Aenesthesia.1697

> @"Tazer.2157" said:

> Once again not surprisingly the story is the weakest element in the episode and quite frankly spoils the entire episode. So well done. After you retconned and antagonized Smodur, you’ve killed him off in a similar manner. Also after building up Bangar, this bad kitten of a Charr who has always been ahead of you, who has rallied troops to his side, who convinced Ryland to attack Almorra, you’ve collared him and put him in a cage. Just why? Please just go ahead and kill Bangar off because he clearly doesn’t not belong in this sad excuse for a story. Let him and Smodur be erased from memory and have a peaceful afterlife far away from this dreadful story. To Smodur and Bangar, two bad kitten Charr who have been badly written. May you both Rest In Peace.

I think you are missing the point of the story. Jormag wakes up, and the first thing he does is turn Bangar into its voice. Hence, to Jormag, Bangar´s role is the most important there is. My take is Jormag will use Bangar to corrupt Aurene.

Making Ryland Jormag´s champions was almost an afterthought. It wouldn´t have happened were it not for Ryland begging for it. Clearly, the champion is not as important a role to Jormag.

As to whether this is justice for Bangar and Smodur, well, Bangar started a civil war and went against a dragon, only to be used by the dragon, it suits him.

Smodur, yeah, the last few episodes were a mess for him. I am glad they killed him, he had become a Meme at this point.

> @"ScottBroChill.3254" said:

> > @"Aenesthesia.1697" said:

> >

> > Tempest does have a tradeoff. If the tempest doesn't use the overloads, he is just a core elementalist with a wasted specialization. If he uses the overloads, he is punished with longer cds. In both cases, there's a tradeoff for being tempest.

>

> What kind of argument is that? The tradeoff of being Tempest is that if you don't use the overloads you don't get the benefit of the overloads? Its literally 4 extra skills that are extremely usefull boon and aura suppliers, stunbreakers, aoe fields and finishers that make it so I don't have to play the ele like a piano to get good results and you're telling me that is in some way a tradeoff? I guess you're right in a way, I traded out stress for relaxation.

>

> The traitline never counts as a tradeoff for other classes so I'm not sure if thats a good argument. Having an additional option in the form of overloads is also not considered a tradeoff because it is an option that is just additional whether you want to use them or not. The skills themselves are not a tradeoff for the class because what do you trade in order to have access to these skills? nothing.

>

> The problem lies in ele's core mechanic, attunements. It's less of a mechanic than it is a playstyle. It's more comparable to thief's initiative or revs legend swapping, which is why I think core ele should get an extra mechanic or unique buff because they can't really trade or alter attunements in many more ways than weaver did, and it will always cause a huge upheaval in balance.

I was answering the OP, who said that the tempest doesn't have a tradeoff because the longer cds after overloading atunements, can be bypassed by not overloading at all.

I said that it's a non argument: if you bypass the main specialization's most powerful mechanic, there's no point in going for that specialization in the first place. If you do use the mechanic to get the specialization's main benefits, then you face longer cds, and that's your tradeoff.

i find orcs boring and it would be too low effort to include those in GW2.

Also, there are more interesting races in game, like Tengu ir Kodan.

> @"Kodama.6453" said:

> Anet is trying to install trade offs in all elite specs of the game, which means that the elite specs lose something **permanently** compared to their core classes.

> Recently, they installed more trade offs to other classes, like removing the in combat pet swap from the soulbeast.

>

> Looking through the elite specs, tempest is the only one left without any real trade off in Anet's sense.

> I know that the attunement CDs are longer after overcharging, but the point is that the CD is just longer after using these. As long as you choose not to use the overload abilities, the tempest absolutely loses nothing compared to the elementalist.

>

> That's not like the trade offs for other classes. Reaper's can't choose not to use their Reaper's Shroud and use their Death Shroud instead. Holosmiths can't choose not to use their Holoforge and get back their access to elite toolbelt skills. Chronomancers can't choose not to use their new set of shatters in favour of the core ones.

>

> Tempest should get a real permanent trade off compared to the core elementalist. Most logical thing for me would be to increase their attunement CDs by default instead of just after overload use. But I want to ask you guys what you think, too. Is there another trade off you could think of to install in the tempest?

Tempest does have a tradeoff. If the tempest doesn't use the overloads, he is just a core elementalist with a wasted specialization. If he uses the overloads, he is punished with longer cds. In both cases, there's a tradeoff for being tempest.

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> This is so heartwarming to read. In moments like this, I wish I could experience the game from scratch again.

>

> A few notes about downed-state:

> - skill 4 can be interrupted by everything. If the NPC hits you while you heal, the skill gets interrupted and goes on cooldown.

> - skill 1 is you normal auto-attack, usually ranged.

> - skill 2 is a CC (= crowd control), which stuns or disables your opponent. Use it when it is about reach hit-range. This can buy you extra time to either slay it or heal up.

> - you always revive if you happen to kill an NPC while downed.

> - if you hit an NPC that is about to die and land a single hit, it counts as kill for you = revive. It is always worth to re-target on a NPC that is about to die.

> - if you are surrounded by NPCs, pick the one with the lowest HP bar and try to kill it.

> - sometimes there are other objects around, like turrets. Some count as NPCs, so if you kill a turret, you also get revived.

> - if you happen to meet a player who is downed and you see the enemy they hit is with low health, assist killing the NPC. In most cases this is faster than getting to the player and reviving them.

> - if you play THIEF or MESMER, do not use skill 2 when someone started to resurrect you. This also applies if you feel a regenerative effect while downed. If your HP goes up without pressing skill 4, do not port away.

> - there is a 5th downed skill in the game. It can be unlocked during LW Season 3 - Head of the Snake. It works in PVE and is highly overpowerd = worth to unlock.

> - if you happen to fight a champion, e. g. a bounty, try to use the CC skill on its break-bar. Some classes like the Engineer have two hard CC skills while downed and can easily stun such a powerful creature. While stunned, it is a lot easier to kill it and revive you. So if your CC is off cooldown, the enemy is in range and the breakbar (blue bar below HP bar) is visible, use that instead of auto-attack.

> - while in downed state, you constantly lose HP. You lose more HP when using skill 1. Some times it might be a wise choice to just wait till skill 4 is off cooldown instead of mashing skill 1. Especially if the NPC has too much health. Maybe you are lucky and a random adventurer comes by to aid you.

>

great summary. You forgot to say: if you are necro, you can even heal yourself up with the #1 skill, that also causes quite some damage.

There was even a meme pvp build in the past that consisted buffing everything that affected downed state, and then going to downed state on purpose, since it was like a god mode for the necro.

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"Aenesthesia.1697" said:

> > > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > > Where is my third option? Namely, "Great story contents through expansions."

> >

> > what's the expansion for?

>

> This would be the third time I'd have to type this today, so I'll simply copy and paste from [here](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1025246#Comment_1025246 "here"):

>

> > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > * I'm excited about the topics the next LW season will deal with. :) The graphics and cinematics looked awesome!

> > * **That said, I would prefer it to be an expansion. I don't mind the wait. I prefer story content that you can play through at once instead of being spoon-fed over the course of 1.5 years, that has a conclusion at the end (not counting any cliffhangers for upcoming stories) and has _one_ team that wraps up the whole thing and ensures it is well-rounded and - most importantly - consistent in terms of quality and coherence.**

> > * [...]

ah, but you don't know if the saga will be consistent in terms of quality and coherence or not, same as, even with a single team handling the expansion doesn't guarantee it will be workth playing.

which then, leads us to the second part: content that can be played at once and not being spoon fed. I see where you are going, but then all people are going to breeze past the content, ignoring 95% of it, only to complain the expansion is too short and there's not enough things to do. Been there, done that.

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Where is my third option? Namely, "Great story contents through expansions."

what's the expansion for? great story content you already get through the Living Story (well, at least there's no reason why the expansion story would be better).

> @"Eloc Freidon.5692" said:

> If you have Path of Fire you will get Heart of Thorns for free since new content coming out will benefit from all masteries.

>

> What about players who own HoT, but don't have PoF?

They can buy PoF like everyone else.

It's not so weird to give old content for free with new expansions. It would be weird to give current expansions for free to old players.

Happy Birthday ya all! and thanks Anet for the gifts!


I'm a badass Reaper and I am so cool and empowered that I'm gonna strike a pose to show my badasness in its full glory, on my seventh birthday, no less.


Girl, this scepter sure is heavy, hope no one can see how much effort it takes to keep it up.

Y, the Ascalonian. Cutting through the POF story while looking good and flashy.

(she is not an exibitionist, by the way. she wears minimal clothing because the magic resistant fabric she uses is so terribly expensive that she just couldn't afford more)

> 

To the OP: welcome and, just in case you missed it because i didn't see you comment on it, do stray out of the path when exploring the world. This game is full with secret passages, puzles, or just plain incredible sights where least you expect them. I'd go as far as saying it has the best explorable content of any mmo.

> @"FrostDraco.8306" said:

> > @"Aenesthesia.1697" said:

> > > @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > > > @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > > > > @"Aenesthesia.1697" said:

> > > > > > @"ATMAvatar.5749" said:

> > > > > > DPS meters make me a little sad, in that it inevitably results in skewed balance between classes to pacify the community. In the MMO's I've played that had DPS meters, PvE balance always resulted in equalizing class DPS across the board without regard for other factors like survivability and utility, and GW2 has been no exception to this.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > That said, DPS meters are a reality that isn't going away, so if we're going to have to live with them, I would at least want them to be as accurate and versatile as possible. ArcDPS is a valiant effort, but it definitely has some warts.

> > > > >

> > > > > With dps meters i can bring my necro to fractals and no one will say i do low damage just by seeing my profession.

> > > >

> > > > Same with ranger

> > >

> > > This is probably the second biggest myth. I still see players get chastised for bringing certain classes into fractals and raids. There's probably still LFGs that only want deadeyes and weavers. DPS meters didn't give permission for low performing classes to get into groups, they just give discriminatory players all the justification they need to kick first and ask questions never.

> >

> > At least now they kick based on damage. Before tdps meters, they kicked based on what they thought damage would be, based on some theoretical number that in a real fight was hardly achievable.

>

> And the whole reason that was even an issue is because what again? Oh right. The devs put misleading pop in's in the game which didn't show you actual DPS but total damage, so people had to use the pen and paper method, and that was the result.

>

> Congratz, you just debunked your own argument. Thank you for perfectly displaying why we needed dps meters.

>

> At least now, you can't say the kicks are never logically justfied :3.

>

> Progress.

I think you got confused, in all my posts i am saying that dps meters are good, so of course in this post i am still giving reasons why I think they are good, I am not debunking anything....

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > > @"Aenesthesia.1697" said:

> > > > @"ATMAvatar.5749" said:

> > > > DPS meters make me a little sad, in that it inevitably results in skewed balance between classes to pacify the community. In the MMO's I've played that had DPS meters, PvE balance always resulted in equalizing class DPS across the board without regard for other factors like survivability and utility, and GW2 has been no exception to this.

> > > >

> > > > That said, DPS meters are a reality that isn't going away, so if we're going to have to live with them, I would at least want them to be as accurate and versatile as possible. ArcDPS is a valiant effort, but it definitely has some warts.

> > >

> > > With dps meters i can bring my necro to fractals and no one will say i do low damage just by seeing my profession.

> >

> > Same with ranger

>

> This is probably the second biggest myth. I still see players get chastised for bringing certain classes into fractals and raids. There's probably still LFGs that only want deadeyes and weavers. DPS meters didn't give permission for low performing classes to get into groups, they just give discriminatory players all the justification they need to kick first and ask questions never.

At least now they kick based on damage. Before tdps meters, they kicked based on what they thought damage would be, based on some theoretical number that in a real fight was hardly achievable.

> @"ATMAvatar.5749" said:

> DPS meters make me a little sad, in that it inevitably results in skewed balance between classes to pacify the community. In the MMO's I've played that had DPS meters, PvE balance always resulted in equalizing class DPS across the board without regard for other factors like survivability and utility, and GW2 has been no exception to this.

>

> That said, DPS meters are a reality that isn't going away, so if we're going to have to live with them, I would at least want them to be as accurate and versatile as possible. ArcDPS is a valiant effort, but it definitely has some warts.

With dps meters i can bring my necro to fractals and no one will say i do low damage just by seeing my profession.

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > > @"Obtena.7952" said:

> > > Even DPS meters aren't needed, because we have rage timers in raids (or whatever you want to call them).

> > No. Enrage timers are the only reason why you would actually need DPS meters. So the opposite is true. When you have enrage timers you need to kill the boss within that time. If your group fails to achieve this, you want to solve that problem and improve your DPS so you can beat the boss. But how can you solve it and improve, when you don't know where the problem is? DPS meters will tell you where the problem is.

>

> This here is probably one of the biggest myths with DPS meters. They don't tell you how to improve. At all. They don't tell you where the problem is. They just give you a measure of your current standing. Saying a DPS meter improves your DPS is like saying a yardstick makes you taller. The only way a DPS meter "solves" the problem is if you kick players with lower DPS and invite in somebody better.

No. The first step to self improvement is knowing where you are. That's why you see all those fitness obsessed guys with their wearables. If you cannot measure your performance, how do you know you are improving? How do you know you are not going in the wrong direction?

only people that are perfect (cannot improve) or mediocre (don't want to improve) or are in the wrong place (don't care... But still want to do high level fractals or raids) don't need to know how they are performing.

> @"Cynn.1659" said:

> **Dps meters need to be removed**

> Dps meters are the worst thing that has happened to this amazing game. They ruin all the fun for real playerbase,not even 1% of the players finished even one raid boss. Raids and dps meters bring nothing but toxic elitism to the game. You can't even have fun in tier one fractals these days, as someone will be insulting you for the way you play. Raids need to go away and dps meters need to be banned. Real part of the playerbase that keeps the game running plays open world. It's the best kind of content this game has to offer.

> **What does open world offer?**

> 1. Joy of exploration.

> 2. Teamwork of overcoming challenges.

> 3. People helping each other.

> 4. Gathering of useful resources..

Dps meters are great. I've been doing fractals for some time, and i wanted to impprove my performance but couldnt because there was no way to measure it. One day an asshole called me out for my low dps and i then discovered that dps meters existed. Did i cry? Did I whipp?

No, i installed the dpsmeter and discovered that the asshole was correct in his appreciation (though i don't care for his manners) and started changing my gameplay to eat more damage and trust more on the healer that is there for a reason. Boom, my damage improved, a lot, which is nice being a glass cannon.

Open world can offer many things, but teamwork? Dont make me laugh, there's no teamwork in spamming autoattacks. Eople helping each other? I've only seen it in hot maps and mindless farms. Open world could be great, but it's devoid of emotion because there is no chance to fail.

> @"acelara orion.4210" said:

> the game is dead as soon as ASHES OF CREATION comes in the play__we all know that, sorry but truth. How can i be sure? alpha tester here and been playing gw 2 for 2 years now. people are hungry for new mmo. just see how people jump into bless though deep down inside people knew it would be bad. Now if ashes of creation doesnt mess up big time that would be the next themepark mmo__ You would say im saying this because i hate the game but no__last 2 years played minimum 4 hours daily done with raids and fractals so yes i love the game but its stale right now. I dont enjoy living story update as much as others do but im into in regular contents. Sorry

People always want a new mmo. These are usually the people that blow through an mmo like it's a rpg.

There's no way for any developer to possibly keep up with the cravings of people that play 4 hours a day. No way at all. The only thing that can help, is a healthy role playing community and a good open pvp system. This game has none of those, but neither does wow. so wow survives by churning out content (that still looks like it's 2004), the rest survive by being relatively new.

I used to play wow daily and after one year, the only thing that kept me going was my raid. If it wasnt for that, i would have quit the game at least one year sooner.

My revenant Cadeyrn



> @"Kal Spiro.9745" said:

> Sorry, I don't have an actual answer for you, just the question. Why? Why do you even need this?

dps meters help you improve. After installing arc, I discovered that my damage in fractals was pretty bad. This was obviously because i was moving and dodging and curing all over the place, instead of letting our healer do his job.

But until you don't see it, you don't believe it. I discovered that dps can and will plummet if you don't find the way to be efficient.

Only once someone told me my dps was bad. And i had been sucking all of my life before that!!!!

My salad rev. Just learning to play renegade.

> ![pic](https://imgur.com/nws7Tj8.jpg"")

> 

Nadine in her previous incarnation. Now she looks even more badass, but i don't have pictures of her yet.



> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> No this is a great idea. It also encourages the idea of playing builds that aren't the usual raid subgroup builds that rely on some druid to heal bot them. This is the kind of content we need more of.

>

> Upon that, the marionette was just awesome and I'd like to be able to replay that content in a difficult manner. I'd like to see a challenging CM come with this.

yes, once we have forced people to gear their healbot, let's make it obsolete so they can chew on their recently acquired equipment (in my case, i haven't even finished equipping him)

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > It's just a way to make sure you get decent players. Maybe you already cleared the CMs but the group disbanded. Maybe you don't feel like playing CMs today. In any case, there's nothing wrong with asking for whatever you feel like asking as a requirement for your group.

>

> It sort of is. Having unreasonable requirements for content shuts out people who are experienced but unlucky, people who have differing playstyles and don't want to grind at CMs, prefer to play their individualized classes and do it well, people who are good but otherwise inexperienced, and so on. Every time somebody makes a "LNHB META CLASSES WE USE METERS", it is spitting in the face of the rest of the community, and it continually propagates the myth that these kinds of requirements are necessary for anything. There is a reason why we call this "toxicity": it spreads and poisons the community. Hostility breeds hostility, elitism breeds prejudice, and there's a reason why it took thousands of years for the concept of "inclusivity" to become a thing.

>

> When I have to make my LFG specifically say that all classes are allowed, just to prevent random joiners from hijacking it and making their own demands, there is a problem.

Sorry but you are way off.

Anyone can start a LFG and request whatever they want. I understand people wanting to complete the CM within a reasonable amount of time, and I understand the requisites they come up with, even though it means I will never get in their groups. It doesn't have to do with elitism, but with people not wanting to take forever to complete a dungeon.

Nothing keeps me from starting my own lfg looking for inexperienced players that want to have a good time dying, or even super experienced players to carry me because I don't have experience and i will inevitable drag the team, because I know I am not that good that I can play CM without seriously screwing up until I get the hang of it. If someone is willing to join me, then so be it.

I bet that CM experienced players will rather join the 'elitist' group, I would also do it, most of the time.

I do open a lot of 'everybody welcome' groups for T1 fractals, by the way. And it feels nice to help people get into fractals, but if you have limited playtime and the fractal has some special mechanic that requires coordination, then prepare to spend a lot of time.

> @"Kheldorn.5123" said:

> No, fractals as a whole are supposed to be not as hard as raids, T4s included. The only fractals intended to be raid-like experience are CMs. So please, stop highjacking content that is not for you. This is what you are interested in: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Raid

WHo is hijacking what? We are not demanding that easier fractals are removed. You are the want that wants to turn T4 fractals into an easy farm (which they already are, with a decent group), thus making the other 3 tiers completely innecesary.

> @"Kheldorn.5123" said:

> So Ben and Co, fractals are not raids. CMs being raid levele of annoyance/difficulty are okay, as they are supposed to be introduction to raid content. T4s are not. You are pushing your new ridiculous desings alienating people who want their dungeon level content that you promised to deliver in form of fractals after HoT. So please stop competing with raid team. You are going to please a vocal minority in expense of general crowd.

This would actually make sense... if there weren't 3 tiers with less difficulty of the same dungeon.

Do you realise how dumb it sounds, to attemp the toughest dungeon in the toughest setting, and complain because it is... tough?

Besides, you are mistaken if you think raids should be the most challenging content of the game.

They should be, for 10 people groups. I am glad that we have fractals for 5, where you can easily pug and time spent playing is longer than time spent lfg and, OK, you wipe from time to time, or often, but that's the point. If you know you are always going to beat the dungeon, why bother playing?