Wvw you get a small advantage with your lvl 80 gear vurses the rest of us "80" with our lower lvl gear but not by much. You still die quite fast. It's hard to tell sometimes when theirs so much going on. I'm glad that abilities auto target the closest enemy's.
So, beat the story mode. Final mission was all kinds of awesome... right up until the final boss bugged out and got stuck.
Kind of disappointing after that. At least Zhaitan looked appropriately awesome, although he could have been bigger. I'm hoping Ziggy's one of the smaller big bad dragons.
The advantage of an 80 is a lot more than a little. True 80's in WvW are capable of wiping as many as three non-80's with full gear and proper trait placement (and smart play). Being true-80 is a huge advantage.
I think aside from smart play, it's mostly the trait placements though, because some of them really scale well with level (others don't, mind you). For example, a Warrior's "bleeding duration increased by 50%" trait... that is pretty damned useful to any bleed heavy build, lets you stack bleeds much higher and faster. And naturally, the more you have, the more synergy between the traits that you can build up.
I'm actually not sure on that Corpse. The SPvP servers are their own cluster and are numbered. I can double check with the PvP junkie I know. He'll know for sure.
EDIT: The SPvP servers are multi-server and you can play and team up with other people from other servers, however the lobby's themselves are tied to a specific server (this does not prevent someone from say Anvil Rock forming a team with someone from Desolation you just won't see one another until the match actually starts).
By account being hacked, do you mean you suffered a phishing attempt somewhere, they got your password, and took your account? Or do you mean that they managed to get your account through a keylogger on your computer? Or what?
Gotta be more specific. Because it won't help getting your account back if you still have a keylogger on, for example.
99 times out of 100, you were never actually hacked. You probably just got phished, or clicked something you shouldn't have.
Near the game's release, a bunch of phishing emails were sent saying that someone was trying to change your password. If you've never attempted to alter your password, then you should have never (ever) clicked them. If you don't know what it is for absolutely 100% certain, don't touch it. You basically invited some Chinese goldseller to have full access to your account.
Thankfully, Anet has been doing some decent damage control, by temporarily banning compromised accounts, to halt any further damage. Hopefully it clears up soon.
Felsi, you douche. "Oh gee, I know what will be fun! I'm gonna invite someone who has never done a pvp game before and trick them in to a 1v1 against my uberleveled up, geared up, pvp-focused player!"
Seriously man, if you want to turn someone off of doing pvp, that's the best way to do it. Jerk...
At least in world PvP we could have grouped or something.
You shouldn't judge PvP based off of of 1v1 in any way. The entire balance of PvP was built around teamplay. Otherwise, you'd see nothing but Guardians and Mesmers in PvP. I'd suggest giving it another chance.
Great Sword Mesmer is actually really lack luster. Damage wise it evens out with the other weapon options, but it lacks the ungodly utility of staff. It actually kind of sucks that Staff is SO good for the Mesmer cause there's really no reason not to use it, and few reasons to bother with the Mesmer's other weapon options (if we're going by power gaming standards that is). If we go by the have fun standard, pick whatever suits your fancy and tell anyone who says otherwise to off
That said, the Mesmer's real strength is in utilities and traits where they can become the best stun lockers in the game, powerful support, and strong condition damage dealers/straight damage from phantasms.
Mesmer is really OP right now, balanced out only by how hard a Mesmer is to play. It's a lot micromanaging and a little luck, but only Guardians can really dominate a well played Mesmer (maybe Necros).
Most people who talk "maths and practicality" often end up being wrong because they don't really understand the math and practicality of what htey're talking about.
Or, you know, the numbers can actually support the facts.
In fact, more often then not, I tend to be more wrong when I fall back on personal anecdotes over pure statistical information. Especially in a closed system like a videogame. The problem comes from the interpretation, not the information itself.
Melissia wrote: Especially when these idiots try to say "only two or three of the eight classes is any good".
I haven't seen anyone making that claim myself. There's a bit of soft countering going on (good luck with those Warriors Guardians XD) but for the most part class balance is really even right now. A bigger problem is that some styles of play despite being in the game aren't very viable for much. Spectral Necros for example (though they do have grasp going for them. Few things are as fun as seiges in WvW with a necro running around and yanking people off the walls ).
First guess on the dye is Abyssal? Everyone I know seems to want it but can't find it.
Melissia wrote: Especially when these idiots try to say "only two or three of the eight classes is any good".
I haven't seen anyone making that claim myself. There's a bit of soft countering going on (good luck with those Warriors Guardians XD) but for the most part class balance is really even right now. A bigger problem is that some styles of play despite being in the game aren't very viable for much. Spectral Necros for example (though they do have grasp going for them. Few things are as fun as seiges in WvW with a necro running around and yanking people off the walls ).
The only really viable necro build is condition spam. I run dagger/warhorn on my Necro, but it's hardly what I'd call "effective." Spectral Necros were viable in some of the betas, until Anet nerfed Deathshroud mercilessly, without giving anything to compensate, but still keeping much of the Necromancer's abilities built around it. Necromancers in general just aren't very good, which is a shame, since they are so much fun (although being the one-trick condition pony is kind of lame).
Well, yes. Concerning optimized play, some classes just aren't worth taking for much. Rangers are stuck in a difficult place because, despite their ability to solo incredibly well, they don't really bring much to a party that other classes can do in a more specialized fashion better. It doesn't help that pets are still broken (minion Necromancers also feel the same pain). Of course, there's also the fact that pets and spirits will be one/two shotted before they can do much later on anyway. In a group environment, especially when trying to do optimized dungeon runs, Rangers just don't pack the group support to make them stand out. Thieves are similar in this regard, but at least they still put out some great damage.
The good thing is that at least there can be balancing and fixes done to solve these issues. But as it is now, I'd hardly call things balanced. PvP is another monster entirely, with its own separate balance issues.
Rangers and Thieves may not be the flavour of the month at the moment but give it a while and I can guarantee people will be claiming "RANGERS AND THIEVES ARE THE ONLY CLASSES WORTH TAKING" .
Part of it is that WvW, SPvP, and the Dungeons are all very different creatures.
My ranking of usefulness (subjective here and not accounting for soft counters and various build types)
WvW:
Mesmer = Elementalist = Engineer > Guardian = Warrior = Necromancer > Ranger ~ Thief is highly situational in WvW
WvW as an aside imo has much better balance for the classes. When dealing with groups of 10+ the weaknesses of the various classes are much less glaring and team work can really bring deadly combo's together (Necro/Mesmer knocks defender off wall, guardian chain immobilizes, thief HSS to death).
Personally, if feel this is where the biggest imbalances are. Guardians and Mesmers are so obscenely good at SPvP, and Thiefs, while one trick ponies, are such a huge threat your forced to build to counter HSS spam.
Pretty much everyone works somewhere save the ranger. The poor guy/gal just gets outclassed at every turn by someone else (not to say that the class is bad, a ranger can be as deadly as any other with the human factor). Hopefully we'll get more balance tweaks once the game has started to settle. A few classes need serious buffing in certain respects.
Something really does need to be done about 10 second stun/daze locking 5k DPS Mesmer builds. I still think this is one of the most balanced games I've played in a long time though, even though a lot of PvP ultimately gets decided by how you built your character. Example: A general warrior build is going to be peeled open by a Guardian, but a Warrior packing as many stun breaks as possible (and loads of stability) with bull rush and great sword is going to in turn make mince meat of the same Guardian, and don't get me started on the highly under utilized Mace/Mace warrior.
The only really viable necro build is condition spam.
They make amazing support actually. Next to Mesmers they're probably the best support characters in SPvP. They can also tank damage fairly well. Trying to kill a Necro in WvW or SPvP is like trying to bust a tank with a fly swatter. EDIT: And that said, the Necro is the KING?QUEEN of condition damage and control. Bring a condition based build into PvP and fight a Necro, be ready to suffer a horrible and painful death.
But I've already started to realize that all the professions are kind of pigeon holed into certain niches. Sure you can make a Thief pretty tanky, but why would you want to?
As I said before, I think which specific niche each class is forced into will rotate as time goes on. Perhaps as things are balanced and new content is added tanky thieves will be all the rage.
Well oddly, tanky thieves in WvW are actually fun as hell. Complete troll build though XD The thief won't die, but he won't be killing anyone either. If you enjoy screwing with people's minds it worth a run I mostly dismiss it because it's not optimal at all and kind of a waste of the thief's strengths (works very well though if coordinating with a group to do revives though and light harassment).
I don't know about rotating. Some professions just can't do certain things. There really isn't a way to make a condition based Guardian for example, just as there isn't a way to build a control thief. With that said I have a hard time really grinding down the professions because they're so situational sometimes.
Guardians in WvW are horribly gimped by their lack of a passive/sustainable speed buff. They can't escape zergs, and they can't keep up with a group either (which makes them easy targets for anyone picking off stragglers). In open terrain, a Guardian in WvW is silly dumb. Just roll Warrior they do it so much better. But in sieges! Guardian's are the ones you want operating that flame ram. And scepter/shield will increase you're gates survival by so much because the 5 will actually pass through the gate and block projectiles that aren't from a siege engine (not to mention protecting siege gear from Elementalist AoE). And the 4 is always fun for knocking anyone in range back. Get two staff Guardians, and you can actually hold up an impassable barrier indefinitely (good luck getting your orb back Borderland defenders cause the bridges on the left/right garrisons are narrow enough two Guardians can block the whole thing).
But the things that work for the Guardian in WvW are less optimal in SPvP. SPvP is all about the hammer and spirit weapons, both of which are lackluster in WvW.
EDIT: I actually am really curious about what will change in the expansions and how they'll advance the classes. I guess I really shouldn't be ruling things out. There are a lot of ways they can go with the way the trait tree's are built (if they ever get around to replacing the abundance of trash traits).
The game hasn't been out a month yet. Most people aren't even at the point of having a single character maxed out yet; almost no one has experienced every class enough to make that judgement. Hell I probably have more experience with the various classes than many of the whiny brats talking about what is "optimal".
Nobody really knows jack diddly fething gaksquat about what is actually optimal at the moment. Anyone who claims they do are just trying to inflate their own sense of self-importance and needs to pipe down and learn to play instead of trying to make ignorant, half-assed claims about optimization.
The game hasn't been out a month yet. Most people aren't even at the point of having a single character maxed out yet; almost no one has experienced every class enough to make that judgement. Hell I probably have more experience with the various classes than many of the whiny brats talking about what is "optimal".
Nobody really knows jack diddly fething gaksquat about what is actually optimal at the moment. Anyone who claims they do are just trying to inflate their own sense of self-importance and needs to pipe down and learn to play instead of trying to make ignorant, half-assed claims about optimization.
Playing a character to level ~30 is not experienced enough to have anecdotal evdience to count for anything.
People know things. It doesnt take long for a metagame to develop (although they do change over time, obviously). It's not "inflating one's own sense of self worth" to bring up the fact that there are balance issues in the game that absolutely must be addressed.
I hardly understand why you need to be so blindly hostile over someone talking critically about a game they injoy.
Also, on the subject of conditionmancers in PvP, as Corpses brought up, I would consider rethinking the strength of the build. Condition control and mitigation isn't particularly difficult, especially wheb many classes can remove multiple conditions at once. Hell, guardians have a single skill that completely shuts down Conditionmancers instantly. Necromancers are not a happy class right now. They work for a few things, but they don't have nearly as many options as most other classes. It doesn't help that a lot of their abilities are bugged/don't work as described/don't work at all, and that their trait lines are a mess.
Fafnir wrote: Playing a character to level ~30 is not experienced enough to have anecdotal evdience to count for anything.
Right, so stop claiming you somehow know better when you don't even have most of the classes that high. Nevermind the fact that you have not-- no, you haven';t, don't be a liar-- tried every weapon combination or every build (Even just limited to coherent builds) to a significant degree to really understand how to best apply them. For example, playing a rifle warrior is drastically different than playing a longbow warrior, even though they're both warrior ranged types. They have different specialties and different focuses, with different weaknesses and strengths. Same with greatsword/warhammer, or twin swords versus sword/warhorn, even though the primary weapon is the same.
Yeah, like how people "know" that the Earth was created 5000 years ago. Like I give a gak what "people" may or may not know, it's irrelevant and worthless. The judgement of the masses is meaningless. These are the same masses that paid me 50 copper per copper ore. I have long since run out of feths to give about their opinion.
As for why I'm hostile, I hate people who ignorantly cry out that "only X and Y are useful". Just because you lack the imagination and talent to utilize certain classes does not mean that the classes are useless. It just specifies a lack of talent on your part-- not every class suits everyone the same way, and some don't suit people at all. The metagame, such as it is, isn't really based off of intelligent thought, rationality, or numbers anyway. It's really closer to fashion trends than any of those-- most "powergamers" don't do anything but copy the classes and builds of the most successful players, while the most successful powergamers are developing new builds or remastering old builds in order to get a leg up on the metagame. Staying ahead of the game, not playing with it.
Just because the game is more complex than you are willing to admit doesn't mean that I should find it okay for you to spout nonsense. I'm not even convinced you really understand the maths anyway-- because even THAT is more complex than you seem to be willing to admit.
As for why I'm hostile, I hate people who ignorantly cry out that "only X and Y are useful". Just because you lack the imagination and talent to utilize certain classes does not mean that the classes are useless.
It's not ignorant when you're comparing statistical information, and the evidence that others have presented. If class X does everything class Y does, except with better numbers and more reliably, class X is empirically better.
It just specifies a lack of talent on your part-- not every class suits everyone the same way, and some don't suit people at all.
Or maybe just a critical view of the variables in place. Not every class may suit every style of play, but it's not difficult to understand what each class is good at. Similarly, not every film critic must be a maker of films.
The metagame, such as it is, isn't really based off of intelligent thought, rationality, or numbers anyway.
Never play a fighting game. Ever.
It's really closer to fashion trends than any of those-- most "powergamers" don't do anything but copy the classes and builds of the most successful players, while the most successful powergamers are developing new builds or remastering old builds in order to get a leg up on the metagame. Staying ahead of the game, not playing with it.
Not everyone who likes to discuss the issues of balance is a "powergamer," or only runs lists/skillsets posted by others. Some people just have a genuine interest and concern in the balance of the mechanics within the game, and would only hope for it to be as good as possible. If everything was perfectly balanced, you wouldn't have to worry so much about "powergamers" in the first place.
Besides, if trends and powergaming were my thing, I definitely would not be maining a Necromancer.
Just because the game is more complex than you are willing to admit doesn't mean that I should find it okay for you to spout nonsense. I'm not even convinced you really understand the maths anyway-- because even THAT is more complex than you seem to be willing to admit.
You can call it nonsense as much as you want, but you still have done nothing to refute any of my arguments. You can ignore me as much as you want, but that doesn't make me wrong. Disprove my claims first, please. Let's start an actual discussion.
I like being a Ranger. I do fairly well in PvP (Usually 3rd or 4th), but that's because my Sword/Dagger and Shortbow Ranger can bind, cripple, and poison the gak out of everything can move.
Fafnir wrote: It's not ignorant when you're comparing statistical information
Statistics is the easiest to abuse form of mathematics, and there's even a science around twisting statistics to support your viewpoint. I don't want to get in to a rant on statistics, however, so suffice it to say... I don't buy it. You haven'[t sued any statistics yet anyway, you've just vaguely said "the statistics support me!" and then tried to pass that off as an argument.
Fafnir wrote: but it's not difficult to understand what each class is good at.
If that was the case, more people would actually understand it. But they don't, so it's not the case.
I'm sorry, did you say fighting game? I thought we were talking about something relevant.
Fafnir wrote: Some people just have a genuine interest and concern in the balance of the mechanics within the game
I'm not convinced yet that you are one of them when you're discouraging people top play certain classes because of your misguided and frankly ignorant ideas on what is "optimal" or not.
Fafnir wrote: You can call it nonsense as much as you want, but you still have done nothing to refute any of my arguments.
Your arguments are nothing more than sweeping generalizations with no basis in reality. They practically refute themselves.
Corpsesarefun wrote: No condition based Guardians? Tonnes of Guardian skills cause burning and blind
You need bleeding to go condition damage. Burning can't be stacked, and blind is a control ability (in my logic). Burning can do a good amount of damage but it's like poison. It's duration can be stacked but you can only have 1 tick going at a time which limits its damage potential. The real point of burning is to use the abilities in the trait trees that boost damage against targets effected by conditions and burning, which is a straight damage/crit build not a condition build in my book. EDIT: Guardians are more about boons than conditions with better conditions control than most classes.
Also, on the subject of conditionmancers in PvP, as Corpses brought up, I would consider rethinking the strength of the build. Condition control and mitigation isn't particularly difficult, especially wheb many classes can remove multiple conditions at once. Hell, guardians have a single skill that completely shuts down Conditionmancers instantly. Necromancers are not a happy class right now. They work for a few things, but they don't have nearly as many options as most other classes. It doesn't help that a lot of their abilities are bugged/don't work as described/don't work at all, and that their trait lines are a mess.
It depends on the class you're playing. A condition Ranger is gonna get destroyed because only 1 ranger skill removes conditions (unless you're human, which somehow once again humans have the best racials?). If you're using a build that stacks bleeding, the necro is just gonna take all your bleeds and throw them back onto you which is gonna kill most bleed based Rangers, Warriors, and Thiefs. It's libel to shred staff Mesmer's too I think, but I'm not sure. No one handles conditions like the Necro. A Necro will burn through a teams condition removals in a few seconds if the opponent is heavy on it, leaving them only the passive traits that only remove 1 (and not every class has them). Not saying the class is flawless, just that this build does work (if slowly).
I'm not convinced yet that you are one of them when you're discouraging people top play certain classes because of your misguided and frankly ignorant ideas on what is "optimal" or not.
If the statements of a few game theorists are enough to discourage someone from doing something (in a game no less which is libel to be patched eventually) then they obviously weren't very invested in the first place. And no, they don't refute themselves. Problems with the Thief and Ranger in PvE are already widely noted, and the OP state of the Mesmer is accepted by SPvP and WvW players. It doesn't take long to realize either of these things. Really we should be grateful that that's the worst the balance is right now, cause honestly, we could be WoW (shutters).
Fafnir wrote: It's not ignorant when you're comparing statistical information
Statistics is the easiest to abuse form of mathematics, and there's even a science around twisting statistics to support your viewpoint. I don't want to get in to a rant on statistics, however, so suffice it to say... I don't buy it. You haven'[t sued any statistics yet anyway, you've just vaguely said "the statistics support me!" and then tried to pass that off as an argument.
Statistics, not in the sense of surveyed information, but rather, the actual numbers within the game's systems.
Fafnir wrote: but it's not difficult to understand what each class is good at.
If that was the case, more people would actually understand it. But they don't, so it's not the case.
I'm sorry, did you say fighting game? I thought we were talking about something relevant.
I was making reference to the point that metagames, at least, the more refined ones, are definitely developed on the basis of rational, intelligent thought, and empirical data. Metagames change as more strategies are developed and new data is discovered, but the peak of any metagame is the highest level of intelligence and understanding at any point in time.
Some people just have a genuine interest and concern in the balance of the mechanics within the game
I'm not convinced yet that you are one of them when you're discouraging people top play certain classes because of your misguided and frankly ignorant ideas on what is "optimal" or not.
Where am I discouraging anyone to do anything? As I've said, I play a Necro as my main (a freaking dagger necro!), and they're one of the currently underwhelming classes. Being aware of the capabilities and weaknesses of your class or role is not discouraging someone. Especially when Anet has shown in their past that class balance is an extremely malleable thing.
In fact, critical discussion of class balance can only help the issue, as players become more aware of what to look for and what problems there are, they become more apparent to the developers as well, and make the entire process quicker.
Fafnir wrote: You can call it nonsense as much as you want, but you still have done nothing to refute any of my arguments.
Your arguments are nothing more than sweeping generalizations with no basis in reality. They practically refute themselves.
I can stick my fingers in my ears and scream nonsense too, but until you actually make a point of outlining the holes in my arguments, they're far better than anything you've presented up until now.
So, I'm not playing GW2 yet, but I am planning on joining in someday. I'm a big fan of Elemental manipulation, and Earth magic in specific. So, here's a question for you:
Just how tanky can you get an Elementalist? And what's Earth do the best?
Fafnir wrote: Statistics, not in the sense of surveyed information, but rather, the actual numbers within the game's systems.
You haven't provided any. All yo'ure doing is blindly and ignorantly saying "but the facts support me!" without actually making any statement of fact. People try to claim I state my opinions s fact, but you're doing it far more than I am.
Anvildude wrote: So, I'm not playing GW2 yet, but I am planning on joining in someday. I'm a big fan of Elemental manipulation, and Earth magic in specific. So, here's a question for you:
Just how tanky can you get an Elementalist? And what's Earth do the best?
Elementalists can't get Tank-y, sadly. But they can do an absolute massive amount of damage, and earth is their main damage causer.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, am I totally fethed as a Norn Ranger?
Nope. Rangers have a very strong variety of playstyles that they can work from. If one style doesn't work try another. You'll definitely find something you like. Sword/dagger is a highly nimble melee build for example, lots of evades and decent damage, and the main sword combo gives you might every three hits. The longbow, meanwhile, does more damage the further you are away from the target, and has some knockbacks and such to tyr to keep the enemy away, and some good AoEs.
Fafnir wrote: Statistics, not in the sense of surveyed information, but rather, the actual numbers within the game's systems.
You haven't provided any.
Okay then, let's do a comparison then. Ranger spirits to Warrior banners. Let's start by comparing Frost Spirit to Banner of Strength, since they're fairly similar in their effect and utility.
First off, let's start with the utility, since that applies to all banners and spirits.
-Spirits are immobile, while banners can be picked up and planted when desired. When being held, banners can be used to grant swiftness to the party.
-Spirits are fragile, and can be easily destroyed by mobs. Late game, they'll likely go down in one or two hits, before the spirits can even fulfill their use. On a positive note, against mobs that can only hit one enemy at a time, there's the chance they could tank a hit or two. Banners can be destroyed as well, but they can also be carried. If a banner is being carried, it cannot be destroyed (which can be used to ensure it's useful for its full active time), and can be used to grant swiftness to allies.
-Banners always provide their benefits. Spirits only provide benefits 20% of the time (35% if traited).
-Banners typically have longer cooldowns than spirits.
-Spirits require a heavy investment in Nature Magic in order to get their full utility. Banners tend to perform well regardless of your trait setup, and speccing into banners as a Warrior gives banners the abilities to proc regeneration on allies.
Although this isn't an entirely objective analysis, Banners tend to provide much more utility than Spirits, at the cost of longer cooldowns.
Frost spirit gives you a 10% increase in damage 20% of the time. So that's effectively a 2% increase in normal damage (3.5% if traited) (has no effect on condition damage).
Banner of Strength gives you 90 power and condition damage.
Right away, condition damage builds and skills are seeing a bonus from Banner of Strength that they can't get from Frost Spirit. As far as normal damage is concerned, it varies according to build. Frost Spirit will likely do more for a pure power build, while a more balanced build would benefit more from Banner of Strength. Assuming we're traiting into a support build, the Warrior's banners also provide regeneration (ie, they do more).
Comparing Battle Standard and Spirit of Nature, Battle Standard revives allies on cast, provides more and more varied buffs (STABILITY being a huge one), and provides them after reviving, ensuring you get the maximum usage out of it. Spirit of Nature must be summoned, and then commanded to provide its revival effect, which takes more time, and leaves the spirit vulnerable to being destroyed.
Storm Spirit, Stone Spirit and Sun Spirit provide buffs that are entirely too weak compared to other classes support or basic actions, which give the same or better buffs with much easier access, so they're not really worth mentioning.
On a whole, using spirits to support just isn't particularly good. Since that tends to be the backbone of a lot of ranger support, using rangers as support isn't particularly viable.
Fafnir wrote: Where am I discouraging anyone to do anything?
When you claim that the only classes that are good are X Y and Z.
So? Pick the class that you want to have fun with. As I keep saying, and as you keep ignoring, I play a dagger necromancer, even though (as I have said before), it's an entirely underwhelming build and class. Just because something isn't good doesn't mean you can't use it.
You're not doing critical discussion, you're just spouting off unsubstantiated vomit.
And I'd hardly call spouting insults anything better.
Actually, the Sword gives your pet might, and cripples on the second strike.
I really like the dagger, as the warhorn takes way to long to charge up a skill, and the torch is just meh. Daggers are crazy fast and cause horrifying damage.
Anvildude wrote: So, I'm not playing GW2 yet, but I am planning on joining in someday. I'm a big fan of Elemental manipulation, and Earth magic in specific. So, here's a question for you:
Just how tanky can you get an Elementalist? And what's Earth do the best?
Elementalists can't get Tank-y, sadly. But they can do an absolute massive amount of damage, and earth is their main damage causer.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, am I totally fethed as a Norn Ranger?
Iv tried out scepter/dagger ele primarily focused on earth magic, you can apply alot of bleeds quite fast. Scepter skills have a range of 900 which is decent but the dagger skills you need to be in close.
How tanky you can make an ele Im not sure, at the moment Im more focused on fire attunement but when I get to 80 Im going to craft a new armour set with condition damage/power/vitality. There are alot of traits and slot skills which increase your toughness and survivability, so I think it will be fun spec to try.
Chowderhead wrote: Actually, the Sword gives your pet might, and cripples on the second strike.
I really like the dagger, as the warhorn takes way to long to charge up a skill, and the torch is just meh. Daggers are crazy fast and cause horrifying damage.
My bad, it has been a couple days since 'I've played.
I'm not convinced yet that you are one of them when you're discouraging people top play certain classes because of your misguided and frankly ignorant ideas on what is "optimal" or not.
Not that tanky. Ele's are prety squish. But you will have some escape options to stay out of melee range and you should be able to stand up to most at range. Just don't box yourself into 1 element. Ele is all about the right element at the right time for what you're trying to do. Changing elements is your weapon swap, so learn what to use for different situations (will vary on weapon).
Fought a Hydro/Pyro ele the other day. Complete pain in the butt for my guardian. Always managed to stay away from me, would dash away with Lightning, heal with water, and start throwing out fire damage. I eventually forced him to run for it cause my party came in, but I was never going to kill that ele without more cc than I had.
I'm playing a condition damage based ranger, and quite a bit of my time has been spent in WvW. I really don't see myself anywhere near bottom of the barrel in that forum. I can't two button my way through like a warrior, but the utility I provide my group is pretty spectacular. I usually run shortbow/longbow, or shortbow/sword dagger, with
Quickening Zephyr, Muddy Terrain, and Entangle, with the other slot being used for whichever signet/trap is most useful for the mission we're on.
Between Muddy Terrain, Entangle, Crippling/Concussion shot, Barrage, and my spiders Paralyzing Venom and Entangling Web I am quite the pain in the ass. It just requires timing and practice.
My personal favorite tactic if I'm all alone or my group is getting rolled is to jump off a nearby cliff and see if anyone follows me, since I take half fall damage I can usually turn around and kill a couple.
I'm playing a condition damage based ranger, and quite a bit of my time has been spent in WvW.
That's because as I've stated several times, the difference from most optimal and least is tiny. Really tiny in WvW. If you're playing smart there's no reason you shouldn't do well.
Try SPvP. Its pretty much Mesmers, Guards, Engis, and Thiefs in tourney play right now. You hardly see the other classes at all in comparison.
My personal favorite tactic if I'm all alone or my group is getting rolled is to jump off a nearby cliff and see if anyone follows me, since I take half fall damage I can usually turn around and kill a couple.
I've done that and it's hilarious. I've also used the Guardian shield 5 to toss people off cliffs.Not working as well as it used to though. I run around with raid groups, and when I get into a fight its usually with other raid groups who seem to take the half-fall traits more and more as time goes on : /
I Liked the longbow in BW2 but it feels like its rate of fire went down to me. Shortbow fires so much faster, and the longbow will only do more damage if I keep the target at max range. Still keep one handy for sieges though.
Melissia wrote: Or rather, because most people don't actually know what's optimal anyway.
The people saying "optimal" certainly don't.
Yes. Because maths is hard. (It is, that's why I leave it to people with better maths than me )
No one I've seen who has actually talked about "optimal"-- in game, on the forums, or elsewhere-- has ever actually used any math in their conversations.
Therefor I don't give a gak.
Now, to repeat myself: Anyone want to organize a guild WPvP event?
It's also about positioning and keeping aggro off of you. If you start stacking so many bleeds on a boss, it WILL face you and and attack you specifically.
Shortbow applies bleeds if you hit the enemy from side or back, not from the front.
As an aside, the reason we're losing so badly is because we're facing off against the number one pvp world.
No one I've seen who has actually talked about "optimal"-- in game, on the forums, or elsewhere-- has ever actually used any math in their conversations.
Probably don't feel like wasting their time, cause people will ignore them anyway. Go read a forum for twenty minutes and you'll find plenty of threads noting the weakness of the Longbow compared to the Shortbow (granting the LB better utility tho). I'm not going to waste my time. If others wish to live in ignorance its their hang up. Any look at a SPvP forum will have a dozen+ threads about the big four (and a dozen more begging for Heart Seeker Strike to be nerfed ).
Hell, I'll even spend twenty seconds linking this:
WvW ques will vary by where you're trying to go and on what server. Anvil Rock has probably, 30 min que to get into the AR Border, and 0-2 hours to get into Eternal. You can usually get into the other servers borderlands pretty fast. 5 minutes tops.
I have a friend on Darkhaven. 5 hours ques at peak hours he says. Don't even want to know the horror of Henge or Stormbluff.
Are server transfers still free? If you don't like the que and its killing it for you, there are over a dozens underpop WvW servers that need more people.
As an aside, the reason we're losing so badly is because we're facing off against the number one pvp world.
I really, really, want to see a fight between Henge of Denravi and Vizunah Square. Henge got ranked slightly higher, but I don't think they mixed NA and Euro in the past 3 weeks did they? 1v1 no hits below the belt I wonder if Anet will ever have a continental WvW ladder.
LordofHats: I read that and, amusingly enough, the various rankings that were posted were all rather inconsistent-- very little could really be agreed on any of it aside from Elementalist being low on the list
Poor elementalists. Actually my problem with Eles is that their trait system does NOT mesh well with their "switch between various attunements" playstyle. The class itself is fun but I worry about it becoming hard to make builds for at higher levels.
If you read it then you'd have noticed that the bottom 3 were Ranger, Ele, and Necro in about 75% of those posts (and most of those that weren't listed at least 2 of them in the bottom 3). Not a intelligent discussion of class balance, but is quite telling as limited look at how the classes have boiled down in people's minds and there are a lot of people on Guru that do math on this stuff.
Poor elementalists. Actually my problem with Eles is that their trait system does NOT mesh well with their "switch between various attunements" playstyle.
This I agree with. The Ele's trait lines to readily support specialization into an element. Arcane has some awesome stuff in it for attunement switching and frankly all that awesomeness needs to be spread out into the other trait lines cause the stat bonuses for Arcane are too meh (to warrant going 30 into it that is).
I actually disagree heavily with most people about Ele though in an overall respect. Too many in SPvP try to play the GW2 Ele like a WoW ele which just isn't going to work. Mixing hydro, eath, and either a straight damage or a crit build (fire/lightning) produces a very powerful character that I think is horribly underestimated (not top of the line, but not as bad as people say).
Practically no one agrees with me though except the Ele I know who does this and both of us lack the conviction to really spend hours mathhammering and data mining the numbers to prove it or producing video to support the game play style. Ele can work well. There's just a lot of hoops that need to be jumped through to do it.
Ele can work well. There's just a lot of hoops that need to be jumped through to do it.
The nice thing is that any class can work well, but the problem is that most of them don't have to jump through those hoops to reach the same or higher level of effectiveness.
Yes, I've found that mixing fire and lightning is far better than pure lightning, myself, on my power/precision build for my ele.
At this point, I'm considering the idea of a build that utilizes 20 fire, 20 air, 30 in the atunement one. But it still feels far too unfocused because even with the focus on fire and air I still need to use earth and water sometimes as well.
I just spent the last two hours in WvW, and not only is Yak's Bend dominating - but my buddy just finished gearing out his toughness/heals warrior, and it is stupid how good that build is. He just doesn't die. and he kicks out pretty good heals. While the rest of my guild was still queued, the two of us held off seven people from the center island, and we probably would have taken them all if it weren't for how stupid hard it is to actually put someone down in the water. Then the rest of my guild got in, which was a nonstop pain train cycling around the map taking anything the other two factions dared to try to keep.
Out of the seven of us, we had six 80s in pretty much full exotics, so most fights would be - ten to twelve people jump on us, we focus down seven of them while having none of us go below half health, and then merrily chase the survivors only to kill them steps away from the safety of a door.
Bromsy wrote: I just spent the last two hours in WvW, and not only is Yak's Bend dominating - but my buddy just finished gearing out his toughness/heals warrior, and it is stupid how good that build is. He just doesn't die. and he kicks out pretty good heals. While the rest of my guild was still queued, the two of us held off seven people from the center island, and we probably would have taken them all if it weren't for how stupid hard it is to actually put someone down in the water. Then the rest of my guild got in, which was a nonstop pain train cycling around the map taking anything the other two factions dared to try to keep.
Out of the seven of us, we had six 80s in pretty much full exotics, so most fights would be - ten to twelve people jump on us, we focus down seven of them while having none of us go below half health, and then merrily chase the survivors only to kill them steps away from the safety of a door.
They really need to fix WvWvW badly. I'm sick of logging on, looking at the scores and seeing Vizunah Square 80k, Far Shiver 70k and Desolation 60k, it sucks.
That's actually a pretty balanced fight when the range in the scores is only 20k. Sure Desolation might not be winning, but if they're only 20k behind then they haven't been completely dominated. Compare it to the one going on now between Darkhaven, Anvil Rock, and Yaks Bend. The horror. The ungodly horror!
Things are currently kinda hectic here due to starting university and whatnot... Once I get into more regular pattern we could organised WvW days or dungeon run sundays or other such things.
Theres been ALOT of posts about it on the GW2 forums, and the few I read follow a similiar order.
First the post from a Desolation-er.
Then a few agreement posts.
Followed up by a bunch of "We're not cheating posts" by both Shiver and the French.
Then a few "Oh really? Then explain X. And Y, and Z." From Deso.
Then back to Shiver and Vizunah for the " Oh we just have people who are so dedicated they play 24/7.
There are people so dedicated that they play 24/7. If Vizunah is anything like Henge of Denravi, then they've got a guild alliance going with two or three guilds taking night shift. Hell its probably worse on NA servers cause we get most of the oceanic players. Come nightfall, the Asians swarm the WvW map XD And Asian guilds are really well organized compared to American guilds (hell the Aussie guilds are more organized than the American guilds )
That score difference really isn't that bad. Yak is now 167k, and Dark and Anvil are hovering between 45 and 55k. Being 20k behind is not bad. The servers that win WvW tend to be the ones that can maintain pop cap 24/7 and that have the most organized guilds and guild alliances.
There are a few exploits but honestly, organization is the key to WvW which makes it a guild game. The server with the more dedicated and organized guilds wins.
I tend to avoid MMO forums. The amount of nonsense that goes on in them is worse than Dakka's off-topic section.
This is also true XD Especially the official forums. Avoid them. Like the plague.
LordofHats wrote: That's actually a pretty balanced fight when the range in the scores is only 20k. Sure Desolation might not be winning, but if they're only 20k behind then they haven't been completely dominated. Compare it to the one going on now between Darkhaven, Anvil Rock, and Yaks Bend. The horror. The ungodly horror!
Yaks: 134k
Dark: 47k
Anvil: 44k
That's a slaughter.
Yeah, we are wrecking house this round, but we've lost most of our matchups since start.
Wow this is really really sad. I'm in WvWvW right now and theres a French guy, from Vizunah Square surprise surprise who is actually spying our chat and messaging his friends back in Vizunah. He actually wrote something in French, I think about how we werent attack/were attacking something. This is disgusting and I'm really pissed off with Anet. To make matter worst, when I tried to take a screenshot and post a complaint, I couldnt login to guild wars 2 Forums.
Edit:
If anyone wants to know, his name is Arknor.6245
Oh that. Yeah. That's been happening a lot. I have no idea why they've allowed free transfers so far. It's probably thrown the ratings for several servers completely off and there are guilds that will send people to spy on a servers WvW chats. of course, that's likely to happen even if transfers aren't free. EDIT: A simple solution would be to disallow transfers to servers a player's is currently engaged in WvW with.
Well realistically, proving spying would be about as hard as proving botting. Sure if Anet dedicates the time, they'll get it done, but its a rather large amount of dedication for what is by design a casual mode of play. WvW was never built to be competative like SPvP. They specifically designed it to appeal to people who normally don't do PvP (which seems kind of odd, since its guilds and serious PvP players who will win WvW battles, but oh well).
They can't rely on player reports. I mean, how many frivolous reports must Anet get a day? Going through all of them will take forever in itself.
to me the regular pvp is nowhere near as fun as world pvp. So I'm more concerned with world
Same. I like SPvP, but WvW is fun. Maybe if it becomes really popular among players as a more serious game mode they'll take measures to improve the performance of it. I know I'd like to see some balance tweaks to the Borderlands maps.
I might throw down for some WvW once my guardian is level 80. I'd jump in with my Necro, but with the way the class is now, I figure I'd end up getting more fun out of it with my Guardian. Of course, I'm on a different server from most of you lot, so you might end up testing your mettle against me.
I've been busy with other things recently. And just haven't had the materials, either (I've been leveling up my ele, necro, and ranger, so I haven't gotten any steel-tier materials).
Crafting can be a pain in GW2. Getting the basic mats (ore) isn't that hard. If you grab every node you see you can get enough without having the backtrack any zones. Now claws, blood, scales, etc. Those are a pain in the butt to get enough of.
I pretty much have been doing every zone of a level range before moving on to the next just so that I don't have to backtrack to get materials.
And I haven't even started playing with the mystic forge yet. That's gonna be a nightmare of love and dedication. Eternity will be mine damnit!
Melissia wrote: Can we get a list of what everyone's highest crafting class is? No, the guild menu doesn't count. It only shows the last character you logged on as.
Mine would be Armorsmith and Huntsman, at ~170 and 180 or so, respectively.
Maybe we should make a DakkaKorps guild thread...
150 weaponsmith. And I'm all for a DK guild thread.
Anvildude wrote: You know you still are, right? The data's saved on their servers, not your computer.
My computer died, therefore I wasn't able to play for a week and people levelled ahead of me, so when I got my new pc working I was no longer the highest in anything.
I think its handy, I can make the accessories I want for lv 80 cheaper than what they sell for on TC. Swapping professions is pretty easy anyway so I think after I make the accessories I'll swap to artificer.
Anvildude wrote: You know you still are, right? The data's saved on their servers, not your computer.
My computer died, therefore I wasn't able to play for a week and people levelled ahead of me, so when I got my new pc working I was no longer the highest in anything.
Really, I'm not stupid.
Alright, alright, didn't mean to offend.
It's just, sometimes you can't really tell, over the internet.
Completed three runs of twilight arbor explorable. IT wasn't actually really that difficult, but that was only a level 55 explorable, so I guess that explains it.
But having a guardian was absofreakinglutely necessary. Not for healing though. For the rapid, wide cone attack on what is either their staff or their scepter.
But hey, still, I have 180 twilight arbor tokens now. That's nice.
As an aside, you can get something like 180-240 tokens a day with three or four runs (I think you can max out at 240/four, as there's four paths). Each run after that though is 45 per run instead of 60.
Melissia wrote: Completed three runs of twilight arbor explorable. IT wasn't actually really that difficult, but that was only a level 55 explorable, so I guess that explains it.
But having a guardian was absofreakinglutely necessary. Not for healing though. For the rapid, wide cone attack on what is either their staff or their scepter.
But hey, still, I have 180 twilight arbor tokens now. That's nice.
I kinda got bored of my mesmer and was thinking of making a guardian instead (besides, this way I would have two of each weight class, as it were)... what's their weapon choice? I know greatsword, sword, mace, hammer, shield, scepter, staff...
Throw on the focus and the torch and you've got them all.
Personally love the Greatsword all around and scepter/shield is a good ranged back up set with some support options. I carry a staff for dungeon runs, because having someone who just dedicates themselves to supporting the party makes dungeons so much easier and sometimes you have to do it yourself after all. Sword shield is cool too but it didn't fit my style. The only weapons I never tried were the focus and the torch.
Sword/Torch works magnificently. Very offensive combination that throws around a lot of burning.
I run Greatsword/Mace & Shield on my Guardian. Greatsword is fairly obviously great at doing damage, while Mace & Shield provides some great durability and light support, and is excellent for boss fights.
Wow, tried pvp earlier and it's really really hard or i'm just bad. Was very confusing at first but I started to get the hang of it and almost killed someone in my last match.
I'm a guardian so was running Sword/Torch/scepter/sheild for the most part. The problem I had those was the time I teled close with sword, set them on fire and slashed them with my slashy sword move I was really out of ways to kill them. Rangers seem particuarlly hard to kill as they can run away and shoot me full of arrows at the same time.
Did try the greatsword but it's difficult getting close.
Did try the greatsword but it's difficult getting close.
I find that's the hardest challenge for Guardian's in PvP, closing the distance.
Use Judge's Intervention or Retreat. It's easier to do this with a sword or the great sword than other weapons. Alternatively, follow other players and hang back. Wait for a warrior or a thief to come at your allies and then intercept them. You might not kill them as they can easily run away from you, but scaring them off or distracting them can save a team mate.
Another option is to do what Guardians do better than anyone in SPvP. Sit a point and wait for the enemy to show up. Call out to your team when they do and hold the point as long as you can and hope for back up to arrive.
WvWvW is fun and confusing. The guardian doesn't seem to have anything over the range of 1,200, which makes it really difficult to kill people in big battles.
Spent a while with a small group of about 10 where we basically roamed the countryside round a enemy area, capturing supple villages and then ambushing the enemies who came to take them back.
Scepter is the Guardians only 1200 option. The Guardian however is definitely not a ranged combatant. So yeah this hurts Guardians in large battles which tend to be poke fights.
In larger fights where you lack ranged damage you could play as support for your team, reviving people, throwing a few heals/protective barriers, then when the enemey comes in closer swap weapons and break some heads.
General Fixed bugs for various stuck events and skill challenges. Fixed bugs for various map areas that allowed players to get outside of the playable space. Fixed a bug in dungeon speed-clearing code. Players should no longer experience reward reductions without triggering the speed-clearing debuff. Fixed a bug that was automatically killing players as they entered Sharkmaw Caverns in Lion’s Arch. Fixed an exploit in renown regions that allowed players to quickly complete them by interacting with objects while their inventory was full. Fixed a bug that caused charr characters to enter a state where any fall resulted in a long falling yell. Fixed a bug that caused older characters to have their monthly achievement reset upon completion before the current month ended. Fixed the conversion on all items that were changed from soulbound to account bound to actually be account bound now. Fixed a bug that was preventing certain music from playing. Fixed an issue with the loot table for undead grubs. Fixed a camera bug which occasionally caused the camera to get too close to the player’s backside. Updated the Barrel and Green Plant environmental weapons to disappear after lying on the ground for a set time. This will prevent map issues caused by hundreds of these bundles idling on the ground. Updated Rune of the Adventurer and Sigil of Energy to each grant 25% endurance when activated. Updated map completion rewards for Plains of Ashford and all World-versus-World maps to match the map level/content. Added an appropriate error message for players when trying to accept too many guild invites. Armor that is currently equipped can no longer be transmuted. Keg Brawl has received some updates: Lob: This skill is now ground-targeted. Throw: This skill now has the range of the old Lob but with a casting time. Master Weaponsmiths now sell their goods for coin instead of karma, as was originally intended. Miss Mipp at Almuten Mansion now sells Curry Buns instead of directly selling outdated buffs. Surfacing while downed underwater no longer grants invulnerability. This change was made to stop players from exploiting the surface of the water to maintain permanent invulnerability. The Trading Post will properly refresh when using item context menus from your inventory. Transmuted cultural armor now prevents opposing races from equipping it. Valkyrie armor boxes will now properly contain a coat instead of two helms when crafted.
Story Fixed bugs in the story step “Ships of the Line.” Fixed blocking bugs in the following story steps: “Forging the Pact,” “Killing Fields,” “Shell Shock,” “Short Fuse,” “The Battle of Fort Trinity,” “The Machine in Action,” and “Tower Down.” Updated difficulty of the following story steps: “Killing Fields,” “Lines of Communication,” “Minotaur Rampant,” “Mired Deep,” “Ships of the Line,” “The Battle of Fort Trinity,” “The Greater Good,” and “The Queen’s Justice.”
Events Fixed a bug that was periodically preventing the Claw of Jormag event from completing. Added catapults and scaling veterans to the bridge repair event in Kessex Hills.
Dungeons Crucible of Eternity Reduced the difficulty of creatures and bosses, particularly health and armor. Citadel of Flame Fixed exploits that allowing players to speed clear paths of this dungeon. Reduced difficulty of the Searing Effigy. Arah Fixed map exploit that was allowing players to speed-clear paths of this dungeon. Fixed a blocking bug in story mode.
Player versus Player Games will no longer autobalance after one team has reached 80% of the maximum score if the game ends by score. Games will no longer autobalance when within two minutes of the end of the game if the game ends by time. Autobalance functionality has been updated to give a new volunteer bonus to any players who volunteer for balancing, as well as giving any players balanced the winner bonus. When volunteers are lacking, random selection will be used. The text for this system has also been updated. World versus World Updated the Red Portal Keep in the Eternal Battlegrounds to ensure the “no siege” debuff encompasses the entire start point. Fixed a bug with Keep Lords in World versus World where they could become immune to damage.
Professions
General Profession bundle weapons (engineer kits, elementalist conjure skills, warrior banners) can now save their autoattack status. The following profession skills now hit 3 targets instead of 1: Elementalist Dagger: Lightning Whip, Lightning Touch Mesmer Spear: Stab, Jab, Evasive Strike Ranger Spear: Stab, Jab, Evasive Strike, Dart, Counterstrike Thief Spear: Stab, Jab, Poison Tip Strike, Nine Tailed Strike Warrior Spear: Stab, Jab, Impale, Mariner’s Frenzy, Parry
Elementalist Flame Burst: This skill will no longer fire if the target is behind the player. Lightning Surge: This skill no longer has infinite range and cannot fire at targets behind the player. It also is properly affected by line of sight and works with the Arcana trait Blasting Staff.
Engineer Elixir X: This skill now gains a duration increase from both the Inventions trait Elite Supplies and the Alchemy trait Potent Elixirs. Freeze Grenade: This skill no longer benefits from the Explosives trait Grenadier for 5-second cooldown reduction. Knee Shot: This Firearms trait now effects all immobilize skills for engineers. The effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds to prevent players from exploiting it to stack massive amounts of cripple. Mortar: This skill is now properly affected by the Inventions trait Rifled Turret Barrels. Rifled Barrels: This Firearms trait now works with the Elixir Gun kit when underwater.
Guardian Bane Signet: This skill’s animation will now work properly when activated by greatsword and hammer users. Line of Warding: This skill now lasts for 5 seconds instead of 8 seconds. Merciful Intervention: This skill has been updated to heal when it completes and isn’t aborted. Renewed Focus: This skill now functions better while underwater (players are able to use abilities sooner) and functions with the Virtues trait Elite Focus. This skill now also properly refreshes Virtue of Courage when it is being affected by traits. Shield of Absorption: This skill will now appear correctly for all races. Wrathful Spirit: This Honor trait’s retaliation duration has been decreased from 10 seconds to 3 seconds.
Mesmer Updated all phantasms and clones available to the mesmer to ensure they activate within their range. Updated mantras to now function underwater as they do above water. They also no longer go on full recharge when interrupted. Illusionary Riposte: This skill now functions properly with the Dueling trait Blade Training. Phantasmal Warden: This skill no longer has a 0-second recharge when affected by traits. It now has approximately a 5-second recharge.
Necromancer Blood Is Power: This skill now grants 10 stacks of might but does not grant additional life force. Chill of Death: This Spite trait no longer slows down the player’s autoattack when activated. Epidemic: This skill no longer has infinite range. Haunt: This Shadow Fiend skill now triggers instantly. Last Gasp: This Soul Reaping trait will now apply protection and remove stun as if using Spectral Armor. It also now has the displayed 60-second recharge, and the duration has been reduced to 6 seconds to properly match the skill. Life Transfer: This skill will now work properly with the Soul Reaping trait Path of Midnight. Life Siphon: This skill now properly applies damage at its intended range of 600. Spectral Grasp: This skill now also grants 10% life force when used. It also benefits from the Curses trait Spectral Attunement to properly increase the chill duration to 6 seconds. Spectral Walk: This skill now stops granting life force when struck if the player activates Death Shroud, Plague, or Lich Form. Vampiric: This Blood Magic trait’s interaction with the Bloodthirst trait now increases health siphoning appropriately.
Ranger Entangle: This skill is now properly affected by the Wilderness Survival trait Wilderness Knowledge. Lick Wounds: This skill now functions only with ranger pets.
Mac Beta Client Update: Fixed a bug that prevented players from entering the at sign (@) in the launcher’s log-in fields when using French Apple keyboards. Fixed a bug that prevented gem purchases.
Fixed a bug in targeting that was causing left-dragging to deselect/select targets incorrectly.
Fixed a bug in targeting that was allowing users to deselect all targets using the select next target functionality.
Fixed a bug with human female sword and pistol animations.
Fixed a bug that was causing quickness to get stuck on players and enemies indefinitely.
Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Melandru’s Gaze that was rewarding the Mystic Staff instead.
Fixed a potential bug with skill challenge conversations not closing for all parties speaking with the NPC.
Fixed a bug in weaponsmith Destroyer recipes being swapped for Valkyrie and Berserker weapons.
Fixed the Mystic Forge recipes for platinum and mithril ingot conversion taking cloth bolts instead of the appropriate ingots.
This also fixes the issue with linen and silk bolt conversion recipes sometimes rewarding ingots.
Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Immobulus requiring a defunct item. It now requires giant eyes instead.
Fixed a bug with Rune of Divinity that was causing it to do 50% more critical damage than listed.
Removed laughing audio from crafting stations in Divinity’s Reach.
Raised the maximum karma limit.
Superior Rune of the Adventurer is now set to give 50% of endurance on heal.
The character select screen now reflects hidden armor choices.
Updated Rune of Earth and Rune of the Grove to have a 25% chance to grant 4 seconds of protection and 30-second
recharge for superior runes, with 45-second recharge for major runes.
We’ve relaxed our anti-exploiting system for loot and events.
Camera
We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.
Events
Fixed a bug that could block “Escort Order of Whispers agents to Jormabakke Stead” in Snowden Drifts from restarting.
Fixed a bug that could cause duplicate versions of Agent Briathell to spawn in Snowden Drifts.
Fixed a bug that could prevent the repair event for “Cascade Bridge” in Lornar’s Pass from triggering.
Dungeons
Caudecus’s Manor
Closed map exploits.
Updated the reward vendor for Caudecus’s Manor to include the missing exotic light helmet.
Citadel of Flame
Closed map exploits.
Twilight Arbor
Upper Spider Path: Increased the attack range of the Nightmare Tree. The area attack and its effect now take place at the same location.
Nightmare Tree Spider Path: The area attack now correctly does damage at the point of the effect.
Forward Upper Husk Path: Added damage to the Nightmare Tree’s immobilize skill. Also added damage to the Nightmare Tree egg launch skill.
Story
Reduced the health of the final boss in “The Source of Orr.”
Forging the Pact: Implemented changes to ensure that the cave section completes reliably.
Pets and Walls Make Stronger Kraals: Fix for possible stall during the taming step.
Battle of Fort Trinity:
You cannot pick up the water orb until you defeat all of the saboteurs.
It’s no longer possible to trap players by closing the fortress doors on them.
Fixed a stall during “Retake the docks” objective.
Fixed a stall if players did not choose a greatest fear earlier in Chapter 7.
Lines of Communication: Batanga will now help you fight the Arcane Eye.
Fixing Blame: Warmaster Gurnn should now kick off his cutscene correctly.
Fixed a rare bug in “Shards of Orr” where Herboza would not become visible.
World versus World
The northernmost keep in all homelands has had its collision adjusted on the inner western gate.
Numerous items have been disabled for use in World versus World to prevent exploits and imbalances. This includes the
Experimental Teleportation Gun, ettin gunk, drake eggs, seed turrets, and more.
Fixed WvW Orb of Power duplication on player disconnect.
Profession
Attributes gained from traits now apply to the downed state.
Elementalist
Glyph of Renewal: This skill will now revive downed allies only, not dead ones.
Signets of Earth, Fire, and Water: These signest [sic] have been updated to not fire at targets behind the player.
Signet of Fire: This skill is now able to hit targets at its indicated range.
Signet of Air: This skill now displays a hovering signet effect over the user when activated.
Whirlpool: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 33%.
Engineer
Grenade Kit: Grenade skills now have the same cast time underwater as they do on land.
Explosives Trait Grenadier: This trait now gives a bonus to underwater grenade skills.
Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill has been updated to be a blast finisher.
Guardian
We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time. We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the following:
Skill 2: Whirling Wrath (10 second recharge)
Skill 3: Leap of Faith (15 second recharge)
Skill 4: Symbol of Wrath (20 second recharge)
Updated Bane Signet and Signet of Wrath so they can’t be fired at targets behind the player.
Updated Signet of Judgment to apply three seconds of retaliation upon activation with or without traits.
Decreased the activation time of Signet of Judgment.
Mesmer
Signet of Domination can no longer be cast on targets behind the mesmer.
Added a much faster breakout for mesmer underwater mantras.
Phantasmal Warlock: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
Chaos Armor: Decreased recharge to 35 seconds.
Chaos Storm: Increased recharge to 35 seconds.
Phantasmal Duelist: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
Phantasmal Swordsman: Increased recharge to 18 seconds.
Necromancer
Updated Chillblains to properly function with the Greater Marks trait.
Signet of Spite can now be cast while on the move.
Ranger
Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.
Removed the broken audio that played with Natural Healing whenever pets were in combat.
ThiefPistol Whip: Reduced damage by 15%.
Basilisk Venom: Increased stun duration to 1.5 seconds. Stun breakers now work on this skill.
The game had some bugs the first two weeks to the point that I couldn't even enter the same instance as a person in my own server. Those have since been fixed.
You buy the armor box and it gives you a full set (all 6 pieces) of whatever armor is in the name of the box. If you want the stats, just search the item name in the TP.
Usually, things like Knight's, Valkyrie's, Berserker's, etc are the stat distributions in the item.
I managed to get the cool book back piece, but unfortunately I'm not high enough level to upgrade it. :( Also, the finale happens on Monday morning for me. Which is a school day.
I must say while I like GW2 there is a bit that somewhat annoys me. I only managed to reach level 6 before going offline. The xp rates for just killing mobs is somewhat silly I think. I completed all the heart tasks and a few story quests but couldnt do much more.
I'm probably missing something but I'v got time to find it out.
Which, oddly enough, means that WvWvW or dungeon runs (when you hit 30) are some of the best ways to gain xp-- the former allows you and a group of people to gain xp from events like sieges and defenses, the latter gives most of a level every time yo ucomplete it.
Yea seems when I hit 30 I'll be doing a fair few dungeons. I'm not that big a fan of PVP which is a shame since it cuts out a fair bit of the content.
Got my crafting professions sorted for now, Chef and Armoursmith. I really need to craft some of those reinforced bronze chests. Inventory space is limited to say the least.
Remember that you can send crafting ingredients directly to your bank from any part of the world. Click the icon on the top right of your inventory to see the menu.
Melissia wrote: Remember that you can send crafting ingredients directly to your bank from any part of the world. Click the icon on the top right of your inventory to see the menu.
Yea I had done that a few times, got to my bank and thought I had lost everything. Luckily I found the collections tab not long after haha.
I must be missing something..... I'm currently doing the quest "Breaking the Blade" however the second Doc Howler appears it is pretty much game over. I just cannot beat her.... My gear is as good as its going to get currently. I don't see the point in levelling(I'm level 11 so far) more as it scales me back down. I have even tried to kite her with a bow. Nothing seems to work.
Swordwind wrote: I managed to get the cool book back piece, but unfortunately I'm not high enough level to upgrade it. :( Also, the finale happens on Monday morning for me. Which is a school day.
The book itself is a lvl0 item. It's not your level that the upgrade is concerned about, it's the book's level. You either have to transmute the book into a higher-level backpiece (guild backpack, back brace, etc) or place an upgrade that doesn't have a level requirement (lvl0 gems).
Swordwind wrote: I managed to get the cool book back piece, but unfortunately I'm not high enough level to upgrade it. :( Also, the finale happens on Monday morning for me. Which is a school day.
The book itself is a lvl0 item. It's not your level that the upgrade is concerned about, it's the book's level. You either have to transmute the book into a higher-level backpiece (guild backpack, back brace, etc) or place an upgrade that doesn't have a level requirement (lvl0 gems).
I meant that I'm not high enough level to run through the zones to find the ghosts required to upgrade it.
johnscott10 wrote: I must be missing something..... I'm currently doing the quest "Breaking the Blade" however the second Doc Howler appears it is pretty much game over. I just cannot beat her.... My gear is as good as its going to get currently. I don't see the point in levelling(I'm level 11 so far) more as it scales me back down. I have even tried to kite her with a bow. Nothing seems to work.
Something else to remember (other than what Melissia said - some story quests are very hard) is that the personal quest doesn't dominate progress. It doesn't even gate progress. The whole world is open right from the start, and the personal quest doesn't add much other than an actual story to follow. Personally, I'm level 72 and I've only just done the Battle for Claw Island, which is a quest around level 50. Basically, don't rely on the personal story to lead you through the game, because it just doesn't. You will actually very quickly hit a point where the story missions level is far beyond your current level, and you'll need to level a lot between missions.
Go out, explore, and don't be afraid to go into a new zone if the story hasn't led you there - it doesn't lead you to most of the map anyway. Grab Vistas and Points of Interest, complete Tasks and Skill Point challenges. Do dynamic events when they activate in your area and follow them to completion - more of them are 3-4 events in a chain, and the map will point you to the next event in the chain. They are basically mini stories that help flesh out the world.
The only thing that really gates your progress through the world map is the levels of the zones. If you're level 10 and manage to make it to a level 30 zone, you'll be getting killed very quickly. It doesn't stop you actually getting through the zone if you can manage it, however.
johnscott10 wrote: I must be missing something..... I'm currently doing the quest "Breaking the Blade" however the second Doc Howler appears it is pretty much game over. I just cannot beat her.... My gear is as good as its going to get currently. I don't see the point in levelling(I'm level 11 so far) more as it scales me back down. I have even tried to kite her with a bow. Nothing seems to work.
Something else to remember (other than what Melissia said - some story quests are very hard) is that the personal quest doesn't dominate progress. It doesn't even gate progress. The whole world is open right from the start, and the personal quest doesn't add much other than an actual story to follow. Personally, I'm level 72 and I've only just done the Battle for Claw Island, which is a quest around level 50. Basically, don't rely on the personal story to lead you through the game, because it just doesn't. You will actually very quickly hit a point where the story missions level is far beyond your current level, and you'll need to level a lot between missions.
Go out, explore, and don't be afraid to go into a new zone if the story hasn't led you there - it doesn't lead you to most of the map anyway. Grab Vistas and Points of Interest, complete Tasks and Skill Point challenges. Do dynamic events when they activate in your area and follow them to completion - more of them are 3-4 events in a chain, and the map will point you to the next event in the chain. They are basically mini stories that help flesh out the world.
The only thing that really gates your progress through the world map is the levels of the zones. If you're level 10 and manage to make it to a level 30 zone, you'll be getting killed very quickly. It doesn't stop you actually getting through the zone if you can manage it, however.
The problem with this, however, is the way the personal story is paced. The characters will tell you that there's something that you must urgently attend to, but then you go off and realize that in order to attend to the mentioned issue, you'll need to do several hours of grinding. It just kills any sense of importance that the story has, really.
I wasn't defending the stories problems, I was pointing them out. The story isn't going to lead you everywhere, and will quickly outpace your levels you gain doing it. I didn't mention pacing, but it's the same problem. So just following the story can't be done - enjoy it. Go out and explore! There's a big world the story barely shows you.
Yea I have noticed that the personal story is more of a side quest type thing. Which I don't mind honestly. Also I tend to try to complete an area before moving on(I get all the vistas, POI, skill challenges and waypoints before even moving onto the next area).
I'm currently level 25 and I must admit I'm enjoying GW2 alot more than expected. I think the action based combat is whath as made it more enjoyable than Wow, Rift and SWTOR. Crafting also doesn't feel like a chore.
Inventory and bank space are a current issue for me though, I do have the bronze boxes to improve my inventory space but my bank is the main issue. I ended up making a second character(which I will use) just to hold some of the stuff I don't see me needing anytime soon.
I played alot not too long ago, sadly computer issues have caused me to stop until i can get my entire game collection reinstalled. That and some rather nice games are being released currently.
I have it and I am up to 22 -23 but i have trouble finding a good/decent guild/clan/other to keep me wanting to play ... I dont want to just solo another game. And I need a new PC but thats another topic.
off 
Not on the same server as the dakka group though I think.
