Guild Wars 2

Let me clarify(and not to sound elitist):

A very low level character, a level 16 warrior for example, should not even be able to enter a fractal. This is not being elitist, its realist. At that level you might have ONE utility slot, and a handful of traits. Even if that persons health is upscaled, we’ll be rezzing up all run. And lets not be naive, there are a lot of people that are not as “l33t” as you guys so to them, even low level fractals would be difficult. You know as well as I, that if you get one or two bad players in a fractal run, its hell even at lower levels. Hell, I remember I was around lvl 7, doing the powersuit boss. Kept telling the two people in my group to keep moving to the next lava dump. They stood there trying to “tank” him, etc etc. Mean while, he kept regenning all health and myself and the other 2 had to keep rezzing those guys because they kept dropping in seconds. This example has nothing to do with level requirement, just trying to point out that even at lower fractal levels its not always an easy run. All depends on your group, and allowing new low level players to enter the dungeon is recipe for disaster.

For fractals only, I really think there should be at least some sort of level requirement. At least 30. Hell, you can get to that level in a weekend.

Hi,
I just want to point out that having no level requirement for FoTM is a really bad design. While I can choose to leave the group if I want (if there are very low levels in the group), it is still a waste of time to see some of these people try to get into FoTM groups.

I was just in a group, starting fractals on an alt, lvl 1(I know, not very hard), and a level 16 joined. When I asked about his level he said he did FoTM fine last night.

1. He probably has no head gear or shoulder gear
2. He probably has no runes
3. He probably has no sigils
4. He has..5 or 6 traits to speak of
5. He has maybe one utility slot
6. His health is upscaled to the bare minimum most likely.

This is recipe for disaster IMO. There should be at least a minimum requirement for fractals since they do take a bit more coordination and skill than your average dungeon. If a brand new player who hit, lets say, level 15 last night…wants to join a fractal but does not know how the game works with dungeons yet, and really doesn’t have a clue on his class, why should he be allowed to join a group?

Id say at least a minimum requirement, when you get your first elite skill(cannot remember what level that is, 30?). Id push for 80 because in my opinion the fractals are our current end game.

Thoughts?

Xenth, I sent you a PM. Thanks,

Jay.3284:

So anyone going to tell this guy that trying to find a BACKSTAB build in PvE is not worth it?

PvE (especially dungeons) are about sustained damage… backstab is burst. Stop trying to play PvE like PvP and you’ll find more out of your class.

5-7k damage every few seconds(when revealed is off) is still considered burst? With a few auto attacks in between

I find that popping synergetic abilities to get one big hit every 30 or so seconds is called burst…

What would be a max damage pistol build? Also, what sigils/runes?

eXs.6210:

Dee Jay.2460:

I actually see a lot of Pistol/Pistol Thieves. It seems to be a very popular choice.

My problem with the weapon set is that it is an incredibly limited play-style. All you do and all you really offer to the group is single-target DPS by spaming Unload. Sure, damage might be decent but it is hardly interesting or engaging, let alone supporting your group.

You add no interesting Conditions, have little/no AoE and have to use a lot of traits to spec for more Initiative regeneration.

I don’t get it… I kill things and I don’t die… what more in terms of group support can you really ask for??? If 5 people all did that, then no one would need to be supporting anyone… I don’t know why all of a sudden gamers turned into like mother Theresa… kill enemies, don’t die… done… simple…

Haha, sadly…you are correct. If all 5 people in the group didnt die, and dungeon was completed in a reasonable amount of time, what more do you want?

Well, I’ll also answer that by saying that there are those people that want to speed run…having utility to assist with that is what a lot of people want(in this game). Played WoW for 6.5 years, and while we tried to skip a few packs of mobs here and there(they were mainly off to the side and we wouldnt aggro them), we never ever just ran through entire packs. People in this game just love to skip everything… which often leads to disaster haha.

Back to the topic:
I think if the pistol auto attack was buffed, it might make p/p a bit more viable. I dont know, Im on the fence. I don’t want to continue using a backstab build in dungeons/fractals because the risk vs reward is too great. Risk my self in melee range for a 5-7k crit…or sit back in ranged and unload for 3.9 or 4.5k.

Obviously use shortbow for aoe.

iridium.7120:

cesmode.4257:

Concerning the bit about the warrior: I disagree.

Im in knight’s gear, so right there its not full glass cannon. Do not have the bloodlust sigil, and probably don’t have the stats youre speaking of, and I can assure you that after the entire 100b is done, I am probably doing well over 30k. Hell, the last strike of 100b crits for 12-15k alone, with full might stacks. The second to last strike can hit 9-11k on a crit. Right there im in the 20k range for the last two strikes of 100b alone. Consider all else, its probably right around 30k, if not more.

I can SS the last hit for you if youd like(when I get home). Ive noticed that my combat log isn’t picking up my crits for channeled abilities, and Im guessing this will hold true for a 100b. So I can SS the last strike of 100b in a dungeon, so you can see that it is critting 12-15 just with that one hit alone.

In CoF, downscaled to level 75(of course I have the other stats of a lvl 80), my last hit of 100b is critting for around 10-11k and thats without full might stacks half the time. Again, right there thats like 90% of the damage youre speaking of when you guestimated a 15-20k total depending on might stacks…and thats at level 75 and at that time, I was in crap masterwork gear without an exotic greatsword.

I think what you are seeing is the total damage for HB. When doing channeled attacks the system shows you the total damage of the channeled ability. Each hit does approximately the same amount of damage. As for playing a thief in PVE content, while I don’t feel as powerful as my guardian I definitely think we have some underrated support abilities. Going full dps as a thief is probably a mistake however

Wow, I did not know that (if its true). Thats insanely misleading. Well, if thats the case then I do not feel so bad on my thief…if thats the case then the damage differential is much better. Hmm… is there a source that explains this? Or an arenanet post that confirms that?

Why would the game even do that? Id rather see each individual hit.

Rayya.2591:

Ensign.2189:

cesmode.4257:

One run of 100b is throwing out somewhere around 30k of dmg. My lowest crit with this is around 4 or 5k…

On my thief I am running a backstab build with the COF set. in PVE I am only getting around 5-7k crits.

You need to maneuver around behind your target to maximize backstab, it does double damage from behind. If 100B is critting for 30k, a properly placed backstab should be critting for 13-15k. A 5-7k crit in that situation implies that you’ve stabbed your foe in the face, which while satisfying does not trigger the doubled damage.

na , that’s kinda my damage on backstab also 7000-9000 in fractals. 2900 p attack 101 crit power.
but warrior won’t do 30k hb either, he will do arround 15-20k depending on might stacks. Ofc if is full glass cannon , ruby orbs 114+ crit damage, 4500 p attack (with 24 might stacks and bloodlust sigil ,Hb can go over 27 k to 30k +

Concerning the bit about the warrior: I disagree.

Im in knight’s gear, so right there its not full glass cannon. Do not have the bloodlust sigil, and probably don’t have the stats youre speaking of, and I can assure you that after the entire 100b is done, I am probably doing well over 30k. Hell, the last strike of 100b crits for 12-15k alone, with full might stacks. The second to last strike can hit 9-11k on a crit. Right there im in the 20k range for the last two strikes of 100b alone. Consider all else, its probably right around 30k, if not more.

I can SS the last hit for you if youd like(when I get home). Ive noticed that my combat log isn’t picking up my crits for channeled abilities, and Im guessing this will hold true for a 100b. So I can SS the last strike of 100b in a dungeon, so you can see that it is critting 12-15 just with that one hit alone.

In CoF, downscaled to level 75(of course I have the other stats of a lvl 80), my last hit of 100b is critting for around 10-11k and thats without full might stacks half the time. Again, right there thats like 90% of the damage youre speaking of when you guestimated a 15-20k total depending on might stacks…and thats at level 75 and at that time, I was in crap masterwork gear without an exotic greatsword.

Balancing due to pvp needs to stop. Anet has said they will seperate the balance when needed, and they can. I am sick of changes to thieves(and classes in general) because some whiney <insert class here> complains about a thief critting their face off. News flash: Once they are down 1-2 shotting you, most of their burst is on cooldown. They are vulnerable and now hit like wet noodles. Go get them and stop posting on the forums to screw with other aspects of the game(my pve).

style.6173:

Thieves are completely horrible at Fractals of the Mists levels 10 or higher. I just got out of another group that involved needing to constantly revive the thief. It is a complete waste of a team member slot. Personally, I think it is better to just kick the thief before we start.

Now I know some of you are probably good in FotM, but 95% of thieves are not. This class needs some serious help so that there are more than 5% of thieves that are somewhat decent at it.

Don’t even mention kicking players because of their class. Dealt with that crap in Tera and if this community starts that kind of kitten, many a thieves will be kitten

Onto the topic:

My thief has 3 piece ascended, fractal level 18. I started fractals with a condition-blossom thief build till about 11. No problems. Switched to backstab build, and I do go down a bit more, and more weary of getting into the frey rather than shortbowing it all down.

I agree thieves need an adjustment to PVE damage, as it is definately lower compared to many classes. Survivability: Undecided. As a condition thief, I would steal-in. Drop caltrops/blossom x 3. Dodge out. And I wasnt afraid to do so. As a backstab thief, Im more vulnerable…

Just curious what everyone thought of pistol/pistol in dungeons? I know not many run this, but I tried it out last night and it wasnt terrible. Almost able to spam unload, ending unload with 3.9-4.5k crits.

Ive been running a backstab build in dungeons, but I dont think its cutting it anymore…compared to other classes. So i tried pistols.

Thoughts on pistols strictly for dungeons/fractals?

Columba.9730:

nahj.2870:

Columba.9730:

Maugetarr.6823:

Columba.9730:

How is it that with 3k armor I take 5 k, 10k shots from thieves, yet thieves have weak dps? That makes no sense. I have that armor and 24k health and I still die in 1-2 seconds of rom completely invisible thieves, so I don’t understand your point. Try a ranger if you want to complain about weak dps. At least with warriors, I can see them and avoid their damage.

Thieves have strong burst and weak sustained DPS in a backstab build. They have weak burst but decent sustained damage while visible with a sword main hand weapon. Assuming that you are a warrior or guardian with that amount of armor, there ate a great number of skill that can mitigate all the damage a backstab thief can throw at you in that 1 to 2 seconds. This game is not based around passive defence. My thief only has a total of 2.5k armor, but I have yet to get hit by one of these amazing 10k backstabs. That is not to say I haven’t gotten hit by the mug C&D combo, but my dodge is bound to my mouse, so the backstab portion rarely hits.

If you can put out 20k+ damage from complete invisibility in <2 seconds, lack of sustained dps is irrelevant vs most enemies,

You do realize that this thread is about thieves in PVE, right? The only things that are irrelevant here are both of your replies complaining about thieves in WvW when the topic is about poor thief DPS in dungeons.

To the extent that thieves get buffed I pve and those buffs spill over into WvWvW, my comments are completely relevant.

Yeah, Im mainly concerned about PvE. WvW is just an aoe mess when you follow the zerg. Hope to sneak around and mess with one or two players if you can. Other than that, its shortbow city unless you find the poor soul away from the pack. Then you can crit their face in. Saying otherwise and you are kidding yourself.

But I am only concerned with PVE dungeon dps. I have 5 toons to 80, only focus on three. Thief(main), necro, warrior.

Ive run with a condition-blossom thief build. Fun to watch everything burn, but got boring. Switched to a zerker, almost glass-cannon(small surv build in) build via backstab…While backstabbing I never run out of initiative, do bursts of 5-7k damage every few seconds, and auto attack for 2500 total in between backstabs. Feels week since I’ve been playing my warrior.

My warrior is in knight’s gear, but running a near glass-cannon build. I survive enough in dungeons, so this isnt an issue. On a non-gimmick fight(malrona, ahem), my 100blades probably does over 30k+ damage. In the middle of hundred blades I am probably hitting for 6-7k. At the end, with full might stacks, 12-15k. Auto attacks do as much dmg IMO than thief auto attacks. In comparison to survivability, my warrior is on its feet more, and does more damage.

My necro might be the weakest of the three, but not far behind thief, in terms of DPS. Running a vampire build with a mix of knights/zerker gear. All of the friggin self healing Im doing, I never go down in a dungeon and I provide 3 combo fields/aoe condition removal to the group. Plus its fun

Compare this to a thief where the DPS is either middle of the road or lack luster. Medium armor. Decent group utility. I am having a hard time justifying playing my thief in PVE anymore, despite 3 piece ascended
Tried pistol/pistol last night to switch it up. Its not terrible. Almost able to spam unload, and ending unload with a 3.9-4.5k crit.

frans.8092:

Eviator.9746:

Oh my goodness. Never EVER try a necro, engineer, or ranger. In comparison the thief is a beast!

I did and I found that my Necro alt kills a lot easier in PvE then my thief she and rarely dies.

Necro ability is off topic :P But I have a necro with a vampire build. Knights gear, with zerker-ish jewelry. I hardly die. Ever. And DPS is fairly decent. As a necro who doesn’t do the insane damage a warrior does, I am able to facetank a lot of crap in dungeons, hardly lose health due to all the life siphoning im doing(critical hits, wells, life siphon, sigils, and food buff…). My utility to the group is the fact that they hardly ever need to stop what they are doing to rez me, 3 life steal combo fields, aoe condition removal.

Rayya.2591:

Edited for brevity

I agree, shortbow is great if you are running a power/precision/crit build, or some variation. Its terrible for condition builds. Cluster bombs just hit like crap when I was specced condition, but when I specced zerker, my shortbow damage is awsome now.

jkctmc.8754:

cesmode.4257:

I disagree with posts saying that our backstab crit builds need to be nerfed. Any player that runs a glass cannon build is going to drop a target real quickly. Yes, that person will pump out 15k+ in a matter of seconds. But that person can also be taken down fairly quickly as well. Me, I am running a backstab crit build, but not as glass cannon as most. I chose traits to increase vitality, when I could have increased dmg. I chose traits to make sure that I never run out of initiative, instead of choosing more up front damage.

Its all how you build your character. Me, I chose the path that will leave me with less grief in the end(a bit more survivability, and never ending initiative…unless Im seekerspamming at the end).

Also, I like steal, but it feels very underwhelming compared to some classes class-specific abilities. Not sure what can be done to fix this, but compared to an eviscerate, or deathshroud(yes I went there, if traited…aoe heal, a few seconds of no HP loss, decent damage especially traited…its fine), its underwhelming.

Stealth is the best defense in the game, so a glass canon Thief is MUCH safer than say a glass canon Warrior. Not only that, but the best defense in the game are the procs available to crit builds.

Completely disagree. Aegis is the best defense in the game, not stealth. While in stealth you are still able to take condition damage via condition fields.

TY. So theres no vendor yet, the crown vendor I hear people speaking of us the achievement reward system to come. TBH, Ive never heard of people referring to the icons next to achievements as crowns. Plus, i thought this was another token system(sigh another currency).

laokoko.7403:

cesmode.4257:

Interwebster.7518:

I hopped on today after a 2 month or so break from the game. I was curious about the new dungeon and wanted to try it out. I arrived in Lions Arch only to find it was for the most part, completely empty. I checked a few more places and also heart of the mists. Do people just not play this game anymore? Or am I missing something?

LA was dead? Always in overflow for LA. Always. Regardless when I log in. Always overflow.

ya I think that’s the problem. Everyone is in overflow. I think they twitched the system so people can do fotm. So even if your server isn’t full, you’ll still login overflow.

Thats interesting. I hadn’t thought about that. But I don’t think its necessarily true and I should correct my original post. I do get into my server without overflow sometimes. Logged in this morning before work and was in. On weekends, 8am I am in. Pretty much from 10am EST and on is overflow city.

I think Polls are against the ToS…not sure why this one has been allowed to live.

Anyways, I’ll bite.

The Dirty Dozen:
1) Would you prefer ascended gear to be the last tier implemented for the remainder of GW2? YES
2) Would you prefer ascended gear to be equal to exotic gear in all statistics except agony resistance? YES
3) Would you prefer the level cap to remain at 80 for the remainder of GW2? YES
4) Would you prefer if WvW was set up on an equal playing field similar to PvP? NO
5) Would you prefer if WvW / PvP / PvE had separate skill functionalities? YES
6) Would you prefer if Magic Find was removed from the game completely? NO
7) Would you prefer if Magic Find was divided equally amongst all party members? YES, like Diablo 3
8) Is GW2 too ‘Grindy?’ YES, very.
9) Does GW2 need less RNG? YES
10) Has the Trading Post [and all its users/farmers] positively impacted the economy? NO
11) Do you have as much faith [and/or enthusiasm] about the game [and/or company] as you did before launch? NO, but still enjoy it.
12) Do you reasonably expect [many of] your primary concerns to be addressed in early 2013? YES

It is true you have to be on the same server or overflow for fractals. Not sure why that is, when you can dungeon on different servers.

Regarding guesting: I am just guessing but I would imagine it works the same. You guest over to your friends server and play. The only restriction would be WvW. Would be some good info to know though.

Interwebster.7518:

I hopped on today after a 2 month or so break from the game. I was curious about the new dungeon and wanted to try it out. I arrived in Lions Arch only to find it was for the most part, completely empty. I checked a few more places and also heart of the mists. Do people just not play this game anymore? Or am I missing something?

LA was dead? Always in overflow for LA. Always. Regardless when I log in. Always overflow.

And is there a vendor for crowns currently in game? Or is this the achievement reward system Colin speaks of?

also, when looking at achievements, I notice two graphics…one for the different “parts” of an achievement(1,2,3, etc) and then the overall achievement points. Whats the deal with those?

Just curious…since Colin’s blog, and since he has been gracious enough to respond to some threads, people have been throwing the term “crown” around, as if it is a currency in game. Is it a new currency? Or is it something the upcoming achievement currency?

Could someone give me more info on this? I have not been a huge achievement junkie, even with nearly 3k achievement points(which is probably not a lot), so I do not know the ins and outs of this and if theres even a crown vendor yet.

Thanks!

Yes, unload is channeled, and whatever it was i was seeing 700 dps, instead of 3k

Im not sure, I crit, for example, for 3400 and I only saw 729

Just realized this…that the combat log isnt recording crits, or at least it is not for me.
Just the normal damage of the shot. Even if the hit was a crit, its not registering the critical damage, just what was probably the non crit damage.

Anyone else see this

Debating on going back to my condi build for a while. Used to wa,tch the wold burn there. How are pistol whip thieves in dungeons?

Hi,
So I leveled a warrior, and I see the insane crits Im doing via 100b. One run of 100b is throwing out somewhere around 30k of dmg. My lowest crit with this is around 4 or 5k.

On my thief I am running a backstab build with the COF set. in PVE I am only getting around 5-7k crits. Thats also whenever the revealed debuff wears off, so every few seconds. My auto attacks do not crit for a whole lot.

I feel really gimped compared to my warrior who is also in heavy armor, with around 8k more HP.

My thief feels weak, with 15.3k HP ;/

Could anyone help with a high dmg backstab build, or whatever kind of build, with some decent survivability?

Dont want to give up on the thief class just yet…
thanks!

Ty i wiki the locations. Any chances at pre cursors or exotics frommthe chests?

So then how can i find them in the world? No idea where the chest rewrded ones are

Hi, what constitutes a jp for the monthly achieve? Any old vista? How hard does it have to be?

Agreed. As long as they learn from their mistake and move away from content-exclusive rewards, I guess id be OK with it. If the chests at the end of guild missions dropped the same type of stuff as the end of a dungeon, or a world boss fight…Im OK.

So, what does it mean “complete a jumping puzzle” ? What constitutes an actual JP that the achievement system recognizes? I know of the one in WvW but is that it?

It would be neat, wouldnt it?
Just curious how these guys and gals spend their time in game, if it is truely like you and I. Or do they know the nooks and crannies of all the hotspots for mats and all…and don’t want to give those secrets away :p .

Weary of the mere mention of Guild Missions. I get the feeling that raid-like content is on our doorstep.

I can see the quote now:
“Unique and challenging content for 10 people of the same guild to complete.”

If this type of content made its way into the game, I hope the rewards can be achieved by doing anything else in the game. Guild-mission specific rewards/tokens would be a pitfall for this game. Gating content is bad. More currencies is bad.

Thoughts about guild missions? Speculations?

DarksunG.9537:

Thanks Colin! All I know is that getting people into the existing, amazing, game world is a very very good thing. I hate to see such an awesome, detailed world get sidelined for dungeon repetition. I’d love to see all the meta events constantly being run.. & maybe even have more than 1 giant Meta Event per map!

The only reservations I have are on the number of rewards. These people eat content like candy.. The reward list should be MASSIVE so it lasts & there are things for everyone.

I agree. Give people an insane amount of things to browse and buy via these achievement tokens.

However, I will say that adding too many currencies is a BAD thing. A different currency for each dungeon, fractal relics, pristine fractal relics, achievement tokens, Kharma, Glory..am I missing any? Look at SWTOR. I could not keep up with the amount of different currencies in the game. It was overwhelming and not fun.

Suggestion: remove achievement tokens and make the items purchasable via the amount of achievement POINTS you have, or kharma. Give us a kharma sink. Its not like this is something new where we haven’t been clamoring for a kharma sink.

I agree with Keiran. Even if my questions do not get answered, I love the activity Colin has in this single thread. Obviously he needs to be careful not to get our hopes up, or speak too much “grey”, but having a dev in here chatting with us is fantastic. Keep it up! IMO, the constant interaction a developer has with its community is what sets a game apart from the rest. Look at Trion. Not the most wildly successful MMO, although its doing very very well, but they are so well connected with their community. With developer activity in a thread like this, shows Anet is going down a similar path.

Suggestion: Make all developers spend time in the forums each week. The one or two with the most get to leave an hour early on Fridays, provided all of their work is done ofcourse!

Thanks for the clarification Colin. I know you’re busy and probably won’t respond to this one but I will try anyways:

Regarding the achievement currency: Will we be rewarded these tokens/points for completing ANY event/achievement thats in the game? Like, “Kill 100 dread” (awarded 10 points lets say), and Daily Event achievements alike? And can I do these achievements in any zone of the game(i.e. there wont be a specific zone day to day where these acheivement points can be obtained?)

Second question would be: With these achievement points, you mentioned purchasing ascended gear. Will the same ascended gear be available via achievement token purchases as is available via pristine fractal relic purchases? One will not be mutually exclusive to one type of content, correct? Could I simply ignore fractals and focus on playing in the world, gather my achievement tokens, and purchase my ascended items without stepping another foot inside a fractal if I wanted to?

Thanks a billion if you answer!

Ok, so the title is creepy, but it got you here.

I would love to watch some sort of twitch.tv type of broadcast, where the devs log on some night and just play their character as they normally would. Would love to see what they do in game.. Are they running a dungeon? Are they playing some WvW on their server? Are they sitting in LA looking for an Arah group? :p Are they farming mats for a legendary?

Be kind of neat to see.

Wish I could “down vote a post”. Your “wishes” couldn’t be further from the spirit and truth of GW2, and I encourage you to look elsewhere to satisfy your MMO needs. Even if arenanet is slowly introducing an ITEM treadmill, or a stat treadmill via verticle progression, the game is definately not about that and they even stand firm on this.

Did you know that initially this game was to have an upleveling system, where a lvl 5 could go to a level 20 zone and be upleveled in the way that he/she would be downleveled? They removed it. But it could have been there. Just goes to show where Arenanets direction is, and where your mind set is(complete opposites).

Tanith.5264:

CC Meinke.2749:

Phantax.1369:

I do wonder why this thread has been allowed to stay open when the T&Cs state that the words Anet/Devs/Moderators cannot be used in the title for any topic?

This is the case for threads where users use staff/ developer call-outs as a tool to gather attention and try to get their issues solved faster – e.g. “Fix this, ArenaNet!”
So it’s actually not a problem here.

Greetings

Greetings. Contrary to popular belief, there are many of us loving and enjoying the game, and looking forward to the content being developed and now teased a bit.

For me, at least, this game has paid for itself many, many times over.

I dont think enjoyment is the topic in the CC mods post. And I even think that most people that have some negative things to say about the came, aside from “I QUIT” posts, still enjoy the game a lot. I come on here, and from time to time am a harsh critic. I still enjoy the game.

We need Collectable Slots for these tokens. PLEASE

I was on stormbluff, just transferred to IOJ. Both seem decently populated, never had any issues on SBI

Good questions and Id love to know the answer to this. However, Im sure we all have 100 questions and would hate to see the forums fill up with these :p

CC Meinke.2749:

Phantax.1369:

I do wonder why this thread has been allowed to stay open when the T&Cs state that the words Anet/Devs/Moderators cannot be used in the title for any topic?

This is the case for threads where users use staff/ developer call-outs as a tool to gather attention and try to get their issues solved faster – e.g. “Fix this, ArenaNet!”
So it’s actually not a problem here.

Greetings

I call bologne on that, sir/maddem. Ive had a thread to open a discussion with the players, something along the lines of “Is arenanet up to the challenge?” . This thread title was quickly changed to something that iddnt use arenanet. So, somethings fishy here :p maybe not all of your mods are on the same page, or some need to be retrained? But theres definately a certain amount of human-judgement when it comes to modding threads, removing threads, moving threads, etc. Its not as black and white as you almost state.

Ahh! This raised more questions than it answered!

Achievement system:
1. How are the tokens distributed to you? So if I complete an achievement worth 10 points, how many tokens is that? And could this be ANY achievement? Daily kills, or “Kill 100 dredge”, or Daily Event? Or will there be a different daily zone, such as Kessix Hills, where you’ll see hundreds of players one day, and none the next? This doesn’t help the world, as only the daily zones will have most of the people.
2. Will I be able to purchase the same ascended gear pieces as I can from running fractals? Basically, if they release ascended Amulets next, 10 pristine relics get you an ascended amulet. Can I purchase an amulet with achievement points?
3. Will the 10 dye pack include chances at rare dyes, such as abyss or Midnight dyes? Or will it have only junk dyes like Pastel violet?

Guild activities:
1. Guild missions sounds an awful lot like raids. More info on this would be great. I dont know if I would want raid content in a game like this. Guild missions, where you need to be a member of the guild would be good, provided that the rewards are streamlined with other pieces of content, such as fractals or achievement token purchases. Making rewards unique to guild missions only is a bad idea. Please dont do it.

WvW:
1. When are paid transfers happening?
2. Does guesting cost anything?

I was on SBI and transferred to IOJ yesterday. I hope it has a large enough NA population.

There is no tanking in this game. Theres control, but no tanking. Guardians cannot sit and soak up 100% of the damage from all the mobs all of the time, warriors cannot do it either.

what is this tanking?

Sazdek.6830:

Also using the sonic boon build and it’s pretty freaking good.
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/74697-build-sonic-boon-shout-greatsword/

Just checked that out. It is what I use. I recently picked up my warrior again, a few days ago, and trying her out. I created the same build down to the stat choices on gear, without knowing about this guy’s guide. Just look at all of the traits in the lines, see what energizes. Youll notice that there are traits to increase crit chance, and then traits that grant might on critical strikes, see some synergy there!

I guess you guys just dnt know how to play ot then. I kill things as fast as my condi thief, when he was specced for conditions.

Great idea…lets all have the same burst build and be uniform. Even if condi builds are behind burst, its not that far behind where you should never play it.

My point is, while you can quickly generate 3 clones, fire off some abilities and shatter, probably destroying one mob…WAY faster than you can with a condition build, in most other scenarios condition builds are just as viable. I really wonder why people hate on condition mesmers/staff mesmers. I simply love it. I largely feel unkillable, and the mobs die almost as quickly. True, one of the huge drawbacks is the vulnerability application. But like I said previously, use that to your advantage. Drop an iWarden in there with a chaos storm on top of him(and likely on the mobs DPSing them). That iWarden will stay alive for at least two rotations of his ability. The iWarden takes full advantage of the vulnerability applications your WoC applies.

Think positive my friends, condition mesmers are not as bad as you think.