Guild Wars 2

Yeah, the fractal portal got promoted from a shady concealed location to an imposing pedestal presiding over the “challenging content” portal area.

I think this calls for optimism

Like air, because of the removal of cooldown on fresh air?

Oh wait…

Ele community:
Hey anet, we want Blinding Ashes with a per-target ICD

Anet:
we are reducing the ICD of Burning Ashes to 3s, omg this is so crazy! xD lol giggles

Ele community:
Hey anet, we want Blinding Ashes with a per-target ICD

Anet:
Burning Ashes now has a 5 second ICD.

Ele community: ?

So if I run Fire Air Arcane with my ele, I would have to write FM AM Arc? This takes longer to type than the old 60066.
Also, you forgot water.

In the ele forums, people are already starting to use a more efficient nomenclature:
F=Fire
R=Air
E=Earth
W=Water
A=Arcane

So my build would be dubbed FRA.

Guys, please use the following nomenclature:
F=Fire
R=Air
E=Earth
W=Water
A=Arcane

So instead of saying 00666 use EWA, which is the build that a lot of DD players will use in pvp.

I will personally try FWA in pvp, and in PvE most builds will use FRA.

This is definitely an interesting idea!

Yeah EU4 is like the more mature Civ
(and the latest DLC is super nice, I gave them my money in a heartbeat)

As for Anet’s communication, just look at reddit now: people are saying that it is very nice to read posts from Anet, even when they are just being cheeky (“All mysteries will be resolved in HoT”). I think it is perfectly normal for a customer who actually appreciates gaming that the company providing the game makes them feel not just like cash cows.

But if you are queuing from a guild hall then you are at no risk of loading other maps.

Sublimatio.6981:

Guild Challenges and Guild Puzzles will get backed up in a big way. To avoid that, those mission types will be moving into their own instances. You’ll access them from the same places in the world, but they’ll otherwise function a bit like a dungeon.

see? they listened! new dungeons!

Nah, if you can make it past the tutorial within 5 attempts then we accept you at the officer level. That’s how I got in.

Stacking additively: 2% + 2% + 2%=6% bonus
Stacking multiplicatively: 1.02*1.02*1.02=6.12% bonus

It’s not much of a difference, but it’s there

For Snow Crows you need to take vows, forget about reproduction, and you may get stabbed “for the watch”, so it’s a risky position.

rT is of course superior, but the trials are indeed a challenge

Shadowrainer.8321:

Anyone got anymore suggestions? Q_Q

rT

Also, SC is kinda decent, if you stick around the glorious French members.

Well, everybody wants to copy rT

I can’t give you a precise number like this, but Anet is introducing a number of new boons and speccing in arcane ensures that at least 5 boons will realistically be on you for a decent fight. Also, if I remember correctly each boon stacks the 2% bonus multiplicatively. So this can result in a lot of bonus damage for an organised group.

Supreme.3164:

A 8.5s CD+1.5s global CD should be still 10s CD overall that’s what I came to realize

Exactly.

Although the numbers may be a bit different:
Base attunement cd: 10s
Base swap cd: 1.5s
Base real attunement cd=10+1.5=11.5s

Arcane bonus recharge rate: 15%
Therefore:

Arcane attunement cd: 10/1.15=8.7s
Arcane swap cd: 1.5/1.15=1.3s
Arcane real attunement cd=8.7+1.3=10s

Which matches the cooldown of EA perfectly, but also that of elemental contingency.

Yep, Neko is right.

Apart from that, this is the build I would go for, and it looks very attractive

I hope not.

Look at the effective reaction: the community praised the poor QA’er for being honest and showing signs of interest. If anything this person should be praised for triggering a positive reaction – which is something that pretty much all red posters have failed to do since … since …

I play a grand strategy game called eu4, in their forums the devs post weekly devs diaries where they are open about the mistakes they make, their frustrations, their ambitions, their restrictions, etc. It’s definitely a smaller game, but the devs are regarded as gods for doing that.

We are getting 10% bonus boon duration from specialising in Arcane.

_

Current celestial amulet: 438 to all stats
Projected celestial amulet: 438*1.3/1.1= 518 to all stats
Projected base stats: 1000 to all stats

So we would get 1518 to all stats with the celestial amulet, which is 15,180 HP, add our base class HP to this: 15,180 + 1,645 = 16,825 HP
This is quite less than we have now indeed. But we do not know enough yet about how stats will be changed next week.

posthumecaver.6473:

Each profession’s attributes will be updated to have half of their functionality be part of a specialization and half of their functionality will be a baseline for that profession. (see individual profession notes)
Meaning of this is the biggest mystery for me.

Our profession-specific attribute is the attunement recharge rate. At the moment, you get 30% bonus recharge rate by investing 6 points into the Arcane trait line.

The base attunement cooldown will be reduced from 13s to 10s
This is the equivalent of having 30% bonus attunement recharge rate

The base attunement swap cooldown will be reduced from 1.625s to 1.5s
This is the quivalent of having 8% bonus attunement recharge rate

So the first effect is like having all of our profession-specific attribute baseline, while the second effect is close to having 28% of that attribute. Therefore we are getting more than half our profession-specific attribute in baseline.

By specialising in Arcane we get 15% bonus attunement recharge rate, which is half of our profession-specific attribute.

So overall we are getting a slightly better deal than they announced

What I expect is content that is actually challenging in a way.

Yeah, I know, this sounds very optimistic!

I believe that they will make encounters that are hard for the average player, but they will design masteries so that – given the proper investment – the average players ultimately gain the advantage they need to overcome the challenges without actually improving their skills.

For those who experienced the raids in the later expansion of WoW, most skilled guilds would complete the content as it was released, but the majority of average guilds would have to wait for the devs to implement nerfs to enemies or perma buffs to players before they could achieve the same as skilled guilds.

This is done so that every little unique snowflake-customer gets to experience the entire game content. Technically it is a good system, if the devs release content fast enough to stay ahead of the race.

Look at the vocabulary:

“Challenging group content” when we ask for dungeons

“Competitive scene” when we ask for Esports

“Guild Wars 2” When we ask for a sequel to Guild Wars

maddoctor.2738:

“show off”

Anet’s take on showing off is the legendaries.

So apply that mindset to your expectations and you will get stuff that is RNG, time gated, grindy, but accessible to every single one of the unique snowflakes of this beautiful community because everyone should be able to enjoy all the glory if they put in the effort. The effort being farming, not overcoming skill-intensive content.

But anyway, we have seen virtually zero content from HoT, and right now it looks like overpriced living story wrapped with clumsy hype.

Zero euros.

Because I have not seen anything akin to content thus far

Jerus.4350:

superior competitive PVE scene.

Sounds classy

I don’t understand why you are all complaining about this change. It’s a buff, not a big one but a buff nonetheless. Also it will make life easier for FA eles, because managing ICD while managing all the usual ele business is quite something. I say be grateful! It’s a sensible change. Reward the devs with your gratitude when they make sensible changes and we may see more of these

Well PvE builds changed from 66200 to 66006 (FRA=Fire aiR Arcane, also, I am french so I really like this spec name). That’s something!

Ok, thanks for the clarification

I am wondering though: what if we come across a tactic that does not appear to be intended but that we majoritarily want to allow as a community?

When Burning Ashes actually becomes per-target ICD then we may see some variation (from earth to fire) but until then…

1) Community votes for exception A.
2) Community votes for rule B to reduce the amount of voting required.
3) Weth explains that rule B conflicts with exception A.
4) Weth proposes rule C, which is like rule B but does not conflict with A.

#Uncertainty #Atrocious #rTconspiracy

Just vote for rule C, your ordeal will soon be over

A proposition:
Keep the voting pace free flowing with the discussions and regulated by Weth, but set fixed dates when changes actually come in effect. For example: we may debate on issues for 3 months and only at the end of these months the changes actually take effect. This way record setters can compete without the anxiety of having their work nullified unexpectedly.

As for the pace of the voting, I am not involved in the process but I feel like a lot of issues were brought up and significant changes in the context called for rapid action. We can consider the high number of polls that took place as a burst caused by radical changes in the system. Things will calm down once the guiding lines are set. Honestly I don’t think that there will be rules to vote on every single week, so let’s not judge too quickly and let’s not assume that record rule setting will continue to be as demanding as it appears to be now.

I find wisdom in the thoughts of Enko: it would be very useful for record setters as well as voters to know what is the general meaning of Restricted. However, I find it very hard to conceive a statement that is broad enough and clear enough at the same time. Therefore I agree with the view that Restricted should be what you want it to be – in the sense that we all have some idea (more or less defined) of what Restricted should be and what it should not be (Unrestricted). A statement on this matter can only be subjective, because Restricted is only defined in opposition to Unrestricted. Just like “good” is only defined in opposition to “bad”.

I get your points. I guess that I am fine with Aquatic Benevolence being a minor because everytime I specialise in water the purpose of my build is to be supportive. But it does not have to be like that.

I am not yet convinced though. Let’s discuss this:
1. A counter example: If you have no precision then Weak Spot is close to useless. All heals have a fixed base amount, and apart from our sel-heal they all have the capability to heal others, therefore AB is still somehow useful – or at least as useful as Weak Spot without additional precision from gear.
2. Fire minors are mainly offensive (ok not the aura), yet the line includes some defensive major traits. Therefore I am not sure about the strength of your argument.
3. I agree that diversity is always desirable. For the sake of choice variety, all minors should accommodate our available play-styles. However, is the ele not a supportive class by nature?
4. I agree with this view. My nuance would be that if we consider the minors as a package then we can consider whether together they do enough for the ele. I am not sure it is the case though. Maybe adding an other self-centred factor to AB like “Healing done to you by allies is increased by 15%” would make sense?

Laraley.7695:

Also, this:

Ride the Lightning: Movement speed adjustments no longer affect the intended travel distance.

I must admit I facepalmed when I read that too

I agree with everything but this paragraph:

-Aquatic Benevolence and Soothing Power should be switched, with the former being buffed back to 25% and the latter being nerfed, maybe to 100-150%. As it stands, AB does nothing for the elementalist, which is really crappy for a trait that you are forced to take. At least this way, the GM minor trait will do SOMETHING for you regardless of your build.

Soothing power cannot be made a minor. It would be somewhat redundant with soothing mist: why split a single effect in two traits? I think this trait should be a major choice, but at the moment I am not convinced it is very valuable.

Aquatic benevolence does not need to do anything for the ele itself. I think the three minor traits should be seen as a package: as long as some minors do something for ourselves then it seems fine to me.

I would add again that staff desperately needs a buff to its air attunement, especially a change to air 2.

OK, thanks, I cannot go in game at the moment so I’ll take take your words.

That would be grand indeed!

But I could find no trace of such info on the wiki :/

I don’t care about other classes

I’m eletist.

Ok I get your point, and I agree

Mattmatt.4962:

PS: we will have to start use “00111” instead of “00666” … i just got used to 6 over 30 :’(

Or use EWA
F: fire
R: air
E: earth
W: water
A: arcane

Fresh air does negate the attunement swap cd at the moment, for the air attunement only though.

I feel like it is impossible for me to have a clear picture regarding whether we got buffed or not, since balance is done in relative terms, and I do not know much about other classes.

However I can observe that a lot of the changes they made are sensible, and I appreciate that.

Special mention to Arcane Precision, it’s still there, hiding at the adept level Cuuuute

Burning Precision will increase our burning duration by 20% according to the projected changes.

Burning now stacks in intensity, and deals damage every second.

This means that this trait will have no effect on all the burning instances that are of less than 5s.

Here is a list of our spells that will not be affected by this trait, unless you stack additional burning duration:
Glyph of elemental power
Drake’s breath
Burning Speed
Burning Retreat
Flamewall
Flame Strike
Dragon Tooth
Cleansing Fire
Glyph of Storms
Fire Shield
Fiery Eruption
Steam Vent
Edit: and of course, burning precision’s proc itself!

From the general change slides:
http://imgur.com/a/p1mhY

“Soothing mist: The radius of this trait has been reduced to 300 radius.”

From the water trait line change slide:
http://imgur.com/a/TwTzz

“Soothing mist: Radius 600.”

It is weird that they would talk about a trait change in the general change slides while they have trait line change slides specifically dedicated to this. So, Soothing Mist will not have 300 radius but 600?

Who knows?

Maybe we are powerful enough to bend the laws of logic!

Maybe we are planning a long term take over of all the records by introducing sneaky rules that will somehow advantage us only!

Fear us! We are everywhere and we are sooo powerful!

If you take the last letters of illuminati it’s a “t” and an “i”, and “i” is graphically very close to an “r”, so illuminati is very close to rT. Coincidence? I think not!

IB got a buff to 2 and 3, not 4

Glenstorm.4059:

-ICE BOW 4 BUFFED!

No

Neko.9021:

So… Since Bountiful Power now exists as an Arcana Trait, and so far, it’s the only 3rd tree that has a damage modifier….

Does that mean PvE Ele will now run around with Elemental Attunement? That’s really crazy. Now you can spec for damage and provide AoE Protection.

As well as vigour and final shielding

Goodbye lingering elements

I will

not

miss you

No cooldown on Fresh Air anymore, DF is back baby!

NikeEU.7690:

Nobody wants wallploits to be legal.

Correct.

No one is arguing in favour of legalising wallspoits.

So you should thank Weth for pointing out the contradiction that resulted from a vote in which you took part. Now this contradiction has been identified, a possible solution has been presented, and we can move forward.

_

You took part in the votes. Everything that is happening is your responsibility as much as it is that of anyone else. I know that you have a tendency for autocracy, but this is a democratic process, so things will be subject to debate until they properly reflect the will of the community. In fact, I find that this very discussion is an evidence of the good health of our system.

As for your recurrent conspiracy theories, please have some dignity. This is no place for petty antagonism.