Guild Wars 2

Orion the Cursed.1206:

because you know the new skills will be worst?

And you know more skills will be better how??

Look, Anet cannot balance what they have now. It does not take much to see more skills will compound this. Having played a ranger since launch, I have felt the pointy end of Anet’s so-called ‘balancing’ efforts. More skills for a broken class will only make it worse, not better.

My worse fear is for my guardian becoming broken through Anet’s clumsy efforts.

Orion the Cursed.1206:

We dont know that but we know one thing, having a choice is better than none. More skills = more builds for both PvE and PvP.

IMO, a choice between bad, worse and terrible is not a choice …

I never played GW1, but have played GW2 since launch. There is nothing over the past 11 months that tells me more skills will be ‘better’, particularly for rangers and engineers.

If you think more skills will be a magic bullet that fixes the balance issues, then I am afraid you will be very disappointed …

Morrigan.2809:

That is odd- I was in MARA too at launch and then they definitely had an over 30 policy- the reason I left was because I started my own guild with a bunch of friends who did not make the age requirement.
I never even looked at Guild chat so I have no idea how they behaved.

I was in MARA (Legacy) from end of Nov to mid March, During that time I remember the guild bosses announcing some new members who were under the age restrictions. So, if they told you that you could not bring in your friends because of their ages, that was BS.

I don’t want to de-rail the thread, so if you want to know more about MARA and why I left, PM me …

Morrigan.2809:

It is strange to me that we have such different experiences on the same server- may be I am more easy going than I thought

As I mentioned, the behavior I have noticed is more recent and is by no means constant or wide spread. Perhaps it stands out more cos it seems so out of character for the server.

I don’t recall anything unusual during the events you mentioned, but then I was probably so engrossed in what I was doing at the time to notice much. I didn’t always have the /map chat window up.

Morrigan.2809:

I play at various times- sometimes during the day, sometimes prime time and sometimes late at might.
I am at GMT +2

I pretty much follow the prime time slots, so it is evenings and weekends for me CET zone.

Morrigan.2809:

I have no idea if it is players guesting or not but the basic server pop seems fairly mature, mostly due to the presence of guilds like MARA who recruit mature players only.
It was one of the reasons I chose GH during the Betas because I figured that an older server pop might have less nonsense.

Lol! I was in MARA for awhile, and no, they recruit any age, despite what it says on the tin. As for more mature, less nonsense, this was definitely not the case with MARA and one of the reasons I left that guild.

I can deal with juvenile humour, and I can put up with the endless stupid questions from players to lazy to search the wiki. It is more the rudeness and snarkyness you get with experienced players that bothers me.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Do YOU play MMO’s with a Single player game attitude?

Most definitely yes to this!

I come from a single-player background, and GW2 is the first MMO I have stuck with for more than a week or two. The main reason being is that I can solo the vast majority of the content the way I want to play it, when I want to play it.

The only time I actively group is for dungeons. I avoid most other grouping requests, particularly the random ‘ninja’ ones. In fact, I find those very rude and if someone requests more than once, I block them. If some one in map request help with something, then I will usually respond with help and might group.

I am in a casual guild and occasionally will do some content with them. Most of the time they off doing something I either don’t like to do like wvw, or don’t want to do at that time, or leveling alts and the like.

Morrigan.2809:

All I can say is I have never run into anything like that on GH.

I am on GH as well, and I must play at different times than you because my recent experience on GH is not all bunnies and flowers like you make it out to be.

Yes, it is probably better than some other servers, but over the past few months I have noticed more and more rude players and behaviour. Perhaps they are guesting from other servers, so they don’t give a kitten what they do while on GH. Who knows?

I find Queensdale dreadfully boring and really dislike going there. I go only for SB, and now the stupid quartz thing, and leave.

Doing dailies is bad enough without doing them is such a boring place. I do most them in mid level maps where the nodes and drops are better and the maps are quiet. I can trigger events as I want and always npc’s around to rez. The only starter map I like going to is Wayfare.

As for the rude ones in Queensdale, there are some on Gunner’s Hold as well. Just the other week the SB oakheart pre-event started. I posted in /map that the event was up. The champ went down pretty fast. Then some kitten complained in /map that the call out for the event wasn’t fast enough. I told the idiot to move faster next time.

So now I don’t bother posting when the pre-event is up.

Not in-game at the mo, but close to 6700, been playing since launch

rsiloliveira.6429:

1) What’s the importance of the WvW while you still not level 80? I mean, I’m thinking of leveling first than start PvPing.

I find WvW very boring, so I don’t do it.
Personally, I think you are better off leveling in PvE

rsiloliveira.6429:

2) I see you can get gear from several ways. Can I level up all the way to 80 without having to spend my gold? Just getting rewards?

Yes, in fact it is best to do just this.
However, once you reach lvl 62, you can buy very cheap ‘blue’ kit with 3 stats off the trading post and use it for 5-10 levels, then sell it and buy the next appropriate level blues, etc. This way you save gold to then buy exotics once you hit 80.

rsiloliveira.6429:

3) Guilds, should I join one now or wait? I’m still learning a lot of stuff, I don’t wanna be useless.

Up to you. If you like to solo play then no rush to join a guild. You will want to do dungeons at some point, and this is where a guild is handy.

rsiloliveira.6429:

4) Should I buy materials for leveling up my crafting or I can get everything while I run around the map?

Not all mats are available in all maps. As you map explore, collect everything you see on your mini map. You will need to explore and visit a lot of maps to get enough mats to level crafts without resorting to buying mats from the trading post. Harvesting mats also provides you with much needed xp.

rsiloliveira.6429:

5) Are there party exclusive dungeons? Like in WoW for example, they are a good way to level up and get good equipment.

Never played Wow …
Drops in dungeons themselves are poor, sometimes the boss chest can have something decent, but it is mostly blues and greens. The trash mobs drop nothing.

The decent equipment comes from the tokens you earn running the various explore paths. You don’t get tokens for running the story path. The tokens are redeemed at dungeon specific vendors in LA. You use tokens for rare and exotic armour and weapons.

You need almost 1400 tokens for a full armour set, this equates into running 7 explore paths (60-66 tokens / run).

rsiloliveira.6429:

6) Is there any must-do thing while leveling? For now I’m just following the main quest and clearing the areas.

Yes.
Follow a vendor/salvage plan. Set an item value level, say 30 copper. Anything below that you salvage for mats, anything above you vendor. This way you can build up both mats an gold as you level.

Do not waste gold on cosmetic items. You will have plenty of time and gold for that later. Concentrate on saving as much gold as you can. Also, avoid unnecessary WP travel.

Map exploration/completion is good for xp and rewards. Higher level maps give you better rewards. Combine this with following your personal story.

Your personal story will give you some useful unique rewards

I am happy with my Knight/Valkyrie mix with soldier runes and full PVT with melandru runes, Knight weapons, and full set of ascended zerker trinkets.

There is nothing of interest for me in Celestial that I can see yet, but following the discussion to see what you all come up with

I use the AC (Ghastly) scepter and mace

Sword is the generic darksteel skin

Focus is Bloodseeker
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodseeker

Hammer is Remnant of Ascalon
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Remnant_of_Ascalon

Torch is from CoF (Molten)

Shield is Etched Bulwark
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shaman%27s_Etched_Bulwark

Staff is Fused (was lucky getting tickets during Flame & Frost)

foofad.5162:

Skybringer, Krymswarden, Krysaor, and Krytan are my favorite non-magical skins.

Those are my picks as well!
Although I prefer the Highlander (human T2) over the Krytan

Currently running with Skybringer transmuted with Knight stats and sigil of strength

funkylovemonkey.3097:

bri.2359:

Only reason I have not deleted it is because I have100% world on it ..

I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m baffled that you can’t deal with even higher level PVE.

You obviously have a reading comprehension problem, so I made it easier for you .
I put the important bit in bold ..

Of course I can deal with higher level PvE on the ranger, I solo’ed all of Orr back in the autumn when Orr was actually difficult and ran dungeons ..

And dealing with difficult content has nothing to do with the class being fun to play, or not ..

So please, no need to tell me anything ..

Morrigan.2809:

I have a SB, LB ranger and I am not cannon fodder- I love my Ranger

I have had a SB/LB ranger since game launch.
It used to be my main and fun to play, not anymore …
It has been relegated to doing dailies, harvesting mid-level nodes and easy pve content since I leveled a guardian 6 months ago.
Only reason I have not deleted it is because I have100% world on it ..

Currently rangers are hopeless and Anet does not have a clue on how to deal with the class. It should be removed from the game and replaced with something completely re-worked, like an archer class without pets.

Ideally I would like to see a proper ranged stealth assassin type class with survival skills. Get rid of the greatsword, axes and warhorn, keep SB LB sword, daggers and torch, add in cross-bows, throwing stars, darts .These become the class ‘mechanic’, range weapons/skills exclusive to the class. Throw out all the nature and pet crap.

HiddenNick.7206:

Valento.9852:

philosophy they chose.

What philosophy?

The ‘Making Money for the Investors’ philosophy ….

knives.6345:

But it’s not required to compete equally, right? The BiS is what? A few stat points up?

Basically, the people looking for BiS, aka Ascended are like people looking for Legendary – they “want” it but they don’t “need” it – they can be equally competitive without it.

Sorry, but a full set of ascended trinkets is more than just a few stat points up …

I used to think the same until my guardian was kitted out with a full set. And yes, it did make a noticeable difference, since I waited until I had all the pieces before using them.

Are they necessary? For most content, probably not.
Do they make a difference? Most certainly!

fellyn.5083:

Name one other company that has “hundreds of skins” in their game for armor choices.

Any decent game, where the developer releases modding tools, gets hundreds and hundreds of skins all for free!

The modding community makes them, and many modders are far better at armour/weapons design than the fugly crap Anet’s so-called professionals have come up with since game launch.

Go to any mod hosting site and see for yourself ..

Doing dailies is brain-dead activity. Period.

I do mine in the mornings while having coffee before leaving for work. I an not even fully awake and I can get at least 3 or 4 , sometimes all 5 done in 20min. That is how brain-dead an activity this is …

The main criteria you should be concerned about are server population, language and guilds that match your needs.

You should a bit of research before hand on each server you are considering. Look for the number of guilds, and the size and language used in the guilds. There are web sites that have this info, just do a google search.

I am on Gunnar’s Hold (medium pop last time I checked) and is very active.

I can appreciate the curiosity surrounding the Celestial stats, but I fail to see how this would be better, or even as useful as the currently available armour stats for guardians.

I can see ele’s and possibly eng’s making some use of Celestial kit, but unless I am missing something, I see this gimping guardians rather than providing more viable build options. If I am wrong, then fine, but it will take some solid proof to convince me otherwise.

Also, all the time gating and recipe acquisition is annoying. There is nothing so special in this stat combination that warrants this.

Chopps, rangers are in such a state that it makes little difference what kit one uses …

Having said that, I won’t be crafting medium celestial anytime soon …

Esplen.3940:

And guardians, to some extent.

No, and not to any extent.
There is not one viable guardian build where this kit could be considered better, or even useful, compared to what is currently in game.

Esplen.3940:

If you don’t want to unlock something, you don’t need to open the chest.

Unfortunately, you do …

If you do not select a skin, you cannot get the rest of the chest items, and the chest does not go away. You then have this annoying and never ending chest bouncing animation going on in the corner of your display …

Great …
So now the tool-tips on ranger pets will properly indicate how crap they are ..

Do not forget about salvaging ..
This is important for collecting materials for crafting or for selling on.

When I first started playing, I used a salvage/vendor system where anything below 30c I salvaged and anything above I sold.

Whether you vendor to a merchant or on the TP depends on the TP price you can get for the item as the other posters explained.

Ah … this^ makes more sense …

Ok, so I currently have 6300 points.
Going by Dulfy’s description I should get the following:

12 – 500 point chests
6 – 1000 point chests

18 chests in total to be delivered over 18 days …

Is this assumption correct?

Celestina.2894:

I love how this thread turned into another zerker vs P/T/V kitten fight.

Sometimes I feel I’m the only one who prefers to balance the two.

I prefer balance as well …

I run a Knight/Valkyrie armour mix (3 pieces of each) with full soldier runes.
I use 2 zerker rings, 2 zerker earrings (all ascended), Third place medal amulet (ascended). Backpeice is exotic soldier with soldier crest. Weapons are currently a mix of Knight and zerker.

I have a 2nd armour set of P/V/T with Melandru runes for certain situations.

I have both a ranger and guardian …

With the current state rangers are in, guardian is far better for solo play and exploration.

The Jormag event can spawn 4-6 champs during 1st phase and up to 4 more during the 2nd phase depending on how long it takes to bring down the dragon.

Do this once per day, and you will have champs done in no time

The ranger ‘bug-list’ thread was an embarrassment of failures on Anet’s part.

Perhaps a thread titled “What is working as intended” would be better.
At least it would not go past 1 page of posts …

thebignasty.8193:

I know it’s not a bad thing that there are a lot of them, but doesn’t that mean it’s harder to find groups and guilds that want a guardian if there are so many of them or does composition diversity not matter so much in this game?

On the contrary, despite there numbers, guardians are always in demand for dungeons and difficult open world events.

As another poster said, it is more important to play a class you enjoy. If it so happens to be a popular class, then so be it.

And yes, check out the class sub-forums. When I was looking to level an alt, one of the big deciding factors for me was the level of knowledge and atmosphere in the guardian sub-forum. It indicated a lot about the type of players who play the class.

@OP

You seem to be a relatively new or recent player.
That 42g will go a long way to kit out your level 80 character(s). It will take the pressure off having to save/farm gold while leveling.

If you have have been playing since launch with 400-500g saved, then 42g will not make that much difference. In this case, hanging on to the item for long-term price rise speculation could be a big boon, or not. However, in this case there is little or no risk to you.

The reason why there are a lot of guardians is because you have more viable build options with a guardian than with most other classes. It is probably the best designed and balanced class in the game for melee.

The fact that there are a lot around means that it is accepted as a good class to play.
This is not a bad thing …

I was going to ‘like’ but after reading this thread, will not … Why??
Because if this encourages yet more CoF speed runs, then absolutely not ..

Oh, and cheers to those of you that reminded me of this…

Norn guard here, and the only racial elite I have bothered to unlock is the leopard for the stealth.

Since guards don’t have any stealth skills, this is the only one that seemed useful and have used it on occasion.

wintermute.4096:

People who have run any higher level fractals won’t find this any difficult at all. If you need the training wheels that is non zerker gear feel free to use them, but don’t berate people who get by without them, kthxbye.

Lol!!
This made my morning!

You have this the wrong way around, mate. Berseker amour is the ‘training wheels’ in this game. Using the worse defensive stats in the game teaches you how to dodge and stay alive. Every new player should be forced to use berseker until at least lvl 80.

Once you have learned to play, then you are ready for ‘grown up’ armour and a balanced build.

I guess you are not there yet

Yup, norn guardian here as well, but the smallest female I could make …

The PvP ‘agenda’ has gotten rangers to where they are in now, and this says it all:.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/I-present-Vote-for-the-worst-Results/page/2#post2325546

Welcome Vixx!

Here is a link to all the registered guilds on all the servers.:
http://gw2.guildex.org/

Select your server to get the guild list. Most guilds have links to their home web sites where you can find more info on joining, etc.

Good job OP!

Just voted, and didn’t look at the results beforehand. So happens my voting followed the overall results pattern! I don’t do PvP, so went with “I don’t know” for that one.

Been playing a ranger since game launch, and it has become a dreadful class to play. It is not yet the worse in open PvE, but will soon be once anet finishes ‘balancing’ .

As for the ‘knee-jerk’ reactions, rangers have been crap and getting worse for months now. Any poll taken within the last 6 months would have had the same results.

Dabilahro.8094:

ranger can bring so much more to a party than alot of the other classes.. .

No, they cannot …. They never could since game launch …

I have over 2100 hrs on my ranger, stopped bringing her into dungeons 6 months ago after I leveled a guardian.

I know very well what a ranger can and cannot do in dungeons, and I will no longer dungeon with rangers. Period.

Chopps.5047:

Ranger DPS is higher in dungeons now due to:

1) piercing arrows
2) insane buff to companion’s might that we got
3) high crit chance

You must be playing different game than me ..

Piercing arrows in dungeons is crap. How often do mobs neatly line up for you to make any use of this?? They sure don’t for me …

Insane buffs and high crit chance mean nothing on dead pets or pets that cannot hit a barn door …

Rangers have been useless in dungeons for over 6 months, this is why I leveled a guardian and never bring my ranger. This patch did nothing to help that, it only made things worse.

Xsorus.2507:

BM Bunker itself still works, Just use Birds….

Sorry, but birds are crap, always have been.

They are slow with stupid animations and miss a lot.
Oh, and 2 of them had damage nerfed as well.

I would use de-clawed cats or toothless dogs before a bird, and this is for open world PvE. Cannot imagine using birds for any serious combat situations.

So glad I leveled a guardian 6 months ago …

Harbinger.8637:

Arken.3725:

The greatsword trait buff is trash, still only heals for 25 a tick. Definitely not worth it. 8(

Ofc by itself it’s bad, but you combine it;

ZB
AH or MF
Omnomberry Pie
Sigil of Blood or Leech

Then you got something good going. Plus it’s only 20 points and getting 5% more dmg.

Meh … Put in a sigil of force and you get 5% damage…
20 points in Zeal is still not worth it to me.

Sarlack.4096:

The more things change the more they remain the same….

Why does any step forward in terms of the Ranger come with 3 steps back?

You do not create build diversity by making the only viable builds not viable so they all are mediocre.

Rangers were ‘mediocre’ at game launch, now they are just kittene …

So, the ‘fake’ notes leaked were not so fake after all …
Anyone who claimed ‘lets wait and see’ looks pretty foolish now!

Full zerker ranger used to be marginally ok in dungeons, but not any more.
Ranger’s lost their burst damage with the SB and quickness nerfs.

@OP
Spirits, condition and BM build rangers are a no-no in dungeons …

I stopped bring my ranger into dungeons months ago because there is no viable ranger build to do dungeons. Every other class does things better, so I leveled a guardian for dungeons.

Worst:
- All the Maguuma maps – too cartoonish
- Black Citadel and the branded areas in Ascalon maps

Boring;
- All Kryta maps
- The non-branded parts of Ascalon maps

Best:
- All Shiverpeaks maps
- All Orr maps, including underwater