Guild Wars 2

Natar.3671:

I do have some 1v1s but I find that they tend to last quite long if both are on even footing and it is pretty much a matter of who makes a mistake first (usually me ><). And since 1v1s are never balanced, sometimes I might be in a disadvantageous fight which is a good challenge I guess. Anyway I will see what fights I can get and hopefully you guys will like it!

Aye, 1v1s are a whole different field.

Still, lots of good numbers seen there, great engagements.

CureForLiving.5360:

Sykper.6583:

…So it is impractical to try to link the Fractals with anything in Tyria, unless specifically looking for something. I can’t fathom how we were capable of picking on the trail of Scarlet if the Mists are that dynamic.

The mists is the building blocks of reality, so it has the ability to become anything (more or less). However as Tyria is made up of the mists and it’s pretty stable it would probably be more accurate to say that the mist doesn’t have set dynamics. Some areas are very stable and others are significantly less so.

Errp, made an error in my wording there with Tyria and the Mists relation.

Still, I can agree that the Mists are a notoriously difficult thing to judge. Which is good, mysteries are fun right?

kozmo.8760:

Tree.3916:

Since you don’t seem to know much about warrior DPS or how FGS works here is some information to consider

http://dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/13086970-who-picks-up-fgs

Let’s put this into precise perspective.

1. The FGS will produce a coefficient total of 43 over 12.15 seconds. A greatsword warrior with a walled target using perfect rotations produces a coefficient total of 42 every 30 seconds. So at the most basic level, a warrior with FGS will be producing about 2.5x the DPS of a warrior using a normal weapon.

2. There are classes that do significantly more DPS with an FGS than a warrior. A GS warrior with FGS will do roughly 29k dps over that 12.15 second period. A fairly normal 66xxx ele will do nearly 39k dps over that same time frame. So YMMV when carrying an FGS.

3. Based on the ongoing DPS research by Dekeyz published here http://gw2dps.david-reess.de/ we can see that when not using FGS, a well built meta team comp will put out 55-65k dps. Consider that one ele carrying FGS can put out nearly 40k dps by himself, and 2 two eles distrubuting a total of 4x FGSes to the team can make a total team dps of around 150k. A elite skill that is capable of increasing DPS by such a significant factor is clearly imbalanced.

4. If we consider Time Warp the measuring stick for an elite, it makes total team dps go from 65k dps to 97.5k dps for 10 seconds. We can say, very roughly speaking, that Time Warp is worth about 325k total damage. A single cast of FGS (assuming someone reasonable picks up the other FGS) is worth about 550k total damage. Time Warp has a 240 second cool down, FGS 180. I understand internal balance vs external balance but nonetheless the value of FGS is so far above the “next best” elite that it’s quite literally in a league of it’s own.

But my argument against the current state of FGS#4 isn’t that it’s “boring” or that I suck at the game, or I’m worried about losing records to FGS or whatever other excuses have been offered by others or for me. The problem is simply put the skill is so strong that it dominates the PvE meta and makes a minimum of 2 Ele’s obligatory in anything calling itself a “speed run.” If people want more options, more class diversity and, yes, more interesting boss fights FGS as it currently stands has to go. If you don’t care about those things that’s your right, but objectively speaking it is by far the most powerful thing you can do in PvE.

Anet fixed Ursan-way in GW1, and I would argue that there is no dispute that FGS is just as omnipresent and oppressive as Ursanway ever was. If you don’t remember Ursanway, lucky you.

A theory backed by numbers but how would you comment the recent fractal tournament where teams that had 2 eles didn’t even pass the 1st round? Semifinals had 3 eles and at the same time 6 guardians and 6 warriors. Don’t you find that slightly odd? Maybe, just maybe, if the content is a bit less trivial than old dungeons, fgs will become less popular and you can go back to more interesting metas.

If I may, at that stage we have a different issue. Indeed, fractals are a definitive step towards seeing FGS not quite be as effective as the earlier trivial dungeons.

But the fact that FGS exists as it is now, adds an unnecessarily balancing variable to PvE balance that A-Net cannot ignore. Any instance where an encounter has the boss against the wall for a period of time, will have FGS be optimized and used. Thus, rather than looking at the FGS as a measurement for judging an encounter it becomes an obstacle towards future PvE development.

In other words, the Fractals themselves are sort of a blend between reality and any continuity events. Things like the Jade Maw or even perhaps the Colossus might have some sort of connection to the real, but the Mists themselves can either perfectly mimic or drastically alter said reality within itself.

…So it is impractical to try to link the Fractals with anything in Tyria, unless specifically looking for something. I can’t fathom how we were capable of picking on the trail of Scarlet if the Mists are that dynamic.

Mmm, the QQ is strong, however as I said I am more hopeful with the balance changes than to immediately suggest that we are going to get hit by the nerf truck.

Rush having an increased cool-down (from 20 seconds to something like 30, or even 40 seconds) I feel will be not solving the problem with it. A solid 1200 range dash to get away is often all you need when people have skills that rely on gap closers much smaller. We use Rush, certainly, but not as often in PvP as to say a cool-down increase of such a magnitude will directly nerf it. Instead, PvE damage will take a hit, Rush does an impressive amount of damage in the PvE zerker meta as to throw it into your rotation.

That is why I see Rush having it’s range nerfed. The range nerf is far more in line with what I believe would be the best and more likely scenario for how to impact the mobile warriors across the board. In other words, I would be surprised if its range does NOT get nerfed.

I considered the Whirlwind Attack range nerf, as you said, as a buff to warrior damage and further nerf to mobility. But, again as you said Cygnus, the problem is that buffing the damage the warrior puts out when they are already so decent will probably not happen. Hence, I tagged it as a possible change.

Earthshaker, when you leap at max range, does two things. Removes the immobilize and forces the dodge on any nearby opponent within 800 range. It is a 600 range leap stun with a 240 radius around it, it can strike FAR. …Which is why I placed it as a possibility since if there were to be any further nerfs to the already damaged Hammer, rather than damage or CC they would go for mobility.

I don’t think Arenanet is silly enough as to take back the power they gave out with concern to CI, rather my hope as I stated with trait reworks is that if they do take out power, they can allocated condi-removal in other unviable trees to expand our builds.

Expansion of builds = more weaknesses and harder to predict what each warrior will be running.

I believe you might agree that once every warrior build viable in PvP stops having the same god kitten weaknesses as each other, we will be in a better state.

Going to be hoping for the best though.

Seems like everyone and their mother has an opinion on what warriors ought to be toned down in. With the advent of a recent Arenanet statement saying Warrior mobility was slightly overtuned…

I think its time we have a SERIOUS talk about what to expect.

So, rather than go through a whole prologue about our state of the game, I am just going to give my predictions on what Arena-net has likely in store for us. Thus, to prevent any more ‘complete’ overhauls as some people have been suggesting.

Here’s my realistic, very likely to happen predictions:

- Greatsword 5 ‘Rush’ range brought down to either 900-1000 range, from 1200.
- Greatsword 3 ‘Whirlwind Attack’ brought down to 300 from 450 range. (Possible)
- Hammer Burst ‘Earthshaker’ range brought to 450 from 600 range (Possible)

Huge mobility nerfs, in MY humble opinion, if anything will get nerfed these three abilities are prime candidates. I placed Earthshaker as a potentially nerf for the fact that 600 range on an 240 AoE stun is not completely out of the picture, especially coupled with Mobile Strikes trait in Disclipline every warrior loves.

We are allowed to be mobile in a fight, but Warriors aren’t allowed to be able to exploit distance-covering skills to ‘get away’. In fact, I also believe Warriors should not be able to keep up with chasing down anyone, just winning the fight then and there.

To that regard…

My hopes and predictions for balancing and buffs:

- Improved hit reliability on targeted gap-closer abilities like Rush (to the point where the animation and subsequent attack will go off when the enemy is within range to hit regardless of if they are dodging or not)
- Reduced chunkiness of several mechanics, most notably banner activation time, physical skills.
- (Unlikely)Traits reworks, emphasis on defense tree for any PvP build gone.
- (Unlikely)Further weapon type viability, Rifle and Off-hand Mace used more in any environment.

Frankly, I am of the belief that Warriors are in a state of ‘artificial power’. Unlike Guardians (whom I can assume have a very clear role in any mode in this game, and have proven such from being relatively untouched), Warriors have gone through several incarnations. They are now viable, but only due to sloppily made mechanics and traits. Hard counters are not necessarily a bad thing, but only at a level where there is a huge trade-off. Any condition centric build would not criticize Warriors so much for their 8 (or more if traited lol) seconds of Berserker stance every 60 seconds if every viable build did not have defenses against practically everything in-line.

Which is why there needs to be MORE options in other lines like Strength, Arms and/or Tactics to deal with conditions. My ‘Trait Reworks’ suggestion hopes for stronger condition removal options in other trees that will balance the risk vs. reward the Warrior has needed since the Healing Signet and CI changes.

I recognize the problems that the Warrior have, and frankly, the Defense tree should only be reserved for traits that properly focus defense rather than an offense focused CI we have now. Move too swiftly, and we put Warriors in a bind against any sort of condition suppression much like Launch.

So as such, I will stop my predictions here, mainly because I cannot tell whether or not Arenanet actually does favor us more than other professions, or it is just a stigma.

What I can tell you, is that we are going to have our mobility nerfed in some regard, and without a buff many warriors will cry out a great deal. Frankly, we probably have it coming.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Boba Fett crawling out of the Sarlacc pit bad.

But- but that just serves to show how amazing Fett was. He was the Mandalorian with an impressive reputation. Heck, he had his chance to kill Vader…

…Or perhaps Boba Fett is actually a Hutt by disguise, clearly since no Sarlacc could possibly digest a Hutt.

So wait is this a thread where mesmers and rangers are trying to debate who is WORSE off?

That’s just depressing.

I mean, you guys aren’t Warriors at Launch level… :P

Just kidding, but in all honestly, it’s faint but I have hopes from the ready-ups and the next balance patch that you guys will be better off.

Mayama.1854:

I think people are kittened about warriors not because they are strong, its because its so easy and effortless to be good. Most other classes have to work hard and on top of their game to be efficient in pvp/pve.

I mean put an average player on a zerker ele or zerker warrior without knowing much bevorhand about both classes and watch the outcome.

It does not feel right if I have to press tons of buttons, memorize bazillions of cooldowns and switch attunements if a warrior can archive the same thing half afk with 3-5 buttons.

But it’s not the same thing.

Warriors are easy to pick up, and they are easy to do decent to great with. But they are not the best. The only thing that keeps them in PvE groups is banners, they are outclassed in DPS and support otherwise by half the professions in the game. They can’t provide the necessary support a Guardian can (actually, NO one could provide what a guardian can, blocks are amazingly critical), any of the squishier professions if played right will beat a warrior’s DPS even in his/her most optimal play.

In PvP we are under this delusion that due to the single point capture meta (since A-Net hasn’t released any new modes that could influence potential PvP builds on the rotation) all the best builds are the ‘placeholders’ of what balance needs to be around.

News flash, they don’t. Hambow is strictly MADE to do well in SPvP or should I say Point Capture, and even that requires some semblance of good play since everyone and their mother knows just how predictable the warrior abilities are. Anywhere else? The Hambow Warrior is so kitten slow, and Combustive Shot is far less effective when an enemy does not have to rely on keeping a very small point contested.

In WvW, we have this lovely dilemma of Hammer-Trains. I could go into immense detail about the sheer overwhelming issues with the game-mode and balance, but let’s just say it is pointless to even suggest we balance the game around it.

My point in all this is, the Warrior’s ease of play is a blessing and a curse. It’s easy to do decent, but there is a limit on how far your skill will take you.

I have already stated that I want warriors to be at the same standard, or at least have a bit more depth, as the other professions. I WANT the ease of play to be nerfed, in the hopes that Warriors who have reached the wall like I have can excel further by having whatever depth put in be a buff to the potential power of the profession IF played right.

I do not want Warriors to be gutted for the sake of ‘oh they are easy to play’, that’s not making a profession better, that’s effectively removing a profession from the game.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

6. “Warrior is simply OP overall don’t even try to defend it”

They are right. It’s OP. Don’t even try to defend it.

Would you like to defend your post? Or would you like to stick to your post that proves nothing?

I told you already I have one piece of evidence that beats everything:

I’m rather experienced in PvP (top 200 or so), but I’not a great player. I play with friends in the top 100. The other day I told them I wanted to train with my ele main against warriors as point defender. So we fight and I lose a lot (or declare loss, in the sense that getting hit by any eviscerate or pin down puts my life so low that I can not reliably hold the point anymore). So my friend, who is skilled and experienced with all classes tells me I should play warrior to try. Therefore we swapped classes: me on warrior, him on ele. I did not look at him, I had my eyes fixed on my skills, I did not dodge even once, but I wrecked him. I had no idea what I was doing and I wrecked him. We proceeded to do this against other classes and I wrecked most of them too.

So if a noob like me who has never played warrior even once before can destroy an experienced player, how is this class not bloody OP?

You forgot to add ‘theme’ to your post.

That might be appropriate.

Dustfinger.9510:

Prophetic statements about the future often work out differently than people expect. So the definition of the term ‘rightful king’ may not follow bloodline, legalism, etc. Or, the rules could ecompass multiple options. So the khan-Ur may be able to lift the curse as well as any decendant of Doric. As long as the necessity of wielding the sword is fulfilled.

Pretty much this. We are looking WAY too seriously at the small things, interpretations of prophetic statements have always been a sort of fun grounds because of just how many ways the writing could interpret the true intentions.

I am going to assume the simplest answer is that regardless of the decisions made by Barradin and Adelburn, that Barradin by his bloodright is still technically the true heir. Rytlock returns the swords to the heir thus technically giving back Ascalon, and the ghosts are freed. It is that simple, I think it is more far-fetched to assume Rytlock would become the Khan-Ur.

Honestly, all the posts on both sides point to one solution:

Warriors need an overhaul. Period. Rework Banners and Physical Utilities, Rework Traits and take power from the strongest parts of a warrior unless you trait for it. Make it so there is a few alternatives to competitive viable PvP builds that don’t need 20 into defense.

I don’t think Burst needs to change too much, but if there had to be changes, it would be to create an offensive and defensive burst, and double the recharge. Adds utility and a bigger cost, make the Warrior have Depth.

I agree with the sentiment that Warriors are rather easy to play, I would like to see them be more competitive at higher play at a bigger cost.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Miss a dodge against a warrior = you are dead

Warrior stands still without dodging = signet will heal it up without you having to do anything

Please keep bias to a minimum. Kthx.

At this point in time, Warriors have become a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ profession. They are easy to pick up, but they don’t excel at any given discipline.

…Which in turn explains why everyone would want at least one in any given scenario. They have a viable build for every situation, and in a way that makes other professions feel unwanted. I have tasted the workings of every profession after getting a really good impression of the Warrior, and it DOES seem to feel like the Warrior is in a good spot.

Until you consider where all that power is.

No warrior who wants a hand in any PvP setting will go into it without going 20 into defense. The warrior traits are woefully unbalanced, and whereas the other professions can spread out and mix-it-up to making their builds work (and thus give themselves weaknesses as well), Warriors need to funnel points in the same kitten trees for the same kitten traits all the time, or fail at everything.

I have always said Warriors have false power, they are in an artificially good state thanks to a few unique capabilities. But when you get down to it, they are absolutely nothing, abysmal is what I think of when I consider how unbalanced the Warrior tree is.

As soon as the traits find a resolution, regardless of how much it impacts warriors now, can the Warrior profession get a REAL fix, and see some real progress towards balance.

Oh, and the underwhelming or clunky mechanics we have need to go away as well.

So…for the sake of it, I managed to pick up this lovely bit of information from Reddit with concern to what we saw. In game, we can look at the story journal summary for episode 2 and it will say that what the orbs represent are the Elder Dragons and Pale Tree.
http://i.imgur.com/eFuKw9G.jpg

Just thought to clear the air on this one.

@Zhaneel: While I also agree that each dragon likely has its own type of magic, thus making it hard to believe any Elder Dragon could simply take on another’s magic, there is another facet we seem to forget.

Recall that Zhaitan would feed on Magical Artifacts of all sorts, we know that the dragons will consume magic regardless of its origin. I have reason to believe, that there IS a way for Elder Dragons to consume the magic of their brethren, but the key is whether or not the dragon whose magic is being consumed is alive to stop it from doing so.

We even see a similar instance occur during the most recent episode at Fort Concordia, where a Priory caravan gets attacked from carrying an old magical and important relic. Dragons probably eat any magic and convert it to their own as long as its not their brothers…sisters…you know.

What if, when a dragon dies, its magic loses its ‘type’ and becomes ambient, capable of being consumed? The ambient magic will add onto Tyria itself, making it more fertile for other dragons to grow their power.

I have a theory, one I don’t see floating around too much.

It assumes the spheres lighting up are in fact the order of dragons awakening. It also assumes they awaken in sequence, meaning that the GREEN sphere is in fact Zhaitan, and the center sphere we can assume is the Pale tree/Tyria/Whatever we as protagonists are trying to protect.

What if what was portrayed was not necessarily symbolic of a dragon wrecking havoc on Tyria, but instead as the OP pointed out, the collective magic they possessed returning to the world? I won’t go SO far as to say we might be recreating an ancient entity of the summation of magic itself though.

Two things come to mind when I consider Zhaitan’s demise and how it affects Tyria, the return of all that magic. Although I hate to relate to it, ‘Tequatl gained strength after the defeat of Zhaitan, reasons unknown’.
(http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dragon_champion)

I believe there was speculation about how the release of magic from Zhaitan back then caused such an evolution in Tequatl. But even if that wasn’t the case, and the continuity assumes Tequatl evolved during the offensive in Orr as also dictated on the wiki (It never said the offensive stopped after Zhaitan’s death though, there are a LOT of risen around.) I have another piece that supports my theory.

Everyone knows the Evolved Jungle Wurm, right? That lovely creature dwelling just north of Sparkfly on the borders of Zhaitan’s reach (Of course, we can find risen here and there north of the zones, but the concentration is mostly Orr and its closest neighbors). Well, we can assume the Scarlet thumpers just disturbed this majestic, clearly normal creature from its nests in Bloodtide, or go with my suggestion.

The Evolved Jungle Wurm had gotten its ‘Evolved’ tag from absorbing magic from Zhaitan’s defeat as well! Taking a leap and assuming that the unnatural Wurms are minions of Mordremoth, would it be so far as to assume his minions could take in the ambient magic and gain strength from it?

This is where it gets interesting, because I think you all might understand where I am going with this. Everytime we kill an elder dragon, we release its energy onto Tyria, and the other Elder Dragons will gobble it up. We already know the dragon minions do not necessarily like each other (not that they had minds to care enough what they attack), but I like to think it as a cold war between them. WE, are effectively killing them off one by one, reducing their adversaries and making them stronger till there is one left.

The Ley Lines are an added bonus, and a source for the stalemate between the dragons. However it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say we are indirectly helping the other dragons as we kill them each one at a time. A scenario where any given dragon is the last one alive, with a world brimming with unsanctioned magic…

So, this is a glorious oversight that must NEVER be patched.

Seriously, A-Net, leave this in. We need to get our tonics ready for the amazing cutscenes!

I too thought it was a bit of a oddity.

Then I considered about how everyone knew about the Elder Dragons, and wondered if there was references lore-wise to the Elder Dragon names from the Jotun ancestors to the dwarves…

Maybe it’s just common-knowledge?

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

It’s a decent working prototype. I take issue with the wagering of points, though. That’s too much power to put into the hands of a very small subset of a server’s population. What’s more is, it’s not really their points to wager; it comes from the collective effort of that entire server’s WvW community. Why should they be accorded special privileges to play fast and loose with the points that others have had a hand in earning?

It could also lead to elitism. For example, a guild wins a match and earns – let’s say – 700 points for their server from their GvG match (a veritable drop in the bucket in a WvW match where that server may earn 200,000+ World Score). I am already familiar with several guilds who would think those 700 points suddenly made them god’s gift to WvW and would make sure to lord it over all the lowly “scrubs”. No thanks.

Other than that, the rest of the match-making portion of the suggestion is sound.

I wanted two things to come from this system.

- To create a productive environment where Guilds could actually achieve a form of competitive combat outside of traditional WvW, SPvP and PvE.

- To bridge the gap between WvW and GvG while harming neither side.

The number of points earned per round can be tweaked, my suggestion of 100/200/300 comes with the prospect that between near equal guild skill level, where the score might be 4-3, the gains from spending between half an hour to an hour of fighting a single guild for one time that week would pay off.

The thing about my system is that you cannot just have another match, its one time if both sides agree at that point in the week. There is NO other way to farm points to complicate the score further. We are talking potentially 1-2 matches in all tiers in bronze league, 2-4 matches all tiers in silver league, and 5+ matches across all of gold league, all of them unique in size and scope. I want the values to be either barely equal to the amount of time spent in WvW normally (where a guild might siege objectives and take hold of them for a few ticks) or above that if they perform spectacularly well.

The issue about Elitism, it’s not going to suddenly change for the worse simply because it already exists now between all the current unofficial GvGs in OS, or the bragging rights people are performing when they topple maxed-out Garrisons. There won’t be a sudden rise in elitism, at least not to the extent I believe you think it will be.

And for the record, I believe GvG to be a very important yet untapped role in any Guild. It is a small subset, but something like this would definitely turn some already WvW heavy guilds into taking some of their time trying their luck in the arena if they can catch a decent intake of points.

And I think that is a brilliant thing.

KICKER.3874:

this could be made even without tying it to any kind of points for servers

a LFG kind of system with separate instance is a nice idea, but missing a very important part of GvG fun, watching guilds fight.

it’s great for the 20 that play, guaranteed no interference etc. , but people need to be able to watch GvG fights for it to have REAL success as a game mode.

It’s very likely the system crafted can be utilized across all servers, and I did slightly mention a spectator mode at the very end to help the scene overall, cause watching fights is awesome.

But, bear in mind that in terms of WvW, there is a need to have a way for guilds to have their matches matter while the match-up is going on, and I think my solution does just that. If you got a solid guild on your server that can take on any number of guilds from the other higher-pop servers, you might be able to get away with the potential for a LOT of points earned for your guild’s skill.

- If there are NO issues, once the preparation stage is complete a UI will appear for both leaders, signifying what they will wager in terms of Points. The increments go in the hundreds of points per round (which I suggest is something like 100/200/300 if you want to have SEVEN rounds, but we can see.). When I say wager, I really mean to say that each round of this GvG is worth the point increment towards that server, the big thing is that if you lose a round, you give a LOT of points to the other side.

- The amount is determined by the LOWEST one, meaning yes, you need two guilds who want to go high-stakes will see high-stakes. After that, each GvG round will start and there will be a minute between rounds. A round ends when one side is fully DEAD, its a battle to the bloody end! All the rounds will be played, regardless of who wins overall! And finally, once the GvG is finished, the two guilds will NOT see each other in the ‘WvW GvG’ tab until the next week their servers fight one another.

- To Prevent Abuse, like a troll guild on one server just losing points non-stop to a single server, there could be a couple of checks implemented. Guild upgrade levels, losing consecutive rounds in rapid fashion, etc. Lots to think about, but plenty of potential to be had!

TL;DR: GvG system that works with current match-up. Guilds that make themselves available to GvG at any size will show up to a guild that also makes themselves available and capable. Once both guilds consent, a GvG pop-up appears for all guild members involved to go to a separate unique OS instance without interrupters. Much like in PvP and when everyone is in, leaders of both guilds will determine the waging Points for each round. With breaks in-between rounds and only one GvG of the two distinct guilds against one another PER week, there can be rematches over the course of weeks to come.

There you go. Lots of text, but I think I am on the right track for how to appease everyone. Hell, there could even be a SPECTATOR mode. You know, like in PvP.

Right. Going to let you mull over the title for a moment….

And, now that you are all THOROUGHLY convinced I am simply insane, I assure you that’s only partially true.

However, none of that matters because I have had a epiphany, one that seeks to push the current rather….sad scene of GvG in a better light. AND a solution that also helps ensure there is some compensation for a server to WANT to GvG, to test themselves for the better of their server! Yes, there IS a way to tie both together. This also means my solution will only be applicable with guilds on servers facing one another THAT week. Global GvG is a whole other animal that I am certain we all want.

Let me explain the technical details behind this wonderful system (Best part? Most of the UI for my solution is already in the game here and there, it just needs some adjustments!)

- There is now a new tab under WvW called WvW GvG (Name could be anything, who cares). It opens two kinds of tabs, one for the Guild Leader and/or one with permissions to start a Guild Group in GvG, and one specific for Guild Members without the permission to start things on their own.

- What happens is that at any time during any match-up, a guild leader may activate their Guild as a potential opponent in GvG, so pretty much a checkbox. Upon clicking it, the leader will have to wait until enough of his/her guild’s members go into the ‘WvW GvG’ tab and toggle that they are available to fight and online (Or, Active Members). The Leader will be able to see WHO toggled “Yes I can fight!” and as the Guild list in this GvG tab rises to 10, 15, and 20 active members (Let’s start with those three first), the 10v10 available, 15v15 available, and 20v20 available buttons (Cause those were there at the start, just go with it for now) respectively become active. Think of the interface like a mix of the Guild Roster and the LFG tool.

- Once there is enough members actively saying they are capable of GvGing, the leader can look through any of the lists he has enough active members for and see the opponent, and then try to ‘challenge’ them. …So pretty much a button appears saying ‘challenge’ and the leader can click it. Once clicked, the representative (Person who made their guild able to GvG in the queue) of the guild chosen as an opponent, who was shown to be available, will get a pop-up seeing a CHALLENGE! He/She can choose to accept, decline or ignore over the course of the next few minutes, time given in case of AFK. Ignore means that for the rest of the remaining match-up, neither guild will see each other. Decline will simply refuse the challenge, but both sides will see one another. And accept…accept is where the MAGIC happens!

- When one guild challenges another and the other guild accepts, a GvG pop-up appears for ALL members actively saying they are good to GvG, much like a PvP queue! The faster you get in, the more time you will have to figure out the strategy. In this case, both guilds get put into an entirely new instance of Obsidian Sanctum where NO one can intervene! If during both the acceptance and preparation stage there are disconnecting active players, there will be a small grace period where the acting leader can decide their guild can’t fight. In which case both sides will leave the arena unfortunately.

Tusk.3846:

xbutcherx.3861:

Another Warrior Thief thread? aren’t there enough already?

xmaybex xthatx xshouldx xtellx xyoux xsomethingx

Yep, tells me a lot.

Let’s talk thief first, the profession by definition is supposed to be nimble, tricky and able to sneak up on you far more than other professions. All those characteristics are amazing to have playing the thief, but gives their prey a sense of helplessness and frustration over the lovely insta-ganks. Although there are plenty of cases where the thief can be outplayed when attacking their prey, and much more where thieves lack the necessary capabilities to be viable in some areas, the profession as a whole is designed to be annoying to fight, that’s what thieves do.

People complaining about thieves need to address both sides, there are blatant flaws in each thief build yet most people seem to gripe only about their strengths. And the worst part is, just from observing most of the “Thief GG” threads, is that people just don’t know or want to improve their play against them.

Warriors, as I have said before, are I admit, part of the easiest professions to play side. However in a way, that is a limitation as well since Warriors have remarkable power in very obvious skills. They must go into defense, they must pick up CI, they must have some mobility and sustain to be viable. Despite what you all claim, the only things holding Warrior up from their horrendous unviable incarnation at launch are Healing Signet, Cleansing Ire, and their Good damage across the board (both condi and power).

I would be more than happy to see some power moved around if we had other trait options or skills that mattered more, but Warriors only have diversity in their weapons, their traits in any PvP scenario are almost always going Defense and Discipline. We have false power. Don’t mistake us for being OP when there are still huge issues with us.

First, let me say I am impressed that you spent the time and dedication towards making your data. It is likely to have taken a lot of work, and yes although you did mention much of it is subjective and catered towards what you believe, it can’t necessarily be dismissed.

Now, to further myself and everyone else’s understanding of your findings, I must ask the following questions since you did spend quite a lot of time with your study. Some is for clarification and could help us reach a better understanding of what you provided:

- What are the specific builds for the fields listed? It might be more informative if we had a rational understanding of traits, skills and other such things aside from just a brief simplification of whether a build was power or condi, and what weapons were used.

- What was the criteria for each field? Does Zerg combat mean huge blobs or anything above a 10v10?

Just a couple of details would help us understand where you come from.

Also really curious about what you came up with for S,H/LB for warrior. :P

Hitting two birds with one stone huh?

How amusing. The only thing missing is the complaints about Immortal Condi-Thief and Kill-shot warriors.

Good effort though.

Julie Yann.5379:

Sykper.6583:

Dee Jay.2460:

That deduction would be entirely correct.

There’s a reason they are so over-represented in all aspects of the game, from WvW over PvE to sPvP.

People are too focused on 1v1s when talking about balance (for understandable reasons) and that’s why Guardians tend to “fly under the radar”. But their win-ratio and impact on games is undeniable.

So if I hear the devs say “Guardians are fine” one more time during the next podcast they will lose what little credibility they have left.

It would be fine if Guardians were the ideal for what all other professions should strive to be relative to their respective roles. In other words, Guardians are likely in the best spot of all the professions to what they are suppose to do and what they do in game.

So pretty much, let’s get the rest of the professions there. I believe that’s what Arenanet intended to explain from the Ready-Up today.

…and the warrior isn’t?

Nope. The disguise of being powerful, a warrior is clearly not in any good state at all. Forced dedication across all competitive builds in any PvP environment into one trait-line (take a wild guess), singular viable heal with other lackluster heals (one themed about utilizing adrenaline properly but fails to actually do its job), and all sorts of clunky skills…

Literally the only role they do well enough in is in PvE, being reliable middle-tier DPS with an essential unique buff called Banners that can really help out the party. But when you really put them under a microscope, the only thing that has changed from them since launch is that instead of being too weak because of a lack of useful skills, is that they are too strong because of a lack of useful skills aside from the meta.

But hey whatever.

Dee Jay.2460:

That deduction would be entirely correct.

There’s a reason they are so over-represented in all aspects of the game, from WvW over PvE to sPvP.

People are too focused on 1v1s when talking about balance (for understandable reasons) and that’s why Guardians tend to “fly under the radar”. But their win-ratio and impact on games is undeniable.

So if I hear the devs say “Guardians are fine” one more time during the next podcast they will lose what little credibility they have left.

It would be fine if Guardians were the ideal for what all other professions should strive to be relative to their respective roles. In other words, Guardians are likely in the best spot of all the professions to what they are suppose to do and what they do in game.

So pretty much, let’s get the rest of the professions there. I believe that’s what Arenanet intended to explain from the Ready-Up today.

So, right. Before anything else, let it be known that my expressed opinion here does reflect what I actually feel would be an extremely nice thing to happen that would make…just a lot of things better on the forums and for the community and for Arenanet. I don’t care what labels you put on me after this, but I will say even after this I will still continue to play GW2 likely for a very, very long time.

Right. So first, let me just say that in light of the China release and how big a step that is to take for an MMO, congratulations Arenanet. Considering last I checked, you guys are running at least the very minimalist 250+ as per the wiki (which is likely wrong, but I reckon you guys are still in a ballpark figure under 1000 still), having to submit content that caters to literally millions of players with the new influx of the chinese market…you gotta put on those big boots. I, and literally no one else save for you guys, can fathom what pressure you might be under between balancing content related to both us and EU, and the servers over in the east…or west if you look at it in that regard.

Regardless, it’s hard to understand as gamers what could break on a patch by patch basis for the game. Something small could catastrophically destroy the Trading Post for instance (I can think of a recent MMO that had that happen…COUGH), or perhaps the ever so pleasant Profession balancing across PvE, WvW, and SPvP where every player believes their own version of ‘what should be in the game’ is so different it’s hard to believe everyone is playing the same game. But it is, you guys created it, you guys made the lovely MMO we are all playing for our own agendas right now, and you have made it encapsulate so many things I want to give a round of applause. I could literally go do just about anything I want, whenever I want without restriction. Horrah!

….BUT, I have to relate this very critical issue right now. I would love to hear a response, but that is kind of what is concerning me right now.

I think there is just the slightest bit too little silence going on. Heck, in the dungeons forum today there was a positive response from you guys over the potential of a Dungeon-based Tourney, which is a lovely thought but it came after such a long period of silence for the people interested in dungeons.

The thing is, since you guys made such a wonderland of specific things to do, it becomes more important to make sure the individuals invested in some specific things continue to give feedback and receive information or really, ANYTHING back from the people who made it. I personally know people who think Super Adventure Box was the premiere thing to do in GW2, but lament in anguish over not knowing anything about when the next level comes out!

It is of the utmost importance that everyone gets some attention, and not just a few key parts of this game. It displays an lack of care for some aspect of this game, which is just bad. Because even if the forums are a minority, we play this game, we play it with friends and colleagues who might not know everything and when they ask about whether Reflects are going to be fixed, the answer we as players and forum-goers will have to say may or may not be favorable. And the worst part? I really honestly believe you guys do mean it when you say all the time that you care about our feedback and opinions. But, it just sucks that the perception of a lack of attention on some parts of this game exists.

TL;DR: Arenanet you made a game with a lot of stuff, please respond more to us about ALL the stuff, not just some of it.

That’s about it from me.

nolij.4327:

Ashen.2907:

Just to clarify:

The OP seems to be suggesting an option to spend real world money to increase his in game wealth…

…An option that already exists.

$15 month converted into gems = 1200 gems = 96 gold

not only a pathetically low amount of gold, but that’s being GENEROUS, as i used 8g/100gem to calculate that, and 8g is a roundup of the average price. in reality you’d get even less than 96g

now another figure…

$15 month for VIP access = unlimited potential for gold, limited only by your dedication to ACTUALLY PLAYING the game content, which last time i checked, is the purpose of a video game. to actually play it. and you know, get rewarded for A C T U A L L Y P L A Y I N G I T.

seriously people, can we use our brains a little bit before posting anymore replies such as this one? this is getting exhausting.

Going to stop you right there, at the bolded part. Because let’s be honest, you don’t really care about playing the game as you claim. You only want some material good out of your work every time you log in. You want the best of the best of things by forking over a bit more real money to do so, and regardless of how some things might be gained or earned through luck admittedly, to provide an optional ‘VIP service’ to players who want to have a huge advantage at gaining such treasures would completely invalidate any amount of ‘rarity’ and ‘wonder’ about said items for everyone.

Instead of saying “Wow, either that guy got lucky, or he bought that Bolt through whatever means, either way props. Lots of people don’t even have it.” instead we would get “Got ourselves a VIP huh? Look at that full set Wurmslayer Ascended and couple legendaries. There is no real way to tell if he put in any real effort at killing Wurm more than three times for that gear. God, everyone who wears those items is a buyer, there are no good hard-to-find items anymore…”

Your new system would destroy any semblance of having to put forth time and effort into a game. This isn’t even a matter of discussion, you are offering not a suggestion that benefits the game in any manner but would systematically destroy it. It is an atrocious, gross-misinterpretation of what GW2 and any GOOD MMO ought to do in the future.

I really, REALLY want a red to close this thread, it is not even worth a glance over, and it is likely going to cause some toxicity from the sheer audacity of such an idea.

The Mace: Hitting things with a blunt object your thing? Smashing them skulls huh? Good stuff, the Mace definitely feels like you leave an impact when you do so. It can weaken with an auto-attack chain, do an impressive stun with the burst, daze with another main-hand skill, and off-hand mace does a linear quake of knockdown evil! What could possibly be wrong with the Mace?

…Yea….the Mace is not up to snuff. It’s a problem.

I have a few issues with the mace, and frankly overall, it is underwhelming even with all its potent CC. In fact, the Mace’s problem is not its control ability, it does that job extremely well! The problem I have with the mace is that it does not assist in much utility in any other regard. I don’t want the mace to do more damage, it is not supposed to, it is supposed to suppress and control the opponent then it does its damage when the opponent is suppressed enough. You start the beating, and the permanent damage will come soon!

…Straight to the point, the Auto-attack chain and Crushing Blow, maybe even Counterblow if other options are too potent, need changes. Rework numbers and mechanics.

The auto-attack chain of the mace is potent, it won’t swing as fast as the axe but each hit is felt by an opponent. For reference, the 3rd strike in the chain does a bit more than a Final Strike or Sword 3 skill on an opponent over 50% life. And it applies Weakness. …But the mace also suffers from the being the slowest of auto-attacks for the three 1-handed weapons, and the big effect of the chain comes in with the last hit, the animation is a full 1 second to swing! You are not getting any sort of good weakness up-time from the mace on any competent opponent in SPvP, in WvW the state of the game unfortunately doesn’t call for slow cleaving by a 1-handed mace, duels suffer the same fate as in SPvP. And in PvE, I reckon Bjarl might really hate getting chained stunned by Skull cracks but Warriors tend to go either GS or Axe.

Solution to Auto-attack chain? Add 2 seconds of weakness on 2nd attack, reduce 3rd attack weakness to 4 seconds.

More reliable up-time on weakness actually addresses many problems with the mace, and adds the prospect of Sundering Mace being taken more. Logically getting hit blow for blow by a blunt object you aren’t going to suddenly feel weakened on occasion, it’s going to pound into you constantly. Heck, my suggestion for the weakness durations might be a touch strong, they can be reduced as long as they exist somewhere so a Warrior might not feel compelled to use Main-hand Mace just for Skull-Crack.

CRUSHING BLOW! Decent damage skill that inflicts 4 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds! Has a 15 second cooldown! It also takes 0.75 seconds to swing! …Woohoo?

Honestly, I could not for the longest time figure out why this skill seemed so…lackluster. In PvE you want that vulnerability to build up, the 10 seconds seems like a decent amount of time to pop it just before a hard nuke with an FGS. But the off-hand mace is obviously carried by Tremor, much like how off-hand Axe has the relationship between Dual Strike and Whirling Axe. The only difference is that Dual Strike has a huge effect in a nice brawl, Crushing blow…takes more time to do less with.

What’s the fix to Crushing Blow then? That vulnerability has got to LAST, you keep crushing someone they will feel it always. Stacks remain the same, but the vulnerability duration increases to match the cooldown.

I would not give it anymore simply because the weapon already has the perfect amount of control. Tremor, despite its steep 25 second cooldown, is a brilliant CC move that I personally think is underrated. And if my suggestions ever prompted a series of buffs to make Mace more viable in ZvZ, we will be seeing Tremors EVERYWHERE!

Counter-blow is actually fine as it is, but my only gripe is for whatever reason it becomes too potent to apply the weakness to the Auto-attack chain as I said, maybe make the counter apply it instead. Just a thought, I put a ‘maybe’ there to begin with.

Overall, CC good, other stuff bad. Make other stuff more reliable, Mace get viable, build diversity increase, tremor warriors everywhere!

Hello lovely people!

Before you proceed to say something along the lines of “Another warrior thread huh?” Please note this is not a complaining thread, my intent is to bring some information to light with concern to the state of the game with concern to warriors, where they excel, where they lack, whatever. Last time I talked about warriors, I spoke about their traits specifically some time ago.

My previous effort gave me some more context than before on how Warriors are, Cleansing Ire is seemingly an entirely DIFFERENT issue with warriors that needs more talking about. No, the way Warriors handle conditions needs to be addressed at some future point-

BUT, this isn’t that thread. This thread is about what Warriors like to use, WEAPONS!

We got pretty decent weapon skills! The roles of the weapons for better or worse actually with some thought to how a brutish warrior would handle them, match well! Toss a greatsword on a warrior, he’s gonna cleave things down, give him a hammer, he’s gonna rock the world!

…But, there are problems. Not all weapons are created equal, some are mechanically disadvantaged in some regard, some are doing too much/too little numbers-wise, and some share both problems and just flat out have no real niche.

That’s why I’m here, to help present the problems for better or worse. I welcome criticism and debate with my points, it is healthy to have such things occur for the better of all. With that said, time to talk!

The Axe: A vicious, fast damaging weapon with the sole purpose of inflicting the most damage as possible. Eviscerate is its obvious trademark, the dread of many a ‘squishy’ unprepared foe. It’s auto-attack, vulnerability application and fixation on AoE with concern to Whirling Axe has this particular weapon fill many roles as both a main-hand and off-hand weapon.

But is it broken? Short answer is a no.

Long answer is that of the warrior weapons, the axe is for movement’s sake, the slowest melee 1-handed weapon without a strong crowd control (Throw Axe for a ranged cripple helps, but if that misses you better have a way to close.). The thing I admire so much about the Axe is that it has reliable good roles in both PvE and PvP, much like the Greatsword which I will get to soon. It is the go-to weapon if you want to apply damage and burst to your build.

In SPvP as the warrior you must be ready to either open or close with the Eviscerate, because once the enemy figures out your main-hand axe you know the opponent will be having something to negate that when it comes. And considering the range of many of the Axe moves, there are just enough ways to deal with it that it becomes a game of who makes the wrong move first. In WvW the axe off-hand’s love Whirling Axe is a terrific tool for open-field combat as sustained pressure and damage. Dual Strike’s function seems to encourage it as it can hit twice, cleaving and add up terrific fury duration, a good stat to employ for a power-based warrior. And in PvE, the Axe main-hand is a popular meta-build designed to own dungeons, have at it.

Overall, I could go into detail about why those who seek to see Axe nerfed just to respect to Eviscerate, but there is so much that goes into setting up that one burst skill that it seems kind of moot to talk about Eviscerate as much as what capabilities the warrior has might be leading to the Eviscerate landing. It might be something to debate but my personal opinion is that if you know the warrior has an axe, anticipate it, it’s probably the biggest way to tell the difference in skill and knowledge between one person and another in a 1v1.

(To be continued shortly, feel free to post as I go through weapons. I’ll take these at a decent pace)

What an selfish, naive idea to completely ruin GW2.

OP, and anyone else actually agreeing with the suggestion to add a subscription fee to this game just to ‘remove’ diminishing returns, I seriously recommend you reflect on it far more than now.

Not only would it annul a rather large majority of players from the game from the subscription alone, but the economy as a whole would take a sharper dive than ESO on release.

Seriously, the worst suggestion I have read on any game forum in a long time. Wow.

Yaos.4528:

Don’t worry, people will now complain about the 200 gems per episode if they miss the LS content when it’s current.

About 100x better than it was before. The solution they came up with deals with two problems at once, those who want temporary content to be something special during its duration (in this case, they unlock the episode and a head-start at its rewards for free) and those who can’t make those couple of weeks or months (mind you, 200 gems an episode isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been).

I think we just saw an actual solution to the dilemma that was plaguing everyone for quite some time now, thank god.

John Smith.4610:

Astralporing.1957:

Well, he doesn’t play the game, so he doesn’t see what is obvious to many.

My three level 80’s and Tequatl Greatsword disagree with your statement.

All my rage. My jealous, jealous rage.

Tequatl will continue to support me with his Runes for whatever reason.

Morinmeth.9823:

ZilentNight.5089:

John Smith.4610:

Fungalfoot.7213:

The reason why ANet won’t do anything about flippers hijacking markets is because it benefits them greatly to see these higher prices. Remember that gold as a currency is tied to gems which can be purchased for real money. They hope to drive new players into purchasing gold in order to catch up which is exactly why they keep on nerfing popular farm spots.

Unfortunately this short-sighted greed is having an extremely negative effect on the game as a whole. Short of getting extraordinarily lucky a new player will have no way to ever compete on the market. They’re strangling their own game trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of it.

I don’t agree. The best result for the game and therefor the best result for ArenaNet is for the markets to work as efficiently as possible (usually). Fortunately, the nature of the trading post provides a lot of natural force for markets to work efficiently. While nothing is 100% perfect, the large majority of every part of the game’s economy runs incredibly efficiently and we put a lot of effort into making sure that they remain that way.

Do you consider the precursor and Chaos of Lyssa market working “efficiently”?
I guess quite efficient for the flippers.

Add T6 mats in there too. Their prices are hilarious.

Scratch T6 mats off, there are only so many unique rewards for Crown Pavilion till people who farm gold rewards and tokens convert those to either levels or Heavy Crafting Bags. Considering how much experience one gets from just doing the Boss Blitz…going to take a wild gander that T6 prices in about two weeks will see a definitive drop.

Muchacho.2390:

Holland.9351:

3. Banner should be destroyable

Mesmer clones/illusions: destroyable
Guardian spirit weapon: destroyable
Ranger spirits: destroyable
Elementalist elemental: destroyable
Necromancer minions: destroyable
Engineer turrets: destroyable
Thief thieves: destroyable

None of the above are useable in WvW, except banners.

Well there are more like environmental weapons then minions…

Or bundles, Banners aren’t in any state to be nerfed, hosting a long cooldown on a bundle which gives unique buffs yet requires someone to hold onto it to move around. It works fine in PvE where groups can stay 99% of the time within range of it, but it is a nightmare to consider working with in any open field combat in a PvP setting.

Banners either need to be outright reworked or made easier to utilize considering they eat up one or more essential utilities.

I like to impose some restrictions if you will-

- Siege Ladders are nice, but there has to be a limit on the number of ladders placed on a per wall basis. Maybe 1-2 ladders at any large wall segment (no ladders can be placed on mini walls). Furthermore being fragile and easy to move, let enemies be able to unhinge and throw ladders off the wall, knocking back climbers and destroying the ladder entirely after like a 5 second uninterrupted channel. Lastly, climbers will be unable to do anything as they channel the ladder in an odd animation showing them climb up it. I envision ladders as a means for a group to sneak onto walls, and where using them on a wall with numbers is not the wisest choice.

- Siege Towers are a different story. My thought is something more complex than what you described, here is my version of the tower:

> Takes a high amount of supply, clearing for making a machine capable of taking heat, whether it be 120 or 150.

> Build Restriction: Open Field only, no building of this structure allowed inside allied or enemy keeps. It is a large movable structure, there is more complexity in it than any other siege weapon in the game, even the golems.

> How it works: The Siege Tower is meant as a movable staircase to ascend enemy walls, its infrastructure can support holding infantry and protect them from attacks until the tower reaches the wall and both the top of the tower and the bottom of the tower open, allowing a bridge of sorts. You build it, people actively enter the inside of it and the First person inside drives it slowly (like the supply yak speed) to the wall. It can support…let’s say a cap of 20 people, clicking the structure will tell allies and enemies the number of infantry inside. Once it reaches a predetermined spot on the wall, likely certain highlighted points the driver can see, moving the tower there will open an extra skill called “Open Gates”. The structure then shifts from movement to stationary until it disappears or is destroyed.

> Once stationary, infantry inside the siege tower cascade to the top of the wall immediately, and the tower is now an object which has clickable entrances for allies and enemies to cross back and forth, and the tower itself can still be damaged by enemy fire. The thing is, a Siege Tower is literally a truck, Omega Golems are brutes but the Siege tower is a structure, its akin to a gate or wall. So how do you damage it?

> Fire. Defenders will be able to pick up a torch from the supply huts and use the bundle to stab and throw at the Siege Tower. This “On Fire” debuff stacks intensity, slowly ramping up and burns the tower to the ground. Obviously ally and foe alike going through the Siege Tower gets a healthy dose of ‘Burning’ on them, and yes things like trebs and ballistas do damage the Siege Tower as well. But you want to burn them down right? Also bear in mind that torches aren’t the only things you as defenders can use to apply burning…like another defense siege not commonly used.

> That’s right! Mortars! Mortars are devastating to Siege Towers, which are slow moving and not quite able to dodge incoming shells and fire. It’s silly to run outside your keep with a torch to deal with a Siege Tower that is likely defended by other militia, use your mortars instead! If and when it arrives, grab the torches and all hell breaks loose!

One suggestion that I read and liked the potential of was Belinda Delaqua, Marjory’s Sister.

Probably a great way to tie Canach together with the Brisban investigation…

Sadly, Rifle’s current incarnation in both its capabilities and numbers is below par.

I made a post a while ago with concern to the problems with the Rifle, and some suggestions on how to increase its viability but overall, it needs a lot of help.

Kind of bad that it gets beaten by Longbow in the raw damage department.

Aye, I actually really like Canach as a person and a character. I am hopeful my own ‘suspicions’ about his role in the future are right.

But we will see.

So I decided to stroll over to my good ol’ friend Canach in the Vigil Keep.

He seems to be handling his imprisonment well, especially since he’s been cooperative enough to be a Billet offer for some noble.

Essentially I just got done talking with him and Officer Siriam, apparently LA has a means of trading off prisoners to serve their sentence under another individual, who will take the blame if the prisoner does something bad again. Kind of like an indentured slave until the prisoner finishes his time served then goes free.

Who bought him? “Some human. Had a noble demeanor, so I’m guessing Canach would be some sort of domestic if she bought him…” – Officer Siriam

You can get more details from the Outer Vigil Keep Wall, on the west side. I got a couple of images for proof…

…Who bought him?

Stacking is just the by-product of broken mechanics.

Defiance in its current incarnation is clunky, and mechanics that ‘need to be interrupted lest wipe potentially occur’ are hard to pull off when the varied stacks of defiance ruins timing CC, which in turn would allow for some more complex playing. The only instances where I could think of CC being relevant to a fight in the current state of GW2 is a mob that after every X% toggles a timed channel, and a single hard CC breaks it after defiant stacks are gone.

FGS and Stacking benefit each other mutually, but aren’t always needed for one another. You can still Rush a boss down against the wall even without stacking for it (those are fun groups).

A big highlight pointed out is that there is great benefit in boons in stacking them, might is likely the biggest offender in how boons will cause stacking to almost always negate many mechanics the boss has. A big thing to note is that the dodge mechanic does in fact make and break how well your group can rush through a dungeon, and slightly factors in the success of Stacking.

If you really want to hinder stacking, you don’t gut it hard, you discourage it but still allow for it. Here are some of my thoughts on how to deal with stacking save the most skilled groups:

- Mechanic of a Power-Based Mob: Active Dodging/Blocking and Weakness – Mob will anticipate and dodge frequent attacks, as well as apply constant weakness to prevent enemies from dodging his own attacks.
> I was pleasantly happy to see some of the Toxic mobs from Tower of Nightmares actually do some dodges (albeit, not many were in line with my most brutal attacks). Make that more common, dodging is a huge factor in this game’s design, I want bosses to block or dodge. Though, if you introduce too much mitigation you have to compensate. If I have a mob with a shield that reflects projectiles and will parry, dodge, etc…make him unable to have Defiant stacks!
>Weakness, if used properly, can be potent enough to stop stackers from dodging the next attack they have to avoid! I don’t see Weakness enough, it cuts endurance gain by half and also drastically reduces damage output. However, for the good stacking group, the best response would be to inflict a hard CC, rotating amongst the group while the rest flat-out blow up the power mob!

- Mechanic of a Condition-Based Mob: Chaining Corrupt Boon – Mob will channel a dark ray at one person, turning boons they have into conditions, this effect will apply in an AoE around said person for about 300-600 range. Also does direct damage, and perhaps the mob can Epidemic the conditions at the end of the channel of say…4-5 seconds.
> Mechanic will negatively impact stacking unless the group does something about it actively, only one person needs to not stack to prevent the whole group from suffering…let’s say very potent conditions. It discourages stacking, but does not prevent it if you play it right.

- General Mechanics that discourage but do not prevent stacking:
Potent cleaves every X seconds, Damage Shielding (like Mark T-B34RC3’s buffing turrets, except negating damage outright unless someone channels the object in question.), Exploding Debuff on someone….etc.

The big thing though, that really ought to be mentioned, is that while it is nice to dream of a bit more engaging encounters, the reward for the risk isn’t quite up to snuff. The Triple Golem Fight in SE P1 has impressive mechanics, but the fact that all the mobs can be pulled to die almost immediately depresses me. YET, another problem with that fight is that the damage from the golems is extremely high, with the merged mechanics breakingly-powerful for any normal attempts. The fight could be a bit more fulfilling if the health of the mobs were raised slightly and the damage output they put out reduced drastically.

Gibson.4036:

Where is this weird idea coming from that magic users spend all their time sitting around reading?

The magic users in this game can cast while running, and do dodge rolls that would probably injure most people posting in this thread.

The difference is, in the extreme case of a warrior for example, time was spent to learn spells. The amount of time is uncertain, but a warrior by contrast has spent their whole lives training martially with heavy armor and weapons, a fully physical class without any means to access magic (Signets are a whole other level in the Guild Wars lore, you can go look them up yourself).

That’s what enables them to move as they are able.

Guardians had to spend time mastering a different sort of magic than elementalists or mesmers, I admit it might be harder to determine how they can do spells and wield heavy armor, but perhaps that is why they can’t really do any spectacular movements, and often when they need to move faster, they use magic to help themselves.

I don’t think I need to examine why thieves are capable of their movements.

Rangers are also athletic and have developed a supernatural relationship with nature and their animal companions.

Pretty much, I find Guardians harder to validate how they can still dodge in their heavy armor than Warriors. Going to go with…magic!

For reasons you might not want to know, I must ask you, my fellow warriors to resolve an issue for me.

http://strawpoll.me/1700091

Just a poll and nothing more. Ultimately I am attempting to prove a point to some people who believe that the trait in question despite what it does, ultimately is a trait that “does its job.”

Some people really don’t get it I guess.

Thank you for your participation and interest.

By that logic, light-armored characters should end up having to pause to catch a breath since they are not used to running long distances. Since well after all they are more mind-based, relying on spells and whatnot. The only profession that could feasible move faster than anyone else would end up being a thief, and they are plenty capable of getting away.

ICEing.9237:

I feel like so many players measure AP as a skill base. While yes it can determine how long someone has played for, it doesn’t measure how skilled you are. And while yes there is nothing in game to measure skill at first sight, capping LFG groups at “LFG Zerk Only 7,000+ AP Ping Gear or kick!” Is annoying at the least.

Last night In fractals I had a 21.000 ap guy repeatedly die at various parts more so than everyone else around 3-5k.

However I do agree if someone’s joining my group at high level fractals and has 500 ap I’m gonna kick them. I feel it should be loosely based on something like that to avoid wasting time.

This folks is how in one post you completely contradict yourself!

Bravo!

The problem is not Fast Hands.

The problem is that Strength and Arms offer no offensive alternatives to Cleansing Ire, and that Disclipline has so much more synergy with the Defense tree.

As potent as weapon swapping is, if Strength and Arms actually gave Warriors some amount of power with alternative weapons then the current meta-warrior has, we would see some of those come out more.

Fast Hands is perfectly fine where it is.

Xia.3485:

What I love about GW2 is not having to “leave” to try other games too.

Pretty much this.

GW2 won’t lose out for the simple premise that you don’t actually need to subscribe to it. I could literally take a 3 month hiatus (which I did), and come back and catch myself up quickly.

It’s nice to be able to not worry about paying 15 a month, thus feel the need to get my money’s worth. Instead I can go and do some Hearthstone or Counter-Strike or that $3 game from Steam sale!

Posts like this need more attention, seriously love it +1.