Guild Wars 2

First, my opinions.

GS, while slow, is not lacking in the damage department with the right build. I don’t do Zerker or Knight builds, usually opting for a Valk build with a Zerker weapon (decent attack power, crit damage and health pool), with a mix between Valk and Zerker on accessories. Gives me fairly good damage, while giving me some survivability. I can see swapping the Valk equipment with a Knight equipment for more survivability and higher crit chance working well there as well.

To me, the damage was fairly decent. Not spectacular, but this specialization is built around the shroud, where the damage is good. It does have weaknesses, the GS is purely a close combat weapon, meaning that the Reaper can be easily kited, it is slow, your biggest hitters in shroud have long CDs, and there are some mechanics that need to be tuned, but overall, not bad. Since you still have the weapon swap, just swap to something for the intermediate ranges, like axe or scepter, and your choice of offhand (warhorns and daggers tend to be favored by me). You also don’t need to use the GS, it’s simply another option for you to use.

Build it around surviving or hitting hard, however, and it is very damaging.

The difficulty spike of VB makes thing interesting, that’s for sure. It was intended that way due to the fact that a number of us have cut out teeth and played a lot in Dry Top and the Silverwastes, which themselves constituted a difficulty spike when they first opened up and serve as a wakeup call to players just coming into them.

I like it, despite my frequent cursing when I die, as it means that things are again challenging.

Running into them unexpectedly or them getting the drop on you is a wakeup call, more or less. Still, with them being glass cannons, they are real easy to kill, so they’re not that much of a problem.

To me, they’re just something to watch out for, but they die real quick to heavy hitting AoE attacks from my Tempest, and my Reaper (who is far less squishy) has few problems with them.

Just be glad they don’t have cc, that would ruin a player’s day.

You must have come in during the night cycle. There is a significant change in VB depending on the day/night cycle. If it is at night, then there are a LOT of mobs, particularly vine tendrils to deal with. Even during the day, some places have a few, though far less than at night.

This is actually an intended mechanic for HoT, where the day/night cycle plays a major role, where you do the exploration during the day, which is easier and safer, while bunkering down and defending rally points at night. At least in Verdant Brink.

I found the entire map to be hectic and interesting. While a number of the events are bugged, preventing much in the way of meta progress, or they simply have their progression tags disabled.

The lack of story content gives VB the aimless feeling, though if the intro story mission was any indication, that won’t be a problem when the game goes live. As this is for testing classes and mechanics, as well as tuning some combat aspects, I’ll take it. It gives time to get used to the current elite specs, see the mastery system, and play around.

I got no problem with that.

Also, what says that have to reveal everything? ^^

There has to be a balance between what gets revealed and what they decide to let players find out for themselves, after all. Also, don’t take datamined info as gospel until Anet makes an announcement, unless that info confirms what has been announced.

The majority of the time, it confirms what was datamined. The rest of the time? They may be trolling us and may have deliberately seeded misinformation to be datamined.

We will have to see. I have a feeling it will scale decently, but not as well as we want it to.

I doubt we will see too much of a boost in damage in the next iteration, though that will come, if only to scale the class with the rest. They pointed out that they were concentrating on making the mechanics for the class work first, before adjusting the damage.

I do agree that the lack of buffs is a glaring flaw.

Mallyx needs to be tuned better, true, but his legend is based around screwing with your character. THe better stuff comes at a cost to you, and in group play, with condition removal out the wazoo, that means that Mallyx is underpowered unless you move out of range of the removals.

Ventari is a bit of a mixed bag, really. The mobility of the table is its biggest selling point, but micromanaging that seriously hurts the dps. When I ran with him, I basically only moved the table when I was moving out of its range. Not ideal, but it was workable.

Definitely rumors. Also, they wouldn’t limit such a restriction to one class, but apply it to all classes.

That is probably coming. Bridge gaps tend to be shortly before an expansion release.

As for balance issues, expect them to get tuned as things go on. Also, keep in mind that PvP Balance =/= PvE balance and so on. What balances one, or improves it, can severely unbalance the other, as the condition tuning shows.

Negative feedback which really was unwarranted, but then I’ve done beta testing for a lot of MMOs with all that entails, so my expectations for an MMO beta are low, to say the least. More like unplayably broken, even in open-beta, for the first few weeks (which the invite stage had to deal with).

Sure Revenant damage was lackluster, largely due to ANet only giving us access to what they’ve announced in terms of compatible trait lines and spirits, rather than everything at once. Still, the class actually worked and wasn’t bugged to unplayability.

The only negative opinion I had of it was the lack of anything new to go and explore (and die), though getting a feel for the Revenant was nice. I actually had fun with it and played with some tuning.

Also, they may have only already in the works or slotted for release.

One thing to keep in mind is that While ANet does the development work and has a lot of pull in marketing and release date decisions, NCSoft still has the final word. With Beta event weekends now happening and the game being available for pre-order, this is a good indication that the release date is soon. While I don’t expect that they will make it in time for the three year anniversary, I also would not be surprised if they did.

A little, though some things still need to be tuned. It’s not the trinity style tank, but with the damage reduction skills, you can take a pounding if you’re careful. Of course, still getting used to it as well.

Honestly, I think they have it tuned too low right now. This isn’t the finished product and in this beta test, they went very towards balance between the legends. Given that this is to encourage us to play around with the three legends currently available, I can see why.

What we see now will not be what we see later down the line in other beta events and especially not HoT.

This isn’t the finished product, just something ANet is allowing us to play with.

Well, that and they haven’t given us access to everything the Revenant is going to be able to do in HoT. They’ve given us just enough to play around with and get a feel for the thing.

Been having fun

Keep in mind, fellow players, that ANet isn’t letting us play with the finished product. We know more legends are due to be revealed (Shiro from Factions is confirmed), not all of the weapon sets are put in, and none of the current legends for the beta are really centered around dps. Well, Mallyx is supposed to be, but considering the price to pay to really cut loose on him, ouch.

Mace-Axe is a lot faster, and is interesting to play. Hammer, slow, good for static or predictable enemies, sucks for PvP and WvW.

Give it time. Before release, we will see the finished product, so see this as a prototype.

A good breakdown of the Revenant, OP. Yeah, you can tell ANet isn’t letting us play with all the options and the non-swapping of weapons is going to be a major sticking point if ANet doesn’t allow it later on.

Still, is fun to play around with.

Give it time, they haven’t revealed all their cards for the Revenant, yet. This even is to allow us to get a feel for the class and how it plays in situations where the majority of content takes place, on land. ANet hasn’t decided to make the revenant not be able to fight underwater, given that you spend a fair amount of time in the water when leveling and doing map completion.

And yet, I have a feeling that a full zerg party is going to have some serious problems in HoT dungeons.

Not to the point of needing a dedicated healer, but healing skills and abilities are probably going to be more important in them than they currently are.

I expect that ANet will tune the damage output a bit higher. The nice thing is that this class has no real weaknesses. The bad thing is that it has no real strengths right now.

The class is still being tuned and there is work that needs to be done, true. Still, I can see ANet making some adjustments to it to make it better in its various roles. Also, if you’re doing it only with the celestial gear, and not tailoring the gear to the role you want to play, then everything will be sub par.

I did healing with a healing set and saw a major increase in healing output. DPS in a tailored DPS set, good, if not stellar DPS.

Definitely a class that takes some getting used to, with how its mechanics seem to work. Not bad, but different enough to require some adjustment considering that it is more centered around roles than the other classes.

The video hit the Revenant’s primary weakness on the head. It is good at the roles each stance gives, but not exceptional at anything (yet). Given that it is very likely that ANet has at least one other spirit to reveal, as well as the elite specialization. Also, there is still some tuning to be done. The main thing here is, they got it to a place where it works and can get a lot of players to work it and give feedback.

One thing that players need to keep in mind, both those who will praise the class and those who will condemn it, is that the stances are very situational. You are not supposed to take a stance and just stick with it, but to alternate between the two you are using.

You also have the be very particular about the specializations.

First, playing the revenant was definitely interesting. I didn’t expect flawless performance, because it’s a beta, but it still made for some interesting play.

First I will go with the good parts. I played with the Hammer and Mace-Axe combo to start with and plan to experiment with the staff later today, but from what I’ve seen from players who did the staff side of things, I should have a bit of fun. I did this with the Celestial stats (base armor). Not excellent in any particular role, but good for experimentation, which is the point of the beta.

The offensive builds are good, have some reliable and steady damage. Hammer has a long range, while the Mace-Axe combo has less, but makes up with greater mobility. However, the stances do need some tuning. Hammer is slow, very slow, but balances that with higher burst damage. Mace-Axe is faster, with lower burst damage, but slightly higher DPS if played right. Staff looks interesting, and has the potential to be good for DPS as well.

Legendary Dwarf Stance is definitely designed as a tanky stance, though it has some nice party defensive benefits, while Legendary Demon Stance is clearly designed more for DPS and conditions. Demon stance may need some better tuning for conditions.

Now, all of this was with the regular beta build (using Celestial, rather than tuning it more directly). Therefore, the class was solid in many respects, but did not particularly excel. I will be working with my normal PvE world build, which means that damage output is going to be nice, while my healing with Centaur stance will be weak, and experiment with a healing/tank buld (Cleric).

Now, as for skills and traits. I found them rather… lacking in options. Revenant has seven lines, while other classes have nine base trait lines. It doesn’t make the class unplayable, but it reduces some of the flexibility. In other words, your stance determines your 6-0 skills, so pick and choose your stances choose wisely, as you are more limited in play styles.

Final Opinion:

Unlike other classes, this has less of the outright choice flexibility of other classes, with skills being tied to stances and fewer trait lines, but balances that with how your stances work it. They’re good at what they do, at the cost of the flexible choice options.

The lack of equippable weapons is going to take some getting used to, while the no weapon swapping is not a problem, it is hardly unique in the latter.

I personally think of Revenant as a class for more advanced players, though those starting one from level 1 will have an easier time than we are in the beta, given the time to experiment, play and get used to it. Still, it is a class I will probably have a lot of fun with down the line.

It’s also still being tuned and players are going to have to play around with things to fin what setups work best in various situations.

Also, the revenants in the beta are level 80, so players don’t have the build up of familiarity they otherwise would on a class they built from level 1, especially since it takes time to master a class, if you ever do. Also, the revenant play style is different enough to throw people off.

lordhelmos.7623:

jgcd.6041:

-Snip-

I really like the idea of Ebonhawke being sieged instead of the Black Citadel. This creates the kind of situation where it seems like all hope is lost for the but then the Charr come in at the last second and save them with a huge army of war engines.

This can create some really good story telling to show how all of the citizens that hate the charr suddenly find themselves saved by the most unlikely of allies. This could also carry forward the Charr bond with the other races.

It would also fit with the geography. Each Elder Dragon so far has been largely confined to a general geographic area, with the notable exception of Primordus, which is more because his geographic area is Tyria’s extensive underground.

While the idea of Kralkatorrik using Queen Jennah as a piece to bargain with is interesting, trying to eliminate her as a target of opportunity would also fit. Mordremoth certainly tried, even if his primary target was the Pale Tree, an assassination attempt which nearly succeeded.

As for a lore perspective, methinks that The Forgotten played a role in that, all things considered.

But for the Charr, it’s because they’re trying to get closer to make it easier to eat you when you turn your back.

As for the Norn, they don’t need no stinkin’ edges.

Considering that we have the Beta character slot, the latter is most likely. Besides, I will definitely test the Revenant, as well as the bugs that will be in it (guaranteed), but won’t really invest trying to get to 80 in a couple of days.

Mostly get a feel for the class.

eats popcorn and hands out buckets to the lurkers

To comment on the OPs question:

First, define “complete”. Do you mean everything they could conceivably think of and implement, and doing it perfectly? If so, then no, it won’t be complete.

An MMO, or expansion for that matter, being “complete” means that there is nothing left to add, nothing left to improve, nothing left to change and adapt. Even when they do an expansion, the core game isn’t “complete”, which is true for all MMOs. However, it has reached a point where doing more with the same old becomes more effort than the end result.

Hence the expansion. It gives them more room to play, more room to develop. It also gives the fans something to do, have fun with, get frustrated by, sing praises of, complain about for, get into arguments about, be amused/moved/bored by, and so on.

Would also explain why minions of each dragon aren’t seen in the stomping grounds of the others. They don’t get along and the minions make for some new snacks.

I like these ideas simply because the OP put a lot of thought into them and is also looking towards the ramifications of the events for Tyria. While I don’t agree with everything, I can appreciate the thought that was put into this.

For me, I would make a few tweaks. Instead of making Divinity’s Reach be the actual target during the initial events, make a location which commands a strategic access point to the Crystal Desert: Ebonhawke.

While the dragons are not unintelligent, their own outlook is so different and alien, that they don’t see the world the same way.

So, here’s my tweak.

War of the Brand Part 1: Ascalon Assaulted

Begins in the Blazeridge Steppes with a massive Branded Army marching into the Plains of Ashford. The Charr Legions, being pushed back send a reluctant request for aid from the Pact to help them stabilize the line in the Devast District and Phantasmis Corridor.

The Ashford Forum becomes a forward base for the combined Pact-Legion forces marching from the Black Citadel, but the combined forces are barely able to stem the tide. This story event has several components to it, involving working frantically to stem the tide, to some extent, while also dealing with increased ghost activity as the conflict has stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest around Ascalon City.

After several engagements against the Branded, the line is broken by a determined branded assault led by a champion of Krakatorrik, The Breaker (tentative title).

Forced back, the combined army rallies around the Barradin Estate, forced to face off against the Branded and Ascalonian Ghosts as they struggle to prevent the Branded from breaching into the Black Citadel. The story events cover the running engagement until the climax at the Walls of the Black Citadel, where the combined forces again engage The Breaker.

Boss Battle: The Breaker

Revolves around killing branded between phases while the Pact and Charr weapons charge in order to harm the boss and bring him down. Each time he is brought down, you have a brief window of time to damage him, otherwise, you are going to be busy fighting branded to buy time. Mechanically, similar to Tequatl in that respect, but scaled for a story event, so a bit easier in some respects, a lot harder in others if its only you and you didn’t bring friends.

Once The Breaker is killed, the branded assault loses momentum and is easily beaten back.

War of The Brand Part 2: The Siege of Ebonhawke

Right after the Black Citadel, you receive word that Ebonhawke is under siege by the branded. Information provided by Pact scouts shows that the branded army laying siege to Ebonhawke is easily twice the size of the one that attacked the Black Citadel. There have also been sightings of a new kind of branded in the siege. Queen Jennah is also visiting Ebonhawke for diplomatic reasons and to make matters worse, the Asura Gate was rendered inoperable due to Separatist sabotage.

This chapter of events revolves around getting access to Ebonhawke. As there are Champions of Krakatorrik in the region, aerial support is dicey at best, so the Pact forces, with some help from the Legions, decide on a bold plan to move forces to assist Ebonhawke by stemming the tide of branded reinforcements from the North and securing Tenaebron Lake, if only for long enough to get forces through.

Afterward, the story missions involve moving further south until they reach the Siege Plains, where they directly engage the branded army, cutting a path through in order to divide the branded forces assaulting Ebonhawke in two. However, the gate to the Crystal Desert is breached and now branded are inside Ebonhawke. This would be our first encounter with the Lazuli, in this case.

This chapter ends not with Queen Jennah captured, but is severely wounded by a Lazuli that managed to get close to her and the duke. Only the quick actions of Countess Anise saved Queen Jennah’s life.

End War of the Brand.

Interlude: Crisis in Kryta:

More a brief interlude as Queen Jennah’s injuries render her temporarily incapable of ruling Kryta and is focused on preventing the Ministry, in particular Caudecus, from seizing power. Focused around preventing another assassination attempt and gathering kitten ing evidence to put Caudecus down for good.

Luckily, the White Mantle, overconfident with the current state of things, provides some, as well as a White Mantle defector turning state’s evidence. This chapter concludes with Caudecus’ treachery being revealed, along with his deals with bandits and the White Mantle, as well as preventing another assassination attempt on Queen Jennah by the Lazuli, the same one which wounded her.

starlinvf.1358:

Because crafting doesn’t sell gems. If this were a Korean MMO you’d need forge dust just to get anything beyond the basic skin.

Hell, that’s the case for most free to play MMOs. It works, too.

If you started fresh, it’s working as intended. If you had a character leveling and were at a point where the line unlocks and point useage don’t mesh, it isn’t. I’m actually not surprised, as any game which has a point distribution for specs has it happen at least once when they make major changes to such a system.

Don’t worry, it will get hammered out, or ANet will simply refund all the distributed points, zero out the distribution, and make us redistribute them. If it wasn’t for the high likelihood of hero challenges causing problems in the latter case, ANet probably would have done just that. It would be both easier, and less chance for problems that way.

There’s an issue with the personal story in Orr due to correcting the proper sequence of the events between Chapters 7 and 8, but the text and levels haven’t changed to reflect it.

It’ll get fixed, eventually and once they work it out.

You won’t be able to change their minds about this. They found something changed in a way they didn’t like and haven’t gotten used to it yet. Give it time. In a few weeks, couple months tops, they will wonder why this wasn’t done sooner, if not from day one. Seen it before, will see it again, and I will be entertained by the griping.

goes and gets more popcorn

Those excess hero points will be used, when the xpac comes out. Farm them up and save them now, it will save you some trouble later.

Did him, failed, had fun anyway. Will try again, I like challenges.

People will get the hang of it soon enough, the mechanics didn’t change, we just have to pay more attention to them and boost the damage output/fine tune the rotations.

The entire thing will blow over. First, the rage isn’t even by a majority of players, but a very vocal minority, considering that there are several hundred thousand players worldwide. Second, every expansion for an MMO has sticking points with said minority of players. Third, we get the pre-xpac patch with the major changes on Tuesday which will distract most of the complainers as they now new and shiny target.

As for vets leaving, some will, as they have only kept playing because something else hasn’t caught their attention, or given them the excuse they’ve been looking for to quit. I don’t think they will leave in droves, though.

GW2 managed to survive the make or break point for an MMO, lasting longer than a year, so the game will survive this.

Also, keep in mind that if it wasn’t this, it would be something else. To me, this kittening is just another day for an MMO. Amusing, but unproductive. Still, if it makes them feel better by complaining, then by all means, continue.

I will at least be entertained and amused.

puts down popcorn

Tolmos.8395:

Welcome to the internet, where everyone is “entitled” if they disagree with you and everyone is mad about something. “Entitled” is the buzz word to use, because it almost always illicit a reaction.

The thing that most MMO players need to learn early on, and usually fail to, is a LOT of people are playing the game with them. Most people say “yea yea, I know that. We all want different things”, but then I still see posts like this.

It’s the internet Tolmos, where the “It’s all about me” attitude is not only the norm, it’s expected. Also, the GIFT theory applies nicely, as usual.

Think about it: if there are 500,000 active players right now (which is a conservative estimate based on how many boxed copies were sold) and only 0.1% of the playerbase got mad about something and posted about it on forums, that’s 500 people on forums kittening. For the forums, that is a LOT of people posting negatively, most of them likely making multiple posts each.

And a fair number of them are probably on ANet’s unofficial “Disregard Complaints From These People List” due to their habit about complaining about anything and everything.

There are reasons forums aren’t taken too seriously by ANet. The threads which they would take seriously are more carefully moderated for a reason.

People throw around the terms “kittenstorm” and “pandemic” when, in actuality, it’s likely not even close. I have, in my 20 years of MMO playing, seen 1 true “kittenstorm”, and that was Blizzard’s WoW forums when they announced Real ID. That is the one and only true explosion of customer rage that I’ve seen on an MMO forum. Everything else? Just another day for an MMO.

Yeah, it really is just another day for an MMO. I frankly find the whole thing amusing and entertaining.

I remember that explosion of customer rage. Admittedly, there were some legitimate concerns raised due to Blizzard not properly communicating what Real ID actually meant and entailed, but yeah, that was rather explosive.

Thing is, that blew over, and so will this.

picks popcorn back up

Want some?

Frankly, I saw the rage coming and found it amusing. Some things never change, regardless of MMO, and the first thing complained about is always the price.

I’ve been an MMO gamer for long enough to not take it seriously. It will die down, and frankly, ANet knows this.

eats popcorn

Meh, saw this scene and event coming.

Hell, just do events in the silverwastes and farm it that way. I fill my dragonite stacks even without the chest train pretty steadily that way.

The Forgotten were spread well throughout Tyria and largely went to the Crystal Desert only when humans arrived on the continent. Before then, they were engaged in a fairly large scale war with the Charr.

Chances are, given some of the hints and everything, we likely will be seeing them.

Well for males: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRdcVYTjRw

August stands a good chance, with the 3 year anniversary coming.

I doubt Necromancers will take a comparable role to the Ritualist, mostly due to the fact that Revenant is already going to do so.

I think it’s going to be something along the lines of a reaper or a reaver, given that they get greatswords and the potential for cleaves and localized AoE, making them more of a condition giving burst damage class for a specialization.

Since the beta events are going on, and given the fact that most MMOs are released within a few months of Beta events opening up, it will be soon. The game is basically finished, but there is still some polishing needed to be done.

We can probably expect an announcement on a release date within a month to six weeks.

Silvercyclone.1462:

If you know someone with all of season 2 you can still join them but not sure if u will get the rewards or not at the end.

You won’t get any rewards, though you will get the experience of doing it.

They won’t do it, simply because it doesn’t make sense from a cost standpoint. Not to mention the nightmare of server administration it would be.

One is dead, and the other is in Kryta.

Wait a minute…