NormalFish
Banned
Yeah, the game isn't hard enough to warrant serious min maxing 99% of the time. Just do what you think is fun and hope it gets buffed.
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Guild Wars 2 |OT5| We've got fun and games
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UltimateIke
Member
★ Jumping Puzzle Event Series ★
Zeroth, appletoasty, and I will be hosting jumping puzzle events twice each week. Just like the ongoing dungeon events, these are aimed specifically at new players or players who may have never attempted puzzles before, but everyone is welcome to join!
The events will take place 30 minutes after server reset (8:30 PM EDT) on Wednesday and Friday nights, and will be fairly quick, but they give us another good excuse to see our guild members' pretty faces.
Around 10 minutes before the event, we will hop into Mumble, and start collecting at the entrance to the zone to help anyone missing the waypoint. We'll hoof it to the puzzle together, and we can get started as soon as everyone is ready!
To sweeten the deal, anyone who makes it to the chest at the end of the puzzle and stays for a group photo will be entered into a weekly drawing for a five gold prize. Going to both events each week gives you two entries in the drawing, so be there!
★ Dungeon Event Series ★
All dungeon runs will take place after the completion of Sunday Guild Make-Up Missions (~4:30 PM EDT). Events should be expected to take no longer than two hours.
These events are intended to be rather casual, and they will be very new-player friendly. Players of every experience level are encouraged to participate, so please invite anyone who you think would like to join.
For each full party that completes a given week's dungeon run, five gold will be added to a raffle from which one participant's name will be drawn. So if five parties complete the event, you have a chance at winning an extra twenty-five gold! The more people who show up, the more money you can win!
We will be thinking of small bonus challenges each week to announce randomly during the events, which will award more prizes, so be ready for those too!
Zeroth, appletoasty, and I will be hosting jumping puzzle events twice each week. Just like the ongoing dungeon events, these are aimed specifically at new players or players who may have never attempted puzzles before, but everyone is welcome to join!
The events will take place 30 minutes after server reset (8:30 PM EDT) on Wednesday and Friday nights, and will be fairly quick, but they give us another good excuse to see our guild members' pretty faces.
Around 10 minutes before the event, we will hop into Mumble, and start collecting at the entrance to the zone to help anyone missing the waypoint. We'll hoof it to the puzzle together, and we can get started as soon as everyone is ready!
To sweeten the deal, anyone who makes it to the chest at the end of the puzzle and stays for a group photo will be entered into a weekly drawing for a five gold prize. Going to both events each week gives you two entries in the drawing, so be there!
★ Dungeon Event Series ★
All dungeon runs will take place after the completion of Sunday Guild Make-Up Missions (~4:30 PM EDT). Events should be expected to take no longer than two hours.
These events are intended to be rather casual, and they will be very new-player friendly. Players of every experience level are encouraged to participate, so please invite anyone who you think would like to join.
For each full party that completes a given week's dungeon run, five gold will be added to a raffle from which one participant's name will be drawn. So if five parties complete the event, you have a chance at winning an extra twenty-five gold! The more people who show up, the more money you can win!
We will be thinking of small bonus challenges each week to announce randomly during the events, which will award more prizes, so be ready for those too!
☆ REMAINING DUNGEON EVENT SCHEDULE ☆
☆ DUNGEON MASTER CHALLENGE ☆
#7 - September 13 - Citadel of Flame
Story Path and Explorable Paths 1/2/3
#8 - September 20 - Honor of the Waves
Story Path and Explorable Path 1
#9 - September 27 - Honor of the Waves
Explorable Paths 2/3
#10 - October 4 - Crucible of Eternity
Story Path and Explorable Paths 1/2/3
#11 - October 11 - The Ruined City of Arah
Explorable Paths 1/2
#12 - October 18 - The Ruined City of Arah
Explorable Paths 3/4
Story Path and Explorable Paths 1/2/3
#8 - September 20 - Honor of the Waves
Story Path and Explorable Path 1
#9 - September 27 - Honor of the Waves
Explorable Paths 2/3
#10 - October 4 - Crucible of Eternity
Story Path and Explorable Paths 1/2/3
#11 - October 11 - The Ruined City of Arah
Explorable Paths 1/2
#12 - October 18 - The Ruined City of Arah
Explorable Paths 3/4
☆ DUNGEON MASTER CHALLENGE ☆
Any guild members able to attend all dungeon paths will be eligible for an even split of an extra two hundred gold prize! The fewer people who complete this challenge the more valuable your dedication and hard work becomes, so don't give up!
In the potential case that no one was able to show up for all of the paths, a reduced reward will be given to the guild member(s) who managed to attend the most weeks. So it's still worth giving it a try, even if you know you'll miss some weeks!
In the potential case that no one was able to show up for all of the paths, a reduced reward will be given to the guild member(s) who managed to attend the most weeks. So it's still worth giving it a try, even if you know you'll miss some weeks!
Psychoward
Banned
Alright so I haven't played in almost 2 years and am planning on creating a new guy from scratch, any tips for classes? I logged in to my 80 warrior and noticed they changed builds around quite a bit.
A tip a lot of people give for this game is to play a bit of every class and see what clicks with you.
WvW changes as part of the stress test:
https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/wuvtest/Welcome-to-the-Desert-Borderlands-Stress-Test
All of the classes are pretty solid, and if you plan to pick up the expansion they'll only be getting better (The Reaper specialization shifted my opinion on Necro dramatically, for example). The community still has a bias against Rangers and Necros, but unless you're speed-running dungeons with snobs I don't think anyone normal will notice (and both of those professions can be pretty fun). GAF groups in general don't care what profession you bring.
If you haven't, try making one of each and see how they feel; you can take them into the PVP lobby to try all their traits / skills / etc. (and any gold / items you get can be stashed in the bank so even if you blow a character up you're not losing all of your progress). Which class you play can dramatically increase or decrease your experience with the game just because they're so varied, in my experience finding the profession that clicks with you is the most important factor in how determining how much you'll enjoy the game.
Edit: Also keep in mind that what weapons you use can dramatically change up your gameplay. An elementalist with dual daggers is a melee-range fighter, for example.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Yes. Traits got changed into specializations, and you can now choose 3 Trees, instead of speccing in 2 lines, with one minor like in the old one.
Classes depend on what you want. They are all good, but have different strengths and weaknesses.
If you like Warrior, but want something different, give Guardian a try. They bring great synergy to parties, has good damage, powerful buffs and many good weapon sets ( Hammer, Greatsword, Sword + Torch, Staff, Scepter)
If you have taken a look at the expansion, you might have seen that everyone is getting a elite specialization. If that is interesting to you, it might influence in what character to make.
I've taken a interest in Necromancer and Thief, because I am interested in Reaper and Daredevil.
If you want something completely different from Warrior, you might want to try something like Engineer, which is complex and takes a lot of skill to master, or Mesmer which has a lot of unique gameplay.
If you want a lot of buttons to press you might fancy a elementalist, which can be very powerful when played correctly, but also has low health, so there is a high risk/high reward thing going on.
I'm pretty sure raids will be my main focus once they come out. With anyone who will take me. I raided for years in wow at the top and it was incredibly fun. This isn't the same thing, but I'll still be there.
Yayyy I love this!!! I will be there! (and gonna try and drag Modric along by his hair... lol since he "loves" jumping puzzles about as much as he loves root canals. lol
appletoasty
Member
We don't have all the details yet, but since raids are basically two regular groups I don't see us having too much trouble filling more than one of them. My biggest complaint with raiding has always been that the player cap creates a lot of drama and organization headaches; having to pick who goes and who gets left out was the worst part of leading a guild in WoW and played a big part in me not wanting to lead the GAF Guild for that first year + change. Having to be responsible for deciding who gets to have fun and who gets benched is the worst.
My big concern about raiding now is that there isn't any kind of lockout mechanism. For those who didn't play WoW, once you killed a boss in a raid you were assigned a "Raid ID," effectively locking you out of any other instance of that raid for a week; if the people with the same ID went in and killed a bunch of bosses without you, they'd be dead if you entered whether you where there or not. The "Designing Challenging Content" blog makes it sound like only rewards are on a weekly lock, since it clearly says you can "play a raid as many times as you want to help your friends earn rewards or to refine your strategies." I hope that stays true (and they also don't lock-out ALL rewards so there's at least a little reward for people helping out).
I'm fairly confident they won't muck it up, and with our current numbers (usually 20-30 on weeknights, though it's been lower lately due to the content lull) I'm not worried about filling raid groups too much. We'll wait and see how time-intensive they are and probably work out a schedule... if it's even needed, since grabbing 10 players shouldn't be too hard, especially with everyone coming back for HoT.
shysaursoft
Member
I came into some money, and bought that 128GB SSD that Lump pointed me at. Wowzers.
I put GW2 on it, and Lion's Arch loads in 16 seconds (down from 60+ seconds).
Left is my regular HDD, and right is the new SSD. The difference is pretty clear.
I agree completely. That was my biggest worry, and it sounded like there would be no lockout mechanism. I also had to bench people as a guild officer during vanilla wow. 40-mans were pretty rough. Always needed several people waiting outside. Usually for hours at a time, several times a week.
The dark daysKos Luftar
Member
GAF raid crew will still be only 4 members because Zeroth, Ike, Levyne, and Apple don't need the rest of us pve scrubs who can't stack and run the zerker meta.
I am always wrong. Don't listen to me.
I am always wrong. Don't listen to me.
Welcome to the modern world
Now put your window installation on it and have your PC start up in 20 secs .
appletoasty
Member
We don't stack and we aren't insane about the zerker meta, we use it because it works for how we play. Stop being so hostile.
shysaursoft
Member
Welcome to the modern world
Now put your window installation on it and have your PC start up in 20 secs .
My PC starts up in 14 seconds, from cold boot, to desktop.
Without an SSD
It's the one really nice thing about Windows 10, it boots *fast*. Sadly, I can't move the OS to a new drive, because I think that would deactivate Win 10, and I don't want to go through the whole process again.
I know you're joking, but this is still a bad image to present to newcomers when it is patently false. But again, I know you were just joking. I just think it's kind of a joke in poor taste, considering all the effort Zeroth has put into running people through fractals and dungeons, WITHOUT using stacking and meta-builds. You're kinda selling him, Ike, and all the others short here.
Even if it's just for loading games (to say nothing of how fast Windows boots if you put it on there) and SSD is totally worth it, I'm hoping by the time I get a new PC in a few years the prices are even lower.
I agree completely. That was my biggest worry, and it sounded like there would be no lockout mechanism. I also had to bench people as a guild officer during vanilla wow. 40-mans were pretty rough. Always needed several people waiting outside. Usually for hours at a time, several times a week.
I feel like I could write a long, rambling post about how bad raiding was. Everything from waiting around for tanks to show up before we could get started to the drama and in-fighting over raid slots and loot (had a guild implode because the GM passed over a bunch of rogues to give a Core Hound's Tooth to the Hunter he was sweet on). The ego that Main Tanks developed because they set the pace for the whole raid and everything hinged on their schedule, the constant poaching that went on between guilds for members, the tedious need to research everything because you had to invest hours into these things and failing even once meant you just didn't get to do everything that week. Having to tell good, dependable people who showed up as backup for every raid they couldn't come along again this week because the group was packed with such wonderful characters as "The Main Tank who's super reliable but has the personality of a sandpaper prophylactic", "The creepy asshole that nobody likes who gets a spot because the main healer demanded it" and my favorite "The guy who's clearly watching porn and jacking it, thanks to an open mic on Vent."
Ugh. I could never do that again.
Fatherhood has not rounded off your sharp corners one bit. Hang loose, moose caboose. <3
Oh my... Makes me thankful mumble has push to talk I guess, who knows what you are all up too.
The best part; since the guild leaders had basically stopped playing at that point, I was leading the raid but had no control over the vent server, so we weren't able to kick or mute him (they hadn't set up multiple channels either). I dunno if he was ignoring guild chat / whispers or was just being an ass, but we couldn't stop it.
Can someone very briefly explain what the zerker meta actually is?
Alright, something I can get into with my low level characters! I'll definitely be there.
Alright, something I can get into with my low level characters! I'll definitely be there.
Kos is the guild bully.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Short answer; It refers to the stat-combination of gear with the "Berserker Stats" (Power, Precision, Ferocity) which in most cases is the set of gear that yields the largest of damage for any class.
You can see the many different stat sets here; https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats
The zerker meta is basically using Berserker's gear (Power/Precision/Ferocity). The focus is on doing as much damage as possible. You hit harder but also get hit harder. Since toughness, vitality, etc aren't taken, players have to use dodges and other skills (blinds, blocks, etc) to help themselves survive.
Basically using Berserker stated gear, and running things in a face roll manor. Like, finding good places to stack on top of each other to spread AoE buffs and then crush everything quickly. Berserker stats are 100% offensive power based (Power, Precision, Ferocity), so you are likely to die quickly, but if done right you kill them first.
Edit: For example my post didn't use berserker stats and therefor was beaten easily by two others. I mean I got the job done, just not nearly as quickly.
Kos Luftar
Member
Stop stacking.
It is joke.
To the newcomers, it's a joke. They do t stack or force any kind of play style. They actually take the time to tech people the dungeons. Should always play with them if you want to learn to play well.
Apologies to the GAF Dungeon Crew.
You guys are so good, just like my favourite past officer, Keoni.
Kanik is the Kos bully.
appletoasty
Member
The reason why the berserker meta exists is because the game encourages active defense (evades, blocks, reflects, blinds, etc) as opposed to passive (wearing defensive stats and taking everything to the face).
In a perfect situation the berserker meta works, but it relies on the whole group being coordinated. Not everyone is going to know every encounter inside and out. Sometimes your guardians and mesmers won't know when they need to reflect projectiles, your thief doesn't know when to drop blinds, maybe you're inexperienced and wasted a big cooldown before an important moment, etc. So while it is meta and the best build in an ideal situation it is definitely not the best build for many players.
Some people find healing fun too. Whatever floats your boat.
People sometimes couple the berserker meta with the old dungeon speed running strategies where they would stack everything up in a corner and roflstomp it with a broken skill on fiery greatsword, but that was nerfed almost a year ago now. PUGs still do it because learning is hard.
Also, meleeing everything and pulling groups together to make effective use of cleaving and AOEs is good.
In a perfect situation the berserker meta works, but it relies on the whole group being coordinated. Not everyone is going to know every encounter inside and out. Sometimes your guardians and mesmers won't know when they need to reflect projectiles, your thief doesn't know when to drop blinds, maybe you're inexperienced and wasted a big cooldown before an important moment, etc. So while it is meta and the best build in an ideal situation it is definitely not the best build for many players.
Some people find healing fun too. Whatever floats your boat.
People sometimes couple the berserker meta with the old dungeon speed running strategies where they would stack everything up in a corner and roflstomp it with a broken skill on fiery greatsword, but that was nerfed almost a year ago now. PUGs still do it because learning is hard.
Also, meleeing everything and pulling groups together to make effective use of cleaving and AOEs is good.
Considering coming back to this game for the lead up to Heart of Thorns. Played hundreds of hours at release, kinda dabbled a little bit here and there since but haven't played much overall other than release.
Question: what's the deal with Raids in HOT? Is there any information about how that will work without the trinity system? I guess my concern is that in dungeons there wasn't really any kind of organization when I last played.
Question: what's the deal with Raids in HOT? Is there any information about how that will work without the trinity system? I guess my concern is that in dungeons there wasn't really any kind of organization when I last played.
¤ GAF Guild Belcher's Bluff Tournament #1 ¤
Welcome, welcome to the first ever GAF Guild Belcher's Bluff Tournament! I've been meaning to start this up for a while and I feel the lull between the game and expansion is the best time.
¤ What Is Belcher's Bluff? ¤
Added in the first Bazaar of the Four Winds, it's a mini game that is played by trying to make your opponent drink too heavily and pass out. Structured similar to rock paper scissors, you both select an option on your 1-5 bar, then an outcome is made. You can choose to drink, take a fake drink, or heal up. Of course, you can choose to harm your opponent if they fake it with a rousing belch!
¤ Where Does The Skill Come In? ¤
In addition to the previous skills, you can select unique abilities that modify your playstyle, learned from the masters of Om themselves!
Learn more here: wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Belcher's_Bluff
¤ What Are The Details Of The Tournament? ¤
Starting tomorrow night, I'll be heading up a squad to head to each city to assist guild members in getting the signature moves in preparation for the tournament. It is possible to win without these (and are not necessary to play in the tournament) but I'd like to help you get them (and the achievements!)
Other details:
I think that's everything. I'm really excited to make this work, and I hope you all are too!
Welcome, welcome to the first ever GAF Guild Belcher's Bluff Tournament! I've been meaning to start this up for a while and I feel the lull between the game and expansion is the best time.
¤ What Is Belcher's Bluff? ¤
Added in the first Bazaar of the Four Winds, it's a mini game that is played by trying to make your opponent drink too heavily and pass out. Structured similar to rock paper scissors, you both select an option on your 1-5 bar, then an outcome is made. You can choose to drink, take a fake drink, or heal up. Of course, you can choose to harm your opponent if they fake it with a rousing belch!
¤ Where Does The Skill Come In? ¤
In addition to the previous skills, you can select unique abilities that modify your playstyle, learned from the masters of Om themselves!
Learn more here: wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Belcher's_Bluff
¤ What Are The Details Of The Tournament? ¤
Starting tomorrow night, I'll be heading up a squad to head to each city to assist guild members in getting the signature moves in preparation for the tournament. It is possible to win without these (and are not necessary to play in the tournament) but I'd like to help you get them (and the achievements!)
Other details:
- Signups begin now
- No level requirement
- Best of 3.
- Conquest mode: Must switch winning signature move to another not used if you win.
- Tournament will be posted this Sunday after the PVP Rush
- Matches can be played any time after, but please send me a screenshot of the outcome to maxrpg(at)gmail(for)com or if I'm online, contact me to officiate.
- Semi finals and finals will be streamed on Twitch
- 1st Place Gold Reward: 50g
- 2nd Place Gold Reward: 25g
- 3rd Place Gold Reward: 12g
- 4-10th: 5 Unidentified Dyes
I think that's everything. I'm really excited to make this work, and I hope you all are too!
Oh wow, I just started trying to get signature moves this weekend. Just was something I never really did before and wanted to try it out. I'm certainly down for a little tournament play and help getting the rest of the moves!
Vigilant Walrus
Member
What they say;
They will require Damage, Support or Control to succeed. They acknowledge that the general mobs haven't been good enough at forcing the players to make use of all their abilities.
The idea seems to be that they want to still allow players to choose their role, but that you can't get through it with 10 Zerker Warriors like Dungeons. You will need people (of any class) bringing support and control into it.
So if I'm understanding correctly, they want any class to play any role, but still have clear defined roles so people can plan accordingly?
Kos Luftar
Member
Yes but they are dynamic roles that you might have to play depending on the situation.t
They aren't saying you need specific number of each of the 3 roles.
shysaursoft
Member
I'd guess they'll work like the raids in Destiny, which also doesn't have a trinity = they'll simply be designed around mechanics that don't require a trinity, instead of being designed around a trinity.
The raids in Destiny are actually a good example of how to make raids that are built around their own unique mechanics, without requiring people to run specific classes. Sure, if you run the raid with a nice balance of Warlock, Hunter and Titan, two of each, you can be effective, but all the raids can also be run with six of all classes, or a mish-mash. It all depends on how well the players play their classes, and how well they execute the mechanics the raid requires (the final bit of Vault of Glass is an excellent piece of design, using all the things taught throughout the raid, in one go).
If you played the Glints Cave part in Living Story, I think that's a good example of how I think the raids will be: mechanics that build on each other, but don't require specific professions to do.
Guild Wars 2 might not have a trinity to enforce organization, but organization is the difference between running dungeons/fractals like this:
(GAF Fractals/dungeons)
or like this:
(PUG Fractals/dungeons)
Knowing the fights in GW2 is more important than knowing how to play your profession in an optimal and efficient way, and I love the game for that.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Well I am not going to be doing raids, and I am totally cool with it. I know that it's not my thing at all, but I am excited about the Fractal Changes. I think I will spend a lot of time doing those. I'm only Fractal lvl 4, so I hope I have a lot to see and experience with that!
I hope Raids will have a mandatory disclaimer that basically fills up the entire screen with big flashing letters saying:
DISCLAIMER - YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A SADISTICALLY DIFFICULT RAID THAT IS DESIGNED FOR THE 1-5% PLAYERS WHO ENJOY STUPID DIFFICULT CONTENT BUT THAT WILL YIELD MOST PEOPLE INTO FUCK-THIS-SHIT. THE RAIDS HAVE BEEN DESIGNED WITH THAT IN MIND TO ONLY BE FOR THOSE WHO WANT BEATING IT TO BE A RARE ACHIEVEMENT. IT IS WORKING AS INTENDED. IF YOU DO NOT ENJOY BANGING YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE WALL, WE SUGGEST YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE. DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT BEING TO DIFFICULT. YOU WANTED EXTREMELY DIFFICULT CHALLENGING CONTENT SO HERE IS IT. STOP COMPLAINING AND JUST PLAY IT. YOU DON'T GET TO BE ON A DIET AND STILL EAT QUAGGAN CAKE YOU OBSCENE CONTRADICTION. I BET YOU'RE A ENGINEER. IT'S SUCH A STEM THING TO BE LIKE THAT.
I hope Raids will have a mandatory disclaimer that basically fills up the entire screen with big flashing letters saying:
DISCLAIMER - YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A SADISTICALLY DIFFICULT RAID THAT IS DESIGNED FOR THE 1-5% PLAYERS WHO ENJOY STUPID DIFFICULT CONTENT BUT THAT WILL YIELD MOST PEOPLE INTO FUCK-THIS-SHIT. THE RAIDS HAVE BEEN DESIGNED WITH THAT IN MIND TO ONLY BE FOR THOSE WHO WANT BEATING IT TO BE A RARE ACHIEVEMENT. IT IS WORKING AS INTENDED. IF YOU DO NOT ENJOY BANGING YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE WALL, WE SUGGEST YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE. DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT BEING TO DIFFICULT. YOU WANTED EXTREMELY DIFFICULT CHALLENGING CONTENT SO HERE IS IT. STOP COMPLAINING AND JUST PLAY IT. YOU DON'T GET TO BE ON A DIET AND STILL EAT QUAGGAN CAKE YOU OBSCENE CONTRADICTION. I BET YOU'RE A ENGINEER. IT'S SUCH A STEM THING TO BE LIKE THAT.
Revenant is the best thing. Hopefully there won't be too much nerfage when the crying starts.
You guys really come down on pugs. They aren't that horrible. Not most of the time. I've been in fractal 50 pugs that ran as smooth as any speed run video I've seen. Same with dungeons. PvE isn't terribly difficult at the moment. HoT may change that, even by just being unfamiliar. But I'd argue my worst pugs were usually the result of 3 man guild groups trying to act 'cute' during a run or starting shit in chat than anything to do with overall player ability.
Anyway. Corner stacking might not be trendy, but still benefits whirlwind, linecasting, and anywhere a dodge is needed without losing position/hits. I usually roll with whatever the group goes with since arguing mid run slows it up even more, but giving up easy whirlwinds always bugs me. Probably be the same with the new forward rushing attacks, too.
You guys really come down on pugs. They aren't that horrible. Not most of the time. I've been in fractal 50 pugs that ran as smooth as any speed run video I've seen. Same with dungeons. PvE isn't terribly difficult at the moment. HoT may change that, even by just being unfamiliar. But I'd argue my worst pugs were usually the result of 3 man guild groups trying to act 'cute' during a run or starting shit in chat than anything to do with overall player ability.
Anyway. Corner stacking might not be trendy, but still benefits whirlwind, linecasting, and anywhere a dodge is needed without losing position/hits. I usually roll with whatever the group goes with since arguing mid run slows it up even more, but giving up easy whirlwinds always bugs me. Probably be the same with the new forward rushing attacks, too.
shysaursoft
Member
I have nothing against pugs.
PSA : If you have gold to burn , the Electro dyes price has crashed and burned .
Second announcement : DRAGONS DOGMAARK ARISEN IS COMING TOI PC JANUARY 2016
Second announcement : DRAGONS DOGMA
ARK ARISEN IS COMING TOI PC JANUARY 2016shysaursoft
Member
Second announcement : DRAGONS DOGMA
One of the best games I've ever played, especially the Dark Arisen version (which is the base game plus xpac). If you love action combat, ye old fantasy with a slightly Japanese twist, and a great plot - you really want to pick up Dark Arisen when it hits steam. It'll be $30 too.
29 level 80s leveled the exact same way (exploring the world, no dungeons and very little personal story) and I'm still not tired of this game. <3
Here's the latest guy
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Dark Arisen for PC is great news Been watching Cresc play it (I think he's played for about 400 hours or so now!) and always wanted to play it myself. I greatly prefer PC to consoles tho so I'm really happy now
Here's the latest guy
Only one left to level before HoT. Had to save 10 to level between all the Revs. For variation
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Dark Arisen for PC is great news
Been watching Cresc play it (I think he's played for about 400 hours or so now!) and always wanted to play it myself. I greatly prefer PC to consoles tho so I'm really happy now Mr_Antimatter
Member
29 characters? Sweet merciful Dwayna, why? I'd go insane.
I'm on number 8 now, one of each class. Necro, my last to level, is 62 and counting, should hit 80 with plenty of time to spare before HOT.
For the Reverant, i'll just stockpile tomes till I have enough to hit at least 70. Currently at 30 something, which gets me to lv 50 or so. So basically on track so far, given i'll get another 20 or so by the time hot drops.
I'm on number 8 now, one of each class. Necro, my last to level, is 62 and counting, should hit 80 with plenty of time to spare before HOT.
For the Reverant, i'll just stockpile tomes till I have enough to hit at least 70. Currently at 30 something, which gets me to lv 50 or so. So basically on track so far, given i'll get another 20 or so by the time hot drops.
Welcome Miktar. You are going to love it here.
Loading screen tips though, what are those?
Everyone has done a really good job of answering your question, but I wanted to add a little bit on why the "Zerker Meta" is such a contentious topic, at least in my opinion. To keep this as short as possible, I'll simply say that it's problematic for two reasons; diversity and community. The first point is fairly obvious; the game becomes less diverse in terms of fewer "acceptable" builds, as well as the exclusion of specific professions, dungeons and strategies.
The community issue is essentially two-fold; it both teaches players bad habits and results in toxic behavior. There's a lot of folks here on GAF who play with Berserker gear, but they've learned how; for most players they're simply told to run it "because it's the best" and rather than developing a wide skillset to deal with any situation, those players learn only the very narrow, rigid ways in which the Zerker Meta can be applied. This is a problem because new content is then going to be ignored and/or result in backlash that it's too difficult (as was the case with the Aetherpath added to Twilight Arbor, one of the more interesting dungeon paths in the game).
The toxicity comes about because the Meta is completely exclusionary in nature ("You can only play with this specific gear / with this specific class / in these specific dungeons / in this specific way or we'll kick you"). Additionally, it's produced a community that insists dungeons are grindy and boring when that's largely because they're running the same three dungeon paths the exact same way over and over again. New and potential players who ask for advice are directed towards a very narrow slice of the overall game, leaving them with a deeply flawed perception of the whole. It's the same reason so many strongly objected to the old Queensdale champion train; it led to new players believing the entire game was a boring, repetitive grind when the train was actually the result of players actively creating one where none existed (and then subsequently turned map chat into a cesspool by attacking anyone who accidentally killed a boss out of order).
The reason it even comes up as a point of discussion around here (where most players either don't follow the Zerker meta or know how to use it) is mostly philosophical. It really only impacts the public perception and long-term health of the game, which impacts none of us beyond our desire to see the game continue to be actively developed.
It depends on how the group is advertised, largely. If I post a LFG that's specifically "New Players only", "All levels welcome" or "Non-Meta run", etc. I meet all sorts of really cool people (some of whom have ended up in the guild), eager for a chance to play the game.
If I put "All Welcome" there's a 50/50 chance the people who jump in will try to 'hijack' the group and run it as fast as possible. You can usually tell because they ignore greetings and run straight for the usual stacking spots.
If I look for an existing LFG listing, it's usually a mix of "Zerker only", "80 only", "Speedrun" type stuff, obviously for the dungeons people run (if it's an unpopular dungeon or path, there's no listings at all). It's rare that I see an LFG listing remotely close to the ones I start, which is probably why they fill so fast. Like I said earlier in the thread, the fastest LFG I've ever had was when I advertised it as "Are you meta? GO AWAY, we want the noobiest bunch of noobs that ever noobed."
But then, I like new players and enjoy teaching them, so those kind of PUGs are right up my alley. I experience their wide-eyed sense of wonder vicariously and try very hard not to snuff it out by barking orders or telling them what to play (plenty of time for that later, though I do usually tell them what 'most groups' will expect, like what mobs are skipped and such).
Corner stacking and stacking in general is disliked simply because it's stupid and a garbage way to play the game. The fact that it's the most effective way to beat virtually every encounter is poor game design. The reason that it's popular is because most people don't actually run the dungeons to have fun - it's just seen as a chore to make money these days.
The meta is just the most efficient way to get through dungeons right now. And combined with it being one of the most efficient way to farm gold, you just get more people who are min-maxers, and they are generally less tolerant against those who break their meta. Just create your own groups and avoid those people.
NormalFish
Banned
Hate to say it, but I'd argue that corner stacking/zerker meta is a product of ANet's methods of abolishing the trinity more than anything. Remove tanks and dedicated healers and the obvious solution is to cleave down every mob in the game. It doesn't help that blinds and projectile walls are much more easily executed when stacked. If the game had more diverse character building system in end game, that would likely go a long way to moving away from such things. Right now I just don't see how encounter could be designed to not be optimized via max DPS stacking outside of a boss that can't move, has displacement abilities, or does damage based on how many units are in a given area, all of which would inhibit a party's ability to stack in one place and spam max damage skills.
More damage mitigation/healing/DPS options, please, ANet...
I don't think stacking is a byproduct of (lack of) build diversity. It is a consequence of Fire Greatsword exploits, and to some cases, getting certain trash that is hard to control together. After all, stacking is not even a meta strategy for speedruns anymore as pointed above. You have several tools (Guardian GS 5, Mesmer Focus 4, etc) that can pull mobs together and do what you want.
NormalFish
Banned
Yeah, I think I articulated my point poorly. It's not a byproduct of lacking build diversity, just that build diversity would help to alleviate the issue. But I also don't think it's a product of boss or dungeon design, really. It's more that due to the things they deliberately removed (totally fine by itself), and not sufficiently adding other things in, there's a obvious "oh, this is what we should do" solution in the form of stacking and cleaving stuff down. It's not something at all unique to GW2, though. I'm not just bashing on ANet. It's a difficult thing to balance, and I think a lot of the changes they made to the core MMO formula made their job much harder.
That said, I haven't played enough recently to know how the meta has shifted. I should look in to some recent speed clear videos, for sure.
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