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[Arcteryx]

Hmm, well I believe you on Condition Remover and Daily Kills, but I want to test it nonetheless. Skill Points I dispute, in that I have to us my scrolls rather than earn it by playing like PvE/WvW. And for Recycler, I just opened my two boxes that were one node on the reward track and I got two items to recycle (and one skill point).

Technically you're correct, but I strongly dispute this conclusion in practice. I used to be able to log on, knock out my daily in ~25 minutes, and that was it if I liked. That appears to be no more, at least without burning significantly more resources. But I'll adjust I guess.

Yea it takes considerably more time now in PvP, especially with the removal of 8v8 hotjoin games.

I don't see why they couldn't have just kept ALL the previous PvP daily reqs and added them to the PvE ones. Let people truly do what they want, instead of forcing this 50/50 split.

 

[theMrCravens]

I still think they should get rid of charges and let us swap skins freely.

Even if it's leagues better than the previous broken system we've had since beta, it's still pretty annoying to still have it revolve around rmt.

If someone wants to swap skins every freaking hour, then let them.

 

[Edvardelis]

I don't see why they couldn't have just kept ALL the previous PvP daily reqs and added them to the PvE ones. Let people truly do what they want, instead of forcing this 50/50 split.

I was expecting just that. I can only assume that doing it this way was to "encourage" more people to PvP or WvWvW.

 

[AFollowerNotALeader]

Oh Jesus. The shrieking on the official forums is legendary. If only we could bottle up this hatred and rage and use it for somthing useful.

Only two hours until my easter break starts. ROLL ON 5:30!

 

[Trey]

I still think they should get rid of charges and let us swap skins freely.

Even if it's leagues better than the previous broken system we've had since beta, it's still pretty annoying to still have it revolve around rmt.

If someone wants to swap skins every freaking hour, then let them.

I think the transmutation stones are extremely reasonable. Anet's model has always been to subsidize the game with people's vanity, and this falls right in line with that philosophy. And you still get stones for doing stuff like map comp and personal story, both of which have probably been low in participation.

 

[Proven]

- People that used transmutation stones to swap sigil/runes between items are unable to do so.
Very situational, but now your only option is to salvage the item and hope you get the rune, or directly buy a new rune.

Something is wrong with me. I read that, smiled, and thought "Economy!"

I was expecting just that. I can only assume that doing it this way was to "encourage" more people to PvP or WvWvW.

And get more PvP people into the other modes. Most of the PvP complaints I've seen have come from needing to gather skill points (about the same rate as PvE now with the reward changes + rank up chests), and leveling up alts (a character can only equip a helmet and shoulders after a couple of levels).

I still think they should get rid of charges and let us swap skins freely.

Even if it's leagues better than the previous broken system we've had since beta, it's still pretty annoying to still have it revolve around rmt.

If someone wants to swap skins every freaking hour, then let them.

Someone pointed out to me that changing the system to costing a charge to put a skin into the wardrobe would just push the cost onto a different group of players: collectors. They said there were around 2000 skins in the game, and we'll be continuing to get more into the future. And if you wanted to change your look with a newly released skin without losing your old look forever (or bag slots) you'd still have to spend charges.

On the bright side, they gave us free to change account bound dyes as a peace offering.

Hmm, well I believe you on Condition Remover and Daily Kills, but I want to test it nonetheless. Skill Points I dispute, in that I have to us my scrolls rather than earn it by playing like PvE/WvW. And for Recycler, I just opened my two boxes that were one node on the reward track and I got two items to recycle (and one skill point).

Technically you're correct, but I strongly dispute this conclusion in practice. I used to be able to log on, knock out my daily in ~25 minutes, and that was it if I liked. That appears to be no more, at least without burning significantly more resources. But I'll adjust I guess.

They did make the dailies overall harder for all modes of the game, agreed. You may still be able to do it in ~25 minutes but you'll have to jump around a lot more than before.

Why do you not feel like you've earned scrolls if it's outside of leveling up? How do you feel about the scrolls from ranking up?

 

[shysaursoft]

I'm just outright ignoring Reddit and the forums for now, because I really couldn't care less what the whiners and 'omg something changed I need an adult' crowd think. In a week, half of them won't even remember what they were kvetching about.

 

[Lunar15]

i can finally be the disco chef i've always aspired to be

Truth be told, you kind of look like Galactus.

 

[shysaursoft]

I'm still amazed how they managed to not only fix turrets, but make them a totally viable build. The things I did in WvW last night with turrets, I never thought possible. Guardian in a Can is my favorite (Thumper).

 

[Astral/H3X]

I'm still amazed how they managed to not only fix turrets, but make them a totally viable build. The things I did in WvW last night with turrets, I never thought possible. Guardian in a Can is my favorite (Thumper).

I noticed they changed turrets to fire faster (Or rather fixed), but now they're totally viable? You should post your build on that, always wanted turrets to be useful, thus making the wrench useful.

 

[shysaursoft]

I noticed they changed turrets to fire faster (Or rather fixed), but now they're totally viable? You should post your build on that, always wanted turrets to be useful, thus making the wrench useful.

Just take Experimental Turrets (Grandmaster in Alchemy). It makes each different turret type apply a different boon as a pulse. So Flame Turret is a Might Stack Generator, Thumper gives Aegis, etc.

And this works with Supply Drop.

Add in the Shielded Turrets Grandmaster Trait and you can really ruin someone's day.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more Engineers manage backline support now, especially in WvW. Expect to see a heck of a lot more turrets all over.

EDIT:

When people ask me what's in the Feature Pack, because they don't want to read the website or patch notes:

 

[Proven]

Dammit, I still haven't watched Nichijou.

 

[swnny]

Seriously, whoever was working on the PvP matchmaking should be fired and never work as a programer ever again.
It doesn't need an engineering degree or PhD in mathematics to know not to give new players a high starting MMR (hidden matchmaking ranking/rating), because that will place them with the top 500 (for example) players...
It's frustrating for both sides - new players getting stomped hard and the advanced players are raging about playing with newbies. No fun whatsoever.

I'm glad they are working on brining "new blood" into the mode, but do they have to make it with the dumbest method ever?

/rantover

Overall, I really do enjoy all the changes in the Feature Pack, and still is beyond me why so much players are outraging on the forums.
The new trait UI is kinda clunky, and I hate that I need to point at the icon of the item (be it amulets, sigils, runes or traits) to see it's stats. Point at the name alone doesn't bring up the tooltip... it's really annoying. Wouldn't mind it if they didn't reworked all runes and sigils, because I knew them by the numbers, but for now only names do not work well for me and I have to check the stats as well.

Wardrobe is cool, we can preview both skins and dyes before applying them, which is nice touch. I already have 170 transmutation charges (78 from the PvP ranks and a stack of Transmutation Stones plus few Cristals), so it's my least problem with the system, but I can see why some people (mostly PvP guys, as they are used to change skins free) may be unhappy with it, but charges are easily dropped from the PvP reward tracks anyway.

The balance (as long as I can comment on in after only 5-6 matches) is pretty good at the moment. Both hambow war and decap engie are noticeably toned down, and I'm yet to see some new "super-duper-op" meta build.
Eles now have lots of potential, be it power builds, supports, mixed celestial and even "monk" healers, which I'm most excited about (as a former HB healer from GW1). Rangers on other hand ain't in that good spot. I haven't played with the pet changes, but if the pets remain as useless as they were before, then I don't think we will see much of rangers play, especially with the Spirit of Nature nerf.

 

[shysaursoft]

Dammit, I still haven't watched Nichijou.

 

[Arkanius]

Seriously, whoever was working on the PvP matchmaking should be fired and never work as a programer ever again.
It doesn't need an engineering degree or PhD in mathematics to know not to give new players a high starting MMR (hidden matchmaking ranking/rating), because that will place them with the top 500 (for example) players...
It's frustrating for both sides - new players getting stomped hard and the advanced players are raging about playing with newbies. No fun whatsoever.

I'm glad they are working on brining "new blood" into the mode, but do they have to make it with the dumbest method ever?

/rantover

Overall, I really do enjoy all the changes in the Feature Pack, and still is beyond me why so much players are outraging on the forums.
The new trait UI is kinda clunky, and I hate that I need to point at the icon of the item (be it amulets, sigils, runes or traits) to see it's stats. Point at the name alone doesn't bring up the tooltip... it's really annoying. Wouldn't mind it if they didn't reworked all runes and sigils, because I knew them by the numbers, but for now only names do not work well for me and I have to check the stats as well.

Wardrobe is cool, we can preview both skins and dyes before applying them, which is nice touch. I already have 170 transmutation charges (78 from the PvP ranks and a stack of Transmutation Stones plus few Cristals), so it's my least problem with the system, but I can see why some people (mostly PvP guys, as they are used to change skins free) may be unhappy with it, but charges are easily dropped from the PvP reward tracks anyway.

The balance (as long as I can comment on in after only 5-6 matches) is pretty good at the moment. Both hambow war and decap engie are noticeably toned down, and I'm yet to see some new "super-duper-op" meta build.
Eles now have lots of potential, be it power builds, supports, mixed celestial and even "monk" healers, which I'm most excited about (as a former HB healer from GW1). Rangers on other hand ain't in that good spot. I haven't played with the pet changes, but if the pets remain as useless as they were before, then I don't think we will see much of rangers play, especially with the Spirit of Nature nerf.

Even the PvPers won't complain much
You only pay to unlock a single skin once for a single piece.
Imagine you unlock two skins to one piece: you can change between both for free every time you want.

Works like the Transmogs in Diablo 3.

 

[shysaursoft]

Even the PvPers won't complain much
You only pay to unlock a single skin once for a single piece.
Imagine you unlock two skins to one piece: you can change between both for free every time you want.
.

I might be wrong here, but I don't think that's how it works.

You use a transmute charge every time you apply a skin to an item. Even if you've applied that skin to that item before, then applied a different one, applying the original will cost you a charge. The only exception are achievement skins.

?

 

[swnny]

Even the PvPers won't complain much
You only pay to unlock a single skin once for a single piece.
Imagine you unlock two skins to one piece: you can change between both for free every time you want.

Works like the Transmogs in Diablo 3.

Miktar is correct, in GW2 it works differently.
You unlock skins by simply obtaining the item (then left click and choose "unlock skin"), but every time you change the skin of an item it will cost you one Transmutation Charge. You can have the same item(ie stats) twice with different skins and switch between them, but every time you apply a new skin to any item, it will charge you.

And main complaints are from PvPers, because they are used to just change the PvP skin (they didn't have stats) whenever they feel like it, but now it changes the whole item for PvE/WvW as well. And some guys don't even have shoulders and gloves, because they are not high enough level.

 

[Dick Justice]

Skins are applied to armour/weapon pieces, not the slot itself. You're changing the look of the actual item.



You don't get a refund because, since you bought the manuals, you don't need to now go and buy/find those traits, you have them already. New players need to buy them or go unlock them by doing events.

So in a game where you're frequently finding better gear, the skins only apply to the armor, not to the character itself. Fuck.

 

[Astral/H3X]

So in a game where you're frequently finding better gear, the skins only apply to the armor, not to the character itself. Fuck.

Once you hit 80, that pretty much stops though. It does stink, in the fact that this is very much geared towards 80's.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Truth be told, you kind of look like Galactus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6VK3Su3SkM

 

[shysaursoft]

So in a game where you're frequently finding better gear, the skins only apply to the armor, not to the character itself. Fuck.

Until you hit 80, your look doesn't really matter. Once you hit 80, and get full Exotics, you set your look and you're basically done, unless you go Ascended. It's just way, way easier now to set your look, since you can draw from all the skins you've found account wide.

 

[CaptainMintMan]

Where are the new hot spots for money making? I haven't played in a couple months, so I was accustomed to Orr runs and Orr appears to be barren as it is in lore now. qq

 

[SirKhalid]

Where are the new hot spots for money making? I haven't played in a couple months, so I was accustomed to Orr runs and Orr appears to be barren as it is in lore now. qq

Dungeons, Tequatl, world bosses are a good source of money.

 

[shysaursoft]

Where are the new hot spots for money making? I haven't played in a couple months, so I was accustomed to Orr runs and Orr appears to be barren as it is in lore now. qq

As was already said - doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, and just generally playing the content. Most of all: don't spend money, if you want to make money.

 

[Coppanuva]

So, looking at rolling a 5th character eventually, just not sure which class to make. I have:

Elementalist (only 80, love playing as it)
Engineer (25ish)
Thief
Warrior.

I'm looking at either ranger or necromancer, and I've enjoyed all the classes above, just not sure which of these 2 would be more fun to play as. Anybody have any input?

 

[Moondrop]

Ok, I know everyone's been waiting for my theorycrafting results on cleric warrior healing with the new sigils. Let me end the suspense:

Moondrop's Theorycrafting on Cleric Warrior Healing Post-Feature Patch

Objective:
To compare maximum healing output of all combinations of the revamped Water, Renewal, Life, and Benevolence (+12.5% healing with full stacks) sigils for a cleric warrior in idealized ZvZ combat.

Model assumptions:
1374 base healing power; 1624 healing power with life stacks; three healing shouts (SIO!,FGJ!,OMM!); traited shout activating when off cooldown; no runes; weapon swap every 10 seconds; water sigil activating every 8 seconds; 4 allies affected by every AoE heal.

Results [Healing per Second]:
Renewal + Benevolence: 671 H/s
Water + Renewal: 669 H/s
Water + Benevolence: 652 H/s
Renewal + Life: 649 H/s
Water + Life: 626 H/s

Discussion:
These numbers are based off of measurements in Cursed Shore and the Heart of the Mists so may not be exact, but are close enough to draw conclusions. The differences may appear small, but add up over time.

The greatest healing output is achieved by combining sigils of Renewal and Benevolence. However given the limitations of stacking sigils, the close second place combination of Water and Renewal appears to be the safer, more versatile choice.

Also, I confirmed the new sigil formulas:
Water Heal= 370 + 0.15*Healing Power
Renewal Heal = 345 + 0.4*Healing Power
Obviously the latter benefits much more from stacking healing power (576 vs. 895 heals @ 1374 Healing Power).

Conclusion:
Water/Renewal, Water/Renewal for cleric warriors.

I'm looking at either ranger or necromancer, and I've enjoyed all the classes above, just not sure which of these 2 would be more fun to play as. Anybody have any input?

I'm a big defender of ranger; I find it fun first of all. Great for PvE roaming and sPvP. However be prepared for adversity in hardcore dungeon pugs and WvW guilds. Necromancer I'm not against, but it's not really my style. Great for AoE bombing in WvW; tricky in sPvP due to lack of obvious defensive and escape maneuvers; not amazing in PvE due to mechanics of conditions.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Greetings!
We want to give you an update on our rollout of the megaserver technology. It is progressing nicely, and we have turned it on on the following maps:
- The Grove
- Heart of the Mist
- Black Citadel
- Timberline Falls
- Southsun Cove
- Rata Sum
- Straits of Devastation
- Fields of Ruin
- Brisban Wildlands
- Hoelbrak
- Iron Marches
- Blazeridge Steppes
- Dredgehaunt Cliffs

As a reminder – once we turn megaserver on for a specific map, you will not be automatically placed in the new map. You have to leave the map and enter it again. You will also not be able to join your friends until they do the same.
We are continuously monitoring the process and will continue rolling the tech out to more maps based on that. Have fun playing!

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Megaserver-Rollout-Update/first#post3909472

 

[Lunar15]

They're rolling it out fairly quickly. I'm impressed.

 

[Ashodin]

So I got slapped with the authenticator issue and now I have to have support recover my account. YAY

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

Rolled a new character!

This one is a Slyvari Ranger. Pretty fun so far, liking it much better then the previous necromancer alt.

Sitting at around lv 21-22 IIRC. Trying to avoid the train and just level it the old fashioned way, doing events and hearts while going for map completion.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Just played some PvP, and I am rather impressed at how well the Turret Engie I built up worked. I found some great use tossing them up with Deployable Turrets on ledges where fights were breaking out, where they boon'd my allies and of course attacked enemies.

Granted, maybe they just sucked, but that was rather fun.

EDIT: Oooh wow megaserver roll out is MUCH quicker than I thought. I thought we were talking weeks, not effectively hours.

 

[Ashodin]

ANet super confident as always

 

[Wallach]

So, looking at rolling a 5th character eventually, just not sure which class to make. I have:

Elementalist (only 80, love playing as it)
Engineer (25ish)
Thief
Warrior.

I'm looking at either ranger or necromancer, and I've enjoyed all the classes above, just not sure which of these 2 would be more fun to play as. Anybody have any input?

I've played quite a bit of those two classes specifically, and they're my only remaining 80s (I dropped an elbow on my 80 Engineer many moons ago). Mind you I haven't played much GW2 in some time until yesterday but I can see that overall neither one has changed a ton.

I think they're both fun classes. The Necromancer strikes me as a slightly more interesting class that hits a few more "peaks" in terms of effectiveness in different areas of the game. There's a lot lacking about Necromancer's weapon options in terms of variety, which is a problem the Ranger doesn't have. Ranger's more mobile, but you're stuck dealing with pets across all builds which floats in a wide range between "oh that worked" and "whaaaaaaaaaaaat are you doing right now".

Personally I think Necromancer would probably round out your roster a little better than the Ranger looking at your other heroes.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Ok, I know everyone's been waiting for my theorycrafting results on cleric warrior healing with the new sigils. Let me end the suspense:

Moondrop's Theorycrafting on Cleric Warrior Healing Post-Feature Patch

Objective:
To compare maximum healing output of all combinations of the revamped Water, Renewal, Life, and Benevolence (+12.5% healing with full stacks) sigils for a cleric warrior in idealized ZvZ combat.

Model assumptions:
1374 base healing power; 1624 healing power with life stacks; three healing shouts (SIO!,FGJ!,OMM!); traited shout activating when off cooldown; no runes; weapon swap every 10 seconds; water sigil activating every 8 seconds; 4 allies affected by every AoE heal.

Results [Healing per Second]:
Renewal + Benevolence: 671 H/s
Water + Renewal: 669 H/s
Water + Benevolence: 652 H/s
Renewal + Life: 649 H/s
Water + Life: 626 H/s

Discussion:
These numbers are based off of measurements in Cursed Shore and the Heart of the Mists so may not be exact, but are close enough to draw conclusions. The differences may appear small, but add up over time.

The greatest healing output is achieved by combining sigils of Renewal and Benevolence. However given the limitations of stacking sigils, the close second place combination of Water and Renewal appears to be the safer, more versatile choice.

Also, I confirmed the new sigil formulas:
Water Heal= 370 + 0.15*Healing Power
Renewal Heal = 345 + 0.4*Healing Power
Obviously the latter benefits much more from stacking healing power (576 vs. 895 heals @ 1374 Healing Power).

Conclusion:
Water/Renewal, Water/Renewal for cleric warriors.


I'm a big defender of ranger; I find it fun first of all. Great for PvE roaming and sPvP. However be prepared for adversity in hardcore dungeon pugs and WvW guilds. Necromancer I'm not against, but it's not really my style. Great for AoE bombing in WvW; tricky in sPvP due to lack of obvious defensive and escape maneuvers; not amazing in PvE due to mechanics of conditions.

You should definitely post these results to Reddit!!!

 

[-tetsuo-]

Anet not playing witht he Megaserver stuff. I am like everyone else in thinking they meant weeks for new zones to apply the update. The entire game will be done within the week at this pace.

 

[Ceres]

Anet not playing witht he Megaserver stuff. I am like everyone else in thinking they meant weeks for new zones to apply the update. The entire game will be done within the week at this pace.

Probably helps that the faster they role this out, the more money they can save by consolidating servers they are paying for.

 

[Moondrop]

You should definitely post these results to Reddit!!!

Aww thanks, but I don't want my WvW guild to find out I play a cleric. But seriously, I don't want to get in a big argument over the role of healing in GW2. I'm content to share my findings with the true video game cognoscenti.

 

[Ceres]

Aww thanks, but I don't want my WvW guild to find out I play a cleric. But seriously, I don't want to get in a big argument over the role of healing in GW2. I'm content to share my findings with the true video game cognoscenti.

Lump just wants you to so sigil of water spikes up more.

 

[Moondrop]

Lump just wants you to so sigil of water spikes up more.

Oh, that's a great idea- get all of GAF labeled as a trading post manipulation guild.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Lump just wants you to so sigil of water spikes up more.

Yes, this!

 

[Ceres]

Oh, that's a great idea- get all of GAF labeled as a trading post manipulation guild.

We need to figure out a way to spike thick leather so Venthus and I can become rich.

 

[Ashodin]

I had so much fun in PVP last night. even got some of my reward track! SO MUCH FUN.

I want to play today but I can't log in

 

[Nemesis121]

Any one here had there WvW rank nerfed? see my highest rank was 60 because i can't play one character all the time, but my friend was close to 300 and after the patch he was 152 like me..

PS:Anyone crashing when you switch characters?

 

[Ashodin]

Any one here had there WvW rank nerfed? see my highest rank was 60 because i can't play one character all the time, but my friend was close to 300 and after the patch he was 152 like me..

PS:Anyone crashing when you switch characters?

Nope! Still rank 15!

 

[Proven]

Just played some PvP, and I am rather impressed at how well the Turret Engie I built up worked. I found some great use tossing them up with Deployable Turrets on ledges where fights were breaking out, where they boon'd my allies and of course attacked enemies.

Granted, maybe they just sucked, but that was rather fun.

EDIT: Oooh wow megaserver roll out is MUCH quicker than I thought. I thought we were talking weeks, not effectively hours.

Sorry I had to bail. Didn't even get to do one match with you. Glad you had fun.

We need to figure out a way to spike thick leather so Venthus and I can become rich.

I need this too.

I had so much fun in PVP last night. even got some of my reward track! SO MUCH FUN.

I want to play today but I can't log in

I need more people to play team queue with and be horrible. My Phalanx Warrior build I was testing turns out to not be very tanky, but I also felt out of practice. I switched to Thief later in the night and couldn't dodge half as well as I used to. As for the Warrior, I have two variation choices now and need to figure out if better condi removal or higher Vitality with more Power to kill faster would help.

The Phalanx trait honestly would work better in WvW, but I also don't want to use Hammer...

Any one here had there WvW rank nerfed? see my highest rank was 60 because i can't play one character all the time, but my friend was close to 300 and after the patch he was 152 like me..

PS:Anyone crashing when you switch characters?

That's weird. I'll look into it.

 

[Retro]

I need more people to play team queue with and be horrible. My Phalanx Warrior build I was testing turns out to not be very tanky, but I also felt out of practice. I switched to Thief later in the night and couldn't dodge half as well as I used to. As for the Warrior, I have two variation choices now and need to figure out if better condi removal or higher Vitality with more Power to kill faster would help.

The Phalanx trait honestly would work better in WvW, but I also don't want to use Hammer...

I didn't play much last night (well, I was on, but I was sorting out my wardrobe and dyes and everything), so tonight I think I'm going to try a Forceful Greatsword / Phalanx in PVE to see how well it works. In my mind I see it as being a solid dungeon build where might just pours out, but I'll need to see some actual proof tonight.

I'm planning to zip around and visit a bunch of Karma vendors to scoop up those rare little skins ANet tucked everywhere. If the build seems decent, even though I hate how many GS Warriors there are, it might just become a new favorite. And if not, I can re'spec anywhere now anyways.

 

[Ashodin]

If I can get on, I'd like to join you Retro.

And Proven, yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh let's get PVP rewards!

 

[Proven]

As for WvW ranks, it does look like some people are having issues with the WXP totals. One the one hand, in the case of people having many alts, the fact that the first couple of levels have much lower WXP totals attached messed with people's calculations. On the other hand, there are people that definitely only had the total of their single highest character counted, instead of all of their characters counted.

Nemesis, tell your friend to make a support ticket in the mean time.

 

[shysaursoft]

MegaServer rollout is continuing, and in addition to the maps listed by Martin, those maps are now also under the new system:

Lion’s Arch
Lornar’s Pass
Kessex Hills
Diessa Plateau
Metrica Province

Wow.

 

[Retro]

Wow.

Heh, and people were foaming at the mouth a few weeks ago because they just assumed the rollout meant it'd be a long, drawn-out process. To quote Jira, "second-guessing ArenaNet's server team is stupid." Is it any surprise that the progeny of Battle.Net's creator would be goddamned wizards?