Guild Wars 2

Ibbydibby.1238:

My thumbs curse the whole idea. Seriously, they are starting to really hurt.

Wait… you’re using both thumbs to jump..? How?!?

I can’t speak on the revenant but agree on the other points, especially the combat slow-down and the strange ways in which you can be put in combat when there’s no discernable reason for being in combat. I raised a post on NSS before where this happens a lot.

thewaterguy.4796:

Absolutely don’t get why Arena-net didn’t think of this

That seems to be a surprisingly ubiquitous issue.

thewaterguy.4796:

if (like me) you aren’t planning on raiding yet, the new track is locked until you kill some bosses in the raid

While I get what they’re trying to do, it’s disappointing that it doesn’t at least show you what’s in the track, to help you decide if it’s worth getting into raiding.

thewaterguy.4796:

why can’t as many suggest they just add a repeatable mastery that grants you a spirit shard when you complete it?

That is such a simple yet brilliant idea. Maybe that’s the problem. It’s too simple, too elegant.

Apart from the enormous technical challenges, this would, of course, tear the forums apart. If people are annoyed with the jungle critters, which are challenging but predictable, imagine the fuss when there’s a creature that not only adapts but can strike anywhere. The flames would put the burning of Rome to shame.

Now that we have that out of the way…. I love it! You had me at adaptive. What gamer doesn’t dream of battling a foe like this?

Personally, I don’t think the critters need to be more powerful. Power could be one variant, but (since we’re imagining) there are other ways to make the experience interesting. Imagine a critter that skulks in the shadows, flittering just out of the corner of your eye, and making skittering noises that set your teeth on edge. Imagine another that aggros a nearby enemy and draws them to you. Or one that simulates a downed player and when you attempt to res it attacks you.

Or… one that takes a dislike to you personally, and stalks you wherever you kitten

ay. I think I’ve gone mad.

Daddicus.6128:

I use shards every day to convert materials in the mystic forge. Plus, you need a bunch to craft vision crystals, which are required for ascended armor.

Fair enough. I don’t craft ascended so maybe there’s a way we could both benefit – what if some number of spirit shards could be crafted into a mastery point in the forge?

I had the crazy thought that instead of spirit shards, which I don’t use, completing a full bar of xp at level 80 (after completing all masteries) could instead give me a mastery point to use at some future time when more masteries are added.

demetry.9541:

“Exploration Maps Idea”

This words sound good for single RPG. But in MMORPG… sorry but it’s just bull s…

Why? It’ easy! Whats means exploration and why man likes it?

Exploration – it’s a serching for SOMETHIN SPECIAL. Usualy serching for treasures. Quest. BUT we cant create such things it MMORPG.
Because here we have 2 options:
1) We create REAL “special treasures” (just for you) – and ppl who found it will gain an advantage. Say bye-bye to balace=bad for MMORPG.
2) We create FAKE “special treasures” (Annet has done just that) – and ppl who found it didnt get any real “special” advantage. In this case all it looks like not “exploration” but like a… stupid farming (best) or just like a stupid joke… fake (worse).

[That’s what’s called a ‘false dichotomy’ where two choices are presented as the ONLY choices. It makes for poor arguments and should be avoided. Also, try to avoid strawmen, generalisations and just voicing an opinion as rock solid fact. These all make it difficult to continue the discussion.]

The word “exploration” is just a word. Don’t get hung up on it. We’re just using it to distinguish between the action-oriented maps of HOT and more leisurely maps where exploration, instead of large meta-events, is the focus. The game already has plenty of maps like these. We’re just asking for some new ones.

Jamais vu.5284:

Daddicus.6128:

WvW dailies, not PvE. I already do all the PvE dailies every day. I’ve avoided WvW for the reasons above, but mainly because I play solo most of the time, and that’s painful to endure in WvW.

What I’m asking in this thread is if it’s possible to wander WvW without as much fear of instant death as it used to be. (Last time I did anything in WvW, the mapping title was the only reason I went there, so that tells you how long it’s been.)

You haven’t answered his question …

Do you mean me?

I haven’t heard the term “explorer gamer” before but as soon as you said it, I knew I was one!

In the first months of my gw2 experience, most of what I did was explore. I loved walking across strange lands with snow-capped peaks or with fire falling from the sky. I explored every nook and cranny I could find – sometimes being disappointed by the odd invisible wall blocking what looked like a perfectly accessible spot (That needs to be said – invisible walls require thoughtful use). I spoke to npcs. I overheard some really funny bits of dialogue. Sometimes I walked, and walked, and walked. Sometimes I just sat and watched the scenery.

The new HOT maps, and to a lesser extent SW and DT, create an effective sense of urgency which is satisfying when you’re in an action mood. But at other times, it’s nice to just chill. And after the conclusion of HOT’s story, it seems – without giving too much away – like there might be a peaceful interlude in Tyria, however brief. This is an opportune moment to progress the exploratory side of the game and balance the action aspects with some laid-back roaming. War needs peace to give it contrast.

+1

rhapsody.3615:

The pact commander line is all convenience, it isnt needed at all to play the game. Besides, the tag you get titles you a Mentor. If you want to be a Commander, you are able to purchase a commander tag without HoT (just like most of us did 2+ years ago).

The OP doesn’t mention the mentor tag and that may not be their reason for wanting the mastery, as it wasn’t mine. The mastery also provides greater speed in cities, faster revive, access to new merchants and – my favourite – the option for loot to be automatically picked up. I was disappointed in this mastery too, but only because the auto-loot should have been first tier and mentor should have been last.

I can understand the OP’s point here. They’re in central tyria. These are central tyrian masteries. They’re a pact commander. The mastery is called pact commander. It would seem logical to have it available to players of the core game. But realistically, the masteries are a new tech which probably took a lot of development and they want to recoup their costs by having people buy the expansion.

Daddicus.6128:

What I’m asking in this thread is if it’s possible to wander WvW without as much fear of instant death as it used to be. (Last time I did anything in WvW, the mapping title was the only reason I went there, so that tells you how long it’s been.)

So far, I haven’t seen any enemy players face-to-face in the new borderlands since they launched. I saw some orange dots on the map once. I also haven’t seen friendly players more than once or twice. I still keep an eye out though. Old habits die hard.

Some more nice-to-have’s in the map

1. Firstly, there’s several posts about map suggestions already but it’s hard going back and finding them. Would it be possible to have a sticky thread for these, so we don’t keep raising new ones?

2. The map stats show you how many poi, vistas, hps and wps there are and how many of each you’ve completed… but there’s no stat for the mastery points that are on the map. Why not?

3. Would be awesome if you could click on a stat and it would show you where the remaining undiscovered ones by circling them on the map or something like that. Wps, hps and vistas are easy to spot, but poi are small and hard to see.

4. In map view, it would be good if the maps your’re not in were slightly dimmed or if there was some other clear indicator of the bounds of your map, because when you’re looking for poi/vistas/etc to complete it can be confusing knowing where your own map ends and you waste time searching another map.

Julie Yann.5379:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Klangy.8293:

Is casual’ nowdays just “login, press 1 and free items”?

Actually, that’s true for every player. You login, press 1 and get free items from some creature you killed. I guess we’re all “casual”.

You don’t even need to press 1. Log in once a day and just just collect the little dancing chest on the right of your screen. No creature killing necessary.

Whoah! You’re right. And I’ve been working my butt off pressing 1 like a sucker. I need to get more casual. xD

Klangy.8293:

Is casual’ nowdays just “login, press 1 and free items”?

Actually, that’s true for every player. You login, press 1 and get free items from some creature you killed. I guess we’re all “casual”.

This needs to happen, in some way. Currently, there’s an irritating disconnect between HOT and the rest of the world. Coming from the jungle into the rest of tyria feels like a core feature is removed. There have been other posts on this where people (myself included) have proposed reasonable and limited ways in which this could be implemented in central tyria, and not interfere with jumping puzzles and stuff. There are solutions that will provide players with the joy of gliding in central tyria without trivialising anything. Anet can even put a central tyria mastery around gliding if they want.

I hope I get a chance to get the Star of Gratitude that eats Empyreal Fragments.

There seems to be an assumption here that a ‘seamless’ transition between zones requires the entirety of Tyria to be loaded into memory.

We need to separate the goal (provide a seamless transition between zones) from the implementation – of which loading everything into memory is one approach, but not a particularly feasible one with the current technology.

A more elegant solution, provided by the original Half Life years ago, is to have some narrow tunnel a player has to go through between zones and the new zone is loaded in the background while the player is unable to see the new/old zones. They player has the impression that it’s seamless (mostly). Likewise, gw2 could have simple tunnels between zones where the player is occupied walking for a bit as the zone loads.

Of course, the load time depends greatly on the rig, the internet and other factors, and it would be hard to create a suitable tunnel to accommodate all possibilities. Which is why I mentioned the stargate approach (see my posts above). It would be much easier and more flexible than a tunnel.

These are by no means the only, or even the best, approaches to create the illusion of a seamless world. Putting aside the issue of cost/effectiveness and the problem that it may not help with immersion due to the subjective nature of immersion, my answer (as a layman) to the OP’s specific question of whether it’s possible is this: given what I know of the subject and what I can see of the engine, I can see ways in which it would be possible, though the final result may or may not meet your criteria for what you consider ‘seamless’.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

1)Textures don’t obstruct view.

I’m not sure what context you’re using textures in, but in the sense that I’m familiar with textures as having dabbled in game development, point 1 isn’t exactly true.
Some effects in a game look three dimensional but they’re actually flat polygons presented face-on to the player – it’s a bit of trickery to improve performance by reducing the number of polygons. The textures on these polygons use blending and translucency to turn a boring square into an exciting fireball or explosion. Sometimes in boss fights, something glitches for me and the texture disappears, allowing me to see the actual polygon in a solid color or what appears to be some kind of default checkered pattern. This obstructs my view more than the translucent texture and demonstrates that textures may well affect the view of a polygon.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

2)Visual clutter isn’t rig dependent

Again, I’m not sure what you mean by this. Everyone has a rig, everyone has the graphics options on their rig set differently. The visual clutter is determined by the graphical options. It stands to reason that visual clutter is then rig dependent.

An example: if I turn all my graphics effects to full, I see fog and mist and bloom and all kinds of pretty things that obscure my view. If I turn all graphic options to their lowest, these disappear and I can see very clearly.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

I’ll explain it simply.
1)It is a balance issue. Not every class is equally flashy.

I don’t know if this is true. So much depends on what you mean by flashy, and by what skills are used and in what context.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

2)This is an MMO. One player’s ability to see affects everyone around them.

That’s… a flawed statement in several ways. Certainly, a player’s ability to see affects their own ability to play, but it doesn’t follow that it affects everyone, or even anyone, around them. It also doesn’t follow that it affects them negatively, or that it is the sole, or even the largest, contributor to affect the player or those around them. In trying to keep it simple, you’ve introduced too many arguments into one sentence. If you want examples that demonstrate the above points, I can provide them.

Even if we take your argument at face value, it leads to the dubious conclusion that everyone must be forced to see as clearly as possible and I think you can see the natural extension of where your argument is leading (e.g. giant wings → banned).

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

3)This is a ubiquitous problem. How immersive that gigantic fireballs feel is strictly an opinion issue. Whether you can see a tell or not is not an opinion. It is fact.

True.. but whether or not a player can see a tell, or even whether it matters that they see it, is dependent on many factors, which you’re not exploring. You’re also implying that players must be forced to see tells.

4)Thus, particle effects and animation size aren’t like textures or shaders, as they directly affect the performance of players whether they acknowledge it or not.

I would argue, and have above, that all of these things affect players – and, as above, I dispute your assertion that the effect is inherently negative. I put it to you that the outcome is circumstantial and your blanket statements are muddying the waters.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Thus, this isn’t an aesthetics issue. This is a function issue. As much as I’d like to pretend that we live in super-everybody land where everybody can do whatever they want with no repercussions on anyone else, we don’t. Form and function in this instance are related.

To cut through all this (visual) clutter and get to the core of this argument, people are asking for options in how the game is presented to them. Clearly, everyone has a different point of view stemming from their biology, experience, gaming environment and the very fact of being an individual organism. A single graphical configuration will lead to different outcomes in any two individuals. A single graphical change, like the shrinking of a projectile, may allow one player to see better but it may actually cause another player to see less, adversely affecting their performance and – by your argument – your performance.

It’s not about the fireball. It’s not about the clutter. You’re basically arguing for a one-size-fits-all approach and that’s just unreasonable no matter what the actual subject is.

You’re also ignoring the effect of morale on performance. If someone is forced to play with settings that don’t work for them, they’re going to get less enjoyment from the game and that will make them less determined, less involved, less efficient. Their reactions will slow. They may see tells but they may not react fast enough because they’re no longer invested in the experience.

Your argument also implies, whether you meant it or not, that other players are stupid, that they do not want to improve as gamers, that they are unable to configure their own graphical settings to best suit their needs and that they must be forced to accept a blanket solution for their own good… or yours.

I’m pretty sure that’s not how you actually think and that the above implications are just the results of the usual limitations of inter-human communication.

In the end, there is no harm in making this fireball thing, or any other visual thing, an option. People can choose the size of their balls and get on with the game.

Riku.4821:

That sounds like a terrible idea. Performance would tank drastically and the gain would be minimal. Even for a game like Skyrim where they do that performance tanked for the most part.

I’m not sure what you’re envisioning, or what Skyrim does, but it doesn’t have to be anything complicated and it would definitely have to be an option for those who want to sacrifice a little performance for a greater sense of continuity, rather than something forced on everybody.. ahem…

All I’m suggesting is a simple wormhole effect with few polygons and textures which would run on the client while it’s downloading data. Effects like this were common in the ‘old’ days of computing, where clever programmers achieved amazing results with just a few kilobytes of code to create amazing screensavers and tech demos. I did muck around in this area back then so I’m not talking completely out of my hat. Anyway, we both know it’ll never happen so what’s the harm in a little imagination?

In addition to all the above suggestions, I would add: kill everything. Kill every critter you pass on the way to anywhere to go. Granted, the jungle critters are tougher so maybe this advice is better applied in central tyria. Kill anything, no matter how weak. Harvest everything. Res anyone. It all adds up.

I’d very much like for some particular screen notifications to disappear. For example, when you take a speed boost in various cities, it displays a pop-up you have to click to get rid of it. Just give us the speed boost and don’t tell us about it.

Same with anvils – they have one job. Just do it and don’t force us to go through a dialog. We can see the damage indicator below our HP indicator, and we can see it disappear after using an anvil. No need for a dialog.

What about an animation instead of a loading screen? For example, if you enter an Asura gate (or one of the inter-region portals) you fly through a simple ‘stargate’ like effect. Same loading time, but it feels like you’re actually moving.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

NecroN.8306:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

NecroN.8306:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Personally I don’t give a darn about my skills looking impressive. I want to be able to see what my enemy is doing, and I am tired of not being able to do just that.

Then go into your graphic options settings and adjust them so you can see your enemy. Do not make other people suffer when you can take care of your simple problem with a setting.

The whole problem is that, even with reduce effect LoD ticked, you still can’t see squat. Get any small group together and the game looks like someone is violently shaking a lava lamp in your face. It is rather selfish to demand that the notion of conveyance be ruined because you want the game to look like a back-lit tie-dye t-shirt is trying to eat your face.

Then you should be telling Anet to address this issue with the settings not breaking every players graphic immersion in the game.

You don’t get it. Your “immersion” is a fickle and irrational thing that is exclusively a you problem. Visual clutter in a game that requires visual cues is an everyone problem. You can get over your attacks not being as flash as you want them to be. Nobody can get over being unable to see.

Function takes precedence over form. The argument you have to make isn’t why it is I should ruin your immersion. It is why you should have the option to ruin everyone’s function.

I don’t understand why you think visual clutter is an everyone problem.

Everyone’s visuals are already different. When I had a lower spec computer, I turned down all my visuals. This did not affect how anyone else experienced the game. It made it easier for me since there were fewer particles displayed. When I got a better computer, I turned up the visuals and things got muddier (but prettier) with more effects and particles. Still, no-one else was affected by my changes.

As people have rationally pointed out, how you perceive a fireball does not have to be how someone else perceives a fireball. If I choose to have large fireballs, and you choose to have small ones to reduce your visual clutter, we both win. At the moment, we are both forced into a situation that only suits one of us.

You’re making an argument for the right to ruin everyone else’s form to suit your own function, even though the two are unrelated.

Well, Eir and Logan aren’t plants, so no seeds – but the Asura have some cloning technologies…

Traeherne’s not dead forever. Before he died, he gave me one of his seeds, which I’m going to plant in the Grove and when he’s reborn I’ll raise him as my very own son and teach him the ways of the Force.

You sound like a real … fun guy…. ;D

Sorry.. couldn’t resist. But seriously, you make a good point.

I think the problem is not marketing to new players but in communicating with the players they already have. It seems like some of the issues that are causing a fuss on the forums could have been lessened, if not avoided, with a little more communication before/after whatever the issue is about.

Ashen.2907:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Swift.1930:

Palador.2170:

Swift.1930:

Quick query: in what way is her son of use to us (or anyone)? O.o

Meat shield.

Ah, gotcha.

Aww… I like Braham. He’s the only one who revives me in any mission with him, unlike Destiny’s Edge who just stand by and gawk. Apparently, they’re too high and mighty to get their hands dirty giving me even a little life-massaging.

(Incidentally, why is the word ‘r e s s e s’ censored?)

The word, “who,” followed by the first three letters of, “resses,” creates a new word referencing the world’s oldest profession.

Oh wow. Didn’t spot that. xD

Swift.1930:

Palador.2170:

Swift.1930:

Quick query: in what way is her son of use to us (or anyone)? O.o

Meat shield.

Ah, gotcha.

Aww… I like Braham. He’s the only one who revives me in any mission with him, unlike Destiny’s Edge who just stand by and gawk. Apparently, they’re too high and mighty to get their hands dirty giving me even a little life-massaging.

(Incidentally, why is the word ‘r e s s e s’ censored?)

@DuskyInsanePoet – you are, true to your name, a poet. +100

Ojyh.9842:

We should have found his body burried deep in the jungle, found his real heart, the HEART OF THORNS, and destroyed it!

YES! That would have been awesome, and reminiscent of System Shock 2 which I loved.

I agree that this should be a fake-out and M is really alive and planning something… well, we can hope.

Zephyra.4709:

Agreed.

There needs to be more Tyrian Masteries out there to collect, surely.

Maybe they could add timers on certain jumping puzzles; “beat this JP in X time”.

Seconded! Timers or even other objectives on some jps to freshen up jps you’ve already conquered.

Doam.8305:

Also nerf Teqs Spoons so even the fun of going “SPOONS!!!” after beating teq wears off

This. I made fun of Teq’s endless supply of spoons as much as anyone…. but I secretly loved those spoons. Now all we get is broken spoons. I feel… I… don’t know what to feel.

Thank you Yashuoa. I wouldn’t want a change in pve to hurt pvp either. I enjoy the overloads and anything that makes them better, for pve/pvp or both, is welcome. Good suggestions!

@Labjax – how do I give you +100? Brilliant!

It seems to me that with very little effort, some of these updates could have been presented to the players before they were actually deployed, allowing anet to gauge the reaction to them, and maybe tweak them, as well as preparing players and reducing that disruptive feeling when something you’ve known for years is unexpectedly taken away.

Something as simple as displaying on the wiki front page, or the loading screen, a week or three before the change that “fireball is going to be reduced by 50%” or "the warhorn sound is going to be changed. Sample sound <here>’. People would give feedback, some adjustment might be needed, and by the time of the update there would be no surprises and nobody would much care about it.

What I’m saying is, there may be nothing actually wrong with a particular change (or there may) but at the very least the presentation/communication may not be sufficient to provide a smooth transition. Just a thought.

Some pertinent snippets, taken out of chronological order….

fireflyry.7023:

That is more or less what I don’t get. The inability of players to see it’s not the game at fault here.

fireflyry.7023:

If you decided to blow through the new content in under a month on every character like a fat kid gobbling down a 4 course meal I have zero compassion OP.

Zamfir.8462:

Sadly, I do think your missing the point that most people are making in this thread. …You will discover many people, including myself, have not blasted through the content and them complained. Most people here have brought up some serious design issues, that in the very least should be discussed and debated.

@fireflyry, I highlight these because that false dichotomy keeps being brought up – that you’re either i) a slow-paced leet OR ii) you’re rushing through the content. I’ve seen it used at least three times in the past day.

I’m not advocating for one side or the other at this point. I’d just like this false dichotomy to stop being used. Nobody falls solely in either camp. There’s an infinite spectrum in between of people all trying to play their own way. This dichotomy brings nothing to the table and it just muddies the waters.

Back to your regular programming….

True. I can’t remember the last time I went to a racial city since map completion. I like your idea and I have some events/hearts to add to your list, shamelessly ripped from other games:

- A murder has been committed, search the scene for clues, go to where they lead, discover the culprit. [AC]

- An enemy agent is delivering a letter to some contact. Follow him without being seen. [Thief 1 & 2]

- A boy’s pet parrot has escaped. Follow it through the streets and across the rooftops until you can capture it.

- Someone has stolen some diamonds and is going to fence them. Investigate every fence in the city to find the culprit and return the diamonds.

- Running a simple errand for someone leads to a vendor, who asks you to do something for them which leads to another person, who asks you to do something for them… leading to a chain of errands that must be completed in reverse order, reminiscent of some classic tales from the Brothers Grimm.

- An asura scientist wants to set up an antenna and needs your help finding the highest accessible place in the city to put it.

- Take a job from a separatist in Ebonhawke, putting up the very posters you previously ripped down for that collection.

- Serve as a temporary tour guide for LA while the real guide is on break. At each stop, choose from a variety of humorous dialog choices to entertain and educate your visitors.

- Serve as a handy-man, repairing some building by climbing all over it to find the repair spots, overhearing snippets of conversation related to lore.

- Deliver pizzas around the city within some time limit to make money.

morrolan.9608:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

morrolan.9608:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

scerevisiae.1972:

no, overloads are awful. the entire concept of slow-casting, easily-interrupted, melee-range channels was a terrible idea.

In all honesty, I can’t think of a worse mechanic for Ele.

It basically killed the class for me.

A little melodramatic, don’t you think? They’re no slower than some other skills, there are traits to prevent interruption, they reduce damage and control and they give better survivability in melee.

They don’t give better survivability, the only tempest spec to thrive is auramancer D/F and it relies on auras for survivability.

I think we’re mixing arguments here, and you may also be talking about pvp which I know nothing about. I’m happily running around with a s/h spec in pve.

On the subject of overloads, they do give better survivability. They break stuns and, using the appropriate traits, you get ‘massive’ resistance to various controls as well as stability, speed and might. Air overload is fantastic for clearing trash mobs and pocket raptors. I run into the middle of them, use air overload with fire shout and soon everything is dead. For bigger things, I run into them and overload fire. Earth’s overload is a handy means of escape. I’m by no means a great player but since getting into overloads the jungle has become an easier place.

And the best part is, they’re optional so you can keep playing the class without using them. If that still ‘kills’ the class for you, then.. I don’t know what to say.

So you’re talking about open world PvE, which is basically irrelevant in these sort of debates. I can do all of the above without overloads so survivability is not better.

There’s only one mention of pvp in this post, other than mine, so there’s no indication it’s a pvp only discussion. If it is, perhaps it belongs in a different category. In any case, it seems to be the assumption, at least on your part, that this is a pvp debate so I withdraw from the discussion as I have no interest in pvp at this stage.

[As an aside, your ability to ‘do all of the above without overloads’ doesn’t actually invalidate whatever survivability overloads might add. That’s a fallacious argument. Just like if I were to argue that just because I can survive without a focus then a focus must be a piece of kitten. One does not follow from the other. Arguments like this don’t add anything to the discussion, whether the discussion is pvp or not.]

morrolan.9608:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

scerevisiae.1972:

no, overloads are awful. the entire concept of slow-casting, easily-interrupted, melee-range channels was a terrible idea.

In all honesty, I can’t think of a worse mechanic for Ele.

It basically killed the class for me.

A little melodramatic, don’t you think? They’re no slower than some other skills, there are traits to prevent interruption, they reduce damage and control and they give better survivability in melee.

They don’t give better survivability, the only tempest spec to thrive is auramancer D/F and it relies on auras for survivability.

I think we’re mixing arguments here, and you may also be talking about pvp which I know nothing about. I’m happily running around with a s/h spec in pve.

On the subject of overloads, they do give better survivability. They break stuns and, using the appropriate traits, you get ‘massive’ resistance to various controls as well as stability, speed and might. Air overload is fantastic for clearing trash mobs and pocket raptors. I run into the middle of them, use air overload with fire shout and soon everything is dead. For bigger things, I run into them and overload fire. Earth’s overload is a handy means of escape. I’m by no means a great player but since getting into overloads the jungle has become an easier place.

And the best part is, they’re optional so you can keep playing the class without using them. If that still ‘kills’ the class for you, then.. I don’t know what to say.

Iohanna.4863:

I can no longer defend the Tempest after playing Revenant.

The Tempest really is kind of meh. For all the reasons you guys have stated. DPS build too squishy, Bunker build lacks stun breaks + stability + damage, etc.

In order to join the ranks of Reaper, Scrapper, Dragonhunter, and Chronomancer, (and maybe Druid and Berserker – can’t tell if they’re good right now), I must play Revenant.

I must embrace the deeps…

Tempest doesn’t need your defense. (ahem.. a little joke there)

I like my tempest. It suits me. If that makes me meh, so be it. Have fun with your revenant.

scerevisiae.1972:

no, overloads are awful. the entire concept of slow-casting, easily-interrupted, melee-range channels was a terrible idea.

In all honesty, I can’t think of a worse mechanic for Ele.

It basically killed the class for me.

A little melodramatic, don’t you think? They’re no slower than some other skills, there are traits to prevent interruption, they reduce damage and control and they give better survivability in melee. They’re fun and they’re optional. You can still play an ele and never use them. You don’t ever have to use any part of the specialisation. You’re welcome to play all the other classes and leave overloads to those of us who enjoy them.

AlphaWolf.2709:

So much QQ. Feel free to send me your items and go play another game. HoT is a great expansion, hands down. All of the “I’m burnt out” is only coming from those who didn’t get handed everything immediately with a bow or from those who blaze through everything and no have nothing to do.

Ah, broad generalisations. They save so much time that could otherwise be spent getting to know people and figuring out why they think the way they do.

How about tier 5 – being able to tell exactly what ore a particular node is?

There’s a considerable discussion on this here you might be interested in:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Contested-Waypoints-2/first#post5766458

SirDrygan.1823:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

nEmM.3076:

How about you try not to die? This way you don’t have to travel back? There has to be something to “punish” dying. It wouldn’t waste your time if you got better and didn’t die correct?

Well, I tried but it’s hard to recover when you’re downed and Teq’s fingers hit you with five circles of poison simultaneously. I’m genuinely curious if you have some means of surviving that, to help me get better.

Don’t be in the zerg, be in a defense team. You won’t die from defending the turrets, unless you really suck at playing.

Look, I get that you’re trying to be helpful, and I appreciate it, but – like the poster I was replying to – you’re not really offering any solution. Everybody gets downed/defeated at some point, even the most experienced players. Even you guys, I suspect. All you and nEmM are offering is “don’t die” and “don’t be where death happens”. Good advice, but completely avoiding the issue of what you do when death happens, as it inevitably does. And how to make it less tedious so people are not discouraged from playing and learning to get better, which is what you’re advocating, right? That denial of reality seems odd to me. You can’t have everybody in the defense team. Battle is a fluid and unpredictable situation. Many are going to fall. What we’re discussing is what should happen when they do.

Zelkovan.2630:

What is a viable way of obtaining a mastery through physical interaction with the specific task it is related to, while making sure it isn’t easily cleared and without being too repetitive or limiting?

Seems to me there’s a question that needs to be asked before we even get to your question:

“How is the existing mastery system prevented from being easily cleared and not being too repetitive or limiting?”

The answer is: it isn’t. CoF farming is legal and clearly repetitive. HOT masteries can only be trained in HOT maps, so it’s limiting. People are claiming it’s not hard to train the masteries by doing events, especially DS which apparently gives millions of xp(?), especially with boosters.

So if the existing system already suffers from these issues, clearly anything that builds on the existing system but adds more variety has to be better by definition, surely?

Here’s my simple suggestion (which has been raised by others too): allow any mastery to be trained anywhere. Easy to implement, introduces variety, doesn’t disadvantage anyone.

nEmM.3076:

How about you try not to die? This way you don’t have to travel back? There has to be something to “punish” dying. It wouldn’t waste your time if you got better and didn’t die correct?

Well, I tried but it’s hard to recover when you’re downed and Teq’s fingers hit you with five circles of poison simultaneously. I’m genuinely curious if you have some means of surviving that, to help me get better.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

+ Air and Earth overloads are amazing.
+ Fire Overload is good.

- Water Overload suffers extremely from the 5 second wait time. Doesn’t even leave water field. Maybe just 2 or 3 second charge time to make up for no lasting effect after the overload?

+ Wash the Pain away, Flash-Freeze, Aftershock and Feel the Burn are pretty great, mostly for the auras, though for their shortish cooldowns the damage isn’t too bad either.

- Eye of the Storm is basically useless. We have so much better stunbreakers. Signet of Air for example on almost half the cooldown. And AOE blind after a stunbreak is much better than just superspeed.

- Rebound still useless. 75 seconds cooldown for that amounts to “gain an aura after 5 seconds”. LOL. As it is now I could see it as a 45 second cooldown. Should really see a complete redesign.

- Warhorn is totally outclassed by our 2 other offhand weapons. Doesn’t offer the immense self-defense of focus or the extreme mobility, damage and versatility of offhand dagger. And we already have so much support and boons everywhere that we don’t really benefit from the few good warhorn skills.

- Traits are a mish-mash of good, bad, and ugly. Speedy Conduit really needs to do something else besides just bugged swiftness on overloads. The Vigor trait is still ultra bad. Stability should probably be minor because no one will ever take the other 2 traits, even with Invigorating Torrents being basically cantrip mastery on shorter cooldowns. The middle Grandmaster trait also really needs work, the top one should get better with warhorn buffs.

---

Scepter still a useless weapon overall. Needs buffs ASAP.

“Warhorn is totally outclassed by our 2 other offhand weapons.”

“Scepter still a useless weapon overall.”

Ouch. My two favourite weapons. Hehe. :p

roelvanesch.2817:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

I saw somebody drop from a cliff while in water overload – it wasn’t a big drop, but it got me thinking: you’re sitting in a bubble, hovering above the ground. It seems like the kind of thing that would keep you safe when falling off a cliff. What if the water overload actually cancelled out fall damage? That would be something interesting and unique.

Cancelling out falling damage lets you reach areas you are not supposed to reach (beneath Rata Sum, for example), so that’s a no-go.

So, not cancelled but reduced ala arcane abatement.

Ayrilana.1396:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Ayrilana.1396:

XP comes fairly quickly if you use boosters. None of these are expensive nor require you to purchase from the gem store.

Can I ask about the part in bold? What did you mean there? I know you get boosters from some achievement chests and such, but is there another source?

Laurel vendor has the +50% from all sources. The on kills ones are unavailable except from the NPE rewards from leveling a toon which can be converted. I always bring up the no gem store part because it’s inevitable that someone will in an effort to disclaim that everyone has access to boosters.

Edit: I think black lion chests still give out other boosters such as regen and such. I am remembering getting a bunch of boosters since HoT went live so it must been from them as you get a key once each time you run through the HoT story with a character.

Thank you.