…so another one can takes its place? Then people can complain about the new one?
“Meta” is just an optimized build. No matter what changes they make to the build system, there will always be an optimal build for a specific type of content.
The problem isn’t the meta, it’s that people really need to stop joining PUGs with different playstyles. Make your own LFG or find a casual guild.
Only thing I see about the meta that has to end is how universal it is. Every path will have a meta. That’s unavoidable. Having every path have the same meta, on the other hand…
They dont. You use different strategies and different class compositions for different dungeons. And this often means that the builds are tweaked specifically for a path. Some dungeons dont require the added defence of a guardian or the utility of a mesmer. Others benefit from having 2 mesmers (double portals). So each path does have a different meta. Its just they all happen to use the same gear stat. But individual builds and compositions are tweaked quite considerably.
If you are just going for your casual tour or a pug then you might see the same balanced composition everywhere (still all berserker). But thats not the most optimal for every dungeon.
I know dungeon dont bring money, however people who do dungeons often do, some of the biggest spender I’ve met were hardcore speedrunner/soloer or just people who enjoyed dungeon (hi lilith), a lot of them quitted because of the lack of dungeon updates. I would be spending good money too, I however have no reasons to do so.
I used to spend loads of money on this game. Didnt earn enough gold in game so I would buy gems with real cash every now and again. I no longer give into that temptation since the dungeon development cancellation announcement.
Can we please be allowed to have forum avatar pics next to our usernames like every other forum out there?
It would make it easing when quickly scrolling down a long list of posts when you’re trying to find posts made by a particular player, for example. All you see is red text. If we had avatars you could easily and quickly spot your friend or someone you like based on an image. Lots of other MMO forums do this. I don’t understand why ArenaNet is so restrictive.
It would also give us a sense of individuality and expression. Of course avatars would be subject to the rules against anything obscene or offensive.
ctrl + f
Avatars require extra moderation and would probably effect forum load times slightly.
Its true I havent updated my guide recently but it is for the most part still correct. The difference between berserker and assassins is minimal so your decision to choose power over precision is perfectly fine. I mentioned reasons for why going power is good, even if its not absolute optimal, on the dulfy version of my guide. In your more casual groups or if you are soloing/small group I would value precision over power. And for low level dungeons you are probably best off choosing a mix between both due to stat caps (recent discovery). But as someone just starting out I honestly wouldnt worry about it too much. With ele just go for full berserker.
Unfortunately you wont be able to do anything with your exotic gear other than salvage because its soulbound instead of accountbound. But you can atleast transfer over the amulet. With expensive runes I recommend using a Black Lion salvage kit on the exotics. If you dont have one then its up to you whether you take the risk or not.
For recommended class. Personally for me I like the versatility and damage ele offers. So that has pretty much become my new main. Im a sucker for spellcasters. I do enjoy playing other useful roles such as mesmer, guard and thief aswell. But when pugging you may find that those classes are already taken. People dont like to stack more than one of most class. The only exception is ele.
If you want a more support/defensive role then guardian might be for you. However ele can still fill some of that and is a very rewarding class to play once you get used to it.
No worries. We have all experienced this. I went through various phases of false hope with each new balance patch. Ive since learnt not to care anymore and I just enjoy playing the other 7 classes instead.
The thing with the money you spent. You should be able to salvage most of it and use it for any other class. All the meta builds use berserker or assassin and scholar runes. So you as long as you can salvage your runes and sigils you should be able to recover most of the cost. And if you have ascended already, that is account bound so you can simply transfer it to a new class.
If you happened to use runes and sigils in karma gear then I truly feel your pain. Not being able to salvage those is frustrating. I had 60g worth of strength runes in a karma set which I had to destroy a while back. >.>
If you can group with friends and guildmates you shouldnt have a problem. But if you do decide to stay with the game and want to pug then I suggest lvling a new class. Ele would probably be the best choice. Or look for groups which have no requirements. Some of these groups will still blacklist you but thats something you shouldnt take personally and just move on.
Warrior can use various skills to instantly fill adren and they fill it fast no matter what. Necro cant and it is necros source of defence. Theres a very distinct difference.
Ive never understood the 0% lifeforce at the start. Ive always felt it should start at 20% or something.
Did the rest of it get suddenly deleted from the game?
Anyway my point is that the general discussion section is a very general subforum. It has all sorts of topics. Much of which have nothing to do with PvE. So wouldnt it make more sense to add another subforum called PvE?
I sort of get why the dungeon sub forum is going. But with that gone I have no idea where i would post PvE stuff. General wouldnt feel right and it would be lost to page 2 far too quickly. Thats leaving out my personal feeling towards destroying the dungeon subforum community. As im sure those concerns wont make any difference so I would rather just salvage the parts which provide constructive discussion. And that means give us a sub forum for PvE and dont just shove it in with general.
Where are we supposed to post regarding dungeons, fractals and other non living story related PvE? General discussion already fills with threads at an alarming rate.
You forgot reapers touch and tainted shackles as a main source of damage in PvE.
Id be worried if they toned down condition damage aswell. Its currently very weak at max potential in PvE. And necro even has a lot less potential condition damage than other classes.
So im not really sure where they would tone the damage down. Further nerfs to Lich form? Because that doesnt sit well with me either.
Id say the better solution would be to just nerf lifeforce generation on power builds. And leave damage untouched.
The fights in the Hidden Arcana instance were overtuned as puzzles.
I dont dislike puzzles. But if im fighting a boss i want it to actually feel like a fight. Not a puzzle. Mixing puzzle elements with combat makes for good fights. But it didnt feel like a mix for these bosses. The exception was the facet of strength (first boss).
@Healix
If so then i missed that. Jumping on someone for a valid opinion is a bit unfair, especially when people could actually discuss what he disliked about it instead of just slandering him. The OP’s opening post doesnt mention difficulty and it brings up something that i agree with. Id expect people to discuss things reasonably without making assumptions. They were already assuming difficulty before he made a second comment.
And actually he doesnt mention difficulty as such. He says he felt forced into twitch based combat and dungeon mechanics. So his complaints are in a slightly different direction to mine. But again its not really to do with difficulty although that definately can be considered as a factor in his complaints. From what i understand of his second post its more to do with that he felt forced into playing a certain way. Which is a fair opinion and has nothing to do with difficulty.
I find it amusing that everyone assumes that boring and tedious means difficult. I guarantee most people calling it boring and tedious mean boring and tedious. I think its kind of insulting to assume otherwise.
Because if they meant “boring” these threads would be about increasing the difficulty…
Thats a very narrowminded opinion. I found all the Living Story fights very easy but I only found some of them boring. Some that I found easy, i actually found very fun (Mordrem Leyleecher and mordrem dragon). However I dont think most of them should be more difficult. Difficulty doesnt determine the fun for me and Im sure its the same for many others. Obviously it can be a factor but a well designed fight can be both fun and easy at the same time. The content is basically personal story stuff designed for solo. Its not meant to be incredibly challenging as its meant to be available to everyone.
Ill go into specifics again about what I think the OP meant. Because its what I felt aswell. I already explained this earlier. But it seems noone paid any attention and continued to slander the OP’s skill instead of considering that he might actually have a point.
The fights in the Hidden Arcana instance were overtuned as puzzles. The first boss was good. It had a good mix of puzzle mechanics and regular combat mechanics (a DPS phase). After this it went down hill. The remaining fights were a series of pure puzzles to do percentage damage to each boss. Your characters build and utilities no longer mattered and the fights became boring once you understood the puzzle. The way I would of done this differently is to give DPS phases like the first boss.
Basically the fights became overtuned and too puzzle focused and as a result became unenjoyable. However they were still easy. The facet of strength was the only exception for me. It was both mechanically interesting and fun despite its low difficulty. The other fights didnt feel like I was fighting a boss, they felt like i was doing a silly puzzle. There was complete disconnect from the boss fight.
They have to be very careful with where they remove damage if they go down that route, Because currently in PvE necro is one of the least damaging professions.
That being said if they still refuse to give us healing through deathshroud. Then they need to compensate us in other ways. By blocks and other damage avoidance. Ideally id like a bit of these anyway. And as you say the design inconsistancies of DS shouldnt exist in the first place. So i really do hope they stop shying away from it.
I find it amusing that everyone assumes that boring and tedious means difficult. I guarantee most people calling it boring and tedious mean boring and tedious. I think its kind of insulting to assume otherwise.
DS doesnt scale when being hit by multiple players. And it doesnt prevent control conditions. Things that skills like shelter and distortion do.
I dont believe its fair to compare DS with any of those skills. DS is simply an extra bit of hp with some skills attached. That can be looked at as a positive or a negative. Depends on the situation. But currently DS kind of hinders what its supposed to do. And considering necro doesnt have blocks or invulns then im of the opinion that all heals should absolutely work through deathshroud. That way, rather than being able to avoid damage, necro can actually fight with attrition through sustain. Like its supposed to to be able to.
Whatever balancing needs to happen to compensate can come after. Thats my opinion of it anyway.
Just a tip if you didnt know. If you are completely polite when giving an arguement most people will take no notice and ignore your comments. Being snarky makes people notice and ensures a reply. It can escalate so you just have to be careful with it. Forum tactics 101.
Im not going to continue argueing about this mesmer gs thing. I simply said it has its niche uses but is not good for everything and everyone took offense and started a stupid defensive based on tagging. My first comment was in response to someone asking why another poster said “dont use greatsword on mesmer”. I was merely pointing out the most likely reason for his comment. People dont like it when others mention disadvantages of a weapon that they use on a regular basis.
You are not an investor. No matter how you try and spin it you are a customer.
You do know that “investor” and “investment” do not solely have anything to do with financial returns, right?
If I am giving them my money in the expectations that they will make the game better, thus profiting me with a better game, then I am investing into the future of the game. Just as a parent invests in the future of their child by putting money into a college fund, not necessarily expecting to be repaid by the child monetarily.
That’s by dictionary definition of the word “invest”.
You are not an investor. No matter how you try and spin it you are a customer. You may see your money spent in the gem store as an investment. But that is merely your own perception. Anet see that as money spent on gems to use on ingame stuff. A source of revenue. You have bought goods, you have not invested in the future of the game.
If anets gemstore revenue continues to drop they will be incentivised to change their plan. Which would probably involve an expansion. So your decision to stop using the gem store will help.
Well that was fun. One slight mention that gs mesmer isnt all that great for all aspects of pve and a swarm of white knights appear enraged and determined to make clear the importance of tagging mobs above all else. Calling tagging the one niche its good for obviously tickled them the wrong way.
Guardian staff is the best weapon in the game because its the best tagger in the game and 80% of content is tagging. /s
Tagging stuff in PvE is hard enough for mesmers, but tagging with S/F – why would anyone do that? Because you want to avoid any loot at all?
Probably. I guess they’ve never been to Orr temple events where mobs die faster than your Warden can say “whirl”.
This is quite amusing because ive never had a problem with tagging with just sword auto and focus. And also since necro got 2 target cleave on dagger ive also not had a problem with tagging just with that. Most people are slow to tag and kill. It really doesnt take much to tag and get loot.
Its always fun seeing how defensive people get when someone merely suggests that their weapon of choice might not be the best in the world.
You guys are still getting hung up on it. Tagging is a niche. I didnt say mesmer gs is bad full stop so please chill out. Maybe get back on topic instead of getting into another mesmer gs debate.
Ranged tagging is a niche and completely unneeded. You can tag perfectly fine with sword auto and wardens and it does more damage.
You guys really need to stop being so defensive. If you like using gs you can. I dont care. But to answer the OP’s question I wouldnt include mesmer in the list.
greatsword on mesmer is really bad dps, you should use sword instead
If you guys stick your heads out of speedcleared dungeons, you might see that GS is a great weapon for 90% of Tyria for 90% of players. Dungeons = PvE, but PvE =/= dungeons, even if you solehandedly write a “Dungeon class guide” and call it “PvE class guide”. I’ve seen players who are looking at metabattle builds and dulfy.net guides and thinking those will make them happy, while in practice more AoE and skill spam is better for what these players actually play most of the time. In short:
If you’re speedclearing dungeons in a balanced organised group which knows all encounters, stacks, fights in melee and pre-stacks might, you as a mesmer with GS are a liability and should feel bad. That way you use sword + offhands, help your team and enjoy the game.
If you’re running a dungeon with pugs who are very likely to range and you’re not a pro with some 1k+ hours on the class, you use GS and enjoy the game.
If you’re running around the world tagging mobs for loot, you use GS because it’s fast and efficient since it provides good AoE and cannot be reflected, which lets you enjoy the game.
Thats why i said niche situations. No need to take offense and go on the defensive.
And no i wasnt talking about dungeons. If you want aoe just go sword focus? Its better dps, got a sustainable aoe auto attack and more utility. Only downside is its not 1200 range. :P
Yeah id like to see blast finisher on auto attack 3rd chain or the number 2. And id like to see a mini well or 2 as other skills for aoe damage. Also chill and blinds and an aoe pull would be pretty nice for a hammer.
Just off the top of my head. You could have the same auto attack chain as the Lightning hammer. The number two skill could be a smaller radius well which surrounds the caster. It would be similar to lava font in cooldown and duration and would provide an ice field and decent aoe pulsing damage. Then for the 3rd skill you could have a high damage aoe slam which blinds foes or applies vulnerability. A 4th skill which pulls mobs within 600 range to the necro (AOE, could maybe apply chill aswell). And then for the 5th skill a whirl which does aoe damage and applies torment in close range.
The idea of this is to provide permanent ice field instead of eles permanent fire field. Ice field could be used to provide extra defence with frost armour when using blasts and chill uptime when using whirls. And then also to give some much needed weapon based blast finishers along with close range aoe damage and aoe CC and control conditions.
Why are people talking about LOTR lore in this thread? :P
Id like to see a hammer or a greatsword for necro. Whatever happens I just want to see a proper aoe close range dps weapon. Hammer could fit that role even if it was more control based.
As someone who has played all classes and pretty much exhausted their uniqueness. New skills or weapons is something I most look forward to. Currently i find the classes pretty boring because ive played them for so long and there has been no real changes. New traits didnt really help much as they have a more background feel to them.
I really want knew content. But i know that even if we got new dungeons and fractals I would still struggle to have fun with any particular class in their current states. New weapons and skills would add freshness to the combat system and allow me to enjoy old and new content with a renewed sense of fun. Yes balancing is an issue. But i think it about time we get something to make things feel fresh. Both combat wise and content wise.
Just another opinion but here is where I would shuffle the traits.
Parasitic Contagion -> Curses
Path of Corruption -> Spite
Unholy Sanctuary it is fair to leave it in Death Magic but I would rather change it to a passive retaliation proc with ICD
Unholy Martyr -> Soul Reaping
Renewing Blast -> Blood Magic
Perhaps the developers nerfed the positions of the new Grandmaster traits on purpose.
Disagree with this.
My list would be:
Parasitic Contagion > Blood Magic
Path of Corruption > Stay in Curses
Unholy Sanctuary > Soul Reaping
Unholy Martyr > Scrap it (why did we get a grandmaster trait which basically does what plague signet does?)
Renewing Blast > Scrap it (Completely stupid as its unreliable to hit and doesnt make sense positioning wise. Doesnt heal the necro either.)
Then create two new traits which actually fit necros, do something useful, are worthy of grandmaster tier and fit the correct traitline. :P
Doesnt matter how good you are with a certain class. If you’ve played all of them to a decent level you can quite easily tell that some are in a pretty poor state compared to others. Yes you can make up for it with skill to a certain degree but against equally skilled players with a superior class you are going to have problems which are more than just being directly countered.
