Guild Wars 2

I’ve often wondered the reasons for the large gaps in health pools as well.
To me it doesn’t make sense that plate has better stats health and defense wise but maintain the damage of classes that are far less equipped with equivalent gear. You’d think casters (most people define caster as those who wear cloth) would do significantly more damage because of the loss and risk due to lower base health.

On another note, as to the PvP / PvE separation? They don’t need to, they simply need to make a global change to damage done when it’s player vs player. Many games have done this in the past (EQ at launch was 50% less damage in PvP for an example).

So personally they have an alternative to going through every single skill in the game and redoing them for the different areas, all they need to do is adjust the total damage percent a given class can do to another, as it may not be a global change due to balance. Hypothetically speaking here: War might get that -50%, but the guardian does less damage may only receive -40% and so on and so forth depending how it plays out.

Seems to be the easy answer to me at any rate.

Probably 1k over the full year.
Mostly buying stuff i don’t “need”, and learned quickly to completely ignore anything that is based on RNG.

Here’s mine: Scoundrel of a lady who’s as beautiful as she is deadly, a true Thorny Rose.

Cross posting my suggested signet changes from main thread.

JonPeters.5630:

I think right behind those are the interrupt shutdown mesmer and the signet mesmer, so future suggestions towards those are appreciated as well.

Thanks,

Jon

I’ll make the suggestions then make any comments after them.
My suggested Signet changes:

Trait:
-Signet trait Cleansing Inscription: remove 2 conditions instead of just 1.

Skill:
-Signet of Inspiration, Signet Active: Gain all boons for 5 seconds for you and allies.
-Signet of Midnight, Signet Passive: add …and gain 25% run speed.
-Signet of Illusions, Signet Active: add ..and gain two seconds of distortion.

First signet change removes the randomness and makes it a set effect. The boon choices (currently 8 ) could be changed to where it only gives certain boons instead of all if it has balance issues.

Second signet change is more a quality of life change which Mesmers have asked for since Beta (not necessarily on this signet but for one of them). It also makes it just that much more useful for people to want to consider.

Final signet change is because it is often seen where you get downed/interrupted/stunned before you can even use the effects active ability. And this happens in both PvE and PvP. This is more of a shoring up to this skill to help the user at least be able to use the second skill they were trying for. Basically this skill is currently a two hit combo, but the second hit can miss quite often due to many variables. The change makes it to where there is at least a good chance to actually get the second part of the skills use to work by allowing you that little extra time to shatter in one form or another.

JonPeters.5630:

I think right behind those are the interrupt shutdown mesmer and the signet mesmer, so future suggestions towards those are appreciated as well.

Thanks,

Jon

I’ll make the suggestions then make any comments after them.
My suggested Signet changes:

Trait:
-Signet trait Cleansing Inscription: remove 2 conditions instead of just 1.

Skill:
-Signet of Inspiration, Signet Active: Gain all boons for 5 seconds for you and allies.
-Signet of Midnight, Signet Passive: add …and gain 25% run speed.
-Signet of Illusions, Signet Active: add ..and gain two seconds of distortion.

First signet change removes the randomness and makes it a set effect. The boon choices (currently 8 ) could be changed to where it only gives certain boons instead of all if it has balance issues.

Second signet change is more a quality of life change which Mesmers have asked for since Beta (not necessarily on this signet but for one of them). It also makes it just that much more useful for people to want to consider.

Final signet change is because it is often seen where you get downed/interrupted/stunned before you can even use the effects active ability. And this happens in both PvE and PvP. This is more of a shoring up to this skill to help the user at least be able to use the second skill they were trying for. Basically this skill is currently a two hit combo, but the second hit can miss quite often due to many variables. The change makes it to where there is at least a good chance to actually get the second part of the skills use to work by allowing you that little extra time to shatter in one form or another.

redux.1502:

FINALLY some build diversity is being opened up!
It’s really the one thing I was wanting as a Mesmer, and now it’s here
Great job Anet!

This is how i feel!

Finally i can have my lowered weapon cooldowns with my on kill effects again with out gimping my build. (sword/* & sword/* builds have to have both weapon cooldowns to remain even remotely playable.)

Like i said in the main thread, only thing left on my GW@ Christmas list, is that shiny new Primary Hand Pistol.

JonPeters.5630:

Mesmer:
The bulk of the mesmer changes are focused on two things. 1) Bringing up some of the mesmer support traits and condition removal traits. 2) Reduce dependency on certain trait lines. The changes to Mender’s Purity and Shattered conditions as well as the move of Dazzling Glamours are meant to accomplish the first of these two. The changes to Shattered Strength and Illusionist’s celerity are what we feel accomplish the second one. Before this change mesmers needed to place 25 points into Illusions for many of their builds. Now they can place only 15 points in there to get the Illusion cooldown which will give them back 10 more trait points to open up some new builds. Finally, we felt that the Mantra traits were fairly difficult to collect. Moving Mantra mastery to adept tier takes some trait pressure off of the Dueling line, allowing mantra mesmers to gain a good trait with only 10 points.

• Domination XII – Confounding Suggestions. Changed to increase daze duration by 25%.
• Dueling VI – Protected Mantras. Moved to Master Tier. Increase Toughness from 400 to 600.
• Dueling VII – Mantra Mastery. Moved to Adept Tier.
• Chaos 25 – Chaotic Transference. Increased conversion from 5% to 10%.
• Chaos I – Chaotic Revival. Reduced cooldown from 35s to 10s.
• Chaos VII – Mirror of Anguish. Reduced cooldown from 90s to 60s.
  * Inspiration IV – Mender’s Purity. Now removes 2 conditions.
• Inspiration XI – Shattered Conditions. Increased radius from 240 to 600.
• Illusions VI – Illusionary Invigoration. Recharge reduced from 90s to 60s. Moved to Master Tier.
• Illusions VIII – Dazzling Galmours. Moved to Adept Tier.
• Illusions 15 – Shattered Strength – Moved to Grandmaster tier.
  * Illusions 25 – Illusionist’s Celerity – Moved to Master tier.

I’m glad the Dev team has taken into consideration what many Mesmers have stated and how the current builds have been a bit stifled due to weapon choices and placement of skills. So thanks for these changes, we needed them.

The above bold quotes, I’m very ecstatic about, because one makes one ability that was okay, in to a good option though it still likely would be better then pure condition removal skill, but now it’s a contender with condition removal skills as a secondary option instead of using 2 condition removers. This is magnified by the changes to mantras. The latter opens many builds back up, especially those that tend to use more limited weapons sets that actually “need” the skill just to use weapons of choice.

Overall, I’m very pleased with these changes as a Mesmer (main) player.
You have my gratitude. Only thing left on my Christmas list, is that shiny new Primary Hand Pistol

Hmm, maybe it’s just me, and maybe I’m just pessimistic at this point but things this patch seem to have followed every other one:

1> Obligatory Mesmer nerf (iDuelist) check. There’s always one, the “balance” team has to throw at LEAST one nerf at mesmer or other classes will complain which they do anyways so at least it’s consistent.
2> Bunch of changes that really don’t do a kitten thing other then allow for some new testing which generally results in something that is:
A> Not fun, and is generally more tedious then current builds for less results.
B> all BUT useless (but it’s so close to useless its scary)
C> Both of the above**.
3> Changed something to throw off the fact there are still several bugs that still exist for the class that have yet to be fixed.
4> Throw at least one bone to the mesmer in such a way that it’s neither a nerf nor a buff, but we can still watch people complain (EG: clones/phantasms ignore the new targeting rules).

Yup, still on target for the usual, nothing to see here.

To say i’m disappointed in this patch, is an understatement. The preview was just about everything we got, sad to say but our section of changes is down right pathetic compared to every other class.

Freedan.1769:

Actually, is ANYONE planning on making a build that uses the buffs from this update?

As I said, people will do some testing then go right back to what they were using before, cause frankly put the changes are not enough to warrant the use of Mantras which still remain the weakest tools in our list of skills.

(**If you answered C, you’re right).

Yea, the current trend of Anet migrating to more and more account/soul bound items just means the trading company isn’t working as they thought it would. So much for economists :P

Gives the side “bonus” of time gating, fabulous idea!
/sarcasm-off

locoman.1974:

The way I’d do it:

- Limited to 1 character up to level 15 and the starter areas of each race plus main cities.
- Make a trial server with a free one time server transfer when the game is purchased, and/or block trial characters from chat (/s and /m) to prevent spamming (they could see the chat, just not participate on it). /w only to those that have added you to their friends list or whispered you first.
- Trial characters blocked from using TP, bank, guild bank and mail (to prevent trial used for botting and transfer materials and/or gold).
- Trial characters limited to 1g total.
- Blocked from WvW (otherwise trial characters could be used to spy on enemy servers) and sPvP matches, but I’d allow them to enter the heart of the mysts so they could explore how their character would be at level 80.

Brilliant. Denying the exploitable of “temp” characters while bringing real potential players to the game. Sure other things would need to be added to shore the list up, but a good start.

The only real question about the values of Celestials and magic find was did they give their specific numbers to Celestials because of the mf, or did they ignore it and set the stats as is, ignoring the MF.

Several armor pieces have an out of place number of 11 for the stat base. Was the set given 11 instead of 12 for the stats because of MF or not? Only the Dev’s know and they aren’t saying anything.

Helios.3598:

….or, as others have mentioned, the fan.

Yay we get a new focus…..um…right.

So you want focus as a main hand, I’m cool with that, don’t see why anyone would say they don’t want more options to choose from though.

Dev’s have stated they want to give more weapon options to all classes, and not necessarily just new weapon types. I can honestly see both focus and pistol being added as main hands at some point simply because it does fit the Mesmer style depending how the abilities look. Butterfly bullets…can hear the nerf cries now, "she downed me with a $#%#%#$%# butterfly!!! "

Come on you smiled at that didn’t you…

I’d buy em, know plenty of others would too.

skcamow.3527:

All of this depends heavily on what role Anet would make MH pistol. Would you want a MH pistol if they went with more of a cc/lockdown/interrupt focus, which is clearly a Mesmer forte? While that would be intriguing, I’m thinking we should be specific about what we want in this weapon. From what I’ve personally read over the past year, most people want an option for a more viable MH power weapon instead of being locked into scepter when taking a MH/OH in each set.

The MH pistol servers the function of a Power/Ranged 1 handed weapon as currently we do not have. Another ranged option that is not 2hd based would be a good thing. We also need a 2hd that is not ranged, as currently both of our 2hd weapons are both ranged so splitting the options of types 1hd/2hd and use power/cond will be key as the game moves forward, hopefully we will see these additions in the near future.

I for one, am eagerly awaiting the release of a Main hand pistol as it will complete my build (& play style) instead of me having to rely on 1hd sword for both main hands.

Brimstar.9036:

EDIT 7. Time Gating

This is ludicrious, if a month isn’t long enough to actually do what you want to do in a online persistent MMO, then perhaps this isn’t the right game you should be investing your time in. Every event they make at the beginning of the month lasts FOR a whole month, and not 2 weeks, they push content out every two weeks but all of it certainly doesn’t last 2 weeks. So this topic is irrevalvent to me because you got a whole month to do SAB and Tequatl is permanent.

You do realize most people complaining about time gated materials are not referring to the content like SAB and the like right? They are referring to time gated forced speeds of acquiring gear (ascended, celestial to be specific). At least from what I’ve gathered, some yes have complained about the events time frames, but far more as far as the gear bottlenecks.

Quite a few would even say the time gated events are too fast, and while it’s understandable that they come and go quickly, most people are aware they are not “one time events” and will return at some point in the rotation. Most players can live with that.

Maybe all of us should be more specific as to which “time gated” we dislike, as it’s fairly obvious by the comments there are two separate things people are talking about.

For me:
Time gated gear = ridiculous, unneeded and unwarranted.
Time gated events = Keeps things moving and most will come back around, no issue with this one personally.

Craywulf.5793:

Time-gated is not the problem…anyone who feels “forced” is letting their emotions cloud their rationality. They make things time-gated to motivate and guilt you into buying gems. It’s up to you to have some self-discipline with your wallet and time.

So my logging on “once a day” to get my one charged quartz motivates me to buy gems how? Wont be able to test my hybrid build till i complete the set of which many in OMFG (mesmer guild) are interested in seeing cant even be done until a few of us make full sets.

Like i stated, right now the game has two time gated bottle necks, we need to be specific to which one is actually bugging us. This clarification may make a difference.

Ashabhi.1365:

7. I’m sorry… but I have to say… So what? is it that game breaking that you can’t have it all right now? sheesh… give it a rest.

I’m sorry but if this doesn’t affect you then why are you arguing with other peoples opinions on it? Does it affect you negatively in some way? Do you even really care?

To use you’re own quote “So What”? What does it matter to you if they removed time gating. More people are against such design then those for it, simply put because the bottom line really changes nothing other then being a time sink for the sake of being a time sink.

Does it really matter if someone puts in the effort to get ascended weapons, celestial or the like and they get it today or next month. They still get it regardless so the whole time gated theory looses it’s appeal because the bottom line is it accomplishes nothing. They still get what they want. It changes nothing as far as “in game” other then it being annoying to actually get. What purpose does it serve to try and be annoying to the player base?

I’m always game

Yea, it’s odd so many companies get away from any “darkness” or potentially morbid sights with in games. I remember in EQ there was one dungeon (dark elf) where you saw decapitated npc’s and the like, torture chambers ect. It made the dungeon very menacing and it had that “feel” that you were gonna be next if you weren’t careful. It was eventually revamped for a more “family friendly” environment when EQ was short term placed on consoles. But i still remember that dungeon to this day very well, even though its been over a decade since i played (or more, yes im old :P).

I would like to see environments similar to those from time to time just to give you that feel that evil does exist in the land and it’s not just like a cartoon where everything explodes but no one gets hurt.

Azjenco.9425:

Time Gating:
……..Again, there has to be a better way to allow players to work towards what they want without having them feel penalized, or like the mechanics are in place to keep them muzzled.

Surely you must see how bad such a system is, and as designers you need a better way to keep the game flow and players working towards goals without, basically, point at them as you scream “NO!”.

While I see pros and cons for all the points brought up in this thread, this one out right annoys me the most. Recently started doing my celestial gear and of course at one crystal a day. Ascended is apparently very similar, which i wont even bother with.

TL:DR- Time gating, the WORST possible design decision being implemented by Anet currently in game. It’s unneeded and not desired by anyone in the player base.

saden.6942:

What if instead of worrying so much about stealth we worry about backstab? What if backstab applied a buff of some sort that makes you immune to another backstab for 7-8 seconds? In other words, the thief CAN CnD and try to backstab again, but if you have the buff then the stab only does normal damage (like it does if they hit your front-side). Backstab seems like a very “sneaky” type of skill and simply being able to re-stealth after a few seconds and do it again (sometimes 2-3 times a fight) is ridiculous. Have thieve’s rely less on the backstab and more on their endurance—which would hopefully lessen the amount of thieves counting on “burst and escape” type builds.

This is something I could get behind, as to stealth changes. This way defenses for all classes remain untouched (most are low duration, fair cooldown), and it doesn’t allow for “cheap” use of mechanics for repeated high damage attacks. Granted it could open a new can of worms, but i like this idea better.

Cole Eyre.8471:

Holy Trinity missed? Not by me.

Ditto.

As others have said, if you miss this type of game play, then GW2 probably isn’t for you.

SynfulChaot.3169:

Each class has a unique ability and that’s it. I call the their core ability. Yes, thieves use stealth, but so do mesmers and rangers. Yes, guardians use aegis, but so do mesmers. Everything outside of the ‘class’ abilities, all other special abilities, are shared by more than one class.

Simply a difference of opinion.
I’d say poison is a core ability of a thief too, life stealing, same for Necromancers.
Not saying a core ability can’t be shared but for me it doesn’t change the fact they are abilities/traits and skills (including weapon skills) that define that class. There are builds that build around them and define one of the ways the class is played. Simply saying an ability of any one kind doesn’t define a class or their “core” abilities to me. How they interact does.

Like i said, just a different take on the words used.

SynfulChaot.3169:

Thieves core ability is theft. Is their F1. They just utilize stealth greatly. More than any other, yes. But it is not their core ability.

There’s a difference between the unique class ability and a core ability.

But at this point I’m too tired to keep arguing about it, the decision has already been made to put the counter in. I disagree with it, simply because i know how to kill a thief, yea it generally takes a long time. Have I been two shot sure i have, but i’ve had the same happen from warrior, and guardian too, then watch as a zerg chasing after them and cant catch them too. Solution to those was dont wear full berserker in pvp.

To each their own, the vocal minority will always harp more on the forums then those that think its working well enough.

Turtle Dragon.9241:

Follow the trend. Want more?

Sure, you didnt name one core ability, or at least abilities that are not shared by ALL.
Apples and oranges.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Ruggan.4102:

All this BS about stealth needing a counter… there are counters to stealth… you just need to actually learn to use them.

The problem with thieves and stealth is…well, I’ll let these quotes do the talking for me.

“You can’t hit what you can’t see.” ~Walter Johnson (In GW2 you can, its magic!)
“You cannot dodge what you cannot see!” ~Gen (Sure you can, ever used block and didnt see what caused it? Happens all the time in GW2)

But to add to this, we need some REAL hard counters to stealth, something to get it off somebody. I really hope Sic ‘Em is changed to a pet damage increase for all its attacks for a certain amount of time, with the Reveal being an AoE around the pet of 900 range. If we can start seeing at least one skill that does that on at least half of the classes, you won’t see as much complaining from players about the ‘invincible’ thief.

2 things about the stealth complaints:

1: STEALTH is NOT thief only. Quit begging for nerfs to a mechanic that 4 classes use, just because one has some more entertaining ways to “annoy” you with it. Honestly I disapprove of the change cause most games that use stealth breakers also have classes that can actually perma stealth, GW2 doesn’t. Yes I have a thief ( i troll/harass/taunt with her in WvW, she has never killed anything 1v1, she cant), but I main a mesmer, and im in ill need of more nerfs to my favorite, and most played class that is currently the least played, and least used in PvP environments.

2: Adding hard counters BEGS the question for the developers of just what other hard counters do we need, it’s gonna be a pretty long list and that’s GOING to turn into a kitten you wouldn’t believe. Tweaks, yes, “shaves” yes. Just adding out right changes (counters) to core mechanics is just a bad idea no matter how you look at it.

Let’s take the thiefs stealth, then we can take the warrior’s weapons, the mesmer’s clones, the necro’s death….. Then we can all have the same stick character wielding the same stick weapon to beat on each other with.

Edit*: A final thought for when it comes to balancing although i know it’s not ever likely to happen here given current game design goals. There’s a phrase that rings true for balance, have a stable foundation and the top is also stable. If the foundation is unstable so is the top, the recent tournament events show this quite well. Bottom line: You want group play balanced, start at the bottom and balance 1v1, then everything else falls into place for the top to also be balanced with far less hassles and tweaks being needed.

Asuka Shikinami.5462:

Small balence suggestions:

Mesmer:
- The simple way to improve build variety is either to move Illusionist Celerity to a lower tier to remove it all together and lower CD’s to compensate. This change messes with a number of builds

^This.
So many builds require the use of skill/weapon reduction just to make a core mechanic work like it should in the fast pace of the game. (We don’t have clones/phants, we die…its pretty simple). Since the previous change from 5 to 25, i’ve seen less diversity then before. Now your either a power or a condition build, both of which uses x weapon for y affect in either of those scenarios, with very little deviation.
Please don’t leave mesmer as cookie cutter only, as its become.

One wish list item , Pistol main hand…make it so.

Super Riceman.8702:

Even w/ just these three, they aren’t on every class and are not “easy” choices to make.

In a standard group of 5 or so that means at least 2 would be common. While i’m not a fan of “group is how balance is done”, in this case and group dynamics (spvp &wvw) makes it potentially “too” easy to kill certain classes &, group setups and that would be a very bad thing.

Most of the “stealth complaints” are regulated to thief. I’ve never heard people really complain about other classes ability to use it. I’d almost surmise that the counters should work for specific classes and not necessarily guaranteed for others. By doing that they’d have to have 2 versions of stealth, which isn’t really feasible, but i suppose it’s something they have at least considered.

Oozo.7856:

Risk vs. reward.

It’s a two edged sword, keep that in mind.
Many people complaining about stealth are talking particularly about thieves, even though 3 other classes use stealth as well, just not nearly as much. Asking to get free kills because they break a mechanic is also not going to do the game any good.

Thieves are not the only class to use stealth.
When the pendulum swings one way it eventually swings in favor of it’s opposite, so be careful what you wish for.

anzenketh.3759:

An ability to copy from the combat log would be nice. Then the community could write some parsers to give the player some nice statistics on how they are doing. This would be also good for drop and other type of research that is displayed via the chat log.

Hopefully it doesn’t lead to more elitism as has happened in plenty of other games.
The game at this time doesnt require a gear check for anything, doesnt mean people wouldnt use such a tool to start doing such things.

Super Riceman.8702:

I think there is more room for anti-stealth capabilities on stuff like; Utility Goggles, Ambush and Spectral Grasp.

You need to realize the Dev’s have to be very careful of abilities that reveal stealth. Unlike games the majority of players who compare GW2 to other games and their stealth mechanics, the big difference for GW2 is that stealth is not perm for any class. Some only have certain skills that can do it, and making those skills to the point of useless because “everyone” all of a sudden has easy access to stealth reveal would significantly hurt several classes.

This change alone could mean I’ll have to be very cautious approaching a ranger on my mesmer as Decoy is almost guaranteed to fail depending on implementation (active / passive ability).

Lux.6490:

Ansau.7326:

- Tab targeting now prioritizes players over npcs (including minions)(mesmer clones are an exception).

Also: Mesmer clones spawned from Deceptive Evasion will still see rabbits and moose as top priority targets. We are also working hard to include mice in this rotation.

This made me giggle.
+1 for the funny.

Toby.2357:

First of why the clones? I dont like targeting clones

Second of all: when you tab pvp does it mean that I will target players first then if you tab again it will target clones?

Third and last: Can we have the option to choose to target clones in the options window? I’d like to decheck tab targeting clones.

Thanks

You do realize clones are SUPPOSED to be indistinguishable from the player right, it’s part of the Mesmer defense? People don’t attack clones cause they think they are cute and fluffy.

If the change affected clones they’d be breaking a core mechanic of the class, and that’s generally not a good idea, or at least not fun to be on the receiving end.

So much for my wishful thinking of iCelerity being changed again. Really wish it was a 15/20 skill and not 25. Guess I get to keep gimping my “on kill build”. Oh well, maybe next round.

Though I must say, glad something is being done with Mantras. They’ve been needing some more love for awhile, and a useful group dynamic like that should help them out a great deal, so props for making those changes.

Dev posted a skill/balance change thread.
Not listing quite as in depth but some mentions of things being changed at least.
Mantra’s might see more group use at least (though its still just 2 seconds protection…meh)

Read the prerelease of patch (from DEV not player in general), pets for rangers can now detect and use reveal.

The problem with stealth detection unlike all the other games listing stealth revealers is that no class has perma stealth in GW2. Thieves can maintain it for quite awhile, but it is by no means perm. That’s a huge overlook for people complaining about it.

The question is, making a change for ranger pets, not that rangers didnt need some love, makes other classes stealth a bit less useful in group dynamics.

Wait and see i guess.

darkace.8925:

I believe the length of time and amount of effort required to obtain exotic gear is exactly what they expected it to be. It’s the rate at which players left after getting exotic gear they didn’t expect.

I would concur with this as well as the points made by the OP (with amendments of course).

Simply put changes have been and are in progress of being changed of what was originally set forth prior to release (and even at release). We can kitten with words, euphemisms and back-and-forth banter all we want, it doesn’t change what was said. It was said in easy to understand language, in plain black and white, no strings attached. It is what it is, and most people understood that the game was going to “be this way” upon launch.

Some of you may remember the posts about 2 months after release of people leaving because there wasn’t some sort of “progression” aside from skins. I bet if you check the archives, there’s a good number of them.

It really comes down to two schools of thought"
1>An MMO by definition can never be defined as it constantly changes, for good or ill. GW2 is no exception.
2> Once the Dev’s have spoken that’s how it should always be, and if it is changed, it means they have lied.

Generally the former will trump the latter, even in early games such as EQ this became apparent (Verant Interactive lost to SOE). With those two schools of thought, there really isn’t any gray area. People are going to think one or the other, or simply not care.

I’m personally a bit disappointed, especially since the time sink(s) and massive restrictions have been put in place. But that’s just my 2 copper on the subject.

Obtena.7952:

I don’t get why everything a game dev does needs to make sense to the average player. Nothing limits them to what they do other than their own imagination. They aren’t governed by physical laws.

Sure, you can make any arguments you want, and people can stick to their guns and defend their stance for those arguments.

It doesn’t make the argument logical.

Even a child can see there is a fault in logic by looking at the tiers and seeing one “in the middle of no where” and being different then all others. Queue the old Sesame Street song of one not looking like the others, any time here.

I too, like many, wondered why Legendary weapons were not account bound. But the move on ascended leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly I think it comes down that there is an issue with their “living economy” that has gone unchecked and has even gotten to the point of problematic, so much so, they are releasing all new content in the way we see now to try and “fix” this problem.

Doesn’t make it any less painful, or make any sense. But it is what it is, for good or ill. Still doesn’t mean it’s the logical choice given all the touted aspects of the game, including the living economy the Devs are so proud of.

To each their own.

I for one am very happy with this rune set. Previously used Runes of Divinity.

Like many posters here, the use in WvW out weighs any negatives to it. Finally, we no longer have to use a specific weapon just to keep up with the group, while hoping and praying the group doesn’t get so far ahead we get left behind. Even small group/roaming the rune is a great boon to the class, no longer are we regulated to letting people always escape from us or having no ways of escape simply because we could always be run down.

Short and sweet: For WvW, all Mesmer should seriously consider getting this rune set. For other focused types, it should be considered but you may have better options depending on build.

Treeline.3865:

I find that GW2 is playable entirely without grind. But that’s where it stops. If you want anything, and I mean anything beside basic gear for your character and access to content you need to grind more than I have ever experienced in any game. And that’s not what I had hoped for the game. That said they are getting better at rewarding players for being skilled which I like. But I don’t care for how much “optional grind” they are putting into the game.

Couldn’t agree more, this is spot on IMO.

My biggest concern is the “amount” of bottlenecks being placed in the game. At release and some patches in only a few things had very distinguished bottlenecks, most notably Legendary and the pre-cursor requirements which are generally harder to get then all the other mats combined. Previously, that bottleneck is not so much about time, but on luck or the ability to save gold. which ever happens first. Notice that this bottleneck was also trade-able, which made them highly sought after and desired.

Now with the new system they moved it a step forward by giving the “option” of crafting them. However it’s become a step forward and two steps back by adding yet another bottleneck, which is the same exact same type of bottleneck as Celestial gear. The kicker and the point that makes absolutely NO sense is that these new bottlenecks were added for “Account Bound” items.

Ummm, what do “you” care how fast or how slow someone makes something they want, that only THEY can use? Does it really change “your” game play that much? Trade able items, I can at least understand the logic for a bottleneck here and there, but account bound….really? It can only be added along the lines with a /facepalm and /eyeroll

Here’s my point to the Dev team, if someone being able to get content sooner then latter is a detriment to the game somehow, you have already done something seriously wrong in terms of balance, and that can and will need fixing.

TL:DR- Bottlenecks for Account bound = BAD idea. Trade-able? Least there’s some logic behind it, especially when one considers the game to have a “living economy”.

I’m game.

Name: Xovi
Server: Tarnished Coast
Playstyle: All
Role: Teacher/Tester
Playtime: Evenings and weekends, CST

Korsbaek.9803:

unless they update the tooltips to they are said to harvest all metals, plants and trees

^ Yup. I don’t think this will change because there really isn’t a need even if new tiers are created later, simply because the next wave or so is expected to use multiple combines of current tiers.

Personally I’m glad I don’t have to worry about what i harvest and having to go through the process of either changing the tools i’m using or having to skip the node because i’d “loose money” by harvesting something with a higher tool. Best 2400 gems I’ve spent, but your mileage may vary.

Edit: I will also note, I’ve been playing one primary main for the year outside of a few months break. So for a single character that is predominately played, there really isn’t any downside to these cash shop items. Now if only all of them were this straight forward.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Phantasmal Haste

• This trait does not affect the iSwordsman or the iMariner

Should also include iDuelist.

Pretty much the rule of thumb with single handed weapons: You can not reduce cooldowns by more then one cooldown trait. No matter what type of combinations you use. Tends to make quite a number of the limited amount of traits per skill set useless.

kerona.3465:

Step 1) Make Necro.
Step 2) Get Necro to lvl 10.
Step 3) Buy a white lvl 10 head piece.
Step 4) Transmute the eyes onto the head piece.
Step 5) Put head piece in bank.
Step 6) Log desired toon.
Step 7) Transmute headpiece onto desired headpiece.

That should be about right.

Correction, there’s a beginner mask that chosen by the choices during character creation that gives the mask.

Simply buy a white mask (preferable on a lower level character due to cost) and have them transmute it. It’s then account bound. Transmute on the character you want to have the look and done.

Nope. It’s really not needed.

I do think it would be a good idea to expand and build on the current trait system, such as adding more traits per line. The bigger this gets, the more possibilities.

We can still have more and more character customization, it does not require new levels to achieve them.

I find the arguments against this amusing.

-PvE, no one cares. Immersion? Have you seen some of the freaking names in this game? Really? Clipping, I’ve been able to see a line on my stomach since beta weekend 1. I still can depending on what I’m wearing…clipping, it happens sometimes.

-WvW, people obviously haven’t realized players are already set as a default look for opposing team members, this change would have absolutely NO effect for opponents. Friendlies are able to see the armor difference which can already be toggled on or off. A null argument here, since its a toggle for friendlies, and enemies don’t know the difference anyways.

-sPvP, the limitations of what you can wear here since anything you get has to be unlocked by drop or by mystic forge, might actually be a marked improvement. The answer here, make it like WvW, opponents are a set graphic based on profession. Done. The codes already there, so that excuse is out.

The biggest question this thread really raises, is why do people care what other players look like so much? Control freak much? The “death knight” comments are great examples of it. Why do you care what someone else’s necromancer looks like? Does it hurt you, did it still your birthday away from you? Not really something I would make, but since i wouldn’t, i really don’t see how it would effect me. People have to find something to complain about i guess.

The problem when everyone is a special snowflake, you clump them all together and they become a big pile of crap that needs to be shoveled out of the drive way. So I guess if that’s a persons philosophy, at least we know where they are coming from.

I know my post came off condescending, but really I just find it annoying that people seem to argue just for the sake of arguing when it really serves no purpose.

I for one am glad this is being done, namely for the reason of a dominating team can keep it’s domination by simply having the orbs, or at least giving them an unneeded edge in a fight that’s generally already one sided.

chyzwar.1398:

as i see it:

all in all – i dont see the point of spliiting the pets into two subclasses – both horribly ill-designed and misimplemented.

Many of us would disagree with you here.
If you don’t understand the functionality of them being split, then it’s on you.

No one is going to say there aren’t bugs with the system, but just a broad negative generalization wont accomplish much either.

Here’s my 80 mesmer.