Kovu.7560

Its very impractical in a game with professions as diverse as those in gw2 to expect every profession to have the tools available to contribute to all of the different roles with relatively the same degree as the other eight professions in each of the different "game modes" (an expression itself which is hardly defined to everyone's satisfaction).

Also, @"EremiteAngel.9765", what I took away from Brujeria's post is that they were suggesting that certain professions underperforming in the wvw meta is no excuse for them to overperform in small scale roaming (a sentiment I neither completely agree or disagree with), not that it'd be realistic for everyone to be equally good at everything. Such expectations are faaar beyond a pipe dream.

~ Kovu

> @"mrauls.6519" said:

> Looks like I'm going to be crying myself to sleep lol...

>

> Thanks

If you're not that interested in the gamemode but desperately need something from a wvw reward track, mindlessly follow a tag around for a few hours while throwing out AoE's where needed. Put something on Netflix and you'll only need to sort of pay attention to the game when there's a big fight happening. Participation decay is actually really lenient. As an added benefit, you'll get some extra loot. The gamemode "pays" a lot better than it used to.

Star Trek DS9 got me through my second round of pve map completion, that's _much_ more of a chore.

~ Kovu

> @"Brujeria.7536" said:

> > @"Kovu.7560" said:

> > > @"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:

> > > LB Soulbeasts, Burst Mirages, Deadeyes - anets pet classes. 'nuff said.

> > >

> > Clearly the most utilized professions in this gamemode.

> > Every commander wants their squad full of 'em. =)

> >

> Not being good in zerg fights is no excuse for being op in roaming. On the opposite, its also not good that these classes are unwanted in zerg fights. But you cant compensate it like this.

These professions are built around being productive and survivable in small scale scenarios which is _exactly_ a counterbalance to their lack of contribution to larger fights. Read Israel's posts, I'm not going to rehash it. That said, I don't agree with one/two-shot or perma-lockdown builds in general, but if you see someone you go into the fight knowing what their profession is capable of.

Nobody likes fighting ~~Maguuma~~ certain professions. But instead of talking about how "op" rangers, thieves and mesmers are perhaps giving suggestions for reworks instead of straight nerfs would be more productive. There are nine professions in the game, not 4~5. Even then, Anet has told us their design philosophy on each profession and I doubt they'll shift their stance because a few "meta" players are tired of how potent certain pick professions are at being pick professions.

edit- I might a little bitter -- people in discord were bitching last night about longbow damage during a guild rally, then 5 minutes later we wiped and the first thing out of the driver's mouth was "Kovu, get off your ranger and bring a necro." (Yes, I understand why a necro would be wanted over a ranger, the timing just left me a little salty.) Rangers are basically schrödinger's profession, being in a constant state of being OP and useless. Thieves, too.

~ Kovu

> @"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:

> LB Soulbeasts, Burst Mirages, Deadeyes - anets pet classes. 'nuff said.

>

Clearly the most utilized professions in this gamemode.

Every commander wants their squad full of 'em. =)

> @"Israel.7056" said:

> > @"lodjur.1284" said:

> > Yes. You don't need to explain why statements I said are true.

>

> Clearly I do. You don't seem to understand why it's important to state why they're true. The +1 ability of a ranger is directly related to their mobility and long range single target pressure which is a defined strength of the ranger class. The trade off for ranger is that to have those strengths they have to run longbow and greatsword (or sword mainhand I guess but then they don't have maul) and then they become mostly useless once the fight starts to scale up or if the fight gets placed in a sustained melee situation because they have almost zero access to stab and what stab they have can be easily corrupted by a necro, particularly if they're a scourge but reapers will also eat rangers alive in close quarters . The trade off here is that necro has insane 900 or less aoe pressure and reapers wreck face in a sustained melee fight particularly with some support whereas the ranger is extremely mobile and effective at range and hit and run melee but really cannot afford to trade in a sustained melee fight or at anything less than 900 unless they're running druid and then their damage is significant reduced from a soulbeast. This is what balance is supposed to look like; severe tradeoffs.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter.

> @"Justine.6351" said:

> > @"Heibi.4251" said:

> > So the server that received the erroneous links will get to advance due to this "Bug"? Or are you going to fix the match and repeat the match-ups from this week? Very unfair to the other servers facing them. YB will now just roll over everyone. Look at the current match-up between YB, HOD and SOS - YB is walking away with it and the other servers can't stop or slow them down, and they know it. Should have been as simple as going in like you do on Friday night and re-linking the servers and zeroing the scores. If I worked there and made that mistake I would want to fix it. Professionalism should be job one. Enjoy the Christmas present YB.

>

> What is it 2015? Nobody cares if another server moves up.

I think the concern is they'll get thwomped in the next matchup if they move up a tier _and_ lose their links.

Probably not an issue, though. People bitch about the system, but populations across the tiers are significantly more balanced than they were before the system was implemented. Also they get a free pass this week so if they get hammered in the next matchup nobody's going to feel bad.

Though I do agree letting it go for a week is not the correct solution, I don't know the technical side of moving servers around mid-matchup.

~ Kovu

> @"gebrechen.5643" said:

> Worldly Impact,

To be fair that got nerfed.

These days I notice rangers rely more on winter's bite, maul or lol-bow auto/rapidfire for power-based pressure rather than an easily telegraphed move with a tiny radius, 1s cast time that roots the ranger and is usually interrupted in any sort of group environment. I kind of wish worldly impact worked more like Engi's jump shot, even if it meant dealing less damage.

That said, generally the warriors I die to are those in my face locking me down with boatloads of CC. I haven't found rifle on them to be so much of an issue. At least not since HoT.

~ Kovu

Its funny you'd laugh at the prospect of a roaming necromancer. I actually have an easier time killing warriors on condition necromancer than I do on power ranger. But that might speak more to how well warriors can mitigate and heal power damage compared to condition damage.

As an only child I used to have pretty severe social anxiety, (my mother literally held my hand to school through half of my kindergarten year), but that never seemed to translate to online gaming. I've become a little less, uhh, "shy" over the years to the point where its more difficult to empathize, but I do still have days where I'd rather not play with other people.

Fortunately there's a solution for that I like to frequently employ. Single player games. I was chillin' with some Metroid just last night. =)

That aside, there's no in-built system for requesting duels. You're just going to have to go out there and ask, and sometimes people will prefer to roam over organized dueling. (There's more diversity to different opponents rather than fighting the same one(s) over and over again.) If duels are what you're interested in, delving into pvp _might_ be a better strategy.

~ Kovu

> @"DaFishBob.6518" said:

> Golem Week? Mind giving me some context on what that was what that implies here?

Golems have an obscene amount of health but don't regenerate when they take damage.

A few years back there was an event where golems didn't cost supply to build and moved twice as fast.

You can imagine how that week went.

~ Kovu

This would be Golem Week 2.0 and everyone would play a Warrior or Necromancer for their obscene health pools. (Especially the former if healing is a thing.)

~ Kovu

[Next wvw event.](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mistlock_Instability:_Social_Awkwardness "Next wvw event.")

> @"Master Ketsu.4569" said:

> _Funfact: the most revealing options for heavy armor are actually on male Norn._


Mirages, especially condi, need to be toned down.

The extremes (tank vs. burst) could do to be cut down a bit at both ends.

I hear people have a problem with Holosmiths, but I don't have _that_ much of an issue with them. Warriors give me more trouble.

I'll admit it is difficult to balance a game around roaming when its not supposed to be balanced around roaming. That said, I don't think its AS big of an issue as every other thread on this forum makes it out to be. Individual perception is also skewed by bias.

~ Kovu

I wish there were more armor options, outside of some of the cultural armor that showed more fur on Charr, both male and female.

Unlike most of the other races where skin is just skin, the fur often has neat patterns that go unnoticed as the application of new armor designs on Charr often feels like somewhat of an afterthought.

And people actually wonder why Anet doesn't want to introduce _another_ (likely anthropomorphic) race.

~ Kovu

I've had similar issues roaming around trying to not get ganked.

I take screenshots and sometimes goad them on. Does that make me a bad guy? =I

edit- To be fair I can be a pretty darn salty person myself. But usually only the cat hears about it. ... and sometimes my roommate.

... and sometimes the neighbor

"Warriors cannot be one shot" would be a better argument.

Though I'm sure there's a video disproving that somewhere, too.

Seriously, they tanky af out of the box.

~ Kovu

> @"geist.4126" said:

> I'd prefer they'd add more options to block line of sights. More trees, more rocks, etc.

Sure, let's make rotating the camera around continually so you can see what's happening even _more_ fun. Honestly, have you ever fought someone in that group of trees below garrison next to the NE ruin? Its not fun for anyone.

I can only assume that was a satirical shot at ranged builds/players.

~ Kovu

We whine and complain, but everyone has their own ideas about what would be "awesome" for wvw.

I'm not especially interested in anything on that list, but I'm sure some others might be.

~ Kovu

It might be impossible to fix every area on all of the maps where non-existent terrain is arbitrarily obstructing projectiles. I'm not sure about the programming involved, though I do know that this is more of an issue now than it used to be (for some reason).

A potential "fix" might be tweaking all projectiles to travel slightly above their visual cue until contact, say 10~20 range, (practically nothing, most melee attacks are 100~) since the only possible obstruction in these situations is the ground.

I feel your pain, though.

~ Kovu

Sometimes while roaming on my own I engage small groups out of frustration at the lack of the other server's solo roamers. If I manage to down someone before getting murdered, I consider it a personal win. Rangers and thieves just happen to be two of the easier professions to 100->0 if they're not paying attention.

There's certainly no strategic value, but its not like you're penalized for dying.

~ Kovu

I removed that trait when they gutted it on August 8th of last year and never looked back.

Are you saying that trait transfers pet conditions to the ranger? If so that trait is even worse than I thought it was.

~ Kovu

edit- Okay I just looked it up. It -shouldn't- split the duration of conditions initially applied to your _pet_. If it does, that seems wrong. Also, the trait _might_ be viable in pve. Forgot it's 50% there. I can't speak to it there.

A straight damage-to-health cap?

Really?

I suppose it would be an indirect nerf to tankier builds, but why are we suggesting band aid solutions instead of looking to adjust individual skills, utility of trait combinations that overperform? The only thing I feel should have a "damage cap" are the traits, sigils, runes, utilities and such that grant a direct bonus to damage (not actually improving power or condition damage). That's where a lot of these insane numbers are coming from.

~ Kovu

> @"Jack Redline.5379" said:

> > @"Kovu.7560" said:

>

> every class can run power and condi which means gurdians rangers and theifs that would run condi would benefit from it if they went trapper style. Also we have plenty of defensive runes now and only few of really good condi runes. Also which skill out of all those 6 skills indicates to you it is supposed to be defensife rune? Not to mention it never was defensive rune. i am too lazy to copy it now here and i also have little time before i leave but try opening the gw2 updates and check the rune before. Condi dmg was there 10/10 and also it i think improved poison duration

I don't think there was ever a bonus granted by the rune for poison duration.

Runes are designed to synergize in some way with the builds they're supplementing or to shore up weaknesses. Yes, condition damage was there from the outset but on the rune's release it was geared heavily towards rangers (who deal condition damage with almost all their traps) more than thieves who already have so much stealth and mobility that the 6th effect of the rune isn't all that beneficial (over selecting other runes). Also I'm pretty sure only a single thief trap skill actually deals damaging conditions. dragonhunters weren't around when the rune was released and thus weren't considered, their traps deal raw damage.

Now you could run the rune for the condition damage and play a condition build on thief or dragonhunter, but neither will be getting any condition damage out of their traps (with the exception of trait/utility procs, I guess,) and would be relying on other aspects of their builds to carry the conditions. It'd be like equipping a rune that grants a bonus to power and dedicating your utility slots to damaging conditions.

Utilizing the stealth and superspeed of the 6th skill is almost entirely a defensive benefit. I guess if you don't have any leaps or teleports available the superspeed can be used to close the distance, but I feel all three professions have other tools to close the gap. Oh the whole the benefit of stealth+superspeed is best served to kite and create distance. This is true against both mobs in pve and players in pvp/wvw.

The suggestions I made in my previous post will be of greater benefit to all three professions on a greater fraction of builds.

~ Kovu

If anything I'd replace the condition damage with something defensive. Traps aren't all condition based.

Its obviously intended to be a defensive rune with things like superspeed and stealth and while the condition damage synergizes with ranger's (somewhat underwhelming) trap skills, power thieves, guardians (and power rangers using the traps for control and defense) don't benefit so much. Moreover, stealth, superspeed and general mobility is so much more prevalent than it was when the rune was introduced that the benefits really aren't all -that- stellar.

I'd switch up the condition damage with a defensive stat (vitality?), modify the #2 effect to be a bonus to stun/daze/knockdown effects and tack something unique onto the #6 skill like -5 seconds to all trap skills. Or something. Something that -everyone- can benefit from.

~ Kovu

edit: sorry -5 seconds is a poor idea, -20% (potentially multiplicative with the traits) would be a little more appropriate. There's already such a rune for weapon swapping.

If you're going to introduce a "more HP" week, give everyone an equal vitality boost. No sense on screwing over the classes with 11k to benefit the inherently tanky classes with 19k. They're already doing that with some of the runes.

I'd be all for a trying out a week (or even a weekend) that gave _everyone_ 10k more health but halved the effectiveness of healing.

[hashtag]MakeCurrentHPMatterAgain

~ Kovu