Guild Wars 2

SBI welcomes WvW players, and we have a number of guilds you could hook up with. I know there are many of us who would be especially happy to have more players eager to flip camps and kill yaks and supply runners, especially on the Borderlands maps in enemy territory.

I’m a fan of tanky, high condition-damage builds, and tough pets with AOE (drakes) for taking camps. Entangle, Bonfire, traps, drake F2 can put a lot of hurt on the camp NPCs when your condition damage is up there.

When traveling I love the Entangle+Drake Hound F2+Wolf F2+ GS leap for getting away from trailing enemies I don’t have time to mess with.

I see this at least in part as a quality-of-life improvement for those of us who spend a lot of time running supply from camps and building siege in keeps and towers. We are generally an over-worked and under compensated lot, so I’m happy about the new ability.

I left SBI for Kaineng right before the end of free transfers. It was not an easy decision to make, but I have no regrets about the time I spent on Kain. I learned new things, figured out what I like to do and what I’m best at. They’re good people, and there were good fights, but they too were hit really hard when War Machine decided to leave, just as they had done when they were on SBI many months ago.

Anyway, I returned to SBI and have been very glad I did. I really like the community, and I see a lot of people working hard and putting in sometimes-long hours, both for the love of the game and a desire to do well as a server.

I really appreciate that non-commanders and commanders alike are generally very open to well timed, helpful input and suggestion.

Like with any server, we encounter bumps in the road from time to time, but we do seem to have the foundation necessary to roll over them, rather than drive ourselves into a ditch. We also for the most part work together to both be more effective, and have more fun.

So yes, SBI is still a great place to be. We would love to have our old comrades back in the fold, and could especially use more players to cover non NA prime times.

yanoch.7051:

Didn’t knew they came from SBI. We are facing SBI this week and I wondered what happened to them to fall from tier 1 to mid tier.

Yes, WM left SBI several months ago, triggering a number of other WvW focused guilds and individuals to leave. WM went to Kaineng and some SBI guilds and players followed, then they left from there, too, putting Kaineng into a downward spiral, at least to some extent.

THE Quick Fix to Ranger Pets: Get rid of them and boost player damage by 50%.

I’m about ready to give up on Ranger after the latest patch, and think Ele would probably allow me to better do what I like to do in WvW.

Just looking for some direction. I plan on leveling as fast as possible, which as I understand it, means crafting.

I have been running a high-healing-power bunker beastmaster. I think Ele can allow me to do what I was doing on Ranger, plus a lot more.

Things I’m looking for:

- High mobility
- High survivability both alone and in zergs
- The ability to solo camps fairly quickly
- The ability tag a lot of targets in zergs for loot
- The ability to be useful attacking/defending structures

I tend to run alone and just join groups/zergs when I think my help is really needed, or when I’m ready to build my funds back up. I’m not looking for solo fights as much as I am just looking to get things done such as flip camps/prevent flips, scout, kill/defend yaks, run supplies, man siege and not get downed by AOE. I value survivability over damage.

The Ranger is/was great for mobility and survivability and very small fights, but I feel when I do join the zerg I offer little to nothing, and don’t do very good at tagging lots of enemies for loot, either.

So, any build/direction recommendations would be appreciated.

Edit to add: I prefer to fighting at range over melee.

I agree that the word Ranger in-and-of itself does not mean archer. However, Anet’s own description of the class opens with these words: “Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows.” This has already been posted a million times. One hand doesn’t seem to know what the other is doing after reading those words, and seeing the reality of GW2 Rangers and their bows.

It’s hard to be optimistic about reaching a goal when one step forward is followed by two steps backwards.

Yeah, when I saw the leaked notes this nerf caught my already-crying eye. I guess Anet thinks it’s too OP for a Ranger to have a semi-covert way kill a yak or cata (but for thieves it’s just fine), or for them to be able to collect a few giant pearls and kill a couple of Krait at the same time. What very few minor advantages/niceties having a pet offers are being snuffed out by Anet.

I could have been happy playing nothing but Ranger for another year were the class being handled properly, but I’m seriously considering giving up at this point.

In-combat speed is bad enough. Please don’t make us move like we’re in molasses 100% of the time. Besides, people will still blob anyway.

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies.

Haha. Guess what, with the SB nerf even killing bunnies and chickens for daily got a little harder!

While I hate the nerfs to SB range and do think Rangers should surpass all other classes with bows, based I guess mostly on my GW1 experience with them, I think people are mistaken if they think the term “Ranger” has automatically has anything to do with weapon range. Go look ranger up in a dictionary. The root word range is in regards to the area they operate in. It implies more of a guerrilla fighter who patrols expanses of forest or jungle, but not specifically somebody who is better at long ranged attacks than any other fighter.

Do you WvW? I took advantage of the 1200 range regularly.

Thanks for posting. I look forward to following the evolution of this build, along with Faux’s new build.

Just had a short time to experiment with this build. Is Guard working normally? Anytime I used F1 or F2 the pet came out of stealth. Is there some way to keep the pet in stealth but still control it beyond just putting it in heel (F3)?

Also, maybe this is just a new bug, but I tried Lynx and Eagle and their F2 skills were showing to have applied bleeding (icon below target’s health bar at top of screen), but I didn’t see the normal white numbers flying off the target, and the health bar didn’t seem to be dropping.

As far as Guard being a pain to constantly activate. I use a 2-pedal foot switch and a mouse with 6 buttons on the side. Two quick clicks of one of the pedals activates Guard, and a thumb press on the side of the mouse is programmed for F3. I think that will make it less of a pain than using the keyboard, but yeah, having to do it every 12 seconds or so will still get old.

Rangers don’t get Torment. They get tormented (via needless nerfs).

They nerfed it by 300, not 100. That’s a full 25%. On top of the huge nerf to pets, this is one big castration of SB+BM Rangers.

What a kick to the crotch. I’m at a loss. Not only my build but my whole wvw playstyle has been effectively gutted.

Wait till the dust settles after the 25th patch. Could be some huge changes, or few to none.

Meglobob.8620:

All leaks 100% confirmed true by Anet themselves…

Please provide a link to this confirmation.

Daze.6914:

It’s Ok for me as I usually use my sb at short range, it is my kind of melee weapon. Actually, this change will be more a buff than a nerd for the use I made of it (+14% damage on 3 skills).
However, I’m more concerned about the drastic pet DPS reduction.

The +14% on the utility skills won’t be noticeable. If they had put the +14% on skill 1, yeah, that would be somewhat of an offset for cutting the range by 25%, but they put it on utility skills you’re supposed to save for the right moment and not try to spam for a measly damage increase.

SB Ragners (and BM Rangers) will be taking it in the shorts, if these update notes are for reals.

^^^ Thank you!

iCryptik.1496:

slingblade.1437:

Remove the coin cost from upgrades. Hundreds of supply is enough of a cost already.

Replace it with karma.

Karma can be converted to coin, via a process of a few steps. It is a revenue stream for me. but since I (and others like me) rarely ride the karma train, it’s not a big stream. We’d still be losing money, essentially, so long as an individual is required to pay some form of currency from their own pocket.

I’m not sure if the deposit system would solve all problems, but it would probably be better than the current system.

LilMcGinley.3890:

Fist of the Empire has an editable, savable map open for the public to use.

Hope it helps.

Link: http://www.fist-of-the-empire.com/GW2-WvW-Map.html

I have used this tool in the past, but now can’t get it two work.. Tried Chrome, IE, FF on two different computers. Is the tool still functional? If yes, any suggestions?

Thanks.

If the leaked notes are accurate, this this SB nerf combined with the pet damage and leash nerfs I find thoroughly depressing. They’ve gutted my build and play style pretty dang effectively.

At least I have 4/5 in AC Mastery in WvW. I think I’ll be better off just sitting next to an arrow cart from now on.

Why in the world would they make a buff related to fighting NPCs apply to ALL fighting instead?

Since I have 4 of 5 in AC mastery, do I have improved range, radius and conditions on my bows?

Abilities related to guards should apply to damage given/received to/from guards, only.

Rangers, prepare to see your veterinarian even more frequently for pet-corpse drop off.

Bovinity.8610:

I guess it’s just something we don’t think about in my groups. We take a keep, someone will volunteer to set up siege, someone will stay behind to start upgrades, and we just get stuff done….
…by and large I don’t see a need for any more rewards in WvW than already exist, and I’m certainly not concerned with my gold/hour when I’m in there.

In your groups, is there a rotation where everybody takes a turn staying behind, upgrading, building, running supplies, or does it tend to be the same few people that handle those tasks most every time?

If it’s a fair rotation, where everyone takes their turn, then I’m jealous. In my experience across several months and a couple of servers, however, it’s the same few people who are aware of the importance of such things, and willing to handle them. They might not complain, but I assure you, most of them often feel quite taken for granted, and they may operate at break-even, or a loss.

Props to BP for putting on a clinic on how to hold onto Hills. Glad we (SBI) finally got that sucker back.

Luthan.5236:

…regarding the “end win” with the points ticking: Nobody really cares… cause the match is 1 week and barely anyone plays 24/7 the whole match. So it is not “your” win. Not much incentive to fight for win there.

…Here you feel nothing… cause you might only be able to play a small amount of time… and then not even have time to play at the reset. There is no real “win”.

The only small wins you feel are after you take a tower or keep(and this feels better if there was a long battle)… but then again if you just lose it and can capture other stuff to get “wins” it doesn’t matter if you lose stuff.

It’s unfortunate that that has been your WvW experience. I started WvW soon after launch, on SBI, went to Kaineng for awhile, then came back to SBI. In that time I’ve been a part of WvW communities with a lot of people that care about the score and work hard together to accomplish goals, sometimes over several hours and at great expense in terms of gold and sleep lost, and that’s what keeps me coming back to wvw. Even when we know we’re not going to win the matchup, we find a reason to keep striving for smaller victories.

Last night, for example, we decided to make another push to remove Borlis Pass from our Hills keep on our BL, even though they are a lock for the win this week. They had taken up residence there days ago, devoted people round the clock to make sure the gates were watched, supply depots full, and plenty of siege/counter siege to cover every possible angle of attack was in place at all times. It was truly a fortress, as well as a huge thorn in our side. An insult of sorts, even (though I have no hard feelings about it at all and admire what they did). Over the last few days we spent many hours trying to oust them and failed many times, but finally accomplished our goal. Much gold was lost. We were doorstep-service for badge delivery many times.

I wasn’t there when it finally fell, but I still feel I had some small part in accomplishing that goal because I was one soldier among many in the battle hours before who helped deplete their supplies and tamp down other problems on the map that could have undermined our ultimate goal. I know there are a lot of other people on SBI who feel both relief and pride, even if they have less money than when they started.

So, yes, there are many people who do care and who do want to do what’s best for their server, and not just themselves in terms of loot and WXP. Hopefully you’ll get to experience that at some point.

(Edited for spelling)

DeadlySynz.3471:

Honestly, I don’t really understand why somebody would want to upgrade a tower, let alone hold onto it.

Really, in the end, what does holding onto that tower get you per tick? A bit of points? What do the points equate to? Possibly a win/loss in the grand scheme of things? Big deal, I believe most people agree they WvW for the fights and loot. I don’t really think i’ve ever seen anybody mention they join WvW just to have a high PPT score.

What do you get for taking over that tower? A decent amount of silver, karma, and WxP. Continue flipping that baby, and you’ll see that silver, karma, and WxP rack up fast. Yes you get the same for defending, but honestly (at least in my experience), towers get taken over 8/10 times anyway regardless of how well it’s defended.

Keeps, Garrisons, and SM I can understand holding onto because of the Wp’s. Towers on the other hand.. meh, far more lucrative to just let them go and take them back again.

You measure success by how much loot and points you get. That’s your prerogative. Some people measure success in a competitive setting, which is what wvw is, by winning v. losing.

Bovinity.8610:

I see paranoid tax hating crazies exist on the internet as well.

(I’ll see your hyperbole and raise you, one time) Of course they do. Just as taxes-are-the-answer-to-every-problem-so-long-as-I-personally-pay-little-to-no-taxes-myself loons exist, too.

Anyway, taxes are, IMO likely an over-complicated answer to one problem, whereas there is a possible solution that would address multiple problems. If they want to take money out of the economy via WvW, make zerging a diminishing-returns reward system, as others have proposed. The bigger the zerg, the smaller the average reward. I’m always amazed at how much loot, badges and WXP I get when I take a break from upgrading, sieging, scouting and defending the home BL and instead go into EB, follow the blue icon, and spam 1. The less I think for myself, the less I invest in time and effort doing the hard/boring stuff, the greater my reward in drops. How much of a gold sink can upgrades really be, anyway, considering the relatively few number of servers, and how people are less and less inclined to upgrade?

Good Lord, we pay enough taxes in the real world, already. I don’t want an AIRS (Anet Internal Revenue Service) in my gaming life, too :p . Anet has enough control over the rewards, costs, the general economy and so many other aspects of the game they should be able to fix what’s broken without charging taxes. First it’s a WvW tax, then a Dungeon tax, then a sales tax (I know, there’s already a TP fee on the seller, but why not one on the buyer, too, eh?), then a Festival tax. Be very careful what you ask for.

THE Dentist.5960:

i just think they should allow the reinforced gate upgrades first rather than the walls and lower the cost of the 2nd worker. I think this would be a good start.

Yes, it’s completely backwards that we’re forced to do a wall upgrade before a gate upgrade.

Luthan.5236:

Bovinity.8610:

The problem here is that people are way too focused on “rewards” (Loot, WXP, etc) instead of winning.

That’s because WvW ist not about winning. If you want to play something for winning you play tPvP.

For some it is about winning, for other’s it is not. The problem is it brings numbers of both types on to the same playing field.

Jalad Lantana.3027:

They need to dump the timers completely. Normally when you build anything it lasts untill you or someone else chooses to destroy it.

As a casual with a short time every day to play WvW, it’s a waste of my resources to build siege that will vanish in a few minutes.

The whole ‘ticking’ grind is just silly.

It adds nothing to the game.

It’s just a bad idea that slipped past the early development of the game.

They have stated they need some sort of mechanism to limit the number of siege pieces on a map due to technical constraints. So, there are caps on how much siege you can have. 100 rams and 100 non-rams per map, or something like that.

Without some way of despawning siege, you could reach your limit on a map on reset night, and then be screwed for the entire rest of the match pretty much. Only siege that was destroyed would leave the map. I’m not saying the timers are the best way to address the problem, but there does need to be some mechanism to control the amount of siege on the map.

When you say the pet appeared to be very glassy, what were you seeing? Cats are glassy, but with the typical high-healing beastmaster build all pets have fantastic regen, so the health may drop quickly, but bounce right back up in no time, unless they’re taking a ton of damage.

Remove the coin cost from upgrades. Hundreds of supply is enough of a cost already.

One hour is certainly better than 1/2 hour, but it’s still too short. Maybe in the top tiers it’s not so much of a problem, but I’m on a mid-tier server and usually play on the home BL map. Usually there are only a handful of players, at the most, who will go out of their way to tick siege. And usually it’s the same few people, day after day. I saw someone else refer to these people as the “slave class” of wvw and I think that’s pretty accurate. Their work is taken for granted. Having to tick 10-30 pieces of siege across the map is a ball-and-chain that leaves too little time to do other things.

I’ve found that much of the siege I build gets missed by those who at least try to refresh because they just don’t see it, which means I have to make the rounds anyway, regardless of whether or not anyone else is helping. The people who appreciate the value of sufficient, well-placed siege and are willing to build it become slaves to doing what’s best for their server, and least rewarding for themselves in terms of loot, WXP and time spent actually fighting.

Anet, let my people go!

Mif.3471:

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

start upgrading useless upgrades, spending supply

That’s a different issue, which also needs to be addressed.

Upgrade paths need choices removed and made linear, and supply depots holdings need to be separated for players and upgrades.

Problem is, there are reasons to choose certain upgrades at certain times, depending on circumstances. Also, there are times when it’s better to wait before queuing an upgrade, such as when supplies are low.

Maybe a better solution would be to make upgrading not cost money. Rather than add a reward, remove the punishment.

Very grateful to have had a pretty dang even matchup this go ’round. Props to both AR and IOJ on a hard-fought war, and thanks my comrades at SBI who put in tons of time and effort in order to adapt and overcome.

Arale – My perspective is from someone who will personally build 20-25 pieces of siege in my server’s Garrison mostly with supplies run form camp, with little to no help. I do that because I believe it can make a huge difference in the length of time we can hold the Garrison. After I’ve invested the time and silver to build, I certainly don’t want to see any of it vanish, so refreshing it becomes the dominant activity for the rest of my time on line. Sure, I’ll ask for help, but it’s not to be counted on, and a lot of times people will miss some of the pieces, meaning I have to make rounds looking for what’s been missed. In doing that, I wind up re-ticking everything anyway, since I’m already there. And despite those efforts, I know as our numbers thin, and I eventually go to bed, things will vanish and Garrison will probably fall.

I don’t mean for that to sound like personal whining. I know there are other people who feel the same as I do about the importance of siege and who are willing to do the work, but for Chrissakes, Anet, give us a little time to got out and play, too.

Handin – I agree that poorly placed/damaged siege is an issue. I wish the builder of a siege piece (or maybe their guild mates as well) would be given the opportunity “recycle,” it, or to move the weapon, at least a short distance. I would not mind if it was a somewhat slow process, so as to prevent people from building siege at a central location and then just deploying it to the point of attack at the last minute. This at least would allow us to request a piece be moved to a better location, and also provide an opportunity for education.

Yes, or something like it. And also at least double the timers for all siege inside keeps and towers. The timers are having a negative impact way beyond their stated intent. If Anet is concerned about server load caused by siege pieces sitting around the map, get rid of something else, such as jumping puzzles, skill points and other PVE stuff that surely also creates server load and is of little to no value to the WvW experience.

I’m doubtful they do. I have not heard of any runes or sigils or anything that applies to the pet’s damage and suspect a lot of people have looked at that pretty hard by now.

You can share buffs generated by Runes with pets via the Fortifying Bond trait, but that’s the closest similar thing I can think of.

Furajir.3815:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Talk:Settler's_Ring

Thanks

^^^I’m at work, uh, working… ;-)

Can’t check the TP just now.

Trying to find info on the Settler’s. Anyone got a link?

Yeah, like Manekk says, sigil choice depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and also your play style. For example, if you have a low crit chance (factoring in how much/little Fury you have access to), you’ll want to avoid the on-crit sigils.

Once you know your focus, you can also use the stack-on-kill sigils on one or two of your weapon sets to get your 25 stacks, then switch to weapons with different sigils. For example, I run a healing/bunker beastmaster and have weapons with Sigil of Life. Once I get my 25 stacks of Life I sometimes switch a few pieces of armor to improve my crit chance (and reduce my healing power), and also a +precision SB with an on-crit sigil. So, I can maintain my healing via the stacks of Life, but get the on-crit bonuses. It’s not perfect system, but you get the idea.

What the OP is asking for is not more micromanagement, it’s just easier management of existing commands by being able to use the keyboard instead of the mouse to execute them.