Guild Wars 2

My party just encountered a bug where after we killed Clockheart we couldn’t leave the boss room. Every time we tried to go out the door with Caithe we would be ported back to the entrance to the boss room.

Considering we were grouped to get Above and Beyond, it was pretty frustrating.

ahahahahahahahahahahahah

actually burst out laughing irl

… i guess i need to win pax now

o waite

Congratulations to Denial!

Maybe my favorite tournament to watch to date, some really fun and close games.

Good luck to all of the teams competing! Yayyyyy MLG!

TGSlasher.1458:

Would be nice to see bug fixes across all professions, there are still elementalist bugs from release. Our delayed skills (e.g. dragons tooth) have to be paid 3 times. Cast, then the delay then the dodging to prevent interrupt / blind or it will do no effect or damage (even though its been fully cast and you waited the delay time).

Yeah, as someone who mains (used to main?) ele, this is a huge problem. You should absolutely be able to dodge after the cast goes through and still have the spell land.

Not to discredit your post as it is certainly valid, Creld — lots of professions have bugs that take a lot away from different builds or setups. Hence when balance patches are occasionally replaced by bug fix patches.

I actually started a thread earlier that addressed this. People seemed to agree but it never had any sort of momentum. Here’s a link!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Stability-Animation-Visual-Cue/first#post2534694

The cake is a lie.

Jon, thanks so much for the post. This was the kind of thing the community needed to hear – open and honest thoughts from anet staff. I love this game and I want to see it succeed just as much as the next person. Here’s to hoping GW2 pvp continues to grow!

P.S. I want to come over for game night.
P.S.S. I love playing against anet in-game. I once 1v2’d Jon Peters/Evan Lesh… so if any devs want to avenge them, my acct name is just to the left <3

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I’m definitely thinking that some sort of issue has come up with my computer by switching to Mountain Lion. I’ve noticed when running Activity Monitor that I have CrashReport pretty much always active (despite PRAM/reboots) and it is absolutely eating up my CPU. Any suggestions? Or any other general suggestions as to how to get 10.8 to run more smoothly in general, with or without GW2? Hardware updates would be a last resort.

Something has also changed for GW2, as before I made any changes to my computer the Clockwork Chaos patch caused me to have longer loading times. They were bearable though; the combination of CrashReport/slow Mountain Lion + whatever changed with GW2 has made for pretty unplayable load times, however.
P.S. I timed some – about 2 minutes to load into Heart of the Mists and

Findecano.8124:

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Unrelated – but what a small world it is! I played vanilla WoW on a little server called Thunderlord and I more than recognize your name… Feel free to message me anytime for nostalgic purposes :P

Thanks again! Really appreciate all of the help so far.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/State-of-the-game-06-09-13/first

Is the first thread on these forums at the moment.

Hey all, ever since the Clockwork Chaos patch I’ve had loading screens that are unbearably long. I know that this is an issue other players have had (including those on Windows) but I recently upgraded my OS X from 10.6.8 to 10.8.4 and, surprisingly, my loading screens are much longer than they were prior to the upgrade.

The first time I load into a map – no exaggeration – I have to wait anywhere from 3-10 minutes, depending on its population (I think; LA takes the longest at 5+ minutes, without fail).

I’ve always had longer loading screens than most people playing (15-forty five seconds [kitten kittens messing up numbers!]) but this has reached the point where it’s nearly unplayable. When in-game things play relatively well, though my MBP is running much hotter – temperature wise – on GW2 with Mountain Lion than with Snow Leopard. Could the heat be related to the issue?

System Specs —
Model: MacBook Pro, 15-inch, Early 2011
Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256 MB
Software: OS X 10.8.4 (12E55)

Again, I want to clarify that this loading screen issue was compounded immensely when I upgraded from 10.6.8 to 1.8.4. Although I’m sure that something is server side as loading screens for everyone have been longer this patch, I’d love any suggestions for how to make my system run more smoothly.

Edit: All drivers and OS are up to date. I’ve also reset my SMC/PRAM and nothing has changed.

Thanks in advance!

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

EchenSketch.9142:

No, S/D utilizes the Fresh Air trait more than D/D, and has one of the highest burst combos in the game. S/D also provides more defensive skills than D/D, balancing out your glassy guild.

In my opinion Dagger Air is better then Scepter Air, I would say Fire Dagger is better then Scepter Dagger as well. Earth Scepter is better thanks mostly down to the auto attack, Water Scepter is better as well mainly due to the heal.

In the time it takes Scepter Auto to Finish i can do more damage in Dagger Auto and its a AoE, small but still can be very useful. Lightening strike is okay but losing Shocking Aura hurts, giving Swiftness and Fury making me have 70%+ Crit chance even with my average gear.

Fire – Auto is meh, Dragons Tooth is very easy to dodge and not to keen on Phoenix. Dragons Claw is better Auto, Drakes Breath deals very nice burning and Burning Spped is great in offensive, defense gap making and gap closing.l

Water – Dagger Auto is better thanks to Vul, Cone of Cold hits hard and heals and Frozen Burst is pretty solid Scepter has Water Trident which is pretty solid Shatterstone is isnt to bad, again easy to dodge can be interrupted

Air – Lightening Whip is great, AoE deals very nice damage Lightening Touch is decent and Shocking Aura is GREAT. Arc Lightening does less damage, not AoE and needs target Lightening strike is quite nice Blinding Flash isnt to bad

Earth – Impale is solid, long cast time though compared to others, Ring of Earth is solid and Magnetic Grasp can be very handy. Stone Shards is better Auto i think, yeah its longer but hits 3 times, 3 bleeding and if lucky procs Vul 3 times. Rock Barrier is okay, Dust Devil has its uses

What…

Zzod.5791:

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+1, great post!

I’ve had 500 to 500 before. For that, the game sums each individual players’ points and whichever team had the highest score as individuals wins. Games like these are crazy!

To SteppenWolf / SotG guests:

While balance is certainly in a bad spot, I would hope that talking about balance doesn’t take up the entire hour. I’m sure that they are aware of the current meta and are making steps to change it. In terms of class balance, the questions I’m most curious are
1) Are there any plans to give classes viable (and powerful) alternative roles? Or will Guardian be the only choice for midpoint bunker until the end of time?
2) Are there any plans to decrease the efficacy of passive play builds? Do you, the developers, think that the power of a passive build should be as high or higher than an active build?
3) Are you being cautious with further updates to avoid power creep? No one likes being nerfed but most would prefer it to a continual leap-frog-power-creep balance system.

With that out of the way, I think the most important questions are about viewership and longevity, as balance fluctuates constantly. Please spend the most time talking about the future and direction of the game. For example,
1) What are your plans to increase the playerbase? I believe many of the problems with matchmaking/skill curve (and other issues) would be more or less solved with a larger playerbase.
2) Where is the revamped reward system you’ve talked about for months?
3) Introducing unique finishers to PvP seemed like a great way to create revenue for this portion of the game. Were they successful in that regard and will you continue to find ways to create PvP microtransactions so that PvP can have a higher budget?
4) Are there any plans to redo the scoreboard to provide better information?
5) Any plans to make a smoother introduction to PvP for new players? I have multiple friends who have been consistently frustrated by the massive skill curve in the game and refuse to play. Maybe an increased playerbase is the answer?
6) Would you consider adding a feature that allows a player to normalize all enemy models in order to read cast animations more clearly?
7) Build templates? Please?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! Hope to hear some of these questions addressed.

google.3709:

Teams are as random as getting temple

Ak with teh jokez. Well played, well played.

Just played a game against you actually. It’s definitely true, everyone knows it. It’s no fun, too. Sometimes you get stuck with people that are… not the most desirable teammates. Would love to see a better matchmaking system, as I’m sure others would as well.

Absolutely this! I have a friend I’ve been trying to get into GW2 for a long time. He tells me every time he plays he gets wrecked and doesn’t understand what to do to improve, so he continually gives up.

That being said, I’d also be a fan of having a more in-depth death recap so that players can more accurately understand how they lost a fight. This was brought up in another thread, but seeing bleeding and burning as the main source of incoming damage really doesn’t help someone improve.

But seriously, this is a great thread – looking forward to reading more responses. +1

Arheundel.6451:

No, we don’t solve a problem by introducing another.
If we had a signet elite that reduce attunement recharge we would not only make the 30 Arcana ele really OP but also we would force another “must have” skill on the ele…the cantrips and SoR are already enough in my opinion and that also must change

Clearly, you’d cap the attunement recharge at 10s if this were added. Assuming the signet gave 2s off of recharge and had an extremely situational active, people would choose between evasive arcana and our current elites or this signet and 20 points in arc (no EA). Would open up a little bit of build variety without messing up current builds.
It was just an idea.

Look, simple and plain the attunement concept is going to stay. And it should – a single element elementalist would be pretty dumb. The way that we dance through the attunements – while flawed – is incredibly fun. We shouldn’t want Anet to make the ele like all of the other classes. They’ve made an exceptionally unique caster and I would hate to see it dumbed down to the level of some of the other professions (no offense, other profession fanbois). I really believe that the ele is well balanced right now and is in a good place. It’s just that some other professions offer too much for too little. Seriously — nerf the spirit ranger (spirits start their cooldown when killed, like for real already), nerf the necro, and nerf the s/d thief’s mindless evades and you will have an ele (not to mention a slew of other classes) in a really great spot. Not perfect, mind you, but certainly not bottom-tier as they are now.

As for the attunement recharge problem. Yes, it is certainly a problem. No one is arguing with you on that point. However, I think we’re too far along in the game to implement anything really ground shattering (I would only expect something like that from an expansion). So we’ve got to work with what we have for the moment. I can really only see a couple of ways the devs can work around Arcana with its current state — some sort of utility that would allow us to bypass attunement recharge (in some capacity, I don’t know how. That’s why I suggested the elite signet that would allow us to put only 20 points into the tree) OR they need to make traits in other trees much more desirable. Why would I go 30 into fire for fury when I can already have it on attunement swap, when I need it for burst? Why isn’t there a 30 fire trait that can complement Fresh Air for mega damage? You’d sacrifice a lot of survivability for better burst on a longer cooldown. Or an Earth/Water trait combo that would help us become midpoint bunkers?

I’m kind of rambling at this point… Long story short, Eles will always choose Arcana and shorter cooldowns until there are traits outside of the tree that are more desirable or utilities that can bypass attunement recharge (Fresh Air was a great step for both of these). But for real, the first step is to nerf the OP classes. Can’t wait for the next balance patch – there are a lot of people expecting major (and solid) change.

How to fix the Ele:
Nerf all the stupid bullkitten builds people are playing right now. Looking at you, spirit rangers, necros, and s/d thieves.

Though I agree, requiring 30 points in Arcana makes for very limited builds. The ele forums have been (rightfully) complaining about this for a long time. Hopefully the devs are creative enough to figure out a change. Possibly incorporate an elite that reduces attunement recharge (Signet of Arcana?) that would allow people to invest less points in the trait tree? God knows Eles have awful elites for most situations.

stof.9341:

Greetings. My death log is exclusively composed of :
- Burning
- Bleeding
- Poison
- Terror

What should I dodge?

Hence why I added Necros to the list of hard to read professions that are worth playing for a bit in order to understand. Engis have big red circles for bombs and are throwing things at you with grenades, so easy enough there. Rangers are already so broken it doesn’t matter if you dodge; you should just run away (joke).

It might not be a bad idea (hint hint, anet) to include the spells that gave you the condition damage rather than just the damage itself in the death log so that people can learn from their mistakes.

When you die in a game, click on the information icon to see which attack/spell hurt you the most. Then learn the casting animation for that attack and practice timing your dodge with that animation. For some that are hard to read (i.e. Thieves/Mesmers/Necros) it can help a lot to play the profession so you can understand what they are doing.

Good luck!

At the risk of being redundant… stuck at 12/13, I’ve done every map multiple times and have done it ‘correctly’ (finished clockwork / clockwork champs) and this achievement still hasn’t unlocked.

Simply put, please either
1) Give players a way to know which map is missing so that they can continue to do it in the hope that the achievement will finally recognize the map
2) Lessen the number of maps needed for the achievement to make up for the poor recognition system
3) Give the achievement to everyone

This is genuinely ridiculous. I play this game to enjoy my time, not to fight against poorly written code.

Another suggestion – assuming your group or team calls target on an enemy, you can keybind “Take Target” to immediately select the targeted enemy.

People are missing the point.

The map is incredibly buggy right now, causing unimaginable lag (30s+ at a time) and consistent DCs. Remove it from the queue right now.

Do DCs count as losses on the leaderboards? If so, remove it even faster.

This is a super interesting thread.

1) Stand Your Ground – Guardian
2) Portal – Mesmer
3) Epidemic – Necromancer
4) Shadow Refuge – Thief
5) Illusion of Life – Mesmer
6) Shadow Trap – Thief
7) Elixir R – Engineer
8) Bomb Kit – Engineer
9) Blink – Mesmer
10) Berserker Stance – Warrior

While certainly not perfect, I ranked these based on how game changing they can be in a team fight or on the shape of the game as a whole. Sad to see Eles not on many lists — I really didn’t realize until now they don’t have great ‘selfless’ utilities.

Excited to see where this discussion heads!

I don’t think having builds which are easier to play or require less APM are inherently bad. Sometimes it’s nice to have a very simple to play, very straightforward build.

The problem comes from when an AI focused build is more successful and effective than one that requires thought and coordination. That’s why people complain about spirit rangers, phantasm mesmers, and the like.

Caffynated.5713:

I would like it if they removed the damage all together and made it exactly like blink. Most advanced ele combos rely on LF to execute, so the more often it’s up, the more fluid ele plays.

Removing the damage would also help reduce the damage in the instagib combo.

I’d be happy with this. Remove the damage, return the stunbreak. People complain about the power of the untelegraphed ele burst; this would remove about 1.5k damage from the ideal burst combo. As a stunbreaker (again) you’d have to choose to either use the spell offensively or defensively, increasing the ability’s skill cap.

Besides, when using it defensively right now without the stunbreak, it feels incredibly choppy. It just looks and feels wrong to teleport to a spot and stand still for a couple of seconds.

If I were you, I’d consider getting more items with healing and less with precision. From the 5 point trait in Arcana, eles really get all of the crit chance they need (unless going glass cannon). Additionally, while toughness/vit is the way to survive on most other classes, ele benefits best from healing/toughness as we have so much healing available.

If you’re looking to play a balanced build in WvW you’d be best off mixing a wide combination of Cavalier/Cleric/Berserker (with some soldier until you get a better grasp of the profession).

Good luck with your ele!

I think one of the other problems comes from the way leaderboard decay works. I’ve dropped almost 100 ranks from being inactive for two days (from 300-400 range) while people in the top 25 haven’t played for a week and haven’t budged an inch. For whatever reason, their ELO rating is so much higher that they don’t drop ranking? It doesn’t seem all that fair that decay would affect those close to the top while the absolute top is untouched.

pajamaboi.9534:

Ah, okay, if they’re the best at 1v1s, how come they’re not the ones defending close/attacking far? I don’t know much about the strategies/meta but in most of the matches, at the beginning, 4 players go mid and 1 grabs close. I always thought the 1 not with the rest of the team was the best 1v1 character or something but I guess from what you say this isn’t true. What exactly is looked for in this off node player then? Mobility?

The off-node character needs to be really good at 1v1s, which is why you see them often as Rangers.

The thing that is great about the teldo/nodefighter engineer is his ability to sustain for a long time and use knockbacks in order to get the enemy point neutralized. If you can stay alive 1v1 far node for a long time while the point is decapped, possibly long enough to draw one of the enemy players from the midfight to support far, then you’ve done your job well. The build is also really capable at 1v1s but requires more skill to succeed than, for example, a spirit ranger. The other aspect of the build that is important is its access to mobility as well as its team utility. While being one of the best farpoint assaulters, the nodefighter engi can also be useful in the midfight and offers stealth and occasional rez utility.

It’s a super fun build, but it requires a lot of effort to really optimize its play. Keep at it though! Watching the PAX qualifiers and player streams are great ways to improve

Geff.1930:

There are a plethora of threads clamoring for fewer on screen spell/skill effects and now people want more on-screen effects.

This must be an exercise in frustration for the devs.

You bring up a valid point (and I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be to work on an MMO) but this is the kind of on-screen effect that should be very clear.

It’s the clutter of shiny, residual AoE that needs to be reduced. In reducing spell visuals I’m sure they will keep enough information for you to be able to know what spells are being cast and which AoE is on the ground for you to avoid.

While a stability visual effect would be an additional shiny thing, it’s the kind of shiny thing that would offer absolutely vital information for decision making in-game without staring at the UI.

Quick unrelated question… is World versus World “Monde contre Monde” in the French client? Just curious ;P

Could you also help us out by letting us know what kind of gear you’re running? 0/10/0/30/30 can be played with some different stats and obviously Berserker will have a much different time than Cleric.

Except that this is a thread about solo queue. I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to double blind in team queue. It’s just that it’s difficult to convey meaningful information to an unorganized group in 10 seconds when you aren’t voip’d. Giving players 10 seconds to form a strategy when there aren’t ingame mechanics such as ‘incoming!’ or ‘retreat/regroup!’ buttons makes for even more disorganized play than we currently have.

You know how kills starting at the beginning of the game through stealth are pretty lame? As in, getting instagibbed immediately with little counterplay?

Alright, now imagine that without having any clue that the other team has access to stealth. You couldn’t even preemptively position more defensively at a midfight, causing that to have the stealth opener to have even less counterplay.

That’s just one of the many reasons knowing the other team’s composition makes for more interesting games. I’m not saying I want a constantly rotating team comp — people changing every time the other team changes — I’m saying I want to be able to make an informed plan based on the other team’s comp. Do they seem to have a farpoint assaulter? A solid backpoint? Access to stealth at the start? That sort of thing.

This was brought up in a separate thread and I thought it warranted its own discussion.

Are there any plans to give Stability some sort of visual cue? It would definitely support more intelligent play. Currently you have to watch character frames in order to know someone has the boon. It feels counterintuitive to a game where you are watching casting animations for information instead of cast bars.

I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this.

The problem with being blind to the other team’s composition is that you can’t switch up your strategy to match the other team. Not even necessarily change your own composition or abilities but your splits; seeing certain classes on the other team should change your opener — this is an important facet of a game and should not be removed.

I’ve been noticing this as well. I actually think this is detrimental to the game’s success as Mesmers are really fun to watch. It’s a shame there will (probably) be no portal or IoL plays at PAX, as I think for a new viewer a clutch portal play would be really exciting.

Evan Lesh.3295:

Character locking doesn’t happen until the game start countdown. You still have the ready time to switch. This decision was made specifically in consideration for solo queue. We can always move when character locking begins, but when the feature launches, it will happen at the countdown. This feature is intended mostly to stop exploits where people would switch characters for different skill setups or to reset cooldowns.

Thanks for the clarification!

Does this also include weapon and skill choices? As in, will Necros still be able to start matches with Life Force and Eles be able to give their team swiftness with staff before switching weapons?

Very happy to see Temple in the team queue.

How will character locking work? What if, for example, you’re solo queueing and your team ends up being all Thieves? Would it be intended that you couldn’t switch to a different class in order to better complement your team?

Just interested in hearing some of the thoughts behind character locking.

Evan Lesh.3295:

2) Random map rotation is coming.

Yeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just completed T4 with a Rabid’s geared Engineer using P/S, Grenades, Flamethrower, and Tool Kit.

Simply put, this content is awful. It’s challenging in all the wrong ways, it doesn’t promote team play, its goal is misleading, and its incredibly infuriating even for “hardcore” players. People saying otherwise are just waving their kittens around; this content is terrible. Not much more to say.

An idea for an Elite Signet, as there currently isn’t one.

Signet of Intelligence
90s CD
Signet Passive: Grants 20% Intelligence, reducing Attunement recharge by 2 seconds.
Signet Active: Send out a shockwave, causing enemies to be Dazed.
Daze (2 sec): Unable to use skills.
Radius: 240

Edit: This would have to come with a cap of Intelligence at 60%. Attunement recharge at 8s too stronk!

Schlieffen.2054:

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+1

This is a fantastic post.

While I understand your frustration, at least these both have counters.

When you see the pet, dps it down asap — it does have a bit too much HP though, I agree. When you see the Elixir R thrown down, either knock them off the spot or coordinate damage when in a team fight.

They’re certainly strong and add a lot to each profession but they are each certainly counterable and both have very clear animations.

Hey there, figured I’d give my 2c as well.

- Necros are definitely a bit too strong right now

- Seriously, until you get to a certain level of play there are no must have professions. Learning how to rotate and keep the numbers in fights ever in your favor are the name of the game. That being said, once you get to higher level play, the main requirements are a Guardian midpoint and a Ranger backpoint with 3 variables, typically (now) a Necro/Thief/X or a more classic group would have a Mesmer/Ele/X. Guardian and Ranger have pretty much become staples though and I don’t foresee many changes that will shift that preference.

- Balance occurs about once a month and it is typically very slight and metered. A huge part of the outcry about Necros is that the last balance patch ArenaNet buffed them WoW-style: they received a lot at once and went from lower tier to apex predator.

- When you start to play you’ll see that many forum complaints come from inexperience, such as any complaints about a 100 blades warrior, for example, would generally come from a player who hasn’t played much pvp. Forums are forums, there’s no changing their nature really. Currently the complaints are pretty spot on, though, as Necros, S/D Evade Thieves, and Spirit Rangers provide a little too much with respect to the level of skill required to play them. It seems most forum users are aware of this and rightfully upset.

Hope you enjoy GW2 — its PvP is absurdly fun! Feel free to message me in game if you have any further questions

Cyan.6904:

So much excitement about a tent. Anyone want to camp nearby?

We are the 99%!

I first want to say thank you to Allie for coming in here and posting so much! Really appreciate being able to converse with someone at Anet and I’ve definitely noticed you’ve been posting a lot more recently.

As for Necros starting with Life Force… pretty much any practiced Necro will open up a match with a little bit of Life Force using the minion summon/switch that was mentioned before. So until this changes (if it should at all), giving all Necros Life Force at the start shouldn’t even be in consideration.

What Defektive was bringing up was a stealth opener, which is incredibly difficult to counter on any profession. Even on builds that have the ability to reset easily (Mesmers, Eles, etc.), the character being attacked has to blow vital cooldowns at the start of the match in order to survive. The stealth opener is incredibly strong and could use some sort of counter; it is not a profession-specific issue.

Back to Necros… as was brought up in the previous GW2Guru SotG, I would like to see Necros move back towards being more of an attrition class. Currently (and it even seems so with the newly implemented nerfs, though I haven’t had a chance to play today), they are able to burst just as well as a class built as a power based glass cannon. These are conditions we’re talking about! Necros simply provide too much to a teamfight and do so even if the player is relatively inexperienced. I’m very interested in seeing how today’s changes affect their play and use. I really wish that Dhuumfire had been addressed rather than Terror, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

tl;dr Necro does not need to start with Life Force as they already can. A stealth opener could use some sort of counter. I’m seriously hoping Necro damage has been toned down but they retain their strong control and presence.

Batmang.5421:

Something CLEARLY needs to change in the way Anet is balancing the game. They’ve stated multiple times before that they closely watch the forums to gather information on what to buff/nerf. I feel this is a terrible way to gather information. 90% of the QQ I read on the forums is ridiculous to be honest. Anet needs to up the efforts in communicating with top tier players who understand the game better than anyone else.

I sincerely doubt that Anet is gathering information seriously from every random person who posts on these forums. I agree, the Necro changes were surprising, considering their ‘slow and steady’ balancing stance.

Personally, I think Anet should be more comfortable and willing to use hotfixes. Problems like the poison bug should be fixed immediately, not at the next 2 week interval. Possibly even balance changes could be hotfixed, though I would be wary starting on that road.

I think we are getting away from the purpose of this thread.

It’s clear to most anyone who plays this game that certain elements are currently gamebreaking. It is especially clear to myself and others who play with a dedicated team and did so before the balance patch. You don’t need to be “high tiered” to understand broken balance but the level of experience sure helps.

As for all of the AoE remarks earlier — I personally don’t see as huge an issue with AoE once Necros are brought down. The fact that almost all of their skills are AoE and not all that telegraphed with S – S/D makes them feel quite mindless. Other professions don’t necessarily have this issue as Engineer Grenades are really just marks with a cast time, making them a skill shot and dodgeable (bombs being dodgeable as well), Elementalist AoEs are incredibly predictable and telegraphed, and so on. The only classes that AoE really feels out of control for are Necros and Mesmers. The Mesmer’s, at least, generally has to be done within melee range. Make Necro AoE more about control and less about damage and you have yourself a far more interesting class.

Undoubtedly, Necros should be the first priority for the balance patch before PAX, S/D thiefs and Spirit Rangers as second priority. When my team gets frustrated of running our normal comp and then can switch to Double Necro, Double Spirit Ranger, and Guardian (which we’re not nearly as experienced on) and be more successful, you know that serious work needs to be done.

As always though, this game is and always has been very close to solid balance. Here’s to hoping the next balance patch is a step in the right direction.