ZeftheWicked.3076

I love the game for almost everything it brings, so can't pinpoint one with easy.

I'll go with more general virtue - The freedom it offers, be it looks, builds, farming and exploration.

I'm not tired of conquest, but **I am dead tired of this meta**. As a necro player i'm not a happy camper. Also take a look at plat teams in tourney.

it's the same shit 24/7 for over half if not a full year now. Wth? How about seeing something else being played with success?:/

@OP

You make a lot of good points OP, i share most of them. Now if it's direction you need, i'll happily provide you that.

Your direction should be legendary gear, starting with armor set. If you like offmeta like me, then this is the best goal and reward you can get - one set of gear, that has all stat sets that you can switch for free with a snap of a finger.

Now how to get that set? Certainly not by raiding. Raiding is by far the most costly and nerve-wracking method. You'll either bash your head against the wall with Pugs, or join a raiding guild where you're welcoming line will be "Hi. Got full ascended magi druid? No? Start building it!".

What you wanna do is go spvp learn the ropes if you haven't and grind ranked games. It is the fastest, cheapest, meta and kiss-ass free method to get that legendary armor. No bowing down to any guild or dealing with cancerous pugs. Even if your team hates you, next game you can get different ppl without lfgs and other disasters.

Also you can participate in daily automated tournaments and often walk away with 5g or better if it's a normal day and it's morning/noon. Rewards for doing ranked are big, fat and will help you get the ball rolling for buying/getting rest of materials needed for crafting that lege armor set.

Next goal should be a trinket set that will let you change stats. That would either be bloodstone trinkets from Bloodstone Fen or mist accessory set you can buy in spvp, WvW or Fractals. The latter has PoF stats selecetable (Bloodstone don't), but item for it's resetting is far more costly.

Also if you need blood rubies - say hi to spvp again. Bloodstone Fen reward track will give out 50 blood ruby box at end as a selectable reward. Also both spvp and WvW reward tracks give guaranteed 2 mystic clovers throughout their course.

Once you finish these two up feel free to go raiding. If any guild or pug give you trouble - fk'em. You already got legendary armor set on your own, so what's to lose if you don't see things their way?

> @"Twyn.7320" said:

> No one's saying that losing a livelihood is great.

It's only "losing livelihood" if you're up to ears in debt. Else it's just losing a job. And if you're frugal and got savings it's not a huge deal.

> @"Imperadordf.2687" said:

> The weird thing is Jessica Price still haven't removed "Arenanet Narrative Team" from her Twitter bio. I'm calling the conspiracists.

Pretty sure she's suffering from twitterlergy right now. Give her time..

> @"Tasida.4085" said:

> There are many of us who will still be playing the game regardless of the witch hunts and old posts and hurt feelings etc. And speaking out against the hunts every time, until the silly hunters give up. I'm so glad I'm not a thin skinned person cos if I was i'd be crying into my pillow every night cos I get called bruh, bro, dude, boi at least 3x a day and many are guilty of using THOSE words (sexism according to forum followers) yet like other females choose to ignore it and play the game. ROFL GAME ON

Most sane comment here :) Brofist B)

I can't believe the misinformation here. Seriously you ppl need to go back to the game, **re-test** some shit now (like healing values), then speak.

Though there are also some interesting things i heard here that i will re-test myself. My full set of armor happens to be....legendary :3 So i can test and tweak to my heart's content ;]

As for low healing scalings - it's a trade off. The point it to provide meaningful (albeit not OP healing) to necro at 0 cost. So he can focus on damage. You could say it's a bit of an answer to warrior - they just slot healing signet, adrenal health and couldn't care less about healing unless facing something really nasty.

Let's say signet of vampirism (heal i use now, very powerful when traited) vs blood fiend. Signet heals **more** (unlike somoene's belief here). traited with bit of healing power can go to 600 healing passive when struck. If you're facing a human opponent or a bunch of mobs (frequent attacks) it'll be 1800 passive healing over blood fiend's 926. So how does blood fiend close that gap?

Simple - it doesn't require you to be hit! Nor stand in place (blood well). Nor use a loooong cast (consume conditions) that is just too prone to interruptions. You just focus on hitting stuff and positioning yourself outside of enemy aoe, or doing a dodgeroll, while heals "come" on their own.

As some mentioned, that does not mean there are no **powerful** scaling heals.

Signet of locust - give it bit of healing power and it's **10k** + heal (not 7k) when used on 5 targets.

Life siphon - crazy good scaling too.

Signet of vampirism - traited has a good (not amazing) passive scaling. But traited makes it's passive work when shrouded, even if you just blew the active. This is a very powerful heal for healing in-shroud (way above unholy sanctuary), especially for core necro (reaper has blighter's boon, core doesn't).

Well of Blood - yeah great scaling...and then there's a passive one from ress trait in Blood magic.

One thing I do object is how trashy vampiric presence healing is, considering it's been slapped with 0.5s icd, so the speed of healing **is** gated here...

Another improvement I'd like to see is a skill that hits 10 opponents, not for damage per se, but for life steal and damage mitigation, since necro is generally designed to go into the fray vs multiple mobs and not be afraid of enemy monster zergs.

Araenae longbow skin says it's gotta be a longbow!

Necro main says hi here ;]

Dodging key skills, blocking what needs to be blocked and watching out for when their stab is up is all good advice...from warriors. I'm not a warrior, and as a necro i fight differently. Maybe some these advices will work for you:

* engineers live and die by overloading themselves with boons. If you're willing to jump on a spellbreaker, you'll have some very good boonrip to deal with them.

* Weakness condition is your friend. It's extremely strong vs power crit builds. When weakened 50% their blows will be "glancing" dealing half damage. Except **that's not true**. What really happens is that they turn to **normal, non crit** hits, and then they do half of that damage. so something from like 220% damage crit drops down to 50% damage fumble hit.

* no matter what heal they use, you can be sure it'll be OP. That's how engies roll. Maybe some sigil of doom can help you wittle down their healing in critical moment. Also be sure they're not using A.E.D. which gives them super heal if they take a lethal blow during it's time window. If you see A.E.D icon when they get low - leave them alone. If you don't deliver a killling blow during their window of opportunity, they score only a weak heal instead of a over 10k one.

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> Unfortunately, in today's internet climate, it is better to be vague and non-committed than to make promises. Otherwise you'll have to deal with immense backlash if things turn south.

That's one functionality of internet I actually enjoy :>

> @"miraude.2107" said:

> Istan, Sandswept Isles and Kourna are just fillers. A repeat of the maps of Bloodstone Fen, Bitterfrost Frontier, Lake Doric, Draconic Mons and Siren's Landing.

Hardly. These maps (at least Bloodstone Fen, Ember Bay, and Draconis Mons) weren't copy-pasta of their xpac maps with some sprinkling on top.

Meanwhile current LS maps are all desert, same feel same zone, same assets as core PoF. Ofc they are not identical, but the HoT LS maps clearly made further departure from their base material.

If a-net wanted power reaper dps to be up there with top dogs, they'd have no trouble doing so with existing traits.

Also i'm **not** a fan of "spec = specific damage type" philosophy.

Specs should be about playstyle, not mandatory/useless gear stats. I played condi reaper before uber nerfs and it was viable and fun. Because reaper itself is fun. And i prefer it to stay that way. You wanna do condi or power on reaper? Both should be viable. You want to scourge it? Also both paths should be viable.

Way more fun that way, and no one would feel middle fingered by a-net because he has one xpac and not other and now he's stuck with only one damage type playstyle..

I think it's a darn nice set. It's seraph but with one bullshit stat removed (precision) and a meaningful (vitality) put in. A healer should not be squishy, it is imperative that he can take a blow, but also not draw too much attention to himself (toughness) unless he's ready to be dedicated tank as well.

Also renegade has a fair amount of condi damage duration buffs in his traits. He won't be getting 100% bonus condi duration but can still squeeze out a decent amount. I would say give it a go!

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> There's very little motivation to return to old maps.

Depends which ones. I visit HoT maps and HoT living story maps not only for mats and currencies (for legendary) but also because i plain like them and they're fun.

If it's core Tyrian ones - yeah. Only when i have specific business there.

> PoF maps...didn't blow me away unlike HoT ones...but i'm willing to give it a 2nd, more indepth try. Will remain enutra

Took the words outta my mouth there.

> Guild Wars 2 used to be a game that innovated, now they're a game that repeats the same cookie cutter formula with every release.

> The beetle mount was somewhat of an expected surprise in that regard (and i mean expected, no typo there), and certainly broke the formula a bit. But come on, it's the new cash cow, did anyone not expect them to add more?

Agreed in full. Post HoT living story maps were more fun. Gliding skills in Bloodstone Fen (and the too good bloodstone trinket set), Extremely fun Spider-Man fun in Draconis Mons (also amazing map), or not very innovative but just plain awesome themed Ember Bay (these metalhead rock skulls speak to me on spiritual level ;).

I think majority here agrees that "Long Live the Lich" delivered a fun story instance, cool & fun new mount, finally some underwater terrain, but overall a rather conservative map that doesn't break any new boundries, not to mention being unfinished (2/3 of Gandara being invisi-walled and unaccessible).

Time for a-net to get out of this "safe play Path of Fire" mindset and get back to HoT way of thinking - unapologetic, innovative, new and never before seen.

Also i wish players stopped bitching about Tangled Depths. It's **one**....**ONE** map. I have to endure map after map of flatness since PoF launch, then there's core Tyrian maps that are like this too. Yet it's Tangled Depths that killed x-mass, abducted everyone's dog, voted Trump and made beer cost more....for real ppl..

Legendary items require you to craft - some of their components can't be acquired in any other way (gifts for specific weapon).

Agree to disagree about Joko.

First off don't compare his fun, and witty taunts to "YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME" cringefest. To me Joko's taunts were icing on the cake of this episode's npc lines, along with Canah's ones. A dark "1984" themed humor (his statues) is right up my alley.

Secondly he is **Interesing** as a villain. He took what's otherwise a generic and overdone zombie theme and reforged it into a structured, functional and not brain dead part of society. The awakened serve him and in certain ways Elonian society. They keep their intelligence and memories, and some want to be awakened willingly. Ofc this is part of his villainy (brainwashing the masses and creating false godhood around his persona), but still degree to which he pulled this off is uncommon and interesting.

The real sad part about Joko is how a-net completely wasted the potential of him being **250 years old lich**. That guy has seen stuff forgotten to time and could have answers our characters never knew of. Notice how he mocks commander for killing 2 elder dragons that destabilized the world like it was the most obvious thing to him. For us it took Taimi, lost asuran City and a loot of research to get there. Who knows what knowledge might've been shared if they didn't off Joko is such a brainless, teen movie way.

Characters like him and Lazarus were huge **opportunities** to shed light on most mysterious, fascinating and presumebly lost pieces of Tyrian lore (the Mursaat and the events of past 250 years). They didn't have to be main villains. It was exactly because they were inferior to dragons (and well aware) that they would make fascinating characters that might even reach out to player in hopes of overturning their fate, willing to share their lost knowledge and power, as long as player would be willing to look the other way on some of their villainy and help them beat down the big danger before they end up being a dragon snack (moment of silence for Joko)..

But no. A-net did the worst possible solution. Have one killed in the name of some old shrew that just wanted vengenace and nothing more, and the other offed by "Loveable" Aurene that currently is acting like a rabid dog (which is what protagonists themselves take not of) and in no way or form is a deep, interesting and exciting character, to balance the loss of Joko.

Even not bringing them up at all (least for now) would be better, as the mystery, speculation and hopes of revealing most enigmatic pieces of Tyrian lore would still abound. But now that aura of mystery was brutally sliced to ribbons leaving nothing but my distaste for the rock-dog deluxe most call "Aurene".

Agreed with the OP.

Everyone can mess up. I'm not gonna hang dogs on a-net for Kourna. It's what you do after that matters.

There is a certain well known "legendary" MOBA title that thrives in huge part because they get back to old content that was poorly designed, become outdated or just wasn't fun and rework it to a completely new state, often with huge success. Such care for the old while providing new at set intervals is one of the reasons for franchise's huge success.

Hope a-net takes a page from this and will add fixes and missing parts to Kourna as time goes by. Invisible walls in moon fortress are just atrocious, especially after i went to silver wastes (map that was NOT designed with mounts in mind) and got almost anywhere i wanted on my springer, including places that most likely were not designed to be visited by players at that time. Shows how much care and attention was given to that map. Now that's A-net quality.

I don't leave home without Mallyx (condi herald). So yeah i got a few things to say about that one:

In no particular order:

* I would like resistance sharing to be more skillbased. Opportunities for more resistance for allies rewarded for making a good play.

* Replenishing despair is trash, especially compared to two really good alternatives on it's tier

* Stunbreak would fit better on unyielding anguish - you stunbreak and leap away, even leaving a chill/torment behind (perfect for chokepoints)!

* Embrace the Darkness should make Rev as a whole (not just skills' pulses) immune to blinds when active.

* Banish Enchatment granting bit of energy for successfully ripping a boon

Rev's staff implementation as support weapon is one of the best I've seen in this game. **Almost** no matter the builds, staff will provide proper support. Healing, cc, damage mitigation, respectable power damage coefficients (for a support weapon). But absolutely 0 going on for condi damage.

I believe staff should be a build-agnostic support weapon and ergo also offer some reasonable means of dps for condition builds.

My few ideas to fix this.

* **Debilitating Slam** - add 2 stacks of confusion (6s). 4 stacks if it interrupted enemy action.

* **Corruption** - replace Repleneshing Despair (which is absolute trash) with "Torment the Weak" - when applying weakness also inflict 3 stacks of torment (6s). Icd 4s.

* **Retribution** - Steadfast Rejuvenation gains additional effect - gain frost aura when blocking an enemy attack (4s icd).

These changes should put bit of condi into staff and make it viable for any type of builds, that is willing to sacrifice some dps for staffs utility.

> @"Alga.6498" said:

> Agreed. WvW is not at all what it used to be a few years ago, I keep wondering if WvW's fate will be better in time or not. I felt this too regards HoT vs PoF. There was alot more players who did indeed purchase HoT as it was the 1st expansion. I remember the price fiasco too. Maybe I am wrong but is the game dying after all? Only time will tell... I guess.

GW2 is **very** immune to process of natural death. It has a lot of great design choices that kept it strong even in face of crisis that would severely damage other MMORPG (like pre and post HoT content draughts).

Only way for GW2 to "die" is to be killed by superior offering and atm there is no real threat in that realm.

What is possible is many ppl jumping ship temporarly only to return again, since GW2 is also designed to be good as "alt MMO" with majority of end game jazz being cosmetics and safe for longer breaks (your lvl 80 exotic/ascended gear won't be junk in 6 moths).

You know what the saddest part is? Joko's end is actually an **improvement** on the side of a-net's story team.

Just recall how they handled real Lazarus...

On the side note - if anything, Joko is **lawful** evil.

He is a ruler, runs a structured society where everyone serves a certain purpose.

Even the undead which in any other part of Tyria would spell instant chaos, here are intelligent, organized and put to use coexisting with humans rather then killing left and right (as long as humans remember to Praise Joko!).

Even when he realeases the plague, he does so for the purpose of twarthing an uprising and while being sure that in death all will serve Joko (so it's not just for wantom slaughter, but a grisly, yet effective way of restoring his "order").

To state clearly:

**Heart of Thorns** > **Path of Fire** in my eyes. If i was given a choice to pay $50 for HoT like xpac or $30 for PoF like one i would shell out $50. Not without some pain but i would.

As for next xpac - unless it would be really attrocious in some manner (like unacceptable price to content ratio, or completely bland, uninsteresting zones) i will buy it if only to support the game. I do however expect a-net to **take charge** , like it did in HoT and **innovate some** regardless of all the forum whining and "safe zone" wannabe players holding innovation back "cause it's haaaaard!"...

Also I'd like to repeat that not all of us got GW1 nostalgia bugs. I don't. If i have a choice of new, innovative, daring design, at the expense of not seeing old zones (as they might force some old design patters to be recognizable) i'll gladly take that trade.

I have so far crafted 4 legendary weapons and one full set of legendary armor, with other in the works.

Just walkinng around i can tell there are ppl who did more ;)

Crafting a legendary, and more importantly more of them after that isn't about some year long titanic effort. It's about playing it smart and sticking to your guns.

First one i crafted was Twilight and i was **not** swimming in money back then. This was sweat blood and tear, that i soulbounded to my necro. Can't say i regret it but i couldn't been smarter.

2nd was Bolt. Necro doesn't use swords, right? Exactly. This was **for sale**. On top of that i hate bolt's looks. Twilight was to be sold for huge profit, then i would make a 2nd one and still have a hefty amount of gold left. But i gave in to temptation and soulbounded the first one.

So this time I chose a legendary i wouldn't be caught dead wielding, and that one too had to be created the hard way. Daily crafting, getting gold whatever way i can, just getting gold and mats. That's generally the basis of making a legendary without going crazy, if you're on a budget. Don't aim to buy every component. Don't aim to craft every component.

Aim to be where the mats you need drop, to get some gold and make it a daily habit. After some time, you will have enough mats, to save a large amount of gold compared to when buying it all off TP, and enough gold to buy the amount you need to complete tha legendary gifts.

Once you have that legendary of yours, sell it (obviously i'm talking gen 1 legendaries). There is a sweet difference in gold between crafting one yourself, and buing it off tp. That'll be your profit. Around 700g if you do it right (legendary that sells). That 700g is your reward for doing map completion - the part you must do to craft season 1 legendary, and cannot buy off tp.

Also be very careful with pricing. There's a 15% tax on sales. You can use that for a quick sale. Look at how much ppl are buying legendary for (could be they are merchers). Look how much they are selling it (also could be merchers). Assume that if you sell it for price low enough that they will make profit putting it up for sale after suffering 15% tax, you'll prolly sell it fast.

**I won't**. Because i hate'em. I put mine for price that while being in the middle of buy vs sale offers, ensured they would not get profit if they merched it. If i recall right at that time Bolt had 2200g buy offers, 2599g sale. I put mine up for 2449g. Sold in matter of few hours, one hour in one case (i sold total 3 of them over time).

If it's your first, don't overprice it. You'll be dirt poor after all that gold sunk into making it, and if it doesn't sell you'll go crazy. 50g gold less is not a big price to pay for peace of mind after quick sale and HUGE amount of gold in pocket.

From there remember to **split** your money into two sums. One is the **cannot touch** gold meant to fund the next legendary crafting. It'll bring good returns, it's an investment.

**Other** is your "pocket and current needs** money. that's the money you can use to reward yourself for your effort buying some cool shit you want, and to have for any soft of emergency.

As long as you stay true to above rule and don't violate your "investment fund", next legendaries will come much easier, quicker and will keep your financially aflot, to the point you'll start making some for sale, while some for yourself and not sink your boat while doing so.

I hate scourge like the plague, while i always loved reaper, so that shouldn't be a problem xD. Having my only legendary weapon being Twilight also helps me make the choice xD

I'll prolly post again, once i dig deeper into Domain of Kourna. My feedback atm:

#The Good:

* The story instance gameplay was fun! Liked the sneaking, the maze leading to Joko and especially the Joko fight itself!

* All praise Joko! Loved his taunts, lines, atiitude, and the humor ("Don't give your beetles names, so you don't grow attached. It's why I call all of you worms!")

* Canah and his whistling xD

* New mount

* Underwater zone - i missed some of that action!

#The Bad:

* (Shao Kahn voice) Friend....Desert? Desert again??

* Map feels too flat at some parts, though i have not fully explored every nook and cranny (yes I am a HoT fan, unlike most)

* the way the story instance ended.

* Aurene -

* **not** this map (because beetle). But i feel post HoT living story maps had more unique, map-exclusive gameplay aspects (like Oakheart Essence in Draconis Mons, or Glider skills in Bloodstone Fen). Meanwhile post PoF maps seem to be starved in that regard.