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[TrounceX]

THOSE GUARDIAN CHANGES AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I need to make a new build now fuck if this is real!!!!

FUCKING AWESOME CHANGES

Hmm, I'm not seeing it. What's so great about the Guardian changes?

 

[irfaanator]

shit. so this awesome list is possibly not real.

irfaanator if this isn't legit please leave and never come back.

psh I'm never leaving. Plus that list is from reddit so blame them

 

[Retro]

Having some issues with Mumble, will get it up ASAP.

Mumble seems to be back up, just needed to give it a hard reset.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

Seems like Ranger got nerfed quite a bit. Seeing a lot of "Reduced by ____".

 

[Levyne]

It looks a lot like a sideways move, which is underwhelming but not catastrophic. The most succinct was I can put it is that I'm glad I've been slowly pulling out of BM for PVE, despite that being the hip meta in PVP. If true I feel that the digest highlights for me are:

Ranger

“Protect Me”: This ability now breaks stuns.

This is rather good but niche. The skill directs all incoming damage to your pet for 6s. Basically with this and a traited stone signet you can get 12 seconds of invulnerability and now it includes a free stun break in the box. It's part of a pretty typical running by the dungeon mobs utility spread but other than that you aren't going to have both on the bar. Basically it becomes an excellent panic button if you don't want to trait all the way into marks.

Splitblade: Reduced the aftercast on this skill from .4 seconds to .2 seconds.
Path of Scars: Now pulls enemies on the return flight.

Minor buff on the first. The second is rather amazing with lots of possibilities. A might booned zerker ranger could already 6k x 2 on the skill to and from, but now you can pull an enemy or 2 into a whirling defense follow up, sword 1 to cripple and keep then near you or pull them into a trap with the combo of your choice...lots and lots of options here. With the debuff to shortbow range (upcoming), one may ask why not just use axe axe instead?

Long Range Shot: Reduced the aftercast on this skill from .5 seconds to .25 seconds. Increased arrow speed by 15%
Rapid Fire: Reduced initial cast time by .4 seconds. Increased arrow speed by 15%
Point Blank Shot: Increased arrow speed by 15%
Barrage: Increased cripple duration by 50%.


A good first step at making the unpopular longbow more viable. The arrow speed should also help with damage output a tad simply for missing the target less. A faster LB1 will help but it needed a little more love than that. Lots of rangers, if you read the forums, swear off the LB almost entirely already, but 2-5 were already very useful in my opinion so I don't have a ton of complaints here.

Crossfire: Range decreased to 900.
Poison Volley: Range decreased to 900
Quick Shot: Range decreased to 900. Damage increased by 14%.
Crippling Shot: Range decreased to 900. Damage increased by 14%.
Concussion shot: Range decreased to 900. Damage increased by 14%. Reduced the aftercast by .25 seconds.

The range decrease is interesting. It does make sense for shortbow to have a shorter range than longbow, but to change all that 9 months in is a bit weird, maybe. The damage increase is not really consequential...max damage on sb is still gonna be 11111111111111 in the absence of combo fields.



Pets
[nerf across the board]

Expected Damage nerfs (mostly). At least ice breath is unaffected..

Beastmastery
Instinctual Bond: This trait has been swapped with Zephyr’s Speed. Quickness increased to 3s.

Hardest hit of the notes, to be honest.. Zephyr's speed was basically a staple 5 points for any ranger of any build. Swapping pets gives you some short quickness. Now it is a grandmaster trait? So now it is something ONLY BM rangers will see. Seems backwards. Instinctual bond...how in the hell was this ever a grandmaster trait? I'm unsure it's worth 5 trait points at all.

Beastmasters Might: This trait now grants 3 stacks of might for 15 seconds.
Spotter: This trait has been increased from 70 precision to 150.

The Beastmaster's Might (15s of 3 might on signet activation) is very complimentary to the Signet of the Beastmaster build I usually run. I could easily see doubling up on that and Signet Mastery, along with Signet of the Beastmaster across the trait line. Get might for using the panic button signet of stone and the signet of the wild, which already comes with a +25% damage bonus and stability. Hell without the SoW stability, all Rangers have for that is an elite...

Nature Magic
Vigorous Spirits: This trait has been merged with Spiritual Knowledge.
Spiritual Knowledge: This trait has been moved to the Adept tier.

Basically makes Spiritual Knowledge the de facto Adept trait if you want to use spirits....wish they could still move though...

Skrimishing
Companion’s Might: This trait now grants 5 seconds of might to your pet, up from 1 second.

Seems to be the solution to the pet damage nerf. Basically, with Rampage as One giving might (8s) to your pets on every hit and granting fury, giving might (5s)to your pets on every critical when traited with a long enough duration on both RaO and the trait to actually stack...could be potentially maxing out the pet might stack really quick. Follow up with the aforementioned Signet of Wild and/or Sic'Em (Pet attack dmg +40%) and we will have to see what comes out in the wash when you balance this against some the general pet damage nerfs.

That ended up being a bit longer than I hoped...

 

[Katoki]

Hot damn SBI caught up to AR. Looks like there'll be no rolling over this week.

 

[Levyne]

I saw a lot of gaf in wvw tonight. Hooray, we're helping! /zoidberg

 

[docbon]

Spectral Wall: Normalized the amount of protection gained to 7s for allies. Replaced the Vulnerability with a 1s fear when enemies try to cross the wall. Added 4% life force gain on hit.

Can't believe I missed this earlier. This is an insanely good buff, considering i have double condition duration for 2 second fears. I will be able to terror fear with no aoe limit on a rushing zerg, and then follow it up with another aoe fear skill.

Imagine if multiple necromancers staggered the walls to create a ping pong effect.

Necromancer will rule open field next update.

 

[Maledict]

The thing about Mesmers is that they already can do a lot of cool stuff. So much cool stuff. They also have a lot of good trait synergy already. If you look at people playing WvW, Mesmers have probably the highest build diversity just because everything they do adds to their survival. And stuff like the change to Mind Spike is something that I plain adore.

But you're right. Compared to most of the other classes, the Mesmer had changes that were more similar to previous balance patches. I can only assume that they're afraid to tweak much because of the aforementioned synergy, but I'm also surprised they didn't do more with the weapons. Greatsword is really strong for power builds, but Staff is considered weak for conditions and they didn't do much there at all. Scepter solidified itself as the rare condition applier.

Mesmer mostly got a buff to support builds that already had synergy with other builds if you felt like splitting trait points. It's weird. They didn't even touch on the fact that illusion-on-dodge is a trait so many Mesmer's can't ignore, along with the staple trait Illusionist's Celerity.

My issue with mesmers is that in PvE the class feels very lacking in some respects. Yes it's has the godly Time Warp, but in other areas it comes up really short . My complaints are all about PvE however - a lot of this stuff doesn't apply at all in PvP.

- tiny number of viable builds. There's only really two builds that work in PvE, both damage orientated (shatter and phantasm). Support and control builds don't exist at all really, and despite many buffs mantras remain mostly unplayable.

- the class is clearly steered towards conditions - but condition builds don't work. We either add conditions on randomly (staff) or we mostly add confusion which does basically no damage in PvE outside o a special few encounters.

- the actual control element of the class doesn't function in PvE. Even with a co-ordinated group playing a build that relies on interrupts and controlling enemies doesn't function which is a huge shame as its supposed to be a cornerstone of the class.

- the need to resummon illusions for every new enemy is even worse than having to stack DoTs. There are some types of fights -wave fits in particular) where as a Mesmer your damage is stupidly low because you effectively cannot use your illusions to any great degree.

- the illusions on dodge and the faster illusions talents are so powerful they are almost mandatory which further restricts things.

- the class was billed before release as one of the potential 'tank' classes in the game, and the weapon skills reflect that with numerous invulnerability skills. Whilst mesmers *are* very hard to kill, they can't fulfill a tanking role at all - I'm often the last person standing but that doesn't help my team mates in the same way a guardian specced defensively does.

Ultimately I do love the class and its design, but its coming up to a year since launch and mesmers have never had the sort of fundamental refresh of class abilities that have happened elsewhere, probably because in PvP they function so differently. Which is fine but it feels like the class should come with a 'PvP orientated' tag on it. The class never seems to live up to its potential or class themes in PvE. All the higher level Mesmer PvE videos just show endless greatsword auto-attacks followed by a round of explosions when the cooldowns come up which is hardly thrilling action...

GW1 had the same issue for a long time and they eventually sat down and looked at that so hopefully at some point we'll see the same in GW2.

 

[jersoc]

if those leak balance changes are true I'm a bit disappointed with guardian.

Well first off, it's about god damn time they boost the scepter attacks. fuck you deserve to die in wvw if you get hit with it.

While I do enjoy AH, but growing very tired of it. The problem is there really is no option for a build. Anet didn't do anything to really address this.

I was also hoping for less shitty ass passives too, but nothing was touched. I guess what I'm really envisioning would probably have to be included in the XP because it would be so huge. But god damn does this game need more variety.

I'd play another class more, but I have way too many skins for my main. If we only we had some sort of closest.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I'd play another class more, but I have way too many skins for my main. If we only we had some sort of closest.

? Matey why does your amount of skins limit your other output with other classes.



I agree that there should be more weapon types, and perhaps 5 more utility per profession.



I think they could cut some corners by making a polearm/spear/bo/double bladed sword for some classes. first of all, many of the underwater spears don't look aquatic and could fit as land weapons, so that's a good argument for a land weapon, since they have to make fewer new weapons.

Secondly, it fits with many classes. Warrior - throwing spear(ranged dps) giving them a new style versus their longbow AOE. I'm thinking bleeds and perhaps anti kiting? It would be useful, and unique. Perhaps giving it a semi range(it doesnt make sense to throw a spear as long as you can shoot a bow).

Guardians, could be a two-handed tanking spear. slows, downings and some protection, making it a very offensive "stopper" weapon".

Thief could be a tanking spear as well, a protective fast paced style of tanking with crazy spins and swoops.

for elementalist/necromancer/mesmer it could be an actual melee weapon. I think a spear on land has many possibillities. the modeling is also sort of there already.



--------


But spear would not be my favorite thing to add to variety. that would be exotic weapons like nunchucks(thief), whip(mesmer) and morning star (guardian, warrior). dual wielding morning stars on a norn. I think my brain would collapse into a black whole.

 

[Lunar15]

So, uh, what are the odds on this being real?

It's a pretty detailed list to be sure, but we still have no confirmation that this is real.

 

[Retro]

So, uh, what are the odds on this being real?

It's a pretty detailed list to be sure, but we still have no confirmation that this is real.

Reddit seems to have sourced them to a Polish website, but we have no idea if they're real or how old they are. The leaked profession changes absolutely should not be taken as gospel.

However, I personally think they're real; the size is one hint, the fact that a lot of the changes 'feel' right and hit all the right notes is another. It's a lot of work, covering all of the classes, and honestly a lot of it really well designed, for it to just be the work of a fan. Maybe a collective of fans, but why bother? For a weekend of misinformation? The fact that they've got Torment and the Weakness change in all the right places so quickly after the reveal seems right too.

That said, I think they're outdated. The language is off from their usual Patch Notes, which makes me think these are roughed-in. A lot of the changes are for "aftercast", but that's an element they've never mentioned and may be such a small detail that when we get the public notes, they trim it out.

I mentioned this in Guild Chat, but I think the big thing to take away from the notes is not "What did I get" / "What isn't being fixed", but the overall direction of the changes they're making. If even half of those changes go through, those are some pretty bold strokes they're using for just about every profession. Don't look at the numbers or read between the lines to see what's missing, because they're probably not done yet.

We'll see on Tuesday, but methinks those notes are real but not indicative of the final product.

/PRetro
/spin

 

[Hawkian]

on Tuesday

4 days away

I feel like we've all collectively already started to take this shit for granted

 

[Eric WK]

Hit level 29 on my Guardian last night and I'm really enjoying the game so far. Not sure how active I was in the Guild Wars 2 threads leading up to launch, but I was highly anticipating it. I just didn't have the time last August to start playing.

Anyway, I rolled on Tarnished Coast to play with a couple people I know in real life and neither of them have logged on once since I bought the game last week. =/

I'm really regretting not starting on Stormbluff Isle, but I don't particularly want to delete my character and can't justify paying the transfer fee right now. Maybe once I reach 80.

 

[Hawkian]

You can guest!

 

[Proven]

I thought perhaps they would make a condition build more viable, beef up options with the Staff and especially the Scepter. Seems like everybody just goes with damage burst builds whether Shatter or Phantasm and it would be interesting to see a third option pop up. There are a few problems with the GS at the moment and other general issues many people are always clamoring to be addressed and I was curious to see if any would be but I guess not. Well, except for Signet of Illusions which is nice.

Looking at it again, if you trait the Scepter then you get 8 seconds of Torment every 8 seconds. So it feels like they're moving condition Mesmer more towards Confusion and Torment, which is cool. Unfortunately...

My issue with mesmers is that in PvE the class feels very lacking in some respects. Yes it's has the godly Time Warp, but in other areas it comes up really short . My complaints are all about PvE however - a lot of this stuff doesn't apply at all in PvP.

- tiny number of viable builds. There's only really two builds that work in PvE, both damage orientated (shatter and phantasm). Support and control builds don't exist at all really, and despite many buffs mantras remain mostly unplayable.

- the class is clearly steered towards conditions - but condition builds don't work. We either add conditions on randomly (staff) or we mostly add confusion which does basically no damage in PvE outside o a special few encounters.

- the actual control element of the class doesn't function in PvE. Even with a co-ordinated group playing a build that relies on interrupts and controlling enemies doesn't function which is a huge shame as its supposed to be a cornerstone of the class.

- the need to resummon illusions for every new enemy is even worse than having to stack DoTs. There are some types of fights -wave fits in particular) where as a Mesmer your damage is stupidly low because you effectively cannot use your illusions to any great degree.

- the illusions on dodge and the faster illusions talents are so powerful they are almost mandatory which further restricts things.

- the class was billed before release as one of the potential 'tank' classes in the game, and the weapon skills reflect that with numerous invulnerability skills. Whilst mesmers *are* very hard to kill, they can't fulfill a tanking role at all - I'm often the last person standing but that doesn't help my team mates in the same way a guardian specced defensively does.

Ultimately I do love the class and its design, but its coming up to a year since launch and mesmers have never had the sort of fundamental refresh of class abilities that have happened elsewhere, probably because in PvP they function so differently. Which is fine but it feels like the class should come with a 'PvP orientated' tag on it. The class never seems to live up to its potential or class themes in PvE. All the higher level Mesmer PvE videos just show endless greatsword auto-attacks followed by a round of explosions when the cooldowns come up which is hardly thrilling action...

GW1 had the same issue for a long time and they eventually sat down and looked at that so hopefully at some point we'll see the same in GW2.

There's not a lot I can think of for PvE either. Someone mentioned on the official forums that interrupt builds are stronger in team fight settings, since you have a higher chance of getting one. I'd assume that holds true for PvE as well, but still.

Still, some of the differences between PvE and PvP/WvW are frustrating. I now understand why they gave scepter as the starting weapon in PvE, but it's frustrating when you can kill enemies before you even see the clone from the third scepter auto-attack. And to do AoE damage at a low level you have to shatter constantly.

I stopped playing GW1 before any major Mesmer redesign, so I'm not familiar with them. Mesmer was my favorite class through most of my time playing, so I remember having similar frustrations but just living with it. I'd have my party focus on the weaker enemies while I'd drop my hexes on the higher priority targets. In GW2 PvE, high priority targets don't exist as much.

Reddit seems to have sourced them to a Polish website, but we have no idea if they're real or how old they are. The leaked profession changes absolutely should not be taken as gospel.

However, I personally think they're real; the size is one hint, the fact that a lot of the changes 'feel' right and hit all the right notes is another. It's a lot of work, covering all of the classes, and honestly a lot of it really well designed, for it to just be the work of a fan. Maybe a collective of fans, but why bother? For a weekend of misinformation? The fact that they've got Torment and the Weakness change in all the right places so quickly after the reveal seems right too.

That said, I think they're outdated. The language is off from their usual Patch Notes, which makes me think these are roughed-in. A lot of the changes are for "aftercast", but that's an element they've never mentioned and may be such a small detail that when we get the public notes, they trim it out.

I mentioned this in Guild Chat, but I think the big thing to take away from the notes is not "What did I get" / "What isn't being fixed", but the overall direction of the changes they're making. If even half of those changes go through, those are some pretty bold strokes they're using for just about every profession. Don't look at the numbers or read between the lines to see what's missing, because they're probably not done yet.

We'll see on Tuesday, but methinks those notes are real but not indicative of the final product.

/PRetro
/spin

I agree with looking at where they're going. Some of the classes got major fixing, but a good number got comparatively smaller changes. This may be an indication that they're ready to take bigger steps with balancing now, and we'll see the same sort of attention given to Warrior and Necro but on Mesmer and Guardian next go around. In that case, it'd be a question of when. If these are real, or even close to real, I doubt they'd do another big balance patch a month later. Maybe three months down the line.

 

[Eric WK]

You can guest!

Fair point! Am I correct in thinking that the only major thing guesting locks one out of is WvWvW (for obvious reasons)?

 

[Levyne]

If you guest to Stormbluff, any native SBIer can attack you at will and if you die, you are deleted.

Actually you have it right. Anything but WvW. Some Guild nuances as well, but those are minor.

 

[Retro]

I'm really regretting not starting on Stormbluff Isle, but I don't particularly want to delete my character and can't justify paying the transfer fee right now. Maybe once I reach 80.

As Hawkian mentioned, you can guest over to Stormbluff Isle any time you want. Post (or PM, if you like) your name.#### and we'll get you into GAFGuild. Guilds are cross-server, so even if you're playing on TC you can still enjoy guild chat. The only thing you won't get are guild buffs and playing in WvW.

I agree with looking at where they're going. Some of the classes got major fixing, but a good number got comparatively smaller changes. This may be an indication that they're ready to take bigger steps with balancing now, and we'll see the same sort of attention given to Warrior and Necro but on Mesmer and Guardian next go around. In that case, it'd be a question of when. If these are real, or even close to real, I doubt they'd do another big balance patch a month later. Maybe three months down the line.

It's possible that the professions with a lot of changes were just done first, and so look substantially more improved at the time these notes were taken. I don't know anything about ANet's internal testing schedule, so they could be weeks old at this point. A lot may have changed since whoever leaked these grabbed them.

 

[Proven]

It's possible that the professions with a lot of changes were just done first, and so look substantially more improved at the time these notes were taken. I don't know anything about ANet's internal testing schedule, so they could be weeks old at this point. A lot may have changed since whoever leaked these grabbed them.

I just can't get it out of my head that whoever grabbed these copied them them in the last two weeks. Some of this stuff, like the Warrior sword change, would probably have taken a good while to make sure they got the balance right, and then they'd also have to address the fact that main hand sword already interacted with Leg Specialist and Opportunist snugly.

But yeah, there are a ton of variables. Instead of everything they added to a test server in one final test before putting live, it could be a list of accumulative changes over the last couple of months, half of which are no where close to being pushed to live next week.

 

[Eric WK]

As Hawkian mentioned, you can guest over to Stormbluff Isle any time you want. Post (or PM, if you like) your name.#### and we'll get you into GAFGuild. Guilds are cross-server, so even if you're playing on TC you can still enjoy guild chat. The only thing you won't get are guild buffs and playing in WvW.

Sounds great!

ericwk.8260

 

[Spehornoob]

4 days away

I feel like we've all collectively already started to take this shit for granted

Can you imagine the Guru shitfit if ANET ended up missing a month?

 

[Retro]

Sounds great!

ericwk.8260

Invite sent, check your guild tab next time you log on.

I just can't get it out of my head that whoever grabbed these copied them them in the last two weeks. Some of this stuff, like the Warrior sword change, would probably have taken a good while to make sure they got the balance right, and then they'd also have to address the fact that main hand sword already interacted with Leg Specialist and Opportunist snugly.

But yeah, there are a ton of variables. Instead of everything they added to a test server in one final test before putting live, it could be a list of accumulative changes over the last couple of months, half of which are no where close to being pushed to live next week.

Right, there's just as much potential for the actual changes to be less than what's shown; some things just may not be ready yet. I don't feel like they're too outdated either, but they're definitely unpolished.

 

[Hawkian]

Look at the dates of the last 7 releases
March 26th
April 1st
April 30th
May 14th
May 28th
June 11th
June 25th

Starting with the May 28th one, each release has also had an additional content "unlock" or progression in the "off" week

 

[Retro]

Just a heads up, there's some limited time 20% discount on some items in the Gem Store;

Name Change Contact: 640 (normally 800)
Total Makeover Kit: 280 gems for one (normally 350) or 5 for1120 (normally 1400)
Transmutation Crystal: 5 for 160 (Normally 200), 10 for 288 (normally 360) or 25 for640 (normally 800)

 

[Reknoc]

Ah nice might buy a name change for my ele so she in line with my naming.

 

[Retro]

Ah nice might buy a name change for my ele so she in line with my naming.

Yeah, not the kind of Stock-up-just-in-case kind of deals like they had in March, but if you've been needing any of those, there's no better time to grab them.

 

[Pumpkin King]

Thanks for the heads up. I needed transmutation crystals.

 

[Squall ASF]

My issue with mesmers is that in PvE the class feels very lacking in some respects. Yes it's has the godly Time Warp, but in other areas it comes up really short . My complaints are all about PvE however - a lot of this stuff doesn't apply at all in PvP.

- tiny number of viable builds. There's only really two builds that work in PvE, both damage orientated (shatter and phantasm). Support and control builds don't exist at all really, and despite many buffs mantras remain mostly unplayable.

- the class is clearly steered towards conditions - but condition builds don't work. We either add conditions on randomly (staff) or we mostly add confusion which does basically no damage in PvE outside o a special few encounters.

- the actual control element of the class doesn't function in PvE. Even with a co-ordinated group playing a build that relies on interrupts and controlling enemies doesn't function which is a huge shame as its supposed to be a cornerstone of the class.

- the need to resummon illusions for every new enemy is even worse than having to stack DoTs. There are some types of fights -wave fits in particular) where as a Mesmer your damage is stupidly low because you effectively cannot use your illusions to any great degree.

- the illusions on dodge and the faster illusions talents are so powerful they are almost mandatory which further restricts things.

- the class was billed before release as one of the potential 'tank' classes in the game, and the weapon skills reflect that with numerous invulnerability skills. Whilst mesmers *are* very hard to kill, they can't fulfill a tanking role at all - I'm often the last person standing but that doesn't help my team mates in the same way a guardian specced defensively does.

Ultimately I do love the class and its design, but its coming up to a year since launch and mesmers have never had the sort of fundamental refresh of class abilities that have happened elsewhere, probably because in PvP they function so differently. Which is fine but it feels like the class should come with a 'PvP orientated' tag on it. The class never seems to live up to its potential or class themes in PvE. All the higher level Mesmer PvE videos just show endless greatsword auto-attacks followed by a round of explosions when the cooldowns come up which is hardly thrilling action...

GW1 had the same issue for a long time and they eventually sat down and looked at that so hopefully at some point we'll see the same in GW2.

Good post, this is much of what I feel towards Mesmers in PVE. Fortunately, I still enjoy my Phantasm build so I have plenty of fun but it'd be nice to see more options open up for others and maybe it would convince me to shake things up if a new viable build came out.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Looking forward to coming up with new builds for all 3 of my characters next week.

Should we try to plan a Guild Jumping Puzzle event for the new JP that they are adding?

 

[Shanlei91]

Just a heads up, there's some limited time 20% discount on some items in the Gem Store;

Name Change Contact: 640 (normally 800)
Total Makeover Kit: 280 gems for one (normally 350) or 5 for1120 (normally 1400)
Transmutation Crystal: 5 for 160 (Normally 200), 10 for 288 (normally 360) or 25 for640 (normally 800)

The sale on the Total Makeover Kit is their solution to the Dragon Helm removing beards.

 

[Katoki]

Looking forward to coming up with new builds for all 3 of my characters next week.

Should we try to plan a Guild Jumping Puzzle event for the new JP that they are adding?

How do you feel about the initial rush of people? Some may hate it and some may like the lemming effect.

 

[Kos Luftar]

How do you feel about the initial rush of people? Some may hate it and some may like the lemming effect.

Maybe you are right, we could just schedule it for the weekend after the update...maybe by that time there will be less people running it...hopefully the rewards aren't crazy awesome and people don't just run it non-stop.

It is permanent so I guess we can do it whenever...

The story dungeon we can do as a guild...maybe after the initial run we can Speed Run it.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Karl is streaming and giving some S/TPvP tips for Necro: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

 

[Levyne]

Looking forward to coming up with new builds for all 3 of my characters next week.

Should we try to plan a Guild Jumping Puzzle event for the new JP that they are adding?

Heh, I've already started considering some new weapon swaps and sigil sets based on the leaked stuff. S/A to A/W instead of a bow perhaps. I'd never need to trait Piercing arrows again since Axe 2 and 4 already pierce and 1 bounces, and axe 4 would be the CC replacement for LB 4 or SB 5. Even if nothing changes it'll be fun just to try something different.


I have to entertain company starting tonight so potentially no WvW reset or Saturday fever shananigans for me this week

 

[Trey]

Anyone else get their Sea of Sorrows book early? Gonna crush it tonight probably.

 

[Retro]

Anyone else get their Sea of Sorrows book early? Gonna crush it tonight probably.

Not that I know of, I'll have to charge my Nook this weekend though. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Hawkian]

Anyone else get their Sea of Sorrows book early? Gonna crush it tonight probably.

Read the first chapter on the preview thing. Nice and manipulative.

Marjory's story continues

More on the Aetherblades (a little too external/design-based for me, I'd have preferred a little more lore).

 

[Katoki]

I rather liked that short read very much.

Additionally, the new instance looks good so far In terms of living up to the expectations that were set after the Molten Alliance dungeon.

 

[Proven]

Karl is streaming and giving some S/TPvP tips for Necro: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Eh...

 

[Hawkian]

I rather liked that short read very much.

Additionally, the new instance looks good so far In terms of living up to the expectations that were set after the Molten Alliance dungeon.

Explained the mix of races I was confused about nicely in the PinQuest nicely- Covington's pirates have all of them too so it's easy to accept. Still can't wait for the Fledge Weapon Facility to turn up in Fractals.

 

[Echelon079]

Any chance for a guild invite? I purchased at release and literally never played, but decided to pick it up and give it a try after looking at some of the Dragon Bash things. Name is Echelon.8702. Thanks!

 

[Retro]

Any chance for a guild invite? I purchased at release and literally never played, but decided to pick it up and give it a try after looking at some of the Dragon Bash things. Name is Echelon.8702. Thanks!

Done and done. Welcome to GAFGuild.

Here's some beginner's tips to help you get started;

1. Roll the class you think looks interesting and fun, not which you think will be most useful. If one doesn't click with you, try another. Whatever choice you make, you won't be penalized further down the road (i.e. you can get into a group no matter what class you pick now). Every class can contribute, even breaking MMO-tropes; Guardians (the Paladin-like class) have a couple ranged attacks, Rangers are good in melee, etc.

- That said, most people say the Guardian, Warrior and Ranger are good classes to start with, while Mesmers, Elementalists and Engineers have a bit of a learning curve. Seriously though, try what sounds cool to you, as all of the professions are pretty approachable and you can always ask for help here or in-game.​

2. Race has no statistical advantage; it will only give you a few race-specific utility and elite skills (none of which stand out over the others). Otherwise it is entirely cosmetic. Be aware that the "Tauren Effect" is in play here; the two large races, Norn and Charr, feel like they move slower than the others even though run speed is normalized. Likewise, Asura feel like they're flying. Some people (myself included) find it detracts from the game, YMMV.

- For what it's worth, Norn look insanely cool in full armor (especially plate) and Charr have an awesome four-legged run animation, so there's silver lining everywhere.​

3. Buy a copper Mining Pick, Harvesting Sickle and Logging axe as soon as you have the money; there's no gathering professions, everyone can gather everything so long as they have the tools. Resource nodes show up on your mini-map (Grey rock, green leaves, brown log pile) and are instanced for everyone; don't rush to mine a Copper node just because someone is running towards it, you will have your own copy waiting just for you.

4. Likewise, buy a basic Salvage Kit. This is similar to Disenchanting in WoW, but you actually get resources like cloth, leather and metal rather than dusts/essences. This is the primary method for getting cloth and leather, actually. You will get items from enemies that serve no purpose other than to be salvaged, and will be labelled as such.

5. You don't need to be at a waypoint to travel; you can open your map and travel to any waypoint you've previously visited at any time.

6. If you want bags, take up any of the armor crafting professions (Armorsmith, Leatherworker, Tailor) as all three can produce bags right away. You may also want to check the Trading Post (shortcut: o) because the prices there are pretty low.

7. You get weapon swapping at level 7 (unless you're an Elementalist or Engineer), and unlock utility slots at 5, 10 and 20. Elite skills unlock at level 30.

8. For a quick level or two, explore your race's starting city. When you open your map there will be a checklist of the waypoints (Diamonds), Points of Interest (Small squares), and Vistas (Two Red Triangles), all of which give you XP just for visiting them. It also nets you some money and goodies for fully completing the map.

9. Learn to dodge early, it will save you forever. Most enemies have a 'wind up' animation just before they deliver a large attack. The default dodge key is V.

- Red Circles on the ground are enemy AOE attacks; dodge out of those too.​

10. When your health reaches zero, you aren't automatically killed; instead you enter a 'downed' state where you can defeat an enemy (or heal yourself if none are around) to rally back at half health. Keep an eye open for a blue "V" symbol over other players, or on your mini-map; this indicates another played who has been downed, and you can revive them (default key: f) and get some experience.

11. Wander around and do stuff. One of the biggest complaints people new to the game have is that there isn't any direction it shoos you towards. There are traditional quests (marked with hearts on your map), but the real meat of GW2 are events which can happen anywhere at any time. Pay attention to your surroundings; people will often run up to you and ask for help, or you'll see signs that something is amiss (people are sick and the well water is green? Follow the pipes to investigate the water supply.)

12. Whisper any of the officers for an invite to GAF guild where your questions will be answered. Ferny, Ashodin Venteal, Hawkian The Blade, Gojira, Nephenee Reginleif, Professor Retro, Wallach or Arken Elric. You can be part of GAF Guild regardless of which server you are on (We play on Stormbluff Isle, but it is often full), and you can join multiple guilds as well (so if you have friends already playing, you can switch between them as you like).

13. We use Mumble, and have a GAF server just for our guild; talking is optional but being able to listen helps, especially in dungeons. We also tend to hang out and get overly excited about new features:
Server Address: atl.eoreality.net
Port: 64742
Use your GAF Name as your username to avoid confusion.

14. You can also register at GAFGuild.com, we post all sorts of events and discuss things a little more indepth than we do here, just to keep this thread open for general discussion without getting bogged down in theorycrafting, event notices and such.

AWESOME TIPS (i.e. "Why don't other MMOs have that?!")
- There are no mailboxes anywhere, because you can send and receive mail anywhere via messenger pigeons.

- Likewise, you can buy and sell on the trading post from anywhere. However, any items you buy, or any money you make from selling, can only be picked up at a Trader NPC (marked as a golden scale icon on your map).

- You can click the small gear in the upper right corner of your inventory and select "Deposit all Collectables" to automatically send any crafting materials to your bank. These items appear on the "Collectables" tab at your bank, a special space that holds all of that stuff for you instead of forcing you to hoard it in your regular storage space.

- Your bank space is shared between all of your characters, and there is a space on the lower right to deposit money.

- There is no mob tagging in the traditional sense; as long as you do above a certain threshold of damage, you will get credit and looting rights regardless of who attacked first.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

It looks a lot like a sideways move, which is underwhelming but not catastrophic. The most succinct was I can put it is that I'm glad I've been slowly pulling out of BM for PVE, despite that being the hip meta in PVP. If true I feel that the digest highlights for me are:




That ended up being a bit longer than I hoped...

You seem to know a lot about Rangers.

What would you say is the best build for leveling to 80?

I'm running with the greatsword right now (level 69) and I feel like the damage output is less than the shortbow but I don't have anything to actually record DPS.

 

[Retro]

You seem to know a lot about Rangers.

He's got all the khold hard facts on Rangering.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

He's got all the khold hard facts on Rangering.

Yeah, I'm hoping he can help me retrofit my build into something more effective.

 

[Retro]

Yeah, I'm hoping he can help me retrofit my build into something more effective.

help me retrofit my build

retrofit

retro

I see what you did there...

... you're alright.

 

[Eric WK]

So are the limited-time gem-expensive gathering tools at all worth it?

Considering getting the Consortium Harvesting Sickle while it's still around, but if it's a silly purchase I'm not going to pull the trigger.

 

[Ceres]

If you still do a lot of gathering on a main character, I think they're worth it. I stopped gathering low level plants when I was wasting ori tools on them all the time. Now I gather anything I see. Keeps your bags free of backup tools too.