Guild Wars 2

I’ve been keeping track of the eles I see in PvP. 2 Eles in my last 10 matches… Because of the current disaster in class balance and how boring Tempest is (along with completely disappointing new weapon, elite skill and traits) people are really moving on to the new meta of the classes mentioned in the first post.

They buffed retal, again without thinking about the squishiest class.

A single meteor shower can drain half your health.

Goldenrevolver.4371:

first of all why are so many people necroing topics…wtf. the patch is on tuesday. this is common knowledge so before necroing a 2 week old topic why not wait 1 day and read the patch notes before making a new fresh topic

also almost all profession runes are useless. with them getting changed to not be account anymore they now lost all reasons to still have any value. rune of the berserker being good is just a coincidence and maybe will get nerfed too. just let these profession rune posts everywhere be. they dont belong in the profession forums because every class can take them.

I’m looking forward to see this fixed on Tuesday along with other warhorn improvements.

I’ve seen 2 eles in my last 9 matches. Meanwhile I’ve seen 6 DH in a single match.

Speaks for class balance.

I think they should merge all the servers in 3 alliances and create a new set of overflows each week according to the previous week population.

You should be able to choose which overflow you want to play in each week (for free).
It’s what other games are doing and they don’t have empty maps. It should be free as well.

From my point of view HoT is missing at the very least 1 new dungeons, 2-3 raids, 2-3 more pvp maps and a WvW server-reward-scoring system overhaul.

There is cool new content, but no end game content (farming a thousand hours for a skin isn’t end game content). The story is nice and so are the new PvE zones, but I think each of these PvE maps need a dungon/raid instance.

He’s right the old maps will just discourage people even more about WvW.

I think the game mode as it is currently is just slowly dying and we will have to accept that and move on to Guild Halls gvgs or other games. Unless Anet want to revitalize the game mode with new mechanics, rewards and a new server system I don’t think there is any hope left.

Have new fractals been released with HoT or am I missing something?

Problem isn’t the lack of armors or skins, it’s that we paid 50$ for an expansion without any dungeons/raids or any group instanced repeatable content.

The 3 new zones are nice (the artistic work is always beautiful at Anet), but WvW is a mess because the servers can’t support the new map and PvP has only 1 new map and skills/classes are completely unbalanced.

It really feels like HoT wasn’t finished and we’ve got only the first half.

Well besides the numbers his suggestions would certainly make it more fun to play in comparison to the super boring Tempest we currently have.

I think PvP needs way more map variety.

3v3 maps, 10v10 maps, death match areas, more stronghold maps.
Is anything more planned for pvp?

Just 1 map for HoT was very little pvp content.

Anet doesn’t even have a choice at this point. If they don’t merge the servers the gamemode will just die as the scattered population stop playing.

Seriously Anet, why can’t you improve this game mode? Even at peak times only EBG is played now.

Does Anet realize that if they had listened to the community we would have full maps in all tiers as we speak with a rewarding scoring system and perfected maps?

Solutions:
1- Merge servers into alliances
2- Make interesting perks with the rank points
3- add PPK
4- Change the scoring system to be more like a sport (4 hours cycles perhaps, 42 points in the week, rewards every 4 hours)
5- Make the rewards be linked to the WvW rank
6- Remove the 3 copies of the same maps, have 4 different maps in WvW, do randomized rotation of teams spawn location every day.
7- Change the amount of map instances according to the previous week population
8- Increase the speed of the upgrade system and the game mode
9- Bring back the Orb in the old Alpine BL

I’m getting the same issue. Something bad happened to the Mac client yesterday, it’s now freezing all the time.

I have a new issue with the Mac version. Now when I launch the game the screen freeze once in game. I have to alt-tab in and out multiple times to get it working again. Really strange.

The new trait system set the balance back 2 years, and worse. It was actually better 2 years ago. We used to complain about 10k backstabs; now heavy classes are doing 14k hammer hits and hitting multiple targets. ESport is dead, just get Reapers, Guards, Chronomancers and Reapers and you can 1-shot anyone. Classes that used to be playable like berserker staff ele are now completely unplayable.

Balance is a complete mess. On top of that they removed maps faster than they make new ones (1 map in 2 years). It’s like they only have 1 artist making maps and hes working part-time.

Mac gaming is not going well, even Blizzard cancelled Overwatch’s Mac version.
If they wanted a realy Mac client they would have to get it ported by professionals.

It’s been a ongoing issue with this game: They put their energy in a PvE Living Story extension (which is nice but temporary) instead of making endgame content (which is repeatable).

Result is we get only 1 pvp map, no dungeons, no new fractals, delayed raids, and a substantial (and potentially amazing) over-designed WvW map that has been rushed out in an outdated server system.

Guild halls are nice, but only as a place to go between endgame content challenges which are missing.

So, 2-3 weeks after the expansion for me it’s back to GvGs, in Gilded Hollow now instead of Obsidian Sanctum. That’s the only difference.

They need to come out with more repeatable content updates and SAB world 3

I switched to Reaper in everything else than WvW/GvG and I don’t regret it one bit. Yeah PvE ele can be used simply because the AI is really bad.

For PvP I find ele is in a very bad position right now, anything else than bunker dagger/something is literally unplayable because of the lack of class balancing and rushed Tempest elite spec.

I mean there is a limit to getting hit by a 13k cleave on a 3 second cooldown from an heavy class with better armor and health.

It’s not going to be a choice for Anet. WvW maps are just empty and the old maps were empty too. Too many people stopped playing since EotM.

There isn’t even 100 players per server playing [even at peak times] beside in the top tiers. Meanwhile the new map alone could hold over 250 people if the network code/server didn’t choke when a map is full.

I can’t see the effort from Anet fixing the WvW scoring, rewards and server system. It’s been 3 years and barely anything changed:

- We have a EotM map that has no more purpose since there isn’t any queue anywhere and it doesn’t count for PPT.

- The new maps are empty because they are too big for the tier populations and they lack ways to travel to a fight fast.

- Rewards are way under other game modes

- The PPT system still only represent server population

- PPK was never implemented

- Ruin area was well designed but was made useless

- They never re-implemented the Orb even if they promised they would

- Maps are removed and we are instead given multiple copies of the same map

Like what’s happening? Anet has amazing artists making beautiful maps and then the implementation of their work is rushed in a manner that it becomes really difficult to enjoy it.

Rewards don’t have to be big, but WvW has to “feel” rewarding, and this can only be achieved by fixing the PPT system and having full maps. I don’t think Anet is watching the competition upcoming from other MMO carefully.

So it has a function… interesting. honestly it’s so hard to pull off I don’t think they should nerf it. They should just make it an official feature of the skill.

We had amazing fights on that new map in T2 last night. Granted, 2 of the copies were empty as we could only fill a portion of a single Desert Borderland map and EBG.

The problem is always the same, running back to a fight is way too long. Honestly it was too long in the Beta and it could have been fixed if hey listened to the community.

Realistically they can’t make the map flatter, the map is designed as it is. However, making it much faster to obtain waypoints (like 10 minutes after a capture) would remedy the situation.

Solori.6025:

Xillllix.3485:

Well over 20k damage on a single button press at 1200 range on a 3 second cooldown is obviously totally broken. I don’t know what Anet was thinking but it made me stop playing my main class in pvp.

Can you provide a screenshot of you getting a 20k ruin? On a player

The skill hits 3 times. 9k + 7k + 5k = 21k and that’s just for a normal hit, I got hit for 14k once, with 2 other targets it can get near 25-28k total damage with full might stacks.

Well over 20k damage on a single button press at 1200 range on a 3 second cooldown is obviously totally broken. I don’t know what Anet was thinking but it made me stop playing my main class in pvp.

I think Anet is understaffed when it comes to WvW and PvP development.
Only 1 pvp map is a really poor offering and the WvW population/reward/scoring issues still haven’t been fixed.

This is particularly problematic when you consider PvP and WvW are the core endgame content.

If they had a dozen people working on these game modes they would really take the game to another level. I guess the same could be said with dungeons, where are the HoT dungeons-raids? Is a single raid going to be enough?

We don’t need more HP, we need a good elite profession.

I don’t regret buying it, but I don’t see myself still playing this game in 3 months unless they have a massive WvW server and scoring/reward system overhaul.

Even after an expansion there is still no end game content…

Also Tempest is the worse class design I have ever seen in this game. Completely boring and unrewarding to play.

Timelord.8190:

The new map sucks. That’s the reason there arent alot players on them. This should be clear for most people.

I completely disagree with that. The new map is fine minus a lack of waypoints. It needs waypoints in towers as soon as you cap them.

The problems are core WvW problems that have been there WAY before the release of HoT.

Chaba.5410:

Xillllix.3485:

Quote from the review:
“There’s also a sprawling, beautiful new world-versus-world battleground called the Desert Borderlands that grants powerful bonuses for holding keeps, but two weeks on, there were never enough people playing it for me to truly see it in action. "

Even IGN recognizes the outdated WvW server system that leaves us with 3 empty copies of the new map (which we all agree is beautiful).

I see nothing in that IGN quote about the server system, only about lack of players. Come on. There’s a lot of problems regarding WvW right now and they need good discussion, not weird logic.

The lack of players is due in great part to the server system, the old Alpine maps were also empty before the update. Even if they did added waypoint to the new map there is not enough players around to fill them.

Quote from the review:
“There’s also a sprawling, beautiful new world-versus-world battleground called the Desert Borderlands that grants powerful bonuses for holding keeps, but two weeks on, there were never enough people playing it for me to truly see it in action. "

Even IGN recognizes the outdated WvW server system that leaves us with 3 empty copies of the new map (which we all agree is beautiful).

I think it’s about time Anet changes the server system or merge servers, something the community has been asking for years. There is just not enough people playing that mode to fill up half the 24 copies of this huge map.

It seems clear to me after the past failure at balancing they gave up on balance and instead just wanna “shake things up”. It seems to be a tendency with Anet that apparently wants to randomize everything, from map voting to class balancing.

Heavy class doing 14k damage with the press of 1 button = bad balancing
Squishiest class having ZERO good elite skills = bad balancing
Passive skills stronger than active skills = bad balancing
Class that can 1-shot people from stealth = bad balancing

These are the things that need immediate attention and precise fine-tuning much more than being thrown in the shake-things-up randomizer.

GvG guilds are getting used to fighting in gilded hollow now and since the new maps are huge and WvW didn’t get the server merge and other PPT-PPK changes it needed well yeah the game mode is pretty much dead atm.

Tempest is pretty much the only elite prof my guild isn’t using in GvGs.

Even if Anet would be happy with it we are not.

They need to merge servers. None of the new maps are filling up.

They’ll have to improve it eventually. It make no sense to leave it as it is.

Maybe they are waiting to see the stats on how many elementalists went to play other classes.

Personally I bought the mac version when it was released. I never would have expected that 3 years later it would still be in beta and crash more than on the initial release.

Beta releases are supposed to be temporary. I expected better.

It’s been a bug since the first beta. Tempest Scepter viability-synergy is the first thing most eles tested.

Apparently asking for a 64bit Mac client and telling them their lack of Mac support is disappointing in the 64bit beta client thread is qualified of being “off topic” and will result in an infraction (be careful).

Sorry if you feel I am always complaining but I wouldn’t be if the game didn’t crash every 20 minutes… I love the game, it’s just it crashes all the time.

I’m keeping it to bullet points, no wall of text:

PvE zones:
Beautiful work from the artists and dev but not enough of them
8/10

Story:
Predictable but the best Anet has done so far
7.5/10

Adventures:
Good idea and proper implementation
8/10

Mastery system:
Feels like a grind to make the game survive until more content is released, but interesting none the less
7/10

New Dungeons/Raids:
Nothing yet in the xpac… Really disappointing. 6.5/10 for raid hype.

PvP, Stronghold:
Only 1 small map and no system changes? Stronghold should be for 10v10 and needs more maps, it’s not the GvG we expected. No changes to the PvP lobby either.
3/10

WvW:
New map is great and again beautiful artist work, however no improvements to the core WvW population problems. the map is too big for the population so nobody plays it.
5/10

Items:
A few more materials and skins, but the only interesting things are legendary grinds
5/10

New legendaries design:
9/10 The new staff is kinda kitsch but well done

Guild Halls:
Beautiful and really well done
9/10

Guild Arenas:
Not proper for GvGs again, too small, no interface to invite people, no stats, no countdown, bad implementation
3/10

Elite Spec:
Chronomancer: 9/10
Revenant Class: 9/10
Tempest: 2.5/10 (worse thing I’ve ever seen Anet do, it wasn’t ready and is unfinished) Community feedback was ignored
Reaper: 8/10 Great
Scrapper: 10/10 Best work so far on making interesting skills
Druid: 7/10 Support isn’t really good in this game
Berserker: 8/10 Good but War already in a good spot
Guardian: 8/10 TY for listening to community feedback
Daredevil: 9/10 Interesting try at doing something new

In general: 8/10

Elite Spec Balance with the rest of the classes and non-elite builds:
Not sure what happened there but this is a complete disaster. Some weapon types are no longer viable in pvp.
2/10

Overall: 75/100
Great addition to the core game specially on the PvE side. It remains to be seen if the pvp and WvW offering are enough to keep the competitive players interested.

That’s about as short as I could make it.

Tempest and ele in general are such in a bad spot. Tempest is the most lackluster and disappointing elite spec, it’s worse than what I imagined the worse could be. It was completely rushed out half-finished and makes me wonder why I bought this xpac in the first place.

As for the ele in general being the squishiest class with the power creep of all the other class anything else than bunker/celestial and you’re basically just a 1-shot kill.

And we get a new balance patch, with zero improvements to tempest or the elementalist, seriously Anet it’s about time you hire a real full-time balance team.

Just run full zerk.

Bunch of skills on the staff need improvements:
Gust and Magnetic Wave are unreliable, there is unjustified delays between the skill cast and the damage on skills like lava font.
Eruption is too slow as the only blast it should animate 50% faster.
Ice spike should be a little faster too.
Condi damage is lacking, it needs better burning on fire 3 and 4.
Since the meteor aoe circle makes it super easy for people to jump out and line casting was nerfed meteors should fall faster.
Auto attacks need a buffed to their speed/effectiveness

Thanks for the replies and other suggestions guys.
I agree a countdown timer is also essential.

Is that for mac too?

Edit: ESO is getting a 64bit mac client.

How about Staff buff? With the power creap on every other class how come our staff skills are still soooooo slow. Would it really be that much to ask for lava font to tick as soon as you put them down? or for earth walls to go down instantly when cast? To have 25% faster ice spike?

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Xillllix.3485:

It’s not just the Dragon Hunter that has been balanced poorly. Ever played staff ele in PvP? Yesterday I got destroyed by a reaper with 5-6k cleaves and 1-shot by a Daredevil with a 11k vault and a 6k uppercut following.

Meanwhile on staff ele it takes 3-4 seconds to channel any kittening skill that does 40% that damage.

Reaper
Daredevil
staff elementalists

one of these things is not like the others

That’s what I’m saying. It used to be viable, right now it isn’t much.

Edit: oh I got moa’d twice in a row too and melted from full hp to 0 while in moa. Great stuff, really balanced.

It’s not just the Dragon Hunter that has been balanced poorly. Ever played staff ele in PvP? Yesterday I got destroyed by a reaper with 5-6k cleaves and 1-shot by a Daredevil with a 11k vault and a 6k uppercut following.

Meanwhile on staff ele it takes 3-4 seconds to channel any kittening skill that does 40% that damage. GW2 skill/class balance is soooooo bad now.

Problems were certain to happen when you have a map that would support 250 people (x3 = 750) + EBG and only 100 people play that game mode at prime time in the top tier. You end up covering only 10-20% of the maps with your server population.

ESO had the same problem and they closed the empty servers maps. Anet needs to react, adapt and change the server system. It has nothing to do with the quality of the map which is really a good map minus the lack of waypoint.

Hi Anet and folks,

The Guild Arena is a welcomed idea, it is something GvG Guilds have been asking in the Guild Halls CDI. While the Halls themselves are beautiful, there is a few issues preventing the Guild Arenas from being used to their full potential:

1- Size:
The current Arena is too small for 15v15 GvGs. Because there is no room to maneuver it really favors certain classes. We need an Arena that is exactly the size of the Obsidian Sanctum Arena for 15v15s or slightly bigger for 20v20s.

It would have been better if you had made the Arena bigger and let us make it feel smaller with the walls and traps.

2- Lack of Interface:
Inviting a Guild for a GvG is something that should take only 2-3 clicks:
Have a list of registered Guest Guilds (like a friends list, instead a guild list). Then the Guild leader can just invite the Guild to the Hall for GvG by clicking on the name and sending an invite. As it is right now there is no interface at all, you have to invite every player 1 by 1 to your guild and then kick them out of the guild an hour later. It is a huge waste of time.

3- Lack of Statistic Tracking:
We need GvG statistic tracking in the guild halls. You should be able to see the scores against the guilds you fought in your Hall and the dates.

As it is right now, the Arena is good for small fights or skill practice, but for GvG it is still very much lacking. Please take the time to consider improving the Arena implementation for the GvG scene.