The Guild Wars 2 Thread

[Humanophage]

Engineer is a meme thematically. When you install the game for the first time expecting a fantasy setting and you see a class that gives you rocket boots and a belt that punches enemies, you giggle and laugh and choose it because it breaks the 4th wall. You can't take it seriously. Of my 13 characters only one of them is an engineer and he is the only one with a stupid character name.

Well, it seems to be one of those Warcraft-style settings with goblin engineering, so it's a standard feature of it all to have rifles and gadgets. Frankly, I'm just in for the PvP, the rest of the game looks rather boring, as does the setting. That said, ESO PvP was a bit more fun, but it's still good enough in GW2 and it scratches the build/arena itch, and unlike ESO doesn't demand any other time investment.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Wasn't Mechanist the only specialization that people picked because of the robot buddy it gives you?

Scrapper is used in WvW to mass stealth zergs, and for mortar spam.

 

[luj1]

And you won't be missing out on anything. The community is trash. In 10+ years playing this game I never made a single friend

I know you are talking about GW2 but let me say this. That's funny because I am still in contact with some guildies I played GW1 with, almost 20 years ago. These people bought me every expansion pack, it's crazy. But I guess the internet changed.

 

[luj1]

I can't understand caring about fashion in a game...

Traditionally one of the staples of Guild Wars was the acquisition of skins. Stats were irrelevant, skins were everything. This franchise had some of the best weapon and armor skins in a videogame, ever. Even pets went for a lot.

 

[Caim]

How good is Shortbow to supplement Longbow on a Ranger? I've been trying the early levels of a longbow and while it's good damage, there's more to find here. Sure the Ranger has a nice variety of melee weapons to fight alongside their pet in melee, but I'm interested to see what both bows in tandem can do.

 

[Drakortha]

How good is Shortbow to supplement Longbow on a Ranger? I've been trying the early levels of a longbow and while it's good damage, there's more to find here. Sure the Ranger has a nice variety of melee weapons to fight alongside their pet in melee, but I'm interested to see what both bows in tandem can do.

I think the main problem you'll have is disengaging from fights. You have #4 skill on longbow to push the opponent back, and #3 on shortbow is a dodge. But other than that, if you get engaged by any competent melee player you're stuffed. Assuming you're wanting to PvP that is.

 

[Drakortha]

Speaking of PvP. New ranked season just started today and it's PvP rush, so extra XP and rewards. Just had my first game. The fun has begun;

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

How good is Shortbow to supplement Longbow on a Ranger? I've been trying the early levels of a longbow and while it's good damage, there's more to find here. Sure the Ranger has a nice variety of melee weapons to fight alongside their pet in melee, but I'm interested to see what both bows in tandem can do.

As a Ranger main, I only ever used shortbow for SPvP during End of Dragons when Fervent Force existed, as a part of a build that spammed CC with warhorn as much as possible along with Spike Trap and Entangle. I used the lightning dodge and the Shortbow's evade skill to evade while my CCs were on cooldown. Otherwise, I preferred chucking axes because of they were cooler and because of the bounce damage, and if I really needed range then I used the longbow.

 

[Caim]

I think the main problem you'll have is disengaging from fights. You have #4 skill on longbow to push the opponent back, and #3 on shortbow is a dodge. But other than that, if you get engaged by any competent melee player you're stuffed. Assuming you're wanting to PvP that is.

As a Ranger main, I only ever used shortbow for SPvP during End of Dragons when Fervent Force existed, as a part of a build that spammed CC with warhorn as much as possible along with Spike Trap and Entangle. I used the lightning dodge and the Shortbow's evade skill to evade while my CCs were on cooldown. Otherwise, I preferred chucking axes because of they were cooler and because of the bounce damage, and if I really needed range then I used the longbow.

Oh I'm not here for the PVP, I just want to try something new for the open world stuff, maybe try a few events here and there.

 

[Drakortha]

Oh I'm not here for the PVP, I just want to try something new for the open world stuff, maybe try a few events here and there.

To be honest I don't even like the Longbow for open world. It's too single-target focused for how often you're dealing with groups of mobs. I guess you could combine Longbow #5 with sharpening stone utility and the soulbeast elite skill with a condition damage kind of setup, maybe? I can't say for sure because I haven't ran Longbow in PvE for years. For open world roaming I tend to go for Shortbow + Dagger/Torch.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I just played ranger a year ago and longbow was really boring in PvE. Duel wielding axes and great swords were much more fun gameplay wise, for me at least.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I use longbow in PvE meta events to tag lots of enemies to build up 25 stacks of sigil of bloodlust before switching back to axe/greatsword/hammer. Otherwise I use it only if I need to deal damage while at range, ie pushing the bombs through the AoEs during Octovine in Auric Basin or attacking a boss while they are out of melee range, etc. In WvW I use longbow to deal damage to enemy players and keep up WvW participation with minimal risk if my zerg is not smashing into theirs.

 

[Shurakan]

I played this game regularly when it launched, on and off during the first 2 expansions. Didn't bother with the other xpacks.

My impression when it came out what that is was fun, but needed some improvements. They never came. The game firmly planted itself in mediocrity. The pve isn't very engaging, with most open world content being easily resolved by holding auto attack. The most fun I ever had with it was when they revamped the zombie dragon and I had to work with my server in teamspeak to get the server first kill. That was the most fun I ever had with the game. Allegedly they've actually learned how to make combat mechanics which players can't just deeps through in their version of FF14 trails but it's a decade too late for my taste. The ones I tried had no such improvements. Players would simply stack up, do their DPS rotations while support heals everyone through the facetanking.

The PvP was what I wanted to play the most yet was the most disappointing. The devs very clearly don't give a singular shit about any of the pvp and it showed. Patches that addressed PvP issues or added PvP content were few and far between. Every expansion, which added new elites, ruined the PvP for months if not years at a time. Not to mention all the matchmaker abuse and wintrading going on. "Pro" players have been caught breaking rules yet only get slaps on the wrists, no permanent bans. There is no integrity in the competitive scene and Anet never did anything about it.

Out of curiosity I tried logging in again quite recently and tried out PvP. It appears the population is so low the matchmaker can just barely make matches. You'll play the same people over and over, with massive skill disparities. Almost every single match in my last 10 of the arena mode have been 50/100 to 500 blowouts. The best match I had was in unranked which did come down to a 20 point difference. 2 expansions have come and gone and the game looks worse than ever to me. For reasons I cannot comprehend they split their armor rune system and added a new item that just adds the old runes' final gimmick effect. So runes are now just stat boosts, while they used to give unique effects like move faster when a certain boon is on you or regeneration heals you for more. Now a new item does those things. Why? No idea. It was so poorly implemented that, while reading about the rollout, I learned they had runes that ended up having the same stats, except one rune set just gave you lower stats. In the old system, this wasn't necessarily bad, because the final bonus of one rune set gave you something worth the lower stats.

I can't really comment on the state of pve now, since I don't have the last 2 xpacks, but from videos I've seen I'm not missing much. I've played FF14 and the average trial boss was more fun than almost any boss I've done in GW2. To GW2's credit, I liked that players do things together often and in every area of the game. For all its faults, they did manage to make a game that encourages people to play with one another.

 

[Humanophage]

Eh, the matchmaker seems to be making matches just fine. Maybe you're playing in the ranking qualifier mode where your rank is not yet determined? The first 10 matches is when you're in limbo, then you get assigned into a category.

Anyway, rather enjoying the holosmith. I tried some other classes but they feel less dynamic. I seem to be getting reasonably good as I typically deal 25-40% of the team's damage. It's also a very mobile class so you can always go swiftly to where the fighting is. I'm still not used to how blocking works in the game though. I especially enjoy the surprise burst heal on death (give a huge heal if someone kills you and cancel death damage). It seems that specific healing skill is not on anyone's build list and it doesn't work so well without a perk that everyone ignores, so people are not used to seeing it. So it's fun when they think they've downed you, but instead they get a long stun and you're back to almost full health.

 

[Drakortha]

Eh, the matchmaker seems to be making matches just fine. Maybe you're playing in the ranking qualifier mode where your rank is not yet determined? The first 10 matches is when you're in limbo, then you get assigned into a category.

Anyway, rather enjoying the holosmith. I tried some other classes but they feel less dynamic. I seem to be getting reasonably good as I typically deal 25-40% of the team's damage. It's also a very mobile class so you can always go swiftly to where the fighting is. I'm still not used to how blocking works in the game though. I especially enjoy the surprise burst heal on death (give a huge heal if someone kills you and cancel death damage). It seems that specific healing skill is not on anyone's build list and it doesn't work so well without a perk that everyone ignores, so people are not used to seeing it. So it's fun when they think they've downed you, but instead they get a long stun and you're back to almost full health.

And I'll just come along and negate all of your damage output. How'd you like that?

 

[Humanophage]

Eh, the matchmaker seems to be making matches just fine. Maybe you're playing in the ranking qualifier mode where your rank is not yet determined? The first 10 matches is when you're in limbo, then you get assigned into a category.

Anyway, rather enjoying the holosmith. I tried some other classes but they feel less dynamic. I seem to be getting reasonably good as I typically deal 25-40% of the team's damage. It's also a very mobile class so you can always go swiftly to where the fighting is. I'm still not used to how blocking works in the game though. I especially enjoy the surprise burst heal on death (give a huge heal if someone kills you and cancel death damage). It seems that specific healing skill is not on anyone's build list and it doesn't work so well without a perk that everyone ignores, so people are not used to seeing it. So it's fun when they think they've downed you, but instead they get a long stun and you're back to almost full health.

And I'll just come along and negate all of your damage output. How'd you like that?

It would be nice if more people were healers as the fights are too actiony.

 

[NoMoneyNoFameNoDame]

I'm not going to shit on the game again. I'm going to say that I like it.

It's pretty good experience to come back after a LONG time and enjoy the setting and rewards.

It's really quite an interesting game. Can we say that? Quite inferior to GW1 on merits of interesting combat
and pacing, but a very interesting game.

But it's absolute shit. Nothing interesting ever drops besides being quite close to highest magic find.
The Tarir run which is my specialty as someone who too dumb to figure out to unlock rest of GW2 areas..
only ever turn up the same old loot, with same amount of money.

Sure I could buy boosts and all that shit. But what are we working toward? Just playtime and checklist I logged in to do some runs?

Even If i bought all the resource nodes, 1) not making the gold back. 2) you loot and that's it.. it makes the game vaguely more fun to have something to loot that was earned.

Which is why I hate this game beyond the level-capping, the absolute lack of skills, .. there's no reason to participate in the economy.
I've never had to repair my shit .. so what what's the point of Gold? To improve a Guild? Bad news there i'm afraid you need other players to even do the missions to get a Guild Hall.

The most interesting part of GW2 are all safely locked behind mega-fuck-tons of hours. That's the definition of a bad game. So what it comes down to is re-re-re-re-re-reeeeeeeeeeeeeee running
random explorable areas hoping something interesting comes up... nope that can't happen actually. the cosmetic casual tards wouldn't be happy if by playing the game they had to get lucky on any given day.
That could hurt their fees fees. Instead they want to grind forever to maybe turn up some useless skin item with attributes that drop on other items frankly.

But muh legendary items! Retarded, more grindining for nothing. Masteries are the only way to set your self apart. But most of them aren't really usable in combat nor
can truly boost your economics based on how you use them. It's just did you use it or not? The fuck...

GW2 is a padded room with very pretty pictures painted on the rubber walls. It is not a real game.

Maybe im' suppose to be in a party and tha'ts how you make money. You can't solo-farm shit without being limited to a certain pace.

Ofcourse no mercs means i couldn't even attempt to do something about how I grind areas. It's just my one shitty build.

Push button push button push button, combos!!! There's nothing interesting about this game.

If yo'ure telling me that PvP is where stats and skills really truly matter, then it's another reason why GW1 is superior.

I have never.. i repeat never bothered with any of the professions. THey are a microcosm of the whole problem with economy. Lots of effort for same mileage
with no variation but the approved daily variation.

Casual Wars 2: Dressup Addition.

I do try to enjoy this game, it' snot all bad. I quite like many decision choices. What I don't like about the art i'm use to.
Just ArenaNet needs to turn this into a real game, or create a Hard Mode for people who want to approach wealth with freedom, and completing content with a purpose.
It's time to make an expansion that excludes the dummy casual idiots from being tailored to. FFS.

Meaningless horizontal progression isn't horizontal progression. Even GW1 fucked this up. Let us stack our player decisions. Let people explore what may be wrong,
or are you admitting your design is simply so brittle it never could be better?

 

[Shurakan]

Eh, the matchmaker seems to be making matches just fine. Maybe you're playing in the ranking qualifier mode where your rank is not yet determined? The first 10 matches is when you're in limbo, then you get assigned into a category.

That's possible, but I'm not likely to stick around and find out. Could have just had really bad luck.

Took a gander at the few PvP streamers and their match quality looked about as garbage as mine. Shorts has been playing so long I actually remember having played with and against the guy years ago, and during the stream I saw he made comments about the game being dead and I believe him.

Maybe that's just how the game plays now. Saw one streamer who was speccing the automated tournaments and even they are filled with 100-500 shit shows. The game might just be snowbally.

I'm just left with the impression that the game's PvP pop is too low for high quality matches.

 

[Drakortha]

I've done about 133 sPvP matches so far this season and I think I'm just about to throw in the towel. My win/loss ratio is exactly 50/50 and I'm stuck in Gold 2. 90% of matches are tilted one way or another. Either you're curbstomping the other team or you're on the receiving end. I was hoping for a population boost this week because of PvP rush, yet I keep getting the same allies and opponents multiple matches in a row.

Combine this with how there's been no new content for PvP in half a decade.. it's fucking trash, folks.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Yeah, that's the GW2 SPvP experience. You can't climb into high tiers during regular seasons unless you either queue with friends or join the PvP win trade mafia.

 

[Drakortha]

Yeah, that's the GW2 SPvP experience. You can't climb into high tiers during regular seasons unless you either queue with friends or join the PvP win trade mafia.

I wouldn't even care as much about the tilted matches if we got some new content once in a while. Shit is getting stale as fuck.

 

[Drakortha]

Well I suppose the 400 or so Gold I made from PvP isn't going to waste. Sometimes I've been PvPing for so long I forget why I'm doing it in the first place..

 

[Drakortha]

Ah, how I love Timegated shit. Only 14 more to go!

 

[Humanophage]

I've done about 133 sPvP matches so far this season and I think I'm just about to throw in the towel. My win/loss ratio is exactly 50/50 and I'm stuck in Gold 2. 90% of matches are tilted one way or another. Either you're curbstomping the other team or you're on the receiving end. I was hoping for a population boost this week because of PvP rush, yet I keep getting the same allies and opponents multiple matches in a row.

Combine this with how there's been no new content for PvP in half a decade.. it's fucking trash, folks.

I'm in Silver*** because I am a noob and blew the qualifiers when I was getting acquainted with the game. However, at the moment the matches seem reasonably close and I can see my influence on the outcome.

Big brain cappin:

I wish they had actual match stats. These stupid "anti-toxicity" measures are annoying. All sports rests on stats.

I can give you all of my rewards and gold if that's possible to do between servers, since I am only interested in arena fighting. All my bags are overflowing with those chests.

 

[Turbo normie]

I got sued by Anet for posting one picture during the beta of the 2nd xpac. :')