Guild Wars 2

Jomo kenyatta.7351:

balanced is the same stats on all amulets if you want to be a jack of all trades there should be a downside .

You’ve confused ‘balanced’ with ‘having the same numerical value’, they are two different things.

If celestial stats had the same numeric value as a normal amulet, then no one would use it (hence it would not be ‘balanced’) as the benefits of things like more healing that scales poorly, a bit higher HP, etc would be totally outweighed by what would be the feeble damage of a cele amulet with those stats in comparison to simply going a power or condi amulet.

Jomo kenyatta.7351:

Bwhat happened to balancing celestial so it has the same stats as every other amulet?

Erm perhaps because that wouldn’t be balanced, if they had the same stats, no one would use celestial becuase the stats don’t scale equally on skills, and even the builds that make use of all stats to some extent don’t make equal use of all those stats, don’t give up your day job.

JackDaniels.1697:

The solution is easy I think.

Once everybody ready’s up, before selecting which map you want to play on, you select which mode you want to play on first, then you choose the map.

As there is only one map for stronghold and team deathmatch, this doesn’t really matter all that much though.

Which doesn’t solve the main issue, many players will want to play one mode and not the other at all, so will result in people simply quitting or AFKing, when they are forced to play the mode they have zero interest in, frankly I won’t even bother buying the expansion if there is a shared queue, it makes the game unplayable for me.

Nabrok.9023:

If we also get build templates, it’s not a big deal.

Build templates do not solve the main issue, I find MOBAs boring as hell, and this looks MOBAish to an extent, so other than initially trying Stronghold just for the novelty of it, in all likelyhood I will not want to play it regularly, if it is in the same queue and I cannot avoid it, I will not even bother buying the expansion as the game will be unplayable for me.

Geiir.7603:

Professions isn’t the problem. The celestial amulet is. Tone down the celestial amulet so that it has exactly the same amount of stats as the other amulets. Currently you get more stat points from celestial than any other amulet – this is the problem.

Then no one would use it, because not all stats scale the same or are of equal worth even to classes/builds that can use them to some extent.

Well I agree that double/triple d/d ele is over the top, and that class representation is pretty unbalanced, but on the other hand things like an engy being in every team is nothing new, you had a bunker guard in every single team for most of the game, you had a thief in virtually every single team bar the odd rare exception for most of the game, back when spirit rangers were around, every team pretty much had one, you had a period for several months when hambow warriors were in every team, often two of them, and so on.

And looking at it from the reverse, for the months before celestial you barely saw an ele in a team, and whilst engy was better represented than ele or mes, it was still under-represented.

TyPin.9860:

However, in GW2 this visualization has gone over board, especially in zerg fights.

Game is designed for PvP, 5v5 not 60 vs 60 blobs, many aspects not just visualisations are broken in zerg fights – damaging condies being useless due to endless condie cleanse / AOE healing, a melee ball of guards / warriors that have perma boons and in particular stability up the majority of the time (covered by at least 4 boons) which renders what is supposed to be one of the most powerful things in PvP – hard CC a joke, numerous skills and weapons that are simply useless in zergs, because they were designed for small scale fights, and so on.

They can’t fix visualisation or anything else for zergs, they’d need to redesign the game and base it on mass scale PvP, that isn’t going to happen.

Morwath.9817:

zinkz.7045:

Personally I find that them letting these “rank servers” exist where people don’t even PvP more strange, in other MMOs I’ve played, Rift for example they rolled back peoples accounts who did win trading to rank up fast.

In Rift for example, PvP ranks = PvP gear.
In Gw2, PvP ranks = PvP ranks which are completly meaningless.

Well yes I agree it is more of an issue in games that have PvP gear attached, but I still think it is strange to let people basically use an exploit / essentially not PvP to earn PvP ranks & reward track rewards, and whilst I am not interested in rank or the reward track stuff, clearly some people are to say it is ‘completely meaningless’ is not true.

Ravenmoon.5318:

zinkz.7045:

I watched a little bit of WTS qualifiers the other day, there was a longbow ranger (he was called something like Eurasian), but as the guy commentating said, he was the only power ranger playing at that level, so if this build is so OP and needs balancing, why do virtually none of the teams use it, sounds like a L2P issue…

Because in a team environment, you have structure, You have bunkers you have tactics. In PuG environment (99% of the games) the rangers wreck the game. I stopped counting how many times i’ve played with team with only berserker guardians or berserker warriors that were dropping faster than the speed of light.

You can’t balance a game around people basically not playing the game properly, with random compositions, limited teamwork with no TS, etc.

Personally I find that them letting these “rank servers” exist where people don’t even PvP more strange, in other MMOs I’ve played, Rift for example they rolled back peoples accounts who did win trading to rank up fast.

I watched a little bit of WTS qualifiers the other day, there was a longbow ranger (he was called something like Eurasian), but as the guy commentating said, he was the only power ranger playing at that level, so if this build is so OP and needs balancing, why do virtually none of the teams use it, sounds like a L2P issue…

ronpierce.2760:

WoW’s entire esport is centered around 3v3 arena PVP. If you have good combat arena is great reports material. Especially if matches were set up best of 3. Gw2 2v2 and 3v3s have tons of moments for amazing clutch moments and stomp plays. Just watch some 2v2 tournies, it’s exciting as hell. In many cases way more exciting than a sweeping game or a stalemate or watching a bunker roll around on the ground doing nothing but trying to survive in a circle.

Except it isn’t great e-sports material, WoW arena failed as an esport, it got dumped by esports, despite having a huge playerbase and the finances of Blizzard, running around pillars just wasn’t that exciting, as for “clutch plays” you don’t get any more in an arena format than any other format, all arena essentially is, is a team fight, something which occurs in most other PvP formats anyway, arena is a simplistic lower skill cap alternative.

However “e-sports” aside, I agree a 2v2 / 3v3 arena could be fun, but Anet have already said they don’t want to split the playerbase further, and beyond that there is balance, now saying it is just a bit of fun is fine, the reality will be there will be people taking it seriously and screaming about the balance.

ellesee.8297:

It’s been almost 3 years! Are you telling me that in almost 3 years the most hyped, most anticipated, best selling MMO can only produce ~20 people across 6 continents that can compete with one another! Silly! 3 years of terrible conquest and now possibly 3 more years of this new game mode that is more PvE than PvP with no actual competitive PvP in sight! I am so very sad!

Your understanding of what is PvP seems limited, the ‘v’ stands for versus which means competing against, not simply combat which seems to be your simplistic understanding of it.

As you’ve seemingly missed it, most of the games that have actually produced successful PvP formats like MOBAs, SC2, etc involve “PvE” as you put it.

Vermillion.4061:

Engi is the only class that isn’t seen in GvG’s, the rest are. lol

I’ve watched a few GvG’s lately, I’ve seen zero rangers (I’m on EU), I’ve seen one video of AGG (US guild) using a ranger, but it was as a bit of fun, against not very good guilds where the ranger was barely pressured (and still died), when I see TA, LaG, etc using rangers as standard in proper GvGs then rangers can be considered as actually being used, until then they are still out in the cold, like they have been for the last 2.5 years.

And if even by some miracle ranger does become standard it will be like thief/mes so will just marginally improve the class balance that will still be terrible with 5 or so guards for a single ranger, and GWEN classes making up 75% of the group whilst the other 4 are barely represented or non-existent.

Byron.1902:

I’d like to strongly ask Anet as to why the current GvG scene has been ignored for the 3rd year running?

It hasn’t been ignored for the third year running, they built the arena in obsidian sanctum for “GvG”, it hasn’t been any more ignored than many other communities such as the RP community.

Byron.1902:

Since the early days of RG, Votf, CoN etc… we’ve developed a strong and popular fighting format based around 15v15 or 20v20.

It isn’t popular, WvW is a minority of the playerbase, and of that segment only a minority engage in GvG, nor would I describe it as strong the rate at which GvG guilds disintegrate, re-form, etc, is well interesting.

You also miss out the problems of “GvG” which make Anet supporting it as a gamemode an issue, such as the class balance which is absolutely terrible and doesn’t change because essentially the game breaks in large groups which makes certain classes OP and others too weak, engies & rangers basically do not exist in it, thieves & mesmers have been permanently underepresentated, the other four classes have been permanently overrepresentated, why should they waste time on a game mode that certain classes basically can’t play?

Deli.1302:

Life isn’t meant to be fair.

True, also irrelevant, it is a game, and not having a level playing field is precisely one of the reasons PvP fails so often in MMOs and dies off.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Why do people think that this game is 100% ballanced around PvP?

Because perhaps they are more observant than you… Back when the devs used to discuss balance changes on Twitch virtually everything was discussed in the context of tPvP, that bar the odd change is what they balance on, you really think they balance on PvE and have just done such a terrible job that necro has remained unwanted for 2.5 years? Or that they balance for WvW and in 2.5 years have not come up with a way to make engies on par in a zerg?

This game was designed around tPvP, which is why it is basically broken in other areas, such has condies being useless in PvE, standing still and stacking in a game based on movement in PvE or range generally being totally subpar to melee in PvE.

coglin.1867:

You appear to have difficulty comprehending the difference between objective fact and subjective opinion.

In my opinion balance is fine. Although I question anyone’s logic who plays WvW for balance. I have a good time, and enjoy myself when I play. I will buy the expansion, simply to further the scope of my fun.

Objectively, balance is bad in WvW, they don’t even balance for WvW, they balance the game around 5v5 tPvP, that balance totally breaks in large groups in WvW, which is why for pretty much most of the game if you look at WvW/GvG guilds the class balance has been appalling with two classes virtually non-existent and two more barely represented compared to the GWEN classes.

HARDOFREADING.7298:

It’s still alive because 6 seconds of 0 damage is ridiculous for a class that has 2k range,a stealth,a destealth,crazy burst that tracks, & on top of all that A pet Fear. Completely unfair to try & defend a structure or take a structure from any group of rangers right now. Flame away

Yes it is hordes of rampant rangers taking structures in WvW, and not the same old GWEN classes making up the vast majority of players in WvW…

WvW is not balanced, if it were rangers & engies would of not spent most of the last 2.5 years as nearly non-existent outside of roaming, and mesmer/theives would have been far better represented (outside of roaming).

If you goign to complain about balance in WvW, ranger is one of the last classes you should be complaining about.

lil devils x.6071:

Player vs Player is KILLING other players

Erm no it isn’t, the ‘v’ stands for versus, versus means ‘competing against’, killing another player, is just one aspect of that.

aquabat.2986:

pepper.6179:

with ppk, ppl will ensure they won’t die and always go in large groups. well that would end my solo roaming career or go full run away cheese tank mode.

Except PPK already happened and it turned out nothing like this. In fact, it was probably the opposite. People were out more often. There were more smaller groups as well as soloers. Fighting became higher staked, and people fought harder, making is far more exciting. People learnt and adapted to opponents build/tactics. Fighting really made a difference and PvD coverage was countered by actual PvP gameplay. If you died, you thought of ways to improve, or, “get gud”.

Speak for yourself, I found most PPT focused servers avoided more fights when we had PPK (talkig zergs/blobs), the smaller groups had nothing to do with PPK that was no white swords, and again that dpended on the server, for some all that happened is you had more groups or even individuals, but they would run as soon as they faced anything approaching even numbers, then just go off to some other objective to try and cata that down without being discovered.

Is it meant to be news that gamers as a group are as a generalization are immature and uncompetitive?

Artaz.3819:

The key is having the commander actually be surrounded by the other players so that the commander is “obstructed” when it should go off. Another option is running Warrior with Last Stand which has boon stripping as a counter too but by that time the commander is typically well aware of being targeted.

But in the end, I foresee ANet eventually nerfing Engineer Magnet pull soon (i.e. removing the unblockable component/making it a projectile like Scorpion Wire or Spectral Grasp with a travel time) and having it do damage instead.

The problem child in the room is Magnet pull.

No problem at all, they don’t balance for WvW hence the laughable class balance and tedious unchanging meta, magnet pull has a very obvious animation, competent PvP players usually dodge it, it is fine.

That a basic component of this game like reacting to animations is basically broken in WvW zergs and dumbed down to, avoid the wells, etc so commanders can’t actually spot the magnet pull, is an issue with WvW and how the mechanics of this game do not scale with numbers, they just break, rather than a problem with magnet pull.

Ario.8964:

stealth in general) is op.
The first thing I will say is flat out stealth is not op

You’ve failed already, stealth as a mechanic or rather invisibility as it is most times, is OP in nearly every MMO, now you can try to offest that OPness with weaknesses elsewhere, but that doesn’t alter that as a mechanic it is hugely imbalanced in favour of the stealther, is ridiculously strong as both a defensive and offensive mechanic, introduces guesswork on the part of the opponent and is generally a hugely cheesy mechanic, which is why scrubs love it so much…

Which is why a certain game didn’t have stealth, because the devs were honest enough back then to tell the truth, it is so OP, such a bad mechanic, that it is unbalanceable.

Nephrite.6954:

I would love to see other classes to be “balanced” like the thief but that wouldn’t be fair now would it?

You mean every class should have been balanced so they would have had a spot in nearly every decent PvP team over the entire 2.5 years of the game, I’m sure most would love that…

Cynz.9437:

cele nerf -> nerf to engi -> anet would never do that

You must be new or have a bad / selective memory, for the first 12 months or so Engy was the most nerfed class in the game, some of the nerfs:

- Juggernaut trait went from a class that had the highest access to stability in the game to the lowest in one nerf.
- Kit refinement – twice, totally wrecked the trait to the point of uselessness.
- Grenades damage, plus poison duration, plus freeze grenade nerf, etc
- Incendiary powder twice (once duration, once moving it to master tier)
- Smoke bomb pulses nerfed
- Shield 5, twice.
- Transmute nerfed
- Mine field nerfed (blast finisher removed)
- Automated Response nerfed
- Elixir R – nerfed in multiple ways, silly cast time added, stun break removed, cooldown increased on rez, etc
- Elixir S – nerfed, used to be able to use toolbelt skills whilst invurn.

and so on…

ArrDee.2573:

The top WoW arena streamer right now has over 2000 viewers! The last WoW arena tournament had more viewers than WTS! The last WoW arena tournament had more viewers than double the WTS viewers! The last WoW arena tournament had more than just 4 teams lol! But this isn’t a thread about WoW arenas! This is a thread about Guild Warts 2 arenas and how much it would benefit the game! I’m not sure why you are attacking me personally when all I am suggesting is to add more features into the game! So unfrandly! So silly! Get good son!

You are the one that brought up WoW, not me, and it failed as an e-sport, that the most successful MMO by far gets more viewers than GW2 does not mean much, WoW has around the same number of players as DOTA 2, you want compare how much a WoW tournament gets to a game that is actually successful as an e-sport.

Arena doesn’t work as an e-sport, it is too simplistic and too low skilled, and you talking like an 8 year old doesn’t change that.

If you wanted to make a post about how you would like to add arenas as another mode, you should of stuck with that, rather than bringing WoW & “e-sports” into it, as citing a game mode that was dumped by e-sports despite having a massive playerbase and the wealthiest gaming company behind it does not make for a convincing argument.

ArrDee.2573:

Will there ever be 2v2/3v3 arenas!

Arena Pros:

• It’s esports! The only ever MMO that was esports was World of Wartcraft and they did it with arenas! They didn’t do it with their conquest and lord rush battlegrounds!

Except that even with Blizzard and an 11m playerbase they failed, guess what arena sucked, running round pillars was not fun to watch.

ArrDee.2573:

• It’s a PvP mode where the primary objective is to actually PvP!

You seem to have a basic failing in understanding of what PvP is, it is player versus player, not player killing player, there is a difference,

ArrDee.2573:

• It’s easier to watch! A huge part of esports is the viewers! The amount of twitch viewers for Guild Warts 2 will increase exponentially if there were arenas!

Well firstly based on Twitch viewers they should make a MOBA mode, and secondly judging by the number of viewers you get, which on a good day is 4 you don’t seem to know what attracts viewers.

ArrDee.2573:

• It requires more skill! No longer can you rely on 4 other teammates to make up for your mistakes!

Arena has a lower skill cap than virtually any other PvP mode, all it is a team fight.

Atherakhia.4086:

That’s a problem with the game overall though. Even watching 5v5 is too much to commentate on and only specific fights involving 1v1 or 2v2 are ever shown at one time.

It is a problem made worse in “GvG” with 30 or 40 players on screen (half of them stacked in a ball).

There are also numerous other problems with “GvG”, such as many of the games mechanics are pretty much broken in it, because they were designed around tPvP, such as the ridiculous boon spamming/AOE healing/AOE condi clear in the melee ball, which renders damaging conditions pretty useless, makes a joke of hard CC when you have stability up 70% of the time covered by 4+ boons, etc.

Same thing for animations, sometimes when I play WvW I play on axe warrior, you know how many people (including from said “GvG” guilds) dodge my eviscerate when I am near/in the melee ball, none, because they can’t see the animation, a key part of this game is dumbed down to “avoid the wells”, etc in “GvG”, dumbed down in fact describes “GvG” pretty well, a game mode where on my warrior or guard, I don;t even need to think about my positioning, my “driver” does it for me.

But beyond all that, there is the balance which is beyond terrible, you really think they are going to make a game mode when 25% of the classes do not exist in it (rangers/engy) and another 25% are barely represented (mes/thief).