Guild Wars 2

Please make the spawn locations fixed, or at least closer together. It’s nearly impossible for a small group (9-15 people) to find even a single boss (with 300 spawn locations), and the fact that other guilds are competing for them makes it worse.

Can you imagine how annoying it is that 90% of your guild misses a bounty because your boss goes down seconds before they get there?

At first I was very excited about the new guild bounty missions. I love playing with my guildmates, they’re close friends and fun people to hang with.

But after trying a few of the bounties, I can honestly say this:

“These missions are purposefully designed to puppy over small guilds.”

Take Sotzz the Scallywag for example. My guild got a group of 9-15 players together. He has 300 possible spawn locations. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to not even be able to find a single boss? Or to see another, much larger, guild finish him off while your guild tries to race to his location?

For the love of Pete, reduce the number of spawn spots, increase the timer or let us pick the boss. A challenge is fine, fun even, but frustration just for the sake of it is a good way to get players to leave the game.

P.S. Please don’t merge this with the large ‘merge-all-so-we-can-ignore-it’ thread. It’s a valid concern, and it needs to be heard.

Guild Bounty Bosses. It takes our group of 9 nearly 15 minutes just to find one of them being beaten by another guild, forcing us to search again.

Awesome design…

Mujen.5287:

Anet has already stated that they will eventually be adding player homes, and expanding your “home district” at a later time.

Almost correct. They have stated that they would like to, but also that they’re not actively working on either player homes or guild halls.

Spitting in the face of those who bought the game especially for that, and trusted them when they stated it would be added ‘at a later date’.

It may just be me, but the bounty claims the boss is near Steeleye Span…well, Lowland Burns is NOT near Steeleye Span.

As member of a reasonably large guild, we just tried to do a bounty with a group of 9.

We searched the entire map for the first of the bosses, and when we finally did find it, another guild beat it before we could get to it.

Guess I’d better use the cheap method of finding them first, then starting bounty like all the other losers out there…

So I remember Anet discussing how they didn’t like games where players would compete for kills, and instead they divised a system that shared loot.

So why doesn’t this apply to guild bounties? Sure, if 2 guilds work together, they both get credit…but if nobody mentions in the chat that they’re fighting said boss, the bounty will reset. Thus forcing the second guild to look all over the map for a second time.

skinnyb.5920:

Choosing celestial stats is like putting 14 points in each trait line. Yes, now you’re perfectly balanced but not particularly good at anything.

Except that you’re now good at doing multiple things decently. Which is exactly what the Elementalist needs.

The elementalist is built around switching attunements quickly and often, however if you play D/D and gear for power, your Fire damage will be awesome and your Earth damage will suck. If you build for condition damage, the opposite will be true. The same can be said for Water: if you have no healing power, all the time you spend in Water is essentially wasted.

By picking celestial gear, you will ensure that, instead of having huge spikes in effectiveness, you will remain useful regardless of what attunement you happen to be in.

Or another way to look at it: compared to berserker gear, your damage isn’t lessened because your bleeds (and burns) now hit a lot harder, and you gain some free defense as well.

TheBlueI.3486:

For Arcane Power, the effect triggers for the next 5 spells you use.
How many of those 5 is consumed by the storm? One for each tick? Will the Arcane Power (“Your next five attacks do critical damage.”) ensure 5 crits from one storm?

There is no easy answer for that, except to state that it varies for just about all skills. For example, Fireball consumes 3 charges (regardless of how many targets you hit) whereas Vapor Blade uses 1 charge per cast but applies the chill on the return too. Frozen Ground on the other hand, consumes charges even though it doesn’t hit anything (and doesn’t apply conditions either).

The only way to be sure what a skill does is to go to the Mists and test it.

Have you considered making use of the Fire trait that makes all signets cast Fire Aura too?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEUQJArYlEGyN2bw2AeOBQQxBIMeAiIkIK8QpQOA

With the recent change to Fire Aura, it may be worth trying.

posthumecaver.6473:

“little bit of everything and being jack of all trades and master of none.”

Is that not the definition of the elemantalist

That’s basically the reason to go for Celestial Gear.

The thing is, yes, your damage stats are lower, but in return, you gain all of them. Your Drake’s Breath may lose a bit of damage from the power side, but gain a bit on the condition side. Your earth auto attack sucks a lot less with a bit more condition damage.

And seeing as how elementalists have such low armor and health, some vitality and toughness are useful too.

Did anyone ever try combining the scepter with Glyph of Elemental Power? You’d think those spells would be a lot easier to land if you cripple foes all the time.

Mystic.4805:

Anyone noticed that staff produce far lower damage than a dd or sd ele

Actually, I noticed quite the opposite. The fact that I’m not constantly struggling to get in the right position to be able to hit my target makes the relative dps difference a lot smaller than it would seem on paper.

Gareth.2615:

Arcane Power + Cone of Cold + Elemental Surge = ~10 seconds of AoE chill

Or use the D/D water auto attack and get 30 seconds of AoE chill.

Entragian.2057:

WoodenPotatos helped me to come to a decision regarding crits and crit damage.

this video in particular – Linky

if you dont know who he is, check him out on youtube – makes for some interesting listening

The thing with critical damage is that the amount of ‘stats’ each point costs, depends greatly on what item you pick. An Exquisite Beryl Jewel for example, replaces 15 stat points by 3% critical damage. A staff however, replaces 128 stat points for 9% critical damage. This means that the gem ‘spends’ 5 stat points for each 1% critical damage, whereas the staff ‘spends’ roughly 14 stat points for 1% critical damage.

That for me is the main reason not to go all out on critical damage, but rather carefully pick the items to get critical damage on.

For me personally, the Celestial (or ‘all stats’) items are the way to go. The reason for this is that the Elementalist is in the rather unique position that they can make use of any stat, any time. No matter what build you play, you will always have acces to damage skills, healing skill and conditions. Defense wise, our health and armor are so low that toughness and vitality will never be a lost option. Combined with the fact that the total amount of stats is higher and the inherent dminishing returns, it makes it the top choice in my opinion.

It says NEW characters, doesn’t it.

Just be glad it didn’t state: “Reïntroducing an old, familiar plant.”

Then again, I must admit that I like how they’re trying something different.

Obsidian.1328:

@ThiBash

Erm…the person telling the story is the writer, not fictional characters in that story. It’s the writer’s perspective that matters most, after all it’s his/her imagination and creativity that we are witnessing. How do you ask a fictional character his or her opinion??

And I meant more playable races, not just any race. There are dozens of semi-civilized races in GW1.

You’re erronously assuming that the writer wants the reader (or player in this case) to know everything. If that were the case, then we’d know what’s behind Fire & Frost too.

Rhaps.8540:

It’s Cartman’s mom! What’s not to like? :P

Well, that’s actually a very good reason not to like it. There’s only 1 South Park episode that’s watchable, but like they say, even a blind man hits something once in a while.

Then there’s the Cave Troll, that clearly uses projectiles, and we cannot reflect them.

TimeBomb.3427:

I don’t think this is an exploit, it’s just using your environment intelligently.

So is standing on top of a rock where a mob can’t reach you. And you get punished for that too.

It’s a shame really, because you’d expect that games would encourage ‘using your terrain to your advantage’. Instead, it’s only used as window dressing.

It also causes HUGE lag spikes.

Just to be curious, what’s wrong with having a few or even one easier dungeon for those that simply aren’t as skilled, and a few harder dungeons for those that need the challenge?

Why must everything be high end?

Not harder maybe, but the long lasting stunfest is still there. There’s nothing as boring as having to wait 12 seconds before your character can move again because your Armor of Earth was on cooldown….

Poor design of the troll is a good reason to be honest. You can’t reflect his projectiles (bug?) and fear causing boss near a ledge that just screams ‘reset bug’ is enough reason for me to stick them on eachother again.

If those two things were fixed though, then I’d agree.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

All new stuff in dungeons is going to be hard for the first few days. We see it all the time with new content – people fail and get knocked down when they aren’t used to that sort of thing, and they claim it is too difficult.
Give it a week or so for everyone to develop strategies, learn encounters, and build fundamentals, and they will claim it is too easy. Trust me when I say this, the numbers are punishing (but less than they were before), but knowing the mechanics will greatly mitigate the danger.

So how do you counter large groups of 4 seconds long knockdown when your only stability skill has a 90 seconds recharge?

I mean, good job on removing the howler’s instant kills…but did you HAVE to replace it with long lasting knockdown spams?

As long as there are 4 seconds knock-downs on thrash mobs that spawn in bulk, without some sort of stun resistance to prevent stun spams, it’s not well done.

The main issue I have with this is that there are plenty of difficult dungeons, but there was one you could just do to relax and have a bit of fun to get through.

That dungeon, called Ascalonian Catacombs, has now been replaced with a bug ridden knockdownfest. And if there’s one thing I dislike about this game, it is the spamming of 4-seconds stuns. I’m not playing this game to wait until I can act. That’s what chess is for.

It seems that projectiles from monsters randomly decide wheter they can bypass reflection abilities or not. Please make it so that projectile reflect works on all projectiles (most notable the champion cave troll in AC) or at least make sure that all effects that use the same type of animation get treated in the same way when it comes to reflection.

The projectiles used by the champion cave troll in Ascalonian Catacombs cannot be reflected for some reason.

Also, is it really wise to use a mechanic like fear on a bossfight that’s near a ledge like that? It’ll be prone to unwanted resets…

Poison’s main power lies in the healing reduction, not the damage. Granted, that’s rarely useful in PvE but it’s very powerful in PvP.

They should have their stats based on their owner. World of Kittencraft found that out the hard way around the end of Wrath of the Kittin King.

VOLKON.1290:

OK, I see what you’re doing there. The comparisons at first shorted out a few neurons, but I’m recovering nicely. Now… here’s where I’m seeing it differently (but I’ll need time to play with the math). You’re showing an 80 stat point increase, but not showing an increase to what?

Power: +14
Precision: +14
Toughness: -69
Condition dam: +23
Healing: -6
Crit Damage: +12%
Vitality: +86
Magic Find: +8%

Damage increases a fraction of a percent, toughness drops but vitality boost helps, healing down a negligible amount, Crit damage up 8% with a negligible increase in chance to crit… you know, looking at the actual data really makes it obvious that the tiny increases across the board (and some decreases) will ultimately have a little to no noticeable affect, does it not?

Glad to hear things are going well again.

But seriously, wheter it matters depends on your build. That 12% crit for example. On a standard elementalist build with no precision, but 100% fury uptime, you get a 24% chance to crit. That roughly translates to one quarter of the critical damage being added to your dps. In this case, that’s 3% extra dps. But since the items also add precision, it’ll likely be higher, say as much as 5%. Seeing as that there are traits that add +5% damage, I’d say it’s a difference that matters. And that’s just the extra critical damage. The fact that the effects of stats get magnified by having more of the other stats further amplifies the difference. 1.25*1.25 is more than 1.5 after all.

I agree that the difference isn’t unsurmountable. However, if Anet decides to make ‘all stat’ weapons and armor too, then it has the potential to become a real issue. And that’s what I’d like to avoid.

wintermute.4096:

It was just the amulets that increase all stats by a smaller number, like syzygy that got a slight buff. The “jewel slot” part of the stats got increased from 8 to 12 or something like that. Op is just making a huge wuss over nothing.

That is correct, though I hardly think 24 free stat points per item is ‘nothing’. Because it counts for the rings as well. That’s 75 free stat points. Still, not enough to make a fuss about.

I was looking forward to being able to complete the daily without going out of my way to do anything specifically and only for the daily.

Gathering X items does that. Killing X monsters in a specific zone does not.

Doing X dynamic events does that. Doing X events while downscaled does not.

One mistake I’ll have to admit beforehand: it’s not 6 pieces because there’s no ‘all stats’ backpack. Also, seeing as that there are in fact exotic versions of the ‘all stat’ amulet and earring. Therefore, lets compare only the rings in this example. Bear in mind however, that if ascended ‘all stats’ armor pieces are released, the gap will get progessively bigger. Also, please note that the stats of the rings were increased in the recent patch.

Exotics
Emerald Orichalcum Ring of the Knight
48 Power
48 Precision
67 Toughness
15 Power
15 Precision
25 Toughness

Passiflora Orichalcum Ring of the Apothecary
48 Condition Damage
67 Healing Power
48 Toughness
15 Condition Damage
25 Healing Power
15 Toughness

Ascended
Solaria, Circle of the Sun
+31 Power
+31 Precision
+31 Toughness
+31 Vitality
+4% Critical Damage
+31 Healing Power
+31 Condition Damage
+12 Condition Damage
+12 Precision
+12 Toughness
+12 Power
+12 Vitality
+12 Healing Power
+2% Critical Damage
+4% Magic find

Lunaria, Circle of the Moon
+31 Power
+31 Precision
+31 Toughness
+31 Vitality
+4% Critical Damage
+31 Healing Power
+31 Condition Damage
+12 Condition Damage
+12 Precision
+12 Toughness
+12 Power
+12 Vitality
+12 Healing Power
+2% Critical Damage
+4% Magic find

Comparison
The sum of the stats of the exotic rings is 436 points. The sum of the stats of the ascended ‘all stats’ rings is 516. This is a difference of 80 stat points. Furthermore, the rings also grant 12% critical damage, 8% magic find and an infusion slot. That’s a difference comparable to food, or some traits, and as such can be classified as ‘substantial’.

Now, I realize that the amulet and one of the earring slots already have an ‘all stats’ item, so the upgrade will be relatively smaller. However, I think you can agree that if Anet also releases ‘all stats’ ascended weapons and armor, the resulting difference between exotic balanced builds and ascended balanced builds will be quite large.

VOLKON.1290:

Oh… that one, which pretty much doesn’t compare anything comparable at all. Yeah, you go with that one.

So just because it doesn’t suit your view, you decide to dismiss it.

Well, wheter you like it or not, balanced builds get a HUGE upgrade because they get to replace their 3 offensive/3 defensive items for 6 pieces of ‘all stats’ gear.

But of course, it’s easier to dismiss me as being crazy than admit that balanced builds get a much larger stat upgrade than tank or glass cannon builds.

That may be true for specialized sets, but what about balanced builds? Going from 3 offensive/3 defensive pieces of specialized exotics to 6 pieces of ‘all stats’ gear is a much larger increase in stats.

VOLKON.1290:

ThiBash.5634:

Done. Check out this post:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Holy-kitten-Cleric-Ascended-Accessory/page/2#post1514781

Thanks… um… which one? I’m not seeing any calculations, nothing plugged into the damage calculations formula or any of that. I could be missing it…

You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? The post clearly shows how a balanced build that only uses exotics vs one that has acces to the ascended ‘all stats’ items gains roughly 70 stat points, as well as 20% critical damage and 16% magic find.

Seeing as how there are traits that give less of a bonus, I’d say it qualifies as significant.

VOLKON.1290:

Show me your math and I’ll show you mine.

Done. Check out this post:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Holy-kitten-Cleric-Ascended-Accessory/page/2#post1514781

How about adding legs and a tail to an Air Elemental to make it look worse than it did before?

VOLKON.1290:

Anyone that thinks “BIS” items really make a difference when compared to exotics needs to let go of the WoW spreadsheet mentality you’ve carried over to here. Seriously, it’s embarrassing to see you people freaking out about an amulet, for example, that gives you an extra 0.55% damage (actual math).

Funny how you keep ignoring the example I’ve given that clearly shows the damage increase of exotics easily exceeds 5%. Even after I’ve provided you with a direct link to my calculations.

Which is all the more reason we should keep complaining about it until we get either a fix, or a good answer why it’s not changed for the better.

I think it’s agood change. It seems fairly useful now, and a lot more reliable at any rate. Maybe vigor wasn’t meant to be perma stacked for minutes on end?

Also, it seems the devs are slowly steering away from the whole ‘cantrips are a solution to all’ concept. This changes makes it the best option to get near permanent vigor, and the critical builds will have near 100% uptime anyway.

Well, for me it’s a reason to not use it anymore at any rate. Or only use it at times when I’m sure I’ll be too busy to look at them.

I most certainly do not. It looks terrible. Old version was way cooler.

If you intend to run a hybrid build (some pieces damage, some pieces defensive) then wearing all stat items will give you higher overall stats than equipping half of your character with attack gear, and the other half defensive gear.

The current system of dungeons, with an instance linked to a single person, kicks everybody out when that person leaves the dungeon.

This has just cost my group the drops from the end chest because a single person couldn’t be bothered to wait 5 seconds. Other examples include fractal runs aborted halfway through just because a single person leaves.

Is there any reason why the system works like this? It’s causing a lot of grief, and I really don’t understand why it wasn’t implemented like Guild Wars 1.

Please change them back. Not only did they look a lot cooler without the ‘legs’ and ‘tail’, but having walking air elementals is pretty rediculous.

No offense to whomever designed these, but they really looked a lot better without.

The Frist Aura change seems to favor staff (and other ice field builds) more than D/D though.