ZeftheWicked.3076

Yes, it's well worth it. As it is to buy the xpac (Path of Fire - you'll get the Heath of Thorns for free when you buy PoF).

You'll get new ways to play, tons of stuff to do and really fun additions (Glider, Masteries, Mounts). Not to mention maps are far beyond what you get in core version.

If you're from early GW2 then most likely you'll remember horrors like condi builds being shit because 25 condi cap stack on bosses etc. Nightmares such as this are long gone, slowly but surely they removed or upgraded various stuff that was dragging game experience down.

Right now it's better then ever - tons of new maps, tons of viable ways to build your character, and true to GW2 your old gear is not outdated and behind. Exotics are fine for all content save maybe raid and fractal speedruns. Ascended and Legendary have only 5% stronger stats and trump exotics via utility rather then sheer power.

So yeah, hop it, jungle and desert is great!

> @"Sobx.1758" said:

> Condi ranger that just autoattacks will be garbage. Saying that somehow playing condi build makes it viable to "press buttons gently" while the power build would somehow force you to "mash them furiously" is also simply false. Pick a longbow or axe/axe power ranger, have your pet help with the aggro (but that's not even needed in majority of the situations) and there's no "life and death situation with furiously mashing buttons".

>

Less garbage then power ranger that just auto attacks with longbow. Power ranger needs to get into melee with sword for his real damage. On top of that he has big bursts (Rapid Fire, Wordly leap, Whirling Defense) that you'll want to set up properly by stacking damage modifiers before you go ham. Like Attack of Opportunity, going beastmode then sick'em, etc.

Condi ranger needs much less piano play to get his damage going, and traited shortbow is solid damage option as long as you're flanking. You don't need moneky reflexes and quick succession of several skills. Just flank, aa, use other skills (except #3) off cooldown and lay a trap when you can. Much less of a hand killer then power build.

Lastly it's about frustration and stress. To me Longbow's aa's are plain boring and fire off at..medium rate. This makes me treat aa'ing as punishment phase, waiting for something cool to happen (Rapid fire).

Meanwhile shortbow's rapid autos, combined with flanking to get real payoffs on it, make for engaging, smooth experience, where i work with autos to get nice damage, rather then waiting for something cool to finally happen. It's very easy to me to get into "flow" when playing shortbow ranger.

Needless to say frustration vs flow state has huge impact on how you'll play. I see a lot of strong keystrokes when player vents his frustration after boring auto attack phase on longbow. But best let author try it and see how it works for him.

Necro main here and i love it the the (undead) bone. That being said i would suggest:

**Condi** ranger. Ranger alone does not cut it. You want a build that puts majority of it's damage in autos (so you don't have to mash nothing) and has a relaxed safe playstyle. Having to press buttons is one thing. How stressed you are when pressing them is another. If you gently tap a button as planned, it is far less a strain than mashing it furiously, because you're in life and death situation.

Condi shortbow ranger shines in both aspects. Unlike longbow, your autos are not fillers, but actual source of damage. Your job is to flank an enemy for bonus benefits on other skills (with light on feet trait) rather then smashing your keyboard. With tanky pet that will be easy, and the shortbow itself is very fluid and responsive - you don't have to worry about reaction time - this bow is a very fast weapon. Even sweeter is that #3 skill is a backwards evade, so you'll feel safer knowing you get a 3rd dodge for free.

Your utilities are also a great deal for the situation you're in - mostly traps and entangle - skills that help you keep enemies at bay and do damage without you having to jump the hoops for it. There's tons of other great utilities for ranger to keep himself safe and in control of situation. Muddy terrain, pet commands for self-protection, Signet of Stone, Dolyak Stance (soulbeast). Condi ranger is all about being in control and playing it on your terms, while having decent damage output.

Large groups i would expect to fail - often large group means that 1 outta 3 players actually commits decent cc when needed, rest thinks "it'll be done". But again that remains to be seen over time.

I guess we need to test it some. That means seeing if a smaller group has issues breaking the bar because it's that overbuffed, or simply the ppl did not build for it or didn't use their cc proper when needed and it's on them..

> @"BlackyWarsX.5384" said:

> It is better now, but it still scales badly if you're less than a handful of people. The breakbar won't even move.

Even with Essence attacks?

I applaud a-net for this design choice. That's the way it should be. Enemies should be punishing to brain dead dps rotation tactics. Retal makes you actually observe what's up and react. Asides from "specific classes" (you can find a necro under every rock in PvE, myself included), you can just buy a Superior Sigil of Nullification, slab it on your weapon and do some retal removing yourself , as long as you land a hit from a flank or behind.

The enemies are there to make you think and strategize, it would be a bloody shame if they failed to do at least this much (regarding bosses).

Let's not get crazy here. First off this comes 2 months after prologue which is faster release then typical LS episode (round 3 months, sometimes above).

Secondly we've yet to see where this goes. Like i was complaning about no karmic retribution, but turns out karma is bountiful on this map.

I've yet to pass my judgement on the map itself, i'll give it time to get to know it well. Now if ep 2 fails to deliver some new addition to core content like a fractal, a raid, or something that will work outside designated saga maps (like bettle or skyscale for LF4) then i might be less inclined to defend it there and then. But for now i'm still giving them some time to surprise me.

So....erm...the landing page for Whispers in the Dark says the boreal weapons are upgradeable. I don't see skin unlock into actual weapon unlock as said upgradeable part. Did a-net say something about these weapons getting further upgrades down the line in current Saga?

1. Prologue and episode 1 were just two months apart. Is this Saga's planned candence or just "happened here and now" thing?

2. Did they guy doing the ending cutscene (convo with Jormag) get a raise? He should!

3. Will restored boreal weapons evolve with Saga episodes and will they go to legendary tier?

I for one enjoyed the story a lot, especially the ending part. That last scene was ... disturbing. As it should given the episode's tone. I learned after HoT not to jump to conclusions when it comes to content of a map. Not before doing the events, collections, seeing the little things. The raven choices were interesting.

One thing that dissapoints me is the base merchant. I would expect more stuff in there, surprised there's not karmic retribution for example. Well nvm, i like what i'm seeing so far, albeit to be fair, due to my preference for nature and verticality HoT maps stand uncontested in my personal ranking. Story wise - good work!

Well after explanation i stand against this idea. As a necro main i know what it means to get dogpiled by enemy cc. Limiting my utility stunbreakers to just one (said slot) would make this even worse, given there is no mechanic tu curb enemy cc spammage vs my necro (all 5 can go gang-ho on my rear end with their ccs).

Before i throw my feedback, let's get this straight:

The idea is that one slot becomes stunbreak slot and any skill you put there will stunbreak.

In return all utility skills that were stunbreaks lose that feature.

Is this correct?

condi duration can go up to 100% so 2x the damage compared to no condition duration at all. So yeah, it's pretty big. There are some traits that increase expertise of specific condition duration, but these will only help you get started. Rarely a damaging condition gets anything better then 20-33% duration from traits. Rest you need to build for yourself.

Actually two stat. Expertise/Condition duration matters in condi builds. Still better then 3 stats needed by power builds.

Well since we're on a saga now, i think old cadence applies no more. We'll have to wait and see. Also let's not rule out strike missions out of "challenging content" just yet. We only had one so far and it's a preview, an invitation. Later down the road things might get uglier.

I wouldn't mind a sub **IF** it was the old type of sub - just the sub, NO microtransations of any kind. But atm game is doing fine with it's current model, nor is the gemstore predatory so i'm not complaining. Also GW2 is a great yet non-addictive game which is bad for sub model. It's easy to take a break from GW2 yet, just as easy to come back, because game is great. Not the best for sub model if players take 3 month vacations en masse.

Did i misunderstand or we're getting 2 new masteries here? Also this upgradeable weapon set looks interesting. I do wonder if one day we'll get legendary upgradeable weapon set (you'll build it throughout the season into legendary end result).

Ranger and Necro come to my mind. Ranger has longbow stealth for disengaging + pet to take aggro (assuming you take tanky pet like the bear or drakes) that actually has stats to pull aggro (high toughness) and take the beatdown. If some pain is unavoidable consider wilderness survival traitline. The protection on evade + great hp regen when under effects of protection are great. Also the increased stamina regen + getting long vigor on successful evade.

Necro is all about taking the pain and pulling through thanks to his tankyness and lifesteals. Honestly he may be the best profession in certain cases (when the fight is not about 1hko death zones where mobility is the key), because from ground up he is designed as attrition fighter, meaning he is meant to stay in the fight and sustain through the pain, rather then having to burst and disengage or sweat bullets like many others. Both power and condi builds on necro can offer some great survival. As long as you build (be it via gear or traits or both) some solid defensive stats, get proper lifesteal and life force generation, you'll be able to pull through a lot this game has to offer.

That horrible to just grab a necro into your party? The grand meta overlord will come and rain fire and brimstone onto your ass for having a necro in your party?

Necro hands down. Do what you want cause no one will dare approach you. That annoying kid now has a bright future as an athelete after your minions helped him run 10 miles a day. And hell i'll take being an immortal, aging and sickness free Night King any da...night over being a loved sheep walking into the slaughterhouse/plantation like most of men. Normality's overrated, fuck the system!

Necro. He's perfect for me. Love the condi manipulation, love fears, love the tankyness and ability to fight vs huge packs of mobs. Also love the theme (colors).

That would be too much imho. Well of Power is the best utility well already, while the 2nd utility well (Darkness) does nearly nothing. If anything i'd like to see latter buffed to be a stunbreak and offer additional functionality (slow pulses?).

I think it's fine as is, save core necro. Life blast should apply 2 stacks of burn from dhuumfire to be on pair with reaper's aa that are faster and cleave.

> @"Nimon.7840" said:

> Dps wise? No.

> Like I said. Only support scourge buff

The passive is great for reaper. Signet build with Signets of suffering is nothing to scoff at. Truckloads of sustain from signet of vampirism + signet of locust combo. Now a 3rd one joins the fray, granting some real life force generation. In shroud it would decrease LF degen to core necro level. The max dps build may need poppin in and out of shroud every 10s, but in not so perfect world with not so perfect players, having extra shroud duration may prove huge when you're actually getting smacked around on top of already hefty lf degen.