Combo icon is the little heart over people's heads that has an effect name on it right? I've seen big crowds combo off my Mesmer stuff and it never quite dawned on me that that's what was happening.
Correct. It's two puzzle pieces which lock together to make a heart. Combo field + combo finisher.
HalfmexI mock your value systemYou also appear foolish in the eyes of othersRegistered Userregular
The thing is, while one can say that such grindfests are a GW1 staple, it can also be argued that GW2 is enough of a departure from GW1 that they seem to stick out that much more. I think it will be interesting to see whether or not ANet makes any changes there knowing that they're aiming for at least some of the WoW demographic.
Yes and no. Grinds are par for the course, but "run this one dungeon dozens of times for a suit of gear" hasn't been tolerated since the Vanilla days. The difference is of course that that was done for stats in WoW whereas here in GW2 it's purely for cosmetics, but I think it will be interesting to see how much that will assuage the concerns of those people who are used to WoW in its current state (or heck, even TOR) where you run a dungeon for points or a token for a week and turn it in for one piece of your gear.
While I don't mind the cosmetic stuff requiring an effort, surely there must be better ways than "run this dungeon 70 times" in the year 2012.
Aren't explorable modes supposed to be a lot more unpredictable than story modes? As in different paths, random events and the like.
Would be nice if the world worked like that, unfortunately although I haven't stepped foot in a dungeon I can tell you there will be a fastest reward per hour worked out and every group will insist on it on pain of getting kicked. I'm guessing the idea was to make the grind less painful, it seems woefully naive unless every path takes the same effort...which would probably defeat the purpose as well.
Actually explorable mode should have random dynamic events at different spots.
The old example is you run through once, and find a treasure chest in a hallway. The next time you run the dungeon, an ogre crashes into the room instead.
The thing is, while one can say that such grindfests are a GW1 staple, it can also be argued that GW2 is enough of a departure from GW1 that they seem to stick out that much more. I think it will be interesting to see whether or not ANet makes any changes there knowing that they're aiming for at least some of the WoW demographic.
That's a legitimate argument- however, they have kept their general MO in this regard in most other ways. To be clear, when I say "MO," I mean: "It is very easy to get basic gear with the highest possible statistics, and very hard to get vanity gear with those same statistics."
The examples are numerous. For one thing, getting max level gear is still trivially easy. In the level 75-80 Orr zone, you can get, I think, a full set of level 80 greens for something to the effect of 1000 karma apiece (maybe like 1300). Either way, as long as you haven't been spending all your karma as you get it, that should be very, very easy for you. Then there are the drops, if you don't like the stats on those items, which are also very very common.
And if you don't want to farm drops and the karma items aren't to your liking, you can make customized gear from crafting, which will end up being very cheap in the long run (even if you don't get that level of crafting, you can pay someone else with mats that are very easy to farm. I think I've made made my case that getting optimum gear is a fairly trivial endeavor. This is enough of a step away from basically every other MMO formula that its adherence is an immense argument in favor of my statement above.
Now look at vanity stuff. How do you get the vanity titles from the HoM? From hundreds to thousands of hours spent in GW1: and there is no other way. Perhaps that's a bad example though.
How much is the vanity karma gear? 42k karma, which is almost twice as much as I had saved (i was fairly thrifty with it while leveling) by the time I hit level 80. I had about 25k karma saved up. There are 6 sets of it I believe, and at 6 pieces per set, that's 36 pieces of 42k karma. That's 1.5 million karma. Certainly a grind of epic proportions.
Then you have the dungeon sets, which we've mathed out to 70 runs of explorable. Compared to 1.5 million karma, those explorable sets are likely to be considered the "60k armor" sets of GW2: which is to say, the less prestigious vanity armor.
For a third example, let's look at PvP, where the time is takes to rank up is scaled exponentially. You look at the rank 1 vendor and you see that. Then there's a rank 10 vendor. And 20, 30, 40, and (I think?) a rank 50 vendor as well. Correct me if 40 is the highest it goes. Either way, the math on that is going to be insane. It's going to take you a LONG time, even winning tournaments, to get there.
So, I don't think it's a stretch to say that, in this regard, they have intentionally followed closely in the footsteps of GW1.
[edit] In order to get 1.5 million karma 350 karma at a time (typical level 75+ dynamic event), you will need to complete almost 4300 dynamic events. If you gain 500 karma apiece instead, reduce that number to 3000. If each dynamic event lasts 5 minutes (a stretch, surely), you're looking at 250 hours of grinding to get all of them, or 41.6 hours of grinding per set. More realistically you're looking at 4 events per hour, which is 750 hours, or 125 hours per set. Of course this changes if you just go for minimum participation for gold, search the most efficient spots, etc. However, I doubt you're doing to EVER consistently complete 12 events in an hour with gold participation, and receive 500 karma for every one of them.
Combo icon is the little heart over people's heads that has an effect name on it right? I've seen big crowds combo off my Mesmer stuff and it never quite dawned on me that that's what was happening.
Correct. It's two puzzle pieces which lock together to make a heart. Combo field + combo finisher.
Can someone explain this in more detail?
Also, I'm enjoying the hell out of my Warrior so far. I'm level 30, currently running sword/board with a warhorn on switch. My slot skills are Signet of Might, Berserker Stance, Ignore Pain, Signet of Fury, and my traits are +10 into power (skill: +damage based on adrenaline level) and +10 into precision (skill: 50% longer bleeds). Basically, pop a bunch of buffs and then launch into battle, dropping burst skills and bleed attacks. It is sweet.
Combo icon is the little heart over people's heads that has an effect name on it right? I've seen big crowds combo off my Mesmer stuff and it never quite dawned on me that that's what was happening.
Correct. It's two puzzle pieces which lock together to make a heart. Combo field + combo finisher.
Can someone explain this in more detail?
Also, I'm enjoying the hell out of my Warrior so far. I'm level 30, currently running sword/board with a warhorn on switch. My slot skills are Signet of Might, Berserker Stance, Ignore Pain, Signet of Fury, and my traits are +10 into power (skill: +damage based on adrenaline level) and +10 into precision (skill: 50% longer bleeds). Basically, pop a bunch of buffs and then launch into battle, dropping burst skills and bleed attacks. It is sweet.
Basically you use a skill which puts down a 'field', which is like an area of effect, and then you complete the combo by executing the proper finisher. The completed combo gives you an additional offensive or defensive effect so it's in your best interest to maximize combos. You can also interact with other people's fields and finishers.
The wiki page explains it pretty satisfactorily and includes a table of the different fields and the various types of finishers.
Actually explorable mode should have random dynamic events at different spots.
The old example is you run through once, and find a treasure chest in a hallway. The next time you run the dungeon, an ogre crashes into the room instead.
There's a finite amount of these events though correct?
I don't think you appreciate how anal mmo players can be about getting the most out of as little time as possible. I don't think the dev's have either, it doesn't really matter to me because getting a group actually into the instance seems to take an hour or more unless I'm lucky so I've avoided them and will continue to until a decent group finder is added.
I'm also on fort aspen now and am wondering if the guild is still full.
You get 30 tokens in your first Explorer run and 20 every run after. Most pieces of armor cost 320-380 tokens each.
Probably best to get a dedicated group to farm runs since knowing what to do can make a difference between 1 and 4 hour runs.
Definitely a little bummed to see this here. My understanding pre launch was that it would be like 1 token per piece of gear, 1 token earned per explorable run. As in, not a massive grind. Most of this game is so much about not having MMO traditions that suck dick, having to run explorables 100 times for a set of cool looking gear will definitely be jarring, but oh well. It's not like anybody is forcing me to do them to get cool looking gear. I will do it anyway because hey, some of the armor sets are just too fucking sweet looking.
Those numbers make me kind of glad that the T3 asura light cultural gear is what I want more than anything else. I don't know how long the gold grind will take, but I guess I can try to capitalize of the market like some other folks are doing.
It's because it is purely cosmetic. None of these items will give you an edge over anyone, they are PURELY for showing off. And to show off and be half way special, you need to do a bit of work.
That's all there is to it.
So wait, the dungeons don't give you any gear that is ever a useful upgrade?
That seems a bit harsh, though it agrees perfectly with my experience so far. The helm you get for story mode completion looks like crap and is statted like crap. Which makes you think - what is the point of this item?
And like I said, when you are MORE grindy than world of warcraft, there's a problem. I'ts not about it being difficult or time consuming: it's about "Hey do this EXACT SAME THING SEVENTY TIMES IN A ROW" Not even world of warcraft had that much of a fetish for repetition. I'm particularly irked that this runs directly contrary to what they said it would be like back in developer interviews. If they had laid out the current system and why they think it's good, that would be one thing. This is a blatant bait and switch. I don't care much if GW1 had huge grind fests like this, is a new and different and I think better game.
Also I'm not at all convinced that these dungeons are supposed to be end game grindy armors. There is a clear progression of 'awesomeness' in looks, with the gear from the first dungeon (AC) looking obviously less awesome than gear from the later dungeons. This only makes sense if it is something you pick up while levelling. If it's all just an end game level 80+ grind fest they would all have similarly awesome looking artwork.
Do you honestly think ANYONE is going to run AC 70 times at level 80 in order to get the set in the upper left hand corner when they could pick any of the others instead?
I actually don't think they are explained anywhere in game. At all.
In vent yesterday someone who has been playing since headstart was amazed to discover that combos were something you could do yourself without having to rely on other people do to it.
I think if you're trying to do solo combos, classes like the thief and guardian are excellent.
It's because it is purely cosmetic. None of these items will give you an edge over anyone, they are PURELY for showing off. And to show off and be half way special, you need to do a bit of work.
That's all there is to it.
So wait, the dungeons don't give you any gear that is ever a useful upgrade?
That seems a bit harsh, though it agrees perfectly with my experience so far. The helm you get for story mode completion looks like crap and is statted like crap. Which makes you think - what is the point of this item?
And like I said, when you are MORE grindy than world of warcraft, there's a problem. I'm particularly irked that this runs directly contrary to what they said it would be like back in developer interviews. If they had laid out the current system and why they think it's good, that would be one thing. This is a blatant bait and switch.
Also I'm not at all convinced that these dungeons are supposed to be end game grindy armors. There is a clear progression of 'awesomeness' in looks, with the gear from the first dungeon (AC) looking obviously less awesome than gear from the later dungeons. This only makes sense if it is something you pick up while levelling. If it's all just an end game level 80+ grind fest they would all have similarly awesome looking artwork.
Do you honestly think ANYONE is going to run AC 70 times at level 80 in order to get the set in the upper left hand corner when they could pick any of the others instead?
The dungeons do give you good loot as you're leveling.
And yes, people will run AC 70 times to get it, even if they hate the look, when it's the last one they have left to get. Because some people are completionists.
Most people, if they get any of the dungeon sets, will just go for their favorite and stop there.
The gear grinds for the dungeon sets are still jarring when you consider that 90% of this game is "The MMO that takes out all the grindiness and annoyance from the MMO."
Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with the grind necessary to get the dungeon armor sets, since as has been mentioned, it's not like you can't just craft or buy off a vendor yellow sets that have the same stats anyway. On the other hand, it's really not that different from back in the day before raid finder wow when people would say "If you want to look cool and get your tier gear, you have to get a guild to raid with, casual!" There will be very casual players of GW2 who aren't even good enough players to participate in explorable mode dungeons, and they'll never have access to those sets.
That's perfectly fine, as long as we're not going to always point to the "If you hate MMOs you'll like GW2, if you love them you'll really love GW2," statement, because there are plenty of people who would like to wear cool dungeon sets without doing that grind, which is a throwback to standard MMO stuff.
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HalfmexI mock your value systemYou also appear foolish in the eyes of othersRegistered Userregular
So, I don't think it's a stretch to say that, in this regard, they have intentionally followed closely in the footsteps of GW1.
Agreed, that certainly seems to make sense. I guess my question is, will that continue to be their MO going forward, knowing that they are trying to capture some of the (and I hate to use this word but it's what the companies in question would use) casual demographic.
To be clear on my end, I can certainly appreciate that in order to have the best items ("best" in this case referring to either aesthetics or power), you want your player to put in the time to achieve them. I just think that requiring such large amounts of time dedicated to collecting one suit of gear is perhaps a bit of a lofty goal in today's MMO environment. But maybe I'm wrong there, and if so I'll happily eat crow.
Quick question: better to buy gems with gold or buy gems with $$? I know it fluctuates some but for the most part??
Right now it's a lot more favorable to buy gems with in game gold than to sell gems for in game gold.
Only you can really answer that question: how much is your time worth? Does it make more sense to work an extra hour and buy XXX gems with real money, or can you earn enough in game gold to buy XXX gems in less time?
The problem right now is the dungeons are just plain badly balanced and ill thought out, if at all. The lack of intelligible aggro mechanics means you can't really control the flow of the fight, excess particle effects means spotting enemy tells is a crapshoot at best. Just look at the finale of Twilight Arbor. Hope everyone built tanky or get fucked, senors.
The dungeons in this game aren't hard. They just aren't suited to the game mechanics at play here. They feel like WoW dungeons with none of the game mechanics that make WoW dungeons work.
Also hooray for gobs and gobs and gobs of brick wall trash mobs that put me to sleep along the way.
So, I don't think it's a stretch to say that, in this regard, they have intentionally followed closely in the footsteps of GW1.
Agreed, that certainly seems to make sense. I guess my question is, will that continue to be their MO going forward, knowing that they are trying to capture some of the (and I hate to use this word but it's what the companies in question would use) casual demographic.
To be clear on my end, I can certainly appreciate that in order to have the best items ("best" in this case referring to either aesthetics or power), you want your player to put in the time to achieve them. I just think that requiring such large amounts of time dedicated to collecting one suit of gear is perhaps a bit of a lofty goal in today's MMO environment. But maybe I'm wrong there, and if so I'll happily eat crow.
The casual crew can still kit themselves out optimally, and there is still cool gear that they can get. You can still loot cool skins, at least, I assume, and so a player who has no interest in even the level of effort required to secure a dungeon set can still run around looking for stuff.
But in either case, your question is an interesting one. I am the sort of person who will almost certainly not spend the time required to get 42k karma gear, or if I do, almost certainly not all 6 sets. But I like the idea of rewards that take so long to get, because it means there will be people doing the dynamic events still, all over the world, a long time from now.
To me it is fair that casual players will have the same stats, but not look as "cool" as people who spend a lot of time working at getting dungeon gear or legendaries.
That is a major departure from other MMOs, where there are multiple sequential tiers of gear which have a huge impact on your stats.
I suppose some people actually enjoy the grind. At least there's something in the game that caters to people with those tastes. If grinding a dungeon for a cosmetic set isn't your thing, nothing is making you do it.
That said, my experience of explorable mode is that the trash really, really needs making more trash-like. Right now the trash is at least as tough as normal PvE veterans, which is still ridiculous.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Quick question: better to buy gems with gold or buy gems with $$? I know it fluctuates some but for the most part??
Right now if you have the gold you're not spending on anything in game, might as well buy gems with it. The price is low for the moment. I expect it will steadily climb over the coming weeks.
That's the thing - I don't mind vanity items taking a long time to get. But there should be some lower levels of clearly less good looking vanity items that are still not the same stuff you've been wearing for 40 levels that you can get with less time investment (and I believe the AC armor clearly fits this description).
I DO mind if the only way to get the nice looking vanity armor is to run the same dungeon explore mode 70 times when running it the very first time was unfun and buggy.
Back to shortbow as my ranger because it's too effective, which makes me irritated at my choice for my level 40something vigil quest where I chose a longbow as reward. Not that the BOW was good but the skin for the weapon looked good. What makes me irritated is the shortbow skin didn't LOOK like a shortbow. Sad times.
Aside from the knockback and the giant AOE ability (which is awesome) of the number 5, I just can't see myself using longbow in dungeons very much. Only issue I MIGHT run into is getting too bleed capped since I'm running with a mesmer and a necro.
Yeah, I tend to agree about the usefulness of the longbow on my Ranger. I dropped it and started running Sword/Torch for a little bit because it's got decent synergy with the Shortbow. Sadly though, unless I'm fighting something that requires a long time to kill, I just stay with my SB (which is prob wrong, but alas, shit still drops fast).
Edit: Spelling... horrible.
Why switch from the SB if you're fighting something that takes a long time to kill? Does the LB have some magic use I'm unaware of because I'd love to know I'm not gimping myself by going LB on boss fights ... but from what i can find is that the SB shoots at LEAST 2 arrows to the LB's one. It does about 70% of the LB damage so we're already winning base damage wise. THEN you add in bleeding as just extra icing and ... ugh ... so much damage.
Even longbow's rapid fire, I don't know if it really stacks up enough against the SB just spamming the 1) ability. Throw out a 2 or a 4 for more dot damage just to be mean and its gravy. Pop that Zephyr utility ability and suddenly you're a shortbow machine gun stacking bleeds like a fiend.
I also really want to use a greatsword but I don't think its worth it anymore. Likely go sword/torch, sword/horn, axe/torch, or axe/horn as my alternate weapon though I MIGHT consider keeping LB as the one I swap too. Only downside to that is when fighting people that reflect ranged.
OMG, I go to workout and this response was like 4 pages back. Fast thread is fast.
@Nyht If you ever see this, I only switch away from the Shortbow on long kills when I'm using the Sword/Torch combo, so I can stack more DoTs on the mob. Well, that and to gain the buff from switching weapons in combat. Sorry if i gave you the impression I was switching TO the LB. Yuck, no. Hah. And you are absolutely right, SB spam (even normal without QZ), if you combine with even decent precision it feels so better than even the rapid fire skill on the LB.
The only thing about the Sword that I struggle with (and this is 100% my issue) is my timing with the #2 jump back/jump in skill. Obviously it's meant as a "dodge" alternative, but I can never "switch to sword/press 2" fast enough to warrant not just dodging. If I'm already with the sword, its not an issue though. I may have to AHK it.
That cleared up some of my confusion, thanks. Switched to axe/horn as my offhand for shortbow main hand as I like the speed boost when running around the word and the axe lets me stay away and hit multiple mobs if I want to for a bit. Plus .... BIRDS!! Sad the longbow just feels useless.
Are you for serious? If so, please join me in some explorable stuffs. When I'm high enough (edit - level), the Flame Legion will be seeing me A LOT because that set looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD.
Crafting sets look different from drop sets look different from some sets from various heart karma vendors. There are options besides the dungeon gear in how to get looks. T1 cultural is also not so expensive that it's impossible to save up for as you go along. I don't necessarily disagree that it is a lot of dungeon runs and I would like to see it tweaked down a bit (because damn it all, I need that Twilight set) and that I'd prefer it if the lower tier dungeon gear didn't all look exactly the same (wtf), just saying they're not the only option in gearing for looks.
I've not worn the same looking set for more than 10 levels at a time... because I am vain and I keep changing my looks and this game lets me play pretty princess dress up with dyes in all the colours of the rainbow. (Don't judge me.)
I suppose some people actually enjoy the grind. At least there's something in the game that caters to people with those tastes. If grinding a dungeon for a cosmetic set isn't your thing, nothing is making you do it.
That said, my experience of explorable mode is that the trash really, really needs making more trash-like. Right now the trash is at least as tough as normal PvE veterans, which is still ridiculous.
I think the problem is that people got used to the idea of trash mob being trash. It was just random mooks you blew through to get to the loot pinata bosses. In this game the trash isn't trash, the trash can still drop good stuff, and they are tough because the entire dungeon is tough. It's not "We need something to fill the space to the next boss" It is more like "Let's see if we can even make it to the next boss." It irks me that people have been so conditioned by the idea that the enemies in between bosses should just be pushovers. For me it is much more entertaining to have the entire dungeon be tricky, and to have to pay attention the entire time instead of just facerolling between each boss.
Also I get that a few people don't like the look of some of the gear you get in story mode, but try to keep in mind your limited opinion is not indicative of everyone. Some people really like the look of the gear they got in story mode, and for some of us it was a very solid upgrade as well.
If you don't like the idea of the grind, don't do it. I know I most certainly won't be. But if you want the look of the gear, you will need to grind for it. Complaining that you need to put in a lot of time to get something you want that is purely cosmetic is silly. If you don't want to put in the effort, you don't get the prize. How badly do you want that particular look?
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Correct. It's two puzzle pieces which lock together to make a heart. Combo field + combo finisher.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
they grinds grinds daily
Aren't explorable modes supposed to be a lot more unpredictable than story modes? As in different paths, random events and the like.
Different paths, yes. Random events? Not really. And the paths do all share a lot of design space, although they are quite different than Story Mode.
This one didn't work as well
Yes and no. Grinds are par for the course, but "run this one dungeon dozens of times for a suit of gear" hasn't been tolerated since the Vanilla days. The difference is of course that that was done for stats in WoW whereas here in GW2 it's purely for cosmetics, but I think it will be interesting to see how much that will assuage the concerns of those people who are used to WoW in its current state (or heck, even TOR) where you run a dungeon for points or a token for a week and turn it in for one piece of your gear.
Would be nice if the world worked like that, unfortunately although I haven't stepped foot in a dungeon I can tell you there will be a fastest reward per hour worked out and every group will insist on it on pain of getting kicked. I'm guessing the idea was to make the grind less painful, it seems woefully naive unless every path takes the same effort...which would probably defeat the purpose as well.
The old example is you run through once, and find a treasure chest in a hallway. The next time you run the dungeon, an ogre crashes into the room instead.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
That's a legitimate argument- however, they have kept their general MO in this regard in most other ways. To be clear, when I say "MO," I mean: "It is very easy to get basic gear with the highest possible statistics, and very hard to get vanity gear with those same statistics."
The examples are numerous. For one thing, getting max level gear is still trivially easy. In the level 75-80 Orr zone, you can get, I think, a full set of level 80 greens for something to the effect of 1000 karma apiece (maybe like 1300). Either way, as long as you haven't been spending all your karma as you get it, that should be very, very easy for you. Then there are the drops, if you don't like the stats on those items, which are also very very common.
And if you don't want to farm drops and the karma items aren't to your liking, you can make customized gear from crafting, which will end up being very cheap in the long run (even if you don't get that level of crafting, you can pay someone else with mats that are very easy to farm. I think I've made made my case that getting optimum gear is a fairly trivial endeavor. This is enough of a step away from basically every other MMO formula that its adherence is an immense argument in favor of my statement above.
Now look at vanity stuff. How do you get the vanity titles from the HoM? From hundreds to thousands of hours spent in GW1: and there is no other way. Perhaps that's a bad example though.
How much is the vanity karma gear? 42k karma, which is almost twice as much as I had saved (i was fairly thrifty with it while leveling) by the time I hit level 80. I had about 25k karma saved up. There are 6 sets of it I believe, and at 6 pieces per set, that's 36 pieces of 42k karma. That's 1.5 million karma. Certainly a grind of epic proportions.
Then you have the dungeon sets, which we've mathed out to 70 runs of explorable. Compared to 1.5 million karma, those explorable sets are likely to be considered the "60k armor" sets of GW2: which is to say, the less prestigious vanity armor.
For a third example, let's look at PvP, where the time is takes to rank up is scaled exponentially. You look at the rank 1 vendor and you see that. Then there's a rank 10 vendor. And 20, 30, 40, and (I think?) a rank 50 vendor as well. Correct me if 40 is the highest it goes. Either way, the math on that is going to be insane. It's going to take you a LONG time, even winning tournaments, to get there.
So, I don't think it's a stretch to say that, in this regard, they have intentionally followed closely in the footsteps of GW1.
[edit] In order to get 1.5 million karma 350 karma at a time (typical level 75+ dynamic event), you will need to complete almost 4300 dynamic events. If you gain 500 karma apiece instead, reduce that number to 3000. If each dynamic event lasts 5 minutes (a stretch, surely), you're looking at 250 hours of grinding to get all of them, or 41.6 hours of grinding per set. More realistically you're looking at 4 events per hour, which is 750 hours, or 125 hours per set. Of course this changes if you just go for minimum participation for gold, search the most efficient spots, etc. However, I doubt you're doing to EVER consistently complete 12 events in an hour with gold participation, and receive 500 karma for every one of them.
Can someone explain this in more detail?
Also, I'm enjoying the hell out of my Warrior so far. I'm level 30, currently running sword/board with a warhorn on switch. My slot skills are Signet of Might, Berserker Stance, Ignore Pain, Signet of Fury, and my traits are +10 into power (skill: +damage based on adrenaline level) and +10 into precision (skill: 50% longer bleeds). Basically, pop a bunch of buffs and then launch into battle, dropping burst skills and bleed attacks. It is sweet.
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Basically you use a skill which puts down a 'field', which is like an area of effect, and then you complete the combo by executing the proper finisher. The completed combo gives you an additional offensive or defensive effect so it's in your best interest to maximize combos. You can also interact with other people's fields and finishers.
The wiki page explains it pretty satisfactorily and includes a table of the different fields and the various types of finishers.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo
There's a finite amount of these events though correct?
I don't think you appreciate how anal mmo players can be about getting the most out of as little time as possible. I don't think the dev's have either, it doesn't really matter to me because getting a group actually into the instance seems to take an hour or more unless I'm lucky so I've avoided them and will continue to until a decent group finder is added.
I'm also on fort aspen now and am wondering if the guild is still full.
Man, back in the day getting like, ONE 15k armor set was a big deal. Quest rewards were like, 100g. And materials? Forget about it.
Now even a guildless dude like me has five sets.
So wait, the dungeons don't give you any gear that is ever a useful upgrade?
That seems a bit harsh, though it agrees perfectly with my experience so far. The helm you get for story mode completion looks like crap and is statted like crap. Which makes you think - what is the point of this item?
And like I said, when you are MORE grindy than world of warcraft, there's a problem. I'ts not about it being difficult or time consuming: it's about "Hey do this EXACT SAME THING SEVENTY TIMES IN A ROW" Not even world of warcraft had that much of a fetish for repetition. I'm particularly irked that this runs directly contrary to what they said it would be like back in developer interviews. If they had laid out the current system and why they think it's good, that would be one thing. This is a blatant bait and switch. I don't care much if GW1 had huge grind fests like this, is a new and different and I think better game.
Also I'm not at all convinced that these dungeons are supposed to be end game grindy armors. There is a clear progression of 'awesomeness' in looks, with the gear from the first dungeon (AC) looking obviously less awesome than gear from the later dungeons. This only makes sense if it is something you pick up while levelling. If it's all just an end game level 80+ grind fest they would all have similarly awesome looking artwork.
I mean, look here: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/uploads/gallery/album_197/gallery_3318_197_927711.png
Do you honestly think ANYONE is going to run AC 70 times at level 80 in order to get the set in the upper left hand corner when they could pick any of the others instead?
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
I actually don't think they are explained anywhere in game. At all.
In vent yesterday someone who has been playing since headstart was amazed to discover that combos were something you could do yourself without having to rely on other people do to it.
I think if you're trying to do solo combos, classes like the thief and guardian are excellent.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
The dungeons do give you good loot as you're leveling.
And yes, people will run AC 70 times to get it, even if they hate the look, when it's the last one they have left to get. Because some people are completionists.
Most people, if they get any of the dungeon sets, will just go for their favorite and stop there.
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He is a Charr Necromancer, his name? Mr Fuzzywhiskers.
Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with the grind necessary to get the dungeon armor sets, since as has been mentioned, it's not like you can't just craft or buy off a vendor yellow sets that have the same stats anyway. On the other hand, it's really not that different from back in the day before raid finder wow when people would say "If you want to look cool and get your tier gear, you have to get a guild to raid with, casual!" There will be very casual players of GW2 who aren't even good enough players to participate in explorable mode dungeons, and they'll never have access to those sets.
That's perfectly fine, as long as we're not going to always point to the "If you hate MMOs you'll like GW2, if you love them you'll really love GW2," statement, because there are plenty of people who would like to wear cool dungeon sets without doing that grind, which is a throwback to standard MMO stuff.
To be clear on my end, I can certainly appreciate that in order to have the best items ("best" in this case referring to either aesthetics or power), you want your player to put in the time to achieve them. I just think that requiring such large amounts of time dedicated to collecting one suit of gear is perhaps a bit of a lofty goal in today's MMO environment. But maybe I'm wrong there, and if so I'll happily eat crow.
Right now it's a lot more favorable to buy gems with in game gold than to sell gems for in game gold.
Only you can really answer that question: how much is your time worth? Does it make more sense to work an extra hour and buy XXX gems with real money, or can you earn enough in game gold to buy XXX gems in less time?
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
The dungeons in this game aren't hard. They just aren't suited to the game mechanics at play here. They feel like WoW dungeons with none of the game mechanics that make WoW dungeons work.
Also hooray for gobs and gobs and gobs of brick wall trash mobs that put me to sleep along the way.
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The casual crew can still kit themselves out optimally, and there is still cool gear that they can get. You can still loot cool skins, at least, I assume, and so a player who has no interest in even the level of effort required to secure a dungeon set can still run around looking for stuff.
But in either case, your question is an interesting one. I am the sort of person who will almost certainly not spend the time required to get 42k karma gear, or if I do, almost certainly not all 6 sets. But I like the idea of rewards that take so long to get, because it means there will be people doing the dynamic events still, all over the world, a long time from now.
That is a major departure from other MMOs, where there are multiple sequential tiers of gear which have a huge impact on your stats.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
And mesmer. Comboing Chaos Armor is my bread and butter.
That said, my experience of explorable mode is that the trash really, really needs making more trash-like. Right now the trash is at least as tough as normal PvE veterans, which is still ridiculous.
Right now if you have the gold you're not spending on anything in game, might as well buy gems with it. The price is low for the moment. I expect it will steadily climb over the coming weeks.
SO BAD.
Some of them powerglove bad though.
Edit: Except in that one hallway near the start.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
The dungeons are so good.
SO GOOD.
Some of them second coming good though.
That's the thing - I don't mind vanity items taking a long time to get. But there should be some lower levels of clearly less good looking vanity items that are still not the same stuff you've been wearing for 40 levels that you can get with less time investment (and I believe the AC armor clearly fits this description).
I DO mind if the only way to get the nice looking vanity armor is to run the same dungeon explore mode 70 times when running it the very first time was unfun and buggy.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
That cleared up some of my confusion, thanks. Switched to axe/horn as my offhand for shortbow main hand as I like the speed boost when running around the word and the axe lets me stay away and hit multiple mobs if I want to for a bit. Plus .... BIRDS!! Sad the longbow just feels useless.
Are you for serious? If so, please join me in some explorable stuffs. When I'm high enough (edit - level), the Flame Legion will be seeing me A LOT because that set looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD.
I've not worn the same looking set for more than 10 levels at a time... because I am vain and I keep changing my looks and this game lets me play pretty princess dress up with dyes in all the colours of the rainbow. (Don't judge me.)
I think the problem is that people got used to the idea of trash mob being trash. It was just random mooks you blew through to get to the loot pinata bosses. In this game the trash isn't trash, the trash can still drop good stuff, and they are tough because the entire dungeon is tough. It's not "We need something to fill the space to the next boss" It is more like "Let's see if we can even make it to the next boss." It irks me that people have been so conditioned by the idea that the enemies in between bosses should just be pushovers. For me it is much more entertaining to have the entire dungeon be tricky, and to have to pay attention the entire time instead of just facerolling between each boss.
Also I get that a few people don't like the look of some of the gear you get in story mode, but try to keep in mind your limited opinion is not indicative of everyone. Some people really like the look of the gear they got in story mode, and for some of us it was a very solid upgrade as well.
If you don't like the idea of the grind, don't do it. I know I most certainly won't be. But if you want the look of the gear, you will need to grind for it. Complaining that you need to put in a lot of time to get something you want that is purely cosmetic is silly. If you don't want to put in the effort, you don't get the prize. How badly do you want that particular look?
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