Guild Wars 2

Considering the state of condition damage in the game right now (a topic that I am entirely excited about), I was thinking, would a condition party be as good as a full meta zerk party?

Everyone’s wearing Sinister gear, btw.

Here’s my idea for a party:

Guardian: Provides reflects, blinds, stab/condition cleansing and a ton of burning. (Particularly on a single target because of the torch trait). Guardian’s Virtue of Justice, (though often used passively) can and should be activated before the death of enemies so that others in the party can make use of the burning it would provide to their DPS. In addition, the guardian will give quickness with Feel My Wrath.

Build would be:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApfRlsAhmhY5QwRIQQEHxDVNA2y61uBvwjmTxWcGB

Ranger: Provides a ton of burning as well. Also, ranger’s spirits bring some extra burning and flat damage increases, if you bring frost and sun spirit. Though, it could be argued that it would be better to just bring the sun spirit and the flame trap and poison trap. Also, the ranger’s survival elite skill provides a handy immobilize. In addition, the ranger will provide +precision from spotter and permanent fire fields for those who use whirl and projectile finishers.

Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJA3fjMqQ7K2tCOrAVLGKEqPBi2Ao/gh9q5JodfgMOKEYRA

Warrior: With the Deep Strike trait, would give the party +150 condition damage, and with the Strength in Numbers, would give +150 power. Also, the warrior would need to run the Strength Banner and the Precision Banner for +power, +condition damage, +precision. and +ferocity to the party. The warrior would probably run sword/sword, sword/ torch, in HoT.

Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAsccnckCdfg1eAukCcigllA7IAsAmZJvgZQF8N3+bLuA

Thief: Thieves in this party would obviously apply Venomshare and stealth to speed up the runs. Venomshare would let the thieves boost party damage considerably. I’m not really great at thieves, I’m sure others might find a better build for this.

Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVnMJCFNhNNBWPB8PhjWia3BRXiybhjoI0BQIuAA

The last spot can be filled by 2 people and depends on what your group wants, both add considerable damage and utility to the party.

Mesmer/Chronomancer: The chronomancer wouldn’t be a condition damager, but would provide tons of Alacrity, vastly boosting the condition damage of the entire party by allowing big abilities, (purging flames, judges intervention, flame trap, bonfire, venoms, burst skills, feel my wrath and other longer cds that add lots of damage). This probably is my first choice.

Build: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMFpAJ8Bug~

Necromancer: Yes, the necromancer. Too long has this class been unviable in pvp. Most people only see potential with the greatsword (that sexy, sexy greatsword) however, this is not the build we’ll be using. Instead, we’ll be using a build that would be completely unviable on its own. That’s right, a condi necro in dungeons. Why? Because necros may not stack up condis as fast as the ranger or guardian can, BUT they can spread them like no one’s business. The entire focus of the build will be to spread the conditions applied by other party members while adding some of your own.

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7Yjc0Q1N2dDe2A/NOMGq5RHDhrMEC6iO+zBwBA

Let me know what you guys think!

Edit: I should note that the guardian and rangers builds were ripped right off of meta battle. I really enjoy playing those builds, if you guys enjoyed them as well, credit goes to Metabattle.

Linfang.1087:

so shiny..so chrome…

https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/643455067065065472

This. I wanted the druid until I read your comment. You will ride eternal, shiny and chrome. What a lovely day!

Lol Basalt. I think Mawdrey could look really cool if they made it grow up more. I’m thinking maybe flowers, vines, who knows?

xadine.7069:

I never thought about it, but leg maudrey… I NEED IT.

Right? I mean, there’s no reason why Mawdrey would stop growing, is there? I mean, she might get flowers or something. Right now, she’s a glorified sprout/shoot.

Eponet.4829:

Chameleon Dude.1564:

Legendary quaggan backpack please – it could become a real quaggan! Or maybe legendary Koss on Koss… ¬.¬

But yeah, more options are always good. Nothing will make me touch high-end fractals or play SPvP; and we all know how kitten WvW turns when rewards are offered (the seasons completely kill it for me, sorry) – so a regular PvE alternative would be appreciated. Then again, why stop at one? The more skins the merrier, right?

Legendary Tybalt becomes a real Tybalt?

#Clawislandproblems Poor Tybalt

So one of the new back skins released (attached) is a legendary fractal backpack. It’s super sexy, but it got me thinking. If they’re going to take the Fractal Capacitor and make it a legendary, my Mawdrey would also be a great candidate for Legendary status too!

Mawdrey is unique in how you had to travel all over Tyria to obtain her, she grows as you collect more stuffs, and could potentially grow even more (if you could give her legendary pots and waters ofc.)

What would a legendary Mawdrey even look like? I think it’d be really cool to explore that! What do you guys/gals think?

Alright, at least you weren’t completely serious.

As far as rewards go, I would never have asked for gem purchasable rewards provided they were new items. That totally devalues the item, IMO. However, these are old items that have been in the game for years that are being rereleased to people who missed them. However, the window to get them is tiny and the effort is huge. In addition, I read your post, it was totally well thought out. I agree, this event was awful that it asked us to grind (hours upon hours) for no loot, no reward save for older items repackaged for sale. This whole thing was flubbed.

I agree that this wasn’t the quality content that anyone was hoping to see. It was supposed to rev us up for HoT but instead it actually made me a little uneasy. My biggest hope is that this was a quickly thrown together idea to fill the gap between now and HoT and it didn’t receive the full attention that HoT got.

I was only asking that items, that were once on sale in the first place, be purchasable again. (maybe with an exception for that kitten selfless potion).

Iason Evan.3806:

apparently arenanet’s design is working as intended just by reading the title. well played, arenanet. well played. once you’ve hooked the mobile market you need do nothing more than rope in players who just want to stand around in town wearing stuff they bought in the gem shop.

mission accomplished.

Actually, one more thing. I really can’t even understand the mind set of someone like this. Do you suppose that ANet deviously plots a nefarious scheme all day that has hooked the minds of the noobs of guild wars 2? Seriously, like who do you hate more, people who spend their money to support the game you play, the company who makes that game, or the “mobile market”? Man, I just… how do you get like that? You’re so distrustful. Mayhaps I’m reading into this so much, but your comment just seems so out of place. So … irrational.

Loxias, I agree, individual items may seem more manageable, but I want it all! (lol) The trouble is that trying to get all of those items would take just a huge amount of time. I am totally cool with that. But this event is going away very soon, which is the bummer portion of my complaint. I would love to farm this event until I’ve gleaned all I can from it’s vendors but we frankly don’t have the time to do that. At least I don’t, anyways. :P

So, Iason Evan… I hate being rude but… You don’t know me. I have 9 legendaries that I’ve made since this game launched. I want those items because they look amazing. Also, while there are players who wear gem armor, why would you care? They supported a game you probably love to play. In the real world, billions of people offer their currency in exchange for goods and services, why is this any different? I am asking to make gem store items purchasable by paying gems. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here.

I said finals, I meant exams. Pls don’t crucify me for my audacity to error.

I may get some flak for this, but my wife and I have played this game for years now. There are literally only 3 items that I don’t have that I regret not getting.

Selfless Potion
Scarlet’s Spaulders
Scarlets Gloves

Seriously, of all the items in the game that I missed (for various reasons) those are the top of the list. I was sincerely hoping to find the scarlet ones during the 21-day sale. Instead, during my first round of Finals in college, you guys put out an event that would require 24 hours of grinding to get all 3 items. I don’t have that kind of time.

The nature of the event makes it to where I have to be online and actively participating (at break neck speeds) in a single event (not even counting dailies or my fractal) that gives no rewards while I grind away for a currency that will only be good for 3 more days.

These aren’t new items. They aren’t badges of respect for the players who have them. 2/3 of them were gem purchasable for a long time already. I’m willing to buy them, but as a father and student, I just can’t spend a solid 24 hours of time grinding one event over and over for three days.

Please either extend the time we have to grind or offer the big ticket items for Gem Purchases. That’s pretty much the entire point of gems right? Aesthetic Items that offer little value outside of convenience or style?

Anyways, ANet pls.

This is amazing!

How many Hero Points do they require to unlock? I want to use them on pretty much all my toons, but I need to do enough exploration to unlock them.

So condi damage is finally happening! I’ve been so excited. However, the only real condi right now is burning. You’ll notice professions that don’t have access to multiple stacks of burning aren’t able to run a strong condi build. The necro, for example, would be my first choice of classes that should be able to run a condi build in dungeons. However, bleeding and poisons don’t do damage on a scale even close to burning.

I understand that poison has massive amounts of utility, but bleeds really don’t. Should bleeds receive a utility buff or a damage buff?

An example would be that bleeding could either

Scale its damage based on how many stacks you’ve applied to a target. For example, right now they deal (0.06 * Condition Damage) + 22 to your target every second for one stack. Maybe change the equation to [(0.06 * Condition Damage) + 22]+(0.06 * Condition Damage * n) where n is the number of stacks you’ve applied to the target.

Or

Bleeding a target increases the duration of other conditions you apply to the target by n%, where n is the number of stacks that you’ve applied to the target.

These are just a couple ideas and I’m sure some of you have even better ones. But I would just love to see all condis find relevance in HoT.

I figure at the very least you’d have two groups stack up might like they would any dungeon. However, having abilities affect all 10 people would much better.

So this is a pretty big deal to a lot of rangers, I know this topic has been created before but I wanted to just bring it up again. The pet selection in this game is really good, but I would love to see certain additions. Tigers, for example, are incredibly popular cats, but they aren’t tameable. Lions exist in Tyria, right? Rangers would love to tame lions.

I realize that if we get new pets they will probably be thematic to HoT, but it would be incredibly cool if we could expand the selection to other, good looking animals that we see all the time already, but are unable to tame.

Some notable pets would be the following:

Griffins,
Basiliks,
Lions,
Raptors,
Wargs,
Turtles,
Tigers,
Alpine Stalkers,
and Breeze Riders.

Also, as a really cool bonus, it’d be really fun if we could temporarily tame animals that would otherwise be untamable. For example, what if you could best a mordrem wolf and command it for a short duration to aid you in battle? I think that’d be really fun and it’d bring a new dimension to rangers in Guild Wars 2?

Post your comments, likes, dislikes, opinions, additions and criticisms below!

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I can’t belive ppl start such topics.
CRUCIAL THINGS such as lazers for our sharks and asuras being able to ride moas are still missing! Let’s ponder that!

I agree with this statement.

I agree with you. I’m really excited about the HoT expansion, but geez, Daredevil? There were like a bunch of great names they could have used. Enforcer sounds perfect, it keeps with the thief theme much better. Also, Dragonhunter is supposed to be like demonhunter, but come on, paladin, seraph, or sentinel would have been better.

Edit: it looks like mesmer clones now rally enemies.

I played a game at Foefire (if that matters). Every time I killed someone they’d instant rez. There would be three of us killing one enemy, no deaths to rally on and he’d keep getting back up. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happened at least 20 or 30 times last game.

I agree that perhaps I might be bitter about my weapon not making the cut. But I’m mostly curious why certain weapons that have very, very low representation weren’t used and weapons that have a high number of classes that can use them were used.

The greatsword is usable on what, 6/9 people now?
The staff is usable on 7/9.
The shield is usable on 5/9.

Meanwhile, the short bow has a whopping 2 people and the rifle has 2 people who can use them.

This is mostly frustrating because as someone who likes to collect legendary weapons (I currently have 8 ), I generally like to make weapons that look good, but more importantly, that I will use. I won’t make underwater weapons for 1% of the game’s content. Likewise, I probably won’t make a short bow until at least 3 people can use it. I’ll definitely make the shield now, because before, I didn’t feel like I’d use it enough to justify the incredible effort it takes to make a legendary.

I guess that’s my biggest gripe. I would have loved to see the pistol, rifle, and short bow get some more love this patch.

Well, I made Bolt hoping that the Tempest would use bolt (because that would be perfect and make tons of sense). Alas, it’s a warhorn. It’s just like the thief making more sense with a rifle (Gift of Stealth!) than a staff (Gift of color?!).

I’m sure I’ll like the thief, it’s just that I wish the weapons were unique and some of them different. No character got a simple main hand weapon. Either 2 handed (5 weapon skills) or Off hand (2 weapon skills…)

I agree. I suppose it would have happened (more likely at least) if they had given each class its own weapon.

Guild Wars 2 features a variety of different weapons, 19 of them to be exact. 3 of those 19 are underwater weapons and so they shouldn’t be elite specialization weapons (unless they were useable on land for some obvious reasons). This allows a variety of play styles for all the different classes. Something that has irked me already and will almost definitely irk me again, there are 9 classes in the game and for some reason there will be 7 weapons distributed amongst them.

When Anet announced the shield as being the revenant’s elite specialization weapon, I could ignore it. After all, it’s not really a new weapon for the revenant seeing as how the class hasn’t been released yet. Also, the shield is pretty weak right now, and that representation would give value to an often underused and widely regarded underwhelming weapon. If that was the only repeat weapon, I would have been totally fine and this post wouldn’t exist.

That is to say that there is another repeat weapon. A picture released today shows the thief with what is clearly a staff on GW2’s twitter today. First of all, the revenant already showcased a unique way to use the staff: a melee (albeit non-combative form) staff. But the thief? I can understand that perhaps they are going with a monk theme, lore wise a staff would be a solid weapon choice, perhaps. But consider the following:

Thieves could have been snipers with The Predator! By the nine gods, it even requires a Gift of Stealth to make! Instead, the thieves will now have access to The Bifrost, which requires the Gift of Color. This isn’t to knock on The Bifrost, after all, I have that legendary and I love its design. But this choice makes such little sense to me.

Also, as I said before, the staff is already being used as an Elite Specialization weapon already. The ranger is getting it. What makes the choice even more non-sensical is that now 7/9 classes will now be able to use the staff. That isn’t weapon diversity. I can’t understand the logic that dictates a thief getting the staff when it’s already the most popular weapon based on how many classes can equip it. Let alone when it’s already being used for the Ranger.

I understand that some or many of you are excited to see a martial artist thief spec that uses a staff, but I’m majorly disappointed with the lack of creativity. The entire point of expanding the weapon sets was to increase build diversity. That’s all well and good but if the overwhelming majority of players are playing with the same weapon, I feel like that defeats the purpose.

While I remain very excited for the expansion, it’s a shame that the expansion of weapon choices introduced so few weapons and so many of the same weapon to different classes.

My final note is that from what has been shown about elite specializations, they tend to be obvious meta choices. While there will be a good amount of people who won’t use the elite specializations, I’d wager that the overwhelming majority of players will. Not only are the talents really strong, but the animations are incredible. The side effect of duplicating the same weapon for Elite Specializations is that you make certain weapons much better than others. Many people feel that the Great Sword is too strong right now as a weapon choice. (Being someone who loves Great Swords, I personally don’t feel this way, but I can understand where they come from.) But when shield and staff are now meta for 2 classes each (in addition to roles where they currently are used already), you are creating more “Great Swords”. In future expansions, please consider giving each class a unique weapon so that all weapons can get some love.

Tl;Dr OP is bummed because despite having 9 elite specializations announced, only 7 unique weapons were “expanded”.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNL5THxXAAALdRC.jpg:large

Omg wow Ambika, you nailed it! I loved your reply. My wife and I do that, when we value an item of entertainment, we ask ourselves how much time will we enjoy it vs the cost of the activity/item/whatever. Video games are frequently cost efficient and we aren’t stingy with putting money on them. This expansion will probably contribute to thousands of hours of gameplay. It would have to be absurdly expensive before we would decide to not buy it. We both got the Ultimate Expansion.

No, you’re not. They’ve given it free with a purchase. When you see buy one get one free at a store, it means the same kitten thing. They didn’t roll the price of one shirt (for example) to the other shirt, it’s just that when you buy one, you get the other. And the 100$ is a great deal. You get all the bonuses and the reduced priced gems.

Rabbit up, you and like-minded individuals are the people that created soon®. Realize that rather than being happy to get a big expansion that could breath a new breath into a (possibly) stagnating game that has the potential to revitalize the game altogether, you are mad because they said something (a while ago) and they did something else.

When people do this, companies realize that it’s better to say nothing and make zero commitments to anything rather than say something and change their mind. Everyone is so mad about a 10$ difference that we have losers leaving the game altogether, the forums have been on fire with all the rage from people who don’t understand the value of money and so on. OP’s right. I’ve personally invested 3,000 hours into this game.
Let’s assign a dollar value to that.

Assuming a dinner out for me costs 50$ and it takes an hour, I would have spent 150,000$ on restaurants.

Assuming a movie ticket is about 10$. The average movie length is about 2 hours. So I would have spent 15,000$ at the movies.

You get the idea. I spent 60$ on the game with some money here and there, but I have never spent even close to the amount that I might have if I had entertained myself elsewhere.

Expansions for MMOs normally cost 60$. This one is 50$. Buy it, then buy the character slot that everyone cares so much about and be satisfied. This game has produced sooo much content at no cost to the player. It’s absurd that anyone is mad right now. In truth, people could buy the ultimate edition and still have been incredibly economical with their dollars to time spent enjoying themselves ratio.

Furthermore, if you feel cheated by ANet saying that you’d need the core then changing their mind, you need to remember from here on out that when developers act super non-committal and say things like soon®, they’re doing it to avoid the nerd rage of thousands of players just like you.

I got it, I’m sorry that you had to buy an expansion to a game that a company has since put on sale and then later added it as a free item 3 years after its release with the purchase of said expansion. I’m sure your 50 dollars you put down will cost you at least 10 years of hard labor to earn. I mean, sure, you would have spent 50 dollars in about 3 months with other games’ subscription fees. And I mean, yeah, the game is giving most of its expansion free of charge. And maybe they’ve updated this game continually giving free content after free content. But kitten it, you deserve everything free. Don’t rest until you find a journalist willing to bring such a corruption as a paid expansion to the light!

I hope this post is a joke. I mean, I’m sorry if your subscriptionless game costs the same as other games? oh wait let me try again. It’s not like World of Warcraft ever gave away the core game for free with a purchase of an expansion!?! oh wait… hmm

Actually, sorry, Omocha, that was rude. I’m just amazed that after 3 years of Free updates and mini expansions to the game including new maps and traits and skills that people are so mad about an expansion that costs 10$ less than other mmo expansions. Despite the fact that it costs less, they are still giving a ton of it for free. Redone specializations, wvw and Lion’s Arch. I’m just saying, as a company, they’ve done right by their player base. We have gotten so much free stuff its staggering.

Omocha, you’re comparing a new title to older ones. When they came out they were each 60$. Nice try.

First off Falcons, they haven’t gone silent, they’ve commented on a couple posts already. Secondly, sorry that your subscription-less game requires a 50$ cost for an expansion. Despite the fact that most mmos cost 60$ to buy the expansion, you certainly feel like you’re owed more free stuff. I mean, yeah, other mmos cost more and that subscription fee ends up being about 200 dollars a year (or two ultimate editions, but who’s counting). I’d bet that you’ll spend more money on the replacement you find for guild wars 2. Then I’ll see you back here in a couple months

2 dozen hours of fun for 100$ is like 4$ an hour. I’m sure you could do the beach and stuff for cheaper, but when you look at games in terms of time played, it becomes a really efficient way to spend your money.

Yeah, my opinion is a comparison of other MMOs and it holds water. HoT has a variety of great additions. It’s fully worth the 50$. For comparison, take a friend to Chili’s or some comparable restaurant and tell me that your tab for the meal is less than 50$. For one hour of enjoyment you can eat a meal out, or presumably for hundreds of hours or more you could play Heart of Thorns. I realize that you want the free stuff, but when you play a game without sub fees expect that they won’t be prepared to give you all the free stuff you’d like. GW1 players might have come to expect it, and I do sympathize with them, but GW2 is a more polished experience and it costs them money to publish it.

Like it or not, 50$ isn’t unreasonable. It’s economical in terms of dollars per hour enjoyed. So you didn’t get free stuff, you know what else would be economical? Putting 20$ on the game or even getting the 100$ ultimate addition and buying all the stuff you want. In terms of money spent vs hours of enjoyment, this is a very economical choice. If you don’t agree, why are you playing this game? If you really don’t think you could squeak out a couple dozen hours of fun, don’t buy it.

Well Arkblue, when you pay 15$ X 12 (180$) + 60$ for a total of 240$, yeah it’s no wonder that WoW makes big expansions. That and they have lower end graphics so it’s cheaper to do. There’s less voice acting etc. Also considering that they’ve got the most profitable MMO in history, yeah. Their expansions tend to be bigger. But regardless, they’re still competition for GW2 so when we talk pricing we talk in terms of competition. Everything works this way. So when you compare HoT to Heavensward, Warlord of Draynor and (placeholder for inc ESO) then you have to compare the price points for the expansions. The trouble is that without monthly sub fees they can’t charge you the 240$ for the expansion and deliver a whole new continent because players would look at the 240$ and say “But Heavensward was only 60$” ignoring the money they’ve been paying each month.

I realize that ANet makes profits from gem sales but judging by the number of people upset by a 10$‘s value in the expansion, I’d wager that gems are far less profitable than monthly sub fees.

I feel for the GW1 players who had hoped to see a new character slot come with the expansion. However, I’d still argue that paying 60$ for the expac + a new character slot would be reasonable in the context of other MMO’s costs. In addition, in just raw hours, I have somewhere in the ball park of 3,000+ hours of entertainment for 60$ and 100$ (I bought the ultimate). Even in the scope of dollars paid vs hours entertained, you’d be incredibly hard pressed to beat the price of GW2 + HoT. I understand that not everyone has the money to put down on the video game. I can respect that. I still feel like for the amount of enjoyment you’ll get, the price is incredibly fair.

Myrden, I’m not “blindly” shelling out my hard earned money. I’ve seen some (maybe most, who knows at this point) of the expansion already and what I’ve seen excited me. I’ve been waiting, along with many, many others for expanded weapons for a long time. The expansion looks great. The game is actually 60$ and the expansion is 50$ so you’re right, you’re not paying the same price for (admittedly) less content. Now if you compare it to the ridiculous sales price of 10$ then sorry man, you’re just never going to be pleased.

Compared to their competition, WoW, FF14 and perhaps ESO, they’re releasing expansions at around the same price point but GW2 hasn’t ever required a monthly subscription fee. So do the math and tell me whether or not this game is worth 60$ (3 years ago) + 50$ (soon). Compare that with FF14, for example, and you’d be paying, aside from the 110$ for the base and expac, 540$ of sub fees (36 X 15 for a round three years).

You’re angry. That’s pretty obvious, but this is a very reasonable price.

I see what you did there, Lydon.

I hope you change your mind and decide to play Heart of Thorns. If you’ve played since 2007, I’m sure you’ll be delighted at what’s in store in the expansion.

Sure, I understand that everyone wanted a character slot. I also get that people are mad that the expansion is 50$ and for some people that’s 50$ plus a free game (GW2 core) and to the vets its just 50$ and no character expansion.

But, this is the first, long-awaited expansion that has a ton of content. It’s easily worth 50$ and I don’t think even half of the people fighting this would be upset with that price if they hadn’t given GW2 core for free to new players. 50$ is reasonable for the content. The inclusion of the core doesn’t devalue anything. The core is being given free to players who are new because let’s face it, joining an established MMO is a daunting idea to new players. They’ll be noobs in a game full of vets who won’t have patience for their learning curve.

I’m really more frustrated that rather than coming together as a community, all excited about the expansion that will be released soon, we have so many people who are angry over a 10$ difference.

Truth told, they could have charged 60$ for the expansion (and provided a character slot) and no one would have complained.

When I heard that you guys finally released the Pre-Purchase for the game, my wife and I rushed to your website to purchase the Heart of Thorns expansion. We don’t care that you chose to give the game free to new players because we’ve spent three years loving your master crafted game. The amount of dedication poured into the making of this MMO is apparent. The quality of life in this MMO greatly surpasses your competition and we have been avid fans of this franchise ever since we discovered it during your pre-release of GW2.

It’s disheartening to us to see that other veteran players are blowing up the forums because they want free stuff. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to put so much effort into making a game and when you finally release the pre-purchase for its expansion that the player base would be so negative and calling you guys “soulless corporate husks” for just trying to market this game.

My point is, I’m super hyped for this expansion, and I’m sorry that rather than hearing from your players about how excited they are as well, you’re getting ragers angry that they didn’t get free stuff.

Guys, the fact that GW2 is free to new players is a way to incentivize new people to join an established MMO. That’s normally daunting because nobody wants to be the noob in a world full of vets. They don’t owe everyone a free copy because they elect to give it away to some. Be realistic, how many millions of dollars would they lose by giving away a (normally) 60$ game to each and every person who buys the expansion?

So glad to see a positive post! It’s amazing to see how people can be so upset at such a small detail that they would let it ruin the expansion (for them) that we’ve waited for so long to get. In reality, if ANET decides they want to give the core game to new players for free, good on them. Starting an MMO years after its release is daunting to many players because they know that they’ll be nooby in an established world and there will be a learning curve that the vets will be impatient with. Besides, the amount of content already in GW2 is staggeringly awesome and giving that for free is incredibly generous.

If people are mad because some people are getting a better deal, they must be forgetting that the 10$ a new player might be saving with this purchase does not equal the value of having 3 years spent enjoying one of the greatest games I’ve ever played.

Stop letting one, inconsequential detail spoil the awesomeness of this huge expansion. I and many others expected a 60$ price tag on the expansion, and the core version is even cheaper than that. Just buy your copy and enjoy the game! The developers shouldn’t have to spend so much time and energy creating a wonderful experience just to have their forums explode with negativity because they exercised their prerogative to give the game free to new players.

I don’t know why most of us veterans are so upset that GW2’s expansion allows new players access to the game. Sure, new players get free stuff but you know what else they’ve gotten? They’ve gotten this game for 10$ several times. I know I bought it for 60$. They don’t need to reward the vets any more. The achievement system is a solid reward system for people who’ve stuck around. So are all the weapon sets from the various eras for the Black Lion tickets and from the living story. Instead of hating anet for giving away years of their own hard work for free for people who want to start playing an MMO 3 years after launch (which always means they’re starting behind the curve and will be nooby in a world full of vets who are completely ahead of them), focus on the fact that we’re getting a new class, a new zone, a long overdue complete rework of our specializations (for free, mind you) and elite specializations that bring the long anticipated new weapons to each class.

We aren’t getting nothing. We’re getting what the vast majority of us have waited for for years. Remember, while you’re mad that you can’t get the best value (IE a free game) this decision gives away years of their art and work for free. It’s one of their many ways to attract new players to an established game (a thing that is normally daunting). So stop whining at that one detail and just enjoy the expansion we’ve been hyped about for so long.

I mean, if you look at the screenshot I posted at the beginning, you can immediately notice the effects of Bolt but The Minstrel’s effects are completely dwarfed. Sure, the pink on the harp is eye catching but the music notes are dim and tiny compared to the huge tongues of lightning that completely engulf my character.

DieFinn, the aura remains but the footsteps are overridden. Regardless of what they do, I’d hope to see that at least something is done to make Minstrel feel like a legendary weapon. I mean, when compared to immobolus (sp?) The Minstrel looks and feels nearly exactly like an exotic.

I’ve seen a couple, but you’re right. It’s a very under-represented Legendary. That’s a bummer too because as far as weapons go, the Focus is a generally popular one.

That actually sounds great, Dante. Hopefully, they will address this eventually. I realize they’ve got their hands full with HoT and the new legendaries will be coming out soon. I’m just walking around in LA with just The Minstrel and no other weapon and it’s a bit disappointing when I can’t see the visual effects that well. I have the game on a high graphics setting but alas lol.

A lot of other Legendaries got visual updates that made huge improvements to their (already cool) designs. Hope some of that love comes to the Minstrel.

I would hate for my proposed improvements to negatively affect your experience with Minstrel, but I would still like to see some change. I personally love the idea of playing the GW2 theme simplified on a harp. But other than that, I would probably be happy if my projectile looked like lines of music. If you could add something, Dante, what would you like? (I realize I’m a lot less minimalistic in my tastes)

I love the music notes, I suppose I wish I could just see them better. I realize that bolt has a really large aura and some overshadowing should be expected but I’m probably going to need to make frostfang or moot just so that I can appreciate my offhand lol.