Guild Wars 2

I did the MinionMancer to level since it scaled well but I am not sure how it would fare in dungeons.

Lots of things to complain about with Ascended but they are attainable from WvW play just not nearly as fast. IMO making a system that is ridiculously tedious, incredibly expensive and is based almost solely on grinding is a horrible design which to me is the real problem. Ascended should have been a milestone for long time players and not feel like a punishment. The forced crafting and the absurdly convoluted process is highly annoying.

Ascended should have been purchased via laurel and some other earned token (badges, dungeon tokens, etc). Simple, attainable without grind and rewarding.

insanemaniac.2456:

guard leech adds to the uptick in dps. applied fortitude is extra validation for glass cannon builds (can survive an extra hit or 2 as they try to burst). idk, a tank spec would just get some extra damage since they can rely on stacks for survivability. imo it just swings things to more dps everywhere since you cant exactly become invincible with just 250 more vit.

GL is around a 3% boost in damage to most builds. The extra vitality isn’t a big deal outside of bunker designs since it comes off really fast these days. These skills haven’t changed the class balance at all which IMO is the telltale of something broken.

This buff is earned from WvW play which makes it both rare and worthwhile. A player cannot lazy or PvE their way to this which I suspect is the real complaint here. It is also very attainable by casual players. Log around 100 hours of WvW game play and they can attain AF. Another 100 hours will give them GL. The buffs are even class neutral so everyone gets mileage from them.

Probably the wrong forum, but I would say it is viable just not efficient. Problem I see is the warrior is giving up a lot of mobility with these two weapons. They also don’t compliment each other very well. One is built to condition and the other is built to stun. That said it could work and will probably surprise quite a few players in a fight but it won’t be as scary as other builds I would think.

Unfortunately in many MMOs healing is an unsung hero. I don’t think pure healing builds are necessary in this game, but understand the problem and would certainly support a modification to include better rewards for these roles.

I don’t know about WoW but warriors in GW2 are currently a top class to play. They are the backbone in a zerg, excellent in skirmish and dangerous in solo. Without a doubt the easiest class to play making even poorly skilled players look good.

Get all PVT gear, run a shout build with banner, equip a hammer and Sword/Warhorn or GS, mash attack buttons randomly, Earthshaker when it is up, use shouts when hurt, banner when players going down. Tada… instantly “skilled” player. It is ridiculously hard to bring down 3400+ toughness and 31k+ HP with an attack that is often above 4k.

Anyone else tired of the frequent PvDoor (that all the servers are doing) and massive zergs (that all the servers are doing)? I guess it is a product of going against an oceanic heavy server but after League play and these last couple weeks I am hoping for a matchup with fairly even coverage fights.

These are decent buffs worth working toward and offsets some of the recent up ticks in DPS from new builds. It is also one of the few buffs that is mostly earned from WvW game play rather than a ton of PvE.

I think 1st quarter is a likelihood. No developer likes saying they are putting in something and then let it sit if they can help it.

Warriors have a slow windup and very telegraphed but they can speed away from many fights. Thieves have big hits and can stealth away from fights but are very squishy. The counterpart here that seems to draw the OP flag from a lot of players is that they can run.

IMO, the only thing I worry about in roaming right now is condi-bunkers. They dish A TON of damage and hard to kill even when they don’t.

SQLOwns.7316:

You know what’s even more funny that thieves complaining about wars mobility? Players still complaining about the d/d build that was nerfed what? 6 months ago?…a build that never really was that OP, it simply made eles into what guardians are now…so if that build is OP then guardians are currently OP, which I don’t necessarily believe.

Having both a geared out speed warrior and thief I can say hands down the thief is faster particularly after the latest patch. It isn’t even close.

As for D/D elementalists, they have taken a few too many nerfs and are a shadow of their former glory. That said old school D/D elementalists were beasts. Not only could they absorb a ton of damage, they also had fantastic mobility, great condition management, lots of stun breaks, buffed everything near them and still managed to output some pretty good AoE damage. They were far better than a guardian in solo/skirmish. They have gone way overboard with the nerfs to them though.

Context menus have been broken since release… sadly I don’t think they will be fixed any time soon. At least the Report option always seems to be available… very useful on the Guild Roster.

Prysin.8542:

add in two-three shout-spirit rangers in there and you get perma regeneration, swiftness and 40% protection uptime.

Until the hammer train reaches the Rangers and easily AoEs every spirit into the ground. Ranger group buffs are laughable compared to heavy armor shouts. Even the Ranger shouts are horrid.

Offair.2563:

Breezer.9273:

I extremely disagree with this. I feel that the crafting stations in the BL’s should be removed. They are of no use in WvW. Players crafting in WvW are just taking up a player position that could be given to a player who will actually be useful to the team as a whole.

^this +1, although i have to admit i use them just to access my bank without going to a town

I rarely see people crafting in WvW. IMO removing them is a solution to a relatively minor or non-existent problem.

Father Busho.2796:

Approximately 2 months ago I along with a few other guildies saw a Diamond Invader from Vizunah. Square (rank ~6k?) Sadly I wasn’t able to make a screenshot in time
Interestingly though, it wasn’t a guardian but a warrior.

It is “inconceivable” that there was a Diamond two months ago without some serious cheating or maybe a dev testing out the leveling system. That is over 32 million WxP and would require a tremendous effort to gain in such a short amount of time. A player that averaged 4 full levels per hour would still have to play 1600 hours to get there.

Mesmers and condi-bunkers are dominating skilled solo/roaming play right now. OP perhaps but not so much that good skill play cannot overcome them.

felivear.1536:

2 questions:
1 – are there more food buffs out there that provide huge advantages? What else am I missing out on that puts me at a disadvantage by not knowing about in the buff department
2 – what does everyone else think about this? I’m sure since it’s a part of WvW it’s the norm, but to me, it’s disturbing.

You can run food that offsets their food (Koi Cake and Veggie Pizza come to mind).

Medium and Light armor classes are getting used less in large group play. Condi-bunker and shatter mesmer are the new dominant solo fighters (necro, engi, mesmer). Only skirmish play is seeing a nice diversity.

That has been the trend for a while now. The days of thieves owning 1v1 fights is over. Any condi-bunker or shatter mesmer worth their salt is far more dangerous and certainly harder to bring down. In large group play especially zergs if the vast majority of the group isn’t heavies, that zerg is easy to wipe.

Atherakhia.4086:

Does anyone disagree with the classes in this order?

Guardian
Warrior
Necromancer
Elementalist
Mesmer
Engineer
Thief
Ranger

Reasonable group play list but I think Heavy, Light, Medium order is a bit more accurate since each class in heavy/light is about equal in their tier.

Roaming it is:

condi-bunker
shatter mesmer
<big gap>
thief
warrior
<massive gap>
everything else

Ranger condi removal isn’t very practical and even with the trait and signet it is still woefully ineffective against condi-bunkers. Yet another thing the Ranger struggles with.

Clearly defensive siege is OP in this game… yeah no. Treb is about the only thing that can slow a zerg down since it sucks supplies. It is being used as intended. Might not make much RL sense but this is a game.

I suspect we will see a light patch in January and a big one on Feb/March. WvW is very playable without any changes. I know a lot are eager to get WxP levels combined (certainly me) but lets all chill and project some of the holiday spirit.

OP… not OP… when a couple classes dominate the effective class population something is amiss. Guardians and Warriors are really not OP but something in their design has made them indispensable which is at least in this game unbalanced.

I think there is a vast difference between viable and effective in WvW build design in this game. Some classes have several effective builds some have relatively few and at least one has none (Ranger while viable lacks effective builds). It isn’t as lopsided as I have seen in other games and all classes have something that will “work” but given equal skill levels some classes in certain roles are very dominate.

Mass rez is a problem post fight as much as it is mid fight. Large groups cannot be brought down without a larger or substantially more skilled group.

If players had to port on dead, big zergs could be attacked by smaller groups and whittled down. As it is now, most small skill groups get overwhelmed by fire and the zerg continues on by rezzing their dead. If they couldn’t bring back their dead, a small skill group would have a very good shot of slowly wiping or critically wounding the zerg before going down.

Defensive would be MUCH more effective with this system.

Markus.9084:

So, in sum :

• medium classes could be useful in zerg, since they have good survivability and good utilities. Imo, this idea doesn’t fit with the current meta, because of the too easy ralliement system
• the learning curve for these profession is very difficult, so most players quit the class before mastering it
• people who quit are frustrated, and think medium class are useless
• these classes are too medium : they can too tons of things, but can’t specialyze on one.
• thanks to his grenades and water field, engi is the most used medium armor in zerg. However, he can easily be countered by ret or Wall of Reflection
• thieves are mostly used for roaming, but are sometimes useful in zerg (massive stealth)
• ranger.;… broken or not ?

Medium classes in a zerg aren’t useless but not preferred since heavies and lights do almost everything better and come with far more upside.

Learning curve is only heavy with the engi. Ranger and thief are relatively easy to play but mistakes are very costly.

Medium classes cannot do tons of things at least compared to other classes. IMO they are almost all relegated to roaming with little use in skill or zerg play.

Thief stealth is completely useless in a zerg. Thief blast finisher is their single best zerg attribute. No class is even remotely as good in this department. Thieves are horrible at mitigating AoE damage which generally makes them a liability in a zerg.

The Ranger lacks dangerous burst, has little reliable condition removal, very little control, requires exceptional play to be even remotely dangerous and has few decent group buffs. Dying to ranger in WvW is considered an embarrassment by many… it is that bad. When you run into a really good one, the only thing of note is how much better that player would be on another class.

Nick.6972:

They should give extra mobility to Guardians.

Guardians actually have OK mobility in certain builds. They aren’t particularly fast but they can maintain a speed boon, they have an excellent ranged teleport and the GS gives them some decent burst. Add in their survivability and they are every bit as hard to bring down as a warrior if they choose to run.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Not exactly easy to “walk” away as a Necromancer we literately have no way to escape. Plus with like no access to Vigor dodging can only do so much, its easy to say “Dodge this” and “Dodge that” but when you are a class that doesnt have any access to vigor it makes it a little bit harder to dodge everything…

Pistol Whip roots the thief. It used to be somewhat effective for init regen on some builds but now it is a minor annoyance at best.

Warrior speed can be annoying but warriors aren’t killing it with damage any longer. Sure if you get stun locked Hundred Blades sucks but the stupid immobilize bug in the game is more annoying. Almost every dangerous attack from a warrior comes with a BIG windup that is telegraphed a mile away.

If I had to pick an OP small scale style, it would be the condioners who are currently blowing up most everything near them. Warriors, sure they can be annoying but a riddle that is most easily solved with some practice.

Nick.6972:

Wouldn’t work for NA servers.

Why not? The math certainly allows for it.

I like that there are fewer heavier pop servers pounding on the lessor pop servers, but I would suggest that no matchup be duplicated more than two or three times in a row. If the same servers draw the same match, reroll until that doesn’t happen in any tier.

I like EBay and the matchups are often fun but really didn’t want to seem them for a 4th straight week. I REALLY don’t want to see DB next week and unfortunately (to me) that is a very strong likelihood.

At the very least grade on a curve so there is always a Low/Medium/High/Very High. Why have several ranks if every server is High/Very High.

Big ANet fan but removing the Matchup forum is yet another bad idea.

I do know this… in WvW keep your gloves up and protect yourself at all times. There is no spectator mode and it is only a courtesy when someone doesn’t pounce on a player.

Oozo.7856:

Can you feel the love? I can. :P

Wow hardly any Silvers in Lost. I don’t see any in that shot.

ekleenex.1654:

EB and BP are twins, they just don’t know it yet.

A lot of truth in this statement.

orphanMosquito.5837:

Stop rewarding servers for winning. This is making the problem worse.

I see your point here but re-read this statement and let it sink in.

Winning would have no point without reward otherwise we are encouraging people to throw a match. Again, I see where you are trying to go but the phrasing is off.

Ruins are kind of like defending… there isn’t much WxP, gold or karma in it, few points that count towards the server score and more sitting than action. In contrast, capping a camp is reasonably rewarding, counts toward the score and has a much better chance of finding a fight.

Ruins are a good concept but further illustrates how ANet really doesn’t get effective loot design.

They aren’t specific but there is a somewhat uniform set of times for NA and Oceanic.

NA prime seems to get heavy around 5PM server time. Oceanic tends to get heavy around 12AM server time. This is based on the servers I have played on and may be different for other servers.

I don’t know about the automatic T3 thing but walls and doors do need a big bump in HP. A small group can tear through T2 or less in seconds and T3 is a marginal upgrade.

Rednik.3809:

That’s that lower tiers actually used to believe. Plz, come to T1 and show how your awesome hammer train without mesmers/eles/necros will endure against competent guilds or x2 numerical superiority. “Warrior shouts and guardian heals are more than enough to maintain full health”, this is one of most funny things I ever heard.

I did say skill groups that are coordinated should splash in other classes. However they have to be very disciplined. Non-heavies that fall outside the stack have difficulty surviving. Against strong hammer lines stopping to blast finish can get a group killed if they aren’t timing their abilities very well. One mistimed fire or light field can get a mixed group killed.

Heavies can survive under very strong targeted fire. More importantly heavies can heal on the move so when properly built they never stop… they don’t need to stop for a blast finish heal. If the pressure is stronger than the healing they can quickly move away from a fight for a few seconds and regenerate, shout heal, buff heal, etc.

There is a lot of buffer for mistakes with heavies that non-heavies generally don’t have which is why non-precision groups do better with a greater number of heavies.

They should boost the rewards for small teams and solo players rather than “nerfing” zerg rewards.

Prysin.8542:

90% of rangers, are useless because the person behind the character got no clue what he/she is supposed to do, or how to build. So a profession made to be a all-round master just ends up being way too hard to play for most people. The main grief of the ranger is that learning to use the profession mechanic (pet) is like learning to how to fly a jet-fighter from reading comics. Sure you’ll learn it, eventually, give or take some years.

I have logged hundreds of WvW hours and thousands of kills on my Ranger which includes pet/regen, power based and evasion builds. I have played even more fighting against the class with a thief, warrior, elementalist and guardian. In all that time I have learned one very important rule… if you die mostly from Ranger attacks you did something wrong. If you have one in your group, they are more of a liability than a help.

I like playing the class but after running with several other classes they are lackluster at best and outright kitten at the worst.

Minions should at least have the basic Ranger capability which would include peace/attack modes, return to me and attack my target. The fact that they handle pets differently is very strange to me.

Yes. It just doesn’t get as many resources as PvE but more players engage in PvE content.

Chris.3290:

Hammer trains backed by Guardians are very powerful. However, neither of the most common builds for these playstyles pumps out much damage and they put out very little conditions.

Conditions are mostly pointless since they slide of decently skilled large groups and warriors drop serious sustained DPS along with a ton of control at the same time.

Chris.3290:

This meta has to include mesmers for veils (a hammer train seen coming is very easy to dodge) eles for heals, might, and DPS; and Necros for the well spikes + condition spam.

Veils are nice to have but not required. Hammer trains just keep carving out a group causing them to fracture and get whittled down. They won’t surprise anyone without a mesmer, but they usually kill or drive off lessor heavy groups. Elementalist healing is excellent for squishies but isn’t really necessary in properly formed heavy parties. Warrior shouts and guardian heals are more than enough to maintain full health and bring down most mixed groups. Only well skilled and highly coordinated groups should splash in non-heavies if they want to maximize effectiveness.

The current systems allow bigger zergs to run rampant on a map and cause inexperienced/casual players (often referred to as rally bots) to be ostracized by veteran players. The game already has quick ports that put players back in the action quickly so forcing someone to port is a very slight death tax.

Getting rid of resurrection and rally promotes better skill play, allows lessor populated servers in a matchup a reason to engage larger groups, makes tower/keep defense more powerful and encourages veteran players to accept less experienced players into their midst. There is very little downside to the change.

Nuzt.7894:

The last 4 classes are trumped in everyway (large scale) by the top 4, Anet needs to make the bottom 4 more appealing. Until this happens then yes, Heavies will dominate because why the kitten would you take anything else and have less survivability and less utility ?

I would argue the top two in your list does everything that is needed for large scale group fighting. Plenty of healing, condition removal, boons and DPS between guardians and shout warriors with none of the pesky squishiness. Half the time water fields are there just to keep the squishies up.

Where are these groups that are rezzing fully dead players in the middle of combat? Out of combat rezzing at least in my experience wouldn’t change anything. Big zergs would continue to wipe smaller groups and immediately reconstitute just like they do today.

Removing dead player resurrections and eliminating rally would add a lot more depth in the strategy department. Out manned servers could actually mount an offensive close to their starting areas unlike today. Currently there is very little risk when running in the biggest zerg on a map.

Yet another thing GW did so much better than GW2. Templates in GW are awesome. Being able to cut and paste them from forums, websites, chat, etc is a feature that should have made it into GW2 by now.

Since January or thereabouts when free transfers ended, pretty much every server has been set to high or very high. There is no reason aside from corporate profit that Anvil Rock should field the same transfer cost as Blackgate.

Now that we are coming up on a year can we get the transfer costs more inline with WvW population levels? Transfers that cost north of 130g or roughly $20 per player locks many players onto a server since transferring can be prohibitively expensive. This is true particularly for hard core WvW players who aren’t swimming in gold.