The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[GW2] Now F2P - HoT expansion is LIVE! Guild missions Sun @ Noon & Mon @ 5pm Pacific!
Geod
swim, swim, hungryRegistered User regular
swim, swim, hungryRegistered User regular
Welcome to the Penny Arcade Guild Wars 2 Community Thread!
- New to GW2? Check out the FAQ or the official Guild Wars 2 site for more information on the game.
- New to Heart of Thorns? Check out GW2 Wiki for more information.
- Play for Free? Go here: https://welcome.guildwars2.com/en/play-for-free
- Returning player? The Guild Wars 2 Official Wiki has both a summary of the Living Story plot and the features from each release. There’s also a list of permanent changes since launch.
- Where to buy GW2: Heart of Thorns? Official Site
Next Content Update: Heart of Thorns Expansion
- Release Date: October 23, 2015
- Cost: $50
- New Classes: Revenant, heavy armor focused on channeling past Guild Wars legendary characters
- New Zones: The Heart of Maguuma, regions focused on verticality, open areas, and biomes
- New Activities: Adventures, repeatable, on-demand challenges with leaderboards. New events/storylines. New boss battles.
- New Group Content: Raids are 10-player, instanced, elite dungeon content that will be a true challenge
- New Progression System: Masteries, used to progress character past level 80 by pointing points in various tracks to unlock tiers and new abilities, like learning new languages, unlocking precursors, learning hang gliding, etc
- New Traits: Specializations, a rework of the current traits that introduce a new Elite specialization for each progression that unlocks new weapons, traits, skills, and profession mechanics.
Ranger - Druid Elite Specialization (staff)
Necromancer - Reaper Elite Specialization (greatsword)
Mesmer - Chronomancer Elite Specialization (shield)
Engineer - Scrapper Elite Specialization (hammer)
Guardian - Dragonhunter Elite Specialization (longbow)
Elementalist - Tempest Elite Specialization (warhorn)
Thief - Daredevil Elite Specialization (staff)
Warrior - Berserker Elite Specialization (torch)
Revenant - Herald Elite Specialization (shield)
- New PvP Mode: Stronghold, evolution of classic Guild vs Guild gameplay, inspired by MOBA games
- New WvW Map: New Borderland, where each keep has it's own distinct theme, and holding objectives gives abilities
- New Guild Functionality: Guild Halls, guilds can claim and grow a hall where players can gather, organize, build, and progress
What A Nice Guild [NICE]
The Penny Arcade Community guild in Guild Wars 2 is called What A Nice Guild [NICE]. We play on the Fort Aspenwood server, although guilds are cross-server and we have members who play on other servers. It is easiest to participate in guild activities if FA is your home server, but you can join in most activities via guesting (with the exception of World vs World pvp). To permanently switch servers, you have to pay for a transfer or delete all your characters. Fort Aspenwood is a North American server, but we have plenty of people from other regions including Australia and Europe playing with us on FA, so don’t let that dissuade you if you’re located in another region.
Commanders:
@Geod (Geod.5024, Geod)
@Ky13 (kyonethree.9814, Teldra)
Officers:
@CorriganX
@Draygo (Draygo.9473, Delarme)
@Enig (Ansatz.6498)
@Lagnar (Lagnar.9281, RichardRears)
@Leandriell (kalzana.3192, Leandriell)
@Kylindra (Kylindra.1794, Sage Persephone)
@mojojoeo (MojoGroove.8253, Mojojoeo)
@naengwen (Sharkey.9805, Sharkey)
@Vivixenne (Vivixenne.3465, Vivixenne)
@Yougottawanna
To join the guild:
You can ask for an invite by posting your account name (<name>.####) in this thread, and one of the officers will invite you. Alternately, you’re welcome to whisper in game one of the leaders or officers above. Anyone from the PA community may join the guild, along with any friends and family. Being active on the forums is encouraged but not required. Guild policies are loosely based on the PA forum rules – don’t be a dick. If you have any issues with anyone, please contact a guild officer.
Guilds are limited to 500 members, so occasionally we have to cull inactive members. If you find yourself removed, just ask for an invite again.
Teamspeak 3 Server
The guild has a Teamspeak 3 server, thanks to Draygo. Download TS at http://www.teamspeak.com. Even if you don’t have a mic, just listening will help greatly for coordination.
Server IP: 66.135.55.177:9999
Password: pa
Admins: Draygo, Enig, Geod, Teldra, Sage Persephone, Vivixenne, Lagnar, Mojojoeo, Psyfer
The below spoiler contains the Penny Arcade Guild Wars 2 Teamspeak FAQ, written by Draygo for everyone's convenience. Please refer to it for any queries regarding the GW2 PA TS3 setup. Server seats 100+ people and everything you want to know about it can be found below or by asking Draygo, as he put it together and has been hosting these servers for years.
Q) Where do I get it:
Download teamspeak here: http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads
You can get teamspeak for windows, mac, and linux. As well as your Ithing and your android, if you so prefer.
Q) Cool, I installed it, now what?
Now you must connect to our totally awesome server. In order to do that you must first run teamspeak. Then hit Connections at the top. Select Connect.
Now you must enter the server details:
Server Address: 66.135.59.185:9999
Nickname: Your forum or In Game Name
Password: pa
Q) What does the banner in the top right do?
The community thread banner when clicked on will open the most recent guild wars 2 thread on penny arcade.
Q) How do I add a class or race icon next to my name?
You do this by right clicking yourself, put your mouse over server group, then left click any of the categories named with the race or class you want to choose. You can uncheck them at any time to remove the icon.
Q) So is there a skin/theme for this?
Yes and you can download it from our lobby. Right click the lobby, and select open file browser. You will see the installer file at the top. Download and run that file to skin your client.
In order to activate the theme/skin you need to go to settings->options, and click design on the left.
Then select Theme and change it to PA Guild Wars 2.
Q) Who made the theme?
Draygo did.
Q) How do I change my name?
Right click yourself and select change nickname. You can do this at any time. Do not change your name to impersonate an admin.
Q) What rules can I expect?
Don't be a dick. No personal attacks except 'silly goose', forum rules apply. If it is not appropriate on the forums, it is also not appropriate in teamspeak.
Q) Someone is breaking the rules, or is being disruptive, but no server admins are online. How do I complain.
First, I hope you can all be nice and resolve disputes by yourselves. If someone is being a dick, you can fill out a complaint. Right click someone and click make a complaint. Do not abuse this feature. If 5 people complain about one person in a short amount time, that person will be temp banned from the server. Do not abuse this. Admins will see the complaints that lead to the temp banning and will be unhappy to fix it.
Q) Can I make my own channels?
Yes!
Teamspeak is setup that you can make your own channels in any of the major channels (Except Admin HQ, Lobby, and Afk, for obvious reasons) First enter the channel you want to make the sub-channel in. Right click the parent channel and select, create sub channel. You can enter a name, even a password, as well as set any description you want. After you create the channel, make sure the Audio Codec selected is high enough audio quality.
Right click the channel you created and click edit channel. Click the audio tab and increase the Quality slider. Also decrease the latency slider to reduce lag time. Quality 7, latency 1 are the recommended settings.
These channels are temp only, when the last person leaves them they are automatically cleaned up.
The person who created the channel is the op of the channel and can kick people from the channel (not server). So if you created your own channel and want to remove someone, you can password protect it and remove the troublesome individual.
Q) Is there an overlay plugin?
Yes. There is a built in overlay plugin. To enable it, select settings then plugins. Check the teamspeak overlay plugin and then click settings on the bottom to configure it. Here you can configure any color of each of the elements, as well as transparency settings. I recommend you change the input settings to enable mouse polling, and change the initialization mode to minimal. Minimal mode only displays the one person who is talking, the other mode displays everyone in your channel even those that are talking.
Q) Does teamspeak work with my G15 keyboard.
Yes. There is a plugin for that. Pretty easy to configure again settings->plugins, and enable the G15 keyboard.
Q) I’m seeing graphical glitches when I use the overlay. How do I fix that?
Here's how to get the overlay working without graphical glitches:
1. Go to Settings->Plugins in TS3.
2. Select GW2.exe in the Profile dropdown.
3. Uncheck all the Direct3D options, except for Direct3D 9 (which is what GW2 uses).
4. Switch to Input tab
5. Check "Enable Mouse Poll" and "Use in-game" cursor
6. Switch to extended, and check "Used ID3DDevice:Present hook..." (This is what fixes the animations not showing in GW2)
Guild Schedule
Guild Google Calendar
The guild runs various activities together on a regular basis. A schedule can be seen below, and is also in the Guild Message of the Day (MOTD). All times are Pacific. WvW events are sometimes also held, but there’s no recurring event at the moment.
Guild Missions
Sunday Noon Pacific / 3 PM Eastern
Monday 5 PM Pacific / 8 PM Eastern
Guild Wars 2 has activities designed for large groups called Guild Missions. These missions include Bounty, Puzzle, Challenge, and Rush. Rewards for participation include commendations, rares, gold and chances at a precursor or other exotic items. Each night that we run guild missions, we’ll make one attempt at each mission type, although we don’t always win. You can earn personal credit (rewards) for participation once a week, so you only need to show up for one of the scheduled runs each week for maximum rewards. Credit resets every week on Saturday at daily reset time, so the Saturday night run is the most popular. Here’s a guide for missions written by Vivixenne.
World vs World Events
Wednesday 5:30 PM Pacific / 8:30 PM Eastern
Saturday 5 PM Pacific / 8 PM Eastern
Our guild World vs World night! Do WvW guild missions, and defeat enemies while falling off cliffs! Saturday is our WvW changeover night.
Guild Competition Events
Occasionally, the guild will also host a guild competition for prizes. These events are scheduled by officers at various times, and have included jumping puzzle races, or scavenger hunts.
[NICE] Guild Resources
Guild Tumblr Blog
We use this thread for most of our coordination, but we also have a Tumblr site that Vivixenne created to post guild information, builds, and other guides. http://gw2nice.tumblr.com/
Guild Bank
Vivixenne manages the guild bank, and has the following rules for using it. If you have used, intend to use, or think you may be interested in using it, please read this section by Vivixenne all the way through.
- WHY THE GUILD BANK EXISTS -
It is basically a guild storage for hard-to-find, useful items that people have generously donated to the Guild Bank instead of selling them. It is not a place for you to stick stuff (food) you’ve made but don’t want and can’t sell.
I cull stuff that is not meant to be there, keep the Bank tidy, and keep track of how often people withdraw as opposed to how often (and what) they deposit.
I don’t keep lists or databases. But if I check the log and see that you’ve withdrawn a lot of items and have not deposited anything within a few days after that, you may receive a message from me just as a friendly note that I HAVE MY EYE ON YOU.
- WHAT TO DEPOSIT -
Stuff that is appropriate to deposit are hard-to-find or useful items.
Hard-to-find is any piece of equipment that is
Useful is the following:
Please note that all Major Sigils or Major Runes will be stuck into the Mystic Forge to try to generate Superiors. We are no longer accepting Crests, Talismans, or Seals.
Useful is also any food containing the following buffs:
- WITHDRAWING -
You are free to withdraw from the free-access parts of the Guild Bank (Deep Cave, Treasure Trove).
Stash items are by request only, but you will generally be able to get whatever you request from the Stash. This is purely to prevent people joining the guild and grabbing a bunch of stuff and bailing - not likely to happen, but a possibility I would like to avoid.
To withdraw something from the Stash, you will have to go through me - via /g, /w, or in-game mail. If I am not online and you absolutely NEED that item RIGHT NOW and it can’t wait until the next time I log, you may approach another officer.
Exceptions will be high-cost Superior Runes or Sigils (anything that costs more than 2g in the Trading Post). These will not just be given because you ask - you must request to buy them from the Guild at a discount. The price fluctuates every day, so when you ask for such an item I will reply letting you know how much you need to send me before I will give it to you. You are free to decline the offer.
Also note that in order to prevent compromised accounts from raiding the guild bank, anyone who has been gone from the game for an extended period will have their status set to “Inactive”. If you find yourself set to Inactive and you would like to be set back to Comrade, just ask an officer.
- RULES AND PENALTIES -
If you fill the Bank with trash that I have to tidy up, you will lose access to the Bank for as long as I think is appropriate - usually scaled to how annoyed I am at you.
If you withdraw something, you HAVE to be doing so to use it yourself - not to sell or pass on to a friend that is not in the guild. If you are caught, you will lose access to the Bank. Maybe worse, like a kick from the guild. I haven’t decided because this hasn’t happened yet - it may go to a case-by-case in consultation with the other officers.
It is basically a guild storage for hard-to-find, useful items that people have generously donated to the Guild Bank instead of selling them. It is not a place for you to stick stuff (food) you’ve made but don’t want and can’t sell.
I cull stuff that is not meant to be there, keep the Bank tidy, and keep track of how often people withdraw as opposed to how often (and what) they deposit.
I don’t keep lists or databases. But if I check the log and see that you’ve withdrawn a lot of items and have not deposited anything within a few days after that, you may receive a message from me just as a friendly note that I HAVE MY EYE ON YOU.
- WHAT TO DEPOSIT -
Stuff that is appropriate to deposit are hard-to-find or useful items.
Hard-to-find is any piece of equipment that is
- rare
- exotic
- legendary (if you are just MADE of money)
Useful is the following:
- crafting materials
- sigils (major+)
- runes (major+)
- potions (highest level potion only)
- dyes
- gold jewelry or better (for alts and just-turned 80s)
Please note that all Major Sigils or Major Runes will be stuck into the Mystic Forge to try to generate Superiors. We are no longer accepting Crests, Talismans, or Seals.
Useful is also any food containing the following buffs:
- Gold Find
- Magic Find
- Karma Boost
- Downed Health
- Critical Chance or Damage
- WITHDRAWING -
You are free to withdraw from the free-access parts of the Guild Bank (Deep Cave, Treasure Trove).
Stash items are by request only, but you will generally be able to get whatever you request from the Stash. This is purely to prevent people joining the guild and grabbing a bunch of stuff and bailing - not likely to happen, but a possibility I would like to avoid.
To withdraw something from the Stash, you will have to go through me - via /g, /w, or in-game mail. If I am not online and you absolutely NEED that item RIGHT NOW and it can’t wait until the next time I log, you may approach another officer.
Exceptions will be high-cost Superior Runes or Sigils (anything that costs more than 2g in the Trading Post). These will not just be given because you ask - you must request to buy them from the Guild at a discount. The price fluctuates every day, so when you ask for such an item I will reply letting you know how much you need to send me before I will give it to you. You are free to decline the offer.
Also note that in order to prevent compromised accounts from raiding the guild bank, anyone who has been gone from the game for an extended period will have their status set to “Inactive”. If you find yourself set to Inactive and you would like to be set back to Comrade, just ask an officer.
- RULES AND PENALTIES -
If you fill the Bank with trash that I have to tidy up, you will lose access to the Bank for as long as I think is appropriate - usually scaled to how annoyed I am at you.
If you withdraw something, you HAVE to be doing so to use it yourself - not to sell or pass on to a friend that is not in the guild. If you are caught, you will lose access to the Bank. Maybe worse, like a kick from the guild. I haven’t decided because this hasn’t happened yet - it may go to a case-by-case in consultation with the other officers.
Guild Custom sPvP Server
The guild funds and runs a structured PvP server. The server is administered by Teldra and Lagnar and is named “[NICE] Persephone Exists, Nothing is Sacred.” The server is used for running sPvP nights, as well as tournaments and events. It is also available at other times for dueling and casual play.
To enter the custom arena, bring up the PvP Browser interface, either by clicking the PvP icon in the upper-left-hand corner of your screen or by goingto the Heart of the Mists and looking for the NPC marked PvP Browser (the same NPC you talk to for hot join games). In the PvP Browser interface, use the Search Owner/Name bar on the left and type in Teldra. Once you find the arena, right click to mark it as a favorite so you can find it again later more easily.
Guild Wars 2 Resources
General
Guild Wars 2 Official Site
Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Patch Notes
Dulfy Guides
GW2 Subreddit
NICE Guild Links
NICE Tumblr
Guild Bounty Spreadsheet
Guides
Guild Mission Guide by Vivixenne
Making money guide by Sage Persephone
WvW Guide by Yougottawanna
Combo Field and Finishers by Vivixenne
Primer on Leveling Up by Vivixenne
Other Resources
Gw2spidy (Trading Post Data)
World Event Timers
Dynamic Crafting Guide
Dungeon Guide
WvW Matchups
Into the Mists (Build Guides)
Armor Gallery
Class Guides
Elementalist
Mesmer
Necromancer
Ranger
Thief
Warrior
Geod on
+1
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
What should I salvage and what should I sell?
Salvage most white, blues, and greens. Blues and greens give you luck, which can be consumed to increase your account magic find. Generally don’t salvage leather items, since leather is worth very little. Salvage any rares above lvl 68 for ecto with a master/mystic salvage kit, except for high-value weapons like greatswords and staves. Sell exotics on the TP, unless the sigil/rune on them is worth a lot of money, in which case you’d use a black lion salvage kit to remove the upgrade and sell it.
Guild boosts? What are those?
Every time you log on, or complete events are part of the guild, the guild gains influence. The influence is spent on guild missions, and also guild boosts. Guild boosts are guild-wide buffs that are given to everyone representing the guild and include karma boosts, magic find, reduced waypoint costs, and reduced repair costs, not to mention others. We typically run Magic Find and Gathering all week, and add Gold and Karma on the weekends.
Why do people keep saying I should make sure to log in once every two weeks?
The recent introduction of the Story Journal lets players have access to living world events they missed out on when they were current! So far, only the new season (Season 2) is available, but there is a possibility they may someday add support for replaying Season 1 as well. If you log in during the release window of a new chapter of content, you unlock it for FREE in the Story Journal! if you miss it completely, you can still get it, but it will cost a small gem fee. Gems can be purchased with either in-game gold or with real money. And don’t worry, the unlock is only for the story and the elite achievements. Everyone gets permanent access to all the open world additions, including new zones, events, and regular achievements!
What should I do after I get to level 80?
I see a lot of people in the guild with "Von Kraken" or "Copper" in their names. What's up with that?
We decided near launch of the game for some of our characters to be in the same "family." So Human Nobles will have their names with a von Kraken tag, like '<player name> Von Kraken.' Similarly, with Charr characters we've decided to form the Copper warband (cause copper, like in a penny. Get it?). Your Charr character can be named with Copper as the prefix or suffix of your name. For instance, 'Geod Copperstone' or 'Rysk Coppercrusher' or whatever you like. Feel free to join in with the naming fun if you'd like!
Other Stuffs
You are probably right. Three grandmasters for just the Repear's Shroud is probably too much.
I like your grandmaster #1. And to tie into that I want to echo something I read somewhere else which is I think the great sword auto attack is going to be a chained ability with the third ability also applying chill.
I do think them getting a Defiance bar would be one way to do this, but I think having additional sources of stab will have to be a thing too. If they really, REALLY want this archetype, the whole point should be that you can do what you want but the Reaper will keep slowly approaching you. "You can run, but you can't hide" and all that. \
Which also means that the whole fear that they'll be way too easy to interrupt won't be a thing. The main problem is that I feel like they'll be the old Mesmer, in that if they catch you, you are doomed, but they are big ol slow butts without a lot of range, so if you run you'll be OK.
Of course, that's completely counter-intuitive for me since I'm really liking the concept of traps on the DH (which are basically wells) and the idea of a melee-based Reaper has me all atwitter! If one of their GM traits is a lifetap on hit with a cleaving GS, then A-net is going to make some money from me this weekend. I'll need to buy a new character slot!
I'm also totally "in" on granting the existing classes abilities that are similar to other existing classes. Sure it dilutes the pool even more, but it also moves closer to the old Guild Wars multi-class scheme. Some of those combinations were wacky fun!
I think you are right. Also I think they should get a "Surprise! I am now right on top of you!" elite portal or mobility skill that is on a largish cooldown. Would play into those horror movies where the bad guy somehow ends up right on top of you or just around the corner even though you ran way from him.
The person I'm running with who demands I bring a good character is ME. I'm not going to let my group fail because we don't have the skills we need to win. I don't have the patience for that shit.
Necromancers are so useless, even necromancers don't want to bring necromancers. True story.
Greatsword 1: 3 chain auto attack. Last hit chills
Greatsword 2: Whirling strike. Recharges faster if any enemy is below 50%. The recharge was instant after some health threshold.
Greatsword 3: Vulnerability strike. 12 stacks instantly.
Greatsword 4: Is some sort of PBAoE poison. Casted
Greatsword 5: Is 600 range frontal AoE pull. Can be used while moving.
One of the grandmaster traits was a heal while in death shroud.
Reapers shroud:
Pulsing stability ability
Life force generator on reaper shroud autoattack.
5 second cd 600 range charge.
20 fucking stacks of might on a shout.
On a 25 second cool down.
Blood magic trait changes:
Siphoning will now heal through death shroud!
New trait in blood magic that allows allies to also siphon.
However, when they started attacking, it looked really awesome and beautiful. Almost like ribbon gymnastics that you only ever really see during the Olympics.
ah fuckin called it :V
Well, they certainly seem to have been listening to the complaints about Necromancers not bringing enough to dungeons. That's all pretty great stuff.
RE: Greatsword 2, Looking at the tooltips on Dulfy, the instant recharge is when you hit something at less than 50% health, meaning it's spammmable for the second half of any fight.
Reaper seems like the ultimate chill/vuln spammer. Chill from GS AA has 100% uptime (which with the right traits, will stack vuln), the 12 stack of vuln from GS 3 has 100% uptime with any sort of condi/vuln duration increase. traits with AoE Chill on crit, bonus crit for every stack of vuln (which in an organized group, is probably better than the might on striking a chilled target trait with no ICD trait) Chill deals damage GM trait...
Also, Transfusion will be able to revive downed allies, which based on the tooltip, will benefit both Life Transfer and Reaper's Shroud Soul Spiral. Also, haven't seen the video yet, so no idea on the aftercast, but if the RS AA really is twice as fast as Life Blast from Death Shroud... Dhummfire + Lingering Curse + Entering RS with Scepter equipped= 12 stack of constant cleaving burning, more if you take the Reaper's Shroud Attack Speed trait. I think that might answer the question if Reaper would work for a condi build (especially if the Chill damage trait scales on Condi Damage... Did I call that just 4 1/2 hours ago, or what?)
...and that 20 stacks of might (if you hit 5 targets) on a 25 second cooldown? It's also an AoE Weakness (in fact, it's *The* AoE Weakness shout from GW1) and the stunbreak (though it doesn't say so on the tooltip; they moved it from the shout that chills and transfers conditions).
EDIT: As for the other shouts: the Heal ("Your Soul is Mine!" /Mortal Kombat) gives more life force for each target hit (though the amount of health gain seems static,) the other utility shout beyond "Rise!" "You Are All Weaklings!" and "Suffer!" (the condi transfer shout) is "Nothing can Save You!" Which strips boons and makes your attack unblockable... and the Elite is "Chilled To The Bone!" which is an AoE 2s stun which chills and grants 2s resistance for every target hit.
To be fair, there is one critical thing missing that has been a #1 issue for a long time that is missing from all these things: Support. Other than that new Blood magic trait (which they didn't share a tooltip for) and maybe the Ice Field from RS 5 (which most Necro builds won't be able to blast themselves for the party Ice Armor) there doesn't seem to be any kind of new party support skills/traits for Necros. For all of it's wonderful new things, a Necromancer, even as a Reaper, will still be a rather selfish profession, not providing much for the party outside of some healing, vuln and a couple condi cleanses (unless Vampiric Aura turns out to be godly or 100% chill uptime turns out to be more valuable than I think it currently is). Whether or not these new things make Necros no longer the unloved for small group content is going to depend almost entirely on how much damage (both direct and revamped conditions) they can push out, not any new fancy thing they can bring to the group.
Looking at the available traits, this layout (http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMC6AW0Blg~) looks like it could make a solo-mainhand-Scepter have some comical recharge times on it. Interrupt someone in a group? -10% recharge. Send Cry of Frustration into a group? 8 stacks of Confusion (built-in iPersona plus three illusions plus Confusion on all shatters trait) vs. 5 targets? -80% recharge! Oh, and you get a free Clone and a second copy of your Phantasms, so go ahead and hit Mind Wrack and do it again. And by the way, your iDuelist(s) with a decent crit rate are applying 4-6 stacks of Confusion every time they fire (I think), so that's even more Illusionary Counters. (50% more effective) Torment for everyone!
I'm "kupiyupaekio" on Discord.
*everything but Shaders, because jeez, that weird 'glow from the right side of the camera' effect you get at High just looks hideous to me.
Blighter's Boon Bunker (aka The BBB)
Condi version:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQC6ASsBqQ~
Power version:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQBrASsBqQ~
Weapons: Greatsword <> Staff
Heal skill: Consume Conditions or "Your Soul Is Mine!"
Utilities: "You Are All Weaklings!", "Suffer!" and either Well of Darkness (Condi version) or Spectral Grasp/"Nothing Can Save You!" (Power version) with Corrupt Boon being an alternative to either
Elite: "Chilled To The Bone!"
Amulet: Rabid or Settler's for Condi, Magi or Knight's for Power (alternatively, pick up Transfusion and go Dire or Soldiers now that you no longer need to crit constantly)
Rune: Vampiric
Sigil: Some combo of Ice, Strength or Battle, Energy and/or Leech
Strat: Keep Chill up as much as possible, and use the might gain from Chilling Force to proc Blighter's Boon for health and LF. If Power, you're also getting might from Reaper's Might and Siphon Power, if Condi build, you're getting healings from your conditions, which shouldn't be a problem because you'll be corrupting boons like mad using the multi hit cleaving Death's Charge w/ Path of Corruption. Blood is for life siphons, which will now heal through DS. Deathly Invigoration is picked because that's the one I'm thinking/hoping will be replaced with Vampiric Aura when they finish reworking Blood Magic. If it isn't a GM, then pick up the Wells trait for Well life siphon and protection.
Alternative: swap either weapon for Axe/Focus or Scepter/Focus. use focus for stacking regen for more Blighter's Boon procs and chilling boon strip with Spinal Shivers. Power version might take Chill of Death instead of Death Shiver for another chill.
Minion Bomber
Build:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQC5APUBqg~
Weapons: Scepter/Dagger<> Staff
Heal Skill: Consume Conditions
Utilities: "Rise!", Summon Shadow Fiend, and "You Are All Weaklings!"
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or "Chilled To The Bone!"
Amulet: Rabid or Dire
Rune: Ice, Grenth, Krait, Orr, Lich or Nightmare
Sigils: Ice, Leeching, Torment
Strat: Use "Rise" to summon jagged horrors, which inflict bleeds before dying and procing Death Novas for damage and mass poison for Putrid Defense (and at least one more Jagged Horror). Shadow Fiend's AoE blind can spread chill with Chilling Darkness, as will Dagger 4, which will do damage with Deathly Chill. Try to keep Scepter on as much as possible (even when going into RS) to increase the duration of all these things.
Alternative: Pick up Terror instead of Lingering Curse, Reaper's Protection instead of Greater Marks, and Nightmare Rune to do some Terrormancing on the side.
Reaper of DHUUUUUUUUUMMfire
Build:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgQC5AVsBqg~
Weapons: Greatsword <> Scepter/Dagger
Heal Skill: "Your Soul Is Mine!"
Utilities: "Suffer!", "You Are All Weaklings!" and Corrupt Boon or Blood is Power(if PvE)
Elite: "Chilled To The Bone!"
Amulet: Rabid or Dire, if PvE, Rabid, Dire and/or Sinister
Runes: Ice, Grenth, Elementalist or Balthazar.
Sigil: Ice, Leeching and/or Strength/Battle if PvP, Ice/Hydromancy, Malice and Corruption if PvE.
Strat: You can stack at least 10-12 stacks of burning with Reaper's Shroud AA when you enter it with Scepter equipped, more if you use burning or condi duration-boosting runes, sigils and consumables. Not to mention damage every time you chill. Terror? What is that?
Of course there is. If you're running a level 20+ fractal and you wipe because you don't have reflects, and then you wipe again, and then all get sick of it and quit, then you failed.
That doesn't happen if I bring my guardian instead of my necromancer.
Why can't they design dungeons so that you can bring whatever you want? There shouldn't be any "required" abilities that are only available to some classes. It's dumb.
Except the pulsing stability is in Reaper's Shroud and the big windup attacks aren't. So you have to go into RS and activate it, leave RS, then hope it lasts long enough to use your windup. So we have yet to see if that's actually going to be a viable way to avoid interrupts.
That wouldn't lead to flavourless, boring dungeons at all.
Bam! PvE fixed, game of the year medals to all.
Personally, once I started using the LFG tool and started finding groups, I had fun with dungeons. They're not without their problems, but they're a different sort of content. I'd hate to see them basically abandoned.
I'd actually like to see things like the Evolved Wurm and other bosses amped up and available as instances for guilds to tackle. Instances let them explore mechanics that just won't work in the open world - a good example is the Evolved Wurm. It just requires far too much coordination for a world boss, but as an instance for guilds you could coordinate you your hearts content.
Because dungeons do suck right now, and players are extending that sucky design to their experiences in other parts of PvE because they're a focus point for min-maxers to draw outdated conclusions about the state of the meta. That's a problem when folks take their zerker gear to world bosses where 2 of the stats do nothing, or into Silverwastes where killing shit faster isn't as valuable as being able to control the field. Also means folks aren't bringing out their non-meta classes, when ANet is building encounters that would really be easier with more necromancers, mesmers and warriors around. They aren't gonna fix dungeons, and have made it clear that they're a hindrance for development, so roll the incentives there into newer and more interesting content. Let's see some more gold for those fractal runs, or finishing those zone wide metas they're about to enter. And with that, folks will hopefully stop using the moving sacks of HP that most dungeon encounters are as a basis for how to play the rest of the game.
Alternatively, if the expansion does include things that could be described as a "dungeon" I hope they change up the style of the content within so that the all-DPS meta isn't reinforced.
ROFL. You're saying the only thing that gives a dungeon flavor is requiring reflects? I'm sorry, I can't take that statement seriously. It's just too silly.
The dungeons are poorly designed. But I'm well aware that they're not going to go back through every encounter they've ever designed and de-shit-ify it. So an easier fix is to make it possible for anyone to deal with their shitty mechanics. The elite specializations were a huge opportunity to do exactly that. They decided not to. I am disappointed by this decision.
Everyone can heal. Everyone can clear conditions. Everyone can apply conditions. Everyone can interrupt. Everyone can get stability. There's a HUGE list of skill types that are available to every class and that are required for many encounters. But there's one gaping hole in that list, and it's reflects. It's the ONE required skill that ISN'T available to every class, and the ONLY class it's not available to is necromancers. Every single other class has it available, even if it's not popular to take it or it's not very good. Why make it REQUIRED and then choose ONE class to not have it? It's not a good decision and you can't justify it without saying something too silly to respond to.
Reaper is a massive disappointment to me, a dedicated necromancer. I've played every class in the game to max level and I still love my necromancer the most. But that only makes me more painfully aware of its drawbacks. Every time I'm forced to switch to my guardian in order to be able to finish a dungeon, I die a little inside. You can't invalidate that by saying it hasn't happened or shouldn't happen, because it HAS and it DOES.
Do you even main as a necromancer?
I mean, I wait for baited breath for the Engineer epic spec, but while I know we are almost certainly finally getting a melee weapon that isn't tool kit, I don't expect to also give me massive improvements to condition cleanses and stability, make Gadgets and PvE turrets worth a damn, and the freedom to make more than just a couple good build that don't require me to run multiple kits (especially Grenades) (I never really considered the turret Engi build to be that good, or at least fun... sorry @Lucid_Seraph ). One of those things, maybe two, but not all of them.
I remember last Halloween how hard it was to get the zerg in the Labyrinth to do Skeletal Lich. "It's too hard!" people would say, "We'd just wipe!" they would complain. Why? because the fight required boon stripping, and the need for boon stripping was so minuscule everywhere else in the game at the time (and arguably still is, at least ever since they changed Mordrem Wolves to not self-apply ret. Think there is the first fight in the Aetherblade fractal where at higher levels it's practically as required as anything could be considered required for FOTM, and that's about it) that I suspect half the people in most zergs weren't even aware if their profession had any or not.
Also, I want to say I love bringing my Necro to Silverwastes to kill the Iron husk. Jumping into the pit and spamming condis with scepter, and if the mini-husks decide to stack bleed on me? use dagger or staff 4 to send it right back to the big guy
Don't be upset that the Reaper doesn't address every single issue with the Necromancer. Be upset that the core trait line changes were so poor.
Also, and this doesn't help now, don't forget that this is hopefully just the first of many elite specializations the Necromancer (or any class really) will get.
EDIT:
My hope is that now it has been confirmed Robert is looking at the Blood Magic traitline that we also get additional tweaks in the other traitlines.
I think a better argument is the fact that Necromancer is suppose to be this really sturdy class, but they are the only profession with no reliable blocks, reflects and vigor. Yes, that was "and vigor," not "or vigor" Every other profession, whether by skills or traits, have reliable access to all three of those things, even if only for themselves (though Thief block might be an outside case, because it's an UW skill) while Necros, barring any surprises from the promised Blood Magic rework, have none of them (outside of cleansing bleeds, burns, and chilled with Well of Power) and that's just silly, to say the least.
I'm "kupiyupaekio" on Discord.
If we follow the pattern so far each elite specialization is focusing greatly on one of either support, control, or dps and one of a boon and/or condition:
1) Chronomancer focusing on control with slow and alacrity
2) Dragonhunter focusing on range support with burning
3) Reaper focusing on dps with chill
I'm not sure what the warrior would be but I'm not sure they would give a focus on burning to both it and Dragonhunter.
The Chronomancer is a Mesmer/Necromancer, using Wells, but tying them into the Mesmer class as a new Mesmer playstyle.
The Dragon Hunter is a Ranger/Guardian, doing the same thing with traps. The Reaper is a Necromancer/Warrior, doing the same thing with Shouts. The Druid gets a Staff, which could point to either Ranger/Elementalist (doing something with Auras) or Ranger/Mesmer (fields), it could also point to Ranger/Guardian, maybe something with Symbols.
Also, it makes me excited for more. The dual profession system was an interesting experiment in GW 1, but was just implemented in a bad way. This seems much better - they're basically creating sub-classes around the combinations.
I really feel like they missed the mark with it though. This really is the triumphant return of dual professions and choice to the Guildwars landscape. This is what I've wanted from the game since day one. I've always wanted larger build choices and more options and ultimately the fact that it was far less deck builder than it's previous incarnation is what caused me to log on less and less.
The problem is that to trumpet this grand return to a system of choice they don't offer a choice and only give one. I'd gladly take getting an expansion later if it meant it was coming with a choice system that was actually offering a choice to players.
I'm not even saying there needs to be more than two per profession. I think two works well because then you can say "Look, here we give you two elite specializations and each offer something different or you can stay the same as before."
Offering only one option is a pretty poor way to introduce this.
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I agree and disagree. But I mostly agree. I think that you are correct that there is choice there... currently, for some classes. Dragon hunter, for example, offers an alternative way to play a Guardians as ranged support. I think it is the best example of an alternative play style that we've seen from the elite specs so far. The other classes elite specs we've seen so far I see as more straight upgrades than alternatives.
Can only speculate as to what Anets true vision is for these elite specializations but I imagine that once each class has multiple elite specializations to choose from, when we reach that point, hardly no one is going to be running around with all base class trait lines and everyone will have an elite spec equipped. Going with no elite specs will be seen as backward as not picking a second profession was seen as in GW1.