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[GW2]Making a new thread for the BWE. See you guys on Aspenwood soon!

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Posts

  • MadpoetMadpoet Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    TOTP Misclick, woo!

    Madpoet on
  • World as MythWorld as Myth a breezy way to annoy serious people Registered User regular
    First in line for hugs, right here.

    kQwcZLJ.png
  • AvynteAvynte Registered User regular
    I'm glad they've got weapon skill unlocks. The average mmo player is really bad. Anyone who has ever done LFR can attest to this. Throwing all the skills at you straight out of the tutorial is too much for most to handle.

    I will agree though that there is something wack with the unlock speed of ranged versus melee.

    My elementalist was an absolute pain in the ass to unlock with, while my warrior had all his weapons in 4-5 events.

    ECOED.jpg
  • xgalaxyxgalaxy Registered User regular
    Based on my play in the beta, IMO it would be nice if they buffed everyone's hp a bit. Not too much, just enough to make the average fight last a little longer and avoid the problems of burst damage rendering some fights into curbstombs.

    Ehhh. Not really.

    Here is a list of effects that can be used independently or in combination via skills that counter a burst build:
    Retaliation
    Protection
    Invulnerability
    Distortion
    Daze
    Push
    Knockdown
    Launch
    Stun

    GW2: Rancid Cupcake (Necro), Ranch Dressing (Ranger)
  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    Shen wrote: »
    For people who played thieves, how much damage did speccing out and out offense add? With maxed Acrobatics and Trickery you're looking at up to +45% damage, near constant Might upkeep and a shitload of initiative, as well as all the fun support and survivability stuff. It honestly feels like a class where you can spec just about anything (well, except for maybe 14/14/14/14/14) and still be effective.

    I played thief, and started out with a build with more straight power/precision, and while wearing the mostly default gear, ie not stacking low HP pure power, I was still able to put out pretty good damage. On soft targets, maybe 6k+ backstab crits, and 4k+ heart seeker crits below 33%. When I switched to get all the traits I really wanted, like swiftness on dodge roll, endurance back on dodge, +3 max initiative, etc. and didn't worry about straight damage I dropped down to around 5k backstabs, and maybe 3500 heartseekers, but my fun level went way up, and it's definitely how I'll be playing I think.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    xgalaxy wrote: »
    Based on my play in the beta, IMO it would be nice if they buffed everyone's hp a bit. Not too much, just enough to make the average fight last a little longer and avoid the problems of burst damage rendering some fights into curbstombs.

    Ehhh. Not really.

    Here is a list of effects that can be used independently or in combination via skills that counter a burst build:
    Retaliation
    Protection
    Invulnerability
    Distortion
    Daze
    Push
    Knockdown
    Launch
    Stun

    You forgot Confusion and Block.

  • CaedereCaedere S'no regrets BIRDIESRegistered User regular
    Echo wrote: »
    Caedere wrote: »
    @reVerse So, I see that you didn't actually have anything constructive to say after all. Marvelous! I'd love to go against you in structured PVP next BWE. =D That way you can sulk on the capture point, dropping one-liners like, "Pets are terrible" whilst I eat you alive with my actual pet build.

    Because, sweety, I assure you that when I go pet-based necromancer you'll sure as hell know it. ;D This... definitely not a pet build.
    Minion master FTW

    Be nice to each others, you little shits.

    I just want to minion master without having to heal my pets every 10 seconds like I do in GW1. :(

    Or minion master in areas with enemies that don't have any flesh. I'm looking at you, stupid Asura questline..

    FWnykYl.jpg
  • MadpoetMadpoet Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Madpoet wrote: »
    xgalaxy wrote: »
    Madpoet wrote: »
    By the time she was done with all the spells just on the staff, she was fairly bored with the character.

    This just doesn't really fly with me.
    Are you sure your girlfriend likes playing MMO's?
    Is she bored with a Mage before level 10 in WoW because she had to spend, what is certainly a longer period of time, leveling up and learning new abilities for her mage?
    Well, she's only played with me since Kunark era EQ, so she doesn't have QUITE the experience I do...
    Tell the truth, yes, she got bored of WoW mages early. They very well model the early DnD model of weak and boring early, godlike power endgame.
    The long ramp up of a new character is a repeated flaw in MMOs. It's usually handwaved away with "well, the experienced player will breeze through it", but I don't see why it needs to be there at all. Already have a max level character? Cool, start at a point where the character has most of their abilities and have at it. There's no need to force players to do something not fun, ever.

    Which is exactly why people who buy max level characters in MMOs are totally great at their new class.

    Straw man. A good player who buys a max level character is bad for far less time than it would take to level the character themselves.

  • BuddiesBuddies Registered User regular
    Caedere wrote: »
    Buddies wrote: »
    Caedere wrote: »
    Hey, @Buddies and everyone else wanting to discuss professions and all that, what are the thoughts on my build last page? Loooook, it's delicious theorycrafting. ;D

    I'd put the 10 points in spite somewhere else. If you want more damage, I'd go with curses. The damage lost in power, will be made up a little in condition damage, and the duration bonus of spite is kind of whack IMO. People can drop your dots if they so desire, and you can reapply/restack them easily. If you want to live longer to be more of a jerk, then Blood Magic. You won't be blowing people up anyway, but in 1v1s you will be just beating them in a nice long fight.

    With a build like that it would require some serious dedication from the other team to kill you. Which will leave them very vulnerable. Death Shroud more than doubles your life span. Which with a 30k possible health pool makes killing you feel like a waste of time. So I'd say I agree with Rend, that Death Shrouds strength is that it gives you another life basically. It allows your cooldowns to cycle, and reset a fight. After the fight is reset you start building life force again and the cycle continues. So while the other team is dedicating 3 people to kill you (which will still take them a long time considering they are doing a 3v1), the other 4 on your team can easily go take the other [2] points or kill the PvE monsters without any real risk.

    It could lead to some boring matches though as you sit on a capture point by yourself the entire game and your team is fighting back and forth over mid and the other point.

    Interesting. You bring up some nice points. I have the 10 points for the increased Life Blast damage, but I'd have to see how much it actually increases it by. It might not be worth it, honestly.

    The intention here is to chase people down and engage in 1v1 battles as much as possible. With Death Shroud, I really like the traits you can put into it - stability is MAJOR, and having that + healing + more speed + Enfeeble + the extra health you already get + fear is very attractive.


    I admit that I make some pretty strange builds, but they're generally a lot of fun. I'll get those videos from beta up ASAP so you all can see some of the stuff I pulled. :lol: None of them are THIS build, but there's still some great stuff in there (conditions necromancer, attunement-dancing elementalist, venom thief, etc).

    I can't say for sure, but I want to say that .. forty?... was right in that the Death Shroud abilities don't really do much. I don't think the life blasts hit hard enough to warrant speccing 10 trait points just to buff it.

    But to anyone scared about fighting the Warrior type builds from this page (and IMO, you should be. 10k-20k crits when other professions/builds can't come anywhere close to that kind of damage? come on), then this type of necro is a great build to beat it without using many, if any, cooldowns at all. That is a long sentence... Just as long as you dodge eviscerate and thousand blades.

  • DraygoDraygo Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Nerfing some numbers or buffing health is the same thing.

    Balance is asking: this ability takes % X of the average max health of a character, is that fair? And adjusting from there. Sure if you increase everyone by 5k health you are going to be decreasing the % of the damage that ability does, but so does just nerfing some damage on the ability.

    They could balance the game around everyone being 580 hp, like guild wars 1.

    Total health isnt the issue, tuning the abilities is.

    If you were a good pvper this weekend you could easily make it seem like something was overpowered considering how poor the build quality of the average individual. Needs more testing, some tweaking now sure, but more testing is needed.

    Draygo on
  • ArkadyArkady Registered User regular
    madpoet wrote:
    Well, she's only played with me since Kunark era EQ, so she doesn't have QUITE the experience I do...
    Tell the truth, yes, she got bored of WoW mages early. They very well model the early DnD model of weak and boring early, godlike power endgame.
    The long ramp up of a new character is a repeated flaw in MMOs. It's usually handwaved away with "well, the experienced player will breeze through it", but I don't see why it needs to be there at all. Already have a max level character? Cool, start at a point where the character has most of their abilities and have at it. There's no need to force players to do something not fun, ever.

    Seriously. I never got an alt above level 40 in WoW until heirloom gear and significant cuts in exp required to level because being low level and relatively powerless compared to a max level character sucks shit. I very rarely alt in any game that doesn't start with d and in ablo for the exact same reason. And until they change it (which it looks like they will yay :D) then should I ever decide to roll an alt in GW2, then how many weapon skills I would need to unlock would factor into the decision heavily.

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    LoL: failboattootoot
  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    Does anyone who played thief remember what the cooldown on steal was? Some places now say it's 30, and others 45.

    45 seconds, and thankfully, I saw Jon Peters post on the beta forums that they will be looking into clarity on what buff it gives you, because getting a random buff in the midst of a heated battle where you can't have time to check the tooltip makes the ability marginal at best. I honestly hope they just make it so when you steal it changes F2, F3, and F4 to something like "boon/heal, poison guy, go into stealth" or something to that effect. The idea sounds cool on paper, but getting a random buff is a joke in pvp, and traiting it to stealth you is not a good enough answer, because some people aren't going to take that trait.

  • XagarXagar Registered User regular
    When playing my dagger ele I felt the damage on particular things was quite low for some reason, while also being pretty squishy. I started doing better once I did two things: First, I put 3 stun breakers on my bar. Second, I used my mobility to stay out of people's view. Swapping to fire and using the rush attack, which does NOT track, almost invariably broke people's visual lock on me.

    As I recall, the worst offenders were fire autoattack (pretty low damage even when you hit all 3 lines), lightning touch (which inflicts a good amount of vulnerability but has pitiful range and damage), and earth 5, whose damage is insulting for immobilizing you for so long, even if it does have a huge aoe cripple. The skills that inflicted bleed/burning (firebreathing channel/fire ring/earth 1/2) were useless without a bunch of condition damage equipment. Earth 1 is also bad because if you attack someone that has swiftness, you will literally never hit.

  • Ragnar DragonfyreRagnar Dragonfyre Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Echo wrote: »
    Unfortunately, the meat of that build can be negated by using an ability to make you immune to control effects. 100 Blades roots the Warrior in place... so unless your opponent is stupidly standing toe to toe with you, or is stunned/rooted, it's easily avoided.

    A mesmer with 1h sword can just hit his 3 and go invulnerable, while doing damage right back.

    Amazing! I love that there's so many counters to different builds. So many that it's hard to keep track.

    Personally, I used this build for all of 10 minutes before switching. It has zero group utility and lacks survivability. I prefer the Battle Standard over Signet of Rage. Reviving all my downed comrades instantly beats being able to gib one guy.

    Yeah, this build is great when pubbing it in BG's, but that's about it.

    Ragnar Dragonfyre on
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  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Madpoet wrote: »
    shryke wrote: »
    Madpoet wrote: »
    xgalaxy wrote: »
    Madpoet wrote: »
    By the time she was done with all the spells just on the staff, she was fairly bored with the character.

    This just doesn't really fly with me.
    Are you sure your girlfriend likes playing MMO's?
    Is she bored with a Mage before level 10 in WoW because she had to spend, what is certainly a longer period of time, leveling up and learning new abilities for her mage?
    Well, she's only played with me since Kunark era EQ, so she doesn't have QUITE the experience I do...
    Tell the truth, yes, she got bored of WoW mages early. They very well model the early DnD model of weak and boring early, godlike power endgame.
    The long ramp up of a new character is a repeated flaw in MMOs. It's usually handwaved away with "well, the experienced player will breeze through it", but I don't see why it needs to be there at all. Already have a max level character? Cool, start at a point where the character has most of their abilities and have at it. There's no need to force players to do something not fun, ever.

    Which is exactly why people who buy max level characters in MMOs are totally great at their new class.

    Straw man. A good player who buys a max level character is bad for far less time than it would take to level the character themselves.

    Yeah I used to sell botted characters to people, mostly to people in raid guilds that just did not want to level an alt but the class was needed by people. They'd by the character and be raiding within 2 weeks. Skilled players don't take long to acclimate.

    until I was banned anyway

    override367 on
  • DraygoDraygo Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    First in line for hugs, right here.

    slash hug a with a circle. (forums dont let me type it)

    Draygo on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Personally, I used this build for all of 10 minutes before switching. It has zero group utility and lacks survivability. I prefer the Battle Standard over Signet of Rage. Reviving all my downed comrades instantly beats being able to gib one guy.

    We've had one weekend. There will be an evolving meta, there will be flavors of the week(end). Sure, that build might stomp people easily, but people will start to make counterbuilds to that if it proves too powerful.

  • YougottawannaYougottawanna Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    xgalaxy wrote: »
    Based on my play in the beta, IMO it would be nice if they buffed everyone's hp a bit. Not too much, just enough to make the average fight last a little longer and avoid the problems of burst damage rendering some fights into curbstombs.

    Ehhh. Not really.

    Here is a list of effects that can be used independently or in combination via skills that counter a burst build:
    Retaliation
    Protection
    Invulnerability
    Distortion
    Daze
    Push
    Knockdown
    Launch
    Stun

    You forgot Confusion and Block.

    All that is good, but it doesn't help much if you don't have time to do any of it. An HP buff gives you a bit more time, and makes things a bit less twitch-skilly.

  • xgalaxyxgalaxy Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    xgalaxy wrote: »
    Based on my play in the beta, IMO it would be nice if they buffed everyone's hp a bit. Not too much, just enough to make the average fight last a little longer and avoid the problems of burst damage rendering some fights into curbstombs.

    Ehhh. Not really.

    Here is a list of effects that can be used independently or in combination via skills that counter a burst build:
    Retaliation
    Protection
    Invulnerability
    Distortion
    Daze
    Push
    Knockdown
    Launch
    Stun

    You forgot Confusion and Block.

    I also forgot Weakness and Fear. Possibly others.
    The point is... there are lots of ways to counter things.

    GW2: Rancid Cupcake (Necro), Ranch Dressing (Ranger)
  • MadpoetMadpoet Registered User regular
    Avynte wrote: »
    I'm glad they've got weapon skill unlocks. The average mmo player is really bad. Anyone who has ever done LFR can attest to this. Throwing all the skills at you straight out of the tutorial is too much for most to handle.

    I will agree though that there is something wack with the unlock speed of ranged versus melee.

    My elementalist was an absolute pain in the ass to unlock with, while my warrior had all his weapons in 4-5 events.

    No, the REALLY bad MMO players stand out, especially against tryhard elitist PVP scumbags. The average MMO player just wants to play a game and have fun screwing around with friends. Maybe they're not going to realize right off the bat that an armor debuff before a powerful physical attack is a Good Thing, but they'll understand if you explain it. They sure don't need 50 swings of a sword to know that they can swing a sword and something will die. And, as I said - a new player, given 5 skills, is just going to take them one at a time and learn them at their own pace.

  • Fig-DFig-D Tustin, CA, USRegistered User regular
    Are Necromancers popular because they're powerful or because people legitimately dig Necromancers? Warlock being one of the most underplayed classes in WoW for a long time makes me wonder...

    I legitimately dug Necromancer. It also felt really powerful.

    SteamID - Fig-D :: PSN - Fig-D
  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    I can't believe people are mad about unlocking weapon skills for a few minutes. One of the biggest selling points I kept telling my friends about in this game is that unlike every other MMO, the core abilities of your class get unlocked in just a few minutes, so you don't have to be like herp derp I'm an enhancement shaman who doesn't dual wield or get stormstrike until level 40, to give one example.

    Basically, by the time the average person figures out what their number 1 does, they'll be getting 2, and so on.

  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    I'm going to agree, I hated having to unlock weapon skills. I'd rather have all of them available to experiment with, rather than an arbitrary "You need to wait this long before you've shown you know how to auto-attack, then this long before you know how to use your #2 skill, then...." Even worse when I picked up a new weapon, and had to either play gimped against higher level mobs or go back down to killing sons of svanir at the bear shrine. Hell, that was the biggest reason I avoided underwater combat, having to fight level 6 mobs when you're leveled down to 4/5 with only an auto-attack is really crappy design.

  • CaedereCaedere S'no regrets BIRDIESRegistered User regular
    Madpoet... I'm going to make a very honest, earnest request.

    Can you please stop using words like, "tryhard"? It makes me not want to read what you say, but I know you have some points to make. It's just... gah, terms like that are insultingly dismissive. =/

    FWnykYl.jpg
  • DraygoDraygo Registered User regular
    edited May 2012

    All that is good, but it doesn't help much if you don't have time to do any of it. An HP buff gives you a bit more time, and makes things a bit less twitch-skilly.

    HP buffs are meaningless. Its just an easy way to avoid directly nerfing an ability. You balance to the average health and ttk numbers you want, you dont up everyones ttk by buffing health and then rebalanicing now terribly underpowered skills. You take the outliers and you address them, and bring them within your games health system model.

    Draygo on
  • CaedereCaedere S'no regrets BIRDIESRegistered User regular
    Fig-D wrote: »
    Are Necromancers popular because they're powerful or because people legitimately dig Necromancers? Warlock being one of the most underplayed classes in WoW for a long time makes me wonder...

    I legitimately dug Necromancer. It also felt really powerful.

    I played a Ne/Me in GW1 for 7 years now, so I'm a little attached to those classes. =)

    FWnykYl.jpg
  • XagarXagar Registered User regular
    Skill 5 is painful to unlock. The rest don't bother me. It got me through the relative tedium of levels 1-10.

  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Peccavi wrote: »
    Hell, that was the biggest reason I avoided underwater combat, having to fight level 6 mobs when you're leveled down to 4/5 with only an auto-attack is really crappy design.

    I had no problems with underwater combat as a mesmer.

    Maybe because their melee weapon auto-attack has an evade and if you time the activation right you're completely invulnerable because the cycle seems to match the attack speed of underwater mobs.

    (but it's a secret so don't tell anyone, especially not WaM)

    reVerse on
  • DraygoDraygo Registered User regular
    Joshmvii wrote: »
    I can't believe people are mad about unlocking weapon skills for a few minutes. One of the biggest selling points I kept telling my friends about in this game is that unlike every other MMO, the core abilities of your class get unlocked in just a few minutes, so you don't have to be like herp derp I'm an enhancement shaman who doesn't dual wield or get stormstrike until level 40, to give one example.

    Basically, by the time the average person figures out what their number 1 does, they'll be getting 2, and so on.

    I only wish 4-5 were a bit faster, in this game i feel like it should go at an even unlocking speed instead of an increasing one.

    Its far longer unlocking skills for off hand weapons than main hand and it kinda feels wierd to me within the game. I'm not really complaining but I think the game would benifit if it was a bit faster going from 3-4 and 4-5.

  • MadpoetMadpoet Registered User regular
    Joshmvii wrote: »
    I can't believe people are mad about unlocking weapon skills for a few minutes. One of the biggest selling points I kept telling my friends about in this game is that unlike every other MMO, the core abilities of your class get unlocked in just a few minutes, so you don't have to be like herp derp I'm an enhancement shaman who doesn't dual wield or get stormstrike until level 40, to give one example.

    Basically, by the time the average person figures out what their number 1 does, they'll be getting 2, and so on.
    I'm pretty sure the average person will figure out "sword swing" long before the 5 kills it takes to unlock "other sword swing". Which becomes obvious much sooner than the 10 kills to unlock "a thing I can do with a sword".
    Novel idea: Why not unlock ability 2 as soon as the player thinks "I'm comfortable with ability 1, I wonder what 2 does..."

    This game is BETTER, but that doesn't mean every system in place is awesome. I'm sure this mechanic will be accelerated, but there still doesn't seem to be a non-insulting reason to leave it in at all.

  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    Joshmvii wrote: »
    I can't believe people are mad about unlocking weapon skills for a few minutes. One of the biggest selling points I kept telling my friends about in this game is that unlike every other MMO, the core abilities of your class get unlocked in just a few minutes, so you don't have to be like herp derp I'm an enhancement shaman who doesn't dual wield or get stormstrike until level 40, to give one example.

    Basically, by the time the average person figures out what their number 1 does, they'll be getting 2, and so on.

    Until they pick up a new weapon, at which point the game presumes they've forgotten how to auto-attack again.

    We players aren't that stupid, we can figure out how skills work by reading descriptions and experimentimg a little ourselves, we don't need the game holding us back til it arbitrarily decideds we're ready.

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    2 should be unlocked right off the bat, what with 1 being an autoattack by default.

  • World as MythWorld as Myth a breezy way to annoy serious people Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    reVerse wrote: »
    Peccavi wrote: »
    Hell, that was the biggest reason I avoided underwater combat, having to fight level 6 mobs when you're leveled down to 4/5 with only an auto-attack is really crappy design.

    I had no problems with underwater combat as a mesmer.

    Maybe because their melee weapon auto-attack has an evade and if you time the activation right you're completely invulnerable because the cycle seems to match the attack speed of underwater mobs.

    (but it's a secret so don't tell anyone, especially not WaM)

    Sounds like pure skills to me. RESOLVED - BY DESIGN

    World as Myth on
    kQwcZLJ.png
  • MadpoetMadpoet Registered User regular
    Caedere wrote: »
    Madpoet... I'm going to make a very honest, earnest request.

    Can you please stop using words like, "tryhard"? It makes me not want to read what you say, but I know you have some points to make. It's just... gah, terms like that are insultingly dismissive. =/
    It was the right word in the context. What happens when someone not good at the game goes up against someone good at a game who always tries their hardest? They're embarrassed and are likely to stop playing. Putting tryhards vs noobs makes the noob look stupid because inexperience is magnified.
    The remark I was responding to was grossly insulting, and I hoped that "tryhard elitist PVP scumbags" would be obvious enough hyperbole.

  • YougottawannaYougottawanna Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    I kind of like the weapon skill unlocks for the same reason I kind of like trash loot and other seemingly needless things: they create micro cycles of challenge-and-reward that's part of what makes playing games satisfying. You don't get your first trait point until lv10, so unlocking weapon skills gives you something to do in that time.

    Give too much reward up front and the game gets less satisfying to play IMO. Pretty much everything in every game ever made boils down to needless busywork if you examine it hard enough, at some point I just say that needless busywork is actually the reason I'm here - that's part of what playing games is about.

    Yougottawanna on
  • BloodsheedBloodsheed Registered User regular
    I kind of like the weapon skill unlocks for the same reason I kind of like trash loot and other seemingly needless things: they create micro cycles of challenge-and-reward that's part of what makes playing games satisfying. You don't get your first trait point until lv10, so unlocking weapon skills gives you something to do in that time.

    Give too much reward up front and the game gets less satisfying to play IMO. Pretty much everything in every game ever boils down to needless busywork if you examine it hard enough, at some point I just say that needless busywork is actually the reason I'm here - that's part of what playing games is about.

    I agree with all of this. I loved the weapon skill unlocks, it really got you to put in the time to try and understand a weapon and each skill it provided and, in the early levels, made "Ooo, a new type of weapon!" drop exciting.

    Xbox Live, Steam, PSN: Eclibull
  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    Buddies wrote: »
    AAH! AAH! Demon! Burn it with fire! I must go get fire!
    Caedere wrote: »
    Buddies, you're not some teenager posting on GameFAQs, man. You should know better than to force tiers onto things, especially onto games that don't even tier.

    Why don't you just discuss general strengths and weaknesses, instead of trying to rank the professions against each other? That would lead to a much more productive and fruitful discussion.

    It's very much a case of "strategies only last until the first bullet is fired". You can rank a build, but a build isn't going to win a game for you. Player skill and quick reflexes on the mouse are going to keep you alive better than a specific type of build. Even in fighting games you can take what's generally considered a powerful character and utterly devistate it if you have better skill and faster reflexes.

    Everyone's had three days with an unfinished and still-being-tweaked product.

    And yeah, I heard that! They are tweaking balance still and have said as much. Those who were in earlier betas are still under NDA, so they can't say much about it, but there's been some easily verifiable evidence that things are not the same as they were a few builds back and they wont be in a few more builds from now.
    Arryn wrote: »
    So I got a question I'm hoping someone will want to weigh in on ... I missed the last BWE as I was spending time with the inlaws. But a buddy of mine says he felt Melee toons were distinctly weaker than Ranged.

    Any opposing opinions on that? As someone who prefers melee, and I'm going to just be fodder in the range-fest wood chopper?

    There are ups and downs for it right now. Part of it is, though, is that you're usually default tanking. Enemies in events focus on you and players in Wuvwuv focus on you all because you're close. They tend to have some excellent survival skills, but again, I think part of it is due to short game experience. Personally, I was only able to get the ideas of "how to dodge and kite" and "when to dodge and kite" down around the end of the weekend, and I've known about it for a long time. It's not as immediately visible as we thought, and the limitation on how often you can dodge is quite big.
    We all gave the press a lot of crap about it when we saw their videos, but yeah, some enemies just leap at you with apparently little warning, and it takes time to know when the enemy is telegraphing their big attacks where simply circling them doesn't cut it and you have to dodge. Heh, I remember a few enemies who would actually pause in the middle of telegraphing an attack, which causes those quickdraws out there like me to dodge out of the way and get hit with the assault as soon as we come out of the dodge. Also, comparing what I saw in the press beta videos with what I saw in the BWE, the difficulty is still being tweaked, and it was definitely on the upswing this weekend.

    So, remember:
    It takes time to learn new mechanics
    Anet is tweaking the difficulty
    Melee are easy targets (something they're working on in regards to NPCs)
    Dodge and circle are two tactics everyone has to master. Melee just has to master much smaller circles.

    One thing that needs to go away is the idea of melee and ranged classes. Very few of the GW2 classes are wholly 100% one or the other. They do have combinations which place them into one or the other, but solely relying on one combination is ridiculous and makes you a real one trick pony in a game where everyone has access to every trick in the book. Even elementalists have to get up close and personal for a few actions and definitely benefit if they're hitting the melee and themselves with some of their water blasts.
    It's becoming reeeaaally evident with discussions how much of a MMORPG mindset we're in when there's at least a post per page talking about "Speccing offense".
    Vi Monks wrote: »
    Does anyone know how the bonus experience you sometimes get on mob kills works? It seemed pretty random to me, and I can't find any information about it.
    From what I was seeing, it sort of looked like it was tied to getting the killing blow on an enemy, but I'm not 100% on that.

  • DraygoDraygo Registered User regular
    weapons were unlocked by scoring the killing hit on an enemy
    I wish it was participatin based and followed the model of the rest of the game that would probably fix the issues of weapon unlocking entirely with me.

  • BuddiesBuddies Registered User regular
    Weapon unlocks for the elementalist was very tedious. I remember that I chose the focus for my quest reward, and then went into WvWvW immediately with 2 friends. About the time we hit level 8 we each had a new weapon we wanted to try out. So we switched to our new weapons (Staff for me), and thought it would be best to unlock a few skills before trying to kill more people. So we grinded them out on some wolves and moa birds. Well, they were done with their new weapons and I had only unlocked one element. They were ready to go at full power, and I was stuck at 1/4th my power or had to force them to wait 4x as long. That is when I decided the skill unlock for weapons needed to be tweaked.

  • SarksusSarksus ATTACK AND DETHRONE GODRegistered User regular
    I basically hate every MMO and hate grinds and I didn't even notice the time it took me to unlock weapon skills. That is essentially all I have to say about it.

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