Guild Wars 2

It’s not as decisive as rock paper scissors though. They’re not 100% immune to conditions at all times no matter what. You simply have to knock them down past 90% before you can use conditions. There’s a lot of ways to do that.

I mean, what did you guys do when a Warrior popped Zerker Stance? Or an Engi used Auto-Response? Did you just avoid the fights or did you find someway to work around it?

I’m not a fan of any of those skills or their design, but Diamond Skin is the least offensive of the three IMO.

There’s always outrage when people are forced to make changes to the things they’ve become comfortable with.

You can also “pre-calibrate” the Skyhammer before the match starts

pretty much anything you can interact with during a match on any map is open-game between the prematch countdown and match starting.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Good in theory, but I doubt it would work in practice. You wouldn’t be able to hit them twice with Life Blast. Once, perhaps, but they would get up and dodge before the second goes off.

Or they dodge the Dark Path, making your whole combo meaningless. It’s not like they have anything else to dodge.

The first LB is practically a freebie if done correctly. Sorry, but if they’re dodging your important skills then you used them wrong.

You only need to register about 1.5K damage to take off 10% of an Ele’s HP. In full bunkertard (not doing any damage) they max out at around 20K HP. D/D Ele is more likely to have Zerker or Valk setup and will have between 12k and 15k HP.

There’s not a ton of work to be done there. You just have to change how you open the engagement. Or you could just have a teammate hit the Ele once and let you take over from there…

seriously, you guys would realize this is not the most challenging of obstacles if you just start looking for answers instead of claiming the sky is falling…

Do you really feel that a two-man team with a support Guardian is the ideal situation to use SoV? It’s a great duo setup for sure, but not one that really allows SoV to show it’s worth or lack there of.

I would think a 5-man zerg busting or PvP team built for coordinated CC+Burst would be better suited to making use of the signet.

Even in a rabid setup, Life Blast will deal 1k damage within 600 units. At most, you’d have to hit the Ele twice to get through Diamond Skin. If you use a Flesh Golem then all you need is one Charge > DS2 > DS1, Diamond Skin should be gone by that point, they should be sitting with at least a bleed or a chill on them as well and you’re set up for a Terror nuke up close with Doom.

There’s so many ways around this by just making minor changes to the same old easy mode face-roll condi build. Just L2P and stop relying on broken builds already. kitten .

I went back to using HGH-condis on my Engi after the last patch when they made the changes to the Toss B and S skills. It was great for Solo Q and not bad in Team Q.

The build relied heavily on Short Fuse and IP though. Subbing in Shrapnel for either is clearly a step down for the build. Toss B and S are always fun though and can make for some clutch plays.

Except it’s not a new condition. It’s more like a Guardian’s Binding Blade or Warrior’s Impale. It sticks to you no matter what, but it’s not like it lacks any reasonable amount of counter play.

Vena.8436:

hackks.3687:

So what do I do with 780,000 glory?

Convert it into gold? A lot of gold…

edit: nvm. found what I was looking for

After primarily playing PvP for the year+ since release, I have 850,000 glory(!!!) and 43 gold to show for it.

After buying two armor boxes, I now have 780,000 glory and 3 gold…

My two mains are both level 80. There is nothing else the vendor offers that I want or need.

So what do I do with 780,000 glory?

Better yet, who was the wise kitten at ANet that thought it would be funny to troll the PvPers by requiring gold with the glory reward purchases?

What was that video supposed to show us?
Not to start a fight without LF?
Not to open with or use condi skills while a condi-immune mechanic is still active?
Remind us that team play will make Diamond Skin worthless? (see Thief jumping in for quick tag on Ele)

I’m not a fan of the skill design or ANet’s trend of handing out conditional immunities lately, but that video is fairly biased.

I don’t know how you can criticize something being wrong/broken/whatever when you haven’t even had a chance to try it.

but hey, QQing about things that might happen is totally reasonable and understandable (/sarcasm)

This profession system is not R/P/S. The build mechanics have a great deal of R/P/S to them, but still there are no 100% hard counters as long as you can recognize strengths and weaknesses and game plan accordingly. Some matchups will always be harder than others, but I’ve never found one I simply couldn’t win through outplaying my opponent.

I actually prefer Axe to Dagger MH because I prefer not to face tank opponents in melee range

Phineas Poe.3018:

Rozbuska.5263:

Why are some ppl so concerned about perma swiftness:-D

Because they want permanent Vigor without having to work for it.

Truth is, Infused Precision and Invigorating Speed is more than fine. People are just upset they can’t have 30 Explosives and 30 Tools for maximum DPS output and still get perma Vigor both inside and outside of combat.

What does that mean “not work for it”?

Guardian, Mesmer, and Ranger don’t have to activate anything to get Vigor. They also only have to spend 5, 5, and 10 points respectively to gain the same amount of Vigor as the Engi who is spending 20 points, and soon to be 30 points for the same effect. And it will still require the player to actually activate half that Vigor by Kit Swapping, which can’t just be spammed while in combat without serious disregard to your own well being.

If anything, Engi is the only class working for it’s high Vigor uptime. And while that uptime might be a bit too much, it for kitten sure needs to be nerfed for the other classes as well. Vigor nerf needs to be a blanket nerf across the board, not just another balance pot-shot at Engis.

Kanto.1659:

The pistol also immobilizes? I must have missed that. Is it recent? Because, I repeat (there is no iSwordsman close or even summoned).

Pistol shot. Dazed. Cannot move. Cannot dodge. Use stun breaker. Still cannot move. Still cannot dodge. In the meanwhile three clones blow up while they use their sword attack. Conveniently, invulnerable while doing it so I cant even fight back and try to stop them, but that’s another bag of kittens.

you can’t move or dodge because you’re immobilized

Look up illusionary leap (Sword 2)

that’s what they use after the Magic Bullet – which is a bouncing projectile that Stuns the first target hit, Dazes the second, and blinds (?) the third. Mesmers have multiple ways to Daze a target though.

it’s a mind numbingly easy, safe and effective burst rotation

GeoPro.7530:

hackks.3687:

So to summarize: spam skills, liberal use of aoe, dodge randomly even when they’re out of range, and use copious AI for body blocking.

and people wonder how we got to this meta…

You just can’t help some people….

help some people what?

by all means, tell me how I’m wrong.

which suggestion you gave actually “reveals” a stealthed opponent?

As someone who plays both Engi and Necro rather extensively I might be able to offer a few tips:

Don’t use condis agaisnt a Necro. Swap to rifle and power/control, and you can have your way with them.

Necros are best played aggressively. If they sit back and wait for you, you have the advantage from range. If they push into you, use your CC and make life hell for them.

Hold onto your burst until they’re out of LF (i.e. you forced them out of Death Shroud). Don’t try to burst them right away, just chip at them a bit. Use immobs, and knockbacks to drive them nuts. They have little to no stability in the best of circumstances.

Interrupting their heal is a death sentence most of the time. The CD for Consume Conditions (largely the only used Necro healing skill) is 25s making it just a bit too long to use liberally, so they’ll hold onto it until they absolutely need it. Which means if they get interrupted their now close to death and panicking waiting for it to come off the interrupt CD.

So to summarize: spam skills, liberal use of aoe, dodge randomly even when they’re out of range, and use copious AI for body blocking.

and people wonder how we got to this meta…

GeoPro.7530:

Thedenofsin.7340:

Stealth requires some kind of counterplay, I agree completely. In WoW DoTs could break stealth as well as warrior’s shout (aka ‘Fear Me’) and Hunter’s Flare could reveal stealthed opponents.

Counterplay and straight up counters (what you were describing above) are not the same thing. In regards to backstab thieves, stealth has as more counterplay than anything else in the game, it doesn’t need hard counters as well.

would you mind listing some of those numerous “counters” to stealth?

Only thing Axe needs is a finisher on one skill. Either Whirl on Axe 2 or Blast on Axe 3. Something to add a little synergy with Wells. Maybe add a little cleave to the AA.

Other than that. Leave it be. Axe is amazing.

it’s a fun map and I have a lot of fun playing on it, but it’s not ready for competitive play

what would it take?

- a lot bug fixes – I find a new one almost every time I play the map
- cannon area-of-effect decrease – too large for something that can’t be dodged, shave the CD and/or cast time to compensate
- build templates (what ever happened to this being in the pipeline as of last spring?) – most classes require a drastic build change for this map, so why not make it easier to switch?

Not just for the sake of the matchmaking higher up the table but also to prevent the horrendous first impression that high of a rating creates for new players. Not only are they thrown into a situation they’re not prepared for, but if their team can’t carry them the new player gets sacrificed in chat to the rage gods.

If I had my druthers about it I’d drop the starter rating to somewhere between 25-50% – maybe even lower depending on how the curve works. Don’t give them anywhere to go but up, and keep them far away from the veterans as long as possible until they’ve earned their way there. That way when they lose they’ll understand they’ve hit a skill ceiling and need to improve, rather than just get exploded off the map into a free-fall down the leader boards without having a clue of what just happened to them.

Brando.1374:

NevirSayDie.6235:

Brando.1374:

My suggestion would be to give more importance to the Player Vs Player/s aspect instead of the Player Vs circle on the ground.

The circles are there to force conflict, allow for build/role variety, and promote large-scale strategy. Chess is player vs. player even though the object is only to checkmate the opposing king. It would be silly to say that chess is player vs. 64 squares.

I get the 3 points are to Force some sort of a fight there but the actual fight (on and off points) should be more rewarding than taking the point.

That might be true if the game mode weren’t called “Conquest” where map control is the objective, and killing opponents is only a means to that end.

So no, it shouldn’t be more rewarding in Conquest to kill a player than to capture a point.

make them chase you

making it a running battle doesn’t favor the Mesmer as their clones/phantasms have to chase you to make contact and deal damage, and the mesmer can’t do much damage without them making contact with the target. they’d prefer you fight in one area so they can run circles around you with stealth and keep you confused. if you run away and they chase they lose every strength their build relies on – you know where they are (behind you!), and you get to take advantage of the limited AI pathing. You can even interchange your run and chase by running until you clear their AI and then turn and CC and apply some damage and conditions, when they pop their Oh kitten CDs you start to run again until you clear the clones or they give up and runaway.

hooma.9642:

Yasha.5963:

So some of you seem to be suggesting that the best strategy is for one person to cap home and four to go mid, then the player at home to go mid after capping home and have a good ol’ 5vs5 gang bang in the middle while both teams’ home remains free.

Is that how we should all play?

what haacks says + even if they send 1 or more to home u should win the midfight and then gang them on home.

this is what I take issue with more than the guys who just run to far point over and over.

there’s nothing more detrimental to a good start to the match than half your team heading for far point after winning mid point. Please! For the love of God! Just turn around and defend (or just anticipate defending) your home point. It’s far easier to keep the team together and alive and in control of the map if you simply focus on holding your home point and mid and merely decap what you can, when you can.

when that 5th teammate shows up at mid is when you send someone to decap, while the rest of the team play it safe and just try not to give up a cap at mid until the far point roamer gets back.

I’m guessing the “play style” would breakdown into something along the lines of (cumulative weapon range) + (stat distribution)? I can see why that might be desirable but given that players can change classes before the start of the match, it seems kind of pointless.

I think most everyone would be OK with waiting for a few extra minutes for a better match, but I think the biggest issue people have with it is the perceived lack of integrity in the match making. For instance, too often matches start as 4v5. Fixing that alone would be a huge step forward. There’s also the mismatched ranks; seeing a lvl1 or multiple <10’s on one team, or multiple 50-60’s on one team and <20’s on the other, calls the integrity of the matchup into question. When the integrity of the match up is suspect, that’s when people leave. All of these are conditions that lead to the match ending as a blow out, and that is what I believe most people are thinking of when they say they want a better queue system.

yep it’s bad design

but some people need crutches, right? stop picking on disabled gamers!

I understand the move of IP to Master tier, but as it has been pointed out the Master tier in Explosives has a glut of the better traits in the line. So with that being said, how about giving us something at the adept level that shares synergy with IP as well as some new utility or damage sources?

For example:

Exploit Weakness – deal extra damage to Burning foes (20% ?)

Shrapnel Wounds (obviously a name change, and a merge of the old EW effect): Cripple your Foe and deal 10% more damage once their health drops below 50%

and while you’re at it just delete Acidic Elixirs

You can’t counter an Invuln. (which is probably why MF previously helped you so much in holding/capping points). So if you can’t counter the Invuln then you can’t counter their ability to cap/hold a point. It was made this way for all classes, and anything that gives invulnerability (remember the abused Svanir runes from about 10 months ago?)

This has nothing to do with Ele’s, and has everything to do with healthy counter-play.

Psycho Robot.7835:

Always funny when someone gets snippy but then makes a fool of themselves.

Anyways, in order to get the crossing you need to craft it in the mystic forge. The recipe is 1 gift of souls, 1 eldritch scroll, 100 mystic coins, and 20 superior sigils of the night. The gift of souls must also be crafted in the mystic forge, but in order to craft it, you have to learn it from a recipe sheet, which must ALSO be crafted in the mystic forge. However its really not worth your time. In order to craft the recipe sheet, you need 10k candy corn, 10k nougats, and some other stuff… but it would cost you a fortune. Its best to just buy the staff off the trading post, already completed.

thanks for that. that’s exactly what I needed to know. it’s a bummer, but it’s what I needed to know.

cheers

Does anybody know how to get this or it’s PvP equivalent? I missed out on it last year because I hate PvE, and only did PvP. This year I’m staying on top of the living world Halloween stories on the off chance that I need them to get this skin.

Any info would be great. I tried to search the forums but the search function no worky :/

cheers

Lordrosicky.5813:

hackks.3687:

Lordrosicky.5813:

Here is a list of things that you should nerf:

1, Dhumfire – icd
2, Doom – duration
3, Signet of Spite – duration
18, necro scepter auto attack – lowered durations

You could just consolidate these into a single change – remove/redesign Terror. None of these things is OP if Terror isn’t present in the build. Necro’s will cry of course, and it is admittedly fun to use, but it’s bad for the game. Plain and simple. They don’t even need it anymore. I’ve been running builds without it and there’s no drop off in efficacy, just a drop off in ease of play for the Necro, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

6, Automated response – 90% not 100%

AR to me just needs to be changed to “Drink an Elixir C and toss Elixir C at your location when health reaches 25% – 90s CD”.

Why? terror actually takes skill to use when bursting someone. Like corrupt boon took skill but they nerfed that in favour of passive procs like dhuumfire

Try bursting someone without Terror. That takes skill.

To be honest, it just doesn’t jive with the Necro abilities that use it for how much damage it does and what should be considered as a healthy level of counter-play.

Doom was designed to be defensive, that’s why it’s instant cast and available while stunned. Used offensively it simply doesn’t allow for enough counter play. The way marks can be used is a similar issue. The way the animations work you can lay it at someone’s feet and deny them from even seeing it’s there let alone going to be triggered. Like I said, it just doesn’t jive with the skills it’s attached to and their purpose.

Lordrosicky.5813:

Here is a list of things that you should nerf:

1, Dhumfire – icd
2, Doom – duration
3, Signet of Spite – duration
18, necro scepter auto attack – lowered durations

You could just consolidate these into a single change – remove/redesign Terror. None of these things is OP if Terror isn’t present in the build. Necro’s will cry of course, and it is admittedly fun to use, but it’s bad for the game. Plain and simple. They don’t even need it anymore. I’ve been running builds without it and there’s no drop off in efficacy, just a drop off in ease of play for the Necro, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

6, Automated response – 90% not 100%

AR to me just needs to be changed to “Drink an Elixir C and toss Elixir C at your location when health reaches 25% – 90s CD”.

Zanryu.3417:

hackks.3687:

Zanryu.3417:

If your strategy is to apply conditions, then yes, it would be smart to wait for Berserker Stance to wear off before engaging the Warrior via running away or exiting the Sky Hammer via the portal. It’s a widely used tactic and as much as I hate having it done to me, I can see the usefulness. You don’t go headfirst into somebody that’s got Stability up with a Stun or Fear in the same way you shouldn’t engage a Warrior with Berserker Stances up with a strategy involving conditions.

and you don’t see something wrong with the fact that the only counter play is to wait 8-10 secs for the skill to wear off? specially for a build that is mechanically designed to counter bunkers and healing? his strategy has to be to concede 8-10sec of uninterrupted/unimpeded healing?

you want to know why you made this thread? because you don’t actually know what’s wrong with warriors

I didn’t know Berserker stance prevented stuns, direct damage, and dodge rolls. If you want to rely on conditions you’ll have to kite Berserker Stance, that’s a given. It doesn’t block direct damage or stuns though, so even with the stance up Warriors can still be taken down. What do you do when someone uses Stability? You either kite it off or you go in with conditions or direct damage rather than use stuns or fear.

stuns don’t turn off healing signet, direct damage doesn’t counter healing, dodge rolls having nothing to do with any of it.

care to keep trying?

Zanryu.3417:

If your strategy is to apply conditions, then yes, it would be smart to wait for Berserker Stance to wear off before engaging the Warrior via running away or exiting the Sky Hammer via the portal. It’s a widely used tactic and as much as I hate having it done to me, I can see the usefulness. You don’t go headfirst into somebody that’s got Stability up with a Stun or Fear in the same way you shouldn’t engage a Warrior with Berserker Stances up with a strategy involving conditions.

and you don’t see something wrong with the fact that the only counter play is to wait 8-10 secs for the skill to wear off? specially for a build that is mechanically designed to counter bunkers and healing? his strategy has to be to concede 8-10sec of uninterrupted/unimpeded healing?

you want to know why you made this thread? because you don’t actually know what’s wrong with warriors

If all you’re going to do is ask people to post videos so you can debate what they did right or wrong you should probably change the title of the thread to “Warriors OP? Let’s Debate It.”

playing a well put together build isn’t the part that requires skill. playing your well put together build better than your opponent is the skillful part.

I have no issue with ‘easy’ builds. I do have an issue with builds that are successful because of denying counter-play though.

there is a big difference.

I’d also like to suggest that Build Templates be added before new game modes as these present the same problem as Skyhammer and Spirit Watch in that the standard conquest builds don’t carry the same efficacy, and given that maps are randomized there is no simple/efficient way to change builds in accordance with the maps.

Eyia Hellhide.7320:

I have this feeling last 2-3 week. Like, when I started to play PvP I was better, and now at level 20 I have the feeling I don’t improve, but the opposite.

I’m a guardian. When I started to PvP I was fighting without checking even the profession of the opponent. I was face-rolling my keyboard, clicking the skill immediately when it’s ready and somehow was winning most of my fights.

Then I decided to improve, started to read about builds, tactics, weapons, started to watch streams. Started to think more. And guess what? Started to lose.

Before I was winning more of my fights 1v1. Now I sometimes get downed before I can check the profession of the player attacking me and what exactly he uses.
Before I was always one of the top players of the team. Now it rarely happens, sometimes I’m last.

Why I posting this?
First: Can anybody tell me why? What I’m doing wrong? It takes me too much time to check what attacking me and to decide what to use. And my HP melting like a snowball on the sun in the meantime.
Second: give me some hope, do you think if I keep trying I’ll get used to it and finally will start to improve? Or better to go back to my face-rolling, random-dodging style?
And third: Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels like this at some point. It will make me feel better. Well tell it if it’s true of course

And the most funny is, although I become worse and worse, my leaderboard rating somehow went 20% higher for last 10 games. Now I meet better opponents and this makes things even worse.

My guess is you’re spending more time looking at the UI than you previously did, which means you’re not taking the initiative (even if blindly, as it sounds like you did before when you were just “face-rolling” your keyboard) which in itself can give you an advantage versus some classes/builds. Essentially, you’re just spending less time fighting and have replaced that action with thinking. Not necessarily a bad thing as you will improve, but first and foremost you need to be comfortable with your class and build so you can focus on watching your opponent rather than the UI and react accordingly without looking at the UI again to see which skills are off CD and available.

My advice is to stick with it. You’ve probably taken 2 or 3 steps back by trying to understand more of what’s happening in each fight, but ultimately it’s the only way you’ll ever progress past the skill-level you previously found yourself winning with.

Hang in there buddy

I’d like to see something along the lines of a 3v3v3 or a 2v2v2v2v2 on a map along the lines of the Mad King’s Labyrinth (possibly a little larger), where you could have multiple teams and alternate/secondary mechanics in play such as the portals, weapons/buffs, mobs, etc. without the need for any of them to be a requirement for winning

I don’t use HGH power unless the circumstances absolutely warrant it. Which usually means I’m on Skyhammer or there are too many Necros on the other team which means my condis will be more trouble than their worth.

For me, HGH condis got the bigger buff due to it’s previous complete lack of escapability. With Elixir S and the Toss S and B improvements we’ve got greater means to secure a cast, deny CC, or outright escape as well as a free openign attack thanks to on-demand stealth. It still lacks the damage output of a condi Necro but it definitely brings more utility to the table.

My question is whether or not that newly added utility is enough to warrant competing for the condi pressure role in a team? In this brute force meta though I suspect not.

Shanks R Us.2489:

Stealth on command is extremely OP

this is honestly what keeps me using it. The toss B makes for an easy stomp and can be very handy at times, but an easy 5 sec of stealth that doesn’t require blowing a series of blast finishers is kinda hard to say ‘no’ to. A well placed stealth can flip the script in any fight.

ps – WvW ain’t the same without you…

Anybody been playing around with HGH builds since the changes to Toss S/B?

I’ve been having a lot of fun with it in solo q but I’m not sure the increased utility is enough to overcome the damage disparity between us and condi Necro in a team comp. Still, it has some clutch play potential. Is it enough though?

Curious to know what my Engi brethren think about it. Share your thoughts!

sorrow.2364:

Burning is about 6-7 stacks of bleeding.

what happens when you apply more than 6-7 stacks of bleeding?

hint: don’t ask engi’s they can’t tell you. their stacks top out around 9. you might ask a Condi-Axe warrior, or a Necro, or a Ranger though.

You guys are giving Burn too much credit. Burns top out around 700 dmg/sec. Currently Bleeds reach well above 1k/sec with the same stats. There are also copious bleeds that last longer than the longest Burn duration. Burn is no slouch, but it’s not the sole culprit.

Are 100% crit chance procs good game design? Not in my opinion, it’s just another way of saying “indefensible”. Their reliability diminishes the more enemies that are present as well. Personally, I’d like to see the proc chance localized to single skills, and given some sort of UI indicator that the proc is available, and receives a full CD whether the hit is successful or not. That way it is able to be more reliably used and adds the appropriate counter-play.

1 – Depth of Game Play and ANet’s vision for PvP: on a scale of [Tic-tac-toe <—→ Chess] how complex is the ideal game play for GW2 PvP?

2 – Player Incentives: Leader boards, Seasons, Rewards, etc. What exactly is the progression for GW2 PvP?

For me there’s not much point adding anything else until those two are answered in full.

an argument could be made that immob stacking actually reinforces evade spam, teleport skills, and condition immunities

While I agree ANet’s handling of serious bug fixes leaves much to be desired, Tournament holders do have the option of instantiating their own rules as well. They could very easily ban the use of specific skills/sigils/traits, even classes for the sake of their tourney.

Given that the tournament holders haven’t done such a thing could be read as a statement of sorts, that GW2 tournaments aren’t all that serious…

Mnemesis.8257:

Adamantium.3682:

It should just remove the immobilize as it applies the stealth. Until then it’s more of a novelty used to laugh at people in WvW

Cleaning Formula 409: “Throwing or consuming elixirs removes conditions from those affected.”

Let’s face it, if you’re stupid enough to use this without the appropriate traits, then yes you deserve to die. However, if you happen to combine this with traits like the one above you not only escape certain death but buy enough time to recoup/counter.

with the ability to pile on condis and bury the immob, in addition to immobs now stacking, I would probably go with Rocket Boots rather than CF409 to get out of focus fire while immob’d