Guild Wars 2

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

I use it because 1) it gives you some extra movement speed (hahahahaha like that 10% will actually -do- anything!!) and 2) i’ve learned when you activate it as a drake is charging their breathe attack it effects the whole lightning breathe and everything dies… It’s quite awesome and scary…

Yeah, even if it doesn’t work on you, it still works on your pet. And like Durzlla said, a drake under the effects of QZ and SotH is awesome.

Ever seen a raven? I did see a drake but I believe raven is better and more reliable for pvp. Even a jag does more damage than a drake, but drakes f2 is sexy for aoe and damage.

The drake F2 is pretty much unparalleled when it comes to pet specials. They’re mediocre the rest of the time, but their specials are something to write home about.

I honestly don’t use them that often. If I’m using melee pets in PvP it’s either a bird or a hound for melee and a spider for ranged. I use the bird for the increased attack rate and low CD specials, which allows them to hit moving targets more reliably. I tend to use a hound more often (usually a wolf or drakehound and sometimes a fern hound for regeneration) for the control they provide. Jungle spider is probably my favorite pet. It has decent ranged ability, good control, and an amazing F2.

[Edit: In all fairness, I haven’t tested all the pet specials in the Mists, but I might do that one day when I’m not busy killing fools in W3.]

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

nldixon.8514:

If you do just fine on your Ranger, why are you always on the forums complaining about Rangers? Yes, Rangers have some issues. Rangers are also totally playable and there are some amazing builds and play styles that make them fun and effective.

I have yet to see any positive or constructive posts from you on the Ranger forums. So what’s worse: people coming to the forums trying to promote effective play styles and builds (and coming off as “cool” as you put it) or people coming to the forums and complaining incessantly and providing absolutely zero constructive feedback?

Who are you talking too? I personally do just fine on ranger, not because the class is great, it sucks, but I outplay people, and I only outpreform people because I stand on a cap point and farm points. In team fights there are far better ranged options, rifle warrior, shortbow thief, engineer, ect.

Obviously not you since we posted at exactly the same time.

[Edit: I totally disagree with you that rifle Warriors and shortbow Thieves are better ranged combatants than Rangers. And Engineers are more of a short to mid-range class than a true ranged class, so they don’t really count. Past 1000 units a Ranger totally dominates an Engineer.]

I never said it works perfectly 100% of the time. If you set yourself up right, you can get it to work about 80% of the time though. Which is pretty close to how often other classes can pull off their big burst moves.

If you do just fine on your Ranger, why are you always on the forums complaining about Rangers? Yes, Rangers have some issues. Rangers are also totally playable and there are some amazing builds and play styles that make them fun and effective.

I have yet to see any positive or constructive posts from you on the Ranger forums. So what’s worse: people coming to the forums trying to promote effective play styles and builds (and coming off as “cool” as you put it) or people coming to the forums and complaining incessantly and providing absolutely zero constructive feedback?

Halloween isn’t really a Catholic holiday. Most people accept that it’s a “borrowed” and modified version of Samhain, done to help usher along the conversion of Celtic cultures to Christianity.

Also, I seriously doubt that Sylvari feel any (or very little) empathy towards consumed plants and probably partake of plant matter themselves.

Most people don’t think twice about eating a steak or a pork chop, both of which also come from mammals. Why would Sylvari be any different?

I think it’s just a chance to happen. Some of the other foods have effects too that sometimes trigger and sometimes don’t. One food (can’t remember which one) turned me into a skeleton.

MeGaZlo.9516:

nldixon.8514:

I hear a lot of bellyaching about Rangers not having any burst. Here is a trick I use for getting an insane amount of burst damage.

Get out your river drake. Use your F2 on an enemy. When the ability starts to cast activate Signet of the Hunt and QZ. Use Rapid Fire while your pet is using it’s lightning ability. Cackle manically as your foe drops dead.

It doesn’t always work and it’s got a long cool down, but when it does work. Whoa Nelly, it’s awesome.

Funny. But will work only at static mob. Impossable for moving targets. And… well… warriors can do more gamage using only 1 ability.

Incorrect, sir.

It is, in fact, quite easy to use on a moving target. I’m going to share some more tips with you, because I’m a nice guy.

If you start off using an axe/warhorn when you initiate this attack, you can easily use Winter’s Bite to slow down your opponent long enough for Lightning Breath to finish casting, which has a 600 unit range.

Alternatively you can use one of the other myriad of control abilities we have as a Ranger in order to hold your opponent in one place.

Durzlla.6295:

I use it because 1) it gives you some extra movement speed (hahahahaha like that 10% will actually -do- anything!!) and 2) i’ve learned when you activate it as a drake is charging their breathe attack it effects the whole lightning breathe and everything dies… It’s quite awesome and scary…

Yeah, even if it doesn’t work on you, it still works on your pet. And like Durzlla said, a drake under the effects of QZ and SotH is awesome.

I hear a lot of bellyaching about Rangers not having any burst. Here is a trick I use for getting an insane amount of burst damage.

Get out your river drake. Use your F2 on an enemy. When the ability starts to cast activate Signet of the Hunt and QZ. Use Rapid Fire while your pet is using it’s lightning ability. Cackle manically as your foe drops dead.

It doesn’t always work and it’s got a long cool down, but when it does work. Whoa Nelly, it’s awesome.

It’s not just YOU that has to do it perfectly. Everyone who is prompted to do the emotes had to do it perfectly.

In every run I did where everyone did the emotes perfectly (you can tell when people fail) everyone got an exotic from the chest.

No way that’s coincidence.

I never saw anyone get any of the Halloween exotics in any of my runs, but there were plenty of standard exotics.

Hermes.7014:

It makes my character bald when she equips it. I mean, she has the hat on but no hair! Is this supposed to be this way? It’s kinda… weird!

There are several items that do that. It’s ugly.

Helenorz.2547:

Caleb, i think nldixon is talking about MK’s dungeon. Well, at least that’s what I think.

Even if so, I’ve only gotten that MK says in there twice, and out of those times, I got 1 exotics.

Yes. I believe two people got the emotes for “Mad King Says” during each run. If both people did it successfully, there were always exotics in the chest.

Caleb.9163:

some of us didn’t even see the chest, and it vanished too quickly. So i’m one who didn’t get the chest even though i successfully did event. Yay….

Well, I was talking about the dungeon, Ascent to Madness. Not the party.

Every time you did Ascent to Madness and everybody got “Mad King Says” right, you got exotics in the chest?

I tried to explain this to people, but nobody believed me.

Niko Stark.8932:

Do rune bonuses stack? What I mean is if I have 5 weapons with Superior Rune of the Krait, the first bonus stat is +28 condition damage; if I have 5 of them, would that end up being a 140 condition damage bonus (plus the other stats) or is it just +28 overall?

Another thing is if I equip a bunch of different runes with similar bonus stats for the first line, do they count as 1 only or do they stack? For example, rune of the undead, krait, and nightmare.

Thanks =)

To answer the second part of your question: yes, if you use three different sets with the same bonus (15% bonus to bleed duration, for instance) they are cumulative (e.g., 45%).

@Levetty

The idea came from anybody who played any PvP at all a few weeks ago when SB Rangers started popping up in droves and then suddenly disappeared when the adjustment to SB happened.

@Loki

Exactly. There is a serious design problem with the Beastmastery line though. It encourages swapping, but Master’s Bond, which is one of the best traits in the whole line, is totally negated by swapping. It essentially forces players into one or two builds for any serious dungeon running.

Nurse.1085:

My personal Ranger DUNGEON complaints :
- Lack of viable weapon options and there’s a lack of synergy between weapon swapping.
- Spirits are worthless / die instantly / short buff range.
- Pets are unresponsive, they can’t attack while the NPC is moving, their F2 is unresponsive / long animation, they die almost instantly in most battles (unless you have a “tanky” pet). There’s also no way to stow pets. so in WVWVW, your pet will probably just stand next to you and die from random AOES on top of a keep.
- Our self damage is “nerfed” because it takes into consideration the damage from our Pets. The problem is, our pet AI is terrible in addition to their lack of survivability, even with constant recalls/returns/passive/controlling who they do/don’t attack.
- Physical Projectiles get obstructed for no reason, thus lowering our overall DPS (ie: Rapid Fire ticks 10 times, however only 8/10 of those ticks will hit. So instead of hitting for 10k, you’ll only hit for 8k).
- Very few viable builds. A lot of our traits and utilities circle around pets, which is why there are very few good Ranger builds.

However, yes, they’re fun to level with which is why I fell in love with mine. The problem is, leveling is only a small percentage of the game (for me). I prefer to do explorable dungeons / wvwvw and I think that’s when their problems/bugs really start to shine. It’s not about whether or not I’m a good player, it’s the fact that even though I am, bugs are holding me back from achieving my full potential as a Ranger. I’m limited.

I guess I’ve become bitter now that the honeymoon leveling phase is over.

I can’t agree more with your point about weapon synergy. It’s severely lacking between sets with the exception of running longbow/shortbow. Even the one-handers lack any real synergy. Our one-handed weapons are an odd mixture of mediocre and lackluster. Even combined the best options are still mediocre at best.

I agree with most of the rest your points too, but most of them are avoidable or circumnavigable.

Spirits are terrible. Agreed. They need a complete overhaul. There is only one really exceptional trait for spirits (Nature’s Vengeance) and that requires them to die, which is kind of counterproductive.

Pets need a lot of work. I don’t agree that they’re useless though. If you can stomach constant swapping (negating most of the benefits of a Beastmastery build) and micro-managing them, you can keep them alive for almost an entire dungeon run. Using pets with group buffs and then swapping to ranged DPS pets is a good way to get the most use out of your pets and keep them alive. In W3 I just keep a pet next to me for the buffs and swap them out. They really do take too much of a beating in W3 and they die nearly instantly in sieges.

Hopefully the “obstructed” issues gets resolved sooner rather than later. It’s a real PITA. And you’re absolutely right that there are very few viable builds. Bosses pretty much negate any of our control builds and pet builds are limited because of their frailty in dungeons. You can use a pet build with a ranged pet, but Master’s Bond becomes totally useless in dungeons since it’s nearly impossible to reach a max stack. That leaves us with straight damage builds, which isn’t really the forte of the profession.

Don’t get too bummed out! It’ll get better and then you can tell the new players about the “good ol’ days” when Rangers had to walk uphill both ways in the snow.

Yes, because I clearly said how pro I was and that everybody else was bad.

I’ll take a screenshot of my 20 something rank, level 80 Ranger when I get home if that’ll make you happy. More than likely you’ll just come up with some other feeble insult to hurl at me.

Pets are only perpetually dead in dungeons and PvP if you don’t use the right pet and manage them properly. Is there room for pet improvement in PvE and PvP? Yes, absolutely. Are they useless? No, absolutely not.

The fact that you think the shortbow is the only “viable option” for Rangers shows me that you haven’t experimented with any of the other weapons and builds.

I wouldn’t be too depressed. Jon Peters acknowledged Rangers are lacking and said they’re giving the profession a complete overhaul, so at least they know the class needs a lot of work.

In the meantime, there are builds that work and Ranger is still a fun profession to play (at least for me). Then again, I never really like shortbow all that much anyway.

teviko.6049:

@nldixon

Yes, the over-moderation is…a tad bit daunting, especially when you get ‘kittened’ for saying: Abolish___it

because the ‘sh’ even with a space between the ‘it’ is still a no-no.

The fact that the moderators aggressively lock down some posts while others derail into spiteful flames wars (as long as the original post was a positive in GW2’s direction) means they know their game is in trouble and are locking it down.

I remember when you could enjoy conversing on a forums about the state of a game, both good and bad, so long as people could hold a civil tongue, and if one person couldn’t the post itself would be minimized (you could still read it if you liked) and the person infracted, but the conversation was allowed to continue.

The over-moderation tells me that either the forum moderators have never moderated the game, or that they are doing so in order to silence discontent players so that ‘new’ people will feel that the game is in good order.

It’s immature way to police a forums.

Actually, most of my posts that received infractions were pro-Ranger posts and I never once disparaged ANet or the Ranger class in any of them. I honestly think that the over moderation is more from a lack of experience than anything else. Or possibly an automated moderation system that is/was broken. It’s been a lot better lately.

I don’t feel like ANet is trying to silence discontented players. It seems more like they’re trying (too hard) to keep people from arguing on the forums, civilly or otherwise.

Yasha.5963:

If you want to play around with it in pve its fine, but if you want to do competitive or serious pvp then I’d stick with the working classes-in fact the working necro and ele builds are stronger than the working ranger builds in that environment.

You should see what they did to our short bow auto-attack; it was working fine then they fixed an animation glitch that no-one had ever seen, which ironically resulted in an animation glitch when using SB autoattack with quickness. It also severely dented rangers only viable burst. This change came at a time when everyone was saying that rangers are in a good spot because we certainly aren’t due for any nerfs.

Given that I would assess the changes made before leaping to the conclusion that rangers are getting buffed in any way.

This is an example of what’s wrong with the Ranger community.

Before the adjustment to the SB animations everyone was saying that Rangers are in a good spot. With that one single adjustment everyone is now crying that Rangers are the worst profession in the game and that one animation suddenly broke everything else.

I can’t help but wonder how many of the people bellyaching on the forums actually have level 80 Rangers that they leveled up in PvE versus people who just played their Ranger since people started realizing that SB was killer in sPvP?

Also, for the record, the reason nobody every noticed the 0.04 second animation glitch is because the human eye is incapable of such a thing.

[Edit: Just to point out, my post wasn’t specifically directed at you, Yasha. It was just an example of the mentality on the Ranger forums and how people get so worked up about one issue.]

My favorite is when you use greatsword Swoop just as a mob croaks and you end up flying 1100 units straight ahead. Usually off a cliff or a ledge in my experience.

Speaking of which, be careful if you use a greatsword in Ascent to Madness. You can throw yourself right off the edge.

45% sounds about right if you’re Beastmastery specced. Maybe more.

If they increased the damage on the longbow by a huge amount (and 50% is a ridiculously huge amount) they’d have to remove all utility from the weapon, which would make it just about useless.

The longbow could use a small increase to damage, I agree. Saying it’s a bad weapon just shows that you don’t understand the role it plays in the Ranger’s arsenal.

mrsrachelm.7618:

nldixon.8514:

Inflammatory and whiny posts tend to get deleted the most often, because they don’t want every thread to devolve into a flame war between Rangers that don’t play the profession anymore but still want to cry about Rangers and current Ranger players.

I love the terms “whiny” and “inflammatory” since they are completely subjective and therefore prone to accidental or deliberate abuse. Just an opinion of the potential of using such things when moderating and not remotely an accusation that the do, in fact, occur.

Oh, I know. I’m just saying why they get removed.

I’ve got a mailbox full of infraction messages from overzealous moderators.

I even got a suspension for an accumulation of infractions (almost all of them for stupid things) and was unable to even view the forums while logged in. Which just goes to show how stupid some of the ANet forum policies are, since you can just log out and read the forums normally.

MrMacAndCheese.3907:

I was thinking of starting a Ranger. It’s the only class I haven’t tried yet, even though I played one for a long time in another game. I came to the forums first to get a feel for what ppl think of them. I saw the post about the update coming soon, but also see that there is alot of issues.

My question to the vet rangers is: Do you think I can start a Ranger, and still have some fun with it? The necros seem to think their class is so broken, no one should bother. I figured, if I start a Ranger now…by the time I get out of the newbie stages, lots of adjustments will be in place.

Just curious on your thoughts for a baby ranger.

Despite all the doom and gloom from the Chicken Littles on the Ranger forums, the class is still very fun and effective in PvE (arguably one of the best PvE professions). So leveling up you’ll do just fine (even in dungeons).

There are a few issues with pets, but they’re far from unusable or useless as many would have you believe. Fast attacking pets (birds, for instance) and ranged pets do a lot better than other pets, but you can still use any pet successfully.

Inflammatory and whiny posts tend to get deleted the most often, because they don’t want every thread to devolve into a flame war between Rangers that don’t play the profession anymore but still want to cry about Rangers and current Ranger players.

@Kami

I think it’s because 608 hours translates to around 25 days played in a two month period. I don’t math, but that’s around 10 hours a day (every day) for two months.

[Edit: I’m not judging, just pointing out why Andy might have been.]

SB isn’t FotM anymore.

Doxir.1459:

Hey everyone!

I got all my MF gear and i started farming events. My question is about weapons/utilities i should use to farm. I feel like my current set up isn’t really effective.

So i want your suggestions about the best weapons/utilities to farm effectively!

And please, explain me why!

Thanks

Barrage for tagging lots of mobs. Same with traps. Axe off hand is also good.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

BlusterWolf.2103:

Ranger longbow and shortbow get out range and obstruct messages on the burrows all day just saying…but AC is a very easy instance though…

Burrows are bugged, when I did it on my guardian I got miss message when Im right on top of it, only aoes would hit it. Othertimes Id hit it every time, its lame.

I’m pretty sure ALL destructible objects are bugged. If you just stand next to a tent or a siege weapon in PvE and attack it, you’ll often hit it once and the start missing until you move again. So unless you strafe back and forth constantly, you’re just whiffing away.

Maybe something to do with wonky hit boxes?

buzzkapow.8465:

nldixon.8514:

buzzkapow.8465:

Did you just call people dumb for trusting a company to not mislead them? This coming from the guy that can’t tell the difference between their and there?

Ha! I actually laughed out loud at your post. You think companies are honest.

Actually, no. I never once said Companies are honest. But most companies at least try to keep their customers happy. That’s why the saying “the customer is always right” is even around. Even though it’s wrong most of the time. But trusting a company doesn’t mean they are honest. It means that they have acted in good faith in the past, and you expect that trend to continue.

ANet didn’t act in bad faith. They stated you have a chance to get an item. If you get the item, you’re happy. If you don’t get the item, you’re mad. That’s the gist of this whole debacle. People gambled and lost, people got mad. Boohoo.

buzzkapow.8465:

Did you just call people dumb for trusting a company to not mislead them? This coming from the guy that can’t tell the difference between their and there?

Ha! I actually laughed out loud at your post. You think companies are honest.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who are already doing this, but on my Guardian my new favorite W3 tactic is pre-casting Banish, using Judge’s Intervention on an opponent near a cliff/ledge/wall.

I giggle like a school girl every time. EVERY. TIME.

Shadowscamp.8065:

Generally, though, won’t the ranger be doing more damage by staying at range?
I had no idea that shields factored into it, but I think if she’s also damage, targets would prefer the one doing more damage, and traited as he is, he’s most likely doing less.

I dunno what the math on hate is, so I really have no idea. I thought it may be more useful to be able to control more mobs.

My understanding is that the highest threat gain is simply standing close to the mob (for most mobs). Then damaging it, then being the person doing the most damage, then wearing a shield.

So someone standing next to a mob, doing damage, and wearing a shield is generating more threat than someone standing at range and doing the most damage.

This seems pretty accurate, since on my Guardian I generally hold aggro on mobs pretty easily from being all up in their grill. On my Ranger or rifle Warrior, I tend to not get aggro until I swap to melee.

It’s not about Rangers or ranged weapons, Dante is correct. It’s about strategy. Once you understand the strategy, it’s pretty easy.

I’m assuming you’re referring to the torch path where you have to kill the burrows the first time. The trick is to let the burrow next to the door stay up until you absolutely have to kill it. One person tanks the mobs that come out while everyone else kills the other burrows.

Anrothan Aimhirghin.7381:

you guys are stupid. i used every booster.

No, you didn’t. Killstreak boosters do not, in fact, work. Glory boosters, coming from PvP chests and not BL chests, also do not work.

With all the crazy conspiracy theories on the forums, ANet needs to add a tinfoil hat to the store.

Shields actually factor in to hate generated by a player. According to the wiki it’s generally around fourth in hate generation behind proximity, whether damage is being dealt, and the amount of damage dealt.

So besides staying in melee range while your wife stays at range, holding a shield in your offhand is a pretty good way of passively holding aggro.

[Edit: I was also under the impression that wearing heavier armor caused more aggro, but it doesn’t say anything about that in the wiki, so I could be totally wrong on that one.]

Well, I’m done!

You guys don’t get it.

There was a post in another thread that stated it does not screw up progression. There will be new items for new events, according to the ANet poster.

Here is that post, in case anyone was curious.

thekemp, the problem with your reasoning is that the only way to get into the chests is with keys purchased from the BLTC. Keys can also be acquired through regular game play and there will always be people who get lucky and end up getting skins on their first or second box. Not everyone is going to choose to use those skins and they’ll end up on the BLTC.

There are also going to be crafters who will make the weapons after the event is over. If you really want the skins, you can get them without spending a dime. It just requires more effort, which is something people don’t want to hear.

Kaderin.7584:

nldixon.8514:

The even just started, so saying that people aren’t going to get anything is ridiculous.

Second, GW2 isn’t based on acquiring skins. You’re thinking of Pokemon. There is no advantage to looking different except looking different. If you WANT to look different you have two choices. Choice A is to spend money to buy what you want. Choice B is to spend gold to buy what you want.

You’re buying aesthetics in GW2. There is no advantage from spending cash except for convenience.

Are you serious? This game is all about skins, just as gw1 was, the only thing you got right in all this is that this game isnt about advantages because unlike wow or other games where there are stat differences, but thats exactly it, our progress is defined by skins.

While the skins for this event isnt a necessity, at the same time I disagree with the BLC drop rate, agreeing with this or letting this go will only set the game in a direction and thats not something I hope to see where every holiday/event’s premiere items are set up in ridiculous chances/prices.

I’m tired to see fanatic white knighting everywhere because in the end its only people like this that stay in the game while my original friendlist which are the more casual players or guild barely log in anymore due to the high standard anet set for these things, gw1 made you grind in events for things and that was ok, they took it up a notch in gw2 and I simply cant agree with that.

Are YOU serious? I was under the impression that this game was about PvE and PvP, not collecting different skins for your gear.

Your goals (collecting skins) are not the same goals as everyone else. Some people play the game for, you know, fun.

thekemp.5967:

nldixon.8514:

In all fairness, it’s not ANet’s responsibility to teach teenagers about the dangers of alcohol, gambling, or chainsaw swords.

If parents aren’t keeping tabs on what their children are doing and they end up being drunken gambling addicts with chainsaw swords, that is fully on the shoulders of the parents and not ANet.

Yeah, But they aren’t rewarding or encouraging me to drink alcohol.

As it stands right now the only way to get those weapon skins is gambling.

Patently untrue. You can also spend some of your money to buy the skins on the BLTC.

It works just like it does in real life. You can either work hard and save your hard earned money (gold) and buy what you want or you can spend all your hard earned money (gold or cash) on lottery tickets (keys).

Nobody is forcing you to buy lottery tickets every day are they? So why do you feel like you have to buy keys in order to get what you want? You could, you know, spend some time crafting, farming or grinding get the exact same results. It just takes longer, but there is a guaranteed chance that you will eventually get what you want.

Kimbald.2697:

nldixon, it’s a bit more than splitting hairs on the b2p or f2p thing i’m afraid:

they sold 2 million copies, so b2p in my explanation but call it whatever you want

Important is that this was way more than they anticipated or ‘needed’ for their costs made.

So because it is indeed b2p and only 2 months in the game, and because the sales were so high… they didn’t need to milk the cash shop this harsh, so early.
They didn’t need the income badly yet. more money is always good for a company, but it is way too soon to say they needed it so bad they should risk disapointing their most paying customers.

The money gained wasn’t needed enough to risk the reputation lost.

It’s not even 12 hours into the (240ish hour) event, yet people are already on the forums screaming bloody murder about unfairness.

The sense of entitlement in this day and age is absolutely appalling. Not sure what else to say.

In all fairness, it’s not ANet’s responsibility to teach teenagers about the dangers of alcohol, gambling, or chainsaw swords.

If parents aren’t keeping tabs on what their children are doing and they end up being drunken gambling addicts with chainsaw swords, that is fully on the shoulders of the parents and not ANet.

I believe it’s because brawling is going to remain around after the event as a permanent fixture, hence it’s not included in the Emissary achievement.

Kaderin.7584:

When the entire game is about skins, its ridiculous to defend your point by saying people “dont need” anything and just play.

Working hard for something its understandable, but the amount of work required to get a BLC skin is not within reasonable “hard work” range. I’m working for the legendary, i’m planning on getting the craft items from the recipes too, but the drop chance from the BLC is a problem no matter how you put it.

Saying that if you dont want to you dont need to get anything is true, but in that mentality alot of people will be playing this game without getting anything because anet is putting the standards a little too high, this is a holiday event not a legendary quest, while some of the items should be rare, the situation shouldnt be as it is now where people are about to get out of the event without anything to remember it by.

The even just started, so saying that people aren’t going to get anything is ridiculous.

Second, GW2 isn’t based on acquiring skins. You’re thinking of Pokemon. There is no advantage to looking different except looking different. If you WANT to look different you have two choices. Choice A is to spend money to buy what you want. Choice B is to spend gold to buy what you want.

You’re buying aesthetics in GW2. There is no advantage from spending cash except for convenience.

Kimbald.2697:

‘aside from the initial purchase’ is what makes it not F2P but Buy to play.
Especially when only 2 months in.

On the other point you’re right: no one was forced to buy something from the shop.
Just remember that those who did are the ones supporting the game the most.

I misunderstood the point you were trying to make. I think we’re defining F2P a little differently. F2P, to me, is not having to pay a subscription fee to play. I don’t really consider the initial purchase of the game to be paying to play, since you’re essentially paying for the development of the game (and packing and all that other stuff that happens) whereas the cash shop pays for the maintenance and upkeep of the game.

Just splitting hairs!

Kimbald.2697:

Where does this F2P argument keep coming from?

The game is barely 2 months old, we paid more by buying the game than we would for a sub fee for those 2 months. Can only become better value in time of course, granted.

2 months in, we get this total sale of the gem shop at this event, cashing in massively for the company again.

But people say it’s free to play.
B2P is not F2P.

If it really was F2P than a cash shop is about the only resource for direct player income.
But it’s not… we already paid.

Of course they need more money, and the shop is a good way for that.
But since it’s B2P and not F2P they should have held back on the cashing in a bit…

You can’t go around pissing of your best paying customers just like that, you need them for future income still.

You don’t HAVE to spend a single dollar. You can buy the skins that people are selling on the BLTC. You can spend gold you make in game to buy gems for the BLTC.

The game, aside from the initial purchase, is F2P.

TheBlueI.3486:

nldixon.8514:

I loooooooove Contemplation of Purity. Turning conditions into boons is magical.

Sounds great but how often do you use it? Like most skills I find this so extremely situational and than a 60s cooldown.

In W3 or sPvP I use it almost every time it’s off cool down.

In PvE I use it pretty frequently. Often enough that I keep it on my hotbar for most situations. If I’m fighting mobs that don’t apply conditions, I’ll switch it out for something else.

The stun break on it is just gravy.