Guild Wars 2

Toolbox.9375:

Or am I setting myself up for disappointment no matter which route I take?

Actually, quite the opposite. All professions are useful, and most builds can be made viable at least for situational play. You just have to figure out not only which skill/gear combinations synergize well with the idea you’re building around, but also what type of playstyle (sieging/roaming/defending/capping/etc) your build is strong and weak against. You don’t have to feel locked in to a flavor-of-the-month build in order to be successful. Part of the fun (at least for me) is coming up with weird builds and finding ways to make them work.

Just roll up a few characters, test out some build ideas in PvP to see what you like, then start leveling in that direction for WvW. The re-trait vendor is very cheap, even at high levels, so it’s easy to fine-tune your ideas without regret.

Here’s an engineer video I found. It’s not a turret build, but looks pretty fun if you want to be mobile. http://youtu.be/PgEyg769cDc

Toversletje.9345:

ive thought about doing something awesome with this trap. gather about 20 thieves who all have this ambush trap unlocked and put them all on the same spot in the WvW jumping puzzle. than all hide and watch the fun as one person triggers them all :p

And have each of those thieves drop tripwires and needle traps all around the area as well.

Elmuerto.9840:

Ambush is a blast with Thieves guild for small fights and I hear ya. They can however attack mobs as said so be careful where you pop them. SIGNET OF SHADOWS some day friends you’ll realise what a waste of a slot that is. Took a while but I kicked the habit too. Till then keep chasing you won’t catch me. Slots change but my general WvW is s/p and sb with Hide in Shadows, Shadowstep, Shadow refuge and Signet of Agility. Coupled with feline grace and expeditious dodger the removal of condition and refill on endurance through the Agility Signet is a nice escaping balance to its Precision boost for crits in attack. Seriously few people catch me and I’m always last man standing to res my group after we’ve been zerged. That’s an optional 2 nontarget shadowsteps and a target shadowstep to shadowstep around wvwvw with roughly 7 consecutive – 14 secs swiftness boost every 30 seconds and whatever in between. Very few catch me if I have to escape and that doubles as getting there first to any map point. Sorry got kind of off topic there when SOS was also mentioned.

Kind of off-topic, but I’ll go to the funny farm with ya. I’ve often thought about ditching Signet of Shadows. The only thing that keeps it on my bar is having an insta-blind as a panic button. If I were to replace it, my top choices would be Signet of Agility or Infiltrator’s Signet because both would fit with my build.

My question to you: Would you still feel mobile enough to drop SoS if you weren’t running a short bow?

K U R O I T S U K I.4980:

SF Player1 Gandalf is late…
SF Player 2 A wizard is never late nor is he early, he is just not coming.

If you saw a P/P thief sitting by himself on the rock outside of your spawn in GoM BL earlier tonight, that was me. I was pointing and waving every time an [LH] would pass by. I wasn’t doing it to be insulting. I’ve had some really fun fights against your guild all week and I was hoping to spark up some 1v1 duels before the tiers get shifted around.

Hopefully, we’ll get a /challenge emote someday.

I use it all the time in WvW, along with Shadowstep and Signet of Shadows. I run a no-stealth acrobatic build and I rely on it heavily if I find myself in a 1v2/1v3. Ambush also works really well as a sort of early detection system to protect your rear if you’re running a treb or cata.

I’ll post a video of it in action later this week once I can sort through some clips.

Hundred Blades isn’t an inherently bad skill. It has a wide hit arc and short cool-down. Obviously, it hits like a truck if someone’s dumb enough to sit around and let you finish the whole combo on them. But it still does decent damage even if you only get a couple of hits in before canceling out of it, plus you get the added benefit of almost guaranteeing your opponent will burn a dodge or breaker to get out of it. I tend to use it as more of a set-up skill than a finisher.

We tricked our PvE’rs into thinking that the devs hid new fractals and jumping puzzles in WvW

You can go to the dungeon vendors in Lion’s Arch (the area right near the asura gates that lead to WvW and PvP). Once you have the shop menu open, you can right-click on items to preview them on your character before you decide if you want to buy it.

Feel free to mix and match from different sets until you get the look you like.

I believe this is the page you’re looking for:
http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/

You can transmute the appearances of level 80 gear with the blue transmutation stones. They can be found in the gem store (or as rare drops from some black lion chests).

Even with the uneven numbers, both SF and HoD still put up great fights where you could. My only complaint with you guys is that you’re far too quiet on the forums. I almost wish you had some trash talkers on your server just so I could chat with my enemies. :P

Also, using cluster bomb in your smoke field will grant area stealth. Basically, a free shadow refuge any time you have 9 ini to spare.

Black Powder is incredibly useful. Just ignore the initial “blind radius” and remember that any projectile finisher you use while standing in it will also cause blindness, even if the enemy is outside of the field radius. For example: pistol and short bow auto-attacks will cause blindness. You can also use Heartseeker as a leap finisher through it for insta-stealth (useful if you’re running D/P).

If anything, traps need a larger radius. That rectangle target is just crap when necros get a nice big radius for their marks.

I enjoyed the video, Sanny. I don’t really care much for the off-hand sword skills, but I like seeing people putting effort into different builds and making them seem fun.

If you didn’t already have those expensive divinity runes in place, I’d suggest trying out a set of centaur runes. Sword + GS are already so incredibly mobile, but there’s always room for more swiftness. Plus, the extra power and bleed duration would fit nicely.

Gem store gift cards for the holidays. Perhaps people are buying extra tomes for their alts.

It’s still the holidays, and attendance will be sketchy for all three servers. Don’t call it quits just yet.

Pick a Guardian if you want to sit behind your sissy aegis all day while your spirit weapons do all the work.

Pick a Warrior if you give zero kittens about personal safety and just want to make your enemies explode.

Source: http://youtu.be/pBMiqNmbiFw

Big ups to SF for the stellar fights in GoM BL tonight. We had some brand new players trying out WvW for the first time on our chat. Before we could even explain to them how anything worked, you guys started pushing hard on both hills and bay at the same time (golem + players at hills, double treb + players at bay).

Two or three hours of intense back-and-forth fighting later, we were finally able to push you back and reclaim our southern towers. In that span, those new players were able to use siege equipment on both defense and offense, got a major crash course in the importance of upgrades and supply, and experienced one of the most fun fights I’ve seen since launch. Needless to say, they had the time of their lives. Kinda hits right in the feels to see them get so excited about it in the chat.

So, thanks for showing our newbies some WvW action at its finest. I hope we can repay that favor and give you the kind of fights that’ll keep your new players coming back for more.

Anybody got a score update? Sitting at work looking at a day-old scoreboard.

Alverick.1783:

aww you usually 2 shot anything that moves with your rotation but now you have to use your brain.I feel really sad for you *sniff :’(

He’s asking for advice and trying to learn. Go be a kitten elsewhere.

@Oreoriginal: Mesmers aren’t too bad to deal with as long as you figure out which one is the real one. Clones only auto-attack, so make sure you target the one who’s dodging around and using other skills. Also, mesmers are pretty squishy, so don’t bother blowing your whole rotation in one go. Your regular attacks will hit them plenty hard enough to keep them honest.

Time your utility cooldowns so that you always have at least one CC ready when the opportunity presents itself. As with fighting any class, try to make them burn their utils and dodges unnecessarily (example: a lot of people seem to confuse GS-5 for Bull’s Charge and pop their stun-breakers for no good reason). The goal is to keep the pressure up while watching for them to make a mistake, then burst them down.

And lastly, know when to press and when to back off. Some fights just end up being a huge time sink when you could have been more useful someplace else. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging a stalemate and continuing about your business. You’re more mobile than they are, so you can choose to end the fight at any time.

Happy hunting!

FilthyRatkitten.8953:

Heros Slayer.7081:

i hope someone from a.net reads this thread. maybe then they will change some things with the match making system to allow for more servers to fight this evenly. It would definitely help the game if we had more threads where instead of complaining “you outnumber us” or “you guys aren’t that good” there is more like what we have here which is a bunch of giving props to other servers and being friendly even among enemies.

I think much of it has to do with the people on the servers, this match is so competitive you would expect more trash talking. Makes me dislike DR even more for all their trash talk even when they were winning by hundreds of thousands of points.

Nope, no trash talk here. Most of the loudmouths from our server jumped ship for easier rides long ago. Those of us who are left just love the fight. It seems SF and HoD are both in a similar situation.

I guess that’s one upside to all the free transfers.

Heros Slayer.7081:

so SM is under siege right now by both SF and us (HoD)…wow the lag…we are all in the lords room, including GoM, with a pretty sizeable zerg. I cant even use my skills due to the lag, and my shortbow is shooting slower than my longbow normally does…

Have you tried leaving SM and sieging it again later?
I’ve heard that works. :P

Anybody got a score update for those of us stuck at work?

I use a superior sigil of hydromancy on my greatsword. Since I’m using GS mainly to HB a stunned opponent or to break stun and escape combat, that aoe chill is a life-saver.

For the hammer, I’m currently using a superior sigil of paralyzation for the extra stun duration. But I’ve been considering switching to a superior sigil of fire because, well… explosions.

iCryptik.1496:

Can you link your exact build? I really want to give this a go. Also, how is your mobility?

Edit: never mind, just realized you linked the build in the video!

Mobility isn’t as good as if I were running GS with Sword+Warhorn, but it’s still pretty awesome. Signet of Rage gives 30 seconds of swiftness every minute and the trait Warrior’s Sprint is a perma 10% speed boost while equipped with a melee weapon. GS 3 and 5 is pretty much all I need to get around. But it’s still pretty easy to swap to a warhorn set outside of combat if I really need to get across a whole map quickly.

The trait Death From Above halves your falling damage, plus I run with Healing Signet most of the time. Almost any falling damage I take is healed by the time anyone notices what happened.

I don’t recommend Healing Signet for a long drawn-out fight because the burst heal on it is so terrible. But if you’re doing quick jump-in-and-blow-stuff-up strikes, it’s perfect.

As long as it stays close like this, we’ll probably get the same match-up again next week. Should be even more intense with everyone returning from the holiday break.

Just treat 4 as an extra stun and put it into the combo wherever you feel you need breathing room. Just remember that it’s the currently only hammer skill that roots you, so it’s typically best to use it on already-stunned enemies.

That’s why I roll with GS as my swap. Close gaps with GS-5 and 3 (and build adrenaline), swap and go straight to Hammer F1 – 5 – 4 – 3 (several ways to vary this combo effectively), then swap back to GS (with superior rune of hydromancy) and finish with HB and GS-3 to start the whole cycle over again as needed.

With this setup, you’re focusing one person at a time all while keeping everyone around you locked down.

I think it’s because most of skins are really thin. If they would just widen the design a bit, those hammers would appear more heavy-looking and menacing. As it stands, the mace skins look way more punishing.

Thanks for the compliments! It was a fun video to make. I’m hoping I can get enough footage for a good Rampage video soon. That skill gets no love.

@Tequilapear: The pirate anchor is my favorite. Unfortunately, most of the hammer skins are just downright awful. I wanted to save up and make the legendary one, but I changed my mind as soon as I saw someone running around with one.

As much as I love hammer, ditch it for dungeons. Several of the mobs are immune to knockdowns and stuns (you’ll simply get interrupts instead) and the cooldowns are too long. Go with pure damage weapons instead, like Rifle and Axe/Axe.

As for gear, pow/vit/tough is ideal, but not necessary. Just get in, do as much damage with axe/axe and tank for as long as you can, then rotate out and switch to rifle until you heal up. Your overall dps will still be quite high, even if specced for tanking.

GoM is playing to lose this week, apparently. Zerging a camp and allowing 10 invaders and a golem to take hills.

Get it the kitten together, people.

Lightsbane.9012:

TeamBattleAxe.3901:

While you guys were squabbling on the forums like a bunch of old ladies, I was doing this:
http://youtu.be/pBMiqNmbiFw

In all seriousness, though, this week was really fun. Hats off to both NSP and AR for the great fights and closest scoring 3-way match-up of the week. I’m sad to see DR taking our place in this tier. We’ll go ahead and hang out with HoD and SF for the holidays, but we’ll be back. And DR better watch their backs.

So long, and thanks for all the badges!

very well done, salad. it’d be my pleasure to fight with you.

Hahaha… I guess it’s settled that my next sylvari character will be named Oh Snap Im A Salad.

The song is called “Carmina’s Choir”. It’s from a company called Source in Sync that licenses out stock music for film/television/etc.

I actually found it through the epic 8-hour megamix video on youtube. TONS of good stuff in there. I highly recommend checking it out if you dig that kind of music.
(8-hour mix found here: http://youtu.be/kTcqe062dxc)

Kardiamond.6952:

@TeamBattleAxe

Awesome video man

I love when someone can make music and video flow togheter)

Thanks!
You Anvil Rock people are pretty aerodynamic.

http://youtu.be/pBMiqNmbiFw

No claims of grandeur or pro skill here, just a really fun Hammer/Greatsword build I’ve been running around with for the past week. This build focuses on tower/keep defense and zerg busting via Death From Above, Stomp, and Fear Me in addition to the regular crowd control skills from Hammer and the mobility of Greatsword skills.

I currently run all pow/vit/tough gear with ruby orbs and Berserker accessories. Sometimes I swap out Signet of Rage for Rampage if we’re really under pressure from close-range enemy siege. There’s a link to my current build in the video description. Suggestions are always welcome!

Try it out if you want a change of pace from the regular damage-oriented builds. There’s a whole ton of fun to be had by launching or fearing people off of cliffs.

I don’t think leap-frogging this tier would be in our best interests. We belong in Tier 6, at least for the time being. It’s provides us with a good challenge and room to grow, and it’s definitely winnable if we can convert some more WvW players to our ranks.

We’d get rolled by sheer population in Tier 5.

While you guys were squabbling on the forums like a bunch of old ladies, I was doing this:
http://youtu.be/pBMiqNmbiFw

In all seriousness, though, this week was really fun. Hats off to both NSP and AR for the great fights and closest scoring 3-way match-up of the week. I’m sad to see DR taking our place in this tier. We’ll go ahead and hang out with HoD and SF for the holidays, but we’ll be back. And DR better watch their backs.

So long, and thanks for all the badges!

Bearacus clearly does not math well.

Kodiack.2783:

From what I’ve observed over the past week.

During NA Primetime – 6pm 12am , NSP comes in third with AV and GOM making it a good fight for first.

During the weekend its a very close match, NSP never had a lead above 10k.

During off-peak hours Night and day crews, NSP pulls ahead during the week, M-F.

So right now NSP’s off peak crews are carrying it this match. If AR and GOM want to make a push for 1st they will need to focus on NSP as much as they can to keep their off peak lead from getting out of reach.

Too late for this match but something to think about for next week.

-K

Just found this nifty feature on millenium. I know I’m probably late to the party on this one, but I never bothered clicking on server history before.

Chart data for the week:
http://mos.millenium.org/servers/view/43

Rob.7624:

Faranox.4217:

Kodiack.2783:

Morningstar.6208:

Anvil Rock don’t drop the ball! Get your self together and attack GoM!

We’re doing our part. NSP is slacking.

This seems backwards.
Shouldn’t us and GoM be working together to attack the winning team…?

No.
GoM should be attacking AR for second place.
And NSP should be attacking AR because they still have a shot at winning.

If GoM attacks NSP you basically admit defeat and you will most definitely come last.
Which is what I found amusing this evening. When the GoM Commander started to poke the Lion that is the NSP zerg.

Os Castle is ours forevermore.
And you paid the price for damaging its perfect walls with your keep.

It’s a pity I’ve yet to really see much of NSP in action this week. You sound like a lively bunch to tangle with during your peak hours. Unfortunately, you guys hide behind that pesky time zone thing and we’re left to fight with AR over freebie NSP property until the wee hours of the morning.

Perhaps next time we get matched up, we can set some time aside for a proper fight.

It’s still mathematically possible for GoM to take 2nd place, then DR would send AR to T7 instead.

… Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Kardiamond.6952:

Are you talking about the lone redtower in in GoM BL? It’s TeamBattleAxe’s fault! He tried to make us, NSP and AR, fight between us and leave you alone. So I got 10 man, and went into GoM BL to make you work a bit. :P

I’m sorry I missed out.
I was busy taking things in AR’s BL last night.

Rob.7624:

TeamBattleAxe.3901:

Rob.7624:

TeamBattleAxe.3901:

Wryscher.1432:

What the hell is going on in this thread?? One page is 2 people from the same server fighting, the next is 2 people from different servers fighting over whose server is the most messed up. This tier is really messed up!

GoM psychological warfare is proceeding quite swimmingly.
Soon, Tier 6 will be ours!

Hmm I did notice as we were bashing on Anvil Rock all the GoM guys just kind of stood there and went, “You know guys, we’re just going to watch. Please, continue”.

It’s a tactic we’ve been practicing should the day ever arise when Anet decides to make character deaths permanent.

I would love to see a perma dead WvW match.
That would be awesome.
Goodbye stupid zergs and hello elementist/Guardian fest.

It would make the game so much more.. win

It could work if it were something like, if you die, that character is out of the matchup until the next day. You’d still be allowed to use all of your characters each day, because hey, it’s extra money to Anet for those character slot purchases and player incentive to grind out more 80’s.

As for strategy… Bro, do you even siege? Or do you form Mad Max-style hunting parties to pick off stragglers? Commanders, even the crappy ones, will be that much more valuable, and killing one would be huge for your server.

Just imagine how much more internet hatred there will be towards thieves. Those tears of rage will taste delicious.

Rob.7624:

TeamBattleAxe.3901:

Wryscher.1432:

What the hell is going on in this thread?? One page is 2 people from the same server fighting, the next is 2 people from different servers fighting over whose server is the most messed up. This tier is really messed up!

GoM psychological warfare is proceeding quite swimmingly.
Soon, Tier 6 will be ours!

Hmm I did notice as we were bashing on Anvil Rock all the GoM guys just kind of stood there and went, “You know guys, we’re just going to watch. Please, continue”.

It’s a tactic we’ve been practicing should the day ever arise when Anet decides to make character deaths permanent.

Wryscher.1432:

What the hell is going on in this thread?? One page is 2 people from the same server fighting, the next is 2 people from different servers fighting over whose server is the most messed up. This tier is really messed up!

GoM psychological warfare is proceeding quite swimmingly.
Soon, Tier 6 will be ours!

Dovgan.8605:

@TeamBattleAxe oh no sir, not falling for that one a third time.

Oh well, there’s always next week. Maybe. :P

I think you two need to settle this by storming each other’s borderlands. We’ll watch over EB ’til you get back.

I agree. I hate analogies, but that was spot on.

AR has a rivalry with AR.