For me most of the reason I like a spec has to do with the weapon it adds to the class. Meta can leap off a cliff when it intrudes with my fun!
See, I feel that except like....not for Guardians? I'd rather aesthetically use other weapons, like a sword and focus, (and also the weapon skills were meh) but the profession abilities were super rad.
Same with Mesmer. I played with a double sword Mirage and I was really really into the way that felt, but I don't (obviously) know if it was good or not, it was just fun.
I mean, you'll pry my Chrono shield from my cold, dead hands but it's interesting to see that my gut feeling was right.
Weapon ability design can be an odd thing in this game that impacts whether an elite spec's weapon gets widely used. Off the top of my head, some big ones are
1) Power versus Condition: If an elite spec supports both power and condition damage builds via its traits, the weapon's abilities are still only going to really support one or the other so one build type will eschew the weapon. Hence power berserker ignoring torches.
2) Ranged versus melee: Melee damage simply outclasses most ranged attacks. Some of this is due to design to reward the higher risk but some of it is due to the small radius in which boons get shared with allies. Even builds that don't use a melee weapon (engineers and some condition builds) will still try to stay close with melee range party members for boon sharing. So if a spec adds a ranged weapon, chances are it's not going to be as effective as just using old melee weapons. Hence you don't see much longbow use in PvE Dragonhunter builds.
3) Some weapons just aren't well tuned for a class: Thankfully the rarest case but still noticeable. In particular slow melee weapons just don't perform as well as quicker ones. Hence power Reaper builds still favor using a dagger and an offhand while a boss is over 50% health because it's just much better damage when you can't spam Reaper Greatsword 2 without cooldown.
Chrono shield is probably one of the better designed HoT elite spec weapons. It dovetailed really well with new traits for the spec (getting two phantasms out of shield 4 lets you get a lot out of chronophantasma ) as well as new mechanics added in the expansion (shield 5 hitting the blue Defiance bars that replaced the old system hard).
Yeah, I only do open world pve and story stuff so I don't care about the meta. I'll do whatever I want!
If I want to run content where people are going to start kicking me if I don't have a meta build, I'm sure I can find a meta build I don't totally hate on one of my 6 lvl 80s and set them up as my 'meta build for X' character.
For me most of the reason I like a spec has to do with the weapon it adds to the class. Meta can leap off a cliff when it intrudes with my fun!
See, I feel that except like....not for Guardians? I'd rather aesthetically use other weapons, like a sword and focus, (and also the weapon skills were meh) but the profession abilities were super rad.
Same with Mesmer. I played with a double sword Mirage and I was really really into the way that felt, but I don't (obviously) know if it was good or not, it was just fun.
Are we talkin Dragon Hunter or Firebrand? I really like both actually, and longbow was the weapon I had hoped they would add for Guardians before HoT, axes being the other weapon I wanted most. Guess I got lucky!
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Ok folks, based on some discussions that have been ongoing for a while, we'd like to check we're offering the guild missions you want, when you want them!
For those that are unsure, guild missions are a series of activities which an only be completed in a guild group, and reward a currency called guild commendations, which can be used to buy shineys from vendors in the guild hall, notably ascended trinkets, guild weapons/armour and daily items such as obsidian shards and decorations.
We run guild missions once a week in a NA/EU accessible time slot, and have chosen to run predominantly PvE missions as they are easier to guarantee success on and are somewhat less bugged! Activities include hunting down a target and defeating them(Bounty), going to weird and wonderful locations and standing on the spot(Trek), guild-only mini-dungeons (Puzzle) and various instanced events (Challenge)
The more the merrier at guild missions! We'll explain everything on teamspeak as we go along, so the only real requirement is to have TS (listen only is fine), and a sense of adventure. Some missions need some world exploration, but many can be accessed from the stargate in the guild hall.
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I really need to finish Mordremoth (I have horrible luck with him. I've tried 3 times and each time the mission bugged out and I couldn't finish it) and recreate Caladbolg before the new expansion.
I really need to finish Mordremoth (I have horrible luck with him. I've tried 3 times and each time the mission bugged out and I couldn't finish it) and recreate Caladbolg before the new expansion.
A lot of the bugs have been fixed, so should be easier now than nearer release. There are certain options which can make it easier/harder/more likely to bug as well
Brahm was notorious for the pre event bugging and him bugging in the final instance. I tend to take Canach and Caithe (plus an all sylvari party seems somewhat appropriate!)
That said, always easier with a krewe - poke me if I'm on and you want some fireballs throwing
Last fight was also fun and I'm glad to finally have this done before PoF, but it seems like there is still a lot of open questions. Hopefully I didn't miss anything and the expansion answers some of them.
Last fight was also fun and I'm glad to finally have this done before PoF, but it seems like there is still a lot of open questions. Hopefully I didn't miss anything and the expansion answers some of them.
Stick questions in a spoiler tag and we might be able to help!
Mostly curious about some of the characters. Seems clear Balthazar is the lead baddie in PoF so I'm sure we'll find out more about him then.
Braham and Rox and what's going on with them. We know he was trying to kill Jormag when it vanished due to our thing and even though Braham annoyed me to no end, I really like Rox and want to know what's up with her.
Rytlock got taken back to stand trial? Maybe?
Still haven't seen anything about Zojja since HoT.
Finally, am I supposed to know who Livia was before this? I was expecting to find out she was someone I knew, but when she takes off her helmet and says her name, I was just like, "who?"
Mostly curious about some of the characters. Seems clear Balthazar is the lead baddie in PoF so I'm sure we'll find out more about him then.
Braham and Rox and what's going on with them. We know he was trying to kill Jormag when it vanished due to our thing and even though Braham annoyed me to no end, I really like Rox and want to know what's up with her.
Rytlock got taken back to stand trial? Maybe?
Still haven't seen anything about Zojja since HoT.
Finally, am I supposed to know who Livia was before this? I was expecting to find out she was someone I knew, but when she takes off her helmet and says her name, I was just like, "who?"
Livia was a Shining Blade necromancer from Guild Wars 1. If I remember correctly I believe she was an NPC hero you could recruit. She's in pretty good shape for being 200+ years old.
Braham and Rox will almost certainly be picked up in the expansion!
Rytlock story we find out about during HoT, which will likely include WHY he was reluctant to tell anyone about it. (It was in a trailer)
Zoja is likely because of out of game reasons - her VO has been largely unavaliable according to most. (Busy, had a kid, even busier)
Livia is a GW1 Hero, usually a Necromancer/Mesmer dual class. She had the Scepter of Orr which granted her immortality, and showed up in one of the novels. She was one of the leaders of the shining blade in the GW1 era.
Thanks a ton! Sounds like I didn't really miss much then.
Nope, not really. Even for those of us who loved GW1, the Livia reveal was really mishandled I wish they'd telegraphed it more or offered an explanation for people who were like "um, who?"
Anyone have advice on which class to use the level 80 boost from buying Path of Fire? I'm leveling a few classes normally (warrior, thief, ranger, necro) but I want to boost one to 80 to unlock mounts and to explore the new maps. I played during the first beta weekend and that first desert map is rad as hell. I'm a noob so I got totally wrecked by some sand mites lol. I'm thinking thief so I can go daredevil for map exploration and deadeye to solo the new PVE maps?
Edit: Or maybe Ranger would be better since my pet can tank and I can survive the 80 areas better?
I didn't play GW1 and the reveal was SUPER underwhelming
hoping they don't rely too heavily on nostalgia in PoF, because I have none for that region
Well, okay, obviously I haven't seen much of the region thus far, but
What we've seen is so far divorced from the original game as to be a completely different place, much like Maguuma was. Which is to say, it's changed about as much as you might expect a place to change in 260 years (think about what, say, New York City was like 260 years ago...) Imho this is a GOOD thing (even as a GW1 fan!)
Example: compare the City of Amnoon from the beta of today with what it looked like in GW1. So that alone isn't banking on nostalgia. The Crystal Desert in GW1 was largely uninhabited, and there's even some GW1 grognards bitching about "Where'd the giant pyramids come from!?" as they weren't there in GW1 (answer: look at the difference between NYC 260 years ago and today. "why are they ruined???" if you talked to NPCs you'd know that there was a fairly recent MASSIVE sandstorm that utterly wrecked the area north of Amnoon, possibly caused by magic runoff from Elder Dragon deaths etc.)
You'll note that there was a statue of Glint right next to Amnoon which... isn't there anymore.
Which is also to say, there ARE some neat little references for those of us who did play GW1, but they're in the form of things like the ruins of the Giant Statue you see on that page as a PoI. I think one of the best examples is the defunct teleporter mastery point puzzle -- that's literally how you got around the Crystal Desert in GW1, but I think it's well explained enough and a fun enough puzzle that new players will "get" it. They'll know that yeah, okay, this is a thing that USED to work a long time ago, but it doesn't now, and now I do a goofy matching puzzle to get a prize.
In my opinion, that last bit is when GW1 nostalgia works best -- something which, without context, doesn't require too much explanation for a new player and is just a fun part of the environment, but to which a veteran will go "OMG it's THE THINGY!!!!"
Now, of course, all that's the environment, which the devs have been pretty good at lately (the last few maps have been great) and not the story mode, which lately has been, uh... "hurp durp QUIP QUIP QUIP :V " But we'll see what happens there.
Anyone have advice on which class to use the level 80 boost from buying Path of Fire? I'm leveling a few classes normally (warrior, thief, ranger, necro) but I want to boost one to 80 to unlock mounts and to explore the new maps. I played during the first beta weekend and that first desert map is rad as hell. I'm a noob so I got totally wrecked by some sand mites lol. I'm thinking thief so I can go daredevil for map exploration and deadeye to solo the new PVE maps?
Edit: Or maybe Ranger would be better since my pet can tank and I can survive the 80 areas better?
My advice would be to unlock the class you are enjoying the most that has the elite specs you find most interesting. All classes have abilities that can get them through the open world and story stuff fairly easy, but some may need to move some skills or traits around for certain situations. I haven't played much of Thief or Ranger, but I'm sure they can handle the 80 zones without much issue!
Once you use the boost, you will still have to unlock the elites. The elite specs take 190 hero points to fully unlock, but I read the the PoF elites unlock the skills in order. Meaning, in HoT, you unlocked all 3 minor traits before the 3 major traits before the 3 master traits. In PoF, you unlock 1 minor, then 1 major, then 1 master, before going back to the next minor to start over again.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, that HoT hero points give 10 points, while other areas only give 1 point. I am assuming that PoF will also give 10 points per hero point location, but I haven't seen anything to confirm that.
I really like how active the original core zones are all the time. There are so many reasons that bring people back to them. It's something you don't see very much in most mmos. Usually once you hit max level that's it, your never going back to the lower level zones again. Pretty cool to see and play.
Steam Profile | My Art | NID: DarkMecha (SW-4787-9571-8977) | PSN: DarkMecha
having an elite spec that's all about fire makes guardian more interesting for me
especially since the engy flamethrower isn't super great
Its cool except the barrier of entry for viper gear is still orders of magnitude higher than berserkers. Did they add in anything in pof to help with that? If not i dont see the point in them buffing condi builds and introducing more condi specs because i dont have time to grind 4 different ls3 zones and gold to craft viper gear in any kind of timeframe that actually lets me play those specs in the near future.
It actually makes me not want to play the game at all because i cant play half of it.
I made one piece of viper's for my revenant, having not known how expensive it would be. Oooh boy. After that I just made some carrion instead for the rest of the slots.
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darunia106J-bob in gamesDeath MountainRegistered Userregular
This is still kinda expensive as it requires Leaf Fossils and Black Diamonds (and leather), but wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than trying to craft a whole set of Viper's armor in either Ascended OR Exotic (because of Linseed Oil).
My Ascended Viper's armor & weapons originally started out as a kind of weird grab-bag combo of whatever the heck I happened to get from drops plus iirc some Sinister, and I just did HoT metas until I had enough Black Diamonds and Leaf Fossils (Tarir is great for this, even without map hopping)
As for trinkets, you can get Ascended trinkets where you can pick ANY of the HoT stats (and core stats) when you account bind them from ANY of the LS3 maps for the respective LS3 currencies. It doesn't even take all that long to acquire the correct LS3 currencies; just pick your favorite LS3 maps and go to town.
Finally, even a lot of meta condition builds either don't use Viper's or use other combos. A lot use Sinister; my Necro uses a combo of Carrion, Sinister, and Viper's because frankly the extra vitality is a nice cushion of "actually I'm not a glass canon I can do this allll day," especially for irritating HoT metas ("thanks pocket raptors for being excellent 'RISE!!!' fodder")
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See, I feel that except like....not for Guardians? I'd rather aesthetically use other weapons, like a sword and focus, (and also the weapon skills were meh) but the profession abilities were super rad.
Same with Mesmer. I played with a double sword Mirage and I was really really into the way that felt, but I don't (obviously) know if it was good or not, it was just fun.
Weapon ability design can be an odd thing in this game that impacts whether an elite spec's weapon gets widely used. Off the top of my head, some big ones are
1) Power versus Condition: If an elite spec supports both power and condition damage builds via its traits, the weapon's abilities are still only going to really support one or the other so one build type will eschew the weapon. Hence power berserker ignoring torches.
2) Ranged versus melee: Melee damage simply outclasses most ranged attacks. Some of this is due to design to reward the higher risk but some of it is due to the small radius in which boons get shared with allies. Even builds that don't use a melee weapon (engineers and some condition builds) will still try to stay close with melee range party members for boon sharing. So if a spec adds a ranged weapon, chances are it's not going to be as effective as just using old melee weapons. Hence you don't see much longbow use in PvE Dragonhunter builds.
3) Some weapons just aren't well tuned for a class: Thankfully the rarest case but still noticeable. In particular slow melee weapons just don't perform as well as quicker ones. Hence power Reaper builds still favor using a dagger and an offhand while a boss is over 50% health because it's just much better damage when you can't spam Reaper Greatsword 2 without cooldown.
Chrono shield is probably one of the better designed HoT elite spec weapons. It dovetailed really well with new traits for the spec (getting two phantasms out of shield 4 lets you get a lot out of chronophantasma ) as well as new mechanics added in the expansion (shield 5 hitting the blue Defiance bars that replaced the old system hard).
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But, you know, gimmick fights that don't take forever - and minimize build variance problems
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If I want to run content where people are going to start kicking me if I don't have a meta build, I'm sure I can find a meta build I don't totally hate on one of my 6 lvl 80s and set them up as my 'meta build for X' character.
Are we talkin Dragon Hunter or Firebrand? I really like both actually, and longbow was the weapon I had hoped they would add for Guardians before HoT, axes being the other weapon I wanted most. Guess I got lucky!
waiting for a match to start and "Oh cool, a holoma- WAIT A SECOND"
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Please take the survey here! https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2J5WCLK
For those that are unsure, guild missions are a series of activities which an only be completed in a guild group, and reward a currency called guild commendations, which can be used to buy shineys from vendors in the guild hall, notably ascended trinkets, guild weapons/armour and daily items such as obsidian shards and decorations.
We run guild missions once a week in a NA/EU accessible time slot, and have chosen to run predominantly PvE missions as they are easier to guarantee success on and are somewhat less bugged! Activities include hunting down a target and defeating them(Bounty), going to weird and wonderful locations and standing on the spot(Trek), guild-only mini-dungeons (Puzzle) and various instanced events (Challenge)
The more the merrier at guild missions! We'll explain everything on teamspeak as we go along, so the only real requirement is to have TS (listen only is fine), and a sense of adventure. Some missions need some world exploration, but many can be accessed from the stargate in the guild hall.
That said, always easier with a krewe - poke me if I'm on and you want some fireballs throwing
Last fight was also fun and I'm glad to finally have this done before PoF, but it seems like there is still a lot of open questions. Hopefully I didn't miss anything and the expansion answers some of them.
Stick questions in a spoiler tag and we might be able to help!
Braham and Rox and what's going on with them. We know he was trying to kill Jormag when it vanished due to our thing and even though Braham annoyed me to no end, I really like Rox and want to know what's up with her.
Rytlock got taken back to stand trial? Maybe?
Still haven't seen anything about Zojja since HoT.
Finally, am I supposed to know who Livia was before this? I was expecting to find out she was someone I knew, but when she takes off her helmet and says her name, I was just like, "who?"
Rytlock story we find out about during HoT, which will likely include WHY he was reluctant to tell anyone about it. (It was in a trailer)
Zoja is likely because of out of game reasons - her VO has been largely unavaliable according to most. (Busy, had a kid, even busier)
Livia is a GW1 Hero, usually a Necromancer/Mesmer dual class. She had the Scepter of Orr which granted her immortality, and showed up in one of the novels. She was one of the leaders of the shining blade in the GW1 era.
hoping they don't rely too heavily on nostalgia in PoF, because I have none for that region
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Edit: Or maybe Ranger would be better since my pet can tank and I can survive the 80 areas better?
plus you get easy access to stealth, and reliably high damage - pretty solid if you want to explore a bunch
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Well, okay, obviously I haven't seen much of the region thus far, but
Example: compare the City of Amnoon from the beta of today with what it looked like in GW1. So that alone isn't banking on nostalgia. The Crystal Desert in GW1 was largely uninhabited, and there's even some GW1 grognards bitching about "Where'd the giant pyramids come from!?" as they weren't there in GW1 (answer: look at the difference between NYC 260 years ago and today. "why are they ruined???" if you talked to NPCs you'd know that there was a fairly recent MASSIVE sandstorm that utterly wrecked the area north of Amnoon, possibly caused by magic runoff from Elder Dragon deaths etc.)
If you look at the Historical Guide to Tyria (which is super helpful if you want to know lore!) http://www.thatshaman.com/tools/guide/?v=3&x=-1044.125&y=1010.375&z=3
You'll note that there was a statue of Glint right next to Amnoon which... isn't there anymore.
Which is also to say, there ARE some neat little references for those of us who did play GW1, but they're in the form of things like the ruins of the Giant Statue you see on that page as a PoI. I think one of the best examples is the defunct teleporter mastery point puzzle -- that's literally how you got around the Crystal Desert in GW1, but I think it's well explained enough and a fun enough puzzle that new players will "get" it. They'll know that yeah, okay, this is a thing that USED to work a long time ago, but it doesn't now, and now I do a goofy matching puzzle to get a prize.
In my opinion, that last bit is when GW1 nostalgia works best -- something which, without context, doesn't require too much explanation for a new player and is just a fun part of the environment, but to which a veteran will go "OMG it's THE THINGY!!!!"
Now, of course, all that's the environment, which the devs have been pretty good at lately (the last few maps have been great) and not the story mode, which lately has been, uh... "hurp durp QUIP QUIP QUIP :V " But we'll see what happens there.
My advice would be to unlock the class you are enjoying the most that has the elite specs you find most interesting. All classes have abilities that can get them through the open world and story stuff fairly easy, but some may need to move some skills or traits around for certain situations. I haven't played much of Thief or Ranger, but I'm sure they can handle the 80 zones without much issue!
Once you use the boost, you will still have to unlock the elites. The elite specs take 190 hero points to fully unlock, but I read the the PoF elites unlock the skills in order. Meaning, in HoT, you unlocked all 3 minor traits before the 3 major traits before the 3 master traits. In PoF, you unlock 1 minor, then 1 major, then 1 master, before going back to the next minor to start over again.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, that HoT hero points give 10 points, while other areas only give 1 point. I am assuming that PoF will also give 10 points per hero point location, but I haven't seen anything to confirm that.
I have too many alts! I want to level my Guardian, and my Necro now also.....and maybe make a revenant???
especially since the engy flamethrower isn't super great
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Its cool except the barrier of entry for viper gear is still orders of magnitude higher than berserkers. Did they add in anything in pof to help with that? If not i dont see the point in them buffing condi builds and introducing more condi specs because i dont have time to grind 4 different ls3 zones and gold to craft viper gear in any kind of timeframe that actually lets me play those specs in the near future.
It actually makes me not want to play the game at all because i cant play half of it.
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Dead weight is a state of mind.
Yeah, I run some condi builds and I have never gotten, nor will I ever get, viper gear.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Anthology_of_Heroes
This is still kinda expensive as it requires Leaf Fossils and Black Diamonds (and leather), but wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than trying to craft a whole set of Viper's armor in either Ascended OR Exotic (because of Linseed Oil).
My Ascended Viper's armor & weapons originally started out as a kind of weird grab-bag combo of whatever the heck I happened to get from drops plus iirc some Sinister, and I just did HoT metas until I had enough Black Diamonds and Leaf Fossils (Tarir is great for this, even without map hopping)
As for trinkets, you can get Ascended trinkets where you can pick ANY of the HoT stats (and core stats) when you account bind them from ANY of the LS3 maps for the respective LS3 currencies. It doesn't even take all that long to acquire the correct LS3 currencies; just pick your favorite LS3 maps and go to town.
Finally, even a lot of meta condition builds either don't use Viper's or use other combos. A lot use Sinister; my Necro uses a combo of Carrion, Sinister, and Viper's because frankly the extra vitality is a nice cushion of "actually I'm not a glass canon I can do this allll day," especially for irritating HoT metas ("thanks pocket raptors for being excellent 'RISE!!!' fodder")