Hannelore.8153

I like to use the toy weapon skins just to roleplay what my weapons really are on Engineer. Why are Hammer and Sword so good in comparison?

Note that the difference between "spam all damaging skills off cooldown" and "piano rotation with 20-30 steps" is only a small margin for many classes. Most of your DPS comes from gear like runes/sigils, build (especially %damage bonuses, and pay attention to when they apply), food, boons and avoiding wasteful actions like using CC when bar is broken or using non-damaging skills for no reason. Try to understand these basic concepts before you even think of trying to master rotations. The reason I say this is because you can do good DPS on a bad build with a good rotation. Which is useful if your build is intentionally gimped, but can also hinder build optimisation. The build itself needs to be perfected and mastered before you can take it to its full potential. Just intuitive knowledge of the game, your class and your build should give you 10k passive DPS without any effort. If you're not reaching this point then you should spend some time working on those things before taking it further. That said Ranger is always going to have the easiest rotations, due to its class design, while Thief rotations are reasonable.

> @"Veprovina.4876" said: > > @"Hannelore.8153" said: > > One quick fix would be to simply hide effects from all players but your party. In fact, hide all players outside the party entirely. > > > > Character Model Limit accomplishes this somewhat but it doesn't work on effects. > > Isn't there an option to use the base model for other player characters? > It looks hidous and unimersive, but it's an option i guess... It doesn't hide their backpiece, weapons, infusions or other effects like skill animations and sounds. Only their actual character model and armor is affected, rendering it pretty much useless compared to just hiding them entirely. Character Model Limit - Hide players entirely. Character Model Quality (Lowest) - Change players to standard models. But the limit doesn't prioritise enemies so bosses end up getting culled in fights as well.

If you think glass cannon builds are all there is you've obviously never played an Ele. Getting killed every single hit just because you missed a dodge or ran out of Endurance gets old very fast, and you quickly learn that 15k HP and 2.2k armor is the minimum. Its just alot less noticeable on classes that already start off with enough defensive stats. Even Guardian and Thief, who have similar health, still start with more armor (and your first few hundred points into it are most effective), and more ways to keep themselves alive like Guardian's generous 33% damage resistance and Thief's critical strike healing. There's alot of other examples in the game I could list, this is just the most glaring one. Btw, Healing Power is a defensive stat too, so no support builds are truly glass at all, even those on Harrier's or Seraph's. I'd say that almost every stat combination is used in the game between PvE and WvW. I can't think of any stat combo that is truly useless; even the less common ones still get integrated into other builds piecemeal for min/maxing. If anything we need more combinations to increase build diversity. For example, there's no equivalent of Valkyrie's and Magi's that has Toughness instead of Vitality, e.g Cavalier's has Toughness as its main stat instead of Power. This is important because sometimes higher health can be a liability rather than an asset, as its harder to heal the missing hit points compared to just taking less damage instead. That said, something like how Fractal Potions work (stat conversion) would be very good for the game.

Being balanced around turning into Clone is half the problem with Phantasms and why they honestly kind of suck. Here's a novel idea, separate Phantasms from Clones entirely. Make all Clone skills (except autoattacks), generate an extra Clone, and then remove the Clone mechanic from Phantasms but keep their traits like transferring boons. Then increase the maximum amount of Clones to 5-6 like all other classes' summons, especially considering they're only temporary summons and have no lasting impact on the game or its performance (the main reason Phantasms were nerfed). This would also help both mechanics with their roles in competitive modes.

One quick fix would be to simply hide effects from all players but your party. In fact, hide all players outside the party entirely. Character Model Limit accomplishes this somewhat but it doesn't work on effects.

> @"Brycar.2651" said: > Why? What is the point of a guild hall except some nodes? I’m in a very active guild. We never use it. Some people decorate but that is just to pass the time. It is a nonsense patch work of decorations. > > Edit - I do use the hall to transport to Vabbi on characters who have not been there yet. Without Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey, Guild Hall is the only way to use Merchant, Repair Anvil, Bank and Guild Bank while still being able to return to where you were. Not even Eye of the North (or any other premium passes) can do that.

There's alot of items you can't use in Fractals and this is one of them. It'd be too brokenly overpowered, since its basically a free Revive Orb for your allies, which is why its disabled in anything but open-world PvE. Also, please stop using this tag line in every other thread on these forums, its 2021 already.

Weaver is actually better on Power Staff than Core Ele or Tempest. Not nearly as squishy due to their barrier application. But this is rarely used outside of competitive (mainly WvW) because in Fractals and such it means camping Fire 24/7, which is boring.

Its nothing to do with Rev or Thief specifically. The problem in both PvP and WvW is that too many classes can now just jump all around, port all around, pop in and out of stealth, etc. It was already terrible when it was restricted to just 1-2 classes, but now that everyone can do it, what's the point? Its like playing ping pong only you don't have any paddles, just your hands.

Engineer. Tanking is their entire purpose (though maybe add a Toughness malice to Holosmith).

***SPOILERS FOR HEART OF THORNS AND PATH OF FIRE STORY*** Melandru far predates the Sylvari, so you're assuming the form is based upon Sylvari rather than the Sylvari being based on Melandru. We don't know the origin of why non-corrupted Sylvari (including those from other trees, like Malyck) look the way they do. We do know its not their natural form. Perhaps neither is the Modrem Guard, which are twisted from existing forms. Melandru's magic was extremely prevalent in the world until recently. Its very likely that the Sylvari simply take their from from some natural convergence of Mists and Nature magic. With Modremoth asleep, this was Melandru. This would also explain why they have a Human-like appearance and anatomy as the Human Gods look similar to Humans themselves. The Gods only truly left Tyria about a year ago, they were still around (just non-interfering) before that.

The build I use is Flame Legion Runes, Sigil of Force, Sigil of Smoldering, the 12% Burning duration food, and the Torch trait. This gives a very high Power damage build that can also maintain 20+ stacks of Burning persistently giving an extreme passive DPS. I use this with Grieving gear, 100% Burning duration with no Expertise. I think its actually one of the highest passive DPS builds possible, although a good rotation makes it better. Keep in mind Quickness gives you a good amount of health, so no defenses are needed, usually. You may want to take Fractal Defensive Potions for those particularly difficult Fractals like Twilight Oasis where one mistake can mean a wipe. If you feel too glassy still or your group isn't very coordinated, Celestial trinkets can help with high-pressure encounters. Make sure your alt-weapon has CC to break bars (GS or Hammer and F1-3 as well).

Guardian, use the Staff which is an excellent ranged support weapon. Take full defensive and Healing Power armor, no damage stats. Then encourage your son to go full damage stats, so you can still clear content easily. Guard also has access to multiple fast revives in case of downs.

> @"Svennis.3852" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > We know Primordus minions are back to looking like they use to be because he has readjusted the magical energy of the other Elder Dragons he absorbed. > > We don’t *know* that’s the reason; that’s just Phlunt’s running theory. > > This season hasn’t been subtle with inconsistencies in lore or power sets, really. > > I’m not sure it’s meant to be new. Either way, the dialogue keeps painting this picture of an innate connection between Prim and Jor. So if Primordus gets stronger through more fire and destruction, the opposite must be true for Jormag freezing more of the world. Their bond could even mean they share the same magic pool, and are always in a tug of war match over who gets more of that pool. New magic absorbed by one is new magic for both. > > I’m just rambling now lol. Its stated that they're literally twinned, which is when one entity splits into two (possibly their "mother" used this method of reproduction). So I think this theory is quite sound, and all evidence we've seen so far points to it. Because Elder Dragons seem naturally gluttonous, one would always want to destroy the other to regain that power.

Basically its because the Dwarves have held him back for most of that time. Lore-wise, very few Destroyers have made it to the surface, and its repeatedly stated in the Personal Story to be cause for alarm when they do. But slowly over the years we have seen more and more Destroyers, culminating with them flooding the entire maps of Ember Bay and Draconis Mons prior to putting Primordus to sleep. This is even commented on several times in those campaigns. Primordus was always a serious threat, it was just never expected the Dwarves would lose their battle. The amount of Destroyers in Tyria was formerly very small compared to all the Branded, Icebrood and Risen.

We still have active guilds, but our small server has been taken over by bandwagoners so its hard to know who is genuinely from there anymore. Your best bet is to join WvW and pay attention to the players and guilds that don't change during relinks. Just a note: Links mean no one actually sees you as being from Ehmry Bay but Sea of Sorrows instead atm.

I think the biggest mistake they made was giving Firebrand Quickness. Warrior was supposed to be the offensive support spec, the class that boosts allies' damage numbers, while Guardian heals, protects & cleanses, with both of them being somewhat tanky, so they could front-line. Instead we have Guardians surviving better and doing more damage for both the player and the group with half the HP. What does Warrior have to define itself in comparison, more weapons and more CC? Guardian has almost as many weapons and almost as much CC, too. And while Revenant doesn't have the weapon choices, they have nearly everything else the other Heavies offer, and more. I enjoy playing all of them, but what is the purpose of a Warrior? Playing a Healbreaker as my main in WvW is fun, but like all other Warrior builds its not fully fleshed out;, everything's just a hodge-podge of seemingly unfinished concepts. The only thing being a Warrior gets me is being about to wear half Zealots since I don't need as much defense.

> @"Linken.6345" said: > > @"Hannelore.8153" said: > > There's a minimum amount of time they've placed on how you can obtain any kind of Ascended gear. The numbers are tuned based upon this, to specifically make it so you can't farm it beyond an average, precalculated time gate. As a general rule this is about 1-1½ weeks per item, but there's some variance depending on the type of gear you're acquiring. > > > > Providing a guaranteed drop would require the devs to reduce the number of nodes you can mine per day to compensate. > > And that explenation is thrown out the window since we got bitterfrost winter berry farm. Winterberries have higher prices compared to other currencies and require multiple character slots to farm, which isn't something that everyone has access to. You can only truly "farm" them if you have multiple lv80 & fully geared characters.

The devs do collect metrics but they don't release them to the public because they could potentially be abused.

There's a minimum amount of time they've placed on how you can obtain any kind of Ascended gear. The numbers are tuned based upon this, to specifically make it so you can't farm it beyond an average, precalculated time gate. As a general rule this is about 1-1½ weeks per item, but there's some variance depending on the type of gear you're acquiring. Providing a guaranteed drop would require the devs to reduce the number of nodes you can mine per day to compensate.

Despite the nay-sayers, Hammer does have its uses. Its one of the easiest way to make the group shed conditions for "We Bleed Fire" instability, since it can spam AoE cleanses. Its also a good source of CC for breakbars, the Protection uptime is nice (everyone stacks in PvE anyway, so it rarely misses anyone with the Symbol), and while the DPS isn't top-tier, it does beat alot of other weapons available in the game. Its off-meta, and it could use more damage (alot more), due to its slow attack speed, but it does its job. I think quite possibly the most useful change would be to make the Hammer #5 skill reflect projectiles like Mesmer Focus wall does.

The animations depend on your race, not your class or weapon skills. Though only the Asura are really interesting.

The difficulty's fine, I can one-shot five boars at once while some newbie is trying to get them for a heart quest. (This isn't a serious post, but this is really how half the player base seems to think based upon past threads.) Some story missions have a Challenge Mote, or scale with the number of players. That's about it.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said: > I thought Rytlock and Logan was the proof? Rytlock seems closer with the Pact Commander than Logan these days. He has the highest screentime of any NPC in the game at this point, so he must really have a thing for the PC (though obviously some PCs are Charr, so it doesn't count then).