didnt think it was possible but it’s happening: meta is getting worse due to OP low skillcap builds dominating everything else.
i actually prefer PVE in the later levels. i think DE’s and their chains as just as creative, except there’s way more of them. my 2 favourite zones, Lornar’s Pass and Frostgorge Sound are of vastly different levels.
me: condition bunker BM ranger
most feared: none
least feared: warrior, d/d ele, other rangers
i dont mind being challenged to keep the pet alive…that’s the point of playing a pet profession. but dungeons are just a slaughter. no amount of skill or micro will help your pet stay alive against AOE’s that instabig him.
one thing is for certain, 8v8 better be gone. the next problem will be the scattering of an already dwindled population when all these new options are given. tourneys, custom arenas, 1v1 team battles. it’s too much. there’s like 500 people playing at any given time.
a good way to start would be JUST:
- solo queue + 5v5 + matchmaking
- custom arenas (for those who want tourneys, let them do it this way)
- abolish official tourneys (what a joke)
- abolish hotjoin
- enforce light punishment for abandoners (this is absolutely crucial)
- 5v5 must absolutely be enforced. this is the only way new players will learn and understand the meta. funneling the majority of the population into the 8v8 mess was a major mistake. allow 8v8 as part of custom arenas for those who want it (it will be nobody)thats about as far as i see it going with conquest. once people start to enjoy pvp, add a monthly tournament and team (edit: and random team) deathmatch.
little too much riding on this patch. the pvp community has been burned pretty hard by lack of iteration and new content so cant really leave vital things out. hope devs are taking notes.
Signed to all (except abolish hotjoin, since I like to join on friends already playing, just cap it at 5v5) but especially the bold part. Although this sounds mostly like “Hey guys, go play guild wars 1, now revive parts of the pvp structure” to me, which was pretty much all they had to do to begin with.
you cant have hotjoin and punish leaving. people cant hop in and out of 5v5, period. if you dont punish crap like ragequits, we’ll be in the same spot. hotjoin = hotleaving. needs to be like dota, where you pre-form or pre-pick somehow and you’re locked in for a while, period.
one thing is for certain, 8v8 better be gone. the next problem will be the scattering of an already dwindled population when all these new options are given. tourneys, custom arenas, 1v1 team battles. it’s too much. there’s like 500 people playing at any given time.
a good way to start would be JUST:
- solo queue + 5v5 + matchmaking
- custom arenas (for those who want tourneys, let them do it this way)
- abolish official tourneys (what a joke)
- abolish hotjoin
- enforce light punishment for abandoners (this is absolutely crucial)
- 5v5 must absolutely be enforced. this is the only way new players will learn and understand the meta. funneling the majority of the population into the 8v8 mess was a major mistake. allow 8v8 as part of custom arenas for those who want it (it will be nobody)thats about as far as i see it going with conquest. once people start to enjoy pvp, add a monthly tournament and team (edit: and random team) deathmatch.
little too much riding on this patch. the pvp community has been burned pretty hard by lack of iteration and new content so cant really leave vital things out. hope devs are taking notes.
Signed to all (except abolish hotjoin, since I like to join on friends already playing, just cap it at 5v5) but especially the bold part. Although this sounds mostly like “Hey guys, go play guild wars 1, now revive parts of the pvp structure” to me, which was pretty much all they had to do to begin with.
you cant have hotjoin and punish leaving. people cant hop in and out of 5v5, period. if you dont punish crap like ragequits, we’ll be in the same spot. hotjoin = hotleaving. needs to be like dota, where you pre-form or pre-pick somehow and you’re locked in for a while, period.
oh.. and people calling other classes OP just cause they don’t know how to play their toons and counter other classes are just fail players. Quit crying OP and NERF cause you don’t understand how to counter other classes.
no, it is well known that certain profs are over-represented, nay, mandatory, for higher level tournament play. further, certain specs are mandatory. by mandatory i mean if u you opt for lesser alternatives, you will likely lose against equally skilled opponents.
yes, there is. bunker guards are OP. mesmers are OP. thieves are cheap.
yes, confusion counters time warp in your mind. because you, yourself, are confused. in a real scenario there’s no way in hell you can react fast enough to stack 10 confusion on your opponents because for those 10 seconds youre just trying to survive, or clearing the point. obviously, youve never met an organized team with HASTE.
i dont think anyone changes things for the sake of being different. they delivered a AAA MMO with smooth, responsive ARPG combat. first in the MMO market to do that. to me, thats kind of innovative.
anyway, there’s nothing horrible with the current meta, as long as people take the time to understand it. conquest contains the following roles: bunker, point nuker, bunker/boon killer, roamer, control, support, attrition, and of course mesmer (it’s own role because it does everything). u know roles, right? like in dota: nuker, carry, support, initiator, etc.
so the problem actually lies in the fact that we have specs to rule them all. guard best bunker, d/d ele/thief best roamers, mesmer – necessary, etc. when they take away overpowered builds, the meta could evolve into something really fun with tons of variety.
scrapping everything theyve achieved for TDM may not be the best idea. TDM will have its own meta, and i think we need to work on conquest right now. as i said, there’s nothing wrong with it once u understand the different roles, and once specs are balanced.
that being said, if they keep conquest, if they keep the crappy meta with 5 top specs, then you would be correct, nobody would play.
it’s a fact that i can keep my pets alive against a boss with obvious animations. but the problem is the aoe. as the animation starts, i will recall the pet. but he wont escape in time before the aoe lands, which one-shots it. where is the skill here? nowhere. where is my pet? dead.
one thing is for certain, 8v8 better be gone. the next problem will be the scattering of an already dwindled population when all these new options are given. tourneys, custom arenas, 1v1 team battles. it’s too much. there’s like 500 people playing at any given time.
a good way to start would be JUST:
- solo queue + 5v5 + matchmaking
- custom arenas (for those who want tourneys, let them do it this way)
- abolish official tourneys (what a joke)
- abolish hotjoin
- enforce light punishment for abandoners (this is absolutely crucial)
- 5v5 must absolutely be enforced. this is the only way new players will learn and understand the meta. funneling the majority of the population into the 8v8 mess was a major mistake. allow 8v8 as part of custom arenas for those who want it (it will be nobody)
thats about as far as i see it going with conquest. once people start to enjoy pvp, add a monthly tournament and team deathmatch.
little too much riding on this patch. the pvp community has been burned pretty hard by lack of iteration and new content so cant really leave vital things out. hope devs are taking notes.
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no, bunkers would still have a role in TDM. they could build for support/sustain/control. theyre just making conquest ridiculous atm.
i think it’s painfully obvious that they literally dont have the staff to churn out spvp content. i dont think JSharp should be taking the heat, but rather the person who’s in charge of resource distribution across depts. 5 months in and we’re still playing the same beta with dozens of gamebreaking bugs across most profs. no new features.
(actually, the entire game has taken only steps backwards since release, with FOTM and lack of open world support)
the upcoming stuff looks really good, i wont lie. but it’s necessary and should have been in place a long time ago. spvp needs monthly injections of “good stuff” to bring back and retain people. im talking a new feature, balancing tweaks, necessary bug fixes, new maps/modes, and new rewards on a monthly basis. anything less is quite unacceptable and laughable.
i actually have no idea what the spvp dept. has been up to cuz we havent see ANYTHING in 5 months. not even the proper amount of balancing and bug fixes that are badly needed.
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we’re not really talking about adaptation any more Ursan. my pet is a liability. not only are my BM points wasted, but i also lose 30% of my dps. pet micro may work in some easy exp dungeons like AC, but in vast majority of situations, pets are instagibbed.
point is, they mentioned something i being worked on, but this was literally months ago.
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A team vs team game mode seems silly unless there’s some sort of official ladder or rating or otherwise a real reward attached to it. Custom servers will make it obsolete quickly as teams will have their own servers for scrims.
If you want a bandaid fix to increase the amount of high level play, decrease the amount of tickets you need to play paids so it does not take too long for teams on a losing streak to play.
Don’t waste your (very limited) time on a new feature that will quickly become obsolete.
what? i have about 70 tickets sitting in my bank from winning free tourneys and getting the dailies. tickets have nothing to do with anything. i dont play paids because i dont have a team, or because i dont feel like waiting.
tournaments are just a bad idea and need to be ditched asap. when you say tournament, it’s supposed to mean something special…something that occurs once a week or once a month. i hate that tournaments are required for balanced 5v5 play. and then u get stomped by a premade.
at this point i feel we all just need to boycott conquest until they roll out a new game mode. even discussing conquest meta makes me nauseous.
let’s return to the topic at hand. pets are nothing but a liability in dungeons. an expensive one at that, because we lose 30% of our dps when they get insta-killed. and this is with 30 points in BM, 20 in skirm and max bond stacks.
6-8 seconds would be ideal. with a mug nerf and culling fix, the thief would be fixed forever.
1. stop qq ing and asking for nerfs,
2. L2P, by asking ppl for help, tips and tricks
3. figure out your and everyone in your teams role on the teamhuh? youre assuming that people actually have a secret desire to take part in the meta. thing is kid, nobody wants to. there’s like 30 of you playing and we dont give a flying kitten >.< people dont want to get better because the state of the game sucks. which is why everyone is complaining and asking for a change of direction. GW2 pvp aint going anywhere until meta is significantly changed. custom arenas and matchmaking will bring some people back, but it wont be long until numbers drop off again.
nobody wants to play mesmer/guardian/thief wars with like 5 superior specs.
That’s why Eve Online is so amazing despite not having the numbers of WoW, the MMOs were and should have remained a niche market for fans of the genre, while the console generation should have remained with their Xbox 360 and PS3 playing Halo and CoD, when you try to reach for the console generation with a MMO..this is the result, a MMO for casuals?…never gonna happen, casuals don’t want to put the effort or invest time in a game, an attitude better suited for somebody who enjoy playing FF7 not a MMO
it worked for dota and SC2 though. thing about these games is they were truly easy to pick up and difficult to master. you can kitten around in gold division forever if you feel like it and still have fun.
GW2 scared off the less skilled players by pitting them against experts. these guys were trapped in a rank-less limbo continuously losing, until they just left. having matchmaking eases you into the higher levels of play instead of traumatizing you, and shipping the game without this feature was a seriously bad decision…but we all know this now.
the other problem with GW2 is build skillcap. the top 5 builds in tpvp have some of the lowest skillcaps but also happen to be most effective. look at shatter mesmers, BS thieves, and bunker guards – all mandatory. this basically prevents people from experimenting with different specs. because, why should they if they can faceroll to win? low number of viable specs was the other serious mistake. high skillcap specs, like the bunker ranger or power necro, need to be just as rewarding. but theyre simply not. why? bunker guard and wellmancer faceroll
if you read up or are in the pvp scene you will know we keep changing it so dont tell me about a meta cause that makes 0 sense to me.
first of all, what pvp scene? second, 90% of players wont be synthesizing new knowledge. they’ll be using 1) what theyre comfortable with and 2) whatever is OP. so you cant start calling everyone a noob just because they cant get on a highly organized tpvp team and experiment. it makes more sense to make the game accessible for 90% of the population. this is the problem. interesting high skillcap builds arent rewarding because bunkering, burst, and portals nullify most of them, or simply take away the need to try anything different.
you seem very upbeat and condescending, but i assure you, this is because you main a mesmer. nobody cares for you, or your tone. my suggestion is: if you wanna impart some wisdom, try a more humble approach. post some tutorial vids, post constructive threads, and in general stop being a d1ck. like most others, ive never heard of you or half the people you talk about because this game has no pvp scene. by listening to those who want the status quo, GW2 will never have a pvp scene. therefore, your high and mighty opinion is of very little value to this community.
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hey Evan, can u guys add the Dota-type gameplay to WvW??? that would be freaking sick! without the gear progression of course. it could be placed where the borderlands intersect with EB. you could add a small map in between that has tower defense mechanics. convoy rolls out with your faction (ogres or dredge or whatev) consisting of support/ranged/siege npc’s and u have to defend it.
ETA doesnt do anything for anyone. it only puts unneeded pressure on the devs. if youre impatient/fed-up, just leave the game and come back in 2 months. im sure everyone would be ok with that.
1. stop qq ing and asking for nerfs,
2. L2P, by asking ppl for help, tips and tricks
3. figure out your and everyone in your teams role on the team
huh? youre assuming that people actually have a secret desire to take part in the meta. thing is kid, nobody wants to. there’s like 30 of you playing and we dont give a flying kitten >.< people dont want to get better because the state of the game sucks. which is why everyone is complaining and asking for a change of direction. GW2 pvp aint going anywhere until meta is significantly changed. custom arenas and matchmaking will bring some people back, but it wont be long until numbers drop off again.
nobody wants to play mesmer/guardian/thief wars with like 5 superior specs.
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any info on pug vs. premade? and larger meta changes?
thanks for the post.
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bunkers would be just fine, another variation of a spec, if it wasnt for stupid conquest. if we went for team DM, we wouldnt have to deal with this burst/bunker crap. it would all work nicely.
lick wounds fails when on a slope. it’s ridiculous and gamebreaking…for rangers.
all melee pets get one-shot by bosses in most explorable dungeons. in higher level fractals, pets might as well not exist. i hope this issue gets resolved soon. it’s strange how pet synergy is encouraged yet pets are constantly bugged out and overall useless in PVE.
also, what kind of animal cant dodge? why doesnt the pet dodge when i dodge? where is the skill here?
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dont be scared. greatsword. nothing can catch u. you’ll be fine even in full berserker gear.
time warp needs to get taken out of the game.
if they dont wanna split up the player base, just take out conquest. or give us the option to use the maps for DM, i.e. disable control points and countdown. very, very simple to do.
just wondering when the thief is gonna be addressed in wvw. getting a little tired of getting wtfburstdown for 15k without even seeing the scrub. not only does culling need serious work, but burst need to be capped at a more reasonable number.
culling is just part of the problem. the third problem is the actual duration of stealth. i can be alone in wvw, with nothing around me for 2 miles. yet a thief will somehow manage to approach me unseen. stealth is plain broken.
it’s really unbecoming to let such a horribly broken playstyle reign for 5 months now.
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depends on your playstyle. you dont need too much survivability in wvw, if youre rolling LB. i use GS as my secondary, and i can get away from almost every situation to reposition. use range to sniper and burst people down. it’s not really a dueling build, even though you will do ok.
piercing arrows is absolutely essential, so 20 in marks. i like 30 in skirm for precision and decreased LB CD’s.
take all points out of wilderness survival. it doesnt synergize with LB.
i like to put 20 into BM, QZ, SoH and Sic Em in utilities. you can burst 15-30k with pet and LB, if positioned and timed correctly. pick your targets.
i use ascalonian gear which is PVT, zerker weapons and zerker accessories. runes of the thief for extra precision and damage. some people will advise full zerker, but im against that because you’ll get two-shotted if outside of the keep. wasting gold on full zerker was a big mistake of mine.
this is my favourite burst spec in the game, second place going to GS + mantra mesmer. my 2c
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not gonna counter all the noobs in this thread, but the ranger is far from gimped. in fact, ranger is really well off in both wvw and tpvp.
i do agree though that we shouldnt have to equip guard for the pet to climb walls or exit the keep. that being said, guard can be pretty OP, as i can set my panther into a keep and shred a squishy without lifting a finger.
spirits need to be invulnerable.
To flat out answer your question, no. You need to pay attention to your pets in dungeons and actively know when to let them attack and when to call them back/swap. Even then, some bosses just don’t work, like the Jade Maw or high level fractal bosses with agony. But I wouldn’t despair nerva, since the incoming months suggest patches that will equate to an expansion – so I’m sure that there will be quality of life changes for the ranger and pet.
one can only hope!
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i get what youre saying…but they literally said theyre looking into this issue. might have been a few months ago.
GS for pve. with QZ, high crit and pet swap u deal ridiculous aoe while dodging.
im not asking for advice, im asking for an update on something that was promised. thanks.
LB/GS is by far the best combo in my opinion. GS is absolutely essential for getting away. with signet of the hunt, you have some of the best mobility in the game.
i would also recommend speccing as much into BM and skirmishing as possible. u need the crit, u need the low LB CD and pets synergize beautifully with LB.
condi bunker builds with cats are way stronger. condi synergizes with wilderness trait line and u simply do more damage. people dont really die to this kind of burst in tpvp. 10-15k from a BS thief, shatter mesmer or d/d ele, maybe. ranger power builds are super gimped, unless u run glass cannon LB in wvw, which is hella fun.
The problem is that the weapons with the highest defense do extremely little condi damage. You are essentially sacrificing bunker abilities, which he is not trying to do.
if you know what youre doing, you dont need too many evades. the right build can get u near perma vigor.
If you are a bunker, you want as many evades as possible; the fact that you can get decent vigor and moderate weapon evasion on a condi build was not the point.
nope, the point was u get vastly superior damage. not only do u have the staying power, but u can actually take people down. this has allowed me to turn many 2v1’s into 1v1’s. 0/0/30/10/30 is one of the best duelists in the game, and i never felt the need to switch to evasion weapons. u laugh at burst thieves, while easily handling d/p, in addition to trap rangers and d/d eles. ive also yet to die 1v1 to a shatterer.
And before you trash talk the build again, please actually try to get good with the build before you make any judgements on it.
i like the build for the record. i just find bleed stacking + cats to do more reliable damage. leap finishers on HS is indeed awesome.
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longbow will get you the kills. LB is also better for PVE because of vulnerability which is huge for your group. LB benefits way more from might.
SB is a skirmishing/utility weapon.
Don’t use those pets in those specific bosses.
In GW2, you have the ability to adapt. Take advantage! What you use for certain situations isn’t going to be optimal in others.
You’re given the ability to swap out pets when out of combat. Make use of this ability. Note which bosses kills your cats fast, and swap out to Devourers/Spiders/Bears for that specific fight.
Even then, your pets will still die in some specific situations. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t suggest a 30 Beastmaster build in dungeons.
nope, i wanna use melee pets and i wanna go full beastmaster. all should be viable. they said they were fixing it and id like to know if it’s still planned.
right now, no amount of micro and skill can save your pet from getting 1-shot by boss AOE.
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im specced full BM and skirmishing, meaning that my dps pets are the best they can be. no, i dont use the bear or the ranged pets. but losing my cats to a boss in one shot is a little disheartening
ANet made an announcement that pets would be improved in dungeons. is this still happening?
well as i said, no1 wants to play tourneys because the meta sucks. spvp is doing just fine. mind you, it’s not growing, but it will with Feb’s patch.
point is, it’s not dead or different from a few months ago.
this thread is just a giant whine, bordering on insulting now. youre not saying anything new or constructive. obviously, we will shift away from tournaments. custom arenas will allow for custom matchups, and that in itself will bring a lot of people back. rankings, even more.
and spvp isnt really any worse off than a few months ago. tpvp is, likely due to a crappy meta, but there are still two dozen spvp games at any given time. there isnt really a deadline till doom, as many of you are suggesting. you may want to leave personally, but you’ll be back for sure.
i love the combo fields idea, but certain combos need a serious buff before adding new ones. for example, blind, retaliation, chaos armor, stealth, confusion finishers are all good. burning, regen, poison, and leeching contribute absolutely nothing to a fight.
condi bunker builds with cats are way stronger. condi synergizes with wilderness trait line and u simply do more damage. people dont really die to this kind of burst in tpvp. 10-15k from a BS thief, shatter mesmer or d/d ele, maybe. ranger power builds are super gimped, unless u run glass cannon LB in wvw, which is hella fun.
The problem is that the weapons with the highest defense do extremely little condi damage. You are essentially sacrificing bunker abilities, which he is not trying to do.
if you know what youre doing, you dont need too many evades. the right build can get u near perma vigor.
The class has burst, so much so a pet can solo non bunker builds in seconds….Yes just the pet.
You can play Ranged as you described any way you like, just have different gear sets in your bag. The build is 30/30/5/0/5 and you can go glass cannon sniper on walls with full Zerger, or use Tou/Power/Vit and still end up with 31% crit chance and +3x% crit dmg!
I use control pets for this build, namely Dog+Jungle Spider thanks to Sol video for sharing that idea -which gives you 9 sec of non stop immobilize plus a 2 sec KD and endless cripple.
As for burst its maximized by pets -not saying you can’t burst without pet, just saying if you want MAX burst you need to use the pet. With well timed RoA+QZ+Sword or something on those lines.
The number of videos and guide is huge!
One of the best builds for close range and smaller scale combat would be BM+Healing Bunker. 0/0/30/10/30 with healing and regeneration gear. Damage is condition based and pet focused with CD based burst.
this is exactly what i do on my ranger. in wvw, i play a sniper burst beastmaster. in spvp, condition bunker. both builds wreck.