets as well but since their mobility often means having to sacrifice a utility, they’re not always the fastest on the field.

Of course this is just IMO, as was the OP, but in regards to Thief, I don’t think that’s something that needs to be argued. Thief is just the ideal profession to roam with despite not being the best at 1v1.

^^^^^^
What I had said in another thread a few weeks ago asking this same question.

There was a time a while back when hairstyle kits were bugged and were allowing people to access unreleased hairstyles. Said hairstyles may be released at some point in the future but when, no one is sure.

There also appears to be a new hairstyle on the White Mantle Cleric in Stronghold Of The Faithful which can be seen here

Were you knocked off the point in melee range or from a distance?

There are two possibilities. One, you were hit with Point Blank Shot, the other, you were hit with Glyph Of Tides.

Point Blank Shot is a 1,200 range projectile that knocks targets back. Glyph Of Tides is an AOE with a radius of 300.

After you were knocked back you say you were stunned? This probably means that the Ranger either closed the gap if they knocked you back with Point Blank Shot or they were already in melee range. They then used Hilt Bash, greatsword #5 skill which dazes if hit from the front and stuns if hit from behind.

I think it’s likely that you were hit with Glyph Of Tides, knocked off the capture point, hit from behind with Hilt Bash while you were knocked back which proc’d Ancient Seeds. Ancient Seeds immobilizes a target if they are hit while CC’d. You were CC’d and hit with another CC.

Then they probably popped Signet Of The Wild which increases the Rangers size, speed and damage as well as granting Stability. After they popped SotW, they likely hit you with a Maul, greatsword skill #2 which can crit some pretty high numbers with damage modifiers or enough might stacks. The Ranger may also have been using Moment Of Clarity which grants a +50% damage increase on your next attack after interrupting a target. If s/he interrupted you before using Maul, this may be why you were basically one shot.

So I’m thinking it went like this: They used SotW for damage increase, pushed you out of the ring using Glyph Of Tides which made the next attack immobilize you, they interrupted something you were doing, hit you with Hilt Bash which stunned you and now immobilized you thanks to Ancient Seeds, also proc’ing Moment Of Clarity for +50% damage, then used Maul which likely hit you for between 10 and 15k.

Exciton.8942:

To be honest, current druid is not that susceptible to CC. We have multiple good stun-breaker skills.

For example, my utility bar consists of signet of renewal, protect me and glyph of equality. They are all good stunbreakers with reasonably low CD. There is also this ultimate reset button called celestial avatar form that breaks stun when traited. In addition, I can get pulsing stability from Strength of the Pack.

All of these together makes it actually quite hard to lock down a druid.

This.

Also, I had been arguing this in the Ranger forum about how this particular build is next to impossible to kill and not at all hard to play. But of course, everyone got defensive because I insinuated the idea of having their cheese build taken away from them, and I’m also a Ranger…

I’ve been running in to this build pretty much everywhere. There are two in particular on YB who as I hear, are rather famous for their trolling (and also racist apparently?). I’ve just opted to not fight these builds at all. If I see a Druid I drill a few hits in to them and if I see that they’re tanky, I disengage and get out. It’s built to be able to faceroll 1v1’s, win 1v2’s, skirmish with 1v3’s and troll 1v4 – 6. In other words, unless you’re ganking it it’s probably not going to die so it’s not worth your time to bother with it. I consider it what the old D/D Cele Ele was – a very long, very boring fight with all the advantage on their end.

Here’s a video I took of 3 people fighting this build.

Bear in mind (lol) I was not engaging because I’ve fought this guy and seen him fight many times. He knows I’ll just ignore him so he doesn’t pay attention to me watching it. Also note that he gains Shocking Aura when using SotP which means he’s using Runes of Leadership not Soldier.

Purgatori.3645:

LadySwan.8751:

We’ve honestly been waiting for new hairstyles for close to 7 months now. In fact this is the 7 month, the last time we received any was wayyyyy long time ago(Wintersday patch). You’d think they’d have hairstyles out and ready for us by now, specially since that leak kinda shows, they did have some. Getting new styles out would really help with this current drought we’re experiencing.

Yes thats very true … I was hoping to have something fresh by now especially since the color update patch for purples. I’m also hoping for better human hair. The Norns (I love Norns) had that amazing update to the female hair with the long braids. But Human females should also get to wear long tresses … and they would make serious coin by adding that in. If a Norn can wear it down to her butt so can a Human lol

I want some long, curly human female hair, personally. Too many pin straight styles.

Something like this

Agreed and very well written, OP.

Although my IRL position has allowed/kept me playing this game far longer and more often than I should… WvW is the only thing that has kept my interest.

I started Gw2 doing PvE leveling in the open world. Exploring heart quests and doing dungeons, etc. It took… I think 3 weeks? Before I set the game down and didn’t come back for at least a few months.

When I came back, I started a fresh character and decided to explore WvW. I was totally blown away by the scale of combat and the amount of chaos constantly swirling around me. I leveled my (now oldest character) Necromancer, entirely in WvW and from the time I discovered it, I never left. I’ve done PvE things here and there, personal story, world completion and PvP, but it’s only a very small fraction of what my time in Gw2 has been. I’d wager I’ve got a minimum of 5k hours in WvW alone and it’s the one thing that keeps me playing every day.

I’m not usually very dramatic about ANet’s changes to WvW. I take it with a grain of salt and try to look on the bright side. For how long I, or anyone else that has an optimistic perspective, can carry on with such a view remains to be seen however. I feel it’s only a matter of time before something breaks and I just go “done” and quit forever. Although at this point, I think my retirement is long overdue anyway so I can hardly blame ANet.

Cheers to the future of WvW, comrades. May your lag be little and your loot a plenty.

Tux kitten inguin.3049:

This problem is as old as the game. I would really like to roam around the backline as a thief, but skillags made it impossible from the first day.
After 3 years I dont expect a change on this.

I feel you. I still try to do this as a Ranger and because I don’t have the mobility of a Thief I need my skills to be just as responsive. If a Hunter’s Shot misses or if I can’t swap to GS in time to get away I die immediately. Sucks because the rare times there isn’t much lag I have a ton of fun harassing all the bacline Ele’s.

I feel the same about JQ.

jcbroe.4329:

-snip-

Watching this to me is like watching a trapper Thief. Yawn, shake your head and maybe enjoy listening to what ever music happens to be edited over the video.

You know all the counters but it’s a lot easier said than done when you’re actually fighting it, especially in WvW where you’re not confined to a small little circle.

I suppose I’ll stop talking though and congratulate the OP on accomplishing what I’ve seen dozens of times over the past few months from various different players. I just wish it weren’t yet another addition to the abysmal state of what roaming has become.

Swagger.1459:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

jcbroe.4329:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I’m going to have to record a few Druids I know that are running a similar build to show how broken it is.

Just because you can counter/kill something doesn’t mean it’s balanced. To me this is about the same as the trapper Thief videos, minimal talent, mostly trolling. It would be more enjoyable to watch if OP had less of a “lul git gud” attitude about it but that’s the kind of mentality builds that carry you tend to give.

Name a working build from any class that’s accepted as the highest efficiency build, but isn’t a “carry” build.

Just because you (or anybody else) don’t agree with the way the game is balanced doesn’t mean that it lacks balance. The HoT specs are actually incredibly well balanced against each other.

Is the current game design disagreeable then? Definitely, but it is balanced against itself.

More importantly, WvW is impossible to implement any semblance of balance in. 1v1s are inherently imbalanced because the main balance goal is 5v5 PvP, and WvW has too many gearing variables and encounter variables to ever even remotely try to implement changes that don’t break on some scale.

In PvP, most “pro” players didn’t even consider Druid to be “top 5” worthy until just now after a team with a Druid wins some money, which should be very indicative of the actual intended balance point of the game, as opposed to an “unsupported gametype” where typically, the most malignant cancer build wins.

By that logic, nothing is easy.

The point I’m trying to make is that the build in the video and the one I see everywhere in WvW lately is minimal effort.

I don’t think WvW should be balanced around 1v1 nor do I think it ever has been. I’m saying that if you can coast through a fight half asleep and still win, it’s probably not something you should claim to play well. It’d be like if I said I’m good at riding a bike with training wheels. Sure I need to learn to pedal first, but how do I fail beyond that.

If you look at my history I rarely ever type “lol”, but I do have to lol your “minimal effort” and “coast through a fight half asleep”…

Go stream and put up some unedited videos of your own ranger against some quality players in spvp and havok groups in wvw and tell me just how minimal effort it takes…

More hatemail comes from the ones that think they can escape their laziness by using cheese builds and failing than from the ones that get frustrated over the annoyance of having to deal with fighting it. This is the kind of build that you gank so you can lol at them trying to justify your incompetence when they angrily whisper you. “You couldn’t beat me 1v1 tho! Rawr, rawr, scrub!” Meanwhile they design their build to be able to troll 1v5’s then make videos like the OP’s going “look ma, no hands!”

If you’re having fun, all that matters. But I’m not going to claim that this is anything other than fun.

I never use Dragonite, Empyreal or Bloodstone. I’ve got 50 bricks, stones and stars in my bank just in case I ever need them but otherwise, I throw it all out.

I’d be happy if there was some kind of ascended food recipe that required these materials though. Food/Utility food that lasted an hour with slightly higher benefits or something. Considering just about everyone uses food buffs in WvW, it seems to me like it would be an acceptable alternative.

jcbroe.4329:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I’m going to have to record a few Druids I know that are running a similar build to show how broken it is.

Just because you can counter/kill something doesn’t mean it’s balanced. To me this is about the same as the trapper Thief videos, minimal talent, mostly trolling. It would be more enjoyable to watch if OP had less of a “lul git gud” attitude about it but that’s the kind of mentality builds that carry you tend to give.

Name a working build from any class that’s accepted as the highest efficiency build, but isn’t a “carry” build.

Just because you (or anybody else) don’t agree with the way the game is balanced doesn’t mean that it lacks balance. The HoT specs are actually incredibly well balanced against each other.

Is the current game design disagreeable then? Definitely, but it is balanced against itself.

More importantly, WvW is impossible to implement any semblance of balance in. 1v1s are inherently imbalanced because the main balance goal is 5v5 PvP, and WvW has too many gearing variables and encounter variables to ever even remotely try to implement changes that don’t break on some scale.

In PvP, most “pro” players didn’t even consider Druid to be “top 5” worthy until just now after a team with a Druid wins some money, which should be very indicative of the actual intended balance point of the game, as opposed to an “unsupported gametype” where typically, the most malignant cancer build wins.

By that logic, nothing is easy.

The point I’m trying to make is that the build in the video and the one I see everywhere in WvW lately is minimal effort.

I don’t think WvW should be balanced around 1v1 nor do I think it ever has been. I’m saying that if you can coast through a fight half asleep and still win, it’s probably not something you should claim to play well. It’d be like if I said I’m good at riding a bike with training wheels. Sure I need to learn to pedal first, but how do I fail beyond that.

I’m going to have to record a few Druids I know that are running a similar build to show how broken it is.

Just because you can counter/kill something doesn’t mean it’s balanced. To me this is about the same as the trapper Thief videos, minimal talent, mostly trolling. It would be more enjoyable to watch if OP had less of a “lul git gud” attitude about it but that’s the kind of mentality builds that carry you tend to give.

Wow, it actually got a sticky. Thank you, mods and thank you to the others for the kind words. It means a lot to me and it will mean even more if it manages to help some people (:

Only reason I like them is for moving around the field, lol. I never use Signet of the Hunt on my Ranger or Signet of the Locust on my Necromancer so the +25% movement speed I get pretty much anywhere on our side of the map is nice.

Tien.3865:

Josh XT.6053:

So if you get into a fight with someone irl and you punch them so hard they trip over themselves then they decide to run away, do you win? lol.

I can go that route too. If a someone with a gun breaks into a house with the intention of killing the resident, but the resident escapes, does the shooter win? lol.

Josh XT.6053:

Like I said, may not be a “victory” but it certainly isn’t defeat if I get into a fight with someone who runs from me. By your logic, thief wins every fight since they can just use the bad game mechanic that is their mobility and ininitely shortbow5 away lol.. Not a win when they do that, thats admitting defeat.

Okay, so a thief who runs from you is not the winner of the fight. I can agree with that. But that’s not my main point. My main point is that you aren’t the winner. You didn’t even kill the guy.

You say that thieves abusing their mobility is “bad.” But how else is he going to beat you? You claimed that thieves will never beat you, but that’s just the height of arrogance. If you ever encounter a thief who knows what he’s doing, a combination of patience and mobility will be the reason he’ll beat you. He’ll kite you when you’re in your damage attunements, interrupt your overloads to negate your main source of damage, and constantly disengage to throw you off guard, hoping that you’ll make a mistake. He might even fully disengage and then later attack you when you’re not expecting it. It’s the best chance he has to kill you.

You also can’t boil down all instances of running away to “admitting defeat.” I’ve ran from plenty of fights merely because I got bored. I’ve ran from fights because I saw enemies in the distance and didn’t want to be ganked. I’ve ran from fights because I wasn’t running a build suited to roaming, or had another objective in mind. I’ve even ran because the terrain/location of the fight wasn’t to my advantage, and later won those same fights because I lured them to a more even playing field.

No point in arguing with him. The guy’s as ignorant as a vegan christian feminist.

Jeknar.6184:

shiri.4257:

Thank you Anet, with this time line. CD can now open it’s warchest of gold ore. We’re looking for NA guilds to be competitive vs FA/MAG if we move up. There will be an alliance meeting this Friday before reset at 630pm PST. Will have agenda up on CD website by tonight.

I don’t think you’ll be seeing FA or MAG anytime soon… By the time you go up, Maguuma will problably have swapped with no one else than Yak’s Bend, everybody most loved server.

I hope you are ready for some intense siegewars should you swap with SBI instead of SoS.

I’ve been against YB in the past and facing JQ and YB currently, JQ are far worse siege humpers than YB. These guys are building open field arrowcarts constantly, even when they have significantly more people. In SMC, it’s like a siege factory. A few days ago after we took it, we found 6 AC all nearly stacked on top of another at the NW inner gate with a bunch of other things like shield gens and catapults nearby. I don’t understand why JQ seems to get away with all their siege humping but for some reason YB gets blamed instead.

Furajir.3815:

Also this one that Steelo posted. Great mix of everything. Tanky, good damage, survivability.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAneRjMdQVI2FCOeAnIG6BKtNC/0wCgPICwaYxjBA-T1CEABwv/QhKBB4BAoneACOCAQcIAmUdlsPBANqSRUK/iTTw3ABgRkA8//3kkEhAEMGA-w

Hey, that’s what I’m talking about! Thank you. Might make a few small alterations but this is what I’m looking for.

Not entirely sure what kind of stats to mix to get a durable build that’s not full Soldier’s or something.

I’d like a build that’s between offensive and defensive without hitting like a wet noodle and without being too squishy.

I’ve been running as a full glass Warrior for ages and as effective as it can be, it simply burns out too quickly when the numbers turn against me. So I’ve been thinking about working on something that can handle a bit more of a beating but I’m honestly not sure where to start.

If someone could put something together for me so that I have a bit of a template to work with, I’d really appreciate it.

Note: I only have Berserker, Celestial, Knights and Cleric ascended accessories (amulet, rings and earrings) as full sets. I have a ton of other ascended rings but not the amulet and earring counterparts for them.

I would love to see this as well as an option to dye accessories based on dyes that we own.

Both things that shouldn’t even need to be suggested, they should have already been done.

I’m honestly not concerned. There have been many things in the past people have created an uproar about that wound up not being a big deal at all. While I can see where this might cause some problems, I seriously doubt it will impact the state of WvW any worse than +10 supplies from guild upgrades has.

If we want a way to make this repair hammer thing balanced, how about suggesting something like; “can only repair siege units while not in combat.”

Dawdler.8521:

Haythere.7513:

Mushin.3928:

I’m not in T1, but I’ve never seen a rev roamer. It doesn’t seem like the class has a viable build for roaming – even condi rev is quite weak compared to other condi builds.

Revs are good for squads and zergs, but not in groups of <= 3.

Actually, someone on TC roams with a rev and destroys other roamers all the time.

There is a power herald on the server I currently meet (incidently EU #1) that also absolutely destroys roamers.

No really, I have a p/p condi scrapper that brush off thieves with ease and can go 1v2 against most. I can even duel warriors with their 1 million hp/s regen and still manage to win. Revs and heralds are normally just a minor speedbump that fall easily. But that herald… He slapped me around like a baby and killed me without any effort. I didnt even do any damage because I couldnt. Daredevil stompers break like twigs in comparison.

I wish I could play a kitten herald that good because it would probably replace my scrapper as a roamer. Unfortunetly I cant, lol. I’m not friends with meleeing.

That’s just how it is for a lot of folks, really. Some classes click with you in such a way that it fits like a glove. I have at least one friend for every profession that’s extremely good. In fact, I used to know someone (who I think stopped playing now) that would roam on Necromancer pre-HoT and win 1v3+’s all the time. The guy was astonishingly good for roaming on a class that can’t even usually handle a 1v2. And another player that was using some really weird mixture of stats/traits on Ranger that would do the same, constantly getting in to outnumbered fights and eventually killing them all.

It just takes experimenting and patience before you find that class/build that fits you so well most 1v1’s will stop being much of a challenge. I’ve yet to get there myself but I’m just not that great of a player to begin with, lol. It’s always fun watching people when they’re that talented though. As soon as I recognize how skilled someone is I’ll usually stand back and watch them 1vX and laugh my butt off cheering them on.

chefdiablo.6791:

dzeRnumbrd.6129:

We need to do as much as possible to discourage siege turtling.

We do not need to buff siege turtles.

In some fights we have found YB or FA (can’t remember) had 10+ arrow carts in one paper tower.

We should NOT encourage this siege mentality by buffing it.

Three players should never be able to stop a map blob, it’s as simple as that.

Walls and siege are there to delay the blob, not stop the blob.

The walls gave your reinforcements more than enough time to arrive and show their PvP skills to the JQ map blob.

I don’t see the OP’s point as to buff siege or to make it so that 3 people could defend against a mob blob. Being able to dely is the point, and that is basically impossilble in most cases because the blob instantly destroys all the wall siege or makes using it an AOE death trap. 3 people won’t do anything to delay 40 enemies in most towers.

As it stands having 10 ACs in a tower is meaningless when the 3 people to man them are;

A) not always in the tower waiting for a map blob

and

B) three people won’t delay a mob blob at all or ever in the majority of towers and keeps due to the wall designs.

Map blobs will drop 5 superior catas on a wall right next to it, because why use range to avoid AC fire if you can just AOE death the walls right?

The only time that defensive siege really means anything is when the defending force is already in a tower/keep full of siege with enough people to man it as the map blob is building their attacking siege.

Also, some scouts siege towers to the extreme, we love them when they are our side, but hate them when they are on the other. This will never change in WvW.

This is exactly the point of the OP, thank you for the summary.

Reh.5986:

What’s outnumbered for FA? Spell mentioned 6 hours a day. That sounds too good to be true? Are there queues? How are the fights?

Between 4pm and 1am EST are the most active hours. After that, it gets pretty slow. Usually a few tags working the BL’s and EBG is neglected unless the keep is attacked or someone feels like committing to taking SMC.

Outnumbered is Outnumbered buff. Early morning, 5am through to 12pm EST is usually when JQ is the largest and we’re the smallest, although we do sometimes have a group rolling around that can compete with them. Most mornings JQ just papers everything everywhere though.

Maybe it’s different in a less top heavy match when the fair weathers aren’t avoiding WvW but in the week or so I’ve been here, this has been my experience.

Forum bug

~(‘-’~) (/‘-’)/ /(‘-’/) (~‘-’)~

Tien.3865:

Josh XT.6053:

That is what I consider a win. If someone runs away because they realized they aren’t going to beat me, that is a win. If I downed/killed them, that is a win.

Everyone seems to have their own philosophy when it comes to roaming. Killing your opponent is a win for sure… but failing to deliver the killing blow and letting your opponent escape? I don’t think I could ever consider that a win. Honestly, I would give the win to my opponent because I know exactly how satisfying it is to escape from my opponent(s) and deny them a kill.

To illustrate with an anecdote: I was roaming on my druid the other day and was in the middle of a fight with a dragonhunter. Suddenly a condi scrapper joined the fight and bombed me with conditions. Knowing that condis are my weakness, I immediately stealthed via celestial avatar and disengaged from the fight. Although the DH went off somewhere else, this scrapper continued to run after me, so I tentatively engaged him 1v1 and quickly discovered that I was no match for his condi pressure. So I went off to do better things: taking camps, winning fights without him involved, and ganking him like he nearly did to me. Every time we crossed paths and we were alone, he would give chase, but I would simply avoid him. I could tell he desperately wanted to kill me, and he knew very well that he had the ability to. But I never gave him that chance.

I’d say I was the clear winner that night.

Exactly how I fight and IMO, the proper way to do so. What’s the point in engaging someone who you know has a large advantage over you? If you can’t beat them alone, don’t fight them or outnumber them. The people who get upset about this kind of strategy are the kind of players who think we think we’re skilled. Personally I don’t think I’m very good at all, but I know I’m smart. I’m not good if I gank someone and I’m not good if I run from them but I am smart because I know what I can and can’t handle. I could really care less who’s the better player. All I care is that either I win or I escape. I’m not interested in giving out free bags and I’m not going to stay to the bitter end unless it’s a 1v1 from start to finish and it’s a fight I can handle not one that hard counters me.

Korgov.7645:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Recently (a month ago roughly) I got a new computer capable of supporting recording software so I’ve been playing around with it a bit.

While our Bay was being attacked today, I managed to capture a good example of what standing on a wall in WvW is like while it’s being attacked.

The video should speak for itself if you’ve ever worked defense against a large number of players. Basically, if you try to stop the attackers you’ll be obliterated by AOE’s and CC’s.

Link to YouTube video here

EDIT: Okay since people seem to be confused… I was just giving an example of why the design of tower/keep walls are flawed in WvW. I have seen people discuss this various times in the past so I thought I would give a visual idea of how bad it can be at times by provoking the attackers to drop a bunch of AOE’s.

It wasn’t meant for anything other than an example, I apologize for not being clear about that.

I watched the video and it left me wondering: What were you trying to accomplish up there? I mean defense wise. Destroy the catapults with a Barrage?

Congrats on WvW rank 6743.

Nothing. I believe I stated so at least a few times in this thread. I was provoking them to attack me to show how ridiculous the AOE spam on walls can be. Had I tried to stop them by standing on the lip of the wall, I’d have died within seconds and the video would have been very short.

Think of it as someone sticking their hand in a crocodiles mouth to show how quickly it can snap it’s mouth shut. The person isn’t trying to stop the crocodile from biting, they’re just showing how deadly they are because of how lighting quick they are. Same thing here. I’m just showing that walls will be painted red when they’re being attacked and it’s a deadly place to be even though it shouldn’t be.

I understand that some folks don’t see the point of this video but those that do understand know exactly what they’re seeing.

Perhaps the next video I make I’ll be less vague about it’s purpose, lol.

Jana.6831:

I have never really talked with anyone about what they really want from wvw

Freedom and community. That’s why I play it, personally. I’m not sure that I can speak for anyone else when I say this, but for me, it’s the ability to do what I want, when I want, while still feeling like I’m contributing to a bigger picture with most of what I choose to do.

I dislike PvP and PvE because there are many things I’m forced in to doing that I don’t want to do. Not doing them makes me a liability for the people I play with and that just makes me not want to do it even more. I don’t want to be the reason people around me aren’t having fun.

In WvW, there are many different things I can do and most of them will be helping my server in some way or another without restricting me to having to do anything in particular.

I’ve been in a handfull of guilds but none for longer than a month. I prefer to do things at my own pace and I’m the same way IRL. I depend on only myself and I offer my help where I can.

Being a very vocal citizen has allowed me to make many friends and has made me feel like I’m a part of a village or family within most of the servers I’ve visited. This camaraderie, as well as the freedom that WvW offers, has kept me interested for many, many hours of my time with Gw2.

What I want from WvW is community and freedom, which it already provides. With the introduction of server linking however, some of that sense of community has diminished and has been slowly taking a toll on my enjoyment with the game. When I’ll stop playing I’m not certain but at the moment, loss of identity within a community will be the primary reason for quitting. All the freedom to do as I wish has little value if I don’t feel like my help is worth offering.

All other movement skills were changed a while back to no longer be affected by Cripple and Chill. Swoop is still experiencing the negative effects and at times it can cost your life.

A fix to this would be greatly appreciated.

morrolan.9608:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

FA has been meh since I’ve been here.

Solid roamers, the kind of people I can depend on to back me up if I’m outnumbered and an okay community.

Defense is terrible, although I’m thinking it might be because people know that it’s not really worth holding on to anything with how badly JQ outnumbers us most of the day. Still, no one seems to be able to read a map. Things get taken with 0 effort involved on JQ/YB’s behalf because no one even shows up to stop them or slow them down.

In ocx time yesterday you were defending like YB.

Wish I was there for that. Usually all I see is people staring at the attackers from a distance hoping maybe they’ll be able to pierce their armor with heat vision or something. At least for the brief period I was on the SF/GoM/FC pairing people would actively defend things instead of just standing there like a drone.

FA has been meh since I’ve been here.

Solid roamers, the kind of people I can depend on to back me up if I’m outnumbered and an okay community.

Defense is terrible, although I’m thinking it might be because people know that it’s not really worth holding on to anything with how badly JQ outnumbers us most of the day. Still, no one seems to be able to read a map. Things get taken with 0 effort involved on JQ/YB’s behalf because no one even shows up to stop them or slow them down.

The PUG’s are also meh in zergs. Some good fighters but they’re easy to break up under pressure.

I’m not gonna make any serious evaluations of the server until there’s a more balanced match up because right now, JQ outnumbers us for a good 6 hours of the day. Maybe things will change when people know it’s worth the effort. If it’s still the same with a different match, I’m outta here. I find no fun on a server that doesn’t indulge in every kind of combat and defense is where some of the best fights come from.

Dawdler.8521:

15 vs 40 was possible once because it was 15 people with secret raid builds and a hardcore commander vs 40 people on random PvE builds following a commander that had no idea what he was doing. The game has matured beyond that now. Today you might have the same 15 man setup, but those 40 people will probably consist of veteran GWEN raiders on a very experienced commander. 15 vs 40 all things equal should not be possible.

Funny thing though, it still sort of is. Just not open field with a wipe.

But you can never have the first thing back.

This is the most accurate comment here. Although there are still new players joining the game or players coming from PvE to WvW, the game has been around long enough now that the majority of them are experienced players/commanders.

Although you can overcome far greater odds if your group is skilled/smart enough, it’s much less common now that most of the players are familiar with the flow of a fight.

The main thing I would suggest if anyone wants to win heavily outnumbered fights is to not brute force it. You’re not being impressive by YOLO pushing triple your numbers and surviving for 60seconds, you’re being reckless. Use the terrain to your advantage. Funnel people through chokes, deny backliners by keeping on high ground, build siege that will support your smaller numbers like Shield Generators or Catapults and stay as tightly packed as possible so as to prevent your party from being picked off.

EOTM might be a totally different playing field but I just want to say for the record, I have wiped multiple guilds/organized groups with intelligent positioning. I’ve witnessed the same things being done in real WvW as well but it’s far less common because people would rather try to be supermen than using their heads. It’s just like IRL, you don’t run at a raging mob with a few friends and some knives. You devise a plan to get them in a position of your favor so that you can eliminate as many as possible without putting yourselves in too much danger.

Reverence.6915:

I don’t think defending should be made any easier right now. There are tools out there for you to defend with. If it was made any easier, it would dissuade people from fighting for objectives again. Many of the defensive tactivators and improvements (hardened gates, hardened siege, chilling fog, airship defense etc.) have been nerfed to improve this.

I mostly agree.

Again, the video was strictly meant as an example. I wasn’t making complaints, only showing why many players in the past, including myself, have stated that the design of keep/tower walls is flawed.

While properly placed siege can entirely prevent an attack, said siege needs to be manned before it’s attacked.

If there were 10 arrowcarts on the wall for example and every one of them manned, that zerg wouldn’t have been able to get near. But if they’re not manned before the structure is attacked, they’ll be destroyed within seconds and anyone who tries to get on them will be killed before they can fire.

There are various ways that these catapults in the video could have been countered but when the structure you’re defending has 0 supplies and all of your siege has been killed, there’s little else you can do than to watch the wall crumble.

I’m not asking for defense to be easier but I am showing Anet how higher/thicker walls would be a good plan for future development. Or, perhaps something that makes it less dangerous to be any where on a wall without granting immunity to defenders. There needs to be a balance but expecting all siege to be manned before something is attacked is an unreasonable expectation.

Recently (a month ago roughly) I got a new computer capable of supporting recording software so I’ve been playing around with it a bit.

While our Bay was being attacked today, I managed to capture a good example of what standing on a wall in WvW is like while it’s being attacked.

The video should speak for itself if you’ve ever worked defense against a large number of players. Basically, if you try to stop the attackers you’ll be obliterated by AOE’s and CC’s.

Link to YouTube video here

EDIT: Okay since people seem to be confused… I was just giving an example of why the design of tower/keep walls are flawed in WvW. I have seen people discuss this various times in the past so I thought I would give a visual idea of how bad it can be at times by provoking the attackers to drop a bunch of AOE’s.

It wasn’t meant for anything other than an example, I apologize for not being clear about that.

Tragic Positive.9356:

I believe they stated it even in the patch notes alongside with sword’s Monarch’s Leap…
That it will no longer be affected by stuff …

And it still does.
Meh, we will never get attention. Might as well just vent here.

My no. 1 would still be Enlargement and Quick Draw in interaction with CAF, though.

It’s funny how the little things can be the biggest issue, isn’t |||||| it?

I like to eat the tail of zergs in WvW a lot and I need Quick Draw -> Swoop -> Swoop for those clutch get aways. But when a Necro lands Chillblains on me and my Swoop only gets half the distance I’m RIP.

Died because of it three times today (although I don’t usually this often) and it’s what made me want to rage about it here.

Josh XT.6053:

This is a known bug and it seriously needs to be fixed. Insanely frustrating when I need to get some range and I’m hampered by these conditions when ANet clearly stated they no longer wished for movement skills to be effected by Chill and Cripple.

If a pet is doing good damage, it gets a nerf, usually within only a few days. And yet this Swoop issue has been going on for quite some time now and I’m incredibly tired of it.

Josh XT.6053:

-snip-

Bwahaha, so being an unkillable bunker is more skilled? I’m sorry but if you can facetank that much damage and everything you do heals you then… How is that more skilled than not being able to tank a single hit and having to be extremely careful about when you dodge?

I don’t play a Thief for the record, since you’re speaking as though I do.

The point I was trying to make is that roaming is a vicious hobby. You’re going to be getting outnumbered and hardcountered constantly. If you don’t want to be dying every 5 seconds, you should choose something that has good control over a fight. Meaning the ability to decide when a fight starts and when it ends. Necromancers for example are bad roamers because they can only decide when a fight starts but never when it ends unless they’re extremely creative.

Being able to faceroll your keyboard because you’re stupid tanky and still doing decent – high damage is so incredibly un skillful I find it hilarious that you’re claiming people should play a “real class.” Although I do absolutely agree that stealth is a crutch, it still keeps those people from getting steamrolled by zergs or gank squads so I can’t say I blame them for using it.

TwistedFate.8705:

Clearly they are not op that’s why 90% of roamers run condi cheese bs builds… I couldn’t think of anything more boring. Where is the challenge. And to the above posters please make a rev build that can fight all the condi (outside of a 1111 spam fest) that does not use malyx and send to me k thx.

Don’t fight it if you can’t beat it. Did you see what I said about not fighting 100% of Scrappers I meet on my LB Ranger? It’s because I know it’s suicide, I’ve tried enough times to know they would have to be terrible to lose.

A lot of condition builds are strong 1v1. If you don’t think you can beat them 1v1, gank them or don’t engage. It’s really that simple. I don’t understand the infatuation a lot of people have with fighting things they know they can’t beat but myself and other roamers prey on your type. You push your luck when you know the odds are against you and we lol because of it.

Sorry that it’s frustrating for you but I promise condition builds are absolutely not OP or “bs.”

Josh XT.6053:

DoomKnightMax.6592:

My advice for t1 roaming, like people have previously stated is thief due to the mobility alone. But as for roaming in general. Leave t1 asap. It was a miserable roaming experience a year ago and with the condition builds avaliable now, I bet it’s even worse.

On that note, LOL EVERYONE HATES MERI

I don’t understand why everyone thinks thief is a good thing to roam on. I’ve literally never lost a fight to a thief on my ele, they either get completely rekt or they run away when they realize they do no damage and I do a lot..

If your idea of roaming is playing the class that can run away fastest, then go play thief, but if you want to actually win fights against people who aren’t just bad zerglings trying to get back to their zergs, go play a real class. Every time I see a thief or a mesmer roaming, all I think they are is a loot bag, or someone who is going to stealth and run. I’ll engage and if they don’t run, they’ll die. Easy life, play Ele.

Roaming is about survival, that’s why. An experienced roamer will engage on their terms and disengage when the fight is no longer in their favor.

The reason I love roaming is because it’s not who’s the most skilled, it’s who’s the smartest. I can’t beat you 1v1? Can I reset a lot and kite you? Yes? Okay, I’ll keep doing that until you’ve expended your cooldowns trying to catch me then I’ll kick your kitten . You have a tower nearby that you can run to? Okay, I’ll bait you by emoting or poke you from range until you leave your comfort zone then kick your kitten . You can have all the skill in the world but if you’re stupid/don’t know your limits then you’re gonna die a lot. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve killed someone who was clearly better than me because they just had to chase me beyond their comfort zone and wound up getting ganked.

The topic is what is the best profession to roam with and the best professions to roam with are the ones that have the most control over a fight. Mobility and stealth are the most powerful things to have because you can reset at will. If you think your skill is the most powerful tool to have you are dead wrong because you’re not going to out skill 3, 4 or 5+ people unless they’re all really terrible.

Sarrs.4831:

these builds are instantly countered when you run appropriate condi removal builds, you can literally ignore them because they have no pressure

This.

As someone who has been running almost the exact same condition Necromancer build for the last 2+ years, things have changed a lot.

Any half decent player won’t be afraid of me. Most Mesmers and sometimes Revenants are easy fights for me because they have bad condition management no matter what build they’re using. Otherwise, everything else laughs at my condition application and I have a ton of it. I can keep a steady stream of 3 – 5 conditions on my target at all times and still, in a lot of cases, it’s not enough to kill them if they know when to cleanse.

I don’t know why people insist on conditions being OP when it couldn’t be further from the truth. Although they can be very strong in 1v1’s if you’re not prepared for it, that’s the only place it’s strong. It’s WvW remember, you can just run from them if you don’t think it’s worth the fight. I run from 100% of every Scrapper I see in WvW when I’m on my LB pew pew Ranger because I simply cannot beat their reflect uptime and sustain. If you’re feeling like you’re being hard countered by certain condition builds, then don’t fight them.

I don’t think it matters how many times I, or anyone else, says that there are plenty enough cleanses available, people will continue to believe condition builds are “broken” when they’re absolutely not. In fact, a lot of them could use buffs because at this point the only thing the majority of them are good for is killing bads and trolling gankers.

Condi Chrono and condi Berserker are the only two condition builds that are very strong. Every other condition build is extremely weak and only capable of killing the unprepared.

All I’ve gotta say is that remember everyone is different.

I’m really not a fan of putting a label on groups of people in any tread of life. Although of course there can be stereotypes, there are still plenty of people that break those stereotypes. Same goes for Rangers.

I used to be one of those noobs back when I started playing. I even remember one time in a dungeon when I was trying to convince someone that I wasn’t stupid for camping longbow.

Although yes it is quite often the Rangers that are knocking your targets out of reach, it’s not always them either. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been blamed or frowned upon for being a pew pew Ranger and yet I’ve carried groups or won 1v2/3/4’s.

Just chill about it unless you know exactly who’s doing it. In which case, blame that person and not everyone using the same profession as that person.

I remember once I was roaming about in WvW and had this guy following me. Every time I got to a sentry or supply camp he would PBS mobs away from me so I finally stopped and said “dude, don’t just spam PBS all the time, please. My Hundred Blades is going to do a lot more damage than your knockback.”

And you know what? He stopped.

Likely Moa.

In EOTM, the green keep lord throws out a debuff that turns you in to a bunny. If it hits me on my Necromancer while I’m in Shroud or my Ranger while in CA, I just get knocked out of the form instead of being transformed.

Moa probably has the same effect.

lil devils x.6071:

Mag has been Zerg busting all day long in T2 and T3..

LOLOL, Mag’s “zerg busting” consists of a bunch of pickers ganking the fat kids of a zerg. It’s not zerg busting, it’s a bunch of roamers taking advantage of anyone who’s too slow to keep up.

While it is a legitimate strategy that I do by myself quite often, it’s not zerg busting. I’ve seen what Mag does there’s no organization or skill behind it. It’s ganking people who are trying to keep up with their zerg not running builds capable of defending themselves with.

Zerg busting is organized (usually guilds) taking on groups twice their size face to face. Not hugging the tail of the enemy zerg and dog piling the fat kids.

Reminds me of the siege troll in SMC last year. Those rams and ballistas went around the entire outer castle…

I still seriously want to see axe AA damage get a buff. In full berserker it crits for like 2k max.

I understand that it stacks might and it bounces but the damage is still extremely low.

Crazy.6029:

Ya, its not a bug with the condition immobilize itself, its with hard cc and yes you just get stuck. It seems they are aware of it https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/external?l=http%3A%2F%2Fhelp.guildwars2.com%2Fentries%2F98802888. Seems its in the process of being verified. I hope they understand that when we say immobilized we mean we actually cant move and we don’t mean the condition itself. That would be hilarious if all this time they were trying to fix the condition and not the situation in which it occurs. Lol.

Happens with evades as well which is why Ranger greatsword is such a pain to use. Spam the AA while moving and you’ll get the stuck bug eventually.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Threather.9354:

Ye I want them back as well, as a PvP player, also it helps me telling who actually got to know the new meta and who didnt, how to sort out the squad etc, no-name people with amber and no badge and non-wvw-guild tag go to their own parties.

I dont understand this qq about enemy focusing you because the badge? Did you see the enemy badges in NA or something because in EU you cant see enemy badges.

The SPvP meta is rarely the same as the roaming meta and almost never the same as zerg/GvG.
The only thing I really noticed when the badges were showing was those were usually the kitteners that were going to send me salty whispers when they died.

So many of then would cry that it was unfair that I would kite around the entire fight instead of staying in melee range to die. They would call me cheesy or blame “broken wvw stats” when the reality was they were so used to fighting on a tiny point they couldn’t adapt to wvw roaming fights.

Really? I seemed to notice that the majority of people with high PvP rank badges (diamond/legendary) were just zerglings. Would never see them go anywhere outside a blob.

Though you’re definitely right about the hatemail. I find that people with that PvP back piece are most often the ones to either emote or send angry whispers.

Give me a badge for my WvW rank when I’m in PvP and PvE and sure, you can have your PvP badge back.