Guild Wars 2

I didn’t run out of things to do at 80. I was quite happily running Arah EXP’s every day and getting started on personal storyline finally after 2 months of never having touched them b/c I was too busy playing my 80 every day for hours and hours on end.

However,
After the details on this update, I haven’t logged in, in 3 days now.

I’m not MAD. I’m just really disappointed that they’ve screwed the pooch so unbelievably fast already. And I definitely didn’t need this “new content”. I was being very very patient and discussing only dungeon bugs/issues that needed to be addressed before any new content got added. Those things STILL AREN’T FIXED YET. I also would have loved to see some WvW changes along the lines of what they already promised (helping out completely overwhelmend outmanned servers & diminishing Zerg dominations a notch). Now imagine my surprise when all that stuff takes a back seat to this Infusion system…. which the Executive Producer then comes in and flatly says “Oh we’re adding this to all the other aspects of the game eventually too, you’re welcome!” as if to rub a pound of salt in the wound.

A game I was gungho to play and couldn’t stop playing (and played 7 years / 5000 hours of its predecessor by the way) just days ago…. I can’t find the motivation in me anywhere to play even one minute of now because their Prioroties, Decisions, and Development process took so much of a shockingly illogical twist … that I’m too dumbfounded now to even know where to begin in rediscovering what drew me to this series.

All I can do is wait it out now I guess and hope they accidentally rediscover for themselves what it was that got them so much brand loyalty from us GW1 players in the first place. (It sure as heck wasn’t a sequel of the Ursan-Rep grind while ignoring huge bugs !!!)

wombat.6123:

Conspiracy theory at work – but it seems so far that TC is going solely for FA and giving YB a free ride. In fact, YB is barely touching TC either.

Why do I say this?

Because in EB they didn’t touch each others supply camps at all, it was just both constantly attacking FA’s camps.

At the same time, TC took nothing in YB BL. And once TC took all of their own BL they didn’t attack YB at all, instead their zerg came to FA BL instead.

Similarly, YB has barely attacked anything but FA held stuff.

So right now it’s like 1 team (FA) versus 2 teams, as neither TC or YB have really attacked each other.

Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s a good strategy that’s worked before. No one will believe you of course and they’ll even start stalking/besmirching you just for mentioning it… but it’s hard to deny that it’s a lot better than running around willy nilly like as if it was a True FFA

“Endless Dungeon”?

You need friends to do a Dungeon over and over.
Don’t need any friends to “win” in WvW, just unlimited resources for Server Transfers.

.

main point: We probably shouldn’t speculate on whether they even can make a 3rd Skill split beyond PvE/sPvP… Only their programmers could know that with any certainty

Isaac.6041:

You are welcome to join Crystal Desert.

…which according to many posters both here and on Guru…. was camping said jumping puzzles the entire time even while consistently losing everything else. —not trying to put down my own server or plug it to yet another PvE’er when it needs WvW’ers-- …just reporting what was said about it. I didn’t go near said JP b/c I was too busy running supply for people who thought we could make a comeback. So I can’t confirm or deny the validity of these rumors.

I’ll also never understand why this is such a controversial issue. Yes I’ve been blocked by campers/griefers when attempting JP’s myself. And I still don’t get why everyone makes such a big deal about access to them.

Yes PVE was just “changed for the sake of change” and it’s all bad changes…. but WvW genuinely needed real groundshaking changes and isn’t getting them this month.

.

Slamz.5376:

I was rather hoping the “big patch on the 15th” would have something in it for WvW.

And I’d add: we were more or less led to believe it would:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/Small-update/first#post480648

But given their track record with smaller teams (as in going off of GW1 standard development windows), we’ve got atleast 2 more months before any of that stuff starts filtering in.

I’m sad now b/c I used to play this almost entirely for PvE and now that’s become the domain of Infusion grind leaving WvW as the only last hope for casual play that still gives Skill the greatest edge. I hope it happens sooner rather than later but in the meantime I’m Feeling completely displaced right now by Anet’s double speak about treadmills. (I also took a long break from the first game when they introduced the NornRep—>Ursan grind)

wooo…yeah…active by 4th tier standards. Go Us.

Ok that’s a sour view and I’m sorry, not trying to put everyone down, but I don’t know what else to think….still depressed by the huge disaster that was all those free transfers, and yet we still don’t have guesting for PvE either. /e mope

^Considering how the Mini Moa chick was crafted, that’s probably a sure bet already^

LinseyMurdock.4165:

I am definitely working on the precursor scavenger hunt…

If it works out and has enough potential, perhaps then it might eventually become an element in all new Low Level crafting recipes & discovery as well that could finally make most crafted gear sell for more than 1c over Vendor prices?

…just some food for thought, that’s all.

adobo.1749:

…fought the boss in his underwear and during fights, he transformed into the candy corn monster, for the MF buff.

…fell out of my chair laughing…

I disagree with a lot of people who think MF% should be removed from the game. I just think Anet should be petitioned to Universally change the Stats on all MF gear to remove all the Y.O.L.O. implications from it that just make it GlassCannon Zerg Zerker’s EZ-farm gear. Currently both versions are:

Major Attrib: MF% / MF%
Minor Atrtib: Power / Power
Minor Atrtib: Condition / Precision

When it should have been:

Major Atrtib: Vitality / Vitality
Minor Attrib: MF% / MF%
Minor Atrtib: Toughness / Healing

.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

you’re gonna have a bad time.

only Stumme is allowed to go there.

This doesn’t sound like something that was actually beta tested… or even given a second thought, come to think of it.

Rhongomyniad.5081:

Nevertheless it’s been great kicking CD’s butt this week, truly satisfying, hope you guys bounce back stronger (like TC did).

That’s not happening. And it has nothing to do with aching buttocks or guilds or anything else that people obsess over here. It’s all about PvE. WvW is currently a PvE minigame that now gives even less/inferior rewards and satisfaction to Instanced PvE and “Market PvP” (flipping).

CD as a whole, is not a server full of newbs.
They’re very capable for being so unorganized and I think this week’s score (despite being outmanned so much) demonstrates that pretty well. We can argue what constitutes skill in this game and I’d concede there’s not a whole lot to master like there was in GW1. But the things that lead to success where it really matters (which currently isn’t WvW in any way), are the things CD really really represents well. Our L.A. is brimming over with “Commanders” and Legendary Weapon bearers. We rarely find many people who fail the tougher paths in dungeons. A lot of times the Priest of Grenth DE will also “Accidentally Succeed” to the shagrin of everyone who was just trying to farm it. WvW just can’t offer enough people like that, the lasting sense of accomplishment and persistent progress they benefit from in our very crowded PvE environment.

The World-bonuses from WvW also mean nothing to people who can easily cruise through the toughest dungeons in the game without Teamspeak or barely even a word between eachother before the toughest fights. They just flow with the unexpected and overcome it and then are rewarded handsomely for it. No planning needed. WvW is currently the complete Antithesis of this.

Not commenting on their raw survivability & stealth as a mechanic in general.

But I too have seen several Thieves now who appear immune to all Crowd Controls.
That absolutely has to go. You never, NEVER give a spike-damage stealth class the ability to constantly get out of CC’s and then return to stealth or spiking, seconds later. You just don’t. I don’t even think MTG ever allowed overkill on that Element; and they’ve allowed some pretty questionable stuff over the years.

This is absolutely something that can be changed without hurting their Performance in PVE

They can’t just Engineer their way out of this huge problem.
And if they do find a way to, it will only make WvW even less balanced. Mark my words.

The Server-side culling was the right direction to go, they just didn’t take it to its natural conclusion that exists in PvE. IOW: If an A.I. controlled foe can’t “Path” to you, then you can’t damage that target. This is exactly how server side culling should have worked, everyone on both sides waiting for a server side parity/double check before they could start damaging eachother or using skills that affect Visibility. That right there would immediately put a stop to both Mass-Portal Bombings and “hiding in plain sight” Invsibibility Spamming classes. It also would have incentivized players to spread out more and not Zerg so much.

No they’re definitely obsolete, atleast in my case: I’ll never take up jeweler (cook was enough of a headache for me thanks) so my next plans included replacing all my cruddy masterwork jewelry with Exotics. I had the money set aside too. But now that I know I can just get it from Dungeon runs (which is all I’ve been doing lately anyway), I know I can just wait until amulet and accessories are added too and to-heck with whoever wasted all their time jeweling up to 400. They’re not gettin’ my money now. (especially since I already know it’s one of the only profitable crafting disciplines there was)

We need Stat-Total inspection, NOW. And it needs to include Condition/Healing/MF% attribute totals as well. It’s not a big deal if someone’s running “ME FIRST” gear in HotW or CM Butler, but it’s definitely a big deal in several tougher places.

Asking people to voluntarily ping their gear isn’t enough now since they’ll have a very strong temptation to ping the Survival gear but secretly equip MF% instead.

SmokeyNYY.7841:

Yes now unskilled players cant turtle.

Hahaha, you really think a little bit more healing is the reason they’re all Zerging together?

I ran this set of Traits too even while SOLOING in PVE. Trust me, it didn’t decide every fight. And I’m talking about nearby NPC’s that are smarter and more durable than your average zerg baddy

Yeah sPvP change…
pretty much … but also the backline Mesmer being able to cover too many back points which is part of the bunkering meta. NOT SURE why this wasn’t limited to a sPvP split then since it obviously does nothing to address the Culling issue with portal “Clown Car”

RoRo.8270:

According to the patch notes it seems there were no fixes for any of the current dungeons at all

Very concerned about this as well… not one mention of “Arah” or “Gates” in today’s patch notes. The Only “fix” applying to Cursed Shore apparently is:

The Priory Explorer Plinx event chain in Cursed Shore will now occur less frequently.

A nerf to an event farm was more important than this??? …This immediately goes back to what I was pointing out earlier, that there doesn’t seem to be “Iteration” in the offices of Anet, but rather a maze of bubbles with varying degrees of Osmosis, yet which many HUGE key issues to the players still have no chance of passing through (or being Listed/Prioritized properly?)

.

Probably spoke too soon on this as well: “Fixed a bug preventing melee attacks from hitting static objects in the world if the character was not moving. As an example, this should help players using melee in Ascalonian Catacombs to hit graveling burrows, amongst other offending objects.”

You should only get Free Booze for escorting yaks. Not Karma/Silver.

(and then bring Dwarven Stability in some form)

I actually feel bad for Yaks Bend now… (HaHa, CD gets to dodge this issue completely b/c we were already headed back to Tier4). Good luck and here’s hoping FA will gain enough momentum to beat JQ in the final round on raw skill and put GW1’s status quo back where it belongs.

I’m more worried about the Skill-Balancing of mobs and how it scales up when they’re “Elites” since some elites seem to have upwards of 250% base damage modifiers on attacks that have NO BUSINESS being multiplied that high.

Case in point: it’s possible run Arah path 3, threee times in a row, in the time it would take to run Arah path 1 or (for some groups) Arah path 2. This is because you don’t have to deal with any Illuisionists, Sentinels, & DeadEyes (I LOVE Flannum BTW for bringing those guys back in obscure Easteregg form, they were my favorite PvP unit in Sacrifice, haha).

But Seriously though.. I’ve seen 1 single illuisionist kill most of an entire team faster than Lupicus or the Priest of Balthazar ever could. And there was nothing they could do about b/c it was either a bug, or my interrupts were on Cooldown (while the Illusionist doesn’t appear to have any cooldowns on its attacks at all and no charge-up telegraph either).

If this remains a problem in FOTM, the Devs should strongly consider making the Chargeup/Telegraph time scale up as well on these potentially 1-hitting attacks

Siding with rabbit on this one. The answer has no practical application to us until we can form additional parties and enter it a 2nd/3rd/4th/umpteenth time. Please let the Devs keep working on more crucial issues until that time. They’re obviously in a crunch here

^ Improvements Random Loot tables for older dungeons are part of this Update ^
…that’s been stated atleast 4 times by 2 or 3 different designers, Wobels.

Also the only 1-2 pieces of Semi-superior gear you can get from FOTM, are rings(s) and a maybe a backpiece that may or may not even involve components from this Dungeon (b/c that backpiece is crafted in the Mystic Toilet instead).

Also bear in mind these rings might be Stat downgrades to some classes as they don’t have a standard Upgrade slot that allows for Cross-Spec’ing. IOW: The stats for the upgrade slot are built into the item and can’t be changed. Only the “Infusion” component can be changed and infusion only applies to a very specific Niche hazard you’re not supposed to be encountering anywhere else in the game.

Okay that’s terrific news and thank you for getting back to us, but it still does not look like the main Communication is getting through here.

Yes we understand these are complex bugs that may require weeks to find the point in the network code between the databases, server, pipeline, provider, and client where they’re breaking (burrows especially). But that’s not what keeps being asked here. They’re asking, why are these Gates still here?

If you found out about this issue yesterday, and you had the map file in front of you, you could select that door, and Hide or CRTL+X it right out of the way, and have it HOTFIX’d by today …and then eventually put it back in weeks/months down the road after you fix the more complex issue. <— This is what people are so frustrated about with your company.

Let me show you what I mean by that:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Golden_Gates
…was bugged for years, and reported too. IIRC, it wasn’t fixed until one random poster sent it directly to “Joe” the programmer. All the Support staff never did anything with it. All the designers never did the right thing with the reports/complaints about it either. It gave the appearance that there was no Cooperation, no work-flow in the studio. It’s been going on for a very long time and that’s not a good look.

And I honestly can’t think of a single reason why this much more vital and popular content should be temporarily gated completely off to large amounts of people for weeks at a time, just for the sake of keeping these somewhat tedious side-Events involved in it??

.

Everything has a work around. (including burrows, IE: cut their HP’s by 2/3’s or triple their Spawn Timers) And when you don’t provide one to your players in a reasonable time span, they go looking for their own which usually involves finding new ways to break the game or even use 3rd party scripts which is the last thing we need in PuGs right now b/c then it just proliferates almost as fast as that HotW exploit which also could have been hotfixed a lot faster.

Not telling anyone how to do their jobs either, just trying to finally communicate what seems to keep being missed, year after year, after year. Which is: What the player is reporting or pleading to get, seems to often be completely different from your Responses. Yes you clearly HEAR them. And you respond. But the solutions often take months to reach anyone, or don’t even resemble what everyone was asking for.

Definitely the least run Path of the 3. There’s a reason you only see PuGs recuiting for the other 2 Paths.

I had a team of partial lowbies who almost beat it … Or WOULD have beat it if not for the Bugged Hitbox issue which totally stymmied our Thief and Engie. Without that bug, it would simply have been an issue of everyone just paying really close attention to target calling…. you kill a Burrow, then a Breeder, then another Burrow, then another Breeder and alternate while one of your team members runs around to the Collectors to pull all the ‘Lings’ off it and herds them into the main pile that the DPS group is currently AOE’ing.

Very simple … but again, also Bugged currently.

dimgl.4786:

I kinda just want better dungeon mechanics…

^Definitely want this!^

I think most of us can agree we ultimately ran these the past 2-3 months for the Skins, not the Stats. (b/c there’s just not enough unique craftable skins in the game right now). Therefore not seeing a boost to Stats, won’t be a deal breaker for us.

I recall sometime around Launch one of the Designers responding to a post here about how unfair “Destructables” are to Condition builds. … hopefully they’ll address that issue at the same time they finally fix the Hitbox issue too.

…Speaking of which, let’s hope there’s no objectives in this FOTM yet that require beating on those same bugged Hitboxes (or if there are, let’s hope they’re disabled until the bug gets fixed for good)

What I don’t get though is how we never have that same issue with the Ballistas & Totems in this Dungeon? ….That’s ANOTHER big new-player-friendly point for HOTW

drkn.3429:

Proper builds and gear help a lot with those kinds of things, but are not enough – or don’t provide as much edge as proper tactic.

Fair enough …. would also have accepted ‘Leashing’, Diversion/bait runner, kiting Aggro-magnet gearing, CC<—>DPS teamsplit, & Temp powers/Cons

Also: Lupic can have one permanent Melee under him but as I just listed, you need TWO other kiting Aggro-magnets (geared to meet those aggro function conditions) to take both his Shadowstep/Bubble Aggro, and his Homing-Bolt / LifeSiphon Aggro (because unlike most bosses, he focuses on 2 players at the same time). I’ve only been on 1 team that ever met all 3 of these conditions.

drkn.3429:

Most often the problem is not player ‘skill’, as this is based on experience and you need to play the content to gain such experience, but about ‘build’ and ‘tactic’.
What i don’t get, however, is why people are so reluctant to ask for help when they’re constantly wiping and their only way out is to say that dungeons are too hard. We have enough Dungeon Masters by now proving otherwise.

Define “tactic” please, without using elements that are only Build-Based or fall under Dodge-spamming …I ask because this goes back to the old “BuildWars” argument that the Devs promised us would be less prevalent in this game

(and plz keep in mind that you’re not talking to some newb who struggled through any of this stuff. I barely died at all in my first Explorables b/c I did them with a very skillful guild at release and we were all on Teamspeak)

Right, but AC is buggy or employs mechanics that most players still don’t fully understand even after they’ve scraped their ways through it. The Collectors room in particular is completely unforgiving to anyone who doesn’t have High DPS Exotics.

It also has that Catch22 clause that HotW lacks: which is that you almost never die in AC if you already have all that Survivability Gear. But if you don’t have that gear, you’re guaranteed to die very very fast to some of those buggy mechanics that are always masked behind too much bloom and particle effects even when you know exactly what to look for. The only things in HotW that instakill undergeared players are the Quaggans and IceWolves which don’t appear more than once at any path. (or never have to be fought in the first place)

Some people hate to admit it… but Guildwars has never been an easy game. Sure, along the way people found ways to make FotM Discordway & SF builds that trivialized all the content (except Polymock, lulz). And that will (or already has) happened with some specialized teams here. But it can be pretty darn frustrating to people who don’t have atleast a bit of a “hardcore” streak running through them.

And some of it just bad fight orchestration. This game is billed as an Action-RPG but in most cases the only mechanic we can employ is Dodge. We can’t interrupt most Bosses and Dazes have their own cast times so there really isn’t a whole lot of “reaction” in these fights. Just lots of auto-attacking while running in circles. Real action games employ easily twice the action elements currently available to us in dungeon fights. So it may not even be a “Skill” argument anymore like it was in GW1.

Why didn’t they make this Explorable the first one that new players get access to?

It’s dull as dishwater but that’s what new players need (b/c it also gives the most ideal “Survival” gear for other Dungeons instead of useless ‘Zerker’ gear like COF gives).

Too many players started off with AC & CM and then walked away from them with a horrible first impression. (and no Gear to show for it)

Like I said, it’s the more difficult (and risky) solution of the two.

“Vanquishing” ?

WHAT??

not_sure_if_want :\
(especially if certain maps have too many pop-up mobs that also count in that tally)

… I prefer “running”.
…It has its own challenges and is almost always more exciting

Hope Leviathans do more than just take a beating in this version… (and how did they get there in the first place?)

Interesting idea, thank you OP for dedicating a thread to it.

We’re still waiting for Anet to finally announce the details they promised us on addressing part of this issue (servers that are pushed all the way back to their spawn), but I’m sure whatever they come up with, could also have this added on top to supplement a few desperately needed cultural shifts in this Meta

ClairVauxBernard.3845:

So we’re stuck at the end of Arah Path 1, the observatory door wont open, but I’ve heard there is a method to blink past the door. Anyone know exactly how to do it?

That’s technically an Exploit and any discussion of it here would rightfully be deleted instantly by the Moderators. It’s also WAAAY more work than simply having the player that the NPC is following, wait a good distance outside the door, since you only need 2-3 people handling the crystals. And yes I was in a team a day or two ago that this worked perfectly for even though there was some rather humorous mishaps along the way that happen to just about any team that isn’t completely familiar with eachother’s playstyles

Stumme definitely demonstrates a flare for skill checks … though I’m not sure it always led to more variety, especially when it came to my Dervish. I also find it weird that the so called nerf to Asuran scan… allowed me to scythe-farm several mobs that I had no ability to duo… much less Solo prior to that update.

But yeah, even with Resistance Tiers, they’re going back on their bigger Philosophy that you should always want to help (and be rewarded for helping) other players. Resist Tiers is just a fancy way of turning dungeon recruiting into Heroes Ascent because the “Big Payoff” comes only at the end of Consistent Wins. IE: your group is incentivized to completely remove any risk of carrying anyone “new” which condenses all of the experienced players into the “Haves” teams while the Have-Not teams do not have anyone to learn from. You aren’t going to want any “Rank 3’s” in your party when the whole reason you’re forming a team is to reach the end for those unique rewards. Players will be asked to Ping Gear first or will even do it voluntarily while LFG’ing just like /Rank emoters on B.I. …intimidating and eventually driving off anyone who can’t.

In GW1, Spectral Agony was a bit of a Skill-check because even uninfused players could be given some resistance to it with Protective Spirit / Angelic Protection if you caught it fast enough. We also had 8-player parties and the ability to give all our heroes Ranger-Pets who were already naturally infused against it (unlike other minions). This ensured that you could bring along 1 or 2 uninfused players so long as they were careful about their Aggro from the Mursaat.

Here…. it looks really bad/binary. Even the way Linsey describes it makes it sound nothing like a Skill check but purely as a Gear Treadmill. IE: in Gw1 it was mechanically a Damage over Time “attack”. (that lots of Mesmer & Asuran skills could exploit BTW). Here it’s a condition that can’t be purged or resisted with the help of teammates. It also appears from the picture to be applied the same way those extremely overpowered Orrion Illusionists attack which everyone knows… is basically the Quake Lightning gun powered by an Aimbot and can’t be reflected either.

I’m really starting to question whether Arenanet understands “the problems” that we’ve been citing with Dungeons. Especially since I can’t point to one single thread here complaining that we “Ran out of Treadmill” in dungeons. No, a lot, if not the majority of complaints here, are that most of the current encounters just aren’t engaging and already feel really grindy. (slowly whittling down a Battleship while rote memory handles all the red-circle dodging)

Dolan.3071:

ilr.9675:

That Way Point is only helpful to players who then die in the next phase, which is very unlikely considering it’s the easiest stretch of both routes before another Waypoint is unlocked anyway further up ahead. So, If you’re not dead during those 5 or so minutes it takes to reach the next phase, then how is the WP useful?

What? That next event is the hardest one in the dungeon, you crazy.

Could you be more specific? The Burrower room is always completed BEFORE you have to pass through Kohler’s little island and most pugs that lose more than a single player in it are doomed to fail it anyway. Meanwhile Detha’s SpikeTrap is also the easiest portion of her path right now too. And it doesn’t get difficult until after you’ve already unlocked the next Waypoint right next to the final room (full of the currently bugged spawn-rate of Ascalonians)

Mage.6045:

Dolan.3071:

I ask PUGs as soon as I join if they fight or not, a group 80’s tend not to, and are generally pretentious kittens in that case, I just leave then and there.

Oh by the way what does that PUG stand for? Saw it couple of times on the post but didn’t quite figure it out.

Pick-Up-Group.

“Pubber” is also used interchangeably in some games (though usually more with PvP)

spreadsheets.9805:

Kholer literally takes like 5min to kill if you’re bad. That time alone is made up by the waypoint you unlock, except for Tzark’s path.

That Way Point is only helpful to players who then die in the next phase, which is very unlikely considering it’s the easiest stretch of both routes before another Waypoint is unlocked anyway further up ahead. So, If you’re not dead during those 5 or so minutes it takes to reach the next phase, then how is the WP useful?

Worst story: Arah (logan does jack squat and is celebrated as the hero)
Worst explorables: TA

Best story: TA (logan’s most dramatic QQ run-off)
Best explorable: Arah

hmm …

EDIT: Ahh bummer… when ya get back to NA I guess then….

Go farm whatever Orr event you usually farm for an hour, then buy 20 mystic coins on the TP with the money

Gratz, there’s your monthly achievement, and you didn’t spend hours in dungeons like the rest of us here do regardless of the rewards. (which honestly, ARE pretty bad)

PS: I got 70 kills in WvW yesterday while waiting for a dungeon team.

Master Bei Shun.1267:

From what I’ve gathered to the people I invited off of this thread, Mael hasn’t responded very well.

I think ALL of us have invite Privs …. if you mean he hasn’t been running the Teams himself, then that’s not fair b/c it wasn’t ever expected of him to do so.

But if it’s indeed true that NA players can’t join the same instances as EU players, then we obviously DO need 2 different groups. (I’ll stick with whichever one is all NA plz)

I think Nicolatte already nailed it, but I’ll chime in too…

MorceluLebeau.5109:

..the more I want to go back to WoW

Not meant as an insult here…. but that’s probably for the best if you still haven’t found a way to play pure support like I did only 1 week in. I spent 5 years Monking in GW1 and can’t remember anything I ran that was as versatile as my Guardian is here. I’ve also seen video of this Engineer in WvWvW who held off a small Zerg almost completely by himself with Heals and Buffs. (It was on Guru, it would take me a while to locate it again). He just couldn’t die apparently…

Point being, it just requires a lot more effort & multi-task reaction playstyle than it’s frankly worth to most ppl. Gamers who are used to a much more closed system will probably not be able to make the transition to this style of support since it’s mostly only the Playstyle itself that’s the reward as opposed to the actual results being the main reward.

.

PS: if you require specifics in End Game… I could probably record a few fights (mostly in Orr Path2) where my “Uber Heals” or Boons/wards are the main difference maker.

Erasculio.2914:

“Endgame” will mean “Fractals of the Mists”, and everything else will be left rotting.

Oh Gee… you mean like UW, SoO, & DOA? Yeah I predicted exactly this last week here and can point to the exact post. Anet is realizing the powercreepers are leaving so they have to try to appeal to them just like they did in Nightfall & EotN if they want to keep them around.

Personally I would have preferred overhauling most dungeon enounters *(and HP pools) to make them just plain more fun… And especially faster responses in the form of Hot-Fixes to the huge game-breaking Bugs. But a tiny little Stat difference isn’t going to phase me. I have 600 Orr tokens right now that I probably won’t ever spend b/c I don’t see anything I want. I’ll no doubt have 600 more tokens from this Fractal Disco Spam Dungeon or whatever it is (sorry, can’t hear “fractal” without thinking of Tribes now) that I won’t know what to spend them on either.

The rewards aren’t the reason I did the dungeons. Infact I did DOA enough times to buy TWO Armbraces that I never used (I gave them away instead… didn’t sell them, just Gave them Away).

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I think the only REAL danger here, is that you might see a ton of DE Farming N00bs who’ve never done any of the tougher Explorables, try to pile into PUGS just for this new gear and then just get wrecked hilariously hard by it. Right now Pugs aren’t perfect, but atleast you have a 50/50 chance of meeting a few competent people. All bets are off though when it comes to pugs for this Fractal thing. I’ll be shocked if even 20% of LFG’s for it have anything even resembling the skill or builds to tackle it.

PS: Speaking of builds, this is the most 4th-wall-breaking acronym Anet has ever given anything… (except maybe the TPS Regulator golem). I am highly amused by the discussions that will coincidentally ensue b/c of it

ImmortalZodd.6871:

played on CD BL today to try increase the divide in points to secure YB a second place finish to remain in tier 3. I imagine it does look we are hitting you from both sides but its only because we know your Oceanic will just take it all back so the more we can limit your score during NA times the harder it will be for them to bridge the gap. But i can tell you we fought off plenty in the south to keep TC from pulling a fast one on us and we often fought for the camp between us just not as much as we fought you for the bigger point tic spots.

Its the same that is going on in any other boarder lands your homeland becomes one big defend the north and push one side out that is weaker then focus other side.

This is an excellent post and really shows an analytical mind at work. Like I said earlier, I think YB’s organized Zergs really know what they’re doing here. I don’t think it’s good for the game, but it is good for their short term.

Not worried one bit… HEAR THAT ANET? Keep your lousy +6 bonus sword of whocares… I did most Explorables in the game with Rares when everyone else was crying that Exo’s were “Required”. ….and I’ll only repeat the dungeon if it’s challenging like Arah and has less BUGS than Arah. Stats don’t impress me. Customization & Art does.

B/c we don’t want a ton of Canceled-Orders manipulated Flash Trading causing instant inflation?