nosleepdemon.1368

> @Coulter.2315 said:

> > @"Manasa Devi.7958" said:

> >There are plenty of situations where there are extremely obvious visual paths where you can make a few jumps to get almost all the way to the top, in like 15 seconds instead of minutes, but bump into an invisible wall at the very top.

>

> Oh your complaint is you lost 15secs of your life? Give me a moment, I'm sure my violin is somewhere..

>

Reread what they said, it's not the time wasted, it's how obvious the artificial arrangement of the puzzles is.

> @Stalkingwolf.6035 said:

> and there are a lot of walls you can jump in but not out. Desolation East is very buggy

I got jammed between two stoney outcrops in the Brand, mountless.

Jump!

"You have no room to mount."

Bzzzzt!

...

Jump!

Jump!

"You have n~"

Bzzzzzzzzt!

...

Jump!

Bzzzzzt!

...

Yes please. Disable them in Core Tyria. This decision is seeeriously going to bite Arena Net HARD. Mounts should not have been introduced into the game. They require redesigned maps to work properly moreso than gliding did, as the movement boost is huge in all directions. They also trivialise any and all challenges that don't instagib players, and hugely affect players without, as they simply cannot keep up.

> @Irreverent.3594 said:

> > @"Omega Mayhem.7163" said:

> > Have you been to the Domain of Vabbi, particularly the area known as The Brand?

> If he thinks Desolation is worst... nope he wasn't.

>

> Op, let us know when you get there and notice any chest and decide to loot it... That is if you get that far at all.

The Brand is the only remotely dangerous place in the entire expansion. The jumping puzzle is just 100% troll. It brings together every bad design idea in PoF:

1. Mount puzzle requiring precise movement with inherently imprecise tools? Check.

2. Constant aggro? Check.

3. Floor is lava but only when we feel like it? Check.

4. Awful, awful reward? Check.

Seriously, point 4 - a champion spawning in your face with a huge healthpool and nowhere to run? Really?

Man the more I play this expansion, the more I realise that I really don't like it. They somehow made the story the least aggravating part. Like how on Earth is talking to Taimi now a God damned relief??

What's annoying is that aside from obvious places that you shouldn't get to before you have a certain mount, I don't understand why the level designers saw fit to enforce their One True Path so brutally. What almighty cheat does the player perform by getting a mastery point a little sooner, since the story vomits them out anyway? Besides which, in some cases, I was able to find an even cheekier route, so the only effect was one of severe aggravation. Also, if we could *not* have mounts with a quarter mile turning circle and a very sudden acceleration, that'd be greeeat. "But they're mounts! They should *feel* real!" - granted. However Arena Net have quite literally designed at least one for the sole purpose of jumping...

I said I wasn't going to do this. I sat there, slowly stewing in my chair, determined that I wouldn't complain about jump puzzles. Inspite of my love for them - I've got both of Moto's auras afterall, so I've cleared "jumping puzzle hell" 16 times over.

But. BUT! As my kitten forsaken springer does its utmost to lob me off a cliff for the umpteenth time, I finally snapped. So here I am. Complaining. I happen to think Super Adventure Box Tribulation Mode is the single greatest level design feat in the history of MMOs, and some stupid, oversized bunny rabbit with a saddle finally broke me.

So, what is it that I detest so much about these new "puzzles"? It's actually not the mounts, they just happen to be the focus of my ire after the simplistic beauty of HoT's multi-level gliding. The mounts are definitely clunky, aggravating and imprecise, but no, that's not why I'm so peeved.

What really grinds my gears, is how lazily the "puzzles" are designed. Invisible walls abound, ledges that are mere pixels too high for my unmastered mounts are everywhere. Apparently viable alternative routes are deliberately blocked off midway, even though physically, there appear to be sizeable ledges to which you should be able to jump. Everywhere I am slapped in the face by some level designer going "ummm! You can't be here yet!". I am forced to use none of my cunning, none of my well honed platforming skills, because if I don't have The Mastery yet, or I am even slightly off the beaten path, there will be an invisible wall to slide me all the way back down.

Nevertheless, this is progress. Mounts are here because reasons. Maps are 'uge! But not really, they are just upscaled to increase traversal time now that players can fire themselves across them like cannon balls. I just get the distinct feeling that things are only going to get worse from here on out.

The Warrior's a good option. It has huge utility and weapon versatility, and has viable power builds that output some mighty burst damage. For example, the (insert stun / root here) + quickness + 100 blades combo is as old as time itself.

Oh yeah definitely, I have some unopened ascended armour boxes that I've been saving up that will get me halfway there. I will stat swap them to Vipers if that's what I decide to use. My impression is that armour stats don't make as large a difference as trinkets; as long as it's exotic in the stat flavour I want, ascended trinkets should have priority. So apparently, Viper's would be good for both Rev and Warrior PvE condition builds? How does one come up with Viper's ascended trinkets? I assume from LS3 vendors?

> @"Red Haired Savage.5430" said:

> > @Hana.8143 said:

> > As said in other post, Aoe classes are weak to FC. When you can't interrupt your skill, you're pretty much gonna take FC in your face.

> > Weaver's primordial stance is a good exemple, supposed to deal a lot of condi damage but... 5 pulses -> Use Fc -> resistance.

> > That makes primordial stance pretty much useless (and I removed it since it's no used again SB.) Also it has another weakness since it has a low range, you're missing your condi burst pretty easily but we're not talking about weaver are we ? :D

> >

> > FC has a great mechanic, but I feel like it can benefit from almost every situation. Add the low CD, and you have what you have right now, a tanky class with lots of damage.

> >

> > Nerf is probably coming. Get ready ! :/

>

> Nah, it's too telegraphed enemies can easily dodge, stow weapons, or walk away.

Yeah it is highly telegraphed, but will the majority of players understand how to avoid it? It would be lovely if the game weren't full of semi sentient potatoes, but it is. FC may be nerfed simply because players keep walking into the obvious trap.

I'm poor and can only afford one set of ascended armour and trinkets. I want them to work for both condi warrior and condi revenant. My friend said Viper's but I don't know, I mean, what about the new stats coming out? Help a player out?

6. Evading an attack awards 50 endurance.

People may have thought that platforming was an issue in HoT, when actually the main problem for them was traversing the maps. The big mistake ANet made with HoT was assuming that most players were actually able to play the game. Instead, what players really wanted was to not have to bother with analysing the environment, as most people are fantastically awful at any puzzle which requires spacial awareness. I personally really enjoyed that aspect of HoT; keeping a mental map of Tangled Depths on my first run through for instance, was a challenge indeed! PoF is far simpler in this regard - yes, there are jumps involved, but in all cases you can see where you are going, and the actual puzzles are incredibly simple to the point of insulting to players that are even halfway competent.

I have noticed plenty of invisible walls, which is a shame. I've found several inventive paths to vistas and mastery points in PoF, only to be arbitrarily blocked by thin air. It's just bad level design imo.

Vicky Spanish is an absolute beast.

What people don't understand when they say "if you don't like feature x, then don't use it" is the principle of an object changing its enviornment simply through its existence. The very obvious example of this are the maps in PoF which are larger to accomodate mounts. You can clearly see that Arena Net are aware of this, as they have limited the functionality of the Gryphon, which is something Blizzard failed to do. Adding a large cost doesn't change this problem as given enough time, a majority of players will acquire the gold for the mount.

Blizzard realised how mounts utterly destroyed open world content, despite their attempts to design maps with flying in mind. If I recall, flying in Legion was simply not possible for some time after launch.

Arena Net clearly think the Gryphon is appropriately "nerfed", and its use is situational enough to warrant the mounts inclusion. However now that mounts are available, it is very difficult to undo. Thus, the OP's post is pretty valid, and I hope this does not come back to bite the developers in the ass.

I used it last night to literally kick a Djinns teeth down his throat in Vabbi. Then I took his mastery point, and stomped that down his throat too. The 3 minute cooldown is unfortunate, perhaps it would be a little less awful if it didn't also put every other elite on a 3 minute cooldown as well.

I've been playing PoF and generally enjoying it a fair bit. I like the environment, the characters, the elites and the pacing. It's not quite up there with HoT, but that's fine because it's different, and many players will be thankful for that.

BUT. If there is one thing I would change, just one thing, it would be the writing. Let me explain: There are many, MANY points in the story, especially in LS3, where for a lack of a better term, the player must put up with the... Poop, of the story characters.

Teenage angst abounds, and all you can do as the player is literally nod your head. This has come to the forefront with PoF and some of the... Uh, political issues ANet have worked into the story like a jack hammer to a thumb tack.

Now don't get me wrong - I think it's cool that they've tried to work this into the story, it lends it an air of humanity. For example, the conversation the player has about religious indoctrination when they arrive at Vabbi.

However, here is the kicker - the player has NO CHOICE in the conversation. My character was forced to blather like a complete buffoon, and then be gently chided by the NPC. Yes, of course I understand that one cannot simply waltz into North K~I MEAN VABBI, and "free" the people. That could never work! Yet these are the conversational choices I must make to advance the story. Why? It feels childish, as if ANet must set the player up as a fool to tell them off and teach them a lesson.

So please, Arena Net: Add the charm / logical / aggressive conversational choices back into the game. You don't have to change the outcome, but it would make the player feel a whole lot more immersed in the game and a lot less like they are being force fed basic morality which they already understand.

I don't play the other two, but I've played Warrior since launch. If it's big numbers you want, then the new Warrior elite spec isn't for you. Spell Breaker has a couple of hard hitting skills with dagger 3 and 4, but it is a counter spec. Now if your opponent can be CC'd, then Spell Breaker is great, since you can control them via interrupts and full counter. Straight up damage however will never be where the spec shines, no matter how much some of the louder forum goers want it to be.

I'm using hammer and daggers with SB and Disc. I don't think I could give disc up because I love weapon swap too much. I did however swap strength out for arms, but now I generate more adrenaline than I know what to do with. The reason I swapped was that SB, Disc, Strength has trouble generating fury.

> @Scorci.3250 said:

> i am getting trolled and i like it

Nothing like someone elses jealousy to lift you out of the dumps eh? Please OP, tell us more about how unfair it is that Warriors are Arena Net's posterchild class.

Just do what I did and switch to your old main who was collecting dust. Mine was a Warrior, and I'm enjoying spellbreaker :)

Why not yes, but only for existing players? It doesn't have the same wow factor as HoT. The maps are expansive, but feel small and cramped due to the mounts and their requirement for traversing different obstacles. For example, quick sand pits may as well be solid walls until you get the skimmer. You also suffer constant harassment from mobs without HoT's verticality and jump shrooms to let you jump up / off a ledge to avoid attack. In general, I curiously feel more hemmed in with mounts in PoF's large levels than I ever did in HoT with its winding pathways and multiple layers. I really think ANet were onto something with HoT, the level design there was far ahead of its time. PoF is pretty, but pretty so-so in comparison. Thus, I would only recommend PoF to existing fans of the franchise.

Oh no! You poor soul. My heart simply *bleeds* for you :P

Rev is tougher to play, especially in PvP where you really need to know when to swap legends. Conversely, the Warrior's utility bar is ever present and much more versatile, making it a class that you can be very specific with in terms of builds. This got even better with the new Spellbreaker, which is absolutely brilliant at counter-play. The Rev's new elite on the other hand seems to be very strange. It's basically a buff to condition specs or so it seems, however it has a curious 33% crit rate buff on full endurance among other things, so I think there is potential for power or power/condition hybrid with that elite which we haven't figured out yet. With all that said though, the Warrior's worth seems to be obvious, and it's almost always been a strong class so it is the safest pick. If you want volatility in your life, go Rev, they are not *terrible* in PvE and the hammer melts faces in PvP... Until somebody notices you.

Reshade is as you have guessed, probably your best bet. The graphics options aren't very complex for post processing. There's basically "nope", "a leetle" and "heart of the sun".