The GS Guardian isn’t all that great, Hammer or mace, or go home. GS has no support on it, and the skills are pretty bad even damage wise. Hammer auto = protection 90% of the time, and if you trait it, the symbols heal you.
Sword/Focus is pretty good too, get 2 blinds with that, or 3 if you have the trait for it on activation of Virtue of Justice.
Completely disagree. You might say GS vs Hammer is debatable in terms of support, but to say that there isn’t any at all on the GS is simply not true.
Whirling Wrath on the symbol cleanses plenty of conditions, binding blade is invaluable for positioning enemies for team aoes. Leap of faith can be used as a clutch blind.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
No, it’d need to work 5x less buggy for me to want to pay to play
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Thief was my 3rd lvl 80 and I have to admit it is a lot more fun than my necromancer and guardian. Loads of options and creative ways to build one, and your option 2 is actually really fun too.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
A very easy weapon set is Sword/Pistol. Use Black powder and autoattack.
This.
S/P will get you from 1-80 no problems, anyone who says otherwise…well I don’t want to say they are wrong… but they are wrong.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
this is my take on venoms build, uses 3 venoms. I think you either need to use more venoms in your skillbar, or use less venom related traits if you are only using one.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I’ve run into the following bug with Spectral Walk a few times in the last week.
Say you have utility 1 on CD. Then you switch utility 2 to spectral walk. the newly slotted spectral walk will be on CD, sharing exactly the same CD as utility 1.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Healing power scales really well for thieves actually
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
my best run in fract 20 included:
2 dest lodestones from the dredge fractal bags
7 rares
1 corrupted core
1 charged core
2 molten cores
ralena’s band.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Whilst most dungeons in this game aren’t entirely difficult, I do rate CM on the top of the list for difficulty. It definitely is a bit harsh for first timers. But its a good dungeon because positioning and experience really pays off.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I like GS auto attack, by your logic, it should be a combo finisher.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
My f1-f4 and 6-0 are set on my corsaid m90 mouse, but sometimes abilities dont activate on the first press, so you have to spam it in the heat of combat.
Its pretty easy to double click it this way, and its annoying as hell. I saw a thread about this exact issue that a Dev responded to. I think s/he said they were looking into the possibility of adding a .5s delay, or cooldown before you can press abilities like that twice so you don’t accidentally exit them. I can’t really link the thread, it was months ago and I can’t remember exactly where it was in the forums.
They could put the cancel button on the right side of it, like other transformations.
I hate how there is so little consistency for this button. Sometimes its 5, sometimes its 6, sometimes its like 11…
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
The ‘bunker’ bit is misleading, I’d say ppl refer to bunkers for sPvP, because it also requires the ‘bunker’ to be able to hold a point, which isn’t exactly present in PvE. I’d say you are trying to make a tank.
Tbh, with all that power you’re stacking you’re better off going for solid damage, instead of weak bleeds. Maybe use Sword/dagger and use flanking strike as your ‘evading attack’. Still, I think you need to change your gear, you’re focused on using condition damage but have no condition damage at all.
You can actually be forever tanky against non-champ mobs just using black powder on pistol offhand.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Disagreed, my S/D build is centered fully around precision and berserker armour.
0/30/20/20/0, berserker setup. The 20 in shadow arts and acrobatics gives you enough armour and vitality to take some hits, while also giving an advantage in amounts of dodges. I deal almost 2-3k hits every swing (thanks to fury, giving me up to 71% crit chance) when hitting crit. It’s a build that works pretty well in sPvP, and it works well in dungeons and fractals too (up ‘till now at least, haven’t gone far into fractals yet.. lvl 5)
Crit damage is also influenced by power I believe. Berserker gives power as a primary too btw.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Cleave autoattack, infiltrator’s strike is so good it’d take pages to explain, and flanking strike’s boon removal can be useful against enemies that don’t perpetually refresh their boons.
Just excellent.
I’m not sure how do people enjoy sword main hand.
Auto is ok. I get it, high damage, useful debuffs.
Infiltrator strike is a castrated shadowstep, what the hell is that? It’s heartseeker with castrated damage.
Flanking strike is decent but against anything removely moving it fails, and I hate when the game fails me.
The only thing Heartseeker is good for in PvE is leap-cloak for D/P builds. Otherwise, it has nothing on Infiltrator’s. Inf is a stun breaker, a condition remover, you can stop charging attacks with the immobilize.
Lupi and Alpha absolutely QQ because one attack can make their best abilities worthless. Heartseeker is really only useful sub 50% hp, inf is useful all the time.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Necromancers do not get Quality of Life patches. Actually, I’m quite sure they don’t get bug fix patches too!
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Actually I think his pull has a 20-22 second cooldown. I know this because if I use traited Stand Your Ground (24cd) I can’t use it again by the time he uses his next pull, I’m always 1-2 seconds off.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Man, you’ve been screaming about dungeon difficulties all day, at least tell us your profession first.
It might help to fight him down the stairs, since the room he is in is really bright.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
The first time I ran into Kholer he was a hard boss too….it was back in April/May of last year. Scorpion Wire with no start-up animation straight into Daggerstorm. Good thing my guild had 3 brain cells and learned what stability and stun breakers were. I miss that version of him, kept me busy and on my toes.
Lol, I ran around the columns back then slowly dpsing him to death.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Its happening because you failed to read the complete post, that the choice of dailies will come later.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I just woke up, going to cook something nice relax for a few hours after that i will finish the SPvP video/version of this build.
From everything i saw here, the problems that are brought up are… i don’t use everything (it’s hard in such a big zerg, my targets were disappearing faster then i could target them, the down fear doesn’t count as much…) and a few other things.
In SPvP… actually TPvP there will be a more clear demonstration of the build, just because of the fact it’s not as hard to demonstrate it there, i can afford focusing on what i want to demonstrate rather then a few dozen other things.
Some of the things you guys were saying aren’t bad or wrong, but you guys need to understand that it is very easy to say, “you should have done this… should have done that…” but it’s not as easy as it sounds, when every second you have to tab 3 times and make a decision, ops… that one’s gone, then tab 3 more times and make a decision… in such a big zerg… you guys can try it out for yourselves if you don’t believe me.
So i appreciate all of you guy’s input and i will answer all of you individually later today.
I can see this build working more in sPvP actually, it’d make those 1v1 scenarios use the fear on down trait more useful. As of WvW I kinda feel like you’ve ran with a gimmick a little too far, I don’t feel it works well as some others have pointed out.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
There are, what, four important attacks Alpha does in his fight?
Earth Spikes – These hurt, and I still don’t quite know the tell for that one. Then again, it’s unlikely to kill you.
Fire Spike – Move out of the circle. Doesn’t even require a dodge.
Ice Spike – If you’re not stacked, you can usually ignore this entirely. If you are stacked, you actually have to dodge. Oh no!
Crystal – Break the crystal before someone dies. AoE ftw. . .
Everything else is negligible. I’ve gone entire fights at range not getting downed and not dodging. This is not an impossible fight, it just requires knowing the mechanics and not failing. Mind you, sometimes you just have a bad run; but the odds of the entire group having a bad fight is pretty low. . .
I actually think this is why Alpha is a good boss design. He has an array of attacks;
must-dodge attacks, must-not-dodge (neglible) attacks, and to a degree, gearcheck attacks.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Cleave autoattack, infiltrator’s strike is so good it’d take pages to explain, and flanking strike’s boon removal can be useful against enemies that don’t perpetually refresh their boons.
Just excellent.
How do you build around S/D, trait and gear-wise? Power and precision or what?
This is one of my builds that use S/D. Its a playstyle preference I guess, but I can’t stand going 1 target at a time with dagger autoattack. Heartseeker is near useless in PvE, so the 2 slot comparison is completely lopsided. Infiltrators strike lets you laugh at enemies like Lupi and Alpha.
S/D isn’t going to be your incredible dps burst thief, but its definitely going to be the thief that doesn’t die every time the wind changes directions.
Infiltrator’s Strike <— Its just too good.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Cleave autoattack, infiltrator’s strike is so good it’d take pages to explain, and flanking strike’s boon removal can be useful against enemies that don’t perpetually refresh their boons.
Just excellent.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Here’s a tip for dodging. The moment you see the red circles, say: Eir has a nice butt. And press dodge. Works everytime.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
i will nerf hundred blades just like i nerfed smiter’s boon.
This made me rofl at work. kitten you!
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
There’s nothing wrong with the reward really, I just don’t think the dailies will ever be a successful avenue towards leading players to do things in certain areas. There’d just be too much exclusion.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Its ironic really. Dailies were changed with the good intention of making people go to ends of the world and experience ‘more of what the game has to offer’. The irony is that you’re moving people away from the things they actually do…daily. A frequent dungeon runner has to go out of the way to find some underwater mobs to kill, or stuff to gather etc etc etc.
But hey, that’s ok. You need to earn the rewards.
But will it work? I doubt it! ‘Path of least resistance’ will always play a big part in the failed intentions of the dailies. Can they make a daily that only involves events in say, Fireheart Rise? Nope. people will scream that they haven’t reached the level required and are shut out of the daily. So in order to encompass everyone in the player-base they need to allow people of all levels to do it, which is why people will just do what is easiest. Hello Queensdale.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
each borderland will be thematic depending on the server.
Sea of Sorrows will have a lot of underwater!
Jade Quarry is in a jade quarry etc etc
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
The only issue I have with going necromancer in dungeons is keeping awake. Dungeons are easy mode with necros, the sound of the staff, axe, or scepter wailing away is sleep inducing.
Dungeons are much more fun with my thief simply because I need to work towards surviving. Some builds on my guardian aren’t tanky either.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
This trait would be as bad (in a niche way) as the Guardian’s Inner Fire.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Ahh Daecollo, I’m really beginning to appreciate these topics of yours lol. I think they should just rename it, if your reasoning holds true.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I totally agree with OP. What is wrong with the thinking that casuals who aren’t skilled enough on their first few tries to fail and quit a dungeon completely? That’s how everything works; its how people get motivated to do better.
What the feline is with everyone expecting bottom feeder hand outs in games these days?
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
YESssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! countless rage posts and infractions have been commited just for a reply
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
omg, any chance I can get this post noticed by Linsey?
Can you please make the sPvP locker come in columns of 12? Armor sets come in a set of 6 pieces, and having 10 columns just makes the arrangment all out of whack. It would be much, much, much, much more easier to track if it were in columns of 12 (two sets per row).
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Its actually a great exercise in teamwork for new players. After you understand how to dodge the AoE, the only difficulty that remains is dealing with getting crystalized. Target the crystal and get everyone to take it down quickly if that person doesn’t have a means of getting out. A downed player should target a tendril to have it focused down to rally.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I’ve been using S/P a lot lately. Infiltrator Strike may very well be the best ability in the game. Pistol Whip is fine, the stun on it isn’t just for your convenience alone. It also becomes godly if Sigil of Rage pops. (Enough time to get it off 2 times, possibly 3. Each time will most likely be hitting for 7k+, and its AOE!) Maybe you should mess around with the weapon a bit more.
EDIT: Forgot to add that the thief becomes invincible while channeling Pistol Whip. It’s like the mesmers sword ability, except better in every way.
This guy has it right. OP, sword on thief is one of the most OP weapons in the game. Infiltrators Strike is incredibly powerful, in fact, thieves should always be in infiltration mode and just wail away at the enemy with auto attack, which cleaves. Flanking Strike, despite its weird animation sometimes, is excellent thanks to the boon stripping.
and if you’re talking PvE, I feel like I have to plug my sword/venom build:
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Axe in DS with Axe Training will still, and I can guarantee this, do less damage than staff with no training in DS.
Base stats and power coeffecient for Axe are garbage. It’s a kiting/superiority weapon, not a main DPS weapon. Use it as such and it’s axe-ceptable.
LOL
That’s the most ridiculous assumption out there. Staff is our single weakest weapon. It has great marks when traited, but is at all points not a main dps weapon. There isn’t a single knowledgeable necro that would claim that. Staff is great in specific situations. Axe is great all the time, and DS is our most powerful attack outside of Lich Form.
Actually, because Staff is a 2-handed weapon it has a higher base-damage which affects the amount of damage that LifeBlast deals.
You can test it yourself in the mists, equip a 1-handed weapon and staff and switch between the 2 in DS, Staff equipped damage will be higher.
Edit – Axe is also a horribly niche weapon while Staff is versatile as heck, just look at the amount of builds that use each weapon.
But the staff sounds will drive you ccccuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrraeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
The new ice attack isn’t difficult to evade. It has almost the same timing as Alpha’s ice aoe pretty much. Try not to backpedal all the way from point to point, sometimes its better to turn around and run. Often I find people getting closed in by the boss and waste dodges for unnecessary attacks.
Finally, there’s nothing wrong with skipping combat for one length of the way if you are low on hp. It is definitely safer to do this against the Ice Elemental rather than Powersuit, as Powersuit’s agony attack hits the whole room.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
yes, if you are playing level 4 you will fight jade maw and get your daily reward. Much easier to do odd level fractals now since it doesn’t really matter Just don’t go to fractals 20 if you havent passed fractals 3 yet >:O
Heh, I stopped around the 17s, glad I can group up for the odds easier now. Thanks for the quick reply!
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Hey, sorry to sidetrack but I have a question.
Suppose a F-lvl 4 person is in a group with 4 F-lvl 3 persons, and they do F-lvl 4. Will they be doing the jade maw? and if so, does the F-lvl 3 people still get daily chests?
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I’m so sick of this Giver’s item debacle. Never have Arenanet responded to my claims, with evidence provided.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
You’re a gem. I had my feeling it’d be Soldiers. Thanks!
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Does this broom give any different abilities than the broom that came with the Witch’s costume during the Halloween event?
Makes aeroplane sounds and doesn’t make a creepy grin like the Halloween one.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
I think they already stated before somewhere that this months monthly achievement won’t give laurels.
This. Can’t say Arenanet is great at getting that point across though. Its hidden in the forums somewhere. Really should be in the game login splash.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Because of the scaling down nerf, all dungeons below lvl 80 have been scaled up slightly indirectly. (ignoring other changes)
The only dungeon I ran so far after I patched was COF 1 and 2.
P1 was about the same.
P2 caused my pug team to disband.
Note, I have full exotic everything with sigils and runes sets.
So did my team, except for 1 person, and all were 80 of course.
Mesmer, War, War, Guard, Ele.
We failed 8+ times on defend magg. We caught on right away about the assassin but that wasn’t the main issue.
The main issue was the tons of mobs with knockdown attacks eventually overwhelming us.
It seems that the path now requires heavy or all aoe specced team to succeed, which is bad design.
I’m not going to assume if you had guardians in your team or something, but I find that in general, guardians don’t use stand your ground enough, or harrowed ground. Often, most of them are ok to use the skill if I request them to.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
Its a fun build, but you’re making people run away. Most likely into their own groups, they get downed, and will get rezed. Its also very 1v1 orientated, can’t say that’s the best thing for WvW. Still, props for being innovative.
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
can someone take a screenie for those stuck at work? thanks
“We just don’t want players to grind in GW2” – C. Johanson “it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun, rather than having fun”
Guild missions say otherwise.
