Guild Wars 2

DiogoSilva.7089:

It was elegant and, for the most part, actually quite successful.

If anything, I feel it’s failed.
Try map completion on a new toon. You will be forced to go to a few scouts just to reveal several hearts that were previously always visible like the rest.
Ask players about the GLORIOUS level-up tutorial on Combo-fields.
Go ahead, ask 10 players what a Dark field and a Whirl finisher will do.
I’ll be surprised if some don’t say “Whats a Dark field?”
In order to “learn how to dodge” a player has to go around a specific section of the map, which can be completely missed.

They aren’t real tutorials. It’s clunky to both new and old players.
It doesn’t streamline how to play the game any smoother or better. I’ve bought the game for a few of my friends and watched the NPE fail and create lazy and terrible players from its design.
Traits weren’t as ridiculous as 100% Map completion of FGS for an ADEPT trait either.
It was “successful” in the way that people had no choice but to deal with it regardless of how terrible it is. Why do you think the NPE is the running joke?

Palador.2170:

Question 7: Will it be possible to double up on a Specialization? Example: An Elementalist going Water/Water/Arcane? While I strongly suspect the answer is “No”, I feel it’s worth getting it clarified.

If that was actually an option, that could open up some interesting build combinations.
Sadly, doubt it, but still a cool idea!

Donari.5237:

Guys, can we perhaps move the discussion of implications of the changes to another thread and keep this one focused on lists of questions for the AMA? It’s going to be hard for the AMA people to catch some of the questions in the last couple of pages since they’re surrounded by debate about build diversity.

To be fair, build diversity IS a topic they should be asked about.
Especially since its one of the major selling points in GW2.
Your build is what also set you apart from people of the same profession.
Your traits (if you chose to do so) made you unique, different and changed how you played compared to others.
It’s one of the reasons making multiple characters isn’t stagnant and boring, because you could practically always try something new and make something unique.

ronpierce.2760:

They are doing some big passes and I’m sure more will come with time as metas start to settle. Rejecting something based on expected failures doesn’t help promote positive change, we will just have to hope for the best, and if it turns out bad, at least the system is interesting and usable, they will just have to do their jobs at making corrections.

Anet’s track record is what’s promoting this negative attitude. They haven’t done much to reinforce it recently. I was stoked for HOT until this announcement came into play, coming from a guy with 18 characters with 3k+ hours.
All it reads is NPE v2. That doesn’t sit well with me.

ronpierce.2760:

phys.7689:

Snip

If you run in 4 trees right now you’d be, what, 4/4/4/2/0? I refuse to believe losing 2 points in some tree somehow breaks all possible functionality of a build that can’t be made up for by having 6/6/6 instead. I don’t know of any builds that specific. And while, sure you lose out on some cool builds your way, you’re also gaining the opportunity to make 3 Grandmaster trait builds which was never before possible, which opens up a lot of exciting options. Generally speaking, GMs are more game changing than adept traits you make have spread over 4-5 trait lines.

If a good chunk of GM traits weren’t garbage or broken I would agree with you, but there’s a reason people are also upset about not being able to slot Adept or Master tier traits in the new system. Because alot of GM traits aren’t appealing or good for their build whilst the rest of the tree is.

phys.7689:

if you werent playing a meta build, there is a very high chance your build will die.

To add to this, it also kills the “play how you want” philosophy.
My builds may not be ‘optimal’ but I play them, I find them fun.

If I can’t play how I want and enjoy, I won’t be playing at all. I most certainly won’t be encouraging others to either.

1 Charge = 1 Change.
If say you are using an Axe and you have a skin in the wardrobe you wish to use on both your offhand and main hand, it will require 2 charges.

Zania.8461:

They might streamline the MF currencies. Turn them into a single currency (perhaps even redesign the MF interface and make it an actual currency and not a bank clogging set of items).

Yeah, instead of SP, everything now costs GOLD.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they are doing this to create even more goldsinks into the game, especially for Legendaries.

Except the “if all the traits remain” isn’t the case. You are stuck with picking 1 trait out of 3 per tier of Anet’s choosing. Which could indeed be all garbage traits. (Deceptive Evasion might not even exist.)

If Deceptive evasion is tied into something critical for a Mantra trait for instance, sucks to be you. You can’t even slot the grandmaster to take it now, since they are all locked.

Josh Davis.6015:

A few notes:

• You can cleanse conditions from turrets.
• You cannot heal turrets – nothing has changed in this area. (The exception of course being Thwack, Whack, Smack, and Autotool Installation.
• While boons do not currently affect turrets, this is something we might consider changing in the future depending on how the changes I mentioned in my original post pan out.

It won’t be the Turret Engie doing reliable cleansing of its own turrets anyways. They have no method of doing so outside Healing Turret which they aren’t going to waste on such.
Every other AI can be healed from other sources. Minions, Pets, Spirits. 5% is pretty laughable with this new change as well. Especially since apparently Poison is going to counter this.

Khenzy.9348:

I hate when a company knee-jerk reacts to complaints and proposes a quick and poorly thought out way to end them.

This isn’t the first time either.
When the community screamed bloody murder over Automated Response saying it was ‘the reason turret engies dominate conquest’
Anet, the oh so creative devs they are, decided to listen to the crowd and nerfed the trait into the ground.
Turrets are still around. One less trait usable across any build.

Now that it didn’t work, they are taking the more direct approach and just destroying an entire build instead because the previous complaint wasn’t enough (surprise, surprise).

Bran.7425:

Talonblaze.3175:

Chill on slowing down cooldowns should come into this case, especially since Chill is something with fairly low duration and few application.

If the turret actually had a skill of it’s own beyond it auto attack that might work, but as it currently (as far as I know) the additional skill is the use activated skill on the engineer itself which you could already chill. Seems a bit odd to picture that working as you seem to think it does.

Don’t see why it couldn’t be changed to work on the Turret utility skill. Not sure if Ranger pets have the same/similar issue on the F2 but if they are reworking them to take conditions, don’t see why that can’t be the case.

So wait…. Let me get this straight.

This isn’t just choosing between one or the other. It’s BOTH.
Your comparison was other classes AI, and yet, you are only giving them the downsides and not the upsides that come with such?

I’m not a fan of Turret Engies in PvP but honestly this is ridiculous.
The condition apply aspect alone is a HUGE nerf to Turret Engies alone and you want to add crits into the mix?

Other AI get boons, the ability to crit, hell of alot shorter cooldowns and also aren’t completely worthless without investing heavily into them solely just to make them USABLE, not to mention they are also mobile.

Unless the health of the turrets is significantly increased, this is a joke of a nerf in my opinion. Especially if it encompasses WvW and PvE where Turrets are already in a bad place.

Should there be counterplay to Turret Engies? Of course. But should be rewarded for skillful play.
If anything, select conditions should only apply to Turrets.
-Blind
-Chill
-Burning
-Slow (When implemented)

Blinding a turret, especially in some of its key moments of using attacks rewards skillful play. Especially having to decide between using such on the engie versus his turret. Few classes have access to such, especially in droves, but usually it makes a difference.

Chill on slowing down cooldowns should come into this case, especially since Chill is something with fairly low duration and few application.

Burning is one of the few damaging conditions I would accept. For a few reasons (besides making the most sense); much like chill, it has only a few applications and does moderate damage especially for those investing in it. Also much like chill, it tends to be fairly short.

Any other conditions added into such I feel are just way to over the top in completely shutting down any usefulness turrets have in a group or even for self defense as an Engie. Especially since the Engineer practically has absolutely no way to even cleanse his own turrets. Making it a complete reversal of a balance issue. The counterplay no longer has counterplay.

The above conditions I feel are the only additions that need to be made. They don’t need to be critically hit, nor do they need Torment/Bleed/Poison/Fear/Cripple/Immobilize added into the mix, just because they can.

Those are conditions a person should be applying to the Engineer anyways.
If one is going to go full boar on the condition and crit side as well, the boon and able to crit should be give as well. Fair is fair.

I believe the title was added when the Gauntlet was re-released. The notes in that fashion were, even if you beat Liadri before (the first release) you would need to defeat her again for the title since it wasn’t retroactive.

Depends, are you playing seriously or just casually?

Often times, I myself as a fellow mesmer do also groan when I see another join my team. (Which surprisingly enough is generally the only class I groan when I see more than one of…)
I usually bite the bullet though. My spec is usually different than most, so I often hope the difference in builds leads to a benefit than cripple.
It’s usually a toss up if so, but I never assume its a fail. More surprising victories have come out of such plays, that and if the other 3 are decent as well can still be a powerful combo. So, I take my losses and trust they are competent.

GoogleBrandon.5073:

What Roe said;

Basically, the option is there for “Glass” builds – think of full Condi or Power… I am not gonna debate the usefulness of tank builds, because I frankly do not care – but in my opinion and looking with the Condi build I have been familiar with since I dared to step into PvP, this is a huge plus

While this may be nice and good for the glass condi builds, it cut the effectiveness of one of the few “tanky” Necro builds there.
I still feel its previous rendition was nerfed into oblivion even with this fix. It was one of the few things that stopped necro from being the ping-pong joke it was and now, still is.
Hammer warriors? Hah.
Engies? Hah.
Fear Necros? Hah.
Interrupt Mesmers? Hah.
Foot In The Grave pretty much always made sure that if you wanted to keep fighting and always be on your feet rather than on your kitten 90% of the time, you would be. Making it highly effective against many of the CC builds and lockdown attempts, especially against the builds above. Now, we don’t even have that option.

Don’t get me wrong, the stunbreak is awesome. However, its not enough to bring it back anywhere near to its former glory imo. Especially for a GM trait.

Blocked
Invulnerable
Blind
Evaded
Obstructed
Out of Range

If this is Anet’s way of making us use our abilities ‘smart’, I’ll pass and just use it for passive bonuses that are 100% more reliable unless its Longbow.

Watch it be a China exclusive like the Mystical Dragon mini.

While it would be nice for the condi removal to also proc on cast, I’m glad its not solely so. I’d take the 6 condi removal on heal over 2 on charge if I had to pick between the two.

Though I think it would be a bit too potent if it did so on charge too. Already got 6 groups of 2 cleanses with Resolve on top. It’s enough to make most condi specs rage. XD

He ain’t part of my team until I know he isn’t a back-stabbing cabbage. So far, his sneakiness doesn’t lend well given his dealings with Anise.

That and who knows how resistant he is to Mordy’s corruption. He isn’t exactly a white knight like Trehearne.

To be honest, this isn’t much of a buff and more of a bandaid.

I am one who always feels prevention is always better than being affected by something to begin with. Which FitG did very well when popped DS.

It being a Stunbreak still offers very little. DS was instant cast to begin with. If you saw a Hammer warrior or such, you popped it before hand. Not after and you shut them down.

Plus, the 1 Stab stack is still laughable. Necros will still be ping-pongs.
The hits you could have prevented outright before do not overshadow how much you will be hammered after you waste your DS now.

3 seconds of pure stability on a 6sec cooldown (and if you pop it for the pure stability only, its effectively only 3 seconds CD of pure anti-cc), far outweights 1 stunbreak and one CC prevention afterwards.

In a duel of 1v1? It’s okay. In a group fight? I think a +50% crit will make all your teammates happier.

The old FitG was still better. Prevention is always better than a bandaid.
The old one, you could pop it in preparation and take ALL the CC’s thrown at you for the duration.

Now, you get to stop one measly CC whilst IN DS and in order to make use of the Stunbreak you have to be nailed firsthand out of DS.

Still not worth it being in a GM slot, sorry. Still a nerfed PoS.

To be honest, such a choice should really depend on the team.
It’s a noob trap if uncoordinated.

Generally in pugs, going for the beast first isn’t usually a solid idea, mostly because of the fight at keep and other points.
If you have a solid team of 3 up at keep for the first bit, a few seconds to take down the beast isn’t usually an issue given you aren’t scoring points at the contested point. Also, arriving late can sometimes give you the upper hand on getting the drop on enemies.

However, usually this doesn’t tend to work out that way.
One has to not only have map awareness, but also the enemies team composition.

Thief on the foe? Best avoid it until its oppertune.
Solid dps foes and yours isn’t that hardy of a group? Better to support at mid foremost.

There has been a few matches where taking the beast has made or broke the game. No different than the Lord in foefire imo. A good team won’t usually need it, but sometimes it can be the turning point of a match.

To be honest. I don’t mind the tail clipping. I’ve seen alot worse and its not all that bad.

The SHOULDERS however are the biggest pains in the tail. 90% of shoulders I don’t even toggle on because of how ridiculously oversized they are. Anet has in the past modified SOME of the shoulders, but very few and it leaves me scratching my head why.
Take for instance Banded Pauldrons in contrast to their almost EXACT countpart (except bigger) Guild Defender Shoulderplate.
Why can’t they use the same treatment? Shrink em kittenmit. Even my biggest charr still doesn’t fill those floating gaps. There’s no reason for it.

I still find it funny how they nerfed Automated Response thinking ‘this will put those turret engies in their place!’ and here they are still today, with one less trait worth using for other builds.

Also keep in mind, all but the exclusive dyes can be crafted from chef, similar to the unidentified means, but also with the opportunity of picking from a specific spectrum.

Well, technically reveal only applies once it hits a target, not when they attack. So yeah, if they get enough distance and lob the barrage well enough, you won’t see it coming.

Thieves are the same way, thats why they don’t get revealed on a dodge, block or blind. It has to actually hit something to remove stealth.

I also wouldn’t mind this, especially for the Ascalonian weapons as the blue glow effect isn’t always desirable.

When a player gets down too many times, they will instantly go to the defeated state when they reach 0 HP again. Also warriors who activate Vengeance will also immediately become defeated if they don’t successfully rally after the time limit.

Tissitra.4153:

Deathshroud is not comparable to an invulnerability skill. Just imagine a power necro spamming lifeblast while being immune to say cc…

Foot in the Grave used to provide such an immunity till the nerf hammer, even if briefly.
Despite it not being exactly like an invulnerability, some are trying to treat as one for sake of argument.

NeXeD.3042:

Since when can an ele mist form when in moa form……

The reverse, an ele doesn’t have to worry about Moa whilst in mist form. A necro does in and out of DS.

There is one skill that makes Necro’s tank class mechanic utterly worthless; Moa. Not something that the other invulnerabilities or evasions have to deal with.

When someone pops mist form, or the like they can be perfectly assured that they will take no extra damage (save from existing conditions). Necro’s don’t get that luxury. Moa completely shuts down their primary defense mechanic (along with several other things like Minions for siphon or their spiker of Lich).

Which is another thing regarding DS vs invulnerable skills. You can be spiked or disabled. Which makes DS more of a bandaid than a real defense mechanic.

As for the healing whilst in DS?
I feel that the application should not apply to one’s main pool of health. (Making Unholy Sanc still unique)
However, I do feel that boons should have the full effect as their condition counterpart, but only affecting the LF bar whilst active. The regen boon would likely at most just stave off the natural LF degeneration anyways.

Other healing sources should affect LF as well. This encourages teams to help support a necro when they need or desire it, especially for defensive options.
Would it be OP?
Hardly, I think more people would be concerned with a team healing with a Lich form being healed and supported, than a necro in deathshroud.

To be perfectly honest, its those sections of the game I enjoyed the most all the way up to Claw Island.
When the choices stopped mattering and it all essentially was the same thing for every character afterwards, I lost interest in the story after the 3rd time. Especially since the choices later hardly had any impact at all. (Even LESS now that Greatest Fear has been removed.)

I always felt the beginning helped define the characters alot more. Especially with some of the branching choices there. Not to mention alot of the characters in the beginning had alot more personality and likability.

That and you also learned alot about the races and the culture around them as well a bit more intimately. Later in the story, whether your Charr who loves war or a peace loving Sylvari (pre-mordrem), your choices and actions are the same.

Which blows imo.

Isn’t most of the stuff on their SoundCloud?

Don’t worry Gwen, I know you miss being near the Scrying pool. Things will be back to normal.

Naw, they seem to like picking on the zone. The tower itself wasn’t enough they had to add in another hit to Fort Salma too just for good measure.

Will they fix it?
Probably not.

I’m actually quite disappointed how much this GM trait got hammered this patch for Necro, especially in the pvp aspect.

I tended to like running my tank shroud build and was quite happy when I wasn’t being tossed around like a ping-pong ball as usually whenever I popped shroud. Was good for secure rezzing and stomping.
It’s not like necro’s get a huge access to stability in the first place and yet this handy trait I found was severely cut in effectiveness.

But now that its only 1 stack, is it even worth taking anymore? This kinda goes for all modes as well since it came in handy for some pve and wvw aspects as well.

If not, any other suggestions for a shroud necro then to take its place?
I already have Near to Death, Vital Persistence, Unholy Sanc, Death shiver and Shroud Removal. Looking for something to compliment the tanky side of shroud.

I’d rather have a decent immobilize than wasting efforts attempting to ‘interrupt’ a class that is technically immune to it by nature. This goes for any class against a thief, not just mesmer. (Yes, even thief.)

As for my opinion on PB being OP if its affecting thief skills? Not particularly.
Given Daze or Stuns render all skills except stunbreakers unusable for their duration, I still see thieves able to recover from that more times than not with the various methods they have.

A single skill out of 15 for 5 seconds is minor. That’s IF you are lucky enough to interrupt the cast times of most thief skills which are usually about 1/4.
The trait, even if it did work against thieves still isn’t that great. The thief would still have its initiative (unless he used one of the few skills that actually consume initiative during rather than after the cast) and several other skills to utilize.
Also if it happened to be his big opener or finisher, he’ll simply disengage or improvise.

It’s better to focus on bursting back or preventing theirs rather than trying to pick out an individual skill to interrupt with a thief. The only time that an interrupt would be prime would be the stealth heal, its telegraphed and probably one of the longest casting times a thief has to deal with.

I don’t think the trait was ever that great to start off with except the Rezz/Stomp bug if battling a Thief was the intention.

If anything its gotten easier to get transmutation charges than it was before.

The methods haven’t changed all too much really. The majority comes from map completion as it used to.
The addition of it as a PvP reward and Daily login has made it alot more accessible than it was previously.
I have over 100 charges and I’ve never bought a single one from the store.

As for the method prior, they were simply transmutation stones. The yellow ones (most common) only allowed transmuting gear between 1-79. Blues were 80 or under. They did away with that system and made it universal. That was the only difference really.

This would probably be better if instead of the LFG system automatically accepting join requests, there’d be an option to allow one to accept the join request much like it would in open world.

Allowing one to see the name, account tag and class before joining in if so desired.
Would be a fair anti-troll measure and provide some utility to making the LFG tool to work a bit better.

mtpelion.4562:

This is correct. Your ability to forge a precursor is not being negatively impacted, however your chance at different skins and weapons/armor with sigils/runes was improved.

To be perfectly honest, I consider it a downgrade as well. Most named exotics are 80 as well as those with unique looking skins.
Adding in the ranges of 78 and 79 ish gear makes those harder to obtain too.

Not to mention some of us, when putting in level 80 gear, prefer to get back 80 gear, just in case it then becomes a stat combo I can use on another character. Anything below 80 I consider a waste of 4 exotics and salvage material at that point.

Not really impressed, especially with the lack of customization and not even a bundled/full set.

Pass.
This is coming from a guy who leaps at the word ‘dragon’ in anything.

I think the only researcher that would be qualified to handle this as of now with the new revelation is Gorr. As he seems to be the leading expert on dragons and magic, perhaps he could explain the sylvari phenomenon better than anyone else. Vorpp no doubt has notes and research that others could learn from.

zaced.7948:

Ayrilana.1396:

Pecar.1236:

so why is there this fractal level range when fractal lv10 give you almost same reward as lv49 (there is some bonus chance drop to ascended but its small) this is why people hate this why i go play hard dungeon when super easy other dungeon is quicker and give me better reward?

Higher fractals do have exclusive rewards.

a tonic you can’t even sell and perhaps infused rings (yay, more rings), amazing.

They also have a higher chance of getting other ascended gear than other places. Such as armor and weapons.
Don’t forget fractal exclusive skins.
Which all improve the higher the frac is.

Crystal Reid.2481:

The designer behind the Vinewraith was Lisa Davis. You might remember her from such releases such as the Marionette, and Super Adventure Box! (But really, there isn’t just one boss designer on the Living World as all the designers contribute to the encounters in both design, implementation, and feedback. They all deserve cookies.)

Surprisingly all content that was all well received, which certainly is an impressive feat to hit 3 marks in a row in such a fashion.

You can have those, as long as the males can choose them too. Seems fair.

Besides, historically speaking most of what is now considered women’s fashion was also male. Dresses, high heels, makeup, wigs, bright flashy colours, long and flowing and even with symbols like butterflies (which are considered rather regal).

Not all sylvari are corrupted as proved with various individuals with strong minds. Your characters likely possess that same aspect.

Oh hey, I got that exact same warhorn today from the chest as well! Level, sigil and everything! Rather amusing. XD

sminkiottone.6972:

If you dont like people doing PvP maybe you should try some PVE JP, OS is the place where trolls gather and plot to conquer the world

I’m a Tiger so far in PvP and rank 178 in WvW, I do PvP.
However, OS has no real point to it besides being a place to troll.
If I wanted to duel, I’ll go to an Arena, if I wanted a full scale fight, I’ll actually play WvW.

There is no purpose to OS even from a PvP standpoint other than to be a legal grief. That’s only enjoyable for said griefers.