Guild Wars 2

The fact the gap in ratings between us and tier 2 is widening when as a server we’ve barely played this week (and last) demonstrates how poorly the system is designed. ANet would be very wise to at least comment on our problem to let us know they are aware of it and considering any solutions. The sad thing is we’re more likely to see the thread closed with no meaningful response.

1st place up and 3rd place down would work perfectly in the entire ladder. Every tier would be different each week, providing people with varied match-ups. Facing the same opponent for months on end becomes repetitive, boring and frankly tiring. It’s not just about facing Vizunah, it applies to every opponent. Having to face different opponents and tactics each week would really freshen up the WvW game at the moment, making it more enjoyable for everyone.

This needs to happen in the EU, but it won’t. Desolation also won’t be dropping tiers anytime soon because of the ridiculous rating system and servers in tier 2 actively trying not to be promoted.

Sigh.

Oh I can’t wait to go into WvW now and face Vizunah with this arrowcart upgrade…

Good patch for the Ranger imo, nothing I am disappointed with or there to complain about. On the whole pet improvements and signet buffs help my build so I’m happy

Gilburt.9146:

That’s splitting hairs. You inevitably have to pay the repair fees to keep playing.

You do not need to repair every time you spawn and even if you are doing so, it’s not going to be more than 2 silver each time.

Gilburt.9146:

It’s possible for an individual player to do everything right in WvW and still get killed. Battles are not always fair and evenly matched.

So then you retreat. Ultimately if you die in WvW it’s because you’ve made a mistake, i.e. engaged with the enemy when the wiser option would have been to retreat or wait/call for help. You shouldn’t be going solo in WvW anyway, it’s not designed for that.

Gilburt.9146:

Not during the slow times of the day. You get very few rewards/kills and a disproportionate amount of deaths simply because you’re outnumbered. It can still be fun, but having armor repair cut into my already meager profits detracts from that for me.

Sorry, but this is rubbish. You get rewarded for simply standing in a tower ‘defending’ it. Whilst doing so you could escort the nearest dolyak, gather the nearby materials, take out any hostile NPCs in the area and so on. You are constantly rewarded in WvW through events, loot bags and gathering, which all provide you with more than enough coin to cover your repair bills. If you’re dying so often then I think you need to have a think about why that is the case.

Gilburt.9146:

scanz.4536:

You’d have to remove all loot and rewards (coin, karma) from WvW events for this to actually happen.

That makes absolutely no sense. There are plenty of games that don’t make you pay “respawn fees” that still give rewards.

It’s not a respawn fee though, is it? It’s a repair bill for your armour which has become damaged by you being beaten and killed. Who’s fault is that? We’re talking about a couple of silver, not gold. You should be making more than enough to cover any repair bills through the events, loot bags and materials.

So this wasn’t a joke? People are genuinely upset that they have to pay a repair bill of a couple of silver? You do realise you could make that money back by mining the numerous mithril ores you probably pass whilst moving around the WvW maps? Not to mention that more often than not, if you die in WvW it is through your own fault.

Do you want repairs to be removed from PvE as well because I don’t really see the difference? You’d have to remove all loot and rewards (coin, karma) from WvW events for this to actually happen. Don’t think you’ve really thought this through properly because it’s a ridiculous idea.

You missed April fools by quite a long way.

It has not been ‘normal’ for months. It’s nothing to do with holidays in France.

jdkL.4520:

Self Reminder – If you lose, blame one of the following :
…

You clearly don’t get the problem here. It has nothing to do with ‘losing’. Desolation (and the whole of the EU by the looks of things) is bored of Vizunah, it’s as simple as that.

The current week’s match-up was effectively over before the majority of the EU had even woken up Saturday morning, this despite Desolation leading during prime time before its main guilds logged off for the night. What incentive does this provide both Deso and SFR to play for the rest of the week? It’s a week-long match, not 24 hours. Just to further highlight one of the key issues in this tier/match-up, look at the scoring and timestamps below;

Deso
2013-04-27 05:55:16 8 744 +55
2013-04-27 02:22:25 7 411 +90
2013-04-27 01:42:41 6 898 +120
2013-04-27 01:08:06 6 431 +160
2013-04-26 21:18:51 1 618 +305
2013-04-26 20:38:44 521 +270

SFR
2013-04-27 05:55:16 7 536 +10
2013-04-27 02:22:25 6 440 +80
2013-04-27 01:42:41 6 080 +40
2013-04-27 01:08:06 5 647 +180
2013-04-26 21:18:51 1 326 +195
2013-04-26 20:38:44 379 +225

Viz
2013-04-27 05:55:16 20 000 +630
2013-04-27 02:22:25 9 590 +525
2013-04-27 01:42:41 7 748 +535
2013-04-27 01:08:06 6 645 +355
2013-04-26 21:18:51 1 156 +195
2013-04-26 20:38:44 364 +200

These are after reset on Friday, which is now during prime time in the EU. Until after midnight, Deso is able to fight off both SFR and Viz and history during prime time shows Deso is a strong server. Vizunah win the tier because of coverage during unsociable hours and SFR proved this is what it takes to win the tier by countering Viz with their own night coverage about a month ago now.

Whilst ANet’s idea of making WvW a 24/7 battle is a good one, there has to be some sort of scaling to the score. They cannot expect people to go flat out 24/7. They shouldn’t expect EU servers to call for help from NA players/guilds to cover during the night (and vice versa). They have to realise people have a life outside of the game that does not allow them to play during unsociable hours. It should not be too difficult for them to implement a scoring system which scales to the number of players on the map or in WvW overall.

The server/tier ratings need to change or simply disappear completely as well. Why the gap between tier 1 and 2 is widening when 2 of the tier 1 servers are actively trying to drop down a tier is simply baffling. A server shouldn’t need to force people not to play or play but not capture any points in order to drop a tier. A simple winner goes up & loser goes down system would work perfectly fine and I’m sure people would enjoy the varied match-ups.

SFR don’t blob, especially for just 5 people.

Got disconnected whilst in-game and now getting the same login error.

Furajir.3815:

What are you guys talking about? It’s just a SKIN, aesthetic only, there aren’t going to be any stats, Anet isn’t gonna put a BP w/ ascended stats in the gemstore for purchase.

You’re missing the point. Not sure why anyone would get an ascended quiver for the stats, they can be obtained for much cheaper via other options. Most will have a quiver for aesthetic reasons and until now the only way to do so was to invest a lot of time and effort into it. However, now you’ll just be able to buy one off the gem store.

Belzebu.3912:

You realize that the rox quiver is just a skin and ppl with the ascended quiver have a back item with ascended status, so the ones that spent time/gold on their ascended will still have the advantage over the others, I don’t see the problem with that.

Well I would hazard a guess that the majority who have an ascended quiver got one for aesthetic reasons because there’s much cheaper options for back pieces.

Disappointed with this to be honest. A lot of us with ascended quivers have had to put a lot of time, effort and gold into getting one and now anyone can just go buy one with gems. Sigh, nice one ANet.

MagnusLL.8473:

Vizunah DOES play the game the way it’s meant to be played.

Whilst you can argue that yes they do, there is a serious design flaw in the WvW scoring system and there’s no reason why us the players should succumb to this. In fact, most WvW guilds do not and recent activities prove this.

MagnusLL.8473:

What Vizunah does is to use its devastating numerical superiority in off peak time to gain loads of points and properly setup the maps in the best possible situation and then use that advantage to carry them through during peak time when the opposition finally matches their numbers.

Rolling in a 60 man blob during unsociable hours whilst the rest of the EU are fast asleep or at school and work sure sounds like fun. Must be such a challenge having to fight off the opposition. Odd though that they are not the same force during prime time to demonstrate their superiority.

MagnusLL.8473:

The servers fighting Vizunah have a tendency to go looking for open field fights while ignoring (or at least not caring enough) for the logistical part of the game mode.

That’s because it is fun. What do people get from winning the match-up? What exactly do they achieve and receive for staying up all night or setting their alarm stupidly early in the morning to capture points with very little to no opposition? Except for potentially ruining their own life, they get nothing. They get no challenge, cannot for the life of me see how they would get any enjoyment from it and perhaps the most interesting part is that they get very little respect for it.

MagnusLL.8473:

Accusing them of sucking in open field fights and then complaining about the inability of taking their positions is a self-confessed lack of understanding on how to properly employ your forces.

No it’s not and point ticks during prime time would go as far to proving this. Capturing points during the time when there is the highest level of opposition whilst also looking for fights sounds like a good enough understanding to me.

MagnusLL.8473:

I’m not saying proper tactical play would change the result of the matches; they simply get way too many points in the night/morning/afternoon for anyone to be able to overcome that deficit without a massive boost in coverage; but this is the result of the awful scoring system and you cannot fault players for a game design mistake.

You can fault the players. Things can be done to work around the flawed scoring system, most of Vizunah simply choose not to. Just look at the score already. An entire week’s match-up is effectively over in less than 24 hours. What’s for the rest of the week? It’s tiresome and people are bored of it, but so long as Vizunah are proud I guess it’s okay and things will continue in the same fashion.

So yet another very good and respectable guild leaves Tier 1 for reasons people have been highlighting for months now, but can we expect any real change in things? Doubt it.

All the best VoTF.

Alaclis.6579:

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/1366781188-gw021.jpg

Good game guys. We don’t sleep, we don’t eat,..

Thanks for going out of your way to once again prove just how you’re killing (killed?) the WvW game in Tier 1. Seriously, congrats.

Qwixx.5923:

You have not yet understood that:
1/ We are in holidays period.
2/ Both servers have abandoned, we have no resistance from them.

Yeah you won’t get much resistance from us at 4am through to the afternoon I’m afraid, such is life and all that

Love my longbow for WvW and imo those who claim it’s useless simply do not know how to use it effectively. Currently combining it with the greatsword and never enjoyed a build on my Ranger so much. However, do tend to swap it out for the shortbow in most circumstances for PvE.

Mighty Ice Arrow.9268:

Finally I know who the commander from Deso in EB is. Are proud and happy you say? Are you proud of double team with VZ? For hours you don’t even flip a VZ camp? Is this my imagination? No, VZ players know watt I’m talking about. It was epic for us yes, we never lost our keep, even when we get attacked from both sides, trebed from Bravos by Deso, and from Langour by VZ, we resisted at to consecutive attacks from VZ with golems, you are proud, you say, a big lol to you.
BTW are you the commander that Wemill put to cry a few weeks ago? Well he is back!!! Not played to many hours this week. Are you proud to let Anza in VZ hands for long time, and keep targeting SFR?

Yes I’m very, very proud to have played to all the guys from SFR during the weekend (guys sometimes I have to be hard with you because, we can’t do mistakes against VZ). Keep going “big” Deso commander, you only make us stronger.
I have nothing to say to the way VZ are playing, we have played like them when we are strong, for me the way they playing only show respect for us, they try to score points, that’s the name of the game, for us is a chance to all new commanders and players learn how to play, because he have a strong opponent we have to react according to that.

Please don’t hide behind problems, the only problem we are facing atm (butt all servers have it) is the skill delay, Anet must work in a solution to this.

We are not going to win this week again, but for me maybe I can have another “victory”, we need to stay one more week in T1, and after this another one, and so on. One day our guilds will come back, and we will be strong again.

I have no idea what you’re talking about, but Beatrix and [Coin] came onto EB for the first time in a long time this weekend and from what I recall at no point did we set up trebs.

We attacked Viz and took their camps plenty, as well as hitting Wildcreek and Aldon’s on numerous occasions. At the same time Viz continuously attacked us at Anza and provided some great fights by the dredge. Perhaps it felt like we were ‘targeting’ you at times by capping Durios and Bravost, but you should take that as a compliment because we just want the fights SFR provide.

In fact all the fights on EB over the weekend were fun with both Viz and SFR. People need to chill out a bit and stop taking ‘targetting’ so personally, as well as crying over ‘double team’.

Absolutely brilliant.

Kiran.2705:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.3|1.1g.h17|7.1g.h4.g.1g.h1h|1n.7r.1n.7r.1n.7r.1n.7r.1n.7r.1n.7r|1c.64.1c.64.1c.64.1c.64.1c.64.1c.64|u47b.0.k6a.k59.0|5r.7|4h.4w.4r.4p.54|e

Signet of the Wild and Signet of Stone are the only 2 worth taking for the active abilities. Use warhorn instead of signet of the hunt, as it benefits allies. You can take whatever utility survival skill you choose. I like lightning reflexes for the “oh kitten” factor, being a stun break and free evade. Entangle is mandatory, and you can cut the CD by half a minute just by picking up the survival talent. I think your primary weakness in your own build is the fact that you took so much precision. If you want to stay alive in a fight, you only get one offensive stat. I chose power, with a tiny bit of precision on the side. You must have at least 3k armor and 19.5k hp. Anything less will leave you eating dirt.

Thanks, have made some tweaks and going to test this over the weekend – http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.4|1.1g.h2|3.1g.h17|1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r|2s.0.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1n.64.1i.64|u4ab.0.k4a.k59.0|15.7|4i.4x.4p.4r.54|e

@Sebrent, thanks for the comments on the signet build and about the way you look at traits/skills. I quite enjoy the signet build so going to continue to use it for the time being.

Kiran.2705:

The GS tank ranger is the one and only ranger build I really care for. It fixes the squishy problem to a degree, gives you acceptable damage, and allows for full use of our area crowd control effects in the survival line. I personally play 30/0/20/20/0 for the beast master signet, which provides stability and immunity to attacks signet actives, freeing up my elite for entangle.

I am currently trying to get a Greatsword and Signet build to work, but find I am still dropping more often than I’d like. Currently running 30/25/15, but considering trying 30/-/20/20/-. Would you be able to post the details of your build? What I’m running is below;

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.4|3.1g.h17|1.1g.h15|1c.7j.1c.7j.1c.7j.1c.7j.1c.7j.1c.7j|4s.d1f.1c.67.1c.67.1n.67.1n.67.1i.67|u4ab.p42.f4.0.0|3a.8|4i.4x.4r.4p.54|e

Really don’t like the BM routes, just don’t find the pet reliable enough and rarely get into small 1vs1/2vs2 fights because I run with a squad in WvW, so we look for group sized fights. Use the Longbow to provide support from range (sometimes switching to Shortbow and Piercing Arrows instead of Eagle Eye) and then switch to Greatsword to swoop in and finish low-hp people off. However, even with activating Signet of Stone I will still drop if I start to get targeted too much.

Sorry for slightly hijacking your thread Sebrent. Just you raised some interesting points that I think I could incorporate into my build.

Nay of the Ether.8913:

It largely depends on which pet he uses, I’ve had some of the glassy pets hit for 3k on single crits with little points in BM. Also the pet survivabilty depends largely on the master of the pet, or if you’re doing one of the poorly designed bosses that 1 shot pets, but that’s a game design flaw, not the fault of the pet.

Of course, but untraited pets are far more fragile so I’d like to see how long it stays up in order to be effective as the main damage dealer. I just don’t find them reliable enough to go full tank, especially now the Greatsword can actually dish out some decent damage consistently.

Venereus.9473:

I think you’re missing the point, the pet is the weapon, the Ranger is the meat shield, no need to dilude the tankiness for the Ranger’s own damage.

Err, but he hasn’t traited for the pet at all so damage isn’t going to be that great, not to mention they are still unreliable.

The scary thing is there is a slight chance the OP is being serious….

Durzlla.6295:

All quickness has a price, ours is the smallest, why would you pop your QZ if you plan on healing during that 5s? Maybe it’s because on my DPS builds I use HaO and not TU so I have literally 0 issue with the debuff.

I mean, you coul always… You know…. Dodge attacks/hide behind your pet during QZ… Or use it post heal so there’s not even the chance to it’ll kitten anything up.

It has been given stun breaker, kind of implies you are under attack if you use it to break stun so it’s hardly ideal to have 5 seconds of zero healing at the same time. What was one of our best offensive abilities has now become something which could break stun and potentially have us killed immediately after. Good one ANet.

More on topic to the thread’s title though, I do look forward to seeing builds people switch to now as I will definitely have to change mine.

So just disregarding the game-wide change to quickness for a second, are people seriously suggesting that adding stun break and an increase in duration of zero healing when using what was one of our best offensive abilities is seen as a buff?

The Ranger has been hit hard with this change.

Ah is this fixed for everyone now? My character wasn’t looking so pretty last night with the horrible red colour

Last night was insane. Was on Deso border and we tried to run with our 20 man squad, but it was impossible. Even with our commander tag turned off we still had 30+ pugs running with us and everywhere we went a zerg was waiting or would arrive very quickly. One example of this was when our Garrison was under heavy attack so after defending the inner we headed off to an SFR tower. Went well until 60+ turned up whilst the rest of their server was still pushing Garisson :/.

The numbers rolling together last night was just crazy, good fun but crazy nonetheless. Can’t see how anyone can point out one server/guild for ‘blobbing’ when it was literally impossible not to. Hopefully it calms down a bit after a day or two.