Guild Wars 2

@ CookieNoodle

You just want to walk around with a pimp cane and smoke a pipe, don’t you? Thats the real reason for all of this!

Naevius.3185:

First question is what problem are we trying to solve; i.e. what gameplay are we trying to add with these raids. Difficulty? Larger groups? More guild-oriented content? It is easier to design them if we know the objective(s).

You can’t really say you want raids because you like raiding, because it’s too vague on what ‘raiding’ means. (A GW2 raid would never be like an AoC raid, or even a GW1 DoA group.)

We’re not really trying to solve a problem. I like to think this is just for the benefit of “endgame” and to give us all something more to do. By the way I did give some specific suggestions… I realize it’s kind of a wall of text but that’s what happens when you try to be specific. I did my best to organize it.. >.>

Dusty Moon.4382:

Xenon.4537:

Dusty Moon.4382:

People are already complaining about the Elitism in this game. Any Raid areas that would be put in this game would only make the elitism worse.

We already have World events like Tequatl and the 3-headed Wurm that takes Coordination and are super-raids.

We don’t need any more – people are complaining about those.

People who complain about elitism in regards to raids need to give more detailed feedback on that subject. Otherwise I will continue to believe they don’t know what they are talking about. No one is suggesting raids in GW2 need be gated content.

The reason people are complaining about Teq and Triple wurm is because of their open world implementation, exacerbated by the megaserver system. Casuals and hardcores alike hate it because it is exceedingly difficult to organize a proper raid on those bosses. You can’t pick the instance. You have to brute-force your way in to the map by joining a ferry and right clicking a million times. It also requires an incredibly high number of people to do these bosses (90+) which is far more than a traditional raid, and far more than I or anyone is suggesting. This is also why I suggested that raids in GW2 be instanced like dungeons.

Finally, the first thing I wrote in my post was that this thread is to discuss specifics of raids themselves, not the general. If you don’t have anything specific to discuss, or simply don’t like raids, this thread isn’t for you.

It is simple – look at LFG for both Fractals and Dungeons. They are full of self-serving Elitism. Having played many games with RAIDS, WoW, Rift, etc. they tend to be magnets for the Elitists. I feel this would end up being the downfall for this game.

I don’t want RAIDS in this game. If you want RAIDS, might I suggest Wildstar?

“This is not a thread for people to post whether they are for or against raiding. If you don’t like raiding, go make your own thread talking about how much you hate it. This thread is for people who do like raiding, and would like to discuss how GW2 raiding could be done. Please keep an open mind. Thank you.”

You want a discussion but not with any negative comments – that is no discussion. That is a flagpole polishing thread….

I don’t want to pay a subscription fee, I’m already heavily invested in GW2, and I hate just about every single aspect of Wowstar, from it’s combat system, to its housing, questing, and graphics. I wouldn’t play it, or any other MMO if you put a gun to my head.

I don’t want this thread turn in to a bigoted fight about elitism. Suffice to say I’m only suggesting raids in GW2 need not be gated against casuals, so long as they are at least willing to press that trait reset button and listen to a commander. If you actually read my suggestions, I pointed out that a variety of builds can and should be encouraged for a fun raid.

Discussion about “I want raids” vs “I don’t want raids” has been done to death. But no one has really discussed mechanics, implementation, or reward systems in depth. This isn’t a “flagpole polishing” thread. I’m trying to reach people who are willing to post more than just “OMFG ELITISM” because that doesn’t help anyone.

Dusty Moon.4382:

People are already complaining about the Elitism in this game. Any Raid areas that would be put in this game would only make the elitism worse.

We already have World events like Tequatl and the 3-headed Wurm that takes Coordination and are super-raids.

We don’t need any more – people are complaining about those.

People who complain about elitism in regards to raids need to give more detailed feedback on that subject. Otherwise I will continue to believe they don’t know what they are talking about. No one is suggesting raids in GW2 need be gated content.

The reason people are complaining about Teq and Triple wurm is because of their open world implementation, exacerbated by the megaserver system. Casuals and hardcores alike hate it because it is exceedingly difficult to organize a proper raid on those bosses. You can’t pick the instance. You have to brute-force your way in to the map by joining a ferry and right clicking a million times. It also requires an incredibly high number of people to do these bosses (90+) which is far more than a traditional raid, and far more than I or anyone is suggesting. This is also why I suggested that raids in GW2 be instanced like dungeons.

Edit: I deleted part of that because I felt it came off as hostile and I apologize.

Now we get more in to the specifics I would like to see.

6. I think raids in GW2 would work best with 8-10 players. Or at least have only 8-10 players in a given spot. 40 players split in to 4 groups could work. It becomes exceedingly difficult for groups to organize for Triple Trouble because it requires 90+ people. Then there’s megaserver issues which brings up a whole other discussion point (which I will clarify in #7). Smaller groups are easier to organize, but since this is a raid, we want to create a sense of larger scale struggle that can’t be achieved in the 5 man dungeon setting.

7. Here’s what I think the raid should literally be: A guild mission which (when activated) allows for X amount of participants to enter an instance. The instance is designed much like a dungeon, with a set path (or paths) and a series of 2 or 3 mini bosses before a final boss encounter. Each encounter requires the group to split up and perform specific tasks or roles in order to defeat it. Think of guild puzzle mechanics, and think of the phase mechanics of Teq and the wurm. This would not be something where you could shove the boss in a corner and FGS it down.

Edit: The reason for this to be instanced is to avoid megaserver issues. Currently for Teq and Triple Trouble, you have to “brute-force” your way in to the map because by their very nature, megaflows get hardcapped very fast. There is no option to chose a specific megaflow. There is no option to form a new instance. There isn’t even a proper queue system in place. Here is an example of what we have to deal with just because Anet has tried to make these bosses open world:

This is unacceptable. It is literally “waiting to have fun” which is against the core philosophy Anet had set forth for the game. Instances would solve this issue.

8. The types of mechanics I would like to see in a raid are ones which don’t necessarily hinge on pure DPS. I like the fact that you need condi teams to deal with husks in triple trouble. I also like the way in which you need to stack explosives, gather toxins, or harpoon the wurm in order to make it vulnerable for a burn phase. These things allow for more than just pure zerker stack and kill gameplay.

Examples:
- Adds which routinely interrupt DPSers in melee and are too hard to kill. They would not have defiant. The best way to deal with them would be assign players to knock them back and keep them immobilized or slowed.

- Mobs which spawn far from the boss and try to reach him. If they get too close, the boss becomes stronger.

- A boss which requires you to play Twister in order to damage him. There would be a “disco floor” style arena with large colored squares, and he would periodically call out colors (or have the squares light up). There would be 3 squares at a time, 1 melee range, and 2 at long range. The group would need to split up evenly to fill the squares, or else the boss takes reduced damage, and deals additional damage to the square with the most people in it (damage proportional to the number of excess players).

I may add more ideas later.

This is not a thread for people to post whether they are for or against raiding. If you don’t like raiding, go make your own thread talking about how much you hate it. This thread is for people who do like raiding, and would like to discuss how GW2 raiding could be done. Please keep an open mind. Thank you.

I have started threads like this in the past, and indeed so have others. But they always get shot down because people don’t read, and seem uninterested in intelligent discussion. Rather than discuss the pros and cons of raiding in general, I want to discuss specifically how raiding could work in GW2 and the best way it could be implemented in order to enrich the experience of GW2.

This means finding out a few things.
1. What aspect of GW2 would raiding best fall under?
2. What kinds of players might raid?
3. What kinds of rewards could a raid offer that the rest of the game does not offer?
4. Should a raid even have rewards that aren’t offered in other areas?
5. How hard should it be?
6. How many players can/should a raid involve?
7. What exactly would a raid be? (i.e. the activity)
8. What kind of mechanics should there be?

I’m sure there are many other questions, so feel free to post them if you have them. I shall post my personal opinions on these questions.

1. I think raiding would fall best under PvE, specifically guild activities. Ask anyone who does Triple Trouble frequently, you will find that a sense of community and organization go a very long way toward beating a large world boss. Raiding in past games has always been a strongly teamwork-focused activity. Given how easy it is to join a guild, and how guilds themselves lend to better organization, I think it’s only natural. Please see #7 for further clarification.

2. I’ve met many people who want more content like Triple Trouble, and are actually disappointed when patches tend to make the wurms easier to defeat. They like the challenge. They like the comradery. There’s a sense of fellowship that just doesn’t exist in a random megaserver zerg. When many players come together in an organized group, it feels far more fulfilling and important. It gives the content meaning. Players who raid want to feel like they are part of something bigger, yet that thing also must have meaning and a sense of accomplishment.

3. The rewards are a huge issue for this topic. I think most GW2 players will agree that they don’t want to feel forced to raid. This means rewards have to be tediously balanced so they the risk vs effort vs time vs reward are not imbalanced against other parts of the game. I think rewards should be something in line with current guild mission rewards, seeing as I’m personally suggesting they be an actual guild activity. Let’s say 2-3 guild commendations and 2 rares for completion? In addition I believe the boss chest should have a chance to drop an ascended chest, similar to Teq and the wurm.

4. This goes with number 3 really. Raid rewards in GW2 should probably not consist of anything outstanding that could not be obtained in some other way. Most rewards in the game “bleed over” in to other areas. It gives players options and keeps them from being forced in to certain content. I don’t think non-raiders should be forced to raid in order to get things like ascended gear. With that said, I don’t think it’s unfair to throw in exclusive vanity rewards like a tonic or minipet.

5. Raids should be hard. They should be somewhere ahead of normal dungeons. That’s not to say they should be prohibitively difficult, but the whole purpose of a raid is to give the high sense of teamwork and accomplishment. If the raid can be afk auto attacked, then you defeat the whole purpose.

to be continued…

It’s true that necros aren’t desirable in dungeons these days. They don’t bring much helpful buffs or utility for the group. Since thief, war, and ele are off the table, I would recommend guardian, mesmer, or maybe even engie. Guardian brings the most buffs and group support. Mesmer brings lots of useful utilities such as reflects and portals. Engie can also bring reflects and useful combos. The only thing ranger seems to be useful for is frost spirit and spotter.

Addendum to necros: They are very strong in pvp and wvw, so don’t count them out completely!

Addendum to dungeons: They provide a strong source of income these days. You get at least 1 gold for completing a path, plus lots of champ bags, tokens, and loot drops to sell. I make from 10-20g a day running the “easy” paths. Takes roughly 2 hours with pugs.

1. A dungeon is an instanced area where you and 4 other players attempt to beat bosses for a reward. You need to be at least level 30 to do a dungeon. It is HIGHLY recommended you get to 80 on at least one character before attempting a dungeon, though.

2. I’m not sure exactly what you are asking about in PvP. Do you want tips on how to beat “good” players, or are you asking how to get into the same game as better players? PvP is something you are just going to have to practice at to get better. It takes time. If you are still only level 20, then you probably don’t have enough experience to compete with most PvPers. If you are sticking to Ranger, then you should head over to the Ranger forums for information on builds and tactics.

3. Leveling is easy in this game. You get exp for pretty much everything. Do map completion. That means visit every waypoint, every vista, point of interest, and do every heart quest in each new zone you enter. Gather wood and ore as you find them. Participate in dynamic events as you find them (they are marked by orange circles and icons on your map when you get close). Use the materials you gather to craft items. Be sure to visit the trading post every 5 levels to buy new gear. Craft or buy green quality gear, and don’t forget your trinkets!

Edit: also do your personal story!

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Xenon.4537:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dr Ritter.1327:

Lightsbane.9012:

No. it goes against their core philosophy. no player should have access to something that another player cannot have access to. although if you’re in the game, clearly someone paid to be there.

“goes against their core philosophy” They went against their core philosophy a long time ago adding ascended gear.

Explain this one, because what you could have said is “they’ve done it in the past with said Bonus Mission Pack”. Instead you had to bring up Ascended gear again. I’m going to have to deduct style points.

On topic? While I somewhat like the concept, I don’t really want it happening. There would be an uproar about it, as some people already don’t like the idea of the Story Journal and “pay 200 Gems for a chapter you missed”.

Would you be in favor of a full-sized expansion pack for $50 instead?

I’d be in favor of new content of any stripe, especially if it would expand on lore in a forward-thinking way as opposed to looking backwards at what already has been covered.

The price tag . . . would have to be negotiable, if only because while I have a small spot in my budget for that sort of purchase, I know a lot of people don’t.

So you wouldn’t pay a flat $50 for a package containing $50 worth of content? Instead you want to be able to pay for what you want with what you can afford? How is the plan for season 2 unacceptable under those terms? It will allow you access for free if you simply log in. If you don’t log in, you can pay for individual pieces of the content for very small fees (the price of a soda, really). If this is unacceptable, can you give an example of what you would find acceptable?

@Draknar

I typically run AC (1, 2, 3), CoF (1, 2), and CoE (1, 2, 3) and come out with at least 15g. That includes the end rewards and the money from selling the loot. Ideally this circuit should take maybe 1.5 hours. If you get a real dungeon running group, you can do that in less than an hour and move on to SE, HotW, TA, and even Arah to end up with twice as much money in less than 3 hours.

And I daresay dungeons aren’t the only way to make money. Guild missions, world bosses, WvW, and even PvP are much more rewarding now than they were in the past.

It is a big deal to change your race. Anet would have to develop a complex system to convert your personal story, or reset it. It’s possible, but unlikely. Anet has to weigh the cost/benefit of producing such a service.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dr Ritter.1327:

Lightsbane.9012:

No. it goes against their core philosophy. no player should have access to something that another player cannot have access to. although if you’re in the game, clearly someone paid to be there.

“goes against their core philosophy” They went against their core philosophy a long time ago adding ascended gear.

Explain this one, because what you could have said is “they’ve done it in the past with said Bonus Mission Pack”. Instead you had to bring up Ascended gear again. I’m going to have to deduct style points.

On topic? While I somewhat like the concept, I don’t really want it happening. There would be an uproar about it, as some people already don’t like the idea of the Story Journal and “pay 200 Gems for a chapter you missed”.

Would you be in favor of a full-sized expansion pack for $50 instead?

Azrael.4960:

The BMP only gave you access to certain weapon skins as well as some back story. I remember paying something like AUD$6 for it, which is a hell of a lot less than what I’ve forked out for gems (which also isn’t that much).

I’d totally go for an extra mission pack but from Anet’s perspective the problem lies in that they couldn’t possibly release it as a real world cash only purchase. The inevitable backlash from the p2w(hiners) would be too great.

I think the real reason Anet doesn’t go ahead and produce a “Factions 2” as it were, is because they just don’t have the financial backing from NCSoft right now. That, and they genuinely want to give us content for free while sustaining the game on revenue from optional gem store items. They are in a unique position to try to change the way MMOs deliver content, and they want to try. Whether this is satisfactory to customers remains to be seen. So far a lot of us are not satisfied.

Dusty Moon.4382:

The first 2 were stand alone games not expansions ( you could play them w/o the other 2 – consider them Books of a trilogy).

This doesn’t change the fact that they expanded on the world, content, features, and gameplay of the original Guild Wars. It doesn’t change my point that you had to pay for them, and that people did not complain that they had to pay for them. The money they charged allowed the content to be substantial. When people want substantial content, they should be willing to pay for it, because it costs money, effort, and resources to produce substantial content.

the BMP – was not that interesting.

Your opinion.

Well I was about to suggest sigil of intelligence, but you say you will be using the axe/shield mostly, meaning less weapon swaps. The int sigil would make your eviscerate hit like a truck if you were weapon swapping. Also sigil of battle would be smart in that case.

However if your choice is between air, accuracy, and force, I would say stick to air. In a zerker build you will be critting a lot, proccing the sigil all the time and gaining crits on the proc itself. It will hit for over 1k every 3 seconds. With your gear, I think that would be the best route.

GW2 isn’t like old MMOs where you just stand there and let the mobs hit you. You need to dodge and kite, especially on a elementalist. Someone should have pointed this out to you back when you were rage quitting…

And not everything comes from the cash shop. The gem store is full of knick knacks and things, but if you want content you need to look to the base game and to the living world (which is free if you just log in for 2 seconds).

darkace.8925:

…he’s complaining that earning gold – and by extension, the ability to purchase items – has been made more difficult.

…changes have been made to make it harder to earn gold…

I just don’t believe people when they say things like this. I’ve never had more gold in this game. It’s never been easier to me to get gold. Have you actually tried running dungeons recently? You used to get next to nothing, now they shower you in rewards. You can get 10-20 gold a day running a few of the easy paths.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

If it was a pack being sold for gems (meaning those cheapskates could just farm for the gold) I don’t understand the outrage. I’d pay for it on my 2 accounts and I’d buy it for every one of my friends who couldn’t afford it. It’s 10 dollars. Unless you’re a child, a broke college student, or struggling to make ends meet so much that you probably shouldn’t be wasting time on the game anyway, you can either buy it or farm for it.

I see nothing but good things in this idea. Those of us with disposable incomes could get more than just cosmetic pixels for our cash and those of you with time to farm get your content you’ve been whining about not having.

Wholeheartedly agree.

I don’t recall this outrage when they released Factions, Nightfall, EotN, or the bonus mission pack for GW1. I seem to remember them charging for all of those, and gems-for-gold didn’t exist back then either.

maha.7902:

One of the rules we were given is:

2. My basic stance is that mobs should try to move out of ground-based AoEs and skills like 100b, and enemies with ranged attacks should always try to keep distance from players.

So ice bows, fgs, lava fonts, smites are all forbidden. Either way we’re not going to be using fgs/ice bow, but if we were allowed to immobilise we could use lava font and/or smite so as to represent stopping mobs from trying to walk out/keep their distance. t would allow us to achieve a smoother run.

Well for the purpose of your run, go for it. I wouldn’t hold it against you to SW a projectile or keep the boss targetted while using FGS or even to immob them inside an AOE. The fact that bosses don’t run out of AOE is an AI deficiency. Think about it: 5 players vs 1 boss. Each player has access to many AOEs. If the boss AI priority was to move out of AOE all the time, they would spend 90% of their time running away instead of attacking. That is why they removed that aspect of AI back in beta. But that’s a whole other discussion. Which dungeons are you doing and are you recording the runs?

Dusty Moon.4382:

Xenon.4537:

Fenrina.2954:

I’m pretty wary about it. Good access to content is generally important for an mmo to survive. They’re already planning on making people pay for access to older living story releases. Those I’ve talked to feel uneasy about that alone. Adding more money-locked content may push that way to far.

We already have people complaining about armor skins always being released in the cash shop. Do we really want that for content too? I feel like that’s where it’ll lead to.

Edit: In other games, exclusive content for people who pay money to get gems lead to situations like “pay us $150 and we’ll give you a mount.” I don’t think that’s healthy for a game.

In every other game they charge money for expansions and additional content. Why is it so hard for GW2 players to accept the idea of paying for additional content? Is it because they are acclimated to getting living world for free?

This is the only game I’ve seen where people actively campaign against having to pay for additional content, as if Anet is different from all other developers in that they should somehow be a charity and charge nothing for additional content.

A.Net said they would not do an expansion and any new content would be free. Can you say ‘Flip-flop’ if they now charged for it?

The rage from players on this forum would be even more than it already is.

They said no such thing. They always said they intend to deliver “an expansion’s worth of content” but they had not decided how to deliver it. Additional content was always planned to be released, but they wanted to take their time and see if it would be better to release it in small chunks through the living world, or all at once through a traditional expansion. The rage on these forums is from players being either misinformed, or just plain ignorant.

maha.7902:

We’re not using fiery greatswords or whirlwinds, we just want to use lava fonts on staff eles or maybe smite on scepter guards.

It sounds like you are placing a lot of unnecessary and arbitrary limitations on this. The only thing you should be doing is allowing the boss to utilize it’s intended mechanics. When you cram a ranged boss into a corner, you trivialize it’s strengths. Furthermore, FGS rush into a corner is clearly OP and speeds up DPS to a point that wasn’t intended by the games design.

In my opinion, you should be fine as long as you don’t shove the boss into a corner or wall, and don’t do an untargetted FGS rush into that corner/wall. Everything else should be fair game.

However if it’s your actual goal to prove you don’t need reflects or CC, then that’s a different story.

Fenrina.2954:

I’m pretty wary about it. Good access to content is generally important for an mmo to survive. They’re already planning on making people pay for access to older living story releases. Those I’ve talked to feel uneasy about that alone. Adding more money-locked content may push that way to far.

We already have people complaining about armor skins always being released in the cash shop. Do we really want that for content too? I feel like that’s where it’ll lead to.

Edit: In other games, exclusive content for people who pay money to get gems lead to situations like “pay us $150 and we’ll give you a mount.” I don’t think that’s healthy for a game.

In every other game they charge money for expansions and additional content. Why is it so hard for GW2 players to accept the idea of paying for additional content? Is it because they are acclimated to getting living world for free?

This is the only game I’ve seen where people actively campaign against having to pay for additional content, as if Anet is different from all other developers in that they should somehow be a charity and charge nothing for additional content.

maha.7902:

We may try another run today.

Regarding the no ground-targeted aoe/high damage channeled skills rule – is it allowed for us to immobilise mobs in order to “lock them down” in the aoe fields? Would that be fair? Because the argument is that it’s stupid that they don’t run out, but if we hold them inside it seems fine to me – otherwise it’s honestly starting to get quite hard to try and improve our tactics.

This is interesting. I don’t see immobilizing the boss in the open as “stacking”. It should be a legit strategy. I guess the only difference is whether or not you have shoved the boss into a corner and proceeded to FGS rush it.

Gervaise.4163:

I just came back like 2 weeks ago. I’m shocked by how little has changed.

I do love the new race in Festival of the Four Winds and the Super Adventure Box was fun too, but lets be honest, those are temporary fun content.

No, content added to the Gem store is NOT real content. I’m talking new PvP modes, new dungeons with new rewards etc.

Right now end game is farming gold for items in the gem store and doing some achievements every few weeks..

Endgame is crafting ascended gear and legendaries. And WvW and PvP are there for people who don’t arbitrarily limit their gaming experience due to feelings of inadequacy for which they are in denial.

I think it’s pretty obvious what stacking is. You all stand in the corner together, blast some fire fields, pull the boss into the corner with you, and dps it down as fast as possible. It’s a legit strategy. It’s just bad game design (that means it’s the devs fault, not the players).

Save all your karma for level 80 to get yourself some starter exotics.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Temple_armor

Use the TP to buy greens with silver as you level up.

Ask not what magic find can do for you, but what you can do for magic find!

NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory! NO NO NO! We should go to the armory!

I think he’s asking if there’s a way for his profane skin to “blanket” cover anything he ever equips. This is not possible. The wardrobe works by transmutation charges. Any new item you equip will have to be transmuted to profane by using a charge. The only exceptions are Hall of Monuments skins, and achievement skins (hellfire/radiant, zenith weapons, etc) which don’t cost transmutation charges to apply.

It’s really hard to think in the mindset of a casual new player that doesn’t plan to do research or any of that, but my recommendation is Guardian or Warrior. They can both be built to have lots of sustain like you want. I would lean toward Warrior just because they are a lot more mobile than guardians (open world is a big place). You almost get perma swiftness or simply the melee running trait. You get the high armor and defensive stances and passive signet healing. Wear soldiers gear and time your dodges and you should be able to casually beat the crap out of anything open world.

As Brother Grimm pointed out, please don’t roll a Ranger. That class is stained with a bad reputation because it tends to teach new players bad habits. They get by while leveling, but once they try to move on to other activities, they hit a brick wall because they haven’t developed proper gameplay skills. It’s better for yourself and the community to only go Ranger if you know what you are doing, or plan to research.

Ele is awesome across the board right now. If you want a long term goal for PvE on your ele, do what WoodenPotatoes did. Get “stat capped”. Basically get your full set of ascended armor, get a Bifrost, dual Incinerators, and The Minstrel.

Otherwise roll some alts and spice up your life!

Necros have probably the easiest time getting bag tags in WvW. Just paint the ground green with staff marks and watch the loot roll in. Throw out an epidemic for good measure.

Necro DPS in dungeons is reportedly top of the charts, but only due to Lich Form. They don’t bring anything particularly useful (such as might, protection, reflects, etc) to a dungeon that any other class do better.

Necros are beastly in PvP when played right. Not sure what the “top pro teams” are running, but for average play, the necro is strong.

Play what you want. There are always balance patches and feature packs in the future. Who knows, in 6 months the necro might have a new trait that lets them compete with eles for might stacking. If they ever get around to revamping boss design, the necro’s plentiful CC might be desirable.

You can’t walk ten feet in this game without stumbling face-first into some exp.

- map completion
- crafting
- personal story
- pvp
- wvw
- dungeons (but you will be shunned by zerkers)
- gathering
- do your daily and monthly
- jumping puzzles

Semantics.

15

insanemaniac.2456:

where did josh foreman go

Add my sadface to the pile.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Xenon.4537:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

…because they love me (or something)…

Lol. This is so cute.

Must be my voice or something.

Ask Colesy or Dub. shrug

Oh and if you really want cute check this out:

So are you a female gamer? And is that your character? If so, I can see exactly why they carry you through dungeons. It’s that female cutesy persona. You bat those eyelashes and they come runnin. :P

Lilith Ajit.6173:

…because they love me (or something)…

Lol. This is so cute.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Xenon.4537:

Hobbs.9260:

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

Einlanzer.1627:

No. Nobody wants all temporary content, and it’s bad for the game. This news is awesome.

Speak for yourself, sir. While I agree that this news is overall good, I’ve always loved the temporary model. I was initially really unhappy about this. I’m warming to the idea now, though. As long as they keep the updates flowing and don’t sacrifice forward movement for permanence.

I too have to agree with this, as much as I am glad that they are trying to do something to appease certain groups ( I mean Life does come over any game in importance any time, with that being said there are many valid reason why a person might not be able to log in). Anyways I feel that this is a bad idea and is ruining what the game was really advertised to be, and that is a living world. Temporay content is what is needed to make that real. What happens in real life when you miss out on something? Thats just it, nothing happens, you are crap out of luck, ife is not permanent it is temp. Best to just learn how to build the best bridge you can and get over it so you can move on. Its a life lesson I see some on here greatly needing to learn. Hey, if you dont like it, you can always down grade to the last generation of games, cause frankly this is the future and is exactly what it should be.

You people are ignoring the fact that this is still a temporary content model. This stuff will be added to the game and then removed. The only difference is that you can press a button to replay instances if you have them unlocked.

Not completely. Per their twitch stream, there will be permanent events and such added to the world that will remain. Which, everyone will have access to. Yes there will be some things that go away after the two weeks (they cited things like the signs from the initial karka release), but these should be minor. Future large scale events like marionette and battle for LA type things would remain in the game.

Right, but they also said in that stream that there would also be things in the open world that come and go, so as to make sense for the particular story being told (such as LA being rebuilt).

I suppose that it is inevitable, given the duality of gaming communities, that people will complain that we are getting exactly what we have been asking for over the last 2 years.

>Get temp content from Anet.
>Complain ad nauseum and beg for perm content.
>Complain that Anet doesn’t listen.
>Throw temper tantrums.
>Anet announces plans to do perm content.
>Complain that the temp content is being set aside.
>Complain about perm content.
>Complain that Anet doesn’t listen.
>Throw more temper tantrums.

I see a pattern here. I see the community throwing fits and crying that Anet never listens, and then I see Anet delivering exactly the things we ask for. Followed by more community outcry that Anet never listens and that they are driving the game into the ground.

FrostyBou.5491:

Let me preface this with: I’m not especially skilled, I tend to mash whatever button is not on cooldown as my method of fighting. Sometimes I can get more complex and not press the knockback button when I’m fighting with folks.

I just hope they don’t tie any major rewards to the hard achievments and they are there more for personal satisfaction as I liked working towards the meta as it was the source of the reward each release. But I don’t have the skill to do something like the liadri 8ball achievement and would be quite disappointed if I was unable to get a skin or something because of not being able to complete that achievement.

Again, this is just my personal opinion and I know there are folks out there that would prefer that super hard achievements granted exclusive skins or titles.

I respect your opinion, but I believe there should be exclusive rewards in video games. There’s nothing wrong with giving people something tangible for overcoming a specific challenge. Call it “kitten” if you want, but people aren’t entitled to every single trophy in the universe just because they were born. Some things have to be worked for.

In your case specifically, what’s stopping you from learning to use your skills properly instead of smashing keys? If you keep up this attitude that “I’m just not skillful” then of course you will never improve. You should change that attitude to something more positive.

Inb4 “play to relax.” If you are playing to relax, then why are you worrying about rewards? In fact, if you are trying to relax, why aren’t you simply watching a movie, reading a book, getting a massage, or sleeping?

Hobbs.9260:

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

Einlanzer.1627:

No. Nobody wants all temporary content, and it’s bad for the game. This news is awesome.

Speak for yourself, sir. While I agree that this news is overall good, I’ve always loved the temporary model. I was initially really unhappy about this. I’m warming to the idea now, though. As long as they keep the updates flowing and don’t sacrifice forward movement for permanence.

I too have to agree with this, as much as I am glad that they are trying to do something to appease certain groups ( I mean Life does come over any game in importance any time, with that being said there are many valid reason why a person might not be able to log in). Anyways I feel that this is a bad idea and is ruining what the game was really advertised to be, and that is a living world. Temporay content is what is needed to make that real. What happens in real life when you miss out on something? Thats just it, nothing happens, you are crap out of luck, ife is not permanent it is temp. Best to just learn how to build the best bridge you can and get over it so you can move on. Its a life lesson I see some on here greatly needing to learn. Hey, if you dont like it, you can always down grade to the last generation of games, cause frankly this is the future and is exactly what it should be.

You people are ignoring the fact that this is still a temporary content model. This stuff will be added to the game and then removed. The only difference is that you can press a button to replay instances if you have them unlocked.

Bossa.2871:

If I want to go back and play parts of the living story that I wasn’t around to see, I have to give you more money or farm in game and convert my hard work into gems for next to no content in return?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I already purchase your game? At what point does it become ok to charge your customers more for something they’ve already purchased? Why even gate the content like this? Does this mean I’ll have to pay for micro-updates of the living story in the near future?

That thing you “already purchased” was the base game. Anet are continuing to add new things on top of it, and it’s their right to charge for new things.

Think of it this way. If you bought the first season of Breaking Bad on dvd, should you be entitled to the second season, or the third for free? Lets say you bought a ticket to see the first Iron Man movie. Do you get to see the second and third movie for free? Say you went to a concert. Do you get to attend every other concert for free until the end of time?

Victory For Kittens.7806:

What about champions & legendaries ? They are already running on OHKO on normal mode, should we just x2 their hp & damages ? Without trinity, you can’t put some kind of HM, except if you rework every champ to make the gameplay less “dodge or die”.

you don’t need a trinity for challenging gameplay. See Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden.

maha.7902:

And yet I showed you three videos demonstrating that damage per second isn’t the only role and you completely dismissed them. Do I need to link more videos and explain in every single one of them the control and support aspects present?

Yes. Please link me more videos of might stacking zerkers using reflects and dodging to “prove” to me that there are other roles in this game.

@maha

Zerker has become synonymous with DPS, and I think it was pretty obvious that I was referring to the role of DPS. You’re just trying to redefine the context of my statement for your own benefit.

P.S. Good job linking me to a bunch of videos with might stacking zerkers. Just because the video is titled “control” doesn’t mean they aren’t all a bunch of DPS zerker meta builds using reflects and dodging to mitigate damage. You’re only further proving my point.

Hearts are effectively the same as those old-style generic quests. The thing that makes hearts better is that they are streamlined.

Generic quest:
1. Find NPC
2. Talk to NPC.
3. Accept quest.
4. Read quest journal to figure out what to do.
5. Run possibly miles to a specific location to do the quest.
6. Do the quest.
7. Run all the way back to the NPC.
8. Turn the quest in and get rewards.
9. Repeat for each and every individual task in the area.

Heart:

1. Wander aimlessly into the area.
2. Do a variety of activities in the area, each one corresponding to an individual task (or quest) that counts towards the heart. Anywhere from 1 to 10 activities (or quests) may count toward one heart.

tl;dr: do w/e you want in the area.

3. Have rewards mailed to you as you run to the next area.

Notice with hearts there is no backtracking and no need to talk to an NPC. And again, multiple activities count toward a heart. If you hate collecting X things, you can kill X things instead. It’s simpler, faster, easier, more convenient, and less tedious.

maha.7902:

Xenon.4537:

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

“we decided to remove Monk. We saw a lot of players LF monk…LF monk..this looked like players waiting to have fun, but not having fun…”

See what I did there?..making dungeosn that now requires non zerker set up= LF monk, LF monk,.LF non zerker..LF non zerker..

Defies the whole point of removing monk in the first place.

Yeah, well Anet’s intention was to remove the trinity by making a multitude of builds viable. Instead of having the game restricted to 3 roles, they wanted many many roles. But what did we end up with? One role. Zerker.

How is a stat combination a role? Like, literally what made you draw that conclusion? If apothecary was the meta would that mean that “apothecary” was this supposed one role?

Straight up DPS is the role. For example if Defiant weren’t so prohibitive, CC could be a role.

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

“we decided to remove Monk. We saw a lot of players LF monk…LF monk..this looked like players waiting to have fun, but not having fun…”

See what I did there?..making dungeosn that now requires non zerker set up= LF monk, LF monk,.LF non zerker..LF non zerker..

Defies the whole point of removing monk in the first place.

Yeah, well Anet’s intention was to remove the trinity by making a multitude of builds viable. Instead of having the game restricted to 3 roles, they wanted many many roles. But what did we end up with? One role. Zerker.

maha.7902:

Should have ran to abom, soloed it, ran away from the warrior pulling the champ to you and let them die.

We were inside the Lupi arena. There wasn’t really anywhere to run. I tried to get the champ aggro’d back to the warrior, but they kept their distance and kept telling me to “kitten off” and go wipe and run back.

I shouldn’t have had to do anything. All of our problems would have been solved if the thief had thought to press one button. Or if the stupid warrior had been paying attention when skipping.

I joined an Arah p2 “speedrun” group last night…

>We had a thief.
>Thief never thought to drop SR or blast smoke screen to help skip trash.
>Spiders alone took 30 minutes for group to pass.
>Got to Lupi.
>I’m first one inside.
>Slow warrior pulls champ inside.
>Pulls it to me.
>Champ aggros to me.
>Warrior and thief stand there watching me kite it.
>They tell me to just die and run back.
>Thief refuses to drop SR.
>They refuse to just kill the champ.
>I leave group.
>over 45 minutes of my life wasted.

#ElitistSpeedrunners

Sola.7250:

Once players fall behind in Living World Content, they are not going to pay to come back/catch up, that’s the danger! I haven’t seen anything in Living World content released yet, that’s worth paying for.

I strongly suspect that people won’t need to purchase episodes for any reason other than the rewards. The story will be up on youtube within hours of each release, and the devs have stated that the episode you unlock is all instanced story content with specific rewards tied to completing it. Open world stuff will remain freely available to everyone.

For anyone having trouble envisioning this, imagine Southsun for a moment. Imagine you can fast travel there any time. Whether you were there when Southsun was first added is irrelevant. Now imagine there’s a green star story instance in the middle of the map. You can walk up to it and enter an instance and complete a personal story quest. That instance would only be available to you if you were there when it was added, or if you paid the 200 gems. You complete it and win a teddy bear backpack skin. The end. If you don’t care about teddy bears, then you don’t have any real reason to pay 200 gems. The cutscenes would be up on youtube, and the open Southsun map is already available to you.