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Guild Wars 2 |OT4| The only subscription you need is this thread.
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shysaursoft
Member
I refuse to go anywhere near the official forums.
But I never said it was a bad thing, more that, it's always fun to see theorycrafters do their thing, and then be 100% wrong later down the line because they were too narrowly focused on certain things. It happens all the time in real life as well, so I'm not surprised to see it happen, just bemused.
Look at the skyscrapers in Boston, as an example. Millions of dollars to build. Millions spend on their design and engineering. Some of the top minds in their fields being paid insane amounts of money to design them. Hundreds of experts all working on them.
The skyscrapers with their amazing sheer glass sides are built, and the first winter hits..
And not a single person thought: wait, what if ice forms on the top floor windows and drops on pedestrians below.
Cue serious emergency retrofits, new glass, safety netting, etc.
Theorycrafting is exactly the same thing, but often, theorycrafters are *so damn sure* of themselves because numbers man. Numbers never lie!
Just some good natured ribbing, is all.
It's like art
GUILD EVENT IS LIVE COME TO DRY TOP
My banner is in that picture. Am I intern3t famous now?
RACE TIME!
Another COF shot, I love this one:
Also, race screenshots! Thanks for coming Modric, Braxzy, Callunah, Roxie and Gattsby! Lump was special referee.
Pictures to follow!
FINAL LEG OF THE RACE
Gattsby first over the hill!
Callunah and Braxzy right behind, neck and neck!
Braxzy catches up to Gattsby! Callunah's pet gets into combat (LOL RANGER)
Gattsby seems to pull ahead!
Callunah and Modric are right behind Gattsby and Braxzy!
Braxzy makes the final leap that gets him the win, Gattsby second, and Roxie finally shows up!
Great job all!
Also, race screenshots! Thanks for coming Modric, Braxzy, Callunah, Roxie and Gattsby! Lump was special referee.
Pictures to follow!
FINAL LEG OF THE RACE
Gattsby first over the hill!
Callunah and Braxzy right behind, neck and neck!
Braxzy catches up to Gattsby! Callunah's pet gets into combat (LOL RANGER)
Gattsby seems to pull ahead!
Callunah and Modric are right behind Gattsby and Braxzy!
Braxzy makes the final leap that gets him the win, Gattsby second, and Roxie finally shows up!
Great job all!
So, I was trying to find a way to respond to this post so that there's as little room for misinterpretation or unintentional offense as possible, given your reaction to my original post. The more I poked at it, the more I realized that it just doesn't matter. The UI overlay is only good for farming resources, grinding world bosses and cheesing through boss fights. I despise farming, grinding and cheesing and I don't often associate with anyone who does. The only possible impact it could have on me is the economy, and the folks who would want an overlay like this are already engaging in that behavior; this just makes it easier. I'm not sure the average player will bother with it either, but we'll see. The in-game economy can probably roll with it, and it's not like I play the "Trading post game" anyways. We'll deal with the slippery slope when we get there (or, more likely, ArenaNet will... or won't).
I do want to leave one little snippet of my post though, if only because I took the time to type it up and am just naive enough to think it needs to be said;
Some of my best memories in Guild Wars 2 (hell, in gaming overall) were experiencing content completely blind. Figuring out the Langmar Estate as a guild, before guides were even out. Doing the Dredge fractal the night they launched and piecing together the last boss' mechanic. That's the gaming equivalent of crack for me, and it's completely counteracted by someone reading the solution, using a guide, etc.
I would rather fail at something a dozen times so I can fully enjoy moment when I do eventually accomplish it. Using a guide ruins that experience for me, whether it's something cerebral like solving a guild puzzle or something more twitchy like beating Liadri.
Liadri is actually a good example, because I was only able to beat her because a bunch of other GAFers were watching, giving advice and helping me learn the fight. I can't make the claim that it was an entirely unassisted effort because I had a form of help. While I could have looked all of that up and just done it, that would have robbed me of the experience of hanging out with friends, cheering them on through their attempts, having them cheer me on through mine, having a good time and celebrating when it was finally done. Failing at it all night and having fun together was a lot more fun and a lot more memorable than a title I'll never use and a mini that will sit in my vault forever. If I had just used a guide, it would have just been something to check off a list and move on.
Coriolanus
Banned
nvm.
shysaursoft
Member
Nah, you made good points (before you edited, anyway).
My only concern with popular theorycrafting groups or guilds like DnT and etc, are that they generate a kind of fake meta where what they say, is what everyone starts playing, and pretty soon the whole thing kind of stagnates (saw it in WoW over and over). Then eventually DnT and the like either get bored, or leave, or a new popular theorycraft guild comes along, and suddenly all the old builds are considered lame and the new ones are cool.
Not saying there's anything wrong with theorycrafting and etc, but just like how Dulfy can "colour" content a certain way as so many people follow the guides without deviation, popular theorycrafters can do as much harm as good if the 'bandwagon principle' kicks in.
The reason Engies were called shite on the official forums for almost a year, are *because* of "popular" people saying "Engies are shite". Look at the "rangers are shite" meme.
Another COF shot, I love this one:
Also, race screenshots! Thanks for coming Modric, Braxzy, Callunah, Roxie and Gattsby! Lump was special referee.
Pictures to follow!
FINAL LEG OF THE RACE
Braxzy makes the final leap that gets him the win, Gattsby second, and Roxie finally shows up!
Great job all!
Awesome CoF shot! And thanks for running the race, I'm surprised I won!
This is why you don't use a controller mwuhahaha. It was a lot of fun anyway!
More random guild events please.. I might try and arrange one with some hard earned gold to entice people hehe.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Who are they
Also am I anime enough yet
Also am I anime enough yet
So moe~
As for theorycrafting, I see it as part of the min-maxing that many players like to do. It also helps to provide a baseline for people who are trying out the class, like what to aim for and what not to. But the wholesale copying and then taking it as gospel part of it is what makes it bad. You need to understand why they picked the skills and traits they went for, not just blindly follow a guide then decrying all those who don't do as such as poor players.
Edit: I'm getting Wildstar ads in this thread. Hmm...
As for theorycrafting, I see it as part of the min-maxing that many players like to do. It also helps to provide a baseline for people who are trying out the class, like what to aim for and what not to. But the wholesale copying and then taking it as gospel part of it is what makes it bad. You need to understand why they picked the skills and traits they went for, not just blindly follow a guide then decrying all those who don't do as such as poor players.
Edit: I'm getting Wildstar ads in this thread. Hmm...
Coriolanus
Banned
Yerp. Blindly following = bad. Discussing and showing= gud. For all else, Sturgeon's law remains the most solid law ever.
Anyway
Finally finished the first chap of LS2. Only way i can see them justifying this kinda writing is if they're consciously doing a Saturday Morning Cartoon schtick. Which would explain scarlett. And omadd. Dear god. Omadd. Thats captain planet cheese territory.
Anyway
Finally finished the first chap of LS2. Only way i can see them justifying this kinda writing is if they're consciously doing a Saturday Morning Cartoon schtick. Which would explain scarlett. And omadd. Dear god. Omadd. Thats captain planet cheese territory.
UltimateIke
Member
I am at fractal reward level 43! So close to maxing it out now.
Tonight's fractal team:
Tonight's fractal team:
gamergirl85
Member
My new hair style. Braxzy pointed out the color
Rocket boots all the time.
Kits are your weapons basically. Try them and see which one suits you, then build around them.
Kos Luftar
Member
No.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
You can still do LS and Region achievements after tuesday right?
Kos Luftar
Member
Yes everything is permanent. Might have to walk through some extra vines to get to some of the instances but yeah you can do them whenever.
I knew warrior longbow was meta in sPvP; I didn't know it was what-have-I-been-doing-with-my-life-to-this-point good.
It's like, I think I'd be more comfortable if a giant fire field encompassed this capture point. And I'll just pew pew and dance around in it until you challenge me head on. Also I swapped the sigil of renewal for purity; now it'll often cleanse four conditions if you Combustive Shot on swap. Everyone knows Pin Down (#5) is vicious, but Fan of Fire (#2) pierces, so is effectively AoE, and Arcing Shot (#3) can be used as AoE hitting over 3k on crits. Smoldering Arrow (#4) I haven't been using well except as a projectile finisher; I think you're supposed to have it explode in a radius like engi pistol #1.
It's like, I think I'd be more comfortable if a giant fire field encompassed this capture point. And I'll just pew pew and dance around in it until you challenge me head on. Also I swapped the sigil of renewal for purity; now it'll often cleanse four conditions if you Combustive Shot on swap. Everyone knows Pin Down (#5) is vicious, but Fan of Fire (#2) pierces, so is effectively AoE, and Arcing Shot (#3) can be used as AoE hitting over 3k on crits. Smoldering Arrow (#4) I haven't been using well except as a projectile finisher; I think you're supposed to have it explode in a radius like engi pistol #1.
Complistic
Member
Needs a slight nerf. It's way too good. Not nerfed into oblivion, but it's not fun playing against 4 hambows every game either.
Coriolanus
Banned
It's not just that. It is also drop fire field, pin down, arcing arrow, 3k dmg+ 3might, swap to hammer, sigil of battle, get adrenaline, earthshaker, 9 might, proceed to cook.
Kos Luftar
Member
Yeah Sword/Sword + Longbow is what I run in pvp.
They do not .
I'm sure hambow is better if you have a trusted team around you. But in hotjoin/YoloQ I'm bringing an axe and a shield. The two leaps grant Fire Shield, which provides might to me at least.
I'm mainly PvE player and after reading the ranger subforum on GW2 official forum it really seems they are underpowered + pets have a lot of issues in PvE :/
There are issues with the pet in PvP, but they're fine in PvE.
Please stop reading the GW2 official forums. It's suspected to cause long-term brain injuries.
Rangers are good in PvE, but they have to use specific things like the Spotter trait and a Frost Spirit utility to maximize party DPS increases.
Coriolanus
Banned
I read that and went "wut, what two leaps?", then found out that shield bash is a leap.
Gods, i need to start using that thing more.
On the ranger thing, be in melee range. Most might generation occurs on a 600 radius, thus, if you longbowing, you'll suffer for it. Rangers are more than fine. No one here is going for under 5 minute dungeon runs. Don't go to official forums, places like that are filled with tryhards.
Depends. I think one ranger in a party can be a valuable asset with spirits (notably Frost), Spotter Trait, pretty good group Fury duration with Warhorn, decent duration healing spring which also removes conditions. I was actually in a fractal group pug yesterday and the heavies were happy to have Strength in Numbers, Spotter, Frost Spirit, and Empower Allies. However, once I see ~three~ in a party I consider switching class because they don't offer much in the way of group protection, stability, or blinds (you can trait for regen...eh...it requires using shouts). The best PvE damage for Ranger is the Sword but for things like Fractals, using a sword can mean pretty easy death so I have to switch between range and melee pretty often (I prefer Axe for range rather than either bow, no distance based damage requirement, and then I have access to both Axe and Warhorn off hands, which I really really like.)
Path of Scars is awesome in a stacked enemy blob. Can hit for 5k reliably both ways (more if you've really stacked might or have the enlargement buff) and interrupts all the enemies in the stack. Handy. Decent cool down too. Hunter's Call synergies well with Rampage as One and Companions Might since it hits so many times.
For WvW, to my knowledge they still make a good roaming class (which I imagine you could modify somewhat for pvp, I used to run a Settler roamer but not for long since i found group engagements more fun at the time) but unfortunately their role in a larger fight is a little more iffy. I was able to come up with a decent semi-sentinel greatsword build throwing out entangling roots and muddy terrain with some Wolf Roars and do some decent damage and stay upright. Maul can be hard to hit but it's fun when it does. Swoop and the sword skills allow a Ranger to get out of trouble in a hurry if they need too.
So are Rangers one of the better classes in Guild Wars 2? Probably not. A pug dungeon group of 5 Guardians or 5 Warriors will probably have better odds of success rather than 5 Rangers of equal skill level, but I still think they are a useful and interesting class.
Pets sometimes can be surprisingly useful too. I've done the lever in the Dredge Fractal a few times by having my Drake tank the nearest enemy so that I don't get interrupted. It also gives the enemy a target if you need to stand still to revive someone. They can be hard to micro and I really wish you could stow them in combat but a mighted up Jaguar (companions might, Rampage as one) in Stealth (pretty much guaranteed Crits) with Pet's Prowess (+30% pet crit damge) can be surprisingly good if you can keep them upright (sometimes harder said than done, especially in high Fractals). If you manage to hit an Ice Drakes breath attack on an enemy that's also a fair bit of damage, and they survive pretty well allowing you or your melee to hit the enemy from the back if the mob is focused on the drake. The Jungle Stalkers roar might is also pretty good but I find running two cats is often just a little bit too fragile.
So why the Ice Drake, Levyne? Salamander Drake would seem to be the same attack (250 range) with burning instead of chill. River Drake's Lightning Breath is 600 range, but the damage coefficient on the wiki seems low. However Marsh Drake, my favorite, has a 900 range F2 with the same damage coefficient as Ice/Salamander and applies poison as well.
I'm gonna test all the drake F2 skills for DPS when I get home.
I'm gonna test all the drake F2 skills for DPS when I get home.
I dunno, I just find Chilling the enemy to be more useful and slightly more class specific to the ranger (Axe and Ice Drake or the Snow Leopard I guess?). Usually someone else can take care of burns (guardian).
That said, there's an aspect of it that's just stubborn familiarity so maybe I should give the other Drakes another look.
Edit: I noticed I didn't mention Ranger traps...I've never really found a good PvE use for them. I suppose you could queue them up in a stack but I'm unsure how useful that would be. I'd rather have Wild Signet for the Stability and Damage/Movement buff (this is called "Enlargement") and Frost Spirit on at all times and then the third is swapped out more readily.
That said, there's an aspect of it that's just stubborn familiarity so maybe I should give the other Drakes another look.
Edit: I noticed I didn't mention Ranger traps...I've never really found a good PvE use for them. I suppose you could queue them up in a stack but I'm unsure how useful that would be. I'd rather have Wild Signet for the Stability and Damage/Movement buff (this is called "Enlargement") and Frost Spirit on at all times and then the third is swapped out more readily.
Completely off-topic but, have you guys seen this?! http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=854677
Each picture shows a normal, crinkled sheet of foil. The black bits are just covered in a material.
Kos Luftar
Member
Thanks for killing the OT.
Rangers "suck" in that they're marginally less damaging than other classes in optimal settings. They're a fine class - all classes are viable. It's simply the way GW2 is designed.
In other news, I hit 50% world completion a little while ago. I'll post some screenies soon of my amazing adventures.
Hmm. I just lost connection to the game and the client isn't loading to start the game.. woop woop!
In other news, I hit 50% world completion a little while ago. I'll post some screenies soon of my amazing adventures.
Hmm. I just lost connection to the game and the client isn't loading to start the game.. woop woop!
Me too, and right in the middle of Grenth loot extravaganza. I guess Anet forgot to pay its bills.
Dog Problems
Banned
Yeah, lost connection as well.
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