While Sword/Focus seems to be the standard in DPS, Greatsword has good potential too with some Might or Boon duration. I have a theoretical build I may try out. A 10/0/0/20/30 build (with 10 points left for variety). The key elements are 100% Might duration, Empowering Might, Wrathful Strike, Sigil of Strength, and Permeating Wrath. In mobs, you should be able to get an easy 25 stacks of Might with around 40% critical hit rate. That’s 875 Power and Condition Damage. You’ll hit everything in the area, stack up damage, and cause area Burning to those mobs. Against a single enemy, I still expect someone could stack around 15 stacks of Might (525 Power/Cond). Start off with another weapon with a Sigil of Bloodlust and you can gain up to 1125 additional Power. Bowl of Lotus Stirfry could make for a better alternative if you don’t want to invest in a lot of Might/Boon Duration.
Again, purely an experimental idea I would have to test. I only have a Knight set and Magi/Cleric hybrid set to test, so it wouldn’t be an optimal test. I may pick up some Berserker trinkets (with Knight armor) and see how it plays out. The 10 points left can be used for anything. 10 more in Honor for Pure of Voice or Two-handed Mastery, 10 in Valor for Purity or Mediation Mastery, 10 or more in Zeal for Zealous Blade.
That’s an indirect form of aggression that generally punishes players trying to do a friendly act. It happens, yes, but it can all be avoided if a single player capable of surviving combat holds aggression against the mob in the first place.
I’m sure the Berserker horde will get on my case eventually. I already have to navigate carefully through LFG websites to avoid such a problem (which should be unnecessary). I can handle my own as a defensive build more than the GS Zerk Warrior earlier today though more experienced players will tell you he was just bad. I just look at the Guardian and see a class with massive, defensive potential but rarely could I hold aggression over the other players. I’ll have to do more experimenting if we don’t get a solid answer, but it may be possible that Toughness is not the primary stat for aggression as I did a better job with a balance mix of Toughness/Vitality/Healing Power among other stats.
Any feedback/responses are welcome here. I would like to see some attention brought up on the subject. Again, I’m not asking for the standard “absorb damage like a boss” method of tanking. Think evasion tank with some minor mitigation (Protection) and interrupts (ex. Banish).
Well I’m hoping that’s not the case as there’s already so many things that are in favor of pure damage than any other playstyle. I always aim for a tank as my first character, hands down. I’ve had my Guardian since launch and developed in into the best tanking character that I could. But today after purchasing the remaining Knight armor pieces I needed, I watched as mobs were pulled out from in front of me and killed off my companions while I maintained 50%+ health.
I’m not asking for traditional tanking. I don’t want an aggression meter or supreme survivability against attacks. Dodging is a part of the game and it should stay as such. You see healing builds, but none are traditional. Healing builds are usually short bursts or slow regeneration. What I want to see is a build that makes sense in any dungeon run of any game: holder of aggression. If I die, it’s because I didn’t dodge, heal, or interrupted. I accept that on every run. I’ve been trying to play Guild Wars 2 actively, but I can’t be bothered knowing that my traditional character archetype is pointless against the standard full Berserker professions.
(edited by Viralseed.9362)
[QUESTION]: What stats (if any) affect aggression the most?
Supposively, the community has documented Armor and overall Toughness as a primary method for holding aggression of mobs. As such, I gave it a shot upgrading to full Knight armor instead of my standard mix of Knight and Magi equipment. After running two full paths of Sorrow’s Embrace using my new armor, I’ve noticed how much more difficult it has become to hold aggression over other players. This leads me to believe that there are stronger factors to aggression than Toughness (such as Vitality and/or Healing Power).
Using the information on the wikipedia page, I definitely hold the top two methods (closest target and dealing damage). However, switching armor sets has actually increased my damage and Toughness (methods 3 and 4). However, I seem to have lost aggression toward enemies through the change. Spending over 25g and 1,000 badges of honor, I’d really like to have some solid evidence on what exactly factors for aggression.
It would take a lot of time, effort, and above all, gold to document what armor sets statistically offer the highest potential for aggression. I hope a developer can enlighten the community on how it works.
You can get around 2,000+ Vitality in total. With a 3% gain in Power, Precision, and Healing Power, that’s a low 60 gain for each. I don’t believe it’s worth it.
Yes, but in the interest of the build (0/30/30/10/0), there is little Boon Duration. Shield’s Protection is only 5 seconds. You would have to finish a combo with Hammer, switch weapons, and most likely waste off Hold the Line! just to maintain Protection before you can switch back to Hammer. I thought of the same thing myself but for the theoretical 100% reduction, using Shield is impractical.
Just some insight as well. The calculator you are using doesn’t factor Strength in Numbers. You can add another 150 to the total or 175 if you substitute a rune for a different Toughness rune.
already added manually those 150 more toughness
Well it would appear that you did. My mistake then. I still would like to see some testing to see how damage reduction factors.
So, here’s the thing. If Sigil of Earth has an internal cooldown of 2 seconds, how do you apply four stacks of Bleed on Zealot’s Defense when it only takes about 2 seconds to cast?
I’m not saying there isn’t some viability to the build. I just don’t see how it adds up.
Just some insight as well. The calculator you are using doesn’t factor Strength in Numbers. You can add another 150 to the total or 175 if you substitute a rune for a different Toughness rune.
This is all speculation using additive percentages as your evidence. If damage reduction is all additive, you would be right. Armor (and Toughness) is not a percentage. Damage is calculated as such. There isn’t a true percentage reduced from Armor but rather an amount reduced. If you and your target have 1:1 Armor/Attack, you could (in theory) take no damage. As soon as that target raises the Attack value (through Might, high skill coefficients, etc.), you will take damage.
There is no 100% damage reduction point. The damage reduction effects (Protection and Signet of Judgment) take effect after the initial damage reduction has occured. If the two are additive, you’ll reduce up to 45% of the remaining damage you would take. If you reduce an attack by 50% through Armor alone, you’ll take around 27.5% damage after all reducing has occured. If multiplicative, 29.48%.
The primary problem I have with Guardian traits is the fact that each line is so focused that you can’t strongly benefit in an area. My Mesmer currently uses a 10/10/0/25/25 build focused heavily on Phantasm offense and support. My Phantasms are hard to take down and offer group Regeneration to each other and nearby allies giving me the same survivability. My Necromancer uses a 30/30/0/10/0 build focused heavily on conditions. It yields lots of condition application, heals and cures on kills, and double condition duration (plus more with Scepter) to ensure crowds drop quickly.
My Guardian, however, uses mediocre Valor traits just to take Altruistic Healing. My Honor traits focus on making Symbol of Protection have 100% upkeep while passing off Might to get extra healing. I don’t even need Superior Aria, Purity, or Retributive Armor. I just can’t take anything better. Zeal and Radiance together offer some nice Vulnerability and Blind application, but it’s barely enough to sustain a good build around either. Honor may be the group support tree, but it has nearly every worthwhile trait for group support. Might on crits, healing on evade, area Virtue of Resolve, healing Symbols, etc. You can’t take them all, and you shouldn’t. It would be overpowered. Compared to other professions, you can’t build nearly as strong of a support.
That is why traits need to be moved. Guardians are capable of taking every Spirit Weapon trait and every Symbol trait (examples) to specialize in either category. However, neither are impressive enough to create a solid build around. Instead, we could be taking every Symbol trait to reinforce our Symbols while stacking additional mobbing effects or Boon application to really give Symbols a punch. Spirit Weapons could have additional mechanics to last longer on the battlefield (more health?) to give Guardians a real extra boost in damage or support output (more command uses per summon?).
To reiterate, Guardians lack a strong specialization when putting together traits that other professions have. We fall into a jack-of-all-trades profession that is good at everything, but every profession can surpass any build we create. There are far better bunkers, DPS, CC, and support builds out there; none of which are for the Guardian. That is what I feel needs to happen to the Guardian.
I have an idea. Can we get Azurite and Snowflake nodes as well? Seriously, ArenaNet, you cannot release time-limited items that alter the stats of a character. It creates opportunities for veteran players to be potentially better than newer players. While I was around for both events, I did not bother to save up enough materials for either Sentinel’s or Giver’s equipment. Now that I have the time and gold to invest in new armor sets to try new builds, I’ve come to discover that there are equipment types that I cannot obtain. Eventually, the market will dry out and the equipment will be lost forever.
My Health hasn’t changed.
Are you using food that raises your Vitality?
Has your server acquired enough points to raise your Health by 1,000?
Did you recently activate a Dragon Effigy?
All three and possibly more will raise your health. Guardians had no change.
After several patches of waiting, this was to be the most promising balance update.
I am disappointed.
My Mesmer build changed slightly, my Necromancer got a slight buff, my Thief got a massive buff, and my Warrior was completely destroyed. I can see why they made the changes.
However, none of the above is my main character. My Guardian, which I leveled to 80 within the first month of release, has had roughly the same build since the beginning. I was hoping this balance update would open new opportunities. We were promised new traits, merged traits, and revamped traits. While Guardians got some fair changes, nothing changed in my build. I want diversity. I wanted to go into combat, fight a boss for several minutes, lose from time to time, and ask myself what traits or utilities should I switch out to help the party win. Instead, we still have a dozen or more weak traits and at least a half dozen that can be merged with pre-existing traits.
So, ArenaNet, can we get another look at balance again soon? I’m not talking about another 3 month wait. There are plenty of traits and skills that need looked at. I’m actually curious how many people actually use new traits this patch because it doesn’t seem like enough will change their builds.
1. Absolutely in favor of this as long as traits are merged together. Honestly, Writ of Exaltation should just be removed and have Symbols already be this large. It’s so annoying to use Symbol of Protection on large enemies to have to move ontop of the enemy just to be inside of your own Symbol. I’m thinking:
Writ of Exaltation removed. Symbols are now 50% larger without a trait.
Writ of Persistsence moved to Adept level.
New Trait: Writ of Power, Master level. Symbols deal 10% more damage and apply 2 stacks of Vulnerability for 5 seconds per tick.
I’d be more than happy. Of course, new Zeal minors would have to be added. The extra damage could even be removed from Writ of Power. I would just rather the trait have a better Vulnerability application than one stack that lasts 3 seconds.
2. Empowering Might belongs more in Radiance, but it’s welcome in Zeal. Two-Handed Mastery and Elusive Power can also go into Zeal. Vigorous Precision I’m going to vote against. Honor is for healing, and Selfless Daring would be nothing without Vigor. It would be a waste to have to spend 15 points in Honor and then an addition 15 (assumption) in Zeal of all things to have a good healing output. Moving the two major traits from Honor would require two new traits to be added, but I’m sure we can find better, support-oriented traits to add into Honor.
4. I think Zealous Blade is…. okay. I mean, it is painful knowing it only applies to one weapon but until it gets a boost from Healing Power, it just isn’t worth enough over the other self-healing traits.
5. I don’t really know how it would be better to cast a stationary Symbol while moving unless you mean for the Symbol to move with the caster. The other points of this suggestion are covered in my first point.
6. I don’t think this is necessary. Symbol of Swiftness just needs to be reworked so it applies its duration if the user has less than that duration of Swiftness. For example: Symbol of Swiftness has a 10 second duration, but you only have 8 seconds active. Symbol of Swiftness sets that duration to 10 seconds. With the same duration, you walk into the Symbol with 15 seconds of Swiftness. No changes apply. It would fix that annoying point where you recover the one second of Swiftness you have remaining each tick.
7. Fury while in Symbols would be nice, but it would have to be a different effect than the Boon, Fury. Doubling the amount of Boons received from Symbols would make Altruistic Healing even more powerful. I’d still much rather see a weight effect where enemies move slower while Inside of your Symbols. Cripple or Chill would suffice (even a new condition).
8. Glacial Heart is better now, but it still can be removed relatively quick. I’d much rather see it reworked to have a shorter Chill duration and a shorter cooldown.
When it comes to Engineers (like Elementalists), they can bunker to a level beyond Guardian. It seems a entirely unfair for a ranged, heavy-utility class to have over what should be a sturdy, melee class with limited CC.
If you see the Engineer using grenades, use Retaliation. Generally, Engineers specialized for grenades will hit you 3 times which in turn will hit three times back. With significant power, you can hit the Engineer back for around 600 per attack. Your standard Zerg equipment (Soldier or Sentinel) will suffice against grenade Engineer builds. The heavy amount of Health and Armor will negate most damage: direct or conditions. Having Soldier gear for Power main raises Retaliation to its greatest potential.
If the Engineer is using a condition build, be sure to have condition removal ready. Traiting Virtue of Resolve to remove three conditions and/or having Shouts with condition removal will help. You can also use Contemplation of Purity when the Engineer bursts conditions onto you for an instant turning of the battle.
Shout builds are one of our best condition removal methods, yes, if you specialize for it. It forces us to lock in one set of runes as well as 30 points in Honor. Shouts don’t particularly offer anything of value beyond some Boons that can be removed from the numerous Boon-removal skills being added over the patches. I’d much rather see some more traits merged. Symbols last longer, Symbols are larger, and Symbols heal are different traits in the same tree that barely alter the function of Symbols. We have five Spirit Weapon traits across three trees. And yet, Consecrations last longer and have a 20% reduced cooldown is a single, powerful trait as an Adept level in Virtues.
We need some more merged skills. On top of that, we have three, mediocre traits that apply effects when Aegis is destroyed and one that applies a huge damage boost while Aegis is active. Aegis isn’t a managable Boon. In one encounter, you can apply it up to six times by its passive effect, activating Virtue of Courage, using Retreat, gaining it again by using Renewed Focus, using Virtue of Courage again, and then having your health drop below 50% with Valorous Defense. It becomes too difficult to manage it as you waste off your key abilities for a few, weak effects. I’d like to see more methods of applying Aegis to make these traits better.
This just in, the new popular build is 20/0/30/20/0.
No seriously, 25HP on every hit with a Greatsword, might on crits, and Altruistic Healing. I’ve seen builds using both Zealous Blade and Altuistic Healing before, but that was relying on other forms of Boon application. If these notes are right, I know exactly what I’ll be doing next patch.
Every 21 points of Precision increases critical hit chance by 1%
Every point of Vitality increases Health by 10 points
Why does one point of Toughness have to equal to one Defense point?
Now, base Toughness can’t be altered I would assume. If every point of Toughness was equivalent to 2 Armor (example), it would improve the survivability of all characters and alter the game greatly. Instead, what if bonus Toughness had a higher impact on characters? For example:
Armor = Defense + 916 + ((Toughness – 916) * Multiplier)
I did some rough calculating. It’s definitely possible to obtain 3,400 Armor with a Heavy armor character (possibly more). With a 1 to 2 rate, that 3,400 Armor would become 4,700 Armor. With a 1 to 1.5 rate, the total Armor would be 4050. The number can be tweaked as necessary.
There are a few things to consider:
1. Conditions ignore toughness effectively making conditions more useful (not necessarily more powerful)
2. Higher Toughness means more benefit from healing abilities
3. Tanking (though not to the same extent as average MMORPGs) becomes easier to hold Aggression, but that may not be a good thing if the player isn’t skilled enough
4. Additional Toughness can aid light armored characters by compensating for the initial lack of Armor
5. Berserker gear feels a nerf against heavy Toughness characters, though these Toughness characters often can’t dish out the same damage.
6. Above all, bunker characters are given more opportunity to try new builds as less traits/skills are required to survive (ex. Characters do not need as many Blinds, Blocks, or Aegis effects)
Disclaimer: any change to Toughness does not need to affect PvP or WvW, but it should affect PvE as a minimum as there is little reason to use a Toughness (among other) builds in PvE over Berserker in organized groups.
Three words: Blast Water Fields
Hammer’s Mightly Blow has a short 5 second cooldown (4 when traited). Engineer with Healing Turret can apply a 3 second Water Field every 15 seconds, and Ranger can apply a 15 second Water Field every 30 seconds. Use both to apply a 1320 minimum healing to the three of you. With every 5 points in Healing Power, the amount raises by 1.
Alternatively, Greatsword can be used to a lesser extent. Leap of Faith can be used every 15 seconds (12 with trait) for a self healing of 1350 plus an additional amount equal to half of your Healing Power. Greatsword also has access to two whirl finishers (10/8 seconds and 30/24 seconds) to activate Healing Bolts. This, however, does not affect the Guardian which more than likely will be the center of attention.
While the Engineer does not need to use Healing Turret (as Healing Spring also applies the Regeneration Boon), the Ranger should use Healing Spring as it also removes conditions every three seconds. When traited, Healing Spring can apply Vigor to all allies within its radius. Vigor will give you more evasions (obviously), and with Selfless Daring, more team healing. If you tackle a Cleric build, you can hold aggression and keep the party alive, but you’ll suffer from a lack of critical hits (for Vigorous Precision and Empowering Might). Generally, Selfless Daring has no benefits without additional Healing Power as 30 points in Honor only yields a 429 healing roll.
Alternatively, you can go with a heavy amount of Knight’s gear and use the general Altruistic Healing build. With a good critical hit chance (around 45-50%), you can apply Might nearly 100% of the time for an easy 350 health each second. Hitting multiple times each second definitely helps to activate Empowering Might, but it doesn’t mean to pick a faster weapon. Hammer with Writ of Persistence applies Protection 100% of the time while attacking nearly two times each second (one from Hammer and one from the Symbol). In addition, you will heal for each stack of Protection applied and more if your allies are within its area. Pair it with Omnomberry pies and a Sigil of Blood for an additional chance to receive 325 or 453 healing on a critical hit. For more healing, use one of the following sets:
Runes of the Pack for a 5% chance when hit to apply 3 Boons to you and all allies with (~1150 health, 10 second cooldown)
Runes of Altruism to apply 4 Boons when using a healing skill to you and all allies (~1400 health,15 second cooldown)
My only warning. Your Ranger friend wants to use Longbow, and that’s perfectly fine if that’s his/her choice. Longbow’s damage is better at range, so Empowering Might (among other effects) will not reach. This lowers your healing. Fortunately, a melee pet can be used to make up for the missing player within range as long as the Engineer and whatever 2 pubs (assuming you make a 5-man party) stay within 600 units of you. Keep attention. Use gear with Toughness if you want to tank the enemy. Toughness has some affect on aggression it would seem. The longer the enemy stays off of your allies, the longer you stay alive and, in turn, the longer you stay alive.
Symbol of Wrath and Binding Blade (group Retaliation and a pull/knockdown)
Banish and Ring of Warding (heavy knockback and crowd-control)
Empower and Line of Warding (group Might/healing and area denial)
I first want to point out that the Guardian’s two-handed weapons uses the last two skills primarily for support. Guardian doesn’t need offensive off-hands, especially when we already have Torch. Zealot’s Flame is uses to light all nearby enemies on fire which applies 9 seconds of burning. Stack this with Fiery Wrath and Radiant Power to raise your damage by 20% against those enemies during those 9 seconds. Cleansing Flame does cure conditions on allies in its path, but you can deal considerable damage using it as well. Hitting multiple times also helps your on-crit skills activate as well as activating Virtue of Justice multiple times. Stacked with Permeating Wrath, you can burn all nearby foes again at least twice during the attack (two more for each additional enemy) keeping the offense going. By default, it has a 15 second cooldown on both skills making it potentially the best offensive skill the Guardian has in either the fourth of fifth slot.
If you want offensive, the Torch is the way to go. Like most of the Guardian’s weapons however, you need to build for it to stand out as an amazing weapon.
The very best option is to do that in the mists, although the trinkets are a problem there so it isn’t exact for PvE, but it is easier to deal with than the websites and you can play with all of the weapons, test damage, etc.
I’m well aware of this. The problem here lies in the trinkets. PvP Trinkets are not available in all PvE stat variants. More importantly, the amount of stats you get from these Trinkets are far lower than what a full exotic PvE player has. There’s no real testing of the builds. A player may be attempting to get a 50% critical hit rate as a base. In PvP, this is usually soaked up the Trinket leaving little room for additional stats. In PvE, only a few pieces may be required. Players can then invest more in Toughness and Vitality for some survivability.
In addition, there are no controlled situations. There aren’t mobs throwing punches at a regular rate to test the survivability of your character. In Heart of the Mists, we can go up against a variety of enemies that have no attack pattern. The NPCs are to feel similar to other players (with exceptions) and not a way of determining your survivability. What if a player needs to test condition removal? There could easily be an enemy activating a number of conditions in the area. There’s more potential in a testing chamber than PvP.
However, this thread is primarily about previewing stats. I still see no problem introducing a way to preview stats, but there’s little difference in previewing the changes in some numbers in PvE than from the same effect in PvP. I feel we would need another zone entirely to test the builds instead of just the stats.
I too would like to see some kind of Asuran Holographic Combat Chamber specifically for testing our PvE and WvW builds before investing the time and gold to craft/purchase the necessary equipment. I would love to have the option to switch my build around. I’m in the process of experimenting with some builds on my Guardian, but I won’t be able to test the effectiveness of said build until I obtain a full suit of armor. With the current economy, a full set of armor (weapons, runes, sigils, etc.) will cost around 35g to as much as 90g+, and that’s not factoring any sets that come from karma or dungeon vendors which require a large time investment in the game. Nothing upsets players like spending a full month farming for the currency or ingredients to craft a set of armor that does not support their builds.
I’d like access to these stat sets too. And Cavalier’s while they’re at it.
The problem with that being that Cavalier’s equipment is rarely available because only a select few slots of Cavalier’s was created. All players have access to the same number of Cavalier’s equipment. All players will not have access to Giver’s, Sentinel’s, or Settler’s equipment in the future (once supply runs out). It runs the risk of imbalance among the player base as a select group will have access to stats that can never be obtained again.
Since Wintersday and the Molten Facility have passed, the two armor stat variants are dropping in availability. I can understand why skins are temporary. It gives players drive to complete events while available. I went and purchased all of the Super Adventure Box skins as well as worked for various other skins throughout previous events. I have no problem with this type of content.
If I had believed that either of the mentioned stat variants would not be crafted again, I would have worked for those, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. Giving a limited number of these items effectively gives a limited group of players the advantage of certain builds. Potentially, a player will never be as sturdy in Soldier or Knight’s armor as another player in Sentinel’s armor. Others will not have as high of a Boon Duration as players who invested in Giver’s armor. We should be able to craft both still as well as any future items (Settler’s if additional pieces release).
Temporary content should be limited to aesthetic items. No player should have an advantage over another player.
You really believe that? I was well aware you’re suggesting Spirit Weapons be immune on passive. What I don’t understand is why a player needs additional control if you’ve stated the true problem of the weapons is the AI and not the basic function. The AI needs fixed if anything. AoE will exist regardless. Your weapons will take damage. If you wait for the enemies to waste their AoE skills before activating a Spirit Weapon, your Spirit Weapon automatically has a better chance of survival. There’s no need to have Spirit Weapons floating around the character until you’re ready to press the same key that would otherwise summon it in the first place.
It would function nearly identical to what you’re suggesting. You want to ready Spirit Weapons prior to attacking (similar to Mantras) and to choose when to have the weapons start attacking. The only differences are an extra step to summon the Spirit Weapon and the possibility for a shorter cooldown. There’s not much more stategy around it. With either senario, you watch for AoE and strike when the enemy as used nearly all area attacks. What am I missing with your suggestion that promotes a different skill level from how Spirit Weapons already function?
Hm, then wouldn’t it be just as efficient to remove the casting time from the skills? Granted, you wouldn’t have the possibility for a lower cooldown. It sounds like you want Spirit Weapons to be ready to strike when the opportunity is right. Removing the casting time offers the same function. The only thing you’d lose is seeing your weapons float around you prior to activation.
Personally, I’d much rather see Spirit Weapons revamped closer to Mantras (use each effect X times before the cooldown) or Conjure skills (summon the weapon for 5 new skills, X charges or Y duration).
Basically what you have is a slightly different Signet skill. You get a passive effect while not using the weapon. Instead of a single active effect, you have a duration in which the weapon can use its effects. I don’t quite understand what you mean by “use their associated skills.” Do you mean the command ability (ex. healing arrows) or the standard ability (condition-removing arrows)?
I don’t see how it makes Spirit Weapons better. Adding a passive effect doesn’t make Spirit Weapons better. Everything you described in terms of strategic uses can be applied to how signets should be. You either give up the passive boost for a short, powerful effect or you maintain the stat boost. Spirit Weapons don’t need the same function.
Boon Duration affects any boon you apply. This means that boons applied to allies will have the extended duration.
I’m not sure why you’re experiencing lower Swiftness Duration. I’ve yet to run into that problem.
Altruistic Healing isn’t boosted by either. Choose whichever best fits your character. Longer durations just means you boons last longer. Your boons will not activate more often (for more healing). Cleansing conditions may help your allies in a rough spot when conditions are being applied frequently. Neither improve the heal you get each second.
From what I can recall, weapon swap sigils share a cooldown and only the sigil on the main hand will activate in your given senario.
Honestly, I found this through a happy accident. I was recently amazed by the rising prices of some food items (namely butter and chocolate). I did some research and found that Small/Light Miner’s Bags contained a fair amount of both as well as the Silver Doubloons. After a few days, the prices on those bags began to rise. It may just have something to do with people using bags as method to finding the doubloons. If you want to press your luck, try purchasing some ingredient bags that contain them. The Supply will more than likely rise.
I’ve stopped purchasing the bags as the rising price has made it difficult to walk away with the same amount of money let alone a profit. It’s all luck.
Except there isn’t. The Okay button is simply allows you to see that the transaction took place. It’s a pause to show you the confirmation, that’s all. You can’t back out of a transaction once you press the buy or sell button.
Yes? That’s what I’m implying. Once you hit “buy” or “sell,” you are committed to the purchase. The same applies to currency exchanges. I don’t have any problem with that as i was committed to purchasing gems when I saw the obvious “buy” button as I am when I exchange tokens for in-game items (although that is usually followed by an additional window).
The difference is that after pressing “buy” or “sell” in the Trading Post, an “okay” button replaces the original button and prevents players from another transaction without selecting the next item (or another item). The Black Lion Trading Co does not feature the same thing when exchanging currency and is instead replaced with the same “buy” button even though the two sections use the same UI elements.
There is a lack of consistancy. Adding an “okay” button changes nothing in the sense that there is no additional clicks required to exit the exchange. You can still click the “x” in the corner or press ESC to close the window. All an additional “okay” button does is add consistancy to prevent an additional, immediate purchase. I’m not asking for a refund, nor am I expecting it. It was my mistake and I’ll deal with it. For future transactions, I would prefer to see a consistancy added to the Trading Post and Black Lion Trading Co.
Also, contrary to what the OP wants to argue that there should be another confirmation, this is a perfect example of why confirmations don’t work. Because players start ignoring them as a second decision point anyway, and just automatically click through them. They become another click with no associated benefit.
Finally, to the OP: Since gems/gold is a two way conversion, you can always just take your conversion loss and get most of your gold back and not be broke anymore.
In all honesty, the topic was moved when I posted it and the title was changed. My primary complaint is not that there should be a confirmation button. Instead, it feels as if two different programmers created the Black Lion Trading Co. and the Trading Post. The two use the exact same UI assets and yet the Trading Post has an “okay” button after pressing “sell” or “buy.”
I’m asking for consistancy. I don’t want a confirmation button. If another button were to be added, it should follow the “buy” button. This changes nothing for players that do not want to strain fingers clicking the mouse again as most players do not purchase gems within 3 seconds of the last purchase. It would be just as easy to close the window and resume play. I’ll see if I can edit the title of the thread to better explain my issue, but I don’t know if I can change what a moderator edited.
For clarification.. you hit the button twice? or you typed in twice the number you intended? I think i’m reading the first case.
The button does disable briefly to stop double-clicks till the success message comes up next to it.
Thanks for responding. It wasn’t a double click, but rather two clicks. I clicked once to purchase and clicked a second time assuming it was an"okay" button. This is predominantly because of how I use the Trading Post by clicking “sell” and almost immediately clicking “okay.” I can’t say I was under the assumption of an “okay” button appearing as I have purchased gems with gold before, but rather I had been using the Trading Post so frequently that it became second nature to click again to return to my items (for additional transactions).
I know what everyone is thinking. No, it’s not the content. No, it’s not the market or the players. I’m taking a break because of a dumbfounded mistake I’ve made recently. I, after several weeks of farming gold, began to research my next set of equipment for alternative builds. After tallying the cost, I found that I could afford my entire set and have enough money left over to buy transmutation stones to use the appearances I wanted.
However, the Black Lion Company appears to have no “okay” button after exchanging gold for gems. As a result, I’ve purchased double the amount of gems effectively going broke in the process. It feels like a huge oversight to not have an “okay” button as the Trading Post (using the same browser and UI images) has an “okay” button after any purchase.
I don’t want to commit to farming again in such a short time after the last grind, and I don’t want to spend all of the laurels I’ve accumulated over the months on unidentified dyes for the slim chance of getting a few dyes worth enough to make that gold back. Instead, I’m going to wait it out. I’ll let this mistake of mine pass. So a warning to any first-time buyers of gems: only press the button once. You’ll thank yourself later.
Has anyone else run across a small part of the game that feels like an oversight or a small feature that could be added to improve player responses?
Technically, it says Virtue Recharge Rate and not Virtue Cooldown. Lowing the amount by the cooldown would be duration*(1-x%) or 21/42/63 seconds.
However, it alters the rate. Without any points, you recover 3.33% of the cooldown each second. It applies that 30% ontop of that amount, so you recover 4.33% each second (the numbers being for Virtue of Justice). It takes 23.077 seconds to cooldown instead. Virtue of Resolve is 46.154 seconds, and Virtue of Courage is 69.231 seconds.
The math is right if you take the description literally, unfortunately.
I’m going to go ahead and say this now. It’s a decent build, and you’ll pull a tremendous amount of aggression (I have yet to determine why). However, you will sacrifice a lot.
You can take one of two trait combinations:
Writ of Exaltation, Writ of the Merciful, Battle Presence
Writ of Exaltation, Writ of the Merciful, Writ of Persistence
With the first option, your symbols won’t last as long (less healing from symbols), and you won’t give your allies 100% protection upkeep (without boon duration), but you will be giving your allies additonal healing from Virtue of Resolve. With the second option, you will maintain 100% protection and healing your allies every second with a little less healing over time (which may be countered by the 100% protection). Writ of the Merciful is obviously necessisary (as it is what you desire). While Writ of Exaltation isn’t necessary, you may find it difficult healing allies (and yourself) in the small radius of Symbol of Protection.
For equipment, take a mix of Cleric and Magi. Just enough Magi to give you a decent critical hit rate (mine is around 25% without food, 35% with food). If you have Writ of Persistence, you’ll hit enemies at roughly 2 attacks a second making Vigor activate relatively often, and the extra boon duration I have ensures I can keep it active at nearly 100% upkeep.
Just keep in mind that this build is by no means a good healing build. Your allies will still need to dodge, and most ranged players will not bother to stand in your symbol. You’ll also be tempted to take Altruistic Healing as well, which is perfectly fine (and recommended).
Pros:
370+ healing per second to you and nearby allies (depending on build)
Additional healing from Altruistic Healing
Holding aggression like a true tank (results may vary)
Up to 100% protection and vigor upkeep
Cons:
Lack of self survivability (no Empowering Might and low crit rate for lifesteal items)
Your damage will fail (2485 attack, 25% crit rate, 30% crit damage)
Limited trait options
You will be hunted (again, results may vary)
It is by no means a professional build. As long as you know how to evade well, you’ll be able to be an amazing tank. I’ve been running Arah a lot lately. I rarely lose aggression from any of the bosses (with exception to their temporary target attacks). My armor is only 2885 and when running with Soldier Warriors, I highly doubt toughness has a lot to do with aggression anymore.
It really feels like Virtues need a rework. Virtues without traits are just more signets. Each offer a passive effect and an active effect. However, the passive effects are far superior to the active effects without points invested into the Virtues tree, and Virtue of Courage’s active doesn’t really get good enough to use it.
It’s a shame really. Comparing the F-key abilities between professions, I found Steal to be far superior as a profession ability than Virtues. Steal on its own shadowsteps the Thief and replaces itself with a random item (unless in PvP, then it becomes dependent on the target).
It functions like a utility as do Virtues. However, adding traits onto Steal have a much stronger effect. Steal can cooldown in about 30 seconds (more than Justice, less than Resolve), but it can be traited to apply might, swiftness, vigor, and fury as well as stealing two boons from the enemy for you and up to four allies on use. With additional traits, it can stealth, heal, and/or recovery additional initiative (the other profession specific ability of the Thief). It becomes something greater.
Virtues just feel like buffed, conditional utilities. The passives are great, and the actives can be something worth investing. Without investing, each Virtue just becomes a passive benefit to the Guardian. I want to see Virtues shine. Even a cooldown reduction would be fantastic. I can invest nothing into Virtues and never feel like I need to use any. But I can invest nothing into Steal and still use it.
And even though I didn’t get to experience it first-hand, I do believe that Virtue of Courage should not be reverted to every fifth attack is blocked.
I currently run healing power (mix of Cleric’s and Magi’s) with hammer. For whatever reason, I can hold aggression far better than any other player I’ve run across. I’m constantly healing and applying protection. If I don’t have 100% upkeep with protection and vigor, I’m not attacking. For group healing, we’re pretty average. There are better choices, but we can manage. For damage, we’re capable of some high numbers as well. While burning is generally awful in the department of condition damage builds, we apply it often which can boost our raw damage (up to +20% with traits, more with runes).
So, yes, our condition damage fails. We do, however, have a lot more built around surviving without needing to invest heavily into X build. We can use blinds, knockdowns, immobilizies, teleports, leaps, blocks, and aegis to sway combat into our advantage. Any build can use one or more to avoid as much damage as possible. If you think we need better condition damage to be like every class, then look at other classes. Not every class can bunker as well, nor can every class heal as well either. Guardians need a weakness somewhere.
And Scepter is getting a boost apparently. A developer recently commented that its projectile speed was not buffed before when other projectiles were (he used Necromancer staff as a comparison). There’s no ETA on the fix.
Tome of Courage can heal for 2,000 with an average amount of Healing Power. As for Altruistic Healing, it generally heals for a greater percentage of health with Knight’s over Cleric’s. With a full Cleric set, each tick of Altruistic Healing will have about 22% more health (from 69 to 84). However, you won’t have a good critical hit rate for Empowering Might (a primary source of Altruistic Healing) lowering the amount you can heal. You’ll be required to focus more on symbols which, under most circumstances, your allies will not want to stand in as you’ll likely be in melee range.
If you want to sustain yourself, go Knight’s. If you want to play more supportive at the cost of some self-survival, go Cleric’s.
I run Cleric’s accessories, weapons, and Magi armor. I have a fairly low critical hit rate (25%, 35% with food). With permanent Symbol of Protection (Writ of Persistance), I can maintain 100% protection upkeep, constant healing (from Altruistic Healing and Writ of the Merciful), and critically hit enough to activate both life steals as well as 100% vigor upkeep. However, my damage totally fails on my own. I can tank enemies very easily, but I take much longer than someone in full Knight’s.
Go with what fits your play-style.
Guardians interested in the burning aspect of the class should focus on the application of burning instead of the enhancement of burning. With a 10/25/X/X/X build, your Guardian can deal an additional 20% damage to targets with the burning condition (or just 10% with any condition). It’s a solid way of making Berserkers even more powerful. Boosting condition damage will just decrease the Guardian’s damage potential too much.
Come again? Healing Power does affect Virtue of Resolve’s healing. Healing Power builds can absolutely be viable. My PvE Guardian uses Healing Power right now, and it works wonders. I run 0/10/30/30/0 focusing on AH and symbols (instead of Empowering Might). I have permanent protection and heal just by standing in Symbol of Protection. Here’s a few numbers.
Healing Power ( gain at 1500 Healing Power)
- 100% is added to Selfless Daring (1162.7%)
- 10% is added to Sigil of Blood (33.1%)
- 10% is added to Monk’s Focus (7.6%)
- 7.5% is added to Writ of the Merciful (105.1%)
- 6% is added to Virtue of Resolve (107.1%)
- 1.25% is added to regeneration (144.2%)
- 1% is added to Altruistic Healing (21.7%)
- 0% is added to Omnomberry Pie (0%)
The biggest gain is obviously Selfess Daring (although it has 50% less benefit in PvP). Without Healing Power, you are not able to heal your teammates (and yourself) for over 1500HP in a single roll. Roll twice to get 3000, 4500 if you run with a Sigil of Energy. If you’re big on PvE and dungeons, even Sigil of Stamina can be good (full endurance on kill, or 3000 more healing). Use mace to give yourself and all allies inside health from Writ of the Merciful and regneration (even Battle Presence). Use hammer for protection instead of regeneration.
Use a mix of Magi and Cleric to get some critical hit rate. This would favor self healing over team healing as you’ll likely use Sigil of Blood, Omnomberry Pie, and Empowering Might over boosting your symbols. You’ll heal yourself for more, but you won’t pass anything to allies. However, it should be noted that using the above mentioned items/traits would work better with, say, Knight armor as you’ll sacrifice a lot of damage potential otherwise. Critical healing builds are primiarly based on Altruistic Healing, and the amount gained from Healing Power (though a 20%+ gain) is relatively mediocre for all the power or precision you would have to sacrifice.
To recap, Healing Power is a good support. If you aren’t supporting, you’re more than likely better running with Knight or Berserker (or a mix).
One problem I find with Necromancers is not combating boons, but rather gaining boons. Necromancers have to rely on others for the majority of boons as do some other particular professions. Why not a condition that steals boons applied (during its duration)? One could enter Death Shroud at low health, apply the condition on a number of enemies, and watch new boons transfer to you.
As it stands, Necromancers (as I have experienced) can safely apply regeneration, might, swiftness, and protection at least for a few seconds. Retaliation can be applied, though its duration varies on enemies hit. Why not a way to pull in a lot of conditions quickly without consuming the entire utilities bar?
The main problem I have with Norn animations is that they do not look strong. Norn were originally the strongest race in Tyria, but for balance purposes they must be equal. I understand that. However, most of the animations seem shared or similar to Humans (and Sylvari). I’d like to see some strong stances added to the animations. Have Norns wield greatswords on their shoulder and swing it with a single hand. At least then it would appear that Norns are doing it to “handicap” themselves into being of a similar strength to the other races. I’d like to feel like a wall of flesh, a juggernaut, the Hulk, etc., because I look like I should rather than a rehash of already used animations.
Writ of the Merciful heals on each tick. It is not a boon and does not activate Altruistic Healing. However, the writ does heal seperately from the boon applied, so you will receive both each tick. You will only receive additional healing from the boon of the symbol being applied to allies, not the added heal.
Writ of Persistence is fantastic… for Hammer as it effectively makes Symbol of Protection last the entire period between activations (permanent protection without added boon duration). Generally, it does nothing extra for Symbol of Swiftness and Symbol of Wrath. You’re better off with Two-Handed Mastery.
For a mathematical standpoint, symbols last 50% longer. Symbol of Wrath would last 6/20 seconds (30% upkeep) while Symbol of Swiftness would last 6/15 seconds (40% upkeep). If you switch the traits, Symbol of Wrath lasts 4/16 seconds (25% upkeep) and Symbol of Swiftness lasts 4/12 seconds (33% upkeep). Yes, you lose duration, but you also decrease the cooldowns of all other attacks of the weapons. Swiftness duration does not stack from Symbol of Swiftness and an extra two seconds of retaliation will not benefit you enough to compensate.
Back to the topic of time-limited skins and the prestige behind it. Why not have all current skins have a unikittenfect (say, pixelated brushes when swinging or sparkles)? Moto will still offer the same skills currently available once world 2 releases, but those skins would lack the uniqueness. Only skins acquired as a reward (rare instead of masterwork) would have the same effect.
I’m all for prestige items if the terms are appropriate. With SAB being a reoccuring event (and eventually permanent), you cannot take away rewards. Living Story, a one-time event, will eventually disappear leaving Fused weapon skins to be sought after. Skins from the Hall of Monuments are prestige as well. It shows your status. You were “here” during “this event,” so here is a reward for it. With SAB becoming permanent, it should offer permanent rewards.
Armor
Knight armor generally is for damage related builds and Cleric for healing, though that should be obvious. Look at your build. You have no healing related traits or utilities. Zealous Blade does not get more powerful with healing power. It will always be 25HP. If you’re using a Staff to heal yourself or others, you’re better off aiming for a stronger supportive build. With your build, I would focus on a combination of Knight and Berserker until you find an area that can survive well in combat and deal a lot of damage.
Traits
You have a 30/30/5/5/0 build, which is okay. Vigorous Precision (with Knight armor) will allow you to maintain Vigor for the most dodges you can have. It’s a good method for some added defense in an offensive build.
However, Searing Flames is not a good PvE ability. Yes, it removes a boon every 20 seconds. However, mobs rarely have a removable boon that greatly affects their difficulty. Without changing your secondary weapon, there isn’t much else to support your build in Radiance, so it’s probably the best last resort.
You appear to be focusing heavily on applying burning for that 10% damage bonus. However, you can just as easily get an additional 10% damage in Zeal if you drop Shattered Aegis. The effect lasts 2 seconds (about 2.25 with 30 points in Zeal). The other two in Zeal are good enough to support the rest of the build.
Upgrades
Now, you don’t mention runes or sigils. You could always pick up Runes of the Flame Legion for an extra 5% damage to burning targets, Runes of Stength for 5% more damage under the effects of might,or Runes of the Scholar for 10% more damage while above 90% health (rare). If you’re thinking, why might? Try swapping to 30/30/0/5/5 as Inspired Virtue applies 3 stacks of might when you use Virtue of Justice (which you are obviously using a lot).
If you’re looking for a good sigil, try Sigil of Blood if your critical hit rate is decent (around 35-45%). It may not heal for very much, but it does damage the opponent as well. I would recommend Sigil of Fire, but I can’t find any evidence that it applies burning.
Utilities
I can see why you’re using Retreat. Aegis (which in turn burns) and Swiftness makes it easy to move through combat and chase enemies. Purging Flames applies burning and cleans conditions (should you need it). It also cures conditions every second of the duration. However, I don’t see much use in Contemplation of Purity. Yes, it breaks stuns and converts conditions, but PvE combat rarely has that many negative conditions on you at once. I’d recommend Judge’s Intervention instead. It effectively gets you into combat faster and starting with that main effect you desire, burning. It also breaks stuns, so you can keep that ability.
Shelter is a good choice. If you find yourself actually needing some condition removal, you could always take Healing Signet instead and swap your traits to Perfect Inscriptions to removal twice as many. That, of course, is optional. Renewed Focus is also your best bet for an Elite skill.
I hope this helps you out. It sounds like a very solid damage build.
Good thing you can’t drown in GW2 or SAB.
No, but you can flop around like a fish out of water when you touch moving rapids. At that point, you’re begging for death.