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[Ashodin]

Hey Ash, what do you think of my tweaking the build you posted to this?

Build

I felt Zeal made more sense for a burning build and just wasn't impressed with Valor's major traits. What sucks about it is that I don't get as much toughness bonus but the condition duration is real nice and a boost to power as well. I actually was able to get my toughness near yours anyway by going with Rabid over Celestial on accessories. The main stat I seem to be missing out on is health, I have a lower health pool by not going with Celestial and I'm wondering if I'd regret that but I get a nice boost to condition damage.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my changes and if any of them were shortsighted. Also, if having a bit lower health was going to really set me back for survivability even with toughness that high.

Oh definitely, that build is much more damage focused, so yeah, if you wanted more of that, sure. You get about the same toughness just more offensive oriented stuff. Condition damage is pretty damn high. I'd switch Right-handed Grandmaster to Perfect Inscriptions because you have 60% crit already

I'd also switch the "burn when I get below 25% health" because I seriously doubt you'll get that low often. It's better to take Vuln on Blind or Signet recharge.

 

[appletoasty]

I'm actually sad I missed your legendary. You gotta show it off next time I'm online.

Yessir <3

 

[Ashodin]

I guess I should check when I get home, but I'm pretty sure it's 900 range and the trait Stronger Bowstrings doesn't actually say what it does beyond a vague statement. As for the range being lost, it's just me remembering from watching the original stream live. When I have free time tomorrow I can go through the VOD to double check.

Also, changes to Guardian Tomes incoming: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/35bjf3/dragonhunter_ready_up_livestream_notes/cr2uzj7
And I'm not wholly against them either.

Whoa the fuck? That's HUGE changes to them. I can see why; the tomes are their own type of skill and don't fit with their current skill categories.

For people who are reading, this is what Tomes are becoming:

Signet of Courage
Signet
Passive: PBAoE Heal nearby players every 10 seconds.
Active: Heal up to five nearby players to full health.

Combos REALLY well with Perfect Inscriptions, so curious to see what the "boosted effect" of that does to it if they go through with it.

Shout of Wrath
Shout
All nearby allies gain quickness and fury.
Recharge: 30s

I'm not against this either, and am totally in for a future elite spec based on Tomes, with tons of them! Archivist elite spec

 

[UltimateIke]

I guess I should check when I get home, but I'm pretty sure it's 900 range and the trait Stronger Bowstrings doesn't actually say what it does beyond a vague statement. As for the range being lost, it's just me remembering from watching the original stream live. When I have free time tomorrow I can go through the VOD to double check.

Attacks like Dual Shot arc too, so they actually hit from further range than the game indicates as possible.

 

[Anno]

Bow looks really powerful. Was expecting less damage and more support with how they were describing it. The traps look really solid, too. Really curious to see what kind of builds can be made from this, especially melee builds.

 

[Squall ASF]

Oh definitely, that build is much more damage focused, so yeah, if you wanted more of that, sure. You get about the same toughness just more offensive oriented stuff. Condition damage is pretty damn high. I'd switch Right-handed Grandmaster to Perfect Inscriptions because you have 60% crit already

Yeah I'd just be nervous about having a little under 11k HP but I guess that's what the point of toughness is. You think it's a waste to go from 60 to 75% Crit? Perfect Inscriptions could be nice but I noticed something odd. I see it works for my heal, but it doesn't seem to impact Signet of Wrath... Shouldn't it work for all signets? I should see an improved highlighted number for condition damage on that sig but nada.

Now your posts have me wondering if I should scrap all this and go with Dragonhunter haha I can't watch the video at work so haven't seen all the skills myself to make a determination. Are you namely excited because it's a fresh way for you to play this profession? Or does it look beastly enough that even someone new to the profession like me should consider it over what we have now? I know you should just play the way you think is more fun but speaking from the perspective of effectiveness.

 

[Ashodin]

Yeah I'd just be nervous about having a little under 11k HP but I guess that's what the point of toughness is. You think it's a waste to go from 60 to 75% Crit? Perfect Inscriptions could be nice but I noticed something odd. I see it works for my heal, but it doesn't seem to impact Signet of Wrath... Shouldn't it work for all signets? I should see an improved highlighted number for condition damage on that sig but nada.

Now your posts have me wondering if I should scrap all this and go with Dragonhunter haha I can't watch the video at work so haven't seen all the skills myself to make a determination. Are you namely excited because it's a fresh way for you to play this profession? Or does it look beastly enough that even someone new to the profession like me should consider it over what we have now? I know you should just play the way you think is more fun but speaking from the perspective of effectiveness.

It does, change the trait on the build (or in game) and notice the change of Condition damage.

Re: Dragonhunter; yes it's mostly "I've played this profession a LOT" and want to try something new, and is it more effective? At long range, yes. So if you want to play a build that's both melee/ranged, Dragonhunter elite spec can let you do that. I plan on rolling this when HoT comes out.

Edit: About your build again Your power is 1200. That is abysmally low, so you're really just relying on burning damage.

 

[Moondrop]

Glad to see the Dragonhunter skills but some parts are confusing. Definitely seems designed for power, not condi- that #2 skill shot, damage and vuln traps. The burning is nice of course, but seems most useful for proccing the bonus crit chance trait. I'm not sure how much I would gear for condi, if at all.

The parts I don't understand- 60s CD on a leap seems harsh. I didn't see a healing trap; was it supposed to be the first one? And lots of access to cripple, which is actually a bit undervalued but I'm not sure how best to synergize (beyond the obvious cripple + traps). Zerk/valk + trapper runes perhaps?

 

[Ashodin]

Glad to see the Dragonhunter skills but some parts are confusing. Definitely seems designed for power, not condi- that #2 skill shot, damage and vuln traps. The burning is nice of course, but seems most useful for proccing the bonus crit chance trait. I'm not sure how much I would gear for condi, if at all.

The parts I don't understand- 60s CD on a leap seems harsh. I didn't see a healing trap; was it supposed to be the first one? And lots of access to cripple, which is actually a bit undervalued but I'm not sure how best to synergize (beyond the obvious cripple + traps). Zerk/valk + trapper runes perhaps?

Traps can be specced for bleed, so you can do that, but the Longbow itself seems to favor Power, yeah.


Yeah the numbers on that are probably going to be tweaked. IMO the Virtues have always had INSANE long cooldowns for their effects which are just ephemeral anyway. Something that should be tweaked for sure. Healing Trap wasn't shown much, but yeah it's there. Pretty good too, the heal that triggers from it is pretty large, and you don't have to be near the trap to get it. So you could potentially drop the healing trap, go away to some other far location, and it would pop giving you the heal once someone found it.

Oh and I'm totally rolling Trapper runes for the build.

 

[Squall ASF]

It does, change the trait on the build (or in game) and notice the change of Condition damage.

Re: Dragonhunter; yes it's mostly "I've played this profession a LOT" and want to try something new, and is it more effective? At long range, yes. So if you want to play a build that's both melee/ranged, Dragonhunter elite spec can let you do that. I plan on rolling this when HoT comes out.

Edit: About your build again Your power is 1200. That is abysmally low, so you're really just relying on burning damage.

Yeah it changes it in the build for the heal, I can see the highlighted number as 8 where it used to be 10 seconds so it's impacting the heal but I don't see that change in number for the other signet. Maybe the site is just wonky, I can test it in-game when I have access to that skill but I'm skeptic because it works for the heal signet.

I'll have to check out Dragonhunter when I get home but I'm guessing it's better for ranged that rolling the scepter + whatever. That said, my main concern is being able to do good damage with high toughness. Conditions allow me to do this but Moondrop's comment makes it sound as though Dragonhunter is more about power or maybe crits than conditions.

 

[Moondrop]

Wow, that_shaman's build calculator has already been updated with the dragonhunter trait line.

All of the dragonhunter grandmasters look amazing. I'm guessing Zeal and Virtues will be the complementary trait lines of a power-based dragonhunter. Lots of great stuff in Radiance until you get to the grandmasters. What would the other weapon set be- sword/focus? Sword/shield? I know so little of guardian.

Traps can be specced for bleed, so you can do that, but the Longbow itself seems to favor Power, yeah.

Indeed that opens the door for hybrid dragonhunters, but the build calculator tells me I could also choose +10% damage to crippled foes at that node instead.

Oh and I'm totally rolling Trapper runes for the build.

I still have a set salvaged from my ranger. The effects are as great and lulzy as advertised. One problem with my tests was the ranger traps themselves, though it probably didn't help that I was condi- people would eventually run away from our 1v1s. Nevertheless I think trapper runes probably go best with burst.

 

[Ashodin]

Wow, that_shaman's build calculator has already been updated with the dragonhunter trait line.

All of the dragonhunter grandmasters look amazing. I'm guessing Zeal and Virtues will be the complementary trait lines of a power-based dragonhunter.


Indeed that opens the door for hybrid dragonhunters, but the build calculator tells me I could also choose +10% damage to crippled foes at that node instead.


I still have a set salvaged from my ranger. The effects are as great and lulzy as advertised. One problem with my tests was the ranger traps themselves, though it probably didn't help that I was condi- people would eventually run away from our 1v1s. Nevertheless I think trapper runes probably go best with burst.

Calc updated? fuck yeah!

Stealth on Guardians is a unique and very intriguing addition to the class, I'm very curious about it. Karl and Josh on stream made mention of some sick combos where you could queue up Hammer 5, Intervention to a target, the wall drops, then you drop Dragon's Maw to keep them locked up to 12 seconds in one spot. Something crazy like that.

 

[Squall ASF]

It does, change the trait on the build (or in game) and notice the change of Condition damage.

Re: Dragonhunter; yes it's mostly "I've played this profession a LOT" and want to try something new, and is it more effective? At long range, yes. So if you want to play a build that's both melee/ranged, Dragonhunter elite spec can let you do that. I plan on rolling this when HoT comes out.

Edit: About your build again Your power is 1200. That is abysmally low, so you're really just relying on burning damage.

That's the idea though, right? I figured if I want really high toughness I can't have particularly high power because that would be the trade-off to prevent you from being OP so figured I'd have to use a condition to get my damage. I just tested swapping accessories from Rabid to Knight and it brought my toughness over 2k and bumped Power up to 1602. My condition damage took a big hit and went down to 1359 though but my crit went up to 61 percent haha At 1359, doesn't seem like it'd be much of a cond build anymore and would just be supplementary damage but the question is if 1602 is enough power to justify it. I don't recall what a good number for Power would be without looking at my characters at home. Does it need to be near 2k to be good? Or would 1602 be pretty solid?

 

[Ashodin]

Power over 2k is generally where you want it, yeah.

I mean, if you're just looking to burn while lasting a long time, it's no big deal to run Rabid. The way I had it setup was allowing you to do huge crits to trade off the fact you are super tanky.

It's ultimately up to you how it feels if it's better or not though!

 

[Retro]

I didn't mean to create thread drama, my apologies. I was never upset (nor would I have any reason, y'all are all so polite). I was just trying to "yes and" Miktar's "yes and" of my "numbers numbers numbers" joke while changing the topic.

I gotcha, and for what it's worth I didn't get the impression there was any drama, just that I wanted to avoid ruffling feathers and starting any.

You're probably right to change the topic though, especially now that we have more interesting, specific stuff to discuss that other people can enjoy rather than scroll past before their eyes glaze over. For example...

Dragonhunter stuff

Yes to all of this. People need to get past the name because the hype train is leaving the station. I was concerned that Chronomancer would be a fluke and the other Elite Specs would end up lukewarm, but after seeing all of this I have very high hopes for the rest of them. I can say that I am genuinely interested in every single one of the reveals now.

Off to dink around with the new calculator.

 

[Squall ASF]

Power over 2k is generally where you want it, yeah.

I mean, if you're just looking to burn while lasting a long time, it's no big deal to run Rabid. The way I had it setup was allowing you to do huge crits to trade off the fact you are super tanky.

It's ultimately up to you how it feels if it's better or not though!

Ohhhhh I wasn't properly understanding what your build was doing. I think I remember basing my Mesmer off of that now, massive and constant crits for damage. I thought you were trying to get me to go with condition damage too since you chose Rabid for the armor but I'll take another look at what you did.

 

[Ashodin]

Ohhhhh I wasn't properly understanding what your build was doing. I think I remember basing my Mesmer off of that now, massive and constant crits for damage. I thought you were trying to get me to go with condition damage too since you chose Rabid for the armor but I'll take another look at what you did.

Condition damage is a side-effect of the build, really. The ideal was to build a well-rounded build with toughness being the focus. As a side effect, you get crits, you get ferocity, etc. I like building well-rounded stuff.

In terms of damage, burn was going to do the majority of it, but with crits + ferocity you were going to make at least your regular attacks not suck as well.

 

[NormalFish]

Is there a running summary of the HoT info? I keep falling behind and would like to be informed.

 

[Anno]

Is there a running summary of the HoT info? I keep falling behind and would like to be informed.

This is the probably the best place to check. Should have at least a link to all new information.

 

[Muscle Wizard]

So is condi damage good in pve now?

 

[Ashodin]

So is condi damage good in pve now?

It's ok, as long as you realize anything past like ten people is going to get dicey for your damage. (because of Condi caps, etc)

 

[Proven]

http://abload.de/img/screenshot2770_resultckuja.jpg[IMG]

Attacks like Dual Shot arc too, so they actually hit from further range than the game indicates as possible.[/QUOTE]

Damn. I've always focused so much more on the 100% projectile finisher. I've had that trait on almost constantly since the launch of the game.

 

[Levyne]

So is condi damage good in pve now?

The effectiveness of conditions in pve hasn't really changed recently. The testing of cap removal (or bump) that we saw on the wyvern could be a sign of things to come though.

 

[Complistic]

Really hope conditions are improved. I love my condition necro but i do like no damage in large groups.

Been rocking a power necro but i can't go afk and still destroy everyone like with conditions

 

[Ashodin]

The effectiveness of conditions in pve hasn't really changed recently. The testing of cap removal (or bump) that we saw on the wyvern could be a sign of things to come though.

Current state of conditions in PVE

Potential condition upgrade in PVE

 

[Tech-Wolf]

Heck yeah, I can't believe I just got my portal for the beta. Canada can also have nice thing once in a while.

Also i have been wondering for a while, to upload a screenshot and photo on gaf, which site is the most prefered in general? Because I don't feel like creating an account for 1 or 2 picture.

 

[Levyne]

Imgur for stuff you just want to share. Abload if you want to preserve quality.

 

[Arkhanor]

Well, I'm back in the game but I'm playing on Ferguson's Crossing and I'm at level 27. If there is some space in the guild, I'd like to join. Thanks! Arkhanor.9204

 

[NormalFish]

ANet I will give you 10$ to fix my aviator cap so it doesn't make my character spazz out when moving.

 

[UltimateIke]

Retro is going to have to cull inactive players again soon. We've climbed back to 488 members.

 

[NormalFish]

Retro is going to have to cull inactive players again soon. We've climbed back to 488 members.

What constitutes inactive? I'm playing at the moment, but I figure it'd be good to know for the future.

 

[Shanlei91]

Retro is going to have to cull inactive players again soon. We've climbed back to 488 members.

He can feel free to cull IHazSoup. She made me choose between her and Adriaaa and I chose wisely. ^_^

What constitutes inactive? I'm playing at the moment, but I figure it'd be good to know for the future.

I think it's something like 3 months of inactive play. Or something like that.

 

[UltimateIke]

What constitutes inactive? I'm playing at the moment, but I figure it'd be good to know for the future.

It's usually players who have been offline for more than 3 months, but I think we've cut it a little closer to 2 months recently to make more space.

We have an overflow guild we haven't used lately, but if it gets to the point where we have 500 members and they've all been playing a reasonable amount, I imagine new guild members will start getting placed there instead of replacing members in the main guild. We'll see how many people bite when the expansion launches.

 

[Retro]

Heck yeah, I can't believe I just got my portal for the beta. Canada can also have nice thing once in a while.

Also i have been wondering for a while, to upload a screenshot and photo on gaf, which site is the most prefered in general? Because I don't feel like creating an account for 1 or 2 picture.

Congrats again.

I used Imgur for the OT just because the quality of the images was pretty low to begin with and Abload has some bandwidth issues where things load slow. Abload generally works best for me, and I'm slowly learning German somehow. Meine Hosen sind würzig, lila Vorfahren!

Retro is going to have to cull inactive players again soon. We've climbed back to 488 members.

Dead game, etc.

What constitutes inactive? I'm playing at the moment, but I figure it'd be good to know for the future.

I tend to just aim for a number (like, I'll probably cut us down to 450, maybe as low as 300 before the expansion hits) and then kick people in order of last played. The closest I've ever cut it was still keeping people who hadn't played in about 3 months.

And if you ever logged in and found yourself out of the guild, all you have to do is ask for an invite back; culling isn't personal, it's just housekeeping.

We have an overflow guild we haven't used lately, but if it gets to the point where we have 500 members and they've all been playing a reasonable amount, I imagine new guild members will start getting placed there instead of replacing members in the main guild. We'll see how many people bite when the expansion launches.

For what it's worth, GAFO had about 250 members at launch, meaning the guild as a whole numbered over 700 players. If HoT pulls in those kind of numbers, I reaaaaaaally hope they allow for guild alliances or something. Just as a precaution though, all of our officers who had a free slot are officers in GAFO, so invites should go smoothly. I really hope we don't end up split between two guilds =\

 

[NotMyUsername]

Right now I think the greatest incentive to get back to the game and start working on more level 80 stuff is to replace this hideous heavy armor. Whoever thought the big chunky rock armor with tiny little spikes was a good look was probably the person that decided people could pay real money to buy armor skins/outfits and transmutation charge thingers.

Some of the other heavy armor I didn't mind but I've largely been stuck with this rocky armor for awhile and it looks like turds. Also, I don't know if I've had a single foot armor I've liked.

Edit: Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, what the heck are mail carriers for? I've received in-game mail but can't ever recall seeing it come in any other way than the icon flashing and having a number next to it.

 

[Muscle Wizard]

If you look closely you'll see a messenger bird carry it off. It even leaves bubbles as it swims underwater.

 

[letterboxart]

edit: Thanks

 

[Wallach]

Really hope conditions are improved. I love my condition necro but i do like no damage in large groups.

Been rocking a power necro but i can't go afk and still destroy everyone like with conditions

This is the single most important change the expansion needs to make for me. If the cap isn't removed and conditions sorted for PvE I don't know if I'll really invest much time into HoT beyond the initial playthrough of new content. Probably the largest contributor of my long-term interest in GW2 steadily falling as time has passed (outside of things beyond the scope of the game itself).

 

[Ashodin]

This is the single most important change the expansion needs to make for me. If the cap isn't removed and conditions sorted for PvE I don't know if I'll really invest much time into HoT beyond the initial playthrough of new content. Probably the largest contributor of my long-term interest in GW2 steadily falling as time has passed (outside of things beyond the scope of the game itself).

greatsword necro tho.

I mean they're already playing around with it, so it's likely condition changes are sweeping and coming, I mean burning stacks now in intensity, confusion got changed to deal damage even when not using skills (with an even harder hit when you do). So things are rumbling.

 

[Wallach]

greatsword necro tho.

I mean they're already playing around with it, so it's likely condition changes are sweeping and coming, I mean burning stacks now in intensity, confusion got changed to deal damage even when not using skills (with an even harder hit when you do). So things are rumbling.

Yeah signs point to, but - as with anything in iteration - plans change. I definitely want to see the finalized changes laid out and made official.

Obviously I'm still going to run around with my Twilight when HoT lands. I'm actually not even letting anyone equip it in the meantime.

 

[Ashodin]

Yeah signs point to, but - as with anything in iteration - plans change. I definitely want to see the finalized changes laid out and made official.

Obviously I'm still going to run around with my Twilight when HoT lands. I'm actually not even letting anyone equip it in the meantime.

HAha you are totally ready then

 

[UltimateIke]

489 members.

I sort of want to see it hit 500 just for a little while.

 

[Thorgal]

Well, I'm back in the game but I'm playing on Ferguson's Crossing and I'm at level 27. If there is some space in the guild, I'd like to join. Thanks! Arkhanor.9204

Anyone got you yet ?

 

[SourBear]

The effectiveness of conditions in pve hasn't really changed recently. The testing of cap removal (or bump) that we saw on the wyvern could be a sign of things to come though.

From the Ready Up livestream that guy was rocking a Carrion set and obliterated the tPvP NPC. And then the dev made a point of saying that the meta will change. I'm hoping that they are changing how the various stats scale with the different damage types to make the other armor sets more attractive. I personally think it is a bit of a flaw of the game that only one armor set is used predominantly. But I know many people will disagree with that so whatever.

 

[aember]

I was planning on getting on last night to try some fractals with you people, but dad asked me to help set up a surprise for my mom after work, so no fractals were happening, sorry!

Hopefully today!

 

[Spyware]

Right now I think the greatest incentive to get back to the game and start working on more level 80 stuff is to replace this hideous heavy armor. Whoever thought the big chunky rock armor with tiny little spikes was a good look was probably the person that decided people could pay real money to buy armor skins/outfits and transmutation charge thingers.

Aww. I actually use the boots and gauntlets of that set for one of my heavies (female sylvari) and love them

Edit: Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, what the heck are mail carriers for? I've received in-game mail but can't ever recall seeing it come in any other way than the icon flashing and having a number next to it.

You can see pigeons swooping in to pick up and deliver your messages It was one of the first little details I discovered during some beta event and I loved it. Me and Cresc sent mails back and forth while standing next to each other just to see the animation over and over

The bought ones are much more visible due to being slower, bigger and/or flashier. You can preview all of them in the character window.

 

[NotMyUsername]

Aww. I actually use the boots and gauntlets of that set for one of my heavies (female sylvari) and love them


You can see pigeons swooping in to pick up and deliver your messages It was one of the first little details I discovered during some beta event and I loved it. Me and Cresc sent mails back and forth while standing next to each other just to see the animation over and over

The bought ones are much more visible due to being slower, bigger and/or flashier. You can preview all of them in the character window.

I honestly don't know if I've seen the boots of that set. I don't think that's what I have now since they don't look rocky or have mini-spikes. I think I have the gauntlets on just recently and thought they were the least painful of the bunch but those pauldrons and chest piece? Nope, totally tired of them.

I don't think I've sent a message yet and I'm sure when I've had stuff delivered there was some animation but generally it came when I was either running about or finished a quest or something so I was probably either reading some dialogue or sifting through my inventory right away and not paying attention to some mail delivery animation. I'll have to keep it in mind.

But really, I want to never see those rocky bits of armor again. I've liked some of the other heavy armor but I feel the majority of my time has now been spent masquerading as a boulder.

 

[Moondrop]

Here's an image with the Dragonhunter's trap heal in it:

Now that I look more closely I see the utility cooldowns are all 45 seconds with no cooldown reduction trait option. That's not exactly synergistic with trapper runes; those of ranger are much shorter.

Also seeing a full elite specialization trait line seems to suggest you can use a new weapon without the new trait line. But what about utilities? Can all guardians slot Dragon Maw without touching the Dragonhunter trait line? I guess I'm still uncertain.

 

[SourBear]

Here's an image with the Dragonhunter's trap heal in it:


Now that I look more closely I see the utility cooldowns are all 45 seconds with no cooldown reduction trait option. That's not exactly synergistic with trapper runes; those of ranger are much shorter.

Also seeing a full elite specialization trait line seems to suggest you can use a new weapon without the new trait line. But what about utilities? Can all guardians slot Dragon Maw without touching the Dragonhunter trait line? I guess I'm still uncertain.

You can't use the new weapon without the elite trait line selected. It's either an inherit restriction not listed anywhere or its in the description of the first minor trait.

 

[Moondrop]

Ah ok, it's in one of the original blog posts. Doesn't seem to mesh with their streamlining style recently (when you hit the reset trait button does one line not reset? does it forcibly unequip to inventory?), but makes sense.