The problem is in your initial assumption that it’s a year since the Pact was formed. For someone who joins the game tomorrow the Pact has not yet formed since that person has not been through the personal story. That’s that. You might not think that’s important but if GW2 launches in Japan, China and Korea then there are going to be an awful lot of new players and the living story needs to be fit for them too.
It goes into the heart of class design really. We could write essays about it but essentially guardians bring enough defense to the group that other classes can continue to run dps based builds without high levels of skill. This is particularly true of the guardian+warrior pairing. I see a lot of players that don’t even think about dodging agony attacks because they are so used to guardians providing a free block (I’m thinking about fire shaman here).
“Also I just want to add… about the projectile speed. If you run forward and shot a cluster bomb as far ahead of you as you can, its SO SLOW that your character physically runs past the blast by the time it hits the ground.”
Great for kiting, seriously.
Kiel is wandering around LA too now saying she’s going to go after the Consortium (she seems to have forgotten there’s a crazy nemesis on the loose). I’m guessing that Evon might forgive Kiel if she can bring his competition down.
Shortbow is generally fine and doesn’t need breaking. With the latest initiative change you can pretty much spam the cluster bombs all the time. If you want higher single target dps then use a single target dps weapon!
These posts crop up all the time. A problem with the game – add more rewards. Somewhere else is now short of rewards compared, well add rewards there too, and again, and again. The designers can’t keep handy out rewards like candy. Dishing out the champion loot bags was exactly that type of fix and it’s the cause of many problems.
What is needed is a fix for the champ trains as the content scales badly. Players are tackling group content in zerg numbers and getting groups based rewards far too rapidly. It’s difficult to fix but it is surely better to fix the imbalanced content than fix all other game content to match the imbalance?
Did we ever find out why Scarlet wanted to kidnap the minstrel and hobotron at the Queen’s jubilee? Those guys are back in town but seemingly not offering any clues.
In fractals you can use a variety of utilities and weapons in different fights for good advantage. One build will not suit all that variety (unless you go full dps) so there is some choice of build in fractals and those builds will suits some fractals better than others.
The downscaling isn’t far off what it needs to be. One level 80 character can be 100% stronger than another level 80 through traits, gear, skills, etc, and open world PvE is exactly the place where the downscaling should match the profile of the weaker players (low skill, green equipment). Dungeons are the place where the downscaling should match the profile of some stronger players (experienced, rare equipment). Players with high skill in ascended gear are a number of tiers above all of that and will be able to carve through PvE easily.
I see nothing to persuade me that mortal creatures corrupt magic any more than Elder Dragons do. I see nothing to persuade me that the Elder Dragons will pack their bags and go to home if someone collects a dustbag of all the dirty magic for them. I see nothing to persuade me that dragons release pure magic with a beautiful fragrance that charms the world.
Is Jormag really eating up all the magic that was corrupted by the Norn spirits, Kodan, and Quaggans? I find it hard to believe.
“Should just change it to a passive 20/25% reduction to Stun, daze, Fear. With the next CC giving you swiftness on a 30s ICD.
Would be far more reliable.”
Would be reliably 75% worse than the equivalent warrior trait since the warrior trait not only gives stability but prevents any interrupt from the CC as well.
I was at one of these invasions about an hour ago and we only just got through the thied stage. People seemed to be playing well enough there just weren’t enough to speed through the events. There will never be enough people willing to go there until the invasions can be won so it becomes catch-22.
Near the end someone mentioned in guild chat that the world event Golem was up. I realized that I might as well ignore the end reward of the invasion I’d been fighting for 45 minutes, because the rewards for spending the next five minutes at the golem would be better. I think that sums it up.
The basic concept of hard to catch is bad. It should have a genuinely useful trait replace it instead of the useless concept being reworked. The warrior version of this trait, gain balanced stance, is a country mile ahead of what hard to catch could ever be.
The title says it. Dungeon content can be played quickly and players like to get on with things. In fractals players use specific skills and utilities to defeat unique challenges and these skills differ from fractal to fractal. Players don’t want to be standing around at the start of the next fractal just waiting for skill timers to reset so that skills can be changed. I don’t see any game play problem in just resetting the skill timers when players enter a new fractal.
From Wikipaedia – A quotation by Bertrand Russell gives his interpretation of megalomania: “The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.”
Sound like Scarlet to you?
The thief has a better shortbow and warrior a better longbow because neither of those classes has a pet. It’s not a great exchange but theoretically if you want some immobilize, say, you can choose a pet with immobilize and don’t need to look through the bags for a bow weapon with an immobilize skill. Having said that, both those two weapons are comparatively well designed and generally fit for purpose so the ranger versions could get a bit more utility to bring them up to that standard.
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I seem to remember Scarlet getting airships through a portal at the Queen’s Jubilee? If that’s reusable technology then there’s really no limit to where they could be.
We are told in that conversation however the Scarlet (Caera) was crazy before she went into the eternal alchemy technobabble vision tank. If an asura calls someone a crazy scientist then they’re probably totally looney tunes. The “What Scarlet saw” story only showed her nemesisness after she emerged from the machine.
I suspect that lawyers and judicial process are not very well respected in pirate haven, Lion’s Arch.
Progression – difficult topic.
Storyline – The world has progression in the living world but characters do not. The living world also ignores personal story progression. I can see that this lets all players join into all living content without restriction but it does make the story seem entirely impersonal and lacking in character development. The lack of choice in the living world story reinforces this.
Gear – I am against gear grind. I am against level grind with another inevitable gear grind. I was happy with the plateau at exotic level 80. I do not want to see vertical development. There are many reasons against this and they are all well know: works against respec and build variation, works against alts, encourages pointless time sinks, encourages repeating content for virtual reward without fun, PvE grind for WvW advantage, etc. I thought the infusion grind was entirely unnecessary and is a chore. It is a time sink chore. It is not fun. It is not what I want to log on for.
Guild progression – I’d like to see more perks and features come through guild progression. Nothing with a combat advantage, but some things that are nice to have.
Gating content – I think you should keep the open access principle for all content so please don’t introduce progression with keys and gating for any content. I liked the fractal principle where all characters have access to enjoy the content but experienced characters can get better rewards for higher challenge. I’d like this principle to be applied more widely.
Personally I think the fractal level reset was fair and I would be happy if the fractal levels were more compressed (so that new players are not left with an insurmountable mountain to climb.). A title could have been given to the old level 49 achievers though.
I think some of the disagreements about Stephen’s writing style would be solved if he separated out the in game lore, his assumptions, and his speculations, rather than presenting them all together as a speculative reality.
An excess of an account bound item isn’t actually a big deal. It’s always happened in MMOs. Sell them.
The Thaumanova story mode was about Scarlet, Kiel, and Dessa. Within the repeatable fractal we only learn about Scarlet and the Inquest but we actually learn nothing new about the Inquest so it all about Scarlet and her research. In fact Scarlet didn’t even need to be there to taunt everyone, the head researchers could have told us all the plot, but she just couldn’t help being such a nemesis again.
I think that thief weapon swap time should be cut down. The thief is designed to be in and out of combat but the weapon swap mechanic doesn’t fit that.
The Nightmare Tower pods were similar to the Pale Tree pods but this may just be what sylvari biotechnology looks like. They may be most similar to the torture/nightmare pods that held prisoners in TA story.
Try posting in the players helping players section. P{layers in other classes might have found a workaround.
“Change the effect of spirits unbound to something that doesn’t allow spirits to move. Then balance spirit skills around it’s stationary form.”
If you make spirits static and stronger then you get a classic broken skill. Absolutely useless once you’ve moved away from it and overpowered when you’re near it. Broken both ways.
Even in PvE it has its uses: ignores Defiant, for example.
whoa, really?
SERIOUSLY?
if so, that’s pretty awesome. you could totally run venomshare and get everyone to stagger their attacks and chain stun the boss. between two thieves, you could perma stun
Interrupts. There are plenty of PvE bosses that need a well timed interrupt more than thieves guild and daggerstorm.
Her in game minions may be too stupid to realize that she is sadistic egomaniac and megalomaniac who tortures her allies for fun, leaves them behind at the first sign of trouble, sends them into battle for impenetrable reasons, etc, but hopefully players would never be so stupid.
Happy that next patch is Jan 21: Why are we complaining?
in Living World
Posted by: Stooperdale.3560
People still seem to think that these releases are developed in a fortnight. They are prepared over a much longer period. It doesn’t bother me if they spend 8 weeks preparing updates and release them monthly, or spend 8 weeks preparing them but releasing them fortnightly.
If you do a few world event bosses you should get a bit of income to set yourself up for dungeons. Many PvE guilds will call when these bosses come up.
I broadly agree with MQM. The dungeons seem to be in a strange place because they have been designed for experienced players rather than for new players without tactics, but the most experienced players can rush through them anyway. The dungeons fail both audiences somehow. As MQM said, the prime examples are traps that are fatal when done wrong but take 2 seconds when done right. They penalize the newcomers and are no obstacle (and little fun) for experienced players.
On the other hand the game is designed to reward high skill and good builds, particularly in PvP. The capability gap is massive between new players and experienced players. Originally the dungeons were meant to be difficult content but with ascended items in the game the experienced players are elsewhere fighting bosses for dragonite (using auto-shots).
Hard to catch might be randomly good or randomly bad for the thief. Tomorrow it might drop a dazed thief right under your mace.
Thief initiative has changed so more varied skills can be sustained longer but some of the peak initiative builds will have lost their edge. You’ll might see a bit more stealth/backstab and a little less of shadowstep, ‘permastealth’, and dual pistols.
“the abominations can now charge you through the defense golem’s shield bubble”
They always could go through the bubble which is one of the reasons why people used to just ignore the golem suits altogether. Use stability or blind.
“On the contrary. Now you will be forced to work together, as it was by design and not nickle and dime the weaker players!”
Except that players won’t do this. Constantly punishing players only drives away from the game content and the game. I remember doing Arah 2 for the first time using voice chat with guild members who had raided together in other MMOs. Even so using the golem suits ‘as intended’ was a pain in the neck and without the waypoint now … it’s just not worth thinking about. Far too punishing for any inexperienced group that might wipe in the next trash area. Far too punishing if you need all five players across using the golem. With four players across will you really need to all go back and get the fifth player across using the golem suits, is that what the designers intended? Is every group meant to have thieves and mesmers to get a whole group past?
Also, Arah 2 will be in a catch-22 situation. PUGs will never develop common knowledge tactics because nobody will go there. Nobody will go there because there are no common knowledge tactics. Arah 2 will be firmly in the hands of the specialist path sellers.
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Ok thanks, I’ve just run foul of it a few times recently then. I must have been playing my warrior too much in the mean time. It’s certainly an annoyance that doesn’t really need to be there, especially for ambient creatures.
I’m finding a few occasions after the latest update where the aggro seems different when using stealth (and I have the blind on stealth).
- Blinding an ambient creature puts you in combat until the creature dies
- Blinding a neutral creature when you are in stealth can leave the creature acting neutral but putting me into combat until it dies (or I leave the roaming area)
- Blinding an enemy creature when you are in stealth will similarly leave you in combat but the enemy does not pursue you as a target even when revealed. This will be annoying when skipping mobs in dungeons with blinding powder.
Any of these might have been happening before the patch but I don’t think they were. Can anyone confirm these?
It will always be the same until venemous aura is fixed. Venoms are balanced against their potential maximum use with venemous aura (5x) and that means the venom skills are at best 50% of what they need to be worth for a slot on their own merit.
It’s hard to think of a ‘fix’ that would be more likely to encourage dungeon selling.
The game was alt friendly at the time of the original design. This has generally continued through the living story. The top level of itemization is now working against alts and will continue to do so as the gear grind continues continues. Making the fractal levels account bound appears to work for alts but the cost of high level AR could well exclude alts from top level fractals.
I hope we never fight Scarlet in the mists. Even if we kill her the devs can bring her back at any time by saying we’d only killed a reflection of the real Scarlet.
“So what is the point of running dungeons now that ascended armor is introduced? "
I’m guessing some people might just kit their alts in ascended without needing exotics but 98% of characters will still need a set of exotic armor at some stage. Stepping up from rare gear to full ascended isn’t exactly easy.
It can bypass defiant so that’s useful in PvE. Still very situational.
If Scarlet was going to let the Toxic alliance dissolve, because she’d got what she wanted and didn’t want to deliver anything else to the krait, then it makes sense for her to leave behind a method to destroy the tower. I’m guessing however that she’ll have the toxic troops at her disposal regardless and she’s just been a crazy nemesis again.
Someone in Kessex Hills does say now that Scarlet took a plant or flower or whatever from the top of the tower before she vanished through her portal. This NPC must have really good eyesight since I don’t remember anyone else noticing this when it happened!
The Abaddon fractal could have shown the same thing in a different way. There’s no need to get over excited about what might have made the game but now never will.
The Pale tree isn’t necessarily on a ley line. Collecting a set of locations and selectively choosing connecting lines remains an unscientific method of proving anything.
Some evasion attacks do interrupt skills. Whirlwind attack will interrupt a 100 blades on the warrior greatsword for example. On the other hand Flanking Strike waits until after a sword auto-attack and that can be too slow. The thief dual skills have some timing peculiarities anyway so it might be part of that (such as a smokescreen, say, getting queued until after the dual skill finishes and if it takes too long the smokescreen doesn’t happen).
There are some problems with auto-attacks clashing with the F command to use an item. The activate/pickup is queued until the auto-attack is finished and this can be too slow. I think the auto-attack can bizarrely also seems to interrupt the F command and this happens more often with fast repeating auto-attacks.
The extra evasion from shortbow #3 is just a well known bug I think. There are plenty of times when I’ve clicked twice and the skill has fired three times in a row.
“Just the opposite. A party full of lvl 35 new players (that means no alts) can handle the boss better than stacking”
I’m guessing you made sure the new inexperienced players had full missile defense as the small spider adds will wipe most groups without that. The corner is amazingly effective since it deals with all the spiders whilst most cc and defense skills cannot affect all the spiders since they are spread all over the room.
First of all lets dismiss the nightmare chambers. They are really simple design with featureless tunnels, grey-green rooms and monster spawns. That’s it. Far too dull to be a fractal.
The tower itself has some potential and there’s quite a bit of design and character to it. However it would need a lot of rework to meet its full potential. I’d want to see the luggable purifiers as well as some static ones. I’d rather the molten, aetherblade, and clockwork troops were taken out as they offer nothing unique or new. The worm, spider, warlock, and hybrid bosses could stay but they aren’t such exciting fights in the big scheme of things. There are no traps and puzzles in the tower so something new may be needed for that. In other words, there would have to be quite a big revamp.