Guild Wars 2

I realize that healing is second-class by design, and that there are Ascended rings and amulets with healing stats, but the exclusion of Ascended items with healing power as the main stat seems to be an oversight.

There are those of us that still find and use viable support builds.

I was hoping they’d be added with yesterday’s update, but as that didn’t happen:

Please add a Cleric or similar Ascended ring(s) and amulet!

Let us plant farms (like planting berry trees in Pokemon, maybe in our home instance, to reduce reliance on RNG of cooking nodes)

Let us fish (all water; maybe have hidden spots like Torchlight and Diablo)

Let us treasure hunt (similar to Rift’s collections or WoW’s archaeology)

I think these would add a lot to the game, not the least of which would be more choice in how to spend our time and added incentive to explore.

If the reason you don’t want MF gear is that you like your armor, you could always get MF gear and a second set of your armor skins, then transmute. Switch as needed.

Just an idea.

I am absolutely opposed to damage meters in GW2.

GW2 would see more benefit from a meter that gauged a player’s effective use of dodging, or perhaps combo fields, but none of these meters are necessary. DPS isn’t even close to an accurate measure of player skill in this game. It’s debatable whether it is a measure of skill in any game.

The free server transfers lasting this long has hurt WvW far more than transitioning to paid transfers will.

I can’t wait until the server communities are ‘locked’ in place to hinder people flocking back and forth based on who’s winning WvW.

Sometimes, you will need to use multiple shades of a color to have a “match” between two different armor pieces. I have to use three or four different purples to get my Elementalist’s armor mix to make it look like it’s all the same color. Unfortunately, that’s much more difficult when you’re going for the true black. There are two things you can try:

1) In your dye menu, sort your colors by material. Look at the armor piece and try to determine which material each dye slot is for, and then use the darkest black you have for that material. It may help with matching the colors.

2) Try using an accent color on your armor, even if it’s just a slightly lighter grey. I know it’s not what you’re going for, but using an accent color will draw your eye away from the slight color differences among your armor pieces if you can’t get them to match precisely.

3) I’m not sure where the red accents on the pants are coming from, but you could always play to your armor’s quirks and try using Midnight Fire Dye, which might camouflage the issue.

The grunge black effect on your current armor set doesn’t look bad at all.

You’re not supposed to be able to log out during combat, so my opinion is that part is an exploit. I don’t think farming the node is an exploit at all.

There are many people who have characters they don’t use often parked at the node just to mine it when it respawns, so those people are not bots, and aren’t doing anything exploitative. Logging into and off of an alt would look just like someone using the 3rd party teleport program.

1) yes
2) yes
3) yes
4) no (level playing field according to whom? or based on what?…way too vague)
5) no
6) yes (or implemented separately from combat stats)
7) yes (as long as it is implemented separately from combat stats)
8) no
9) yes (especially: get rid of the mystic toilet and give recipes to crafters)
10) yes
11) no (looking back, my expectations were probably impossible to meet)
12) yes (ANet has shown that they learn from their mistakes)

Blueshield.6291:

Klink.8970:

Yeah, I had enough commendation to get around 1200 keys.

That is the exact reason that she’s being disabled. Frankly, given ANet’s reaction to the Snowflake Ecto exploiters, I’m surprised they aren’t also handing out bans to anyone who mass produced keys, given that they could be used to obtain the highly-valuable permanent Bank, TP, MF accesses and make hundreds of gold.

Your argument makes no sense to me. At the time Lyns was added to the game, buying mats to craft exotic trinkets and then trading for the commendations made the keys cheaper than trading gold>gems>keys, but not by a ridiculous amount (IIRC it was about a 20% discount). The people who were mass producing keys were basically taking advantage of a sale that by all appearances had been put in the game intentionally for Wintersday.

And, going by your logic…if a player buys thousands of gems, then keys, with real money and opens the chests, they should be banned for RNG rewards that may or may not make them hundreds of in-game gold? The only difference there is that ANet is profiting from it, which a cynical person would say makes all the difference to them. Otherwise, they’re the same situation.

The snowflake recipe clearly was an exploit. Trading commendations for keys was not, which is backed up by ANet not saying anything about bans related to it. They simply decided they didn’t like the after-effects of the keys being available through the merchant, and that decision is entirely unfair for anyone who was working toward buying keys. In addition, if they intended to remove the BL Keys all along, as your post indicates they were, they should have made that clear sooner than yesterday, since the NPC has been inactive for weeks, but average players (not “exploiters”) could still stockpile commendations expecting to have access to the keys later.

In any case, if ANet is going to continue to cry “exploit” for these things they are putting in the game, they need to put patches through much more stringent QA before live implementation, especially focusing on how the patches and events are going to impact the economy.

I have to admit, the removal of the BL Keys is incredibly frustrating. They were the only reason I pursued the commendations in the first place, and I now have eight stacks of commendations (that have been wasting bank slots for how long now?) that can’t be used for the keys I intended them for. I’d honestly rather have the trinkets back that I donated than anything else that the vendor offers.

Very, very annoying move, ANet.

Ethics.4519:

However I would also say mesmer because ele is pretty much locked into D/D. S/D is very comparable but staff is only good for the range

I would argue that the staff is much more viable than D/D. However, that just shows that this statement is highly opinion-based and dependent more on personal play style than the weapon’s inherent effectiveness. Each of the Ele’s weapon sets is viable in various situations, as is the case with most weapon sets for the eight professions.

PLEASE no sashimono. They are the most laughable and awkward-looking armor pieces I’ve ever seen that were actually used in battle. I’ll give credit to the suggester, it is a creative alternative to capes, but…please…don’t put them in the game.

Capes similar to GW’s would be nice, provided they are dye-able per character.

I really don’t like the idea of a hero system after seeing how it killed social grouping in GW.

However, I would love it if the future guild halls were mini towns that cycle through the guild’s members’ alts as NPCs.

The result of that recipe isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Although…I definitely think it’s an acquired taste.

They’re probably hoping to siphon off gems from the people who received gem cards for the holidays.

The sylvari glow made my decision for my main.

If you’re not fond of any of the race aesthetics, it may help to look at the racial skills, as some of them can be fun for certain professions. Examples:

Asura: Radiation Field is a poison combo field; can be useful for warriors, who don’t have many combo fields available, but lots of finishers
Charr: Charrzooka offers lots of combo finishers; can be useful for staff Eles, who have very few combo finishers
Sylvari: the Druid Spirit offers regeneration, condition removal, and roots foes; can be useful for thieves, who have limited support capabilities.
Human: Avatar of Melandru is similar to Druid Spirit, except the player is in control of the support skills, which can be good or bad, depending on your perspective

I haven’t used the Norn racial skills much, but I’m sure they have creative uses as well.

Of course, then there are combinations that are just for fun: I made my mesmer a Charr just because it sounded fun to have him whip out a Charrzooka occasionally. My thief is an Asura because I thought the Asuran dodge and jump animations fit, and some of the medium armors look less like trenchcoats on Asura.

Good luck!

I honestly don’t like the idea of these cross-discipline recipes requiring two specific disciplines to be active, as I would prefer to have two maxed disciplines on each of four characters (to avoid yet another unnecessary gold sink). So I suggest an alternative:

Let’s say your Diamond Aegis recipe (yes, I realize it’s a HoM item, and therefore this is purely for discussion) requires a Diamond Shield Backing (weaponsmith 400) and a Diamond Shield Boss (jewelcrafter 400). ANet could make these new intermediate ingredients account-bound. This still requires the crafter to have both disciplines maxed, but prevents the need for a specific combination on any one character, and the end product would still be tradable.

With that said, the recipes would otherwise be a great addition to the game and economy. The best part would be if these recipes completely excluded the mystic toilet.

I would love to see user-generated content. If ANet ran it as a recurring contest to pick a new armor set, it would add a bit of variety to the game. I’d love to see something similar for weapons and town clothes.

I think ANet has plenty of fans who would generate content for free (look at some of the incredible work on the fan art boards on GW2Guru, for example), and that’s what EA’s been doing with The SIMS for years.

The RNG holiday items in GW were acceptable because you could farm them and the drop rates were reasonable (I’m thinking about the Lunar Fortunes as an example).

GW2’s RNG items not only cost a kitten-ton in initial investment (real or in-game), AND the drop rates are miniscule.

I honestly think ANet would make more money by placing the specific items on the gem store, even if they were more expensive than, say, a set of 10 BL Keys. Most people I talk to refuse to waste their gems on the RNG chests/items at all.

This would be really nice. I enjoyed Nick and Yakkington in Pre- and Post-Searing GW.

The Orr areas are definitely set up differently from the rest of the game. The mobs are more dense, they CC (annoyingly often), and they seemingly aggro from miles away. The repetitive vocal tracks make it even better! “Death, good!” Honestly, my suggestion is to do map completion in Orr and then move back into the areas of the game that are actually fun to play.

Personal opinion aside, the key is being careful and taking your time. Running through Orr is difficult because of all of the CC and large aggro ranges. You can complete all three zones solo, but it’s going to take more patience than most zones require.

I suggest the Elementalist, just don’t spec for a glass cannon. There are plenty of options for survivability builds, such as cantrip or glyph setups.

I have not yet seen any area that is unplayable due to lack of population, but that’s going to depend on what server you choose and your typical play times. If you’re worried about an active player base, pick a server with a high population. The trade-off is queues for WvW.

All in all, I think being ‘left behind’ shouldn’t be a worry at all. Welcome to the game!

Unfortunately, some of the hints seem to be sporadic. I had leveled several of my alts through their starter areas before I got all of them (some are clearly class-specific, but I’m talking about the cross-profession ones).

Mercury’s idea is good. If that doesn’t work, take it and the next day, perhaps try finishing the daily on a different character.

Contrary to some of what has been posted above, I think starting with your Elementalist is a great idea. It is no doubt a difficult class to play well, but there are lots of reasons to start with an Ele.

Eles are arguably the squishiest profession in the game, and the player is forced to play skillfully to survive and be effective. By the time you get beyond the steep learning curve on an Elementalist, I believe you’ll have a much easier time learning other professions that are more forgiving.

So, I suppose the ‘answer’ depends on whether you prefer working up the difficulty scale slowly, or taking the challenge from the start. Because it is the profession that caught your eye originally, I would encourage you to give it a go.

Welcome to GW2!

Baby name websites and online translators make for some fun names, as long as you don’t mind being the only person that understands them.

Sometimes having people ask about your character name is a good conversation starter.

I have to agree with Strang. Contrary to most of what I’m reading in this thread, there are perfectly viable staff setups that do not use Blasting Staff. Yes, it’s useful. Saying it is “required” is an overstatement. As with every other aspect of building your character, it’s going to depend on personal preference.

The game’s selection of staffs is awful right now. Out of all the staffs on the market, The Bifrost is the only one with a noteworthy particle effect. Even the Corrupted Branch is mediocre, when so many of the weapons in that set are awesome. Staffs are even left out of certain weapon sets that otherwise have great effects (example: the purple illusion weapon family…I understand that there isn’t a staff-wielding illusion, but…really?). The HoM staff has one of the better effects, but isn’t available to everyone (unless they’re going to delve back into GW).

All in all, I really hope that future weapons show extra effort put into items other than melee weapons, and offer more options than rainbows and negligible effects.

This sounds much more complicated than it is, but there is a way to get directly to Lion’s Arch:

You need to finish your race’s PvE tutorial first.

As soon as you’re finished with that, there will be a crossed sword icon on the top left of your screen that will open the ‘Heart of the Mists’ window. On the upper left of that window, there is a button that says “Go to the Heart of the Mists.” Click it.

If it’s the first time you’re using the button on that character, the button will take you to the Starting Tutorial Area. Finish the three hearts there, and you will be transported to the Heart of the Mists, which is the PvP staging area.

You can ignore everything in the Heart of the Mists if you want. Your goal is the Asura Gate (big purple portal), which takes you directly to Lion’s Arch.

You can use this method no matter what level you are. It’s a free way to get to Lion’s Arch from anywhere in the game.

Enjoy the event!

zargnath.9524:

…Also I really hope we can play GW2 in the Underworld.

I applaud your priorities, my friend.

I love the event so far. ANet has found some creative solutions to the problems with Halloween and (especially) Lost Shores, and has made this event the best yet.

Way to wade through all the feedback and come out ahead. Well done, ANet!

I think the most important piece of advice has already been said, but it bears repeating:

Take your time with the game and allow yourself to enjoy a slower pace.

GW2 is not a game for speed leveling. Leveling is just a side effect of enjoying the game.

Have you tried WvW? If you like level 80 content, then WvW is really the closest thing to skipping right to level 80.

The PvE option would be fractals, but even the lower tier fractals tend to be very rough on low-level characters, despite the level 80 up-leveling.

I suggest searching YouTube with the specific legendary names.

You are unfortunately correct: it is very difficult to get a still shot that does justice to an animated particle effect.

Yeah…anyone who tells an Elementalist to stay on one attunement needs to play an Ele for a while, because that’s definitely not how an Ele works.

Asking your team’s Elementalists how they’re traited is reasonable, because there are lots of valid play styles, but even a fully support-traited Elementalist is going to be switching attunements constantly.

As many of the above posters have said: treat a dungeon the same as any other PvE scenario, just with more emphasis on teamwork.

Happy Wintersday, everyone!

I thought the same thing as I watched the trailer.

Kitty La Boom Boom.4065:

Lankybrit.4598:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

No, there’s no resource nodes.

sigh you did that deliberately, didn’t you.

Cheers.

Irregardless; there’s still no new resource nodes >^_~

lol. That’s just mean. xD

MithranArkanere.8957:

I could see having that as the special skill of one pet, but not as something they do by default.

Agreed. I do not think pets should see through stealth by default. It would not only break the stealth mechanic, but it would also give Rangers a distinct advantage against thieves that the other seven professions (including thieves vs thieves) don’t have. Even if each profession had a utility that allowed stealth detection, that’d be a different story, but no less broken:

If such skills existed, then you’d also need mechanics that prevent Elementalists from swapping attunements, Warriors from building adrenaline, Rangers from switching pets, etc…so that each profession’s main mechanics can suffer the same ‘shutdown’ effects.

I really like the idea of a puzzle dungeon. There have been similar threads before, and I was sad to see them get buried.

The only problem I foresee is that ANet would need a vast supply of puzzles in order to have enough in the rotation that it didn’t get monotonous very quickly. But, I think ANet could do it well.

Sounds fun. I like the Island of Dr. Moreau theme.

This class has the potential for many possibilities:

Rare transformations to collect (maybe you have to defeat certain enemies before you can transform into them?).

Perhaps if the class was limited to humanoid monsters, its armor could adapt to the transformation for the sake of customization that Urthona mentioned.

Maybe the transformations could be randomized like the Engineer’s potions’ effects. Potion S transforms you into a random supportive form, Potion O transforms you into a random offensive form, Elite Potion ZOMG transforms you into a boss clone for 15 seconds.

The OP’s fractal idea would be fantastic for April Fools’ Day.

As far as serious fractal ideas…I’d love it if the next round of fractals were excerpts of some of the classic areas from GW:

Tomb of the Primeval Kings
Underworld
Fissure of Woe
The Deep
Urgoz Warren
Domain of Anguish

The fractals could be a great way to put some nostalgia into the game.

I sure hope there are undiscovered recipes for staves, because the current selection is underwhelming.

I wondered what the heck was happening in WvW last night. Allies sometimes invisible, enemies sometimes invisible, and such horrible lag that WvW was nearly unplayable. Restarting the game didn’t help. Then, when I switched back to PvE, everything was fine. I’m sure some of it was the incessant portal bombing with fifty players appearing out of nowhere, but I’ve never experienced lag like that in GW2 before.

I had one fun lag spike where my screen showed the same enemy Ele standing over my downed state with her Drake’s Breath animation hitting me continuously for about 45 seconds. She didn’t render on my screen until I was downed.

Please please please please please change it back. This is awful.

lol. i like this idea.

Teina.6295:

Are all mails delivered? because im still waiting for it

I’m hoping not, because I haven’t gotten one, yet.

I’m honestly not even sure how ANet is picking people to receive the mail. I have friends who were DC’ed during the event and earned one legitimately, and other friends who don’t remember being online that whole day and somehow got the mail.

Unlike other veterans, most of the skill point mobs do not regenerate health, even if you leave combat with them.

If the main mob spawns minions, they may reset, so I suggest taking them out first, then running away to heal up and wait for cooldowns (if needed). Then, when you’re fresh, run back and hit the main mob. If you get down to uncomfortably low HP, run out of combat again, rinse and repeat.

The mobs’ HP not resetting seems to be intentional on ANet’s part, so that everyone has the possibility of soloing content, even if that wasn’t what they were hoping people would do.

Good luck!

EDIT: There isn’t much you can do about the local mobs respawning insanely fast. You may have to take them down every time you run back in to give yourself some time with the skill point mobs. As an Engineer, place your turrets far enough from the enemies that you can pull them in controllable groups. Sometimes you can pull the skill point mobs pretty far from the skill point locale.

“Farmable” might be a bit misleading, as the drop rate is abysmally low, but I suppose the term applies because it is a random drop.

Profession-related effects would certainly be nice, considering right now there’s very little to tell them apart as far as armor goes.

I think all of the ‘racial sympathy’ races already in-game (ogres, quaggan, skritt, hylek, and grawl) would be very fun to play and discover more about their cultures.

Tengu, Kodan, and Largos are all awesome, too.