It’s not the same. He wants to experience a certain area of the game. If he’s willing to pay the price, there is no reason for a player to be denied access to current content.
@OP, if this is entirely for functionality, do bear in mind the ship is actually better and more convenient that the royal terrace is. The royal terrace is broken, and misses things such a Black Lion Weapon Specialist and Activity NPC.
If it’s because he wants to experience every area of the game he’s already too late, so many instances are long gone.. Not much to experience in the Terrace. You can go see it without a pass iirc.
The airship is a luxury because of the destruction of Lion’s Arch. The two events are connected and that’s the issue here.
No, it’s a luxury because the stuff is extremely close together on the airship. Closer than the other cities, some of which were already more convenient than LA itself. The other cities also don’t lag and take forever to load.
Tons of people bought the Royal Terrace long before LA exploded.
Quality of life items in the gemstore should be beneath Anet? All the items are quality of life, that’s what the gemstore is all about.
Blowing up the hub city and then dispersing the various services to not so subtly encourage players to resort to the cash shop should be beneath Guild Wars. They’re attempting to engineer a new need for convenience.
Except the convenience was already there outside of LA, only more convenient than LA ever was.
It would be nice but I think Anet would fear less sales on certain items from the Gemstore. “You can always put it in the bank” is what you are going to get as replies here from most people. By the way I like your name and I know where it comes from.
Yeah, I’m trying to give it the angle of another item to purchase from the gem store. One that I would most definitely purchase. I don’t have a lot of time to play so I like to be efficient with the time I do have, even if it costs me.
And thanks! He’s my all time favorite video game character.
People are leaving in droves and that’s the entire issue here. ANet has completely failed to keep to their standards and the game is suffering because of it. I don’t see why some of you feel so compelled to defend the direction they’re going in when it’s killing the product.
We need change or this game is going to be left behind once the next batch of MMOs drop. They’ve just about used up all the goodwill they garnered with Guild Wars and the brand is at this point getting dragged through the mud. This should be beneath Guild Wars.
Quality of life items in the gemstore should be beneath Anet? All the items are quality of life, that’s what the gemstore is all about.
Is there anyway we get get some sort of account slot that all characters can share? Items like Captain’s Pass would go in it, then all characters would have access to that item. The current function severely limits the utility of items like Captain’s Pass. This would be a huge quality of life upgrade that I would pay gems for!
The good guy in me wants to say “There’s plenty of other crafting areas besides LA, there’s always your home city that will have less lag than when you were in LA.”
The dark side of me says “Are people really this lazy to walk half a minute south and go through a gate for FREE to get to a crafting station???”
While people are complaining about spending real money to get the captain’s ship pass, I’ll enjoy crafting in a place where I’ll have no lag due to a high amount of AFKers. =3
No doubt. I rarely went to LA anyway. If people would stop complaining maybe they’d realize LA wasn’t the best place for crafting in the first place. It’s amazing people are kittened about this considering everything is free elsewhere, even more convenient.
I’m so frustrated with this game, and mostly because of the gem store BS. I miss the old ANet. They were SO much better before they sold out to NCSoft.
You are aware that ArenaNet “sold out to NCSoft” long before GW1 was released, right?
Depends if you’re talking “sold out” literally or “sold out” as in gave up on their ideals.
Yes, literally speaking, they were acquired by NCSoft even before GW. They didn’t sell out their ideals until much later.
This (sort of I don’t actually know most of these guilds).
Joining a good guild can really turn things around.
It’s just a non rep guild of dungeon forum regulars who are willing to help new people or even experienced people. We have mentors from [Dnt] [rT] [LOD] [IX], all high end speed running guilds whom are very knowledgeable on mechanics, we have non-speed runners too. But we will all take the time to make sure the student understands each encounter.
All the horrible fails I’ve seen on Marionette this past month from people sporting Arah gear with zero skills. Thank you sellers for ruining one of the few cool armor sets :p
Because people can’t get carried through Arah or invited at the last moment by friends/guildies.
Mhmm. Anyone who has pugged Arah more than a handful of times knows a large percentage of runners are being carried.
I was kicked from CM for “asking” the first boss…
That was a pain in the kitten , every time you must run as a fool, jump, skip mob and boss… it’s quite boring.
WTF does “asking the boss” mean?
Roleplaying. Some bosses are pretty hot so it’s not completely new thing to ask them out.
Guardians have plenty of mitigation at their disposal. If you didn’t rely on AH to keep you alive maybe you’d realize this.
AH gives me the sustain to be able to gear more for dps instead of adding in non zerk gear and makes it so you rely less on trying to spam blinds which is not consistent or perma vigor, which is getting nerfed.
And if you actually paid attention at all, you’d know I already mentioned I have 2 80 guardians one of which is in fact using the dps build.
But then again paying attention isn’t a key part of being an AH basher.
Personally, I’d rather blind so no one gets hit, keep our scholar bonuses and give vulnerability to the enemy. You’d rather the team take a hit since you can out heal it, ok.
Lol Scholar runes? Really? Now I know you are trolling.
AH gives me the sustain to be able to gear more for dps instead of adding in non zerk gear and makes it so you rely less on trying to spam blinds which is not consistent or perma vigor, which is getting nerfed.
Personally, I’d rather blind so no one gets hit, keep our scholar bonuses and give vulnerability to the enemy. You’d rather the team take a hit since you can out heal it, ok. AH definitely fits your playstyle.
I’ve already pointed this out before but it merits restating. The “meta” dps build is required to take some non zerk gear to make up for how squishy it is and will only become more squishy once vigorous precision, the cornerstone of its survivability is nerfed in the upcoming patch. (double the cd)
While the AH variant can afford to take all zerk gear, which does in fact go towards making up for gaps in dps it suffers from while maintaining far greater sustain.
Required to take non zerk gear? …wut. Some people recommend wearing some Knight pieces until the players is confortable with the build and content. Meta has better burst and sustain. Most AH players are also running staff further hindering their dps and support.
Also, while Vigorous Precision is very nice, it’s not the cornerstone of survivability.
The “dps” build does not have better sustain. There’s no evidence whatsoever of this.
You do a lupi solo in your build and I’ll do one in my build, we’ll see who’s faster.
I’ve already pointed this out before but it merits restating. The “meta” dps build is required to take some non zerk gear to make up for how squishy it is and will only become more squishy once vigorous precision, the cornerstone of its survivability is nerfed in the upcoming patch. (double the cd)
While the AH variant can afford to take all zerk gear, which does in fact go towards making up for gaps in dps it suffers from while maintaining far greater sustain.
Required to take non zerk gear? …wut. Some people recommend wearing some Knight pieces until the players is confortable with the build and content. Meta has better burst and sustain. Most AH players are also running staff further hindering their dps and support.
Also, while Vigorous Precision is very nice, it’s not the cornerstone of survivability.
The reason I searched for and posted the above was that there is much debate about how long dungeons do and/or should take to finish. Every skipping debate, every optimization debate, all eventually also need to consider how long Anet think a dungeon should take.
While the expected dungeon times above are »obiter dictum« to a debate about dungeon rewards, they are still a source for the intended gameplay length. I’m also pretty sure there were other sources stating the 45 minutes intended dungeon gameplay times.
This is important. Dungeon rewards are balanced around how long dungeons take. Remember that for economy vs. gameplay balance is an important subject. If the elite earn too much, while they are happy, the masses are cut off from the shinies – and if ALL the shinies are too far… the masses could move on. And I don’t think dungeon runners are the most cash spending kind, rather the obvious, they are express gold earners, who are the most likely to buy gems with gold rather than cash. Hmm, I think THAT issue deserves a thread of its own.
It is an indication that the paths that take 10-20 minutes can still expect further changes, more invisible walls, more safe spots made inaccesible. It is an indication that longer parths are not likely to receive shortening changes.
Patching safe spots, invisible walls etc (exploits basically) will mostly only slow down pugs. Elite groups hardly use any of that because it slows down the run.
They’ve already patched many safe spots – Rabsovich, Mossman (although it can still be done), Belka, Abomination just to name a few. Elite guilds didn’t use any of those. You can still do safe spots on Mage Crusher and the cart event in SE p3, pugs use them, elites don’t, they pretty much melee everything. Almost anything done to dungeons to make them harder will affect pugs more than elite groups. Elites will adapt and will always complete content much faster than pugs.
Paths would have to be completely redone if they were to take 45 mins to complete, not just removing safe spots and installing invisible walls.
After exiting the dungeon, I was still in the team and saw the last boss message reposted straight away and then I got kicked as I already had my reward and tokens.
After that I pretty much assumed all sellers are using some sort of exploit and avoid them.
What you saw was an lfg bug. I always see that message pop up after a pug starts disbanding after a dungeon. It says the lfg was reposted in your chat box, but if you check the lfg, nothing is posted.
Sure there are optimal groups for every situation I’m simply showing guards have a lot more to bring to the table. We are GUARDians not DPSians. Leave the dps to the classes that are focused on that aspect like warriors.
Quite the display of ignorance. The meta build is designed to bring the absolute best support needed for dungeon/fractal situations. AH is designed to give only your character healing. So what is AH GUARDing exactly? The meta build contains far more party support.
I would definitely report the guy that scammed you. You can keep the reputable sellers on your list and whisper them to find out if they’ll be selling any paths on a given day.
Something I think is important when completing this fractal is the appointment of a leader. So many times, 3 members will have vastly different strategies. It’s important to choose one, flesh it out completely in chat or teamspeak (so, like, say this player to take his character to this button and do this, while these 3 run through the gate the second it opens, blah blah blah). It’s important to go with a single plan, rather than 5 people trying to do 5 separate things.
Secondly, when you finally get to the 2 button room, make sure you kill the 2 vets guarding before going in. Then, pick a side to clear of dredge, tell one person to get on the button, and another to be ready to grab the console while one person goes to the second button and the 4th kites/tanks dredge. The person on the console is usually best to have stealth, some instant cast invuln (ele mist form) or other blocks to keep the console going if the dredge kiter/tank dies/fails.
Then run up, get to bombs if unlucky, and thats a tale for another person to explain, as i am tired now.
Just say you’re new at the start. Most groups that didn’t lfg for experienced players don’t care, but people don’t like when someone new doesn’t say anything and makes the group wipe. And of course don’t join experienced runs.
There’s also the Dungeon Mentors thread and the sticky here for helping people with dungeons.
Even if I do have a second I have to wade through all the stackers, skippers, leavers, and level 80’s that join and instantly leave.
we all do weeding out of our own the difference is we aren’t complaining about it or making excuses. there are waaay to many players that don’t want to stack, they post here all the time. form a guild and make it work.
Check out this thread if you haven’t there’s some people in that thread not including OP that do not want to stack or skip.
You don’t have to complain because you’re with the meta, the masses, the way it is currently. The people who want change are “complaining” because they want change. they want to play how they want to play i.e not stacking, skipping, zerking, and so on, but can’t because all people care about is the “meta” and will follow it without question. If things were the other way around I’m sure there would be plenty of complaining for the other end.
Actually it did used to be the other way around. But as everyone got more experienced, the meta game evolved as it does in all games. When I first starting running dungeons I hardly ever saw stacking. Not near as many people ran zerker either.
Everyone was running wacky builds, flailing around all willy nilly and dungeons were hard because there was no organization, dps was bad and people didn’t know what support skills actually worked well. Naturally we adapted our builds and tactics over time to become more efficient.
What you’re looking for is those early days when everyone was just winging it. You should try running with new players. Also, check out the PASS thread, get a guild going and advertise it. You deserve to play how you want to play, and it seems there are enough people to support such a thing. Heck, you could even invite me for a run as I’d like to experience it just out of curiosity
With a new anti-meta thread appearing every week or so, it would suggest “play how you want” parties have become a rare breed among the parties being formed. In addition, with the number of metadungeoneers on this board it paints a picture where the dungeon pugging scene is currently, “you must stack, you must wear full zerker, you must skip, you’re on thin ice if you’re not a heavy, you have 10 minutes to complete this run” groups have become the general expectation of the dungeon community, and that “play how you want” parties have been all but choked out.
So I’m curious, what would you say is the current ratio of parties that let players play how they wish, to parties that demand players to conform to the meta?
First off, zerker isn’t even necessarily meta. I very rarely see lfg’s for meta runs. It’s surprising how much better full meta runs are as opposed to zerker whatever runs. I still see less zerker lfg’s than I do ‘whatever’ lfg’s. I’ve only seen 2 meta runs on the lfg, I joined them both and while they’re not as good as an organized meta, they are far and away better than zerker runs – which in turn are far and away better than play how you want runs.
In pve in general, play how you want builds are far more prevalent than meta builds. I’ve been in 2 pvx guilds with over 300 people. In both guilds the number of meta builds were in the single digits, zerker is looked down upon even for pve in some of these guilds.
I imagine there are more zerkers in dungeons than in regular pve because after doing these dungeons numerous times many people will want to improve their performance. Good performance = faster = more gold. So naturally they upgrade their build to something more suited to the content. But in all, there are more play how you want lfg’s than there are meta or zerker lfg’s.
^I doubt that the difference in dps between a meta-build and a less optimal build (taking AH for example) is THAT big. Depending on the build and the skill of the player using it, I guess it equals out or at least almost equals out. And then there’s always the skill of the players you run with, which is a factor too. It might happen that they bring you into situations where you would die in a meta-build but could survive in a non-meta build; who knows.
I guess outside of speedruns it doesn’t really matter if you run meta or not, as long as your dps is still acceptable and you bring at least some useful things to the party.
From Dubs calculations months ago, the difference is THAT big and is sometimes even bigger.
This happens in all games. People learn the content and it becomes easier. OP, if you want a challenge, solo some dungeons like Arah. Heck, pug it like hendo said, where your teammates essentially become lupi or Alphard adds. Even though I’ve solo’d lupi numerous times it can still be a challenge to survive it in a pug.
I’ve been mentoring dungeons, taking groups of new people through. It’s been fun and challenging.
Might not be considered as a good idea to some people, but I’d really, really appreciate some mechanic that prevents stacking. Perhaps adding AoE abilities that are targeted at peoples position (forcing them to move a couple of meters) to encounters where stacking is blatantly used
Tons of mobs use AoE. People use the skills given them to mitigate.
It’s probably much more rare in fractals because 95% (my estimation, but probably more than that) of NA griefing comes from one guy. That guy happens to choose arah as his favorite. And like Casmurro said, if you lose a player mid-run and post on the lfg, you run the risk of getting griefed. If there’s a sell instance that must be destroyed, this guy won’t hesitate to use a random party to do it, thus destroying both instances.
laharl, can one of the open slots be reserved for a non-DnT Mentor? Since your time is very limited, I’d like your trial to be a part of your teaching as well :P
Sure. I’m down to one spot. So whomever you’d like to go is fine.
I am a fellow student and if you are like me you are relatively inexperienced inside of most dungeons. Since we do not have an official forum set up for this guild, if it’s needed I could look into throwing one together, I am posting here in hopes of gathering interested people who might want to spend some time dungeon hopping for an hour or two this weekend.
Depending on the responses received, I would like to go into some dungeons over this upcoming weekend for more experience and somewhat of a community builder. Please be aware I am not a mentor, but a student. If any mentors are online over the weekend and willing to go, I’d love to that too but seeing as how a lot of the mentors have outside guilds and their own speed runs I believe it is up to us, students, to also put forth some effort in on our own.
If you are interested and have availability, simply send me a PM through the forums and I will construct a listing of interested/available people and work on trying to set up some teams with specified play times of students.
I’m sure there will be mentors online that would be happy to go. Having the guild roster now makes it much easier for students to look through the list to see if mentors are online. Even if we’re in a dungeon, feel free to whisper, we’ll get back back to you when we can.
Dolan mentioned earlier that there are non-Arah specific mentors that also mentor Arah. I’d just like to reiterate that. I’ve been relatively inundated with students lately. I’m not complaining, I just feel bad for not getting to everyone in a timely manner.
Tonight I’ll be doing a p4 run at roughly 10pm Central (8pm server I think?), I have two spots open. PM if you’d like to go. If I have enough interest I could do two runs back to back. I will probably post here (or a guild forum if Nodo or someone sets that up) every few days with scheduled runs if this works out. I’ll also continue to do random runs when I can for people who don’t check the forum as often.
I imagine just one qualified person could act as a chaperone for new Meta/Arah mentors. Mentors from established speed run guilds or who have videos are probably fine.
They do not kick and sell (well most don’t). It’s just so easy to take a thief-Shadow Arrow)/mesmer (Blink)/elementalist (Lightning flash), [Edit, didn’t see video] bug through the floor to kill the boss underwater… that kicking people is not necessary (I bet not even effecient, it’s quicker to skip about 55% of the path).
on arah p4?
On ACp1… That’s what the thread is about no?
Well you can do the same with Arah p2, that’s why there’s so many p2 sellers and the price is so cheap…
True, however that’s not 1g-1g5 like AC. + There is no way to solo AC the legit way so you know for sure that any seller has exploited.
Two things:
1) They could have had someone else help them then leave to maximize slots to sell.
2) How do you know it’s not possible to solo?
I’m not taking a stance on either side but I see way too many assumptions about things that are treated as fact.
If they’re selling for 1.5g or less, it’s definitely exploited.
The OP shows one problem with everyone following common knowledge tactics like stacking all the time. Nobody ever sees what happens when it goes wrong so the community forgets why they’re doing it!
Most pugs don’t know the intricacies of the mechanics anyway. In this case, they often think stacking in the corner itself it what makes the Queen not use the aoe. They’re just doing something that was shown to them a while back that worked well, something that dungeon guilds had been doing months prior. They didn’t forget why they were stacking, they basically never really knew why, except that it’s faster, but that’s all they really need to know.
Yes. Just ask them, most of them have no problem admitting it.
No one is going to do a full path legitimately solo (except as a challenge to themselves, but in that case they won’t be doing it for gold), it’s just too slow. You make more money by doing it normally, in a full group, because you can do a lot more paths in the same time. Whenever you see a single player (almost invariably a thief, mesmer or elementalist) “selling the last boss”, he obviously blinked out of the map and skipped everything.
The only complete path I personally ever solo’d was p2, it took no exploits. For me, it took longer than a pug. But I duo often, no exploits, and it’s almost always faster than a pug. You really don’t know what you’re talking about at all.
