Guild Wars 2

Theory: The sigil and rune update will balance the Critical Damage changes. In some cases you will be doing MORE DPS than you were pre-patch. True or false?

Discuss!

Thanks! must be 15

Smooth going until the “Energize The Golem” part. What’s up with all the spiders around that strange looking object? Why can’t we get close to them w/o dying? Golem shield seems to do nothing? Stuck and need help!

My own experience with switching from Celestial to Zerk was that the differences are negligible. Yes the damage numbers were a bit bigger. Yes I lost some extra survivability. Gameplay-wise though, it’s going to feel essentially the same. More-so when consumables/sigils are used to boost Power.
Going deep into the Arcane line is going to significantly lower your DPS. That’s a fact. Whether or not it’s “worth it” is entirely up to you and your group. My opinion: It’s not worth it, and those points are better used elsewhere… five more points into water will get you a party-wide cleanse, which is great with Fresh Air.
I’ve been using my focus more and more lately. The more I play it the more I feel that is an extension of my utility bar, rather than the weapon in my offhand. Experimenting with this, I replaced some of my standby utility skills with more offensive utilities. You might consider Glyph of Storms over Mist Form or something of that nature. Or perhaps Signet of Fire for a touch more DPS?
While D/F is all well and good for some encounters, a consummate ele is going to find himself switching weapons and utility skills OFTEN as the situation dictates.

Just read over the dev interview link. As far as I could tell the entire thing was about CDI stuff. Chris seemed super excited about it so I decided to actually skim the CDI thread. There’s a lot of good ideas and a lot of bad ones. Unfortunately out of all these ideas it seems people have decided what the game needs most is Player Housing and Guild Halls. And that somehow these things are going to open up new story and exciting gameplay elements. Pretty disappointing. Not to say I don’t want a Guild Hall cuz I do, but I don’t see it leading to the kind of content I thought most people wanted.

While we’re at it let us not forget Unshakable. I feel terrible for all the Necros, Rangers and Thieves who love to dish out vulnerability, weakness and blind. I mean really what is the point of Unshakable/Defiant? It doesn’t make the fight any more or less challenging at all, ever. Please remove these things and come up with a better way to implement the same ideas. Thanks.

Black Box.9312:

Grok Krog.9581:

I think they could change defiant to something like

Defiant: Blind is reduced to a 10% chance to miss. This foe gains Stability for X seconds after being stunned/dazed/launched/knockdown/knockedback

I’d say this, except buff blind a little bit by making it a 25% chance of effectiveness and also having the CC immunity be a passive buff rather than a boon that can be stripped.

I’d rather dungeon boss/champs had basically the same toolset players are given to deal with various situations. Anet doesn’t want people knocklocking in dungeons… fine! Give them Monster Skills like Guild Wars 1 had. Just off the top of my head:

“Defiant” – Cast Time: 3/4 sec.
Duration: 10 sec.
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Description: Cannot be targeted by Crowd Control effects.

Anet doesn’t want people stacking weakness and blind on dungeon bosses? That’s fine too.

“Cleanse” – Cast Time: Instant
Duration: None
Cooldown: 15 sec.
Description: Remove up to 5 conditions

Just making up numbers here as I go along but whatever, the principle remains the same. Give the bosses/champs a the tools they need to keep encounters fun and challenging, without locking out certain builds and playstyles.

Grok Krog.9581:

I think they could change defiant to something like

Defiant: Blind is reduced to a 10% chance to miss. This foe gains Stability for X seconds after being stunned/dazed/launched/knockdown/knockedback

Exactly. We already have an in-game mechaninc that counters CC skills: Stability. So why don’t they give Bosses/champs a stability skill? If Weakness is going to make a Boss fight too easy, why not give them a way to cleanse themselves of it, rather than nerfing every skill in the game that that causes weakness/blind/vuln.

My belief is that Defiant was quick-fix, implemented during one of the BWEs.

Wouldn’t dungeon runs be a lot more fun, and dungeon parties more diverse, if this mechanic did not exist?

Are blind, vulnerability and CC skills so powerful that they would trivialize any Boss encounter that did not involve the Defiant mechanic?

If I recall correctly Defiant was added to the game during BWE2 or BWE3. I didn’t get to try Ascalonian Catacombs WITHOUT Defiant but I’m guessing a lot of other people did. What was your experience with Defiantless Bosses?

Sirendor.1394:

Wynne.3908:

Sirendor.1394:

Wynne.3908:

I just have this unsubstantiated belief/hope, that if you had five people with a well thought out, balanced build, go head-to-head against a DPS-first type build, given equal skill that the balanced will steamroll anyone anytime. Granted I have no proof of this. This is what GW1 taught me

The full DPS (condi included) will win so long as they have enough damage mitigation and enough group stuns. Take the incredible hammer warriors. I’m not going to lie, I played it… and it’s overpowered because it has a combo of superior damage, a lot of damage mitigation and disabling for enemies. I can run in a fight 1 v 3 and kill each one off without problems (even fought 1v4 in Team Arena and came out alive). The only thing that can stop me is stability for the opponents, and even then nobody will ever kill me unless I do something incredibly stupid.

Yeah but this isn’t GW1. I’m saying my Balanced team will outperform your DPS team everywhere in GW2, PvE/PvP/WvW. I just can’t prove it. On the other hand you can’t prove your case either.

Where did I mention GW1? I’m talking about full zerk warrior in GW2. A full damage team will outperform any other in PvE and it will wreck anyone in WvW. You don’t need to prove your case, because I have tried full dps vs. any other kind of build, and dps always comes out on top.

I have tried full dps vs. any other kind of build

I doubt that.

Do you stack Might and Fury on yourself in ridiculous amounts? That’s where the fun begins. Scepter/Dagger with 30 in fire. Trait XI. Blast away for insane damage. I recommend Assassin’s gear over Berserk but both are fun.

Sirendor.1394:

Wynne.3908:

I just have this unsubstantiated belief/hope, that if you had five people with a well thought out, balanced build, go head-to-head against a DPS-first type build, given equal skill that the balanced will steamroll anyone anytime. Granted I have no proof of this. This is what GW1 taught me

The full DPS (condi included) will win so long as they have enough damage mitigation and enough group stuns. Take the incredible hammer warriors. I’m not going to lie, I played it… and it’s overpowered because it has a combo of superior damage, a lot of damage mitigation and disabling for enemies. I can run in a fight 1 v 3 and kill each one off without problems (even fought 1v4 in Team Arena and came out alive). The only thing that can stop me is stability for the opponents, and even then nobody will ever kill me unless I do something incredibly stupid.

Yeah but this isn’t GW1. I’m saying my Balanced team will outperform your DPS team everywhere in GW2, PvE/PvP/WvW. I just can’t prove it. On the other hand you can’t prove your case either.

I just have this unsubstantiated belief/hope, that if you had five people with a well thought out, balanced build, go head-to-head against a DPS-first type build, given equal skill that the balanced will steamroll anyone anytime. Granted I have no proof of this. This is what GW1 taught me

Now mobs in-game are another matter entirely. Being mostly a PvE/Dungeon guy myself I find it interesting that people are finding build diversity to be more flexible in WvW. If this is the case I’d have to point at poor enemy design in PvE rather than a lack of viable builds as the main reason OP is frustrated.

KingEsoteric.2067:

Wynne.3908:

Your concept of how the combat system works is flawed:

It is, but because the roles are support/damage/control. Yet the principle point of the OP I find to be mostly accurate.

Wrong, but it’s an easy fix. Just add “simultaneously” to the above comment and you’ll find the combat is working as intended.

The best (as deemed by the community) PvE builds are all ones that can provide the most damage, while providing some particularly useful function in the bulk of the encounters, usually by increasing team DPS. They’re all DPS-forward. I don’t know of any prominent control-forward PvE builds, and only a handful of support-forward builds (might stacking Ele being the most prominent of the bunch).

If there are really three distinct roles rather than just useful abilities (most of which directly involve team-DPS) welded on to DPS-forward builds, then this game is absolutely not working as intended.

In WvW, there’s more flexibility in support-forward builds and even outright tanks, but still no control-forward builds. I won’t speak to sPvP because I don’t have enough experience to speak about it.

My point is the OP insists the combat is broken, then goes on to list all the reasons why people can’t be a healer or a tank. Of course a player is going to fail at being a healer or a tank. That’s the whole point of the combat system is it not?

Like: Pretty much all of it.
Hate: That there’s not more to like…

Your concept of how the combat system works is flawed:

“The combat system, while Anet tried to make something revolutionary, away from the trinity, is simply broken.

The main principle of the combat is:
– Everyone can heal/support (role 1)
– Everyone can deal damage (role 2)
– Everyone can tank (role 3)"

Wrong, but it’s an easy fix. Just add “simultaneously” to the above comment and you’ll find the combat is working as intended.

My theory: That all those things we miss from GW1 are where NCSoft now makes its money.

…what I’m fighting for all the fireballs and particle effects.

Even with a small group of 5 people in a dungeon most foes/bosses are reduced to a large white/blue flame with a red circle underneath. I’d normally be “sorta” ok with this except…

A lot of enemies have animations that a player needs to watch out for. The animation is a warning that if a player doesn’t do something proactive (cast a specific skill, dodge, heal etc.) then a large amount of pain and/or death will soon follow. This leads to an obvious question…

How am I supposed to know when to dodge/heal/block if I can’t see what I’m fighting?

The top three things I want Anet to give me for Christmas:

1. A Guild Wars 2 expansion.
2. A precursor weapon
3. A Skritt playable race

“…monk in GW1 cause was weak in pvp and in general…”. Obviously you have not played GW1.

I am not the problem. I always stick with the group and have a no-man-left-behind policy. Sometimes though, with the more inexperienced, it’s easier to fight your way through, rather than try to explain a long run through stuff they have never even seen.

I did not come here to pass judgment (or be judged) on people’s playstules, merely relate my experiences with skipping vs. fighting through dungeons.

My main point is, skipping can cause a lot of problems, moreso for the inexperienced, therefore I avoid it whenever possible.

I think this is an important thread at any rate.

I’m to lazy to “instruct them”. If they don’t know how to run i tell them we are fighting everything. Only when i am with a strong group (like my guild) do i feel totally comfortable running and skipping through dungeons.

Skipping mobs can cause problems in a number of different ways. It can cause NPCs to bug or die or aggro the wrong thing at the wrong time. It can bug mobs and bosses into and THROUGH walls causing them to becom invulnerable/obstructed. In groups with people who don’t know the dungeon well, skipping and running through sections can be problematic, because not everyone is sure when to run and when not to, or where to run to and when to stop. This causes more deaths and running back and ressing, armor costs. Not to mention the frustration of trying to go faster, only to find your group is now in fact going slower.