Bast.7253

Staff thief had an actual place in pvp?

I guess people vault spamming for high damage was an issue but 100% superspeed uptime and 25 stacks of might and bonus damage on dodge with an additional aoe nuke attached to a heal is fine.

What a joke.

I can sacrifice 2 traitlines for damage and have next to no condition clear or defensives, or I can sacrifice damage for sustain. Meanwhile we've got a symbol guard standing on one point pumping out burns, damaging and healing with symbols, and spamming aegis. Reapers with multiple teleports and 66% swiftness, ever expanding blinding wells, an extra health bar, chill and cripple, and ridiculous damage.

And holos sprinting around the map in between fights resetting cooldowns on an already broken toolkit tossing grenades for bleeds, chill, vuln, poison, and ridiculously broken damage.

> @"Sifu.9745" said:

> > @"Leonidrex.5649" said:

> > @"Sifu.9745" how can the damage be " not bad " if you are running EM and not IH along with dueling and chaos? what does do damage?

>

> Hmm, i have never tried out IH, my bad. It looks like completely useless trait ... When i play Mirage (and i don't play it often) i wanna rely on defensive playstyle mostly. Is the dmg difference really that noticeable, if you take IH? I mean it's just my illusions get Mirage cloak for 1.5 second, right? And they have to hit my opponent/s with Ambush and i can't guarantee that hit will happen. Sometimes they are too far away. I don't want to rely much on my clones and AI for the dmg part. Anyway Axe and torch do ok dmg, Scepter #3 is not bad either.

> If i want to do real dmg i would play power GS Chrono. Mirage is just for annoying people. More kind of bunker spec :)

The advantage even if it doesn’t hit is confusing the opponent. If it’s just you doing the ambush it’s easier to see where you are. But yeah, I think it’s a significant increase. I also really like it on greatsword.

> @"Kuma.1503" said:

> > @"WillPaharu.4837" said:

> > I got these fire balls flung at me and I was dead in 0.2 seconds. Had full health 0.2 seconds before that. The combination with their stuns and the barrage of hits, it's hard to dodge it all. Please devs, hear the cries of the people. help us. Renegade's are taking over!!!

>

> Fire balls? You got hit by a citadel bombardment. It's one of the most avoidable skills in the game. It also comes with a hefty energy cost so most won't bother casting it unless their target is in hard CC first. If you're unfortunate enough to tank one, offer up a prayer to the RNG gods and maybe 99% of the missiles will miss you.

>

> Look for the big orange portal above the renegade's head and you'll know when to dodge. If you get hit by scorchrazer, be prepared to stunbreak or immediatly dodge when the stun ends so you don't tank all of the missles.

>

> It's a bit of a meme. Costly, hard to land, but huge payoff if it does. Basically the equivalent of a Falcon Punch in Gw2.

Seven shot can look like a fireball to someone who doesn’t know what it is.

And yes, the damage is really high. Especially considering the conditions the weapon skill also puts out. But the same applies to grenades and 10 other builds because for some reason the devs just like throwing conditions on every weapon.

> @"Leonidrex.5649" said:

> > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > I've seen two mesmers using this build. They have total condi cleanse, constant clones and stealth, ambush attacks everytime they disappear.

> >

> > Would really love to know how they're accomplishing this one with dodge and condi clear coming from that one dodge.

> >

> > They're usually running scepter, torch, and I'm not sure about the other weapons.

> >

> > Also to note, NEITHER one would say what their build was with one of them being a smart allec and saying "pve."

> >

> > The fact that neither one would disclose their build and I've scoured numerous traitlines to repeat the same sustain and damage tells me that there is a third party program involved. If this was attainable by a simple change of build mirage wouldn't be trash tier in ranked right now.

>

> im curious, how can you fight something and not even know what weapons they use?

> btw you cant have IH and EM :)

I mean, have you ever fought a mirage?

I can play as one and barely see the screen.

It's not like warrior where everything is extremely telegraphed and there isn't visual clutter. Staff, scepter and axe are obvious, as is torch. I'm assuming it's sword given that I didn't see pistol or focus attacks.

> @"Starbreaker.6507" said:

> Is it me, or are the even the troll posts just low effort lately?

>

> Maybe it all ebbs and flows with the balance Anet gives this mode.

Is it just me or does this post do nothing to contribute?

On a relevant note, the closest I've gotten to replicating their build is running chaos/illusions/mirage.

This is with axe/torch pistol/sword.

Still isn't putting out the consistent conditions that these builds were.

I've seen two mesmers using this build. They have total condi cleanse, constant clones and stealth, ambush attacks everytime they disappear.

Would really love to know how they're accomplishing this one with dodge and condi clear coming from that one dodge.

They're usually running scepter, torch, and I'm not sure about the other weapons.

Also to note, NEITHER one would say what their build was with one of them being a smart allec and saying "pve."

The fact that neither one would disclose their build and I've scoured numerous traitlines to repeat the same sustain and damage tells me that there is a third party program involved. If this was attainable by a simple change of build mirage wouldn't be trash tier in ranked right now.

> @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > @"reddie.5861" said:

> > so wheres the dmg? some heart seaker spam on below 25% hp?

> True. I am confused about the build. He used DA, Tr, DrD.

>

> DA is only for impressive heartseeker spam below 50% hp (synergy with the executioner trait). CS does these numbers at any time.

Yeah, and backstab actually feels meaningful with CS.

I haven't considered running deadly arts but have tried out a crit/s/a/trickery core build that I've found to do a pretty high amount of damage. It does suck not having the daredevil dodge and with the insane amount of cleave and aoe in this game you have to be really careful but it's been a blast.

Might have to look into this version though as the damage only seems slightly lower for what seems like a bit more sustain.

> @"jsp.6912" said:

> gold tier (plat 1 gold 3) is zooland

It's just a never ending purgatory of bots, wintrading, and extremely skewed matches. There's really no point in trying to get anywhere with the rating system. The match is decided before the screen loads. Enjoy getting 5 top stats and fighting 3v1 on a cap while your team can't even manage to get another or spends half the match chasing some ranger or thief.

If they aren't bots then matchmaking is pulling in bronze and silver players into this bracket. Which usually leaves the other side having anywhere from gold 3 to plat 3.

It's just so laughably bad at this point. You can't even enjoy farming gold anymore because you're going to get stomped to the point that you might as well sit in base if matchmaking wants you to lose. If it wants you to win you could play the worst build imaginable and still win by a landslide.

I still don't understand why everyone assumes that killing Primordus means that Jormag is free from that weakness? Why wouldn't Jormag just be vulnerable to the multiple other dragons that absorb his domains when he gets defeated?

Then again I don't understand how Mordremoth was able to presumably use death magic from Zhaitan given that they were opposites. You'd think that absorbing it would be more harmful than beneficial but none of this really seems to make a ton of sense.

I mean all that with the unstable abomination and all. You'd think similar would happen to Jormag too if it absorbed something from Primordus.

I don't know, at the very least it doesn't seem like Jormag would be free from that vulnerability and it's not really something we've seen before because none of the other dragons assaulted Mordremoth with Death magic.

I know a lot of people don't want to see it because they're afraid of Aurene becoming a deux ex dragon again, but I'd really like to know/see other spectrums of Aurene's magic. So far all it seems like all we've really seen is presumably plant and crystal. (Maybe mind? Or was that just because of her being a crystal dragon?) Have we ever seen anything involving Zhaitain's magic?

It feels like she could play a more significant role in the franchise without necessarily impacting the player character, like cleansing Orr or rebranding/healing the current brand or cleansing/healing some of the unchained risen in Orr. Or even branding Taimi as a way of freeing her from her condition.

I'd really hope for a future living season that isn't some strictly linear story like Icebrood has been that allows the team to dive into plots like this, Malyck, and the numerous others sitting on the shelf. Something that allows us to see an actual LIVING world that's changing, (even if it's new maps in familiar regions).

For that matter they could, at some point, create Visions of the Past around them but it seems Visions will be yet another feature that quickly get scrapped and only exist in this season to introduce us to the next episodes. So many devs and they always seem like there is so little content, but I guess for free content there can't be too high of expectations.

Anyway, I'd have to agree with Konig about the threat on the horizon being more than Primordus. I originally anticipated it being more than just another elder dragon in general. But I also wouldn't be surprised if it WAS Primordus in the end and he was provoked by Jormag in the first place.

I had hopes that the threat would be something more sinister and alien, perhaps something that was stirred from the recent activity in the mists. Demons, gods, whatever. Some foreign power that we haven't really experienced. But I don't think that's within their scope of the franchise and may not be until the dragons are dealt with. I personally enjoy the elder dragons and the mystery behind them but I can definitely see the appeal in branching out and exploring other things. The voice in Deepstone, the demons in Bastion, some origin story about some of the original races like the Seers/Mursaat, the Obelisks of the Krait, etc.

So much story in this game and it feels like, at least at the current pace and how linear and focused this saga has been alone, we'll probably never explore it.

> @"Cruxx.3186" said:

>

> > I agree it seems like every 2 episodes has an interval release. But this time I think the fractal is filling that slot, it's perfectly timed and comes with more than just a new fractal - its own achivements category, weapon set, infusion, cm, and some CM quality of life for fractals.

>

> Hm a bit disappoiting for people who dont do CMs. And isnt there a special team for every episode? There was also a different team responsible for the fractal, so the one thing has nothing to do with the other. I dont like that they leave us in the dark about the next episode, they couldve told us that the next episode/ vision will be skipped for the fractal thing. And the 6 cheap fractal achievements are nothing near a normal living world release..

>

>

They sort of did tell us with the roadmap. They had the fractal as the last thing listed with no mention of an episode. While I agree that it doesn't do much for people that aren't invested in challenge modes they did sort of tell us. They also mentioned that they'll be having a fractal bonus event. (Yee haw, more banners and 5 gem goodies like repair canisters or whatever.)

So yeah, I'm assuming Halloween is next and then we MAY get a vision in November. I wouldn't be surprised to not see anymore episodes this year. I guess that's why they set Jormag Rising up as kind of a "conclusion" to at least this part of the story.

I found it to be pretty easy on normal. Well, not easy, just very telegraphed and having the intro to the mechanics on the previous bosses made it better. My one gripe is the water portion.

The mini boss has tethered orbs with no real indication of what you need to do outside of 111111'ing a pile of rocks, and on the final boss you can die pretty quickly from random things. I'm also not sure what the point of the tether is. I guess that's the ability that will kill you if you aren't standing with your group? Moving closer didn't seem to make much of a difference so presumably you can just stick to each other for that entire part of the fight.

The projectiles can really do you in if you get hit by multiple ones at a time but I found that portion of it to be pretty telling compared to previous uses of the same mechanic. The Nightmare boss fractal has something similar I believe and I find the projectiles to sometimes not line up with the projected path, but on this boss if you stood in what looked like a safe area between them you had pretty good elbow room before you get hit.

All in all in normal mode my biggest issue was with the jumping puzzle part where you have to collect the orbs to jump. And that portion was pretty unpredictable with the platforms being a bit higher than they probably need to be. Especially the last 2.

Yeah, they probably shifted the whole 3 devs they had working on pvp to help iterate on the elite specs coming with the expansion. Honestly if it speeds it up I don't even care at this point.

At least we'll have brand new elite specs and people will be too busy trying them out finding new things that are broken and never getting attention. A change of gameplay would be welcome at this point.

I'm hoping the next necro spec is strictly single-target power damage without excessive aoe.

Or another zoo necro build using skeletons and Shiro'ken. That way I can continue laughing as my minions play the game for me.

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said:

> > @"Bast.7253" said:

> >

> > So you're saying that the elements are in disorder because Ai has corrupted them with whatever has a hold on her?

> >

> > If that's true that could be pretty revealing, especially given the challenge mode and those spirits that we face. We face similarly named spirits in Malchor's Leap so it could be an interesting link to the DSD assuming that those spirits are in relation to the DSD.

> >

> > But I like the idea of the DSD having domains of water and spirit and look for loose connections wherever I can find them.

> >

> > I wouldn't think it would be the plague/affliction moving forward but I guess I could see it being relevant in the fractal. Could also be paving the way for them explaining that the plague and the events that Shiro unleashed may be expanded upon to fit the elder dragon narrative if that's where they're going.

> >

> > Maybe people will find more hints as time goes on. I don't know how much more there is to read into though.

>

> It certainly appears that way after beating Challenge mode as it ends with Ai banishing a strange shadow that is being separated from her.

>

> Whatever this shadow is tried to take over Ai using her doubts, sorrow, and fear.

>

> Where this shadow has gone we can only guess but it is certainly not the end of it for certain.

>

> If this shadow maybe linked to the DSD then it may support even more about the DSD control over Nightmares and using the emotions of nightmares (doubt, sorrow, and fear) to control beings.

I don't think it would specifically be "nightmares" though. I mean there definitely doesn't seem like a solid pattern between the domains of the dragons, i.e. mind/persuasion/fury/shadow/conflagration. Nightmare seems oddly specific yet too broad at the same time.

I wish there was somekind of understandable theme between them instead of feeling like the devs just chose things at random.

Water? and ------ - Crystal and Fury

Plant and Mind - - - - ---- Death and Shadow

Fire and Conflagration ------ Ice and Persuasion.

Whatever the other domain is I would think that it has to be something that counters Kralk's domains of Crystal and Fury.

Though looking at the other match-ups, Plant/Life vs Death, Fire vs Ice. Water vs Crystal?

I suppose "Fear" COULD work, but it feels kind of lame. I guess no more lame than than conflagration, persuasion, or fury though.

> @"EdwinLi.1284" said:

> > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > As I just wrote on the other thread: I got every bit of Li Bo's story, but not a single bit about the fractal's. What made the element(al)s so angry? And who was the final boss, as I don't recall her name from GW1?

> >

> > > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > > Well I feel like I remember reading those names on the graves, but it still doesn't really mean anything. Are they just a random family?

> >

> > Yes. The sad fate of Bo, Ai, and their daughter Lan (a tale of love, family, and war against the plague). It's their graves.

> >

>

> Perhaps the hint about Cantha the developers speaks about is not about the Fractal but the story of this family.

>

> You said the story is about this family and the war against the plague.

>

> Maybe the hint is about what this family went through.

>

> Perhaps the hint is related to the Plague.

>

> We maybe looking too much into the fractal as the hint itself but did not consider this little side story about this family and the Plague is the real hint about Cantha.

>

> The more I look into this the more I feel the warning Ai maybe trying to keep people away from her because of something. Something that maybe involving herself becoming a danger to other people beyond losing control of her own powers.

>

> We are after all acting in the place of someone who went up to Sunqua Peak to obtain something from this person and Ai keep saying it is not safe for people to be here. However, it is more implied, in my opinion, not safe to be near her due to her very presence maybe corrupting things around her to a spiritual level.

>

> The mountain was never corrupted until this Ai arrived and isolated herself in Sunqua Peak which means she is the source of the unrest but why maybe inside this little lore about this family and the Plague.

>

>

> Dessa says whatever is corrupted Ai it is not Dark Magic but something Sinister.

>

> We see something new that appear in challenge mode fight being the embodiment of Ai's sorrow, fear, and doubt.

>

>

So you're saying that the elements are in disorder because Ai has corrupted them with whatever has a hold on her?

If that's true that could be pretty revealing, especially given the challenge mode and those spirits that we face. We face similarly named spirits in Malchor's Leap so it could be an interesting link to the DSD assuming that those spirits are in relation to the DSD.

But I like the idea of the DSD having domains of water and spirit and look for loose connections wherever I can find them.

I wouldn't think it would be the plague/affliction moving forward but I guess I could see it being relevant in the fractal. Could also be paving the way for them explaining that the plague and the events that Shiro unleashed may be expanded upon to fit the elder dragon narrative if that's where they're going.

Maybe people will find more hints as time goes on. I don't know how much more there is to read into though.

> @"foozlesprite.8051" said:

> The fractal story itself seemed rather disjointed/incoherent. And I say that as someone that's been replaying Cantha in GW1 recently/knows existing lore, read all the achievement books and shrine text in the fractal, and has had some time to sit and talk about it with friends.

>

> I understand what happened in the achievement books, but it's hard to get a clear picture of what happened in the fractal itself (and would have been even moreso for someone that didn't read the achievement books). There's absolutely no reason that you should only learn who the boss is on the tier 100 CM, since it's crucial to trying to figure out what's actually been going on the whole time. And even after learning who she is, it still leaves me wondering about other NPCs and some of the text on the shrines.

>

> The fractal was gorgeous and the fights were fun, but whatever they were trying to do story-wise it really wasn't as clear as it needed to be. There's something to be said for doing some sleuthing to arrive at an answer, but this was perhaps a bit too esoteric. Hopefully the actual Cantha story feels a bit less slapdash.

>

> >! FWIW, I think the elk/deer is Bo and Ai's daughter, Lan. That's why she speaks childishly and gets words mixed up, and asks you not to hurt Ai, and says maybe it's better if Ai doesn't know it's her.

Well I feel like I remember reading those names on the graves, but it still doesn't really mean anything. Are they just a random family?

But yes, the story felt like it was pretty jumbled. But I guess that's what you get when you decide to try to make a story fit into a fractal you've repurposed from years back and only have a few gemstore skins and rarely used npc models to plug in.

It was a fun fractal for sure and the scenery was nice, but I guess I set my expectations unrealistically high since it seemed there may not be another living world episode or vision progressing the story this year and this seemed like it was kind of taking the slot of one.

I mean, doing the challenge mode and all the collection achievements did it even explain why the elements are out of balance? Was it because of this woman?

> @"darren.1064" said:

> > @"Brimstone Jack.3462" said:

> > > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > There are tons of builds with defense mechanics that reduce the reaper shroud auto attacks (where most of the damage comes from) to pathetic triple-digit numbers. You need 3 or 4 whole auto attack rotations to kill them, if (!) they don't dodge, evade, block, disengage...

> > >

> > > How long do you think facetanking reaper shroud should not be punished until you consider the spec balanced?

> >

> > Nailed it. 99% of complaints about Necros in general boil down to "I can't facetank this DUELING CLASS and refuse to change my playstyle to deal with it, despite them having garbage mobility and almost no stunbreaks on many builds" or "condi classes are too stronk." Then they get livid when the actual answer to their problem is to get better at the game.

>

> Reaper and Necro in general have decent mobility nowadays. While they don't have thief movement ability, they have multiple shadowsteps/ports that function in getting them in and out of fights. So that isn't a valid reason for reaper to be as dominating as it currently is. A button mash class that is taking full advantage of spin 2 win at the moment.

They also have swiftness on shroud, which with speed runes gives 66% movement speed, spectral grasp to pull people in, an ever increasing blind field, poison for some reason on shroud 4 (which seems like it should require traiting for and specifically going condi but for some reason they just want to add conditions to every ability in this game even for power builds), protection, stability, regen. I don't even know what traits these reapers are running but popping into shroud at the slightest pressure and gaining stability, swiftness, protection, regen, AND quickness pretty much negates any counterplay they used to have. Unless they're getting focused by multiple people or going up against something with a cc heavy build. Add that to movement-impairing effects being removed means no cripple or immob is going to slow them down and they'll just consume conditions after exiting shroud to gain life force to rinse and repeat.

I just think the damage needs to be toned down. They already have multiple self-sustain boons, an extra health bar, aoe fear, a blinding well, poison stacks to negate healing, quickness on auto attack, insane ferocity boosts, higher crit chance in shroud, and multiple damage modifiers baked into many of their traits.

Not saying they're the worst offender or that they can't be countered, just that the don't have the trade-offs that they used to for the damage they put out.

I guess the "surprise" is that this is "the girl from the picture." I don't know what picture Dessa is talking about but I'm assuming the painting of the canthan people in the Seraph's office in Divinity's Reach that we see throughout other areas of the game?

Or is the surprise that the ministry of purity is killing people who are suspected of having the affliction? Or was that a known fact already?

I don't know. I guess I should have realized that it was going to be inconsequential and hype. The fact that the letter collection is called "Another Side, Another Story" seems to be mocking the fact that it's just another side story.

It looks like the elementals show up near the end and there may be some more dialogue with the last boss but I'll just wait for someone to post it.

> @"Jack Swiftclaw.9076" said:

> Where is it stated that there is an Icy Tundra like poles? I can't find any information on that.

Probably assuming based on real world geology but in a video game that doesn’t really apply. Lol

> @"Hannelore.8153" said:

> Well if you look at the GW1 map, between PoF and LS4 we got almost all of Crystal Desert and Elona. The important areas, at least. I imagine Cantha will be the same, sparse at expansion release and filled in by the following Living World season.

>

> That said, Cantha is smaller than Elona--its barely bigger than the Maguuma Wastes & Heart of Maguuma combined.

The areas in this vary in our current map but Cantha is about the size of our current fully discovered map almost according to this. We only saw a portion of Cantha in gw1. But I have no doubt they'll have to shrink it down some.

https://blog.thatshaman.com/2014/11/updated-high-resolution-map-of-planet.html

So what happened to that balance patch awhile back that reduced power damage coefficients?

Ya'll forget reaper? Or is it just the 501 traits buffing ferocity and raw damage output that negates the entire point of that patch?

Getting really tired of having 2+ reapers every match.

Just play reaper and face tank everything with multiple boons, constant life force, and spin to win. Run speed runes and swiftness on shroud for ridiculous mobility.

Honestly, reaper is in dire need of a damage nerf for the sustain that it has.

> @"Kodama.6453" said:

> > @"anduriell.6280" said:

> > > @"Mini Crinny.6190" said:

> > > This guy literally said the same thing in the ranger sub-forum so I guess the new fractal showed off all elite specs

> >

> > Well i like the design of the new boss and we can agree it clearly is a ranger or an ele new spec.

>

> Or the third option: the boss is simply a cool npc and _doesn't showcase any new elite spec whatsoever_.

Most likely scenario.

As weaver already has mainhand sword I don't see them reworking not only 1 but 2 weapons for 4 attunements. Weaver was quite the undertaking as is, granted that's because of the way weaver works, but still.

Off-hand sword, MAYBE. But doubtful as we just had mainhand with weaver.

I COULD see Ele's getting a pet-based spec but I highly doubt any of this is eluding to any new elite spec. People were speculating that Almora's abilities were eluding to a new guardian spec and I see that just as unlikely.

Just look at how many npc's we had in Draconis Mons, like dual pistol mesmers as an example. People speculated that it was hinting at POF elite spec for mesmer, then we get mirage that uses axe.

As much as I'd welcome a power melee spec that isn't a condi bruiser like weaver, if we're going based off of this npc the high movement aspect looks pretty similar to what we already have with the dagger playstyle.

And Almora's abilities looked pretty pointless for open world or pvp. How useful would a random zig-zag dashing line of flame ability be? And the other was somekind of pulsing aoe that sent out beams of light or something wasn't it?

I've had two drop from wvw, an axe and a torch I believe.

I had my first ever pre drop from the mystic forge just the other week, after 8 years of playing this game. I don't know why but I randomly decided to forge some of my rares from a Dragon Fall run and the first rares I forged I got Storm.

Of course I was also in the middle of working on the wvw legendary trinket and Shining Blade and don't have map completion on anything else yet, but it's a nice goal to have for in the future.

> @"Blocki.4931" said:

> I'd say we probably get one big PoF sized map per unique area. I'd love to see Kaineng City as a huge map with events happening all over the place. This could either be really, really awful because of how claustrophic it can feel, or amazing.

While it's not likely Arenanet had some really neat concept art (presumably for an entirely different game) of a high tech futuristic Tokyo-esque scene. I'd love for Kaening to be using this aesthetic and be its own zone filled with some weird grand-theft auto style events and underground criminal enterprises. Realistically it will just be a large sprawling area using Lab Cliffs and Crystal Oasis zephyrite assets, but it's a dream. I'm probably one of the few that really liked the mesh of sci-fi and fantasy in this game. The slums in Kourna/Gandara seem like they could have been really neat on a larger scheme and a non-terrible meta. lol

As far as the maps go, given how large Cantha is I'm hoping they find a way to make the maps larger in hopes that we get to explore known and unknown areas. It's a huge continent and we saw so little of it during Guild Wars 1. There's quite a bit to the west and a ton to the south that we never explored. There's also the fact that humans arrived on Cantha from somewhere else originally making room to discover even more ancient human civilzations than ever before. Granted I believe the speculation was that they came from another landmass, possibly the one titled "Arid" on the globe.

I do hope Kaening is fairly large and has a lot of verticality though. Most of the maps in GW1 aside from Echovald didn't seem like they would have a lot of room for highly vertical maps and with the addition of mounts I feel like they would have to either be pretty creative at adding it while keeping to the original aesthetic, or make the maps larger to not feel so claustrophobic.