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Guild Wars 2 |OT2| Funding An MMO Entirely On Quaggan Backpacks

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Awesome! Just need to work on my badges for a few more days and my hard part is done (because I really hate farming badges in the JP due to the low drop rate).

I'll wait and see with the new changes. Anet has been hit and miss with content patches so far. But I'm glad that instead of making a new area, they're fixing the previous areas.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Awesome! Just need to work on my badges for a few more days and my hard part is done (because I really hate farming badges in the JP due to the low drop rate).

I'll wait and see with the new changes. Anet has been hit and miss with content patches so far. But I'm glad that instead of making a new area, they're fixing the previous areas.

The badges were super easy to get in comparison to the rest of Twilight. Just follow a zerg and lay down some AoEs everywhere and you'll be sure to rack up those badges pretty quickly.
 
The badges were super easy to get in comparison to the rest of Twilight. Just follow a zerg and lay down some AoEs everywhere and you'll be sure to rack up those badges pretty quickly.

That doesn't work for me for some reason. After an intense 8 hour WvW session and only getting 2 badges, I gave up. =/ Oh well, few more days of farming our BL JP with my main and 7 alts, and I shall be done. I have the gold to afford everything else (just didn't bother with the other gifts until the badges are taken care of).
 

Arcteryx

Member
That doesn't work for me for some reason. After an intense 8 hour WvW session and only getting 2 badges, I gave up. =/ Oh well, few more days of farming our BL JP with my main and 7 alts, and I shall be done. I have the gold to afford everything else (just didn't bother with the other gifts until the badges are taken care of).

It is REALLY easy if you have a good AOE and run with the zerg(Necro or Guardian+staff = free kills lol). Although, I seem to be getting less badges lately, but still a decent amount(~10 per 30 mins of zerging).
 

Retro

Member
From the Game Covers Anagram thread, a quick and dirty photoshop by yours truly;

XP4tL.jpg

(I'm actually wearing some of those armor pieces).
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
I unintentionally did the daily challenge yesterday and got 5k karma. What am I supposed to do with all this karma at level 11?

If you're ever going to make a legendary, you're gonna need a million karma, so save it up!
 
Buy ALL the things!

Or, if you craft armor/weapons, buy a bunch of rare/exotic insignias.

You know when you complete a heart it becomes a karma vendor right?

Oh, I'll have to go through them again. The vendors I've had pop up so far only sell leaves and shit. Nothing useful. I know there are the weapon vendors but that's not until much later

If you're ever going to make a legendary, you're gonna need a million karma, so save it up!

A Million?! fuuuuck
 

Levyne

Banned
Oh, I'll have to go through them again. The vendors I've had pop up so far only sell leaves and shit. Nothing useful. I know there are the weapon vendors but that's not until much later



A Million?! fuuuuck

Yes you will need a lot. Though one of the items that could only be gotten with karma (Obsidian Shards) can now also be obtained with Fractal Relics from that dungeon.
 

alexel

Member
Thanks to all of that Elementalist talk on the last page, I decided to give them a try despite my firmly entrenched bias against playing casters in MMOs (I am not a "stand back and shoot"-kinda guy, my Warrior's intermittent use of the Rifle notwithstanding).

Buying higher level armor on the cheap and transmuting it onto level 10 armor has made this much easier (especially on the eyes);



Why yes, those are the Necromancer's eyes on an Elementalist.

What armor or effect makes your ele's eyes look like that? It looks pretty awesome.
 

Anno

Member
So Mesmer is simultaneously extremely frustrating and one of the most compelling classes I've played in an MMO in a really long time, at least at low levels. Until level 7 when I could switch weapons I felt very weak, practically unable to take on multiple enemies without a ton of kiting and a little luck. It improved somewhat at that time, and now at 10 with another utility slot and some extra experience I actually feel rather powerful. More than anything combat is just fun.

I'm rolling with scepter/sword/staff, and I think those two setups complement each other very well. Enemies with slower, more powerful attacks I can usually stand in front of and "tank" until their dead between both blocks on the s/s set and maybe a distortion shatter. Enemies that attack very quickly just get chewed up by Chaos Armor/Chaos Storm. In fact, a good Chaos Storm on top of 2 or 3 enemies with Winds of Chaos bouncing everywhere is fucking awesome and melts most enemies. It's super satisfying. I do have a couple questions, though:

1) Do increases in my stats have an effect on my illusions/phantasms? If so, it seems that pumping condition damage/duration is a way to actually get damage out of illusions through Winds of Chaos?

2) What type of builds have people liked in relation to shattering versus keeping illusions alive? At this level it seems most prudent to let them live for a hit or two then shatter them right before death. I assume there are a ton of traits that can enhance their capabilities, though. I like having them all roaming around doing their thing until the very end, so I hope there's a build that emphasizes keeping them alive and helps in that regard.

3) Is confusion this powerful at higher levels? It's obviously a little hit or miss, but stacking up confusion and watching half of a monsters health come off (and I riposte on top of that!) is awesome. I hope there's a good way to emphasize that and condition damage in general in the future.

I'm definitely sticking with this guy for now. The first couple levels were exceedingly slow, but I feel that it's a class that will really pay off in the end.
 

Kite

Member
I unintentionally did the daily challenge yesterday and got 5k karma. What am I supposed to do with all this karma at level 11?
You can buy a whole set of exotic karma armor in Orr with your karma(42k a piece), I would urge you not to spend your karma at the heart vendors while leveling up. You can buy all the gear you need from the trading post for super cheap.

Keep the karma jugs you get daily in your bank. When you hit level level 80, pop a karma booster and all the karma boosting foods from the trading post (there are like 5 or 6 different ice creams), get the guild karma buff if you can. Then open all your karma jugs and you'll get a ton of karma. Look at this endgame gearing guide and see which karma armor set you want and the location to buy it. You can hit 80 and easily heave enough karma to buy 2 or 3 pieces of your endgame armor right off the bat.
 

Retro

Member
I unintentionally did the daily challenge yesterday and got 5k karma. What am I supposed to do with all this karma at level 11?

I stockpile mine. Then if there's ever anything I want to buy with Karma but I don't have quite enough, I can just down a couple jugs and pick it up. Since they're not soulbound, I can just save them for other characters as well.

What armor or effect makes your ele's eyes look like that? It looks pretty awesome.

Step 1: Create Necromancer with Mark of the Wraith.
Step 2: Beat Tutorial, get to bank.
Step 3: Buy Level 10 white or blue cloth helm from TP (can't be anything that is soulbound on equip).
Step 4. Transmute Mark of the Wraith onto cloth helm. Item will now say "Account bound."
Step 5. Give to Elementalist (or Mesmer).

Also works to get Guardian shoulders or helm on a warrior (and vice versa if you can't wait for the Scaled-looking shoulders or want the helms Warriors start with), Thief Hood (for Rangers or Engineers) and doubling up on engineer or thief options (so, if you wanted all of the thief hoods on one character, or all of the engineer goggles).

A word of note on Engineers; you'll have to pick the Backpack as your starting item, as there are no back items you can transmute to without them becoming soulbound. The goggles and monocle work fine though.

Here's my Engineer, with Backpack and Monocle.
hhrRR.jpg


The clothes my Ele was wearing in that photo are level 55 blues (the "Winged" set) that I transmuted down to level 10 whites. High level gear is pretty damn cheap, and I'm not a fan of squishy casters, so having her look like a badass is a method of self-encouragement.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
1) Do increases in my stats have an effect on my illusions/phantasms? If so, it seems that pumping condition damage/duration is a way to actually get damage out of illusions through Winds of Chaos?

2) What type of builds have people liked in relation to shattering versus keeping illusions alive? At this level it seems most prudent to let them live for a hit or two then shatter them right before death. I assume there are a ton of traits that can enhance their capabilities, though. I like having them all roaming around doing their thing until the very end, so I hope there's a build that emphasizes keeping them alive and helps in that regard.

3) Is confusion this powerful at higher levels? It's obviously a little hit or miss, but stacking up confusion and watching half of a monsters health come off (and I riposte on top of that!) is awesome. I hope there's a good way to emphasize that and condition damage in general in the future.

I'm definitely sticking with this guy for now. The first couple levels were exceedingly slow, but I feel that it's a class that will really pay off in the end.
Hey scepter/sword-bro! Mesmers have a steep learning curve but they're just amazingly fun and unique.

1) Yep. Power and Critical Damage affects their damage. Precision affects their Critical hit %. Condition Damage applies to conditions they generate, and high condition damage builds relying on a constant supply of staff clones/Winds of Chaos are the easiest kind to play. Health will just peel off.

2) The kind of build you're talking about is known as a "legion" build, and it's totally viable :D You can look up examples by just searching for mesmer legion build. Basically, you'll use every trait possible to buff the potency of clones and phantasms, prioritize the correct ones to use in a given scenario, and only shatter to end a fight. I don't use a build like this at all so it's not my area of expertise.

3) This, on the other hand, is exactly what my build focuses on. While it's not as hilariously overpowered as it was sub-level 30, it's still viable and a lot of fun, if considerably tougher to play than a straight DoT-condition or Power build. There are lots of fun traits that focus on it, and you've probably already discovered the Scepter 3+Cry of Frustration combo, which only gets more useful as you have more ways to generate stacks added. Whether or not you focus on confusion, though- there are TONS of ways to take advantage of condition damage as a mesmer (again, see point 1 about Winds of Chaos).

If you're interested in what my build looks like I posted a description of it I think on the last page :D

Staff, by the way, is sort of objectively the best weapon, which is a little sad. Both of the illusions are incredibly useful, and the skill that generates the WoC clone (2, Phase Retreat) is amazing- it's a leap finisher, if you know what that means, and an instant teleport. Chaos Armor, the 4 skill, gives you 5 seconds of protection in addition to its other effects, and the 5 skill, Chaos Storm is one of the absolute coolest skills in the game and the best source of Aegis in the game as well.

In my mind it's so clearly the best that I barely use Staff any of the time. I roll with Scepter/Sword and Sword/Torch- btw, if you haven't tried the mainhand sword 2 skill yet...

edit: you actually named a bunch of the skills I called out by number and name which makes me look totally redundant oh well.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
I've not played this game in months and I couldn't find the information in the OP, but is there now a generally agreed upon way to play the game with a controller?

I'm playing a Warrior, so nothing fancy is needed.
 

Anno

Member
Hey scepter/sword-bro! Mesmers have a steep learning curve but they're just amazingly fun and unique.

1) Yep. Power and Critical Damage affects their damage. Precision affects their Critical hit %. Condition Damage applies to conditions they generate, and high condition damage builds relying on a constant supply of staff clones/Winds of Chaos are the easiest kind to play. Health will just peel off.

2) The kind of build you're talking about is known as a "legion" build, and it's totally viable :D You can look up examples by just searching for mesmer legion build. Basically, you'll use every trait possible to buff the potency of clones and phantasms, prioritize the correct ones to use in a given scenario, and only shatter to end a fight. I don't use a build like this at all so it's not my area of expertise.

3) This, on the other hand, is exactly what my build focuses on. While it's not as hilariously overpowered as it was sub-level 30, it's still viable and a lot of fun, if considerably tougher to play than a straight DoT-condition or Power build. There are lots of fun traits that focus on it, and you've probably already discovered the Scepter 3+Cry of Frustration combo, which only gets more useful as you have more ways to generate stacks added. Whether or not you focus on confusion, though- there are TONS of ways to take advantage of condition damage as a mesmer (again, see point 1 about Winds of Chaos).

If you're interested in what my build looks like I posted a description of it I think on the last page :D

Staff, by the way, is sort of objectively the best weapon, which is a little sad. Both of the illusions are incredibly useful, and the skill that generates the WoC clone (2, Phase Retreat) is amazing- it's a leap finisher, if you know what that means, and an instant teleport. Chaos Armor, the 4 skill, gives you 5 seconds of protection in addition to its other effects, and the 5 skill, Chaos Storm is one of the absolute coolest skills in the game and the best source of Aegis in the game as well.

In my mind it's so clearly the best that I barely use Staff any of the time. I roll with Scepter/Sword and Sword/Torch- btw, if you haven't tried the mainhand sword 2 skill yet...

edit: you actually named a bunch of the skills I called out by number and name which makes me look totally redundant oh well.

Thanks man, I appreciate the help. I'm go take a look at the build you mentioned as well as your write-up.

Staff definitely seems like the most well-rounded weapon. All of the Chaos stuff relies on some level of luck, I suppose, but it seems to happen fairly frequently. I go from getting crushed by even just two monsters to being able to tank three or more as soon as I hit Chaos Storm then leap back at the last second for the bonus Chaos Armor. Then they run up to me and give me all sorts of other nice boons. Awesome skills that I don't want to change at all, I just wish some of the other weapons get some more flavor. They aren't bad, in fact all of the weapons(maybe greatsword aside) have really fun skills. The Prestige is a personal favorite.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I've not played this game in months and I couldn't find the information in the OP, but is there now a generally agreed upon way to play the game with a controller?

I'm playing a Warrior, so nothing fancy is needed.
Got your back bro. File -> Download, instructions in there. Let me know if you have any issues with configuration.

The Prestige is one of my favorite moves in the game. Mine causes confusion too :D I love Greatsword also actually. The 2 (with the trait Illusionary Elasticity) and 5 are really satisfying
 
So would it be possible for me to get a re-invite to the Guild? I was in for a month or two, and then stopped playing it, well now I'm back to playing it regularly and I was wondering if I could get reinvited? Thanks, in-game character name (my main that is at least) is Aiidan and account is Psychoward.7396. Thanks in advance!

Also, I'm on Stormbluff Isle/US etc.

Edit: Also, recently, my gamepad has been bringing up the map, inventory etc. when I'm in combat mode, but then I can only attack out of combat mode. How should I fix this?
 

Retro

Member
So would it be possible for me to get a re-invite to the Guild? I was in for a month or two, and then stopped playing it, well now I'm back to playing it regularly and I was wondering if I could get reinvited? Thanks, in-game character name (my main that is at least) is Aiidan and account is Psychoward.7396. Thanks in advance!

Guild Invite sent, check your guild tab.

Also, recently, my gamepad has been bringing up the map, inventory etc. when I'm in combat mode, but then I can only attack out of combat mode. How should I fix this?

Hawkian is our resident Controller expert, expect him to chime in shortly.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Shortly? whoops lol

Psycho, when you say combat mode, does that have something to do with the Combat Mode mod? I'm unaffiliated with that and don't know it well. If you are using Weltall's/my solution, let me know a little more about the issue and I'll help troubleshoot!
 

Anno

Member
Is there an officer on I can message for an invite as well? Or can you just send one my way? Name is Atalis Shadowclaw, user ID is Breckmoney.6387.
 
Shortly? whoops lol

Psycho, when you say combat mode, does that have something to do with the Combat Mode mod? I'm unaffiliated with that and don't know it well. If you are using Weltall's/my solution, let me know a little more about the issue and I'll help troubleshoot!

I'm not sure what the official term for it is but when I'm in pointer mode, aka the cursor is on the screen, I can attack and whatnot, instead of bringing up the map or inventory or what have you, and when I'm in "combat mode" aka when the cursor isn't on the screen and i can rotate the camera I can't attack, only bring up my map and whatnot.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I'm not sure what the official term for it is but when I'm in pointer mode, aka the cursor is on the screen, I can attack and whatnot, instead of bringing up the map or inventory or what have you, and when I'm in "combat mode" aka when the cursor isn't on the screen and i can rotate the camera I can't attack, only bring up my map and whatnot.
I think I gotcha, but where did you get whatever you're using to play with a controller?

The bindings and techniques and everything will be all different if you're not using ours so I won't be as much help
 
I think I gotcha, but where did you get whatever you're using to play with a controller?

The bindings and techniques and everything will be all different if you're not using ours so I won't be as much help

I downloaded yours months ago, and then I thought maybe deleting that and re-downloading it would work, but it didn't.
 

hythloday

Member
Staff, by the way, is sort of objectively the best weapon, which is a little sad. Both of the illusions are incredibly useful, and the skill that generates the WoC clone (2, Phase Retreat) is amazing- it's a leap finisher, if you know what that means, and an instant teleport. Chaos Armor, the 4 skill, gives you 5 seconds of protection in addition to its other effects, and the 5 skill, Chaos Storm is one of the absolute coolest skills in the game and the best source of Aegis in the game as well.

In my mind it's so clearly the best that I barely use Staff any of the time. I roll with Scepter/Sword and Sword/Torch- btw, if you haven't tried the mainhand sword 2 skill yet..

Yeah, I must agree. I always keep a Staff on hand in dungeons since it's just too good not to use. My preferred setup when not in a dungeon is GS + Sword/Pistol or Sword/Sword. I love the Mesmer but I hate using a staff. Maybe it's just the attack animation, because I feel like I'm just standing there flicking magical boogers at things. It's not as fun as when I'm getting in there with a sword then dodging out and dropping clones and switching back to range. Last week I had a "screw this, I gotta be me" moment and ran with Staff + GS. That was fun.

Recently I've also started using a Scepter more. I had (wrongly) been under the impression that it was a bad weapon and a waste if you don't run a shatter build. So not true. Not my preferred weapon, but it is fun to work with.

Oh, and according to Jon Peters, the cooldown on shatters is a temporary fix to stop silly business while they are working on something permanent. Woo!
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I downloaded yours months ago, and then I thought maybe deleting that and re-downloading it would work, but it didn't.
So you got the latest version (both the script and xpadder profile)?

If you're looking at the xpadder screen without having pressed anything, is it "wrong"? Like, is X the M key instead of 1?

Yeah, I must agree. I always keep a Staff on hand in dungeons since it's just too good not to use. My preferred setup when not in a dungeon is GS + Sword/Pistol or Sword/Sword. I love the Mesmer but I hate using a staff. Maybe it's just the attack animation, because I feel like I'm just standing there flicking magical boogers at things. It's not as fun as when I'm getting in there with a sword then dodging out and dropping clones and switching back to range. Last week I had a "screw this, I gotta be me" moment and ran with Staff + GS. That was fun.

Recently I've also started using a Scepter more. I had (wrongly) been under the impression that it was a bad weapon and a waste if you don't run a shatter build. So not true. Not my preferred weapon, but it is fun to work with.

Oh, and according to Jon Peters, the cooldown on shatters is a temporary fix to stop silly business while they are working on something permanent. Woo!
Yeah, I have a nice shiny Kodan Staff to use when needed too. It has 1200 range and a full Illusionary Elasticity/Winds of Chaos spam brigade is just silly. Staff and GS is actually a fun combo though, it's a great "keep the fuck away" set.

Scepter WAS a bad weapon. At launch its attack speed was 50% slower. It was pathetic. After the tweak though, I tried it again and it's kind of a blast for my build.
 
So you got the latest version (both the script and xpadder profile)?

If you're looking at the xpadder screen without having pressed anything, is it "wrong"? Like, is X the M key instead of 1?
.
This is it with the combat hotkeys, but it's in pointer mode
3HcB8.png


Then when I click on the right analog, it switches to this:
TFdWn.png
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Okay! We can definitely get to the bottom of this now.

First off, I hate to suggest that it might be this simple, but have you tried hitting the Back button one time?

Let me know if that works.

Second, clicking the right stick to toggle between Camera and Pointer mode is a deprecated function. It still works, however it's quite inefficient. What you want to be doing is holding down the Back button, which gives you pointer control and mouse clicks on the right button and trigger, allows you to open the menus, etc. When you release Back, you'll be back in camera mode.

Tapping the Back button is generally a "reset" function if anything seems weird, so I'm hoping that you just happen to not have tried it.

Also, just a tip of note: be aware of the many uses of the Start (ESC) button! It closes menus, deselects the chat box, lets you close dialogue with NPCs without using mouse control, and more. :)
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
No problemo!

During the evolution of the profile it took me a while to get used to migrating from clicking the stick to toggle to holding Back, but it really is much better. It also makes all the menu shortcuts simple combos; for example, instead of thinking "Inventory... that would be, click stick to get to pointer mode, A, navigate around in pointer mode, A, click stick when done," it's just Back + A to open the menu.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Thanks for the controller setup!

I'm not quite sure how I select a target though. (It's a bit hard to aim some of the moves and having a target would make this easier.)

Wouldn't clicking the right analog stick be a good option for that? I mean everything pointer based can now be done holding the select button down.

Am I missing an obvious way to select a target? (Just cycling would be cool.)
 
So I switched to a little more of a support/damage hybrid build on my Warrior, with shouts and some more defensive skills (because no PUGs I've ever picked up have done anything other than try and DPS, so I figured I'd take it on myself). I'm really loving it. Even for soloing. It's a lot of fun to play. I need to get my tactics to 30 so I can make my shouts heal.

On a random note, I was reminded of City of Heroes today, and it made me think of how great this style of world (and the combat too, really) would be for a Super Hero MMO. Random crimes happening, that kind of stuff.
 

Retro

Member
So I switched to a little more of a support/damage hybrid build on my Warrior, with shouts and some more defensive skills (because no PUGs I've ever picked up have done anything other than try and DPS, so I figured I'd take it on myself). I'm really loving it. Even for soloing. It's a lot of fun to play. I need to get my tactics to 30 so I can make my shouts heal.

On a random note, I was reminded of City of Heroes today, and it made me think of how great this style of world (and the combat too, really) would be for a Super Hero MMO. Random crimes happening, that kind of stuff.

Warrior Shout/Support build is fantastic, glad you like it.

I switched to this build for a few months now, with a full set of Soldier Runes (+Vit / +Tough / Shouts remove a condition) and it's really been fantastic. I went with the +Precision / +Vitality / + Healing armor from AC as an experiment to see how much healing I could eek out (and since the tokens are easy to get).

Still putting out respectable damage (with that much precision, it's kinda expected), and heal for about 2000 per shout at 80. I still need to get better accessories though. For the weapon sigil I went with Superior Blood, which heals on every crit (well, 2 second cooldown). I don't remember off the top of my head how much it heals, but it's respectable. I've been thinking of swapping it out for something, just not sure what yet.

If you had asked me before GW2 launched if I would be running a healing build on my Warrior, I'd have probably laughed, but we do extremely well in dungeons (with everyone on the ball, we've cleared Ghost Eater in about 15 mins).
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Thanks for the controller setup!

I'm not quite sure how I select a target though. (It's a bit hard to aim some of the moves and having a target would make this easier.)

Wouldn't clicking the right analog stick be a good option for that? I mean everything pointer based can now be done holding the select button down.

Am I missing an obvious way to select a target? (Just cycling would be cool.)
You sure are my friend!

Hold RB. Flick right stick right = next target. Left = previous target. This will become so damn natural over time it's ridiculous.

Also, if you're ready for the advanced stuff a bit: while holding RB with a target selected, click the right stick to "call" it- marking it for your party. Hold RB and click the left stick to select a called target.
 

Retro

Member
The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper;

Today after farming CoF Path 1 for quite some time, me and my group found this Boss here. The first two Boss Slimes disappear after they reach 50% Health and the new Champion Slime appears. The Green (Champion) Slime isnt that strong. He can spawn some slimes and he is doing a Jump which is dealing around 10-15k Damage.

Album can be found here!

Forgot to mention: After defeating the Slime you will be rewarded with a Chest and theres also a long path which is full of Slimes (At the end of the Path you will reach the beginning of Path 3)
Source

It sounds like the path is to the left, before the bridge immediately following the Slave Master / Effigy fight.

So this entire time there's been a secret route in CoF1 (A dungeon I have run many, many times) with a champion ooze. The thread goes on to mention that the just just dropped blues, but the point still stands; this has been in the game for who knows how long, waiting to be discovered. We also know that just because a chest usually drops crap, it can sometimes not in really awesome ways (like a certain someone who used to poop standing up getting a precursor from Kholer's chest).

Likewise with the torch you can pull in AC that I found (at the bottom of the stairs right after the Priory camp, turn around and follow the hallway that runs near the steps.) and the AC Jumping puzzle.

I'd love to find out if this has been there since the beginning (awesome) or if it is a recent addition they snuck in (even more awesome; they're actively sneaking in content to reward explorers).
 
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