Zin Dau.1749

> @"joneirikb.7506" said:

> Clarification: Einlanzer is not talking about improving the importance of the "current" defensive stats. But essentially make new defensive stats, based around the "active defenses".

>

> Essentially having a defensive stat for "energy regen" to dodge more often, so it's a build decision how often you want to dodge (and thus gutting the existing energy regen in order to leave space for that stat).

>

> The old "toughness", "vitality", and "healing power" would likely be removed or just rolled in as secondary effects on those stats.

>

> The goal being a "risk vs reward" in building. Do you want the absolute max DPS or do you want to have enough Dodges to survive (not passive defenses).

>

> ---

If their argument that active defense is just "number of dodges", then their argument is already dismissed. Every class (with few exceptions) gets enough endurance for only two consecutive dodges. So no one can rely on just those dodges for any long and/or tough battles. In practice, players also rely heavily on defensive skills, traits, and boons. Not to mention that fighting as a group further covers up each others' defensive shortcomings. Thus regardless of how you try to push defensive stats, players just need enough defensive stats where they feel comfortable, but not a point more.

Minmaxers gonna minmax. Shuffling stats and numbers around won't discourage or prevent minmaxing. Which in other terms, is exploiting the "risk vs reward" in any given system. Thus it doesn't matter how you build the system, someone will "minmax" the system into a metagame. They're not something one can prevent; these are just phenomenons and emergent behavior one has to accept in any game design.

Anyway, how much more "risk vs reward" can you get than glass cannon?

This thread is all kinds of wrong and looking at the wrong mentality.

* The goal of combat is to kill/defeat the opponent. Most games and sports, really, have the offense be more dominant attraction than defense. It's a natural conclusion with many competitive events, because you can't win without offense, but you can without (great) defense.

* A designer's priority shouldn't be "I want a game that has all these stats and they must all be equally useful for every player at every point of the game." No good designer chases these vapid, unwanted design goals.

* Rather, games are meant to be played and consumed for player enjoyment, and a good designer should understand what the playerbase desires. Vast majority of players prefer to be offensive rather than defensive. This is true for most action games.

* That is to not encourage entirely removal of defense. Since GW2 does have many forms and layers of defense. It's just hyperbolic for you to claim that the lack of one type of defense and disuse of certain stats among long list of stats, is toxic. Nevertheless, a huge amount of players are enjoying the combat.

* There's always some idealist who think they can perfectly balance all the stats. Fact is, when players have to choose a select few out of many, obviously some things will be left behind and neglected.

* Furthermore, as players gain more skill and experience, they will learn what stats and game actions they need and don't need. In PVE, usually passive defense is the first to go, because players prefer more proactive skills and stronger offense. That's just a natural behavior in any game where players desire to overcome opposition.

* Even in RPGs with so-called "trinity" where defense is highly required, yet vast majority of players will still desire to play the damage dealer role rather than defensive or healing role. No amount of boosting defense and armor can change human behavior. Even if all players only deal a measly amount and had huge armor, players will find ways to try to boost offense at the expense of armor.

* IIRC the metagame of berserker gear really took off when players got better and better at beating fractals as they got more skilled and experienced. Such that they can do it better, faster, as they learned to survive with less armor and toughness and health. In fact, you can see the same trend in many games. It has nothing to do with the utility of passive defense in any given game. It is merely people willing to accept the risks for greater efficiency and time-savings. Where such risks can be overcome by personal skill despite their (virtual character's) defensive flaws.

Thief Shortbow is the most fun ranged weapon in the game. It has excellent tagging with a bunch of AOE and cleaving. For single target, switch to pistol/pistol and spam Unload.

in the end, less safe and less convenient to fiddle around with constantly copying files or using 3rd party software.

Mirage is the only class where I never fear death nor watch my health when facing groups up to and including Elites while staying in melee the whole time. I can be surrounded by a dozen mobs, but they barely scratch me. You want to stay in melee against groups of mobs because axe cleaves, so that more mobs will go down faster. Also, on axe you want Sigil of Stamina, which entirely refills your endurance per kill.

Mirage sustain is not just from dodges and mirage cloaks. Plenty of basic Mesmer stuff at your disposal, such as mass amounts of blinds, dazes, stuns, etc.

Soloing Champs is about attrition, since CC has no direct effect. In this case, survival comes first, and Staff is best weapon for that purpose.

that's the dumbest argument. why should ANY class be top of DPS?

why should guardian have top DPS and top defense in aegis, regen, protection, healing?

why should ranger have top DPS and pet for tanking and damage, and 1500 range attacks and best group healing?

why should warrior have top DPS when they already have the best HP and armor?

Using UD and foreign languages as the premise for offensiveness? That IS absurd.

> @"Khisanth.2948" said:

> > @"Ashen.2907" said:

> > > @"Beast.8506" said:

> > > I think what Jeknar.6184 and Ashantara.8731 are failing to recognize is that a development team is capable of looking into, and developing, more than "a singular" amount of QoL changes. Post your idea in the QoL Mega-thread, or look to see if someone else already posted it.

> >

> > Perhaps they are successfully realizing that anything that receives development resources does so at the cost of some other project. They just dont value this suggestion over the countless other potential projects that would be delayed or set aside in order to implement the OP's suggestion.

> >

> > Resources are not infinite.

>

> However silly ideas are!

>

> This is more of an argument for why mod/addon/plugin should be supported with an actual client API ...

Yea the "realistic" angle conveniently omits other details.

Can you realistically swim in full plated heavy armor, let alone fight underwater? Even the leathers, capes, and loose fancy fabric is just extra drag.

What about weight and density issues when riding mounts and gliding? You and your mount would have to work extra hard to generate enough lift and buoyancy against the extra weight and density. Real birds are really lightweight and low density relative to their size, hence why they can fly so well. There's no way a griffon could lift an extra 150 to 300 pounds (even before the armor).




She resembles my scrapper from City of Heroes--pink skin-tight attire. Both are fast hitters.

if you want to solo the game, then make a powerful solo build that can solo any content, no matter how challenging.

> @"Zunki.3916" said:

> I make a lot more money since the change, as the runes sigils I get are actually worth more than before and the symbols sell well too.

that's inflation. the costs of acquiring or crafting upgrades will far outpace the income from motes.

Dolyak masteries:

1. Can't be damaged while riding dolyak.

2. Dolyak attack knockback AoE.

3. Can seat additional player.

4. Permanent +3 shared inventory slots.

They already dedicated two modes for fighting other pbayers, if you want your fix. Thats where they should stay. Less headache for devs, for support staff, and for players who just want to fight AI.

Asura is my favorite race, so I aim to have Asura for every class, including Revenant. Unfortunately I don't like Rev, so he's stuck at level 24 indefinitely. But he's still useful as mule and jeweler.

you can nerf mesmer/chrono to the ground, and your necro still wouldn't be welcome. nerfing the mesmer didn't automatically add value to other classes. they have nerfed and modified the mesmer class so many times in the past year or two, yet players still value them over other classes. that means the real problem is with the other classes. just crying foul about mesmer will do nothing to improve the situation for other classes.

the last patch made everybody lose. don't complain about why mesmer is so good; it's better to look into why other classes are so unwanted, then make resolve them more valuable.

imagine getting your fantasy violent fetish fix from video games. we need less violent games. go out and get involved into real fights if your seeking thrills of the violence.

Rule #1. Kill it before it kills you.

Rule #2. The dead deal no damage.

1. Start with full offensive gear and traits. That means Berserker for power and Viper for condi builds. Personally, extra toughness and vitality are useless, so don't bother with them in your gear and traits. Then gradually step #2 below as needed.

2. Choose specs, traits, and utilities that offer both offense and defense, so you don't sacrifice too much offense.

3. Have an escape plan. Whether that's swapping to ranged weapon, or utility that teleport or mass CC.

4. AOE damage and CC.

5. Observe your enemies. Watch their tells, save your dodges and CC for the right moments.

6. Kill ranged mobs first, and use skills that reflect or block projectiles.

For example. As Mesmer, pick Dueling + Illusions specs for maximum offense with built-in defense. Consider:

Duelist line:

Critical Infusion: your critical hits now turn into extra dodges.

Duelist Discipline: more chances to interrupt foes using pistol 5.

Blinding Dissipation: blind up to 5 foes around you every time you shatter.

Deceptive Evasion: create clone when you dodge.

Illusions line:

Shatter Storm and Master of Misdirection: extra chances to shatter. with Blinding Dissipation above means more chances to blind.

Master of Fragmentation: Diversion now dazes 5 foes. Distortion now reflect projectiles.

You still get all the offensive bonuses from these specs, along with defensive traits that synergize with your offensive strategy. This justifies not picking the other full defensive specs. The latter are traps: full defense prolongs battles, but you really want to finish fights as quickly as possible.

Mesmer is arguably the only class where all the weapons are well-designed, balanced, and fun. So do try all of them.

For survivability, it's hands down the Staff. However, it takes some time to learn and it doesn't kill as fast as other weapons.

Other ranged choices are scepter and greatsword. Greatsword probably has better DPS, but scepter burst is also great. Scepter also lets you have more options with off-hand item.

Mesmer has great utility skills. But for leveling, some racial skills are also worth looking into, especially those that summon pets to tank and do extra damage.

If function is so important, why don't all classes just wear the bulkiest heavy armor, instead of separating them into three armor clasees?

How much armor do modern fighters wear? Such as boxers, wrestlers, UFC, martial artists. and even modern military soldiers, how much armor do they wear considering they go up against arsenal that is more lethal than previos ages?

you mean take away thief's uniqueness and make them as bland as other classes? no thanks.

Arms is awesome for power crit build that focus on fury and ferocity. So I don't want changes to impact that build.

Spec lines can't be too tunnel vision. You want Arms line to be all about condi builds. But you know what, this fits flavor of Warrior. Their condi is tied to crit.

(Now that you mention it, i may take up the challenge to build a good condition Warrior. Viper/Grieving gear both seem fitting under Arms line.)

Pixel emits visual data. If you don't get at least > @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > @"Dami.5046" said:

> > After 13 years of online gaming I still wonder why folk get turned on by pixels.

> Why not? The mere idea of sex can turn a person on. That's just a thought. You can see someone fully dressed and be turned on. The brain requires a suggestion. If you don't have any reaction at all to depictions of sex or sexuality, I can only conclude that your imagination is rather limited. There's a reason they say the brain is the largest sexual organ in the human body and not your genitalia. But seriously if you don't get it then your brain is too literal for that I guess.

>

Yep. Pixels emit visual data. If you don't see how people react to vsiual stimulus, why you even comment on this fashion thread--what is fashion but to appeal to visual senses.

> @"Daddicus.6128" said:

> The wiki's page isn't great, but it's passable. There's one problem with PoF gear, though: there's no obvious place to get an ascended back item. The only one I can find is the service medals, but one of those is impossible. The Gandaran one is locked behind cannon events that can't be completed without a full zerg (if it even can be WITH one). And, there's never a zerg there any more.

You can get up to 4 ascended back items by going through the 3 paths of PoF story. See Raise the Banners.

> @"Gop.8713" said:

> I could certainly be wrong bc there is no way to know, but I figured the reason there has been no great influx of sigils/symbols was that the symbols go directly into mat storage, which again is part of the fix -- can't buy up all the supply if the bulk of it is spread out in players' mat storage . . .

Nobody is hoarding charms/symbols. I checked my storage and I have 0. I have found only 1 or 2 since the new system went live. 1-2 in 6 weeks of daily play.

Just admit that the drop rate is ridiculously low. There is no way this can sustain hundreds of different runes and sigil types.