Guild Wars 2

DarkWasp.7291:

Slaet.4513:

TBrother.9138:

What did you get as a reward?

A rare and 100 Dragonite Ore.

Is that really all?

You get:
– the chest for killing him (character bound)
– the bonus chest for killing him (account bound)
– four Dragon Chests (one for getting him to 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0% health)

All told, I got an exotic, three rares, a handful of blues and greens, some ascended crafting mats, and a bit north of 10k karma.

Edit: I also got three Gilded Coffers from the Dragon Chests, for what it’s worth.

Banzie.5248:

Yep, They do much more damage with, Especially stacked with the undead potions. Once you have a crap load of ppl with them+turret and aoe buffs from players it goes a bit faster. The worst part is still the initial push to 75%

That initial push last time was hindered by so many ppl being caught afk. If everyone had been there ready to go we’d have killed him.

and thank you for that, it’s much appreciated…how about we get the option to label them (as we can do with guild bank tabs)?

bwuki.2175:

its around 28%, close to 25%.

-blackgate

It’s 25% (or less) because I’ve got three Dragon Chests today (one is given at 75%, 50%, and 25%).

Ivonbeton.6814:

Exactly. I think those people from blackgate coming on here saying how it’s going well on their server seem to forget that they are probably on the ONE server in GW2 with the biggest concentration of PvE freaks.

I actually like being on a server with all kinds of people on it. If I would want to do harder content, I should find myself a group of like minded people and not have to count on the average mentality and skill of the entire server.

You say that as an insult, yet our server is better than yours in WvW too. “All kinds of people” indeed.

Uruz Six.6594:

So how many guests can Blackgate take at once? We’ll find out after these words from our commercial sponsors…

lol

And here we’re seeing the bottom of the slippery slope we all warned the developers about when they first gave in to the “REWARDS!” crowd. Spoonfeeding players easily obtained rewards conditions them to expect rewards for everything…and for minimal effort. It no longer matters (to some) if content if fun, or challenging…only if it’s rewarding and easy.

DarkWasp.7291:

What was the 50% reward?

I’ve got 25%, 50%, and 75% rewards. All had a bit of silver, some karma consumable, a green, and one of them (I’m assuming the 25%) had a Gilded Coffer.

Dench.5968:

TC is having a civil war in chat.

Not many people seem to be having fun. I’m done with it till it’s either fixed or figured out. I am having zero fun with the event. Seems very trollish.

Teq went from being able to be killed AFK to being ultra hard. Is there a middle road we can meet at?

I supposed to be hard. If this is meant to be GW2’s version of a raid, it needs to be hard and it needs to test the server’s ability to coordinate and work together. Being from Blackgate, that’s easy for me to say, but God knows there’s enough easy content in this game already…let’s keep this one the way it is for now.

jobah.7241:

Im on the server called “Overflow”. We are doing well. Got him all the way down to 95%.

Flawless play

lol

Blackgate just got him to a tad under 50%. I have no idea how we’re going to squeeze another 100% damage out of what we’ve got.

GSTim.8094:

Every good WvW commander knows this rule: banner rez downed, leave defeated until fight is over. PvE is not an exclusion.

Triage…harsh, but necessary.

Wyrmrider.1692:

darkace.8925:

We just got him to 50% on Blackgate. Methinks we’ll have the bragging rights for getting world first.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
—Sanctum of Rall (55%)

What? You’re going to have Jade Quarry guest over to your server and help you guys out? :P

Every person lying around dead and every person attempting to rez them is another person NOT doing damage. The window to kill Teq is only 15 minutes. And rezzing in the middle of a hard-hitting aoe drop zone means the would-be rezzer is likely to be the next in line needing a rez.

tolunart.2095:

So, Anet should settle for making $10 mil once a year instead of making $2 mil per month?

No one’s saying that. I’ll say this, though…

Though it doesn’t show up in an earnings report, goodwill is worth something. Burn enough of it, and your bottom line will suffer.

We just got him to 50% on Blackgate. Methinks we’ll have the bragging rights for getting world first.

GOSU.9574:

This is like saying the price on Toyota Camry is unfair!

Who is forcing you to buy it?

No, it’s not.

Could it not be referring to “evolving” tactics?

Astral Projections.7320:

They’ve done this before. It’s nothing new.

That doesn’t make it any less seedy.

So the Boss Week meta achievement requires 9 achievements. There are only five achievements available. The remaining 4 achievements can only be earned once per day via dailies. While this is not the most egregious form of time gating (I feel the time gating of Charged Quartz Crystals holds holds that dubious distinction), it does illustrate a disappointing shift in design philosophy.

Before this game launched, Colin Johanson said “What if your content-design motivations aren’t driven by the need to create mechanics that keep people playing as long as possible? When looking at content design for Guild Wars 2, we’ve tried to ask the question: What if the development of the game was based on…wait for it…fun? "

By show of hands, how many of you think time gating a meta achievement falls in line with “is it fun”? Okay, now how many of you think it falls in line with “the need to create mechanics that keep people playing as long as possible”?

The original idea was to develop fun and compelling content…the kind of content that players want to long in and experience. But more and more – with each installment of the Living Story – we’re seeing mechanics designed solely to “keep people playing as long a possible”…the exact opposite of what the developers set out to do.

I keep hoping the developers realize how far off course they’ve wandered and take measures to correct course, but it’s looking more and more like they’re all-in with time gating, skinner boxes, and treadmills. That’s unfortunate – from where I’m sitting – because the game was supposed to be one that moves away from those kinds of things.

veasna.3675:

What title would you like to have displayed on your character when you are fully ascended from head to toe?

Jumper of Hoops

Vayne.8563:

darkace.8925:

What percentage of people who bought the game did so because of ideas like “everyone should have best in stat gear by the time they hit the level cap” or “we don’t make grindy games” or “our measure of success is ‘is it fun’”?

I’d wager it’s a far lower percentage than you think. FAR lower.

I’d take that wager in a heartbeat.

Vayne.8563:

I mean I heard those same words, and though it was nice, it wasn’t the reason I bought the game. It may have added to the list of reasons, but other reasons were far far more important to me.

That’s nice. Irrelevant, but nice.

Vayne.8563:

If you had to take a guess, what percentage of the players even know what vertical progression means?

What percentage of people who bought the game did so because of ideas like “everyone should have best in stat gear by the time they hit the level cap” or “we don’t make grindy games” or “our measure of success is ‘is it fun’”?

Leowulf.7658:

They did drop in beta and shortly after release. I don’t know when or why this stopped.

Really? You really don’t know why? I’ll give you a hint: it starts with a “Gem” and ends with a “Shop”.

Bars T Death.6451:

I would like to ask why do we get basic transmutation stone for mapping a lvl 80 area

Because they want you to buy Transmutation Crystals from the Gem Store. That said, I’d be thrilled if they implemented a Mystic Forge recipe allowing us to convert Stones to Crystals.

My warrior is more than a year old, and he’s been using a greatsword as a placeholder for a two-handed axe since day one. He’s growing impatient. Impatience will eventually turn to anger. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. So unless you want one very angry norn warrior banging down your door, give us two-handed axes soon.

Actually, while I’m at it…

WTB: Wizard’kitten

If you guys could also make a light armor helm akin to the town clothing item “Wizard’kitten” I’d also be one happy elementalist. All the hoods and masks and circlets just don’t do it for me. Thanks.

A request to the art team:

The tier 3 leather helm (Leather Mask) has a lens covering the left eye. If the next time new armor is added to the game we could get this same look with lenses covering both eyes I’d be one happy engineer. Thanks.

HiddenNick.7206:

Hmm… I think that if you’re not interested in any of the rewards then you don’t need to farm anything.

That’s all well and good, but that doesn’t solve the problem (as I see it). Every hour of manpower, every dime of the Living Story budget, every art asset, every design idea…every resource that goes into making content designed to give the reward-crowd a reason to log in is a resource that could have been, but wasn’t, spent giving the content-crowd a deeper experience.

Imagine that instead of updates every two weeks, updates with about an hour of story content and endless hours of farming temporary events for temporarily-available achievement points, mini-pets, and backpacks we had updates every six to eight weeks with hours of story, actual voiced dialogue for our characters, fewer menial tasks, and more permanent content. I don’t speak for everyone, but I’d certainly be happier with the latter.

To quote the great Tyler Durden, “This game has you grinding content you hate for rewards you don’t need. This is your game, and it’s dying one Living Story content update at a time.”

I loved what this game was envisioned to be. I loved what this game was at release. I was all in with Guild Wars 2 because efforts were made to make it something different than what the rest of the genre was offering…a game to be played because it’s fun, not because of carrots.

With each Living Story installment I see buckets of achievement points offered for menial tasks, rewards being locked behind time gates, and a reversal of the developers’ self-stated measure of success shifting from “is it fun” to “does it keep players logging in”.

I’m not against a Living Story, I’m just against the way it’s being utilized. I feel the Living Story should be used to deliver compelling content and game improvements, not as a system to deliver a never-ending stream of rewards designed to inflate the daily log in metric.

Steelo.4597:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Warrior's_Sprint ?

I was under the impression that only applied during combat. Am I mistaken?

Rainshine.5493:

Since cooking is the only one I find particularly fun … give us more recipes n ingredients Anet!

Thanks for the response.

With the addition of slabs of pork, fish, and honey they could add TONS of new meals to the game, and they could cover some of the stat combos currently missing from the game (condition duration/power, condition duration/precision, etc).

Mini-Big Nosed Ted is cool and all, but I think it’s time to start putting the “pet” back into “mini-pet”.

Ferguson.2157:

This is for you Darkace

Is that a slice of Craft cheese!? Get that crap out of here!

Avatara.1042:

Gonna eat me an ascended potato.

No! Don’t eat it! If you eat it, you’re going to have to spend another two weeks jumping through the time-gate hoops to make another.

Boars, pigs, pinipal, marmox, and whatever else is appropriate (quaggan?) should drop Slabs of Pork. This, in turn, could be used to cook everything from Grilled Pork Chops to Honeyed Ham to Sausages to Bacon (and all the wonderful dishes Bacon is contained within…Bacon Cheeseburgers, etc).

My warrior is more than a year old, and I still haven’t settled on an alternate weapon. I’d like to run the longbow for the few instances when melee isn’t a good idea and because the area of effect nature of the weapon makes it ideal for farming dynamic events with waves/clusters of mobs. I’d also like to run the warhorn since swiftness makes getting from Point A to Point B a much more efficient process. I don’t want to carry both, and I’m only going to trade my greatsword out for a two-handed axe.

So, any recommendations? Is there some way I can get the best of both worlds?

Olba.5376:

darkace.8925:

Olba.5376:

There aren’t even any Rare or Exotic foods.

By “ascended food” I’m referring to whatever we’ll make at the level cap…not the actual rarity of the food we’ll be making. Sorry for the confusion.

Well, since we don’t even have Rare nor Exotic food, what makes you think the devs think that they should add more?

Heck, even right now some foods are extremely powerful. Just look at all the topics complaining about some profession with Lemongrass Poultry Soup.

I honestly don’t see any reason why there should be any better foods when they’re already strong enough to take a weak profession to the point where everyone rages about it.

They have to add something. They’re not going to increase all crafts except cooking to 500.

Olba.5376:

There aren’t even any Rare or Exotic foods.

By “ascended food” I’m referring to whatever we’ll make at the level cap…not the actual rarity of the food we’ll be making. Sorry for the confusion.

If (when?) cooking is raised to 500, how are we going to make tier 7 foods? Chefs make consumables, and if the journey from 400 to 500 is anything like that of weaponsmith, huntsman, and artificers then it’s going to take forever (there are no raw materials to refine en masses from 400 to 425, there are no inscriptions to make, there surely won’t be time-gated materials to make at 450, etc). I’d hate for food to be too valuable (because of time or materials used) to justify using in dungeons, Fractals, etc.

So, any guesses on how the 400 to 500 gap for chefs is going to be closed and what the endgame is going to be?

Justdeifyme.9387:

Different Developement Teams.

Different. Developement. Teams.

While that’s technically true, it’s contextually false. If ArenaNet employs X people who make weapon and armor skins, and most (all?) of these are busy working on new weapon and armor skins for the Living Story (whether they’re available in-game or through the Gem Shop), then those are resources that could be but aren’t being used to address the issues with charr weapons and armor.

Doomdesire.9365:

Your argument failed when you said stealth can’t be countered, because it can, as I have already explained earlier. You can block, blind, dodge, cc when the thief tries to Cloak And Dagger or CC BP + HS.

Your argument failed when you assumed Cloak and Dagger and blocks, blinds, dodges, and crowd control skills shared equal cooldown timers.

raahk.2786:

Oh good, more people insulting my skill level while making assumptions. It was a hypothetical situation.

This is the last time I’m going to respond to you, because even though you’re dead wrong, you’ve convinced yourself you’re right and we’re all wasting our time trying to show you why you’re wrong.

raahk.2786:

You’re low on health, so you hide in shadows to stealth, heal, and get away from the multitude of people that are nearby. Instead, you’re met with the revealed mechanic and despite using dodges you’re still left with multiple conditions and downed instantly.

You just proved why you’re wrong on this subject. Why should thief, and ONLY thief, have the ability to engage a “multitude of people” with impunity because of stealth? EVERY other class in the the game – every last one of them – dies if they bite off more than they chew. But thief can stealth in, poke someone a few times, and stealth out. And you think a counter to this is broken? Please…

raahk.2786:

And please, point me in the direction of a build more viable then just the berserker, because I have yet to see it.

So you’re complaining that thief can’t “survive more than five seconds” without stealth out one side of your mouth and claiming that Berserker’s is the most viable build out the other? Okay…

raahk.2786:

But please continue to discount other’s opinions by making assumptions about how they play without actually knowing how they play.

Your opinions are factually incorrect, and thus WRONG. I don’t need to know how you play… if you claim thieves can’t survive without stealth then you’re wrong.

On the subject of Stealth and Reveal, I’d actually like to see ALL traps (and Engineer’s Mines) add Revealed when triggered by a Stealthed Thief.

raahk.2786:

A stealth-based thief will be completely crippled because a ranger has a single skill on their utility bar, and will then be left defenseless since he didn’t spec in to the acrobatics line and only has two dodges, with a maximum of four or five if using sword/dagger.

Yours might, mine won’t. If you can’t survive long enough for Reveal to wear off then you need to stop relying on stealth so you’ll learn to dodge, kite, use crowd control, and use terrain to your advantage. Or perhaps you need to stop running a one-trick-pony build and start running something a little more balanced? Either way, I can say with all certainty that stealth is NOT required for a thief’s survival.

Doomdesire.9365:

You haven’t explained why stealth isn’t a core mechanic yet. All you’ve done is say it isn’t and bring up an example that really doesn’t make sense. There are viable builds without snare removal for warriors. I don’t supposed you’ve ever seen a perplexity CC spamming warrior, have you?

We have, you’re just choosing not to acknowledge it. Because I can play my thief…well…without stealth, it CANNOT be core to the class. I can’t choose to not have Steal. I can’t choose to not have Initiative. I CAN choose to not have stealth. Therefore, it’s not core to the class.

Doomdesire.9365:

Stealth has an entire trait line for thieves. How is that not a core mechanic? There isn’t any entire trait line devoted to snare removal for warriors. The comparison doesn’t make sense.

By your reasoning, an “entire” trait line dedicated to Spirit Weapons means Spirit Weapons are a core mechanic for guardians. By your reasoning, an “entire” trait line dedicated to spirits means spirits are a core mechanic for rangers.

raahk.2786:

We have an entire trait line devoted to stealth, that isn’t an accurate or fair comparison in the least.

Which thief trait line has 3 minor traits and 12 major traits dedicated solely to stealth? None.

raahk.2786:

Meanwhile, I get low on health, use my heal that stealths me, and suddenly I’m revealed. No thinking, no anything, just hitting a button.

Because the heal itself doesn’t restore health, right? Just because YOU can’t survive without stealth doesn’t mean the class itself can’t survive without stealth. Try trading in some of your Berserker’s gear and using the other tools given to you before claiming your glass cannon build is too fragile to survive without stealth? If you rely upon stealth to survive then you’re using stealth as a crutch.

raahk.2786:

Oh boy, so at best a shadow step and the remnants of a mana system that was long since scrapped are our core mechanics, and not the very thing that allows thieves to last longer than five seconds in a fight.

Funny, my thief survives just fine without stealth. You know what allows every single class in the game to last longer than five seconds? Dodging.

raahk.2786:

Saying stealth isn’t the thief’s core mechanic is like saying that the engineer’s core mechanic isn’t swapping through kits since they have toolbelt skills.

Stealth is optional. Kits are optional. Something cannot be optional and core at the same time. That’s not what core means. Stealth is optional, Initiative is not. Kits are optional, toolbelt skills are not. Shouts are optional, Adrenaline is not. Minions are optional, Life Force is not.

Doomdesire.9365:

All three are a core mechanic. Steal and initiative by itself isn’t enough.

Yes, they are.

Doomdesire.9365:

Roll a S/P or P/P thief and you will see, without stealth thieves are all but useless. While there are some builds such as jumper’s S/D and the D/D evade build, they simply aren’t viable outside of spvp.

This statement is completely false. I have an d/d evasion thief, and it’s more than viable in WvW and PvE.

Doomdesire.9365:

Not to mention that stealth has an entire trait line for thief. If that doesn’t prove it’s a core mechanic then nothing will.

Thieves have an entire trait line for stealth? As in every one of the three minor and twelve major traits deal with stealth? No, they don’t. Saying they do is no more accurate than saying warriors have an entire trait line dedicated to shouts, therefore shouts are a core mechanic for warriors.

raahk.2786:

No, it isn’t. Thieves don’t stealth just to use sneak attack. Stealthing is the ONLY survivalist method thieves have outside of blind spam, and that’s only doable with offhand pistol.

Stealth is the only survivalist method available to thieves, aside from blind via offhand pistol? So thieves don’t have access to the following…?
– healing skills
– dodging
– two traits that offer Vigor
– the Acrobatics trait line
– crowd control skills
– Blind via utility skills
– Weakness

Avatara.1042:

What happens to the useless traits like Elementalist’s Burning Precision? It has a 30% chance, ON A CRITICAL, to do a 1 second burn. It seems like this useless trait will be even more useless with the duration conditions stacking change.

There is no doubt that some of the elementalist’s traits are completely worthless. I’m sure this can be said of all classes, but it’s very obvious with elementalist. The one you quoted is a shining example.

notebene.3190:

I’m sure in 11 pages someone has asked this, but I’m not going to read 11 pages :p

“We’re working on the staff in an effort to make it a stronger support weapon…”

Should I be nervous that the unsaid implication here is that we want the staff to ‘mostly’ be support, and in an effort to beef it’s support, for those of us who like to use the staff as our sole weapon (yes, everything else does more damage than a staff, I don’t care), you will reduce what damage it does do?

It’s always the things that aren’t written that kill.

You aren’t alone. I’ve already voiced my concern. Sure, the staff can be used as a support skill set. But I use mine solely as an aoe damage and aoe cc skill set. If they nerf this aspect of it in an effort to push it as the support skill set I’ll retire my eleementalist. And that would be a shame, considering I’ve already retired my ranger because of the changes to longbow.

ThiBash.5634:

The main issue with the staff is its ability to land its spells. Supportwise, it’s in a pretty good place already. Minor things like making Lava Font deal its damage at the START of the second instead of at the END, making projectiles travel faster and maybe a small buff to non-fire auto attack damage would adress most of this.

That’s part of the problem. It’s compounded by a lack of weapon swapping. Even if the staff was a perfect support weapon, if it can’t be used to inflict damage then it’s never going to be useful in 5v5 PvP. You can’t support your teammates with your staff then swap to d/d or s/f when fighting in a one vs one situation. You’re stuck with the staff. That means the staff must be able to cover everything another class can squeeze out of two weapon sets.

Doomdesire.9365:

I disagree entirely with the change to “Sic EM”. I don’t think that’s the direction this game should be headed. Being able to disable core mechanics is a no go for me. Stealth is a core mechanic, and the introduction of Sic Em is like having an ability to disable

- Guardian Virtues
- Mesmer Clones
- Ranger Pets
- Warrior Adrenaline
- Necro Deathshroud
- Engi kits
- Ele Attunement swap

with the use of a single skill, specifically aimed at that class. While some may argue that thieves aren’t the only players who can use stealth, they still are the only class who relies heavily on it, and without, cannot survive (see P/P or S/P).

I also don’t agree with the “no counter” to stealth argument, because aside from D/P, any dagger offhand build that relies on stealth is easily countered by dodging CnD, blocking CnD, or blinding the thief, even well timed CCs. On my guardian I found that I could effectively deny a thief much of his stealth simply by negating Cloak And Dagger. Even D/P has it’s counters through the use of pulls and pushes.

Giving a passive ability to ranger pets which would allow them to see and attack stealthed enemies is a good idea, allowing said pet to reveal enemy is not.

Just my opinion…

Stealth is NOT Thief’s “core mechanic”, Steal and Initiative are.

While I’m requesting the undoing of bad changes, how about Mug? Before, it was a great opener/gap closer. The critical was just gravy. Now, for whatever reason, it’s a heal. So now players must choose whether or not to use Mug to open/close gap or hold it in reserve for a secondary heal. Given the choice, I’d much rather have Mug crit than heal.