Guild Wars 2

Agree this needs to be changed.

It would not be a problem if support skills could be actually targeted to players, or to your party. But since they can’t, ArenaNet has to make it so these skills are actually effective.

The quickest way would be to bump up the cap to 15.

Limiting Portal to 5 people seems very reasonable in my opinion.

5 is the party limit, it is also the new limit for Heals, and has been the cap on AoE since launch.

If you need to move more people, just roll more Mesmers.

This has been the best match so far. Skill-wise we all appear about even. Will definitely be decided by who caps the most in the off-peak.

Thanks to everyone for such tough fights.

I know the developers are probably proud of this skill, but it is almost worse than stealth in its cheesiness.

Totally taking away two weapons bars of skills, your heal, utilities and elites for 10 seconds goes far beyond any other sort of crowd control in the game. It cannot be cleared, only dodged or blocked initially. In a WvW environment it can be almost impossible to see it coming.

Either make it clearable by stability, condition removal etc., keep the original skill bars, or remove it from the game.

Otherwise, it’s essentially an “I Win” button.

So what is the idea behind limiting healing to 5?

Was 5+ heal not working as intended?

Waking.6052:

Empower got majorly nerfed. Went from healing 20-30 people to healing… 5.

Are you sure about this? If so that is a major nerf to Guardian staff support.

I don’t sPvP, so exactly what skills or traits are in danger of being nerfed with the “bunker build”?

Don’t know if it has been mentioned but one other cheesy use of Portal is to bypass the defenses at a breach in a keep wall.

One Mesmers gets through with and, voila, the entire besieging team is on the keep lord.

Why defend if that’s just going to happen?

Portals should not be usable when there is a wall in between their entrances (even if it is breached).

This is just cheesy and makes the game look dumb.

Having to get your team to stand together like a bunch of idiots because of one thief with cheesy stealth is not something for grown-up games.

Hope ArenaNet takes WvW to the next level and gets rid of this “mechanic”.

Waffler.1257:

Here’s a quote posted a few mins ago in the general GW2 discussion on ascended gear.

I’d like to respond to concerns players have raised about ascended items. Please keep in mind that we’re releasing this as one portion of a massive November update that introduces and improves many aspects of challenge, progression, and rewards. With this and upcoming updates, we view ourselves as introducing large amounts of content with supporting systems and features, akin to an expansion pack, building on Guild Wars 2 through a series of live releases. So it’s important for us to be able to add an expansion pack’s worth of progression and rewards to support that content.

Our goal is not to create a gear treadmill. Our goal is to ensure we have a proper progression for players from exotic up to legendary without a massive jump in reward between the two. We will slowly add the remaining ascended gear items and legendary items in future updates to allow people time to acquire them as we add exciting new content that deserves exciting rewards. We will not be adding a new tier of gear every 3 months that we expect everyone to chase after and then get the next set and so on.

Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time, and be made available through all sorts of content around the world including existing content. PvP will remain unaffected to ensure our intended PvP balance going forward. We are also working on other reward and progression systems for the game that tie into current and new content and features. As you know we care very much about your support and opinion and are listening intently to what you say.

Finally we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the upcoming content, and we will ensure we share our thoughts with you on the experiences we share in the Lost Shores.

Chris Whiteside – Studio Design Director

So ascended and infusions will both be in WvW, all your exotic gear is now obsolete, have fun!

This appears to alleviate the issue of having to grind PvE for Ascended WvW gear. It suggests it will be available through WvW.

There is still the larger issue of a gear treadmill being introduced to GW2, but at least WvW will get its own treadmill.

Feycat.4370:

Lothair.8942:

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

They were going to do this all along. That’s why it’s coming out before any cash shop expansion and without any real polling of the customer base. It has nothing to do with a lack of revenue or “customer feedback”. There’s no logic to those claims.

First off great post Win.

Agreed, it’s a known fact that developers of this game were talking about item progression and this type of initiative as far back as PAX. I just never thought they would implement it.

I agree with Win, but again, that makes no sense either.

Sure, it’s obvious that MMO additions are developed MONTHS ahead of time. If this change is based on “feedback,” it pretty much has to be on Beta feedback.

But it still makes NO sense to add this stuff BEFORE a major cash-shop roll out. Because as I’ve been posting over and over, this change and the gear grind it is introducing makes NO MONEY for the company, unless later additions are planned to be gem-shop only additions.

Gear grind makes money if you have to continually transmute each new piece you upgrade to the desired cosmetic.

I assume this to be the case.

One point that hasn’t been made about the new gear is: transmutation.

With each new tier of gear, will we have to buy a new round of transmutation stones to copy that gear to our desired skins?

If so, the gear treadmill is also a way to sell more cosmetic-related cash shop items.

Enenion.8127:

nvmvoidrays.2158:

Gisei.5749:

Actually, by reading that quote in OP, it sounds like this new gear will be exclusively for this new dungeon. May be wishful thinking though.

And quit raging people. Just wait for the 15th, and speak up then if bad things come to be.

it is.

no one has realized this yet, apparently:

ascended gear can’t be slotted with runes or sigils.

are you going to give up rune benefits for an extra couple stat points? i won’t.

This exactly. Look at the stats given by the new Ascended gear in the image below. At first glance this appears to be a considerable upgrade from Exotic gear, but once you factor in that the slot on the Ascended gear cannot have Jewels, Runes or Sigils on it it is actually only a difference of 5 points in Power and Precision (less than 1% crit chance different) from Exotic gear assuming the infusion slot does not carry stats with it. From the sound of the blog post the infusion slot is to deal specifically with Agony, or monsters that cause Agony, which implies that they won’t carry excessive stats. If this is the case the stat upgrade is extremely minor, and when compared to what you are losing in customization it may well not be worth it to upgrade for WvW.

Additionally, it’s been confirmed that this new tier of items can be crafted in the mystic forge, which is present in WvW. If you really want the stat upgrade you can upgrade using the mystic forges located in SMC and the Garrison in each of the borderlands. .

Where does it say Ascended armour won’t have slots for Runes, or Ascended weapons won’t take sigils?

That screenshot is of a Trinket. Trinkets take neither runes nor sigils.

We just don’t know whether Ascended armour will take runes or weapons, sigils. I assume they will in some way though.

Also, only the back piece is confirmed as craftable through the Forge. The blog appears to say the Ring is only dropped in the dungeon. No word on how to get the other gear.

DONO.8760:

Lord of the Rings Online tried this with their “legendary” weapon system and their “radiance” gear. Both were a miserable failure, though Turbine only admitted radiance gear was a failure. Agony sounds a lot like the radiance mechanic from LotRO, and these new ascended items that have upgrade slots…exactly the same as the less than fun legendary system in LotRO. Why is this turning into a gated gear grind?

This was exactly my problem with LOTRO. I would always play my characters up to level 50 then quit. Why? Legenday item grind.

krookie.6378:

Laef.4519:

“We have always worked hard to create a sense of satisfying progression rather than gear grind and this new item progression initiative is no exception. By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach.”

Can anyone explain this part of the post to me please? I’ve read it 5 times now and I can’t seem to understand what she is trying to say..

She’s basically saying that they are adding gear grind to combat gear grind.

It’s not gear grind when GW2 does it.

It’s “satisfying progression”.

I’m absolutely shocked a gear treadmill has been added to the game. The shock is compounded by its introduction so soon after launch.

I bought a new computer because my beta experience with GW2 was so great. I’m feeling betrayed.

An official blog post has gone up on this.

A gear grind is coming to GW2, and since it is applicable to PvE, we have to assume it will operate in WvW.

Ascended gear will be slightly better than exotic. It will also have upgrades pre-slotted. (Both the basic stats and the upgrades are slightly better). The blog does not say you have to grind dungeons for Ascended gear.

Ascended gear will also have a new slot called Infusions. Certain types of Infusions are needed for harder dungeon mobs. No word if infusions themselves are applicable to WvW.

I left two previous Realm vs Realm games when gear grinds necessary for PvP were introduced. I was hoping it wouldn’t happen to GW2, but I guess it’s the genre. They can’t avoid it. Though we’ll have to wait and see how bad it is.

If it is truly bad, this will probably be my last MMO.

EDIT: Actually, the blog says Ascended Rings come from the dungeon, back pieces from the Mystic Forge. Looks WvW’ers will have to grind dungeons.

I use Become the Snow Leopard from time to time in WvW on my Guard. The stealth comes in handy when scouting by myself.

It is very situational though, but well worth the skill points spent. (Guardians can’t get a stealth skill any other way).

My one rule for MMO’s is: in no way must it seem like a second job.

Until now, GW2 stayed on the good side of this rule. We’ll see if that changes.

It looks like the next patch will introduce armour better than exotics called Ascended that will require dungeon grinding to obtain. This armour will have a slot for upgrades.

According to mmorpg.com:

Speaking of rewards, the Fractals of the Mist Dungeon will introduce the new ‘Ascended’ item type. This type is a bit more powerful than the Exotic quality items currently found in the game. There will only be a couple of Ascended quality items available initially, but some of the rarer Ascended items will also feature a new Infusion slot that will make players even more powerful so that they can tackle new challenges that ArenaNet plans to throw at them as they continue to expand on the dungeon over the coming months and years.

The big unanswered question here is if Ascended armour is wearable in WvW? If so, will WvW’ers be required to PvE dungeon grind to acquire it?

Two zergs fighting each other on the open ground can be a lot of fun.

When people criticize “zerging” though, at least who I talk to, they mean commanders who lead zergs around, avoiding fights, and only capping unoccupied keeps for karma and xp.

That is why zerging gets a bad name.

The only thing that would make my Guardian better is freaking laser beams coming out of his eyes.

I said to the Guild: this is how WvW was meant to be played. The open field fights have been some of the best yet. Without the orbs, and very evenly matched.

The difference in this match is going to be coverage, and not skill, as it seems evenly matched.

Phantom.8130:

Scyntrus.2458:

Scyntrus.2458:

TC, please stop camping our spawn, it is quite unsportsmanlike. Screenies related.

also

to be fair, that’s not really spawn camping there. as you can see, there’s a tower held by TC directly behind that group. that’s just defending that tower. if that defending group leaves, the tower is forfeited.

the other screenshot, yeah, that’s spawn camping. i don’t recognize the guild tag though, but if i see one of them, i’ll say something about it to them.

Next time highlight a player when you screenshot so we can get the guild name. Word would probably get back to them on The Coast not to do that.

I play an Area Denial Guardian in WvW, primarily for controlling sieges with Staff and Consecrations. Hammer is the secondary weapon for crowd control.

I can usually keep any class off the point except Warriors when they decide to charge. I assume they usually have stability up, and can just cut through anything I do to try and lock them down.

Is there any way to counteract them, or is this the point where another class should step up?

This is unfortunate, at least for those of us on the West Coast of North America. The 5 pm reset allowed most people to get home from work and get on before the hours lone queues started.

I hope ArenaNet reconsiders and moves the reset up one hour.

I went with a Norn simply because I like northern, snowy zones. However, it worked out very well for WvW.

The Norn elite Become the Snow Leopard, has a stealth skill, which is usually unavailable to the Guardian. This can be very handy in WvW in certain situations (eg. scouting) so I pop it in as needed.

Also, I play a point control siege Guardian so being tall can help people see you through all the AoE spam.

/no names.

Have been repeating it from day one of beta, and will continue to do so.

Even in lop-sided matches there is still a good fight to be had. So removing the orbs has been great for the bread and butter gameplay.

Objective-wise, in the big picture, it would be nice if they could add them back. It would give us something more to fight for. But only if they aren’t game-breaking again.

Other games I’ve played have a “Burned Corpse” option.

I doubt ArenaNet could implement that though because of the prominence of the downed system. Burning enemy corpses would seem to undermine that somewhat.

But if they could implement it, save after a one minute lockout, it would reduce corpse spotting.

Taking the commander icons out of the game would probably be the single biggest thing that could be done to reduce zerging.

There are already too many Squad Commanders as it is. It has reached the saturation point.

With a crit-based build, what sort of critical hit chance should I be aiming for? Whereabouts is the sweet spot?

Thanks for the pointers. I tried these suggestions out, and as was said, the sword does not really seem to work with this build. I am going to try Mace/Shield as a defensive set to compliment the rifle as the main weapon.

I normally play a Guardian, but have rolled a Warrior so I can experience some offense in WvW (as well as some range).

I am going with what I call “The Duelist” — Rifle, and Sword/Shield. I plan to be primarily range, but use the Sword as a closer.

I wasn’t sure though when I should use Flurry, because of the long channel. When I was practicing on mobs it seemed like I was always taking massive damage while rooted.

How do you go about using Flurry without getting hit, or do you just have to be very selective when you use it?

TimeToParty.4875:

FuzzyStarburst.3071:

Today showed the impact of the orbs, we saw red and blue both make pushed in EB, and blue took back a lot of their stuff in their border. Awesome last day to the match, I hope we can meet you again.

Oh, and EB was hilarious, I don’t know if anyone on either side was taking it all that seriously. Trebbing us as fought the Grub. UNDERHANDED TACTICS!

Good sir that wasnt the “orb removal” that was the Halloween event being over and nobody had anything left to do besides go to wvw.

From my point of view on TC, it was a combination of no orbs and the end of the Halloween event.

After the new build, it appeared to me some individuals on SoR had to adjust to the lack of +15% HP and +150 stats. This wasn’t everyone, but there were a fair number of over-extenders who went down in risky situations. This is something I hadn’t seen before orb removal.

With the return of our Halloween people we were closer to SoR in terms of raw numbers. (And it is also possible people on SoR are resting up for tomorrow). Add this to the lack of orbs, and you had a more equal playing field.

Fine move.

If and when they do come back, my vote would to be give the Orbs a point value of some magnitude, say 20 points a tick or so. Perhaps they could give an added PvE bonus as well, but nothing that effects WvW.

This should give players the incentive to take them.

Great thread!

I mostly play WvW, so I have no idea who the main NPC Guardians are throughout Tyria.

A description of them and their locations (for example who is Dinky and where is he?) would be great for those of us who dig the class.

Probably the most fun I’ve had in an MMO (besides actually starting to play my first MMO way back when).

It’s the combination of classes that are so much fun to play in WvW and WvW itself.

Server imbalances and the snow-ball effect have to be corrected, But once that is done, I think it will be long-term fun.

Not sure why there is such hostility to this suggestion, as it a good one.

Just make sure the karma cost is expensive enough so it doesn`t lead to siege proliferation.

Maybe 5,000 Karma for an arrow cart, or so.

It would be nice that, once you are in WvW, to be able to switch to an alt without being kicked from the map and having to requeue.

Personally, I think this would draw more people to WvW, as playing one class all the time can get boring. It also would bring some renewed interest to the current blow-out matches that we are experiencing, as you could switch around between alts and level them.

Also, the dynamics of a map, and the classes needed, can change very often during a play session.

Returning to spawn to switch would probably be the best way to implement it.

I will be going with a P/D condition build thief, with SB for the off-hand.

In trying to decide which sigils to take, I wondered if it was worthwhile to put Sigils of Corruption on all 3 weapons.

In theory, this should get me to the max condition damage stack more quickly. However, is it overkill to equip three of these, and should I instead try to balance it with some other sigils? (And if so, what would be the best sigils to use?)

Many thanks for any advice you can give.

I prefer the term “gentleman amateurs” to describe The Coast. You don’t want to practice, or work up a sweat. That would be proletarian.

Mesmer Portals? Cheating. Siege equipment cluttering up the view? Why turn the landscape into a junkyard.

Of course, one must fight with style, or not fight at all.

And what better place to demonstrate style than in the fight against all odds? Thank you, Sanctum of Rall, for demonstrating our nobility.

Trebs put on the Garrison can be hit with ballistas or arrow carts build below the cliffs. Trebs on the outer walls of the Bay can also be ranged from various places.

However, it appears that Trebs built on the Hill keep dome and aimed towards the Water tower, cannot be ranged from below.

Is this the case? Is there any point from the base of the Hill wall where you can range, ballista or arrow cart a treb put there?

(If not, then this can give an almost insurmountable advantage to the Hill, especially if the opposition doesn’t have the forces to siege it).

Alodar.5794:

This is true. I have also offered to buy beer for those following my Commander Icon for all their hard work and effort they put in.

One of the stipulations however that is saving me is that you must come to me to get your beer… apparently nobody else on my server is from Vancouver so it’s saved me a few rounds.

The offer still stands!

Hey, I’m from Vancouver.

East Van represent!

(And I have a hollow leg).

Usagi.4835:

East Coast, West Coast, Tarnished Coast is the best coast!

Our server’s theme song.

Phantom.8130:

the trebs despawn, and i think golems might too. the other siege equipment seems to stick around though.

also, you don’t actually have to fire them. you just have to “use” them. run up, man it, unman it, shelf life extended.

This was our conclusion. But it seems strange that only trebs (and golems) would despawn, when the other stuff sticks around. I suppose though they are the most expensive and dangerous siege weapons.

Our guild was holding a tower tonight, and we had built a fair among of siege. We noticed something very strange.

We had two trebs that despawned during quiet periods between battles. They weren’t AoE’d or otherwise attacked. They weren’t used for a while, but neither were the other siege we built (catas and arrow carts). Only the trebs despawned.

We might have missed something, but it really did look like only the trebs were despawning. Has anyone else noticed this?

Chessrook.8643:

No offense, but something tells me people would probably prefer “Spirit of Shark” to “Spirit of Salmon”. And if people think “Spirit of Pike” they may start thinking they’re a pole weapon.

……a norn turning into a giant pole weapon. That would actually be amusing. I’d post a comment regarding what he’d say but it’s pretty much blatant innuendo and I don’t want to risk getting an infraction.

Well, anyone who thinks that is ignorant then. And why would you want to design your game to cater to the ignorant? That’s lowest common denominator stuff.

I really hope GW2 doesn’t go the WoW route, with the broadest and dumbest content. So far, it has been intelligent, especially in their creations of entire cultures. There is a reality lacking in other games.

Plus, ArenaNet is based in Seattle, I’m sure they know about the importance and majesty of the Salmon. And anyone who has ever owned a fishing rod certainly has respect for the capabilities of the Pike. The last thing they should do is cater to peoples’ uniformed preconceptions.

Sals.9534:

Dware.4259:

I dont understand how you would get griefed.

Played DAOC for 7 years, had names. Cant recall anyone getting griefed in pvp because their name showed.

It is the pussification of society, everyone is a fragile little flower, Parents can’t stand to see there little Timmy’s feelings get hurt. To the point parents don’t parent anymore, they just give in to keep the peace.

We are slowly becoming a bubble boy society.

Yep, no names in Guild Wars 2 is a symptom of the downfall of western civilization.

See how crazy this gets?

When you read stuff like this, it’s no wonder ArenaNet went with no names.

My Norn has ended up in Lion’s Arch, and belongs to a “nautical” themed guild. His backstory is that he grew in a family of fishermen on one of the inland lakes before migrating to the coast after the Sons of Svanir burned him out.

However, none of the animal totems fit this story, as they are all land (or air) based. Can we get an aquatic spirit added in a later expansion?

There are couple of possible choices. Historically, Spirit of Pike would probably be the best, as it figures prominently in Nordic epic poems like the Kalevala. However, I don’t think I’ve seen any pike in the game.

There is the barracuda, which is present in Norn-area lakes. However, the barracuda is actually a tropical fish, and wouldn’t actually be found in northern waters. That leaves us with Salmon, unless I’ve missed a fish. Spirit of Salmon would be fine; but Spirit of Pike would be much cooler, in my opinion.