Guild Wars 2

There are many times when class changes are announced or general class design are in hot debate this clip comes to mind..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cHrybItu1E&t=7m52s
I wanted to share this so maybe we can see the point of view from the other side.. and not be too quick to judge changes until we can assess the full effect..

also maybe see the thought process, man hours, testing, debugging, that goes into each decision..

that given player feedback is essential and vital and a healthy balance is needed..

if anything this is to highlight the pressure our devs/creators can be under and I thought that clip captured it perfectly..

I recently remembered an old series that many GW2 players will relate to but may have never seen..

So I wanted to share this master piece for the mmorpg community to enjoy..

http://www.youtube.com/user/watchtheguild

How much does this relate to your experience with GW2?

Lazy.2389:

Hi there,

I used to play a lot of spvp and had many tickets stored in my bank. I guess I missed the update saying they needed to be traded on. Checked in my bank and they have gone. Has anyone else had this issue or am I being an idiot?

Thanks!

they will be in the pvp locker.. at the bottom

Linguistically Inept.6583:

what if the guard has condition removal and/or teleport (JI/blinding blade)? you dont have to wait/destroy entangle to get out of it…

Then if it fails I can still decap after 3-4 full knock backs and if they have to get up and run back. The cooldown is only 15secs so I can push them off quite often.

Durzlla.6295:

firebreathz.7692:

Durzlla.6295:

Just wanna let you know that frost armor, prot, and bark skin all stack, so you can get up to 73% dmg reduction… Oh so many angry thieves have hit me during that very short but godly period….

PS: GS 3 + Frost trap = frost aura.

EDIT: if you’re a bunker why use sick’em and QZ? Take frost trap and protect me + 2 moas or a bear + Moa instead, the goal of a bunker is to not die, not to kill things…

nice tip will definitely try out the frost armor..

i’ve since swapped out sick’em because its bugged, yes my main aim is to stay alive but i still like a lil bit of burst to help when needed

Sick’Em is actually only bugged if you use it BEFORE your pet begins attacking, so if you swap pets you gotta have your pet attack (attack doesn’t need to land) the target before using the shout.

when I tested on my birds it was wiping on the swiftness buff they do and that was the deal breaker for me.. I dont want a semi reliable skill.. I seem to getting comparable results from flame trap and I also get a nice fire aura from it too

the two main builds you want to be looking at is the trapper build for high dps or the healing bm bunker build for close point or far point..

just do a quick search for trapper build or bunker build to see the variations

Wanderer.5471:

in my experience usually he will have aegis, so u should use auto-atk first. Also it’s a very long cast and obvious animation and guards have plenty of projectile-blocking abilities as well as stability so it’s hardly foolproof , but if u make it work good luck to ya.

ye I make sure I’ve hit them first to remove aegis.. it can be hard to pull of the first shot but I usually wait until the fight is a bit more chaotic so he cant easily see me about to cast. If I do mess it up it’s only 15s CD till i can try again.

have been using this for weeks now it’s been working well

Durzlla.6295:

Just wanna let you know that frost armor, prot, and bark skin all stack, so you can get up to 73% dmg reduction… Oh so many angry thieves have hit me during that very short but godly period….

PS: GS 3 + Frost trap = frost aura.

EDIT: if you’re a bunker why use sick’em and QZ? Take frost trap and protect me + 2 moas or a bear + Moa instead, the goal of a bunker is to not die, not to kill things…

nice tip will definitely try out the frost armor..

i’ve since swapped out sick’em because its bugged, yes my main aim is to stay alive but i still like a lil bit of burst to help when needed

nerva.7940:

firebreathz.7692:

just because you dont understand the reason does not make it “wrong”

oh i understand the reason. youre playing a kitten bunker build. what kind of burst do you hope to survive without the 3 spammable evades from s/d? obviously u havent actually played bunker against decent opponents.

I see your point i have alot less survivability by not having those evades..

The reason I first kept the gs over s/d was while using those evades I would jump off the node and when I do that often I’d lose the cap point easily, so to be on the node more consistently I made that choice and sacrifice to keep the gs.

and I’m relying on my twitch skills far more than I should to avoid burst but I see that as intensive training and if or when I do change later to have the luxury of those evades I’ll be better off for it

I can swap weapons too…

I use it as a weapon but only point blank, shot 10% vulnerability and barrage… so it’s not a completely wasted weapon..

why wait for others when I can do it myself..

The damage may be dismal but I’m sick of people telling not to use the weapon..

This weapon has one main use in my eyes

decapping a node

So there is that guardian on the node that takes an age to kill…

I walk up to him, hit point blank shot then root him out of the node while I cap it..

If i mis / he breaks root before i cap then its only 15s till i can push him off again and atleast decap

lets not forget that nice 10% vulnerability debuff

So please stop imposing your lack of insight into me using this weapon..

@nerva.7940 the shout was for QZ + sick’em CD reduction but i have since swapped out cus of the bug with sic’em

yes i use a longbow for a very good reason.. i can decap a node with a guardian on well before he dies.. by pushing him off with the knock back ability.. helping my team win..

i had dwayna runes but i found even tho i have loads of stacks of regen i couldn’t stay alive so i swapped for protection..

just because you dont understand the reason does not make it “wrong”

@Battosai.5620 the only reason for GS is the block interrupt and leap for combo’s those are really my only reasons.. but nice build btw

GS is not the only differences to our builds.. and GS in not just a one trick pony that is mobility.. i use for the block knock back just as much.. and it also deals damage to more than one target on the node..

the biggest difference i saw was you have empathetic bond where i have bark skin..

that 30% is a life saver and to me offers better usage than 3 condi’s wiped every 10 secs as they will still do the damage in between the wipes.. and i have healing spring for condi removal.. not the best but it does fine

I don’t deny you have a great build there.. you just dismissed mine without seeing it’s plus points

your build is different for a different role…

the main difference is bark skin.. I use this for staying alive on a node for Tpvp i mean 30% reduced damage while under 25% has saved my life more than I can tell you..

here is a pic of my build if your still having trouble viewing

lay traps at feet…
attack the air in hopes of hitting them..
be ready to dodge..
go keybind the the 180 turn key..
use knock backs..
LB 2 can track through stealth..
listen for the combo if u cant see straight away..
burst the hell out him..
use pet f2 if he downs you.. amount of times thats saved me..

I also just saw you have circle of life in the natures magic tree.. is there a specific reason for this? as i can see 2 better traits on that line

natures protection and natures bounty both are way better than a healing spring poping up when u die

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

Wanderer.5471:

hey guy, i’d say sharpened edges, because you’re using pets with a very low crit chance and you have no way to give them fury, whereas you yourself will be critting most of the time.

Btw i know you didn’t ask for feedback on the rest of the build but on ur sigils, i didn’t think u could stack both condition dmg and power even if 1 is on underwater set, perhaps i’m wrong?

Also I think speed training is and certainly commanding voice is useless if you swap your pets whenever their cooldowns are up, though i don’t know your playstyle – if you have 1 pet out for long periods of time they might be useful

Also you have no condition removal, again don’t know what you’re planning on using the build for so that may not be relevant if your allies are cleansing you etc?

Thanks for your help and feedback , but I need commanding voice so that I can use the 2 drakes skills as much as possible ( swaping cooldown is 15 while F2 cooldown is 24 > when traited )
You are right about speed training , which will be more useful to me ? Mighty swap , master’s bond or compassion training ? Will master’s bond reset when I swap pets ?
What about rending attack as I got drakes and shark ?

Let me just jump in here and point out one massive reason not to take sharpening edges a sec…

so you use a short bow yes? and a shortbow can apply bleeds at will from the side or back of target… with every shot…

so you already have the ability to make them bleed at will… why do you need another on crit?

IMO 30% crit on pets is better

masters bond resets on swap.. might swap is pretty good if u swap alot.. compassion training only to keep pet alive of if u use fern hound healing to increase it..

your better off with might swap i’d say as drake basic attacks are slow for bleeds

just dont move for a sec after the stake hits the ground and you’ll get the kill..

gives it a sec to calculate..

Don’t forget the leap so is especially good at catching up to high mobility classes of just being awesome to move about..

Eagle was critting for 2k pre patch and now cannot get above 1.7k post patch

Rerroll.9083:

i also think the orb should be spawned in one side of the corpse

but then it’s more exposed to the enemy then as well and might end up being less of an advantage..

Moddo.7105:

And this is why Anet does not have a combat log to text file function in this game like every other MMO ever made. It keep people guessing and harder for us to show bugs therefore they don’t have to worry about people seeing more bugs.

pet damage is not even in the combat log…

slingblade.1437:

I watched my fern hound track and hit a thief at 1500 range last night. It was pretty cool because there were a half dozen allies around me that had no idea where the thief was, but I watched my good puppy dog run in a straight line down a slight ridge, out of sight, and then saw white numbers pop up. It may not work all the time, but it works part of the time, at least.

thats culling… not stealth..

Frosty and Frosty Law Firm.4981:

It’s a lie.

Firstly, what kind of awful thief can’t beat a RANGER?

Secondly, I went to WvWvW and tried with three different sets of pets. With some backup from my warrior buddy, I got my pets to attack him, he stealthed. They then stood there for a solid six seconds and then ran back to my side. The thief then re-materialized about a hundred meters later, completely unharmed and unbothered, or a similar scenario.

With some backup from my warrior buddy, I got my pets to attack him, he stealthed.

can warriors stealth now of did i miss that?

it’s not that they attack while the enemy is stealthed.. it’s that they keep aggro and go to reattack after they come out of stealth without the need for the ranger to tell him to do so every time…

just a UI bug you have those runes on your pvp chars so it shows them on the UI but the stats dont carry over.. its a old bug..

there is a difference.. it depends if you use your pet for constant damage or spike damage..

constant damage play styles wont notice it as much,
but if you have a
spike damage play style then you will notice it far more often

Solandri.9640:

ski.4927:

And you folks that tested this and saw NO change from before are all BM specced?

Yup. The times I recorded a month ago were with a 10/20/10/0/30 build with all the pet traits (rending attacks for BM master trait). No change in kill times between then and today (to within a few seconds – most of the pets varied in kill time by ~5 sec or less from trial to trial).

I dont think kill time is the best measure for this…

i remember 2k crits pretty much on the dot i cant seem to achieve that now..

if however you knew or have a video of the crit numbers that would be more useful

“to within a few seconds” is a massive margin for variation.. even tho it might not seem it

it’s not ignoring the pet attributes they still scale.. it just seems like they have been reduced ever so slightly

im experiencing a drop from 2k crits to 1.7k

Diehard.1432:

So full BM rangers pet dont get any bonus for their attributes anymore? This is huge

he did not say that…

please re-read

ski.4927:

And you folks that tested this and saw NO change from before are all BM specced?

My concern is that they may not have changed base pet values, but somehow tweaked the benefits from a full 30 points of the BM trait line.

I am full bm and I think you just hit the nail on the head there..

DDog.4350:

I think the problem starts when u change your party. Yesterday is was in a party with somebody and joined queu. Then i noticed somebody was looking for a party in chat so i invited him. As soon as he joined our party, we automaticly “leave” queu. So i join queu again. A few seconds later i got a whisper from somebody who said i was in their team but didnt connect and that they were 3v5 (The other one who was in my team didn’t join either)

This^

i had a similar experience we had a party of 4 and entered roster so we would get 1 random.. match started fine with 5v5.. but for some unknown reason mid game we all got mists loading screen and then ported back to the map which had now reset..

but this time the random was not with us and we had to 4v5..

admittedly this account doesn’t provide much as it was special circumstances but it does seem to relate to premades with solo joiners

it is definitely not people just logging off, ques are so fast to pop when it happens

it’s a coding bug with the new way matchmaking works to 1 random to a 4 man team or 2 to 3 ect

please look into this and do not dismiss this as people logging off

Evan Lesh.3295:

Sprawl.3891:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Sprawl.3891:

you think? of course that is one of the problems, the other is people joining and seeing they are on a full pug and facing a full premade and quitting, or seeing they are on a 5v4 and quitting, making it 5v3. And since you don’t punish them what do they lose? the invisible rating they don’t care about? They log-off for 10 mins avoid a spawn camp stomping then log back in.

Learn from Rift, if you get DC’d their system gives you short amount of time to re-boot/log back in and puts you in the same warfront you were in. If you don’t log back in quickly it fills the spot with a new player and when that person eventually does log back in they have a 30-min deserter debuff and can’t queue for pvp. I’m guessing just another thing your system isn’t built to do.

If someone is constantly DC’ing due to crappy ISP or quitting without leaving their roster they should be punished and stick to hotjoin rather than making 4 people suffer a curb stomping 5v4 matchup.

The sad thing is this has been an issue basically since release and doesn’t sound like you have any fixes in the works. Like i said in another thread this is something Rift did a hotfix for shortly after release. And I only use Rift as an example because it was one of the more recently released mmos. pretty much every other mmo pvp also has quitter debuffs/penalties.

The two problems deserve different solutions. If a player is in queue for a bit, but needs to log off to do something else, that player shouldn’t be punished because they didn’t leave the roster first. This is a completely fixable problem. Punishing people who knowingly dodge is a much more difficult problem.

This is a very real problem, but we can only work on so many things at once. I would still place it at a lower priority than Custom Arenas.

why would you make a game breaking bug less priority than new content?

tell me when your going to add custom arenas? next month? so we have to wait a month with 4v5’s ruining the pvp experience for everyone?

yonnystarr.2684:

mbh,
Although I have never played GW1, something like that Zaishen Chest is another example of what Glory could be used for in GW2. As of now, PvP is too disjointed from the other forms of game-play (WvW and PvE). I think the entire concept of “What happens in PvP stays in PvP” is really deterring the potential player-base who could be interested in PvPing from giving it a decent try. I would like to hear a developers opinion as to why they are keeping PvP gameplay from interacting with other forms of gameplay.

dreztine,
In regards to aesthetics, I completely agree and believe this is another reason why gear should not be the only reward obtainable by glory. Aesthetics are arbitrarily ranked, and furthermore, how certain gear looks (what looks cool and what looks stupid) is entirely subjective to the individual. Meaning I may not find the ‘perfect’ set I want until rank 70; but it also means that if I, at rank 33, have customized my character to be ‘exactly’ how I want him to be, and can’t find any higher tier gear that looks ‘better’, then I’m done with the gear collecting aspect of PvP. So what am I to do with all the surplus glory I have then?

but it also means that if I, at rank 33, have customized my character to be ‘exactly’ how I want him to be, and can’t find any higher tier gear that looks ‘better’, then I’m done with the gear collecting aspect of PvP. So what am I to do with all the surplus glory I have then?

tbh i am almost at that point.. not too far off

Dundir.2853:

I run a high toughness tanky type Thief. Usually I have a heavy or two in my pve groups that can take threat from me AFTER I stealth. This is no longer an option. Now I have to be more creative in tanking, kiting and moving more. A lot more annoying for the group that now needs to chase mobs more. Tank switching was viable with stealth dropping aggro, now it is not.
Also, now that downed skill 3 is pretty much useless will we get a new one?

this was the exact reason for the change…

being able to bounce a boss off two thieves can be considered possibly as an exploit as no other class can drop aggro like that..

all this change did was to make thieves have to handle them like the rest of us have too..

that is apart from some of the other issues i read here like positioning for side strikes and getting hit before you can land that hit for instance..

and for the pvp side of things im glad thieves cannot abuse culling so easily..

p.s. my pet remembers every time you mistreated him and he’s comming for blood!

iNaddict.8021:

firebreathz.7692:

Sifu.6527:

I was in WvW last night and fought a ranger and two other thieves. It was too much for me to handle so I SF and retreated. I broke LOS from the ranger and thieves and was a good distance from them. Then out of no kittening where, this kittening wolve was on my kitten with the owner no where to be seen….wtf.

LOL

“Then out of no kittening where, this kittening wolve was on my kitten with the owner no where to be seen….wtf.”

a thief complaining about “Then out of no kittening where” and “the owner no where to be seen” is just too good to be true

yea so hows it feel to taste your own medicine?

Ignorance is bliss.. aaah

from the way you worded that it implies that you were stating that about yourself

Sifu.6527:

I was in WvW last night and fought a ranger and two other thieves. It was too much for me to handle so I SF and retreated. I broke LOS from the ranger and thieves and was a good distance from them. Then out of no kittening where, this kittening wolve was on my kitten with the owner no where to be seen….wtf.

LOL

“Then out of no kittening where, this kittening wolve was on my kitten with the owner no where to be seen….wtf.”

a thief complaining about “Then out of no kittening where” and “the owner no where to be seen” is just too good to be true

yea so hows it feel to taste your own medicine?

tested and altho healing power updates the toop tip the tick from the healing is always 130

however if you take the the IV trait in BM (pets heal for more) the healing tick goes up to 152

I would like to see more effects being used… like particle effect on weapons or effects on foot prints or effects on the whole char

like so you can add these effects to any weapon would give a nice bit of verity

“I’d even trade in my glory to help my server in WvW or guild in PvE or something like that”

the WvW idea is a very good one.. but for pve? the cross over using pvp to help pve doent really fit imo..

Nugget.8031:

firebreathz.7692:

Nugget.8031:

I’ve been playing around in the mists using jag and raven and cant see any difference. Just now I got my jag to hit a 7.7k maul followed by a 5k swipe and a 7k bite. That was fully self buffed on the heavy golem.

can i ask what buffs and set up you have those sound like nice numbers you have there

Rampage as one, Signet of the Wild, Sick em, Signet of the hunt (increase next hit by 50%) as well as 20 stacks of vulnerability from longbow+opening strikes with the pets prowess trait and 30 points in BM. I don’t use this its just something I threw together on the spot to get the biggest numbers.

I did that awhile back but with just pet attacking and was more a speed test that big numbers heres a link to it if your interested

no

Nugget.8031:

I’ve been playing around in the mists using jag and raven and cant see any difference. Just now I got my jag to hit a 7.7k maul followed by a 5k swipe and a 7k bite. That was fully self buffed on the heavy golem.

can i ask what buffs and set up you have those sound like nice numbers you have there

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

There’s a thread in the Bugs forum:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/What-happened-to-Female-Asura-Light-T3/1540452

“We’re sorry if you do not care for the way the armor around the ears display now.” means just that… He’s sorry that you don’t like the look, but it’s not something that CS can address.

if you look you would see that you linked the OP to the topic that HE posted in the bugs section…

not very helpful..

Sarision.6347:

I have a feeling they’re gonna hit Natural Healing for the same reason as Empathic Bond.

lol it’s only 399 hp in 9 secs thats like 1 glancing hit.. i very much doubt it will be nerfed

that wont fix an entire class.. and im pretty sure they do this already… i think it’s more the fact if the pet dies you get a much longer cd.. and in boss fights pets get insta killed so there is no swapping just before it dies..

side note.. if your going 25 into beast mastery then you should definitely take natural healing.. this does not just give the pet a constant heal it also gives you one too… 133hp every 3secs

ok it’s definitely been stealth nerfed… not just the jag either

I used to see 2k crits on a heavy golem from my eagle before patch quite regularly..

i cant get it to hit over 1700 ish now..

if anyone used birds on the golems before patch and remeber the numbers you were getting.. go take another look see if you see the drop..

or…

if the game is 4v5 the team with 5 must volunteer a player to sit out and if none is chosen one is picked from random?

wow I really want this in gw2

“The Master of Damage is a Zaishen master, who players can test their abilities against. He informs players on various statistics about their damage. He does not attack, but instead says every five seconds the average damage you do per second to him. Damage against the two Adjacent targets that are next to him is not counted.

After you use the /bow emote, stop dealing damage or dealing damage to him for 3 minutes, he will tell you:
Total damage.
Total time.
Average damage per second.
Highest damage during a second and what second the damage was done.
Shortest time it took to kill him.

The damage total includes life stealing and health degeneration but does not include the 20% health reduction from Deep Wound."

srry i didnt get the matrix reloaded reference

forgot about the changing server bug.. here a link to that topic

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Tournament-chests-and-transferring-between-server-regions/first

nice point.. they could add Alpha Siege Golem to the mists maybe?

on point #2 couldn’t you just open the old ones?