Guild Wars 2

In tPvP specifically this is a less is more scenario. <3 Balance

Black Avarice
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Black Avarice
I’ll PM skype if you need me
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Played necro since 1st BWE, approx 70% of time since launch dedicated to necro (in PvP)
Not top tier in skill, but I’d like to think I am better than the average joe with 8 years invested into multiple MMOs PvP
Generally available past 5pm with more flexible weekend time, though my schedule varies. US central time here

I find this so amusing. The necromancer can be played well and it is done quite often. Spend the time to educate yourself, not only have we been consistently buffed but we are at the least mid tier choice in a very negative and exclusive meta. Higher skill floor than most, but far from needing major buffs. My biggest fear with necro is how many small changes could put us over the top, we currently very lucky we have so much diversity in play compared to other classes.

EDIT: I don’t find it very constructive to just point out that you are off base, necro is not conventional and can be frustrating. If your complaints are in s/tPvP and actually would care to benefit from time and experience send me a whisper in game or come spectate some matches (yeah we can do that now, how cool is that). If it is WvW/PvE this forum is lousy with awesome guides and players to glean knowledge from.

I do agree on this. A lot of matches would be designated 10 v 10 but with spectators it averaged at 5-6. Spectator mode is cool, but much less cool if you need to disable it simply to get all the team slots filled.

In game and I haven’t noticed any combat issues due to this.

Ha I apparently don’t have a clear understanding of Anets stance on evades vs. invul vs. takes no damage from incoming attacks. I don’t understand why they are now allowing sig of stone to commune with PvP objectives.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Invulnerability negates all damage (minus existing cond damage), including trebuchet (another reason why blurred frenzy is a lawl skill, OP ‘bugs’ are OP).

Evasion does not, so a trebuchet/cannon shot will still send you flying (I suppose).

Looking for clarification on that last statement. I’ve never had an issue with evading treb shots whether using endurance or a skill like ranger sword 3#.

This patch fixed alot of tool tip errors. More than like 4k healing was the bugged info for 5 months, not the fact that it healed for 900.

quite possible you are misreading. It may not be team size, but amount of players. Probably disallowing you based on the fact 5 people would result in 2/3 teams.

Edit: as in 10 players = 5v5

According to my understanding of the SotG, mesmer changes were intended change the fact they were the only ones able to cap while invulnerable. Not to draw a line between elixir S/mist form/distortion and stone signet/endure pain. Id prefer, at least for the sake of new players and continuity that no class can completely avoid damage and cap a point. I think the point they made was they did not want a class to have the ability to deny caps while also being invuln to counter play. Risk/reward paradigm 101.

Neither of which explains ranger capping of communes in PvP.

Endure Pain: take no damage from incoming attacks. Sounds invulnerable to me.

So either you guys incorrectly typed your patch notes or seem to have hit a rough patch in logic. With this patch you removed mesmers ability to cap nodes while invulnerable. This is a good change as it brings it in line with other classes.

Oh, wait, no it doesn’t. Ranger and Warrior are now both able to cap points while under the effect of invulnerability. I can understand testing both options (in a beta…), but why split 3 incredibly similar skills in their respective ability concerning something like a node in which all players interact with in the same fashion.

Should say I am a necro main and actually don’t even enjoy playing any of the classes effected on any regular basis. I just care about the meta and changes made to sPvP. Also if it is in fact, no error, rangers can now trait to use invulnerability to gain the commune buffs in Temple and SW.

I have yet to get in game, but especially for PvP something like this needs to be toggle. I very much dislike skill Qing and have no desire to use it at this point in the game.

Many good points have been made for both sides but I do want to input a key part of custom arenas people have not mentioned. I am neither for nor against, simply waiting to see how it plays out.

One feature of the Arena is an option to restrict access with a barred “entrance” fee to the arena. So say that Anet sets the cost too high, players may feel obligated to charge for entrance so they feel they are not being exploited. Lets say some casual players want to join but all arenas open to the world cost an entrance fee, even if it is in game money, they do not have the money for whatever reason. This WILL alienate players already disappointed by lack of features. Easy access to MMO standards such as competitive ladders/dueling/casual options (Solo Q) do not exist and 2 of them will be even harder to access (dueling/casual play) with the removal of hot join. Like the OP, most casuals really are feeling squeezed by Anet and they can’t seem to figure out why. Frankly its a shame and a poor reflection on the community that we don’t have more players who are willing to explain the economics behind CA for them in a way that is not derisive and ineffective.

However, costs may be reasonable and players may not mind spending a few bucks IRL for a more active and engaging community, I know I would. I personally dislike PvE very much and would never even consider farming gold for access to CAs. Since Gold, like glory, are just virtual currency I do not see why Anet has not given glory points access at all to gems. Both are simply symbols of time invested, just make the conversion rate of glory ===> gems high enough to balance the reward. What about all the players who have earned so much glory and basically are being given gems? Shouldn’t be a problem considering the large number of PvE players who essentially already farm enough gold to never even need to consider real money for gems. Seeing as PvP players are denied access to gems in any form I wouldn’t mind Anet taking a small loss in profits to give the rest of their players access to something PvE has had access to all along, especially seeing as with incoming CA they will have a steady income from this side of the player base. Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors, this game is still a grind. All most players ask is a little incentive in the rewards to make the time spent worth it.

Idk if there have been stated prices for CA yet, but depending on how high or low they are to buy/maintain will be the biggest decider on how they are used and welcomed by the community.

^ Conditions do not scale based on percentage damage increases. Also I very dislike the idea of adding a minion addition to DS as it makes very little strategic sense. A key part of the minions skills is the secondary activated ability which we would not have access to outside of DS. Not to mention the fact minion builds do not synergize well with power or condimancers because they do not scale with stats and require trait points to be effective. While not totally useless, do we really want a 5# skill that is based on a utility set that is underused in PvP, WvW, and PvE dungeons?

EDIT: unless they change the fact that lich kills all your minions, you shouldnt see it apart of any minion build

I expect what they have told us from the SotG. But alot of people seem to have missed where they mentioned they had been trying to work with signet to make actives more desirable. They never mentioned necro specifically, but seeing as ele and warrior are the only classes that use signets less than we do (we have rez) and we have no signet synergy it would make sense that they would look at how ours function (Please move plague signet stun break, it defeats the purpose of a condi removal utility if we blow it to avoid burst).

EDIT: while it won’t happen, I’d love to see spectral wall and spectral armor switch CDs. To make the wall worth it throw in a secondary effect like the mesmer focus ability. Say it has all its current effect but you could cancel them in favor of an activation that would solidify your spectral wall. Would give us another way to reject point capping or escape/hold a choke point on maps.

Seeing as Anet has built a few different traits into our trees concerning might and retal that currently don’t add much I’d like to see our “power signet” do something along the lines of passive condi damage. To replace the active, give us something along the lines of grant one stack of might (15sec) for every unique condi on the target. Sure this would mean they would have to take a look at things like BiP so we dont become the next HgH engi but it would give us a reason to stack might.

As for power builds losing this signet, was anyone using it in the first place? at best if traited you get a short % damage buff. not to mention my power builds all have access to chill, poison, bleed, fear, weakness, and I usually run corrupt boon instead of a stunbreak so I’d get as much use out of this as condi as i would with power.

Only bad melee feel a major squeeze from range (or majority of warriors). And with every class having ranged options, it’s your fault if you don’t diversify and grab a ranged and melee wep. Not to mention the meta shouldn’t shift much in your average CA match, numbers change but the objectives don’t.

Rank in GW2 means nothing. I’d like a dueling system, but to actually reach a level based on individual skill we need rated solo Q.

I think this is really exciting for the necromancer. Here are a few suggestions, attempting to compensate for balance while introducing a completely unique condition.

1) Necrotic Link: It would be a moderate base duration condi, max 5-6 seconds, that leeches health from the enemy. Duration increased by say 40% if you are using a siphon ability on the target (Dagger #2, Wells or minions if traited, DS 4. it does not gain duration off of siphon on hit and crit) it should scale with the blood magic trait w/ 50% increase on siphon. Vampiric builds are currently nonexistent in the sense that they can viably use aoe drains for effective group healing on the scale of guardian or ele. Maybe something that adds a little damage/survive to current damage builds and makes room for necro bunkers in the meta. Also fits perfectly into our “attrition” nature.

2) Reapers Pestilence: a condi that lasts 5-6 seconds that would increase in damage the longer the player does not cleanse it. At six seconds if still not cleansed it will basically epidemic itself and all other conditions to surrounding targets (Reapers pestilence would reset itself onto each new target). Of course this would be very powerful, but also easily countered. it would require a necro to have a sense of how each prof removes condis and the timing to land it when the target will not be able to cleanse. It should have an obvious animation so even newer players recognize it and at least a 40 sec CD. EDIT: unable to be spread via epidemic.

3) Dark Hunger: While I do know necros have alot of boon removal already, I don’t think we have access to enough boons on reasonable CDs. Tankier classes would hate this but I would like a condi that basically siphons boons on each tick. It would help even power builds have more viability against boon stacking DPS like eles or HGH engi.

It was a ton of fun! Hopefully next time round we will have a CA so we can do full class vs. full so we have a single match from multi-team PoV. Looking forward to the next event.

Alot of the reason that PvP is empty is the lack of venues for casual players to feel any sense of competition or progress. I feel confident after seeing percentiles that we have plenty of players to support a solo/duo only Q. I think what alot of players are afraid of is the disappearance of pops for teams who currently are often farming pick up groups or pugs. Still solo Q is healthier for the game and would give “pro” players and upcoming teams a better competitive platform. Not to mention giving solo Qs breathing room and a chance to improve and form their own teams.

Rerroll.9083:

No skill in the game should be unblockable. It was not a nerf but a fix. Deal with it.

JonathanSharp.7094:

So, we do read the forums.

Right now we’re thinking this ability will go back to being unblockable, as will Currupt Boons. We still want you to need LOS to your target, however. We want these skills to have fun back/forth play on them, while being fair for both sides (the attacker and defender). Keep in mind, these abilities can still be evaded.

And thanks for all the constructive debate in here, great job!

J Sharp disagrees man.

While I would love to see key aspects of the necro class reworked we are not UP in tourney play. Epi is not build defining in any way and the changes they are purposing for it should bring it back in line for the most part. Not to mention, besides epi we still have workable builds in power/well and terror. Its not as much as we would like but we are way better off than warrior and have more viable build diversity than thief, engi, and ele.

In my opinion we need a game format for 8v8 groups. I do not think that current maps foster good 8v8 competition, they were made for coordinated 5v5 play (except Capricorn which is awful IMHO and wouldn’t mind it’s removal or at least take out the sharks…they are not a feature, they are just clunky PvE in PvP). We need smaller and larger scale combat for those who prefer it, more people would play for fun while Anet ironed out their competitive scene. Not to knock WvW but I’d like to see 8-10 men matches that had relative balance not based on gear or numbers. I don’t play 8v8 because I get claustrophobic in our current format on any map besides foefire

Aesthetics is what I believe you mean, unless you intend to put all afkers/leavers down for forceful surgery.

I play a kind of wonky bleed build for my main and have been finding it extremely effective in 1v1 and team situations. It is a solo/1v2 build with a lot of aoe bleeding and control. While it may be about your only boon, you do keep up perma regen and have decent toughness with Rabid amy.

point allocation is 0/30/10/10/20, using staff and scepter like any other condition build. It does not control people like terror does, but it is the only necro build I have seen that can put and semi maintain 15+ bleeds single target. Awesome bunker counter and great for beginners because it is strong against ele’s and thieves. 2v1 I can have alot of success but it is not a bunker. More like a strategic condi stacker that relies on total condition control and requires good positioning and timing. PM me on forums or mail me in game if you are interested in any specifics.

Sanis.1096:

if i remember right there will be no solo que? They said something like “you are so good in solo that you will get matched vs premade”

False. They told us they currently not comfortable splitting the player base into solo and group Q. They will however be “watching” player feedback and assessing its possibility as a separate entity. In the SotG Jon Peters mentioned a trend of “organized” solo Q members forming groups to beat established teams (rare).

1. Now that we have MMR what is the next big project they are working on.
2. How do the PvP devs feels about the state of balance and their plans on changes/improvements.
3. Now that they have had time to test rating systems, are they satisfied it is working and planning to make it viewable.

Now this may not be the perfect place for this thread, but seeing as how I think it is widely needed in WvWvW, PvP, and PvE I figured I would put it where I am most affected. Currently it is pointless for any condition build to attack or try to destroy inanimate objects, Treb, PvE objectives, Siege machinery, etc. I think this needs to change.

I understand that bleed on a box wouldn’t make much sense. Easy fix, have bleeds, poison, confusion, and all other condition that lacks logical effects on objects change based on whether they are interacting with players or with objects. For example, instead of confusion, a mesmer would place “sabotage” on siege weapons or trebs and they would take subsequent damage for each activated ability. Bleeds could convert to “rot”. Burning/vulnerability/slows should already work as most of them would make perfect sense as is.

Why should this happen? Because there is no reason to gimp condition builds in PvE dungeons, WvW, and on a much smaller scale, PvP because Arenanet decided they objects would be immune. Solo questing on my condition necro means that I get to skip over any heart that has object destruction needs for completion. Because lets be honest, its no fun spamming an ineffective low damage attack on something that cannot move or react without the best part of the ability (conditions).

It doesn’t need to happen immediately, but it is definitely what I would consider a major change that needs to happen for your basic MMO standard of living improvement.

Please no, I respectfully disagree. Outside of solo join ele is on of the least use carriers I’ve seen. Plus how much fun would it be or tanking with 3 high CD utilities and no skill based weapon use? With a team with dedicated orb support or denial the weapon skills are barely enough to save an orb carrier without heavy team support. Guard, necro, and engi can all easily debunk most runners. RTL doesn’t go through area denial skills

I play solo join and necro is not only a carrier/denial build I run, but I have seen a ton of them. No one remember plague form? Sure you can corrupt stability on it, but I have literally only seen that once.

ORB DENIAL. We necros have so many chills, and surprisingly spectral grasp has been working bout 70% of the time for me successfully even at 900+ range. Staff 5 plus DS 3 and its an almost guaranteed run of the ledge. Focus boon removal + chill = awesome, not to mention we have higher base speed with locust or 2 different options in traits.

I have seen mesmers in thieves who were nearly invulnerable flag carriers and honestly with all the pull back utilities that are getting love on this new map RLT is nothing to complain about. You only have clear 1200 range pathing at the start and end of orb run. IF your team does not have someone built for orb denial you are failing to adapt to a new map and you should lose.

Use the stairs my friends, run a guard, eles are not as impregnable on this map as they are in straight up conquest.

It may be a while until we see 2v2 arena but hope is nice to hold onto.

There are several ways warrior can meld well with other classes. A sustained CC damage warrior with a thief can wreck another 2v2 in a few seconds. Mesmer is also a good match due to control and having more inherent escape and group utility than the warrior. Try some builds between the two of you on prof you like and find something that works well with you. Side note, if you are running any type of burst warrior make sure your team has a class that can boon share or has enough stomp denial to support your high damage and 0 survivability. Ele, engi, and mesmer are all good choices.

Do you mean weapon swapping while in DS? because that is still very possible.

Yeah I was noticing the lack of speed change between weapons and DS. Regardless I am finding myself much tankier than I expected. I like axe better than dagger mainhand for the cripple and retal. If I make any major point changes or break throughs I plan on editing the OP.

So this is a sPvP build that is specifically created for the new Spirit Watch match with the purpose of capitalizing totally on the new orb mechanic. If you have played this new map you know that 1 cap point and orb running can easily beat a 2 cap point strategy.

Considering this I switched from my normal terror build to something a bit more controlling. Sure with terror I could chain fear one person off a ledge which was fun, but not terribly effective in a significant way. This build works towards both aspects of capture play: carrier and orb denial.

Traits: 0/10/10/20/30

Curses
-Blind on chill, mainly for plague form carrying potential

Death Magic
-Greater Marks, I personally like the control on staff and the traited LF generation

Blood Magic
-Mark of Blood on dodge, LF and regen (open spot, choose based on play style)
-Heal on the end of DS

Soul Reaping
-20% recharge on spectral skills
-3% LF on mark activation, I enjoy the LF generation for tanking and find it useful but its also a free spot.
-3 Seconds of Stability in DS, good for tanking and orb carriers. Also makes for a nice “pre-emptive” stun breaker.

Utilities: Spectral Walk, Spectral Grasp, Signet of the Locust

Grasp is a nice denial move with the additional chill putting them at 100% reduced movement speed. I use walk for the LF during damage tanking and the swiftness for either chasing or returning mid. Either or the first two can be swapped depending on desired playstyle/team requirements. Locust is obvious with the base 25% movement speed.

Heal: Consume Conditions

Elite: Plague Form

Weapons: Staff, Axe-/focus

Sigil Amulets: Soldiers amulet is my first choice, but I am still testing a few others. Don’t expect massive damage, this build is more about team CC and utility. Chill on wep swap is nice seeing as high chill uptime is a major goal when deterring runners. I prefer runes of Vampirism for the 10% mistform but there are several that work very well including runes of melandru, frost duration rune combos, etc.

When denying you have constant chill uptime, 2 fears, cripple, boon removal, high regen uptime, vuln stacking, and good support damage. When running you have increased movement speed from SotL, plague form, retaliation, ridiculous LF generation, and with decent toughness/vitality you can easy run orb with team support. It isn’t an ele but has more options than other professions for orb running than most recognize.

Try it out, test it for yourself, and tell the community what you think. Be sure to include any alterations to traits/runes/etc. you used. This is a very new build but have had some decent results with or without a competent team. I am more than convinced there is place for necro in the meta and the control roll is much more important on this new map. Good place to share any other role specific necro builds associated with this or any other sPvP map.

Please make this change! It was smart of you not to allow players to drop the orb to discourage orb passing, but it was not good enough. With the orb ‘drop’ on port I have seen multiple ele teams running RTL + MF + Blink —-> dropped orb picked up by next ele to RTL + MF —--> easy cap. Just make the orb reset at the altar on port drop to avoid gimmicky orb carrying only accomplishable by 1 prof!

Rangers, Warriors, and all other viable carriers have 40% reduction on leaps and movement speed. Yet the longest distance travel ability is immune to it? This isnt anything against ele’s, I think with nerfs they will be at least more manageable. This post is more focussed on a wacky twist to orb carriers.

No other class has ele ability to drop orb for team swap and the ele mobility. You are slating them for top carriers, if balance changes did knock 2’3 eles out of the meta you just reinstated them via carrying. Please fix.

plasmacutter.2709:

3 seconds is too long to catch in an immob? Are you drunk or geriatric?

RTL lasts three seconds but within the first second the ele is already 400 away and unless you are right on top of the ele and you have an instant immob he is out of range. Lets say I am 200 away on my necro, I instantly react when I see the RTL but my immobilize has a 1 second cast time. Already out of range. Thief venom has a cast time, ele out of range. Glue shot or bomb for engi, small cast time but you have to wait for the arc to land or bomb explode. Ele out of range. I could keep going. Not saying it is impossible, but in no way is it a counter that the forum makes it out to be. Not sure if you have seen most projectile speed in comparison to RTL, but I’ll clue you in. Most of the time projectiles lose.

It either needs to have the shared reduced movement range when chill/cripple like other abilities or have 900 range so max range weapons have the chance to catch it. And I do mean this as an either/or scenario. If it has reduced range and is effected by chill/cripple it would be near useless in its current capacity and I do not want to see that at all. Just like no one wants an ele full meta simply because they can outdistance every class in competitive PvP with no “reasonable” counter.

The game has potential and that is very obvious. But this is an MMO. Eventually people won’t log on for free’s or paids without much more to keep us occupied. I know it takes time, but even PvP in vanilla WoW had more sustainability due to multiple game modes, titles that actually meant something and didn’t come from glory grind, and yes a gear grind. Should GW2 follow suit? Hell no, but we should find a way to make players want to play.

New Rewards! (Titles, Achievements, Legendary weapons, PvE Crossover)
Solution? If you are going to make a game that is clearly handicapped for those people without a team (and it is, people can argue against it but the sPvP population from launch to now proves it) give us something to work towards or a way to be competitive/show skill solo. Currently we have absolutely nothing besides glory grinding. Those who haven’t played since launch are getting frustrated trying to grind up rank just so they can be accepted into mist chat pugs. Unacceptable Anet.

Hotjoin gets hate and right now it deserves it. Make it interesting; give achievements for things that take skill and that eventually lead to titles. It cannot be that hard. For example: Ninja (steal a boss kill from opposing team with less than 5% health), Impregnable (Hold a point being contested by enemies for 3 min), Anarchy (kill opposing team guild lord in the first 3 minutes of a match), Animal Control (kill an enemies summon before the stomp- applicable with minion, ranger pets, guard weps etc.), and Hoarder (your team stole every communable buff in temple from the opposition). These things would take time, skill, and would give players a sense of accomplishment and a reason to come back.

Give PvE players a reason to cross over. I know I have seen mention of gems needing to come back in and laurels added to PvP. But why not throw in some PvP exclusive dyes as well? Titles, dyes, achievements are all things MMO players can work for whether a PvP or PvE fanatic. And where are the PvP exclusive legendaries Anet? Surely you don’t think simply bloodying someone up is enough? I want to do it with a flaming fiery dragon whatever-ya-call it. Let us use our glory and different achievements (maybe even laurels) to get something only killing people can give you!

Right now players who have done exclusively PvE since launch must cross over to the mists and think, why the hell would I do any of this? They are behind the rank curve and there isn’t anything there they want or can use. PvP has no use for them and they cannot even show off gear they worked for. Make the gear skins they have from PvE a toggle already. Not to mention those who have PvP’d since launch cross over to PvE and despite skill and countless player kills are simply a lonely level 2 in a big wide world with not even a scrap to show for it. This distinct separation between game types (PvE/WvWvW and PvP) does not foster a welcoming community.

And we are back to the daily grind…

sPvP in Guild Wars 2 essentially goes against their philosophy. It is a grind for anything you might want. QP? grind-able. Titles? total grindfest. Glory? All grind! Same goes for aesthetics. Eventually everyone will have all the gear without requiring any skill. Make specific skins locked to different achievement chains.

In the years of GW2 development is seems the only thing they did for PvP was combat. Sure it is monumental, but you have to have something to fight for! The skins already were needed for PvE, for amulets/runes/sigils they only had to decide which to throw in for balance, and beyond that there is the just mists (compared to the wide PvE world and each unique city, PvP got the short end of the stick). Anet has told up before it takes substantially less manpower and hours than most things in the game. What are tournaments and hot join besides an endless rotation of those maps? Just saying that for those who bought the game for PvP we can all see we got substantially less attention than WvWvW and PvE. And it is showing so evidently that it really is upsetting for people who want to play and enjoy the game in their desired game mode.

Finally…

For those of you that read this in its entirety I thank you. Hopefully it will get some dev love because I really do believe there are small things that we could work towards while developing all the perks like custom arenas (if they cost anything they will fail to hotjoin for most casuals and once again be something only ‘pro’ or players with excessive time to invest will use), spectator mode, and all other things that go into e-sport. Make things like skins and grindable titles slightly less accessible so there is a sense of accomplishment. I play for fun and doing the same thing over and over repetitively is not fun neither is gaining something without any real thought or skill required. I’d love to see the communities ideas, thoughts, comments, etc. on this topic.

Players need more incentive to play, it has been said before but for a lot of players it is becoming less of a request and more of a necessity without which is game breaking. This is going to be a long post and most of it you may either know or not care about at all, throwing in headers so you can hop to what part concerns you particularly.

Where are the Tourney Teams:

The problem is cyclical. Right now tourney pops are slower than they were without match making, but we need MMR to make sure that top teams aren’t stomping lower skilled players. So we wait a little longer and that is not terribly bad. Do we end up facing many of the same teams over and over again? Usually. This is bad.

Solution: More Teams!

Short of attracting more players to the game (which is unlikely if players who PvP check on forums or ask friends before buying) we simply need players who log consistently to group up so we can see meta changes and competition. But why don’t we seem to build more teams? Well once a newly formed team loses 5-10 matches they split as opposed to working until they are skilled enough to beat the teams they are being placed against. Why don’t teams feel any need to stick together? Well for one, losing all the time isn’t fun, but there is more than that. It is because winning is not all that important and it is even less fun losing knowing you wouldn’t really have been better off winning.

So Why Keep Playing?

The rewards are either cosmetic, more tickets, or qualifying points. Even as a casual player with relatively small amount of paid matches played compared to teams who play every day, I have all the cosmetic gear I want from paids. Why would I want more tickets? So I can Q with a pug again? Even with what I have to guess is a low MMR, I find myself 60% of the time facing a guild/premade probably because of either low amount of other teams in Q or a cumulative MMR between members of the pug that is a terrible representation of our team ability against anything other than a pug.

Solo Q!

What is the fix for this? People have said it before but the answer hasn’t changed. Solo Q would alleviate a lot of issues with players facing groups that have much higher coordination. For a game balanced around 5v5 and team fights it is very odd to see Anet so lax in its stance on this. They know how well classes can coordinate. We all know what a difference voice communication can have in team fights. Pugs do not have access. Generally teams do. You put them together and neither party, the stompers or stompees, are going to be having much fun.

Not if but when…

Longterm, or even short term for players with less patience, this is a major issue. It will be nice being able to play teams of the same skill and avoid people who are consistently grouping together. But this won’t last us forever, eventually even solo Q will become stale if it is the only change to the current system. Considering in the time sPvP has been out the significant updates since launch have been MMR and paids (same as free’s just with gems and QP…and now just QP). Casual players are the foundation of games. Pro players draw audiences and are awesome and contribute a lot. But they are ‘pro’ for a reason. If 90% of players were pro and topping the QP charts and revolutionizing the meta I could be entertained with what we have for ages. But that is not the case. Approx 70% are going to be casual, 10% pro, and 20% being competitive skilled teams who play regularly but have not reached a skill cap.

So we see the need for solo Q. Anet is watching this, hopefully they see sooner than later that no MMR system will make up for the gap between players who have history and voice access and those who don’t.

Dead Reward System:

That leaves us with QP. Currently all it does is allow us to check the forums to see who is playing the most. Pro players already have more than they will ever need. Casual players have far fewer. But why is this important? It isn’t…and that is the problem. It currently has 0 use. When they implement whatever we are ‘qualifying’ for I see another problem arising. Lets say my rough approximation of player percentages is even remotely correct. At best 30% of players will see any benefit from this. Those with QP will go on to play the same conquest mode against the same teams for a reward that is, more or less, inaccessible to casual players.

Sound familiar? It should, because it is the exact same boat we are in now. By then we may have spectator mode, which will allow us to watch those on top stay on top. Without more incentive for more teams to form no one will really every challenge their current dominance. Not to mention the ability to watch better players should get people excited about playing, as opposed to showing them something they have no reasonable access to.

Awesome Gameplay and no reason to play it…

Antihero.5429:

Shanks R Us.2489:

Sorry, but you run out of tickets if you run paids all day.

Only if you consistently lose which should not be a problem due to match making being in place.

I don’t fully understand MMR or how it works. What I do know is that I am a casual player, with decent skill and should have a very low MMR. Yet in the 20-30 matches I have done since its implementation 90% my pug hits guild/premade resulting in consistent losses. Seeing as how QP are the only real reward for winning people wonder why there aren’t more teams? Because there is no incentive to get stomped by better teams until you reach their skill level only to recieve QP. All ‘pro’ players already have far more QP than they need and why would casual players want them anyway? So eventually we can use them to face the same teams that are facerolling us now and watch them take the reward no one else had a viable chance of getting?

aaron.7850:

We need duels outside of spvp, some of us like fighting friends with our customized gear, racial abilties and exotic skins. Some people love wvwvw and pvp but hate hotm and everything to do with it. Sorry but that thing that spawns in my place when I join hotm is NOT my character.

LMAO this is hilarious. I feel the same way when I see my necro/other profs on my loading screen in level 2 gear. I had never really thought about the reciprocal effect of it. There should be a better way to allow you to have the look you want across PvE/PvP but with all that needs to be implemented I am willing to wait. In my case my “PvE” character is not mine, I have no love or affiliation to anything besides my gladiator style PvP gear.

Reduce range of RTL to 900 and everything will be peachy. I like the low cd because it allows you to use it every air attunement which is really the only DD air skill that has regular use (updraft and shocking auras, good skills appropriate CDs IMO). The only thing unfortunate is unless you currently have a reliable immob that cast quickly (most don’t) you cannot react fast enough once you see the RTL animation to catch him in range. Not to mention most immob have longer than a 15 sec CD (besides mes sword 3, which also requires a live and correctly positioned clone). I can feel the L2P responses coming on but I don’t care. I PvP a lot and know that currently, in our team meta, no one saves an important immob for the small likelyhood that they catch one ele making his way to the next team fight (1v1 sure immob is awesome counter, but who has an issues with RTL 1v1 and has any skill at all?) Right now 1200 range puts you beyond the reach of every weapon besides a nade engi who will never hit you with the arc and long range placement. RTL would still have the lowest CD of any movement skill of that range besides infiltrators arrow which requires high initiative. All others of the same range, require higher CD, and take up a utility slot. DD eles would either go water before air, cleanse and the RTL for 1200 range and escape OR RLT to 900 range and be susceptible to enemy long range weapons. Either way seems fair IMO.

Anet is already planning small, effective changes for eles. I play one but main necro and I don’t think balance is that far off. Reliable and crazy mobile bunker is the only part of ele that is throwing off meta. Even if Anet never makes RTL reduce range on slows (if they did I don’t think range reduction would be necessary) 900 range there are plenty of weapons with the ability to catch them.

Understand the class, watch for attunements and know what they do, no water = a good shot at dead ele. I love prof diversity and am glad Anet has such a reasonable stance on small scale balancing. Too many MMOs have a habit of repetitively killing interesting ways to play because they react to QQ and don’t take the time to find the few key points that are disrupting prof synergies.

You have it or at least access to it on elites. Stability

Pickmansmodel.1298:

Why force players to assume a different appearance in SPVP anyhow? Just let characters carry their Preferred appearance with them, wherever they go.

PVE gear could default to SPVP stats in he mists.

The skin styles cross over so you can granted you take the time with rng and rank grinding.

I don’t think this is a priority but it would be nice to see high rank tourney/gear as opposed to level 2 gear I see every time I log.

Swiftness does not work and necro has the most slows. The map has potential to make certain under used necro skills viable granted they function correctly (spectral grasp). I can picture a fear/chill/ cripple meta shift towards counter carrier necros. But nothing is certain until we play the map. People pay too little attention to the info we are given. The carrier has automatic 40% slower base run speed meaning those average run speed plus swiftness will be moving 65% faster than the carrier. Even with RTL low mobility classes will be able to reach high mobility carriers granted they play smart.

Purie.9046:

Uzzwick.8457:

Which one of necro and mesmer is the best for 1v1:ing people with?

Well still without a doubt mesmer. Most builds that people play with necro are teamfight oriented and are pretty trashy 1v1 against any class or build that is played in tPvP. Im not saying necro cant win 1v1. But specs that I see in tPvP these days necro prolly cant take any of those 1v1 fights.

Ele vs necro hahah cool fight bro.

Forsaker.9213:

For me necro is ok , its the most balanced class in game with few bugs , other think is that other class are broken.

As I said well necroes or epidemic necroes are teamfight oriented and shine in teamfights and suck compared to other classes in 1v1.

Name an easy 1v1 expect warrior or engi which nobody plays.

Easy 1v1? That all depends on the skill of the player. Most rangers, guardians and thieves can be countered easily by a necro. Ele’s and mesmers are the hardest 1v1 we have, but most other classes are not that intimidating without solid skill behind them.

All I can say here is, go play a necro. They are the most under appreciated profession in my opinion, even though you see them among many top teams. Necro has incredible 1v1, 2v1 potential. That is not to say that mesmer does not also have strong 1v1 potential, but a good necro knows how to avoid shatter and eat the damage with DS for those he gets pulled into. Even a full zerker well necro played correctly has more survivability than any other glassy prof who don’t have our aoe potential.

A necro played right, whether team fight or solo, is a force to be reckoned with. Not that we don’t have plenty of issues (bugs, traits, ai, build diversity) but we are not as down trodden as this thread paints us to be. If more people took the time to learn and understand them they have the potential to do what ranger and ele did when people learned to play and build them. Terror builds have excellent survivability and a lot of 1v1 potential. I haven’t had a chance to test it against many very skilled ele’s, but still think that terror is one of the more effective counters to a dd bunker.

Visit the necro forums, check out the builds and learn from players who have worked with them. I am no pro but anyone interested in learning necro or setting up a build can PM me or message me in game. I am more than willing to share what I have learned.

I never said the class was broken, nor have I said anything about MM being broken. You seen to assume my post is QQ as opposed to players sharing/seeking knowledge. Unreliable and not playing to the necro’s potential with other builds are my only complaints. I actually think it is the most complete class currently besides Guard/Mesmer. And yes I play tPvP, in fact it’s bout all I do. I don’t see a link to your build so I have no way of testing it or checking on its potential, and seeing as MM is about the least played necro in sPvP I would love to see it become more competitive. I do not have a solid team, I run with pick up groups of other solo players regularly though. Team composition may be a factor. But after seeing your latest post we seem to be at least facing teams of very different compositions. As for bunker killing I find my terror well builds to be more than sufficient with or without cd’s.