Guild Wars 2

At lower levels I see a decent amount of engis running around, but the number thins out as you go higher. At level 80 I see few engis.

It is arguably the most unforgiving class in the game, IMHO, and that is a turn off for many players. They actually did statistics of this… let me find… Ah ha! From August 2013:

https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1c2c9GW2_Anniv_Infographic-590x3215.jpg

We represent about 10% of the players. Tied with Mesmers for least popular. Of note, is that GW2s distribution is remarkably flat. Other MMOs have had clear “winning” classes.

DeWolfe.2174:

Oh, while I might have your eye’s for a moment, maybe a video covering the importance of food, utility, and stacking buffs please? The majority of players I’ve been in zone with today haven’t had any. With a DPS check like the Knights, I figured players would know to come ready to hit hard but, I don’t think players care enough or simply know enough about the mechanics of foods and utilities beyond magic find. That everyone knows well it seems.

It is shocking given the sheer amount of Scarlet Enemy potions that people have how infrequently I see them popped. I try to drop a platter of truffle steaks at my knight to try to encourage better DPS.

One could make the case that they currently want people to partake in the LS rather than “buying” the experience off the TP. After it’s conclusion, they might un-account bound them.

That said, I just wish I could put them in my collections. Especially since the Gift of Sprockets is dropping them now.

FYI

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-March-4-2014/first#post3728923

Aveneo.2068:

Still wondering if it’s just a skin or if it actually has different audio and visual effects though.

I have a Scarlet’s Kiss
Can’t speak to any specific visual effects other than just looking pretty by combining the aesthetics of all the Scarlet alliances.

That said, it does have a unique firing sound. I’d describe the shot as being deeper and with this hallow energy noise. Then it has a gear grinding and ratchet reload noise. It is subtle, and not overt like the Predator or Quip.

DeWolfe.2174:

Autumn Frazee.3158:

The Assault knights were intended to be a fight that players had to split up and fight at the same time

I really wish Arenanet would make this clear by making a tutorial video before the patch even goes live. It would save players from SO much hostility in map chat. I do like trying to figure things out for myself but, not in a hostile environment.

And yes, it seemed perfectly clear we were to split into 3 groups. The portals right next to the Knights was a big enough sign

This is important to note. In GW1 there were non-rendered cut scenes and OSD info that would guide you through mission objectives. In this event, consider:

1.) You run through the portal to LA for the first time and are given a scouting report that you cannot skip.

2.) The report shows the map of LA and explains:

• The location of the generals with recon that might explain their weakness (See: The yelling in mapchat when people fight the cannoneer and the zerg beats on him for 30m instead of dragging him into the laser)
• Location of the miasma events with a note to take them down simultaneously for large rewards
• A report of large monstrous watchwork knights in key locations that must be brought down simultaneously.

This avoids people yelling at each other in map chat, provides a “baseline” strategy that all players are exposed to, and sets a “plot device” to explain mechanics. It is a fine line to walk between hand holding and creative encounter mechanics.

Taisia.2813:

For a limited time event, looting 15 champ bags PER HOUR is not a huge deal… Don’t give them ideas to even take this away… This is the finale of season 1, they need to be generous a little bit…

That and the chest at the end of the holo fight, don’t forget.

I am not suggesting they get rid of it. I am saying that it is short sighted to design that as the reward for the encounter and then be surprised that folks aren’t “fighting the Knights the way we intended them too.” One does not necessarily preclude the other. That said, now that the loot cat is out of the bag, they will have to walk a fine line to restore order and still provide incentive reward.

If I had to shoot the hip, and wanted to control the zerg ball, I would use distance (like with the triple wurm), force fields (like with the marionette), or both.

Autumn Frazee.3158:

The Assault knights were intended to be a fight that players had to split up and fight at the same time, it is one of the issues we are currently looking at. The Scarlet Holo fight begins 5 minutes after the first Knight’s death; originally, this was not an issue because a map divided into groups of three would take down the Knights within 5 minutes of each other. However, with recent player tactic changes…

…for the time being, I encourage you to encourage your fellow players to wait to kill the first Knight until a time where the other two Knights are closer to death.

Not to be glib, but as a long time D&D GM, this is a page out of Encounter Design 101:

“A player alone is merely creative. Players working together are devious and WILL break your encoutner.”

Believe me, I welcome the changes in the LS encounters that are forcing people to think and be strategic, but the PvE meta does not lend itself to that. To wit, leveling from 1-80, running dungeons, and the QD & FSG champ trains all encourage “stack and spank”. As a QA team, you had to have considered that given the carrot of a potential 15 champ bags that folks were going to find a way to get credit for all three.

I wish you the best of luck and success in coming up to a quick and fair solution to this.

Hebee.8460:

I think a solution to this would be to port to scarlet’s lair entrance as it is just out of range of her gun.

I think a 10 second invulnerability when teleporting in would be a solid solution as well since she very well may have fired at someone standing by that door.

zexion.5842:

I would like to point out for “No More Tricks Scarlet” that after the scorch marks visual disappears the effect still stays for about 2 seconds even after the visual is gone. Ruining the achievement for people who move over it.

I think this is a bona fide bug with the scorch attacks. I’ve been trying to warn folks, but it makes the ach that much harder to get. Especially during the ultraviolet phase. Combine that with the teleporting in and immediately being scorched and it makes it very frustrating.

Disclosure – I got both of these achs last night.

I hate to say it, but I read a suggestion of getting two or three hits in with no conditions on the right attunement and then running around avoiding damage and ressing people for the rest of the fight.

Did it tonight. Got both on first try.

Another vote to please add these to a collection. They are almost as bad as Bloodstone Dust. XD

Another brother in celestial arms! Yay! XD

We have some key differences, FWIW.

I gave up on using Shrapnel and Incendiary Powder in favor of taking Forceful Explosives, Short Fuse, and using Condition Duration food. And in Firearms I took Infused Percision and Rifled Barrels. While not taking Precise Sights was a hard choice, I found that Steelpacked powder did the job well, and in non-solo play conditions get unwieldy and stack up fast. As for dealing with conditions, I found that even with knockback and blind, they still could get the better of me. With that in mind, I decided to sacrifice some damage and take 20 in alchemy and use EG. This gives me access to Transmute, HT Overcharge, and EG#5 to help deal with them should they get out of hand. As a bonus, with as often as I crit (50%) Vigerous is up nearly constantly and I can also take Protection Injection or Backpack Regenerator if I am getting chewed up in WvW. Lastly, I use full travelers runes.

For the hybrid build this lets me:

• BK’s effectiveness goes through the roof with Forceful Explosives, IMHO
• GK & BK benefit from shorter cool downs to keep conditions on
• Since you get getting some tough and vit from taking celest, you shouldn’t feel as scared to drive by with BK
• Use BK#2 to apply burning on more targets more often
• Use GK#2 to apply bleed stacks on more targets more often
• Stronger range to help land Pistol#3 and all EG skills
• Have a stun break
• Stronger survivability and boon duration

The ONLY bad side in this, I have found, is that the increased Toughness and Vitality (compared to everyone else likely having zerker or assassin) and using a shield makes it more likely for you to pull mobs as it is part of the theoretical “aggro formula.”

Keep playing with it. I’ve found it to be very versitile and helpful to the overall success of dungeon encounters and a havok squad/solo wvw.

RyuDragnier.9476:

…along with No Free Meal.

This one works. Took me 10 tries due to random Heirloom farmers running into the combat or literal trolls who get cocooned on purpose and then sit there.

Everyone needs to keep some distance and stay close-ish together, if possible. You have to jump on cocoons and cocooned folks have to spam 1 to get out faster (does the most damage to cocoon).

My thoughts on overflows:

1.) Make it a guild upgrade consumable (like bounty or puzzle), but it would be awesome if guild officers could “generate” private instances for large scale content like this (Teq, Wurm, etc… immediately spring to mind). The high influence and merit costs would prevent people from abusing it and help ensure guilds could fight together when/if they wanted to.

2.) Overflows need to consolidate more often. I know some folks who don’t even realize they are in an overflow with only about a dozen people post-event when there is an exodus to merchants and the TP.

Sort of, but not completely related… the LS is making a somewhat, welcomed IMHO, paradigm shift away from “stack and spank” to thoughtful or strategic boss fights. The problem is that levels 1-80 and the PS do not encourage that sort of thought. So, when people are suddenly thrust into encounters that are completely divergent from the rest of the game’s content when they can spam the 1 key, it causes anger and frustration to them and to those trying to convey strategy. Worse, many folks turn off map chat because they are “tired of being lectured at” or “tired of no one listening”.

My two copper anyway.

Arnon.1563:

Thanks for explaining the move into laser thing. I was yelling in map chat during the fight to ask if anyone knew what aether attack was. Of course no one responded an people beat on it forever.

Yeah, it wasn’t super clear initially. Once I read that the achievement was to avoid getting hit by said laser, it clicked.

Talonblaze.3175:

Ayrilana.1396:

Wait until the epilogue in two weeks.

Especially considering its also coupled with alot of other changes to boot.

Just a quick note, next week is a “maintenance” patch not a the “feature and balance” patch people have been anticipating. There has been no firm date set for the later other than “after the conclusion of LS season1.”

FWIW, my assumption would be April for “feature and balance” given that next week is maintenance and epilogue, and April 1st falls on the following Tuesday which means we will likely see the return of the SAB on its first anniversary.

I’ve gotten it after 7 attempts.

You have to keep calling cocoon and try to encourage people to range. If they just run in and go toe to toe and spam the 1 key, it is very likely you will get someone eaten. Speaking of spamming the 1 key, those in the cocoons need to remember to do that as well.

This and the cannoneer were the two most frustrating fights cause of the zerg. Some of us were screaming ourselves hoarse to move the guy into the laser, but because they were doing minimal damage they’d rather take 30 minutes to kill him than strategize at all. In fact! Some even were complaining it was bugged cause they couldn’t just stack and spank.

I appreciate that ANet is shaking that trend with the LS stuff, but man when people are coming up through the ranks, doing the QD or FGS trains, or lots of dungeons and fractals where that sort of stuff still works, it is not all that surprising that translates into what it does for more challenging LS content.

Not me, but shared on Reddit:

http://imgur.com/a/TVWM7

Okay… fine ANet… we can talk to each other again.

This one is short and sweet. While these are visually disappearing, they are still present and doing damage for about 2 seconds.

New Prime Bug.

Phase 2 (Red/Green/Blue Holos)

You have to kill the large holos that then split into smaller ones. On FA main, we killed the green and the minis, the red and the minis, and then when we killed blue no minis appeared. The fight went straight to Phase 3. The ultraviolet holo minis dying near the main one would not damage it and the huge AoE buff they lower was out of sync.

Happening on an OF I am in right now.

Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise to be sure.

I don’t have the time to speak long about gear and your build, per se. I’ll answer, for now, the easy stuff.

1.) Be careful with Flamethrower in WvW. Retaliation will eat you alive with the #1 skill.

2.) You’ll need Transmutation Crystals either dropped as rewards for zone exploration completion, or bought on the Gem Store.

3.) If you plan on transmuting most of your stuff, the cheapest way to get your exotic gear will likely be to buy emblazoned armor with the stats you want. Or, if you plan on crafting, craft emblazoned and then transmute it to the skins you want.

4.) Look over this FT/EG build guide if that is what you want to run long term. Phineas Poe did a LOT of work on research and comments.

5.) Remember that kit damage is set to exotic already at level 80 and can only be modified by the stats of your gear and not the “damage” of your weapon.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/72009-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-flamethrower-and-elixir-gun/

Good luck.

Page 2? That won’t do.

Stick around little thread and maybe you too can have a birthday party like the hobosack one soon!

The primary thread for this just celebrated it’s first birthday and has been on the first page just as long. Which makes the silence on the matter all the more deafening.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Hobo-Sacks-A-Terrible-Fashion-Statement/

Fay.2735:

CC Danicia.1394:

Zypher.7609:

fadeaway.2807:

Can I suggest a mini taimi available to all with a portion of profits going to a multiple sclerosis related charity?

Can someone create a new post about this, along with a reddit post?

No new posts needed; feedback thread has already been passed along.

There will be a charity event for MS in mid April (Same as last year) run by the same people behind Pink Day in LA. If you do decide to make the mini. Would it be at all possible that it could be released on the same day as the charity event? (Exact date yet to be announced) and that some of it’s the proceeds go to MS charity that would be so great! Here is the website with last years details on it:

http://toga.gamergivingback.com/

(Slightly off-topic but if we similarly could get some support for Pink Day in LA next time it comes around that would also be awesome)

I’d send your info to community@arena.net as well. That is the address they have provided in the past for collaborative event announcements.

I am still holding out that the LS will end with every class getting either an elite or utility skill themed from the event. Totally spit balling:

Necro
Summon Watchwork Minion – RNG – One of the various watchwork beasts fights at your side

Ele
Molten Tornado – Summon some of those annoying knockback fire tornadoes

Warrior
Aetherblade Shield – Limited self invulnerability

Guardian
Molten Protector Shield – Not as long as NPC varient, but an AoE invulnerability

Engineer
Watchwork Kit – Various tools/attacks used by Scarlet’s minions

Thief
Nightmare Toxin – DoT and summons a hallucination when applied

Mesmer
Aetherblade Tactics – AoE Stun and Confusion

Ranger
Nightmare Pit – Trap – Cripple, Poison, and summons a hallucination

These sound more like elites now that I type them out. You get the idea though? Thoughts? Come up with your own?

Harper.4173:

Proposal Overview

Create more fractals that are in some way related to GW1 or GW2 Lore.

Goal of Proposal

More content will incentivize players to start doing or come back to FOTM.

Proposal Functionality

If the added fractals would be related to lore in any way it could attract large numbers of players – we all remember the reaction of the player base to the possibility of a Abaddon fractal.

I cannot upvote this enough. Fractals related to GW1 would be great. A few that spring to mind:

• Boss Fights (Rurick/Lich, Shiro [First fight with the Jade Wind], Abbadon, Ossa vs. Joko, Great Destroyer, etc…)
• Major Events (Sinking of Orr, Searing of Ascalon, Ascension, Defeat of the Flame Legion, Unification of Cantha, etc…)

Anywho… maybe my nostalgia is too strong, but I was just giddy thinking of the possibilities.

I also support this idea. Lots of gem armor I would like to get or have got that I wished I could have just picked up one piece.

Engis and Eles get the most out of celest, it’s true.

That said, with the changes to crit (and other mechanics) happening in March still somewhat up in the air, you might consider holding off on committing to anything specific.

Looks like some bugs might finally get squashed.

From the preview thread.

Engineer:
We’ve fixed a lot of turret issues that were causing them to behave poorly or inconsistently (many of these issues have been reported via the bug forums, thanks guys!) In the coming patch, you’ll see quite a few improvements in this area. For example:

• Fixed the bug that was causing all turrets to have a lower rate of fire than intended.
• Fixed the bug that was preventing the overcharge for the Rifle Turret from increasing its rate of fire.

Ashabhi.1365:

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

Now it could be really heart-wrenching if you found the charr that kid was talking to digging and clawing at a collapsed and wrecked building, yelling,
‘Raisin! Come on, say something!’

Agreed….

I wish ANet would read this and actually put him in somewhere, if they haven’t already….

Raisin, Where are you?!?!?!?!?!?

I like the idea, but they probably can’t do that. The ESRB has some rules about showing children being put in peril.

Is the new Zodiac armor a limited time offering, or will it stick around like the other gem store armors?

You appear on the platform as if you had used to the “Exit Airship” crystal. This is just like the royal terrace where you login outside the gates.

piffdaddy.8014:

One word: Nexon. This was all done for money. If you don’t believe it look into nexon and their latest investment….I would say more but I don’t want to be forum banned/ censored.

The secret password is “punch and pie”. We’ll meet at the Lion statue and we’ll reveal this nefarious conspiracy for what it is!

Why else would vigil keep conveniently leave out the crafting stations that everyone needs because of the new ascended back pieces that came with this update? Also, to my knowledge there is no where to spend guild commendations without air ship pass

1.) Go to another capital city.
2.) Go to another capital city.
3.) Go to another capital city.

The is a brave new world outside of Lion’s Arch. I know people are scared. It will be okay.

Fungalfoot.7213:

The area in question, as I clearly noted in my post, is without a doubt paywalled so I’m going to have to throw that accusation right back at you. I made no mention of the services themselves which can certainly be found in other areas.

Throw it back all you’d like, it won’t stick. All the services that were in LA are available by using the keep or the other cities. You pay $0 to get to all that. You might have to alt-tab for an additional 20 seconds. Tragic.

My points were (and no one wants to talk about):

• People wanted the LS to actually change the landscape of the game physically and culturally. This update did that, and now people are crying that it did that. Be careful what you wish for I guess.

• War sucks and often makes things inconvenient. I know from the safety and comfort our first world homes that may be lost on some people, but that is how it is. So, I appreciate the genuineness of people having to “feel a little pain” now that a capital city is under attack.

This is by design in order to encourage people to open their wallets and pay for the convience of getting it all in one place. Nobody wants to sit through more loading screens than necessary.

Man, I wish I had your omniscience. You know they designed it that way for a fact? That’s incredible. We can just call this thread closed then.

The reason why the royal terrace never took off was because Lion’s Arch remained the premier option. Why spend precious gems when you’ve already got a perfectly fine hub at your disposal?

The same reason I used Rata Sum until the one day sale of a permanent ticket; quiet map chat and no spazzy people blasting AoEs and dropping fun boxes in front of NPCs. The Terrace still gets DR chat, but since no one was there and in LA all the time, it was quiet as well. Also, aside from there being no MF, Rata and the Grove are superior for travel between the bank, TP, and crafting.

With Lion’s Arch gone I’m not sure things will be that simple. I reckon that permanent pass has been a real big seller for them. Time will tell but I can’t help but view the move as exceedingly tasteless.

Considering I am sitting on about 32 one use passes, it will be hard to tell how long it will be popular. Even now, on a very high pop server, the airship sits pretty vacant. It will probably be more so after the consumables run out.

All that said, here is the one thing ANet has absolutely failed at with regard to this topic: they are not communicating with their players. A simple response that clarifies their intent would go a long way to easing the vitriol.

Good news is, that the “invisible” counter is still working.

Since patch, keeps going to 0. Please advise.

Fungalfoot.7213:

digitalruse.9085:

As a complete OT aside…

The idea of a singular central town that everyone gathers in is, IMHO, weak tea. If LA never comes back, and Vigil Keep is nothing more than a gate hub, I’d love this. Capital cities should feel full and vibrant, not abandoned wastelands.

I fully agree with that and I support the destruction of Lion’s Arch.

I do not support paywalled convenience areas like the airship, however. That to me seems counterintuitive to the goal of bringing cities alive again. Given the choice most players would undoubtedly conduct all of their affairs on that puny ship.

Using the term “paywalled” is disingenuous and I assume people continue to use it for the purposes of rhetoric. It is not like there is a service that only exists in the terrace or on the airship. Yes, you have to hop around a bit while the continent is at war. One could make the case, from a lore/story standpoint, war is and should be inconvenient. People can’t ask for engaging and world altering content and then be mad when the world is altered.

As far as lots of people in these convenience areas are concerned, as a long time user of the Royal Terrace on a very high pop server, I can tell you that is not the case once the event is over and consumable tickets are used up. At most, I see 12 or so people in there at a time. Even guesting on Blackgate there have been very few people on there.

I am still willing to believe and give ANet the benefit of that doubt that worst case this was a simple oversight. I think they will ultimately have to put a MF in every capital city to spread people out. That just seems to be a magnet for the population for whatever reason. The lore behind it was weak and a little cludgy as it was, so I don’t think there will be any love lost if they do that. Heck, Zorromos might insist on it give LA’s track record.

As a complete OT aside…

The idea of a singular central town that everyone gathers in is, IMHO, weak tea. If LA never comes back, and Vigil Keep is nothing more than a gate hub, I’d love this. Capital cities should feel full and vibrant, not abandoned wastelands.

As someone who just got their completed Fractal Capacitor, this makes me extra sad so I want to talk about it more. Either let us hide them, or let us equip kit “skins” in the extra weapon slots that are grayed out doing nothing.

(P.S. – I also wish I could hide my shield while not in combat.)

Here is my Asura Engi.

Also went for the piecemeal look that captures some cultural as well as PS stuff for the character while trying to stay techno based (though not a roleplayer). I love the Asuran aesthetic, I just wish the medium T3 Asuran armor was a nice as the Heavy and Light stuff. Oh well.

Head: Anonymity Hood
Shoulders: Magitech
Coat: Aetherblade
Pants: Order of Whispers
Gloves & Boots: Asuran T3
Pistol: Quip
Shield: Diamond Aegis

PrinceCola.5620:

Mokkaimuri.6420:

The armor has never changed but the weapons have gotten better over time. Also aetherized weapons have an awesome engy-feel.

Please tell me what armor this is!

Sorry for bumping :/

T3 Asuran Cultural

mrstealth.6701:

digitalruse.9085:

Two sayings immediately spring to mind: “When you see hoof prints, look for horses, not zebras” and “Never attribute to malice that which is easily explained by carelessness or stupidity”

The most reasonable scenario, as far as I can see with the facts I have, is that acting on player demand that the LS have a greater impact, LA was destroyed. Knowing full well that people depend on LA to stand in front of the bank and show off… I mean have convenient access to services, ANet relocates many of those services to Vigil Keep. In the process, crafting locations are overlooked as bringing up Asura gates to cities, WvW, and Fractals likely took a higher priority.

I would find that to be a reasonable explanation, if they hadn’t remembered put all of those services into that airship. There are quite a few much less important NPCs/services that made it into that camp, as well.

The problem is we just don’t know. A lack of facts cannot be filled with baseless theories. People are angry and looking for a villian when there likely is none. You have to work with what you got. Maybe the Vigil Keep team and the Airship team were different? Maybe the airship was originally going to be instanced and not part of GF but moved later due to development crunches?

I am not an ANet apologist, believe me. As someone whose IRL job is related to IT and customer service, communication is paramount. So, if there is anything to hold them to account to it is a lack of that. Which is ironic considering the lengths they are willing to go through for the CDI process. But, all this other conspiracy nonsense is unhelpful.

Unlike the royal terrace that prominently features it’s Asura portal, the airship has the helmsman (which on reflection makes sense as who you would talk to travel). That said, they look like any other cosmetic NPC.

Would it be possible to place the portal icon next to their name (much like the bank, TP, and crafting NPCs) and on the mini map to help all current and future folks find this service?

Thanks

The level of rhetoric, as always, has reached unhealthy levels. Both sides are “at fault” in this discussion as far as I can tell.

Players

• Complain that LA is too full and laggy
• Asked for the LS to make permanent changes to the world
• ANet goes for the gold and bombs LA forcing players to spread out to the other capitals or locations
• Players unhappy with a paradigm shift blame it on a perceived cash grab

ANet

• Stated publicly that all LA services could be found at Vigil Keep temporarily
• Crafting locations did not make it to the Keep due to oversight, logistical, or technical reasons

Two sayings immediately spring to mind: “When you see hoof prints, look for horses, not zebras” and “Never attribute to malice that which is easily explained by carelessness or stupidity”

The most reasonable scenario, as far as I can see with the facts I have, is that acting on player demand that the LS have a greater impact, LA was destroyed. Knowing full well that people depend on LA to stand in front of the bank and show off… I mean have convenient access to services, ANet relocates many of those services to Vigil Keep. In the process, crafting locations are overlooked as bringing up Asura gates to cities, WvW, and Fractals likely took a higher priority.

Remedy

• Players take a chill pill and put the tin foil away
• ANet makes a public statement explaining why it didn’t happen and puts crafting locations near the Keep even if it is not done in the sexiest or most “plot friendly” way

Everyone wins and we can focus on more interesting and important things

The ship is also missing the ability to travel to any town as advertised.

Where is the quick travel to towns? All I saw is the exit and that popped me to the refugee camp.

1.) Engineer
2.) Ranger
3.) Necro

(#3 was a close call between Ele or Necro, TBQH)