Bast.7253

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

If we're talking about pvp I've found a couple builds that are alright in terms of condition application, but yeah, if you're fighting something with heavy cleanse there really isn't that much opportunity to put out excessive amounts of conditions without going more glass. You can either go the sustain route and choose scepter/staff for more steady condition output, or you can go bursty and run confusion on blind for heavy stacks and try to catch them at off moments like playing power shatter but with high confusion and torment stacks.

I haven't tested it but I'd imagine the meta build with domination and boon strip would be alright against scrappers. You just have to time your burst really well. The other problem is having enough cover conditions to overload them. Flamethrower is pretty cancer though and you might take more damage in your non evasion windows than its worth, especially if they still have their condi clear up.

Reaper is difficult because it seems most are running condi to life force conversion in the blood tree now. So power and choosing the best window to burst is probably going to be the best method against them. They also have quite a bit of access to stab now so if you're running chrono make sure to gravity well when they don't have full stab. It's best to stay at range from them but I know that's getting harder to do with the multiple teleports and if they're running speed runes or spectral grasp. Axe 2 also hits pretty freakin' hard if you're trying to ranged, and if they're running staff they can bombard you with marks. >_>

Tempest - just don't. lol Maybe if you're running power but they have a lot of reflects, shocking aura, and large aoes that can destroy your clones/phantasms and heavily negate your offensive pressure.

It is pretty ineffective in comparison to a lot of those traits. At least give it some barrier now that we're tossing that into every other defensive skill. If not barrier then perhaps a flat damage reduction and temporary immunity to condition damage?

Something would be nice.

I was wondering if it was bugged in the first place. A couple weeks ago I was able to start casting lightning overload and mist form and complete the channel. It was nice but seemed unintended. It looks like it's been fixed now though. lol

You can run core dagger/pistol with trickery/shadow arts/crit strikes. But you'll be even glassier and not have much condi cleanse. In the current meta the only thing you can really do as a thief is be extremely careful about when/who you attack. Only +1 and jump between nodes. The only thing you'll really have a somewhat easy time against is probably mesmer in which case you can just steal occasionally for plasma and shortbow spam.

There's way too much cleave/aoe/passive condi and damage to attempt to team fight and the current side noders are probably going to be a bit too much for you as a thief. Either you won't have the damage to get them down through their sustain or they'll be some condi class with high sustain and you'll have to reset multiple times just to clear it. Or it will be something with high cleave like a dagger/focus weaver/holo that puts out more damage than it's worth trying to fight them.

Personally I've enjoyed the core build but in the current meta it's really reliant on having a good enough team to get +1's in and not get focused. Also pretty glassy if you're fighting d/p daredevil or a condi thief. It's fun to get the high damage though.

Bottom line - dagger/pistol core/daredevil are really the only things that are going to be effective but you still have to be ultra selective about the fights you take. It's a lot of work and if they have a lot of easy passive condi clear the blinds you use to survive will probably get cleansed too rapidly for you to be able to attack without being at high risk.

It's sad because I tried finding an extremely trolly high sustain staff daredevil build awhile back and even with the most defensive traits possible I was still getting easily nuked by things. But the animations on the staff evades have always been pretty misleading and if you're not putting out any damage/pressure it's going to be a loss either way.

I would love somekind of demonic assassin type melee/single target oriented power spec. With shroud being more than just a black shroud and an actual demonic form.

Something vampiric.

But realistically? There's the whole "soulbinder" thing with shiro'ken. I could see it being something like that but instead of shroud you get a shiro'ken type pet in its place. Perhaps damage is split with the pet? I don't know. That would be a bit ridiculous with minion mancer. Perhaps it's a new form of life force management that builds faster, degenerates faster, and the shroud is more of a temporary stance/empowerment?

I do going the demonic route could be really neat though. Perhaps dual swords for weapons. I'm not sure what the utilities would be though. We've had shouts and "punishments" and they already had wells, sigils, and pets. So perhaps actual stances, or glyphs.

I guess the only other thing that could be kind of cool would be a long-ranged weapon like longbow and have it be kind of a shadow-ranger esque theme.

> @"Dadnir.5038" said:

> > @"Dantheman.3589" said:

> > Thief at released was and still is defined as a “deadly dueling class”. Thief diversity isn’t supposed to be limited to its pitiful diversity, which for a meta class is actually incredibly low.

>

> I think you don't understand what I wrote. To put it simply the thief have been designed around using the stealth attack which is in itself a toxic design. And ANet's devs can't do anything about it now. In itself the thief isn't a "deadly duelling class" it's an "ambush class" by design. Which make anything like support, sustain damage, tanking or proper "duelling" extremly awkward to add to it's kit. Because, no, dealing damage on unsuspecting foes from stealth isn't "duelling".

Well daredevil d/p is kind of more of a dueling class than an ambush class right now due to how low backstab damage is. Stealth only serves as a defense. If you’re running core, deadeye, or condi I can see the complaint though. I just think there are far worse things to deal with right now other than thief. Like a holo having access to stealth, invuln, barrier, reflects, blocks, constant high regen, condition conversion, super speed, and lots of cc. It’s honesty kind of laughable as I’m typing this all out. Like, what in the world? Lmao

I mean, it’s kind of a sad state when there is an entire build dedicated solely to spam knocking people off nodes. Like, that’s not even pvp. Referring to decap engi. I tried the build out the other day and it’s kind of ridiculous how nasty this build is. Not undefeated or insane damage, just incredibly annoying and doesn’t really provide counterplay. I guess that’s the good thing about deathmatch mini seasons.

Yeah, all it ever is anymore is necros, guards, and engineers.

And an occasional renegade.

It’s so dull having to play the same build over and over again just to have to counter the necro stacking or the gimmicky engi builds.

I've seen some core condi mes builds that seemed fairly bunkery. They also put out a ton of illusions. I'd imagine you would need inspiration, chaos, and dueling.

In general the most bunkery you can get on mesmer right now would probably just boil down to weapon choices. So sword mainhand for distortion, sword offhand for a block, scepter for a block, and torch for target dropping/condi clear/stealth.

Staff if you're running protection on chaos armor and I have seen some mirage builds running it but as others have said, it really just takes one aggressive thief or a holo pressing pretty much any ability and you're already beyond pressured. Necro can also be pretty punishing.

Mesmer is still balanced in the sense that in order to run high sustain it has to sacrifice its damage sources. Unlike the countless other builds right now that are far easier, have high sustain, and often spray high aoe damage with ease.

Even with the latest changes to Chrono it's only a shell of what it used to be. 1. Shield is clunky af now. 2. No distortion. I wouldn't run chrono for anything other than damage or gimmicy condi builds.

If you understand the class you can still seem "bunkery" to inexperienced players without necessarily running bunker just by confusing them with clones/phantasms and using the few tools it has left for sustain. High phantasm/clone generation and disorienting your opponent is probably going to be your best bet for sustain though.

But yeah, if there is a thief on the enemy team that's even halfway decent or just knows to switch to shortbow and spam you're pretty much a liability no matter how "bunker" you build.

> @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > > @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> > > Personally, and this is based off the conversation with jormag and aurene recently... I don't believe Jormag is going to exit the stage as quickly as we all might assume. I assumed we'd gut it and be done with it, finally end the norn arc and hang up the whole Idea of this farce once and for all and move back into familiar territory. However I feel like with Jormag saying "Your fear, as well your focus is misplaced" too Aurene as well as calling out her grandfather for his inability to control himself which stuns aurene is telling. As well Jormag apologizes politely and leaves the conversation, rather than berating our dragon it merely realizes it lost its temper or perhaps became snarky and chose to leave as it wants us on the side that it resides in. (There are some hints, that jormag is tired of the cycle.) This is further explained, by how it handled Asgeir and how it handled events going from when we discovered its existence. Let me bring up some minor key pieces, of which sets jormag apart from the other dragons even aurene.

> > >

> > > >! 1. So far its been the most hands off, its followers (Not even the minions) are the ones who have been causing destruction in their wake. They are a cult, and while it seems like Jormag pulls the strings Bangar is a prime example as to what Im sure it typically deals with. Im not sure that Jormag truly wanted... well anything linked to it to transpire, it to me seems as if its displeased and is now becoming more active in its approach as it seems to tire of this whole back and forth.

> > > >!2. It could of marched south at anytime, when we were in maguuma, when we were in Orr? Even now. Yet it doesn't not at all and it seems as if it is looking for something, something that is not important to us but is to it.

> > > >!3. One of the datamined chat pieces says "Jormags enemy" clearly linking us to be outside of the sphere, Im not even sure Primo is in there anymore despite knowing full well they have traded hands before. I think Jormag, and maybe primordus are both in the same mental state where they dont want to do this anymore; Primo's minions have been relatively docile since GW:EoN and Jormags are only riled up by the sons of svanir, which are a death cult. It to me seems more like hunters using dogs to hunt, they rile the lesser minded minions to do what they want and dont represent jormags presence or mindset. (Because clearly, shown with the Franir and Bangar, and even drakkar Jormag allows its minions to have free will. With only Bangar being used as a mouth-piece as he had the GULL the step up. And this is his inevitable conclusion, I hope he personally is like this forever. A slave. Just as he wanted for others.)

> > > >!4. Jormag could of killed us when it took ryland, it didn't. And It seemed to actively hinder and sabotage bangar, as to me the minions sent were not the most powerful with some of the strongest minions from lore not even appearing. Purposefully too Ryland was given our status but for jormag, he is to jormag what we are for aurene now and im sure that Jormag wanted this because to It this was one of the things Aurene had that it didn't. Mortals to fight with it, and Ryland ASKED of his own free will to be empowered... and jormag merely accepted the willingness of the young charr.

> > > >!5. Jormag helped braham, to become the wolf and I fully believe it was jormag who likely opened the way for that transformation. (This is not corruption, I think Jormag wants the norn to remember who they are..) Likely to save us from bangar and this was jormag being ever present. It wants us alive, it needs us alive because we might be along with aurene one of the few forces that can stop whatever is coming. To top this off Jormag so far has been showcasing a level of intelligence that only mordremoth showcased and to me, Mordremoth was likely driven to madness like kralk as was Zaithan. Why Jormag is different I am unsure; But the rampant madness and malice just isn't there. It states that its not a threat to Aurene's mortals, and to aurene all of tyria's people are hers to protect so that is Jormag outright acknowledging not only Aurene's power but also her status as well her desire and stating that it has not intention on harming us or anyone other than the threat. It also goes into wanting to "preserve" tyria which is an interesting way to phrase it.... given what we know will happen if another dragon falls... or if the gods or something from the mists try anything.

> > >

> > >

> > > To go along with this; Recently I got their anniversary art book. Reading through it they DID make Utopia the scrapped guild wars 1 expansion focused on the mists cannon, those events whatever they are in their entirety are cannon now? And we know from early interviews the elder dragons were not originally going to be the set up, leading into guild wars 2. They were Originally from the sounds of it going to go with some "Gods vs demons" scenario with likely the mists being a huge player, but decided not too and went with the dragons. Well as we have learned the dragons are basically the worlds way of regulating magic, and they may very well be tied somewhat loosely to the spirits of the wild and potentially having one of their own which is/was lost to them. Kralk refers to mother and we dont know of any such entity, at least not by name or concept up until now. Ontop of that we also dont know where the canthans derive their power from, I originally thought perhaps the canthans siphon her into their emperor every so often to ensure complete power. But now I wonder if perhaps when the six arrived, and subsequently durring some point in time when the mists seemed more sealed the spirits began to have issues interacting with tyria. Such as owl sealing herself off rather than being destroyed, I feel like perhaps the canthans are pulling from a darker pressence for that power. I feel like perhaps the envoy's are likely linked somewhat with it and I Feel like it might be from before the Six; In their absence and subsequent exodus especially know I feel like its not a dragon. I also feel like its not one of the six granting them this power; Yet this power was able to when shiro died, create cataclysmic destruction of which to that point we had not seen outside of the searing and now with the dragons.

> > >

> > > There are powers within the mists we know nothing about, End of Dragons likely will be the end of what we know guild wars 2 to be. The plot is about get much deeper with as I see it the potential for the mists and the origins of the six to be called into question. Remember until Balthazar died the dragons could not enter the mists of their own will, and their minions couldn't either. It is ONLY because Kralk got some of balths magic as well aurene that she can enter the mists, we can assume primo and jormag as well got some since jormag now can enter the mists. (Essentially meaning that it could appear anywhere in tyria now.) Im actually wondering if Jormag is going to lead us to cantha and if you listen, the voice talking to kunnavang sounds VERY much like the female voice from the icebrood saga's trailer. I think Jormag isn't going to end its journey here, no I think its going to be with us as we go to cantha. Sunqua peak also sets up the potential of a norn or norn in general being in cantha; Likely able to weather the ministry's attempts at purging because lets face it there is NO WAY they would defeat the norn. If the norn dont want to leave and are there they likely, wont be going anywhere and will stay to the snowy peaks where the yeti's were/are. Like the Olmakhan in Elona I feel like this will not only give us Hun/Mongol looking customizations for the norn but will have the norn continue, to be relevant in the story. Given the norns culture being very similar to the canthans and their themes being somewhat similar, and us knowing all creatures have a spirit of the wild residing over them? Likely I feel like perhaps they went there to see what spirits/animals/world existed there, and just never could make it back to the main land. I believe Jormag will in some method directly lead us to cantha; Hell Jormag might even take us there itself by luring us into its "trap" and then shanghaiing us to the battle-isle. They are setting Jormag up to be more than some evil, eldritch monster but it seems to have motivations beyond us and it doesn't seem interested in fighting us. It seems focused on something larger; Whatever that is means it is larger than aurene which is why it wants our help because it needs us just as much as we need It. They also said that jormag was going to challenge, and change how we see the dragons during the Icebrood presentation and likely at least to me that seems to suggest that Jormag will be .... more or less a frequent for us for a while yet.

> >

> > Well the other voice is a new character which rules out Jormag, but I could see Jormag being involved in the plot. The saga seems like it was originally going to play out differently and has been shuffled to make room for the last minute expansion. So it wouldn’t surprise me. Just my opinion.

> >

> > As to the power Shiro used, everyone will insist it’s Dwayna and anything else is a terrible retcon. Personally I’m all for expanding upon that notion.

> >

> > I have a feeling Taimi could come to some revelations studying it.

>

> I have a serious issue and always have, in accepting that dwayna's power could manifest in that way. To me looking at it now knowing what we know now? It reminds me of the bloodstone explosion in bloodstone fen, or even better what happened when moredemoth died. It doesn't to me feel god like, nor does it feel dragon like I would be willing to go with a dragon providing the power (Bubbles) and Cantha having become a dragon worshiping death cult just not as far gone as the sons of svanir. But I feel like this could be huge set up, for what comes after the "end of dragons".

I agree in terms of it feeling off.

1. It's a fraction of Dwayna's power yet we have an entire continent affected by it. The only two similarities we can pull from if I'm not overlooking are Abaddon's death, and Balthazar - who was depowered.

2. We have countless people going crazy due to excess magic yet Shiro was just a mere mortal and was somehow able to harness and contain enough divine magic that he could alter a continent.

3. Dwayna who as someone pointed out was a goddess of "preservation magic". This being the reasoning behind everything solidifying and turning to stone. Sure, it makes sense, but again, this is just a mere mortal with only Abaddon's guidance.

4. It doesn't really feel good like to me but it DOES feel dragon-like. It feels pretty similar to dragon-brand. Note that it not only turned trees and ocean to stone but it also "corrupted" the local saltspreys. Why would divine magic corrupt the saltspreys? Unless it was them absorbing a foreign type of magic and going insane similar to Kralk. But that seems unlikely.

It all feels off to me too, so I agree. But there are certain explanations if you're just following lore. I don't think it's out of the question to discover dragon influence moving forward in the expansion. I read somewhere that someone commented it was strange that people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it being divine magic and elder dragon magic but I found that a bit ridiculous. How would the locals have been able to tell that difference? Is there some signature with the magic that they can use to tell? Would they even know what elder dragon magic is at that point?

As far as being something else entirely, Arenanet hasn't been very eager to explore other avenues throughout the franchise. We have that glimpse of something during Deepstone Fractal that possessed Corin and haven't really seen anything else like it outside of demonic possession. The closest we've probably seen would be Saul, the new fractal boss. It We also have the assumption that the Colossus from Cliffside was something else entirely and had those Canthan cultists doing something to him.

> @"Mewcifer.5198" said:

> Last they spoke of their roadmap they said to expect something every month. But the things could be things like a new fractal or raid, a festival, or an episode. So this month is a fractal. Next month is a festival. I am guessing the next episode will be November at the soonest.

Best case I imagine Vision in November, Episode in January, festival, then next episode in March.

But without people frothing at the mouth I’m suggesting it may not be following that same trajectory based on the announcement of the expansion.

That once a month but was before the expansion was announced and they did say that after the latest episode things would be a bit different and more akin to season 1. What that means, who knows.

As to alliances, I don’t think they’ll make a huge difference either way, but it has been well over a year and a half hasn’t it? The armory I don’t think they’ve “scrapped” but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as a feature included with the expansion as it also could have been planned before the expansion. May be part of their plan to get the expansion out sooner by pushing major features to it instead. They mentioned several months ago we would get more details, here we are and no word. So that’s why I’m making the assumption that the idea of it being released within the scope of this saga is “scrapped.”

> @"Dark Red Killian.3946" said:

> > @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> > > @"Randulf.7614" said:

> > > > @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> > > > We had an Epilogue, no more IbS episodes.

> > >

> > > No we didn't. The last episode had an epilogue within it to round off that little section of the story

> >

> > There was no Prologue “within” the episode, so it was an epilogue to the saga.

>

> Disagree. The episode was not the final episode of the saga. The epiloge was switching gears from the fight to the end of the episode. Anet did not call this episode the finale, and there was no big ending rather a cliffhanger for the next episode. Plus you got the Confer with Bangar achievement that is bridging the two episodes (4 and 5) together. Generally when the living world season ends we know it’s going to be big and there is generally a legendary item collection released with it. Also, the icebrood saga currency reward where you get to choose icebrood saga currency from wvw and pvp tracks has coming soon for materials:

>

> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Icebrood_Saga_Material#vendor4

>

> Lots ot things that say the saga is not over. There is more than likely no more living world seasons before the next expansion so ice brood saga has a ways to go.

While I doubt that was the finale I wouldn’t be sure about there being a lot more episodes left. When they announced the saga they didn’t have any intention of making an expansion so who knows what’s been shuffled around to make room for it. And with it having a 2021 release date it may have been focused on for quite some time meaning a sooner release than expected.

And with all the other canned features like wvw alliances and presumably the legendary armory, along with the absence of an episode this month it feels like things have probably shifted internally as they’ve revised the rest of this saga to be an introduction the expansion.

> @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> Personally, and this is based off the conversation with jormag and aurene recently... I don't believe Jormag is going to exit the stage as quickly as we all might assume. I assumed we'd gut it and be done with it, finally end the norn arc and hang up the whole Idea of this farce once and for all and move back into familiar territory. However I feel like with Jormag saying "Your fear, as well your focus is misplaced" too Aurene as well as calling out her grandfather for his inability to control himself which stuns aurene is telling. As well Jormag apologizes politely and leaves the conversation, rather than berating our dragon it merely realizes it lost its temper or perhaps became snarky and chose to leave as it wants us on the side that it resides in. (There are some hints, that jormag is tired of the cycle.) This is further explained, by how it handled Asgeir and how it handled events going from when we discovered its existence. Let me bring up some minor key pieces, of which sets jormag apart from the other dragons even aurene.

>

> >! 1. So far its been the most hands off, its followers (Not even the minions) are the ones who have been causing destruction in their wake. They are a cult, and while it seems like Jormag pulls the strings Bangar is a prime example as to what Im sure it typically deals with. Im not sure that Jormag truly wanted... well anything linked to it to transpire, it to me seems as if its displeased and is now becoming more active in its approach as it seems to tire of this whole back and forth.

> >!2. It could of marched south at anytime, when we were in maguuma, when we were in Orr? Even now. Yet it doesn't not at all and it seems as if it is looking for something, something that is not important to us but is to it.

> >!3. One of the datamined chat pieces says "Jormags enemy" clearly linking us to be outside of the sphere, Im not even sure Primo is in there anymore despite knowing full well they have traded hands before. I think Jormag, and maybe primordus are both in the same mental state where they dont want to do this anymore; Primo's minions have been relatively docile since GW:EoN and Jormags are only riled up by the sons of svanir, which are a death cult. It to me seems more like hunters using dogs to hunt, they rile the lesser minded minions to do what they want and dont represent jormags presence or mindset. (Because clearly, shown with the Franir and Bangar, and even drakkar Jormag allows its minions to have free will. With only Bangar being used as a mouth-piece as he had the GULL the step up. And this is his inevitable conclusion, I hope he personally is like this forever. A slave. Just as he wanted for others.)

> >!4. Jormag could of killed us when it took ryland, it didn't. And It seemed to actively hinder and sabotage bangar, as to me the minions sent were not the most powerful with some of the strongest minions from lore not even appearing. Purposefully too Ryland was given our status but for jormag, he is to jormag what we are for aurene now and im sure that Jormag wanted this because to It this was one of the things Aurene had that it didn't. Mortals to fight with it, and Ryland ASKED of his own free will to be empowered... and jormag merely accepted the willingness of the young charr.

> >!5. Jormag helped braham, to become the wolf and I fully believe it was jormag who likely opened the way for that transformation. (This is not corruption, I think Jormag wants the norn to remember who they are..) Likely to save us from bangar and this was jormag being ever present. It wants us alive, it needs us alive because we might be along with aurene one of the few forces that can stop whatever is coming. To top this off Jormag so far has been showcasing a level of intelligence that only mordremoth showcased and to me, Mordremoth was likely driven to madness like kralk as was Zaithan. Why Jormag is different I am unsure; But the rampant madness and malice just isn't there. It states that its not a threat to Aurene's mortals, and to aurene all of tyria's people are hers to protect so that is Jormag outright acknowledging not only Aurene's power but also her status as well her desire and stating that it has not intention on harming us or anyone other than the threat. It also goes into wanting to "preserve" tyria which is an interesting way to phrase it.... given what we know will happen if another dragon falls... or if the gods or something from the mists try anything.

>

>

> To go along with this; Recently I got their anniversary art book. Reading through it they DID make Utopia the scrapped guild wars 1 expansion focused on the mists cannon, those events whatever they are in their entirety are cannon now? And we know from early interviews the elder dragons were not originally going to be the set up, leading into guild wars 2. They were Originally from the sounds of it going to go with some "Gods vs demons" scenario with likely the mists being a huge player, but decided not too and went with the dragons. Well as we have learned the dragons are basically the worlds way of regulating magic, and they may very well be tied somewhat loosely to the spirits of the wild and potentially having one of their own which is/was lost to them. Kralk refers to mother and we dont know of any such entity, at least not by name or concept up until now. Ontop of that we also dont know where the canthans derive their power from, I originally thought perhaps the canthans siphon her into their emperor every so often to ensure complete power. But now I wonder if perhaps when the six arrived, and subsequently durring some point in time when the mists seemed more sealed the spirits began to have issues interacting with tyria. Such as owl sealing herself off rather than being destroyed, I feel like perhaps the canthans are pulling from a darker pressence for that power. I feel like perhaps the envoy's are likely linked somewhat with it and I Feel like it might be from before the Six; In their absence and subsequent exodus especially know I feel like its not a dragon. I also feel like its not one of the six granting them this power; Yet this power was able to when shiro died, create cataclysmic destruction of which to that point we had not seen outside of the searing and now with the dragons.

>

> There are powers within the mists we know nothing about, End of Dragons likely will be the end of what we know guild wars 2 to be. The plot is about get much deeper with as I see it the potential for the mists and the origins of the six to be called into question. Remember until Balthazar died the dragons could not enter the mists of their own will, and their minions couldn't either. It is ONLY because Kralk got some of balths magic as well aurene that she can enter the mists, we can assume primo and jormag as well got some since jormag now can enter the mists. (Essentially meaning that it could appear anywhere in tyria now.) Im actually wondering if Jormag is going to lead us to cantha and if you listen, the voice talking to kunnavang sounds VERY much like the female voice from the icebrood saga's trailer. I think Jormag isn't going to end its journey here, no I think its going to be with us as we go to cantha. Sunqua peak also sets up the potential of a norn or norn in general being in cantha; Likely able to weather the ministry's attempts at purging because lets face it there is NO WAY they would defeat the norn. If the norn dont want to leave and are there they likely, wont be going anywhere and will stay to the snowy peaks where the yeti's were/are. Like the Olmakhan in Elona I feel like this will not only give us Hun/Mongol looking customizations for the norn but will have the norn continue, to be relevant in the story. Given the norns culture being very similar to the canthans and their themes being somewhat similar, and us knowing all creatures have a spirit of the wild residing over them? Likely I feel like perhaps they went there to see what spirits/animals/world existed there, and just never could make it back to the main land. I believe Jormag will in some method directly lead us to cantha; Hell Jormag might even take us there itself by luring us into its "trap" and then shanghaiing us to the battle-isle. They are setting Jormag up to be more than some evil, eldritch monster but it seems to have motivations beyond us and it doesn't seem interested in fighting us. It seems focused on something larger; Whatever that is means it is larger than aurene which is why it wants our help because it needs us just as much as we need It. They also said that jormag was going to challenge, and change how we see the dragons during the Icebrood presentation and likely at least to me that seems to suggest that Jormag will be .... more or less a frequent for us for a while yet.

Well the other voice is a new character which rules out Jormag, but I could see Jormag being involved in the plot. The saga seems like it was originally going to play out differently and has been shuffled to make room for the last minute expansion. So it wouldn’t surprise me. Just my opinion.

As to the power Shiro used, everyone will insist it’s Dwayna and anything else is a terrible retcon. Personally I’m all for expanding upon that notion.

I have a feeling Taimi could come to some revelations studying it.

Blind in general is just way too prevalent and spammable now on many builds.

Nothing like fighting a holo, doing well, and having them elixir stealth, invuln, and superspeed away only to come back and turret stun bomb you while repeatedly nuking you with grenades or knocking you back and stunning you with shield and nuking you with the other 20 high damaging attacks.

Yes, grenade spam is a definite problem and applies to far more than just holo. I don't see them making any adjustments to the holo traitline and imagine it will always be a jack of all trades with everything in its toolkit, but it would be nice if they didn't have the option to just spam high damage aoe attacks (that also apply a fairly high amount of conditions). And to the people saying the conditions are negligible because they're not running a condi-focused build, they still matter. There's no reason someone should have to face that kind of damage ontop of multiple stacks of bleed that trickle down health, blind that reduces your offensive abilities, chill, and poison that reduces your healing. Not just poison but 9 stacks of poison.

But there's really no point in complaining about it. They clearly have no interest in ever touching this class or seemingly any interest in addressing balance concerns.

If you have one on the other team, my advice is just to play something that completely counters them like condi mirage (assuming they're just nade spamming monkeys relying on build carry and get confused by too many clones), or some kind of necro build. Unfortunately a top level player playing this build will likely win no matter what, but if they're just playing fotm then you have a decent chance to beat them with counter-cheese and make them rage quit.

I feel like this particular image is already pretty close to sylvari.

I think figuring out a way to consistently add new races to the game would be a great idea though. I doubt Largos stand a chance but I can definitely see Tengu/Grawl/Trolls/Kodan. I’d personally love an elephant humanoid at some point. I don’t really know why though. ?

Tengu I think are much more likely than people expect. We’ve had a Kodan tonic added, a largos wing backpack and outfit, and Tengu were originally a possibility in vanilla with potential content already having been developed. We’ve not had any combat tonics with Tengu and they’ve always remained JUST out of reach for the entirety of the game. It feels like it’s always been a possibility. The same people saying Tengu aren’t ever going to make it are probably the same people that said we would never get Cantha, but here we are!

It would be nice to see some more guild wars 1 mobs like mantids and naga though.

Apparently it just produces 25 Amalgamated Draconic Lodestones.

......

> @"Eekasqueak.7850" said:

> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ectoplasmic_Stone looks like some infusions and some weapons

The recipe I posted isn't on that list.

It's specifically 250 crystal, 250 corrupted, 250 destroyer, and an ectoplasmic stone combined together.

There's a recipe using 250 crystal lodestones, 250 destroyer lodestones, and 250 corrupted lodetones combined with an ectoplasmic stone. Anyone know what this produces? There wasn't a recipe listed on the wiki and I'm too broke to buy all the lodestones. lol

Which elite skills rank the highest right now?

I'm going to assume:

Lich Form -

Turret Drop

Elixir S/Tornado

Daggerstorm?

Would love to see more impactful elite skills and a wider variety of viable options. As it stands every class has probably 2-3 elites that are pretty much irrelevant in this gamemode unless they're running a niche build. And some classes are left choosing elites that make next to no impact on their gameplay, like Mesmer unless you're running Mass Invis and core shatter. Jaunt's only real purpose seems to be condition clear and clone generation if you're running the trait.

Warrior - I'm glad for the rampage nerfs but it is kind of hilarious that this is the ONLY elite utility that's viable.

Also, why after 8 years are there still entire traitlines that don't have a corresponding elite utility? Like mesmer mantra or necro sigil? (Numerous others, these are just the only ones I can think of right now.)

> @"Henrik.7560" said:

> Holo is pretty stupid atm and every pvper currently at a high rating is just another holo abuser 80% of the time.

>

> Explosive entrance is ridiculously overpowered in pvp:

> - It does too much damage (crit up to 4-5k)

> - It can be pre stacked

> - It has no cd

> - with flash bang trait which everyone uses its even more stupid, blinding every single time and sometimes even dazing. GG anet.

>

> Elixir S is stupid giving both aoe stealth and self invul to secure stomps but that's been around for years, make it barrier+condi clear instead so theres at least counter play :smile: the stealth is ok

>

> Now let's talk about grenades, too much damage too quickly, nerf grenade 2 and barrage a bit either increase cd or reduce damage. Explosive entrance + grenade 2 can easily hit 10k.

>

> I will say this tho, Give prime light beam its damage back. It's a frickin elite skill with a huge cd and a huge tell. It shouldn't be worse than rifle 4. Nerf the rest first tho ty

>

> Ah yes then the decap scrapper garbage. Throw mine is ridiculously obnoxious knockback spam, especially when used with shield 4 and flamethrower. No one enjoys fighting this nonsense at all.

>

> Lots of things to fix with Anets little pet class.

I really enjoy prime light beam and have been using it on my holo despite the damage loss.

Or was until I fought another holo that tossed out the turret elite and I realized I was just running an inferior utility. :(

It does still have its uses though. Honestly was the damage from prime light beam ever the real issue before it was nerfed? Or was it the countless other traits people were abusing at the time combined with the burning if above the heat threshold? I can't remember. I'm sure it was pretty nasty at launch and it sucked to play against as a thief or mesmer that could just be tracked through stealth with a precast but it seems far less punishing in retrospect than tornado elixir or turret drop.

> @"Raizel.1839" said:

> I hope soon and please, not a Vision!

>

> Edit: ups i misread "where" as "when", whatever the location could be anywhere since Jormag can go through the mists like Kralk did, maybe the next steps of Bangar's achi will give us a clue.

Another roadmap would be nice. I'd imagine if there's any hope of getting something for the remainder of the year it will be in November between the festivals but it's likely to be a vision, imo.

They didn't really leave any hints as to what to expect for this coming episode so it makes sense to set it up with a vision and leave the remaining two maps for the first half of next year.

Though when I think about it, we've only had 2 maps in the past year and they said they planned on a 2021 release date for the expansion. So who knows if their previous presumed plan of 8 episodes is really even accurate anymore. They might have just rewritten the saga when they decided they were doing an expansion after all. Not that we'll ever know as they're seemingly rarely transparent about anything. That's just the feeling I got from the expansion announcement. I kind of originally felt like this Saga was meant to just be a continuous stream of content delivery when it was announced and then someone decided that was a no-no and they decided they wanted the Cantha expansion. Probably why Mike Z left.

I'd like to think that they're focusing on the expansion but for all we know it could be the other two living story teams working on the expansion by themselves and the other 200 employees working on some other ip that the gemstore sales are funding.

Hoping we'll hear more after Halloween as they've been back to stealth mode lately aside from the new fractal and bonus events. WvW alliances talk died, legendary armory hasn't been muttered about since the last post saying "coming months."

> @"Tyson.5160" said:

> If it’s true that the saga is 8 episodes, then we are looking two more full maps, split in half. My thought would be below Grothmar for one full map then the one map in the middle Far Shiverpeaks, if they decide to keep the maps strictly in the established EOTN areas.

What reason would they have to go near Grothmar again though? Bangar's forces have been dealt with and any more politics we have would likely take place at the Black Citadel or back in Grothmar in the already established map and keep.

If I had to guess I'd assume we'll get a vision involving the refugees that fled Drizzlewood and visit a map near that area to check in with them. If not there then we'll probably just stay close to Eye of the North.

Who knows though with Jormag moving through the mists and all that.