Showing Posts For zamalek.2154:

What's going to happen to the lake?

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The krait will eventually get round to dealing with the quaggans. The lake will be filled with rotting quaggan corpses. This pungent biomass will occasionally congeal into a dragon that, when killed, will drop an orb. Controlling the orb will allow any players in the team to throw up (similar to the zhaitaffies) and apply “Torment” to anyone who stands in the resulting pavement pizza.

In all seriousness I think we may see some mechanic that is designed to aid the attacking teams. What would be interesting (not necessarily a good idea) is some MOBA-esque position that spawn waves of NPCs to assist you.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

From Ring of Fire - Tired of germans.

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The problem isn’t [DE]. If they enjoy blobbing then learn to enjoy loot bags. When you have enough loot bags you can sell the loot and get ACs. Those will get you more loot bags so that you can get more loot bags.

Ultimately the problem is two-of-the-same-nationality in one matchup (we have had been stacked against [FR] before in AG – similar situation). ANet could very easily ensure that it doesn’t happen – basically they should ensure that you can have one or all servers of the same nationality in a match (but not 2).

check our match up history and then complain

http://mos.millenium.org/servers/history/20

The blobs bore me, I could do without them. It doesn’t ruin it for me though – I have made quite a bit of gold in WvW this week already.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

The Role of Thief in WvW

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Another role for thieves is obviously permacontesting waypoint-upgraded keeps. This has been used against us this week in EB – much to our frustration.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

I don't like this update

in Queen's Jubilee

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The content might not be the best, but it was different. GW2, specifically the living story, has been very “samey” lately – many of the achievements sharing the same basic goal (just different skins and locations). It’s nice to be handed a breath-of-fresh-air-faceroll-farmfest (although I am mostly over it now; it was a blast though). I finished the achievements and nothing is forcing me to keep playing in that area – I can do content elsewhere in the world; play some sPvP or WvW.

Furthermore, besides CoF P1, there isn’t really anywhere to get really reliable amounts of gold in GW2. When this portion of the living story ends the arena will likely very likely fall into the role it was [very likely] designed for: a place to go and let your brain AFK while you make some easy and reliable gold – that is, if ANet keep it around (or if they are allowed to keep it around, rather).

Within the constraints imposed on ANet I think they have done a great job with this content – keep it up.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Is New AC dying?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Games have bugs. I’m guessing the bugs weren’t discovered until after the patch went out and it would seem like a silly option to revert back to the old AC seeing as they likely want valuable metrics on what people like/dislike about the patch changes.

I’m not arguing that bugs exist and are a reality in games, but AC is quite notorious for bugs (really, it’s strange, CoF and so forth fare a lot better – I basically never see bugs in them). My argument is that they should have done a little stabilization on it before making it more challenging by ways of more elaborate mechanics.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Is New AC dying?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Taught explo to two PUG noobs last night. The run took 4 hours (which is fine, I guess). Here’s the thing: I doubt they are going to go back.

  1. By all means make it challenging. However if you can’t guarantee that 90% of playthroughs aren’t going to experience a bug you are going to have to tone it down until you can make that guarantee.
  2. Knockdowns are fine as a mechanic. However, more than 2 enemies with knockdown is cheap and shallow game design: the endurance mechanic guarantees that eventually an extremely competent player will get caught.
  3. One-shot-kills are also cheap and shallow (scavengers come to mind), yes, you can dodge them but if there are enough of them around eventually you simply don’t have enough endurance/abilities to survive.
  4. Fear is pretty useless. It doesn’t add challenge (nor does it get you killed). It’s just frustrating. Especially with the troll, he is dirt easy to kill – but the constant fearing just artificially increases the length of the fight without actually making it more challenging.
  5. While I am a massive fan of the random nature of bosses (which punishes players who are used to brainlessly repeating rotations a. la. WoW), they need to have certain restrictions. For example, the spider queen should not be allowed to use the AOE DOT for a few seconds after using the immobilize. Maybe scale the event a little more dynamically (e.g. if everyone is over level 50 in AC the restriction does not apply).

I appreciate that the dungeon should be challenging. At the moment it just hopelessly frustrating, especially for someone like me who really doesn’t mind teaching noobs. No matter how good you are having to continually res will get you killed as well – and those downed players aren’t necessarily bad, they are just getting killed by dirty tricks/mechanics.

Evidence of this is that I am seeing more and more “LF*M AC Level 80”, where previously players were generally a lot more helpful. You are destroying the community you worked so hard to foster by using these cheap mechanics that punish not only students, but teachers as well.

It got so ridiculous that I had to eventually send the poor players silver just so that they could WP and repair.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Working for a gaming company

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

From what I have heard, because it is a HUGE dream of mine (I am a extremely talented developer and dreamer, but a bigger dream of mine is a wife and family).

Join a AAA company and you simply can’t have a family. It may vary from place to place, but that’s your status quo for AAA game development.

If you want to do game development and have a life rather look at starting or joining an indie dev company, especially if your wife/husband/partner is able to support you until you get going.

It can vary from company to company, as I said, status quo. You might strike it lucky; so don’t give up on AAA – just don’t sell your soul to them. Please.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

I wish I knew how to get gold.

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Rares should be sold on the trading post, not to a vendor. The buy price was anywhere from 18 to 35 silver per, depending on what they are (weapons tend to sell for more than armor, with greatswords usually leading).

Indeed. I usually just check where I would expect the best price. Sometimes low-levelled items have good prices on the TP due to aesthetic value.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

I wish I knew how to get gold.

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Cof path one runs.

This is the best at the moment.

AC, CM

These are no longer straightforward. AC is now significantly more difficult than CoF – even for level 80s (actually I would say especially for level 80s, had way more success with 35 groups since the patch). Notwithstanding that it does yield almost a full level of XP all the way up to level 73 or so; still worth it if you are looking for levels.

I am not entirely sure about CM post-patch, I played it enough times to realise it’s all about graveyard zerging and now just avoid it entirely.

Finally, you should only be salvaging exotics. Everything else is vendor trash (not destroyed, sold).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

What's a good evasive class?

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Ele. Hands down. My main is a mesmer, and I have to say that ele evasion should be reportable behavior.

With Rune of Vampirism (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Vampirism) you potentially 3 passively-proccing tank/invulnerable abilities (4 if you include your downed “2”). Add slotted mist form you get an extra activated, hold a dagger in your offhand you get another activated (Ride the Lightning). With the correct traits you also have loads of condition removal (for conditions like cripple). Plus a load from other abilities, such as conjured weapons (if Anet would fix them). Don’t forget your lightning fields etc. that stun enemies.

If you master it; it’s a metric kittenton of fun to troll groups, and you will likely spend more time making sure that you don’t get too far enough that they lose interest. I have kited players for massive distances (a good 30-40s chase) in WvW; on a level 42 ele, by simply focusing all my traits and abilities on evasion.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Is New AC dying?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

AC used to be an incredibly reliable level/skill farm, bar nothing. Sometimes a bug is a feature: http://youtu.be/2LQDLGrmYyQ

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Does anyone use a gaming mouse?

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Wired Rat 5. It doesn’t have all the crazy amounts of buttons that other MMO mice have, but then again, I am not playing WoW.

Yes, it is worth it. In fact, using a lesser-being of a mouse for even work is a chore for me now. The mouse is so ergonomic that it doesn’t feel like I am using a mouse at all.

It’s also cheap-ish. $70.

I would also recommend a mechanical keyboard, even a cheapy is better than the normal membrane junk. It has the added bonus of keeping flatmate(s), and VOIP user(s) alike, awake early in the morning with its “clack clack clack”.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Conjured weapons Fix Feedback

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154


https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-March-26-2013
Conjured weapons:
Now stop autoattacks and cannot be autocast.
Now properly appear in the player’s hands upon casting.

Outside of combat: basically fixed, ~99% success rate for weapon to appear in hands.
Inside combat: ~40% or lower success rate for weapon to appear in hands. Particularly aggravated if cast while moving.
Dungeons: Feels like ~5% of the time.
Picking up weapon from the floor: ~80% success rate for the casting ele.
All cases: The conjured weapon buffs are visualized. Picking up the weapon from the ground adds additional stacks but they have no actual effect (in terms of ability uses, not sure about the extra condition damage etc.).

Success also seems adversely affected if any form of damage is being taken.

Latency (particularly latency variance) also seems to have an effect.

I have captured videos demonstrating this and can upload them if you think that they might be helpful.

This is a regression as I basically use conjured weapons exclusively in PvE: I think the February update broke it and the most recent patch made it much worse in combat. I have tried deleting the .dat files etc. with no luck.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Why I think you're losing active players

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Dungeons aren’t hard (well some paths but that’s another matter). It’s a question of experience.

Exactly, they don’t really come down to player skill – just experience. 1st time you do AC you will learn to evade the Spider Queen red circles, after many more runs you notice and learn the Spider Queen animation that precedes the red circles. Finally you learn that sometimes you just bring another character into the dungeon to deal with the Spider Queen (condition removal, guys). In saying that, I am admitting that the Spider Queen (and bugs) is by far the hardest boss in the dungeon – which is completely broken in concept.

It also helps to ask questions while in the party. GW2 players forum QQ like nothing I have ever seen before, but in-game they are ridiculously helpful and friendly.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Why I think you're losing active players

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Not to detract from a well thought out post, but:

  1. Most dungeons have easier paths; and if you get stuck persistence pays off. Just last night we got the Path 2 double-spawn bug in AC as a couple of lowbies (lvls 40, 40, 65, 75, 80): we thought about our situation for a bit and came up with a plan that not only worked; but meant that we didn’t wipe, not even once. That run was far more rewarding than any AC run I have done; ever – because it was bloody hard, and we beat it. I am masochistic when it comes to RPGs though (hardcore FTW!). That sort of thing does detract from the ability to quickly grind something you are working toward – so I can sympathise there (I am of the mind “my legendary will happen when it happens, no rush”). The dungeons aren’t exactly ‘hard’, they just need practice (that is, apart from TA and CM – those dungeons aren’t enjoyable at all IMO).
  2. Agreed. Cash is a bit scarce. However, if you want to try out builds I strongly recommend you visit the sPvP area. I frequent it even though I have probably only played 5 or 6 matches; just to test out my theorycraft. I also try out level 80 classes before levelling them in sPvP.
  3. It looks like it might be fixed in the new patch.

Basically if I read between the lines it seems like players might want to sometimes do a bit of grind content (meaning predictable, reliable, mindless and has a fixed income per hour): which is lacking in GW2. The only problem is if you have something like that the farming bots will flood to it – the unpredictability in GW2 makes it a lot less lucrative to bot farm than, saw, WoW.

Don’t rush your Legendary – it is only marginally more powerful than exotics. They are also becoming a bit common (I see 2 or 3 every day on AG PvE); you might want to look into unique exotics instead. They are a lot cheaper, some of them have fancy effects and are quite scarce at the moment (at least on AG).

Also, don’t remember those boosters you get (for free): especially when levelling a character. They are a huge help. Take a look at your bank and make sure you don’t have any gathering dust.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Liking the third F & F update!

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Leaderboards?

Not that I particularly wanted them: but I saw a lot of QQ about their absence. Looks like ANet does actually listen.

Prediction: the update will drop; and players will just find something new to complain about and bandwagon that instead.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

I have problems entering dungeons!

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Disband the party and have the player with the problem enter the dungeon first. Worked for a guildie.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Ascolian Catacombs P2 and P3 Trigger Problems

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

P2 Repro

  1. Skip the gravelings before the ghost eater
  2. Ensure that gravelings come into the room and don’t leave (stalkers are generally the most persistent)
  3. Ensure that the gravelings survive the ghost dialog

P2 Outcome

Detha will attack the gravelings and won’t start building the traps once they are dead.

P2 Workaround

Lure more mobs into the room and let them kill Detha.

http://youtu.be/EtiPYuNwjPQ

P3 Repro

  1. Skip the mobs before the sequence where ecto is gathered (where the graveling burrows spawn).
  2. Allow the mobs to kill Tzark in the area in which he starts the sequence.

P3 Outcome

Tzark will never initiate the ecto gathering sequence.

P3 Workaround

Unknown. Allowing Tzark to die again does not seem to reset this particular sequence.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

WvW, End of Culling and PVE?!

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

You know how silly you look when you

… argue for the sake of arguing:

I’ll return to this discussion after the patch, when all of the hype has settled down and people aren’t wildly speculating.

Nonetheless, my speculation is:

- The adjustable nameplate/culling slider will allow more people to participate in WvW (effectively lowering the actual minimum specifications). This is an improvement.
- Players with overspecced machines will be able to witness more epic battles. This is an improvement.
- PvE will see better culling in the months to come. This will be an improvement.
- Zerg spell particle spamfests are still going to present a problem (my machine dips to 20 FPS in these scenarios, but in general I see 50-60 FPS in WvW). I personally hope to see some work done here soon.

diatribe: I have a single 660Ti, 2600K on a Intel OEM Intel EB Lake MoBo and get 70-75 FPS with vsync disabled in LA (90+ in general PvE). Not sure why you have problems: maybe you need to look into your MoBo or CPU (your northgate is pretty important, especially when it comes to large landscapes in combination with SLI), niether of which you specced with makes them suspect. If you did skimp on your MoBo to get that RAM try disabling SLI for GW2. It might also help to update your GPU drivers – NVidia did do a GW2 SLI compatibility update quite recently (not bothered to find the release notes, but it was in the last, say, 2-3 months).

We might see more updates if we are more supportive of ANet. Right now they are in the position where they “had better get updates right or all hell is going to break loose.” Heck, this update isn’t even released yet; and this thread full of slander. Had we been more mature about this we could have been seeing a more iterative style of release and the effort would have been more apparent. I suspect that releases are being held back in extended QA cycles because of the way we have behaved.

You asked for perfect updates, well, now you need to wait for them: QA takes time.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Guild Missions [merged]

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

^ this.

Also as part of a really small guild (20 members, 4 active) this presents no problem to us, all we did was set up an alliance/collective on our community forums and we temporarily join and rep eachothers’ guilds to either do the missions or to help guilds build the influence to unlock the missions (favor for favor). Our 4-active guild have done no less than 3 missions since missions launched. A few of the member guilds already have the required influence and nearly enough merits for treks because of this system.

Difference is: we didn’t sit on our hands and complain. We found a way around the problem (long before missions actually, LFP and so forth easier the larger your guild is – and small guilds do actually have a pretty important role in WvW).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

The Living Story - far too vague.

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Is anyone else getting the feeling Frost and Flame is a “test run” of the system to see if they can pull it off before jumping into things more complex?

Watch it! Common sense and logic will get you burnt at the stake around here.

To be honest though, I am only doing the living story at the moment for the karma (I have decided it tastes like bacon). It is a bit bland. However, I did search the map a little and noticed that the Tengu have set up a new (inaccessible) settlement somewhere (or I never noticed it before, but a few other players seem to think it’s new): so there are definitely some interesting undercurrents.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

WvW, End of Culling and PVE?!

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Complains about culling.

Complains when ANet tries to fix culling.

Minimum specifications for running a game are exactly that: what you need to run the game at the minimum quality settings. This change has actually decreased the minimum specifications (provided ANet have set it up so that you can decrease the model count to a value lower than it was pre-patch). The people who could previously render 80 models with no performance problems will still be able to render 80 models (and 1000 nameplates). In fact, players will who were previously excluded from WvW because of their machines will now be able to participate (again, provided the nameplate setting can be dropped to very low values). You are complaining that they haven’t done the impossible and drawn blood (high-end graphics) from a stone (-age machine). They have done what they can for you and have opened up WvW to more players.

Thanks for the hard work ANet, I hope the patch release goes off well.

One thing does concern me about nameplates though: that are a bit immaterial (and probably hard for clicky-players to target). Maybe use large class icons in the place of the model (when it is nameplated)?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I threw up in my mouth a little bit, when reading this :-P.

Hence we see complaints about “zerg” play from a guild that originates from a server 3 tiers above ours.

Back when I wasn’t doing what I wasn’t doing at the moment I had the privilege of tagging along with [UNTY] and [FURY] a couple of times, we routinely wiped actual zergs quite a lot bigger than our group (obviously all coordinated through the guild VOIP room). I have seen the likes of [NUKE] (from BB) do the same to AG zergs. I’m sorry that you haven’t had the opportunity to witness that level of gameplay from where you stand at the moment.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Hello there, can you say which day exactly TUP was seen zerging? I´m just curious to know as we usualy tend to avoid precisely that kind of behaviour.

Most players tend to place platoons (large groups of organised players) into the same category as zergs (large groups of mindless players that typically SpawnVDoor).

Basically they are complaining about people grouping up.

@Baldric – platoons definitely don’t spam boons and abilities. Their boons and abilities are planned according to their tactical plays and movements. If you watch the Piken Square videos that is really obvious – even the PUs know how to be part of a platoon/battalion and are deliberate about their skill usage.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

But it would be nice if you guys could focus a little more on Aurora Glade and give us a little break

BB are focusing on everyone at the moment mate; seems like they are making a huge effort to improve their coordination – and it’s paying off. I was on our (AG) borderlands earlier this week and it was… frightening.

There is still a massive difference between focusing on an enemy and spawn camping. BB were doing feint sieges, ninjering behind our backs, placing and using their sieges perfectly, keeping the pressure up and a slew of things that made the game a real challenge and back-breaker for us. Entire zergs just dedicated to keeping us distracted: we learnt a lot and it was good fun. Then we see spawn camping, and well, yeah, big contrast. If you don’t like us making fun of cop-outs then simply don’t use them.

If you don’t like the pressure then find a way to make applying pressure to you frustrating – and here’s a hint: a mere 10 people are entirely capable of discouraging pressure.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

My feedback on stealth WvW

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I think 90% of the frustration comes from stealthy classes not having to entirely commit to a fight: mostly because of “getting revenge.” You get killed by a few thieves a few times and eventually they are ‘blur’ into the same player, you finally get a thief to the brink of death and poof they are gone – you have just been denied your chance for revenge and the QQ ensues. Knockdown etc. etc. is a valid argument, but you won’t necessarily have enough of it on the class you are playing; and building to counter thieves is building to make yourself vulnerable to or less effective against other classes (tankiness is a viable counter build that retains its general utility, however the thief will eventually whittle you down).

Entering a skirmish (especially 1v1) in WvW is rarely a choice. If you happen across a thief in the open field by pure coincidence, you are committed by consequence and not choice, for basically any class match-up except a thief (blink-, leap- and invulnerability-type abilities only get you so far, and it’s easy to chase them).

This is a problem that is exempt from culling because, as said, it’s in regard to the open-field/roaming where there are virtually no other players who can take priority in servers’ culling queues.

In other words the other classes need a way to net kills apart from knockdown. In other words turn stealth into a boon (or a stack of boons), making it eligible for boon removal.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Glass Cannon Commanders

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Keep in mind that groups quickly find the commander and focus him/her (well, at least AG generally does); more-so than green arrows. If you can’t use stealth or genuine invulnerability to keep your glass cannon alive I would give that tag more thought (though, I wouldn’t eliminate the possibility entirely – you can compensate with player skill). You can always get it on an alt, just put the 100g in your bank and don’t touch it (I am doing exactly this, sans actually having the gold, my mes is a glass flamethrower so I am building a tanky removal ele instead).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

WvW glamour

in Mesmer

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

1 That looks like a really fun/interesting build. I think I am going to give it a go ( some tweaks here and there).

off topic: Is there by any chance you’re from Egypt???

Nope. “Zamalek” is the nic-name of Carling Black Label in South Africa.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

WvW glamour

in Mesmer

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Glamour blind + confuse on blind + glamour specialization + condition damage = goodbye zerg. It also = goodbye mesmer in 1v1.

The only problem I have is that I need to run a focus for a reasonable amounts of mobility – I do use a torch if at all possible though.

Very similar to yours: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQNAW7dlwziqXVTsGa9IxJFKv5oec9qbdSKgNqB;T8Ag2yuEcJlS1lSKqvMfJ+yKm7L5XrFGLsZA

AC gear makes a good ‘starter pack’ for this build. Get rid of the chill (hydromancer), the AOE range for it it pathetic – especially considering you are a ranged character. I initially had it in build as well and found it just doesn’t work at all (especially if you consider “Shake it Off” etc.).

Be warned: it is very much a glass cannon (as is yours).

  1. At the start of a fight dump feedback and veil into the enemies. Bonus points awarded if you can pull if off while they are moving (Confusing Enchantments).
  2. Wait 2 or 3 seconds and then dump null field into them.
  3. After maybe another second try and get your timewarp set up so that it covers both allies and enemies.
  4. Don’t neglect your other conditions (staff attack and chaos storm, mostly) as if you have condition damage boosting armor it’s a waste to ignore them.

I routinely get confusion “damage bubbles” of 2000+ against zergs. I routinely get slaughtered by solo lvl 28s.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Mesmer pull broken in certain places

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Whether or not it takes coordination, it’s a bug. Pulling a person through a gate does not sound like expected behaviour to me. Obstructions (the lips on the wall) are questionable.

Using it is very likely an exploit. Report and move on.

Official word from ANet indicating if this is by design would be nice though.

My primary is a mesmer, that relishes pulling people off walls, but I would rather win fairly.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Sorrow's Furnace: Paradise for PVE players?

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I feel for you guys, question is: how do ANet fix it? Separate ranking system for T7- ? Glicko works, extremely well, for T6+.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

How would you fix Zergwars?

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I am part of a relatively small group (20 players approx) that is making a huge difference on our server, that are A: usually spread across the map (or multiple maps) in groups of one to two players and B: nearly never in the zerg (but part of it when the need arises).

There is a metric kitten-ton to do in WvW apart from running with a zerg: and a lot of those things are a good way to ruin the zergs’ morale.

If you wan’t tons of loot bags you go zerging. Period.

Wrong: I have had framerate drops from loots bags from playing defensively. I have spent a good 20 to 25 seconds (admittedly only once or twice) in the past spamming F before I could get back onto my AC (usually I spend about 10s spamming F if I get forced off the AC).

Us defensive players need the zerg (just like we need the PUs and the PU zergs). We need the zerg because we want loot-induced framerate drops and problems re-entering arrow carts. We need the zerg because they take care of enemies in the field before they try our defenses. WvW is a healthy ecosystem: you are complaining because you have only given one part of it a fair chance.

Dolyaks and scouting on the other hand… No loot for you (mostly just repair costs). If anything, that needs to be fixed to make defense more attractive to people trying it out.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

My feedback on stealth WvW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

This thread derailed quite fast; props to OP wanting to have a sensible conversation about this – but you really are asking a bit much of the internet. Still, I’ll throw my idea out there.

Stealth Ability X:
- Applies 5 stacks (5 seconds) of Stealth

Stealth: Boon not status
- Grants 1 second of Stealth
- Stacks duration

Essentially you can decrease (or outright remove) stealth via boon removal. The numbers may need to be tweaked (e.g. 10 × 0.5s), but that’s the general idea.

Reasoning: if I remember correctly, stealth is the only player-applied ‘status’ that isn’t a boon in the game (I stand to be corrected): which is likely the reason why so many people complain about it. If you make it a boon, characters that use stealth will be need to be more thoughtful about when they use it (but when used correctly it would be just as devastating as it is now: as it should be).

Personally I don’t have a problem with stealth, but people are complaining – so something can clearly be improved: like it or not.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Combining NA & Euro Servers for WVW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Why not. [snip]

They don’t have an ocean separating them, nor are they a concurrent simulation. Absolutely everything that happens in the world needs to be kept synced to ensure that the concurrent reality doesn’t start to diverge.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3094/1500_archers_on_a_288_network_.php

At first take it might seem that getting two pieces of identical code to run the same should be fairly easy and straightforward — not so. [snip] A deer slightly out of alignment when the random map was created would forage slightly differently — and minutes later a villager would path a tiny bit off, or miss with his spear and take home no meat. So what showed up as a checksum difference as different food amounts had a cause that was sometimes puzzling to trace back to the original cause.

Tell me what happens when an NA player and EU player kill each other, practically the same real-world time, both are 50ms away from their home server – both servers report to the killing of the opponent to the players and the survival of the players themselves. Keep in mind that each player would see themselves as having more health than they have at the opponent’s server. Next thing a sync happens and POP! You are both dead. What happens if you dealt damage to another player in the brief period that you were (incorrectly) alive. I would love to see what players would have to say about ‘bugs’ like this.

This is such a tricky problem that not even the universe knows how to deal with it in a sensible way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Golems: Game breaking?

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

They aren’t really game breaking considering that:

- you usually need four of them to do anything meaningful
- a small zerg can eat through them
- you need good coordination and a lot of patience to use them (nearly every time I have been part of a golem push we have had to WP them out, multiple times, because there was barebones defense waiting for them)
- they are kitten against characters
- they are kitten against characters
- they are kitten against characters
- if mesmers are helping them out they leave the landscape dotted with portals, in plain sight of your scouts (no scouts? that’s why you don’t appreciate that they are balanced, how the 25-man battle marker working out for you?)

The only thing that unbalanced about them is that they look so kitten cool; but their bark is WAY louder than their bite.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Golems: Game breaking?

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

If they were the end all, be all of WvW, we’d see more use of them.

and we very nearly never see them…

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Anet needs to rethink that statement and consider banning those who transfer to do things like this.

A firm discussion would do. Artistically placing sieges can only be entertaining for so long, after that it’s very clear what the player’s intention is: “you have had your fun, now stop it, you are one player ruining the experience for three entire servers.”

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

all the innerkeep deffens was from reset day befor he blocked us out.
Right now he is building and many people spoke to the support, but they responded.
“Everone can play in this game how he wants”

I hope they sort this out, it would be a pity to see ANet lose paying customers to other upcoming titles with this style of PvP gameplay.

Either way I will be online in the next few hours, I’ll /w you if you haven’t come right and if I can throw together a group.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It’s probably best to say nothing more about it here, because that would be us violating the RoC. I’ll see if anyone on my server is able to help you out.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It does not only affect your enjoyment of the game, but ours as well – having a handicapped opponent is hardly any fun.

Hopefully he gets bored.

If you add me to your friends list and /w me I will see if I can organise a small capping team to clear out keeps for you to keep things fair and fun: no promises though, I’m not sure if I would be able to find anyone with my exact flavor of sportsmanship.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It is well known who he is. He even posts screens of his “art” in the german forum.
ANet just does not want to interfere in his work, as everybody is supposed to “enjoy the game” his very own way.

They should change their ROC then to reflect this change of policy.

you must respect the rights of others and their rights to play and enjoy the Game. To this end, you may not defraud, harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress

While participating in Plaver-vs-Player (PvP) gameplay, you will not participate in any form of match manipulation.

As well as their Breaching and Outcomes documentation.

Engaging in PvP match manipulation, disrupting a PvP match by not actively playing in good faith, or any other form of PvP griefing, exploitation, or abuse

Did they really say that they are happy with that style of gameplay, or is that an assumption?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

22/02 Aurora Glade - Baruch Bay - Riverside

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Our annoying server-troll built tons of rams again so we were capped for quite some time – sucks tbh!

We were wondering why you were not your usual selves in EB (capping and holding positions last night was a lot easier than we expected). Hopefully you can catch the culprit in the act and get him dealt with. It sucks for us as well – you guys are an awesome and challenging opponent; at least without this bullkitten handicap.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Stealth in World vs World needs a nerf.

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Maybe a viable nerf would be making stealth a boon (instead of a “status”), meaning that it can be removed via “Null Field” or whatever. Consider that pretty much all abilities in the other classes have this limitation (I can’t actually think of any applied buff that isn’t a boon APART from stealth, but I am a little tired, so…). Thoughts?

The thief would need to be more thoughtful about when she uses stealth abilities (as well as Mesmers).

To be honest though, I am currently levelling an ele, and even when the character was at level 27 I had very few problems with thiefs. Sure I might not have been able to kill them, but I could sure waste their time and deal quite a hefty amount of damage against them – and then safely retreat. I could see it being a bit unfair for classes like Guardians which don’t really have any escape apart from “tank the hell up and run”.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Combining NA & Euro Servers for WVW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

You can determine where the majority of players of a match comes from and assign the match there, then only the minority of a match has worser ping.

Good idea, however, people are already complaining about being 5v40 in WvW. That situation is actually unfair to the 5-man group.

The inverse is probably a better idea, make the server with more WvW participation (not active players) take the latency hit. The “outgunned” buff would then be having a latency advantage.

Is it just me, or are these ideas getting more and more desperate? Especially considering that this isn’t broken right now (it’s a nice-to-have), do we actually want to go and add to the issues that people are complaining about in WvW?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Combining NA & Euro Servers for WVW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

As long as the servers stand in the EU its fine with me if the Us players get bad ping.

Nice attitude. Trust me if one or the other has to get bad ping it will be euro. Anet are American after all.

Which, I think, is exactly his point. The majority of this thread has been about “EU players will be fine connecting to NA”. He was probably trying to bait a response like that in order to reveal the irony that is rife in this thread.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

World vs ground

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Sooooo whirlwind attack, hundred blades, hammer shock, staggering blow, fear me, etc are not AOE because…?

They are AOE. They are aimed because your character needs to be in position, i.e. your character is your target reticule.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Combining NA & Euro Servers for WVW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

and for what i noticed got some friends on euro servers that have a 2sec delay on skills (they have better connections than me also).

Now add your latency to their latency; that’s what they will be forced to play with.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Nerf Cliffs

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Those people under the map that we thought were hacking are actually beta testers, expect “- Removed Ground ability” in the next patch notes.

Related: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/World-vs-ground

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Combining NA & Euro Servers for WVW

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

There are plenty of Euro’s and Oceanics in NA… They have no troubles with lag.

Not all EU players are in EU, those that are not in the NA server aren’t there for a reason. Most southern hemisphere countries (below EU) need to bounce through UK before hitting the cable to NA: so add 200-300ms on top of the latency between EU and NA (usually comes to about 600ms to 700ms, up to 1 second at times).

I can see the merit in this idea. However, if you host the games in NA the southern hemispheres will suffer, if you host the games in EU the Australians/New Zealanders will suffer.

If latency wasn’t an issue there wouldn’t be a larger amount of NA players in NA servers, and there wouldn’t be a larger amount of EU players in EU servers. However the contrary is true because coverage is being complained about here: which means players did chose servers to play in which latency is minimal for them – it clearly does affect them in a way that they care about.

In terms of fixing that a page can be taken from the MOBA book: run 1 week in NA and run 1 week in US: meaning that WvW match-ups would take 2 weeks instead of one; keep the tally over the duration of the two weeks.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

World vs ground

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Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I agree that work could be done on AOE. Not going to debate that.

In the mean time it helps to be tankier in WvW; if you want to take on zergs don’t run with a roaming build. Also, considering that AOE physical damage is usually puny, it helps to have some defensively built players in your party – swirling winds, projectile reflection and condition removal (mesmers, eles, guardians). Things like Null Field are good for stripping off a good amount of conditions in a large group.

Unfortunately it is a high barrier of entry, because not everyone has access to VOIP and therefore can’t call for conditional removal – but as a AOE/confusion mesmer I can tell you my AOEs are ENTIRELY useless against organised groups: I need to switch over to my condition removal role because I can’t do any damage against them.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.