DoctorOverlord.8620

> @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > You can argue that **but it is still optional**. Of course I would also say that you *should* do it if you like playing GW2, its a given. But no one is forcing the LS on people. Dont people start the LS to... kind of complete it? Whether it contain a DRM, a dungeon, or whatever is irrelevant. I think we're talking about different things. You're talking about gameplay while I'm talking more about essential foundations for the game that should be shared among the community. I'm just saying there are some elements to any MMO that are basic parts of the experience. Character creation and customization. Combat. Exploration. And I would rank Story as essential as any of these, but that's just my opinion. I suppose there are those who don't care about the story and ignore all dialog and lore, just like there might be people who play RPGs like Mass Effect and ignore the dialog choices and just want to grind to the boss fights. You can certainly play RPGs that way, but it would be like playing GW2 to only to farm nodes and sell mats on the TP to see how much gold you can gather (Which you could do and even eventually reach max level weirdly enough). To each their own.... >This argument that its not optional would be the same as saying raids arent optional. Dont they do exactly what you say? > Raids don't really tell the story. They give (sometimes important) pieces of background lore, but they won't explain why undead are running around Orr or why Lake Doric is a mess. To share and understand the background and lore that is familiar to the GW2 community, you need to do the LS.

> @"Firebeard.1746" said: > Also if some of the longer ones were 5-10 mins shorter the pacing would be way better. > Or as much as 50% shorter (or more) :) The reason I say this is the point to the story missions should be to present the story in the most dramatic and entertaining manner possible. It has been pointed out that players don't do story mission for the loot, they want to see the lore and story. Nothing kills a good story when watching a movie worse than drawn-out, tedious scenes, and nothing kills a good story in an RPG than drawn-out, tedious timesinks, whether they are too many waves of enemies, too many steps in a puzzle, or boss fights deliberately designed to drag on and on. I have no problem with timesinks in other content like Dungeons, Fractals, Guild Missions etc. I get the reason for having timesinks in MMOs, but they absolutely ruin good storytelling, and GW2's story is good enough that it deserves to be told well. > @"Dawdler.8521" said: > Yet the entire storyline *is* still optional no matter how much you want to compare dungeons to DRMs. I would argue the story not optional if you look at it from the point of building a strong community around a game. An MMO can have a wide range of players from hardcore raiders to light casuals to RPGers. The one element that can unite all these players and bring them together as a community is the setting and the lore. Any GW2 fan should be able to talk to another GW2 fan about Tyria. That means understanding the history, races and regions, it means knowing the differences between the Legions of the char or why you never make a Snaff joke around an asura. The story is what accomplishes this. The story allows a diverse range of players with widely different play-styles to find common ground so they can share and connect with each other. And that means the story should be accessible to everyone from Legendary harpoon gun-owning, basement-dwelling tryhards to the most casual of gems-to-gold buying, filthy casuals. The story to an RPG, whether single-player or massively online, is not optional. It's an important foundation of the fan community.

This was a very entertaining thread. Now I want to try a mangosteen.

Thank you very much for the replies! It's a little confusing not being able to see where the XP is going. Do you get a level-up animation or a UI pop-up that another spirit shard has been gained? Maybe that's happened and I haven't noticed.

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said: > > Did you go arms/tactics, arms/disc, or arms/strength? I'm trying arms/tactics and that is very fun. Wintersday interrupted trying the other builds but I plan to see what they are like as well. Thanks for the reply on the gear and signets!

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said: > > You will be squishy though so be careful. This build has been interesting to play! I wanted ask what do you think about using Marauder armor rather than Berserker? All Berserker gear really seems very squishy. Like too-overripe fruit squishy and I thought Marauder might be a good compromise. Also should one be popping the Signets of Might and Fury even out of combat just to keep the Ferocity up in case of surprises? I've been hitting them at the start and saving the Signet of Rage if things get rough (and saving the Dolyak Signet for stun breaks)

Thank you very much for the information! I have alts who I don't use in WvW so I'll spend the ability points on them :)

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said: > It works. But you'll be a one trick pony. Which is fine, such ponies are fun to play. If you have to mount up use your signets as soon as they appear and then F1. double tap F1 if you are a Berserker. I really wish the stacks of Signet of Ferocity did not go away when you mount. It greatly inhibits the trait in PvE and WvW. Like I said above though with Runes of Speed and Warhorn you should run fairly quickly. Bonus condition cleanses from the horn as well. > Thank you!. I really appreciate all the helpful comments and example builds. I'm more concerned with having fun, so a one trick pony is fine by me : ) I can also switch and play my ele in WvW for a change of pace. Time to start crafting some of that gear.

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said: > > @"DoctorOverlord.8620" said: > > I just recently returned to GW2 and I was disappointed to learn I missed the meta for the Rifle Warrior/Berserker build. > > > > Out of curiosity, is a Berserker Rifle build completely useless now or is it still be fun to play even though it was been nerfed? > > > > > @"Hannelore.8153" said: > > > For WvW Diviner's gear works better than Berserker's. Slot in some Commander's if you need some armor. Rifle builds have a hard time stacking Might so you want to make it last as long as possible when you do, otherwise you'll just shoot pebbles. > > > > > > Rifle's main strength is the nearly instant 25 Vulnerability, so practice your rotation accordingly. > > > > > I appreciate these points. I know Rifle Warrior probably isn't the best for WvW, but I'm having fun trying it. > > Arms for signet mastery. Use signet of might, fury, and rage. Pew pew. Take a stun break in the last utility slot. Thanks! I like your alternate build of run runes of speed and an axe/horn set with the rifle. That sounds like it would be fun.

I just recently returned to GW2 and I was disappointed to learn I missed the meta for the Rifle Warrior/Berserker build. Out of curiosity, is a Berserker Rifle build completely useless now or is it still be fun to play even though it was been nerfed? > @"Hannelore.8153" said: > For WvW Diviner's gear works better than Berserker's. Slot in some Commander's if you need some armor. Rifle builds have a hard time stacking Might so you want to make it last as long as possible when you do, otherwise you'll just shoot pebbles. > > Rifle's main strength is the nearly instant 25 Vulnerability, so practice your rotation accordingly. > I appreciate these points. I know Rifle Warrior probably isn't the best for WvW, but I'm having fun trying it.

> @"Hannelore.8153" said: > The Personal Story missions keep collecting bugs over the years due to changes in other areas of the game and the devs show no interest in going back and fixing them. My most recent playthrough was the buggiest yet. > > What's become especially common is noticeable timing issues in dialogue and events. To be fair, I have seen evidence of ArenaNet streamlining the old content of the Personal story missions. There's a great example of Magister Sieren providing a very helpful shortcut around a jumping puzzle that was part of a Personal Story mission for some insane reason. Dwayna bless the people who neutralized that mistake. The weird thing about the Forging the Pact bugs is that they remind me of ones from Guild Wars 1. In GW1 you would be standing where the game was telling you to be, and the mission would just sit there doing nothing rather than advancing or spawning mobs. Which is crazy since the code is completely different, but it is somehow replicating the same unfortunate experience. Timers and mob wave counts are used in dynamic events in the open world, those would be very useful to have in this (and any) Personal Story missions.

This scenario is still very buggy. I saw many of the issues in the above post particularly the timing in the Search for Survivors phase where you enter the green circle and nothing happens even after interacting with all the object, the scenario refuses to progress forcing you to restart it. There is also a timing delay in the mob waves spawning when you are defending the first group of survivors outside of the mine. There is no timer so you have no idea if they are approaching or if the scenario is just bugged. I've had to replay the scenario multiple times to complete it, which might not be bad except this is a tediously long one (not to mention an incredibly poorly designed as far as instructions and the overall map). The length of this should have been cut in half even without the bugs. This could be done by cutting the number of trash mobs and even without the the bugs the number of mobs should be reduced to make it less tedious.