Guild Wars 2

@Dynnen;

I understood you on the psychological warfare thing. Like I said, I was complimenting you but you clarified that it wasnt intentional, so there really isnt anything to compliment. It can be done on the forums to both encourage your side and discourage the other side. There are numerous ways to do this.

What you said about general tactics are things that every coordinated group/guild uses in a PvP game. I dont see them as exclusive to GW2, but universal to all games which have PvP and it even mostly applies to PvE. Certain specifics may change, but the overall concepts stay the same. Thats why I asked why you were going into it, I couldnt (and still dont) quite understand what you were trying to get across.

I also guess I misunderstood that you guys prefer small scale battles, where numbers and skill are generally equal (1:1). Never said you specifically look for pre-arranged battles and even suggested that you try it out through organized GvG earlier in the thread to scratch that specific itch. The mechanics in WvW dont really encourage the emergence of that style of play as much as other engagements.

Probably just best to chalk it up to differences of opinion, or something, and agree to disagree.

edited for as much clarity as I can muster.

dreztina.4820:

Tuluum.9638:

@Oozo;

By and large, most consider their perspective of reality is the all-encompassing truth and even go so far as to apply this as a hard rule against the words of others. Most will never, at any point, contemplate an alternative much less walk a few steps in that direction of understanding. We are all inherently limited as parts of the same system. Makes for a lot of room to grow and learn if we are willing.

Somewhere along the line we lost the concept that we all view the same universe through different eyes.

My eyes view your universe as a big pretentious kitten.

Thats fine, your opinion isnt up to me anyway.

Though I have never known kittens to be pretentious or big. :P

@Oozo;

By and large, most consider their perspective of reality is the all-encompassing truth and even go so far as to apply this as a hard rule against the words of others. Most will never, at any point, contemplate an alternative much less walk a few steps in that direction of understanding. We are all inherently limited as parts of the same system. Makes for a lot of room to grow and learn if we are willing.

Somewhere along the line we lost the concept that we all view the same universe through different eyes.

Oddly enough, I agree with you.

Running around with just a focus in your off hand is going to be pretty difficult to play. Unless I read this wrong..

Oozo.7856:

Tuluum.9638:

Contrary to what many people say though, I dont think it would discourage zerging since the removal applies to them as well.

Consider a 5v10. The side with ten players has incoming AoE damage mitigated by the AoE cap. The side with 5 takes full damage from incoming AoE.

Now lift the cap to 10 players hit by AoE. Now, the side with ten doesn’t have incoming AoE damage mitigated and takes full damage. The side with 5 takes the same damage as they were before.

The AoE cap will always favor the side with more people stacked up on top of each other since the AoE damage will be more spread out and thus mitigated.

People would still zerg, though. They would just have one of their advantages removed somewhat.

Yup.

As I said:

“it would begin to highlight skill and coordination alongside numbers, which is something we both probably agree would be a good thing. Numbers would still have an advantage, but there wouldnt be an artificial cap on skill anymore.”

Partunu.9845:

@Tuluum

Appreciate the offer. I very rarely hop on any other class, except my necro, to play. And I wouldn’t worry about offending anyone by stating an opinion, which seemed fair in and of itself. If they have thin skin.. they should should get better armor And I don’t do fight club either. I am spec’d for group support/survival ( read tanky’ish w/ a dash of omgwtfbbq sauce. )

Partipack – DR engineer

Sounds like we both have the same goals when building characters. If I cant support my group, I become less useful. But, if I am able to be focus fired down too quickly, then I cant support my team (being dead and all). I also like builds that are mostly adaptable and can go from a 1v1 to a zerg vs zerg and still be useful and effective. I usually come to my “final” builds after hours and hours of theorycrafting. Boring for most, maybe, but an obsessive fun for me.

Well see if we can meet up randomly on the battlefield. I find that much more fun than pre-arranged meetings, even if its for testing! I play most days, but not every day (wont be on today).

I asked Gab earlier, but got no answer; can we still message people from other servers when outside of a party? I thought they disabled it, as I havent been able to contact some of my friends on TC.

@Dynnen;

I also wanted to comment about the AoE cap. I cant wait for this to be removed (if it ever is). I still think its strange that the best way to approach an AoE attack is to all stack in one place. It seems so counter-intuitive.

Contrary to what many people say though, I dont think it would discourage zerging since the removal applies to them as well. If the AoE cap was removed, it would allow the the zerg to output the entirety of their damage against a group of 15. Since this limit will obviously be much, much higher than what the small group could hope to achieve.

That said, it would begin to highlight skill and coordination alongside numbers, which is something we both probably agree would be a good thing. Numbers would still have an advantage, but there wouldnt be an artificial cap on skill anymore. I would love to see this happen.

Good ol buggy forums XD

Partunu.9845:

@Tuluum
I think you’re pretty spot on. I’ve noticed that skill/tactics varies widely ( the same in any pvp type game I’ve ever played, starting with many years of dedicated DAOC rvr. ) The only special squads I know of on DR is the ADQQTSY peeps, and I hardly ever hear anything from them ( although I do make fun of them in map chat on occasion, )

And yes, DR can field large numbers at certain points of the day, same as DH & IOJ can. Since I’ve only been hanging out in EB this week, all I’ve seen from DH is a few solo roamers, lots of 20+ groups, and an occasional 3-5 man taking camps and such. Not many IOJ come out to the DR back 1/3 of the map, where I am running supplies, upgrades, ect…

And a special shout out to the DH warrior outside DR keep yesterday, who was kind enough to do some 1v1 on my ele so I could look at a few builds to find a counter to them on my main. HUGE thanks. I often test certain builds of classes to see what damage/tactics work best aginst it.

And to all… Play ON!

Partipack – DR engineer

I really tried to be as fair in my assessment as possible. I knew some would still take offense. I get impressed when I see something unexpected, I didnt mean anything particularly bad by it. I expect there to be pretty much exactly what you said. Some solo roamers, some small groups, and large zergs.

Anywho.. If you ever want to test stuff out, I am up to help ya out too. I am not a huge fan of fight clubs, but I am all for doing my best to help anyone and everyone. I find that I improve through this process as well! I mostly use a ranger with a mostly tanky build, so it could be good to test burst against as well as sustained damage. I generally run Pigs as pets, but for now, their f2 ability seems mostly broken. Any time you want to do some testing, let me know. I would even be willing to run specific builds you want to test against, etc. I wont buy new gear or anything, but wouldnt hesitate to change traits around and all that.

Anywho.. If you ever want to test stuff out, I am up to help ya out too. I am not a huge fan of fight clubs, but I am all for doing my best to help anyone and everyone. I find that I improve through this process as well! I mostly use a ranger with a mostly tanky build, so it could be good to test burst against as well as sustained damage. I generally run Pigs as pets, but for now, their f2 ability seems mostly broken. Any time you want to do some testing, let me know. I would even be willing to run specific builds you want to test against, etc. I wont buy new gear or anything, but wouldnt hesitate to change traits around and all that.My only request is that I get to test out some techniques as well! I tried with the UnS guild from IoJ, but its pretty hard to test different things out when its 8v1, and they have no idea what Im doing! :P

Anywho.. If you ever want to test stuff out, I am up to help ya out too. I am not a huge fan of fight clubs, but I am all for doing my best to help anyone and everyone. I find that I improve through this process as well! I mostly use a ranger with a mostly tanky build, so it could be good to test burst against as well as sustained damage. I generally run Pigs as pets, but for now, their f2 ability seems mostly broken. Any time you want to do some testing, let me know. I would even be willing to run specific builds you want to test against, etc. I wont buy new gear or anything, but wouldnt hesitate to change traits around and all that.My only request is that I get to test out some techniques as well! I tried with the UnS guild from IoJ, but its pretty hard to test different things out when its 8v1, and they have no idea what Im doing! :Pedit: And if you have a necro, I would love that! I deal most of my damage through constant conditions, and obviously struggle against necros. Would love to improve my game in that regard.

Creepy Silent.9801:

Tuluum.9638:

Creepy Silent.9801:

I was at school at that time so I don’t know. We do get a lot of pugs that follow us, I don’t really mind pugs but sometimes they can be food for rallies which throws you off in the middle of a fight.

Gotcha. 90% were sporting the guild tags, but I didnt know how open your guilds are to membership.

Most of the time when we get too many followers we just WP randomly to lose them, its no offense to them, we just like to keep our group coordinated and move as move normally.

Guilds on our server have done the same thing. Effective for its purpose, isnt it? Though frequently, I am one of those told to scram. Ah well, haha. I see less of this as time goes on, but I think that is just the evolving culture of our server specifically.

I was just curious who was running in that group at Umber.

@Dynnen;

Your definitions of psychological warfare are a bit more limited than mine. I actually thought it was intentional and was applauding you on it. :\ So.. I guess I take it back?

And to clarify, I use 1v1 and 1:1 interchangeably. Ill be more specific in the future.

As for the strategies you use.. Utilizing positioning, etc. is all very important to PvP. I dont disagree that its effective. Other than that, I am not sure what your point is, would you mind clarifying?

See ya on the battlefield.

Creepy Silent.9801:

I was at school at that time so I don’t know. We do get a lot of pugs that follow us, I don’t really mind pugs but sometimes they can be food for rallies which throws you off in the middle of a fight.

Gotcha. 90% were sporting the guild tags, but I didnt know how open your guilds are to membership.

Creepy Silent.9801:

Tuluum.9638:

Creepy Silent.9801:

makes me miss tier 5.

Well, heres to eventually making it back to tier 5 for ya!

Though, I have no doubt some of the servers in lower tiers also have this type of culture, so you might just find it there too. I know that FC has some great small teams on it.

Sorry we couldnt live up to your expectations Many of us are playing to win the game at hand though. Like I said previously, its a different server culture.

I’m not insulting anyone at all, thanks for seeing it that way! Yea Ferg has some kitten good fighters on it, NoQQ in the ADQQSTY alliance was originally from there, fighting them was always a pleasure. The thing about DR is that it is unknown what tier we belong in. Fighting wise I would love to be in tier 5, but points wise it seems we are t6/t7.

Only time will tell I guess! Here’s to another week of fighting

I was curious though, in a group that I encountered at Umber last night (maybe.. 7/8 pm EST??), there were mostly AD/NoQQ/etc tags. Was this just some off shoot, or was this one of your main groups? From the DH side, it was pretty much just a PUG, but we seemed to be right about equal in numbers.

I also wanted to say to my own server: If you are a mesmer laying down portals for the rest of the team to kite with, great job! Sometimes they were a little close though. It made me really happy to see such tactics in what seemed to be an all PUG fight! It was mostly at SW SM. And if it was all a mistake… keep messing up like that.

kesuh.3891:

Let this poor thread rest in peace? No meaning to revive such and old thread and the sword “skill 1” works perfect^^

I would honestly rather see an old thread revived than constantly see new ones!

I agree though, while it takes some getting used to, how the main hand sword works is extremely useful once you get the hang of it.

Creepy Silent.9801:

Tuluum.9638:

Creepy Silent.9801:

makes me miss tier 5.

Well, heres to eventually making it back to tier 5 for ya!

Though, I have no doubt some of the servers in lower tiers also have this type of culture, so you might just find it there too. I know that FC has some great small teams on it.

Sorry we couldnt live up to your expectations Many of us are playing to win the game at hand though. Like I said previously, its a different server culture.

I’m not insulting anyone at all, thanks for seeing it that way! Yea Ferg has some kitten good fighters on it, NoQQ in the ADQQSTY alliance was originally from there, fighting them was always a pleasure. The thing about DR is that it is unknown what tier we belong in. Fighting wise I would love to be in tier 5, but points wise it seems we are t6/t7.

Only time will tell I guess! Here’s to another week of fighting

I edited it a little bit, so I didnt create some unreasonable expectations, haha.

For me, I have never claimed to be some elite player or anything like that. I do tend to be a good team player though. DH is kind of like the Chicago Blackhawks this season. Our strength seems to mainly come from our entire team, and not specific groups. edit: If you couldnt tell already, I am a bit of a hockey fan

Thats not to say I havent seen some extraordinarily skilled players/groups on DH, but that stands true for every server. And yes, I am aware that few on DR are willing to say that there is any skill present on DH. Thats the psychological warfare part.

Creepy Silent.9801:

makes me miss tier 5.

Well, heres to eventually making it back to tier 5 for ya!

Though, I have no doubt some of the servers in lower tiers also have this type of culture, so you might just find it there too.

Sorry we couldnt live up to your expectations Many of us are playing to win the game at hand though.

Windmoor.9834:

Thank you Tuluum.

It does surprise me there is no coordinated community on each of these servers. I thought it to be the norm these days on all servers. Although, your description of each server came with unbiased opinion, and that holds a lot of weight in my eyes.

You are welcome. I try to be as unbiased as I can, but I am still human! We all have our moments, eh?

And I cant speak for the other servers, but as far as DH goes.. we did have a much more “third party” coordinated community a few months ago. Including forums (darkhaven united, if anyone remembers that), a server voice chat, etc. While we do not really have these things anymore (as the majority of the people participating have since transferred), we tend to do most of it in-game. There is an ENORMOUS amount of room for us to improve, but in my eyes, doing this almost solely in game has the benefit of not excluding people who do not want to join forums, or voice chat, etc.

I think some of the people on DH, at least me, are really viewing this as a team effort. So, while there may be commanders, if someone has good input they will likely be heard. There is still the typical in-fighting, etc, but I personally feel that every member of a team can contribute in their own way. If, and only if, they are enabled to do so. I am also seeing people call out for respect of our opponent more than ever, and hope to see that continue.

Whatever you choose, I hope you find exactly what you are looking for! These are all some great servers, with some great people. If you find some that are like-minded, it makes a great game even better.

The sword is easily the weapon that takes the most skill to use. It takes a ton of time to even START to feel comfortable with it.

But, once you do, you will find that the “rooting” can be used very, very effectively to your benefit. Especially if you take the time to set up your targeting to fit your playstyle. My general rule of thumb with the sword is to use the first two parts of the chain on one enemy, and use pounce to get to a different part of the zerg. It can also be directly followed by hornets sting->monarchs leap to immediately put good distance between you and your opponent.

What works best for me was to go to the heart of the mists, and practice where the “zerg” of NPC golems are just standing. It allowed me to get more familiar with the strengths of the weapon. It also helps to frequently not use targeting at all. When you are going against a large group of enemies, this allows you to surf the zerg, very literally. You will be on the other side of the group by the time they even queue up an auto attack. On the way through, if you drop things like traps/muddy ground/etc, it can be extremely effective. Pop rampage as one before you dive in, to gain stability, and have healing spring ready to take off any immobilize.

Dynnen.6405:

If by ‘small scale’ you mean 10-15 of our guys versus 30+ of your guys then yea. Just ask the 30+ group of DH AND IoJ that got smashed at Wildcreek 12 hours ago.

Windmoor; This is exactly what I mean with the psychological warfare. You would get the impression that every loss is nothing more than being outnumbered, and every win is sheer skill. Its a very effective tool, though it has its drawbacks as well. I think that each of the servers in this tier represents a pretty different “culture,” and they all have their drawbacks/strengths, so I do think you will find what you are looking for!

@Dynnen:

Thats not what I meant, obviously. There are plenty of occasions where the situation is that way for each and every server, countless times through every single match. Like I said, apologies if you found offense in what I said. I was just calling it like I see it. We all have plenty of room to grow and improve. Its fine for you to disagree, and I certainly dont mean it in a demeaning or insulting manner.

Windmoor.9834:

Hello, DR and DH…IoJ as well, but this is directed more to DR & DH.

I’m so glad there is a fight night arranged on Thursdays. This is something I have enjoyed being a part of on CD, and will look forward to enjoying again soon with one of you. It is looking like by next reset…not tomorrow…I will be choosing between you two servers.

I have read through most of this thread to get to know the two of you….interesting read, all I got to say. Well I guess not ALL I got to say…You guys should start to respect your enemies a little more. On the same note I have seen a lot worse so there is effort here, which is a good sign. Just fight the good fight on the field, and pad your enemy when they deserve to be padded on the forums. Chewing the rag makes everyone resentful and bitter.

But the main reason for me posting here is; Are there community leaders for each of these servers that I could be put in touch with?

Ill just give a bit of a run down as I see it.

DH doesnt really have much of a structure, and definitely not a specific leader. We have several people that are great commanders, and some that are still learning. We lost most of our “vanity commanders” when we had a mass exodus to various different servers. We are actively working on becoming a better team though. While some of us do participate in things like fight night, I think most of us are more focused on WvW and the team at this point. My suspicions in this regard were only backed up by hearing how few DH showed up for fight night. To be clear, I dont participate in things like fight night either.

DR has more population than they let on. Regardless, you will constantly see the “outnumbered but not outgunned” theme from them. Its, imo, a great stance to take though, since the worst situations are those where you ARE very outnumbered. This stance allows the players to put the responsibility of a loss on things out of their control, and that can be a good motivational tool. They dont seem to give up even when they get wiped, and have some very skilled individual players, which pretty much directly correlates to some great 1v1 and fight nights. I have yet to see anything that particularly impressed me from a guild group.

IoJ is actually the server that has impressed me the most. They are definitely outnumbered, but have kept the score close to DR. Their downside is that it seems the really impressive guild groups are a bit inconsistent with their participation. Groups like UnS and… RISE (?) pulled off some stuff that I really, really enjoy going up against. The first time I saw UnS was yesterday, and I havent seen the other guild (still not sure on tag, apologies) since the first two days of this round. Certainly doesnt mean they arent there, its just my take on things like I said . I think if they participated in GvG style fights, they would really impress a lot of people. Their use of siege, capping points, etc could use some work, but the skill of the players and their teamwork is awesome to go up against in the open field.

From the sounds of it, DR would be the best fit, but I would honestly tell ya to give IoJ a closer look too. DH seems to be turning into a very team focused server, which generally means less fight club participation, etc. Personally, DH is a perfect fit for me, but may not be for everyone.

TL;DR: DH is pretty focused on the team as a whole, and WvW. DR is more interested in 1v1, very small scale fights, and plenty of psychological warfare. IoJ has extremely impressive groups, as well as individual players, but their participation seems inconsistent.

Other servers will have to tell you more if they have a central leadership, etc. And to everyone, dont take offense or anything if you dont agree. Since it is my own view, you are likely to disagree on certain points anyway.

Rangers were definitely caught up in the quickness nerf.

However, quickness overall needed some adjustment, so I am ok with it. I am hoping that they will adjust the proportional damage split between the player and their pet eventually. Just given the AI, even with our control, they are too unreliable to make up such a large percentage of our damage, imo. If the overall damage output was kept the same, but just a bit more focused on the player character, I think it would put rangers in a better place. Ideally, it would also make the difference between a beast master and a non beast master a bit more obvious, as it would move back towards the pet doing a very large percentage of the damage.

Thanks for the research into it.

Aridia.3042:

What they should’ve done is to give subs lvl 80 players some kind of aoe defense buff that gradually gets worse as they lvl towards 80 and finally take those training wheels off when they hit lvl 80. If you haven’t learned to roll out of the red circle when you get to lvl 80, you deserve to die.

Thats actually a really good idea. Training wheels are really great for some people, and I think that encouraging PvE players to start doing WvW is a very, very good thing.. but you have to eventually take the training wheels off!

Who knows, maybe they will implement an option to input different AoE limits in the custom arenas. I think thats a good idea as well. If they are worried about the impact it will have large scale, they can collect data from the custom arenas to see how it actually plays out. And giving more options to a “custom” fight is never a bad thing.

I still maintain the zergs would be just as prominent, but it would reduce the amount of mindless blobs rolling around the map.

Dont stand in the fire.

I am ok with waypointing. I might have an issue if we could do it in combat. I do think there should be a bit of a cooldown on how quickly a waypoint becomes open after being contested though. While I use it, and enjoy that I dont have to run as much, it has always seemed a bit strange.

I also like the aspect of strategically contesting waypoints to prevent quick reinforcements. With such a long cooldown, I am not sure it would be nearly as important.

All I do is WvW and I have never had an issue with gold. I am not rich by any means (I have never had more than 50 gold at any one time). Generally, I only have ~5 gold on me, but I tend to use that as a buffer and spend it as I get it.

I do have to save up for a bit to get certain things, like gearing up a newly leveled character. So, during those times I just rely on siege I have piled up. At the end of the day, I always buy one balista, one AC, and one flame ram and put it in the bank. Thats in addition to the 10+ of each I buy each day.

The only time I PvE is when I am leveling. I dont like dungeons (waiting for AI to get to an acceptable level.. its gonna be a long wait!).

I have never used real money to buy gems. Though, I bought my bank upgrades, etc earlier in the game and will admit they were more affordable then with in-game gold. I also dont play the TP (if I wanted to do that, I would be playing EvE honestly).

All of that said, I was slightly disappointed with the update. Not because it didnt cater to me specifically (which is what seems to be bothering most people), but just because the scope of it doesnt seem to reflect the months and months of time supposedly invested. I hope, and actually expect, that it is just a foundation for further expansion though and in that respect, can see where they are going with it. In time, it should be a pretty cool system.

I love the removal of culling. I am perfectly ok with the removal of orbs. I would even go so far as to say they should replace the outmanned buff, rather than make the strongest team even stronger.

While I have zero interest in paying to transfer, I thought this is a neat idea.

I am posting though to propose an idea. Right now, we have a few servers that are offering free transfers. What about starting the guild on one of those so we can all get there without having to pay for it?

Obviously, this would result in losing the progress made up to this point, but I think it might encourage more people to join who have no desire to pay the transfer fee for various reasons. I would join at that point.

Currently those two servers are Eredon Terrace and Fergusons Crossing. I would personally vote for FC, but it doesnt really matter to me.

Also, I really enjoy the name White Paper Hill Heroes. Most wont get the reference, but go to the White Paper Hill waypoint in Timberline Falls and stick around for a while (sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes, if there is a time of peace). There are rangers that battle it out with the forces of the mighty deer and owl griffons. Its a constant battle.. many rangers and hunters lives have been lost in the milieu. The hunters of the area simply wish to feed their families, and the feud between the bloodthirsty owl griffons and deer limit it. If you get involved, they will tend to ALL turn on you (whether you attack or not!). The owl griffons, in an attempt to starve the hunters of the region, even go so far as to kill harmless rabbits and rats.

Its a rough place there, and they need heroes.

:D

Its good to know that in an MMO.. things change a lot.

Just realize that if you go for a specialized build, there is a good chance something will change to affect it. It is frustrating every single time, dont get me wrong. But, definitely expect it to happen.

Im not sure how much consideration was given towards rangers with quickness. My only hope is that in the next couple patches, they can start to work towards fixing some of the issues that people are obviously having.

Just wanted to add another +1 for out of combat switching.

We can already do it, it would just streamline it a bit. I see no reason to not implement it, whatsoever.

I am against in combat weapon switching for eles.

@TG;

I agree with the conjures. They are actually pretty good! Even if just using something like lightning hammer to travel quicker. They are fantastically useful, and very effective in combat. I am especially looking at you fiery greatsword whirl with a lightning flash in the middle of the animation.

Because I dont do s/tpvp at all (been there, done that with node cap games), why would out of combat switching have to be disabled there?

I actually dont think removing the AoE limit would discourage zerging at all. Since removing the AoE limit also applies to the players in said zerg.

What it would discourage is mindless zerging. And counter-intuitive tactics like stacking to avoid AoE damage. And I am ALL for that.

It would also have the benefit of smaller groups becoming much, much more viable against larger groups. The larger groups would still have the numbers advantage, which means if the groups are equally skilled, the smaller group is going down. However, it would give more room for skill to really shine through and I would love to see that.

@kenshi;

If the 10 eles were doing that, the zerg has the opportunity to do the same. They can pump out significantly, significantly more damage against the eles than the eles could do to them. This is, of course, if they have equal skill.

Very interesting…

As a note though, it showed as “.5%” on my client, at least last night. Thought it was a bit funny. “Half of a percent, huh? Ill be unstoppable!”

In my MMO experience, Anet has handled this game much better than many.

I was a bit surprised how quickly they accepted that things like skill lag and culling were happening on their end. And yes, I am aware culling is a system intentionally put into place. In other games, I have seen such things blamed on players for literally years only for the company to finally come out and say “Ohhhh, you mean that? Yeah.. Thats on our end and we did it because of x!” I am surprised they are still even posting in the forums, though I have no doubt that will stop, and probably soon.

I also have been enjoying myself in game more than ever on my Ranger. Just so much to learn… This past weekend I broke my record for “weekend kills” in WvW with him! Still happy about that

Regardless, I hope you find what you are looking for Xsorus. From the sounds of it, you got a ton of enjoyment out of the game already, even if you never come back to it again. Always liked to see someone else enjoy pain inverter as much as I do.

GG

@Infernia;

While the build I posted earlier has a shortbow, it was initially played with a GS. With the buffs, it would make it an even more viable option too. I only went to shortbow because it fits me much better (and piercing arrows).

I find it to be effective in WvW and some PvE. I dont do dungeons or Spvp, so I simply cant offer feedback in those regards. It does take a significant amount of effort though, and I even have set my keybindings differently to reflect it. This went so far as to explore targetting settings, etc. which ended up finding some better (still not good) targetting solutions.

I find it has an enormous amount of depth, and it seems like every day I get better with it (I usually plateau frequently with most other classes I have leveled). Its not as easy to play as some, but is very hard to kill, with great mobility/evades (made even better with a GS, mind you), and “ok” power (I have about 3100 attack power, which still doesnt mean much on a ranger). The entire build centers on the sword main hand, so weapon choice beyond that is subjective. Martial mastery though, when using sword/x and GS results in ~80% of your skills receiving shorter CDs with one trait.

Now, it only uses pet as support, so that is a weakness. Especially if you enjoy micromanaging your pet. I use the pigs, and essentially only use them to knockdown, or forage up a weapon.

edit: Here ya go. Customized for you! :P I could go into tactics, etc, but you might find that fun so I wont ruin it for you. Sigils are personal preference, and traits change constantly. Not the point distribution, but the selectable ones.

Chokolata.1870:

I posted a build i am using to great effect in sPVP and WvW . but it drowned in all the whine topics

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Choko-s-versatile-bowman-beastmaster/first#post1713457

Just to be honest, I dont think many people care unless it is a faceroll/fotm build. And those usually only rise in popularity due to people getting stomped by them, and it usually involves random accusations of hacking. The player responds by posting their build and a new fotm is born!

If it helps, I read your thread and felt it was a perfectly decent build. If I wasnt so in love with my current build, I would try it out! I am not a huge fan of food either, at this point, but that is neither here nor there. I think most people come to the forum because they are having a negative experience, so that means that most posts and threads will reflect that. Its basically confirmation bias (which, really, we all do in some way). Most who are having a positive experience are too busy playing the game. Some, like me, enjoy message boards almost as much as the game.

MMO forums are almost always overwhelmingly negative. Just have to sift through the noise.

@Partunu

I was hoping someone could post from the other side! It was quite a long battle and was spectacular fun for me. It didnt seem either of us were really trying to cap anything (though some groups inevitably broke off and did so). Just sitting there in an all out epic battle!

The repeated flanks were great fun to defend against, even if they didnt work out particular well every time.

There was a guardian from DR that was basically doing the same thing I was; running to the enemies front line to lay down skills. For him, it was reflects, for me it was pain inverter, muddy ground, and healing spring. The ranger isnt exactly made for this, haha, but it was a fun tactic nonetheless. There is probably even a good chance that downed DH invader is me! XD

Great battle!

OGDeadHead.8326:

I think this tip is a really good one, but I seem to use this a little different – I use the key bound to this function to instantly drop a target. Yes, what so many of us asked for was pretty much there all the time (I know about ESC, but that’s one crappy key to use for this).

Makes “sword-jumping” a LOT easier – try it out! Thanks for a really great tip Tuluum!

You are very welcome!! And I never really considered the ESC key a good solution for anything, haha. Its.. so very far away..

Using it with the sword, as you say, turns it into a completely different monster. I try to target someone for the first two attacks of the chain, and then Ill target someone on the edge of the zerg for pounce. It allows me to jump around a zerg, mostly avoiding any melee type attacks since I am in a different spot by the time they try to attack. Used in conjuction with the stealth from the siamoth, and the evades, it turns into an avoidance fighter.

One of my issues with sword was the “root.” I.E. the fact you cant dodge as normal. However, using different steps of the chain on different targets essentially has you constantly dodging. Its not just a great work around, it can be used in the players favor!

I do have to say though, that it has become a bit harder to use for specific targets with the removal of culling. So, I tend to click-target if I want to hit someone specifically. It doesnt happen that often in the middle of a zerg though, unless there is a high value target. For all intents and purposes (constantly moving in and out of melee range) the target itself is not as important as where they are on the field, imo.

Every single profession forum looks exactly like this one. Id even go so far as to say that the same applies for every MMO I have ever played. I think its some victim mentality, or something. The ranger needs some work, but from day 1, I have never felt it was as weak as implied. The same goes for every class. I mean, go look in the ele forums, the warrior forums, etc. All of them likely have at least one thread a page that are complaining about how weak the class is. I think sometimes people try too hard to make a class that doesnt jive with them.. jive with them.

I have found this build to be very effective in all encounters in WvW and PvE. The only time it falls short is when I get swamped by 10+ people since there arent many escape options. Yes, I still die in some 1v1, but I also win some 1v5 and everything in between. I also find fantastic group utility, and tend to be a major force multiplier through skills like healing spring and even elixir of heroes. The most important part about this build though, is that I designed it specifically around me and how I play. While I found your typical BM specs effective, they didnt work with my brain (for lack of better words :P ), so for me, they were considerably less effective.

I find that in personalizing builds, I can complement my own weaknesses and strengths through the character. The downside is that it can also take significant amounts of time to slowly whittle away what works best for me personally. I take immense enjoyment in that process, but it definitely doesnt appeal to everyone.

Pedra.4381:

Here’s a radical idea. ArenaNet is absolutely stymied on how to handle the BOT problem. The vast majority of BOTs are Rangers. If they nerf Rangers enough that the non-BOTers just give up on it then they can use their metrics to say it’s an under-used class and broken anyway (and with some well stated PR speak) they can just get rid of the Ranger and solve their BOT infestation.

You know.. you may be on to something with that.

I am pretty outspoken that I feel Ranger is a very strong class, but it takes a significant amount of effort to be effective (moreso than any other class, imo). Its entirely possible they are encouraging this “feel” for the Ranger to discourage botting. That said, I think there are much better ways to approach it.

I never really used QZ outside of rezzing, as I found the DPS was still lackluster.

Im downright weird though, so take it for what its worth (I went from having an ele main, to a ranger main once I actually put some time into understanding the ranger. I even deleted my thief for the character slot for the ranger!).

I have never quite understood the obsession with reward.. I have even seen plenty of people say they play for “fun,” but then go on to complain about lack of rewards in a given area (or by comparison). Everyone plays the game for fun, they just find it in a plethora of different, subjective ways. I.E. its not a “bad” thing to have your fun by getting rewards, but not everyone is looking for that. I know I am not, at least not from GW2. I like Path of Exile for my “so much loot my brain explodes” needs.

I have also never quite understood trying to change the game to fit ones own personal agenda, at the expense of others.

I fully support if Anet were to implement other game modes though, or maybe even a bit more of a hybrid system (wherein player kills somehow count towards the point tally). If they were to implement a mode exactly like WvW, but where the point tally is determined by group sizes clashing and player kills, I would be on that like white on rice! As it stands though, I just dont see the need to fulfill my own selfish desires at the expense of others who are playing the game as its intended and designed. Much less insult them, or degrade them.

Its probably just me though. I play to have fun just like literally everyone else, and do so within the mechanics of the game. All games have their limitations, but I just dont see the need to warp the games original intention (whether it is “bad” or “good” is entirely subjective) to suit my own needs. I suit my own needs by playing essentially within the rules in place, to win (winning is fun for me), and also just hope for further diversification of game modes. I try to make suggestions, etc. that are in line with the vision of the game itself, instead of trying to change it entirely. Tends to be more successful, and less disappointing.

What I dont find being fulfilled in one game, I will find in another. No single game has ever been able to cover all the bases. So.. I play more than one game!

I am a strange one though…

Sticking with the 300 theme..

We will blot out the sun!!! With our name tags!!!

With the small FOV, you cant really see the true impact the name tags have. In the first pic, it was after we got flanked from the second pic. Keeping in mind that there were also ~20-25 DR both to the left AND the right of the screen shots. It actually really did remind me of that scene from 300, haha. I cant imagine what this is like in the higher tiers…

Panda Shepard.1248:

I like seeing them myself but it would be good to have an option for those that want it.

I think at least having an option would be a good thing.

For me, I think the issue is exaggerated due to the removal of culling too. Not only is EVERY player showing up, but they are also showing up with more text than before. After some consideration, I think it is something I could get used to and perhaps even prefer in time.

As for clutter, imho, we have so much particle effects going on in things like combat that I dont notice the name tags much more than before.

I dunno, I thought it was pretty obvious the cooldown thing was a bug too..

I couldnt imagine that switching between my two pigs, constantly spawning things like elixir of heroes and AoE ethereal fields could be intended, with no CD whatsoever. To the extent that I avoided using it in combat (for WvW). Felt like cheating.

Still think Rangers need some effort put into them, but I always thought that was a bug from the moment I found out about it. Though, I didnt realize it was actually a universal pet problem, thought it was just the piggies.

Daemonne.5018:

Culling is mad that you pulled it!!

It was culling’s downed state, skill number three.

It has pretty devastating AoE knockback.

crystalpink.2487:

Ah I see.
I was expecting to be able to change map to the specific WP from the new UI more easily without having to click M xD

Like I said, I COULD be wrong! (I hope I am, actually).

But, from my short time before servers were pulled down, I did not see that option. Really, the only thing that is “new” is the screen for the passive abilities, very slight changes to layout, and fixes to functionality. The rest is pretty much just adaptations of what was there. In the case of individual map point distribution, its entirely welcome in my book though!

crystalpink.2487:

Tuluum.9638:

Like?

Like the one people said on another topic: The UI change that makes changing from one map to another map more easily now.

You click on the “enter world vs world” button, and it brings up clickable links to each map. Pretty much just like before, except now you can bring it up within WvW (which was buggy at best before). I didnt see anything that would allow you to WP to say, garrison in a BL within the UI. Though, if it doesnt bug, that can still be done through pressing “M” if your server has a WP there. That enter WvW button is in the picture in the upper left of the WvW UI.

I could be missing out on something, since I was only able to play WvW for about five minutes.

Also, the WvW dungeon-themed UI that people complained about on the other topic.

No idea on that one whatsoever. The UI is in that pic, there isnt anything other than that, afaik. You can click on each of the maps to see point distribution though, which is nice.

I wasnt able to explore it fully, but I am pretty sure what you see in that pic is what ya get! Would love to be wrong on that though, as I want to see more.

crystalpink.2487:

Tuluum.9638:

https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/c8d06WvW-Progression-English.jpg

:)

You can just go to the update page here if the above link doesnt work.

Thankies.
I saw that one already, but I wanna see if there are some other UI changes ^-^

Like?

Taldek.6105:

Does the new UI display the total number of characters currently on a given wvw map for each server? That would be amazing.

I dont believe so, but I could be wrong. I havent been in-game since WvW went down.

https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/c8d06WvW-Progression-English.jpg

:)

You can just go to the update page here if the above link doesnt work.

Valik Shin.9027:

The wp would only not render if u hadn’t been to it on that character

This would also happen on a character that had 100% world completion.

So, still happy about it.

patch incoming;

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
rabble rabble rabble
rah rah rah
————————

Next patch incoming;
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
rabble rabble rabble
rah rah rah
———————-

SSDD,.

I like some of the changes, like culling. I also like the idea of the WXP progression, and I fully expect more depth from it in the future. That said, my exact words when seeing the current choices were: “Thats it?”

Not a huge fan of every single character having three lines of text over their head.

Basically, I look forward to what they do with this in the future. In its current incarnation, I am a bit disappointed. I do have to remember though, it was so hyped up as some HUGE MEGA ULTRA WvW update that I may have been disappointed no matter what. Hard to tell.

BossFi.6917:

The Revealed was there to stop cloak and dagger to instantly stealth again which was making it virtually impossible to target a theif and do damage or stun them.

Now that has been fixed I really dont see a problem with killing theifs. If you cant stun or damage a thief in 3 secs then this game is maybe too fast paced for you :/

Yeah, just as an FYI, even though they stated differently in the State of the Game thing, they did not actually implement the revealed debuff as they said. AFAIK, they made no changes whatsoever to revealed beyond length and culling (which is should make revealed actually, you know, work!).

I am actually ok with that personally, since we need to see how culling affects play. That said, mentioning it as a foregone conclusion in the SotG only to not implement it, points to one of two things to me; either they had massive miscommunication, or they made an extremely quick decision. Both are not good issues, in my book.

Xsorus.2507:

They Copped Out of actually making stealth require a semblance of skill and decided to go with this pathetic measure so they didn’t hurt the easiest of classes to play.

If they had done it differently, thief would be my main character in a hot second.

As it is, I find much more depth in other classes. I wanted to make a “bandit” style character, and actually ended up with the ranger (though the build evolved drastically after the thread I made before even starting the character).

Cactus.2710:

D W.5179:

This is the problem with communications coming from all over the place instead of one controlled organized place, like the official forums. I never know where to get my GW2 news from LOL.

^this^ … a hundred times ^this^

ANet has the most ridiculous and disorganized concept of how to communicate with their players base. Some things show up only on Twitter or Facebook, some show up only on third party fan websites, some show up only in convention interviews, some show up in separate dev blogs, and a few show up in one forum thread but not the official announcement thread. It’s totally haphazard and makes ANet look like noobs from a media coordination point of view.

To be blunt, I dont even bother looking for them anymore. I just wait until its in-game and then test everything out. I will check out the update notes, but those are usually only released within hours of the update.