Guild Wars 2

Sometimes the activation of the F2 abilities can be too slow. I’m pretty sure they’re all ‘activate on next attack’ type abilities, which can make them seem incredibly slow on slow attacking pets (like bears).

Saying they’re weak though is crazy. Some pets have amazing burst potential. My snow owl F2 crits for nearly 3k (two times). That can half health most light/medium mobs.

Pets are fine in PvE. As already stated, most mobs don’t move once combat has been initiated, so it’s a non-issue in PvE. My pet DOES do the vast majority of my damage in PvE, because that’s how I have my Ranger built for PvE. I’d say my pet probably does greater than 50% of my damage in PvE. I can literally sit back and gather while my pet goes to town on a mob and in most cases it will be nearly dead by the time I’m done collecting.

In PvP, on the other hand…

[Edit: I should note that pets are fine in PvE for people who go with pet-centric builds.]

Pets are still useful in dungeons you just cannot use a melee pet. You have to use a ranged pet unless you want it to get squashed in 0.32 seconds.

Hide in Plain Sight doesn’t work with immobilizes, does it?

Immobilize is absent from the tooltip.

OP is obviously trolling and not doing a very good job. This thread needs to be deleted/locked.

Turning away from my target has never failed to work for me, so I’m not sure why it won’t work for you.

I run sword/warhorn and axe/torch and have no problems getting out of melee range.

Turn your camera 180 degrees. Run or dodge away. Problem solved.

Durzlla.6295:

@nldixon it looks like someone has only used the “meta” spirit build…. natures vengeance, when your spirit dies it causes an effect where it was, the sun one causes burning, the storm one constantly blinds and damages (as well as acting as an air field), the stone one creates a muddy terrain, and the frost one creates an ice field…

On top of all that the spirits effect persists for anyone in the area of its corpse, so yeah… he can get the boon even after you pounce on his spirit in the first 5 seconds of the fight, and those fields last for a good 10seconds unless they got nerfed which would create all sorts of death and despair for the idiot who killed all 4 spirits at the same time… oh yeah, the elite spirit creates a field (granted significantly smaller then the other 3 that removes conditions constantly as well as providing a pretty sexy heal for the duration of the field.

I’ve tried Nature’s Vengeance. Yes, it’s nice, but that should be something that happens automatically when your spirits die, not something you have to trait for. It also doesn’t change the fact that you can get WAY more benefit from other skills with way less investment.

Spirits are fun, they’re unique, but ultimately they stink.

If you’re going to upgrade your PC just save for a couple more months and do it right. Top of the line stuff will last you a couple years until you need to upgrade again.

Tigger.8035:

That’s not what I’m getting at.

your comparison is bad because not even a rookie driver would lose that race.

and yeah I’d still win cause I get the boons and survive with my combo fields like I have been against heartseeker spam thieves and hundred blade warriors

If you don’t know how to drive a manual transmission, you’re not gonna hop in a Ferrari and win, sorry.

Second, even if you do everything perfectly the spirits aren’t guaranteed to give you a boon. There’s a 20% chance you get the five second boon in the few seconds that the spirits are up.

You can use spirits and do well, sure. Against bad players. Against skilled players you’re passing up way too many GOOD and USEFUL skills to pick up some shoddy spirits that aren’t worth the investment for PvE or PvP.

I didn’t say it was fair, I said that was our only option. Not even camouflage works on immobilize.

Midenoche.2564:

Why do lightning reflexes and Signet of Renewal not remove roots? I don’t know how many time I die to other classes because I can’t break roots.

Empathic Bond is the ONLY defense we have against immobilize and that’s a joke.

Tigger.8035:

That is by far the worst comparison I’ve ever heard in this decade.

So you’re saying skill has nothing to do with it? Meaning if you were to go up against someone who was smart enough to annihilate your spirits in the first five seconds you’d still win?

Tigger.8035:

dunno bout you guys but i’ve been winning in sPvP with spirits.

Storm’s attack does alot of damage and the chilling from frost and immobility from stone is really good with a Jaguar/Raven with some precision and critical damage

that and people are so bad mechanically at this game I become hard to target and hard to kill

and they are useful when they die cause… with traits you get the benefits

You could win a race in a Yugo against someone in a Ferrari if they didn’t know how to drive a manual transmission, that doesn’t mean that a Yugo is a good car.

I saw one speed hacker and it was about two days after release. Haven’t seen any since then and I play about the same times you do during the week (either early AM EST or late night EST).

Rangers can have the most Quickness up time of any class if properly traited. No need for an attack speed buff.

Mesmer is a little over the top, yes. There are builds that make them virtually unkillable 1v1 and difficult 2v1. They are beatable, however.

I feel like the OP hasn’t ever fought a Mesmer and just plays one, since he says “just mark the real Mesmer”. That’s pretty ridiculous, since the real Mesmer is usually pretty easy to spot (i.e., they’re not standing still spamming the same ability) and they’ll just wipe the mark when they vanish.

Well, some more evidence that they’re evil…

SicJake.6871:

I use an eagle and a raven myself, the key is to swap your birds on cooldown, that gives each a chance to heal up.

In terms of avoiding aggro, two things you can do:

-Deal more damage to mobs (srsly) the more they hate you, the more they leave your pets alone

-Keep them in avoid combat mode, start a mob by taking a few hits yourself, then press F2 for the pet’s ability
to get them to start fighting, they are usualy left alone.

I had trouble keeping track of pets cooldowns early on, what I did was put 5 points in BM, that gives you quickeness for 2 seconds when you swap pets. It’s an amazing buff and since then I keep pet swapping every 15 seconds when it pops.

Only problem with swapping pets for the Quickness buff: you lose Master’s Bond stacks if you’re using that trait.

For some reason mobs do totally ignore my pet sometimes, which is a PITA, since my build is based around my pet doing all the work.

I use sword/torch and axe/warhorn and I have no problem with sword auto-attack.

The auto-attack chain is hardly a stun lock. You can do several things to stop the attack chain.

[Edit: Before anybody asks, you can do a 180 and you will stop the auto-attack. You can use Hornet’s Sting to launch yourself outside the auto-attack range. You can switch to your secondary weapon set and it’ll stop the auto attack chain.

OR… You could, you know, turn off auto-attack on your chain if you hate it so much.]

kOfNa.6321:

Could anyone give me any insight into the other half of the problem? How do I keep my pet from aggroing every mob? I don’t want to play a “sit back and let your pet tank for you” ranger.

That part I’m not sure about. My pet occasionally loses aggro and I don’t want it to lose aggro. I’ve never tried to intentionally gain threat.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

nldixon, you know, “Sick Em” might be better to use than Signet of the Hunt for an alpha strike. It boasts of a 30% damage increase and lasts for 15 seconds. Of course, it has a longer recycle though. 60 seconds compared to 30 with SotH.

Sick ‘Em provides a 30% damage increase for 15 seconds on a 60 second CD. Signet of the Hunt provides a 150% damage increase for the pet’s next attack on a 30 CD, making it far superior for an alpha strike. In addition, you get the passive benefit of a 10% speed increase which is handy for getting around after you kill something.

I’m don’t math, so I’m not sure which would come out on top for extended fights, but I prefer Signer of the Hunt for burning through mobs quicker during PvE.

[Edit: Having spelling and grammar trouble today.]

I love sword. I use sword/axe for my melee setup and it’s amazing. When I need to get out of melee range Hornet Sting is awesome for that. Swap to my ranged setup and go to town.

Calling them useless is a stretch. Calling them nearly useless or situationally useful is a bit more accurate.

Traited they’re halfway decent, but they still die too fast to make them really, truly useful.

[Edit: Speeling.]

I use a hawk (Hudson) who never dies.

I’m assuming you’re referring to PvE. The more points you put into Beastmastery, the tougher your pet is going to become, but there are also some traits that make them more survivable.

Compassion Training (BM IV) coupled with Natural Healing (BM XII) and Carnivorous Appetite (Skirmishing VII) make almost any pet into a ‘tanking’ pet and make bears and other tough pets nearly unkillable.

Master’s Bond (BM II) is also amazing for both offense and defense.

Besides that, it pretty much boils down to which pet you want to use and how you want your character to play (i.e., bows, axes, etc.).

[Edit: Almost forgot to mention skills! Use Signet of the Hunt active every time it’s up. It gives your pet an incredible alpha strike and coupled with Alpha Training (MM Master) is an AMAZING amount of burst. Hudson can half health an even level mob on the first hit.

Signet of the Wild and Signet of Stone are better saved for “oh kitten” situations, since the passives on them are way nice. Rampage as One is awesome and I use it almost every time it’s up.]

One point won’t win you a game.

Vayra.3290:

nldixon.8514:

I understand most of the viewpoints in this thread, but I still don’t think an uninterruptable stomp is in the spirt of the downed state. I’m not a developer though, so for all I know that could be part of the plan for downed state.

It just seems weird that you have a “second chance” that’s completely negated by certain other abilities: blocking (i.e., Aegis), stealth, invulnerability, etc.

Just feels slightly cheesy to me that somebody can take all of the danger out of stomping a downed opponent.

Any class that has stability can do the same thing. It’s intended, you are using a defensive cooldown to ensure a kill instead of saving yourself or team later, it’s a choice you have to make.

Well, I actually stated that in the post you quoted. I realize you can use long CD abilities (Stand Your Ground, for instance) just as easily as you can use short CD abilities (Cloak and Dagger). That doesn’t change the fact that effectively making yourself immune to any kind of retaliation (from the downed player) is kind of cheesy.

If someone disappears while you’re downed you can’t do anything to stop the stomp on the majority of classes. Your only hope is that someone with an AoE knockback (or some other way of effectively stopping an invisible player from completing the stomp) comes along and saves your sorry butt. Abilities like Mist Form make it completely impossible for anyone to stop the stomp.

Sure, it might be dumb to waste an ability like Mist Form to stomp a player, but that doesn’t change the fact that it feels unintended.

That’s a pitiful attempt at trolling, Carlin.

Edit: Like REALLY pitiful. I just had to edit to emphasize how sad an attempt it was. 0 / 10

I noticed the exact same thing while using the Flamethrower. Even with the +200 toughness trait, my toughness actually went DOWN when I switched from my pistol/shield.

I like the water map, for the record, and I’m sure other people do too.

I did the same thing on one of my characters. Oops! I posted a while back and never had any sort of response, so I guess we’ll just have to keep waiting.

I understand most of the viewpoints in this thread, but I still don’t think an uninterruptable stomp is in the spirt of the downed state. I’m not a developer though, so for all I know that could be part of the plan for downed state.

It just seems weird that you have a “second chance” that’s completely negated by certain other abilities: blocking (i.e., Aegis), stealth, invulnerability, etc.

Just feels slightly cheesy to me that somebody can take all of the danger out of stomping a downed opponent.

If you’re so excited about virtually killing another virtual avatar that you feel the need to talk smack, I honestly feel bad for you.

Some dude jacked up on his own ego was running around a map talking crazy smack today with things like, “lol stomped” and “lol youtube, sorry”.

Congratulations on being awesome at virtual combat. I bet you have to beat the ladies off with a stick.

Two things that need to be addressed in my opinion.

First, I’m okay with the downed state. I think it adds a dynamic and interesting twist to PvP. However, quickened stomping (quickness is already an issue all on its own) and stealth stomping are slightly broken as they remove the ability to counter the stomp at all. It’s not a huge issue, just a slightly annoying one.

Second, quitting sPvP and tPvP should have a penalty associated with them. Lower glory gain by 100% for 15 minutes, prevent players from rejoining any PvP matches for 10 minutes, SOMETHING. The constant auto-balancing when people get butt hurt and quit is annoying.

Add a bonus to people who voluntarily choose to switch sides too!

broken.5871:

The people doing this are the ones missing out, the point of spvp is to actually pvp, which is very fun.

I heard someone refer to them as “MMO locusts”. It’s the same mentality of players who grind/bot to level 80 then complain about being bored because there’s no content after they’ve skipped/avoided/rushed through 75% of the available content to get to the “end game”.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey!

Fynd.4890:

I guess you’ve actually never done sPVP, because if you did, you’d know that when you get teamswapped, you retain your points, and being swapped to the losing team is actually beneficial to gaining MORE points, because usually your team is now 3-capped and you can go on a neutralization spree (10 points each for 3 seconds of neut. time).

I’ve actually done quite a lot of sPvP (around 17 or 18 ranks worth) and have never kept my points. So unless I’m broken, points don’t transfer. Just a few nights ago I was 150+ points on the winning team at 450 to 30 (or near that), got swapped and ended up with FIVE points.

That’s broken.

Ladril.1847:

I’m a big fan of Sword/Shield + Axe/Warhorn and running a defensive 30 Defense 30 Tactics 10 Discipline spec with a focus on healing shouts and shield shenanigans. It works great for me, I can take on almost anything 1v1 if they stand and fight and am awesome in team fights.

I also like the usual pure offense rifle warrior but hate how people can get in the way :p

I like sword/shield and rifle. You can always pick up the penetrating rifle shots trait and then when people get in the way it’s just gravy.

You can change out the jewels in the amulets which gives you a little more control over the stats. Not as much as having three separate pieces of gear, but it’s something.

Sanis.1096:

i guess there is really no other place to post this, but stuff like this need to be fixed.

They just trade points and when i said i report they even called me nazi

I’ve seen people doing the exact same thing. It’s a shame.

Smurf.9430:

nldixon.8514:

If you have 10+ seconds to get back to the action, what’s the problem?

I’m pretty sure you can even hit ESC to get rid of it. I’m “working” right now, so I can’t verify that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve closed it with ESC before.

Sometimes you actually have fewer seconds. That’s why. I’ve had it be around 2 seconds and was trying to click to return to waypoint as soon as I died.

And the problem is that I’d like to see the action going on around me in case other people live and are able to resurrect me. It’s an important aspect of sPvP and I really don’t feel like having the dumb recap in my face when I didn’t ask for it in the first place. Maybe an option to keep it off is better, but I feel as if you’re missing the point to helping make the gameplay cleaner while making its transitions better.

It’d be like if you were watching TV, a sitcom we’ll say, and as they go to commercials, they recap exactly what you just watched, every single time. That’s just terrible.

I’d like to be able to see everything around me in case of new developments so that I don’t just take the Waypoint back if others happen to be around me or coming by. You get points for resurrection, so most people actually try and do it when possible. I know you’re still thinking “Just manually close the window or hit escape,” but I just don’t feel it would be that way. Like answering someone when they didn’t ask a question. It should be the other way around obviously. YOU ask the question, it answers.

I see what you’re saying and I don’t disagree that an option to turn it off would be a bad thing, but it seems like a very small point to be so worked up about.

Hopefully most players don’t waste the time trying to res a dead player when there’s action going on around them, but I’ve definitely seen dumber things happen (in sPvP at least).

Xahz.8406:

nldixon.8514:

ryston.7640:

Some of these are suggestions, some of them are just problem identification.

1) Observer mode so we can have more informed discussions about balancing specific classes.

2) Downed States on Thief, Mesmer, Warrior, and Guardian need to be nerfed.

3) Thief, Mesmer, and Guardian have a significant advantage over all other classes. No other class fills a role these three don’t already do better / none of the roles filled are more important than simply having an extra one of these 3 classes.

4) The majority of Ranger pet abilities need to be instant, or closer to. The animations for pets right now are poor.

5) Elementalists have a few bugs I’ve written about in other threads, additionally I suggest weapons be either damage or condition damage themed, rather than having this change with attunements.

6) The amulet/jewel simpilization has significantly reduced the complexity and variety of build options for each class. I appreciate the simplicity it has brought to the ragdoll UI, but it has come at too high a cost.

NOTE: If you fix 1, 2, and 6… you could probably wait a month or two and see where things go before fixing the others. I think part of what put Mesmer/Thief/Guardian so far ahead of the pack is the fact that they work well with existing amulet options and have extremly powerful downed states.

I agree on Thief and Mesmer down states being overtuned (i.e., annoying), but what is the issue you see with Guardian and Warrior? I don’t really have any issues with either of their downed states UNLESS you let the Warrior get back up, but then that’s your own fault for not finishing him/her off quicker.

Ranger pets are also incredibly wonky and will sometimes just stand there and do NOTHING at all even when you’re attacking/being attacked. Kind of frustrating.

A Guardian will get rezzed 100% of the time unless you have on demand stability.

Warriors just rez themselves. Vengeance is technically fine but the trait to rally them needs to go. Even if you don’t consider them overpowered, they’re still worlds better than Ele/Necro downed state

They definitely have strong downed states, but Guardians won’t get ressed 100% of the time if you play smart. The easiest way is to have a Hammer Guardian/Warrior playing interference on ressers while another person finishes them off. Often times I see three or four players trying to stomp the same person which is kind of pointless.

It takes five or six seconds for Vengeance to activate, so it’s not really too difficult to stomp a Warrior as long as you don’t waste any time getting that stomp off.

Sjach Darasv.3729:

Fynd.4890:

You only gain glory at the end of a match, so quitting early already hurts the quitter by dumping their current earned points into the nether.

TL;DR: there’s already a nice leaver penalty, a time-out penalty would be excessive

Right because leaving the zergfest that your losing and only losing maybe 20-45 points is really a penalty, where as the players on the winning team that get switched over to the teams losing zerg and stay in the match gain little to no more glory for being slaped onto the losing team.

Winning players get more of a slap to the face than the losers, who, when quitting, already aren’t really losing much at all.

Sjach hit the nail on the head. The main issue is busting tail for your team and then getting moved to the losing team (usually towards the end of the match) and having all of your efforts reset.

Going from 200+ points earned to 20 or less is a huge slap in the face.

If they really wanted to fix the issue, they’d let players who volunteer to switch teams keep their points accrued while on the winning side AND give them a bonus (20 points or so wouldn’t be overkill) for switching.

ryston.7640:

Some of these are suggestions, some of them are just problem identification.

1) Observer mode so we can have more informed discussions about balancing specific classes.

2) Downed States on Thief, Mesmer, Warrior, and Guardian need to be nerfed.

3) Thief, Mesmer, and Guardian have a significant advantage over all other classes. No other class fills a role these three don’t already do better / none of the roles filled are more important than simply having an extra one of these 3 classes.

4) The majority of Ranger pet abilities need to be instant, or closer to. The animations for pets right now are poor.

5) Elementalists have a few bugs I’ve written about in other threads, additionally I suggest weapons be either damage or condition damage themed, rather than having this change with attunements.

6) The amulet/jewel simpilization has significantly reduced the complexity and variety of build options for each class. I appreciate the simplicity it has brought to the ragdoll UI, but it has come at too high a cost.

NOTE: If you fix 1, 2, and 6… you could probably wait a month or two and see where things go before fixing the others. I think part of what put Mesmer/Thief/Guardian so far ahead of the pack is the fact that they work well with existing amulet options and have extremly powerful downed states.

I agree on Thief and Mesmer down states being overtuned (i.e., annoying), but what is the issue you see with Guardian and Warrior? I don’t really have any issues with either of their downed states UNLESS you let the Warrior get back up, but then that’s your own fault for not finishing him/her off quicker.

Ranger pets are also incredibly wonky and will sometimes just stand there and do NOTHING at all even when you’re attacking/being attacked. Kind of frustrating.

Sjach Darasv.3729:

HS wasn’t nerfed, if you looked it is the only ability that scaled with enemy health, increasing in damage to be a finisher. All they did was adjust it so that it is exactly that now, a finisher. It is no longer a cheap way for bads, or a cheap way to kill bads, by 1 button spam. It is also still a fully functional gap closer, and with the damage you can do on a backstab, just lol at the 9-10k 50% hp sink in one move and HS hasn’t really been nerfed at all has it.

They lowered the damage by 20% on targets above 50% health. I’d say that qualifies as a nerf.

If you have 10+ seconds to get back to the action, what’s the problem?

I’m pretty sure you can even hit ESC to get rid of it. I’m “working” right now, so I can’t verify that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve closed it with ESC before.

Fury is 100% correct. It wasn’t Heartseeker that was making Thieves OP. It was just very obvious that the ability was overtuned when any schmuck could spam it and do well. The mechanics of the class are the actual issue.

Being able to stealth and reopen on a target repeatedly is more of a problem than Heartseeker or even Pistol Whip. It’s possible for a Thief to open up with a guaranteed critical, 150% damage Backstab, another guaranteed critical Backstab a few seconds later, then finish you off with a Heartseeker, Pistol Whip, or even a sneeze.

Clever use of dodges, cripples, stuns, and dazes and the Thief can repeatedly Stealth and reopen on you. After you’ve blown your stun breaks, dodges, and blocks, you’re pretty much SOL.

Sneakier.9460:

That’s wierd, in tourments all classes have their place

Hence my specific reference to sPvP.

tPvP is vastly different from sPvP and WvWvW.

Most of these “I really hope ANet doesn’t listen to the whiners” threads are just thinly veiled “don’t nerf me, bro” posts.

I have a feeling they’re paying attention to what’s actually going on in game and not just listening to the “whiners” on the forums (i.e., players providing valid feedback).

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that there may be an issue when 75% of every sPvP match is either a Mesmer or a Thief with the occasional Short Bow + Zephyr Ranger tossed in there.

Canine pets are good because they have a cripple and a knockdown. Wolf has a fear that’s pretty darn good if you’re downed and the drakehound has an immobilize that’s pretty useful.

The lynx is nice if you’re into condition builds. It causes TONS of damage and stacks the bleeds fast.

Widow and jungle spider are also nice ranged options.

Sooooooo… Accidentally deleted my underwater breathing apparatus on one of my characters and couldn’t help but notice that none of the vendors sell one and there doesn’t seem to be any that can be acquired through chests or templates.

Any chance we can get one added to the armor vendor?