Guild Wars 2

I’m saying there is an inconsistency in mini map color sheme. Blue team has their members marked with blue color always, be they alive, downed or dead.

Red team has their living members marked with red icons, but downed and defeated with blue!

It’s misleading when you’re in middle of a fight! It’s a flaw. Small? Maybe. But in mode that wants to be competitive, let alone an e-sport even the tiniest advantage given to one team that is outside their influence and skill is FLAWED DESIGN.

I was a pve player for most of the time, and something obviously being flawed for a long time is no excuse to keep it that way.

When i’m red my live teammates are red, downed and dead blue.
When i’m blue they’re always blue.

Keep in mind this isn’t forums i’m talking about, this is ingame pvp mini map! I often don’t have the luxury to interpret what I see and take a step back saying “aaah, but the blue downed are ours!” In middle of the battle i act on instinct! Red=ally, blue = enemy! There’s not time to recall “10 rules of proper mini-map reading!”

That thing should be simple and consistent in it’s color sheme from top to bottom!

Condi spam is not as horrid as ppl make it out to be save few cases (engi comes first to mind). Generaly professions that have powerful condi burst (ranger) lack real constant condi pressure – so a quick clense at a right time shuts them down fast.

And those that have constant condi pressure lack the burst (necro). Where things stray away from these two scenarios that’s where you need to start worrying.

+1 for the settings reset part. Handed them one match as i was strugglling to get my proper controls back.

Crinn.7864:

While I don’t particularly like the pip system, and don’t particularly like socialism, I can’t for the life of me see how socialism has anything to do with the pip system.

Giving out pips depending on some centrally programmed mystery meat alghorithms that make nearly every combination of pips possible with almost any combination of results (like pips for losing, or losing pips for winning), just like in socialism it’s they who decide how much money you get to keep and who gets “government” (read: robbed via outrageous taxation) money, and who is left in the dirt.

Simple winners gain, losers lose (duh) leaves things clear, simple and without any attempts to cheat around the centrally programmed mystery meat algorithms.

I have. And i live in socialist country so i know all too well.

Abeit i’m no mesmer as far as i see it mesmer did not lose much from it’s bunker role, save ability to hold a point solo. They are still great survivors and can aid a team that’s not doing so well, just can’t be a troll point holders that are nearly untouchable 1v1.

Well of corruption + reaper’s mark on downed (be they yours or enemies). If the enemies near downed don’t have stab, reaper’s mark will fear them. If they do, well will corrupt it and fear them:3

Just remember to give well some time before you pop mark.

Socialism has got to be one of the biggest plagues man has ever released on this world. And same goes for gaming.

I know it’s cruel, but experience teaches that sometimes being cruel but just is the least cruel thing you can do in the long run.

So how about we forget all these pip gain/loss intricacies and go with simple “win is a point, loss is one point lost” and make sure matchmaking keeps us facing ppl around our own level, progressively matching us against better opponents if we keep winning, or weaker ones if we keep losing.

No exceptions, no complex algorithms, good old plain law of the jungle.

Guess who’s screwed in spvp? That’s right, the red team. Why you ask? Well take a looksey at the mini-map. Guess what happens there?

Color scheme that is totally inconsistent with red team’s own color. Sooo….what are those red job icons on mini map you ask? That’s your teammates. Uh-huh.

And what is that blue ressurection icon you ask? Well that’s the fallen ene…yyyyy…eh? WTH? That’s your teammate! That’s riiight. Your teammate suddenly switched colors to blue when he got downed. Same for dead.

Ain’t this kitten in the wall? While for blue team’s everything’s blue from top to bottom the red team’s gotta play freaking detective just who’s who in the mess of blue and red icons.

This is what i call the hidden 4th game mode – PvA [Player vs A-net].
Now how about we fix that or better yet, flush this whole idiocy down the toilet and perma assign one color to a team and one to the enemy. Like green being my team (always) and red being theirs. They would see the opposite – their team as green mine as red. Sure there’s still the matter of separating teams for the spectators, but i’d rather have problem there, then struggle with mini-map genius ideas that have me play private detective instead of quickly giving me the info i need and moving the hell on with the match!

And then you count how many new armor & weapon sets we got with HoT (along with their looks’ appeal) and then get back to how many get released to gem shop and their quality…..

….and then you start to wonder…

Because there is lot of very crucial situations where it’s a stunbreak you need (reaper’s shroud #3 is not one) or just a quick, small stab on short cooldown to finish a crucial task without being forced to stay in shroud for prolonged time.

Example – you just downed a warrior, his buddy is coming. You can use Foot to quickly stomp him and save the shroud #3 for the newcomer, including the fear. And if you have Foot then at most 10s later you will have insta stunbreak + stab to secure your heal goes through. Crucial in pvp is you ask me.

Honestly the curret Foot in the Grave is so powerful i run it on my condi reaper ignoring dhuumfire totally. Cause cc’d reaper does no damage.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Mesmer:

• Well of Precognition: This ability now applies distortion instead of blur and prevents capture-point contribution. Casting time has been increased from 0.25 seconds to 0.75 seconds, and aftercast delay has been reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0 seconds.

Now we’re cooking with gas!

Long story short – when they’re fine with having 200 men playerbase for pvp. Sorry but people getting kittened off (especially in league) is more the norm then rare occurance. They would have to “put in jail” a huuuuge chunk of pvp community…

Being stuck in emerald for a week now and barely improving as solo quequer stinks. But ok i’m not the biggest pvp kitten around.

But what really gets on my nerves is this pipe or w/e you call it system. I lose a game 491-500 being best in my team i’m still punished. Fine. I lose another game i get one. Yes i know there are certain rules that…On second thought. NO. I don’t know.

Because you don’t care to let me know. I’m sicking tired of this “mystery meat” matchmaking when i have 0 idea how the system ranks my team and opponnets team what are the potential gains and losses to be had.

I long for a simple, clear system that clearly defines where i stand in the foodchain and if the one i face is above or below me before we start our game.

The Greyhawk.9107:

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I like the new aura animations. Much less obtrusive and classy looking.

There’s something wrong with you. How are almost invisible eggs “classy”? Since when were auras ever intrusive?

Since a already cluttered group of ppl fighting turned into a x-mass tree of orange orbs fighting. Try joining a fight at mid point in pvp. Even with auras nerfed it’s already a clusterkitten in terms of readability. And don’t even get me started on what happens when mesmers and minion master necros join the party..

Being a kitten good trebber myself i can say “It depends”. Against a player with medium awarness treb means nothing (evades, panic buttons etc). However if they’re already under pressure from your teammates, then with treb’s help they might discover they run out of their panic buttons bit too soon and they’re going down.
Also a good trebber is a major cause of panic for enemies sending ppl to take down the treb. If you’re good at defending it, you can buy your team some serious advantage with outnumbered enemy at caps.

And yeah, treb can be fun. Blasting them when they least expect it like close to the 2nd treb when they encouter a teammate half way to our capture point:3 or when they go outside middle cap room on the ramp and think they’re safe….or NOT!:>

I will repeat what i generally said in quoted topic:

To be clear – i hate mesmers, i main a necro and don’t play a mesmer in pvp. But taking time off their block? The block has counterplay. That has got to be one of the few actually healthy defense mechanics for chrono. And it lasting longer means we get bigger window for counterplay.

Yet here you go nerfing this while leaving the absolutely ridicilous blur/evade spammage with no counter mesures i know of completely untouched…

Actually wait, hold that thought. Here I’ll give you a balance idea before you’ll gut who knows what, that has 0 relation to the real issue.
That sword #2 of theirs, that gives them blur? Make it give blur only when it’s actually hitting something. If their target moves out of the way or blocks – no more blur 4 u mesmer! That means one block or evade completely strips blur for the rest of the move’s duration. This is specifically designed with counters such as daredevil’s bandit’s defense in mind. What would be the point of taking off blur for 1s of block only, after which you’d still hit air after you automatically stopped blocking to move in for the counter?

I love dragon hunters. They’re my favourite prey in spvp while i’m on my terror reaper. Blocks? I laugh at them i can literally make every single attack of mine unblockable, and all staff skills are traited to be such.

Boons? Rip or corrupt them, gg. Traps? Rise! and it spawn a minion right in the middle of the trap (cause that’s when dragonhunter stands) One minion lost, but traps disarmed.

If they don’t manage to forcefully pull me into traps they’re toast. And they usually are:)

^ Ah right you are. Almost forgot my own trademark beef with game’s balance.

Reaper’s does reap hard on chill but at least it’s a removable condition and going too far with chilling will hinder other condition/power options.

But someone tell me the counter for mesmer’s ability to rewind their skill and character status or their mega spammy evades/blurs/invulnis…

I like the new aura animations. Much less obtrusive and classy looking.

What? Mesmer shield block duration decreased? Really? Seriously?

As a necro main i am peeved. The shield block is the good, healthy aspect of mesmer gameplay. 2,5s means there is a reasonable time window for a profession with counter measures (like my reaper!) to take action and make itself an opening!

It’s the sick amount of evades/blurs and wells of gravity that are the issue here, as they have no counterplay whatsoever! Way to go fixing the car with engine trouble by replacing perfectly fine wheels!

Condi (with condi duration!) is the superior choice, albeit more risky (condi weapons aren’t 1.5k range safe pew pew). Viper is the dps hybrid choice with risks, trailblazer’s if you want to go condi with solid defense to boot.

Here’s why condi rocks for ranger:

1. Ranger is swimming in cripples, immobilizes and a bit of chilling. These are extremely efficient for controlling majority of modrem mobs. With condi gear you can get extra duration on these – very useful!

2. Ranger has great condi burst. Forget hour long condition applications like on necro. With ranger condi burst damage can match or even outshine direct burst damage.

3. Ranger sucks for direct aoe damage. Condition damage on the other hand is much closer to home, with traps, entangle, torch’s bonfire and axe’s splitblade.

4. Getting shaman’s or settler’s gear for condi druid is a cinch. Zealot’s for power druid will be quite the climb…

i’m not so sure about it being regular condi conversion. Getting vulni is a good thing, as it’s not only extra damage on everything you do, but also is benefit for Decimate Defenses trait. With this shout result is predictable, with normal boon corruption it’s dependant on what they’re buffed with.

What reapers need is a reliable pull. Looking at you GS#5.

Nah, they’ll bring balance don’t worry. One day. Sonner or later. Or much later. I think.

tanky necros and mesmers sacking mid is common sense. Usually biggest brawls happen at mid, you want to make sure you bring guys who can take it.

You should change games then because in this one condi is a viable playstyle. Especially on necro who is very geared torwards condition warfare, and while i can play power bunker necro just fine it feels shallow, gutted and like trying to fit a square into a round hole.

True. Also about minions – that will never work. Minions won’t hit jack unless the victim is properly crippled or chilled. And if it’s a worm or bone fiend – well eles i fought were quick to dispatch them.

Hakuryuu.8634:

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Nedless to say the result of this matchup is pretty obvious. Can someone tell me why is this still here? I don’t see traits that go “When above 90% health you take no direct damage” or something.

As I see, the only condition amulets without any power included are Rabid, Settler and Wanderer. Given that I haven’t seen any necro with the latter two amulets, can you prove that you absolutely can’t chip away 2k health off a full HP elementalist as a Rabid necromancer?

There’s a first time for everything. Wanderer.
And the moment i even get close to the treshold he goes water. Need i say anything more?

Nedless to say the result of this matchup is pretty obvious. Can someone tell me why is this still here? I don’t see traits that go “When above 90% health you take no direct damage” or something.

I realise there are builds that counter other builds, but it was supposed to be based on soft counters. I don’t see bunker ele immune to any and every condition being a “soft counter”.

And why is necro, who is the extreme condition manipulation master left without any counters to it whatsoever unless he goes power? With eles present in nearly every pvp team i feel arm twisted to go power/hybrid or go home, cause the moment other team knows ours has condi necro the diamond skin ele will be stalking my point to no end!

well true, warhorn is the cc, life force gain/cripple tool. Death magic seems the best candidate, given soul reaping already has a movement speed trait (speed of shadows) and how death magic also touches on warhorn’s features (cc and life force generation) + the locusts are kinda unofficial minions;p

If that’s the case i would put it in place of deathly strength, while the latter I would merge with beyond the veil. Even condi necros would benefit here, given how we get wrecked my diamond skin eles with no real counters available for a condi build…

In pvp it’s not too hot. It’s supposed to help keep enemy pinned in melee but fails horribly at that task.

1. auto attack is one of the two biggest offenders. Not only is it horribly slow (which makes sense to a degree since it’s a necro) but it has abysmal 130 units reach. Pair that up with necro’s movement speed (or more precisely lack of) and you got an auto that’s incredibly difficult to land. Especially with the last hit (the chilling one) taking forever and having visual cue biggeer then great wall of China..

2. gravedigger – big risk big reward. Huge, long windup (though not that much longer then horrid auto) but for a big damage payoff at and, and no cooldown if it hits a downed opponent or someone below 50% hp. Sounds real good, but in reality you won’t use it too much. In 1v1 it’s very easy to spot and dodge. In group situations by the time gravedigger lands you may end up eating more damage yourself from the aoe spam from enemies.

3. again huge windup for big reward (12 stacks of vulni). Unlike the auto attack however this one comes with respectable reach (220 units) for that reason this skill is actually good and balanced.

4. though it inflicts darkness and cripple this is the brightest ray of hope for necro gs. Fast to cast, creates growing aoe that pulses blinds and cripples every 2s. I would dare say open up with this one and then go for aa. Most enemies will dodge on the spot, burning their escape and making it easier to land that aa.

5. Grasping Darkness. Second biggest offender in the “GS sucks” case. A ranged mob pull with freeze on 30s cooldown. Sounds awesome. But this ain’t a recording studio it’s a pvp gs review. And in practice it’s horrid.

Tracking issues, very visible cue, 30s cooldown, all too often becoming aegis fodder instead of a pull, people having quite the amounts of stab. All this ofc can be worked around (if you’re lucky with single “Nothing can save you!” cast), but the point is a relentless pursuer that the reaper is supposed to be should a better capability for dragging his prey back into melee range, rather then once every 30s shot.

6. Greatsword trait is stuck with chilling victory and decimate defenses as alternatives. Decimate being triple A trait of extreme importance for tougher power builds, while chilling victory a great source of might and life force for those who like to stay cool in a group of enemies.

7. Reaper shroud. The last nail in the coffin. Why bother with slow gs auto when you got fast aa on rs and with respectable reach to boot? (170 minimum)? Need to chase down fleeing enemy? Here gap closer is a 6s cooldown not 30. Stability? Check! Fear to control them? Double Check! Freezing and stun in one? Check-o!

And you don’t need to wield a greatsword for all the above!

No elites for core players vs elites for x-pac ones is part of the nagatives of the game in my metacritic review. Rather then making base elite specializations for core game and then bringing in alternatives with each expansion they took the easy way out. Now they just gonna chill and leave it be, as once the next xpac rolls out problem will “fix itself” with HoT becoming core game and elite from that becoming the free player’s elites to answer the next set.

Well to be fair if you want quite a few stacks of burning then thief pistol #1 from stealth off a fire field will get you quite a few in a jiffy.

But it is true some sort of balancing would have to take place. Maybe making the condies last 1/2s or something in case of damaging ones. They fixed the non round second ticks so it ticks for only part of the full damage when it’s less then a second. Still whirl being useful inside target hitbox or completely useless in other case is kinda strange to me.

As for profession forums – well that be amusing since it’s a general game mechanic, not profession exclusive one. That’s why the post here (i doubt anyone reads the original game’s forum).

I feel that 500 tougness on my necro is far more impactful then math would suggest it to be. Did i miss something, or is it just me?

Ok, so when there’s a party to be made for something bigger one of the main professions to get is the one with most whirl finishers.

… ok, bad joke.

Blast finisher supremacy aside i belive it’s time for a change for whirls. Right now we got random projectile that is all about small RNG of it getting tossed at direction of your target or not, unless you’re literally standing inside of the target.

So how about this – let’s make whirls apply their results to anything that’s actually in range of the actual spin? No random bolts, just weapon itself taking on property of the field and following simple logic – if it lands, and whirl is performed on your/ally’s combo field it applies the result to target.

I think with this whirls could actually become a meaningful part of the gameplay that is considered by players, and not just result of random activation of whirl on a combo field, because who cares, it’s just a whirl…

Ranger had issues in the past (along with necro) but those have been for major part resolved. The new ranger is fun, viable and offers a lot.

As ranger you will enjoy:

a) extremely powerful control abilities (loong dazes, stuns, some fear, THE profession for cripples and immobilizes)
b) very powerful condition application. Both great sustained condi damage and burst condi damage are here. Ranger cannot manipulate them like necro, but when it comes to simply putting them on enemy and making them suffer hard, ranger rocks the boat.
c) powerful healing with druid.
d) very good defensive options – tons of evades, dodges, 0 direct damage panic button (Signet of Stone), plentiful access to protection and regeneration, pet to tank and revive you.

What ranger does not excel at is:
a) Aoe damage – forget about elementalist style attacks that nuke entire zones for insane damage. Ranger’s mobbing is about cleave from melee weapons, piercing shots from bows, or setting up traps in middle of battle.

b) condition and boon manipulation – want boons or condies applied? No problem. Want them removed, transfered, converted to the opposite or surpressed with resistance? Wrong address. For me this is the biggest flaw of ranger – can’t do jack about enemies buffing themselves to absurd levels, save maybe responding with same measures.

c) need good teamwork with pet to reach full damage if you’re power build. Condi suffers less from this issues but pets now can do some real condi damage too, so wouldn’t hurt to consider it in your rotations.

d) @above – your control over pet is too limited. For example you can’t order it to a specific location unless you use a shout dedicated to it (and shouts aren’t popular choices for builds, except for healing and elite ones).

e) two sets of utilities that are generally abandoned by most ranger builds. Shouts and spirits are considered unviable by most, with small exceptions (Sic’em, and maybe stone spirit). So your build variaty is limited to some degree by this issue.

And who told you i can’t run a trapper druid? Cause you know…i kinda am.

SolarDragon.7063:

Except you don’t have bigger, badder traps. That’s the problem.

Belive me you do. Just get off the forums, go to pvp, lay down nice spike trap + viper’s next under the guard, while popping sig of stone so his don’t own you and watch the outcome.

heck you can even equip torch and throw bonfire in for kicks. It worked for me.

Keitaro Dragonheart.9047:

I’ve been working on this build for my Reaper. It’s a Power/Life Steal build that’s been working amazingly well for me!

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8alknpDtlpxRNcrRiqhc2mVRXXSFokd+A-TVCBABS8EAmS5HsKBB4AFQk6Ppo7JBzf9s/QAXUBSBonKL-w

That’s a mesmer build….

Dragon Hunter wrecking guide for rangers:

1. Slot condi amulet with some defense (carrion, rabid, settler)
2. Slot traps, especially viper’s nest
3. Slot signet of stone or lightning reflexes
4. Show em who’s got the bigger, badder traps.
5. Profit.

If it’s affected by boon duration then a-net can properly adjust (and by that i mean nerf) the initial alacrity durations, so they would take that into consideration.

Spectral Wall – i like this skill a lot, save one thing – it always sends them running away from the necro! That’s not how a wall should behave!

What i believe should be the case is wall itself being the center of the fear applied to those who try to cross it, and as result they should run away from the wall, not the necro.

If I’m chasing down an opponent and pop spectral wall in front of them i expect them to be feared away from it, straight into my necromancer’s grasp. Not keep running forward like cheetah on crack!

Also take into consideration how helpful a properly working spectral wall would be to all the pvp reapers in doing their statutory task – keeping the enemies trapped in close range and not letting them escape whenever they feel like it.

Also with above fix it becomes more flexible in use and rewards fast thinking and smart wall placement that much more. I would dare say that kinda skill is what should be seen in e-sports, rather then dumb evasion well spammage.

The issue is not which trait they pick, the issue is you either pick blood magic or forget about a decent movement speed for necro without jumping through some major hoops.

Just take a look at “alternatives”:
1. signet of the locust – perma waste of precious utility slot that can very likely have absolutely nothing to do with the build you’re currently running. But you gotta cause speed.

2. Speed of shadows – burns the crucial resource (life force) off to run faster. You need your life force for combat, not for running.

3. Spectral Walk – in terms of average running speed loses out to all other speed boosts, because of limited swifness uptime compared to it’s cooldown.

4. runes with movement speed/swiftness – rune is a huge part of a build. having to give up on that for movement speed is again jumping through a major hoop.

Now in PvE that may not be that big of a deal (waypoints, speed mushrooms in maguuma), but in pvp being slow is the first cardinal sin punishable with death. Usually that of your teammates as you failed to get there on time to aid them.

Alacrity strippable/corruptable like any other boon.

I play trapper druid and traps work wonders. DH, reves basically everything goes down fast. Mallyx reve might be an issue, but good news is, even in mallyx he needs to invoke the skill that gives him resistance and that thing is not insta-cast. Add cc to your traps and your neigbourhood mallyx will be resisting condies back at his home base.