Guild Wars 2

seems good but is there a HD version?

FrostDraco.8306:

Xillllix.3485:

The elementalist is celestial by nature so they’ll probably bring the celestial amulet back instead of working on improvements, which is more demanding. One thing is certain: they can’t balance skills properly at all and the ele lead doesn’t know how the class functions.

So you are mad because they removed a cheesy jack of all trades bunker build? Then you make the claim ele is celestial by nature.

I can’t even.

Ele has been at the top of the food chain for the longest. The same reason you love the class, is the same reason they have been nerfing it. Food for thought.

I have to stop you for a sec, even though i agree eles need some retooling and probably shouldnt get cele ammy back but to say they been really good for a long time isnt exactly true.

I mean every class has had its up and downs. Before cele amulet eles were not very good. Used as a bunker class and bunker guardians were actually better. Even when they brought in cele amulet it was only the 2nd best class to cele engy. Once again it was elite but not the best.

You go to WTS 2 where the Abjured played 2 eles and lost. Even though ele was really strong it had weakness and counters to it. This was at a point where build diversity was really high. If you check the forums for a thief named Glyph he was playing bunker thief then and all the way into season 2 of Leagues until anet killed the build.

Season 1-2 warrior was trash and season 3 Dh had some had moments. But ATM eles are not useful in PvP at all. Having a good ele on your team can actually effect your team negatively, they have to be great and can not be countered. NA has always been a Pro ele, necro thief and Eu has always been Pro mesmer, guardian and warrior.

You are seeing no eles on either side, (except TCG but are expected to change the ele) no thieves and maybe 1 warrior.

Ele was a very good class for a short period of time, they were a needed role class before the D/D crisis and the HOT expansion. Ive rambled on but there have been 4 classes that can not be used in PvP at a decent level.

Its been warrior, thief, guardian and now ele. Saying hit had its moment in the sun is redundant because every class has had a big role in PvP since the launch. But only 4 have been unplayable at high level play.

tron.1438:

Ok could be a glitch. Hope it is.

So, do you only get 1 Birthday/Anniversary Back Pack skin per account or per character that turns 4 years old? I logged onto 3 of my characters that turned 4 and only one got the back pack box. The first one I logged onto. Now thinking I would get one per char. I just grabbed a random skin, thinking I was going to get all 5 anyway. Seems wrong and the skin I picked was not my favorite. I just picked it cause it was a norn char and a norn pack.

Now it’s nothing new for a rather lack luster birthday with GW2. Don’t get me wrong. I love GW2 but it feels like they don’t care about the number of characters you play, but still give you the same thing for each character anyway.

14 Mini Queen’s
14 Experience Scrolls to lv 20, 5 to lv 30 and during the next year at least 8 to lv 40.
34 Birthday Boosters.
8 Celebration dyes and this year around 8 more birthday dyes.
Birthday Gun for each character (well that was kinda fun but old really fast)

Why haven’t I tossed this stuff. Well I am a pack rat. Still, look at all this junk. Yes, JUNK! As it is of no use to me. I can’t sell any of it. I can’t give any of it away. It is of no real use to me.

I would assume that most players who have been around for 4 years (most not all) are not looking for anything to help them lv up. Thanks to several events and other methods. Getting lv books is not that hard. Heck, when Rev came out. I had more then enough books to lv 80 with out using a lv 30 scroll. Not to mention that lv 80 scroll I got and use on a character I don’t even play that much.

I can forgive the game feeling like it sides more with the PVP/WVW players. I can forgive the outfit line that really ticks me off cause there are cool piece to the look I want. I just don’t want the entire outfit. I don’t want to be a carbon copy of everyone else. But I can forgive that. I really can’t forgive the year after year of loveless birthday gifts.

Especially when I lived through GW1 and the gifts were random mini’s you could sell or trade. At least come up with some kind of trade in with the mystic toilet or something. Let me trade in all those Queens for something. Let me trade in all those scrolls for something. Let me GET SOMETHING for being with GW2 for 4 YEARS.

Again, still love the game. Just things like this make me feel the love a lot less.

Also, if the OUTFITS were ARMOR. I would spend a lot more money on this game. Just saying ANET. A LOT MORE MONEY!

How does this game side more with PvP/WvW players?

That community PvP wise has been asking for buffs for a long time to alot of skills that need fixed and cry for build diversity with in each class.

Heck Anet i know it goes both ways but shout ele in PvP is dead because many people believe eles were healing to much in raids.

Also if you truly believe they care about WvW a ton then it wouldnt have died. Im in Crystal Desert and we are now a 4 server team group and we still cant cap out a map. Where as right before HOT we could cap out EB with just CD players on reset night.

The rest of your post i can agree with but saying PvP and WvW get more attention then PvE is like saying pouring salt and lemon juice in your eye helps cure cancer.

Dont ask for it to make sense here. So for what ever reason instead of gaining points for the guild team by games played/ games won/ division games are played in. Anet has this one which means it doesnt work.

So take a break and you lose your leaderboard spot, not because the other teams were better but simply because you played early in the season. You will now have to play multiple times a week not to lose points and maintain your score for the rest of the season.

I believe you start losing points after 3 days.

Fivedawgs.4267:

@kdaddy, lol because you wouldnt last one second against the guys from abjured or Helseth.

Funny how crysis suddenly drop out of the best warrior convo. But Tarcis is def the best warrior atm no question asked! However, he is only as good as the class allow him. A pro mesmer would kitten on him though.

And did i say that Helseth was a God? Although, he couldn’t kill me but God these pro know when to time their skills. The difference is so huge!!

I saw all the NA guys back when we had solo que. Every match, when it was solo que was still hitting had guys from Team Risk, Radio Active, the Abjured etc etc etc. So i saw them all alot and yeah i was probably a notch below all of them.

I mean even back them to me Jorse was the best ele never joined a real team. Tarcis was the best warrior and i mean his Apex team was basically coming in 2nd or 3rd, OE was the best engy. Caed was the best theif and supercutie was the mesmer.

Also i believe a kid with a back name of Aaron.**** was the best player in the game or something. So know of course i know where i stacked against them.

@emkelly thanks for the info

Gmtsai.6349:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMlqxvooWxo

Found this highlight, it is really epic, I was hyped af when caster says 420 hp.

So last PvP season i kind of cruised into legendary and the only hiccup i had was when i was about to hit legendary.

I ran into tarcis maybe 4-5 matches in a row when i needed this win for legendary. I never won any of these matches. I didnt like how storm said “is it tarcis or is it the build”, like wow come on. Dude makes a sick play and you question the class.

Either way i have not run into a better warrior or rev as good as tarcis. Like i seriously wonder if it bothers him that he doesnt get as much recognition as the guys from Astral or the EU teams?

Eval.2371:

kdaddy.5431:

2- The conquests issue. You have always suggested PvP have its own skill system which would be different then PvE and you have always said conquest is not good for watching. I disagree, as someone who played Basket Ball at the HS level and more.

not trying to attack you or anything but the way conquest works and the scale its at is way different than a basketball game. If you were to put it in perspective, at the center line add two length of court on each side. That’s about the scale of your average conquest map compared to a single court. Now add 2 additional balls to the court because there is 3 possible places that plays can be made at once. What your left with would be something absolutely hard to follow. This is the issue with conquest in it’s current form ignoring class balance.

I play this game about 3-5 hours a day, I can watch an ESL match and barely understand what is going on at any given moment. The casters can just barely do better. I totally agree with Countless it’s the format that lends it self to being hard to follow.

For instance the spurs played a high elbow motion offense very similar to the Utah Jazz of the 90’s. Its based on high picks at the elbow with base line movement in cutting.

You dont hear the play by play guy call it as a base line cut followed by a flare screen into a inside cut by the point guard followed by a pick by the center with the power forward boxing out the interior defender. So the player has a clear lane to the basket.

My comparison from conquest to basketball at its purest form is usually not fully understood by the masses. 95% of people dont realize the amount of physical contact and hits you take especially when you run motion type offenses. When you see simpler forms of basketball like in the 90’s with centers and PF post play the game is simpler.

That was like our Pre HOT PvP where we always had the 1-3-1 or the 1-1-3 splits. You could evenly see fights. You could see who won what match up and why.

Conquest is very much like basketball when i ask you to be the defender of manu in 2005. At that level 99% of people do not know what your responsibility’s are on defense but they will only know when you made a big mistake or if you are simply not good enough. To give a exact point, you probably watch the player with the ball when you watch a game. The player on the court typically watch the player they most fear. A great example is Dirk Nowitzki. He will be running circles in the paint and run out to set a screen for the person with the ball or another team mate. His team mates got easy baskets because 2-3 defenders are already running to dirk. You are sitting back saying why was that so easy?

I personally see most of whats going on from the life bars and the mini screen seeing where everyone is. Can i tell what happening in the fight? No not really but thats because of the HOT. I use to be able to see all weapon skills being used and utility/elite skills being used Pre-HOT. I understand you want to say conquest is hard to follow but simply saying that conquest is too difficult to follow is not true. Trying to find the enjoyment of watching a team fight with all the clutter i can agree with you.

A few things,

1- you are agreeing with him on alot of stuff and you are actually knit picking things. For instance the team/weekly team rosters. I mean he used 55 rank dragons as a example for guys who came up together and worked threw the process. So there are examples of teams working it out so you and Helseth are right and wrong on that.

2- The conquests issue. You have always suggested PvP have its own skill system which would be different then PvE and you have always said conquest is not good for watching. I disagree, as someone who played Basket Ball at the HS level and more. The average person doesnt see the battles away from the ball. It becomes the the casters/ play by play guys to give attention to these things. For instance in the last world events, tarcis vs AA had 2 1 vs 1 on kylo. 1 vs 5 gauge which he was winning before the team fight came in and then he had a 1 vs 1 vs phanta ranger which he lost 1 vs 1. No one said anything and that had a small impact overall on the game but was huge at that moment. If you watch doug collins, hubie brown, Jeff van gundy call games. They point out things later such as defenders who can cover bubble screens and play zone in between 3 players as your team traps and covers man to man. Its the shout casters to call out the rotations/missed plays. Not only that but to comment on the things you the viewer dont always see. NA and EU do a great job on talking about what they are seeing but they always miss the reason why fights we are watching are happening the way they are.

3- 100% right on build diversity. Helseth was 100% wrong about what the community can do as well as the Pro players. I believe you played mesmer and there would be a reason to watch you stream if there were 2-3 good builds you could play that gave something different. You could play wells which is a could bunker build and gives alacrity. Problem with the build could be dps hypothetically. Then a condi 1 vs 1 or a dps roamer build. Once again hypothetically if there were 3 builds like that all have weaknesses and strengths over the other. It gives people a reason to watch you (a high level streamer) to see what best suits them as a player.

We dont have that, we have 1 build for each class that is clearly better at everything then the other. For instance condi warriors do more damage then dps warriors and have better sustain as well. Before the ele nerf eles were the best support/bunker in the game and the dps/condi version of ele was the worst in the game. Forcing ele into 1 role and this needs to be addressed.

So once again i felt you and helseth picked some issues you guys didnt need to and didnt have any answers for the actual issues but i you guys imo both hit the nail on the head with the fact that GW2 PvP is so broken now that it cant be looked at as successful. Like you play a game for 3 reasons, for the many its fun and rewards. For a few its the glory of being one of the best. Its impossible for anyone to have these 3 things with the current PvP scene ESL or not.

Just watched it and you got to feel for tarcis. Dude has probably been the best warrior in NA since launch and he cant ever seem to get over the hump. I do find it odd that he had OE on his team in season 1.

I believe tarcis, OE and Zoose were on a team trying to get WTS 2 and they lost. I wonder because when Lord Helseth won in this last Pro League championship he was a bit gitty. Like almost as a burden had been lifted.

Obviously tarcis isnt as involved but just wonder if there is a itch he trying to scratch.

Reikou.7068:

kdaddy.5431:

I dont think MM is the issue. I think the community is just spent. My last 5 matches has had some just sit when they felt it was over.

There are far better things to do with your time than just grind out a match that was lost from the beginning.

Its funny because thats just every where in the game. If people want to say the game isnt dying ok thats your place but my goodness.

Im on Crystal desert server and we have 4 servers on our team (including us) and we are facing other servers with 2 and 2 and none of the maps can get filled up and then PvP has lost all its mojo.

I mean maybe its time to down load Pokemon Go and catch some sun.

Ithilwen.1529:

I watched Helseth’s video with interest. First let me say that if I can be said to admire any Pro League player it is Helseth. I tune into his stream now and then. Twitch Pro league usually bores me within 10 minutes and I wander off.

He tried to make a case for Pro League’s value and wondered why it is not well received, especially on Reddit.

After thinking about it, here’s my response. I dislike Pro League for two major reasons and several secondary ones.

First, Pro League and the players themselves drive the game to be harder to play. Longer and longer combinations, weird situational powers and traits, coordinated team tactics and the like. These trickle into regular play.

A harder game and steeper learning curve make my life harder. I don’t want to have to spend hours a day practicing to be successful. If I wanted ultra complex combinations and powers interactions, I’d play WoW. It comes with a built in macro editor as I understand it.

In addition, a harder game is less casual friendly. PvP already has a low population. Making it harder will only increase that trend.

Second, my perception is that ANET has a number of areas that need attention. Pro League is a distraction from that. It also seems that ANET makes balance decisions based on the whim of pro league players.

Yes, Helseth, there is a “blind hatred” between what you call “competitive” players and the rest.

Part is the skill divide. No one enjoys coming to a game and being pounded into the soil of Tyria. That’s particularly true when your enemy laughs and calls you a “noob” while they do it.

Related is the ultra conservative, Social Darwinist attitudes displayed by some players. The notion that casual players don’t “deserve” to have a good time ( ie win ,) that all problems can be solved if the player would simply “git gud.” This kind of talk works in an Ayn Rand novel, but it chases players away in the real world.

I have to disagree simply because alot of what you are saying doesnt have to do with the Pro League scene.

Alot of Pro players have come out with threads suggesting things for better balance, i believe chaith out out one for engy and gave nerfs to some things and bumps to others for more build options. So even the pro league players see the problem with build diversity.

Having high skill caps isnt a bad thing, its only a bad thing when Anet makes it so there is no counters to a certain build. Its also a bad thing when the ESL league has a 1 class max simply because of class balance issues.

I saw Anet people playing the game season 1 & 2. Not so much in 3 and 4. I dont think you can blame the Pro scene or players for that but im ok with it if you are.

I dont think MM is the issue. I think the community is just spent. My last 5 matches has had some just sit when they felt it was over.

1 warrior sat at home when it was 350-200 and we made a comeback as he sat and he dc due to being in active. The last 2 matches both times it was a engy (different players) but they also sat and one complained about never winning a match and how he was 1 tier away from the legendary wings. The match before those 2 i had a rev and ele constantly die and when the rev just stood there when we had a chance. Score was like 480-420 and we had home and far and mid was neutral. Our rev quit trying and the ele instant died in a 1 vs 1 at home vs a DH.

I find this to be less about MM. If i may a few things,

1- Players in the game
For what ever reason there are alot of people who quit during matches/ lash out against team mates/ or simply quit caring when they lose a fight. No way to report this and the league PiP system is based on winning matches.

2-The game balance
Lets be honest all of the seasons have kind of been bad. Season 1 was bunker wars as well as season 2 with 2 classes at a time not being viable. This season there are no defensive builds and some classes are simply better at being sustainable while doing high damage. So once again Anet has failed to create a good balance.

3- Incentive
None, there is literally no reason to play ranked other then the title. The wings dont look very good (the exotic ones actually look better) and to top it off they have not brought back leader boards. What kind of ranked season doesnt have a leader board? Anet says wait we brought Guild leader Boards, wow the ones with decay and extended que times? ATM some of the Top 10 Leader Board teams are currently 2-0.

Lets just say it the Pro Leagues have been straight trash for the PvP community. I like the Esports aspect because its suppose to keep them honest. Plus seeing the best players in the game in matches and compete against one another is good causal fun. The set up of the ranked seasons by Anet has to be graded as a F from a PvP player looking for a actual rating system.

As someone who has mained ele and warrior ive been able to lean on one or the other class when it has had some bad nerfs.

I played 3 games on ele today, 2 with a build i was doing ok with during the off season then i went back to the old meta build with menders. I was pretty useless all 3 games and we lost 500-100 or less each time. So ive been playing rifle warrior and am on a 6 game winning streak.

It just reminds me of season 1-2 for warrior. Season 1 core/vanilla warrior was better then zerk and season 2 had bad version of the current condi warrior we have now. Every game i was in a match against a ele, someone on my team would say target the ele and take them out quick and we did.

You say balance principle and i say huh? I am on Crystal Desert borderlands for WvW and HOT classes are incredibly broken in small groups. Engy/warriors/mesmer literally walking into 2 vs 7-8 fights and able to run away and survive after a 2 minute fight. Then PvP has had these terrible balance issues since HOT arrived.

So its pretty obvious they have a PvE staff that works on that and they say to 1-2 people. Make it look like we do stuff on the PvP side of the game.

Dondagora.9645:

So, here’s something I feel has been always a thorn in the side of balance, and just want to talk about it with you guys: Roles.

I’ve been playing Overwatch and I really have to appreciate that they give every character a unique role to play in a team. Perhaps the role is not fully appreciated in a particular meta, but at the least having defined roles help in buffing or fixing a character or class to fit its particular niche.

I believe GW2’s 9 classes, while they diversify in builds, should be balanced around certain roles they should play in a team, and thus this thread is here for us to discuss what roles we believe a particular profession should fit.

I’ll use Mesmer, as it is my main, as an example:

• Lockdown Role, the role to continuously interupt and place controls/limitations on enemies, particularly countering roles which involve strong skills with large tells.

• Punisher Role, the role which punishes lack of awareness via soft methods [Confusion], particularly countering roles which rely on high DPS [meaning attack spam] or aggressive play [fast-pace].

• Equalizer Role, the role to support your team with abilities which remove the enemy from having advantages [Boons, Stealth, etc.] and undoing allies’ disadvantages [Condi]. In addition, this role can expand to reversing advantage, AKA Condi/Boon Swapping. Counters high-support and high-condition based roles.

Obviously these are not the only playstyles, in fact hybrid styles should exist between them for sure! However, without limiting our view of what a profession should do and should not do, the game cannot be properly balanced ever.

Any thoughts on this step to balance? Any thoughts on what roles certain professions might fill?

[Of course, the main problem is that ANet never listens to these threads anyway, but hey, let’s give it a whirl for the fun of it.]

Before HOT and the D/D cancer Anet had good placement. Bunker guardian was the best bunker in the game followed by staff ele.

Yet these classes had other options such as the D/D and fresh air ele. Guardian had burn burst a DPS build all of which could be played at any level.

In matches before HOT you would look at a team mates weapon set. When you saw a warrior with a bow, you assumed shoutbow, you saw a greatsword or rifle. You thought dps/stances. You might of even asked but now no need.

Everyone basically runs the same utility skills/ healing/ elite skill on a class because balance in the game has been taken to the shed and shot. You cant talk about defining roles when your lying there in a pool of blood hoping the red witch will find you and bring you back.

PadreNike.1803:

fishball.7204:

Yeah they said on reddit they’ll add it after season over but it’d be nice if they told people that don’t read reddit right?

The Reddit thread for those interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4xth44/pvp_no_new_title_for_s4_intended_or_oversight/

Is there a reason they post it on reddit?

I prefer the look of this forums chats to the old 1990s list of crap to read. I truly dont understand why they can post and respond on reddit but dont post the same things people are asking questions about on their own forum.

gin.7158:

Indomitable legend.

I read it in reddit I think. They will give it to use in the end of season. I’m amazed they haven’t made announcement here.

Are you serious?

I didnt see a new title in the PvP section and i didnt see it in any PvP notes? Anet loves to share info i guess or update the PvP section of the game.

Nusku.3941:

So you know; back a few days ago I got to ruby and I was crying about how screwed up the matchmaking system is. I felt like coming back here and standing up for myself once again, and allow you all to know that I knew what the hell I’m doing with warrior. Now bug off.

Wait a minute, you brought this on yourself by saying things like i had the highest score, highest damage etc etc.

Those things dont mean you did more, i have a hammer rev and i did 1.5 million damage but that took 2 bunkers to eat damage all game for me to stand off on a corner as if im a invisible bazooka.

Also saying you know what your doing on warrior is a bit of a stretch. I got to legendary in season 3 with 195 games with a win % at around 58%.

You came onto the forum kicking and screaming and right here you are trying to prove your point but you changed your build something i said earlier you needed to do. So i guess gratz on diamond but calm down. You still have much to learn.

I think the PiP system is total garbage, Anet created a grind system which isnt fun. Another frustrating point is they have a rating system for each of us and it changes after each match. How come we cant use that and simply reward players for playing?

A few issues i have with the post is his frustrations with the DH. He said he mained ranger and necro. In ESL play those 2 and rev are the counters to DH, if he cant win its a combination of him not being very good and the DH ability level. We can all agree DH is simply to play but the cap level for its ability is also lower then other classes.

Lastly he talking about being 50/50 in emerald, he is not a average player. I have 2 guild mates who dont PvP much but help us out with the Guild Trophys at the end of the season. We have placed in the top 25 once and top 100 the other 4-5 times with in the 3 seasons. They are both under level 50 for PvP level so they dont play often. We simply give them a build for thief/necro/ or another class and they have walked into sapphire this season. Once again the person believes they are average which this person is not which is ok but he rants about MM and 50% win rate which i agree with because this person sees themselves not moving after putting time into a the game. yet they complained about salty players which is ironic.

Yet i do agree the grind fest we know as PvP PiPs is horrible and i hope they do change it if they continue with more PvP seasons.

Im sorry but this doesnt make sense. You talk about DH being so OP as well as ranger and engy being OP in the rez game which is a bit true but saying that there is no amount of cleave to stop them? Thats so wrong, especially with the fact that necros using marks that cant be blocked, engy with the moa AOE skill, mesmer with the moa and the huge amount of DPS out there right now.

Good teams will focus on rezzing, if 1 person in a team fight goes for a rez and the other 2 dont its a free kill on top of the down person. I also disagree with stability but it is thrown out as candy so stability shouldnt be a problem for almost every class except thief. Which brings up stealth kills which once again helps killing other players. AOE stealth revives means you as a team must dps the area. You can only go so far.

So i will do what you did, down state is great. Ive made legendary each season and currently using a DPS rifle warrior and a DPS mesmer. Im able to get my kills and i feel it creates great game play.

Razor.9872:

kdaddy.5431:

You actually said if you quit trying your a loser. You said it doesnt matter if it took you 3000 games.

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard

kdaddy.5431:

So if i may can we settle some things. People are frustrated in PvP 99% at Anet.

“93% of percentages are made up on the spot.”

kdaddy.5431:

They are just lashing out at other players. If you look at the threads basically everyone is complaining about how quickly they die at times or the inability to kill another class because you are hard countered with the build you were trying to use.

I know you were trying to be positive but you came off wrong to me with some of your comments.

Hard-counters (soft-counters?) exists but this game is balanced as a team-game. Most battles are won not through knowing how to fight, but knowing when to fight.

“What is morale is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after” – Ernest Hemmingway

Losing alot of games in a row because of a unbalance meta game isnt accepting failure but knowing the failure lies with in the system that you have no control of. Playing DH and throwing down 3-4 traps as i 1 shot a ele/thief/ new player isnt good for anyone. Its such a blunder that Guardian traps are so deadly yet every other trap in the game is laughed at. This goes for alot of HOT spec/skills.

If you want to talk percentages lets talk of how many things Anet promised and failed to deliver. If i made up a number to show this then lets see it. Legendary weapons promised to how many we got? HOT specs will create more build options and will not be stronger then current specs, would you say this was a lie? Fractal leader boards? How about meaningful changes to PvP and WvW? Player frustration comes from a broken game and promises not kept, 100% of false advertisement can make people mad.

Before HOT simple small changes made would change fights. For instance if you played rifle/hammer warrior with carrion amulet and went power/def/disc with body blows and a confusion trait you can do alot of damage and condi on stuns. If you play ele with cantrips you might not be ready and play fire/water/arcane. You lack stability and will lose the fight. If you trade fire for earth and use the trait you get stability on changing to earth you have now soft countered the build.

Lastly if you have to pick and choose a fight when you are the superior player somethings wrong. If you are 10X the player i am yet you are a thief and im playing anything that you cant counter simply because you are a thief. Thats a problem and pretending like that isnt a issue comes off wrong.

RlyOsim.2497:

I don’t quite understand how a guy who has repeatedly stated ’you’d have to literally pay me to play GW’s’ is trying to now encourage a healthy PvP scene? For me personally it kind of feels like an attempt to keep the dev money pouring into the pockets of what is really only a handful of people in the pro scene. But, I’m a cynic no offense or shots intended.

That aside, it’s a good discussion but as someone mentioned earlier, a lot of the playerbase get annoyed due to PvP being the area that gets balanced around. Having builds gutted or dealing with broken stuff when PvE stats are applied to PvP builds is a great way to build resentment towards PvP. It’s no wonder Reddit just downvotes stuff on PvP when you look from that perspective.

Which kind of ties into: Casual Wars 2 is in full-effect at the moment throughout the game, how can a game aimed almost directly at a casual/part-time audience ever hope to gain traction with ‘elite’ gamers? The PvP pro games are so far over the ‘regular’ players heads that they cannot even begin to care (just personal opinion ofc). Is there even a way to shift that perspective with the current overarching direction the game continues to take? I get it that the casting discussion would help a great deal but without a player base that cares about high-end PvP does it even matter?

I agree with you on the split between PvE and PvP scene. Both blame each other for builds being destroyed so i agree 100%.

The Helseth thing is off to me because hes kind of been the fanatic streamer. He says he loves GW2 then he hates it. I mean he was that guy streaming him winning a 4 vs 5 game and then he lost 2 pips. So of course he is gonna have a love hate relationship with this game when Anet just throws stuff out hoping something sticks.

Also im not sure how you would answer the last part. I mean you are right this is a casual games game. Yet HOT isnt meant for the casual, HOT areas can kill you pretty easily if you are alone and raids being the other 80% of the game implemented, its changing from not being casual friendly. Then once again you brought up something wasnt even thinking about. I personally think you should balance PvP around high end play. I also believe the game should balance around PvP and PvE bosses healths/dps should change based on it.

But what if no one cares about high end PvP, that is a crazy good point i hadnt thought of. Literally what if only 100-200 players only cared about ESL level game play? Maybe this game would be better off being like GW1 in the sense its only for fun so imbalances wouldnt be as important? Idk its a great question.

So basically Anet has dropped the ball again?

Yes this is true, he brings up alot of things that we do on this forum. One of the biggest threads from this game came in during season 1 when OE got kicked from a team and Caed left his. Imo alot of that was because of the balance of the game not being very good.

He brings up skill levels and competitive tournaments. This game was so much more active when we had better balance. You go back and watch AG 26-36 your having 10 full teams with 2 FA teams.(this is basically the minor leagues) Then the winner would go to ESL, people in the game knew of AG teams just as much as radioactive, Apex and the Abjured. That scene is dead because of the Pro League and because the balance in the game just isnt fun.

Lord Helseth brings up the carrot such as meaningful rewards/ titles as well as the leader board for PvP. Anet has a split in the raid community, i myself feel like you have made HOT about raids. You have killed diversity to bring super OP HOT spec lines for these raids. It has caused frustration in the PvP and WvW servers. Yet PvP and WvW dont get these legendary armors offered in raids. I find it a bad joke that if you do PvE, you can get gold, unique gear, more AP, etc etc etc and PvP gets a old armor(tribunal) and WvW gets its own armor set.

The reason the game is in the situation it is in is because of class balance. If you get 2 new players coming into the game and we have all offensive amulets. One plays DH and the other thief and the one playing thief gets stomped in 2 sec why would he continue to play?

Ok lets say he pushes threw and picks a new class and plays ele. And he hot joins and finds a build he likes and once again he runs into a play who has done the same thing but gone to meta battle and picked the warrior condi build. This is a huge problem when 1 class is so much better then, easier to play , changed meta or the pace of the game as Anet likes to say. HOT made the game super spammy and cluttered which goes into the shout casters not doing a good job. Its not there fault they go to a fight that looks like a good one on paper and then boom its a stalemate because of the insane amount of healing a ranger has vs thief.

Anet is just simply dropping the ball because HOT PvP isnt as much fun as core PvP. Core PvP was much slower but you understood why you lost, you saw the skill from the other player and could see what you could do differently. Now its i get hard countered by a class(not a build) or the class im using is under powered with limited build options. No matter what the community does or ESl players do or say Anet needs to fix the actual game play for all levels and quit saying " change the pace of game play" which is a horrible way of saying we dont want to balance PvP.

Ive kind of quit playing ranked since que times got silly and theres no reason to play season 4.

But im running

Arms 2-2-2

Defense 2-1-1

zerk 1-1-3

Demolisher amulet

Rifle with sigil of fire & air

Great sword with sigil of bloodlust and force

Healing signet- signet of might- the 2 obvious stances and signet of rage

3-0 on warrior and 4-2 on mesmer

This has always been a problem with the league system.

Like we dont have leader boards, yet Anet has a rating system and we are all rated yet we dont know where we are personally rated.

It would be so much better if they just let us play the game instead of putting a PiP system in the way to create grind.

I think my favorite que time thread had a post of rom falling asleep in a 2hr que which just resets on him but he never knew since he was asleep. So crazy to think you fall asleep waiting to play a game and the que time expires because you were in que too long and you are trying to promote GW2 PvP leagues.

Vinceman.4572:

kdaddy.5431:

I said i had finished multiple bosses but he said raiding wasnt for me

You haven’t understood my message. My message was not: “Raiding isn’t for you”. It was rather that it is very hard to raid if you are online at night only and you have work, family with kids and other real life stuff. It’s still possible to raid but as a pupil or student without that many responsibilities it’s way easier than as a settled adult. Nothing more was said and meant!

kdaddy.5431:

Can you do it with others of course but when you are a pug/new/struggling with the mechanics being off the meta will get you kicked.

That’s the thing skeptics and on the other hand some anti-raiders bring along very often but let’s make something clear:
Raids were never meant to be pugged.
That was the intention of Anet when bringing out raids. The lfg raid section is only there because the usual open world section was crowded with raid requests from groups and single raiders. The implementation was several months after installing raids!
We don’t need to discuss that it’s possible to pug just accept it’s not meant to be. That’s the background info and argument you have to keep in mind and never forget it when discussing about raids.

So, it is obvious to give the advice to join a raid (training) guild to players that want to start raiding because it is the most possible and fastest way to kill a boss if you have 0 clue of how raids work. There is nothing hilarious to see in such post/advice.

kdaddy.5431:

Like everyone is missing the point that raids are meant for certain build types for certain classes.
Can you do it with others of course but when you are a pug/new/struggling with the mechanics being off the meta will get you kicked.

Well, how was it during dungeon high peak? Most lfgs were looking for 1 ps, several eles, a thief, and a mes, sometimes a guard. In fractals mostly the same thing. The builds were set! A ps had to be a ps, otherwise groups were kicking. Eles were there for high dps – otherwise: kick. Mes for time warp, portals, reflects etc. – otherwise: kick.
Of course dungeons could be completed with non-static builds but the majority of players in instanced content ran the most known builds because it was the fastest way to have success. And that, my dear, hasn’t changed much – look at most of T4 fractal lfgs: “exp” + “have enough AR” + “necro”, “druid”, “ps”, “chrono”. Even there the need for special classes and proper builds is high!
The only difference is that raids are a bit harder so that pugs need to run the best builds or otherwise struggle. And nobody wants to struggle after so much practice – it’s just a logical thing.

Finally, if someone is making a statement like “Raids are poorly designed.” he will surely be countered by raiders killing bosses regularly. Such statement is ridiculous in their and especially in my eyes. Look at the raid lfg. It’s full during prime time. You can count all dungeon paths together from Ascalon to Arah and there are still more groups and players searching for raids than dungeons. I doubt that all these players think that raids are poorly designed. That would be an insane assumption. ^^
So yeah, criticism is good but it has to be based on facts and not personal feelings.

Im ok with the majority of these comments except you trying to bring in dungeons and fractals.

I have a rev with 126 AR and ive completed fractal up to 97. I cant do 100 because of AR but there is no other requirement, my friend who mains thief (the person you say you dont believe only plays one class) gets comments from time to time for playing thief in fractals but he has completed all 75-100 fractals. The people who make those LFG posts in fractals are typically looked at like myself and others are people who will need to be carried. The only req in fracs is ar the rest is your ability to play.

Now dungeons, when dungeons first came out they were very hard because at level 40 you were doing AC and CM which needed level 80 armor. Not to mention all the bugs dungeons had when it first came out. Only 2 dungeons really gave people problems back in the day and it was COE and Arah. Coe because of the lava boss fight and Arah because lyssa and others needed high dps to take down and other bosses you needed high toughness and vitality. People adjusted and carried around 2 types of gear when you could only have exotic gear.

Dungeons are insanely easy now, with the 30-30-30 set up vs the old 30-30-10. Also the edition of ascended everything and the insane amount of boons everyone now gets.

Lastly i agree that his comment on raids being poorly designed is not accurate. Raids are enjoyable but i do agree with his comment that so much of what Anet did in core GW2 was new and innovative. You yourself has agreed to the effect that yes the meta builds are what most people want in there raids with a few exceptions.

Thats really what im trying to point out. In this forum the top 4-5 threads are about being kicked or not running the exact meta build for a raid. Some have said they tried joining raid groups. ( we all know that not all raid guilds are equally skilled)

1 person thread is a person who like i said has alot of other things and he made a full zerk necro and no one wants him. Yes he can play the other parts of the game but when 90% of HOT is raids and Anet has made select builds far superior to others it becomes a fail.

Not to you, me, him or the people defending raids but to those who paid for HOT and committed alot of time and effort to a class/style of play they wanted but get told to buy exotic gear for another class and learn that class.

Im not disagreeing with you on the set up, i find that we are saying alot of the same things but using them to give our own points which are opposites. Yes the raiders are many and play very well but i have met more then enough people who say they dont raid because people/guilds are not alway open to other potential team build comps.

To me thats where the game starts to lose people like WvW when Anet made changes no one liked. Like PvP now where HOT specs are so spammy and so strong. People are posting again 1 hr + que times in ranked which is so much more then 20 min. Im not saying the game is dying but when all the game gives is raids and there isnt a ton of openness to how they get down. It potentially kill things imo.

Arnox.5128:

I think you guys are being kinda harsh.

For one, they just put out Guild Halls pretty much, and ANet’s got a LOT of stuff to work on besides them. Not to say that they won’t get worked on but you guys have to have patience. Another thing is, the private arenas are probably only really meant for 1v1’s or perhaps 4 player FFA at max. Now, according to Blaeys, ANet’s working on it. So again, gotta be patient.

Its not harsh,

Alot of us paid like myself paid $100 for HOT and i really only kind of do the stuff i did from GW2 core. I PvP, WvW and farm my home node and Guild hall. Boom 30-60 min of GW2 play done.

Guild halls hasnt given me anything. The Guild PvP arena has given my guild maybe 2-3 hrs of troll fun time but other then that i cant say much.

People here have suggested beds, carpets, houses etc etc etc. We all thought that was what these giant guild halls were gonna be for. Guild halls are glorified home instances or a guild toilet which is what my guild has called it. My guild hall is at level 51 and it was about 5-6 who put all the crap in. If we didnt put anything in the guild hall we could of gotten 2 legendarys each.

The merchants ask for 10 guild commendations, 5 gold, 1 million crystallized orr and other crap and my guild mates and I are like they know they are living in our Guild Hall right? Literally throw 500g worth of mats into a daily vendor who offers bloodstone dust. OMG thank you so much guild vendor, i can get blodstone dust from you and another wagon. You treat me so good.

My guild mates have stopped putting stuff in the guild hall since there is no reason too. Im just saying i spent $100 on HOT and HOT is a spammy new meta each season where warrior was a dumpster season 1, thief and DH season 2 and now ele so PvP is broken. The WvW map they brought is was straight dump and they brought in the trolliest event with super speed golems. Seriously anet do you hate WvW because that was harsh for any server who wasnt the alpha those 2-4 weeks.

Im seriously wondering where my $100 went since alot of my guild members dont raid, they quit on legendary weapons and when it came to the HOT story line i felt my 4 year old son wrote it.

Its been a year for HOT basically and i cant even build a house or have my own room in this giant guild toilet. If it was meant to feel homey unlike the home instance they failed and im still waiting for the improvements.

Blaeys.3102:

Raids are poorly designed. They reinforce a tired meta game where “skill” is measured not by how good you are as a player, but rather your ability to copy and paste the highest dps build from a third party website.

This gamemode could have been something unique and amazing. Instead, they chose the same tired system used by every other raiding game out there. The result is not only bad for raiding, but is having a negative impact on the rest of the game as well. Half the fun of GW2 was making a semi-unique build based around how you enjoy playing – and still feeling like the entire game was open to you.

Raiding – in the format they chose to implement – changed that. It turned the game into a me-too where copy paste skills are the most important gameplay element. I only hope they see this and change course before continuing down this path.

You gotta love how everyone takes 1 statement you make and turns it around to not something your are trying to say.

Like everyone is missing the point that raids are meant for certain build types for certain classes.

Can you do it with others of course but when you are a pug/new/struggling with the mechanics being off the meta will get you kicked.

I had to stop replying to another person because he missed my points and said GW2 is small compared to other games. His argument was this game is smaller, in LOL he had a 20 minute que (which compares to my 60+ ques and the 120 min ques from ESL players) and just like you they tell you you dont know anything about raiding. You said you raid but you understand why people are upset because you see the flaws.

I said i had finished multiple bosses but he said raiding wasnt for me and then went on to say stuff that contradicts the OP thread and the next 3 threads in this forum which is that people are getting kicked from raid groups for not playing a certain build.

I also find it hilarious that its the same people on each post listing off the

• learn the mechanics
• Join a raid guild
• if you have the wrong gear get the right gear and then get it on multiple classes
• etc etc etc

The exact same people and then they are like my raid group we play blah blah blah, literally 1/2 the posts in here are about how they are a pug and a raid group kicked them and the other half is telling them to get good or make there own team.

Sorry i just found how you made a slightly negative but true comment about raids then 4-5 people pounced on 1-2 things you said to try and make your comments invalid.

Nusku.3941:

kdaddy.5431:

Nusku.3941:

I get highest scores on my team, most damage dealt and this always happens, thanks anet.

Im sorry but your build is really odd.

I see your playing vanilla warrior and im 100% sure you dont do as much damage as a Zerk rifle warrior and condi zerk warrior.

Like you cant be running stances, you shouldnt be running arms, and you dont have rampage or banner on your vanilla warrior.

Like your heal skill alone says your not running the best heal skill to sustain or regen.

Like i truly dont know why you have the endurance signet when stances give vigor ………………………………

( sad face for warriors)

You should try it before making a remark like that. I bring mesmers, necros, and thieves down easily on warrior. It’s also on metabattle and nobody has judged it yet. And considering I don’t main warrior, I really couldn’t care less.

The reason I run endurance signet is because I like the way it work as opposed to berserker stance and healing signet, it simply gets rid of all the condi without having to wrorry about the 2 second breaks between getting resistance. As for the heal it’s mainly because I want to proc earthshaker. As for getting vigor it’s a good thing because dodge rolls deal damage.

I have a few games on warrior, i understand you might like the way something works better but if you are gonna make a thread about MM being broken and how you are the OP player of the match. You open yourself up to everyone asking your build or making a video to watch your game play.

For instance with a certain amulet a warrior can get 20+ sec of resistance and still do really high dps. Currently you have none and 1 condi clear with maybe cleansing ire.

Other players who are warriors are running passive stability from a trait, with a stability from beserk stance so they dont need a utility skill for stability which you are running. A old tarcis build which is coming back is the rousing resilience trait which gives 1,000 toughness on stun break. And check it the build has 4-5 stun breaks. You have 2.

I dont care if you took it off meta battle, your not ESL level which means you wont use it as well as they do. You are losing matches 8-10 games at a time. I am also trying to be helpful and just let you know, the build you are running isnt gonna be super helpful to yourself and your team.

In season 1 of PvP leagues i used warrior to get to diamond as a vanilla warrior. I used necro and ele to get to legendary 2. I am just saying as someone who has played some games on warrior that you are not using the best possible build or a top 3 build imo for a vanilla warrior.

I dont understand this thread,

rezzing is a huge aspect of the game. Its one of the great game changers on a good team (balanced) where a player can have a huge impact by simply running 1-2 different traits.

Like having a mesmer with the increased 10% rez rate, a ranger and the engy with teh gyro. Ive had games where players are instantly picked up once they went down.

DoomKnightMax.6592:

I know the feel dude. Matching making is braindead along with the people I end up in game with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbCO4SAUtXs

Real question,

The season has just started and people are losing badly. Like maybe is it the players fault? I see no reason to play season 4 since there is no title and i got my wings in S2.

But the few matches ive had in ranked 1/2 of them had ESL players on my team and against me and im seriously wondering how everyone is doing so bad except the OP of the thread running a odd warrior build.

Nusku.3941:

I get highest scores on my team, most damage dealt and this always happens, thanks anet.

Im sorry but your build is really odd.

I see your playing vanilla warrior and im 100% sure you dont do as much damage as a Zerk rifle warrior and condi zerk warrior.

Like you cant be running stances, you shouldnt be running arms, and you dont have rampage or banner on your vanilla warrior.

Like your heal skill alone says your not running the best heal skill to sustain or regen.

Like i truly dont know why you have the endurance signet when stances give vigor ………………………………

( sad face for warriors)

Im sorry but i got 1/2 threw the video and had to stop.

First you were ranting about quitting, blaming team mates then start trying to compare life and the paychecks that feed your family to a game. You actually said if you quit trying your a loser. You said it doesnt matter if it took you 3000 games.

So if i may can we settle some things. People are frustrated in PvP 99% at Anet.

They are just lashing out at other players. If you look at the threads basically everyone is complaining about how quickly they die at times or the inability to kill another class because you are hard countered with the build you were trying to use.

I know you were trying to be positive but you came off wrong to me with some of your comments.

Vinceman.4572:

kdaddy.5431:

Im speaking for the many and you sitting there saying im not the target audience, then who is it for?

You are not speaking for the many. The majority of players is able to play during afternoon and prime time etc. It’s a minority who is playing at night.

kdaddy.5431:

PvP is completely lost with que times already over 5+ minutes and the season just started.

You have queue time of 10+ in other games that are PvP only, so 5 min. for a game with the main focus on PvE that’s absolutely extraordinary good.

kdaddy.5431:

why alot of PvE players are leaving/ taking extensive breaks.

Players leaving since game release and people come up with “the game will die soon due to abandoning players”. Anet has the numbers, you have 0 proof.

kdaddy.5431:

I can play 99% of the rest of the game which is what exactly? These groups im randomly joining are also other Guild groups who say they do raids. Some of them we get it done and others dont. Like anything else peoples abilities are vastly different, acting like raids dont have issues shows a little bit of a blindness to the overall situation it in.

You can play fractals, dungeons, open world content (which has the biggest impact for the playerbase) like SW, HoT maps and more.
Raids don’t have issues, the lfg is full of advertising groups. Hell, there are lots players in static or pug groups constantly clearing raids every week + defeating the same bosses multiple times per week just for fun.

You are making alot of my points,

1- You say that alot of people are playing during the day. You said i dont have the numbers to prove it and ill use your point and say your point holds no validation here.

2- You start saying that ohhh in other games you have longer que times, What? LOL,Dota, COD, and other games. I dont have 10+ que times and as someone who has made legendary pretty easily. Ive had 1 hour que times and NO, other games dont have these que times.

3- I never said the game was dying, you just came to that on your own. I was pointing out smaller populations in other game modes other then PvE. WvW now has combined servers. Up to 4 servers on a team and they still cant put the map into que. Right before HOT on CD a T4-5 server we could put it into que on Friday and Saturday nights. I didnt say anything about the game dying, you came to that conclusion on your own. (which means its on your mind)

4- You are saying the same people are clearing the raid bosses for fun. There is a few things to this. I for one can join a raid group at random complete 1-2 bosses a week without any structure but alot of people can not and you are using people who have success at dungeons as a example. This thread was made about discrimination on classes, abilities and guild superiority issues.

You are not proving anything other then raid groups dont struggle since they play the meta and know the system. Its like the elitist in PvP who say legendary is too easy. Some people showed how they had to play 300-400 games to get it while a player like me who is not ESL level got to legendary in 150-200 games with a 60% win rate. Then ESL players getting to legendary in less then 100.

If i came out and said hey you shouldnt get a title and symbol by your head because you are truly not a legendary player, its the same as you saying ohhh raids are not for you. You should focus on fractals, PvE, or WvW.

Like i said im speaking for alot people out there who are not having success because they play thief. Im speaking for the people who dont have 30+ LI, im speaking for those who dont have ascended gear.

You and other people in this thread are like do these 3 things, 1- join a raid group ( wow because all of them just love having new people and can mess up a dungeon) 2- Get the right class with the right gear and learn the mechanics of each boss( and please dont get discouraged if your NEW guild mates get frustrated when 1-2 new people mess up) or make your own raid group which goes back to my original post on all the reasons why raids for the majority isnt working.

I can agree that raids dont have to be for everyone but when WvW is like a west African black rhino, with PvP seasons having 10 min que times and it just started, i am simply just wondering when the trickle effect happens and you can pretend it wont or maybe this game goes more PvE lore style like GW1.

Everyone you can quit reading by the 3rd paragraph. the OP is talking about traps and says they didnt get buffed then says what has change and he writes “the answer is nothing”.

Question did you even read what they did to the other classes?

People are struggling because Anet has gotten rid of any amulet that was defensive. So if you are new to the game, coming back after a break, just bought HOT, trying out a new class etc etc etc. There is no easy way to jump into things.

Getting rid of defensive amulets does not help people struggling in PvP.

Getting rid of eles who were the life blood of support in fights opened the door for the rest of the classes to be evaluated. Now Anet once again changed amulets, the meta and didnt realize ohhhh shoot the other HOT specs are broken too.

Im sorry but this season is the exact opposite of season 1. Season 1 you couldnt kill anything, here are having alot of people die in 5 sec to traps because they are not sure what to do.

You cant blame the player base because they are trying to adjust during a PvP season which is suppose to mean something but Anet just throws it out there with a attitude. Anet is literally saying " huh you wanted PvP leagues? OK heres something enjoy that or just leave".

Here we are in season 4 and yes DH is OP but once again its not the only one.

Vinceman.4572:

kdaddy.5431:

Once again though for us that work nights, have kids, dont run the meta raid builds that the raid groups came up with, what is the paper to the boss?

You can play 99% of the rest of the game. Obviously you don’t belong to the target audience of raids. Maybe just deal with it or try to find a solution for your problem.
Many of us are raiding weekly, more than once. In static groups and/or with randoms with clearance of all wings and bosses.

What are you talking about? When i join my raid group we usually kill the bosses in 2-3 tries.

I have over 27k AP, i have competed in AG tournaments for PvP, have gotten to legendary 3 times in the PvP seasons and have map completion on 2 characters.

Im speaking for the many and you sitting there saying im not the target audience, then who is it for?

I can understand the hardcore dungeon groups loving this but the HOT gave what else?

PvP is completely lost with que times already over 5+ minutes and the season just started. WvW got what? The old maps back, man the WvW players must love it. I mentioned in my other post why alot of PvE players are leaving/ taking extensive breaks.

I can play 99% of the rest of the game which is what exactly? These groups im randomly joining are also other Guild groups who say they do raids. Some of them we get it done and others dont. Like anything else peoples abilities are vastly different, acting like raids dont have issues shows a little bit of a blindness to the overall situation it in.

So i have a guild group i can do raids with but i havent been able to sign up on there web page since i cant commit to a raid time.(life happens)

So i joined a training group for VG. I and the other necro and condi engy all have some experience. The 3 of us killed the red guardian faster by around 20-30 sec then the other 7 could kill the green and blue. Mechanically they were solid, we hit the green spots and the tank rotated fine. We just lacked serious DPS and they tried by using food and utility buffs.

So i left after 4-5 runs and joined a “experienced VG” now this group said they had killed the first wing all the time. They had 3 tempest and thief. I was like cool because they found something different. Guess what they couldnt do anything, they started asking for ping checks and people had ascended gear but mechanically they just couldnt do it. People missed the green spots and the healers always healed 2-3 sec after you needed the heal.

Case and point raids are not for everyone, YOU HAVE TO RUN CERTAIN BUILDS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CERTAIN DEGREE OF ABILITY AND YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE FIGHT VS THE BOSS.

For me this is a huge fail for HOT, you have a large group of GW2 fans who cant play this like myself because i have to find 9 other people who play at the same time, with the right gear on the right character and understand the boss mechanics.

I have had many guild members buy HOT try it out and leave because they simply cant survive in the HOT areas alone. A few others left because PvP has turned into something no one can really put a finger on. Then the dungeon/WvW group left because dealing with raid groups is simply not worth it.

You spend 1-2 hours trying to kill a boss and everyone acts like its not them, this creates conflict with the raid group and the pugs. Not running staff rev, not running scepter/dagger necro, not running ps warrior will get you kicked from a raid group. Heck i have 1 guild member who has full ascended maruder armor, accessory’s and the rune of the scholar rune on his staff thief. He had a couple groups tell him he wouldnt be able to do enough damage to be useful.

Now for the many guild groups who get threw this easily, thats great. Once again though for us that work nights, have kids, dont run the meta raid builds that the raid groups came up with, what is the paper to the boss?

Ill say it again HOT has created the most imbalance in the game. Anet nerfed core classes before HOT for who knows what, then they bring HOT out and HOT builds a 100 X better then core classes which killed build diversity among all the game types.

So if your reading this post and you want to get into raids, go to meta battle take the top 1-2 build and use it, get gear that works with it and then try to find a guild that is active and does it. If you can do those 3-4 things you can raid, if you are missing any you can not.

If i could say something about the MM,

1) its not perfect but it will never be because peoples skills are so different. For instance i was in a match with 4 ESL players and im playing mesmer and i havent played it since before HOT. I had paul on ranger on my team and he rezzed me twice in a 2 vs 2 where duck ( on thief) eventually killed me. We won the match but i basically was just there rotating getting my wins on mesmer.

2) Dont blame other players/ classes. Once again the skill differences between players are huge. Saying something is OP because its easy to play such as Dh might be OP to the average player but not everyone struggles with the same thing.

3) Trash talking doesnt come from the top players usually. In this ranked match, duck didnt say anything after farming me for 1/2 the game and paul didnt say anything after rezzing me 4-5 times in say or team chat. Obviously some of them do say something but for the most part they just play. I literally has 2-3 matches where the one doing all the talking was losing fights. I saw this necro lose a 1 vs 1 to a warrior and a Dh in the same match and he tried blaming the ele and thief on our team.

The only thing i feel anet MM system needs to do is fix class balance for teams. Like when one team has 2-3 thieves and the other team has 2 dh and 2 revs. I mean these are the reasons for lopsided matches for then anything unless people are playing ventari rev or spirit weapons guardian.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Shut up. Just shut up, you had me at “Hi everyone,”

i am now reading this post with secret garden in the back round, thank you !

Dr Patrik.3642:

kdaddy.5431:

So instead of Anet actually balancing the game you want ESL to make more rules?

How about ESL players can only play with 1 hand?

How about if Lord helseth hamster is actually better then 50% of the community? I want to see that little nugget vs other ESL players/teams.

I hate these things, when people asked diana taurasi if women should play on 9 ft rims. She attacked them and I like her want to respect the game, the players, and the League. Having a 1 class restriction is already a bit of a joke to me but if you want to do this and if people actually agree, GW2 shouldnt bother with PvP anymore.

First, I don’t just mean restrict just ESL, I mean any tournament that has an option to restrict things and is willing to do so.

The reason I suggested this is because Anet has shown no sign truly balancing PvP in the near future. By that I don’t mean perfect balance, which is impossible with an MMO, but rather just to the point of balance that is comparable to other e sports games. The reason for this is that the PvP team can’t directly change the class’s skills and the only team that can directly change the skills is balancing for all three game modes at once.

Now I for one would rather have people like the community or the PvP team try to make PvP a better place rather than waiting MONTHS for a balance patch only to find out that it didn’t change much for PvP.

Saiyan.1704:

Dr Patrik.3642:

Saiyan.1704:

Unless a certain ability, trait or equipment is bugged and waiting for a swift patch, we don’t need build restrictions in Tournaments.

Explain class stacking restrictions then with your logic

What does that have to do with build restrictions?

My response outlined a flaw in your logic, which was that a restriction was made that didn’t meet the criteria that you laid out. Now as for your second comment, I realize now that my original title narrowed the scope of my post to exclude something I originally intended to include. I have since then changed the title as I think leaving the possibilities more open is a better idea.

I completely agree with you that Anet will not balance the game. I also agree that you cant get a perfect balance in a MMO. The last thing ill agree with is Anet PvP team has no power with in the game or that there might not be a PvP team at all.

But that is where it ends. The community, outside resources such as a ESL league can not save PvP. Asking the community to stand together when alot of people see things differently when it comes to nerfs/OP problems with in the game.

The community before HOT were asking why certain builds were being destroyed. Conjured weapons for ele was nerfed, rampage for warrior was nerfed among other things yet d/d went untouched for months. HOT comes out and completely kills classes during PvP seasons.

There is nothing we can do to stop this. If you get shot in the chest i can not put a band aid on it to save you. If you fall from a plane into the ocean, as much as I could try to find you. The chances of me saving you is next to none. What you are suggesting is that ocean with the PvP being that plane.

So instead of Anet actually balancing the game you want ESL to make more rules?

How about ESL players can only play with 1 hand?

How about if Lord helseth hamster is actually better then 50% of the community? I want to see that little nugget vs other ESL players/teams.

I hate these things, when people asked diana taurasi if women should play on 9 ft rims. She attacked them and I like her want to respect the game, the players, and the League. Having a 1 class restriction is already a bit of a joke to me but if you want to do this and if people actually agree, GW2 shouldnt bother with PvP anymore.

Allison The Strange.4519:

Kyon.9735:

Allison The Strange.4519:

Josh Davis.6015:

I know many of you fundamentally disagree with the removal of build items – and that’s fine. I understand where you’re coming from, but I hope you understand why we use this as a tool for balancing PvP specifically.

-Grouch

If your team has no direct impact on skill balance then we don’t need you or it, especially if your team is going to be removing things from PvP…

The whole point of having a dedicated PvP team should be to balance it & your failing beyond miserably at it… You’ve failed so hard you have driven away many players that have either left the game entirely or just the game mode never to be seen again…

-blah blah blah

Aren’t they more like trying to salvage whatever that PvE Profession balance Team has broken for PvP?

If anything, you should be happy that decided to remove Durability Runes and not add broken stuff like Perplexity and Dire. If you look at that perspective, you’d see they’re somewhat actually trying within the limits of their power.

The only thing you can salvage from a steaming pile of crap is other slightly less digested crap…

Certain things obviously don’t belong in PvP such as durability runes and the like but there are many traits that obviously don’t belong there either in their current form…

To be completely honest the game should be balanced around WvW & PvP and you can adjust boss hp & mechanics to fit those numbers. The only reason to have skills doing massive damage is to deal with bosses with massive hp. The only reason to have massive tanking ability is deal with bosses with extreme damage.

Lower PvE numbers & you can lower PvP numbers. Base fights around class mechanics that work for PvP because that CAN work in PvE. Do not base PvP around class mechanics that work for PvE because that does not work.

I and a few others have said this as well and i still dont understand why anet isnt using PvP as the model to structure there game a around.

If they said hey we want eles to use shouts(support/healers) cantrips (dps) and conjure weapons as a all around build. You can adjust PvE bosses health and damage. Not to mention raids will have more build options.

Like they recently changed fractals but everyone still uses zerk gear. Im using zerk rev, my guild mate has full maruder thief and we just did level 4 fractals. I have less then needed AR and it was still pretty easy.

This is where the true problem is at. Anet is struggling to throw out balanced PvE situations so they need to change things so they balance for PvE yet nothing truly changes.

They fix PvE like they fix PvP. In PvP they remove amulets and runes. In PvE they changed life bars and add more mobs. Anet feels 6 month quota change is good for game then changes it 6 months later to give players that new build feeling.

suffish.4150:

I think it should be put into ranked next season, as should skyhammer and spirit watch. I seriously don’t see how people could think they are not appropriate for ranked at this point because there is nothing about the maps that is any worse than on forest for example. The improvements made to the maps have really helped them be more competitive.

I do get tired of the same 4 maps (usually the same 2) over and over so it would be great to have some new maps to play when leagues are active and I bet many more people would enjoy leagues with 3 more maps to play.

Additionally, I would love to see these maps in esports events! If it is not possible to do so for the upcoming world championship, as someone who likes nothing about the game more than the esports events, I would really encourage Anet to introduce the other maps to next year’s competitive events.

I disagree,

the sky hammer map still has issues such as when fighting on the home nodes the pillars and above areas are still in the view and can block your vision in fights. As well as the jumping points while in combat. I think 1 out 3 times i step on it and am in combat i take damage or die.

The orb map just doesnt feel right for what ever reason. The orb doesnt give any real points and isnt worth going for unless you have control of the map and cap nodes.

Back to the topic thread, i think a few things need changed first. 1st i would like to see the starting areas lowered, falling damage happens alot here. Also just slightly get rid of some of the gates and walls. The map is enormous and i like that since its different but does there need to be 2 gated walls at the mid point? Just tighten it up a little imo though, some might disagree.

LOL i find everyone comments funny.

The title says it all. Anet cant fix it by brining back cele or clerics because PvP has been pretty broken since HOT came out.

Arguing over whos fault it is, im all for but its the big bosses jobs to make those. Honestly if anyone has worked for a billion dollar company or a company that makes 5+ million a year know that there is 1 big boss who makes a few decisions and then he puts people in charge of certain areas to be in charge of those. In this case i dont know who but the people who made the new HOT specs, the people who have readjusted traits and cd on stuff, and control of the classes in which direction they want the game to go are at fault of the PvP and WvW scene dying. Its just not one group or one person.

I mean they are coming out with another expansion, i for one will show my displeasure by not buying it. Core GW2 was amazing and many of my guild mates would agree but HOT is frustrating to the many on so many different levels. These balance issues are not only effecting PvP.

this is easy,

Your 5th player should not be a ele, bam good team

Sunshine.5014:

Hi guys, long time no see.

I know a lot of you are frustrated about the nerfs. Here are a few things to try, which works for me:

1. Sage classic D/D might stack (Fire/Water/Arcane or Earth/Water/Arcane)
   Try Scrapper Rune and Leadership
2. Marauder glass staff (Fire/Air/Water)
   I used this to get to Legendary before, so it’s not that bad. If you can out play people in previous season, it’s easier after this patch since there is not that much a nerf. Moreover, there will be less sustain, so if you can snipe well, the opponents will be in a loop of “omg -> try to heal -> can’t outheal your damage -> die”

A few things that you may want to try “less”

1. Sustain Tempest
   Everyone is trying to make Tempest works now, but people have to realize that Elemental Bastion gets a -18.5% healing nerf, even with the highest healing power amulet in PvP. Shout heals gets a -20.8% burst heal nerf. If you want a sustain build, Water + Evasive Arcana is a better candidate now. Bonus point that it’s more fun to play.

as someone who has mained ele and warrior in PvP. I find that eles are just not as usable in most areas.

I like you found shouts not usable anymore and ive gone to a survivable dps build.

With rune of earth for the protection boons. Water-arcane-tempest Using the glyph heal because in earth form it gives protection and in fire form might. 2 cantrips and 1 skill depending on the team i fight with rebound.

Im using staff but i find i can survive well in 1 vs 1 on point and stay off the point in team fights.

Maybe its just me but i feel that the DPS isnt there since they nerfed D/D before HOT, staff was always the bunker weapon of eles and scepter doesnt have enough pop on it. So even though i feel i found something that is playable. I also feel it will under perform
vs the meta class at that position. For instance thief/warrior/rev roamer, DH/necro/engy bunker, and the specialist with mesmers and necros.

If anyone gots something else to try i would like to see something but that was the best i could do.

Supreme.3164:

Brilliant move! Absolutely magnificent!

It’s not like over 80% of your playerbase steadily walk into the traps like they’re giving away free candies.

So now we’re stuck with this revamped noob stomper in a game where the MMR is absolutely horrendous ..if there is any at all.

Now from double condi war..we have double dh trap spammer on point with your team feeding opposition like lemmings.

I got insta downed twice today on my thief. Im using the Power/pre/tough/ferocity amulet and i knew it was coming but it was a close match and i needed to get on it to prevent it from getting capped. Boom insta downed

the other time i got pulled so cudos to that guardian. But we won!!!!!!

Elegie.3620:

kdaddy.5431:

I thought they made it so banner didnt bring up lords and only up to 5 people in zergs? Like my guild we didnt even bring a warrior with us when we were in serious groups. There is like 5-8 of us and we were going 2 eles, 2 thieves, 2 mesmers.

It does not bring up lords anymore indeed. What I meant is that in medium group fights (say 20+) the war banner can help many people to get up, and this can be significant. In Conquest, there’s no point in having a skill bringing up 5 people… because teams are made of 5 people, and at most you can only up 4 of them (which would virtually never happen). The skill would be better off bringing up one person with a 90s untraited CD there.

I agree with most of what you have said. IMHO, these are the same old balance issues we’e discussed forever – brought by old traits which have never been updated (mainly because they were rarely used in PvE), and elite traits which are super powerful, to entice new buyers.

ANet is a company, with lots of smart people – of course they know about it. It’s just that they haven’t split skills between game modes, because the resulting maintenance cost is too expensive in regards of the perceived benefits. It’s probably a management decision with lots of history behind it – I wish they’d try and prototype a change, and realize this may not be as difficult and costly as they think it is.

The ANet PvP team is probably as frustrated as we are by that. They’ve tried balancing through amulets (and get yelled at anytime they do that), they’ve tried to sneak changes in traits which are not used in PvE (and get criticized for being lazy), and Evan Lesh has even invested some time in some skill-split feature. While the results are not bad, such a a constraint unfortunately hinders innovation, not only in terms of skills, but also in terms of PvP modes. It’s really a shame.

Your WvW team is a gank team, nothing wrong with it, as long as I’m not its target

i agree but i just feel i should complain alot since i bought the HOT for $100.

CD for life baby!!!!!!!!

Fivedawgs.4267:

Sorry but this thread is a bit wierd. Here are a few facts:

Bola works great with rifle builds
Bull charge is a great alternative to outrage, some people including myself run bull charge over outrage
As far as the banner are concerned ?? Really are every skill supposed to be used in Spvp?

Few facts,

I use rifle warrior and no rifle warrior would use bola on it, i got to legendary on rifle warrior. I know for a fact since i saw you in season 1 and 2 that you got to ruby season 1 and diamond season 2. I was using rifle warrior when you were using mace/shield greatsword with defiant stance. Im not trying to throw shade but bola is not in a rifle warrior build.

Bulls charge is a decent move and i concede to that.

Last thing is banner was used alot when this game first came out. When bunkers where very good and 8 vs 8 were in hot joins. Also right before HOT shoutbow was the best build for warrior with a you guessed it a banner.

The idea is to create better better traits, more diverse builds options for PvP. Saying that bulls charge can be used over 1 other skill that is used among 20 utility skills where 2 are a must and you get 3-4 options between your last skill that could be useful. Thats terrible.

Elegie.3620:

The war banner is also used in WvW, and in such a context the CD, while high, still makes sense in regards of the gain. This is just an example of skill not being split between game modes.

Physical skills are not really used in any game mode. Despite the regular buffs (at each balance patch), they remain subpar. They focus on hard CC, but now most classes pack in stability and stun breakers, which directly counters them. Maybe an unwanted side-effect of PvE mobs bringing more CC overall.

I thought they made it so banner didnt bring up lords and only up to 5 people in zergs? Like my guild we didnt even bring a warrior with us when we were in serious groups. There is like 5-8 of us and we were going 2 eles, 2 thieves, 2 mesmers.

Obviously we didnt have zerg like abilities but we take out groups much larger then us all the time.

NeXeD.3042:

oooh o like this lets compare a weapon skill with a utility skill on an entirely different class this should work

Ok fine, i was pointing something that is silly but if we are gonna be super cereal lets do it.

head butt has a CD time of 25, going into beserk mode you are given 7% more dmage in condi or direct damage. The boons you recieve is fury, quickness, and swiftness. From a trait you can also get stability and might. Headbutt also grants you full adrenaline and with that allows for over 2k plus heal from a defensive base trait line. Lets also add int eh fact that when going into zerk mode you have all the normal skills to apply stuns, use condi removal as well as utility skills to boost up any damage or condi. This takes the press of a F2 button.

Rampage has a 180 sec CD if traited you can reduce it to 144 sec and it last for 15 sec. 15 SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rampage pulses 2 staibility which is 1 more then the base trait of the zerk trait line. Rampage is given 3 cc skills which no longer work in this game. Everyone is pulsing stability and stun breakers so you cant even combine attacks unless they are completely new to the game and have never seen it. Rampage also eats all condi damage. So when you face a meta mace/shield warrior who uses headbutt and goes into zerk mode. Not only does zerk form do 10X more damage but its also on a much shorter cool down. If traited the zerk cool down is 8 sec. Ill say it again, after you leave zerk mode if you are traited for it you can go back into it in 8 SECONDS.

Banner which has no CD reduction time and only works if X-Y-Z are happening will have a 240 cool down. This is a elite skill, a elite skill that has a trait for banners. Tell me that isnt wrong? That there is a trait for banners and it gives regen to banners.

Warrior had 4 elite skills and 2 of them are complete trash. Warrior has 5 heal skills, only 1 of them has been used in PvP for the last 4 years. I brought in the revenant skill because you have to be kidding me if you dont think its a little broken?

Seriously it apply might, evade and high level dps and has a 12 sec cd. Its why the HOT spec lines are so bad. These traits are so OP the weapons are so OP that you cant make a decent build if its not almost the exact same build as a meta.

Look at all the classes and you will find the same thing. Ele was given shouts to heal team mates as a support class yet Anet takes away all defensive amulets. If you ever wanted to play old school bunker guardian, guess what its gone because you cant even heal yourself enough to live 5 sec in a fight. Yet all the guardians shouts are defensive shouts. 1 gives aegis and swiftness, 1 gives protection, 1 gives stability. Anet hasnt changed these skills. Builds are literally pulsing 3-5 stability every 3 sec who would even need a shout that gave stability anymore?

I get it i compared a utility skill that is useless to one of the best weapon skills in the game. Yet you find nothing wrong with it? You realize that guardian has a signet of courage elite skill that has 180 sec cool down and it take 5 sec to cast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I write these threads because i dont play as much but mostly because the game has gone bonkers and what was once a really fun game to play is just trash now. On another thread they said Anet should be forced to play there own game in PvP vs meta builds.

Seriously when these people are streaming ideas for the patch have them bring a ele, DH, and thief that isnt d/p or staff into PvP. Also dont let some ESL player like phanta join him and carry him to a respectable score. Because they are gonna get 1-2 pugs who sees these really dumb traits and that pug was thinking there must be a reason for this trait and this skill line.

That would be the only way PvP gets changed in this game is if Anet had to actually stream there Low-end classes in PvP as they completely fail and then talk about how they got rid of amulets, changed cd on skills and traits. The only way